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The Perfect Bluff in poker: Telling a believable story

Saturday, July 24th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Fubusama, this article belongs to the Poker Strategy series.

There are several situations that will frequently present themselves where you have the option to represent a huge hand, even if your holding is very marginal. In this article, we will discuss some spots where you can profit by taking a very strong line with your opponent when you suspect that their holdings are weak.

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In our first example, we will look at the best way to represent a set and get our opponent to fold a pair, including top pair. Suppose you are in the big blind with a marginal hand, like 78 suited. The button raises, you call and are heads up, out of position against the button. The flop comes Kxx, you check, your opponent bets. How can we represent a set?

First and foremost, consider your opponents c-betting frequency. Do they cbet a lot or infrequently? If they cbet a lot, you have an opportunity to take this pot away on later streets by floating out of position with the intention to take the pot away later. The important thing to note is that our opponent is cbetting a lot, meaning that most of the time he has in fact missed the flop. We will use this information against him to get another bet out of him and take down the pot with what is likely the worse hand.

Back to our example: The flop comes Kxx, you check, your opponent bets, you call.

Turn comes Q. You check, your opponent bets again. You check/raise for a pot sized bet.

This line is the standard line most people take when they have actually hit a set. The best thing about this move is, even without a set, your opponent has a tough decision to make if his holding is even as good as two pair, as he is likely going to face an all-in decision on the river if he makes the call. In many cases, your opponent will fold on the turn and you will have squeezed 2 bets out of him with 8 high.

Let’s have a look at another example, where we represent a flush.

Suppose you’re on the button with KT and open the pot. The big blind calls. You know the big blind is a tight, solid player and is likely only calling with pocket pairs, or hands like KQ, AJ, AQ, etc.

The flop come A23, two clubs. Your opponent leads into you, representing the Ace. What should you do?

You should definitely float in position here. Your opponent has lead into, meaning he is most likely trying to protect a weak made hand, like a pair of aces. There are many bad turn cards that can come, like a 4, 5, or any club. If one does come out, you can bet big on the turn and go all-in on the river and the one pair of aces will almost always have to fold.

In our last example, we’ll look at a spot where we can beat bluffs with bigger bluffs.

Suppose you in the big blind with 54 of clubs. The button raises and you call. You are heads up and out of position to the button.

The flop comes A 3 6, with 1 club. With your open-ended straight draw and backdoor flush, leading into the button might be a good idea. He calls.

The turn comes the 8 of clubs, giving you the flush draw and straight draw and close to 30% equity against a one pair hand. Another good spot to bet into your opponent. He calls.

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At this point, your opponent either has one pair or some kind of a draw as well. If the river bricks off, like maybe the 2 of diamonds – if you bet, you are likely going to get called by 1 pair hands and get missed draws to fold. But what happens if you check? If your opponent was drawing to a hand that missed, there is a good chance he will bet his missed draw. If your opponent has top pair, he might put out a small value bet in-case you missed your draw. Now that he’s bet, you have an opportunity to check/raise him off that hand, getting almost all hands to fold except for a set or better. It is almost impossible for a one pair hand to stand the heat of a check/raise all in on the river.

When you bluff, you have to tell a story that is believable. In other words, don’t take a line with a bluff that you wouldn’t take with your value hands.

Good luck at the tables.

@Fubusama

Fubusama is an online professional poker player and poker writer. Visit Pro Poker Blog | Fubusama Poker for more tips and strategies, poker coaching opportunities, poker book reviews, poker training videos and exclusive rakeback deals.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

Limit concepts in a no limit poker game

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to Poker Cash Games series.

This is the third article in series written by Cory on limit cash games and how lessons learned here can be applied in no limit cash games as well. If you haven’t already read the previous articles in the series check them out here.

• Top 10 limit poker cash game strategy tips

• Top 10 poker strategy tips for limit cash games

So I can safely assume that after reading my last three articles you’ve learned the importance of having a solid limit hold ‘em game, the basics of winning loose passive limit hold ‘em games and have put in many hours and thousands of hands at limit hold ‘em and now you’re ready to see what this has to do with helping your no limit game. I want to show you a few key issues that are highlighted in limit hold ‘em, that are slightly less important in no limit, but a superior understanding of these ideas will help you win a little more and lose a lot less.

