Adjusting With 7-2 Suited

I have often said that the most important poker decision you make involves game selection. The texture of the game in which you are playing is everything. It dictates what primary strategy you should utilize, how you should play your hands, what image you should project, and many other things. If you’re not adjusting correctly to the game’s texture, you are giving up much in the way of expectation to those players who are!

I was playing one afternoon in a mostly tight $30-$60 limit hold’em game at Bellagio. The lineup consisted of eight daytime regulars and one live tourist who was on screaming tilt. He had been there overnight, and was playing almost every hand, firing bets forward with little or nothing, and taking any and all outs to the river — including even a pair draw!

Notwithstanding the advantages of Mr. Live’s action, the texture of this game created other problems. Your ability to make plays on the tight portion of the field is greatly reduced by the presence of Mr. Live, who will play with you no matter what. His presence removes much of the expectation that you could acquire from outplaying the tight portion of the field, even though his style adds expectation to your hands. You need to adjust your primary strategy in order to compensate for the unique circumstances that the live player will present. And the presence of such a player always increases risk and swings.

I posted the big blind, two players limped in from up front, and Marcel, a local high-quality pro, raised from middle position. Mr. Live called immediately behind him, the remaining players folded to the small blind, who called the $60, and I looked down at the 7 2.

It was not the hand I was hoping to see, by any means, but as in life, you can play only the hand you are dealt. I was getting 11-1 current odds on my call (assuming that the two limpers also called the raise, which was not much of an assumption). It was not a massive overlay, but the presence of Mr. Live in the pot increased my implied odds, and the fact that I play well after the flop gave me opportunities to play nonstandard, highly marginal hands preflop, because my post-flop expectation was high. I called the extra $30.

The flop was a noble one, 6 5 2, giving me bottom pair and a 7-high flush draw. The small blind checked to me. Feeling there was little chance of bluffing successfully, I checked. It was passed to Marcel, who also knuckled, and then Mr. Live bet. The small blind folded, and it was now on me. Instantly, the situation was different.

I was virtually certain that Marcel didn’t have an overpair, and since Mr. Live fired with a very wide range of hands, there was some possibility that I had him beat with two deuces. I raised, thinking that my holding might presently be good, or that I might get an opponent behind me to fold a better hand or a hand that could draw out on me. Plus, even if my deuces were not good and I didn’t get a better hand to fold behind me, I probably wasn’t in too bad of shape with a pair and flush draw. The combination of plausible events is what made me choose the play of raising. If I thought there was little or no chance of the deuces being good, I would have played the hand passively, just calling the bet and looking to acquire volume from the players behind me. The field folded behind me, and Mr. Live flat-called. We took the turn heads up.

I made the flush on the turn when the 9 came, and fired into Mr. Live, who thought for a while and raised me. When confronted with a raise, you need to think beyond just the looseness or aggressiveness of your opponent in order to determine the correct response. Some very loose players raise tightly, and conversely, some tight players raise in many playmaking spots. Since Mr. Live’s raising range was hugely wide and I didn’t intuitively read him for having a flush, I reraised him, and he flat-called. I felt almost certain that my hand was presently good when he did not four-bet.

The river brought the A, putting a four-flush on the board. Knowing that I would have to pay off a raise if I bet, and also knowing that my opponent’s mindset was such that he made a play to try to win every pot he played, I checked, feeling that he would bet all blanks as well as those hands that beat me and with which he would probably raise me. By checking, I’d pick up a bet from a bluff and save myself from having to call a raise if he had a hand that beat mine. Mr. Live bet, I called, and he tossed his hand into the muck.

You must adjust your play to the current situation, and also to the changes in the situation as the hand progresses. While I felt that semibluffing with my draw was not the correct play on the flop, my thinking changed when I knew that Marcel did not hold an overpair. I made the nonstandard play of three-betting a 7-high flush on the turn, due to the texture of my opponent’s raising range. And I checked the river to induce a bluff that I called, based on my opponent’s propensity to bluff. Being capable of making those adjustments in the heat of battle can add greatly to your expectation. Keep adding expectation to your plays, and watch the size of your bankroll adjust accordingly.

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.