In small- to medium-stakes no-limit hold'em cash games, you'll often find yourself playing against opponents who drastically overvalue their hands. They are players who are usually willing to go broke after flopping top pair or even just a reasonable flush draw. In short-stack situations, you generally have no choice but to play "tight-is-right" poker against them; you limit your starting hands to only premium holdings and felt them with an overpair or stronger kicker. Elaborate bluffs are useless against these opponents, since they generally will stack off pretty light, so avoid bluffing and wait for a hand. It's a basic, straightforward strategy that works well. Applying this strategy to deep-stack situations also may work, but there is a better way. In fact, if you are in a situation in which both you and your opponent have more than 100 big blinds and you are playing tight preflop poker, you are losing out on a lot of potential profit.
The trouble with tight preflop play is that premium hands don't come around that often. Furthermore, what's considered a premium preflop hand isn't always a great hand after the flop. I'll take A-A over 9-7 preflop any day of the week. But on a flop of 7-7-3, I'd rather have the 9-7. My point is that in deep-stack play, you should be more interested in making big hands on the flop than holding big hands before the flop. Therefore, your goal in deep-stack play against players who overvalue their hands should be to see as many cheap flops as possible. You can almost adopt the motto "any two will do" before the flop, because when you flop a monster, you will make more than enough from these players to justify the preflop call. This means limping in a lot and calling raises if and when the implied odds are attractive. You are looking to double up through these players by outflopping them. So, you will play very loose before the flop and extremely tight on the flop.
When playing this way, it's important that you do not fall into the trap of mimicking your opponents by committing chips with only one pair. If you see a flop with a hand like J-6 and the flop comes jack high, your line is actually check, fold. You want two pair or better on the flop, and when you hit it, you need to find a way to create a big pot. Always assume that your opponent has a piece of the board, and never slow-play. If these players are willing to go broke with marginal hands, it is your job to ensure that they do.
Suppose that you call a raise in a four-way pot from the big blind with 5-2 offsuit and see a flop of A-3-4; go ahead and bet right out. I guarantee that the player holding an ace (fourhanded, there is usually an ace out there) will at least call, if not raise, you. If you're convinced that the raiser has a strong ace, you usually can get all the money in by the turn. Just shove and watch him hand you his stack. And the best part is that when you show down your 5-2, it will give all of the players who see it the impression that you are a terrible player and have no clue what you're doing. To them, calling a raise with two rags and then betting the nuts is just bad play. Any player who had any respect for your game at all before that is guaranteed to label you a "donkey," and that's exactly what you want, because now, even the tighter players at the table will begin to pay you off.
Just remember that in order for this strategy to work, the stacks must be deep. Don't call a short-stacked opponent preflop with two rags; you'll just be throwing your money away, because most of the time you will miss the flop and the money you stand to make from flopping a big hand is just too small to justify the call. Also, if you find your stack dwindling, make sure that you top-up so that you don't shortchange yourself when the monster hand comes.
So, now that I have turned you into a preflop calling station and a post-flop nit, we need to discuss how to add some variance to your game so that players don't catch on to what you're doing. The first scenario that will cause you some trouble when applying this "loose-then-tight" strategy is getting a real premium starting hand before the flop. Let's say that you get pocket kings preflop; you will need to raise or even reraise, and if players have been observing you for a while, any kind of preflop raise will look suspicious. So, you'll have to convince them that you not only call with rags, but raise with them, too. The best way to do this is to wait for a situation in which everyone folds to you on the button, and then make a large preflop raise with a garbage hand, hoping to simply win the blinds. If your raise is successful, show the hand as you rake the pot. If your raise is called and you don't flop a big hand, simply check and fold very quickly. This will show your opponents that you're not only calling, but also raising with "any two." As an added bonus, by making a slightly larger than normal preflop raise and showing a bluff, you are now in a position to make the same kind of large raise with a premium hand and still get action.
The next troublesome scenario is when your post-flop play starts to get respect from astute players who realize that you're betting only made hands after the flop. The way to fix this is similar to the preflop bluffing strategy I described in the last paragraph; look for a limped pot in which you have position, and when both the flop and turn are checked to you, take a stab with a reasonably good-sized bet. If your bet is successful, show your cards as you rake in the pot. And, again, if your bet meets any kind of resistance, you should fold very quickly.
By adding those small touches to your game, you should be able to convince your opponents that you are a genuine maniac and turn them into calling stations who can't wait to pay you off. Just remember, use this technique only in deep-stack play against opponents who really overvalue their hands. In short-stack play or against opponents who won't stack off light, this strategy can be a very quick way to go broke. But if used in the right spots, I promise you that it will bring you returns like nothing else.
Marc "Myst" Karam is a Canadian poker pro who has won millions of dollars competing in major poker tournaments all around the world. Despite his tournament success, he makes his living primarily by playing online cash games on Eurolinx Poker at some of the highest stakes available.
