One of the elements of tighter early middle play, especially as it advances to antes, is the occasional hand where the whole table folds to the blinds. Two random cards against two random cards can produce surprising fireworks. If the small blind just completes the bet, and the big blind just calls, it is impossible to put your opponent on a hand. In very early play this hardly matters, as the investment is almost nothing. The antes make for a worthwhile pot, and the price of the blinds start to get worth protecting. Playing well against the other blind player continues to build your reputation as a tough player to play when in the blinds, wins you pots, and occasionally results in big and crucial pots.
I. Playing from the SB.
If I have ANY PLAYABLE hand, particularly mixed paint, an ace, or a pocket pair, I will not limp in.
- A weak ace here usually produces a larger bet designed to force the BB to fold not play back. It is just too difficult out of position to know if A high is good, and the weakness of the kicker, if it catches the flop, may be second or third pair. Easier to just steal here.
- The size of the PP will determine the size of the raise inversely. Weak PP's have the same vulnerability as weak aces post flop: bet to take the pot down. JJ and higher produce options to trap. I have already discussed the cautions here, but the prospect of a BB special is 50% less than a big hand limp-trapping and letting both blinds play cheap and free.
- More flop-dependent drawing hands, from suited connectors to mixed paint, should be raised to 2x-4x the BB, depending on your goal. If you get a call, you have exposed a playable hand and you will need to play cautiously post flop.
- If you have been raising from the small blind regularly with respectable hands and they have been shown, you can set up the occasional SB steal with garbage. Again I refer to the Sklansky-Chubokov numbers which rank all hands based on their value as a SB steal. The general concept is that there is value in the hand moving all-in to steal which is much higher than the value of the hand to make a flop and play a pot. This concept is discussed in Sklansky and Miller's book on holdem theory on the basis of a cash game analysis: the value in mid-tournament with antes to sweeten the pot is much better (as long as you don't do it habitually, as you will get caught eventually). This is the basis for my discussion on raises intended to steal the blinds vs raises intended to define the BB's hand and possibly play post flop. See a flop with QJ, but not with 47, but still raise with QJ enough to force the BB to at lease define his hand as within his parameters of what is playable, and don't be disappointed by a fold, given you still have to play the hand out of position.
- If the BB is short stacked, the prospect of stealing becomes remote. As I have stated before, raises into a desperate stack in the BB should be hands with some showdown value or two live value, and all of the hands I have generally described as potential raising hands (ie PPs and mixed paint, and, in this case, unlike late position steals, A-x) should be raised. There is generally no point in limping into a truly desperate BB: he will raise all in almost automatically. If your hand is truly garbage, give the poor player a break and surrender the pot. Garbage is a matter of opinion, and I have been known to push very very loose (J8 springs to mind) when the prospect of 2 live cards in fact give me the pot odds to make this move and show down trash. This is the only time I play pot odds in tournament play, and it usually means the short stack is so low I really am taking minimal risk. Keep in mind that the average random hand in the BB is the playable equivalent of Q7: J8 is in fact 40% likely to beat Q7. If the blinds are 500/1000, antes 100, there are already 2500 chips in the pot. If shortie has 1000 left, and you know he has to push his chips in, you are risking 1500 into a pot of 5000. Adding 30% to a pot you are 40% likely to win is very reasonable. Obviously, if you are that short stacked, the same logic holds true for pushing the chips in, given that you are not up against an opponent who would necessary pay any money to play his hand if he hadn't been in the BB. In either scenario, expect the call and pray.
- (as an aside, while I am talking about short stacks in BB's, this pot odd analysis makes a call ALMOST MANDATORY when approaching, or at, the final table, as the value (implied odds) of knocking the player out means either improving your prize or getting you closer to a seat in the final. The reverse is true is you are the SB short stack: if you have a few thousand chips left to pay 5 or 6 hands worth of antes, and the hand is crap, fold and hope to see if someone knocks out before you ante out in order to make the next better final table/in the money prize. Phil Gordon would tell you otherwise. He tells a story in his red book of being short stacked after a bad beat in the BB at a final tbale and making a "pot odds" call with 72 off. When you are so low a double up simply means 8 hands ( or a lot less, if the final table has gotten small) to the blinds to do it again, and you are 70% or worse to lose, the best play is hope two big hands show down before you ante out. I will try to repeat this when I talk of final tables and add some detail and exceptions)
- Any hit or draw from the flop is worth a bet. If you hit top pair, a kicker is usually, but not always, irrelevant. Top pair usually justifies a bet which indicates confidence that you have best hand: middle pair justifies some caution, but should still lead to a bet. A continuation bet may also make sense without catching the flop if the flop represents cards consistent with the size of your raise (ie a Q or K high flop may be worth a stab)
- If you do not have an ace, and your opponent has called your raise, and A high flop hits, it will be difficult to convince him he is in a kicker battle with top pair. Since A -x is often the hand in the BB which will call your raise, it should be easy to put him on top pair. Play cautiously if you have only middle pair, and play to trap if the other two cards have turned into a BB special for you. If you have a draw, the BB may attempt to slow play his A to trap a few more chips from you. Take advantage of the free or cheap card offered, as checks are expected in a battle of the blinds, and he is waiting to you to be persuaded that he doesn't have an A and your middle pair, or the K on the turn, is good.
