A few errors

A few errors
by Rolf Slotboom

Today, I will discuss a few common errors among people who think they play well. Most of the time, the players involved don't even know they are making a mistake, because they seem to be doing the right thing. I will analyze three of those errors, and explain why I view them as such.

Error No. 1:
Raising preflop on the button with what looks like the best hand - when raising may in fact make it harder for you to defend your hand after the flop.

Let's say that in limit hold'em you hold ace-jack offsuit on the button. There are three relatively weak limpers in front of you, meaning that your hand is quite likely to be best on the given deal. Even with this being the case, it is usually better to just call than to raise in situations like this, and it has to do with the nature of your cards. An ace-jack offsuit will often win with a hand like top pair / good kicker. Now, if you get the type of flop you want (say, J93 rainbow), you would like someone with a hand like jack-ten to lead into you, so you can raise and shut out overcards, smaller pairs and straight draws. But if you raise before the flop, this might not happen. People will often check to you, knowing that you will probably bet, but because the pot is much bigger now, they will be more inclined to call you - even with relatively weak hands. This is not what you want, holding just one pair yourself, simply because one-pair hands tend to perform rather badly in multiway pots. (Of course, the higher the pair, the more likely it is to survive.) Even if someone does bet into you and you raise, people might still call you with hands like KT or Q9, and they may be correct to do so - while in an unraised pot they would probably have let go. So, this is the type of situation where just calling before the flop might cost you less in case you miss, plus if you do hit, you might be able to defend your hand better. This despite the fact that you do seem to be holding the best hand before the flop, and thus it would seem only logical to raise.

Error No. 2:
Automatically checking on the end in a heads up situation, being first to speak, when a scare card comes up on the river. It may still be correct to bet.

A few days ago, I was heads up with AAxx in a limit Omaha high game. Despite the scary board KQxx with two clubs (that I didn't have) I had been betting all the way, with my sole opponent - a weak calling station - calling my bets. The ace of clubs came on the river, giving me three aces, but at the same time completing the flush and straight draws that my opponent might have been calling me with. Despite this (also, because I smelled weakness in my opponent), I bet, got called, and won. Most people would have checked because the draws had gotten there, and for fear of getting raised by one of these draws. However, quite often this last card will look as scary to your opponent as it looks to you, especially if he is not the type of player to be playing nut-hands only. Now, if you check when your opponent has a non-nut flush he will probably bet (and you will have to call), but if you bet he will often just call, fearing that you might have the nuts. Plus, him being a true calling station, there are lots of hands worse than yours that he will pay you off with, but that he wouldn't bet if you checked. This means that quite often you will lose exactly the same by betting or checking if your opponent does have you beat, but if he doesn't, then betting will gain you an extra bet that you wouldn't have gotten by doing the obvious (checking).

Please note that this recommendation applies only if you are first to speak, in a heads-up situation. If you are last to act (and your sole opponent has checked to you), or if you are up against more than one opponent, then you should probably not bet. In the first case, this is for a large part because of the possibility of a check-raise, and in the second case because with two or more opponents it is just too likely that one of them has made his hand. In fact, with two or more opponents, you will often be forced to check-and-fold, especially if there's been a bet and a call.

Error No. 3:
Betting for information, when the information you're going to get is likely to be unreliable.

A lot of good players like to show strength by betting and raising early in the hand to test out their opponents' strength, and if they run into lots of resistance, they might surrender (unless of course the good player's hand is strong enough to beat some legitimate raising hands of the opposition). They use the cheap streets to gauge their opponent's strength, to be able to make the proper decision later, when the real money is at stake. I would say that in general this is a good strategy, and the proper way to play poker. But some players take this concept too far and use it indiscriminately, or against the wrong players. I will illustrate this with two examples.

• A good player (John) has called a late-position raise by James, holding king-small suited in the big blind. The flop comes KQ7 with two of a suit that John doesn't have. He check-raises James on the flop, all others fold, and James three-bets. John calls, knowing that he might be drawing dead to his kicker, but realizing that James may just as well be semi-bluffing here, with a flush or straight draw, for example. So, when a blank comes on the turn, John fires again, only to see his opponent raise him once more. Now, John reasons: "Gee, after so much signs of strength by me, James still raises me. So, he must have a better hand than my mere top pair / no kicker. I'll fold." Now, don't be surprised to see his opponent turn over hands like jack-ten or ace-ten suited here. If James is a savvy player who knows he can make his opponent lay down a hand like top pair, especially on the turn, then John will have taken his otherwise good strategy too far or, to be more precise: he has used the wrong strategy for this type of player.
  
• In limit Omaha high, this same player (John) holds a small diamonds flush, bets on the flop and gets called. His opponent is once again James, a tricky and highly knowledgeable player. Not knowing whether he is up against a higher flush or a set, John bets again when a blank comes on the turn, only to see his opponent raise him. John folds his eight-high flush, and James flashes me his hand: top two pair + the bare ace of diamonds. Once again, he has gotten his opponent to lay down the best hand, using John's tendencies of betting / then folding to a raise against him.
  

Some final words

I am certain that some of you will not view all of the plays mentioned here as "errors". This may be correct: sometimes "exploitable weakness" may be a better term, or even "fairly good play that could be better though". Whatever the term, I hope you will have learned a few things to improve your play, some mistakes to avoid in order to play a better overall game.