Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games

If you’re thinking of heading to Las Vegas for the WSOP this summer, you can fund your trip through the soft cash games. Get the skills you need to pay the bills with this extract from Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games Vol. 2

Jonathan Little has done it all, with $6m in live tournament winnings and two WPT titles. What people don’t know is that he’s also a hugely successful cash player. When he busts from a live event Little spends his time at the cash tables – all day, every day. He thinks that live cash games are the most profitable arena in poker and now he’s ready to reveal his winning secrets to you.

In his new book, through a question-and-answer format, Little takes you through the nuances of no-limit cash games, and shows you how you can make a substantial profit consistently.

As you work through the two hands below, make a note of your actions. In ‘Discussion and Answers’ you’ll get a score which shows you the optimum path to take. The path the hands take in the question is not necessarily optimum so don’t worry if you don’t match up. Good luck!

Hand 1: Battling the table captain

• Game: $10/$20 NLH
• Hand: Q♥-5♥
• Position: SB
• Players: 9

The play

Villain is Stan, the kid who likes to be the table captain. You bluffed him with K-K on the river earlier. He has been fairly active and creative, but seems to give too much respect. Given your previous hand with him, he may not be in the mood to make a big fold again. Stan raises to 70 from the cutoff.

QUESTION 1: The action is on you in the small blind. What do you do with Q♥-5♥?

1. Fold
   
2. Call 60 more
   
3. Re-raise to 210
4. Re-raise to 700

You re-raise to 210 and Stan calls. The flop comes Q♦-6♠-4♠.

QUESTION 2: The pot is 440 and the effective stack size is 5,790. What is your action?

1. Check
2. Bet 130
3. Bet 230
4. Bet 390

You bet 230 and Stan calls. The turn is (Q♦-6♠-4♠)-5♠.

QUESTION 3: The pot is 900 and the effective stack is 5,560. What is your action?

1. Check
2. Bet 340
3. Bet 640
4. Bet 840

You check and Stan checks behind. The river is (Q♦-6♠-4♠-5♠)-A♦.

QUESTION 4: The pot is 900 and the effective stack is 5,560. What is your action?

1. Check
2. Bet 340
3. Bet 640
4. Bet 840

You check and Stan bets 560.

QUESTION 5: The pot is 1,460 and the effective stack size is 5,560. What is your action?

1. Fold
2. Call 560
3. Raise to 1,300
4. Raise to 2,200

You call and lose to A♣-4♦.

Discussion and answers

Answer 1

1. 10 points
2. 2
3. 8
4. 1

If you expect Stan to frequently fold or to play straightforwardly if you re-raise, then that is by far the best option if used judiciously.

Your opponent is probably starting to get suspicious about your aggression, and may therefore be somewhat unwilling to fold. Because of this, your best play is probably to fold to his raise.

That said, if you expect to stay in this game for a while, it is rarely bad to quickly develop an aggressive dynamic against your opponent. Even if re-raising costs you some equity, you will drastically increase the expected value of the premium hands you pick up later.

Answer 2

1. 2 points
2. 4
3. 10
4. 7

You should usually bet for value with top pair when out of position in a re-raised pot. It’s generally best to bet the same amount with your entire range. If you bet larger, unless Stan thinks you primarily make large bets when you are bluffing, you may force him off most marginal hands, which is not good when you have most of them crushed. Betting smaller also has some merit, but given the somewhat draw-heavy board, a larger bet is probably better.

Answer 3

1. 10 points
2. 3
3. 8
4. 6

The turn is one of the worst cards both for your hand and your probable range, which should consist mostly of strong preflop holdings. This should lead you to check to induce a bluff. Your opponent may be capable of raising the turn as a bluff or semi- bluff; checking allows you to sidestep that dilemma. Betting for value is reasonable if you think your opponent will continue calling down with worse made hands, such as Q-10 and 9-9. If you think he is only capable of raising the turn with a better made hand, you should certainly bet for value because you crush his entire calling range.

Checking is probably ideal against a creative player like Stan.

Answer 4

1. 10 points
2. 3
3. 8
4. 4

The river should nail a large part of your turn checking range. A hand worse than an Ace is not likely to call a bet, so you should check.

Betting becomes a realistic option if you think Stan floats a Q♦– 6♠-4♠ flop with Ace-high. You should make a fairly large value-bet, of perhaps two-thirds or three-quarters pot, if you are confident your opponent has an Ace. A small bet doesn’t extract maximum value because he will probably fold all hands worse than an Ace, regardless of your bet size.

