Two No-Limit Hold'em Lesson Hands

I recently returned from Tunica, Mississippi , where the Jack Binion World Poker Open was in full swing. My mission was not to play in the tournaments, but to deliver a seminar to a convention of PokerSchoolOnline.com students and to make a little money in the side games. Oh, well, at least I got to deliver the seminar.

I tried a unique format this year; I created a series of no-limit hold'em 10-handed deals with a lesson involved. The students played the duplicated hands at tables of 10 players. We then reviewed their results, and discussed what the proper, or preferred alternative, plays might be. I have selected a couple of these hands to discuss in this column.

In all of these hands, the students started with $1,500 in chips and the blinds were $25-$50. We assumed a cash-game format, so no tournament reasoning was involved.

Hand No. 1: Can you get away from a hand?

The under-the-gun player held the 5 5. This is a very good trap hand for a no-limit game, and plays very well if you can get in cheaply to see a flop with a small percentage of your stack. However, in early position, all you can really do is limp in and hope nobody raises. If you are raised, you will have to release the hand, as it will cost too much to play it. I hate putting in money from early position when I know I am going to fold a lot of the tim e. It may be best to fold this hand early.

The same holds true for the next player, who held the J 10. It's another nice hand to play inexpensively from late position, but in a cash game, this hand should be folded much of the tim e from early position.

The next two players held Q-10 and 3-2, and had easy folds, which brings us to the player with the J J. Clearly, he held a premium hand, and should raise before the flop. How much to raise is partly dictated by whether any of the early-position players chose to enter, but I think it should be around four tim es the big blind plus any extra money that is in the pot. In loose games in which people call raises readily, the player might want to raise a bit more.

The remaining players fold until we get to the small blind, who held the A A and usually reraised a significant amount. If the pocket jacks raised to $200, the small blind might have made it $750 or so. (A pot-sized raise here would make it $675 to go, so anything close to that would have been reasonable.)

If the early-position players limped in (or even raised), they certainly should fold now, and that brings us back to the player holding pocket jacks. What should he have done?

At eight of the 10 student tables, the player with jacks now managed to lose all of his money.

In most cash games, when you raise with pocket jacks and get reraised, especially by someone in the small blind, you will be looking at A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-K, or A-Q. Against the first three, you are approximately a 4.5-to-1 underdog. If you are up against two overcards, you will be a slight favorite. So, by calling or going all in, you are agreeing to take much the worst of it a lot of the tim e, and rely on a virtual coin flip the rest of the tim e. Viewed in that light, clearly, you should fold the jacks. It's a pretty hand, but not worth all of your money when you have a clear indication that you are facing a very strong holding.

I somehow hear you saying, "Sure, Barry, that is easy for you to say. You don't play with the idiots that I do. They might be raising with 9-9 or A-3 suited, or maybe nothing at all. If I throw away my jacks, I might often be throwing away the best hand."

Well, that, my friends, is one of the beauties of no-limit hold'em. You can actually throw away the best hand quite frequently, and still show a profit. Of course, the pot must be relatively small compared to your stack. If you are playing against terrible players who make frequent errors, like reraising out of the small blind with silly hands, go ahead and confront them with your pocket jacks. But if your opponent is tight, tough, or tricky, you can simply wait for a much better opportunity and then take all or many of their chips.

Hand No. 2: Betting matters most.

Again, the under-the-gun player held a small pocket pair. Since I did not do my lessons until they had played several of the pre-duplicated decks that we had prepared, several players chose to limp in with the 3 3. Generally, they were not punished this tim e, as the other players did not hold premium hands. Typically, the blind was called by the 9 8, A 10, and A J (this is not a very good raising hand after a crowd in no-limit when the chips are deep) when the big blind held the 7 7. At some tables, a middle-position player with the A 4 also limped in, which is an absolutely terrible play.

The prepared flop of K Q 3 came, giving the early limper a small set. Generally, the pocket sevens checked, and the player with the set of threes bet. The A 10 had a small problem, as he did have a gutshot draw for the nut straight. But with players yet to act after him, the possible flush draw, and the fact that the bet always priced his draw out of the market, he should have folded and almost always did.

The player with the A J had a different sort of problem. With a royal-flush draw and a gutshot-straight draw, this player had 12 pure outs. Generally, though, the bet was too large for even that draw to be getting the correct pot odds to call. If he called and missed, another pot-sized bet would again be offering him the wrong price to call. In no-limit, however, there is always an interesting alternative to calling: raising. In limit poker, a raise here, while you some tim es see it, is normally self-defeating. The raiser typically gets called down and has to make his hand. Plus, in limit, any big draw almost always sees the proper odds to draw. In no-limit, where your opponent can select the pot odds he offers you, draws are much more difficult to play. Of course, a lot depends on stack sizes and implied odds, but overall, draws do not play that well in no-limit.

However, semibluff-raising has a much greater impact, as you can raise a large amount. This gives you two ways to win: your opponent folds ("folding equity") or you make your hand. This makes raising in circumstances like this a far better option than calling.

Note that your raise must be bold. Taking a halfway-safe path and making a small raise (the size of the bet) typically gives you the worst of both worlds. Your opponent has an easy call, and you are simply giving yourself a worse price. If you are going to make this raise, it must be large enough to have some impact – typically, three and a half to four tim es the bet size (around a pot-sized bet).

On the actual hand (which, as you recall, I created), the turn card is the J, making a straight for the player with the A-10 if he elected to stay in, and the river is the 7, making the A J the winning hand. At least in hands I invent, justice prevails, as the pocket threes should not have been in at all.

Conclusion: These hands contained a large number of talking points and lots of possibilities. No-limit hold'em is rarely predictable, as one player may choose a bet size that will change the course of events at his table (for example, on the second hand, the player with the set of threes might incorrectly push all in on the flop, thus probably winning the hand with a disproportionate bet). Betting, hand reading, understanding opponents' tendencies and weaknesses, tells, stack size, position, recent history, and even the importance of the stakes to various players can completely change the character of the game.

Nevertheless, the lessons on the hands are valid: stay tight in early position, do not get overly involved for big money with medium pairs, always be aware of the pot odds, and make judicious but bold semibluffs.