With tax season over, I'm thrilled to be able to actually play some poker. Perhaps the more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, that and the big raise have returned.
I was playing a no-limit hold 'em tournament online. We were just into the money although the real money was still at least an hour away. In any case, I was under the gun and looked down at Ah-Kc and made a standard raise to $50,000 (the blinds were $10,000-$20,000 with a $2,000 ante). It was folded to the cutoff who made a huge all-in re-raise to $1.2 million. I had about $1.3 million. I had just been moved to this table and I had no reads on the re-raiser. Should I call or fold?
When I first started playing competitive poker in the late 1990s that size re-raise meant one of two things: aces or kings. Clearly, if I knew that my opponent held either hand I should fold.
Three years ago, this size of a raise would indicate jacks, or sometimes even tens or queens. Tournament players elected to protect their big, but not great, pairs by making the huge raise or re-raise.
But what about today? What was the range of hands that this player would hold for his huge re-raise? The trouble was I had no idea. Still, I think I had an easy decision.
Let's assume that my opponent would do this with pocket nines or better and A-10 or better. I was only ahead of A-Q, A-J, and A-10; I was behind-but in essentially a coin flip situation-with Q-Q, J-J, 10-10, and 9-9; and I was far behind A-A and K-K. Most players don't make the huge re-raise with a poor ace, so that hand wasn't likely. I felt that a pair of some sort was the most likely hand for my opponent, and I saw no reason to get involved in what, at best, would be a coin flip. I was going to fold.
The cutoff, though, isn't the last player to act. The big blind, who had about $800,000, elected to call all-in. Now I had an easy fold, and I did so. The big blind showed K-K, but the re-raiser had A-A and his aces held up.
The hand itself isn't that interesting, and having kings and running into aces is an occupational hazard, but the big re-raise is. I really liked my opponent's re-raise. He held the best possible hand; why not make a huge re-raise and see if he could get someone who held jacks or some other pair to make a bad call? Even if he was unsuccessful in attracting a caller to his big bet, he'd still take the chips from my initial raise.
Of course, if you are going to use the big raise or re-raise when you have aces, you definitely need to do it with a hand like jacks. My opponent did just that one orbit later. I again re-raised from under-the-gun, he shoved for $1.4 million and I called all-in for just a bit less than that. This time, it was an easier call for me, since I had aces. My opponent had pocket jacks, but a jack on the flop and a jack on the turn knocked me out of the tournament.
My personal style isn't to vary the size of my raises. I'll make the same sized raise, other factors being identical, no matter what I hold. Once you decide to bet, your cards shouldn't decide how much you bet. If they do, you will find your opponents doing the right thing-whatever that is-because they'll be able to read you by your bet sizes. Instead, make the same bet with a total bluff or the nuts and your results should improve.
Russell Fox is the co-author of "Mastering No-Limit Hold'em," "Why You Lose at Poker," and "Winning Strategies for No-Limit Hold'em." He's a federally licensed tax preparer specializing in gambling, with a blog at taxabletalk.com. E-mail Russ at rcfox@claytontax.com
