Poker Strategy For The Rest Of Us: Kristen Bicknell

In an effort to provide valuable tools and tips that are relevant to even the smallest games, Card Player is pleased to bring you Poker Strategy For The Rest Of Us, which will focus on everyday situations that occur against the poker world’s most casual players.

Pro: Kristen Bicknell

Concept: Playing Big Hands with Significant Action in Front of You

Kristen Bicknell is a Canadian online cash-game pro who made her mark on the poker world when she took down the $1,000 Ladies World Championship at the 2013 World Series of Poker for over $173,000.

Bicknell has over $250,000 in career online tournament earnings, but most of her hours are spent grinding on the virtual felt at the $1-$2 and $2-$4 no-limit hold’em cash games on PokerStars. The Card Player blogger plays under the name “Krissyb24” and has reached Supernova Elite Status on PokerStars twice already and is currently in the midst of a third run at it.

She sat down with Card Player to break down a live, high-stakes cash game hand played by one of our readers.

The Hand

Our hero ($3,575) is on the button in a $5-$10 no-limit hold’em game. A player in early position ($2,500) raises to $30 and gets three calls. Our hero calls with 64 and the player in the big blind ($600) calls as well.

Relevant Reads – The early position player is a regular who our hero says is “better than average” and assumes he is a winner in the game. He is playing very straightforward, “ABC” poker and is stuck in the session and has been playing weak, passive poker. The player in the big blind is a recreational player who normally plays a little smaller game. He plays loose, passive preflop.

The flop is 642 and the big blind leads for $75 and the preflop raiser makes it $180. Action folds to our hero on the button, who calls, as does the big blind. The turn is the A and it is checked to our hero, who bets $200. The big blind folds and the early position player calls. The river is the 8 and the early position player checks. Our hero bets $200 and the early position player folds.

The Interview

Steve Schult: Let’s start with the preflop action. Given the fact that there are already four people in the pot and we have position, is this a standard call? How wide is your range going to be to call on the button?

Kristen Bicknell: The online player in me wants to squeeze rather than call.

SS: So what type of hands would you be three-bet squeezing and what types of hands would you be calling?

KB: I would flat any pair nines and below and some mid-suited connectors. I would squeeze a lot of hands here, but I don’t think I would squeeze 6-4 suited. It seems like there is a lot of dead money to be picked up. I would be squeezing with any ace, bigger pairs, and maybe more offsuit Broadway hands rather than suited Broadways.

I don’t know if this is a standard call for me, but I’m assuming he’s trying to play lots of flops with people because I think a lot of people make huge postflop errors, then I think the call is perfectly fine, but if it was a game where I felt like I didn’t have a huge postflop edge, then I would prefer to squeeze. I don’t know if it’s too nitty to say fold, but I might. I think the call is fine though considering who is in the blinds. A squeeze isn’t out of the question, but maybe 6-4 suited isn’t the best hand to squeeze with. It would depend on the dynamics of the table a bit.

SS: How do dynamics change which types of hands you would three-bet squeeze with as opposed to flat call?

KB: If the table was more passive, I would squeeze more since there is a lot of dead money in the middle. If it is a game where I was worried about getting four-bet light, then I wouldn’t.

SS: We flop a huge hand and already facing a bet and a raise. Obviously we aren’t folding, but what are the merits to raising and what are the merits to calling?

KB: I don’t see any merit to raising because it’s a rainbow flop and I don’t know what kind of action you are going to get from worse hands. I don’t know what kind of draws he would ever have. I just feel like you have zero bluffs in your range if you are raising here.

It sucks because you look so strong no matter what you do, but I don’t see anything else to do, but call. Another reason not to raise is that if you call, maybe the shorter stack who led out will shove worse. If you raise, I can’t imagine that the guy who donked (betting out into the preflop raiser) will ever get in anything that you are ahead of. Maybe if he has 2-4 or 6-5 or something, maybe he will just get it in if you just call.

