Raising Right is The Key to Cashing
You can read Dave’s Blog at http://dirtyvegaspoker.blogspot.com
Why ALL-IN can to lead to ALL-OUT & Limping can put a dent in your stack
Raises are made in no-limit game. Some will raise 4-5 times the bet, others 2, but most 3. Whatever you raise, you have to look at the situation. You need to find out what is the best move for you. Here are some what NOT to dos, while playing in a tourney. If you follow these steps, they should help you make a little more money at this game we all love.
All-Ins
When playing in a tournament you see different styles/strategies. Different strategies are a good thing. You want your strategy to lead to a cash, not an exit. Okay, this is obvious. The new wave of poker players come from watching WPT, WSOP, or Rounders. All in which you will see guys push all-in a lot. What you don’t get to see is the lay downs these guys make in Level 7. You have to look at your chips stack not as a lot of chips, but as ALL of your chips. When those are gone, you’re not gonna get anymore. An all-in move can be effective at times, but hurtful in others. If you play poker regularly, then you know how many times you’ve gotten your money in against a better hand. You‘re against an over pair, or your dominated. A hand like 10-10 is a great example of this. There’s a raise ahead of you. You look down and see 10-10. Re-raising isn’t such a bad play here. What if he re-raises you all-in though? Are you ready to put your tournament life on a coin flip at best. Not to mention JJ,QQ,KK,AA. This situation can be very bad because:
1) If he calls you, at best you’re a coin flip. Most of the time you’re behind.
2) If he has a hand like 77,88,99, A10. You’ve lost a great chance to extract chips from him. He can’t call there.
3) By doing this, you make yourself easy to trap. A good player will set you up, then knock you out with KK, or AA.
4) If you see a flop, you give yourself a chance to get a read. You can watch his actions, and try to find out if you have the best hand.
5) A bluff looks more like a big hand if you just raise. An all-in looks fishy, if he does call you lose everything. If you’re caught in a bluff without going all-in you still have chips.
You see these all-ins on TV for a different situation. A lot of times they’ll make a move with a middle pair. The reason is no one wants to risk their tournament life. They want to keep advancing places, and make more money. It’s the same strategy of being aggressive when you get close to the bubble. Not to mention they can gamble a little to put them in a situation to win the tournament. Early tournament is not the same situation. Players will play more aggressively, and you’re more likely to get a call. There is not as much at stake at that point. It’s not right in front of them, therefore they don’t take it the same. The pros you see on television wouldn’t think about moving all-in early(except maybe Hoyt corkins), they analyze their situations. You want to find the best way to get chips from your opponent, without putting yourself at risk. Even if you have the stone cold nuts, you should be looking to value bet. If you bet all chips, odds are your opponent will not call. It’s really very simplistic. Chip conservation is the key. Taking down pots at the least amount of risk. It sounds easy, but so many players are going against that. I’m not saying play scared, but play smart. Make sure you’re not putting your tournament life on the line constantly.
Limping
If you play cash games, remember this, a cash game is played very differently. My skills as a cash game player lack compared to my tournament play. The reason is because I’m not willing to gamble enough in situations, and I hate to limp. In a tournament, it’s completely different. You don’t want to put yourself in those situations, and limping should be VERY rarely done. Though you’ll see a lot of the players doing it now. My goal is to put myself in a situation where I can win chips a high percentage of the time. I’m not saying to play so tight that you blind out. I’m saying if you’re going to play 910/J10/KJ, then raise it. You’ll thin the field, raising your chances to win the pot. Even if you get smooth called by an AQ, you’re 60-40 at worse. Not to mention the fact that you have the lead. A ragged flop can come up, you bet, he folds. Second, say an Ace hit’s the flop. You bet, and he raises. You get away, and still have chips to play with. Last, take for instance that you went all-in there. He decides to take a chance and call you. Now you’ve got your tournament life on the line in a 60-40 situation, and if you lose you’re gone. Only one situation looks good to me.
Limping causes more callers. Lets just say you have that same J10 suited. You limp in 3rd position, and you have 4 callers behind you. You’re J10s against KQ, A9, 55, 78s. You’re only 21% to win that hand now. Not to mention unless you hit, you can’t bet. One of 4 hands will have probably hit the flop hard.
Your goal is to play heads up. You only have to read one opponent, and beat one hand. Your stack will dwindle by losing those “small” calls also. $400 called 5 times is $2000. That could be half or 1/3 of your stack. Simply by limping/missing a few times.
My final point is DO NOT limp with big pairs. Yes, you have the advantage that they don’t know your hand. That is your only advantage. You don’t know what kind of hands are out their yourself. I’m gonna give you another example of your percentages:
You limp in UTG with AA, and you get 3 callers and the big blind checks behind you. You are the favorite in the hand, but against the table you lose the lead. This is a big problem, so read this carefully. You have the best % to win the hand. The problem is against 88, KJs, 66, 10/3 you are 45% to win the hand. You are less than half to win against everyone. This is a situation where you could’ve raised, and maybe just got the 8/8 or KJ against you. Don’t feel bad if everyone folds, you still added to your stack.
Remember the less players the better. Winning small pots add up fast. You’ll have situations that escalate after the flop. At this point, you know where you stand in the hand. Pre-flop, you never know what is going to hit. You must control this situation in the best way possible. Try to stay consistent with what you do. Consistency helps you trap, and keep your opponents guessing. It will make it harder for your opponents to put you on a hand if you raise the same with AA that you do with AJ. Try to always keep ‘em guessing.
