Pumping the Pot

Sometime ago, I remember a player who had watched a high-stakes limit hold'em game for a while saying to me, "They do an awful lot of betting, but a lot of the time they don't have much." I could hardly argue with this observation, since so many pots in big games get bombarded - far more often than the incidence of good hands would warrant. What is going on? Do high-stakes players ignore their ABC's?

I will try to explain what is going on at the poker table these days. One of my good friends, who also is one of the world's best players, told me recently, "In limit poker, I am afraid to save a bet by not taking an aggressive action if it could cost me the pot." His philosophy is that a single bet or raise is such a small investment compared to the pot size that it is being penny-wise and pound-foolish not to give yourself the best chance to win the pot. In my opinion, lots of pros pretty much follow this philosophy, even though they do not articulate it in such a straightforward manner. Let's look at a few places where a pro is afraid to play his hand any way other than strongly, for fear it could cost him the pot.

I think the number one situation that screams for aggressive action is when there is a bet in front of you and one or more players yet to act behind you. There is so much calling with light hands, especially on the flop betting round, that it is your obligation to confront players yet to act with a double bet by raising anytime there is a reasonable chance you have the best hand. Here's a couple of examples:

You hold a Q-J suited. Someone limps in from early position, you call, and the button and small blind call. Five of you see a flop of Q 9 3, giving you top pair. The blinds both check and the under-the-gun player bets. What should you do? I don't care who you are or how good you read people; there is simply no way to know if your hand is good here. I have the same uneasy feeling that you do when facing an early-position player who led into four other people. In fact, he may well be a favorite to have you beat. Even so, you simply must raise the pot here and confront the other three players with a double bet. It is easy to see this as a situation where the desire to save a bet could easily cost you the pot. In fact, most of the time when a good player raises, he is gritting his teeth and hoping for the best, rather than holding a powerful hand and hoping for a call.

Next, you hold pocket tens in middle position and raise an early limper. The button cold-calls, the big blind calls, and the early-position player calls. The flop comes decently for you - 9 6 2, giving you an overpair. The first two players check, you bet, and the button and early-position player both call (the big blind folded). The turn brings the Q and the first player leads into you. What should you do? If he has just made queens, you have no more than two outs at best. But perhaps he is making an aggressive play after picking up a straight draw or a flush draw. You need to raise here and confront the third player with a double bet. Yes, it is a risky play with such a vulnerable hand, but in poker, you have to pretend that you have a whopper a good bit of the time in order to play the game correctly.

Of course, confronting players with a double bet is only one of the situation types that require aggressive action. Heads-up situations also call for aggressive play. The nature of hold'em is that a preflop hand is about a 2-to-1 underdog to improve. Also, a hand that's not strong enough to raise with preflop is unlikely to be able to contend for the pot after the flop if it fails to improve. Thus, it is the obligation of a hold'em player to find out after the flop whether the opponent has enough hand to stay in contention. You do not have to make a play for every pot when you have only one opponent, but if you do decide to play the hand, you are obligated to investigate whether the opponent has a true contender. There are several ways to do this. You can bet, check-raise, or check-call and then lead on the turn. But there is one thing you must not do, especially with a drawing hand. You must not check-call and then check-call again. On either the flop or the turn, you have to make a play for the pot by taking aggressive action.

The preceding should give some idea why a high-stakes hold'em game is played in such an aggressive manner. However, what is sauce for the goose is not always sauce for the gander. I also see lots of players in smaller games doing a lot of betting without having much. Are they simply emulating the "big boys," and should they be trying to? In many cases, lower-stakes players are making an error by playing a highly aggressive brand of poker. Here are several reasons why this is so:

First, the top players do not play lots of hands. Their aggression is something to fall back on when they do not have that good a hand. They start with a promising holding, but as we know, the flop can often make such a hand junk. Lower-stakes players play more hands, so the "last resort" of top players becomes a way of life for the lesser player. He has a weak holding after the flop far too often.

Second, there are usually more players in each pot in the smaller games. The aggression that works against one, two, or possibly three opponents does not work well at all when more than half the field is seeing the flop. Someone is likely to wake up with a real hand. A bet hopes to win outright, and may get lucky if called. It is less promising if there is virtually no chance to win before the showdown.

Third, players do not fold as often in smaller games. Confronting people with a double bet may not achieve the objective of whittling the field. In these games, raises may well build bigger pots - a magnet for people to stay in - rather than drive opponents out.

In using a poker tool, it is necessary to understand the environment where it is likely to work well so that you can avoid using it when it will work poorly. The modern player has lots of weapons, but they are not one-size-fits-all. Pick the right game for your aggression.

Editor's note: Bob Ciaffone's new book Middle Limit Holdem Poker, co-authored with Jim Brier, is available now (332 pages, $25 plus $5 shipping and handling). This work and his other poker books, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Holdem Poker, can be ordered through Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons. E-mail [email protected] or call (989) 792-0884. His website is www.diamondcs.net/~thecoach, where you can download Robert's Rules of Poker for free.