What are the Top 6 Poker New Year resolutions that are guaranteed to improve your poker this year: “I will slow-play less”

RESOLUTION 1

I WILL NOT RAISE PRE-FLOP WITHOUT THINKING

The typical player knows that in a tournament, you should often be raising before the flop to steal the blinds. Some well-known players even go so far as to advise that if you enter a pot at all, you should be raising. You should raise pre-flop because…

• You want to build a larger pot with a strong hand
• You want to eliminate opponents, so that your hand has a higher chance of winning
• You want your opponents to fold stronger hands
• You want to win the blinds and/or antes

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR…
There are so many benefits to raising that it can be tempting to do it all the time. However, it’s important not to let raising pre-flop become a routine. Depending on the game conditions, it may not always be the best play.

If you are playing a cash game, the blinds will often be so small relative to the stacks that raising solely to steal the blinds becomes unprofitable. You’re much more likely to be called or re-raised than you would be in a tournament, and you’ll be entering the pot with too many weak hands to make money after the flop.

It can also be a mistake to raise to eliminate opponents, depending on what your hand is. For example, if you’re playing no-limit, raising from early position with a hand like K-J offsuit can be a big mistake. In general, hands that you beat will fold to your raise, and you’ll have no chance to win money from them. Hands that beat you will tend to call, or re-raise. There is almost no way to make a profit without outdrawing your opponent.

You’re looking for a situation where you can get your opponents to call with a worse hand or fold a better one, where you can create a favourable pot size relative to your remaining stack and the strength of your hand, or where you can significantly increase your equity in the pot. If you can’t achieve any of those goals, it may be better to simply call, or even fold.

RESOLUTION 2

I WILL NOT CONTINUATION BET 100% OF THE TIME

A continuation bet is a bet that you make on the flop, after raising before the flop. You make the bet whether you have improved your hand or not. You should make a continuation bet because…

• Your opponents’ reaction to the bet gives you valuable information that you can use to play the rest of the hand
• If you have the best hand, you want to protect it.
• If you have the best hand, it may be so difficult to extract value from a worse hand that you’d prefer your opponent to give up the pot immediately, and save you difficult decisions on later streets
• If you have the worst hand, you may get your opponent to fold a hand that beats yours.

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR…
In poker, it’s never right to do something 100% of the time. It cannot possibly be correct to always make a continuation bet after raising before the flop. Yet it’s become so commonplace that many players bet the flop without thinking. As a result, continuation bets get a lot less respect than they did a few years ago, and tough opponents will often call your bet with nothing, and then look to take the pot away from you on the turn.

For example, you will see many players raising pre-flop and then betting out on a dry King-high flop only to be forced to fold when their opponent check-raises them on a blank turn. This may work against poor players, but against good opponents this can be a mistake.

If your opponents don’t respect a continuation bet, you may find that checking more often (both when you hit a hand and when you miss completely) is a profitable strategy. It will confuse your opponents, and if you have a strong but not unbeatable hand, allows you to keep the pot small and see what develops on the turn. If you have a weak hand, you’ll often get to see a free card.

As recently as a year ago, I would have recommended that you follow up on the flop with a bet the vast majority of the time, checking only when the flop was particularly dangerous. These days, I think following up with a bet somewhere between half and two-thirds of the time is correct, depending on how loose and creative your opponents are.

RESOLUTION 3

I WILL NOT ALWAYS CHECK THE TURN WITH A MARGINAL HAND

You’re playing a deep- stacked cash game, and raise before the flop holding A-K offsuit. You get one caller, and the flop is K-J-7 rainbow. You follow up with a c-bet, and your rival calls. The turn is a 9. This is obviously not a situation in which you want to commit your entire stack. When the stacks go in your hand will almost always be beat. Often, the correct move is to check. You check for several reasons:

• To keep the pot small, making it less likely that future bets will commit you to the pot with a weak hand
• To feign weakness, making it more likely that you can extract value from a weaker hand on the river
• As part of a balanced strategy, enabling you to slow-play strong hands on the turn

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR…
Many players check here by default, and it often is the best play. However, you must be careful not to check without considering how likely the river is to help your opponent.

For example, if you hold the same A-K offsuit, and the flop comes A-10-9 with two hearts, it should be obvious that draws represent a significant part of your opponent’s range of hands, especially if he flat-called your pre-flop raise from a late position. If the turn does not make the draws, it could be a huge mistake to check and give your opponent a free card to hit his draw. Instead, you should bet enough to deprive your opponent of the proper odds to call (and provided you will not pay off a river bet, this can be as small as half the pot).

However, the majority of the time, checking the turn with a marginal hand is the correct play.

