June 11, 2025 • 13 mins
Learn how to turn a single showdown into a strategic advantage at the poker table.
In this episode, Mike and Gary break down five real-world hand scenarios and reveal powerful counter-strategies to exploit common player types—ranging from over-bluffers to under-value bettors. If you’re ready to level up your poker reads and punish your opponents' mistakes, this one’s for you.
Sign up for the Upswing Lab to follow a clear, structured path to poker improvement.
Sharpen your solver fundamentals by joining the Lucid Poker GTO Trainer.
View the written version of this episode here.
00:00 Introduction to Opponent Exploitation
01:16 Sizing Up with Strong Hands
02:39 Loose Preflop Calls
03:40 Donking with One Pair
06:29 Facing an Overbluffer
11:36 Passive Players and Missed Value
12:30 Wrap-Up and Lab 2.0 Tease
In this episode of the Upswing Poker Level-Up poker strategy podcast, Mike Brady and poker pro Gary Blackwood dive into one of the most underrated tools in your poker arsenal: the power of a single showdown. They explore how observing just one hand at showdown can give you a massive edge against your opponents—if you know how to interpret it correctly. Through five detailed hand examples, the duo breaks down how to spot key player tendencies and then exploit them ruthlessly in future hands.
The show kicks off with a reminder that player behavior often has patterns—but not always—so while one showdown can reveal a lot, multiple showdowns are even better. That said, even one hand can provide enough insight to expose a player’s habits.
Hand #1 features a player who sizes up their preflop raise with strong hands, signaling a predictable pattern you can punish by tightening up against large raises and ramping up aggression against standard sizes.
In Hand #2, Mike and Gary analyze a loose caller who shows down junky hands like K7 offsuit and J9 offsuit in spots where tighter ranges are mandatory. The adjustment? Raise bigger preflop and exploit their bloated, weak ranges postflop with aggressive continuation betting and double barreling.
Hand #3 covers the infamous "donk bettor"—players who lead out inappropriately from the big blind on dry boards. These players are easy to read: when they check, they’re often weak, giving you permission to go into bluff mode.
Hand #4 introduces the "serial bluffer"—the kind of player who can’t resist betting flop, turn, and river with air. The key exploit? Out of position check-raise your strong hands early to build the pot. In position, trap with hands that can take heat. Mike even references a complementary video on Lucid Poker’s YouTube channel that expands on this exact concept, reinforcing the episode’s focus on applying theory to real-world opponents.
Finally, Hand #5 wraps things up with a look at passive players who fail to value bet thinly enough. These opponents can often be overfolded against when they show aggression and should be treated cautiously when you're considering a thin valu
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike (00:00):
Sometimes just one showdown can be enough information to destroy
your opponent at the poker table.
Myself and poker pro Gary Blackwoodare about to show you how to do it.
Gary:
We're going to go through five handexamples played by hypothetical opponents.
You'll then learn counter strategiesyou can use to crush these opponents on
the very next hand.
(00:21):
But before we delve into the topic,
I want to caution against having100% confidence in your reads.
Every player has a certain degreeof randomness in their decisions,
especially inexperienced players.
Gary (00:33):
That's right.
Just because you saw someone play acertain hand a certain way does not mean
they will definitely playit the same way again.
People tend to play consistently,
but they don't always play consistently,
so be on the lookout formultiple showdowns if possible.
Mike (00:48):
Let's get into it. Here's hand number one.
Suppose you are playing a two fivecash game and a player open raises to
$35, that's a seven x. Younotice this right away,
especially because it's different fromthe $15 and $20 raises you saw this
player make earlier.
That player eventually reaches showdownwith their $35 hand and they turn out to
(01:10):
have pocket queens. Gary,
what does this showdown tell you aboutthis player and how would you exploit
them?
Gary:
When you see a player raiseto an unusually big size preflop and then showdown a
very strong hand,
that means they're likely sizingup preflop with stronger hands.
You can probably assume they're sizingup postflop with really strong hands as
well. This happens more oftenthan you'd think at lower stakes,
(01:32):
so when you see a player randomlyjuice up their raise size,
pay close attention in case the handgoes to showdown so that you can make a
mental note. Now, what exploitscan we use to counter this player?
