Online poker sites have introduced pot-limit draw poker, and they have added tournaments to the mix. No one seems to understand how to play these tournaments, so they offer good opportunities for those who understand optimal strategy.
The most important part of the strategy is understanding online tournament techniques in general, but some ideas are unique to draw poker and even more specific to pot-limit. You make plays in a pot-limit draw poker tournament that you wouldn't in either a pot-limit draw ring game or a limit draw tournament. You also make plays that you wouldn't in a hold'em tournament. Contrariwise, you don't make other plays that you would in some of the other formats.
Before suggesting tournament strategy points, let me point you to pot-limit draw basic strategy. The games are all played either sixhanded or fivehanded. I wrote four columns on the subject last year, in issues No. 1, 2, 10, and 11 of Volume 19. You can find them all at CardPlayer.com.
Generally follow those guidelines, but realize that you will profit more by mistakes the others make than by the brilliance of your own play. Of course, part of the brilliance of your play is capitalizing on the mistakes of others, so the preceding is somewhat of a paradoxical statement.
The biggest mistake players make is that they limp a lot. That's hardly ever warranted. Limping with a marginal hand may be warranted in hold'em, where you might want to speculate, hoping to flop something big. In hold'em, you've seen only two-sevenths of your hand on the first round, and you have three more rounds to make something; plus, you can tell your opponents' likely hands by the constitution of the board. In draw, you've seen 60 percent or more of your hand, you have only one more shot, and you're often flying blind, particularly when your opponents feel no pressure because you didn't raise - which is something that could define their hands. It's better to come in for a raise with the hands you're going to play. The raise should make your opening bet equal to about two-and-a-half to three times the big blind. Don't give opponents free draws. They'll take those free draws and beat you.
Also, rarely play the marginal hands.
In the games I've observed, I've seen far too much limping near the end, too much drawing to straights and flushes, and too much calling with weak hands. You're almost always taking at least 3-to-1 the worst of it, and rarely are getting pot, let alone implied, odds.
Until they get used to the game, you'll find novices either overvaluing or undervaluing two pair and trips. That's a mistake that will build your stack.
Most of the time, a raise of a raise before the draw should tell you that your medium two pair is no good. Since you will need to improve to win, you're essentially looking at an 11-to-1 shot. For example, let's say the blinds are $25 and $50 and the antes are $5. In a sixhanded game, the pot is $105. You started with $2,000 in tournament chips and your stack is now $2,500. A player comes in from under the gun for a raise, betting $100. You have Q-Q-5-5-2. You raise to $300. The opener reraises $500. He has about $1,000 left. Most of your opponents would call that raise, but you're making a huge mistake if you do. The opener told you with his opening bet that he has a good hand. At the time he came in, that could have been a pair of aces or kings. Many players open for twice the big blind with a big pair. But his willingness to not just call your raise but to come back at you tells you almost certainly that he has you beat. Most players would just call with that original big pair - or throw it away! - and might or might not call with two pair worse than yours, but they would not reraise. Unless he is an atypical player, he would not reraise with a worse hand than yours. Thus, you have to improve, and it's 11-to-1 against you. Rarely will you be getting 11-to-1 pot or implied odds.
You'll also see players come in cold with two medium or small pair when there already have been two raises. That's usually a mistake.
So, you will profit by the others overvaluing their two pair, and also will profit by not losing too much yourself with them.
You'll also see two pair and trips being
undervalued. You will profit there, too, both because every mistake your opponents make favors you and because every mistake you don't make hurts them. Here's another example. With the same blinds as before, a player limps in from first position. The next two players call. The player on the button raises $100. The big blind comes in, so five players have put $200 each in the pot. The raiser has 9-9-7-7-2. Against four opponents, two medium pair is a dog against the field. Yes, it has a positive expectation overall, but it wins only about a third of the time. The rest of the time, it usually loses additional money after the draw, which changes that positive to a negative. What usually happens is that one of the players bets $300 after the draw. How can our hero lay down a $1,330 pot for $300? He calls, and gets shown three eights or something similar. If he had raised $350 or $400 to begin with, no one might have called and he would have won $405 instead of losing $500. That's quite a difference. If one player does happen to call, you generally have at least a 3-to-1 edge. And even with three of a kind, you don't want to be enticing players in by underraising.
I'll have more next time.
Michael Wiesenberg's The Ultimate Casino Guide, published by Sourcebooks, is available at fine bookstores and at Amazon.com and other online book purveyors. Send approbation, accusations, and advice to [email protected].
