Way Ahead or Way Behind

On almost every hand, someone has the lead and all of the other players are striving to outdraw him. So, someone is always ahead and everyone else is behind. But, a special category of situations termed "Way Ahead or Way Behind" has particular characteristics, and you need to play hands in this category in a specific manner. This column will define the term, give a brief standard example, and look at a hand in which many of the principles come into play.

A "Way Ahead or Way Behind" situation requires the following:

• You are heads up

• You do not know whether you are ahead or behind

• If you are ahead, your opponent has very few outs (typically two or three)

• If you are behind, you have very few outs

These situations come up in lots of ways, but most frequently when you have an ace with a decent kicker – say, A-J. The flop comes with an ace, and your opponent represents an ace. Assuming the rest of the board shows few if any draws, he probably has one. If he has A-K or A-Q, you are way behind and must catch a jack to win. However, if your opponent has a worse kicker than your jack, he is the one who's way behind, with only three outs (unless, of course, he has hit his kicker already).

Frequently, these situations are tricky for both players, since neither may know which position he is in. Sometimes, your opponent will be the aggressor and represent that he is way ahead, but you cannot be sure enough to fold and must get to a showdown.

A recent hand: Let's try to be more concrete with a hand from a recent $80-$160 game. You are in the cutoff seat with the K Q; after everyone folds in front of you, you raise. The button folds, and the small blind reraises. This knocks out the big blind, so the two of you will be heads up.

The small blind is a tough player, and you should take a moment to decide what sort of hand he can have here. Because you raised from late position, he does not have to give you credit for a premium hand, so his raise was made with a wider range of possible hands than if you had raised from early position. Also, because he is in the small blind, his raise has a chance to knock out the big blind, which is another reason he might have a less than premium hand. Of course, he also would raise with excellent hands, as well.

You elect to call the raise, since folding is out of the question, but your hand could easily be second best to any ace or any pocket pair. The flop provides some help for you: K 8 3. Your opponent bets out. What should you do now?

You realize that you really have no idea where you stand. If he has A-A, A-K, or K-K, you are far behind, with five, three, and zero outs, respectively. On the other hand, if he has a hand like pocket queens, jacks, or tens, he has very few outs. If he has A-Q or A-J, again, he has three outs. If his hand is somehow worse than ace high or a pair, he is drawing nearly dead.

If you raise here, he will probably fold a worse hand and reraise with a better one. But, being a tough player, he might occasionally reraise with a hand you could beat as a way of testing your hand (since you might raise as a bluff yourself) or your resolve.

The real key here is that if he is behind, you want to keep him in, preferably by having him bet, as he has very few ways to win, and he can have many more hands that are behind than ahead. In fact, a call by you might even convince him he should bluff on the turn with nothing at all, hoping (forlornly) you will fold. So, while raising is not a bad play, calling has many more advantages.

After you call his flop bet, the turn is the 6, and your opponent now checks. Again, take a moment and decide what you would do.

Many people would bet here, since they would not want to give a free card that might beat them even if the opponent has only a couple of outs. Let's look at this situation in more depth, though.

Analyzing the turn play: Because he is a good player, he realizes that you have some sort of hand yourself. If you had nothing, you would have folded on the flop. Therefore, if he is way ahead, this would be a terrific time for him to check-raise. So, if he is ahead, you certainly want to check, not bet.

But what if you are ahead? Almost certainly, a bet by you will win the pot, while a check will risk losing it. Interestingly, though, there is another factor to consider. If you check here, how will your opponent act on the river?

By creating doubt in his mind about your hand here, you may very well get him to call you on the river (or even bluff the river if he does not improve). For example, if he has pocket jacks, he probably would fold here if you bet, not wanting to call both the turn and the river. If you check the turn, you will lose when he hits his two-outer, but might gain a bet when he does not.

Let's look at the math in the pocket jacks case. After your call on the flop, the pot holds nine small bets. If you bet now, you will win the nine bets almost all the time. Of course, if he calls with his losing hand, so much the better, but you can't count on it. If you check, one time in 23 he will hit his set and bet. You will call and lose an additional big bet. However, 22 of 23 times he will miss. In those cases, he will either bet, or check and call most of the time. You will win two extra small bets 22 times, and lose 11 small bets once in every 23 plays.

Remarkably, you profit hugely in this case by checking and giving him a chance to catch up. Yes, when he does catch up, you lose a pot you might have won, but when he does not, he almost certainly loses a big bet he would not have lost otherwise.

The rewards greatly outweigh the risks because:

• The pot is fairly small

• He rarely catches up

• The number of extra calls you might get is relatively large

So, on this hand, if he is way ahead, you certainly want to check, and if he is way behind, you also want to check! Clearly, you cannot do all of this math and figuring at the table after he checks, but by studying and recognizing this repeating theme, you should be able to make the correct play based on your general knowledge.

The river becomes very easy after that. You want to play for a one-bet scenario. If he bets, you call; if he checks, you bet. This type of "Way Ahead or Way Behind" situation gets resolved in this manner.

Conclusion: While "Way Ahead or Way Behind" confrontations are somewhat common, you must be careful to identify them correctly. If your opponent is semibluffing, for example, with eight, nine, or more outs, you must play far more aggressively. Only when you can be sure you are in a textbook "Way Ahead or Way Behind" situation can you afford the passive play that typically optimizes your results.

Recognizing these situations and reacting to them properly takes time and study. Once you understand the principles, however, you should be using these situations to lose less when you are way behind, and show a larger profit when you are way ahead.