Card Player Pro

By Chris McCabe

Game 10¢-25¢ six-max no-limit hold’em
Opponent An aggressive, unknown no-limit hold’em player
Stacks $25 (100 big blinds)
My Cards 9 8
My Position Button

I am a low-limit shorthanded cash-game instructor for Card Player Pro, powered by PokerSavvy Plus, and my columns for Card Player will focus on applying professional strategy concepts to your low-limit online games.

When casual players watch professionals play, the most frequently asked question I hear is, “How did he know he was bluffing?!” Well, as we’ll see in this column, learning to read hands properly is like putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle — and when the pieces don’t fit, something’s fishy.

This particular hand occurred during a training session.

My opponent and I had been playing together for 15 minutes, and my initial impression of him was that he was an aggressive but not very “thoughtful” player. He certainly was capable of bluffing and betting big hands, but he didn’t put too much thought into what his bets represented.

In this 10¢-25¢ no-limit hold’em game, the action was folded to my aggressive opponent in the cutoff, and he raised the pot to $1 — a standard raise of four times the big blind. I opted to call from the button with the 9 8, a hand that plays well post-flop and can flop many powerful draws. The rest of the table folded, and we took a flop heads up.

The flop came 9 6 4, giving me top pair with a backdoor-straight draw; overall, it was a very good flop for my hand.

My opponent checked, and I decided to bet, to protect my hand against overcards and draws, and to extract value if he had a weaker pair. Without much thought, he called.

At this point, I have effectively gained two “puzzle pieces” of information that provide an indication of the strength of his hand, which I classified as either a marginal pair or a weak draw.

Piece No. 1: His decision to check the flop. Given my read that he’s an aggressive player, there are several hands I can remove from his range once he checks — notably, big draws and big pairs. Since most aggressive players like to fast-play their big hands, I fully expected him to bet something like the A K or K Q (flush draw and overcards), and I would also expect him to bet a hand like J-J, Q-Q, K-K, or A-A, to protect his hand on the flush-draw board. The fact that he didn’t bet leads me to believe that he doesn’t have one of these big hands.

Piece No. 2: His decision not to check-raise the flop. Given that he didn’t check-raise me on this board, I think I can also remove hands like sets, two pair, and combo draws from his range. Players rarely check-call these hands and risk getting outdrawn.

Based on the flop play alone, I’m left with his hand looking something like a marginal pair, a weak draw, or nothing.

The turn brought the J, and my opponent led out for $3.25. Obviously, I was less than thrilled to see the jack, as it was an overcard to my pair of nines. However, at the same time, it really isn’t that scary a card. Given my read of his flop range, the jack shouldn’t improve his hand that often. No marginal pairs or weak draws are helped by a jack, and it’s a good bluffing card for him to pretend to have hit. Given that there are now two flush draws on the board, and a few possible straight draws, I think the chances of him semibluffing here are very high. I called.

The river brought the K, and without hesitation, he bet $10.50. My top pair on the flop has now shrunk to third pair, and I’m facing a big bet on a scary board. However, I need to put together the pieces of the puzzle and see if that king really is a scare card.

Remember my flop read: He probably has a weak draw or a marginal pair. The turn jack probably didn’t help his hand, but seemed like a good card for him to bluff. Now, once the king hits on the river and he’s betting big, the story he’s telling isn’t adding up. If he had a hand like J-10 or Q-J, I believe he’d bet a lot smaller or check, because it’s just too hard to imagine a scenario in which I’d call a big bet with a worse hand. Also, there shouldn’t be many K-X hands in his range that got to the river, given the action. Overall, it seems like he’s betting big to make me fold.

After putting all of this together in my mind, I paused for a few seconds and called. My opponent turned over the A 5 for a missed flush draw, and I scooped the pot.

Using a little deductive reasoning enabled me to pick up a nice pot against an aggressive player who tried to tell a story that didn’t make sense.

Practice putting the pieces together in your own poker hands and you’ll be amazed at how often you can figure out whether your opponent has the goods or not.

To watch Chris McCabe comment on and play this hand, point your browser to Card Player Pro, the complete online poker training site, at www.CardPlayer.com/link/ChrisM-1.