There are actually two here.
The first one is really quite obviouswe tighten up versus the larger raise
size, less marginal callsand less marginal three bets.
But let's think about when thisplayer raises to their standard size.
(01:55):
We know that they size up with strongerhands so their normal raise size range
becomes much weaker and willcontain less strong hands in it.
So let's attack that with anaggressive three bet strategy.
They really are giving you the green light to three bet them.
When they use one of those smaller sizes,
they just aren't very likely to have astrong hand. Time for hand number two,
(02:17):
you're back in that two five game andyou raise preflop to $20 from early
position. The big blind defends,
and eventually showsdown king seven offsuit.
A few hands later that same player is onthe button and he calls a preflop raise
to $15, eventually showingdown jack nine offsuit. Gary,
what does this showdown tell you aboutthis player and how would you exploit
(02:38):
them?
Gary:
Those two exact examples maybe soundlike they're just a little bit too wide,
but they're actually waytoo wide in both scenarios.
King seven off is not even close togood enough to defend versus an early
position raise, especiallyin a raked cash game,
especially against a four x raise,
and even on the button jack nine offsuitis not good enough to call a raise.
Jack ten offsuit, queen tenoffsuit, king ten offsuit,
(03:01):
these hands are mostly folds, so a hand,
unlike jack nine offsuit is way toowide to be calling there versus a raise.
This means that their range is wider andweaker and therefore it will have more
air in it. We can attack that wider,
weaker range with more c-bets on theflop and also on the turn as well.
If you think about it, youropponent's range is wider,
(03:22):
which means they've got moreweak hands to call on the flop,
which means their turn range automaticallygets that little bit weaker as well.
So we want to barrel moreon the flop versus them,
but also follow throughon the turn as well.
You can expect those c-bets toforce more folds than usual.
It is harder to hit the flop whenyou've got so much junk in your rage.
Mike:
You can also exploit these playerspreflop with a simple two-step adjustment.
(03:45):
First raise bigger if younormally raise to three x,
jack it up to four x or five x,
you could even consider going biggeragainst especially loose opponents.
And second,
consider cutting out some of the weakerspeculative hands in your raising range.
If you make these two tweaksto your normal strategy,
you'll get to the flop in abloated pot with a far superior
(04:07):
range. That's a recipefor postflop success,
especially when you stack it with thec-bet exploit Gary recommended a moment
ago. Moving on to hand number three,
let's talk about donkers. Suppose youraise preflop, the big blind calls,
and the flop comes jack six deuce rainbow.
Your opponent immediately leads out youcall and the hand eventually reaches
(04:30):
showdown with your opponent revealinga flopped middle pair with seven six
suited. Gary,
what does this showdown tell you aboutthis player and how would you exploit
them?
Gary (04:39):
I should note that leading out on the flop as a preflop caller and not the
raiser is a fine strategy, but onlyin the right spots. For example,
if you defend the big blind andthe flop comes down six four three,
having a leading range on that flop iscompletely fine because it smashes your
big blind defense range.
You've got more nutted hands in yourrange and therefore theoretically leading
out is appropriate.
(05:00):
But that's not the case on flops likejack six deuce or ace eight three or
nine seven four.
Yet some players will still find leadson these flops and they usually do with
one pair hands like top pairor second pair. Funnily enough,
there's not much we can do to exploitwhen these players donk into us,
but once they've revealedthemselves to be a donker,
(05:21):
you can exploit them whenever theydon't donk on the flop. Think about it,
if a player donks when they flop a pair,what does that mean when they check?
That to me suggests thatthey've got a weaker range,
so when they check let's ramp upour aggression with more airball,
more low equity bluffs because we knowthe likelihood that our opponent will
continue has just decreased.
Mike (05:40):
You arguably don't even need to get to showdown to implement this exploit.
If a player ever donks on a flop thatisn't advantageous for their range,
they're almost certainly a player whoisn't protecting their checking range.
So when they do check,
you have the green light to c-betdouble barrel and triple barrel,
knowing that more likelyit's gonna get through.
