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Poker Tips

Online poker tips, poker strategy articles and other poker information for poker players. All you need to know about online poker games!

Calling Pre-Flop (Out-of-Position)

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If an opponent has an extremely tight raising range from a certain position or just in general, then calling out of position with hands like KTo and QTo may not be a part of a good game plan. The positive externalities of future bets you induce, or pots you are able to take away by representing wider ranges for value, may not be enough to offset the reverse implied odds of the situation. In other words, the idea of our pre-flop hand selection goes back to dominating hands. If we are always dominated or even often dominated in a spot, folding and sometimes three-betting the hand pre-flop may be the best way to play the hand against a particular opponent. The best way to avoid tough spots is to avoid putting yourself into the situation where they will often occur. However, it's important to distinguish between a tough spot and a non-profitable spot. Sometimes, a spot will foster so many difficult decisions against a well-playing opponent that the expected value of the situation will plumet because our opponent will use position to outplay us, making sure we win the minimum and lose the maximum at all the right times. Difficult spots don't always mean money-losing spots; however, the two often go along with each other because the more mistakes someone makes in poker, the more money they will lose. Large and difficult decisions with a semi-face up range on the river after checking and calling flop and turn is a fairly common example of the quintessential "tough spot" in No-Limit Hold'em. Without position, our opposition controls the frequencies of betting as the board changes and so it's very difficult to play well versus someone who has a solid read of your range and who is able to exploit that read by three-barrelling and over-betting effectively, by which I mean your opponent will bet in a way that induces you to make a mistake by either calling or folding too often.

Three-Betting

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There are three main reasons to three-bet a single raiser:

1.You want to get value from worse hands. This means that the villain will either call your three-bet or will four-bet you with a weaker range. Keep in mind that there are times in which you three-bet for value but then fold to a four-bet. This is usually versus players who open loosely and often call three-bets but seldom four-bet.
For example, say that you are up against a player who will call three-bets with lots of pocket pairs, weak kings, and weak queens, but will four-bet KK, AA, and AK. In this case, three-betting KQ but then folding should you be four-bet, is the right play.

2. Your opponent is likely to fold and you can win some blinds. There is also a psychological, metagame effect from winning pots without showing down your hand. The more you do it, the more skeptical your opponents become, which increases their likelihood of calling you down light. This is the power of developing an image through frequent aggression. It often results in you getting paid off at some point in the future when you hold a legitimate hand.

The Value 4-Bet

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There are times, although seemingly rare, that we actually have a big hand. When we have these big hands we usually want to create the biggest pots possible, making 4-betting a great option. However, many people get in the habit of mindlessly 4-betting every single time and end up missing value. So we want to talk about what constitutes a good 4-bet spot, and what spots would make flatting the 3-bet a better option. 

Let's take this example at 50NL. We open raise to $1.50 from MP1 with AA and $50, and it folds to the button with $50 who 3-bets to $5. It folds back to us and it is our option. Let's review this given three different 3-bet ranges. 

Playing against a Big Stack in No-Limit Hold'em

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Most players don’t like playing against a big stack. They are concerned that they will get pushed around, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, playing correctly, you can often push around a big stack with a small stack. If you have a small stack, then you can choose opportunities to go all-in when you are guaranteed certain odds and have the opportunity to improve even further. Let’s say that an aggressive player under-the-gun with a large stack makes it $20 to go in a $2/$5 game. There are three callers, and you are on the button with an AK and $100 left. If you choose to go all-in at this point, you are getting approximately 2:1 from the pot, with one caller almost guaranteed, and any further callers only increase the odds you are getting. For instance, if all the remaining players call, then you are getting 4:1 on your $100. If the aggressive player reraises to $400 and everyone folds, then you have increased the price you are getting from the pot to about 3:1, and you face a more limited field with no extra monetary commitment on your part because you are all-in.

The Big-Blind and the Small-Blind

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The starting hand guide says nothing of the big-blind or the small-blind. The blinds are unique for a couple of reasons. Pre-flop they are actually the last two hands to act. From a positional standpoint it is actually advantageous to be in the small-blind or big-blind pre-flop. This, however, is where your positional advantage ends. On the flop, turn, and river the blind players will be the first to act. You will be giving up position to every other player at the table for the next three betting rounds, including the two betting rounds in which the bet size doubles. Not only this, but the relative strength of hands becomes much more clearly defined on the flop. Do not get excited by the small advantage of acting last pre-flop. The disadvantage of acting first on the next three betting rounds is extreme.

