Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em Excerpt: How Far Should Bill Go To Unbalance His Line?
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Today we completed all the editing on the new e-book Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em. This is a big milestone. The book is now final. All we have left to do is layout (basically make it look pretty) and then a final proofreading pass to make sure the prettying process didn’t break anything.
Editing took a few weeks longer than we anticipated, mainly due to complications from having three authors. But it’s done. Here’s what to expect now:
- In about a week we’ll announce a firm release date. Release will likely be in or about the first half of June.
- We will be offering a variety of payment methods. If we don’t offer a method that is convenient for you, you can email us and we will work something out.
I’ll make all the important announcements here, so if you’re reading this post, you’re in the right place.
And now for today’s excerpt from the section on Range Balancing.
How Far Should Bill Go [To Unbalance His Line]?
How far does Bill need to go to fix his unbalanced line? Unfortunately, there is no math answer to this problem. Too much depends on opponents, game conditions, and what street you are on. However, there are a few guidelines to follow.
The more unbalanced a line, the more profitable it is for your savvy opponent. An 80%/20% line gives your opponent an exploitable situation. [By “80%/20%” we mean 80% of the hands are either strong or weak. Sometimes you won’t have a good hand much more often than 20% of the time. So be it. At least it’s not a 90%/10% line.] A 90%/10% line gives him a sledgehammer. To start, make sure you don’t have any 90%/10% lines.
On the flop, the proportion of good hands in a line should be within several percentage points of the proportion of good hands you expect to flop. For example, say you expect to flop top pair or better 25 percent of the time. (Flopzilla calculates these numbers for you.) When you check the flop, you should have top pair or better around 15 percent to 35 percent of the time. Similarly, when you bet the flop, you should have top pair or better 15 percent to 35 percent of the time. This is just a guideline. We chose these margins because they work well against most $1-$2 opponents. Against a tougher opponent, you may have to balance further. But for starters, just make sure to check enough good hands on the flop that an opponent cannot assume you missed when you check. Also, bet enough weak hands on the flop that an opponent cannot assume you have a good hand when you bet.
After the flop, the proportion of weak hands in a balanced line typically decreases. Many hands get folded on the flop. Most of these folded hands will be weak, so your range becomes stronger on average if the hand reaches the turn. However, if you have not folded many hands by the turn, then little changes. This is the case with Bill’s turn-check line above, so the proportion of good hands in that line should still be within several percentage points of the proportion of good hands he expected to flop.
However, if you have folded many hands, we use a different guideline. As a general rule for the turn and river, lines are reasonably balanced for $1-$2 if at least 25 percent or so of the hands in the range are weak and another 25 percent or so are decent made hands. The remaining 50 percent is the middle ground for you to work with. This can still be exploitable, but it plugs the big leaks.
The more unbalanced a line is, the easier it is to recognize and exploit. Above all, avoid 90%/10% lines against thinking opponents. After that you can work on your 80%/20% lines if you find opponents are exploiting them. Again, you don’t want to balance lines perfectly. You just want to balance them enough that your opponents cannot exploit you easily.
A great deal of line balancing is just mixing up your play. You may have heard advice like “Don’t always bet the flop when you hit top pair with an ace,” or “Sometimes you should check the nuts on the flop.” These simple strategies help you avoid unbalanced lines. But each of those strategies addresses only a single situation. Thinking in terms of line balance can help you address all your lines systematically.
Tags: book excerpt, matt-flynn, no-limit-holdem, poker, small stakes no-limit hold'em, sunny-mehtaIf you find this article helpful please support the site to help keep the poker strategy tips coming.
I hope the book will contain more interesting and clear material because this excerpt looks like a difficult way to say – mix it up your game.