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Pot Odds

In limit, pot odds dictate nearly every decision when you’re faced with a bet. If you have a draw are you getting at least the minimum odds to call? If you have a made hand, what kind of pot odds are you laying your opponents? If you have a monster draw multi-way, what kind of pot equity do you have if the betting gets capped on the flop?

In no limit, you’ll be faced with many implied odds decisions, but always keep the pot odds in mind. Implied odds are guess work at best trying to calculate how much your opponents are likely to call should you hit. For this reason, immediate pot odds are less important when you’re looking at a small pair pre-flop, since if you hit your hand it will be very hidden and you should have very high implied odds, but you had better be getting close to 3:1 immediate pot odds on a flush draw since the 3rd flush card is often an action killer, thus shrinking your implied odds.

Since you have a much better understanding of how to use your pot odds, just add your implied odds to your decision making process. Every time you’re faced with a decision with a drawing hand, think of what immediate pot odds you’re getting and what future implied odds you’re likely to get.

The Free Card Play

Remember the free card play from the limit articles? Try this in your no limit game sometime. Most low stakes no limit players often adopt the same, “check to the raiser,” mentality. If you’re faced with a bet on the flop, try sometimes putting in a raise with a draw so you have the option of checking back if you miss the turn.

In no limit I’m more likely to try a free card play with either a hand with a smaller chance of getting there, a gutshot, or a hand with lower implied odds like a flush draw. With the gutshot I also don’t want to try a free card play if my opponent under bets the pot laying me a pretty good price. I don’t get a good price on one way straight draws much, so when I do I need to take advantage of it, but if my opponent bets half or 2/3 of the pot, I may try raising for a little fold equity and for my possible free card. Make sure this play is done with a read that this opponent is less comfortable with pressure. That bit of extra fold equity is very important in a no limit situation.

With a flush draw, I don’t mind occasionally trying the free card play since often times my action is going to be killed when my gin card comes. This way if I make it, I’ve built up a bigger pot for my opponents to try and fight for and they’re less likely to put me on a flush draw because they would have expected me to just call. There’s at least a possibility that I can improve my implied odds with a position raise on the flop.

Patience

I’m sure you figured out through your limit hold ‘em experiment that you really need to be showing down the best hand most times. Bluffing opportunities are far more common in no limit games, so hopefully you’ve learned patience through your limit experience. Too many no limit players tend to just fire away at pots, thinking they have far more fold equity than they really do. It should be much easier for you to see when nobody wants a pot and collect the dead money since it’s so much harder to see with a fixed limit betting structure. You should also have a clear picture of when someone intends to play the hand down. Remember in your limit games where you’d bet the turn and your opponent would snap call without even thinking about it? What did that tell you? It always tells me that 95% of the time he’s just calling the river no matter what. Now I know I can value bet the river with good hands and I can just check losers. Start thinking about that in a no limit context, it’s often easy to tell when someone decides they’re going to showdown no matter what. Play your hand accordingly.

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Thin Value

This is something you always hear talked about with fixed betting games, but not often with no limit games. However, similar concepts apply. Money left on the table by not betting winning hands on the river is the same as money lost. When you have position in a no limit game, your value can’t be quite as thin as you don’t always want to give up your button, but you still need to be betting if you think there’s a reasonable chance that you get called by worse.

These are just a few ways you can integrate what you’ve learned from limit in to a no limit betting format. You’ll find other interesting details that carry over as you play more. Now you’re ready to play no limit against people who are less prepared with their fundamental poker knowledge and if you see a big time fish in a limit game, you can comfortably sit in that game and crush as well.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games

Online poker cheats

Thursday, July 15th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Tools | No Comments

Submitted by Loui Levino, this article belongs to the Poker Tools series.

Loui Levino wrote the article below on various online poker cheats which will potentially rob you of your bankroll. Read it through and if you have experienced a different online cheat let us know about it in a comment.

