Using Your Tools

I’ve recently started taking on private students and it’s been quite an eye opening experience for me. It forces me to get back into the habit of talking and thinking about poker hands. In addition, it has made me get reacquainted with my poker expected value (EV) calculators as well. I still use the updated version of PokerStove that doesn’t have a date restriction on my computer, but the Android app leaves a little bit to be desired, so I’ve switched my mobile calculating over to an app called PokerCruncher. It has all of the same functionality of PokerStove has on my PC, but with a little slicker interface. It costs $5, but is worth it to have a slick range calculator with full functionality on your phone.

One thing that I’ve encountered with my students is that they have almost no familiarity with PokerStove and, as a result, I’ve had to use some of our time getting them familiarized with the ins and outs of one of the best tools out there for any poker player. It is definitely time well spent. Unless you’re some sort of super freak, it’s impossible to do range calculations at the table so doing the work away from the table with specific situations you actually encounter or with general situations that come up often is imperative to being a successful poker player. I thought I had it down with one of my students, but just the other day, he texted me to ask me about a hand.

At 400-800 blinds with a 100 ante, he raised to 1,800 after one limper with K-J. The small blind (SB) called and the limper folded. The flop was J-10-5 with two hearts. He bet 2,800 when the SB checked and got check raised to 5,600. He went all-in and lost to bottom set. After talking a little bit about some fundamentals in the hand, I asked him if he had run it through PokerCruncher. He admitted that he hadn’t and told me that against the range he plugged in, he had almost 70 percent equity. That sounded a little fishy to me and I asked him what range he used. When he read it back to me, it became clear that some of our previous talk about using this software hadn’t sunk in. He was using a preflop range to figure out equities on the flop. When I ran the equities with a more accurate range on the flop, I came out with things looking the exact opposite as he did, more like 70/30 in his opponent’s favor. Of course, if he goes all-in on the flop, he may get some better hands to fold, and if our opponent was bluffing, he folds, giving us the pot right there. I don’t think either of those scenarios happens enough to justify our jam with only 30 percent equity.

This was a classic example of a little bit of information being dangerous as well as illustrating that the best tools in the world aren’t very useful unless you know how to use them. I couldn’t walk into a master woodworker’s shop, look around at all the beautiful tools and just pick them up and walk out of there with a perfectly made table in a couple of hours. I’d have to spend time, sweat, and brain equity learning how to use the tools correctly. Having used PokerStove on many occasions in the past and understanding how to use it in each situation along with a couple little pro tips and shortcuts for estimating ranges more thoroughly, I thought my quick explanation of the app on my student’s iPad would be sufficient to get him going, not realizing the amount of time and energy I’ve put into understanding how the program works.

So, what does all of that information say about what to do in the hand? Well, we’ve decided that jamming the flop isn’t very good since we only get called by hands that have us crushed and draws that have a ton of equity against us. In a cash game I’d argue for calling flop and reevaluating on turn given no reads but, this being a tournament and our chips being precious, I think folding to the min-raise is the best play. Sure, it’s exploitable to fold all top-pair/good-kicker hands on the flop to a min-raise, but in this instance I think it’s probably best given no reads that our opponent is a maniac or will call off super light.

After thinking about it some, I realized that I had failed my student to some extent. I know that next time we’ll spend a bunch of time working on how to use the tools at his disposal instead of just expecting him to get it right. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG