PartTime Poker

Poker Bankroll Management 102

Wednesday, September 9, 2009, Aaron Clark

This was going to be 100 or 101 reasons why you shouldn't play above your bankroll, but ya know - there just aren't that many reasons worth putting in a list so you'll get the ones worth listing.Players watch games and see 'bad' play, often...Read more...

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*Text		<p>This was going to be 100 or 101 reasons why you shouldn't play above your bankroll, but ya know - there just aren't that many reasons worth putting in a list so you'll get the ones worth listing.</p><p>Players watch games and see 'bad' play, often what they don't realize is that the play is actually often correct given the opponents. When you see someone flip over 27o with aggressive betting they may look like a moron, but in fact they just felt that betting was enough to win the pot. Even if you know for a fact that the game is beatable there are 99 other reas...well there are other reasons.</p><p>Playing above your bankroll makes you conscious of the money. You should never think of the game in any form except number of bets. Casinos are nice enough to put the game in chips so you can see it in bet form instead of bills on the table, and there's no reason to worry about the results of an individual night.</p><p>The average player at the table is better. Maybe not that one fish you followed over, but the rest of the table is likely to be better than the average guy at the level you're used to.</p><p>When you have a bad run it kills your bankroll. If you play too high then step down to a level even lower than what you're used to then it will take forever to catch-up.</p><p>The cute girl at the table is a hooker, not your future wife.</p><p>Believe it or not, its addictive. Gambling is addictive by nature. You play poker and reduce the gambling aspects of it by playing tighter or better poker than your opponents. I for one work pretty hard to not be enticed by gambling, but when you have a good night at the 30-60 game instead of your normal 15-30 its hard to not go back. Even though you only played that game because it was prime, you did win $3000 last session, might as well try again. I could go pro if this keeps up, after all.</p><p>There's just no reason to take the risk. You've got a good thing going, why risk it?</p><p>Them folding more really isn't good for you. I hear it all the time that the low limit games are impossible to beat because they never fold. If this is your view then you need to study a lot more. Read, then read more. Get low limit books, not the advanced books. You make all your money from your opponents mistakes, not from their good play.</p><p>You forgot your sunglasses and hat.</p>