There is a million ways to make a million bucks; but there is also a million ways to lose your $100 poker deposit if you are not careful. The online poker rooms use some of the safest and most secure encryption methods that you’ll  find anywhere on the planet. As part of their random number generator; Pokerstars uses thermal radiation inputs. This is essentially the same encryption method that the CIA uses now to code data. This type of data encryption is so secure that the CIA will even tell you that this is what they use… because it can’t be hacked, the pattern can’t be anticipated, and it is unlikely that the pattern that is used to generate outputs will ever replicate itself.

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However, if you are not careful there are still plenty of ways to lose your money to online poker cheats.  Here is a few of them…

Collusion – Unfortunately, some players choose to work together to gain an advantage over their opponents. Sometimes this is done casually, sometimes it is done in a very predatory fashion. Collusion is most common is short-handed limit cash games. If you see any signs of collusion, keep your eyes open and send an email to the security team if necessary.

Phishing Scams – These are rare in the poker world, but they do show up in a few different forms. The poker room staff will never ask you for your password at a poker table and you should never give this information to anyone. Always protect the sensitive details of your account; just as you would for a bank account.

Insider Cheating – This is basically impossible at the large online poker rooms, but there have been cases of insider cheating in the past. This has only occurred when the owners of a poker site have decided that they wanted to cheat their players using security/integrity audit player accounts; these player accounts enabled the owners of the site to see the hole cards of other players. These types of accounts do not exist anymore at any of the poker rooms.

Funds Seizures – This has happened on a few occasions over the last 5 years.  Funds are hardly ever seized from online poker accounts. In most cases, the funds are confiscated from third party money transfer service like Neteller.

Bankrupt Poker Rooms - There have been plenty of bankrupt poker rooms in the last several years. Most players are able to get their funds back from the poker room without any issues. In some cases, the poker rooms shut down and the management team is never heard from again. To avoid something like this happening to you, just stick to the largest and most reputable poker rooms. In most cases where a poker room has gone bankrupt or funds have been seized from a third party payment processor, the funds are returned to players quickly, so this is not a major concern among online poker players.

Money Trading – There are many online forums where you can trade money between poker sites through other players. Money trading between players on different poker sites is a common method that small-time scammers will use to try and get your money. Always be careful when trading with someone who you met through an online poker forum or chat room.

What happens when players are caught cheating? The consequences will depend upon the type of cheating that occurred. When it is possible; the poker rooms will return the funds to players who were cheated at the table.
There are some cases in which the poker room support staff will not be able to help you. If you fail to protect your personal information or you try to trade money with another poker player and the deal goes sour… the poker site will usually not step in to help you deal with your situation.

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What else should you look out for? It’s the real world and it’s a big world. If you are smart and you use your head in the online poker environment, your money should be safe while you are playing poker. Protect your information,  report suspicious activity and only play on the largest and most reputable online poker rooms. You can use this site to find more information about making a safe online poker deposit.

Written by Loui Levino author of Poker sites by Lou.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Tools

Strange dreams

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 | Off topic | No Comments

For some unknown reason I have extremely strange sci-fi dreams and most of the times I can remember them the next day. The dream I had yesterday was stranger than usual, so I thought I would write it down and share it. Interpretations are welcomed.

The dream starts on a holiday to Egypt with my girlfriend. In a parking lot we discover an entrance to an ancient tomb where we find two buried people wearing elaborate bracelets. We grab the bracelets and other valuable items from the tomb to get them evaluated – perhaps they could be sold to pay for our holiday. It turns out that the tomb along with all the items inside were fake. What a bummer.

Anyway the bracelet episode leads us on to a nearby mine where miners have gone missing under suspicious circumstances. My girlfriend, being an expert in ground radar analysis (which was completely new to me), suggests that we check it out to see if we can solve the mystery. We arrive on scene underground together with the miners, who inform us that terrifying mutant rhinos started appearing in the tunnels a few weeks ago when they started blasting into a new area of the rock.

On the way to the control room we barely escape a particularly nasty looking mutant. Inside the control room my girlfriend sets up her ground radar equipment and soon finds an abnormally large density of amino acids directly underneath the floor of the control room. We all start digging frantically and soon discover the remains of what looks to be an alien skeleton. It appears this skeleton infiltrates all the rock in the new blast area. We start excavating the area with the help of a giant laser. The work proceeds rather slowly in the beginning because we constantly have to dodge the mutant rhinos. Now here’s where the dream takes a strange twist. At some point the laser unearths a huge skull like feature in the skeleton with an opening in the top. Suddenly the mutant rhinos start jumping into the skull one by one. As they do this, the laser picks up speed and we find ourselves throwing everything organic we can find into the skull.

