02-22-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Being Check Raised When Playing Aggressively

Question:

I have run into some problems in tournament play recently. I used to play very tight, and play the few hands I played very aggresive.. my experience with this strategy is that you need to get good cards in the later stages where the blinds are high, or you will be eaten by the blinds... I now play much more loose, and still agressive.. playing posision and chips more than my cards.. this mean that if everyone folds to me and I am dealer I raise.. if they check to me after the flop I bet... if they call I normally bet again after the turn if an overcard fall.. somethimes I just let go if I feel Im beaten.. but if I have strong draws I lead rather than call.. this way they often don't realize it if I get the flush or straight.. and I can take all their chips.. (which is my goal) Im not very nice when I get make the nut :) .. and suprisingly (probably not) people call me out with weaker hands than they would normally do... using this strategy I have won!! two tournaments... which is great by my standard...but there is one big problem using this strategy though.. for me at least.. check raise..

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the problem is that I know if I check after the flop they will make a bet with nothing.. and if I bet a lower amount at the turn they will raise me even if they don't have anything.. so I normally bet the same amount at the turn.. and then they check raise me.. as I see it there are two critical issues in these cases.. if I fold.. I could be determined as a weak player. and people will start making moves on me... on the other hand if I call I could be in a posistion where I loose a lot of chips.. .. how should you play against people that uses this strateg??? If the person that check raise me doesn't have that much chips.. and Im on a draw to a nut I reraise him all in and he has to decide if it's worth it....

Hope you can help me with this..

-standpat-

Answer: When you play a looser, more aggressive style that exploits position your opponents are going to give you less credit for hand strength. The good side of this is that, like you mentioned, when you do have the nuts you often get paid off. The bad side is that you often make the opponents play tougher against you. They can play tougher by calling you down with weaker hands as well as check raising bluffing. Being very aggressive with position can work well against some players and not as well against others.

So the first tip is to not try this against everyone all the time. For example, if you were to try it against me, after a couple times, I would counter the move with betting (regardless of whether I actually had anything). Or I might just let you bluff your chips off and commit you on the river. The ideal player to "push" against is someone who will play very straightforwardly and tightly. You can steal more from someone who is not willing to fight.

On the other hand if the guy is willing to check raise you on the turn with nothing but bottom pair and make you decide everytime, you'll have to be more respectful. That doesn't mean you can't trick this type of player though. What you can do is get him in defense mode by pushing a few hands and then wait till you actually get a good hand. This works well against even very good players because the first thing they will think is that you are trying to steal again, they won't think that you haven't done that move in an hour.

Next, the worst way to go about trying to steal blinds with position is to half ass it. You need to either go for it and bet accordingly or give up and fold. Also, I don't like to "always" do any move. I don't always raise on the button with any 2 cards if I am opening; if I were to do that, I would be giving up chips. I would try to use this play a little more sparingly and it should be more effective. In the event that you bet the flop with nothing and get raised, depending on the odds, you should probably just muck.

The same goes for the turn. It may leave the impression that people can bully you around but as long as you are aware of that, it isn't a bad thing. You might actually even get more action the next time you raise because people might think they can come over the top of you and take the pot away. Table image is very important in no limit holdem. You want to know exactly what the other player's see your play as. So the strategy for getting check raised is simple: You just muck when you don't have the odds to overtake the hand.

Also, if your bet on the flop is decent sized relative to the pot and you get called, that should be a warning sign. Take a free card sometimes on the turn and see what develops. Likewise, if you think the person will religiously bet the river if you check the turn card then use that information against them. Next time, check the turn with a good hand and then put in a big raise on the river.

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