Miller, Ed. Smallll Stakes No-Limit Holdem

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A Series Of 3-Bet Situations Against A Solid

Opponent

You are in a 6-handed $1–$2 game with $200 stacks. In the following examples, you are heads up against the same opponent. He is a solid regular capable of being aggressive at times. He plays a 25/20 style. You don’t know much else about him.

Example 1. You open for $7 in the cutoff with 6♥6♦. The button and small blind fold, and your opponent reraises to $22 from the big blind.

You don’t have implied odds to call for a set, and you aren’t comfortable playing a big pot with one small pair or making a big bluff, at least not yet. You’re not quite sure of your opponent’s tendencies. Calling 3-bets from solid players with small pocket pairs can be a major spew. Just let this one go.

Example 2. You open for $7 in the cutoff with K♣T♥. The button and small blind fold, and your opponent reraises to $22 from the big blind.

Once again, he’s caught you with a marginal hand. This is the second occasion in a short period of time that he’s 3-bet you. He may just be picking up good hands. You aren’t sure yet. But at this point you don’t want to play for stacks with a fairly weak big card hand. You fold.

Example 3. You open for $7 in the cutoff with 6♦4♦. The button and small blind fold, and your opponent reraises to $22 from the big blind.

This is the third time in a few rounds that he’s 3-bet you. That combined with his aggressive raise percentage leads you to think he might be reraising light. You decide to play back at him a little and see how he responds. You 4-bet to $56 with the intention of folding to a push. He folds.

Example 4. You open for $7 in the cutoff with A♦K♥. The button and small blind fold, and your opponent reraises to $22 from the big blind.

This time you have a hand you’re comfortable getting all-in with before the flop. You might make another small 4-bet in hopes of

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inducing a bluff push. The problem there is that not many opponents, even aggressive ones, will push all-in as a bluff, particularly if the don’t know your tendencies well. The other problem is that a lot of his bluff hands have decent equity against yours. For example, you are only about a 58–to–42 favorite over 8♠7♠, and you are a slight underdog to small pairs. Your best play is probably to push all-in over his 3-bet. That way you give him the opportunity to fold a lot of hands that have decent equity against you.

While your equity with ace-king is good against your opponent’s range, you don’t dominate his range like you would with pocket aces. If you instead had pocket aces, you would seriously consider making a small 4-bet, because then you’d welcome a push. You might also flat call a 3-bet with aces against opponents who are reluctant to go all-in preflop, so you can trap them postflop.

Example 5. You open for $7 in the cutoff with J♠J♣. The button and small blind fold, and your opponent reraises to $22 from the big blind.

Your hand is too good to fold. Four-betting small with plan of folding to a push is absurd because you essentially turn your hand into a pure bluff. Save your bluffs for hands like 6♦4♦, not pocket jacks. Four-betting small with the plan of calling a push is okay if your opponent will push with a wide range. But many will not.

The best plan is often to call the 3-bet. You keep him in the hand with the weak portion of his 3-betting range. Further, the SPR is low enough that you have a fair chance of getting him all-in postflop with hands he would have folded preflop had you 4-bet. If you 4-bet shove you’re going to go broke against his better preflop hands anyway, so you might as well call to gain maximum value from his worse hands.

For instance, say you call the $22 and the flop comes T♣5♠2♥. If you get all-in and he has pocket queens, you are no worse off than if you had gotten all-in preflop. But if you get all-in on the flop, he will sometimes have ace-ten, king-ten suited, ten-nine suited, or even pocket nines. He would have folded many of these hands preflop had you 4-bet. In addition, you do have position. So, by flat calling preflop, you’ll occasionally be able to steal. For example, if the board comes ace-high you might be able to force pocket queens to fold.

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Another Situation: 44 On The Button

You open on the button for $7 with 4♥4♦. The small blind folds, and the big blind reraises to $22. What should you do?

Consider the big blind’s range. Say he’s a tight player who’d reraise only with AA-TT, AK, and AQs. You do not have implied odds to call against that range. Further, he’ll often have strong hands on the flop, so you don’t have good steal equity. You should fold.

