Article
In the Money - Chapter Six
From In The Money: Strategies for Winning Texas Hold'em Cash Games
by Antonio "the Magician" Esfandiari
Chapter Six - Preflop Strategy
JUMPING IN
I remember like it was yesterday the first time I sat down at a poker table in a casino. I was totally juiced to have those cards dealt to me across the green felt. The anticipation of peeking at my two little down cards not knowing what surprises they had in store for me was electric. My adrenaline was pumping, and I was, of course, more than a little nervous. It did not take long for me to settle down, though.
I long ago learned to take that adrenaline rush and channel it into positive energy. I use it to stay alert and focused at the challenge at hand. Then I relax and play my game. If you are going to play poker, you should enjoy it. So take any of that nervous energy you may have and put it to work for you.
A WORD ABOUT BLINDS
In Hold ’Em, there are always two forced bets—which are called blinds—before the cards are dealt. The first player to the left of the button is the small blind and typically puts in a half bet. The second player to the left of the button is the big blind and always puts in a full bet. The button then rotates clockwise with every new deal so that everyone gets his fair turn in the blinds. In the first round of betting of each hand, the player to the immediate left of the blinds is the first to act. He is referred to as being under the gun. The blinds will act last. If no one has raised, the small blind will often stay in since it will only cost him a half
Antonio’s victory at Commerce Casino’s 2004 L.A. Poker Classic.
bet to see a flop. The big blind has the option of checking or raising because his full bet is already in the pot.In each subsequent round of betting, the small blind will be the first to act if he is still in the pot. The player on the button (if he is still in the hand) will always be the last to act in the subsequent betting rounds. As I have mentioned before, Hold ’Em is a positional game. Thus, the button has the advantage of acting last and the benefit of seeing how everyone else acts before him on every single betting round.
If you are playing $10–$20 Limit Hold ’Em, $10 is the amount of a full bet for both the first betting round and the round of betting after the flop. Subsequent rounds (after the turn and the river) will have $20 bets.Typically, betting will be capped at three raises per round unless only two players are left, in which case the raises will be unlimited. In a $10–$20 game, the blinds would then be $5 and $10, representing a half bet and a full bet for the first round.
Now, let’s saying you are playing $10–$20 No Limit Hold ’Em. The blinds would now be $10 and $20. Since the betting amounts are unlimited during any round, the name of the game represents the blind amounts. Minimum bets in this game for all rounds would be $20, and the minimum raises would be an amount equal to the last bet or raise. For example, suppose three players see a flop. The first player to act bets $25, which is $5 over the minimum bet allowed. If the next player wants to raise, he must raise at least $25. Suppose he raises $50 and makes it $75 to go. It will now cost the third player $75 to call; and if he wants to raise, he must raise at least $50.
While we will learn shortly about stealing blinds, the natureof the game in relation to the amount of the blinds will go a long way in determining whether the blinds are worth stealing. If you are playing a $1–$2 no-limit game with not much preflop action but a lot of postflop action, with average bets at least five times the big blind, then it does not make sense to steal blinds. Try to see some flops cheaply and give yourself the chance to win some big pots when you hit the flop. Conversely, if you are playing a game in which the blinds are more expensive and the players are conservative,then you may want to be more aggressive in stealing blinds.
Many players get caught up in the concept of defending their blinds. If you are playing Limit Hold ’Em, you certainly do not want a player in late position believing he can steal your blind any time he wants. However, I see many inexperienced players squander too many chips worrying about their blinds. When you are in the blinds, you have to remember that you are out of position. Even though you are acting last preflop, you are going to be acting first in each subsequent betting round. That is a very tough position to be in—especially in no-limit play. In no-limit play, it is essentially useless to try to defend your blinds. Not only are you going to be out of position, the amount of the blinds is typically a much smaller percentage of an average pot when compared to Limit Hold ’Em.
Unless I put the button on a total steal, I will even fold ace rag from the blinds. Do you really want to be playing ace rag from early position postflop in no-limit play? For the most part, you will be much better off in No Limit Hold ’Em if you just look at the blinds as the cost of doing business.
In fact, the blinds are your cost of entry to the game. When you first sit down to a table already in progress, you will have two choices. You can wait for your turn in the big blind to begin playing, or you can post a big blind out of position so you can start playing immediately. Unless you happen to sit down in late position, it usually makes sense to wait for the big blind to reach you. Regardless of what you do now, you are going to have to post the blinds when they reach you anyway, so why not wait? If you are in early position, it does not make sense to pay for the privilege of playing out of position—especially since you will have to post your turn in the blinds real soon. Posting a blind in early position sends a signal to the rest of the table that an inexperienced player just joined the game.