There is one early limper with 200/400 blinds/50 antes in the local casino $100 tourney. I complete the bet in the SB folding Q4. I have been short stacked all game, and I am sick of it. I have 3000 chips left The BB just calls and we see a Q-5-6 flop. I am the kind of guy who thinks he knows when his Q-crap is good, and make a bet of 1000. BB has me stacked and goes all in, and the limper folds.
I tank for a bit, and declare that I'm not going to give up top pair in a battle of the blinds and make the call.
BB has Q-5. Not only does he have the 2 pair, my kicker is not only bad, its dead. Or is it? I catch runner-runner 3 and 7 to catch a super suckout straight. I was 5% to catch up, and 16% to split (by a 6 or the turn card pairing, as in each case we share the board's 5 as a kicker. I didn't show the math because I cheated and used an odds calculator.
Try not to put all your chips in as a 95% dog, ladies and gentleman. That guy was MAD. But I made the final table.
This story illustrates the danger of not raising preflop from the SB as good as any.
II From the BB.
Since you have position on the SB, take advantage of an SB who just makes the call. You can likely raise with anything to steal, unless the player to your right is a sneaky slow player. You should still raise with a reasonable hand, but raise to invite a call. If you get the call, be concerned, and be leery of a check raise play post flop.
As I have stated, nearly any hand makes a call if the short stack pushes all in from the SB: it is that much more likely a steal, and any solid 2 live or PP situation can be a solid call if you can afford it. Don't bother with true garbage hands unless the price is extremely low, as you don't really want to show the rest of the table that you will make such a call with 10-2 or J-4: This will make you a double up target when you are in the blinds, and will undermine all the effort you have made to make other players leary of stealing from you.
If the SB checks to you, it is usually safe to make the appropriate bet calculated to take the pot. Often a minbet or 150% of the minbet will do. Don't slow play with top pair or middle pair: you are inviting the SB to catch up on the next card, and the primary goal is to put that pot on your stack and get being in the blinds over with.
LATE POSITION PLAY
I have already discussed playing in position in early play, so this discussion will be short.
If you have yourself chipped up nicely while the blinds are still cheap, the conservative nature of the play in early middle play continues opportunities to play interesting drawing hands in very late positions. Unlike early play, however, where 67 sooted might call in late position a 3x blind raise, often called by 2 other players, and see a flop, these hands are much more difficult to play in raised pots at this stage. The raises attract fewer callers, and the raiser is more interested in making the right post flop bet to end the hand in his favour. Heads up in a raised pot with a drawing hand will likely expose the fact you are drawing early and a good player with top pair will force you out of the pot unless you have been consistently outplaying him in previous play. This is always a good thing, as that player wanted action, but not from you, and you may be able to take the pot down on any sign of weakness or a flop which is inconsistent with cards you expect him to be playing.
These drawing hands, however, are very playable in late position when it is still possible to limp in, ideally with a couple of other limpers, but also limped in against the blinds. These hands resemble BB special-type hands, only better because they are sooted and less ragged, and it is safer to play the blinds unraised because the hand in question is looking to make big hands out of flops which would also be the flops a player in the blind might bet out on if he caught a pair, but never very much because of the weaknesses of his position and holdings. You can draw and semi-bluff and outright bluff the blinds with these hands, and, with other limpers, a draw or a piece maybe worth semi bluffing off the flop.
I call this technique, especially the limp in from the button when no one else has come into the pot, a Slow Steal, as your intention is to steal when the blinds check or bet weakly after the flop. While this might induce a steal from the blinds, you might want to call a steal and continue the charade.
- Example: You hold 10-8 clubs on the button and call along with 2 other limpers, and the blinds call.
- Flop is 9 -6 -4 two clubs, giving you a weak flush draw and a gut shot straight draw for 12 outs. This is an ugly flop, and 4 checks to you tell you that the flop is making them sick. It is very easy to make the "take the pot down" bet here, and if a BB special plays back, you have 42% to win a big pot against 2 pair anyway.
If a player bets into you, feel free to call or raise, as you can just as easily represent A9 there, especially if the bet came from the blinds.
Same holds true on the same flop but without the flush draw: Who cares if all you have is one overcard and a gutshot if the blinds are inviting you to take the pot.
Sometimes these drawing hands will produce less obvious or weaker draws which are still worth a call or semi-bluff:
- You hold 910 hearts from the button in the same 5 way limped pot.
- Flop is 7-6-2 rainbow, giving you a gut shot and two overcards. If a blind has Q7 here, he will make a bet. With 2 cards to go, you have 40% to make a winning improvement, and a blind who has bet here and gotten called may very well slow down out of concern you hold 88 or caught a set, offering you an opportunity to either see a free river or take advantage of the weakness of the player in the blinds with a big bluff if the turn is a larger card likely to be among the cards you play in small pots.
That's it for early middle tourney play, although I am sure I missed something. If a scenario comes up which I haven't covered, send a comment and I will tell you how I would have played it.
Obviously, the more your aggressive, smart play grinds up pots for you, the more you stack up, the more you can afford to play a looser, interesting game, and the more likely you run into a huge hand and big pot opportunity.
The goal is to take advantage of the conservative play to keep your stack as far ahead of the blinds as possible. By the time blinds reach 300/600/75 ante, your goal should be around or better than 30k, but 20K will keep you playing. The game will start to get crazy at this level, and the next series of blogs will discuss patience, targeting, and making the right calls when most of your decisions are preflop.
No comments:
Post a Comment