If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out Jonathan Little’s elite training site at PokerCoaching.com/CardPlayer.
A world-class poker pro recently told me about a hand that illustrates an important concept you must master if you want to experience substantial success at poker.
With blinds at 200-400, a tight, passive player limped from second position with a 60,000 (150 bb) effective stack. Another tight, straightforward player limped from third position, our Hero limped from the lojack seat with A♠9♠. An overly aggressive player limped on the button, and both blinds came along as well. Multi-way pots are always fun!
Some people think you must always raise the limpers, but I like the pro’s limp against tight players. Raising to about 2,200 may be the best play if he expects the first two limpers to fold a decent amount of the time, or if he expects them to call and then play straightforwardly after the flop.
The flop came A♥8♣2♠. Everyone checked to the overly aggressive player on the button who bet 1,400 into the 2,800 pot. Only the initial limper and Hero called.
I like Hero’s check if he got the vibe that the overly aggressive player planned to bet. Notice that even if the flop checks through, however, Hero’s hand is not susceptible to being outdrawn too often. If he is ahead on the flop, he will probably be ahead on the turn.
The same applies to if he happens to be behind. When you are either way ahead or way behind, checking is a fine play when there are not many inferior hands you can extract value from and there are almost no obviously bad turn cards, which is often the case on uncoordinated flops.
When facing a bet and a call, Hero is in a tricky spot. While the overly-aggressive bettor can have anything, the caller must have something reasonable. Even against these two ranges, Hero should call, but it is close. If his kicker was a lot weaker, folding becomes an option because it is too likely one of the two opponents has him dominated.
The turn was the K♦. Everyone checked to the overly aggressive player who bet 3,000 into the 7,000 pot. The first caller folded, and Hero called.
At this point, calling is the only play that has any merit. While Hero loses to essentially all value hands, many overly-aggressive players feel inclined to continue bluffing whenever given the opportunity, especially when they think their opponents are capped at top pair with a marginal kicker (because most people bet or check-raise their premium made hands on the flop). If the overly aggressive player is betting every or almost every hand in his range, Hero’s top pair with a marginal kicker is in excellent shape.
The river was the 7♦. Both players checked and Hero won with top pair.
While the opponent did not bluff the river this time, when your opponent has a wide range and is capable of bluffing, you should do everything in your power to give him a chance to bluff. Simply check-call down and collect his chips every time he decides to go for it.
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Jonathan Little is a WSOP bracelet winner, two-time WPT winner, and the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion with nearly $9 million million in live tournament earnings, best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.