In no time the laser has excavated the entire skeleton and within seconds it morphs into a pink convertible Cadillac and Elvis. It turns out that the entire mining incident has been part of the grand opening celebration of a new underground casino. End of dream.

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Top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t play poker

Sunday, July 11th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Top 10 Lists | 7 Comments

I was in a particularly foul mood when I wrote this “top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t play poker” list so bear with me.

1: Poker is a game of luck

You shouldn’t play poker because if you’re as unlucky as me, you will never win in the long run. Poker is almost entirely a game of luck which means that you will be better off spending your money on the lottery….or saving it up.

2: Online poker is rigged

You shouldn’t play online poker because it’s extremely rigged. The only people winning in the long run are those who work for the poker sites.

3: Sitting down is bad for your health

You shouldn’t play poker because 1 hour of sitting in front of your computer each day, increases your risk of heart disease by 7%. Your time is much better spent going for a run or spending quality time with your girlfriend

4: Poker isn’t cool

You shouldn’t play poker because being a pro poker player isn’t cool at all. It will never work as a pick up line in bars. If you’ve seen any kind of televised live poker you’ll know I’m right. The average male poker player has not been blessed by good looks. Do you really want to be associated with these people?

5: You are destined to become a poker blogger

You shouldn’t play poker because you will probably start blogging about it to compensate for you lack of success at the tables. Poker bloggers are a despicable breed of attention hungry, greedy and essentially boring people who’s only goal is to sign you up to rakeback deals.

6: You will become a porn addict

You shouldn’t play poker because it will turn you into a porn addict. Let’s face it, the only really interesting thing to do while waiting for your turn is to watch porn.

7: No social life

You shouldn’t play poker because your social life during weekends will be screwed. You will spend your weekends grinding cash tables and MTTs.

8: Decision making from a BB/hour perspective

You shouldn’t play poker because you’ll develop an annoying tendency to base decisions on a BB/hour vs time spent comparison. Yes, I could get a sandwich myself or I could have a taxi pick one up to avoid leaving my tables. You might also start relieving yourself in a bottle. Disgusting!

9: Depression

You shouldn’t play poker because the human mind tends to remember bad beats and bad decisions and forget the times you were lucky or did something right. As a result you will constantly feel unlucky and question your skills.

10: Lack of respect

You shouldn’t play poker because the people close to you will eventually lose all respect for you. Time and time again you will proclaim that you’re never playing poker again only to reinstall your poker clients and start up a new game the next day.

As for me, look for the nick pokerbrb, mepusia or pokerbrbblog and you’ll find a mentally unstable player who doesn’t have the willpower to quit and won’t commit the time to advance from his current level of mediocracy.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Top 10 Lists

Top 10 poker strategy tips for limit cash games

Thursday, July 8th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to Poker Cash Games series.

This is the second article in an article series where Cory sums up the top 10 most important limit poker cash game strategy tips. Enjoy! If you haven’t read the first article yet, go to top 10 limit poker cash game strategy tips.

Tip #6.  Counting all of your outs.

Most people when they have a draw only count outs to their primary draw.  Since limit hold ‘em is based so much on the math, we’ll need to be a little more precise.  In this example we have AD KD and the flop is QD, 8D, 3S.  Most people will easily see that we have a nut flush draw, but we also have a backdoor straight draw and two over cards to make top pair.

We have the nine outs for our flush draw, but we also have six over card outs and a running jack ten.  However, our over card outs don’t give us the nuts, so we can’t count them as full outs as we could easily lose to two pair, so count them as half outs, we have three outs to make top pair.  Counting a back door straight draw works like this.  If you have an open ended backdoor straight draw, 8, 9, T, or 5, 6, 7, count that as one and a half outs.  If you have a one gapper like 4, 5, 7 count it as one out.  If you have a two gapper like A, K, Q, like in our above example, you need exactly J, T, count it as half an out.  So in our example with AD KD we have nine flush outs, three outs to top pair and half an out to a backdoor Broadway straight, for a total of twelve and a half outs.  Counting all of your outs can transfer a marginally correct fold to a marginally correct call and remember limit is all about precision.

