Tags:
Hold' em, Limit Pot Limit, Ring games
A small leak preflop can be negated by a good post-flop player who knows how to negotiate the streets better than his opponents. No-limit hold’em is not a solved game and while you could probably teach a monkey how to play perfectly preflop (sorry Sit & Go specialists), the intricacies of the turn and river are the reason we play poker. These streets require really tough decisions, and if you want to make money in the long term you’ll need to engage your grey matter.
In no-limit hold’em the river is a street that is rarely reached, as players are often bet off their hand earlier, but because the pots won on the river tend to be significantly larger, you need to decide earlier in the hand whether you want to get your stack in or not. Think at least one street ahead of your opponents and you are already ahead of the curve. For a simple example, let's say you have A-K on an A-2-2-7 rainbow board against a fishy calling station out of position. You think he has some A-T/A-J type hand he is incapable of folding. If you bet slightly over a third of his remaining stack on the turn, you will leave him with slightly less than a pot-sized bet on the river, which will make getting stacks in easier.
Assimilating information
On the river you should have acquired a tonne of information about your opponent's hand, and if you are in position you should rarely, if ever, make a big mistake. Out of position you have the same amount of information, but it will not be of the same quality.
A similar logic applies to the betting dynamics in a hand. If you have taken the lead in the betting, your bets will have revealed more information about your opponent's range. If you have not taken the betting lead, your information will be hazier and an opponent's range less polarised. This doesn’t mean you should always try to maintain the betting lead - clearly that is wrong - but it is worth bearing in mind that when a villain bets big on the river and you were certain he had nothing, he may well turn over a backdoor straight.
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