Should You Just NEVER Fold at the Small Stakes?

[@DoubleBassX2]

Players at my stakes almost _never bluff_ but they often will spaz/overvalue a random middling pocket pair.

[@CancelIFR]

Yeah, polarization errors are rife.

[@1vailchris]

Guys at 1/3 will v-bet 2P here all day, when we check to them.

[@jackiesee1907]

At low stakes you cannot just asses value vs bluff hands…you have to do bluff+over values vs value.

[@pot_kivach160]

@@1vailchris _v-bet 2P_ what a hella is that?

[@1vailchris]

@@pot_kivach160 value-bet 2 pair.

[@guybrushthreepwood8174]

interesting point at the end that the calls we get here are maybe not representative of the larger population of hands (they are getting called in because they are NOT usual hands). also it is hard to estimate the true frequency of "wackiness" because those wacky spots def stand out in our memories and make us think they are more frequent than they are.

[@daithi1966]

Yes, you see a lot of wackiness at the lower stakes. Nevertheless, my win rate went up substantially once I found the fold button.

[@noahjoseph2036]

Couldn’t agree any more. I had AK for top 2 pair at a 1/2 game, slow played my top top on the flop and bet big 2 streets when I turned top 2 on A2K7, river came a Q and opp had JT, when I bet river he shoved for 7x the pot and i tank called thinking I was so under repped. No one’s creative enough at those stakes to bluff jam that much.

[@pot_kivach160]

true. CS and NITs are most frequent customers at small stakes. Learning how NOT to pay a NIT nor a CS when they hit their hand is the key for a cash cow. One needs a hand reading for that, though. Another thing they have in common is they do not bluff!! So: helps reading.

[@JamesGamesMTG]

You also have to have some calls in this position… TT and 100% JJ

[@onthebeach8211]

thank you Bart! It's 45 minute drive to commute to the casino and work. I love using these as a warm up

[@seslocrit9365]

1/3 national Habor is an absolute rake trap on certain tables where everyone is limping and seeing flops unless you nit it up and fold for hours on end. Some tables where raising is more comon are even better than the 2/5 and 5/10 tables with the pros.

[@jacobbirkenfeld9261]

It’s not a rake trap if you take it down PF. I love 15x ‘ing K8s+ from later position after 6 limpets, just prints money. Plus you can show a hand like that every so often and get the table to gasp at you making it 30-45$ with K8. Helps get you paid when you do have it.

[@seslocrit9365]

​@@jacobbirkenfeld9261Yeah, but when every pot goes 3-4 way. You play like 5 hands an hour. Not conducive to make money.

[@cadebruce4401]

lol imagine getting mad about people giving away free money because you are too impatient. It is conducive to making money. Getting in bad more often doesn't speed up winrate.

[@seslocrit9365]

​@@cadebruce4401we have different opinions. I'd rather play more hands in HU pots against better players who I still have an edge rather than waiting forever.

[@srlim]

I think I made this comment in another video, but I played a 1-3 session recently where AK was open limped/called pre-flop at least four times. Once it was AKs. I think you have to put that in the limping range of a lot of players.

[@pixurguy4915]

My last session the first hand at a new table MP limped with QQ. I am on the button with 9c7c. I limp on the button. Hand is five way. Flop 9d 7d Qs. I lost two thirds of my buy in. Same guy limped later with QQ and won a big pot. Low stakes are a mine field.

[@caseyjones3076]

I think this bluff is extremely rare at low stakes. Unless they're drunk or constant action.

[@EfficientRVer]

I disagree, considering that hero's hand is basically face up. The great majority of the time, he has JJ or TT, confirmed by the fact that he must have looked like he was going to puke while deciding to check the river. All villain had to do, was decide whether hero is the type to check-fold or check-call when puking.

[@caseyjones3076]

@@EfficientRVer I just don't see too many deep thinking people in my local low stakes games. Maybe your experience is different.

[@pot_kivach160]

@@EfficientRVer what's puking?