Before we jump into hand number four,
(06:00):
I know a lot of you might havebeen wondering where we've been.
Gary and I haven't made an UpswingPoker Level-Up episode in quite a while,
and it's because we've been very busy.
Gary's been working on his blog overon Gary Blackwood Poker on YouTube.
Definitely go check out those episodesif you haven't already and I've been
working on a new collaboration betweenUpswing Poker and the guy who is in my
(06:21):
mind the world's best poker coachon a revamped version of the Upswing
Lab, our flagship course over on UpswingPoker. We're calling it Lab 2.0 and
it's going to be droppingsometime this summer.
It's going to provide a clear linearlearning path no matter what skill level
you are at,
you get dropped into the appropriate partof that path and it helps you upgrade
(06:42):
your skills quickly and efficiently.
We'll release more info about Lab2.0 a little bit down the road.
Let's jump into hand number four now.
Suppose you raise preflop withjack ten of spades of spades,
and a player on the button calls.
The flop comes king jack threewith one spade and you check call
a bet from your opponent.
The turn is the seven of spades and youcheck call another bet with your pair
(07:06):
and flush draw. The river is a ten,
giving you two pair and youcheck call yet another bet.
You're surprised to see your opponentturn over ace deuce of clubs for a total
airball hand that just blasted the flopturn and river trying to get you to
fold. Gary, when you see this showdown,
what do you now know about this playerand how would you go about exploiting
(07:27):
them in future hands?
Gary (07:29):
There are certain players who just love to bluff. Anytime you check back,
they probe the turn. Anytime youcheck to them, they stab the flop.
These players aren't particularlycommon, but they're very,
very profitable to play againstif you know how to exploit them.
Let's break this down by position.
Check to them as much as possible whenyou're out of position even with a nutted
(07:49):
hand. When you've got a nutted hand,
you should still check-raise youropponent here to bloat the pot.
It might be really tempting to check-callwhen out of position to let them keep
blasting, but if it's a small pot,
the EV is going to be farhigher to check-raise.
When you check-call the turn mightjust go check-check and if you've got a
nutted hand that is justabsolutely disastrous.
Mike (08:10):
It's a disaster because the pot just remains way too small.
If you check-call the flopin a single-raised pot,
there might be 12 to 15 big blinds inthere. If it goes check-check on the turn,
there's still 12 to 15 bigblinds in the pot on the river,
and it's just going to be reallydifficult for you to win a really,
really big pot. However, if youcheck-raise on the flop and they call,
(08:33):
that's going to bring the potto maybe 25, 30 big blinds.
When you go into the turn with 30big blinds already in the middle,
it's not going to be super difficult toget all the money in by the river. Plus,
it's always possible that this veryaggressive player is going to go crazy and
float your check-raise with way too wideof a range or maybe they three-bet you
on the flop and play rightinto your nutted hand.
(08:56):
So it's not like you're totallytaking the gun out of their hands by
check-raising,
what you're really doingis just increasing your EV by bloating the pot. Yeah,
once in a while they're going to foldan airball hand that would've maybe
blasted off on the turn and river,
but on average you're going to be betteroff going ahead and check-raising.
Gary:
Let's talk a little bit about when we'rein position versus this player type,
(09:16):
this really aggressiveplayer who loves to bluff.
You should still fast play your nuttedhands in small pots for the exact same
reasons we've just spoken about.
It's just so important to getthe money in as soon as possible.
Plus they might check-raisebluff you with anything anyway,
but you can still settraps for this player.
When you've got weak top pairs oryour strong overpairs on really wet,
low-connected boards, that is thetime to trap this player type.
(09:40):
You're essentially turning your decenthands into traps because they can take
some heat when your opponent startsblasting into you on turns and rivers.
Mike:
There's one other adjustment you shouldconsider making against these players
and this was covered over onthe Lucid Poker YouTube channel.
You can actually play tighter onthe early streets so you have a more
(10:01):
competitive range by the later streetswhen the pot is at its biggest.