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Tip #7.  Big pots, long shot hand.

If the pot is very small we are losing money by calling with weak draws.  Since we don’t have the implied odds of a big bet game, gut shots and backdoor draws are sucker hands in a small pot.  However, when the pot is very large and multi-way, we can allow ourselves to call with a very low likelihood of winning as long as our draw is to the nuts.

Let’s have the AD KD hand again and the flop comes QS, TC, 6D.  We capped it for four bets pre-flop against three opponents putting sixteen small bets in the pot.  The first person bets and both other players call adding three more small bets making a pot of nineteen small bets, we’re getting 19:1 with 2 overs, a gut shot straight draw and a backdoor flush draw.  Our straight will make us the nuts and our backdoor flush will make us the nuts, so we’re raising here for value.  We’re making up a very small percentage of the pot with a hand that has about a 9% chance to make the nuts on the turn, but if the turn is another diamond we’ll be close to 25% to make the nuts on the river.  We can stay aggressive on this flop, we’ll have the odds to call on the turn, even if the turn eliminates our flush draw.  We won’t win this pot often, but on the few occasions we do, we’ll win more than enough to pay for all the times we called and missed.  When the pot is very large, see the next card with any chance of making a nut hand.

Tip #8. If you call on the turn be prepared to show down.

The vast majority of the time, if our hand is strong enough to call a bet on the turn, we’ll be almost forced by the pot odds to call on the river.  So remember, when we’re deciding if we can really call this bet on the turn our real decision is if we can call a bet on the turn and on the river.  The only reasons to call the turn and fold the river really is if we have a draw that missed and we don’t think our hand has showdown value, or if the worst possible card comes.  An example of this would be if we have AS AC and the flop comes 9H, 8H, 2D.  We’re betting and raising this flop.  The turn is a 3H and our opponent leads.  We’re at least calling or maybe even raising here  planning to call down on the river if our opponent leads, but then the river is the 7H and he leads again.  We can’t beat anything our opponent could have, so we’ll probably have to fold our AA.

However, these are rare cases and most times that call on the turn means a call on the river.  Don’t forget this when you’ve bluff check raised the flop and lead the turn.  If we’re bluffing and don’t improve if our opponent calls a bet on the turn, he’s probably calling a bet on the river, so we shouldn’t dig ourselves in too deep of a hole by bluffing.  If our opponent suspects we’re bluffing he knows exactly how much he’ll need to pay to call down and it isn’t much, so be careful.

Tip #9.  Getting max value and getting thin value.

Getting value in no limit games is often pretty easy.  Make bets that your opponent can justify calling with a hand weaker than yours.  In a limit game getting maximum value on your hand can be a little tough.  This is why check raising the flop is important, or in position we might just call a bet on the flop with a very strong hand since our opponent is likely to keep control of the hand by betting on the turn, then we can raise the turn.  If we’d have raised the flop, our opponent is probably going to check the turn and even if he calls our turn bet, we’ve still lost one small bet that we would have won by calling the flop in position.

Getting thin value is betting on the river with a weak hand hoping that the pot is big enough to induce an even weaker hand to call.  Here is where we need to talk about a play that is the best friend of all low stakes limit hold ‘em players and it comes in to play mostly on the turn and river.  It’s betting out hoping for thin value and folding if our opponent raises.  The thinking is, our opponent could call down with a hand weaker than ours, but most low stakes players aren’t putting in a raise on the turn or river without a pretty big hand.  So we bet for value, but our opponent’s raise alerts us that we’re beat and we can fold, saving ourselves two small bets, the bet we’d have to call now and the bet that pot odds would require us to call on the river.

Most times if we have the betting lead in the hand and at least some showdown value, we’ll want to maintain the betting lead, but be ready to give up the hand if our opponent takes it away from us, especially on the last two streets.  Most low stakes players are much more comfortable just calling on the big bet streets.
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Tip #10. Keeping it in perspective.

