Posts Tagged ‘drawing hands’

Limping into an Unraised Pot

Monday, December 5th, 2011

One thing that many online poker players preach against is limping into an unraised pot – especially from early position. The reason why limping (calling the big blind) is highly frowned upon is because you are not only showing total weakness in your hand, but you’re most likely going to be raised by at least one other player. So if you’re limping with A-T from under the gun, just don’t bother.

Back to the original point, many online poker players wonder if there is ever a situation where it’s okay to limp into an unraised pot from early position. And the answer is ‘yes’, there are some rare instances where limping into an unraised pot can be profitable. But before we continue with the reasoning behind this thought, keep in mind that, as a beginning player, you should stick to raising or folding from early position until you’re more experienced.

One situation where profitable open limping arises is on tables full of calling stations who build great pot odds for suited connectors and other drawing hands. For example, let’s say that you’re holding QsJs under the gun, which is a fold for most players in this spot. However, you’re on a micro stakes table where everybody’s calling preflop just to see some cards; in this instance, you can open limp and hope that the table dynamic continues. Even if somebody does raise, there would be enough calling stations who’ll stay in the hand and give you solid pot odds on future streets.

One more scenario where open limping could work is if you’re holding a premium hand, and there’s a very aggressive player to your left who might shove just to steal the blinds and your open limp bet. Obviously this is a very specific scenario, but it’s another instance where open limping could work.

Looking at things from an overall perspective, it’s very rare that open limping is a good idea, and only experienced players will be able to spot these situations with consistency.

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Avoiding Tough Poker Hands

Friday, August 19th, 2011

As we all know, not every online poker hand we’re dealt is going to be pocket aces or kings. In fact, the large majority of the time, you’re either dealt garbage, or hands that put you into difficult postflop situations.

For example, let’s say that you’re dealt T-9 in late-middle position and two limpers are out in front. With two limpers already in the hand, this presents a good time to limp in with your connectors, and hope for a draw and good pot odds on the flop. However, you also have to consider that if somebody raises the hand in the cutoff, button or blinds, you’re going to be forced to make a very tough decision. And if the raise is large enough to make you fold, you’ve just wasted a bet calling with a marginal preflop hand.

Of course, this isn’t to say that you should avoid playing solid drawing hands like T-9 from middle position because they can lead to bigger hands later on. But you also have to think ahead in this situation, and consider what your table is like. Are there any fish who would actually give you action if the straight did come through for you? Are there any tight players left in the pot that would fold to a bluff if you completely missed the draw?

These are some of the things that you need to think about when deciding if it’s the correct decision to play a tough poker hand. And tricky poker hands only become tougher to play when you’re in early position. In any case, always be thinking ahead with those tough poker hands, and don’t be afraid to fold them until you’ve gained enough information on other players at the table.

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Raising with Drawing Hands

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

One seemingly crazy play that a lot of high stakes poker players make is raising with drawing hands. And what’s puzzling about this move is that most poker strategy suggests only calling with drawing hands when you have good pot odds and/or implied odds. But when you take a closer look at the logic behind raising with drawing hands, the move makes a lot more sense.

But before we get into the logic behind raising with a straight or flush draw, realize that you should avoid doing this until you know your opponent’s range pretty well. Assuming you do know the range of hands that your opponent is willing to play, you can get a better idea of when is and isn’t a good time to raise with your drawing hand.

Now, getting to the reasons why raising with drawing hands can be profitable, the biggest benefit is that you disguise your hand. For example, while holding 9s-Ts on a flop of Js-5h-As, raising here indicates a strong chance that you might have top pair rather than a flush and/or straight draw. Maybe your opponent has A-Q non-suited and they’re wondering if you have A-T, so they cautiously think that they have you beat. In any case, you’ve disguised your drawing hand, and have a strong possibility of extracting maximum value from it later on.

Another huge benefit of raising with a drawing hand is that you can make somebody with a better hand fold. Using the same situation from before, your 9s-Ts combination is easily beaten by the A-Q non-suited combo at this point. But with a raise, maybe your opponent thinks you have a two-pair, set, or even A-K. With all of these thoughts running through their head, you are more likely to make them fold the better hand.

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