Explain Poker Like I’m Five: Isolation

When you’ve played poker for years, it’s easy to forget that technical poker speak may as well be a different language. Many players just picked up a deck of cards for the first time and are wondering what the hell a reverse implied range merge against a large stack to pot ratio is.

Maybe you are new to poker as well and want to start analyzing the game at a deeper level, but the lingo and foreign concepts get in the way. To help, _Card Player_ brings you this brand new series, Explain Poker Like I’m Five.

Every issue, we’ll take on a new term or idea, perhaps one you might come across elsewhere in this very magazine, and we’ll break it down to its simplest components.

The Concept: Isolation

What Is It?

A bet or raise that encourages one or more players in a hand to fold in order to get heads-up with a specific opponent. Poker players often make isolation plays because their hand fares better against a singular hand or because they are trying to exploit a particular bad player. By pushing others out of the pot, you have a better chance at winning the hand.

Okay, Now Explain It Like I’m Five

An isolation play is used to get other poker players out of the pot.

Give Me An Example

Let’s say you have a medium pocket pair, like pocket eights, in late position. A short stack shoves all in in front of you for their last four big blinds. You’d like to play this pot against the short stack, but you know that if you just call, the players behind you and the blinds might also call, reducing your chance of winning.

So instead, you make an isolation raise, somewhere between eight and ten big blinds. Now it will cost the players behind you much more to see the flop and, as a result, their calling range will tighten up considerably. Perhaps they will even fold a better hand than yours.

You don’t always have to reserve isolation plays for short stacks. Often, you can use an isolation play against a particularly weak or wild player. For instance, if a fish or maniac limps or makes a raise in early position, you can raise behind him with all sorts of holdings in order to shut out the rest of the table behind you. Now you not only have a skill advantage over your one and only opponent, but you also get the benefit of position as well.

Of course, there are drawbacks to the isolation play. There is always the chance that a player behind you will wake up with a monster, meaning your isolation play will cost you more chips than usual. A great player behind you will also pick up on your isolation play if you do it too often and will begin to exploit it.

You can also go too far when trying to isolate against weak players. Your skill and positional advantage will often not be enough if you are constantly playing weak starting hands that get you into trouble post-flop. With the right circumstances, isolation plays can be very profitable, but against good, aggressive players, it is best to use it sparingly. ♠