STARTING OUT
Whenever you sit down to a new table, I would suggest that you play fewer hands. Take the time to observe and see what type of game you are in and what kind of players you are up against so you can implement the optimal strategy for this game. For beginning or less-experienced players, I would suggest that you err on the side of being conservative with your starting-hand requirements. This will minimize your risk as you try to learn about your opponents and get accustomed to the table. Additionally, if you are new to No Limit Hold ’Em, I would suggest that you play with a short stack. This will help minimize your losses and make your decision-making process easier.With a short stack in a no-limit game, there will be more of an emphasis on preflop play, which is generally easier for beginning players to play than postflop.
As you gain more experience, you should expand your starting requirements. As you get better, you will learn to play more hands profitably. As you continue to improve, you will want to mix up your play to make it unpredictable and to keep your opponents from getting a read on you. In other words, beginning players should play more by the book. As with most pursuits in life, you have to learn the basic guidelines before you start to bend them. As you get more experienced in Hold ’Em, you will soon find that there is a lot to gain by mixing up your play and not playing by the book. Poker is a game of imperfect information. You want to spread as much misinformation as you can about your play.
The most important factor in deciding what hands to play is position. The later you act, the more hands you can play. Conversely, when you are in early position, you will need a strong hand to enter the action. In a typical full-table game, there are three general starting positions after the blinds: early, middle, and late. As a general rule, positions one and two to the left of the button are the blinds, positions three through five are the early positions, positions six through eight the middle positions, and positions nine and ten (ten being the button) the late positions.
EARLY POSITION IN NO-LIMIT PLAY
From early position, I am only going to enter the pot with a strong hand and will typically only raise with very strong hands. The hands I will raise with are A-A, A-K, and K-K. Depending on how tight the table is, I may also raise with Q-Q,A-Q suited, and A-J suited. If I am going to raise from early position, I will generally raise three times the amount of the big blind. If you consistently raise the same amount, you end up giving away less information about your hand than if you always raise more with A-A. I will limp in with any medium or low pair. While I will never raise from early position with small pocket pairs, I will call a moderate raise because I can win a big pot if I hit my set on the flop.
Hands to be careful with in early position include A-Q offsuit, A-J offsuit, K-Q, J-10 suited, and any other suited connectors. I will generally throw these hands away unless I am playing with some very weak players. The reason is that these hands are very difficult to play out of position. Of all of these borderline hands, the ones I like the best in no-limit play are the bigger suited connectors. If I think I can get in cheap with these hands, I will because I can win big pots with them. Otherwise, I will toss them in the muck with the rest of these borderline hands.
EARLY POSITION IN LIMIT PLAY
There are two big differences between no-limit play and limit play when making early position decisions. First, there is no decision to be made as to how much you want to raise. The only decision to make is if you want to raise, because the amount you can raise is limited by the game to one times the amount of the big blind. Next,you can generally play more of the borderline hands, because you do not have to worry about significant raises behind you. In limit play, you can play hands like A-Q offsuit, A-J offsuit, or K-Q. In fact, you may even want to raise with these hands.
The reason these hands have more value in limit play is that they will not get you in as much trouble. For example, say you play A-Q and get one raiser behind you. You know this player can be fairly aggressive and does not need a premium hand to raise. You call, and the flop brings an ace. If you want to check and call all the way to a showdown, you know the maximum amount this hand could cost you. If, on the other hand, you were playing No Limit Hold ’Em, you could lose a lot of money if you are up against A-K or two pair.
By the same logic, suited connectors do not have the same upside in limit play as they do in no-limit play,because you cannot trap your opponents for a huge pot if you flop a monster hand.
MIDDLE POSITION
In middle position, a lot will depend on the action in front of you. If no one has raised, you can play all of the hands that you would have played from early position. In addition, you can open up your starting requirements. I would limp in now with hands like A-10, K-J, Q-10, or J-10 suited. If there has been a limper or two, I would call with hands like A-x suited (x being any card nine or lower) or suited connectors below J-10. I may even play J-9 suited. If there have not been any limpers, I’d probably fold these hands as they play better multihanded. If a couple of players have limped in front of me, I’m going to play two gap-suited cards. Those are hands like 7-10 suited or 6-9 suited. I like to play a lot of hands if I can see the flop cheaply. I personally like to dance and maneuver as much as I can, but there is certainly nothing wrong with folding two gap-suited cards here—especially if you are inexperienced. There are still too many people to act behind you, and you do not have that good a position yet.
With middle position,you must also know the nature of your opponents behind you. If I have very aggressive players acting behind me, I will be more cautious from middle position and may even play it just like early position. With tight players behind me who do not know how to use their late-position advantage, I will play middle position more aggressively. Say, for example, you have J-10 suited in middle position and one player has limped in front of you. If there is a very aggressive player behind you, one who likes to raise with marginal hands once a pot develops, then just limp in. If, on the other hand, there are only very tight players behind you, you may want to raise. By doing this, you will force out some otherwise playable hands, giving you position after the flop. If you do get called or raised by one of these tight players, then you know you are in trouble to a player who has position on you.