For example, if you have a marginalhand on the flop facing their c-bet,
maybe a hand like pocket fives on aboard with two overcards or maybe a hand
like ace-high,
those are hands that maybe youconsider are worth one bet on the flop,
so you would check call andkind of see what develops,.
(10:22):
Maybe hope to get to a cheap showdownand win. But against this player,
you can't really expect to get to a cheapshowdown and win because they're the
barreller who's just always going to putpressure on you on the turn and river.
So instead of putting inthose chips on the flop,
you should just get rid of that hand,make your range more competitive,
and then that way when they barrel theturn and river you're going to be sitting
(10:43):
there lying in wait with astronger than usual range,
and you're going to beready to call 'em down.
If you want to learn more aboutthe specifics of that adjustment,
go ahead over to the LucidPoker Channel on YouTube.
The video is called How to Exploit ManiacPoker Players Made by a really great
poker pro named Texas Tommo. Highlyrecommend checking that out. Alright,
final hand of the day,
(11:04):
suppose the button open-raises preflopand you call from the big blind with nine
seven of hearts. The flop isqueen-seven-three rainbow,
and you check-call a smallbet from your opponent.
The turn is the two ofclubs and you both check.
The river comes the six ofhearts and you both check again.
You expect to win with your middle pairconsidering just one small bet went in,
(11:26):
but you are surprised to see youropponent flip over pocket jacks. Gary,
what are you thinking when you see thisshowdown and how are you going to aim to
exploit this player in future hands?
Gary:
A very common player type in low stakeslive poker are players who don't value
bet thinly enough, not even closeto thinly enough or correctly.
There are certain players who will tryand get one street max with pocket jacks
(11:48):
on a relatively safe queen highboard with very little action,
or they'll bet twice with aces in asmall pot and then check back on a blank
river. These are passive, scaredto value cut themselves players,
and they're actually morecommon than you might think.
The exploit is to respectthis player type's aggression.
They won't make aggressive playsoften enough, but when they do,
(12:09):
you better believe they got it.
So whenever this player triple barrelsinto you or they check-raise on the flop
or they shove all-in on the river,
you can start to exploit this playerby just respecting their aggression.
You can start to overfold the river. Youcan start to make marginal turn folds.
All-in-all,
you tighten up and you continue less whenthese passive players are starting to
be really quite aggressive.
(12:30):
Mike:
You should also consider cutting outsome of your thinnest value bets against
these players. Thinvalue betting is really,
really good in live poker and inlow stakes, soft games in general.
But against players who accidentallytrap with hands that are worth a bet,
you got to be a little bit more careful.
I'm not saying you should never betthinly for value against these players,
(12:52):
but if you find yourself in whatfeels like a really close spot,
it's a hand that might be worth one morebet and you're considering either just
checking back and taking showdown orgoing for a little bit of thin value.
Consider checking back with those handsagainst this player because they might
just show up with somethingstronger than you expected.
That's it for this episodeof Upswing Poker Level-Up.
(13:12):
We are glad to be back with you. Ifyou enjoyed this one, hit subscribe,
follow rate the podcast fivestars, give a thumbs up.
Any positive way you can interact,we would really appreciate it.
And if you're excited about Lab 2.0when you have any questions either about
that or even about somethingyou watched in this podcast,
feel free to drop themin the comments below.
We'll try to get back to you at least inthe first week or two after publishing
(13:35):
the video. Thanks for watching.We'll see you in the next one.
Sometimes just one showdown can be enough information to destroy
your opponent at the poker table.
Myself and poker pro Gary Blackwoodare about to show you how to do it.
Gary:
We're going to go through five handexamples played by hypothetical opponents.
You'll then learn counter strategiesyou can use to crush these opponents on
the very next hand.
(00:21):
But before we delve into the topic,
I want to caution against having100% confidence in your reads.
Every player has a certain degreeof randomness in their decisions,
especially inexperienced players.
Gary (00:33):
That's right.
Just because you saw someone play acertain hand a certain way does not mean
they will definitely playit the same way again.
People tend to play consistently,
but they don't always play consistently,
so be on the lookout formultiple showdowns if possible.
