Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (58 page)

You should check behind on most turns because betting will usually get you action only when you have the worse hand. Players often fire out 10BBs here, only to get pushed on. They fold then, having invested 17BBs out of a 40BB stack with what could easily be the better hand. If you check behind, you can call on most rivers and lose the same 17BBs if you are wrong, but you have a much better chance of winning because you’ve made it to showdown.

A similar situation comes up pre-flop. Suppose you raise A
-J
to 2.5BBs out of your 60BB stack from middle position and the button re-raises to 7BBs. Weak players re-raise to 20BBs here all the time, folding when their opponent goes all-in. By the time their opponent pushes, they are getting 2-to-1 to call, meaning they only need to win 33 percent of the time to break even. In this situation they probably have about 35-percent equity. They have put themselves in a terrible spot where they should probably call off for their stack in a neutral-EV situation. They would be much better off calling, going all-in or folding before the flop.

You will survive if you think about what will most likely happen throughout a hand. Just make sure you are not setting yourself up for failure.

Limp-Calling in a Raised Pot

You may occasionally have a marginal hand with odds too good to fold, even though you think your opponent has a strong made hand. This is similar to when you are min-re-raised pre-flop, although once your stack shrinks to 50BBs or so, you have to be careful not to get it in drawing thin.

Suppose someone raises to 2.5BBs, another player calls, you call with 7
-6
on the button out of your 50BB stack and the big blind re-raises to 12BBs. Both the initial raiser and the caller call. When it gets back to you, there are 40BBs in the pot and you have to call 9.5 more, giving you 4-to-1 odds. Clearly, your hand will win more than 20 percent of the time, making calling the correct play even though you suspect to be way behind before the flop. After the flop, if you flop an open-ended straight draw, a flush draw, two pair or better, you should be happy getting the money in every time.

You may run into trouble when you flop something like middle pair. If you flop one pair, the big blind pushes and one of the other players goes all-in as well, you have an easy fold. If the big blind goes all-in and the other players fold, you will be getting 2-to-1, having to call for 40BBs in an 80BB pot. You have around 20-percent equity in this spot if your opponent has an overpair, but most players’ ranges include more than just overpairs. They also have hands like A-K and A-Q in their ranges most of the time, giving you a huge amount of equity, often as high as 55 percent. So, you are stuck guessing if your equity is 20 percent or 55 percent. This is where knowing your opponent comes into play.

A great example of this concept came up in the $5,000 WPT event at the Bike. A good, loose online player raised to 2.5BBs, a tight player called and I called from the small blind with 10
-8
out of my 48BB stack. Erica Schoenberg, an accomplished live player, re-raised to around 10BBs. The initial raiser and the caller folded. I called with the intention of check-pushing any flop where I had a gutshot with an overcard or better unless there was an ace on board. The flop came 8-6-5.

I checked, she bet 12BBs and I went all-in. She snap-called and turned over 9-8o. My 10 kicker held up, winning me a large pot. This situation is slightly different than I was discussing because I was heads-up. That doesn’t matter much because I was getting decent odds before the flop. When you bust out in these situations in a few tournaments in a row, it is easy to be discouraged. While these plays are high-variance, they are +EV in the long run.

Limping the Button

On the button, facing overly aggressive opponents in the blinds, you should strongly consider limping if you want to see a flop, assuming they’re likely to re-raise before the flop.

If you have Q
-8
on the button, you raise to 2.5BBs out of your 50BB stack and the small blind re-raises to 8BBs, you should either push or fold, and neither is an attractive option. In this situation, you are better off limping and calling a small raise if your opponents in the blinds decide to make a play at you. So, you limp with Q
-8
on the button, the small blind raises to 4BBs out of his 50BB stack and you call. Remember that to even consider limping, you need to know your opponents in the blinds are overly aggressive. The flop comes Q
-7
-4
. Your opponent bets 6BBs and you call. The turn is the 4
. Your opponent checks and you check for pot control. The river is the K
. Your opponent bets 10BBs. The king is a decently scary card and your hand looks fairly weak, so you should call. If you totally miss the flop, you can fold. Notice that since the pot is so small, when you have any equity, you should consider floating because most opponents will give up on the turn.