Conquering Crazy Games

Several issues ago, I gave you a foolproof strategy to beat wild no-limit hold'em games by buying in short. Since then, a number of readers have asked me the natural question, "So, I use your strategy and double up. Then what?"



Good question. Fortunately, the strategic ideas stay much the same. Just follow these four simple steps:



Prepare Yourself Mentally to Get Stacked

You will get stacked in crazy games. It's not uncommon to get stacked two or three times in a session. You can't protect yourself from this. If you plan your strategy around not getting stacked, you will lose. Sure, you won't lose it all in one hand, but if you refuse to get all in, over a series of hands you will eventually lose it all. Wild players will escalate the betting and challenge you to play all-in pots. Don't hide from it; embrace it. Big pots are fun, after all. They're even more fun when you have the edge, which you will if you keep reading.



Always bring at least five buy-ins with you to the cardroom. If that's too much money, drop down in stakes. If you can't drop down, buy in for less. You are far better off splitting your $300 into six $50 buy-ins than you are buying in for $200 and playing like a wimp.



Play for Made Hands, Not Draws

In crazy games, a large percentage of the money gets bet preflop and on the flop. If you've bought in short, you might be all in on the flop. But even with 100 big blinds or deeper stacks, oftentimes, half or more of your stack will be bet by the flop, and you'll essentially be committed to your hand. You don't have time to draw. If you're playing $1-$2 with $200 stacks and it's $20 four ways preflop and $80 on the flop, you've likely already passed the point of no return.



For instance, let's say five players limp, and you make it $20 to go with A-Q. Four players call, so there's $100 in the pot. The flop comes A-J-8 with two of a suit. Everyone checks to you. You could move all in immediately. Or, depending on the situation, you could bet approximately the size of the pot. But by betting less, you're not holding back so that you can fold if things get a little scary. That money is going in eventually, just not this minute. If a scary turn card comes and someone else bets, you're calling. This is a crazy game, after all, and in crazy games, people do crazy things. You have only $80 left, and there's already at least $380 in the pot. There's no folding.



That's why you want made hands, not draws. Even if the stacks are 100 or 150 big blinds, your most critical "should I stay or should I go" decisions will still come on the flop. You want to make that decision when holding a flopped set or top pair, not a gutshot draw or bottom pair.



Keep an Eye Out for Dead Money

Dead money makes crazy games worth playing. What's dead money? It's all of those preflop calls made by people with hands like 7-6 that make gutshots or bottom pair. If you're playing $1-$2 and you see the action go raise to $15, call, call, call, you can be fairly certain that a lot of that $60 pot is dead money.



It's dead because those callers generally can't back up their $15 with the rest of their stack. Take advantage of that fact by putting in reraises with hands with which you might not normally think of trying them.



For instance, I was in a wild $2-$5 game once with about a $500 stack. Before the flop, a player limped, and I also limped with pocket deuces. The next player made it $50 to go and got five calls back to me. I moved all in.



You might think I was crazy. As many people are happy to point out when I relate the hand, deuces are either a "coin flip" or are way behind a bigger pair. If I had gotten called, I likely would have been a significant underdog.



But the dead money makes the play. Whenever five players have entered the pot, you can be certain that many of them have weak hands. They called the $50 with 9-7 or A-4 or K-10, hoping to catch a good flop. Unfortunately, that's too much initial risk to take with those hands. Since you know that your opponents figure to have weak hands, you have a good chance to pick up all of the dead money.



After I moved all in, the initial raiser thought for a bit and folded. The next four players all folded quickly. The final player, who originally limped in from under the gun, thought for a long time. He kept repeating, "I know you don't have a big hand," and, "I probably have the best hand," to try to rattle me. Eventually, he too folded, showing me his K-Q.



Given that I likely would have at least called the original $50 with my deuces, I risked $450 more for the chance to win the $350 pot immediately. Even if the K-Q player had called, I still would have made out well for the hand. I'd have been a very slight favorite, and I'd have been risking $500 to win $750. Getting 3-to-2 odds on an even-money shot is nice, though not quite as nice as winning without a fight. Either way, my all-in move had a strong upside, and it was financed by the dead money.



Act Decisively

Beating wild games is about taking calculated risks for big chunks of your stack. Don't chicken out! There was a time in my no-limit career when I would have talked myself out of the deuces play. "I limp after a limper, and now all of a sudden I represent pocket aces? No one's going to believe me. Someone's going to call with a pair, I just know it."



The fear is justified. The story could have ended very differently, and in a future hand when I try it again, I may get the play stuffed back in my face. But that's how you win. It's not taking the sure thing that makes you a great player. Everyone knows how to take the sure thing. It's taking the risk – the good risk – that other players either never think of or talk themselves out of that enables you to stand above the crowd.



So, the formula is fairly simple. Stick to pocket pairs or big cards before the flop. Look for opportunities when you know the pot is fat with weak calls, and then seize the moment by moving in preflop with your small pocket pair or on the flop with your modest top pair. And if and when you fall on your face and the pot goes the wrong way, hold your head high, get out your wallet, and shout, "Rebuy!" ♠



Ed will personally answer your questions at his online poker advice column, www.notedpokerauthority.com. He has authored four books on poker, most recently Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume 1.