If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush games, check out Jonathan Little’s elite training site at PokerCoaching.com.
I recently played an interesting hand in a slow-structured $3,500 buy-in live tournament where we started with 150,000 at 500-1,000.
Everyone at my table was playing pretty tight, waiting for someone to make a big mistake, so I adjusted and made a point to steal every pot once it was clear no one was interested in winning it. This allowed me to double my starting stack within two hours with almost no risk, which is always an amazing result.
However, when you are constantly pushing your opponents around, your observant opponents will eventually assume that you are playing too aggressively and may adjust.
Preflop
At 1,500-3,000 with a 3,000 big blind ante, a weak-tight player who was clearly waiting for strong preflop cards raised to 4,500 out of his 66,000 stack from first position. The hijack and button called. I looked down at A-K in the small blind and just called.
When facing a first position raiser who almost certainly has a premium hand, bloating the pot from out of position will get you in trouble. You must realize that A-K will only win around 40% of the time against a range containing only A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, and A-K, which is almost certainly what you will be against if the initial raiser decides to four-bet.
If you three-bet and the initial raiser calls, everyone else will likely call, forcing you to play a four-way pot from out of position.
Since both results are quite bad, calling is likely the best play because it forces your opponents to stay in the pot with hands you dominate, while also under-representing your hand.
The Flop
The flop came A-10-8, giving me top pair. I checked, as I would do with all my hands, and the initial raiser bet 9,000 into the 21,600 pot. Everyone folded around to me.
While I would normally call to keep my opponent in the pot with hands that are drawing thin, such as A-J and K-K, I was convinced that my opponent liked his hand.
Since I have an ace in my hand, I am unlikely to be against A-A. I thought it was fairly unlikely that he had 8-8 because he would have likely limped with that preflop. (To be clear, limping 8-8 is vastly inferior to raising.) This means that unless he has exactly 10-10, I am either chopping against A-K or ahead against A-Q or A-J.
I did not get the vibe that he would fold his strong hands because most amateur players who use an overly tight preflop strategy tend to go way too far with their marginal made hands. They feel that since they rarely enter the pot they must win every time they connect with the board.
The Result
So, I went all-in for my opponent’s 52,500 remaining stack. My opponent proudly called and turned up his A-Q. He could not believe it when I turned up A-K because in his mind, I “must” three-bet with A-K before the flop.
Recognize that just because you would play a hand in a particular way does not mean that your opponents will.
Level Up Your Game
If you want more resources to help you improve your game, I put together a course called Master the Fundamentals. This course covers the basics, preflop, post-flop, multiway, turn and river strategy, and much more. This course is completely free inside Card Player Poker School!
If you want more resources to help you improve your game, I put together a course called Five-Day Preflop Challenge. This course is completely free inside Card Player Poker School!
When you join the Card Player Poker School (it’s free to join), you’ll also get:
- Free Downloadable Preflop Charts
- GTO Preflop Charts
- Video Classes
- Interactive Hand Quizzes
- Free Course: Master The Fundamentals
- Free Course: The 25 Biggest Leaks And How To Fix Them
- Free Training Every Week
Jonathan Little is a WSOP bracelet winner, two-time WPT winner, and the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion with $9 million million in live tournament earnings. He is a best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and the 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush games, check out his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.