Mike (00:48):
Let's get into it. Here's hand number one.
Suppose you are playing a two fivecash game and a player open raises to
$35, that's a seven x. Younotice this right away,
especially because it's different fromthe $15 and $20 raises you saw this
player make earlier.
That player eventually reaches showdownwith their $35 hand and they turn out to
(01:10):
have pocket queens. Gary,
what does this showdown tell you aboutthis player and how would you exploit
them?
Gary:
When you see a player raiseto an unusually big size preflop and then showdown a
very strong hand,
that means they're likely sizingup preflop with stronger hands.
You can probably assume they're sizingup postflop with really strong hands as
well. This happens more oftenthan you'd think at lower stakes,
(01:32):
so when you see a player randomlyjuice up their raise size,
pay close attention in case the handgoes to showdown so that you can make a
mental note. Now, what exploitscan we use to counter this player?
There are actually two here.
The first one is really quite obviouswe tighten up versus the larger raise
size, less marginal callsand less marginal three bets.
But let's think about when thisplayer raises to their standard size.
(01:55):
We know that they size up with strongerhands so their normal raise size range
becomes much weaker and willcontain less strong hands in it.
So let's attack that with anaggressive three bet strategy.
They really are giving you the green light to three bet them.
When they use one of those smaller sizes,
they just aren't very likely to have astrong hand. Time for hand number two,
(02:17):
you're back in that two five game andyou raise preflop to $20 from early
position. The big blind defends,
and eventually showsdown king seven offsuit.
A few hands later that same player is onthe button and he calls a preflop raise
to $15, eventually showingdown jack nine offsuit. Gary,
what does this showdown tell you aboutthis player and how would you exploit
(02:38):
them?
Gary:
Those two exact examples maybe soundlike they're just a little bit too wide,
but they're actually waytoo wide in both scenarios.
King seven off is not even close togood enough to defend versus an early
position raise, especiallyin a raked cash game,
especially against a four x raise,
and even on the button jack nine offsuitis not good enough to call a raise.
Jack ten offsuit, queen tenoffsuit, king ten offsuit,
(03:01):
these hands are mostly folds, so a hand,
unlike jack nine offsuit is way toowide to be calling there versus a raise.
This means that their range is wider andweaker and therefore it will have more
air in it. We can attack that wider,
weaker range with more c-bets on theflop and also on the turn as well.
If you think about it, youropponent's range is wider,
(03:22):
which means they've got moreweak hands to call on the flop,
which means their turn range automaticallygets that little bit weaker as well.
So we want to barrel moreon the flop versus them,
but also follow throughon the turn as well.
You can expect those c-bets toforce more folds than usual.
It is harder to hit the flop whenyou've got so much junk in your rage.
Mike:
You can also exploit these playerspreflop with a simple two-step adjustment.
(03:45):
First raise bigger if younormally raise to three x,
jack it up to four x or five x,
you could even consider going biggeragainst especially loose opponents.
And second,
consider cutting out some of the weakerspeculative hands in your raising range.
If you make these two tweaksto your normal strategy,
you'll get to the flop in abloated pot with a far superior
(04:07):
range. That's a recipefor postflop success,
especially when you stack it with thec-bet exploit Gary recommended a moment
ago. Moving on to hand number three,
let's talk about donkers. Suppose youraise preflop, the big blind calls,
and the flop comes jack six deuce rainbow.
Your opponent immediately leads out youcall and the hand eventually reaches
(04:30):
showdown with your opponent revealinga flopped middle pair with seven six
suited. Gary,
what does this showdown tell you aboutthis player and how would you exploit
them?
Gary (04:39):
I should note that leading out on the flop as a preflop caller and not the
raiser is a fine strategy, but onlyin the right spots. For example,
if you defend the big blind andthe flop comes down six four three,
having a leading range on that flop iscompletely fine because it smashes your
big blind defense range.
You've got more nutted hands in yourrange and therefore theoretically leading
out is appropriate.
(05:00):
But that's not the case on flops likejack six deuce or ace eight three or
nine seven four.