There’s three ways to play Jacks preflop - and all of them are wrong

Wednesday, May 20, 2009, John Darr

Aside from "don't fold the nuts on the river," very rarely is anything in poker a slam dunk piece of advice. But I think I've come the closest thing to it. Now, I can't take credit for coming up with this and perhaps you've heard it already...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Aside from "don't fold the nuts on the river," very rarely is anything in poker a slam dunk piece of advice. But I think I've come the closest thing to it. Now, I can't take credit for coming up with this and perhaps you've heard it already but here it is anyway: "There are 3 ways to play Jacks preflop and they're all wrong."</p><p>A friend of mine, known in the poker world as "Candyman," heard someone say it at a 2-5 no limit game and he rushed over to my game to tell me about it. "John, you have to write an article on THAT!" It's not too often I 'must' do anything but I will cater to my rabid fans one time only ; ) Let's see if this piece of advice is an alley-oop or a dribbler off our foot and out of bounds.</p><p>First things first. What are the three ways to play Jacks preflop in no limit Texas Hold'em? Um, there's more than 3 ways given all the possibilities of game types, opponents, opponents' betting, etc.</p><p>But if I was asked that question "what are the 3 ways to play Jacks preflop" I'd immediately shoot back 'in what position?' But let's cover the basics. You obviously can call, raise or fold. For the sake of keeping this article out of overtime, AKA under 10,000 words, let's isolate this situation to playing Jacks under the gun against a full table (8 or more opponents) THAT you have NO info on. And we're only concerned with your initial decision. Calling with the intent of reraising or raising with the intent of calling the reraise or better yet folding with the intent of calling but being too chicken and you'll do it next time? Another article. </p><p>Well, this seems to be a most extreme starting condition for Jacks. So let's light up the scoreboard and see what plays out.</p><p>Why Calling (limping) with Jacks UG is wrong</p><ul><li>You're allowing worse hands to come in for a very cheap price (1 point)</li> <li>If someone behind you raises you are in a very awkward spot (1 point)</li> <li>You're playing the whole hand out of position, possibly against a large field of random hands (2 points)</li> <li>An over card will hit the flop more than 50% of the time (2 points)</li> <li>When you have an overpair and get any action you're probably facing some draws or two pair, so there's no good turn card for you (3 points)</li> </ul><p>Total score 7 points</p><p>Why Calling with Jacks UG is right</p><ul><li>You get in for the minimum and see what everyone else does before committing a lot of money (1 point)</li> <li>When you flop a set chances are someone has top pair and you can make some money (2 points)</li> <li>If you go to showdown, your limp with Jacks may allow you to limp UG with weaker hands later in the game (1 point)</li> <li>Umm, you just can't fold can you? (.5 points)</li> </ul><p>Total score 4.5 points</p><p>7 to 4.5. It appears calling with Jacks is wrong.</p><p>Why Raising with Jacks is Wrong</p><ul><li>You are giving up the strength of your hand (.5 points)</li> <li>Your raise is attacking one big and one small blind and that' not a lot (1 point)</li> <li>Your raise will still probably price people in to draw at your stack (1 point)</li> <li>You're likely crushed by a hand that reraises you but you can't be sure (1 point)</li> <li>You'll be out of position the WHOLE hand against better than average starting hands (2 points)</li> <li>An Ace, King or Queen will flop more than 50% of the time (1 point)</li> <li>When the board is under your Jacks, you're probably getting action from a draw or a real big draw like two overs and a flush (1 point)</li> </ul><p>Total score 7.5 points</p><p>Why Raising with Jacks is Right</p><ul><li>You charge lesser hands a premium to see a flop (1 point)</li> <li>You MIGHT get small pocket pairs and hands with an over to fold instead of out-flopping you (like AT, KT, KQ) (1 point)</li> <li>You'll probably get bigger hands like AA, KK, QQ to reveal their strength early in the hand (2 points)</li> <li>Your hand plays best against a small field and your raise increases the chances of that (1 point)</li> <li>You can't fold Jacks can you? (.5 points)</li> </ul><p>Total score 5.5 points</p><p>Hmm, a trend. 7.5 to 5.5. It also appears raising with Jacks is wrong. Folding Jacks? Let's see.</p><p>Why Folding Jacks is Wrong</p><ul><li>Most of the time you're going to have the best hand preflop (5 points)</li> <li>When you flop a set, you're probably going to make some money against an opponent who over plays top pair A, K or Q (1 point)</li> <li>Even though one over card is likely to hit the flop, that doesn't mean it hit your opponent(s) (.5 points)</li> <li>You can't fold Jacks preflop, can you? (.5 points)</li> </ul><p>Total score 7 points</p><p>Why Folding Jacks Preflop is Right</p><ul><li>You'll play the whole hand out of position (2 points)</li> <li>Unless you've flopped a set, you really can't feel good about your hand if you get any action (2 points)</li> <li>You will establish a super-tight image and that can be good for you when you play your button (1 point)</li> <li>Umm, you can't fold Jacks and I know it (-3 points)</li> </ul><p>Total score 2 points</p><p>So, that's 3 of 3 ways to play Jacks preflop all wrong. Strangely enough, Jacks are one of those in-betweeners that are all wrong to players who don't play at a high enough level on all streets. Good players love to play Jacks because it gives them a chance to showcase their skill.</p><p>So how can you play Jacks preflop right? There's no one right answer and I think the truth lies in your image and comfort level playing out of position.</p><p>I know you don't want to fold. Although it wasn't discussed in this article, I prefer limping with the intent of reraising. In that spot if I get re-re-raised I can fold thinking I'm beat or barely ahead. And sometimes I get QQ to fold thinking they're up against Aces or Kings. But I'd rather lose that initial investment rather than see a flop and overplay an overpair when I'm crushed.</p><p>Slam dunk?</p><p>I think so. So when you look down and see Jacks under the gun remember that no matter what you do, your first decision is probably pretty marginal at best.</p>

