Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (36 page)

If your opponent bets 4BBs, you should tend to just call. You don’t want to raise to 14BBs and see your opponent re-raise to 40BBs. This wouldn’t be much of a problem in a cash game because you wouldn’t mind calling to see another card, or just pushing to maximize fold equity, because you could re-buy. In a tournament though, you have to worry about survival, so shy away from huge semi-bluffs when you may not have much equity when called.

So, you call the flop. If the turn is the 4
and your opponent bets 8BBs, you should usually just call again. If you raised to around 25BBs, your opponent could push on you or he could just call, setting you up for a tricky river where you will be tempted to bluff into what’s probably a fairly strong hand. So, just call again. If your opponent bets the river, you can safely fold when you miss, losing only 15BBs. You can push all-in if you hit, and your stack won’t be much larger than the pot if your opponent bets again. If he checks, you can check back or consider taking a stab at the pot, depending on your opponent and his range. It is all right to give up on a pot from time to time in a tournament, again because it’s usually bad to risk a lot of chips on a bluff.

When you call the turn with a draw, you need to figure out which cards are good for you to bluff on the river if your opponent checks to you. You should generally look to bluff big overcards and cards that complete a likely draw.

Suppose your opponent raises to 3BBs out of his 200BB stack and you call on the button with 9
-7
. The flop comes 10
-8
-3
. Your opponent bets 4BBs and you call. The turn is the 4
.

Your opponent bets 8BBs and you call. At this point, you need to determine your opponent’s range and decide on which rivers you can make him fold if he checks to you. He most likely has a 10 or an overpair. If an ace or king comes, you should probably bet if checked to, representing a flush draw that paired its highest card. If a heart comes, you should bet, representing the flush. If a queen comes, you can bet, representing J-9, which is a likely holding. Obviously you should bet if a jack or 6 comes, giving you a straight. So, even though you actually only have six fairly clean outs, not eight because the J
and 6
may give you the second-best hand, you can still expect to pick up this pot a huge amount of the time going to the river. If one of your bluff cards does come and your opponent continues betting, you should generally assume he has a hand and be quick to abandon yours. Don’t get stuck assuming you have to bluff just because you missed.

The weaker your draw, the more passively you should play. This is because when you semi-bluff, you have to make your opponent fold a higher percentage of the time to show a profit. Also, as stacks get shorter, semi-bluffing all-in becomes an excellent option because you can have a huge amount of fold equity and don’t have to worry about having money behind. You also can’t get forced off your draw if you can find a way to go all-in with it. In tournaments, if your opponent could put in a reasonable raise that could force you off your draw, you should tend to just call. If you can raise all-in, giving you fold equity, you should tend to push.

Playing top Pair on the Turn

Most players feel lost when playing top pair or an overpair on the turn because they usually bet it, assuming it must be the best hand, only to be raised by their opponent. This is probably the easiest spot in poker to avoid. All you have to do is check. The problem with continuing in the hand if you get raised on the turn is that top pair is rarely the best hand by the river. Even if your opponent is check-raising with a wide range, such as good draws, top pair, and two pair or better, your hand is still in poor shape, especially facing a large turn bet. That’s why pot-controlling the turn is usually smart.