Take the Initiative - or Don't!

Taking the initiative in a poker hand means you are controlling the action. This translates to making bets rather than calls, and in many cases, raising to conclude the action. In this way, you are communicating to your opponents that you have the best hand and they are to call or fold, accordingly. All winning players understand the power of taking the initiative. First of all, you can win by pressuring others to fold, since you are generally leading out. Second, your hand may be the winner, and your aggressive and consistent betting builds a juicy pot of chips for yourself.

By the same token, good players know when to surrender the initiative. This can be prudent either because they are letting an opponent overplay a marginal hand, in which case passiveness builds the biggest pot, or the opportunity is not ripe to be the aggressor, so they check and call, hoping their hand will develop. The latter is best done in loose games with drawing hands in multiway pots.

Let's run through a sample limit hold'em hand and examine this idea:

Your Hand: A Q

Position: Late

Preflop Action: Everyone folds to a player on your right (let's call him "Nick"), who raises.

Comments: The question is whether to fold, call, or three-bet; in other words, to take the initiative or not. Many middle-limit players don't believe A-Q suited is a strong enough hand with which to three-bet, and prefer to encourage more players to jump in by just calling to build a pot. I encourage you not to make the decision based on your sense of how strong the hand is, but on how you read the situation.

If you think the raiser is a tight player and his hand is likely to be queens, kings, aces, or A-K, you would fold. Why get involved? If you think the raiser may have less than a premium hand or an underpair to your two high cards, and you think you have good control of the player, and you think your three-bet will shut out the field, take the initiative and reraise.

If you have been losing and are not feared, and have some aggressive, loose players behind you who are sure to cold-call all raises, consider just calling. Save your firepower until you see the flop. You will be in a weak position to maintain the initiative if you get a marginal flop with a strong hand in front of you and loose players behind you.

Assuming You Three-Bet and are Now Heads Up …

Flop: J 7 5

Action: Nick bets.

Comments: Very interesting. You flopped nothing. After your very strong message preflop, Nick decides to test your hand, likely putting you on A-K or a small pair. And maybe he has a big pair or K-J, or even the A 10. Your decision on what to do is really all about what kind of player Nick is. The more straightforward he is, the more passive you should be (surrender the initiative), since he's unlikely to lay down an overpair. Why throw in a lot of money with such a weak hand?

If Nick is an aggressive, tricky type, a raise seizes back the initiative and hopefully neutralizes his aggression. It's not so important that you're semibluffing, but that you're now forcing him to question the strength of his own hand.

In this way, you manipulate him into checking the turn, where you can decide, based on the turn card, whether to take a free card or keep firing.

Assuming You Raised the Flop …

Turn Card: 10

Action: Checked to you.

Comments: This card gives you several more outs, but ultimately you think Nick still has you beat. Will a bet get him to muck? Will he check-raise a bet (holding pocket jacks and playing them masterfully)? What hands would he throw away if you bet? A medium pocket pair? Possibly. A-Q or A-K? Unlikely, since he'd have a ton of outs. But keep in mind that if the river rags off and he holds big slick (or a reasonable facsimile), a river bet would likely get him to release. And therein lies the beauty of taking the initiative if consistent , uninterrupted , and believable . It paves the way for winning with an undeveloped hand, because the message of your betting is so strong.

Assuming You Bet and He Calls …

River Card: J (Wow! That's an intense card.)

Action: Checked to you.

Comments: That's a classic scare card. It completes the flush and pairs the top card. He can't likely call with any ace unless your image is very bad and loose. He's gonna have a hard time calling with an underpair. The pot contains 15 bets (don't forget the big blind, who dropped out preflop). I'd risk two bets to win 17. The message has been consistent the entire hand. "I have the goods!" Bet out.

If he decides to raise (real hand or not), more power to him. Either the river totally helped him or he's read you like a pro. I can't see you calling the raise. But more than likely, he will think for a while and try to get a sense of whether or not his hand is good. That's when you know you've played the hand well.

Conclusions

Try to avoid what many players do: They take the initiative early and then lose heart when their hand fails to improve, backing off and practically giving the pot away. Or, they decide to try for the steal at the end of the hand and it comes off as too transparent. Remember, a bluff will have the best chance of working if it makes sense and is believable to your opponent from the beginning to the end of the hand.

There is some risk in taking and trying to sustain the initiative. You no longer are just playing your hand, but are stepping up to the next level, that of playing your opponent(s). This requires greater awareness and good timing. But, it is a step up to greater profit expectation, since you are controlling situations to a much greater degree. The key word is situations.