The Catholic Casino - Lessons in Game Selection

Tuesday, November 4, 2008, Aaron K

Last Saturday, I volunteered to help out my father and work his booth at the St. Joseph Orphans picnic. For those of you not familliar with the Catholic picnic circuit in Louisville, St. Joe's picnic is the picnic to end all picnics in the ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Last Saturday, I volunteered to help out my father and work his booth at the St. Joseph Orphans picnic. For those of you not familliar with the Catholic picnic circuit in Louisville, St. Joe's picnic is the picnic to end all picnics in the city of Louisville, and every year around the 2nd week of August, Catholics come from all over the city to eat fish, drink beer, and attempt to win cakes, fruit, stuffed animals, and other inexpensive commodities.</p><p>My assignment that day: the front line at the Ker Plunk booth. Ker Pllunk is basically a smaller version of the Price is Right game of Plachinko, but instead of $10,000 being on the line, the best prize a customer at the booth could win was an inflatible Sponge Bob, which I am quite sure was out of style 3 years ago. Regardless of that fact, it was amazing the amount of traffic I saw at this booth after working only a short 3 hours. Parents, children, bum unlcles, etc. all stepped up to try their luck and attempt to win the inflatible and stuffed assortment of prizes that the booth offered.</p><p>There was a little blonde girl who kept coming up to the booth and playing Ker Plunk for a $0.25 per attempt. She won a few prizes for the $15 that she spent, but I don't think she really cared about them. I saw the addictive look in her I that I sometimes get while meandering through casino floors, wanting to place bets where no edge existed for myself. The girl just cared about beating the KerPlunk game, regardless of how worthless the merchandise was. I could respect the competitive and never-say-die attitude of this girl, but I think she could have found a better game to play. Maybe the girl was not thinking Risk/Reward at all as she was dropping disc after disc into the KerPulnk board, and I did not bother to ask her, but that's the read I had on her after she spent 30 minutes at the booth.</p><p>So what is my point, you may ask? The point is, when walking through casinos or surfing the internet, find a game where you have an edge and can beat the game. Walk by the blackjack, craps, and Let it Ride tables and get into a poker game you can beat. Read up on the poker knowledge you learn from PartTimePoker and other poker sources, and then put your knowledge into practice out in the real world. Let's play another hand......</p>

