Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (20 page)

These loose limpers will often limp with small and medium pairs, and then make a huge over-push when raised. They do this because they have heard that pairs are always a coin flip when they get all-in, so they just want to get in pre-flop and force you off your hand. As long as you are confident about your read of the player, you can call off with hands like 8-8 and A-K if the stacks aren’t too deep.

From time to time you will be in late position and a good, aggressive player will raise against a weak player’s limp. Suppose a weak player in middle position limps, the cutoff, a good aggressive player, raises to 4.5BBs and you have A
-J
on the button.

Assume everyone has 100BBs. This may look like a spot to re-raise because the good player probably has a wide re-raising range, but calling is the only play. The last thing you want is to force the weak player off his junky hand. Also, if you re-raise and the person that raised over the limp re-raises again, you will be in a tricky spot. Just call and see a flop in position with a hand that is significantly better than both your opponents’ ranges.

Most poker players fail to raise because they see the opportunity for a cheap flop and want to take it. In reality, you should see a lot of dead money sitting on the table waiting for someone to pick it up. It might as well be you.

When You are Re-raised

People will re-raise you fairly often when you play a loose-aggressive game. While it is rarely good to be re-raised, it isn’t the end of the world.

First you have to figure out what the re-raiser thinks is your range. If you have been tight, he will think your range is tight. Because of this, he will usually only re-raise you with strong hands. If you have been loose, which is probably the case if you have been reading this book, he will think your range is loose. Also, your range varies according to the situation. For example, if you raise from first position, players will think you have a tight range and if you raise from the button, they will think you have a loose range. This will directly affect their re-raising range.

Next, you have to figure out what type of player your opponent is. Most players realize you are playing loose but will never do anything about it. They will keep folding, waiting for a big hand to bust you. Against this type of opponent, you should fold all your hands except the premium hands and those with high implied odds, assuming the stacks are deep. Suppose you raise 9-8s or 4-4 to 3BBs out of your 150BB stack and the button, one of these passive players, re-raises you to 8BBs. You should tend to call, hoping to get a good flop. Fold to these re-raises with hands like A-J, 10-7, or J-9, because it is just too hard to hit a flop where you would be happy to get your entire stack in. You should usually four-bet with A-A or K-K, as your opponent has announced that he has a good hand and is happy to get a lot of money in with it. If you run into A-A when you have K-K, move on to the next tournament. I tend to call with all my pairs Q-Q and lower against these passive opponents, hoping to make a set with the small ones and flop an overpair with the large ones. Be careful even if you do flop an overpair because your opponent could have a bigger pair. Make sure you aren’t check-raising with Q-Q on J-7-3, because that can only lead to trouble.

The other player type will realize you are being overly loose pre-flop and will set out to take advantage of it. Against this type of player, I am much more likely to four-bet with a fairly wide range. I am also more likely to call with hands like A-Q and hope for a good flop. Suppose you are 150BBs deep again, you raise A-9 from middle position to 3BBs and your opponent re-raises on the button to 8BBs. You should either re-raise to around 23BBs or fold. Calling is out of the question because your hand has poor implied odds. If he calls your re-raise to 23BBs, you should usually continuation-bet, but realize that some players only call a four-bet with premium hands that they don’t plan to fold. With hands like small pairs and suited connectors, I will almost always call the re-raise as long as we are deep. You can fold suited connectors from time to time. You have worse implied odds against these players than against the passive ones because the aggressive player’s range is usually fairly weak, meaning he will usually only put in one more bet if he fails to improve and it appears you have a strong hand.

If you re-raise to 23BBs and your opponent goes all-in, calling with a hand like J-J or A-Q is usually a tough decision. You should four-bet to 23BBs only with hands with which you will have a simple decision. In the example above with A-9, you have an easy fold to a push. You should also four-bet Q-Q+ and A-K and be happy calling off against aggressive re-raisers.

There is a new breed of super-aggressive players who are willing to put their stacks in with a very wide range of hands. I witnessed a hand in a $2,500 WSOP tournament in which a young player raised to 3BBs, a player known to be super-aggressive re-raised to 8BBs from the button, the initial raiser four-bet to 24BBs and the aggressive player pushed for 100BBs. The initial raiser called pretty quickly with A-Q and beat the super-aggressive player’s J-3. Obviously, this isn’t going to happen too often. If you know your opponent to be super-aggressive, you can call off with weaker hands, as his pushing range is fairly wide. You should know your opponent well before making these loose calls. You may also find that, while your opponent is loose, he will show up with a monster sometimes and bust you. You just have to keep your head on straight, figure out everyone’s range and make the correct play.

