Winning in Live-Action No-Limit Hold’em Games

Most live-action $1-$2, $1-$3, and $2-$5 no-limit hold’em players focus on the big pots. They want to see flops, hit hands, and stack opponents who are holding second-best hands. This focus, unfortunately, does not promote long-term, consistent winning. The problem with it is obvious once you think about it. Everyone else is trying to do the same thing! For every time that you win a big pot with a better kicker or a bigger flush, you’re likely to lose one to an opponent who has you pipped. Over time, you’re taking two steps forward, two steps back, and not really getting anywhere.

The key to winning in live-action no-limit hold’em games is to focus on using position to build and steal medium-sized pots. Now, before you send a “This won’t work in my game” e-mail, please understand that I’m not talking about every live-action no-limit hold’em game on the planet. I’m not talking about your Thursday night game in the back of Jimmy’s bar in Billings, Montana, where all seven of you put your $40 in blind every hand and see who wins. Obviously, you’re not building or stealing any pots in that game. I am talking about many live-action games that are spread in cardrooms across the United States, from California and Nevada to Mississippi and Atlantic City.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here is a key observation about many live-action games: They are loose preflop. In a $2-$5 game, for instance, four or five players will gladly pay $25 to see a flop. And oftentimes, one player will pay $50 or $60 without needing a particularly strong hand to do it. Here is another key observation: Most pots don’t go to showdown. Players generally are willing to give up on a pot in the face of strong betting, unless they have an extraordinarily strong hand.

In other words, players are building good-sized pots with weak hands, then giving up on those pots because their hands are weak. This presents a terrific opportunity. You build the pot with a preflop raise, then you steal it after the flop as long as no one hits the board too hard. Sometimes someone will hit the flop hard and you’ll lose a couple of bluff bets. But you can also hit a flop hard and be the one winning a big pot. In between big losses and wins, you’ll be gobbling up a steady diet of medium-sized pots that no one else is willing to fight for.

This plan is best carried out from the button. Here’s how it works: A few players limp in. One or two are ideal, because you don’t really want more than two opponents after the flop. If some players are willing to limp in and fold to a raise, extra limpers can be OK. You raise. Your raise should be sized such that one or two players will call. Frequently, $15 or $20 in a $1-$2 game or $30 or $35 in a $2-$5 game will do the trick.

What hands do you raise? A good place to start is the best one-third of your hands: any pocket pair, any suited ace or king, any suited connector, two offsuit cards 10 and higher, decent offsuit aces, and some gangly gapped suited connectors like 10-7 suited. While your plan is to steal lots of pots, sticking with the top one-third of hands will give you a decent chance to make a hand as a backup plan.

If all goes well, one or two players will call your preflop raise and check to you on the flop. You bet about two-thirds of the pot. So, if you made it $30 preflop and one player called, you bet about $40 on the flop. If everyone folds, great. If someone raises and you didn’t hit the flop, you fold. If someone calls, the plan enters a second stage.

Look at the flop and figure out what sort of hand your opponent may have called you with. If the flop is Q 4 4, your opponent likely called with a 4, a queen, or perhaps an unimproved pocket pair or big ace. If the flop is Q 9 7, your opponent likely called with a marginal hand of some sort: a straight draw, a flush draw, or bottom or middle pair. Obviously, he also could have a queen or stronger, but because there are so many combinations of marginal drawing hands and pairs on this flop, odds are, that’s what he has. No matter what the board looks like, you should be able to narrow down your opponent’s possible holdings somewhat.

Then, look at the turn card. Is it a card that is likely or unlikely to have improved many of your opponent’s hands? Is it a card that is likely to be scary to your opponent? If it’s a scary card or one that’s unlikely to have improved your opponent’s hand, you may want to bet again. If it’s one that completes many of his possible hands, give up on the pot.

For example, let’s say the flop comes 8 6 6 and your opponent calls your bet. He’s likely to have a 6, an 8, an unimproved pocket pair, some sort of straight draw (open-end or gutshot), or perhaps a hand like A-Q. The turn is the K. You can bet this card. It’s unlikely to have improved the hands in your opponent’s range, and it will be scary to him unless he has trips, because, as the preflop raiser, you could easily have a hand like A-K or K-Q. Bet enough that your opponent won’t make curious calls with weak pairs, but also try to leave enough remaining for a scary river bet. Continuing the example from above, after the $30 preflop and $40 flop bets, there’s a little more than $140 in the pot. Betting $120 should get your opponent to release most hands, and if you started the hand with $500 or more, it leaves you with more than $300 for the river.

On the other hand, if the turn card was the 9 on the 8 6 6 flop, you probably would want to check and give up. Many of the hands in your opponent’s range have improved (for example, 10-9, 9-7, 9-8, and so on), and it’s not a particularly scary card for your opponent.

This general approach could be fleshed out for all of the various ways that a hold’em hand can play out. But, the basic idea can be simply expressed: Live-action players tend to be too willing to put money in preflop with weak hands, and too unwilling to put big money in post-flop. Your job is to sit in the middle, building medium-sized pots and then taking them away when your opponents are unlikely to go all the way. Doing this consistently, using position to gain an edge, will enable you to establish a consistent long-term advantage, and is the key to winning in live-action no-limit hold’em games.

Ed’s latest book, Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em, is available for purchase at smallstakesnolimitholdem.com. He is a featured coach at stoxpoker.com, and you can also check out his online poker advice column, notedpokerauthority.com.