The Pitfalls of Poker as a Profession

Saturday, September 6, 2008, Aaron K

Well, I've been an official poker "pro" (and I use that term loosely) for the last 5 months now, and it has not been working out as well as I had hoped. When I started out playing full time this March, I had about $10,000 to work with in my...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Well, I've been an official poker "pro" (and I use that term loosely) for the last 5 months now, and it has not been working out as well as I had hoped. When I started out playing full time this March, I had about $10,000 to work with in my bankroll, and I told myself if it dipped below $4000, then I needed to get back into the corporate world again. So here I am today with a bankroll less than $4000 looking for a job. So what went wrong over the last 5 months? I'll try and break it down for you and describe the things I did poorly as a poker professional, and I attribute it to four things that I did poorly:</p><p>1. Poor Bankroll management<br /> 2. Avoiding Table Games<br /> 3. Handling the Road<br /> 4. Make it supplemental income</p><p>1. Poor Bankroll Management</p><p>I would always talk to my poker friends about my bankroll and the games in which I was partaking, and they would tell me I was playing in too big of games for the amount of cash I had. I, being a young and cocky and confident young man, told them that I was fine and that I could beat this game. I knew I had the "game" to beat these games, but the reality was, I needed to grind in lower games to get my bankroll going on a slow but steady upswing.</p><p>Instead of playing in $2-5 NL games, I should have played the smaller $1-2 NL games and the 10-20 limit game that I know I can beat on a consistent basis, At least until I had my BR to higher that $20k. I did not adjust to the fact that I was now playing poker professionally and had no other source of income on which to rely. I know these games can sometimes be as boring as paint dry, but they usually have weaker players who a good player can beat on a consistent basis. Take advantage of this and put your pride aside.</p><p>2. Avoiding Table Games</p><p>As smart as I am (or at least I think I am), I am pretty dumb when it comes to falling into the casino's trap of table games. I know they are games that cannot be beat on a consistent basis, but I would not hesitate to put $200-$500 of my bankroll at risk at any given time to play some table games. I'd hit up Blackjack every once in awhile, Caribbean Stud (I still need to hit the progressive on this before I die, regardless if the odds are true or not—it's just on my list of lifelong things to cross off), Let It Ride, or any other Carnival game the casino had to offer when I felt like being "in action" while not playing in a poker game.</p><p>Bottom Line is this: if you are truly trying to make a living at poker, table games should be avoided at all costs, regardless if you are running good in the poker room and think you are on a hot streak. The only problem is that every poker player, myself included, has a sick, addictive gambler in them that likes to makes bets, regardless if they have the best of it or not. This bizarre character that exists in every poker player needs to be controlled at all cost, because if he or she gets out, you can lose money that is needed to live like and keep your poker bankroll healthy.</p><p>3. Handling the Road</p><p>I took two big poker road trips this summer, one to the true armpit of America, Tunica, MS and another to Las Vegas during the WSOP. Neither one of these trips were profitable trips for me. In Tunica, there was not much I could do. I played in all the games I thought I could beat, but it was just not meant to be. I played well despite the everyday threat of receiving the West Nile virus from one of the 1 billion larger- than-life mosquitoes that were hanging around the outside and sometimes inside the casino. Vegas was a different story.</p><p>In Vegas this year, I lost focus of the true reason I went out there as a poker pro and that was to make some money playing poker. The 4 previous times that I went to Vegas, I was out there as a tourist with a job to fall back on if the gambling did not go well. This time, I was entering the city as a poker pro, but I never adjusted well internally to my new situation. I treated the damn trip like I still had a job with a steady income when that was not the case.</p><p>I was playing a little poker, playing some blackjack, flirting, dining at fine restaurants with people I had just met out there, and hanging by the pool. I guess my point of all this is, I was in Vegas this time to make money as a card player, and that is NOT what I put all of my efforts into while I was there. The town just overpowers individuals like me that have "addictive" personalities and who cannot stay disciplined to play the games they have an edge in (poker) for the entire time that they are there.</p><p>That being said, I did have a blast while I was in Vegas for my 6-day stint, but I of course lost money on the trip because I was not focused on my true goal for the trip: making some money at poker.</p><p>4. Make poker a supplemental income</p><p>Poker was a lot of fun when the statistics were holding up for me and the cards were running good, but you sure cannot beat the feeling of a steady income. I know I took it to an extreme and let my solid engineering job get way from me in order to tackle poker full time. Yeah, corporate America sucks at times but its all part of the business, and hell, poker was a lot more relaxing when I knew the money I was playing with was my gambling money that I could afford to lose. It's a lot of pressure for even a single guy like me to take on a mortgage and various other bills with only a low level poker player income, so my advice to everyone else would be to play the game as a way to supplement your income, not as your main source.</p><p>Hope this article opened some eyes for you up and coming poker players out there, and you can learn from the mistakes I made over the last 5 months. I gotta go back to the classifieds to find my next engineering job, but I'll be back in the action soon.</p><p>——————————————————————————————————-<br /> This article is dedicated to an old high school English teacher of mine, Brother James Kelly.</p><p>Brother Kelly was a great teacher on the subject of writing critical essays, and I hope that teaching is reflected in my writing. Brother James is also battling cancer right now, a disease that is formidable but beatable. Hell, if Lance Armstrong beat it, then I know a stubborn Grammar School teacher with Irish/English roots can beat it too.</p>

Fundamental Strategy for 6-Max Mirco-Stakes No Limit Cash Games

Friday, December 7, 2007, BigCheep (Neverbeg.com)

This article is intended to give a beginning/intermediate player a general idea on how to play a solid pre-flop game at micro NL 6-max. Hopefully someone can build on a few of these ideas and become a winning player. Here are a few things t...Read more...

