Low limits problem
There is a problem in low limit poker. It’s a very annoying problem for players who play right poker. I mean if you consider pot odds and implied pot odds and make your bets according to them it may be very offensively for them to see other players winning huge pots with 75o. If the story continues they may even go on tilt with the situation.
Do you know this story well?
Have you ever seen that damn suckers at your table?
BUT they may also be right. They may be right calling you all the streets ACCORDING TO POT ODDS! And that’s the problem of low limit poker.
In low limit poker the pot will normally be quite large on the flop because there are many callers pre-flop. Furthermore, these players want to call your bets on the flop - they did not come down to the card club to fold! Assuming you have the best hand, you now have two possible scenarios:
1. If you have an excellent hand - one that is unlikely to be beaten, regardless of the turn and river cards - you are happy to have all these people calling your bets and raises.
2. If you have a good hand - one that is probably best right now, but susceptible to being beaten - you would like to eliminate as many opponents as possible. This, of course, is the much more common scenario.
The combination of a large pot and people’s desire to call puts you in a bad situation when you have a good, but beatable, hand. Your opponents’ instinct (which is to call a lot) coincides with correct play. That is, it may be correct for them to call your bet because the pot is large, but they are calling in part simply be¬cause they want to call.
Suppose, however, we make your opponents pay two bets rather than one to continue playing. Now, even with a relatively large pot, they may be making a serious mathematical mistake by call¬ing. As we have said before, this is how you make your money at low-limit hold’em.
A classic example
You are on the big blind with
A♥ Q♦
There are three callers, and then a raise in late position. You (correctly) call the raise. Now the flop comes
Q♣ 7♥ 5♠
At this point, you suspect you have the best hand. However, if you bet out immediately, you will be putting the 11th bet into the pot, making it correct for hands such as 98 and 65 to call. Oppo¬nents with those hands might well call anyway, but you want them to make a mistake by calling when they’re not getting suf¬ficient pot odds. Now suppose you check, and it’s checked to the pre-flop raiser. When he bets, you raise; the players in the middle have to call two bets cold. Instead of getting 11:1 pot odds, the player directly behind you is getting only 13:2. If he has 98 or 65, he may decide to fold rather than call two bets. If he chooses to call, you make money because the pot odds do not justify his call.
But suppose you check, and the person immediately to your left bets. Now some people call, and then you raise. If the original bettor re-raises, the other players are forced to call two (more) bets cold - another mistake. If the bettor doesn’t re-raise, the other players are getting correct odds to call the raise. Neverthe¬less, the net effect is that you get a lot of money into the pot when you are a big favorite and your opponents have weak draws.
You will find that your opponents in low-limit hold’em will not be as observant as those in higher limit games. However, most people remember being check-raised. If you use the check-raise often on the flop, some of your opponents will become hesitant to bet into you for fear of being check-raised. This can be a sig¬nificant advantage for you, as in the following example. You call in middle position with
8♦ 7♦
and the flop comes
A♥ 9♦ 3♣
Everybody, including you, checks to the player on the button. If he bets, you can’t call because you didn’t get any of the flop. However, he remembers your check-raising him twice during this session, so he checks his A5, and the turn comes
6♦
Now you are happy to call a bet on the turn as you have picked up an open-end straight-flush draw! Admittedly, this is an exceptional case (you caught the best card you could have hoped for), but any time you get a free card with a hand that couldn’t call a bet, you have gained a significant advantage. In this case, the specter of your check-raising got you the free card.
The problem with the check-raise.
When you decide to check-raise, you must be fairly sure that somebody behind you will bet. If you check with the intent of raising but nobody bets, a terrible thing has happened: you have given a free card. This is another reason why you have to watch and study your opponents. In the first example above, you would really like to check-raise. However, if the alternatives are betting out immediately or having it checked around the table, then you should of course bet.
Sometimes the reputation that you get for check-raising works to your disadvantage - people are unwilling to bet for fear that you will check-raise! This is good when you have a bad hand with which you’d like to get a free card. It’s bad when you have a good hand and want to check-raise. Since you could use a free card more often than you have a check-raising hand, it’s OK that your opponents are intimidated. However, if your check-raise is to work, you must be confident that at least one of your oppo¬nents is prepared to bet.
Note: in a very small number of public cardrooms and casinos, check-raising is not permitted. It is also prohibited in some home games. If so, your only potent weapon to use up front is gone. You must play extremely tightly in front, and bet all your good hands immediately. Hold’em without the check-raise is a crippled game.