Once in a while, you flop a hand that is likely to be the best. In a heads-up pot, your only objective is to maximize your profit. In a multiway pot, your goals are more complex. You have to strike a balance between building a large pot while you are a favorite and trying to eliminate other players who might outdraw you.
Your decision on how to play the hand depends on several factors, including the following:
• Number of opponents
• Size of the pot
• Flop texture
• Who has the lead
• Your position relative to the leader
• Your image
• Your read of opponents' hands.
Building a pot: With the exception of when you flop an invulnerable hand, you want to make sure that there is at least some action on the flop. In fact, even if you do flop a monster, you are usually better off betting in most cases, because the primary error that most opponents make is calling on the flop with insufficient values. All of the money they put in when drawing dead is pure profit, and you want to get as much of it as you can.
If you want to build a pot, raising the flop could be the best alternative even though your instincts are telling you to wait for the turn, when the bets double. For example, after three limpers, you also limp with the K
Q
from the button, and the blinds call. The flop is a lovely J
10
9
, so you have the nuts at the moment. After the blinds check, the first limper bets and the next one calls. Should you raise now or wait for the turn?
Many players wait, figuring that they want to keep the blinds in so that they can collect their bets, and then raise the turn to collect more money. However, it is better to raise right now. Some opponents may view this as a free-card play, and either reraise on the flop, enabling you to get still more money in while you are a big favorite, or call the flop and bet the turn when a blank hits, which is even better for you. Plus, the blinds may call your flop raise when drawing nearly dead with, for example, Q-6. If they fold, you still will collect two more bets from the players who are already in, which you may not get if you just call. Also, if you call, the blinds may fold anyway, and a scare card could hit on the turn that keeps the bettor from leading again.
Protecting your hand: More often, though, your hand will be more vulnerable, and if the pot is large, your focus will be on eliminating opponents, or at least giving them as poor a price as possible to draw to beat you. This is easier if someone else is betting, as you can raise to reduce the pot odds of the remaining players. However, deciding whether to raise on the flop or the turn requires some judgment. Here is a hand that illustrates this:
I was under the gun in a $30-$60 limit hold'em game, was dealt black queens, and raised. Everyone folded to the player in the cutoff seat, a loose kid with a visor and BluBlockers, who reraised. The small blind, a middle-aged guy who played almost every hand but raised or reraised only with super-premium holdings, made it four bets. I was unhappy, but made a crying call, and the kid capped it (a bet and four raises in many Las Vegas cardrooms is a rule I really like).
The flop was a very good Q
J
8
. The small blind bet out. He must have A-A or K-K. Fine; I had drawn out, and could almost certainly collect from him until the river.
But the board had many possible draws, the pot was huge, and I needed to determine if it was necessary or possible to eliminate the brash kid. Interestingly, the only hands he could hold that mattered were A-K, 10-10, and 9-9, all of which would have given him a gutshot-straight draw. If he had anything else, he either was drawing nearly dead or had something like a flush draw, and I could not have gotten him out no matter what I did.
If he had a gutshot, he was an 11-1 dog. There were 17 small bets in the pot with the lead bet on the flop. If I raised, I would be giving him 19-2, which was not quite 11-1, but enough to call with the implied odds. I could make him pay for his draw, but he certainly would have called with any of the relevant hands.
If I called the flop bet and was lucky enough to avoid a death card on the turn, I should be able to raise him out on the next betting round.
So, I deferred raising, not because I was waiting for the bets to double so that I could get more money, but because I wanted to optimize my chances to win the pot by getting the kid to fold.
The turn was a black 3. The small blind (who certainly had an overpair) bet again. Now, there were 10.5 big bets in the pot. I raised, making it 12.5 big bets, but forcing the kid to face 6.25-1 odds for his 11-1 shot. He folded (and later said he had pocket tens, which was a terrible cap preflop). The other guy called, and called again when a blank hit on the river.
Conclusion: When the flop hits you hard, you still need to plan. Decide how vulnerable your hand is, and whether you are going to try to build the biggest pot you can or focus on trying to improve your chances to win it with strategic play.
If protection is your goal, as it often should be, you may need to go to some lengths to accomplish it. Simply deciding to bet or raise when it is your turn may not do the trick. After working out the odds, determine what sorts of hands are dangerous to you and how to make it difficult, expensive, or incorrect for drawing hands to stay in to try to overtake you.
Barry offers poker lessons tailored to the specific strengths and weaknesses of the individual student. Please visit his website at www.barrytanenbaum.com or e-mail him at [email protected].
