Beat cash games 3

Welcome to the third part of my step-by-step guide to becoming a winning player at the cash tables. Last time I talked about the type of plays, betting and information to be gleaned pre-flop. But what do you do once those all-important first three community cards hit the baize? Well, just in case you’ve all been playing perfectly pre-flop, then simply checking everything down because you don’t know what to do next, I’d better press on – there’s money to be made.

As before I won’t be teaching you too many specific actions in specific circumstances because poker is such a situational game. Instead I’m going to try and give you some of the tools you’ll need and the factors to consider when making your decisions at this point in a cash game.

One of the problems with modern poker is that most no-limit tournaments see a lot of hands decided pre-flop. A golden rule to remember is to play big pots with big hands and small pots with marginal hands. This may seem like common sense (at least I hope so) but players make this mistake in their play time after time.

Inexperienced cash game players often make small bets when they’re strong because they’re terrified of not getting paid. But then they do precisely the opposite with marginal hands, making big bets because they don’t want to be outdrawn. Make sure you don’t make these mistakes.

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The texture of the flop is pivotal to the strength of your hand and your ability to represent hands you don’t hold. Obviously if the flop improves your hand that’s great news – sadly though, the majority of times it won’t. You must be aware of how much a flop has helped you.

Top pair is a classic example of this. If you hold A-Q and the flop comes A-9-2 rainbow you’re usually in an extremely strong position. If, however, the flop comes A-9-8 with two hearts and you don’t hold any, your hand is much more vulnerable.

Don’t, however, fall into the trap of overbetting your hand too much and end up playing a big pot with a marginal hand. Remember, for most draws you only need to offer your opponents worse odds than 3.5 /1 on the next card (unless all-ins are involved), which a bet of two-thirds of the pot will comfortably do.

You should also be able to quickly assess the chances of it helping your opponents, too. For example, if you open the pot for a raise and it’s called behind you, your opponent(s) are far less likely to be helped by a flop like 6-4-2 than they are by K-Q-J.

It can be very profitable to bet flops that are unlikely to have helped your opponents. For instance, with a flop like Q-5-2 (with no flush draws) you should often bet if no one else has, regardless of your cards, because it’s very hard for an opponent to call without holding a Queen. If you bet these flops two-thirds of the time they only have to succeed half the time to show a profit, which in low-stakes cash games they will.

What’s often forgotten is that the flop has implications for your opponents, too. Let’s say a reasonably tight opponent opens the pot from early position and it’s passed round to you in the big blind with 4-4. You decide to call, thinking that you have a good idea of possible hands and hitting a set would make the initial call worthwhile. The flop comes 7-8-9 (with two clubs). You should strongly consider check-raising the flop. You should realise the board doesn’t help you but it probably petrifies your opponent, if they’ve raised with a big pair or two big cards. An alternative play, which may sometimes be more profitable, is calling on the flop and then check-raising on the turn.

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Continuation betting should be your friend in a cash game. By continuation betting I mean when you have the lead in a hand – having raised pre-flop – you should ‘continue your action’ and bet the flop. Normally this bet should be about two-thirds of the pot. A lot of the time your opponents’ hands will not have been helped by the flop and they will fold to a bet. In cash games – even up to medium-level stakes – you should make continuation bets a very high percentage of the time.

For instance in a £1/£2 game you open the pot for £6 with A-K off-suit. You’re called by the big blind, which makes the pot £13. The flop comes 10-8-2 with two hearts. If the big blind checks to you, you should almost always bet £8-£10 – you’ll find you very often win the hand there and then.

This policy of continuation betting applies unless you’re against perceptive opponents who may check-raise you with nothing – in this case you need to mix up the times when you bet and check.

The number of players in the pot should have a big effect on your actions after the flop. Put simply, the more players involved the stronger your hand needs to be. For example, we looked at continuation betting with A-K against one opponent. Let’s say you raise with A-K off-suit in middle position, but get called by four opponents. The flop comes 10-8-7 with two clubs; against one opponent you should usually bet, but in this situation you would be crazy to. The chances of a flop like that not helping one of your opponents are very unlikely. Your hand has not improved and your prospects of taking the pot down with a bet now are very slim.

