7 Easy Steps to No-Limit Hold’em Success — Step 2: Don’t Play Out of Position

Ed, thank you for this series. I would love to read some examples of how to take advantage when in postition. Thanks!

Raise 66 UTG 4BB; repop ‘em both in 98s and AJo hands ftw.

Ed, your 7 step concept is great!

If I could wish for one step that I’d like to see it’s this: “To Fear Or Not To Fear?”

What I mean by that is this:
The guys in my local game play very loose and rather passive, just as you described. Even when I play only quality starting hands I very often find myself in situations where I wonder if one of the others made an incredible “hit” to virtually unpredictable starting hands. Say J7s made 2 pair over my KK; gutshots kill my sets on the river; you name it.

Coming from LHE I am not used to losing BIG in just one hand. So now I often wonder if I should be making large bets on the flop/river to cut their odds while I might be running into better (flopped) hands and not know it until it’s too late. I think I know a scary flop when I see it, but with these loose guys “every” flop might have hit them.

I know that I play way better starting hands, so my current weak-tight style makes me fold a lot of hands (out of fear) that actually would have won at the end. Unfortunately many times when I switch from weak to fearless I run into these crazy hands.

What must I change (and how???):
- my mindset/expectations?
- my style?

Thanks Ed!

This is so true, especially for players coming from loose limit games. Limping in with draw-heavy hands in loose limit games and you can basically see through the whole hand after the flop is dealt. But to get raised before the flop and being out of position with a marginal hand and a weak draw is really difficult in no-limit. Say you semi-bluff (out of position) on the flop with a marginal draw hand and get called and don’t hit on the turn. You have no idea what to do on the turn now.

(It’s quite similar to the shift from loose limit games to tighter and more aggressive short handed games.)

I thouht you could call raises with suited connectors. You can use Bob Ciaffone’s 5 and 10 rule. It basically states that you can call a raise if it is not too much of your stack. For instance, someone raises under the gun with wired Kings. Why not call and see if you can bust him with your 6-7 of hearts. The hand is not dominated like K-J off. If you do not flop trips, two pair or a good draw fold. So i come in under the gun with suited connectors. I play much more tightly with suited connectors in limit hold em though.

Same thing with a suited ace. I come in under the gun with it. I do not in limit, however. Bobby Baldwin in original supersysem says, “Suited ace is one of the most overrated hold em hands . . . I do NOT consider it to be a good enough hand to merit a call in early position.” Mr Balwin is talking about LIMIT hold em. In no limit, however it is one of the bread and butter hands according to no limit hold em theory and practice, so you can come in under the gun.

When I first started playing NLHE, I used SuperSystem as a guide. Doyle recommends playing suited connectors and suited aces out of position for a raise. So I tried it. And tried it.

Guess what, it doesn’t work for 100xBB stacks and typical aggressive players who continuation bet the flop when checked to 90% of the time.

Perhaps Doyle got more free cards back in the day because people c-bet less. More likely, Doyle was playing 200BB+ stacks, and “had more time” to let the hand develop. Plus, he had enough chips to bluff/represent the board when he didn’t have it since he was known to play these hands.

Anyway, Ed’s advice is solid for 100xBB stacks.

Andy

Ciaffone’s 5-10 rule is for when you have excellent position, either absolute or relative position in a multiway pot. Not when you are heads up out of position. Reread the passage. Moreover, I am pretty sure Flynn and Mehta will recommend and 3/8 rule or something significantly less than 5/10.

If you play against the same foes day after day, to mix up your play, it is OK to occasionally open limp and/or open raise suited connectors and suited aces. But this is primarily for metagame purposes, as opposed to hand value.

I would personally recommend 25% open limp, 25% open raise, and 50% open fold with these hands vs regular foes. In other words, pick 2 suits for the day. Raise with 1. Limp with the other. Fold the other 2 suits when it comes opening the pot with suited aces and suited connectors. Or do it with your watch. First 15 seconds of the minute, raise. 2nd 15 seconds, limp. Last 30, fold. Or divide the table into quadrants (suit for each corner) and do it by where the button is and/or your seat position.

A piece of this seems like a contradiction to the general advice given in NLHTAP. A few of us are curious why it seems this way or if there is just some confusion. Any help would be much appreciated Just click below to help:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=10585147&page=0&vc=1&PHPSESSID=#Post10585147

[...] If your opponents are tougher and use position well enough to put you in difficult situations post-flop, then play more cautiously. Limp and make small raises (2BB-3BB again) with all of your hands. Also default to this strategy if your opponents are observant and you’re worried that spreading your raises is tipping your hand. If you get raised, then reraise usually with your big hands (AA-QQ and AK) and sometimes with weaker hands (particularly small pairs). If a tough player who has position on you raises, you may even throw away the weakest of your hands (e.g., AQ, AJs, ATs, KQs). In general, avoid limping/min-raising and then calling a raise behind you. [...]