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*Text		<p>This article is intended to give a beginning/intermediate player a general idea on how to play a solid pre-flop game at micro NL 6-max. Hopefully someone can build on a few of these ideas and become a winning player. Here are a few things to look out for. <br /><br /><strong>Position is Everything</strong> <br /><br /> I'll start out talking about position because it is one of the biggest aspects of the game that is frequently overlooked by beginners (and even experienced players). This will probably get a big yawn out of some people but I cannot stress the importance of position enough if you want to play a profitable game. <br /><br /> It is important to understand that the strength of your hand is relative to how many players are still waiting to act behind you and whether you'll be in or out of position after the flop. I'll try a general analogy to explain it better. Suppose you are one of 5 people in a line that are given a random number ranging from 1 to 10. You are first in line and you are given the number 7, would you bet me 20$ that your number is highest than all 4 people behind you? What if you were next to last on line, and given the number 7 again? Would you bet that your number is higher than the person behind you? I know I sure would. If you are first in line, the number 7 has around a 13% chance to be the highest number of the 5, if you are next to last it has a 60% of being higher than the number of the person is holding behind you. Not brain surgery here, but it's this same concept that many people ignore on the poker table. This is why standard opening ranges change with your position relative to the button. <br /><br /> This is only half the story of position. Suppose you open raise with AQ under the gun and the button calls you. After the flop you are going to be 'out of position' as the first person to act. The button will be 'in position' because he gets to see you act first, and therefore has an advantage over you. The value of your hand decreases when you are OOP (out of position) because of this concept. Strong players like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey both know the value of having position and wield it like a sword to outplay their opponents or make thin value-bets that are much harder to do OOP. You need to make it a habit to be conscience of your position at the table at all times, because it is the rock on which strong hold'em play is built. <br /><br /><strong>Preflop Basics</strong> <br /><br /> I always say never open limp. It's going to allow strong players behind you to raise with position, and most of the time you'll be out of position with a piece of the flop in a family pot and not knowing where you are at. There are tables where open limping isn't that bad, like limping with a tiny pair UTG at a very loose-passive table, but the majority of the time you shouldn't be doing it and is going to cost you money in the long run. Also, get out of the habit of completing in the small blind with trash. Most players think "oh it's only another half of a blind" but don't think of the money they could potentially be losing on future streets because they are stuck OOP with a marginal hand in a tough spot. And let me define trash. KT suited is trash. A9 off is trash in the small blind. Avoid them; it'll save you a lot of money. <br /><br /> A standard raise at the micros is 4 x bb + 1 for every limper already in the pot. Get in the habit of raising like this or else you will be giving odds for people to limp-call your raise and we generally want to isolate and play our hand against a single opponent. Here is a general opening range chart for 6-max beginners. Notice I said general, and notice I said beginners. Nothing in poker is set in stone and you need to eventually be able to change gears in tandem with the table dynamic and adding/removing hands in your range accordingly. <br /><br /> UTG: 22+, AQo+, AJs+, <br /><br /> UTG-1: 22+, AJo+, ATs+, KQ, KJs <br /><br /> MP: 22+, ATo+, A8s+, KJo+, 9Ts+ <br /><br /> CO: 22+, A8o+, A6s+, KTo+, K8s+. QJo+, 78s+ <br /><br /> BTN: 22+ A6o+, Axs+, K8o+ K6s+, Q8s+, 89o+, 54s+ <br /><br /> NEVER limp on the button. Notice how wide this button range might seem. This is a pretty tight range for raising on the button. The button is going to be your most profitable position, you need to abuse it as much as possible, especially if people aren't adapting to your aggression. If you are going to play recklessly, the button is the place to do it. <br /><br /> If it's folded to you in the SB and you have any one of these hands you should raise; unless the BB is a very loose passive opponent who lets you limp on his blind for free. If there're limpers behind and you're in the blinds with 77+, AJs+, AQo+, depending on how many limpers there are or how loose the table is you should raise. 