Published July 20, 2009I have some tips for you, concerning situations where there isn’t much out there on the board:
* There’s a minraise preflop in front of you and you call with a (small) suited ace. On the flop you hit your kicker on a flop filled with rags. If the preflop raiser makes a continuation bet on this board, you should make a small raise here. If the turn comes another blank you should bet big here. Probably you’ll take the pot right here, but there is a good chance that your opponent is holding a mediocre pocket pair here when he flatcalls you. That’s why it’s so important in this spot to bet the river (by another likely to be blank). You don’t want to check here because you’re kinda scared and lose against such a pocket pair.
* Pocket jacks: always a difficult hand to play, ask Norman Chad about it. If there’s a preflop (big) raise and call in front you, I think you can still call with this hand, but I think raising isn’t a good play in this case (in a deepstack game). Of course you can hit your jack on the flop, but also if the flop comes low cards, it’s a good play to shove there: you can also represent a loose preflop call (depending on your image) and your opponent with a better overpair is most likely not willing to play for whole his stack with just a pair. So early position can be an advantage in this case.
* It’s an unraised pot and you happen to have flopped top pair (top kicker) on, again, a flop full of rags. One of the blinds leads out with a small bet. This can be another good moment for a minraise: this way you’ll acquire information about the strength of your opponent’s hand and they will be suspicious about your hand.
Published June 13, 2009* In particular when the table gets shorthanded (or you’re just playing a shorthanded tourney), it’s important to make some powerful plays now and then. For example, if you raise it up preflop yourself with a strong Ace, the flop comes rags and your preflop caller leads out on the flop with a minimum or small bet: definitely RAISE. He probably has hit a small pair or a draw and wants some cheap cards. If he doesn’t release here, he will when you fire again on the turn.
* Did you mix your game up and happen to hit the nuts on the flop (which is of course disguised)? Maybe it’s time for placing a scared bet at that point, that way inducing your opponent to make a bluff (or maybe he’s just convinced his high cards are still best).
* An always returning question in poker is how to play AK. In the following situation this is definitely a raising hand preflop: there’s a small raise in early position and multiple callers in front of you. In this case you certainly don’t want anybody to flop Aces or Kings up with their Ax or Kx .
Published May 23, 2009So I promised you some other tips last time, especially for tournament play. I collected some for you, however: some are tied to specific situations but I hope you can use them anyway some time.
* If you call a raise preflop in position, you flop a good draw (OESD, flushdraw or both) and the preflop raiser makes a continuation bet, you can of course raise it right here, depending on the texture of the board. You can also just call and if your opponent checks the turn (which you missed and is not likely to have improved your opponents hand), you should DEFINITELY bet here. If you take a free card here and miss the river, you will get called for sure on the river when you try to take it there.
* Should you only call with the really big hands after a raise and a raise preflop? Not necessary, it all depends on the situation. Is the game shorthanded? Who makes the raise? Who reraises? What kinda bet? For example, you’re in the big blind in a 7 handed game with AQ offsuit. It’s folded towards the cut-off who makes a standard raise. The button is a good player and reraises. Now you should notice the button is likely playing the player on the cut-off instead of his cards and you can still play your AQ. However, I think you should reraise (big) here instead of calling.
* You play longhanded and a lot of limpers come into the pot while you’re sitting in late position. If you wake up with a reasonably big hand you can of course pop it right here and take a nice pot. But if you decide to call, be sure you play a hand with which you know what you’re looking for. So better play T8 suited instead of an unsuited Ace rag.
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