LATE POSITION
Here is where the action is. Hold ’Em is a positional game, and late position is primo real estate. If location is everything in real estate, position is everything in Hold ’Em. You always want to try and play within position. From late position, the game completely opens up. Of course, from here you can play every hand that is playable from early and middle position. You can even raise with some of the more marginal hands. Hands like K-J, Q-10, and K-10 are very playable. If no one has yet raised, I may even bump it up with those hands. There are two critical points to playing hands like these. First, you will have position postflop, and you are in excellent shape to take down pots if you get any piece of it and your opponents miss.
The next and more critical point is that you have to have the discipline to get away from these hands if you are beat—even if you have top pair. For example, say you call a raise from late position with K-10 suited. The flop comes K-9-4 rainbow. The initial raiser bets, you raise, and he reraises. It’s time to get rid of your hand. Your opponent may have A-K, K-Q, K-J, or even a set of kings or nines. Unless you know this opponent to be ultra-aggressive, anyone playing his hand that strongly from early position has you beat. In a no-limit game, you do not want to lose big pots with nothing but top pair.
In limit play, it is a little easier just to call down to the river, knowing that the most you can lose is three bets. You want to be in control from late position. At this point, you are playing your opponents more than you are playing your cards. This is especially true in no-limit play, where it is much easier to chase out weak or even marginal hands. That’s why your starting requirements can be loosened quite a bit. I will play A-x suited and two gap-suited cards, such as 5-8 and 4-7. From late position, I can win a lot of pots with these hands. For instance, say there are a couple of limpers in early position and I call from the button with 4-7 of spades. The flop comes 9-5-4 with one spade.
One of the early position players bet, and the action is on me. I know this flop did not help him, but I just call here. Why? Because I know I still have position on him for the next two rounds of betting. Also, by calling, I will make him think I have something. Now, say the turn brings the three of spades. I now have a flush draw, a gut-shot straight draw, and my one pair may even be good. I am in excellent position to make a play at my opponent no matter what he does. Even if that turn card did not help me, I can make a play as long as it did not help my opponent. In fact, the more aggressive I am in late position, the easier it is to take these pots. If my opponents know that I will play a lot of hands from late position, then it is hard for them to put me on a hand, and there is no way they will know if those marginal flops help me.
To reiterate, Hold ’Em is a positional game. Never forget that when you are making your preflop decisions. It is very tempting for beginning players to bet marginal hands out of position because they are anxious to get into the action. This is especially true if you have not seen anything worth playing in quite a while. If you go a couple of rounds looking at cards like 4-9 offsuit, all of a sudden Q-10 looks good. Well, if you are in early position in an aggressive game, Q-10 is not any good. Whenever you feel the temptation to play one of these hands out of position, keep in mind that there are still a number of players to act behind you.
And if you manage to see a flop, you still have three more betting rounds to navigate, and you will be out of position for each of them. Be patient and wait for favorable position before making your moves.
ISOLATING FROM LATE POSITION
When you have a hand that plays better heads-up than in a multiway pot, you ideally want to isolate one opponent. What do I mean by isolation? You isolate an opponent by chasing everyone else out of the pot so that you can play a pot heads-up with one opponent. This increases your chances of winning when you have a made hand as opposed to a drawing hand.
For example, say you are on the button and everyone folds to the player in front of you. You know him to be an aggressive player, and sure enough he raises. You know that there is a wide range of hands that he would raise with here. You look down and see a pair of nines. Reraise here. By doing so, you can get the blinds to fold everything but a premium hand, since they would have to call a raise and a reraise. You now are now one on one with an opponent you have position on. There is a good chance that you are ahead right now because he could be playing any suited connector, an ace, two paint cards, or a smaller pair. Plus, you have position. That is a tremendous advantage, especially since by reraising you have represented a strong hand. For example, say the flop comes down A-K-4, which at first glance looks bad for you. If your opponent checks, go ahead and bet. Unless he has K-K, 4-4, or an ace, he is going to have to fold. By being aggressive preflop, you have set up a position bet postflop. It is critical to your success to be aggressive when you have position and opportunity.