Continuation-Bets in PLO

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In PLO, the correct use of the continuation-bet is much more difficult than it is in Hold’em. There isn’t some master chart of all situations, obviously, so here is a partial list of some things I think about before firing that post-flop continuation-bet:

  • If I don’t think I have the best hand and I don’t have quite a few outs to the nuts, I rarely C-bet. Draws to second nuts and top two pair (where the second pair won’t make a straight) can warrant a continuation-bet as well.
  • If the board is extremely dry (8-5-2 rainbow) and I whiffed (say with KQJT), I might make a C-bet as a bluff; my opponents are unlikely to have good hands.

No Limit Holdem: How Much to Bet?

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We’re going to look at sizing our bets given our opponent’s range when we’re on the flop and turn. We have to consider that if we do not bet, we give him a free chance to realize that equity. What’s worse, we may even give him more money after he improves. Letting an opponent draw for free and then paying him more money when he hits is certainly an unattractive idea.

Figuring a good bet size does not a have an easy prescription. Some have suggested that beginners default to a 2/3 pot bet when they’re trying to get value for a hand. That’s a decent default in my opinion. However, as we try to improve our game, we want to move beyond a default bet size.

Thinking about maximizing value from your opponent’s range always takes precedence over making bets to chunk in your stack. Let’s look at an example of this.

Playing Difficult Flops

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In poker, more often than not, you’ll encounter problematic flops and won’t always know what line to use. In this article, we give you some basic guidelines you’ll find helpful.

Let’s say that you’ve raised pre-flop, got called by one opponent in position, and hit second or bottom pair on the flop. In such a situation versus a weak player, we suggest betting out 90% of the time. Against stronger opponents, who may play back at you, you probably should mix it up a little more, betting 60% of the time and check-calling 40% of the time.

To go further with this example, let’s assume you’re still heads-up after the flop; your opponent has called your c-bet, or you’ve both checked, or you’ve check-called. If the turn “bricks out” (neither opens any draws nor pairs the board), you still need to adjust your line based on your assessment of your opponent’s skills.

When facing a weak opponent, we think you should fire again 80% of the time and check-fold 20%. If he calls again, you go heads-up to the river, and you don’t improve your hand, you should then check 95% of the time, since timid players will often check behind with top pair to avoid getting raised, which will save you a bet.
 

Semi-bluffing in No Limit Holdem

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Semi-bluffing is a powerful tool in poker. It's important to learn when to use it and how to use it correctly. Bluffing and semi-bluffing bring us into the world of fold equity. Fold equity is a term we use to describe what we gain when our opponent folds. Our opponent can only fold after we've shown aggression by either betting or raising. Fold equity gives us more than one way to win a pot. We can make the best hand, or our opponent can fold. Semi-bluffing is when you're betting with a hand you doubt is good right now but has a good chance to improve on a later street. Because of this, you cannot semi-bluff on the river. Let's begin by looking at an example.

We have a 100x stack and hold AQ on the button in a 100NL game. An early position player limps, and we raise to $4. The big blind started with $40 and calls. The limper folds. The flop is 793. The pot is $9. The big blind has $36 left. We decide to bet $9, and he calls. The pot is now $27, and the big blind has $27 left. The turn is the K. The big blind bets out for $12.

How to Defend Against the Hyper-LAG Poker Style

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Difficulties.
In the modern game, defending against the LAG and hyper-LAG styles is arguably the most difficult thing to do. These opponents mix up their game so much that they’ll almost invariably put you to a tough decision. It’s especially difficult to play against them out of position (OOP).

Loose Aggressive PlayerClose to the bubble is the toughest time to face hyper-LAGs, because you’re forced to fight back with a lighter range at times, or to give up control of the table at this crucial juncture.

Oversized 3-bets all-in, even though they’re obviously high-variance, can be a good counter against hyper-LAGs at bubble time, with hands such as medium pairs (where you wouldn’t normally like to make the same move against other opponents). For instance, let’s say you have 66 with 60 BB in the big blind. A hyper-LAG has 25-30 BB and raises from the cutoff. This may be a good spot to for you to shove, because it’ll be hard for him to call with less than 88+. He may not be ready to play for his tournament life if he’s holding KJs, KQs, or QJs. However, if you make only a standard 3-bet, he’ll very likely re-shove with such holdings. Therefore, especially around bubble time, a lot of your decisions should account for stack sizes and position, and you need to have fold equity on your side so you can pressure the hyper-LAGs with the threat of elimination.

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