Playing Deep

Most Las Vegas cardrooms now allow deep buy-ins to their no-limit games at the $2-$5 level and up. The typical maximum buy-in at $2-$5 is $1,000 (with one room I know of allowing $1,500).

For a guy like me, the deep buy-ins are terrific. Lots of wealthy recreational players buy in for the max because, hey, why not? And many recreational players of lesser means will win a few hundred and all of a sudden have a deep stack. With a high buy-in cap, I can just buy in to cover and start playing deep with these guys from hand one.

For most everyone who plays these games, however, the deep buy-ins are pretty harsh. Deep-stacked strategy is, by and large, a complete mystery to nearly all of my opponents. Even when they have $1,500 on the table in a $2-$5 game, they still approach every hand the same way they would if they had only $300. Since their opponents generally do the same, no harm. But then a guy like me comes along and gums up the works.
I can’t explain deep-stacked play in a couple of pages, but I will tip you off to some of the most important changes in strategy.

Preflop Hands Don’t Matter

Ok. It’s a bit of an overstatement. But not that much of one. Preflop hands don’t matter. If you start the hand with A-A, it doesn’t really bother me. It especially doesn’t bother me if I get a pretty good idea early on that you have A-A.

It’s all about stack-to-pot ratios. Say we’re playing $1,500 deep. You make it $25 preflop and I call. The pot is $50 plus some blind money. But there’s nearly 30 times that amount left behind to bet. That original $25 bet becomes almost irrelevant. If I can get you to make a big $600 mistake just 5 percent of the time, I’ve more than paid for that original preflop bet.

So if you’re used to looking at big hands like A-A, K-K, and Q-Q as through tickets to showdown, stop! No two card hand is a through ticket.

This is even true in three-bet pots. With 100 BB stacks, if you can get a good-sized three-bet in preflop with a big hand, your opponent is usually wrong to call and try to draw out on you. But when you’re really deep, even a three-bet doesn’t matter. Say someone raises to $20 and you make it $60. It’s $40 to call, and we’re still over $1,400 behind. Again, it’s just not significant enough money to view the hand as a through-ticket to showdown.

Position Is Huge

The deeper the stacks, the less preflop hand strength matters, and therefore the more important hand reading becomes. If you can win the information war consistently, you will get the better of deep-stacked play. Position is a huge boon to your hand reading and to your effort to deny information to your opponent.

Three-Betting And Four-Betting Preflop Is A Less Valuable Weapon

If you add up the first two observations, you get this one. Preflop money doesn’t matter that much, and position matters a lot. If a smart deep-stacked player is in position on you, you often shoot yourself in the foot by three-betting and four-betting preflop. The player in position always has the option to call your last raise and therefore has sufficient control over the post-flop stack-to-pot ratio.

Meanwhile, you often betray information about your hand when you three-bet or four-bet preflop, information that the player in position can use against you. You’re often better off disguising your hand out of position and playing a smaller pot.

It’s All About The Turn

The turn is where the magic happens in deep-stacked no-limit hold’em. Basically, the player in position can often raise the turn and then threaten to bomb the river. You can represent a certain made hand while actually drawing to another and present your opponent with disastrous reverse implied odds.

Here’s how these principles all work together in a nutshell.

We’re playing $2-$5 with $1,500 stacks. I open to $15 from late middle position. You three-bet me to $50 from the small blind with K-K. I call. There’s $105 in the pot with $1,450 behind.

The flop is Q 8 6. You bet $100, and I call. There’s now $305 in the pot with $1,350 behind.

The turn is the the 7. You bet $200. I make it $500 to go. You call. The pot is now $1,305 with $850 behind.

The river is the 2. You check, I shove. What do you do? What do I have?

I’m representing a made straight on the turn, but I can have many other hands and play this way. I can have any club draw (that now made the flush on the river). I can be bluffing with a hand like 9-8 or even Q-T. (Holding the queen makes it considerably less likely from my perspective that you have top set.) I can even have a two pair hand like 8-7 and be going for thin value.

If you just call down blindly with your big pair, you will be taking the worst of it. I will more often than not have you beat. But I will also be bluffing sometimes. In general, it’s very difficult for you to emerge from the turn raise/river shove gauntlet unscathed.

You need to catch the right kind of blank cards on the turn and river. But when these cards come, I’m less likely to run a bluff. So you often still can’t call me down profitably and all catching good will do for you is get me to give up and let you have the relatively small pot after the flop bets.

Final Thoughts

Most casual no-limit hold’em players are very focused on preflop starting hands. I’ve got Q-Q, you’ve got 7-6, I’m the favorite, you’re the dog. But when the stacks get deep, this kind of thinking can get you into real, real trouble. Having the best hand preflop becomes relatively unimportant. Position becomes much more important. And understanding how board textures affect hand distributions and being able to use that knowledge to make good bluffs and thin value bets becomes paramount.

Next time you play with deep stacks, try something. If you suspect your opponent has a hand like top pair or an overpair, call his flop bet with whatever you have – middle pair, a gutshot, a flush draw, what have you. Then look at the turn card. What hands would have gotten there? Did a straight draw get there? A flush draw? Even if your draw didn’t get there, consider raising to represent the draw that did. If you get called, consider bombing the river as a bluff, especially if a different draw gets there.
By using the information your opponent gives you, your position, and the deep money, you can really paint your opponents into a corner. Give it a shot. Chances are it will have you thinking about poker in a whole new way. ♠

Ed’s newest book, Reading Hands At No-Limit Hold’em, is available immediately for purchase at notedpokerauthority.com. Find him on Facebook at facebook.com/edmillerauthor and on Twitter @EdMillerPoker.