Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (11 page)

Even though everyone would play these hands, they are totally discounted from your opponent’s range.

Some hands make up a larger percentage of a player’s range than others because it is easier to make unpaired hands than paired hands. There are 16 ways to make a particular unpaired offsuit hands such as A-K, but only six ways to make a specific pair. Pull out a deck of cards and play around with it to see what I mean. Because of this, if you narrow a player’s range to A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K before the flop, he will show up with A-K 47 percent of the time. If his range is A-A to 10-10, A-K and A-Q, he’s about even money to have either a pair or an unpaired hand, even though his range includes only two unpaired hands. Knowing this will help you to determine your equity against an opponent’s range, which will come in handy throughout a tournament.

Suppose the stacks are 20BBs, you raise 6-6 to 2.5BBs and your opponent goes all-in. You must determine if you should call or fold. There are 24BBs in the pot and you have to call 17.5 more, giving you 1.4-to-1 odds, so you need to win 42 percent of the time to break even. Assume you know this player’s range to be A-A to 8-8, A-K to A-J and K-Q. There are 42 combinations of pairs, against which you have 20-percent equity, and 64 combinations of unpaired hands, against which you have 55-percent equity. So, around 40 percent of the time you will have 20-percent equity and the other 60 percent of the time you will have 55-percent equity. You calculate

(0.4)(0.2)(41.5) + (0.6)(0.55)(41.5) = 17

which is right around break-even, as you would have to put in 17.5BBs to call. If you think your opponent is pushing with a few weak hands as bluffs, such as A-4 or 7-6, which will usually be the case, you have an easy call. If you are certain your opponent will only push with A-A to 8-8, A-K and A-J, you have a close fold. Numerous online hand-equity calculators, such as PokerStove, will simplify the math for you. I suggest you spend at least 30 minutes per day running equities so you will know your equity in the most common situations.

During every hand of poker you play for the rest of your life, work on putting each player on a range of hands and narrowing it as the hand progresses to the showdown. Usually you will not see a showdown, but the practice is still good. Every time you see a showdown though, you need to compare your final range of hands to what your opponent shows up with and see if you were right. Remember that ranges vary by player. Loose players will start with a much larger range than tight players. Players raising from late position will also have a much wider range. Don’t fall into a lull where you are not thinking about hands. You need to actively think about every player’s hand range all the time. You should not be watching TV or reading a magazine at the poker table. If you focus on every player and determine his range throughout every hand, you will be well on your way to becoming a great poker player.

Never put your opponent squarely on one hand. When he raises, start with his entire raising range and eliminate hands as the hand progresses. This may be difficult at first, but as you get more experience, it will become second nature.

You Need a Stronger Hand to Call than to Raise

In general, you need a stronger hand to call a raise than you do to raise, assuming you are the first person to raise the pot. This was coined the “gap concept” by David Sklansky. As a simple example, you would certainly raise A-3 from the button if everyone folded to you, but if someone raised in front of you, you would usually fold the hand without a second thought. You need a stronger hand to call than to raise because when you raise pre-flop, you have two ways to win the hand. You can either bluff your opponents out of the pot as the aggressor, or you can make the best hand. If you are the caller, you generally have to hit some sort of hand to win the pot unless you decide to run a large bluff.

As the stacks get deeper, the gap concept goes out the window. If a weak opponent with 1,000BBs raises from the cutoff and you are on the button, you can call with a very wide range because you will be able to bluff your opponent on almost any board, allowing you to play most hands profitably, at least until your opponent realizes you are taking advantage of him. If you had 10BBs, you would certainly go all-in with K-6 from the button if everyone folded to you, but you would rarely call a button push with K-6 if you were in the big blind with the same stack.

This concept will help define the range of hands you can play in any situation. Keep it in mind whenever you consider calling a raise.

Relative Hand Strength

Weak players often talk about how they made a full house, only to lose to a better full house. Usually, it turns out they had 6-6 on a J-J-9-9-6 board. It should be clear that 6-6 on that board is a weak hand. In this situation, the worst full house has basically no value except as a bluff catcher. The fact that a hand is high up on the hand-ranking chart does not make it a strong hand. As another example, A
-A
on an A
-J
-7
-6
-2
board is the nuts and you should be happy getting all the money in with it. It is total trash on an A
-9
-8
-7
-6
board and should be folded any time your opponent seems happy to commit a lot of chips.