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Position is
important for several reasons:
There four betting
rounds in Holdem: preflop, flop, turn, river. The order of action
in any given hand is fixed for all four betting rounds and the players
who act later have an advantage over players who act earlier because
they "gain information" from the previous players. A check
means "I'm weak". A bet means "I'm strong".
A raise means "I'm stronger" and a fold means "I
don't wish to contest the pot, don't worry about me".
In addition
to this information gathered by late position players from the formal
action of early position (EP) players, there are sometimes "tells"
that accompany the EP action which can be used advantageously by
LP palyers. For example: You raise with AK in LP after there have
been many limpers. The flop is K99; everyone checks to you, you
bet and get two callers. The turn is a blank and everyone checks
to you again but you notice that one of the checkers is extremely
fond of his hand and can't wait to put his chips in. He is hoping
that you bet so that he can raise, so you now decide to check. On
the river, when he sees that the check-raise didn't work, he comes
out betting and you call in case he only has a king. He turns over
98 and wins the pot. If you were in EP, you might very well have
bet the turn and then called the raise and the river bet as well
which would end up costing you two big bets more than this very
same hand cost you in LP, thanks to the extra information.
One more advatage
from LP is that LP players pay less to get to a showdown than EP
players do. For example: You have JJ in LP, you raise preflop and
the two limpers call. The flop is K96 with two hearts. The first
limper check-raises you on the flop, the other one drops and you
call. The turn card is a blank and he checks to you. You figure
that your opponent wouldn't try to check-raise you twice and he
would have bet with a king and so you decide to bet and your opponent
calls. The river is an offsuit ten and your opponent checks again.
Again you correctly figure that your opponent is weak. He wouldn't
go for a check-raise on the river here, because players very often
check the river in LP and so you bet once more and you get called
by a JT of hearts. Now let's see what would have happened if you
were in early position. The JTh raises you on the flop and you call.
On the turn you check and he decides to "take the free card"
and checks again. On the river, you figure that your opponent doesn't
have a king but the ten could have given him two pair or a straight.
Since he raised the flop and checked the turn, you figure there's
a good chance that he was on a flush draw and missed anyway, so
there's no point of betting. You check and he checks behind you
and shows down his JTh. Your opponent has just saved two big bets.
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I
know players who will always put in a raise with AK if there hasn't
been a raise already when action gets to them. However, as I have
already discussed in my articles, I believe this is wrong. When
you raise out of position in a multiway game, you must be strong
enough to value-bet most flops. Since you will only hit an ace or
king on the flop about one out of three times and you will be forced
to check on all other flops if action is multiway, I therefore do
not consider this a strong raise. Note that since you are out of
position, an aggressive player who has taken note that you habitually
raise with high cards under the gun, will call you preflop with
various hands and then bet or raise you on the flop if it's small
cards knowing that you did not hit it. You are thus prone to get
bluffed out because you have raised preflop. If
you hadn't raised preflop, your savvy opponent would have a much
tougher time trying to bluff you because he has no clue about what
you're holding.
On the other
hand, never raising with this hand under the gun is too conservative.
Since this hand is very often the best hand preflop and can withstand
a lot of pressure even when it isn't, it is worth a raise sometimes.
In general, the AK should be raised under the gun about 40-50%.
The following game conditions should help you tip the scale:
* In a tight
game, raise more often. The odds are great that you won't get called
at all and you don't mind taking down the pot preflop right then
and there since you don't really have all that much. Moreover, if
you do get called by one or two spots, there's a good chance that
you're getting called by weaker hands that will miss the flop 2/3
of the time and you will thus not need to hit the flop in order
to win.
* In a loose,
aggressive game where your raise doesn't get much respect and opponents
are liable to reraise you with various hands, don't raise under
the gun. If you don't hit the ace or king on the flop you will usually
have to lay it down on the flop if there's any significant action
on the flop and so you'd rather not commit too much money to the
pot before you hit your hand. Also, you'd rather conceal the strength
of your hand and let other players do the betting for you, often
with big cards that are dominated by your AK.