Now say your opponent is a loose, tricky player who’d reraise with a wider range than just premium hands. You still do not have implied odds to hunt for a set, as he won’t often have a strong hand on the flop. But your steal equity might be decent. If you call preflop, your primary plan should be to steal the pot, not to make a hand and get paid off.

Even when you are stealing, you prefer to have as much pot equity as possible. One problem with flat calling preflop with the intention of stealing the pot postflop is that your hand doesn’t have great pot equity against even a wide range. The more pot equity you add to your folding equity, the more overall equity you have.

Another option is to 4-bet to $56. If your opponent will 3-bet fairly light, but fold most of his hands to a 4-bet, you can make it $56 with the intention of folding to a push. Doing this turns your hand into a bluff, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Your showdown equity isn’t worth much to begin with.

The profitability of 4-bet bluffing depends on how wide your opponent’s 3-bet range is. You may be surprised at how wide it needs to be for you to show a decent profit. Even against an opponent who 3-bets 11 percent of his hands, 4-bet bluffing is only slightly more profitable than folding to his 3-bet. 10 percent is about the break-even point, and many opponents don’t 3-bet that widely. For reference, 10 percent of hands would be a range like

88+, ATs+, KJs+, QTs+ No suited connectors AJo+, KJo+

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Note that this assumes your opponent will get all-in preflop with only AA-TT or AK. If he’ll get all-in with a wider range than that, your equity is worse. If he’ll get all-in with a tighter range, your equity is slightly better.

When you open on the button with pocket fours and an opponent makes a pot-sized 3-bet, your default should be to fold.

Squeezing From The Small Blind

Stacks are $140. The cutoff opens for $7, and the button calls. Both players are straightforward and predictable. You are in the small blind with 7♠5♠. What should you do?

This is a standard squeeze situation. The opening player is in late position, which means that his raise includes many non-premium hands. The button’s flat-call also indicates a fairly weak hand because he would likely have reraised with something big. He probably figures the cutoff is stealing, and he’s calling to keep him honest.*

If you make a solid reraise, say to $28, you’ll win the pot often. This move gets its value from forcing opponents to fold. If you knew either opponent to be a calling station, you might not make this play. But even if one of them calls you preflop, you’ll often win on the flop with a continuation bet. And as a backup for when your steal fails, occasionally you’ll actually make a big hand.

Suited connectors and one-gappers are great for preflop squeezing and stealing because they often flop at least something to semibluff with.

* If the button were a sophisticated player, you’d need to keep in mind that he could be flat-calling the cutoff’s raise with a big hand to try to induce a squeeze from you.

Isolating Bad Players

If you start to play a lot of online $1–$2 6-max, you will soon come to an unhappy conclusion. The games are somewhat tough. On a site with 50 games going at a time, you might find two to four with two bad players. And these good games will often have waiting lists a mile long. The bulk of the games will feature solid players or only one bad player. You will often sit in games where four or all five of your opponents are either nits, TAGs, or decent LAGs.

Work hard and you’ll gain edges over these regulars. You’ll make good bluffs and value bets that your opponents miss. But these edges alone will produce only a modest winrate. To really crush the game, you have to find and dominate the bad players.

The first step is to put the bad player on your right. Your goal is to play as many pots with this player as possible, and you want to have position when you play those pots. Say a table has an open seat with a weak player to the left of it and four decent regulars in the others. This game is not great. The regulars have a better shot at the weak spot’s money than you will. If the player looks atrociously bad and has a $400 stack, by all means sit. But if he’s just a run-of-the-mill wet noodle with a standard stack, you can find a better opportunity elsewhere.

Put that same player to the right of the open seat, and you should sit in the game. If the weak spot is in one of the three seats across from the open seat, generally speaking, the table will be marginal but playable. Just keep the lobby open looking for better games.

When you have a bad player on your right, you want to play as many pots as you can with them, and you want those pots to be larger than an average pot. The more and bigger pots you play with position, the more money you’ll make on average from the bad player.

When your target enters the pot in front of you, loosen up your preflop requirements and raise to try to get the hand heads-up. From

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that point, you leverage position and your hand reading skills to exploit the mistakes your target makes.