Answer 5

1. 0 points
2. 10
3. 1
4. 2

Your plan when checking the turn should almost never be to fold to a river bet. You may have induced a bluff by checking both the turn and the river. Your opponent could easily be value-betting a worse made hand. Either way, you have an easy call.

Stan’s bet size is excellent because it probably doesn’t indicate much about the strength of his hand. If he had made either a larger or smaller bet, you could perhaps find a fold based on his tendencies. He would likely make such a bet both for value and as a bluff, so you have to call.

Note that Stan decided to call your preflop raise with a-4. He was likely planning to make some sort of play at you after the flop if he failed to connect. Knowing that, your preflop re-raise was probably bad because it had almost no fold equity.

Be aware of your opponent’s mood and adjust accordingly. If you knew how your opponent was feeling at the time, you would only re-raise with value hands that could withstand a decent amount of pressure.

Hand 2: Top pair

• Game: $10/$20 NLH
• Hand: A♣-K♦
• Position: UTG
• Players: 9

The play

Villain1 is Chad, the tight, passive kid who rarely gets out of line. Villain2 is standard TAG. Villain3 is also tight and passive

Question 1: The action is on you UTG. What do you do with A♣-K♦?

1. Fold
2. Call 20
3. Raise to 60
4. Raise to 100

You raise to 60 and all three Villains call. the flop comes A♥-J♠-3♦.

Question 2: The pot is 270 and the effective stack is 3,940. What is your action?

1. Check
2. Bet 150
3. Bet 220
4. Bet 600

You bet 150 and Chad calls. Both Villain2 and Villain3 fold. the turn is (A♥-J♠-3♦)-7♥.

Question 3: The pot is 570 and the effective stack size is 3,790. What is your action?

1. Check
2. Bet 160
3. Bet 260
4. Bet 460

You bet 260 and Chad again calls. The river is (A♥-J♠-3♦-7♥)-6♣

Question 4: The pot is 1,090 and the effective stack size is 3,530. What is your action?

1. Check
2. Bet 400
3. Bet 640
4. Bet 1,000

You bet 640. Chad happily calls and loses with A♦-T♦.

Discussion and answers

Answer 1

1. 0 points
2. 2
3. 10
4. 3

You should always raise with a premium hand from first position, barring a very unusual situation, such as a player yet to act who always makes gigantic raises when someone limps. There is no need for a larger than normal raise in the hopes of thinning the field. You want people to call with inferior holdings, especially when you have a strong hand.

Answer 2

1. 0 points
2. 10
3. 8
4. 2

With top pair, you should make a standard continuation bet of between half and two-thirds pot. Checking will often allow your opponents to draw out for free, which is not a good result. Checking with the intention of check-raising is also bad because most players will only call with hands better than top pair, top kicker. Neither is a giant bet ideal. Except for calling stations, it will probably force players to fold made hands as strong as a weak Ace.

Answer 3

1. 0 points
2. 5
3. 10
4. 8

You should generally assume Chad has some sort of one-pair hand when he calls your flop continuation bet. Most straightforward players will raise the flop with two pair or better. Unless Chad turned two pair with A-7, you probably have the best hand. You should bet around half-pot against a range consisting of mostly A-x and J-x, looking to extract additional value. If you think your opponent has squarely an Ace, you should probably bet larger, perhaps around four-fifths pot, expecting him to never fold. When value-betting, think about the range you expect he’ll call with and adjust your bet size accordingly.

Answer 4

1. 0 points
2. 2
3. 10
4. 8

When Chad just calls on the turn, you should be confident he has one pair on the river unless he made Aces up with A-6. This should lead you to value-bet again. Some players will never fold an Ace to any reasonable bet, while others will only call a bet of around two-thirds pot or less. Make the largest bet you think your opponent will call with most of his made hands.

The only bad moves are to check, allowing Chad to check behind with his one-pair hands, or to value-bet small, leaving a ton of money on the table.

While this hand may seem straightforward, people often play poorly by checking on the turn or river. These players have been traumatised by experiences when they bet the turn or river and faced a raise. Your hand should quickly hit the muck if a tight, passive player raises on the turn or river. You could perhaps check the turn or river against an overly aggressive opponent, but even then, value-betting on all three streets almost always leads to the most profit.

WIN! Three copies of Jonathan Little’s new book up for grabs

Just answer this question: What is Jonathan Little’s biggest cash?

1. $945
2. $975,460
3. $1,120,310

Email pokerplayer@plyp.co.uk by May 1. All correct entries will be entered into the prize draw and three winners will be picked at random.

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