[@pot_kivach160]

I disagree that bluffing is extremely rare in Small stakes. It's just that some people do not pay attention or they do not bluff themselves, so they think there is no bluffing in small stakes. . What's rare in small stakes is a LARGE pots bluff. This just because it's not profitable on the long run as Small stakes players rarely folding sets, 2 pairs not even top pairs.

[@caseyjones3076]

@@pot_kivach160 I didn't say bluffing is rare, I said this bluff is rare. And it's a large river bet...

[@EllieBanks333]

I feel like I want to coin a new term. River Nut Ownership. It's like Nut Advantage, but that's usually something on the flop and something that is not complete & total. RNO is on the river & complete and total. Hero NEVER has the straight here. I'm going to say that again, hero NEVER has the straight here. He raised pre, bet flop, bet turn, and now checks this river. He NEVER has the straight here. So what bluffs does villain have? Any hand he arrives here with. Now I will freely admit I did not think AK was going to get here, but villains actual holding is not of great interest to me. Because there are plenty of hands he could arrive with, like TX. Why would he bluff with something like AT or KT? I'll answer with a question, why can't hero have AA or KK here? Or how about 99? At any rate, under bluffing goes out the window when villain has RNO. P.S. I am aware that sometimes high level pros might trap in a spot like this. But this is not Antonius V Dwan. This is Joe V Bob at the local 1-3 cash table. So again, at the very least in the villains mind, hero NEVER has the straight here.

[@qazzaqstan]

I have no idea how villain gets there with that hand, given it was called in I was expecting it to be a rare case of them turn AT into a bluff or something but did not expect to see an airball hand make it to the river.

[@jambreakfast4341]

Cool story.

[@karlinchina]

If you limp call AK pre you can't just fold it on the flop lol

[@qazzaqstan]

@@karlinchina I mean they should given the board and someone behind but I agree that I would not expect them to. Turn is where I’m actually surprised they called

[@karlinchina]

Turn they have a nfd and two overs. Easiest call.@@qazzaqstan

[@danielmeuler2877]

as someone who is all to familiar with this kind of Low Stakes Fuckery, Unless I knew the Villian to Bluff at a River like this, I would of Probably Folded to. I would NOT have showed my hand though. But I would of jammed the Turn and wouldn't have ended up in this situation.

[@banks7714]

People in these stakes never think about being next to act, they only think about their hand

[@NewEnglandFish]

As played, I am never, ever folding. Basically, the only hands you lose to here are 87 and QT. QJ has absolutely zero reason to slowplay turn (and especially since caller said V is likely not slowplaying a set, I assume QJ isn't either) and I really don't think there's much KQ either unless it's diamonds.

[@Simon-nv5zj]

wtf are you talking about villain has no reason to slowplay QJ? Villain is in position, facing a decent bet on the turn and he has the nuts. Id flat with QJ a bunch. I realise there are some scare cards on the river, but you get so much more value calling vs opponents range.

[@Womenandwine]

I was going to say what straight can he really have. KQ should be raised pre , maybe 10-7 suit or 10-Q off that he limped with , but he had A-k so , I guess he does have a few straights, along with some bluffs

[@justinhart7172]

Bart was stuttering like mutterstutter at the end on hearing villain had AK

[@eshootziscrs2868]

I like the $150 "blocker" bet here. I think I'm check calling too often when behind and getting nothing when I'm good. A 7 might fold for the price and hero bluff catchers might call. It's bet fold or check call. If I know I'm check folding then betting makes no sense.

[@brettcb471]

When a river is close at live low stakes, I usually defer to calling due to RCF (Random Clown Factor)

[@jdh219]

definitely gonna start using RCF😭

[@Stockhandle123]

I've actually found the exact opposite to be true you should just way over fold at small stakes.

[@EllieBanks333]

@@Stockhandle123 Would you have folded this particular hand?

[@Stockhandle123]

@@EllieBanks333 I haven't listened to the end yet give me a minute.

[@EllieBanks333]

@@Stockhandle123 LOL. You like to hit the comments section first eh?

