Monday, May 02, 2005

A New Move for Future Play

I lifted this straight off the Poker Mob website. I am not too sure about the background of Russ Georgiev who puts up the site but the strategy is good. Here it is:

Call Bluff
The Game: High stakes Pot Limit, the blinds $25-$50. Full game.
The Play: Player A calls for $50. Player B calls for $50. Player C calls the $50 and raises the pot. This makes it $275 or $300 to go depending on the rules of the game. I am on the button with 7s8s. Player C is a rock and has about $10,000 in front of him. I have him covered for his whole stack plus. I call. Player C has basically told me his hand contains a large pair.
The Pot:
The pot contains $300 from me, $300 from player C, $75 from the antes and another $100 from the two people who called the $50 then folded with the raise. The pot contains $775.
The Flop comes Ac, 6s, 2d. Player C bets $300. What do I do to steal this pot? What is the best way to steal this pot without really involving my whole stack? I realize from his betting that player C has a large pair, maybe AA.
Player C bets $300. I call, and I have absolutely nothing! Yet, I are almost a sure bet to win this pot, provided he doesn't hold AA. The turn brings a blank. What does player C do now? Pot Limit poker is a game of analyzing what the next plays and bets will be. (The odds are none of you would call with the hand I have presented.)
Here is the theory behind this type of bluffing. In my ‘lingo’ it is known as ‘call bluff’. I am bluffing by calling. If I raise when Player C bets $300, he can potentially put me on a bluff. He may call, and then I would be left in a position I would not care for - betting on 4th street.
With a flop of Ac, 6s, 2d, player C is put to a test - what to do on 4th street. I have put him on a large pocket pair. He has just seen me call a rainbow flop containing an Ace after calling $300 before the flop and $300 after the flop. What does Player C do now on 4th street? Unless Player C has absolutely no brains, the thought will cross his mind my hand contains an Ace or maybe a set. If he sends out a small bet such as $500 to test the water, I reply with a raise of about $1,000. If he checks, I respond with a bet of about $600. If Player C bets the pot on 4th street, I can just fold. The problem with this player is he doesn't know how to apply the proper pressure. His betting will give his hand away. His betting will tell me if he has AA.
The river comes. If player C hasn't folded yet, I now proceed to bet about $2,000. I put the pressure on him. The odds are he already folded on 4th street, but if he didn’t he will on 5th street. If he calls, I own him anyway. I will have his chips before the game is over by just compensating a wee bit.
This is World Class Poker. It takes nerves and the ability to play. Most people could not even imagine making this play, as they could not perceive the possibility of winning the hand in this fashion. But if you think about it, you will see how easily it can be done.

My thoughts:

I have used this a couple of times in the past just by stumbling into it. Usually it's late in a one table tournament. Someone has raised preflop and it looks like a steal to me. Instead of raising back, I may just call. Then if they bet again and it's a smallish amount I will raise there. I think the strategy above is much more effective in a full game. I think it would work best with med to low suited connectors as well. If you get the Ace or King on the flop then you can bluff hoping the original better has a lower pair. If the flop is low, you probably picked up a strong draw or even paired up.

World Series update:
I played one step 4 on Sunday. I was disappointed that it seemed to take 90 minutes for the table to fill up in prime time on Sunday. How long will it take for a step 5 or 6? I got absolutely nothing to play with in starting cards. I had Ace King off once and raised preflop. I got no callers and just won the blinds. That was my best hand until I went out in 5th place. The top 5 get to stay at level 4 so I wasn't too disappointed.

Ring Play:

I have been playing 3-6 hold'em three tables at a time. I want to play 10,000 hands at a good win rate before I move up to 5-10 full time. I am at around 3000 now. The main difference I have noticed at 3-6 from 2-4 is that a lot of players will throw their hands away after I raise their initial bet on the turn. For example:

I have AQ late. There is a couple of calls and then a raise from middle position. I just call and 2 others call. The flop comes A-9-7 rainbow. Check, Check, initial raiser bets. I call with the intention of raising on 4th street since it's not a draw heavy board. The first two players fold. The turn is a 3. First player bets and I raise. They fold.

Now I don't know what they have, but folding may not be their best play. I read somewhere that you should not get in the habit of folding your hand to a raise of one bet, too often or good opponents will pick up on it. After all, you probably still have outs, even if you don't hold an
Ace. In 2-4 I will always get a call from the turn raise. Usually it's then a check fold on the river. This kind of thing happened at least 6 times yesterday.

Here's the advanced move. If I can remember to make a note about that player while I am 3 tabling, I can use the turn raise move later to win the pot with a weak hand. I wouldn't do it with a total bluff, but maybe top pair and med to low kicker, or a board with an obvious straight or flush draw where I am still one short. Cue in the "evil laugh".

1 comment:

Roberto Iza Valdés said...
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