The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Let's say every time you're in the small blind, you've been raising the pot to try to steal when it's been folded to you. Doesn't matter what two cards you have...you're going to try to take it down. You can tell the big blind is getting frustrated but continues to fold to your raises.

Now another hand comes up where you wake up with pocket Kings. So what should your next move be?

While you could just limp in and try to trap hoping he'll raise you seeing your flat call as weakness, if you're dealing with a player who knows that they're doing they won't look at it that way. "Why is this player just limping all of a sudden?" will be a question that a good player will ask themselves. So your limp-in will likely not make you any money and allow your opponent to see a free flop which can get you into mountains of trouble. Say the flop comes J-9-3 with two spades. You bet and are then raised. What could your opponent have? A flush draw? A straight draw? Top pair? Or maybe hands that have you beat...two pair, or perhaps they flopped a set. You'll have a difficult decision on your hands.

When I'm playing against an opponent that knows what they're doing, I like to keep my plays consistent so my opponent has no idea what I'm holding. If I've been raising 3x the big blind with pocket 4s, I'll raise 3x the big blind with Queens. Or Ace-King. Or if I try to steal with suited connectors.

So in the above example, if you raise for the fifth time in a row but you have a real hand this time, eventually your opponent will make a stand with a less-than-optimal hand like Ace 10 suited. Then shove all your chips in the pot when they go all-in.

It's the only way you can make money against a good player.