[@Scottydontbutscottydoes]

Sat at the table with this guy before. Cheers

[@1vailchris]

So...as played, I can't give hero credit for the straight on the river, which opens the door for V to bluff with any hand he has that gets here. V's repping QJ, but I'd think QJ would either donk-lead or x/r turn with some frequency, and 3 of the J's are accounted for, leaving V very few combos of QJ. Top set sure seems like a check-call here, given hero's line. If V has the straight, so be it. I'm not folding river after putting more than 1/3 of my stack in. I think I might just jam turn.

[@EllieBanks333]

I obviously agree. I also think if hero is folding top set here he has zero hands to call with.

[@digitaldavid5633]

Yea I think if you were going to lead jam river and be ok doing so with putting your whole stack in there, you might as well check to induce, but then be ok calling off stack since you would have done that as a lead anyway. Interesting hand, God I hate the 1/3 games and people most of the time. haha.

[@1vailchris]

I like the check-call or check-raise jam better than a jam from up front or a check-fold. We can check and worse will bet. Less likely worse will call if we jam. If we're just never folding, we might as well check and see if V stabs at it.

[@Dylan-vm4gl]

Raise as big as humanly possible that they’ll still call. If they all call great! You’ll lose the hand more often than if less people call but when you win you win more money. It’s not about winning the hand it’s about the most +ev play at each decision point.

[@Grant112988]

I would NEVER have showed that he blew me off of top set. I don't even care if the building was burning down.

[@dixensizzler]

mgm 3 limpers , bet if he went 45 guy would of did something pre where you could of goten the money in and run it headsup.

[@paulpena5040]

Not entirely sure Bart understands the blocker bet concept. He said "What's the point if a better hand is just going to call you". Here that makes absolutely no sense. Why would a better hand than top set ever just call? The point is to prevent him bluffing you off the best hand. If you make a small bet and he folds it ISN"T pointless, it prevented the bluff (where you would have check folded) because you've show interest in your hand. And if he calls he's probably beat.

[@JamesGamesMTG]

Still need to have a couple calls here to keep them honest. TT and JJ are calls

[@johnross4958]

Play one three regularly and I can tell you that when someone misses their draw and they know they can't win after putting money in the pot they Bluff. And the Bluffs don't even have to make sense.

[@GotoyourhomeBall]

Throwing in a x/r otf vs 2 opps with decent freq given stack sizes. I also keep an aggro image, 10X and 9X will want to look me up for another street, plus it’ll end the stabbing/floating business and bring clarity to the hand.

[@cj7139]

Agreed. Also, it creates an SPR that turns it into a 2-street hand with a hand that benefits from protection

[@lewisriddle5859]

I like a jam on the turn because of players at those stakes

[@sneakkyz3696]

Extremely hard to get called by worse on the river. Just check and call ALL bets on river imo. In villains mind hero is NEVER checking a queen on the river so that in their mind gives them the green light to fire. What queens does villain even have here? Only queen that makes sense for villain to have is queen jack and hero blocking that hand. He’s not getting to the river with ace queen that’s for sure and king queen makes no sense to call turn bet with so if villain bets on river the ONLY hand they are repping for strong value is queen jack which again hero blocks so yeah I’m just check calling here 99.99% of the time in this exact setup. I’m at 12:44 haven’t heard results but I can guess it goes check on river and villain jams. But yeah I’m calling. Of course I was right. You missed this one Bart and this one was easy. Honestly maybe too easy and you’re thinking too advanced

[@5saMan6]

You say he's never getting there with AQ yet he showed up with AK on the river which makes even less sense than showing up with AQ

[@dominicshaheen5563]

My general rule of thumb is that players NEVER bluff in the low stakes. In this case, I think his positioning ultimately let to his decision. Once hero checks the river, they are pretty much saying “I don’t have a straight” and makes it a lot easier for the Villian to bluff

[@Jermo484]

This is not a good line of thought. Some of them never bluff, some of them bluff way too much. It's bananas to think they never bluff. They LOVE to bluff the second someone shows weakness like hero did here.