99+, AK, AQs+ should always be a raise from the blinds no matter how many limped in or what table you are at. <br /><br /><strong>3-Betting Pre-flop</strong> <br /><br /> You should generally always be re-raising (3-betting) all premium pairs (QQ+). A standard re-raise is generally 3 times the original opener's raise + 1bb for every limper in before him if he made a standard raise. The reason you can't cold call is you are pricing people in behind you; you are also 3-betting for value. If faced with a min-raise and you are holding 99+, AQ+ in any position you should 3B to at least 4 times the min-raise or 8bbs. When facing a frequent positional raiser who likes to abuse his positional advantage, you should generally 3-bet lighter than a UTG raise for instance. When an aggressive player raises from the CO or BTN and you hold AQ+, 99+ in the blinds you should generally 3-bet him because his range is so wide you are likely to be ahead. I'm usually 3-betting AK from any position, except if a nit raises from early position, you'll have to play it a little more cautiously. As you move up in limits your 3-betting range is going to have to get wider and wider as players get more aggressive and better at hand reading, you'll have to 3-bet light to keep them guessing. Don't worry about this now, but keep an open mind to it. <br /><br /><strong>Trouble Hands & Implied Odds</strong> <br /><br /> You need to stay away from weak unsuited aces. You should never be limping with them and you should definitely not be calling raises with them. The reason being is you are often not going to extract any value from worse hands, and you'll wind up stacking off when someone has your ace dominated, or you'll get in a jam in an ugly family pot. You also want to stay away AJ & AQ OOP when faced with a raise from early position readless; same thing with weak kings and queens. Calling with AQ is ok on the button, but you should play it cautiously after the flop. Either 3-bet them or fold OOP if there is a positional raiser as I said earlier. <br /><br /> You should always be calling raises from any position with any pocket pair from a full stack. Don't bother calling with 55 and smaller unless he has at least around 60bbs or else you won't be getting the implied odds (or the odds you need to draw and stack him on future streets) you need to call and hit your set. This is another thing many players over look is stack size. It's important to realize that as stack sizes go down the value of small pairs and suited connectors also go down. You'll want to be either raising your suited connectors or calling in position with implied odds, or sometimes limping behind with them on a loose table. Don't call OOP with 78s if a 40bb stack raised on the button; you won't be getting enough implied odds. Not only that but he will likely be playing a push-botty style that will make it impossible to draw with correct odds. Also don't be afraid to raise with suited connectors or small pairs on the button with limpers behind on a tight table. Generally stay away from suited connectors OOP, unless you know the raiser is extremely loose and will stack off when you hit. The value of SC's also goes down the more aggressive your opponent is. If he is betting big, he isn't dishing out good odds, and they aren't going to be profitable to play for monster value; you'll need to be able to outplay your opponents on top of that. <br /><br /> There was plenty of sticky stuff I didn't get into here like what to do when you are 3-bet or 4-bet. I mainly wrote this to give a beginning player a good foundation to work from and maybe help someone realize the consequences of bad pre-flop plays that seem like innocent mistakes, but wind up costing you big money down the road. Good luck.<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.parttimepoker.com">PartTimePoker.com</a></p>