Yet some players will still find leadson these flops and they usually do with
one pair hands like top pairor second pair. Funnily enough,
there's not much we can do to exploitwhen these players donk into us,
but once they've revealedthemselves to be a donker,
(05:21):
you can exploit them whenever theydon't donk on the flop. Think about it,
if a player donks when they flop a pair,what does that mean when they check?
That to me suggests thatthey've got a weaker range,
so when they check let's ramp upour aggression with more airball,
more low equity bluffs because we knowthe likelihood that our opponent will
continue has just decreased.
Mike (05:40):
You arguably don't even need to get to showdown to implement this exploit.
If a player ever donks on a flop thatisn't advantageous for their range,
they're almost certainly a player whoisn't protecting their checking range.
So when they do check,
you have the green light to c-betdouble barrel and triple barrel,
knowing that more likelyit's gonna get through.
Before we jump into hand number four,
(06:00):
I know a lot of you might havebeen wondering where we've been.
Gary and I haven't made an UpswingPoker Level-Up episode in quite a while,
and it's because we've been very busy.
Gary's been working on his blog overon Gary Blackwood Poker on YouTube.
Definitely go check out those episodesif you haven't already and I've been
working on a new collaboration betweenUpswing Poker and the guy who is in my
(06:21):
mind the world's best poker coachon a revamped version of the Upswing
Lab, our flagship course over on UpswingPoker. We're calling it Lab 2.0 and
it's going to be droppingsometime this summer.
It's going to provide a clear linearlearning path no matter what skill level
you are at,
you get dropped into the appropriate partof that path and it helps you upgrade
(06:42):
your skills quickly and efficiently.
We'll release more info about Lab2.0 a little bit down the road.
Let's jump into hand number four now.
Suppose you raise preflop withjack ten of spades of spades,
and a player on the button calls.
The flop comes king jack threewith one spade and you check call
a bet from your opponent.
The turn is the seven of spades and youcheck call another bet with your pair
(07:06):
and flush draw. The river is a ten,
giving you two pair and youcheck call yet another bet.
You're surprised to see your opponentturn over ace deuce of clubs for a total
airball hand that just blasted the flopturn and river trying to get you to
fold. Gary, when you see this showdown,
what do you now know about this playerand how would you go about exploiting
(07:27):
them in future hands?
Gary (07:29):
There are certain players who just love to bluff. Anytime you check back,
they probe the turn. Anytime youcheck to them, they stab the flop.
These players aren't particularlycommon, but they're very,
very profitable to play againstif you know how to exploit them.
Let's break this down by position.
Check to them as much as possible whenyou're out of position even with a nutted
(07:49):
hand. When you've got a nutted hand,
you should still check-raise youropponent here to bloat the pot.
It might be really tempting to check-callwhen out of position to let them keep
blasting, but if it's a small pot,
the EV is going to be farhigher to check-raise.
When you check-call the turn mightjust go check-check and if you've got a
nutted hand that is justabsolutely disastrous.
Mike (08:10):
It's a disaster because the pot just remains way too small.
If you check-call the flopin a single-raised pot,
there might be 12 to 15 big blinds inthere. If it goes check-check on the turn,
there's still 12 to 15 bigblinds in the pot on the river,
and it's just going to be reallydifficult for you to win a really,
really big pot. However, if youcheck-raise on the flop and they call,
(08:33):
that's going to bring the potto maybe 25, 30 big blinds.
When you go into the turn with 30big blinds already in the middle,
it's not going to be super difficult toget all the money in by the river. Plus,
it's always possible that this veryaggressive player is going to go crazy and
float your check-raise with way too wideof a range or maybe they three-bet you
on the flop and play rightinto your nutted hand.
(08:56):
So it's not like you're totallytaking the gun out of their hands by
check-raising,
what you're really doingis just increasing your EV by bloating the pot. Yeah,
once in a while they're going to foldan airball hand that would've maybe
blasted off on the turn and river,
but on average you're going to be betteroff going ahead and check-raising.
Gary:
Let's talk a little bit about when we'rein position versus this player type,
(09:16):
this really aggressiveplayer who loves to bluff.
You should still fast play your nuttedhands in small pots for the exact same
reasons we've just spoken about.
