WPT GTO Trainer Hands of the Week: Battling in Late Position
This week we’re playing a common spot in a small stakes live cash game where you open raise to 5BBs in the Cutoff seat and get reraised to 15BBs by the player on the Button. Open raise sizes of 5BBs or even more can be common in many live small stakes cash games.
Be aware that tough players will often donk-lead on turn cards that dramatically change the equity of ranges, both when that turn card improves their actual hand and when it does not. This means that after check-calling the flop, you should sometimes lead the turn on when cards come that can help your check-calling range.
Also, taking a bluff catching line (check-calling multiple streets) with overpairs that you slowplayed preflop will often be quite profitable. Slowplaying big pairs in this way will sometimes result in you losing the pot, but in the long run you will make much more overall by allowing your opponent to bluff.
Note that in this scenario, since the action is limited to Cutoff vs Button, both hand ranges are relatively wide. You should be willing to call down at least a couple streets with hands like 2nd pair. Folding pairs other than top pair or better too frequently will make you highly exploitable in a 3-bet pot such as these.
Since the SPR will become quite low on the turn, you should sometimes check-raise all-in on the turn against this player. Most commonly this will be with relatively strong hands that don’t block your opponent from having top pair or better. You must also sometimes make these check-raises with semi-bluffs such as combo draws.
To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five free solved hands from this scenario.
To access the free five hands, visit this page.
Regular play on the WPT GTO Trainer will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.
You don’t have to be the world’s best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don’t have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.
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The WPT GTO Trainer lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of postflop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.
If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT GTO Trainer today.
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As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and Played Percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO strategy.
The full selection of scenarios for the WPT GTO Trainer are only available to members of LearnWPT, however we’re giving PokerNews Readers free access to the Trainer on a regular basis with the WPT GTO Hands of The Week.
Use this series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.