* In a loose,
passive game it is okay to raise UTG if you don't think you'll get
reraised or bluffed out. If you miss the flop, you can safely lay
it down for a bet knowing that you're beat and it woouldn't have
cost you any more than the two bets you have commited to the pot.
If there are
several very good players behind you who might lay down hands like
AJ or KJ for a UTG raise by you, then you'd rather just call and
trap them in the pot along with the looser players who are playing
cards that are dominated by your AK and would have called your UTG
raise anyway.
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Gus
Hansen is playing heads up against Danial Retzer in a tournament;
they each have about 500k and the blinds are 5k-10k. Daniel makes
a modest raise to 30k with AJo and Gus reraises to 100k with A6
of clubs. The flop is A98 with one club. Gus checks to Daniel; Daniel
bets 75k and Gus calls after some hesitation. Turn card is ten of
clubs giving Gus a club draw (and a straight draw which is no good).
Gus checks and so does Daniel. River card if offsuit six giving
Gus two pair. Gus fires out 200k and Daniel calls immediately. Daniel
played his hand very bad!!! Where did he go wrong?
* Preflop. Since
action is heads up, hands that are situationally marginal in a full-handed
game are now monstrous. I could see Gus folding his A6s for a big
raise. However, the small raise Daniel made seemed more like a QT
kind of raise where the raiser isn't really looking to get called.
From Gus's point of view, Daniel does not even have an ace high
and he's therefore putting pressure on Daniel to fold his hand preflop.
Daniel should have taken this scenario into consideration and thus
moved all-in in which case I doubt Gus would have called. Daniel's
call preflop implies that he's afraid of a pocket pair and he's
looking to hit the flop but a pocket pair isn't that likely heads-up.
* On the flop.
Clearly, if Daniel is calling Gus's reraise to 100k he's not giving
him a better ace. Therefore, when the ace hits the flop Daniel must
think that he has the best hand now and bettiing 75k for
value into a 200k pot does not make any sense. 200k (the size of
the pot) is what he should be betting here or simply move all-in.
He can reasonably get called with a pocket pair or with a weaker
ace. Gus himself was concerned about his kicker; apparently, when
his reraise did not convince Daniel to lay down his hand, Gus realized
that he may very well be up against a bigger ace and he therefore
correctly checked the flop to see what Daniel would do. When Daniel
made a relatively small bet, Gus apparently thought there is a good
chance that he does not have the ace and he therefore called.
* The turn.
From Daniel's perspective, once he does not get check-raised on
the flop, it is now obvious that his big ace is good. Being afraid
of an AT specifically is playing scary poker. If he thinks his kicker
was good on the flop, he must think that it is still good and now
is the time to move all-in or make a big bet. Checking behind Gus
on the turn was a horrible mistake, even though it seems likely
that he would have gotten called anyway by Gus's aces and fluch
draw. Still, if I am to get beat on the river I'd rather get beat
by a river after my opponent is forced to put the bulk of his chips
in while he's behind.
* The river.
The river 200K call was the smallest of Daniel's mistakes. Once
he has played his AJ so weakly, it is conceivable that Gus is value-betting
a big pocket pair or even a weak ace and his AJ might thus very
well be good. Still, the 200k bet here smells like something stronger
than a weak ace or pocket pair and it wouldn't have been a bad idea
to lay his hand down here.
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It
seems that you should raise. The limper probably does not have a
pocket pair and it is even less likely that he limped with AK or
AQ. Moreover, you are in good position here against the limper and
figure to gain free cards if needed. In fact, a raise here is usually
the correct move. However, I want to point out that not raising
is not necessarily a bad move, especially if you figure to get called
by players behind you. If you get called by players behind you,
then you have not gained LP status for the hand and it will be hard
for you to play the flop if you don't catch help. Let's say the
flop comes down K94 with two suits. Now while it was probably okay
to assume that you had the best hand preflop, do you still have
the best hand? If not, what are you up against? Is it worth it to
stay in to try to catch? Should you bet out, check-call or check-fold?
These are tough questions.
