Opening on the Button - Always Raise?

I was in the worst seat in Bellagio's $30-$60 hold'em game. There it was, eight tough local players and two tourist buddies sitting next to each other playing every pot. They were having a good time and didn't seem to have much respect for the money they were gambling. The trouble was, these two players were sitting directly behind me. I could never get position on them or gather information on the strength of their hands except when I was on the button or one off the button. Plus, I had zero opportunity to ever rob their blinds. The seat you are in can often have a major impact on the plays that are available to you over the course of a game. I made up my mind to take the first seat change possible.

Still trapped in my same seat, I picked up the 8 7 on the button. Everyone folded to me. Often in this situation, I raise in hope of picking up the blinds. If I get called, I still have a reasonable hand that might win the pot, or a favorable board might give me the chance to outplay the one or two players in the blinds who took off the flop with me. Part of the value in that play, though, is the chance that you will either win the blinds outright or get at least one of the blinds to leave some dead money in the pot, especially in a two chip-three chip blind structure. In this particular case, there was no way that I could pick up the blinds. These players hadn't folded before the flop yet, and I didn't think they were going to start when they had their blinds in the pot.

But, I did have a semblance of a hand. The two guys in the blinds not only played every hand, they played them very badly. They played very passively, and pretty much took everything to the river. Against this type of opponent, a nonconventional strategy would be superior to conventional wisdom. Raising had lost much of its value. When you raise with a hand like mine on the button, the best result is that your opponents fold. That scenario had no chance of happening in this situation. Any 9-2 had me high-carded, and if neither of us improved, he could well turn the hand over at the end. If I flat-called, I could still make a hand. My opponents played in a straightforward, predictable fashion, and were easy to read. If I played my hand, I would be unlikely to make any significant errors, but my opponents would be very likely to make errors. Overall, these factors gave me a good overlay on the play. I flat-called, the small blind tossed in a chip, and the big blind checked.

The flop came down J-8-4 rainbow. They both checked to me, and I bet. One player called, and the other must have had stone-cold blanks, because he folded. I was reasonably confident that my hand was good. There was some chance that he held an 8 with a better kicker, but he would have led the flop with a jack. The turn card paired fours. I bet again, and received another call. The river card was a 9, my opponent checked, and I checked behind him. There were not very many hands he could have with which he could call a bet and I would have the best hand. He showed me Q-9, having paired nines on the river to beat my eights. I smiled inside and out, and stated, "That's good," and tossed my eights into the muck.

One factor that came into play in this situation was that my flat-calling preflop had reduced the price that my opponent was getting to play the hand, turning what would have been a correct call to one with a negative expectation. My opponent had 10 wins, better than 2-1 against making a hand that could beat two eights. His odds were reduced somewhat by the fact that he could still make a hand and lose to me if I redrew on the river, or improved on the turn and reduced his chances to win. That said, if I had raised before the flop, the price on the $90 he would have called to draw against my pair of eights would have been around $270 laid against it – more than enough to make the call correct. Since I flat-called, that price was reduced $90 to $180, making the call marginally incorrect.

Conceptually speaking, it is correct not to raise preflop if the raise is marginal and if your opponents are the type who are going to draw to any draw. By raising, you are going to make their bad calls after the flop that much better. Even if you are giving up a small amount of expectation by not raising, just calling in those situations can still be correct.

Many players would have automatically raised in my spot in this game – they always raise when entering the pot from the button. But, they'd have been wrong, which goes to show that you can't survive in poker by playing with hard and fast rules. You have to adjust your play to the current situation, or wind up on the rail wondering what went wrong.

Editor's note: Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas – please see his ad on Page 115.