Can You Win Without Looking? Playing Shorthanded Limit Hold ‘Em Poker

Wednesday, November 7, 2007, Randy Refeld

Texas Hold'em is the most popular form of poker played throughout the world today. It is typically played with a maximum of 9 or 10 players. Most players are only comfortable playing at a full or nearly full table. When the game becomes sho...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Texas Hold'em is the most popular form of poker played throughout the world today. It is typically played with a maximum of 9 or 10 players. Most players are only comfortable playing at a full or nearly full table. When the game becomes shorter the quality of hands that win pots decreases dramatically and the tight players that normally win become frustrated. It is the author's hope that over the next few months the reader can better understand what happens at a short handed game and avoid the frustration of losing.</p><p> </p><p>There are many dynamics to any poker game; for the time being we are going to ignore those. In fact we are going to ignore the cards also and explore the question "Can you win without looking?" It would seem your opponents would have to be pretty weak to let you win without looking at your cards, but there are many solid ring game players that allow themselves to be beat without a fight in a short handed situation.</p><p>A two player game is known as heads-up and is the shortest game. In the heads-up game the small blind is on the button and the other player is the big blind; that is the small blind is first before the flop and last on the remaining betting rounds. In this article we will look at a $10-$20 with blinds of $5 and $10, but these principles apply in any game where the small blind is half of the big blind. You have posted $5 on the button and you receive your cards. Normally at this point you would look at your cards, but we are going to try to win without looking. There is currently $15 in the pot . You could throw your cards away, call the big blind or raise. Raising is the only choice that give you an immediate chance to win, but how can you know whether to raise without looking?</p><p>Whenever you make a bet in poker you are "getting a price" on your money. If there is a $100 pot and you bet $10 you are getting 10:1 on your money. Back to our heads up pot there is $15 in the pot and raising will cost us $15 so we are getting even money on that bet. Ok, but how do we know whether to make an even money wager on our hand without looking? If we know something about our opponent we might be able to assess our chances of winning the pot with a raise. What sorts or hands will our opponent use to call a raise? More precisely how often will our opponent call a raise? Raising in this spot is an even money wager, so if our opponent will fold half the time raising show a profit. Do you know any players that play less than half of their hands? I know quite a few that do.</p><p>Some of your opponents may notice they you have been raising without looking at your cards and decide that they should call more often. Has everything been lost when they call your pre-flop raise? After they call your raise there is $40 in the pot (you did remember to ask the floor to eliminate the rake didn't you?). We are going to examine the case where the big blind "checks to the raiser." Now we can either check behind the raiser or we can bet. If we bet we are risking $10 to win $40. If our opponent will fold his hand now at least 20% of the time we have an instant profit from betting in this spot. Do players in your games fold when they miss the flop? Do they miss more than 20% of the time?</p><p>I do want to make clear that when I play I actually look at my cards. I have tried to lay the ground work for the mathematical principles that guide short handed play. In upcoming articles I plan to discuss what to do after you actually look at your cards and what to do when your opponents don't play as friendly as our foe that folds too much.</p>

