The Limped Pot
In limped pots we always have a lot of maneuverability. Usually we have a massive depth and lots of play, so it makes our decisions less clear cut. We always think about ranges, but often times we have to infer more from actions due to the depth of range in a limped pot. Limped pots usually involve us getting cheap plays from the blinds, limping behind fish with speculative hands, or limping behind weak players with speculative hands. Because we almost never open limp, these spots are almost always MW, which amplify the confusion in them. Let’s look at a few situations that come up often.
Say there is a limp from an unknown in EP at 25NL, we decide to limp behind with our 33, and the blinds both come along. We see a flop of Js4s3c. Everyone checks to us and it is our action. Our options as always are:
Check. A check will keep this pot very small, give free cards to draws, and keep us from getting max value (especially from a pot geometry point of view).
Bet. A bet should get calls from lots of second best hands like Jx hands and draws. When we catch a big hand in limped pots we should usually be betting as a default.
So we bet for $.75, and everyone but the BB folds. The turn is a 6d and the BB checks to us. The action is on us:
Check. A check assumes that we are behind a very large percentage of the time.
Bet. We should be good here a ton of the time. Sure, we will be behind to 52 or 66 occasionally, but not enough of the time to warrant us checking behind. We should bet to get value from the Jx hands that should still feel comfortable, flush draws, 65 type hands, etc.
We bet the turn for $2 and the BB calls. The river is a T and the BB checks to us. The action is on us:
Check. Again, if we think we are really behind a lot, then we can consider checking behind.
Bet. A bet should still get lots of action from second best hands. The T isn’t an over card so it shouldn’t scare the Jx hands from calling, and so we can consider a little bigger of a bet. If he check/raises us we can make a decision, but default betting on such a clean card is a necessity.
We bet the river for $4.75 and he calls with KJ. Notice we made bigger bets throughout the hand in order to make the pot as large as possible. We also notice that defaulting on betting was pretty much the standard. When we flop big hands we usually want to start exploding the pot. We can make decisions when the board gets funky and/or our opponents make odd actions, but defaulting on betting with these hands is standard.
In this hand we have Ad6d at 100NL. There are two full stacked limpers to us on the button, and we limp behind, and the blinds come along as well. The flop is QdJd5d. The SB bets out for $3. Let’s look at a few things to consider:
If no one calls
If everyone folds back to us we have more flexibility. There are fewer cards that can hit the turn that can be problematic (a flush card scaring a smaller flush, a board pair card, etc.). What we would do here is really based on the SB. If we know the SB would only donk big hands here, then we should more heavily consider raising. We don’t want to let another diamond come off that might scare QJ or 55 or a small flush. We also don’t want to call and have him go into check/call mode with those hands, which would severely hinder how big of a pot we could make. However, if we know that the SB is aggressive and might bet the turn again regardless, then calling here to raise later in the hand is totally acceptable.
If we get a caller
Getting just a single caller is odd. While we could consider flat calling and raising later in the hand (or playing it more cautiously if the board pairs), a raise here is also fine. Even just a small raise, up to $8.5, would be acceptable. We could flat if we think they would both make a lot of mistakes on the turn (on clean cards). The issue with this is that 36% of the time we are going to get a “bad” card on the turn (any Q, J, 5, or diamond). Because of this, defaulting on raising here is usually best. This gives us the best chance to make the most from sets, two pairs that don’t want to fold on the flop, sticky flush draws, and baby flushes.
If we get multiple callers
Getting multiple callers makes raising a necessity. Many players seem interested, so let’s make them pay while they feel the most comfortable. As a default, when we flop big hands and the action starts going MW, we should be raising. There is no reason to give free cards to hands that would happily pay us now.
Not surprising, our default action when we catch these big hands is to get the pot size growing as quickly as possible. That isn’t to say that slow playing is never appropriate, it’s just that we should slow play only in the best of situations. Sometimes stacking a small percentage of a player’s range is much better than getting two small bets a larger percentage of the time. We just need to use the reads that we have, feel out the current texture, consider future texture, and usually heavily consider betting or raising.
The Normal Pot
Let’s talk about the times that we hit big in a standard HU situation. The two of the major times this happens is when we open raise and when we flat call a raise PF. These situations, because there is no chance of it going MW, become much more reliant on reads and exploiting our opponent’s tendencies. So let’s look at our first spot:
Say we raise with to $1.5 7s7d from MP1 at 50NL. The CO calls us and we see a HU flop. The CO is a TAG with a propensity to call CBs IP. He has a 3-bet of 3% and a fairly average FoldvCB of 55%. The flop comes 9h7c5d. Let’s consider our options:
Check. Checking is an option if we think our opponent would make a lot of betting mistakes. We could check with the intention of CRing or going for a check/call and CR turn line. However, when the board comes with this kind of texture, where there are cards that can 4 straight (or 4 flush on monotone boards), we should veer away from checking and giving the board a chance to get really ugly.