Positional sense

Your position is, of course, vital on the flop. As you play more cash games – with a deep stack – you’ll start to appreciate just how critical having position is. For example, let’s say you limp in late position with A-4 suited. Five players take the flop of A-9-6. If it’s checked to you, with a reasonable degree of confidence you can bet that you currently hold the best hand. Contrast this with being in early position in the same situation when it’s hard to know if you have the only Ace and checking is probably the best play.

One of the reasons you should look to enter more pots in late position is to pick up your fair share on the flop with nothing – make sure you don’t miss these opportunities. When you’ve raised before the flop and been called behind it’s often right to check a lot of your hands. If the player behind you bets out you have a lot of options. If you like your hand or think you can dissuade your opponent from liking their hand you can check-raise. You could also flat-call with the plan to take the pot away on the turn – or muck at minimal cost.

Meeting resistance on the flop in a low-stakes cash game is something you should take seriously. Players at the lower levels rarely make sophisticated plays like calling on the flop with nothing planning to win the pot on the turn. If you’re meeting resistance, either from a call or a raise, it means they have something. Now this may be a draw, second pair or something more worrying.

Fire at will

One of the toughest decisions you’ll face regularly in a cash game is whether to bet again – ‘fire the second bullet’ – when your initial bet on the flop is called. If you don’t hold a strong hand and have had your postflop continuation bet called, you should often check the turn. For instance, if you hold A-K and haven’t paired your hand you should probably shut down after the flop and try and play the hand as cheaply as possible.

You should know that novice and intermediate players very rarely check-raise as a bluff. If you’re check-raised on the flop you should take it seriously and usually only continue with a strong hand or a draw that you will be paid off on if you hit. At lower-level cash games the pattern of calling a bet on the flop and then check-raising on the turn is how the majority of players play their strong hands. When you flop a strong hand, such as two-pair or better, you should be calculating how to get money in the pot straight away and on later streets. A lot of your pre-flop decisions – playing hands like small pairs – are predicated on the implied odds available from the big stacks. If you don’t get paid off when you make strong hands this strategy is flawed.

So you need to be clear about the best strategy for getting paid off in the game you’re playing. Very often in lower-stakes games this will be taking the lead in the betting. Players tend to call too much in these no-limit cash games and you should be charging them for trying to outdraw you.

More importantly you’ve got a big hand so you want to play a big pot. If you check the flop and bet a small amount on the turn trying to ‘sucker him in’ it’s extremely hard to get properly paid. Remember you want your opponent’s entire stack and you’re not going to get that by putting in a massive overbet on the river – massage that pot and get his money in there and then.

Slow-playing has its place of course. If you encounter an aggressive opponent or one who’s taking the lead because he has a hand (let’s say an over-pair to your set) then it may be correct to trap him. Apart from your desire to build the pot you should also take into account the number of players and the texture of the flop; there’s a big difference between flopping bottom set on a dangerous 6-7-8 (suited) board than there is on a Q-7-2 board. You would almost never want to slow-play on the first board but you’re much less likely to be beaten or drawn out on with the second, where slow-playing becomes a viable option.

Remember, playing the players is everything and the further through the hand you get the more important it becomes in your decisionmaking. You must always be aware of who is in the hand with you.

Earlier I recommended continuation betting a lot of the time, but if your opponents are calling stations who will regularly flat-call rather than raise with any pair, then this is something you would do much less, based purely on the players.

Hopefully this article has given you some plays and concepts to use on the flop, but remember you mustn’t fall into the pattern of always playing the same way. Make sure you’re adjusting your plays to take account of your opponents in the hand.

Next time I’ll take you even deeper into the hand – to where big pots are won and lost. Let’s get the money together.