Playing against a light three bettor: a sample scenario

Wednesday, November 7, 2007, Chris Grove

As no limit cash games get more and more aggressive, many players are finding that they're forced to develop ultra-aggressive counter-strategies that would have been pretty controversial even a few months ago. The old adage, popularized by ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>As no limit cash games get more and more aggressive, many players are finding that they're forced to develop ultra-aggressive counter-strategies that would have been pretty controversial even a few months ago. The old adage, popularized by (I believe) T.J. Cloutier,that a fourth raise preflop is a guarantee of pocket aces now seems oddly antiquated in the face of modern online cash games, where three betting preflop has become a fairly routine occurrence and light four betting is currently emerging as a popular response.</p><p>In this article we're going to lay out a fairly typical preflop scenario involving an opponent who has three bet you out of the blinds. The point of this article isn't to prescribe a perfect course of action in similar scenarios. Rather, it's simply to discuss some alternatives and to review some of the basic factors you should be considering when you're facing a three bet preflop.</p><p>This scenario assumes fairly typical conditions in an online 1-2 No Limit 6 max game. We'll also stipulate that you've been very aggressive preflop, running at about 29 VPIP and 20 PFR. These numbers may seem a little high to some, but we're going to draw a fairly extreme scenario to help sharply define some of the concepts involved. We'll further assume that two of your opponents have been playing very tightly against you, one has been calling loose preflop and then playing tight on flops, and two have been matching your aggression and often confronting you preflop and on the flop.</p><p> I know four betting with a hand like 10 9 suited might seems insanely aggressive to some people, but before we dismiss it out of hand, let's review some numbers. </p><p>You're on the CO with 10 9h and $400 behind. Your primary opponent is in the SB with $200 behind. UTG, one of your loose-passive opponents, limps. UTG+1 folds. You raise to $7, which has been your standard raise. The button folds, and the SB, who is one of your aggressive opponents, raises you to $26. The BB folds and UTG folds. The action is now to you.</p><p>This is the fourth time the SB has three bet this session. They've done it from the blinds twice before and once from the button. You folded twice and called once, winning the hand you called after you flopped second pair and called / checked down; your opponent showed QJo that hand..</p><p>Let's review your options. Folding seems a little weak. You have position, you're getting 2-1 direct odds, and you're getting another 10-1 implied on their stack. You also have a hand that can flop strong, and both of you will have enough chips behind that you'll have some room to play on the flop - if you call, the pot will be $56 and even if your opponent leads out for $50, they'll still have over $125 behind, meaning they won't be pot-committed with small pairs, missed big cards, or even weaker draws. All of those arguments for not folding are, of course, decent arguments for calling.</p><p>If calling is better than folding, what about raising? I know four betting with a hand like 10 9 suited might seems insanely aggressive to some people, but before we dismiss it out of hand, let's review some numbers.</p><p>The first number we want to nail down is how we're doing in a worst-case scenario. If we give our opponent a fairly tight 3 betting range (relative to his activity) that includes 10 10+, AQo+ and AQs+, our 10 9s is roughly a 70/30 dog. So, if we four bet here and our opponent commits, we're going to win $200 30% of the time and lose $200 70% of the time for a net loss of $80.</p><p>The next number we want to discuss is how often we'd have to take down the pot with a four bet to balance that loss. When we raise and win, we take down a $31 pot (let's call it $30 to keep everything nice and round). So, when he folds, we win $30, and when he plays we lose $80. That means he needs to fold 2.7 - 1 for us to show a (slight) profit - roughly 72% of the time.</p><p>What we're left with is a question regarding your opponent's range. If we assume he only plays on with 10 10+, AQo+ and AQs+ and folds all other hands, we need to make our best guess about whether or not his calling hands represent more or less than 30% of his range. If we include pairs down to 44 in his range, along with aces down to A8 and a handful of stronger broadway hands, then we pretty easily achieve a range that is going to fold more than 70% of the time. I think that given your aggression and his history of successfully three betting you this session, the above range isn't all that off the wall.</p><p>Some readers might argue that I'm being optimistic, and that you're realistically up against a range that will fold 50% of the time, resulting in a loss of $25 on the play. Why would you make a play that shows a loss or, at best, only shows a slight profit? That's a good question, and here's the best answer I have: when you have an aggressive image at a table and opponents that have position on you are responding with more aggression, I think that the willingness to four bet opponent light preflop is an essential part of your arsenal. Not only does it help to keep those opponents in check, but if you end up taking a hand like this to showdown, but you're also going to significantly increase the chance that you get to four bet your strong hands, and that someone will come along weak. Basically, if it works, it increases your control over the table and frustrates your opponents. If it doesn't work, it buys you an insanely wild image (far wilder than you actually are) for a pretty cheap price, an image that is pretty easy to exploit at most lower-limit tables.</p><p>So, to review, deciding whether or not to four bet preflop is a function of your image, your opponent's image, and the range you feel comfortable assigning them. With reliable estimates on those points, your decision about whether or not to make this aggro play becomes fairly simple - especially if you're playing against Mr. Cloutier.</p>