Most no limit players hate limit because they can never force a hand to fold.  They can never push anyone off a pot, so they think it’s impossible to win.  This is just simply silly thinking.  If we have a hand that is a statistical favorite to win, we want a call.  Even if our opponent draws out sometimes, we still want the call over the long run.  Sometimes though, when we get a case of the run bads it seems like we’re always getting drawn out on, no matter how big a favorite we are.  We need to keep this in perspective, limit hold ‘em might make us want to throw up sometimes, but just think about how profitable our plays are when opponents are calling down with the worst of it just to hit a lucky two pair or trips on the river.  Don’t let yourself get discouraged even though it’s tough sometimes.  Just play solid, remember that every hand is just one hand, every session is just a small part of a poker career and dropping thirty big bets getting it in good isn’t fun, but if our opponents never drew out, we could never get a game going.

Ok, now you’ve got ten tips to help you begin your limit hold ‘em journey.  Have fun, don’t worry about getting drawn out on.  If you play better than your opponents, especially post flop, you’ll start to win.  Next we’ll talk about how to transfer some of the limit hold ‘em skills to no limit games.

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Top 10 limit poker cash game strategy tips

Sunday, July 4th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games, Poker Strategy | 1 Comment

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to Poker Cash Games series.

In this article series, Cory sums up the top 10 most important limit poker cash game strategy tips. Enjoy!

In the last article we talked about learning limit hold ‘em cash games before jumping in to no limit cash games.  I hope you all understand why this is really a good idea and are ready to start the min-bet craziness.  If so, here are ten tips I’ve gather to get you started on a successful journey to beating low stakes limit hold ‘em.  Of course, this isn’t everything, but, it’s a good start.  If you just learn these things you should be turning a profit at the $.25-$.50 cent on line, or any $3-$6 live game you might jump in to at a casino.  Have fun.

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Tip #1.  Pre-flop hand selection is important, but…

It’s not the be-all and end-all of winning limit hold ‘em.  Too many books focus on starting hand charts and how you should always play tight aggressive no matter what.  A tight aggressive style might be your best bet to putting yourself in a position to win low stakes limit poker, but pre-flop is just one round of betting; it’s also a round of small bets, so the most you’re going to lose due to a pre-flop mistake is four small bets or two big bets.  Of course you don’t want to be making mistakes for four small bets, but making a mistake on the turn for four big bets will eat away your bankroll much faster.

So no, I’m not going to give a stupid starting hand chart.  This is what you need to know about pre-flop limit games.  Big cards are more valuable in limit games than in no limit games.  That is because top pair good kicker can go to showdown a lot cheaper and you can draw to a Broadway straight a lot cheaper.  However, small pairs and suited connectors go down in value because limit hold ‘em is more of a pot odds game than an implied odds game.  So in no limit a hand like KJS from UTG is an easy throw-away, in a limit game it sounds like two bets to me.  In a no limit game when you’re 100BBS deep and an opponent raises to 3X, calling with 22 is pretty standard.  In a limit game, often times you’ll be folding the 22 because you can’t stack him if you hit a set.  Play big cards more aggressively and try to get heads up.  The only time you’re playing suited connectors is on the cheap in a multi-way pot.

#2.  Creating dead money and buying some outs.

This is a very important concept both pre-flop and on the flop.  Let’s say we’re on the button with 55 and the cut off raises and makes it two bets to go.  We could call with position, but we’re pricing in both blinds and we’re allowing four more over cards to take a flop against us.  We can generally assume that the cutoff has 2 overs to our hand, so we could take this flop hoping to hit a set or dodge six overs, or we could raise hoping the blinds will fold to three bets and take a flop against just one opponent with only two overs against us.

This is also important on the flop.  The other night I was playing $3-$6 hold ‘em when I called one more bet from the big blind with AS 5S.  The flop came down 4S, TS, 2H.  We’re four handed and I check.  The original raiser checks and someone in later position bets.  When it gets back to me I raise to two bets and got the original raiser to fold what he told me later was A J.  This means I just created dead money and bought extra outs.  Before I made it two bets my Ace was dominated, so hitting a pair of aces would have been bad for my hand.  I had 12 outs to win the pot.  By forcing the bigger Ace out I turned my hand from a 12 out draw to a 14 out draw.  If I would have lead out at this flop with my big draw everyone would have called for one more small bet and I wouldn’t have gotten those extra two outs.

