Tactical Tuesday Free Poker Training Video: Blind vs. Blind in Single Raised Pots & Trusting Your Poker Instincts
Our 6-max online cash game poker training series continues on Tactical Tuesday by examining strategy paths in blind vs. blind scenarios (some of the most common configurations in online poker) in single raised pots. Cash game poker pro Jon Chai submits two hands for review by Coach Brad Wilson; one in the small blind and one in the big blind.
One poker hand quickly changes from a high equity situation on the flop, into an emergency hand reading exercise to decipher what villain’s range consists of — and what they might possibly fold — when a dicey, wet river completes the runout. This card can’t be good for villain’s range, but do they ever fold what Jon thinks they have? Does he trust himself enough to pull the trigger on a polarized all-in jam to find out?
The other poker hand under scrutiny by Coach Brad is a spot where Jon unexpectedly makes his draw after checkraise semi-bluffing on the flop (“I didn’t have a plan for this!” – Jon). The hand quickly turns into a question of what to do when you actually make your draws, and how to establish strong checking lines out of position that can bluffcatch and effectively encourage villains to potentially punt their entire stack under the right circumstances. But when Jon’s hand gets downgraded on a board pairing river, he uses his hand recall skills to reexamine villain’s turn bet sizing to remove significant value combinations from villain’s range. Does Jon still have the right odds to call a polarized river overbet?