CB. A CB is usually going to be best. As a default, we have a big hand and thus want to bet and get the pot growing. Also, this opponent has a tendency to call CBs more liberally. This is great as we can expect him to probably bet the turn a lot of the time as a high CallvCB percentage from a better player usually denotes increased floating frequencies. So we can take a CB flop and, at times, a CR turn line.
We CB here for $2. Let’s look at some logical happenings:
CO Raises. If the CO raises we just need to ask ourselves one quick question, “Does he only raise with big hands, or does he bluff this board a lot?” If he only raises big hands then we should raise to get a big pot going while the board is as safe as possible. We don’t want to let an 8 come off and slow him down, or let an A come off and do the same. If he bluffs a lot, then we can consider calling and letting him make betting mistakes. Of course, we do acknowledge that sometimes he will catch an improvement card or scare card. So if we aren’t sure how he raises this spot, we could just default on 3-betting here and taking a note.
CO Calls + Brick. If the turn card is some sort of 2 or 4 type card, we just need to ask ourselves how the CO would handle this card. If we think he calls the flop with a range that wants to float-and-stab, then we can check and let him do that. If we think he calls the flop with a SDV type range, then we can bet again as the brick means nothing and he will probably call the turn again while the board remains “safest.” As a default, betting here again is perfectly fine. But if we know he would always bet if we checked, then checking becomes a very valid option.
CO Calls + Big Card. If the turn card is some sort of A or Q type card, we just need to ask ourselves how the CO would handle this card. If we think our opponent is really floaty, then checking and letting him bet is great. We also need to consider what we represent here when our opponent is the hand reading type. Because an ace on the turn is such a great barrel card (we might bluff KQ using the A as a scare card, turn 22 into a bluff, etc.) a check can start to turn our hand face up as a SDV hand, or a big hand trying to induce a bluff. Rarely will we have to worry about this type of dynamic in the micro and small games, but it is something to consider as we move up and play against m
ore competent opponents.
CO Calls + Straight Filler. If the turn card is an 8 or 6, putting the 4 straight on board, we need to be careful. A check here usually becomes best. If our opponent was floating and was going to bluff, this is the perfect card for him. If our opponent has a SDV hand he will usually just check it behind. And a bet just doesn’t really get called by many, if any, worse hands. A plan of check/calling the turn and check/soul-reading the river is great. It allows us to take a price with IO when we are behind, and induce bluffs when we are ahead. Of course, if we check/call the turn , and brick/face a big bet on the river we have a decision. But at that point is boils down to “would our opponent make the river bet without the straight?” If he is capable of bluffing it, we might call. If he never really bluffs like this, then we can consider folding the river.
With information our decisions become easier and easier. If our opponent is the type that will stab when we check, then we should consider checking with our big hands. If our opponent is the type to call a lot when we bet, then we should consider betting with our big hands. If we aren’t sure, then we should consider betting as a default. Don’t complicate these situations by taking fancy play syndrome (FPS) lines. Just play straight forward or use lines that exploit our opponent’s tendencies and mistake propensities.
Let’s look at another example. In this hand UTG raises to $3 at 100NL and we are the only caller in the BB with 55. UTG is a nit with an EPPFR of 4% and CB of 71% over 2K hands. Let’s look at some flops and consider some different plays:
A95. On this very dry A high board we see that his range is about 15% better sets and about 30% AK. The rest of his range is strong under pairs (TT or QQ type hands).
If we consider our plays right now we see:
Check. This will probably get a bet from the AA/AK/99 part of his range, and probably a check behind by things like QQ or KK. If we go for a CR we might end up losing AK at some point (if not to the initial CR, possibly to the turn bet or river bet). If our opponent always stacked off TP in these situations, then going for a CR is great (as we make a stack about 30%, and lose a stack about 15%). The check also gives free cards to the JJ and KK type hands, although a checked through flop could encourage a light call, or possibly two, later in the hand. It is tough to know exactly how any opponent will react with that part of his range later on as the situation arises rarely.
Donk. Donking is an interesting option here. What makes a donk good here is when he calls with hands like KK or JJ to it (for at least a street). However, against a donk he probably doesn’t raise AK type hands, so we never really stack that hand, which makes up a large percentage of his range. Yes, we get 3 streets of value against AK, but we miss the chance at the full stack. Against a player that wouldn’t stack AK versus a CR though, the donk becomes much better, especially if AK starts checking the flop behind sometimes.
The important factors here are how our opponent reacts to the flop (Does he check SDV hands behind? Does he bet AK? Does he think AK is the nuts here?) and what logical actions he would take. Understanding how often he hits the board is very helpful, as it can help us put percentages and values to entire lines. If we think our opponent views AK as SDV and almost never gets involved in an AI pot with it, then donking becomes better. As our opponent starts overvaluing AK and betting the flop with it, the checking lines becomes more valid.
J53. On this very dry J high board we see how our opponent hits the flop. We see he has a better set about 6% of the time, and an over pair about 36% of the time. A large percentage of his range is whiffed AK.
