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OTB #073: 3 Ways to Build An Overarching Strategy Using Aggregate Reports

Updated: 2 days ago


If you want to quickly and efficiently learn how to play a specific flop spot in poker, the easiest way is to get your hands on an aggregate report.


An aggregate report is a report that compiles (or aggregates) data from lots of different situations and puts them together in a spreadsheet that you can then filter and sort.


Today I want to share 3 ways to use it to build out an overarching flop strategy looking at:


  1. High card

  2. Board type

  3. Board texture


I'm going to use the 30bb CO vs BTN in a single raised pot aggregate report to help explain everything.


Let's dive in...


An overview


Playing out of position as the preflop raiser is much tougher than playing in position against the Big Blind.


While you often have all the advantages (position, equity and nuts) when you're playing against the Big Blind, you will often have all the disadvantages when playing out of position, especially if the caller is in a position close to you (e.g. BTN vs CO or HJ vs LJ).


Across all 1,755 strategically different flops, at 30bb in a single raised pot the CO's equity versus the BTN is 49.7% and they should check 71% of the time.


Compare this to 30bb BTN vs BB where the BTN's equity is 59.1% and they are checking only 19% of the time.


So how do we build out our strategy? There are 3 things to focus on...


High card


I discussed how to quickly identify the heuristics using aggregate reports in How to Quickly Identify the Heuristics Using Aggregate Reports and I'll discuss flop textures again later, but something I've realised recently is the high card on the flop is really important.


Here is a table by high card sorted by highest frequency total bet:

High card

Equity

Total Bet

Check

Bet 25%

Bet 56%

9

51

46

54

14

33

7

49.9

34

66

7

27

8

49

31

69

8

23

Q

49.8

31

69

19

12

K

49.8

30

70

20

9

A

50.4

30

70

18

12

2

49.7

29

71

0

29

6

49.7

29

71

7

22

4

49.4

25

75

7

18

5

49.3

25

75

7

17

3

49.1

23

77

0

23

T

48.9

21

79

6

16

J

48.7

14

86

6

8

There's so much you can learn from sorting the boards by high card.


For example, 9 high boards are the highest frequency c-bets and Jack high boards have the highest frequency check.


If you look at the two preflop ranges you should be able to work out why there's such a big difference between 9 high boards and Jack high boards.

30bb CO RFI range (left) and BTN's calling range (right) - preflopdojo.com


The CO opens a lot of 9x hands, including the offsuit ones, and the BTN only starts calling at the offsuit Tx hands. This means that the CO has a higher proportion of top pair on 9 high boards.


And then the opposite is true—on the Jack high boards the BTN has a higher proportion of top pairs and so the CO has to check a lot.


Generally, the more equity the more you bet and the lower the equity the more you check.


The only anomaly here is Ace high boards where you have the 2nd highest equity, but check more than 9 high, 7 high, 8 high and Q high boards.


Rainbow, flush draw or monotone?


You can also group the 1,755 strategically different flops by type—rainbow, flush draw or monotone.


Rainbow is where all the cards on the flop are of different suits, flush draw is where two cards are the same suit and one card is a different suit and then monotone is where all the cards are the same suit.


Here's a comparison by type, sorted by highest frequency total bet:

Type

Equity

Total Bet

Check

Bet 25%

Bet 56%

Rainbow

49.8

35

65

13

22

Flush draw

49.6

29

71

14

15

Monotone

49.9

18

82

15

3

In summary, bet more on rainbow boards and use a mix of sizes, including the bigger bet. Check way more on monotone boards and mainly use a small size.


Board texture


Here's a table by board texture (not including monotone boards), sorted by highest frequency total bet:

Board texture

Equity

Total Bet

Check

Bet 25%

Bet 56%

Paired

49.9

39

61

17

22

Axy

50.1

36

64

33

3

Low connected

50

35

65

14

21

Low unconnected

49.7

35

65

2

34

BBB

51.9

33

68

21

11

K/Q+2

49.5

32

68

22

10

Trips

49.6

32

68

4

28

2 Broadway

49.6

28

72

13

14

ABx

50.3

28

72

4

25

J/T connected

49.3

23

77

5

17

ABB

51.3

15

85

12

4

J/T+2

48.5

14

86

1

13

When you sort by board texture, you can see that paired boards bet the most frequently, and perhaps unsurprisingly after what we learnt earlier, J/T+2 boards check the most.


What is more surprising is how much checking there is on ABB boards, even though we have an equity advantage.


Also, paired boards have more big betting than small betting, which is different from the strategy in position vs the BB where you mainly use a small bet size when you do bet.


You wouldn't have learnt that as quickly if you hadn't used an aggregate report.


Building out an overarching strategy here from here is fairly straightforward. I recommend using something like this sheet from the module 'How to start learning, studying and training any flop spot' in my Train & Play Like The Pros course.


I've put the flop textures in this order because paired boards happen the most frequently and trips boards happen the least frequently, as discussed in The Top 5 Flop Textures to Optimise Your Poker Study.


Summary


Using aggregate reports is one of the most efficient ways to build a solid overarching strategy for the flop.


By analysing data across high card rankings, board types (rainbow, flush draw, monotone), and board textures, you can quickly identify critical heuristics to speed up the learning process.


The data reveals clear trends like:


  • High Card: Boards with 9-high tend to favour frequent betting due to the preflop raiser's stronger top pair coverage, while Jack-high boards favour checking as the caller's range holds more top pairs.

  • Board Type: Rainbow boards see more betting and larger bet sizes, whereas monotone boards require significantly more checking and smaller bets.

  • Board Texture: Paired boards bet the most frequently and often utilize larger bet sizes, while textures like J/T+2 and ABB demand a higher frequency of checks despite equity advantages.


This approach will not only accelerate your learning, but also improve your decision-making across various flop spots.


That's it for this week.

See you next time.


 

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