Tip #3.  Pay attention to the texture of the flop and play your hand accordingly.

I can’t say enough about board texture in both limit and no limit hold ‘em.  In limit though it’s one of the best ways to make sense out of your opponent’s bets.  For example let’s say we have AD KD and we’re out of position.  The flop is AH, 9H, 3S.  We lead at this flop and our opponent makes it two bets.  This can mean a few different things.  Either he’s drawing and is trying to induce us to check to him on the turn, he’s got a hand that he thinks is good like A Q, or A J, or he’s got a set or two pair like Aces and nines.  We’ve just narrowed down his range a lot.

Now let’s take another example where we have AD, KD and the flop is AH, QS, JC.  This board has a few more scary combinations out there if we get two bet on the flop.  He obviously can’t have a flush draw, but AQ, AJ and QJ as well as, QQ and JJ are all easily in his range, not to mention KT.  We could be in a lot of trouble on this flop.

For a more extreme example, we have AD TD and the flop is TH, 9H, 8H.  We still have top pair top kicker, but four pocket pairs still beat us, we could be drawing very slim up against a flop straight or flush or dead against a straight flush.  Not to mention that 12 different over cards could hit the turn that are likely to improve our opponent’s hand, but don’t improve ours.  Our relative hand strength is terrible.

Tip #4.  Free card for sale, learn to buy it.

In the last section you remember we talked about someone trying to induce a check on the turn with a flush draw by making it two bets on the flop.  This is called the free card play and it can be extremely effective against low stakes limit hold ‘em players.  Here’s how it works.

We have AD, KD in position and the flop is QD, 8D, 2C.  We have a flush draw and our opponent bets in to us.  We could call to see the turn and maybe our flush comes home, but if it doesn’t our opponent, who already has the lead in the hand is likely going to maintain the lead by betting the turn.  We can save ourselves one small bet by making it two bets on the flop and taking the lead ourselves.  Most players adopt a check to the raiser mentality without even realizing it, so since we took the last aggressive action on the flop, our opponent is going to be far more likely to check to us on the turn.  When the turn comes and does not complete our draw, we can check behind and we get to see the river for free for a net savings of one small bet.  However, if our draw comes home we can go ahead and bet out at it since our opponent is already expecting us to bet since we had the last aggressive action.  We can also bet if we spike a pair.

Tip #5.  Check raising for value, check raising to bluff and defending against the check raise.

You probably recall me saying that check raising is over rated in no limit hold ‘em, but it’s essential to winning at limit hold ‘em.  Here is why.

Check raising is most often used for value.  In this example we’re in the big blind and the button opens for two bets.  We defend with JS TS and the flop is JH, 9S, 4S.  If we go ahead and lead out with this hand, we’re probably only going to get the button to commit one bet on the flop and he very well might fold on the turn and we have top pair, a flush draw and a back door straight draw.  We want action on this hand.  Our better play is to check, since the button had the last aggressive action, he’s likely to try and maintain the lead in the hand by continuation betting then we can raise and low stakes players are rarely folding in this spot even if they completely missed the flop.  We’ve just doubled our money by check raising.

If you notice a player continuation betting every time he gets heads up, you can also check raise bluff if you’re out of position.  The reason this works so well is he’s likely to have a very wide range and while he might not fold on the flop, he’s folding the turn a very high percentage of the time.  So sometimes, in the right situation, with absolutely nothing you can check raise the flop and lead at the turn and against the right opponent you will get a lot of folds and take down pots without a showdown.  You can really only do this heads up against players who continuation bet the flop by default.

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If you’re the one getting check raised too much you’ll need to learn how to defend against it.  The first thing you can do is don’t automatically continuation bet against someone who check raises a lot, or when you hit the flop, or feel you have the best hand, go ahead and bet and when your opponent check raises, just call.  Remember, his default play is to try and bluff you off the pot with a bet on the turn if you let him have the last aggressive action on the flop.  When he bets the turn expecting you to fold, raise.  If you use this play against someone enough they’ll think twice before bluff check raising you.

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