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Casino Times
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Articles
21 November
2006
Gus Hansen Presents: Betting Out
Of Position
Every Hold 'em strategy
guide talks about the importance of positional advantage.
The standard thinking is that the player who acts last has
more information than his opponents, so he'll have a better
sense of where he stands in a hand and can, therefore, make
better decisions.
There's no doubt that this
is true, but it's important to understand that the power
that comes with position is often granted to the
late-position player by the early-position
player.
To see what I mean,
consider a pretty typical No-Limit hold 'em hand. Say that
I'm in the big blind with 7s-8s - a nice, flop-worthy hand.
The player on the button raises to three times the big blind
and I decide to call. Many players would check the flop
under almost any circumstances. But, by checking, you give
control to the late-position player. He can bet whether or
not he has a hand, putting you in a tough spot if you don't
get a piece of the flop.
In a hand like this, I
believe it's best to look at the flop and ask, "Is it likely
that these cards helped my opponent?" Once I have an answer
to that question, I can decide how to proceed.
If the flop is Ah-Kd-9c,
I'd probably just check and fold to a bet, as my opponent
was likely raising with big cards and caught a piece of the
flop. However, if the flop is 9c-5h-2d, I'd probably be more
skeptical. I know that in Hold 'em, two unpaired hole cards
will fail to make a pair on the flop about 66 percent of the
time, and this seems to be a flop that the pre-flop raiser
might have missed.
If I suspect my opponent
didn't connect, I'm going to take the initiative and bet out
about half the size of the pot. Betting here with my gutshot
draw offers several advantages. First, I might take the pot
down right here, and I'm always happy when a semi-bluff
forces a fold. But even if I get a call from my opponent,
I've forced him to react. That gives me a chance to pick up
a read. If my opponent seems uneasy, I might continue with
my semi-bluff on the turn and try again to pick up the pot.
Or, if I feel my opponent is strong, I can check and fold to
any bet on the turn if I fail to make my hand.
Stabbing at pots when out
of position can be very lucrative. In tournaments, I'll
open-raise out of position fairly frequently because I think
there's a lot of power in being the first one to fire at the
pot on the flop. I pick up a lot of small pots that
way.
As you work on your Hold
'em game, remember that you don't have to give the advantage
in the hand to the player in late position. Look for
opportunities to bet out and seize the
initiative.
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