Those Confusing Underbets in No-Limit Hold'em

Underbetting the pot in no-limit hold'em – raising the minimum amount – can be a very deceptive play that often confuses your opponents. Making a small raise is one way to slow-play a big hand. Slow-playing a hand in an effort to trap an opponent can be more profitable in no-limit than in limit hold'em. If an opponent reraises after you have made a minimum bet in no-limit, you can come over the top of him for all of his chips. But when an opponent raises in limit hold'em, you can reraise for only one additional bet.

Chris came face to face with a deceptive underbet in a World Series of Poker qualifying no-limit hold'em tournament he recently played online. Here's how he handled it, followed by the lesson to be learned from his story. After divulging his online moniker, he began, "I was playing a WSOP qualifier recently and made it to the final table. I wish I had saved the hand history (in online events, you can save the hand sequence to review later) to e-mail you, but here's my best shot from memory.

"We were at the final table, and down to three players. The tournament paid one seat for a WSOP event, with second place getting $403. My fateful hand went like this: The blinds were $4,000-$8,000 and I was in the small blind with A-10 offsuit. The button folded and I decided to raise to $24,000. The big blind reraised me, making it another $32,000. I thought nothing of it; maybe he had a small pocket pair, or even better, a K-Q or something similar. I called and the flop came J-10-10. I decided to check to him to see how far in debt he'd like to go. I mean, at this point, wouldn't you think this was huge?!

"I checked, and my opponent bet out $16,000. 'This is a very small bet, and more than likely, he's on a draw,' I thought, so I just called. Then, a 3 came on the turn and I knew he'd bet again. This time, I decided to check-raise back at him and let his play go wrong. Well, when he bet $16,000 again, I came over the top of him, making it $52,000. He thought for half a second and reraised. This was when I started wondering whether to just drop the hand and call it a loss, or play it out, hoping he was a maniac. Mind you, after all of this, I still had around $82,000, and the other short stack had about $60,000. To make a long story short, I called.

"The river brought an 8 and I checked. He quickly put me all in. 'Hell, I've come this far,' I thought. 'Maybe he has A-A or K-K.' Wrong! My opponent had reraised me preflop after a sufficient raise on my part, and then flopped the nuts with his pocket jacks!

"Without losing your cool at my ignorance for not laying my hand down, can you put yourself in my place and tell me how I played the hand wrong, or what I could do in another situation like this if I come across it again? The reason your answer means so much to me is that I love this game, and I love the competition and thinking involved in no-limit hold'em even more. My dream is to be there at the WSOP, surrounded by all the greats, and have someone put an eye on me and say, 'That kid's going places!' Thanks for any help you can give me."

Once Chris had seen the flop, it would have been almost impossible for him to lay his hand down. I believe his play on the flop (check and call) was fine, but when a blank (a 3) fell on fourth street, I would have check-raised my opponent all in, assuming that I was positive my opponent was going to bet. Otherwise, Chris should have made a pot-sized bet himself to avoid giving a free card.

His opponent's bet on the flop, however, would have made me stop and think. By betting only $16,000 (twice the size of the big blind), he was underbetting the pot, a danger signal. If I thought he was not ultrasophisticated, I would still probably play the hand. However, if I thought he underbet because he had a monster, which he did, I probably would just call him and not put in any raises. Calling his opponent's reraise before the flop was marginally OK only because the action was down to three players and his opponent did not necessarily need to have a big hand to play back at him.

Chris, it would have been very hard for me to avoid going broke after the flop with your hand – and if you continue analyzing your play and seeking the advice of experienced pros, you definitely will hear someone say, "That kid's going places!" Maybe you'll even hear it from me when we meet in the winner's circle at the WSOP.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy is the author of Tournament Poker and the co-author with T.J. Cloutier of Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em. These books and McEvoy's other books are available online at www.cardplayer.com.