Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (17 page)

Before the flop in deep-stacked no-limit holdem tournaments, you can get away with playing most hands in many ways. Despite this, playing a decent mix of hands in an aggressive manner, in position, is the optimal way to play, as it will keep you out of trouble while building pots when you are usually the favorite to win the hand.

It is important to balance the way you play each hand. For example, if someone raises in front of you, sometimes you should just call with A-K and sometimes you should re-raise. Call in this spot from time to time so your opponents can’t discount strong hands from your range when you just call. You should vary between re-raising, calling and folding hands like 9
-6
on the button when someone raises from middle position. Simply put, you should show up with a fairly wide range of hands with each action you take.

In deep-stacked no-limit holdem tournaments, if a lot of money goes into the pot before the flop, you usually need A-A or K-K to be comfortable unless you’re up against a super-loose and aggressive opponent. Suppose you raise Q-Q from first position and you’re re-raised by a fairly tight opponent who isn’t known for fancy play. In this spot, it’s almost always correct to just call with deep stacks. If you raise again and he pushes, you will be in a tough spot because his range is probably something like Q-Q+ and A-K. You have 40-percent equity against this range, so if you’re getting better than 1.5-to-1, you should usually call off for your stack, but if you lose—and you usually will—you will miss out on all the future value in the tournament when people will just hand you their stacks. So, don’t put too much money in the pot before the flop unless you have A-A or K-K.

All in all, playing before the flop in deep-stacked no-limit holdem tournaments is fun and challenging. You can play wildly from time to time, but you need to know how to be tight and wait for a hand. I will provide more details on pre-flop play in the upcoming chapters.

Which Hands to Raise

Most poker books give a detailed chart of which hands to play. Well, I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t really any great chart to define which hands are playable before the flop if you plan on playing a relatively loose and aggressive style, as any hand can conceivably be raised from any position, especially with deep stacks. This may sound crazy, especially since I just talked about how small pre-flop mistakes can compound into huge errors, but it is true. If you know how to play well both before and after the flop, you will find that your cards don’t matter that much. However, you should tighten up before the flop as stacks get shorter because you will have fewer ways to outplay your opponents after the flop. Also, if most of your opponents are good players, you should be a little tighter than I suggest here, as you will pick up fewer pots both pre-and post-flop than from weak opponents.

All hands listed in the rest of this chapter are assumed to be opening hands, i.e., everyone has folded to you, and you raise before the flop. I do not suggest open-limping any hands pre-flop. There is always value in just raising and picking up the pot pre-flop. Limping negates that edge. While you may play a fairly wide range of hands pre-flop, you must be careful not to put a lot of chips in the pot with a bad hand. When risking small amounts of chips, your hand doesn’t really matter, but you need a monster if lots of chips go in the middle.

Play fairly tight from early position because you are basically taking your hand against the best two or three hands from the rest of the table. Most players play a bit tighter than I do from early position. I raise a few more hands because I like to represent a wider range of hands. You will be very exploitable if you only raise 9-9+ and A-Q+ from early position, especially with deep stacks. I tend to raise 2-2+, A-J+ and all suited connectors down to 6-5s. I don’t raise hands like K-J and A-10 from early position because they have huge reverse implied odds. I don’t raise suited connectors all the time, especially if I have a loose image. I raise small pairs and suited connectors because I want to represent a hand on every flop, allowing me to continuation-bet every time. If you raise from early position and the flop comes 5-3-2, you want to be able to represent A-A. If it comes K-Q-2, you want to be able to represent A-K, and if it comes 9-8-5, you want to be able to represent 7-6s. Clearly, if you never have 7-6s in your range, you will be outplayed constantly on these middle-card flops.

From middle position I play quite a few more hands than from early position because there are fewer players left to act behind me. I will raise 2-2+, A-10+, K-10+, Q-10+, J-10, all hands with two suited cards 9 or higher, suited connectors down to 5-4s, one-gap suited connectors down to 6-4s, and two-gap suited connectors down to 7-4s. I will occasionally raise hands like K-8s, A-x and 10-6s if the players in the blinds are tight. Hands like A-4, K-5, and J-2s are still clear folds for me.

From the cutoff, the position to the right of the button, I will raise an even wider range, including 2-2+, A-2+, K-7+, Q-9+ and offsuit connectors and one-gap hands down to 7-5o. You can raise pretty much anything from the button, although I shy away from hands like J-2s, Q-3, K-2, 10-4, 7-2 and other unconnected low cards. I fold suited hands if they are not connected in any way and have no high-card value.

From the small blind, I tend to raise the same range of hands as in the cutoff. I will be out of position throughout the hand, so I can’t play total trash hands. You want a hand with some value so you can continue on most boards post-flop. From the small blind, you should constantly pay attention to who is in the big blind and how that person plays against you. If he’s tight, feel free to raise every hand. If he calls or re-raises every time you raise, then tighten up.

If players are loose and aggressive behind you, you should tighten up your ranges, especially in middle and late position, because you will have to play many more hands post-flop. If you know someone will call when you raise hands like K-5 from the button, you will do better by just folding, especially against someone who is aggressive after the flop. You will also need to play tighter as your skill advantage diminishes. The only time you can profitably play loose pre-flop is when you have a significant post-flop advantage over your opponents. I use my best judgment when deciding which hands to raise before the flop. I’ll tighten up if I think I’ll be re-raised wide, and if I am playing with a table full of tight players, I will raise any two cards from late position. In general, if most players are not scared to call a raise before the flop, you should be sure your hand has some value.

When There is a Raise Before You

You have three options when someone raises in front of you. You can call, re-raise or fold. I will cover all three options in this chapter. The key is to always think about how your hand will fare against your opponent’s raising range. Also, take care not to set yourself up to make a huge mistake later in the hand.

In general, you want to call raises when you have a hand that will connect well with the flop. Specifically, hands like suited connectors and pairs are best for calling a raise because you will usually know quickly whether you have a strong hand after the flop. Your hand, your position, your opponent’s position and everyone’s stack sizes are all of the utmost importance when determining whether you can profitably call a raise. As long as everyone is deep-stacked and you will be in position throughout the hand, you can call with suited connectors and pairs basically every time.

Suppose someone raises UTG and you have 7
-6
on the button. If you all have over 80BBs or so, you should call this raise every time. While you are certainly behind before the flop, your hand can easily beat your opponent’s under-the-gun raising range if you connect well with the flop. Not only can you out-flop your opponent, you will most likely have huge implied odds, as most under-the-gun raising ranges are made up of big pairs and big cards. So, if the flop comes 7-6-2, you can be confident getting in a lot of money, as your opponent will usually show up with an overpair. You have to be careful though, as you don’t want to get all the money in with one pair and a weak kicker.

If you call with the same 7
-6
and it comes 7
-4
-2
, you should call a flop bet, but if your opponent fires again on the turn, unless you know him to bluff multiple streets, you should fold, as this usually narrows his range to only hands that can beat top pair, bad kicker.