Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1 (8 page)

So, raising to around 2.5 times your opponent’s bet here would be a great total bluff.

A semi-bluff is when you bet or raise with a hand that is usually behind if you’re called but still has a decent amount of equity. Suppose someone raises to 300 from middle position and you call on the button with a 4,000 stack and A
-J
, creating a 750 pot. If the flop comes 5
-4
-2
and your opponent bets 500, this is a great spot to go all-in as a semi-bluff, as any spade will give you the best hand and a 4, ace, or jack will almost certainly do the same.

If your opponent calls, you are probably behind, but on a board like 5-4-2, there isn’t a whole lot he can have besides an overpair. So, he will fold everything except decent overpairs and when he does call, you still have around 40-percent equity. Assume your opponent will fold to your raise 70 percent of the time, and you have 40-percent equity when he does call. The amount you can expect to win by going all-in here is

(0.7)(1,250) + (0.3)[(8,150(0.4) – (8,150)(0.6)] = 386.

This assumes your opponent will call 30 percent of the time, which you will find is on the high side. If he calls less often, the profitability of the play goes through the roof.

Another semi-bluffing situation is when you have something like J-10 on an 8-7-3 board.

If you are deep-stacked and your opponent bets, raising is a decent option, as he probably didn’t hit that board and you have a gutshot and overcards if he does call. Throwing out a semi-bluff is rarely a bad play if you can make your opponent fold a decent amount of the time while still having a lot of equity when called.

Finally, there is the pre-flop bluff. Pretty much any time you raise pre-flop, unless you have a strong hand, it is a bluff at some level. When you raise 9-8s pre-flop, you are basically semi-bluffing. When you raise J-5 on the button, you are total bluffing, trying to pick up the blinds. When someone raises and you re-raise with A-4, you are total bluffing, because if he calls, you are usually behind and your main way of winning the pot will be to continue bluffing post-flop. If you re-raise with J-10s pre-flop, you are semi-bluffing, as your hand will find a way to win post-flop by making straights and flushes a decent amount of the time. If it doesn’t, you can still win the pot with a bluff.

As you can see, bluffing is a rather broad subject. Throughout the text, you will see numerous other forms of bluffs that you can add to your arsenal. Just don’t get carried away with bluffing, as most of your profit will come from making your opponents think you are bluffing when you actually have a strong hand.

The last type of bet I want to discuss is the bet for information. Unless you are facing extraordinarily straightforward players, betting for information will only cause you trouble. The most standard time you see an information bet is when someone leads into you when you were the pre-flop raiser. Say you raise with a 100BB stack from middle position and the big blind calls. The flop comes J-9-4 and he leads into you for half pot.

You should almost always raise this bet if you have a weak hand because by making this bet, your opponent is saying, “I have a hand I don’t want to call a bet with but it also might be good. Is my hand ahead?” Usually your opponent will have something like J-8, 10-9, or A-4 and is trying to “find out where he’s at” by leading into you. When this happens, you should almost always give him bad news by raising, regardless of your cards. If he does call, be prepared to fire every street, unless you know he is the type that will lead with strong hands to try to induce a bluff. Notice also that calling the flop with the intention of bluffing the turn is a great option.

Now that we know that betting for information is usually a weak play, when should you do it? The answer is when you are playing against players that you know, with a great deal of certainty, will give you accurate information. These are usually the most straightforward players, which simply do not exist at a high level. When I play with players in $10,000 buy-in events, I always give them at least some credit. Because of this, leading for information is rarely part of my game. As you can see, most every bet in poker can be narrowed down to a few distinct categories. The most important thing to take from this chapter is that your bets need to have a purpose. If your bets have no purpose, they are usually –EV.

The Importance of Position

I am sure you have all heard about “the power of position.” Everyone knows you are last to act when you are in position, but very few people know how to use that power to its fullest. Here are a few key ways to use position to improve your game.

Professionals use position to pick up numerous pots with the worst hand. Suppose everyone has 100BBs and a straightforward player raises from middle position. If you are on the button with any sort of hand, calling should always be an option. Say you have 9-7o and decide to call. Facing a continuation bet on a flop like A-4-2 or K-6-4, you should usually either call or raise. Folding is generally bad because your opponent has to have at least a king to continue.

If you call the flop, known as floating, you should fold most turns if he bets again and bet every time he checks to you. If you raise the flop, you should usually raise between 2.5 and 3 times your opponent’s bet. You can easily fold if he re-raises, or if he calls your raise and bets the turn. Remember that putting a small play on someone doesn’t commit you to going all-in on a maniacal bluff.