My Biggest Pet Peeve: The Dry Side Pot Bluff - Part II

Many of my friends are often bothered by my sharing certain tournament "secrets." Well, they are going to have to suffer through this one, because the dry side pot bluff is driving me crazy!

If you want to succeed in tournament poker, there are certain fundamental strategies that you just have to know. One is the correct strategy for dealing with all-in players and side pots. I'm going to break it down by using several situational examples. You'll be able to find the correct answers with in-depth explanations following all of the questions at the end of this column.

1. There are 100 players left in a limit hold'em tournament. Two players limp in, and you raise with Q-Q from the button. The small blind folds, and the big blind calls the full bet, going all in. The two limpers also call, so there is a dry side pot (no money in it). The flop comes K-9-6 rainbow. Both limpers check to you. What should you do?

A. Check the hand down, hoping to eliminate the big blind.

B. Bet and protect your hand against the two limpers.

2. There are 32 players left in a limit hold'em tournament that pays 27 places. You have $12,000 in chips with blinds of $300-$600, which is a healthy-size stack. Everyone folds to a late-position player, who goes all in for $200. You are dealt the A 9 on the button and the action is on you. What should you do?

A. Raise the pot, hoping to get heads up.

B. Call, and hope the blinds will also call in an effort to eliminate a player.

C. Fold, avoiding confrontation and letting others battle it out.

3. You are in the money in an Omaha eight-or-better tournament and have A-2-2-4 double-suited. Two players are all in, while two others still have chips remaining. You flop absolutely nothing - no pair and no draw - and the two live players check to you, as do you. The turn is another complete brick for your hand. The two others check to you. What should you do?

A. Check, as there is a dry side pot and no point in betting.

B. Bet, so you can … uh, I dunno, bluff out the other two live players and yell, "Nanny nanny boo boo, I bluffed you," while you shake your hands by the sides of your head and stick your tongue out at the players you bluffed.

(OK, I just had to throw that one in; clearly, I'm still a little bitter about the hand I described in Part I in the last issue.)

4. It's midway through a limit hold'em tournament and you are in the big blind with an average-size stack of chips. The blinds are $100-$200, and the player who's under the gun goes all in for $350. One other player calls, and you call the additional $150 with the 6 5. There is now a $100 side pot. The flop is J 9 7, giving you a flush draw and a gutshot-straight draw. What should you do?

A. Check to your opponent, hoping to get a cheap draw to the river.

B. Bet, hoping to steal the $100 side pot.

C. Check, and wait until you make a hand before betting.

5. You are the chip leader with 28 players left in a limit hold'em tournament that pays 27 places. The blinds are $500-$1,000. A short stack goes all in for $2,000, another player calls, you call with the A J from the button, and the big blind calls. The flop comes 9 6 5. Both players check to you. What should you do?

A. Check to try to help eliminate the all-in player.

B. Bet and hope to get heads up with the all-in player.

The answers and explanations:

1. B, bet. It's too early in the tournament to be overly concerned with knocking players out. It's much more important that you win the pot, so it's your job to do everything you can to rake in the chips. At this point in the tournament, your main concerns should be value and survival. You can't afford to give your opponents a free ride and outdraw you. If you get check-raised, you may have to fold; if you are "paranoid" that you are going to get check-raised, you probably should have saved your buy-in for something more lucrative - like keno.

2. A, raise. Go get 'em, tiger. You have the big stack, so go ahead and be the bully. Your hand figures to do "OK" against the types of hands with which a desperate player might raise, not to mention the fact that if both blinds fold, you're on a freeroll, anyway. Confused? Here: If you make it $1,200 to go and both blinds fold, the all-in player only can win $800 total ($200 from each blind, your $200, and his $200). Well, that means that you would get $1,000 of your $1,200 back, plus $100 from the small blind and $400 from the big blind. So, even if you lose the hand to the all-in player, you'll still profit by $300 on the hand! Not bad, eh? A $300 guaranteed profit with a free shot at a $1,100 profit. Now that is the kind of bet you could make a decent living from.

3. A, check. This one goes out to my friend with the book in his lap from last issue's Part I. Pay attention now, this question was put in here just for you, my friend!

4. C, check, and wait until you make a hand before betting. This one is debatable because there is actually something to win on the side, but it's also a dangerous flop for you. Also, at this point you have a 6 high, which doesn't figure to win without some improvement. In this hand, you'd be better off shutting down, hoping to get a free draw.

5. B, bet. Now, this is the bet for which people often get yelled at, and those "know-it-alls" doing the criticizing are usually dead wrong. Sure, they want to eliminate the player and squeak into the money, but you are the chip leader! There's no sense in you worrying about "squeaking" into the money. In fact, in some cases you might be better off rooting for the all-in player to survive! If all the other players at your table are playing ultraconservatively, waiting for others to go broke, there is no telling how many free chips will be out there for the taking.

The important thing to consider when making this bet is whether or not your hand has a legitimate shot at beating the all-in player. In this case, a desperate man put his last few chips in, knowing he'd be the big blind on the next deal. There is a myriad of hands that your A-J high could beat in that spot. True, others may have a pair or a better ace, but so what? Why should you care which player goes out on the bubble, when it's all but a certainty that it won't be you? By getting them out, all you have to do is beat one random hand (rather than three) for a chance to win an $8,500 pot.

Don't be discouraged if you didn't answer all of these questions correctly. But, if you got No. 3 wrong … well, let's just say that getting discouraged wouldn't be such a bad thing for you! Seriously, though, these are important and very common situations that you'll be faced with when playing in a tournament. If all you've played is live-action poker, this would be one of the key strategic differences between live-action play and tournament play, as situations like these rarely occur in cash games.

Daniel can be reached through his website, www.fullcontactpoker.com, which is funded solely by Daniel himself and is completely a nonprofit endeavor.

---

Sign in to your myCardPlayer account to post comments.

User Name:

Password:

Remember Me

 

Need a myCardPlayer account?

Sign Up

Lost User Name or Password?

Get Help

 

Post a comment

Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or advertising content or links may be removed and may result in the loss of your MyCardPlayer ID (including e-mail). Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly. Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

 

your comment