If you want to sharpen your poker skills and learn to crush games, visit Jonathan Little’s elite training site at PokerCoaching.com/CardPlayer.
Here is a hand showing the all-in or fold-down position with pocket sounds.
Somewhat deep in the $1,500 buy event at 1,200-2,400 blinds, our champion rose to 6,500 out of a 105,000 effective cumulative total from first place with an A
a
. Only reasonably qualified players in second and third places were called.
The hero’s pre-scalable buff has been resized the way he plays his full playing range, which is perfect. It is important not to do anything out of the ordinary with any particular part of your range as this will likely make it easier for your opponents to read readings from you and accurately determine your hand strength.
For example, if you normally raise to 6,500 with most of your hands but suddenly hit 12,500 with your superior hand, it will be obvious to your opponents that something is awry. Likewise, if you make a huge everything or minimum bet on the flop, alarm bells will also go off if those plays are out of the ordinary for you. So, instead of getting fancy (or losing your mind), simply play all of your playable hands the same way.
The flop came 9 7
3. The champion bets 12,000 on the bet of 23,100.
Continuous betting is good, but checking is probably perfect since the board is particularly bad for Hero’s range.
The player in second place folded and then the player in third place raised to 30,000.
It may not look like it, but the champ is in a tough spot when faced with this fluctuation in altitude. On such an uncoordinated board, only some players with excellent hands (two pairs are better) raise and tie.
In this case, there are not many clear draws besides 10-8, which may or may not be in the opponent’s range because many players fold all combinations of 10-8 points beforehand. Against a combination of two well-made doubles and a 10-8 open-ended straight draw, Hero AA wins only 40% of the time. Even if the hero asks for a raise flop and the turn does not complete consecutive draws, he only wins 44% of the time.
While you might think those numbers mean the hero has to flex, it’s basically a worst-case scenario. In fact, many players raise uncoordinated fluffs with hands such as extra pairs and super pairs, hoping to empty their hand with unpaired hyper cards.
For example, if you add only JJ, 10-10, A-9, and K-9 suitable for the opponent’s range, Hero now gains 55% more time on the flop, which makes the fold way too tight. As you add more and more hands to the opponent’s range, the hero’s chances of winning continue to improve (not to mention that the opponent may be bluffing).
Therefore, the champion will either get his money’s worth a bit in the back when his opponent’s lift range is narrow or decently ahead when his opponent’s lift range is wide. While it’s hard to tell exactly what position he’s in at this time, on average, a follow-up would be profitable for the champion.
Once the hero knows he has to continue, he has to decide whether to summon the 30,000 raise or just go all in. If the champion believes that the opponent’s range is mostly value hands, he must make every effort to ensure that the money arrives promptly before the board becomes so scary that the opponent can get off the hook with his worst hands.
If he thinks he is against a domain that contains some unwanted cheating, he should call to allow the opponent to continue cheating. As you can see, this may seem like an incredibly standard situation with everything with pocket aces but there’s more going on than initially meets the eye.
The hero decided to pay everything. The opponent calls out with a K-9, for an exaggerated uppercut.
Jonathan Little runs twice WPT Champion with over $7 million in live tournament earnings, Bestselling Author of 15 Poker Tutorial Books, 2019 GPI Poker Person of the Year. If you want to sharpen your poker skills and learn how to crush games, check out his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.
