How To Improve Your Game

Would you like to get better at something? Poker? No-limit hold’em? Anything? In my opinion, the formula for all these things is the same. First, you learn the main principles that you are supposed to follow. Second, you observe how these principles apply to concrete situations. Without this second ingredient, a form of on-the-job training, the words used to express the principles will form too fuzzy an image for you to be properly oriented.

I have a lot of questions and answers on selecting your bet size in my new book No-Limit Hold’em Poker. This is a subject with both general theory and concrete answers. When you have a hand that is the nuts, or so strong you are not going to back off in the betting, you need to aim at doubling through the opponent’s whole stack. That is what no-limit hold’em is all about. My favorite question and answer problem on this subject in my book is number 92 from a standpoint of containing useful practical information. Here it is:

(92) Question: This is a $1-$2 NLH game. I am on the button holding the Α 4 with about a $300 stack. An early player and a middle player limp in. It’s folded to me. I decide to vary my play and raise to $15. The game is passive and I have a good chance of picking up the pot. If I get called, I have position and can take a free card if I wish since these guys like to “check to the raiser.” Only the middle player calls. He has a $300 stack and is a local. There is $35 in the pot and two of us.

The flop is: Q 7 2, giving me the nut-flush-draw with an ace overcard. My opponent checks. I make a continuation bet of $20. My opponent may fold and I have 12 outs if he doesn’t. He raises to $50. The raise is worrisome since these guys don’t check-raise on drawing hands. He could have a set or a big queen. If he has a set, I would think it would be sevens or deuces not queens since he did not raise preflop. With $105 in the pot, I call for $30 more. There is $135 in the pot.

The turn is the 3 giving me the nuts. He checks. I bet $60. The reason is because I want to get some value out of my good hands and not make too big a bet to which my opponent may fold. My opponent calls. There is now $255 in the pot.
The river is the 7, pairing the board. My opponent comes out betting $100. I call with $355 in the pot. He wins, having the Q Q for a full house at the river.

Should I have bet more, or even gone all-in on the turn?

Coach’s Comments: This is one of the most educational problem submissions I have seen. Your preflop play of raising with a suited ace on the button meets with my approval. This is one of the best hands to do this with. One reason is, if you flop the nut-flush-draw and play it strongly, you will get put on a different type of hand.

On the flop, I would treat his raise as a probe and go all-in. If he has a set, you are a big underdog, but a set is one of the last things that I put a heads-up opponent on.

He may have K-Q and now has a big problem. If he calls, you are in no worse shape than if you had folded to his raise.

On the turn, the pot is big enough ($135) to make it my goal to bust him. We have each put in $65 into the pot already, so we each have $235 left. In this situation, you must bet at least half of the remaining money. Pick a round number that is just over half. So you bet $125. Remember this math rule, as this situation is very common and will come up many times during your poker career. The elements of this situation (turn betting round, one opponent, big pot underway) are:

(a) You have either the nuts or a hand so big that the proper procedure is to play as if you hold the best hand.
(b) You are not only committed to the pot now, but will play for all your money no matter what comes at the river.
© You are not going to try to protect your hand, because if he has the hand you fear, you cannot run him off of it.
(d) Your opponent has a made hand rather than a draw.
Look at the hands that your opponent might hold and how he would play them on the turn:

Three queens, or any set: He will call an all-in bet.

A flush: He will call any bet. On the end, if the board pairs, he will probably call any bet. If he has a small flush, he would probably have raised a turn bet all-in, to protect against having a big pair with a diamond. However, some people are very passive, so you cannot count on that. Thus, you must bet a decent amount.

Top pair or a slow-played overpair: This is the hand you are trying to milk. Again, you need to bet enough to get him married to his hand, protecting against a fourth diamond arriving.

A bluff on something less than the above: He is done with it unless he has the K, in which case you have to bet as I have indicated.

Now you see the basis for betting a little over half the remaining amount in this type of situation. It is the best bet size when you opponent holds top pair, an overpair, or a bluff that includes the K.

One of the most frequent errors I see by players who come to me for help is aiming at winning a small amount when having a big hand. This flaw in thinking has a number of drawbacks. First, betting a small amount on a big hand exposes you to a drawout more than would a larger bet. Your opponent who calls a tiny wager is not making an error drawing to even a longshot such as a gutshot if the reward is to win all your chips if he hits his straight. Big hands like a set need protection just like any other hand. Second, a small bet does not get the opponent committed to the pot as strongly as a larger bet size will. Third, you will win more money if the opponent calls on the flop and folds on the turn. Protect your big hands!

Bob Ciaffone’s new poker book, No-Limit Hold’em Poker, will be back from the printer by the end of October, 2012. This is Bob’s fifth book on poker strategy. It can be ordered from Bob for $25 by emailing him at [email protected]. Free shipping in the lower 48 states to Card Player readers. All books autographed. Bob Ciaffone is available for poker lessons.