Playing A Hand In a Straight- Forward Fashion

Scott Aigner

In the last two articles, I discussed some of the reasons why playing in a straight forward fashion when you have a made hand is better than slow playing in no limit hold em. This goes for vulnerable made hands as well as hands that might not seem that vulnerable. The more opponents in the hand, the more likely one of them is going to have something they are willing to call with. Even when you have a big made hand like a set, you should bet to narrow the field, gain information on the players who do call you, eliminate free draws that can beat you both on the turn as well as the small chance that a player can catch a runner runner draw. Betting out also builds the pot so that you can make bigger value bets on the later rounds.

In the first article I stated that you can make a smaller bet to give a heads up opponent some odds in an early round. In a multi handed situation there is less need to make a small bet. The looser the opponents are, the more likely they will call a pot sized bet. Finally, each subsequent player in this setting who calls not only receives better pot odds but also increases the pot odds for the rest of the opponents in the hand as well.

In Texas hold em there are very few board textures that can come out that do not also contain some type of a draw. In fact the only boards that do not have a straight draw possibility are paired boards and K-8-2, K-7-2, and Q-7-2. Given the relative passive nature of low blind low staked no limit hold em games there are going to be a number of players calling with suited connectors and small or medium pocket pairs. This means that there will often be at least a gut shot straight draw out there in most flops. When you bet out on the flop you help to minimize an opponent from catching that lucky free card. Your bet narrows the field, allows you to gain information on the remaining players in the hand, and allows you to make a big reraise if anyone plays back at you (beware of the free card raise ploy as it does exists in no limit hold em too).

The best situation is when a player flops top pair in late position and raises your lead bet. You then have a chance to eliminate some of the initial callers. Of course a check raise will also work but I much prefer to lead out and have several calls then have a player bet and then check raise and eliminate the extra bets that I could have gained by leading into the field. It just makes more sense (and cents) to win as much as you can when you have a big hand and I have found the lead bet to be much more profitable.

Most of the situations involve flopping a set although I have also led out when I flopped a full house. In this situation I had a pair of Aces and reraised a player who was playing extremely loose aggressive. He was making a lot of pre flop raises from early position. I reraised him preflop from the BB and he called. The flop came A_8_8. I made a 1/2 pot bet without a second of hesitation. My opponent thought I was trying to steal the pot (I even implied that I was tired of his overly aggressive play). Right after I said this he just couldn't resist making a huge raise that covered me.

More in Strategy

You should only bet if there is value in doing it. That seems obvious, but in the emotion of urgent decision-making in the quest of mountainous pots, we sometimes forget. We bet instinctively or irrationally.

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