my balance article coments/questions
If you have any comments/questions feel free to post them here and I will respond and we can have a discussion about it.
cross posted from nutsinho's thread:
Balance
Simple Definition as it applies to poker: Taking the same line as a bluff as you would for value, example a cbet on an AK9 board with 78o.
The point is not to bluff 50% of the time and value bet 50% of the time on the example board, but to credibly represent a hand in your value range every time you bluff. As you move up in stakes and you begin to play against people who are thinking about more details than the colour of their cards you have to play in a way that they cannot exploit you. Basic example: A TAG villain opens from the CO and you call out of the BB with a certain range. The flop comes 2s7h8h. You check because that’s what you do with your entire range of hands. TAG villain cbets for ¾ of the pot. If you only c/r here with 88, 77, 78and 22 (which are definitely in your range in the BB) you are exploitable. By doing this you allow villain to play perfectly against you. He can cbet this board 100% of the time and make a profit because he knows the only time you c/r is if you have a set or top 2 and if you call you either have a weak made hand or a draw which he can barrel you off of on appropriate turn and river combinations. When you widen your c/r range on this board to include draws, over pairs, tptk and air. Villain is in a much more difficult spot. The basic adjustment is that he will usually make is to do 2 things. He will play his nutted hands very aggressively and the rest of his range passively. This change in behavior helps you play perfect against him with your range of hands.
Mid-Stakes and High stakes poker is a game of adjustments. In the above paragraph I talked about a simple example of how widening and balancing your c/r range on a certain board texture creates a difficult situation for villain and forces him to play his hand in a way that is easy to read. When you meet villains that have this knowledge already they are going to be adjusting to this. This brings perceived ranges into the equation and my next point.
Being perfectly balanced in all situations isn’t always the most +ev situation. There are situations where I don’t need to have air in my range because villain assumes that I have air in my range so my nutted hands still get paid off. An example of this is in blind versus blind dynamics versus aggressive mid stakes regulars. For example: it is folded around to me on the button and I open to 3bb, the SB folds and an aggressive regular who can be spewy at times 3 bets to 10bb. What I know about the villain is that he is very aggressive preflop. I know that he is aware that I’m raising a wide range on the button and that he knows that I know that this is a good spot for him to 3 bet me light. Therefore this is a good spot for me to 4 bet him light and he knows this. I know this particular villain will assume that I have air in my 4 betting range based on my preflop stats and the fact that I am a regular and open a wide range on the button. This would not make it a profitable 4 bet bluff spot since he is liable to 5 bet jam on me with a wideish range. The EV that I would gain by him knowing that I can have air here is lost because he already thinks that I have air in my range. So I can fold all the hands that I don’t want to felt and 4 bet only my value range. I don’t need to balance my 4 betting range in this spot because my perceived range already has air in it.
When you are thinking about balance you have to realize there is a lot more to it than just taking the same lines for value and for bluffs. When playing against thinking players looking to exploit you, your perceived range is much more important than your actual range. As you play with good players more who are adjusting to your actual range as they learn about it you can modify it in a way to exploit them. Unlimited holdem is a complicated game, but as long as you are adjusting to others players range and exploiting them you will always be +ev.
