Junking In

If you have an adventurous spirit, you can look for profitable opportunities in no-limit hold'em by taking cheap flops with speculative holdings and hitting the sort of (granted, infrequent) monster flops that create big action and let you take some unsuspecting slackjaw off his stack. Make no mistake, these junk calls can be hazardous to your health, but if you're in the right kind of game, one with lots of callers and few raisers, they can be profitably played. In such games, if a couple of people limp into the pot from early position they often start a limp stampede, a limpede if you like: a cascade of callers yielding correct odds for a wide variety of hands such as unpaired picture cards, small suited connectors and pairs of any size.

Warning: Only join the limpede if you're confident that the blinds won't make a play for the pot with a big sweeping raise. Most often, the blinds will just call, too, though, because the sheer number of pot participants discourages frisky raises. Nevertheless, some players love to raise into big fields of limpers, and you should know if you've got one of these guys in the blind before you decide to junk in.

Once you've junked in, you're looking for one thing and one thing only: the perfect flop. Not an okay flop. Not a draw. You want the nuts. And not just the nuts but the nuts disguised so well that your unwary foes will hand you their stacks and never know what hit them. True, this occurrence is rare, but it does happen, and it's the only thing you should be looking for with your junk calls.

Suppose you join a limpede with 5a-6a. If the flop were to come 4-3-2 rainbow, you'd get action from A-4, certainly A-5, overpairs, maybe even naked overcards. You'd slightly fear involvement from someone holding a set, for he'd be drawing to seven outs, plus runner-runner, but you can't worry about that, for your goal is to bet big and get paid off by someone drawing slim or dead with a good hand because he can't conceive that you'd be in there with 5-6. Of course he can't conceive it. That's why you're there in the first place!

As you walk this perilous road, be sure you don't confuse flopping perfect with flopping dangerously almost perfect. Suppose you junk in with 5a-6a and the flop comes 9a-8a-7s. Yes, you've flopped a straight, but it's the idiot end, vulnerable to T-J holdings, and also to naked tens or jacks that can improve.

And yes, you're drawing to a flush, but if there's another flush draw out there, it's almost certainly better than yours. As in the previous example, you'll have to worry about sets drawing to full houses, but now that's just one of the many threats you face. The only card off the deck you can really love is the 7a for a straight flush -- and God forbid someone has the Ja-Ta. Having achieved the rarity of flopping a made hand, you'll nevertheless have to fold if you face significant heat. That's not a trick many players can master.

Let us acknowledge, then, that junking in is a dangerous game. There's tremendous reward when it works, but if you don't know how to run scared when you miss or only half hit, or hit in an iffy situation, you're better off sticking to standard, tight-aggressive play. But if you have a taste for adventure, try junking in from time to time. It's fun, plus good for your image, and every now and then you can turn junk into gold.