Most decent players know that you can isolate bad players to make more money. But relatively few understand how far you should go to make the most off of bad players. If we’ve done our job in this section, you’ll read some of these examples and say, “Wow, that’s crazy.” And they would be crazy if your opponents were equipped to take advantage of your play. But that’s the point—if you’ve chosen the right targets, your opponents won’t know how to protect themselves, and you’ll end up with the money.

Isolation In Practice

A weak 64/3 player is sitting directly to your right. Your goal is to play as many pots as you can within reason against him. Heads-up pots where you have position are ideal. This type of opponent is easy to manipulate, so you want to take full advantage.

Here are examples from one orbit in a 6-handed $1–$2 game with $200 effective stacks. Your other four opponents are standard regulars ranging from TAG to nit.

Example 1. The first two players fold, and the weak player limps in the cutoff. You have A♥7♠ on the button.

This is an easy raise. Ace-seven offsuit is not a great hand, and if a solid 20/18 opponent open-raised from the cutoff, you might fold it. But here is what a 64 percent preflop range looks like:

22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+ 98s-54s, 97s-64s, 96s-74s, 95s-84s

A2o+, K2o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T7o+, 98o-54o, 97o-75o

You have plenty of pot equity, plus you have position. A solid raise will usually fold out the blinds and sometimes even win the pot outright. At the least, you will usually get the pot heads-up with the weak player. Go ahead and raise the pot to isolate.

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You raise to $9, and only the cutoff calls. The flop comes K♠3♥2♦. Your opponent checks.

Once again, you should stay on the attack. A two-thirds-pot or full pot-sized bet will take the it down often.

You bet $20, and your opponent folds.

Example 2. The player under the gun folds, and the weak player minraises to $4 in the hijack. You are next to act with K♣8♣.

Your hand is plenty good enough to play against the loose player, particularly in position. Be aggressive! Three-bet to $10–$14. That will take control of the hand, often isolate the weak player, and sometimes win the pot outright. It also forces your other opponents to narrow their ranges. For example, if a 17/14 player in the big blind reraises your 3-bet, he rarely has anything but a premium hand. And if he flat calls your 3-bet, he probably has a strong hand.

You reraise to $12, and only the weak player calls. The flop comes Q♦8♦4♣. He checks.

You only have middle pair with a backdoor flush draw, but you likely have the best hand. Bet for value. Your opponent will often call with all kinds of garbage.

You bet $15 into the $27 pot. That’s a little over half the pot, which is fine here. Your hand is not great, and you don’t mind keeping the pot on the small side for now. Consistently varying your bet sizes based on hand strength is bad against smart opponents, but it’s a useful weapon against weak players. Weak opponents often do not consider your hand, much less your range of hands, before making a decision.

Your opponent calls the $15. The turn is the 6♥, and he checks. Bet again. You still probably have the best hand. Sure, your

opponent could have a timidly played queen, pocket nines, or some other hand that beats you. But more likely he has some low pair, acehigh, flush draw, gutshot, or other weak hand. And if he has you beat, you still often have five outs.

You bet $32, and your opponent folds.

Example 3. The weak player again opens for a $4 minraise, this time under the gun. You are next to act with J♠7♠.

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Like last hand, this is a situation where a lot of players in your position would fold. But this is a fine spot for another small isolation 3-bet. You make it $12, and only the weak player calls.

The flop comes A♥9♣5♦. Your opponent checks, and you c-bet $18 into the $27 pot. He check-minraises to $36.

Here you should fold. Your passive opponent is showing aggression, and he’s showing it on an ace-high flop. This is the type of player who plays any ace. Attempting a rebluff would be a bad idea. Part of playing a loose-aggressive style requires folding well in spots where you get played back at. Continuing on in this hand would be spewing.

You fold.

Example 4. You are under the gun with Q♥8♥.

Your general plan is to aggressively isolate the weak player and play as many pots as you can against him. But here you should fold. Your hand is weak, you are first to act, you are opening for the first raise, you have the whole field behind you, and you have shown aggression in the last three hands you’ve played. Low fold equity combined with low showdown equity equals fold.

You fold.

Example 5. Everyone folds to the weak player in the small blind who completes. You have K♦6♠ in the big blind.

