red chip poker late position, chapter 11

8/20/2019 Red Chip Poker Late Position, Chapter 11

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/red-chip-poker-late-position-chapter-11 1/5

Hands

77

Taking a Passive Line Against Aggressive

Players

(Villain’s flaw) (Difficulty rating) (Hero’s exploit)

As it gets later into the night, rebuys and new players bring new moneyonto the table faster than the rake and departing players can take it

off. Stacks inevitably grow deep and this changes the nature of the game. Tonight, we find most people on the table are 300+ Big Blinds deep.Standard lines with top pair top kicker at 100 Big Blinds need to be re-examined at this greater depth.

We will go over an example to help illustrate this 300+ Big Blind stacksituation.

$2-$5Parx

CasinoSaturday3:00am

Image: Action: Hand: StartingStack:

Hijack Hero $30 $1600

Cutoff Aggressive Call $2000

Button More Aggressive Call Covers

Even in late position you can end up out of position. The Flop comes:

Pot: $97 Range: StartingStack:

Hero(Hijack)

??? $1570

Aggressive(Cuttoff) $1970

More Aggressive(Button)

Covers



Red Chip Poker: Late Position

78

A continuation bet seems trivial in a situation where we raise preflopand catch top pair top kicker on a draw heavy board. Undoubtedly, thereare pros and cons with regards to betting or checking.

The decision whether to bet or check will be dependent on our

opponents’ tendencies. One vital consideration is how often our opponents will raise. More aggressive opponents are likely to raise this Flop with bothreal hands like AT and T9, and also with hands like draws. As theiraggression frequencies increase they may even raise with gutshots and smallpocket pairs, like 44, that did not hit a set and now are weak semi-bluffs.

When we expect to face a raise often, we need to have a plan immediately. This not only influences whether or not we want to continuation bet, buthow we will react when we face the inevitable bet or raise.

However, if our opponents will only raise the Flop when they have abetter hand, then we should proceed to value bet. If a passive opponentraises, they usually have the hands they are representing. Passive players arenot going to semi-bluff raise with draws either. This makes their raisingranges face-up and their calling ranges face-up as well. We should value betthe Flop and fold if they raise.

Versus observant opponents, we never want to do anything 100% ofthe time. If we would always bet the Flop with top pair and draws, andalways check-fold when we miss, a Flop check would give them the green

light to take away the pot when we check to them. Rather than play thispredictably, we can shift some hands into our check-call range to inducemistakes from these opponents. On this board, Ace-King is a viable optionfor this line.

Hands that would have called our Flop bet will now also bet themselvesonce checked to. Ace-Queen, Jack-Ten, and draws will be prone to bet theFlop once we check in efforts to win the pot. A check allows ouropponents to bet with worse hands and bluffs.

It is important to note that every card ranging from Six to King, in

addition to all Clubs, will be of concern on the Turn. By checking we allowour opponents to potentially actualize equity. Almost every hand has someequity; by letting a free card come sometimes the opponent will win wherehe normally would have folded on the flop, had we bet. If Villain has KQ,

JT or 44, we give them a chance to improve on the Turn either for free orfor the price they dictate on the Flop. This is a byproduct of facing a skilledand aggressive opponent who will put us to difficult decisions often.

Moving onto this exact hand, our opponents are both aggressive, theButton more so than the Cutoff. Against these players we would be betteroff checking. A check will allow either to stab at the pot and also mitigatesthe tough spot of getting our continuation bet raised.

Assume for a moment that we do continuation bet for $65 againstthese aggressive opponents and face a raise to $200. Are we ahead on this



Hands

79

Flop? It is possible. However, if we call the raise what will we do on a Twoof Diamonds Turn card when our opponent bets $400? If we call the Turnbet and the Five of Hearts falls on the River and our opponent shoves. Do

we call again? Notice how this is an ideal run out for our hand and yet the

decisions are becoming exponentially complex and expensive with everystreet.


Hero(Hijack)

Check/Call

$1570

Aggressive(Cuttoff)

Check/Fold $1970


$65 Covers

Once we induce the bet from the Button, our plan is to check-call theFlop and play poker on the Turn and River. However, the plan to check-call on the Flop does not give us the license to check-call all remainingstreets. We need to make decisions based upon the information gatheredlater in the hand. Future cards and bet sizes, or the absence of bets, willallow us to further gauge where we stand. Notice that your opponents’tendencies will influence your decisions on every street. You will faceopponents who are capable of firing three barrels with a missed draw, andothers who will not. This information is crucial in the decision makingprocess, and therefore it is important to pay attention to your opponent’sactions in prior hands.

Pot: $227 Range: Starting

Stack:Hero(Hijack)

Check/Call

$1505


$150 Covers

The Three of Clubs Turn card brings in the flush. However, ouropponent should not have many flush combinations in his range. With the

Ten and Nine of Clubs accounted for, our opponent cannot have 89, J9, J10, or Q10 of Clubs. We do however expect our opponent to continuebetting his bluffs that picked up equity, such as KQ with one Club and 44

with one Club.



Red Chip Poker: Late Position

80

We also expect our opponent to bet worse Aces on the Turn for whathe perceives to be value or protection. We assume hands such as AQ and

AJ, both with and without a Club, will bet enough of time to justify a call. There is a common misconception in poker which states: if we call the

Turn and the board does not change on the River, we must also call theRiver. However, this thought process is flawed as something did change;our opponent bet again. Even when the board does not change, we musttake a crucial factor into consideration:

We may be ahead of our opponent’s Turn betting range,but yet may not be ahead of his River betting range.

If our opponent’s River bluffing frequency is low, it should furthersway us towards folding our marginal holdings. We must also consider howlikely our opponent is to overvalue his hand and bet. If our opponent doesnot bluff often enough and will only have with the strongest of ranges

when betting the River, we should fold.


Hero(Hijack) Check $1355


Check Covers

The Seven of Diamonds does not bring in the four-flush and does notcomplete any straights besides J8. It is unlikely that our opponent has anyof the offsuit combinations of J8. Therefore the available combinations of

this hand drop from sixteen to four.On the River, we ask ourselves if our opponent would turn 76 into abluff. Would he also continue bluffing with hands such as 44 and KQ withone Club? Also, we must question how often our opponent will continue to

value bet worse hands such as AQ and AJ versus checking them. If weassume the frequency of our opponent doing either of these actions is low,and therefore a third barrel signifies a hand better than AK a largepercentage of the time; we should fold. Vice versa, if the frequency of ouropponent doing the above actions is high than we must hold on and call, as

folding would be a mistake.Our opponent checks back his hand and we win at showdown.

However, the thought process throughout the hand, especially the Flopdecision, is the important lesson in this chapter. Deviation from standard



Hands

81

lines will help us combat stronger more aggressive opponents, who mayotherwise cause us to make mistakes. The strategy when facing moresophisticated players will differ from the lines we take versus a morepredictable opponent. This awareness will allow us to become a more

dynamic player and in turn avoid mistakes. Always be on the lookout forsituations where separation from the standard may be necessary for success.

red chip poker late position, chapter 11

Documents