RESOLUTION 4

I WILL NOT CHECK-RAISE ALL-IN WITH A FLUSH DRAW ALL THE TIME

With two suited hole cards, you’ll very rarely flop a flush – just 0.8% of the time. However, with the same cards you’ll flop a flush draw 10.9% of the time – so you need to be able to handle a draw if you’re going to be successful at hold’em. Many players like to bet and raise with their draws every time, which is known as semi-bluffing. A semi-bluff has two ways to win – either your opponent folds and you win the pot, or you can improve to the best hand when you hit your draw. It’s common to see players check- raise all-in on the flop, holding a flush draw. The reasoning goes something like this:

• You’re up against a single opponent
• Your opponent has a wide range of hands, many of which have missed the flop
• Your opponent may be making a continuation bet with a weak hand
• Your raise all-in will be large, so that your opponent is not getting good pot odds
• Your opponent is quite likely to fold to your raise

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR…
Check-raising all-in with a flush draw can be a hugely powerful play. You wait for your opponent to make a mistake by betting, then ruthlessly exploit it by raising an amount he cannot call. However, if the conditions are unfavourable, this play can make you look like a complete fool.

If the stacks are very deep, then your raise all-in will be far too large relative to the pot for it to be a profitable play in the long run. Raising all-in for 100 big blinds, into a pot of just eight big blinds, for example, is too much to risk to win such a small pot.

It’s also a mistake to make this play if your opponent likely has a strong hand. If you raised from early position with A-K suited, and your tight, shrewd opponent re-raised from middle position, it may well be a mistake to check-raise all-in when the board comes three small cards (with two of your suit). It takes a big hand for a tight player to re-raise an early position raiser. If your opponent has a big pair, he will almost certainly call.

Any other situations in which you are very likely to be called rules out this play. Check-raising all-in any time you flop a flush draw is a huge mistake.

RESOLUTION 5

I WILL NOT VALUE BET ON THE RIVER AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY

Making value bets on the river is an important part of any good no-limit hold’em player’s strategy. After all, missing a bet on the flop might cost you just a few big blinds, but missing a bet on the river, when the pot is typically much larger, might cost you twenty or thirty big blinds, even in a pot without much action. Unlike other kinds of bets that we’ve discussed there really is only one reason to value bet:

• It will sometimes allow you to gain an extra bet on the river with a hand you would normally check

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR…
Many players automatically bet the river when they think they have the best hand, but that’s often a mistake. To see why, let’s look at this example. You’re at the river, and the board is A?-Q?-10?-4?-2?. You have the A?-5?, giving you a slightly higher flush than the one on board. Should you bet into your lone opponent? Based solely on probability, you are likely to have the best hand. However, betting is a huge mistake. To bet the river, probably having the best hand is not enough. You should be the favourite to have the best hand when you get called in order to make a profit. In this case, when you are called your opponent will usually have a higher heart to beat you. What’s more, some of the time your opponent will raise, and you can’t call. There is no value in the equivalent – you absolutely should not bet the river if it’s likely you’ll be raised, and you cannot call that raise.

Making good value bets on the river is all about knowing your opponent, and reading their hand well. By the time the river is dealt, you’ll have seen how your opponent played each street, how they reacted to your actions, and what physical mannerisms they have displayed. If you can assign them a range of hands which will often call and lose, then you can make a profitable river bet.

RESOLUTION 6

I WILL SLOW-PLAY LESS

Slow-playing is an oft-criticised but important part of every poker player’s arsenal. If you have flopped the top full house on a board of A-5-5, it’s much less likely that your opponents have a made hand or draw that they can call you with. There are also very few scary turn cards to kill the action. Slow-playing in this situation is probably a good idea and we do it in order to…

• Disguise your hand’s strength
• Let weaker hands catch up
• Induce a bluff from your opponent
• Get more money in the pot

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR….
Slow-playing is a hugely overused tactic that often has the opposite effect of what it sets out to do. Imagine the following situation. You’re dealt 7-6 suited, and limp in on the button after two other players also limp. Both blinds call, and the flop comes the 8-5-4 of your suit, giving you a straight flush! Everybody checks to you – should you bet, or check to slow-play?

You’re hoping to give your opponent a chance to catch something with which he can call a bet, or encourage him to bluff. If it’s likely that your opponent already has something, or will call your bet drawing to a hand which cannot possibly win, you often do better by betting straight away, building a big pot in case your opponent commits a lot of his stack, or getting the money in before a scare card frightens your opponent off the pot.

When you flop a small straight flush against multiple opponents, you probably should not slow-play.

If one of your opponents already has a flush (but not the nut flush), you might win a bigger pot by betting straight away. If one of your opponents has a set, a straight, or the Ace of the suit, they will definitely call and might even raise, committing them to the pot. You’ll end up kicking yourself if a heart on the turn, kills the action.

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