Playing Reraised Pots

One of the most striking differences between live no-limit hold’em play and online play is the frequency of preflop reraises. In online games, it can often seem like every other pot is reraised, whereas in live games, you can sometimes play for an hour or more and never see a reraised pot. This column is an introduction to playing reraised pots that is geared toward live play. Here, I’ll discuss playing against an opponent’s reraise, and in a future column, I’ll discuss playing when you’re the reraiser.

Reraised pots are rare in live play because many players will reraise only with their very best hands. Oftentimes, this means only pocket aces or kings. Sometimes it also includes pocket queens or A-K. I have four tips for playing when such tight players reraise.

Tip No. 1: Don’t play

In most circumstances, your best option is to fold. If you know that your opponent has a super-premium hand, you’re fighting an uphill battle. You won’t draw out often enough to make a preflop call worthwhile. For instance, let’s say that you’re playing $2-$5 with $500 stacks. You have the 9 9. Two players limp in, and you make it $30 to go from the button. The small blind calls, and the big blind makes it $150. Everyone folds back to you. Fold. It’s $120 to call, and there’s $220 in the pot. You’re likely to be up against a bigger pair, so you can’t expect to win often without flopping a set. You’re 7.5-1 against to flop a set, and the most that you can possibly hope to win is the $220 in the pot plus the $350 remaining in your opponent’s stack. Risking $120 to win $570 on a 7.5-1 shot is simply not profitable. Nines may look like a good hand, but in this situation, it’s a clear fold.

Tip No. 2: Attack scary boards

Sometimes you should call preflop even if you know that your opponent is likely to have a big pair. Either your opponent has made such a small reraise that you’re priced into the pot or the stacks are so deep that you can play profitably despite having the inferior hand. Let’s say that you’re playing $2-$5 with $500 stacks. Two players limp in, and you make it $30 from the button with the 9 9. The small blind folds, and the big blind reraises to $60. The limpers fold. You should call. The pot is $102, and it’s $30 more to call. Moreover, you have a good idea of the hand that your opponent has, and there’s $440 behind. You’ll sometimes win a big pot by flopping a set, and you’ll also sometimes win by forcing your opponent to fold on a scary board.

Let’s say that you call the $30 reraise with the 9 9 and the flop comes A 8 7. The big blind checks. Your opponent is an unsophisticated player whose tiny preflop reraise likely means that he holds either pocket aces or kings. With an ace on the flop, it’s now twice as likely that he holds K-K than A-A. Because he’s now a favorite to hold less than top pair, consider trying to steal the pot. Oftentimes, a simple bet will win immediately. Even if you don’t think he’d fold K-K to just a single bet, with $440 behind in a $132 pot and three betting rounds, you have enough time left to gather information about his hand strength and enough money left to force a fold.

Flops with three to a straight also can be scary enough to steal the pot from a big pair.

Tip No. 3: Don’t go broke with top pair

Presumably, it should go without saying that if you put your opponent on A-A or K-K because of his preflop reraise, you shouldn’t go broke with, say, a flopped pair of tens. But in the heat of the moment, sometimes we take leave of our senses. For instance, let’s say that one player limps in, and you make it $25 to go from the button with the J 10 in a $2-$5 game with $800 stacks. The big blind reraises to $50, and the limper folds. You make the easy $25 call despite your opponent’s premium hand. The flop comes 10 6 2. The big blind bets $50. You can call the modest flop bet for the chance to catch a jack or 10, or possibly an ace to steal from K-K. The turn is the 5. Your opponent bets $200. Fold, fold, fold. You put your opponent on a big pair due to his preflop reraise, and he’s still showing strength. Your top pair is no good.

Tip No. 4: Don’t slow-play pocket aces

You won’t often hold pocket aces against a reraise, but when it happens, don’t squander the opportunity. If you raise preflop with pocket aces and a tight opponent reraises, make a big reraise. You have the nuts, and your opponent is trapped with a second-best hand (likely pocket kings or queens). The only downside to playing fast is that your opponent might occasionally hem and haw for five minutes and then decide to fold K-K faceup. This won’t happen often, though. Expect most opponents to put the money in with K-K even if they are “sure” that you must have aces. On the other hand, if you slow-play, you risk catching a scary board (such as those mentioned in Tip No. 2) and losing your action. Overall, this is a bigger risk than your opponent deciding to fold K-K preflop. Indeed, if your overall play is sufficiently aggressive, most players should be beating you into the pot with K-K, not even contemplating a fold.

There are some circumstances in which slow-playing aces preflop makes sense. But in live games against tight reraisers, just put the money in. The massive action you get will make up for the occasional action that you miss out on.

In this column, I discussed playing against players who reraise only with super-premium hands like A-A and K-K. These players are quite common in small-stakes live games. But their super-tight strategy is far from optimal. You can (and should) reraise far more liberally. I’ll show you why in my next column.

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