Remember that
Holdem is a completely closed game as far as your opponent's hand
is concerned. There is really no way of knowing what your opponents
behind you are holding until you see their action on the flop and
even then, there are still several types of hands that they can
be holding, some of which you can crush. For example, your opponent
might be on a flush draw, he might have AT QJ or JT. These are all
hands that you have dominated. They all have outs against you but
it would be a grave mistake for you to fold if you knew what they
had. This is why the raise gets you in trouble. By raising preflop,
you have put yourself in the aggressive position but you don't know
who the enemy is and what his weapon is.
Now lets assume
that you got called by two players behind you plus the limper and
the big blind (5 players total), lets enumerate the the various
ways you can play this hand when the flop comes K94 with two suits.
If It is checked
to you, you can...
check along
and then fold for a bet. This is a very good play, especially if
the player who is betting respects you and is not a known bluffer.
There is a possibility that he's betting the flush draw on the come
but that's about the only hand you can beat and even then he still
has many outs and so check-fold is a good play here.
check-call.
This is not a bad play. There is the possibility that he's betting
the flush draw on the come or some other drawing hand. The 9 or
4 are unlikely holdings, so if you are beat here, you are most likely
beat by a pair of kings (assuming that you had the best hand preflop).
Therefore, you have the right to become stubborn and not believe
that he's got the king and call. This play is problematic because
it is somewhat wishful thinking. In reality, the nine isn't that
much of an unlikely holding (he could easily have called you with
T9s, A9, 98 or the like); he could also have AQ, a pocket pair of
jacks or lower or even a set of nines or fours. These are all hands
that your opponent is likely to just call preflop with and then
bet out or raise on the K94 flop. If you do decide to check-call
the flop, you MUST assume that your opponent does not have a king,
for if he does have a king, you do not have the proper odds to chase
the ace here. As a corollary, if an offsuit ace or jack falls on
the turn, you must assume that you have the best hand now and you
should bet out (or check-raise). In other words, when you decide
to call on the flop, you are doing so against what you think is
a bluff/semi-bluff, a draw hand or a small pocket pair. You would
never call against an AA, AK, AQ, Kx, two pair or a set.
check-raise.
This is a very bold play and can be made occasionally if you think
that your opponent does not have the king. Basically, you are hoping
that your opponent puts you on the king and therefore winds up folding
a better hand. The corollary to this play is that if you get called
on the turn without much hesitation, then your opponent either has
you beat and is not giving up OR he's on a draw and will only call
your bet or raise on the river if he hits. This means that there
is usually no point in betting the river again as a bluff. If you
check and your opponent bets the river after you have check-raised
the flop, your AJ-high will be beat 95% of time (or more) for your
opponent has no clue that you only have AJ high and he must have
some big chutzpah to bet with nothing on the river there; you must
fold. There is one sort of hand, however, that will fold on the
river for one more bet: a two-pair draw and a flush draw that hit
a small pair. These are players who have alreadly labeled you as
holding the king because you raised preflop and then check-raised
on the king-high flop. They have made up their mind to stay in to
the river in hopes of beating you with a straight, flush or two
pair, but if they don't hit what they are looking for they are ready
to fold. Sometimes, all that's needed is one more bet on the river
to seal up the stolen pot for you; at others you are throwing your
money away on the river with no chance of winning. A good read on
your opponent is probably your best guide to tip the scale.
If you get check-raised
on the flop after there have been callers behind you...
I don't see
how someone can make this play without a king or better. Some players
will make this play with a flush draw now that it's a multi-way
pot and they are getting good odds for their draw. But if that is
the case, what do the LP callers have? One of them probably has
the king! Therefore, as bizarre as this may seem to the other players,
your best move is to cut your loss and fold for one more bet. Interestingly,
it is almost correct to call the raise if you think that any one
of three aces will give you the best hand on the turn (you must
be holding the suited ace for this to be the case; otherwise the
suited ace will give someone a flush, suckering you in while drawing
dead). The problem, however, is that you don't know that. Often
times, the EP check raiser will have two pair or better and you
will be extremely far behind and this is what makes a fold for one
more small bet correct. You are doing it because you don't want
to see the turn and hit, for you are afraid that even if you hit
you will be no good. I think that if you don't have the suited ace
in your hand, thus giving you three outs for top pair and the backdoor
flush draw, then a call for even one small bet is a big mistake
here.