Let’s check our options:
Check. If we expect that our opponent will CB his over pairs, sets, and whiffed AK hands, then a check should solicit a bet about 75% of the time. If we think he would CB his baby pairs like 99 or TT, then he is CBing 100% of the time. This gets us direct value a large percentage of the time, as we make the most from the whiffed AK hands (as a donk would probably get folds from that part of his range). How we react if we check and he bets is based on how he values hands. If he will stack off over pairs, or at the very least call the CR and get involved in a bigger pot size, then we should CR for pure value. If we think he folds things like QQ or AA to a CR, then it loses a lot of value. Instead of CRing against a player like that we could check/call and donk the turn, or even check/call and check the turn if he would bet over pairs again on the turn (assuming the turn card is a low one).
Donk. If we expect that our opponent will check behind over pairs often, donking becomes a better idea. However, the big reason why checking is so outright profitable is that we get the bet from whiffed AK that we usually couldn’t get by donking. If we donk large the entire hand, we can create a final pot size around 150bb, which isn’t bad at all, especially if a CR would scare our opponent from getting involved. Of course, that 150bb pot assumes our opponent never finds the fold button and that bad cards don’t come that scare him off.
As the high card on the board gets lower and lower, our actions get more focused around our opponent’s valuation of over pairs. If he is comfortable stacking them off, or at the very least getting involved in large pot sizes with them, then CRing becomes more and more valid. If he begins folding them a large percentage of the time versus a CR, then check/call becomes more valid. If he might check them behind rather than CB them, donking becomes more valid even though we lose the outright value of the whiffed AK CB. Again, information helps us create the optimal line and exploit our opponents better.
KQ5. This board becomes a bit different. Now we have two broadway cards on board as opposed to a single one. While there is a difference in texture between KQx, AJx, KTx, etc., the underlying principles are relatively similar. Let’s see how his range hits this board:
We see he is hitting a set about 14% of the time, an over pair about 14% of the time, and TP about 28% of the time. Let’s consider our actions like we always do:
Check. When there are multiple broadway cards on board most opponents start turning a hand like 99 or JJ into a bluff here, just disregarding the SDV it may or may not have. Because of this, we can probably expect a bluff CB more often, so about 43% of the time. He will probably CB AA as well. However, the really important piece of the puzzle is how he handles AK here. If he would check it behind, then we start missing some serious value given how often he has that part of his range. If he would bet AK, AA, and the whiffed JJ and 99 hands, then checking here is great as he will bet a large percentage of the time. If he starts checking AK and AA type hands behind on the flop, then we might consider donking as we would only get 2 streets of value maximum from these hands (he checks the flop behind and we donk the turn and river).
Donk. Donking isn’t a terrible choice here. Yes, we probably don’t get calls from hands like JJ or 99, hands that would probably CB if we checked. But we would really only get a few big blinds of value from them in the first place. If our opponent is very likely to check AK or AA behind, then donking can be great. We give ourselves a serious chance of getting 3 streets of value, and don’t have to worry about him possibly folding them to a CR. A CR on this board might seem scary and start folding out more single pair hands, which makes CRing here a less valuable action.
Getting aggressive and CRing these two broadway card boards usually scares most opponents, especially tighter ones. This leaves some room for bluffing, but makes CRing for value less of an option. Because of this, donking can be very valuable. We give ourselves an extra street (the flop) to get the pot geometry working in our favor, and most tight players are not willing to fold strong SDV hands to donk bets. While the math does get a bit different on an AJx or QTx board, the concept still applies when we consider how our opponent would react to the CR and also how they would possibly call down if we started donking.
755. While flopping quads is a little extravigant, an 885 or 335 flop would play relatively similarly. We see on this 755 flop that our opponent has an overpair about 70% of the time, and the rest of the range is pretty much w
hiffed AK.
Let’s check out our options:
Check. Whether we check or not is very much based on how our opponent would CB this board. Most opponents will CB all of their big pairs (in this case our opponent really only has big pairs with such a strong range PF). Some opponents will CB the whiffed AK part of their range, which only gives us more and more value the more often they do it. So we should expect a CB about 75% of the time. The great thing about these board textures, especially with lower cards, is that over pairs tend to feel the most comfortable. There are fewer ways to make boats/quads given the fact that the board is paired, and the overall player pool tends to overvalue their own pairs on these textures. Because of that, a CR can be very valuable. The board couldn’t be safer for a big pair, and we can get our opponent feeling very stuck to this pot quickly.
Donk. Donking becomes a very valuable option when our opponent would raise the bulk of his pair range. If our opponent would flat a hand like KK here, the donk becomes much less valuable unless we go for some kind of donk flop, CR turn line. Rather than go for some super creative line, which also allows bad cards to pop (cards that improve our opponent or scare them), we should usually take a more straight forward approach.
Dynamic Full Ring Poker Page 19
