Emptying the Mailbox

Mail No. 1

Rolf,

How big a bankroll did you have and what stakes did you play when you first went pro?

I started playing $5-$10 hold'em more than six years ago with a $10,000 bankroll. I kept playing this game almost exclusively for more than one year, then I started moving up gradually. Nowadays I play mostly pot-limit Omaha, a game with lots of fluctuations that requires a lot of skill. Just a few beats can do a lot of damage to your bankroll, so you need a very large bankroll if you want to play this game well.

Mail No. 2

Rolf,

I enjoyed a column you wrote sometime ago ("A Few Misconceptions in Poker"), but I have a question about one of the points you made. I agree with you on not always raising with A-K. I think slow-playing with it before the flop adds an element of deception to your hand if you hit it on the flop. However, this play doesn't seem to work at the lower limits. Most of the time when I slow-play A-K, I get sucked out on by someone who stayed for the flop in an unraised pot with something like 9-6. Someone usually picks up a straight or flush. So, I have started to bet A-K preflop for value. While this still may not cause some of the calling stations at the lower limits to fold their garbage hands, at least it punishes them in the long run for calling with junk. Do you have any thoughts on this? Do you think it's the right play?

While I agree that raising with A-K is OK most of the time (because, as you rightly pointed out, you've got to punish the bad hands for staying in), there are a few problems here. Because you build the pot before the flop, you might feel the need to bet the flop even when you don't improve, or at least take a card off when somebody bets; after all, the pot is big enough now to call one more bet. (In fact, it may even be wrong to fold with all of that money in the middle.) But when you do call, making top pair on the turn could very well just get you into more trouble. If there are several players still in the pot after the flop, it is not too likely that one pair will win, and even when you catch the card you paid for, this doesn't automatically mean that your hand is the best now: Someone might have two pair or even a set.

In bigger games, one of the main reasons to raise is to win with your A-K unimproved, but in low-limit games, people call anyway. When the pot becomes big before the flop, your opponents will be getting the right odds to call down your most probable after-the-flop hand (one pair), and one pair is usually not enough to win in a four- or five-way pot. A reason for just calling before the flop is to be able to defend your hand better when an ace or king flops. Now, since there was no raise, any top pair/weak kicker might think his hand is probably good and will bet, only to see you raise, forcing the other players out. (If they do call, so much the better. Since the pot is still small, they can never get the right odds to try to outdraw your top pair/top kicker.) If this play works, you can play the hand heads up with your opponent having to hit his kicker to win – a very favorable situation. So, the pots you win will be smaller than if you raise before the flop, but you won't get into trouble after the flop, because if you don't receive help (that is, you don't hit an ace or king), you simply fold. The thing is, raising or not raising should not be automatic. Always take a look at the following important factors: What is my position? How many players are in already? Which players are in already, and what do they read me for? How is the pot most likely going to develop after the flop when I get no help, a bit of help, or a lot of help.

Mail No. 3

Rolf,

I enjoyed your column "About Discipline," and I have a question regarding something you wrote, and a few questions that are more general. Why do you check-raise more when you are running bad? Also, what is a good rate of winning in a structured (limit) game? I may be able to have the next six months off, and plan to play cards quite a lot, mostly $3-$6, and some $10-$20. I have played for about 10 years now and have enjoyed modest success, but have never been able to really concentrate on my game. I am an extremely tight player, very aggressive at times. What would you suggest; some words of wisdom, or caution?

The best advice I can give you is to enjoy the game, whether you are winning or not. Too many players are looking at the game just in terms of hourly rate, winning/losing, and so on. It is my experience that the players who really love the game have a better chance of winning in the long run than those who play just because they want to make money.

I check-raise a bit more often when I'm down because people have a tendency to run over you when they see you can't win a pot. They won't respect a check by checking it back (fearing you might have a good hand), and will almost always bet, even with nothing. If you show them checking doesn't necessarily mean, "I have nothing," you might get them back in line; plus, you will get more money into the pot with your good hands than by betting out yourself.

Mail No. 4

Rolf,

In your column "Pot-Limit Game Conditions," you mention rundown hands while playing a medium stack. What is a rundown hand and could you give me an example?

Rundown hands are, for example, K-Q-J-10 (big rundown) or 8-7-6-5 (small rundown). With these types of hands, if the flop is favorable, you will have a huge two-way hand. If you hold 8-7-6-5 and the flop comes 10-5-4 rainbow, you have a big (wraparound) straight draw (any 3, 6, 7, or 8 will give you a straight). Plus, if your opponent holds A-8-7-6, for example (same wrap, no pair), and you both receive no help, your pair of fives might win you the pot! If the flop comes 7-6-2 rainbow, your hand is even better (top two pair, straight draw), and can usually be played rather aggressively on the flop. Pot-limit Omaha players know the value of rundown hands – not just the big rundowns (the value of K-Q-J-10 or A-K-Q-J is obvious), but the small rundowns, as well. In the right situation (and in position), these hands can make you a lot of money.

Mail No. 5

Ace,

I don't write many letters, but I must compliment you on your column "About Bluffing" … it was the most forthcoming and informative I have ever read.

I have read many books on hold'em and Omaha, and many times I think the authors are holding back the good stuff. I have a reputation as a solid player and don't bluff very often (in the late stages of a poker tournament), but if I do, it usually works because of the table image I have. I am agonizing over one play in a recent hold'em tournament I played in. I was in the small blind against the big blind, a solid player who in a previous tournament had read me correctly by folding against a check-raise of mine. We were about three hours into the tournament, both of us were medium short-stacked, and it was folded to me in the small blind. I raised with 3-3, and the solid player called. When the flop came Q-Q-7, I bet, he raised, and I folded. In hindsight, I believe he was testing the waters and I should have reraised with my dwindling precious chips. I think he stole the pot away from me, as I put him on ace-rag. Anyway, your comments on the coordinated flop and the "bare ace play" were excellent, and I look forward to your book.

Thanks for your kind words. Regarding the tournament situation you describe, yes, it is quite probable your opponent was in there with ace-rag, or even a hand like K-10, and by raising, he made you lay down the best hand. Because he doesn't figure you to hold a queen (because if you did, you probably would have checked, or at least this is what most players would do when they flop such a big hand against only one opponent), he might have taken the opportunity to represent three of a kind himself. However, if he had the queen, he probably would not have raised you here, as it was unlikely you would have been able to call him, and because he would want you to keep charging at the pot with virtually no chance of winning. On the other hand, he might have had a hand that was better than yours – for example, a small pocket pair (fives, sixes) or even a hand like 9-7 suited – and simply wanted to win the pot there and then. Remember, he is rather short-stacked, and it takes a very good player to risk his valuable chips on a bluff against a solid player like you who has shown strength. Still, in any of these cases, he might have folded against a reraise, depending upon the exact way he viewed your play in general, and his read on you in that particular hand.