Protecting My Weak Hand

It is important in limit hold’em to have the judgment and ability to manipulate your opponents into calling when you want them to call, and folding when you want them to fold. When your opponents are correct in calling you based on your respective hands and the implied pot size (the size to which the pot is likely to grow), you will win more in the long run if they fold. Likewise, when your opponents are incorrect in calling, you will do better in the long run if they call. Of course, sometimes you induce a call when you have the best of it, and they suck out — but that doesn’t change the fact that it was the correct play.

An important tool in manipulating your opponents into calling or folding when you want them to is knowing when to check-raise and when to lead out when acting from early position.

In the small blind of a $30-$60 limit hold’em game, I held the 10 8. Several players limped in and an aggressive player raised from the button. With a one-gap suited connector in a volume pot, I easily called, as did the big blind, and we took the flop off six-handed for $60 each.

The dealer flipped up a favorable flop for me, 10 7 3, giving me top pair on a rainbow board, albeit with a weak kicker. This flop was one in which I was both a threat to be beaten by a better hand and very vulnerable to being outdrawn. That said, there was money in this pot, and it was worth taking some risk to increase my chances of winning it.

I wanted my opponents to fold overcards, as they would be mathematically correct to draw against my hand. Inducing them to fold would add value to my holding. A successful check-raise of the button would force opponents between us to call a double bet and face the risk of a triple bet if the button or another player reraised. Under that pressure, most players would fold overcards or a weak draw that still might be correct in drawing against my hand.

However, other issues came into play. Would the button bet if it was checked to him? Might he be the type to raise with position in order to get a free card? Or, was he an auto-bettor, prone to bet on the flop if he had raised preflop and it was checked to him? If he was likely to check for a free card, leading out would be the correct play, as giving the field a free card with a vulnerable hand would be an error.

I believed the button would most likely bet if the field checked to him. I checked with the intention of check-raising, subject to what the intervening players might do. The other players also checked to the raiser. He indeed bet, and I check-raised. One player called the double bet, and the button also called.

The turn was the 4, and I led. Both players called. The river was the 7, pairing the board. Since I held top pair with a weak kicker and couldn’t beat any 7 or any reasonable top pair, I checked, thinking a better hand might check and I wasn’t likely to get called by a worse hand. Plus, I might pick up a bet if one of them bluffed. They both checked behind me, I turned over my hand, they both mucked, and I took down the pot.

The big blind told me that he had a 7, and had flopped second pair. He mucked because of the double bet. Playing the hand as I had saved the pot for me.

The fact that my hand was highly vulnerable and the pot was reasonably large made eliminating other players a positive factor. In this particular case, it enabled me to win the pot, as I induced a fold from a player with a 7 who almost surely would have called a single bet.

But consider how I might have played the hand differently with a flop of 10 7 6, giving me top pair with gutshot-straight and flush draws. In this case, I would be looking to get action, make a big hand, and win a big pot. In this scenario, I would lead, hoping to generate volume on the hand, trap people, and get raised, which would provide me the opportunity to reraise. My flush and straight draws would reduce the number of wins of many of my opponents’ hands, and if I made a big hand, I would want them to make second-best hands in order to create extra positive edge from the additional action that I would receive.

You have to vary your play based on both the texture of your hand and your opponents’ playing tendencies. Having a good feel for your opponents’ range of hands, what they will and won’t fold based on the current situation, and how those hands play against your holding is key to making the right play. In order to obtain that level of feel, you need to pay close attention to your opponents’ actions and emotional tendencies, possess good knowledge of how hands play against each other, and know the size of the pot. Perfect judgment isn’t possible, but understanding and thinking about those concepts will enable you to make better overall decisions in these types of situations. And when you do that, more chips will come your way.

Longtime poker pro and author Roy Cooke’s Card Player column has appeared since 1992. A successful Las Vegas real estate broker since 1990, his website is www.roycooke.com. Should you wish to inquire regarding real-estate matters — including purchase, sale, or mortgage — his phone number is (702) 396-6575. Roy’s longtime collaborator John Bond’s website is www.johnbondwriting.com. Find John and Roy on Facebook.