If you get raised
by a LP player...
Is the LP player
on a draw or on a small pair? If so, it is correct to see the turn;
if not you need to fold. You should usually fold here unless you
have good reason to believe that the raiser is on a draw or bluffing.
It would be different if the flop was something like 844. Then you
are putting the raiser on a small/medium pocket pair and you are
peeling a card for one more small bet in hopes of catching one out
of six outs. In our case, however, the king kills your hand. If
you are up against AK, or even KJ or A9 you are almost drawing dead.
It's not worth it; give it up and live to fight another day.
If and EP player
bets in to you...
you should fold.
This is not a heads up pot and so there's no plausible way of winning
this pot unimporved or through bluffing. Even if AJ is good right
now (which is a wild gamble) it most likely won't be good by the
river unless you hit or somehow manage to bluff out the winner.
Remember that there are two players yet to act and it might cost
you two bets to see the turn. Let it go!
If it's checked
around on the flop and the turn card pairs the board or brings a
blank...
If it's checked
again to you now, a value-bet is probably correct. It seems that
nobody has hit the flop and noone has anything. You might get called
by a draw hand and win money without having to improve on the river
but you are also protecting your hand against the draws and other
hands that have missed completely but still have atleast three outs
against you. These players will be happy to see the river for free
but they will be unwilling to call a large bet on the turn with
a weak draw and no pair.
If you bet out
on the blank turn after having checked the flop and get raised,
if the raiser putting you on ace-high and trying to buy the pot?
If he's that kind of player, then you will have to call him down
or even reraise. Most of the time, however, players will not opt
to invest two big bets with nothing after the flop had been checked.
Therefore, unless you have a very good read, you must fold your
AJ-high for the raise.
An example of
such a read occured last week. I had A8 in the small blind in a
20-40 game. A player who had been doing quite a bit of raising with
medium cards like J9 and the like raised. I called to see the flop
because I put him on no pair and no ace. I will usually not call
a raise in the small blind with an Ax offsuit. The flop came 443
and so I bet out and he called. The turn card brought another three
putting two pair on board. At this point, even if he did have a
bigger ace than me we are now chopping and so I bet out again. To
my surprise, he now raised me. I was concerned. I thought of the
possibility that he's holding a pocket pair but would he be playing
it this way against the blind? After all, the turn is a bad card
for him if he's holding a pocket pair, as he may have just gotten
beat by trip three's. This play betrayed his hand; I knew he didn't
have a pocket pair and so I reraised him. I did this so that he
might fold an ace if he has one himself, thinking that I hit the
three or four. He called my raise and the river card was a blank.
At that point I thought that he had atleast the ace and maybe he
did have a pocket pair (he should have folded for the reraise if
he had none of these) and so I checked. He bet and I called. He
turned over jack-high and I took down the pot. The table was stunned
but this is an example where careful obervation of my opponent's
playing style and my smooth call preflop despite my suspicion that
I was up against garbage gave me information that I wouldn't have
had otherwise. If I had reraised him preflop, I would have a tough
time calling his raise on the turn, for I would suspect that I'm
up against a big pocket pair. By just meekly calling preflop, I
know that he's supposed raise with a pocket pair on the flop and
not on that ugly turn and this allows me to win the pot.
As you can see
there are numerous possible scenarios and numerous possible plays
on the K94 flop when you have AJ and none of them are obviously
optimal or absolutely correct. As the A8 story illustrates, sometimes
it is better not to be the aggressor and so you can better put your
opponent on a hand. If you just limp with the AJ preflop and bet
out on the K94 flop, you can easily fold for a raise. The raiser
is not bluffing, trust me! Also, if an EP player bets into you and
two more players in an unraised pot, you don't have to wonder whether
he's got you and whether it pays to peel; it's an easy fold. Lastly,
if noone has a king, bluffing here is much easier than if you had
raised preflop. By not raising preflop, you are representing that
you "hit the flop" with top pair and it is therefore all
the more likely that players won't call you down unless they have
the king with a good kicker or better. They might even fold a weak
king.
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