It's just so important to getthe money in as soon as possible.
Plus they might check-raisebluff you with anything anyway,
but you can still settraps for this player.
When you've got weak top pairs oryour strong overpairs on really wet,
low-connected boards, that is thetime to trap this player type.
(09:40):
You're essentially turning your decenthands into traps because they can take
some heat when your opponent startsblasting into you on turns and rivers.
Mike:
There's one other adjustment you shouldconsider making against these players
and this was covered over onthe Lucid Poker YouTube channel.
You can actually play tighter onthe early streets so you have a more
(10:01):
competitive range by the later streetswhen the pot is at its biggest.
For example, if you have a marginalhand on the flop facing their c-bet,
maybe a hand like pocket fives on aboard with two overcards or maybe a hand
like ace-high,
those are hands that maybe youconsider are worth one bet on the flop,
so you would check call andkind of see what develops,.
(10:22):
Maybe hope to get to a cheap showdownand win. But against this player,
you can't really expect to get to a cheapshowdown and win because they're the
barreller who's just always going to putpressure on you on the turn and river.
So instead of putting inthose chips on the flop,
you should just get rid of that hand,make your range more competitive,
and then that way when they barrel theturn and river you're going to be sitting
(10:43):
there lying in wait with astronger than usual range,
and you're going to beready to call 'em down.
If you want to learn more aboutthe specifics of that adjustment,
go ahead over to the LucidPoker Channel on YouTube.
The video is called How to Exploit ManiacPoker Players Made by a really great
poker pro named Texas Tommo. Highlyrecommend checking that out. Alright,
final hand of the day,
(11:04):
suppose the button open-raises preflopand you call from the big blind with nine
seven of hearts. The flop isqueen-seven-three rainbow,
and you check-call a smallbet from your opponent.
The turn is the two ofclubs and you both check.
The river comes the six ofhearts and you both check again.
You expect to win with your middle pairconsidering just one small bet went in,
(11:26):
but you are surprised to see youropponent flip over pocket jacks. Gary,
what are you thinking when you see thisshowdown and how are you going to aim to
exploit this player in future hands?
Gary:
A very common player type in low stakeslive poker are players who don't value
bet thinly enough, not even closeto thinly enough or correctly.
There are certain players who will tryand get one street max with pocket jacks
(11:48):
on a relatively safe queen highboard with very little action,
or they'll bet twice with aces in asmall pot and then check back on a blank
river. These are passive, scaredto value cut themselves players,
and they're actually morecommon than you might think.
The exploit is to respectthis player type's aggression.
They won't make aggressive playsoften enough, but when they do,
(12:09):
you better believe they got it.
So whenever this player triple barrelsinto you or they check-raise on the flop
or they shove all-in on the river,
you can start to exploit this playerby just respecting their aggression.
You can start to overfold the river. Youcan start to make marginal turn folds.
All-in-all,
you tighten up and you continue less whenthese passive players are starting to
be really quite aggressive.
(12:30):
Mike:
You should also consider cutting outsome of your thinnest value bets against
these players. Thinvalue betting is really,
really good in live poker and inlow stakes, soft games in general.
But against players who accidentallytrap with hands that are worth a bet,
you got to be a little bit more careful.
I'm not saying you should never betthinly for value against these players,
(12:52):
but if you find yourself in whatfeels like a really close spot,
it's a hand that might be worth one morebet and you're considering either just
checking back and taking showdown orgoing for a little bit of thin value.
Consider checking back with those handsagainst this player because they might
just show up with somethingstronger than you expected.
That's it for this episodeof Upswing Poker Level-Up.
(13:12):
We are glad to be back with you. Ifyou enjoyed this one, hit subscribe,
follow rate the podcast fivestars, give a thumbs up.
Any positive way you can interact,we would really appreciate it.
And if you're excited about Lab 2.0when you have any questions either about
that or even about somethingyou watched in this podcast,
feel free to drop themin the comments below.
We'll try to get back to you at least inthe first week or two after publishing
(13:35):
the video. Thanks for watching.We'll see you in the next one.
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