Mid-Stakes online pro Benton Blakeman is the guest on this week’s edition of The Showdown with Jon Friedberg.
This is part 2 of Episode 12. If you haven’t seen it already, check out The Showdown – Episode 12, Part 1.
Continuing the conversation, Friedberg asks about leaks or non-optimal way of playing a particular hand.
“It works both ways and what you are saying is true. When you play so many hands, you fall into a robotic type of mode where it just becomes automatic to bet or automatic. You need someone around you to say ‘that may not be the optimal way to play that hand’ so you can avoid playing robotically,” commented Blakeman.
When it comes to making plays and adjustments in games, Blakeman had a lot to say, “It’s not so much about the 4betting but I will make a 3bet but it’s not with nearly as balanced a range as it would be online. Every now and then if someone raises in late position, I may 3bet them with Q5s like I would online but it’s nowhere near as balanced like I would have online. People play with blinders on, they are playing strictly their cards. You have so much more information and you can step up and step out of line in live games and get away with it. In general when I play live, I play a good bit more hands than I would online because you have so much more added information than you do online.”
Blakeman’s career is doing well. What is best for him financially? Blakeman responded, “Well, that’s a good question. I guess playing less tables would be better and enjoyable, and certainly less robotic.”
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I really enjoyed the interview! I joined the site and will be here very often now! Thank you, Benton and John!