By raising, we aren’t giving anybody a chance to make a mistake and I would not be happy getting it in against the other guy who is 250 big blinds deep. You guys are so deep that it could get super awkward.

SS: If stack sizes were shallower, would you be more comfortable getting it in on the flop?

KB: Yeah, for sure.

SS: What ranges are you putting each of these guys on?

KB: I would say that the guy who donked is super wide here I would imagine. He could have all sorts of hands. He could have straight draws like 5-7, 5-x, he could have all of the two pair combos and set combos when he is calling out of the big blind, but we block some sets which is good.

I would put the guy who raises on overpairs of all sorts. He could have say 7-8 with a backdoor flush draw or something. I don’t know if he opens under-the-gun that wide and I can’t imagine he would open 3-5. Yeah, I would say it’s mostly overpairs and maybe some sort of combo draw, but there aren’t many. I would imagine it’s an overpair most of the time.

SS: The turn is an ace and they both check to us. If the original preflop raiser continued to bet on the turn, how comfortable would you be with your hand?

KB: I wouldn’t feel very happy, but it also doesn’t make sense. The problem that he would have on that turn is that when he would bet that turn, he is super polarized now. I can’t imagine he would do that with kings or queens or something. I don’t see the point of doing that. And the other thing is if he has aces. I wouldn’t be thrilled and I would be hoping that he has like A-3 or something and he didn’t have me dead on the turn. I guess the only thing I can say is that I wouldn’t be thrilled if he continued to bet big on that turn.

SS: Okay, well given that they both check, what bet sizing do you like on the turn? Do you like our hero’s very small bet on the turn?

KB: I feel like I would bet probably closer to half pot. Although now that I’m thinking about it, it’s pretty sneaky what he did on the turn. I’m just trying to think of various scenarios right now.

Let’s say you bet like 1/3 pot and then the small blind shoves. What is the other guy going to do? I’m just trying to figure out how I can get value from both opponents. The problem is what kind of hand can I represent that is the bottom of our range? It just sucks because we look so strong.

The ace is a tricky card because recreational players might not know that an ace is a good bluff card, so they would just check/fold some hands that they shouldn’t. So the guy in the big blind might be thinking like that, whereas the other guy might be thinking that there is no way I should have an ace in my hand, so it doesn’t change much.

I like betting between 1/3-1/2 pot because I’m just hoping to get two more streets of value and get to showdown. 1/2 pot is going to be my default here and I don’t want to really change my bet sizing due to my hand strength. This is just a unique spot because when you cold-call, there are like no bluffs in your range and you’re always strong. I just want to bet something that will give an opponent a chance to make a mistake with a one pair type of hand.

SS: Are there any hands you could get to the turn with that you wouldn’t be betting? Like if you had pocket nines in this spot and you called the flop.

KB: No, I don’t think so. I think if you got to the turn with nines in this spot, you could be in a really cool spot because you could possibly get the raiser to fold a better hand and get the money in against the other player who probably has a worse hand. You’d be in a situation where you could bet, get the big blind to make a mistake and possibly get the other player off his hand.

I’m not sure if he would fold queens or jacks here, but he might because if he is a good player, it looks like you would have a set, or a straight, or a two pair hand. I also like betting the turn in position so that I can do what I want on the river.

SS: So on the river are you always value betting? What is your sizing?

KB: It’s so hard to get paid off here. 5-7 even got there just in case he felt like putting you on a straight draw. I definitely feel like we have the best hand here because I feel like he would have bet the turn with a better hand. With aces, he might have checked the turn, but since it looks like you have a strong hand, he probably bets the turn.

If he is a thinking player, he shouldn’t be check-calling a worse hand here too often. The best case scenario here is that he has like A-K and didn’t believe the big blind’s lead and raised and maybe we can get him to talk himself into calling with that. I guess we just bet super small like the hero did and hope that he makes a mistake. But if this was against a tricky player, who is capable of check-raising the river, then I would check behind. If this was a $5-$10 game online, I would definitely check behind the river, but it’s safe to bet for value. I’d bet like 1/4-1/3 pot here in a live setting.

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