Straate Plays $1,000 NL - November 5

[Tickner]

Ben Straate creates a 2 part video at $5/$10 NL on Poker Stars. Ben plays 4 tables on focuses on post flop play and hand reading. Ben plays a loose and aggressive style, as usual, and explains his thought processes as hands are played. Discuss here!

[AltonEllis]

Nice video.
I have one question :

During the AQdd hand, when you call pre versur utg raise and raise the cb on 887dd, you raise a 65$ bet to 285$. I thought at the time it was very huge and looked a lot like a draw. Could you explain your reasonning to make it that big ?

Thx

[djj6835]

Few things.

1) Starting at 12:50 in the vid you have have a couple interesting hands. You decide to 3 bet 77 from the sb against fasteddie. Part of your rationale for 3 betting is that Gomtv is in the bb and liable to squeeze. Isn't this reason enough to just flat and 4 bet or shove over Gomtv's inevitable sqeeze considering how spewy he is? In other words I can see wanting to 3 bet a hands like 78s instead of flat it but 77 seems strong enough to just flat there.

2) At the same time you get dealt A4o in the sb and you are flatted pf by the bb. You bet a 5 5 4 flop check a king turn. Then you check call on an 8 river saying he can have stuff like busted straight draws but the 8 seems like basically the nut worst cards for you. 67 gets there 89 has showdown value and can possibly value bet. A2 and A3 also have showdown value especially if he decided to check the turn it seems unlikely he would bet those hands on the river. You allude to the fact that maybe it was a bad call but I'm wondering what other hands you really expect him to play like this that we beat.

3) At around 25:40 you 3 bet QQ to an utg open and get cold 4 bet by Shiv and then flat the 4 bet. He's a tightesh reg and you look pretty strong. You say that you would also flat AA in that spot occasionally but I guess I don't really understand why. It seems like the vast majority of his range is going to be for value there so we don't really gain anything by flatting AA. He can now get away from hands like QQ on an AKx board or AK on a rag board that he otherwise is for sure felting pre. It seems like the only reason for flatting AA there is if you suspect villain has a wide range of air and allowing him to spaz postflop makes up for the value lost for when his value hands flop a bad board but we don't really have reason to believe villain has a wide air range in this spot.

[djj6835]

sry i meant 78 not 89 for the second question in the previous post.

[Unknown Soldier]

"I don't really see him having a flush here unless he has diamonds" v. insightful Ben

[DODGYKEN]

I really enjoyed this video with a bunch of regs on all the same tables. Definitely one of my favourites that you've done.

[dog615]

Couple times you said if you bet the turn you're betting the river no matter what card comes. Can you (or someone) explain this a little.

[PlsTilt]

Thanks for the video, intersting because there are some decent aggressive regulars with you at the table.

I have a few hands I wish to hear your thoughts on:

At 7 minutes you have the QTo hand versus ReMM, the river comes another K which leaves the flushdraw missed and actually makes his flop call range smaller.

You don't barrel the river, I agree he will barely ever fold a pair to a river bet. However, what about a river C/R? I think his call range on the flop is draws, 8x and small pockets. You didn't barrel the turn, which is a turn you will bet a lot on this board, but I think he still will fold a lot of his flop call range to a river C/R. Certainly considering him checking the turn behind.

Then the QQ at 25.5 mins. I think this is a fold preflop. It's close between push-fold but I think game dynamics make it a fold. You haven't been out of line on table 3 (left below) and ImReed is pretty tight. Your 3bet vs his UTG open certainly indicates a hand. Shiv must know this and still he instantly 4bets. I doubt he will 4bet TT-JJ so quick here and actually his raise size is big and IMO committing with a wide range. My thoughts are that you here face a QQ+, AK. range. You will get to see an A/K flop 34% of the time, plus it is unlikely he will invest any more money postflop vs you without a hit.


AK at 28 mins what do you think about a coldcall preflop? I think it's a profitable spot you might miss because you say 'here i obviously have to get it in'. FastEddy 3bets a pretty wide range vs GomTV, including AJ, AQ and probably ATs. I expect him to have some kings, KJs, KQ etc in there as well.
Versus this range you play excellent postflop in position with AK. Certainly with your aggressive history it is likely he will stack postflop with medium hands.
Another benefit of calling the 3bet, GomTV might get adventurous (i would hate to see him calling pre.. but love him resteal). Eddy can now pretty easily escape from his AJs, KQ etc. I doubt he will stack light here.

A4s at 35mins. If the bets were smaller (you opening to 30, polyballer repopping to 100) would you consider a mini 4bet over a shove?


tx

[matsvenjes]

Good video, two questions:

1. why u 4bet allin with A4s vs polyballer, instead of 4bet to like 290 and fold to a shove? U expect him to shove some of his air hands too or something if u 4bet small ?

2. why u raise with AQdd on 8d7d8x flop so big? Villain cbets 65 and u go to 265, seem like a pretty bad betsize (to balance for example, for inducing 4bet blufs over this -> if u go to 185 he can 4bet bluf u way more imo and u can easily ship it then, etc)?

[TimDawg]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

"I don't really see him having a flush here unless he has diamonds" v. insightful Ben

looooool