Slick

The nickname for the hold'em poker starting hand A-K is "Big Slick," or just "Slick" if you like to talk fast. In many ways, it is the most flexible hand in hold'em. For example, in limit play, if you get raised, both the call and the reraise will come into consideration. (The same choices occur in no-limit play.) It can be considered a made hand (the "no-pair nuts") or a drawing hand that will make top pair about half the time if it can stick around for all five boardcards. But to say it is flexible does not mean one way of playing it cannot be better than another in a given situation. Some of your critical decisions will involve Slick, especially in no-limit play.

For no-limit games, Slick can be both a blessing and a curse. In money play, assuming the players are deep in chips in proportion to the blind structure, it is a dangerous hand to back strongly. Either preflop or on the flop when you have made a pair, you are liable to realize that you are in serious trouble after getting a third or half of your stack into the pot. When the money is deep, only aces or kings look like through tickets preflop. If you raised preflop, then paired, and are put to the test for serious money, I like the other guy's hand. Even if you avoid the crucifixion of facing a set, you will likely have a three-outer against two pair or be even money versus a big draw.

Slick in the tournament arena is a different story. True, in multiday events, it is a risky hand to play strongly early on. But much of the time, the blinds are up high enough so that the hand can be played for all of your money. In a sense, the betting will not show you to be beaten, so it is OK to plunge ahead and go with your hand. Slick is a real workhorse in tournament play, and a welcome sight for a starting hand.

I have some strong opinions on how to handle Slick in a tournament setting. How deep you are in proportion to the blinds has a profound effect on the strategy that I advise. Let's look at some scenarios:

First, assume it is early in an event. You are first to act with Slick. The blinds are $5-$10, and you have $500 in starting chips. Should you be fortunate enough to open with a raise and win the blind money, you will become the proud owner of $515 - but this is scarcely a sum to make much of a difference in your prospects. Suppose that instead of scooping up the blind money, you have a caller to your $35 opening raise. There is now $85 in the pot and you are about a 2-to-1 dog to make a pair. I want to bet on the other guy. You have the initiative, but he has position, and probably the better hand. The initiative is certainly worth something, but there is a lot to be said for simply having a good hand in position. To make a comparison with warfare, I find more attraction for protective fortifications and better weaponry than the guts to charge into the guns. (I would rather be the victor than receive a postmortem poem lauding my courage.) So, when the blinds are low enough to be uninteresting, I prefer to be a pussycat and tiptoe into the pot.

Suppose you do limp from up front with Slick and someone behind you raises. What should you do? As I said before, Slick is a flexible hand. Of course, the identity and position of the player who raised come into the picture, but unless there is something startling in the scenario, here is my thinking:

If I reraise, it will certainly be all in. Otherwise, I am putting a lot of money into the pot and creating a problem for myself should I get played with. For example, in the structure we talked about earlier, suppose I limp and a player behind me raises the size of the pot. We will have about a hundred bucks in the middle after my call, so I will be raising about that amount. A big reraise (nearly $400) leaves me either taking a sizable loss by folding or almost surely going uphill if I call. (Note that if my opponent makes the strange but often-seen play of a call here instead of an all-in reraise, my prospects are not so rosy, either, since it is about 2-to-1 that I will be forced to go all in on the flop without a pair.)

In this scenario, if the money is too deep for a reraise, can I call and try to make a pair? That depends. A call may be a reasonable option. But when I call, I want to be able to play for all of my money if I pair. I am comfortable in doing this unless the money is really deep. I would not want to check-raise my opponent after the flop and still have a big hunk of money left. There is a limit to the amount of money I am willing to risk on the flop when holding only one pair. In the layout we have been discussing, in which I call a $45 raise with $500 in front of me, I could check-raise the pot size and get more than halfway in, so overbetting the pot with my check-raise and going all in with it is an acceptable stratagem (although I would prefer to have only $300 or $400 instead of $500 for this play). With a grand instead of $500, I clearly have too much money to be backing a one-pair hand with my whole stack. So, when the money is too deep for an all-in check-raise on the flop, my play against most people is to fold A-K when raised by a player who has position on me.

If the money is shallow enough that I can get all in without having to overbet the pot by a significant amount, I am quite likely to put the raiser all in (just as I would if having limped with aces or kings). One thing I definitely would not do is call the raise and try to make a pair. I am a 2-to-1 underdog to pair. It is bad poker to put a large portion of your stack into the pot and then leave the arena two times out of every three. In the high blind structure of tournament play, the raiser often has a hand like A-Q, A-J, or a suited ace, leaving him between a 2-to-1 and 3-to-1 underdog to Slick. You simply cannot let people you may have dominated with your hand charge you a price to improve and then take the pot away from you when you fail to do so. This would make you a big dog to win the pot.

The strategy I have given you in playing Slick is very useful in illustrating some important principles of no-limit tournament play. First, don't try hard to win the pot preflop from early position unless the blind money would significantly improve your prospects in the event. Second, do not call a big hunk of your stack preflop trying to hit a good flop; either play for all of your money or get out. Third, build a hand that you are willing to go all the way with if you hit the flop. There is no sense trying to make a pair if you are going to have to muck it should the betting get steep. Fourth, do not keep taking the worst of it in hand matchups and relying on your arm to get you out of trouble. The initiative is very important in no-limit play - but not as important as a good hand and good position.

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.