Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (31 page)

The standard play here would to be to check-fold or maybe check-raise. Donk-betting is also an option because it is really just a semi-bluff. By giving yourself a little fold equity, you can make a marginal profit from what is typically a check-fold hand. However, this play will usually increase variance, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your table.

Call frequent donk-bettors when you would be happy getting to showdown, such as with top pair, and raise or fold when you miss. If you have a good semi-bluff hand, you should usually raise as well. If you raise from middle position with Q-J, the big blind calls and you see a J-4-2 flop, it’s usually a good idea to call if lead into.

While your opponent could have some random weak draw, you should be happy calling down and letting him bluff. You should be more prone to raise with 9-8 in the same situation, as you have no showdown value. Another option is to call the flop and raise his turn bet, although that starts to risk too many chips for me to be comfortable in a tournament.

Weak players tend to donk-bet when their hands have marginal showdown value, like middle or bottom pair with a good kicker, or top pair with a bad kicker. These players are leading into the raiser to see where they are. Give these players the bad news and raise relentlessly. I played a hand in the early levels of a WPT event where everyone had 300BB stacks. I raised from the cutoff with 10
-6
and the big blind called. The flop came J-5-2 and the big blind lead into me for 4BBs into the 6BB pot. I realized the player would most likely be one to lead with these weak made hands so I raised to 16BBs. He thought for a while and called. The turn was an 8. He checked and I bet about 24BBs into the 38BB pot. He thought for a while and folded a jack face-up, saying he knew he was beat. He was also rather rude, and said I missed a lot of value playing my hand that way. He failed to realize that his hand was face-up, whereas I could have had a huge range of hands. In his mind though, my range was only top pair, good kicker or better. So, if someone tells you he has a weak hand, convince him you have a monster and pick up the free chips.

When there was a Reraise Before the Flop

The dynamics of a hand drastically change when someone re-raises before the flop. You should generally play a little more straightforwardly as the pot gets large, especially if your stack is starting to get short. If you are still very deep-stacked, you can occasionally bluff-raise or float on the flop, but you should do this rarely.

For example, if someone raises to 3BBs out of a 150BB stack and you re-raise with 8
-7
, you should almost always continuation-bet, regardless of your position, because by re-raising, you can represent a wide range of strong hands, such as A-A, A-K and 8
-7
. If the board comes A-6-3 you can represent A-K, if it comes 8-7-2 you can represent 8-7, and if it comes 7-4-2 you can represent A-A. There is nothing wrong with picking up a 20BB pot at every opportunity.

If you raise and someone re-raises with position on you, you are in a much tougher spot because he is going to pick up all the pots you miss. Hence, you should tend to check-raise with semi-bluffs, monsters and occasionally air, and check-call with good made hands and also hands like middle pair. Tend to fold weak made hands to continued pressure.

You are in a much more favorable situation if you raise and someone re-raises from out of position. Players re-raising out of the blinds tend to have a stronger hand than when re-raising from late position, enabling you to pick up some pots when the board comes with all low cards. If your opponent bets, you should only rarely raise, as he will continue betting a strong hand and will usually check-fold the turn with a weak hand. I suggest floating often, especially if the board is bad for the re-raiser’s range, and only folding when the flop is terrible for you. When your opponent checks to you on the turn, feel free to bet every time. If he continues to bet, you can call down with good made hands and fold weak hands.

How to Play each Type of Hand

In this section I will discuss how to play each type of hand both in and out of position. I can’t stress enough that these are just general guidelines. You must mix up your game from time to time if you want to win high-buy-in poker tournaments. The lines below constitute my default strategy. In all these hands you face one opponent. I will discuss multiple opponents in a later chapter.

In position when you are the pre-flop raiser, tend to bet with strong made hands, like the nuts, flushes, straights, sets, two pair, and good top-pair hands. Bet bottom pair as a semi-bluff, such as A-3 on a K-7-3 board. You should usually bet when you flop nothing, and bet all your semi-bluff hands. Also bet most boards that are unlikely to have improved your opponent’s hand.

Hands that are better played by checking include top pair with a bad kicker, middle pair and bottom pair of a fairly high rank, such as A-9 on a K-Q-9 board. Also check when the board is highly likely to have hit your opponent’s pre-flop calling range and missed yours. If you raise with A
-3
, an opponent calls in the big blind and it comes 9
-8
-7
, feel free to check behind. Even though this board did not hit your hand, it probably hit your opponent’s range so strongly that you should just give up.