A No-Limit Edge Hand

Due to the popularity of the World Poker Tour (WPT), no-limit hold'em is making a huge comeback. Highly popular during the Texas oil boom, its popularity receded during the bust. Part of the problem with maintaining no-limit hold'em games is that the higher skill level of the game tends to get the money to the better players faster than other forms of poker, draining the economic base of the game.

The criticalness of a decision in no-limit hold'em is what makes it a more skillful game than limit hold'em. In limit hold'em, if you make a mistake, you might lose a pot. In no-limit hold'em, you can easily lose your whole stake. That said, the talents required to beat either game are great, but somewhat different, which is why few players play both games at a world-class level.

Recently I sweated a friend in a $10-$20 blinds no-limit hold'em game. A very unusual hand came up, and afterward we analyzed his strategy. In this sixhanded game, he picked up two aces to the right of the button. The under-the-gun player flat-called the $20 blind and was called by the player immediately behind him. My friend raised it to $140, looking to lure some players into the pot, yet not give them a cheap shot at his large stack.

Starting the hand, my friend had about $4,200 in front of him, the under-the-gun player had around $3,500, and the player in the middle had approximately $2,400.The under-the-gun player called the raise and raised another $140, making it $280 total. The player in the middle moved all in with his $2,400. My friend was facing an all-in bet of $2,400 preflop and was holding two aces.

It was one of those no-limit hold'em moments: You play for hours with little meaningful exchange, passing small pots back and forth, and then a hair-raising opportunity presents itself for all of your chips. It is what makes no-limit hold'em such an exciting game. Calling huge bets or shoving all of your chips forward can be an extremely exhilarating experience – or a very disheartening one.

My friend reraised all of his chips, making it $4,200 total to go. The under-the-gun player thought for a long while and folded. Both hands were turned up and both contained two aces. The "run" was exercised, with no abnormalities bestowed upon either player, and the pot was equally divided.

After the hand, I questioned my friend's all-in preflop reraise that drove out the under-the-gun player. He responded that he wanted to take the hand heads up against what he thought was either a smaller pair or, even better yet, A-K.

My friend was right, taking two aces heads up against a smaller pair or A-K is a big overlay situation. But my father taught me something as a young boy over a chessboard that has always stuck with me: When you see or think of a good move, look for a better one. In my friend's situation, I thought there was a much better play to be made.

Judging from the way he played it, the under-the-gun player almost certainly had a legitimate hand. By reraising all in, my friend put a huge amount of pressure on that hand, causing him to fold. If my buddy had flat-called, the pressure would have been much lower on the under-the-gun player and his propensity to call or reraise would have been much greater.

Since the under-the-gun player would have only around $1,100 remaining if he called the $2,400 all-in preflop bet, my friend would not be giving up much in the way of implied odds if he got outflopped and was forced to pay off a better hand. As a matter of fact, the under-the-gun player would be strongly committed to the pot if he called the middle player's raise and might very well move all in himself to create a side pot if he thought he had the best hand on the side. Or, he would be likely to bet or call off his remaining chips on the flop.

As I have repeatedly written, the recurring sum of volume times edge will equal expectation, and over the course of time will equal earn. Holding two aces, my friend would have an overlay in that situation no matter what the under-the-gun player's holding was. His better play was to flat-call the middle position player's raise and increase the likelihood of the under-the-gun player calling. My friend should have wanted the player to call the bet in order to increase his volume in a positive-edge situation by adding more positive numbers to his expectation field. By raising, he reduced the likelihood of his opponent making a play to his opponent's detriment.

A huge part of no-limit hold'em is manipulating your opponents into making mistakes in big-bet situations. Playing your hand in a manner that represents a less than strong holding and lets players in behind you in situations in which they are making a mistake by calling or raising is consistent with that concept. Too many no-limit hold'em players make wagers that are too big for the situation, and thereby don't realistically allow their opponents to call unless they hold a superior hand. You need to make wagers that are large enough to make the play incorrect for your opponent based on his range of possible hand holdings, yet not so big as to induce him not to play with you. In making this analysis, you must take into consideration the size of both stacks and be sure that you are not giving your opponent a correct play opportunity to take a shot at your stack.

After the hand, the under-the-gun player stated he had two kings. Whether that was true or not, we will never know. Would he have called or raised if my buddy had flat-called preflop? I think so.

My friend misplayed the hand, and his loss was the expectation of his hand over that of the under-the-gun player's had he slow-played. Fortunately for my friend, he does not make many poker mistakes, and when he does, he learns from them. I guarantee that he won't be making this one again.

Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for more than 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas. If you would like to ask Roy poker-related questions, you may do so online at www.UnitedPokerForum.com. John Bond is an attorney and free-lance writer in South Florida.