Poker Hand Reading Practice (20/05/2017)
Practice Makes Perfect
Hello guys! I'm here with another poker hand to analyze. Always remember that the most important skill to achieve perfection is practice, practice and more practice. Before we know it, it will become second nature at the tables. For this exercise, I will analyze each street in terms of better and worse hands our opponent might be taking his line in the hand. Let's jump in at today's hand:
Preflop
If you haven't seen my post on how to calculate preflop equity quickly, check it out here.
| Action | Preflop Equity Estimation | Real Equity |
|---|---|---|
 | My equity estimation is: A(15)x2 +8(8) + 20 + suited(2) = 60% - 3bet calling range of 5% (25) = 35% | 37% |
The Flop
| Action | Better Hands | Worse Hands |
|---|---|---|
 | Set of 88 and Overpairs | None |
The Turn
| Action | Better Hands | Worse Hands |
|---|---|---|
 | Sets | Pocket pairs (99-QQ) |
The River and Showdown
| Action | Better Hands | Worse Hands |
|---|---|---|
 | Full house | Pocket pairs |
He showed up with QQ which was on his final range of 25 combos out of the 55 combos preflop:
Summary
Although I was lucky enough to catch an A on the turn, I also feel my opponent was pot commited, so after a correct raise on the flop, on the turn he might wanted to get it all-in. However, as I made the 3bet preflop, he could expect most of my range consisted of Ax and big pocket pairs, so with more stack size, he would have probably just called the turn bet. Anyways, it was a great practice.
If you have any thoughts on this hand, leave a comment, I would love to read it!
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Poker huh? Well, I could always use the brush up on tactics...
Thank you for the comment! I love poker and it's been great to practice a lot of hand reading, it starts to kick in when I'm playing online :)
I hope you get back to poker and do great!
I think your opponent is opening and calling far wider than this. Sample HJ opening range: 44+ A2s+ AJo+ K9s, KJo, Q9s, J9s, T8s+, 97s+, 87s, 76s, 65s, and most of the suited connectors and pairs will call a 3b in position
Not that it will add in many hands that beat you as 86s is a fold in the hijack (66 is a raise though), but he should have T8s 98s 87s 76s, 65s, etc in his 3b calling range, as well as many broadway cards (which increases the EV of betting flop opposed to checking). And I'm sure many players raise 33 here even though I think it's slightly -EV. Changing opening range and 3b calling ranges would also affect how you play other hands in your range on the flop/turn.
Just some stuff to consider. Nice to see some poker content here
I cannot thank you enough for your comment and thinking in perspective, I believe you are right, I always tend to give a tight calling range to my opponent when I don't have much information on him/her, but being in position is definitely a good reason to be calling with a wider range and should have an effect on how I plan the hand ahead.
I will be posting much more hands, I'm glad to see more poker adepts here! :)