[@pot_kivach160]

wait till you get more experience in low stakes.

[@morgansaenzu8504]

“I was leaving after that hand.” Yeah I would be tilted out of my boots if I got bluffed in this spot, I would pack up the bags too

[@colintimp1372]

When you're this deep into a hand you should have your mind made up of what you're going to do before you check the river. At this low of stakes, given the stack sizes and all the weird crap I've seen, I'm probably never folding here; so I like jamming this river. There's at least a small chance you get a seven to fold; as you can have QQ here fairly easily.

[@stevezagieboylo9172]

There are plenty of value-owns at 1/2 -- sure, it would be a stupid bet, but you'd see it plenty. Any set would have played it just like villain did, and even some 2-pair.

[@itiswhatitis...9648]

I'm just trying to figure out why he was in the hand on the river? He called two bets with no draws no pairs...can't really account for when someone overvalues their hand this bad. Most people here would at least have the ten or nine with a redraw, but he had stone nothing so he had to fire when a one liner came. He is a really bad player and I would welcome him at all my games

[@danweaver5787]

This one has Bartholomew bumfuzzled 😂

[@WokeSteve]

Clear call.He saw weakness and jammed, saying I have it.

[@Simon-nv5zj]

I mean thats not a valid reason for a clear call, but anyway.

[@Chemissed-qc1bt]

It's not a clear call because what bluffs take this line? It's crazy for AKo to limp/call and then float the flop with a guy behind and then call turn! So wild. Then at small stakes not many people turning top or middle pair into a bluff at the end. So really I can only think of 56dd, k6dd, J8ss, A4dd that make any sense. Whereas so many Qx and 7x combos. It can be a call just because people doing weird things but it's definitely not 'clear'

[@EllieBanks333]

@@Chemissed-qc1bt How about ten/x ?

[@Chemissed-qc1bt]

​@@EllieBanks333 Hey, 10x has too much show down value to turn into a bluff

[@EllieBanks333]

​@@Chemissed-qc1bt Nice trolling

[@Matan2222222]

Why did you call the turn if you plan to fold the river? Fold the turn if you know what he have

[@Fitinvestor321]

By checking you’re baiting him into bluffing too often In that spot

[@WillPage]

Ppl too keen these days to find hero folds ... I am snapping this off so fast.

[@BarryWFoley]

even with the potential times he is ahead, WTF with the fold

[@jarrodfulton]

Dang u got owned

[@KraphtOne]

I want to play with you… and Bart… at the low stakes

[@EfficientRVer]

If I am villain and have never played there before, here is what I think. I think heros's preflop raise sizing screams JJ or TT. So, with AK, I would have 3-bet him preflop, to the 200-ish stack size of everyone else in the hand. Happy to race or dominate everyone else, and race him too with extra money in the pot, if hero doesn't figure I must have AA/KK/QQ and fold. If everyone else folds, their donations are limited to 35 apiece, but I'm OK with that, too. So, I think villain missed the easiest profitable way to play the hand. But he still figured out how to take hero's money due to a lucky/scary runout. The absolute only way hero has a straight is if he did his 12x (which you can view as 9x plus 3 limpers) raise with QQ or AQ, and for one thing, the river check almost rules that out, and for a second thing that preflop raise sizing rarely means QQ at low stakes, it almost always means JJ/TT. As villain, I much prefer exploiting hero preflop as a sure thing, to hoping for a scary enough runout to exploit him on the river. If I played villain's hand preflop the way he did, I fold the flop, because I know I've got only 2 overcards, vs either an overpair or top set.

[@EllieBanks333]

Hero never has a straight here.

[@relaxationmeditationsleep2934]

Disagree with Bart. The bet on the flop should be much bigger with an all in on the turn. And when I check this river I have to call.

[@patrick_kyker]

People fold there cuz they're worried about a queen or a seven but you have taken to account all the times that they do this with air or even 2 pr.