At this point you are guaranteed position in a heads-up pot against the weak player. King-six offsuit is plenty of hand in this situation. Stick with your usual strategy of raising preflop and c-betting the flop. A pot-sized preflop raise here would be to $6. You can make it a little more than that.

You raise to $8, and the weak player calls. The flop comes 5♥5♣3♦. He checks, and you bet $11. He folds.

Example 6. The first three players fold, and the weak player limps on the button. You are next to act with 5♦5♥ in the small blind. The big blind is a 15/12 regular.

A lot of players just complete here, hoping to see a cheap flop. But raising is far superior. You can still win by making the best hand, but you greatly increase your steal potential. The big blind will likely fold, and you will be heads-up with the weak player. While you don’t

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have position, you will still often win the pot. Plus, while the bigger preflop pot cuts your implied odds for making a hand, it does make it easier for you to win your opponent’s stack when you flop a set.

You raise to $8. The big blind surprisingly calls, and the button calls. The flop is J♣9♦5♣, giving you bottom set.

You should play this hand very aggressively. You have recently shown a lot of aggression, so there’s no reason to slow down now that you actually have a big hand. One of the most common mistakes that weak opponents make is over-adjusting. If they see you bluff or even just see you play aggressively, they think you are always bluffing, and they will not hesitate to call you down very lightly. Take advantage of that tendency by value betting mercilessly. A flop like this connects in some way with a wide range of hands.

You bet $25 into the $24 pot. The big blind folds, and the button calls. The turn is the 4♣. Do not be deterred by the possible flush. There are plenty of non-flush hands in your opponent’s range. And even if he has a flush, you have ten outs to beat him.

You bet $75 into the $74 pot. Your opponent calls. The river is the J♠. You shove for the remaining $92. The weak player calls, and you beat his Q♣9♠.

Most players, even winning regulars, do not take sufficient advantage of high-equity situations against weak opponents. We recommend beating up on them whenever you can. To profit from weak opponents, loosen up your range, isolate, aim for heads-up pots with position, steal when possible, usually give up when played back at, and value bet aggressively. This relentless strategy will frustrate your targets, encouraging them to play even worse. And it shuts out the other players at the table, hoarding most of the spoils for yourself.

Here are a few more examples against bad players.

Hand Against A Maniac

In a 6-handed $1–$2 game, the player under the gun opens for $7. He is a loose cannon with stats of 76/52 and a 3-bet percentage of 20. The

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next three players fold, and you are in the small blind with Q♣J♦. The big blind is a 26/7 with a 3-bet percentage of 3. The under the gun player has $106. The big blind and you each have $200. What should you do?

Queen-jack is too good a hand to fold against the opening raiser’s range. Reraising is an option. You will likely get the pot heads up, and that is good for an offsuit big card hand. On the other hand, 3- betting will rarely win the preflop pot outright against a player so loose. It also reopens the betting, which is not ideal here. Your opponent is so aggressive that he could 4-bet you with a pretty wide range. And his 50bb stack size makes it just tricky enough so that you don’t love folding to a 4-bet, and you don’t love calling either. Getting all-in preflop here is not terrible by any means. If you reraise and he 4-bets, at that point you likely have enough equity to get all-in. But you are essentially flipping coins. You can probably find a better way to play this hand.

Flat calling the preflop raise is a good option. The big blind is a bit of a wet noodle—on the loose side, and not very aggressive. Since you don’t have much steal equity anyway, you might as well let him in. He will probably call the extra $5 with a fairly wide range. Playing solely to make the best hand in a multiway pot with queen-jack offsuit is usually not a great idea, but here it is fine. You have only two opponents, and one is loose and passive while the other is very loose and has a half stack. You will generally have no trouble playing after the flop.

You call the $7, and the big blind calls. The flop comes K♣J♥5♦. You check, both to see what develops and to let the aggressive preflop raiser make a likely c-bet. The big blind checks, and the loose cannon bets $18 into the $21 pot. With only another $81 remaining in his stack, you should be committed against him. Even though you only have second pair, you crush his range for raising preflop and c-betting the flop.

However, raising the flop does not make much sense. Getting the money in quickly typically has more upside against drawing hands than against made hands. People don’t call large river bets with busted draws, but they do call them with made hands. Put another