Preview: The Fundamentals of No Limit Hold'em
The following is an excerpt from Fox’s new book, No Limits: The Fundamentals of No Limit Hold’em, which can be pre-ordered at the book site.
You can beat any opponent. No matter what style your opponents are playing, it can be beaten. The only players you should have trouble beating are very strong players who play like you do. Which is to say without any style at all. Using the information provided in this book you can adjust to any opponent foolish enough to sit down with you. Here are some example problems that I often hear from my students and the simple solutions to them. You may notice that solving these problems is really all about seeing everything as an opportunity rather than a road block.
The Complaint – “They never fold.”
The Solution – Stop bluffing.
If they are loose preflop, you should play speculative hands that can flop a monster, and when you make the nuts, those calling stations will pay you off. When you get a big hand preflop, make a big raise to ruin their implied odds and punish them for calling, and when you have a good speculative hand, just limp along in position and try to make the nuts cheaply. If you happen to flop a medium strength hand try to keep the pot small since there is no chance of chasing your opponents out of the pot. Against players who don’t fold hands you can usually be in charge of how large the pot is going to be and make sure that it is a reasonable size for your hand.
The Complaint – “They are bluffing me out of every pot. At the first sign of weakness they move all-in”
The Solution – Find their trigger and use it against them.
If your opponents are truly putting all of their chips in the pot any time you check or make a small bet then you need to be more willing to put all your chips in with them, and you need to identify the exact triggers that cause them to put their chips in pot. If you have an opponent who puts all his chips in the middle every time you check twice then make sure to check twice when you have any reasonably strong hand and take his whole stack. Be patient and when you make a big hand, this guy will pay you off.
The Complaint – “This guy bets out at every flop”
The Solution – Raise more.
If you are folding too often, then your opponent is simply playing correctly and he will take all of your money if you don’t adjust. You need to fold when you have nothing and make a solid raise when you think you are ahead. When I say a big raise I mean about the size of the pot. Anything from middle pair to a good draw may be worth a big raise if you think your opponent is likely to be behind. Then you are winning pots that have extra money from your opponent in each pot you win and he is taking the pot without extra money when you have nothing. You can’t lose if you win the big pots and he wins the smaller ones.
The Complaint – “He constantly raises my blind”
The Solution – Don’t defend your blinds with a call. Reraise!
If someone is stealing your blind too often, you need to make a good sized reraise rather than just calling. You will be out of position for the rest of the hand, so if you have a hand worth defending when it looks like your opponent is stealing, you want to make a big enough raise to end the hand now if possible. If you are in a full ring game, you simply give up your blind and steal a blind from the guy to your left. Over time it all evens out. The blinds are not a position where you will be able to show a profit in most cases anyway, so it might be best to just consider it the cost of playing poker.
The Complaint -“They call my preflop raises and then bet out at every flop.”
The Solution – Be selective and float.
Be a little more selective with your preflop raising hands for a start. If you start with a big hand you can just move all-in on the flop after they bet and make a nice profit over the long run. As a second solution, you may want to call a few of those bets when you are in position (sometimes called “floating”) and see how they react on the turn. If they check to you and fold when you bet, then you have your solution. If they are just constantly going to try to push you out of pots I suggest you take Layne Flack’s words to heart: “Why push when the donkey is pulling?” When you make a big hand, let them keep betting it for you until the end and you’ll be able to win a huge pot every time you hit the flop hard.
The Complaint – “Every time I make a hand everyone folds.”
The Solution – Use your tight image: Start bluffing and semi-bluffing.
Bet your draws and your mediocre holdings, even those as weak as two over cards. If everyone keeps folding you can make a ton of money buying pots, and if they adjust to how often you are betting then you will finally get paid off on your big hands.
The Complaint -“They keep calling my bets and making hands on the river.”
The Solution – Punish them harder.
Make bigger bets on the flop and the turn. If there is an obvious draw out and your opponent probably has that draw then bet two-thirds of the pot on the flop and the turn if the draw misses. This will punish them badly if they choose to see the river with their draw.
Remember that many of these problems can be merely problems of perception. Are they really folding every time you have a big hand, or just the last two times? Do they really always call your bets, or have you been bluffing a lot, even after you were caught and your table image was ruined? Make certain the problem is real before you adjust to it or you can end up chasing ghosts all night.
Any time you have a problem with a table or a certain player, stop and think very clearly about the problem. Write it down. Think about the correct response to the situation and implement it. Don’t be stressed about short term results, just implement your solution to their playing style and play well. If they call too much, and happen to hit a big hand and take your stack when you try to punish them, just rebuy and get back to it. They’ll keep calling you and you will keep punishing them and you’ll get that money back.
Make sure to think about things from your opponent’s perspective as well. If you are having a problem, you may very well be playing incorrectly in some way and your opponent has either adjusted to it or his style is already defeating it. What is he doing to adjust to your style? How is he defeating you? What do you look like to him and what mistakes might he be seeing in your play?
Every problem has an in-game solution except one: if your opponent is simply a very strong player then get up and leave. There are too many games these days to bother with playing someone who is playing very well. I have personally run into this situation many times in online games where the table gets down to two handed and my opponent and/or I decide that there is just better money elsewhere. There is no shame in quitting and finding a better table. We don’t play this game for pride; we play it for money, and if there is more money at another table or against a different opponent then go get it.
The key to thinking about frustrating opponents is being able to adjust to anything they do. A good understanding of the math and theory involved is important. Once you understand how to play correctly against strong opponents, you can easily see how the source of your frustration deviates from that correct play and you can adjust to it. Knowing that the opponent is willing to put in all his chips at any time, and will often do so, should not be a problem (he always chases me out of pots), it should be an opportunity (when I hit a good hand he will give me all of his chips).
Likewise with the opponent who never folds. “I can’t get him to fold” should really be rephrased as “He will always pay me off and I can value bet against him.” Regardless of what your opponent is doing that is causing you a problem, you must see it simply as a deviation from correct play, and find a way to punish him for his mistakes rather than stick with a style that isn’t working against him.
Approaching things this way will make every frustrating opponent start to look like a source of riches, and each of them will be a learning experience as well. Once you have figured out how to beat certain mistakes you will never forget it, and players who make those mistakes in the future against you will find themselves on the rail very quickly. It won’t be long before you have most of the common mistakes figured out and your only worry is improving your reading skills so that you notice those mistakes faster.
There will be situations where a terrible player just hits the right cards against you over and over. As long as you are certain that he is making large mistakes (and not doing something like chasing when you are giving him huge implied odds to do so) then it’s fine to stay in a game where a bad player is beating you. Simply take a minute or two to think clearly about the situation, remember how to beat this type of player, and go on with your game plan without fear. Sometimes it just isn’t your day, but a few good hands against a weak player can turn it all around. Now let’s get in to the gritty stuff with a chapter on bet sizing…
I’ll see you at the final table,
Chris ‘Fox’ Wallace
Pre-order this book by clicking on the following link:
