Out of Position in No-Limit? No Problem… If You’re Against the Right Opponents

Ed said: “Don’t give bad players the same respect you give good ones.”

Or, as W.C. Fields used to say, “Never give a sucker an even break.”

Ed,

How do you recommend playing out of the blinds when you’re going to be out of position the rest of the hand. Let’s say a good player opens in the CO and you have AK or AQ. This player will open in the CO with a lot of hands, so you’ll be ahead of his range, but again, out of position after the flop and in a big pot if you get called. Would you recommend a reraise or just a call?

bsheck,
Blind size? cash game or tournament? How much is he raising? What is your stack sizes ?Besides that I would think it would depend on how often he has been pulling this and, since he/she is a good player, how they perceive you. Have you been stubborn in your blinds previously?Regardless of how he had been playing I think I would put in a hefty reraise here with AK. AQ same thing IF he had been getting out of line.

jamleeco,

Another nice line to use occasionally is to smooth call with either of those and check raise the flop whether it hit you or not. You have some over card outs if the villain does call and very often you will both whiff the flop. I find this sort of agressive play really slows people down from attacking your blinds so much.

Todd

jamleeco,

I’m talking about a cash game here where everyone has 100bb stacks and where defending your blind isn’t really important (with AK and AQ though, your hand is too good to pass). But let’s say the button will open for 4x the big blind with any pair, any ace, any two broadway, any suited connector down to 54s and suited one gappers down to 53s, and any offsuit connector down to 54, and K9 and Q9 suited.

Obviously, AK and AQ are going to be ahead of his range (63%-37% and 61%-39% respectively), so if you were able to get it all-in with him, you would show a profit. However, it’s no limit and you have to play after the flop, out of position (by the way people tend to use their position to call the reraise, even if their hand is weak). If you can flop top pair, great. Just push it hard and try to get it all-in by the turn. 2/3 of the time, you won’t, and you can either try a continuation bet, or give up. If you do make a continuation bet, and get raised, you have to give up. If you get called, you’re choices are to double barrel bluff all-in on the turn, or give up.

So say you’re playing .25/.50 NL where you and your opponent both have $50. Button opens up for $2 after it’s folded to him, you reraise to $7 from the BB with AK (or AQ) and the button calls ($14 pot, just assuming the $.25 small blind gets raked away to keep it simple). Flop comes all unders T-6-3 rainbow. You bet $12 and get called (pot is $38).

Now the turn comes another blank, a 2. You have $31 left. You’ve already invested ~2/5ths of your stack with A-high. Do you double barrel all-in here or just give up? The button by the way might have a pair here (perhaps top pair such as JT or a pocket pair like 77), he could also be floating with nothing, planning to steal the pot on the turn. Do you want to risk your final $31 trying to take it down, or do you want to leave the $38 out there? It’s a tough spot.

I like Todd’s idea though. The button is more likely to fold to a flop checkraise (after he misses) than to fold to a preflop reraise when he can justify a call with his position and some implied odds. The pot will also be smaller, so even if you fail the checkraise will also not cost as much, and you’ll usually get a flop bet out of him when you do hit your hand.

bsheck,

Yeah, I’m not saying always do this play. generically not knowing the game circumstances I would usually do what I stated.
I don’t think he will automatically call the rr with postion when you have raised more than the size of the pot. (10bb to a 8bb pot).

I have a strong hand and I am going to make him pay to make me play out of position.

On the post-flop scenario I like check-raising even after having raised pre-flop. As stated, it depends how he/she perceives you as well, how you have been playing. If he thinks you’re pretty aggressive I don’t feel comfortable with the big pot A-high. But if he thinks you are average then I think you are going to win an even bigger pot by raising pre-flop and then check-raising the flop a good bit of the time.

I think the continuation bet is fine here too. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not expert enough to feel comfortable in this postion. But if you just call pre-flop he could really be raising with anything (practically ) By reraising and him calling i’m a little more comfortable with this flop. Chances of an overpair or set are slight ( you hurt AA and KK chances with your hand ) A good player will lay down some hands that beat you here, and a call on the flop might be to see if you will fire another barrell. If he has a set, well, I would stack off here if I had an overpair anyway against a set. So I think you still have decent fold equity on the turn, and if he has tp you still have maybe 6 outs to river. And you might be ahead.

I might overbet the pot on the flop as well. I would do that with a T and decent kicker sometimes with a nice pot like that.

I know you have to consider pot-size control, hands like this aren’t as strong as in limit. But 100bb’s isn’t hugely deep. If you feel the other player is better than you than you might just call and see if you hit flop and be glad you have position on him the majority of the time.

To reiterate, depends on earlier play as well. Has he folded the button in this scenario a few times or is this his standard play?

But to play the game, i think you have to play back sometimes in this scenario. Though as I said earlier, that’s easier said than done. I like Todd’s way for my nerves, definitely.

Ps. Also, in this particluar hand, I would have expected a reraise on the flop from a good player and tp or overpair. He might slowplay a set here. I think more likely something like K6s or pocket 5′s or something,mabye even QJs. Waiting to see what you do on the turn and take it if you blink.( or turn hits him ) I would feel better here with a good player who, if you have any respect at the table, a good chance you can fold him on the turn. If worst comes to worst, buy more chips. and write down his play in your notebook.

Pss. You included 45s and 45o in his hand ranges so a 2 isn’t actually “another blank”.

ED whats a “REM process”?

what exactly does REm stand for

Hello Ed, SKZ asked whats a REM process, I have never heard of this before could you expand on this a bit as anything that helps the decision making process has to be a major asset to us poor confused 1/2 NL players.

Hello Ed, whens fairly soon.