When you have the opportunity to isolate an opponent preflop with a decent, but not great, heads-up hand, do so. You eliminate opponents from even seeing a flop, and you have position on your one opponent. You have now given yourself two chances to win: either you hit the flop, or a scary flop comes that your opponent has to check. If you had just called preflop, your opponent may sense your vulnerability and bet the scary flop himself even though it did not help him. Then you would have been the one forced to fold. By being aggressive preflop, you have taken the lead in this hand. One caveat here: In no-limit play, you have to proceed a bit more cautiously. Whenever you reraise, there is the chance that an opponent will reraise you. In limit play, you know how much that will be. In no-limit play, you do not. So let’s take another look at this preflop play. If you reraise with your pocket nines and your opponent raises again, there is an excellent chance that your opponent has you dominated with a bigger pair. In limit play, it still is worthwhile to call one bet and see a flop. However, if your opponent reraised, say, two or three times your raise in this situation, you should fold.Now, if you had just called you would have been able to see a flop—however, you would have failed to taken the lead in the betting, and your opponent is likely to bet a scary flop. Thus, what you do in this situation in no-limit play really comes down to experience and your feel for the game and your opponent. This is a perfect example of some of the subtle differences in limit and no-limit play.
While there are no absolutes in poker, you are almost always correct in raising in this situation in limit play. However, in no-limit play, the situation calls for more analysis of the entire situation, and how you proceed is really going to come down to your gut feeling based on everything you have observed so far at the table.
Be careful who and when you try to isolate. As powerful of a tool as it is, you have to make sure you are not isolating a hand that dominates you. If a tight player raises from early position, you do not want to isolate him with those pair of nines. Your opponent either has you dominated with a bigger pair or has something like A-K that will sabotage any chance you have of playing the scary flop.
STEALING THE BLINDS FROM LATE POSITION
Stealing the blinds from late position comes up when everyone folds to a player in late position, who then has the opportunity to make a bet to force the blinds to fold and thus scoop the pot. For example, say you are on the button and everyone folds to you. You look down and see 7-2 offsuit. At this point, it really does not matter what cards you are holding. If you make a big bet here, the blinds will be forced to call out of position. That’s a tough call for them to make without decent starting hands. That is why stealing the blinds is a popular move. I would offer a couple of words of caution about this move.
First, because it is such a popular move, most everyone will be on to it. You have to know your opponents in the blinds. Are they likely to defend their blinds or not? Even a weak opponent may get tired of you stealing his blind at every opportunity. More important, however, is to consider how big the blinds are in relation to the game. If you are playing $1–$2 No Limit Hold ’Em where the average pot is over $30, then there is not much incentive to steal the blinds. You never want to risk a lot to win a little.
If the average preflop raise is $10 in that $1–$2 game, is it really worth betting $10 to try to steal $3 with 7-2 offsuit? Save that $10 to put to use in a better situation.
SLOW-PLAYING PREFLOP
From early or middle position, I will rarely slow-play a strong hand such as A-A or K-K. These hands play best heads-up, and I do not want too many limpers coming in. Besides, if I consistently raise from this position with all of my strong hands, opponents will have a hard time putting me on aces or kings. The only time I may slow-play big pairs in early position is if I know I have an aggressive player behind me who likes to raise. If he raises, then I can come over the top with a big reraise.
In late position, what you do is really going to depend on your reputation. I will raise with aces or kings in late position 99 percent of the time because it will look suspicious if I just limped. My opponents are used to me raising from late position. If you limp a lot in late position, then you can occasionally limp in with pocket aces or kings if no one has entered the pot before you. If everyone folds to you on the button, go ahead and limp in, since you may get to see the flop heads-up anyway (or threehanded, at the most).You may even get one of the blinds to raise.
Do not always make this move, though. When everyone folds to you on the button and you raise, your hand is already well hidden.
The blinds can easily put you on a positional raise. If that is the case, there are a lot of hands that you can raise with from that position.
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
If you are playing no limit, it is extremely important to know your opponents and their tendencies. When you enter a pot preflop, you want to either win the pot or at least see a flop. The last thing you want to do is contribute to a hand, only to fold before you even get to see a flop. In limit play, you know the maximum you can be raised, and your chances of at least seeing a flop are much greater.
In no-limit play, however, you can be pushed off a hand (or you can push an opponent off a hand) with one big bet. That’s why you need to know which players will make those big bets preflop and with which hands. I am not going to raise with A-Q suited from early position if I know I am sure to get reraised from a player behind me. This can get very expensive. If I raise from early position, I am typically going to bring it in for three times the amount of the big blind. Now, if I get reraised, that amount is going to be at least six times the big blind. I am much better off limping in and calling a raise that’s three times the big blind.
Every time you make a bet or raise, think about what you are trying to accomplish. All of your moves should be purposeful based on the entire situation. You do not want to be betting your cards blindly.
You must also consider the relative stack sizes of your opponents. Against a very aggressive player with a large stack, you are not going to want to raise him unless you have a very strong hand. Every time you raise, you sweeten the pot and open the door for him to reraise you in a big way. Weaker players with short stacks are a different matter: you can push them around more often.
For more great tips from Antonio, buy his book from the WPT Store.
