In the last issue of Poker Player, I described how a very tight preflop reraiser can earn a few extra big blinds per session by tossing in an occasional reraise bluff. Unfortunately, this bluff leaves little room for error in your reads and slight differences between your perception of your opponents' raising and folding distributions and how they actually play can mean the difference between riches and rags.
Keep this line of play in your tool belt, but consider yourself warned: reraising with predictably tight distributions in deeply stacked no-limit hold'em cash games makes A-A and K-K extremely difficult to play against the perpetually rising percentage of skilled players. But there are two ways to avoid reraising with predictably tight distributions prior to the flop: (1), Never Reraise, and (2), Increase Your Reraising Frequency
This article focuses on Option No. 2 because that's the option I favor. You want your opponents to make mistakes in big pots, and increasing your reraising frequency will build those big pots. But keep Option No. 1 in your tool belt and go to it if game conditions require it.
The key to profitably expanding your preflop reraising distribution lies in understanding your opponents. Your first few reraises will typically carry considerable fold equity. Reraising with your super-premium starting hands will kill your value, so don't reraise with your super-premium hole cards early in a session. Call unless calling will lead to a nasty multiway pot. Meanwhile, reraise every now and then on a bluff with absolute garbage, and also reraise when you have position with suited connectors and onegaps- hands that at least give you something to work with besides fold equity.
Don't reraise every time you can bluff with absolute garbage. And don't reraise every time you have a suited connector or a one-gap hand. You want to look for profitable situations. For example, if you're on the button, and a tight player raises from under-the-gun, three-betting with a hand like T-9s will probably lead to you getting shut out of the pot by a four-bet. Be smart, and look for situations where your reraises carry substantial fold equity preflop.
Though you'll pick your opportunities wisely, it'll soon become apparent that you're reraising with a pretty light distribution. When your opponents have this epiphany, two possibilities exist: (1), Your opponents will still wait for A-A or K-K before they contest a reraise, and (2), Your opponents will widen their playing distributions.
Pummel opponents who won't expand their playing distributions against your reraises; pound them with three-bets. Just beware of opponents who shrink their raising distributions to the point where your reraises don't carry much preflop fold equity. You won't be able to reraise as much against tight raisers, but fortunately, you'll be able to take on the role of initial aggressor in a large number of pots. And the role of initial aggressor is usually a profitable one.
Against opponents who widen their playing distributions, shift your reraising distribution. Abandon random reraise bluffs with absolute garbage, and start reraising with a distribution looking something like {AA-88, AK-AJ, JTs-65s, J9s-64s}. You could argue for eschewing some of the suited connectors in favor of hands like A-T and K-Q. But A-T and K-Q won't play well postflop unless your opponents dramatically expand their playing distributions. Most likely, that won't be the case, but make appropriate adjustments against opponents who'll play back at you habitually out of spite.
We've covered the basic spectrum of possibilities when it comes to reraising preflop in deeply stacked no-limit hold'em cash games. In some games, you'll be looking to steal an occasional pot preflop. In other games, your preflop reraising strategy will allow you to dictate postflop play in a highly profitable fashion. The bottom line is that adopting the proper preflop reraising strategy will set you up to optimize your profits. Understand the many different options available to you, and you'll position yourself to thrive in a wide variety of games.
