Playing as the Reraiser

In my last column, I discussed how to play when your opponent in a live no-limit hold’em game reraises before the flop. Here, I’ll talk about how to play when you’re the preflop reraiser.

If you are primarily a live-action no-limit player, chances are good that you could loosen up a bit with your reraises. Many players call reraises with hands that are too weak, but then play straightforwardly to their hand strength after the flop. Here’s what I mean: Let’s say a player raises to $20 in a $2-$5 game with $1,000 stacks. A loose player calls, and you reraise from the button to $80 with the A J. Everyone folds to the original raiser. He folds, also. The loose player calls. For the sake of this example, I’ll tell you that the caller has the 8 7.

The flop comes K 10 2. The loose player checks, holding his cards out in his right hand. You move a stack of chips out to bet, and before the first chip hits the felt, your opponent torpedoes his cards into the muck.

The loose caller in this example makes two enormous mistakes. First, he calls a big preflop reraise out of position with a hand that will virtually always have him playing catch-up after the flop. Second, he turbo-mucks on the flop. Folding on the flop is the correct play, of course, but the mistake is in tipping off the fold so far ahead of time. Never fold your hand until your opponent has either committed verbally to a bet size or finished cutting his chips. It may seem like a timesaver to fold early, but doing so actually enables your opponent to save money sometimes if he’s smart. This brings me to my first tip for playing as the reraiser.

Tip No. 1: Make smallish flop bets

Preflop reraises build big pots. Most players know that it usually takes just two post-flop bets before you’re effectively playing for stacks in a reraised pot. This knowledge puts many players into a fit-or-fold mindset. If they hit the flop well, they may go with the hand. But if they miss, they just want to fold; no peeling the flop with a weak draw, and no messing around trying to steal the pot. They are mucking to the first bet no matter how small it is. You can exploit this mindset by shaving some dollars off your bet size.

Let’s continue the example from above. You make an $80 reraise preflop, and get called by a loose player. The pot is $187 on the flop. This player is prepared to fold some of his hands (like an 8-7 that completely airballs the flop) before you even put money out there. Obviously, a small bet will do the trick in this case.

Now assume that your opponent has something other than the 8 7. He doesn’t turbo-muck the flop. Instead, he stares at you intently as you count out chips for your bet size. He could have a great hand, like the 8 7 for a made flush; a good hand, like the A 10 for a pair and a flush draw; or a not-so-good hand, like the 8 8 for an unimproved pocket pair. Almost no matter what he has, however, you want to bet just a modest percentage of the pot.

Obviously, you don’t want to bet a lot into a good hand. And you probably don’t need to bet a lot to get him to fold 8-8, either. This is the difference between a raised pot and a reraised pot. Players will call a $35 bet in a $45 pot with an unimproved pocket pair, while they’ll fold the same hand for $90 in a $180 pot. The bigger pot puts players into a special mentality in which they often just let go unless they really hit the flop.

This is just one possible example hand, but on average, your bets in reraised pots should be smaller (as a percentage of the pot) than those in raised pots. So, while you might bet about three-quarters of the pot in a raised pot, you perhaps should bet closer to one-half of the pot in a reraised pot.

Tip No. 2: Don’t be afraid to take a showdown

This tip again hinges on the fact that many players play straightforwardly in reraised pots. If you have a hand with modest showdown value, sometimes you can just check it all the way down. Don’t feel compelled to bet simply because you were the preflop reraiser. Here’s an example:

It’s a $2-$5 game with $600 stacks. A player opens for $20, and two players call. You’re one off the button with the A K, and you reraise to $100. The blinds fold, the preflop raiser folds, and one of the other players calls. The flop comes 5 3 2. Your opponent checks. You can consider checking with the intention of checking all the way down.

There’s a big problem with betting here. The pot is already $247, and there’s only $500 remaining in your stack. If you bet and your opponent either raises or bets a future street, you will be very close to pot-committed with your gutshot draw, overcards, and ace-high showdown value. But you can also certainly expect to be behind if your opponent wants to play for stacks.

Rather than stack off in a bad situation, you’d much prefer taking free cards and relying on the inherent value of your hand to win at showdown. This line can sometimes get tricky if you’re up against an opponent who will read you for having ace high and sometimes try to push you off your hand. But many live-action players will happily take all the free cards you want to give in a reraised pot. If that’s the case, checking down this A-K is your best option.

Tip No. 3: Don’t stack off light

When the pot is already huge, sometimes it can be tempting to stack off with a marginal hand. Don’t do it! As I’ve said several times, live-action players tend to be conservative in reraised pots. The bets are large, and they don’t want to get involved without the real goods. So, don’t talk yourself into a call with a marginal hand. Here’s an example of what not to do:

I was watching a hand in a $2-$5 game. A bad player with a $400 stack limped in for $5. Another player raised to $15. The big blind, a somewhat reckless player, reraised to $75. The limper called, and the original raiser folded. The flop was Q 9 3. The reckless player bet $75, and the limper moved all in for $250 more. The preflop reraiser called quickly. The 6 came on the turn, and the 9 on the river. The limper showed the Q 9 for a full house, and the reraiser flashed J-J.

Pocket jacks was a fine hand to reraise preflop in this situation, but the player’s decision to bet the flop and call an all-in bet was truly terrible. Don’t fall into this trap.

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.