Playing from the Small Blind

You should be tight in the small blind because you will be out of position throughout the hand. This alone is enough to make playing all weak hands unprofitable. Another problem is the big blind behind you. From time to time, you may call a raise only to be faced with a big re-raise from the big blind, forcing you to fold pre-flop after investing some money in the pot. When someone raises from basically any position, you should usually re-raise or fold from the small blind as long as you do not have a hand that has huge implied odds, such as a small pair or suited connectors. You want to pick up the pot pre-flop and chase the big blind out of the hand. If your hand is too weak to re-raise, you should fold.

For example, if someone raises from middle position and you have Q-10, A-8 or 9-6s in the small blind, you should usually fold if there are no other callers. If there are callers between you and the raiser, you can call with 9-6s if everyone is deep-stacked. You should certainly fold hands like A-8 and Q-10 because the likelihood you are dominated rises as more players see the flop.

If there is a raise from middle position, someone calls, you call in the small blind and the big blind folds, you now have relative position. If you check the flop, the initial raiser will usually bet, and you will see what the caller does before you have to make a decision. Because of this, calling out of the blinds in multi-way pots, especially with hands with high implied odds, is almost always a good thing. Notice though, that if the big blind calls pre-flop, that player now has both relative and absolute position on you.

Fold most suited connectors if the pot is heads-up. Being out of position, you will have a tough time getting a lot of money in the pot when you hit a good flop, and you will not hit the flop often enough to make up for this disadvantage. Suppose someone raises from middle position and you have 9-7s in the small blind. You should usually fold if the action is folded to you and call if someone calls before you. If everyone folds to you, consider re-raising. I generally hesitate to re-raise from the small blind when very deep-stacked because good opponents will pick you apart using position. But re-raising from the blinds can be a powerful tool against novices because most players give too much respect to re-raises and assume you must have a monster hand to re-raise from the small blind.

If you are against an aggressive late-position raiser who often folds to re-raises, feel free to re-raise with a wide range, such as A-2+, K-5+, Q-9+, J-9+, 10-8+, 2-2+ and suited connectors. Again, don’t do this too often because observant opponents will start to call your re-raises and use their position against you.

The one type of hand I suggest you always call with from the small blind is small and medium pairs. These hands are better to call with than suited connectors because you know right away if you have a strong hand. With deep stacks, you will be risking around 3BBs pre-flop for the chance to win your opponent’s 100BB stack. I have coached a few people that fold hands like 2-2 from the small blind against a raise. Their logic is that they are beaten before the flop, which we know doesn’t matter because you are playing your hand purely for set value, and they don’t want to run into a bigger set. If you run into a bigger set, you were simply unlucky. There will be another tournament next week. From the blinds, much of your profit will come from making sets against your opponent’s top pair.

With limpers in front of you, call only with hands that have some potential. For example, fold J-3o if there are 3 limpers in front of you, even though you will get 9-to-1 to call pre-flop. Some players justify calling in this spot, saying they will only continue if they flop two pair or better, but when the flop comes J-8-3, their J-3 really isn’t in great shape because most turn cards are bad for them. Save yourself the variance and just fold trash hands from the small blind. Raise over the limpers with strong hands like A-J+, K-Q, 7-7+ and big suited connectors from time to time. You can also raise limps with fairly junky hands, as long as you don’t do it often, maybe once out of every 10 opportunities.

If everyone folds around to you in the small blind, your play should depend entirely on how the big blind plays. If the big blind is a good, aggressive player, you should fold most hands from the small blind, because you are going to be out of position. If you know he likes to re-raise, feel free to limp with hands you don’t mind seeing a flop with, like Q-9s, 6-5s and 3-3. Most of your profit against this type of opponent will come from making a hand and taking advantage of his aggression. If you are against a tight-passive opponent, you can raise every hand pre-flop. Most of your profit against this type of player will come from raising and continuation-betting. Most opponents are a mix of these two types of players. If I knew nothing about my opponent, I would raise something like 2-2+, A-2+, K-7+, Q-8+, J-8+, 10-7+ and all suited connectors. You can adjust as you figure out how the big blind plays.

In the small blind you will be out of position throughout the hand, making it the least desirable position at the table. Even though you get a slight discount pre-flop, you should still fold most hands and wait for more profitable situations.

Playing from the Big Blind

Playing from the big blind is quite different from playing in the small blind. You get a larger discount and usually close the action before the flop, so you will never be re-raised off your hand. Because of this, you can play slightly more hands from the big blind than from the small blind.