[@bentonja668]

This guy sure is focused on what he DOESN'T want to happen

[@oldterry9476]

that means he didnt raise pre flop??

[@stevepuglia8299]

Youre def getting a skewed sample. Never folding is not a good strategy at low stakes.

[@allenpiscitello]

lol what a nit

[@DavePuntz]

I’m so sorry but unless this man is a super OMC or you have some incredible read on him. low stakes players are too bad to fold in this spot. You’re getting 4 to 1 on a call. I am sure that one out of 4 times he is either bluffing a weird hand like this or value betting worse thinking you have like ACEs, Kings or one pair holdings. I think check call is a fine play. Jam is also good because he is calling all the 10 9s and other two pair combos. Never folding for this price

[@DavePuntz]

Also just to add how the hell does he have a queen here except QJ or Q 10. And the only 7 he should have is 7x of diamonds or 78. Next to no value great pot odds snap call.

[@ticenits1926]

Caller is another prime example of someone just trying to win hands and not money. The preflop reasoning is so bad he might as well just jam to get the result he wants.

[@alexatedw]

I love how upset he sounds to hit top set

[@patrick_kyker]

I just don't think you can fold sets not for 4:1

[@alexatedw]

All hands can bluff here because hero rarely has a queen. Which is what your repping when you jam

[@johnf1772]

Hero can have QQ just as often as he has JJ...and with J on the river he's more likely to have QQ. Villain isn't thinking about what hero has.

[@alexatedw]

@@johnf1772 yea so what. Very unlikely

[@EllieBanks333]

@@johnf1772 hero never has a queen here

[@johnf1772]

@@EllieBanks333 You can't say never here. If you think hero never has a queen, if I'm hero and have a queen I'm checking...knowing that you "know" I never have a queen. See how that works?

[@johnf1772]

@@alexatedw Explain to the idiot I am that hero plays QQ any differently pf, flop and turn than he did JJ. Come the river, I can jam QQ and hope you're willing to call two pair or a set to a four straight...or I can check and hope you bluff because I would never check a queen.

[@Moneyovertruth]

4 liners to a straight and 4 of a suit is when the trash low level players will bluff. This an easy check snap in low stakes honestly

[@sneakkyz3696]

Exactly. I commented same. There’s no queens he makes it to the river with except queen jack which the hero heavily blocks

[@5saMan6]

​@sneakkyz3696 QT, Q9, AQ, QJ. He showed up with AKo idk why people are acting like he can't have Qx lol

[@sneakkyz3696]

@@5saMan6 some people are just lost I guess. I don’t expect other people to be as intuitive and good at poker as me, like I really don’t but if you don’t see it you just don’t see it.

[@SkibidiYaY]

everyone says in real life, Bart is actually a fart .

[@tippychips574]

My first first comment!

[@dennisevers3421]

Are you sure? Might have seen one before

[@michaelstephens9852]

It's a bluff. I call.

[@Brazz27]

You need to have a pretty sick read that the guy is never bluffing to fold there I think.

[@sneakkyz3696]

Not even. Villain never gets to the river with a queen here unless it’s EXACTLY Queen Jack which hero blocks. No way he has queen king with the way the bets and calls went. No way he has ace queen the way it was played. Queen 7 doesn’t make it to the river. Queen 8 doesn’t make it to the river. Easy call

[@MrHoCkeY16]

@@sneakkyz3696 Q 10 gets here 100% of the time.

[@brucet.3239]

@@MrHoCkeY16 and that's 12 combos out of several hundred total combos in his limp-call range. Too small a percentage that we should be overly concerned about it.

[@Brazz27]

@@sneakkyz3696 I kinda agree but im not sure what this relates to about my comment.

[@sneakkyz3696]

@@Brazz27 I think I read it wrong

[@omarfromthewire603]

Keep playing like a GTO Robot, and don't "Play the player !!!" Lol love it 🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖

[@omarfromthewire603]

@@pot_kivach160 let me rephrase that for you... "Keep TRYING to play like a GTO robot,,"***