PokerWorks

Have you ever wondered how top professionals like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth can put someone on a hand so well and so often? It certainly is not because they are mind readers. It is because they have seen something in the way a person is playing and/or betting or have seen the situation come up a hundred times before. This is where experience comes into play. Many people think that being able to get a physical tell off of a player is the secret to success but most pro's will tell you that the key is betting patterns. They are able to figure out the strength or weakness of a player's hand because of how they bet and/or how they react to a bet. But how do they do this? One of the most effective ways to get information about a player's hand is by betting or raising. By doing this, you are asking the player a question. A question that they have to give you an answer to.

Betting vs. calling

One of the biggest mistakes poker players can make is to check and call. It is a fundamental error that can be the difference between a break even player and a winning player. Why is it wrong? Because your bet or raise is what defines your opponents hand. If you merely check and call, you really have no idea what your foe has. They could be on a draw. They could have middle pair. They could have the nuts. They could be on a stone cold bluff. Unless you bet, you just don't know. Betting and raising also has the additional benefit of letting you win the pot by causing your opponent to fold. When you check and call, you not only eliminate that possibility, but you also build up the size of the pot and make it correct for them to bet you out of the pot by applying pressure on the next street.

In addition, another benefit to betting and raising... especially when you have position... is that if you are called, your opponent will generally defer to you on the next card. If you are drawing yourself, you will be able to take a free card. If you have a strong but not great hand, you can check and call a bet on the river. You would not have been able to call a check raise on the turn but you have allowed yourself to see a cheap showdown.

Bet it out

What can you do to start using betting to gather information? Play some tournaments and try betting rather than checking when you have a hand that you are unsure of. Say you flop middle pair out of the big blind against one player who limped in middle position. Your kicker sucks and you'd normally check. Try betting instead. If you check, you know that he is going to bet. What are you going to do then? Fold? Call? Raise? If you bet out, your opponent will either fold because the flop missed him (which is the case more times than not), call because he is drawing or wants to make a play against you on the turn or river, or raise because they believe they have the best hand. If you just check and call you have no idea whether they have middle pair beat or not. They could be holding nothing better than a pair of 2's but because you are checking and calling, you are eventually going to fold to their bets because of the uncertainty you have created.

Let's look at a hand as an example of what I am talking about:

It is a deep stack tournament that started with 438 players. There are 304 players left and the average stack is 14,400 with the blinds at 150/300 with a 50 ante. There are three players involved in the hand. I start the hand with 28,125 in chips. Seat 1 is the only player at the table that has me covered and has 32,625 in chips. Seat 3 starts the hand with 5,925 in chips.

I am dealt pocket queens and raise 600 to 900 first to act from middle position. The big stack in seat 1 flat calls from the cutoff. Seat 3 also flat calls from the small blind. The flop comes 9s-4s-4c. Seat 3 leads out for 500 into the nearly 3500 pot. Rather than just calling here to see what the big stack does, I choose to raise to 1) define the big stacks hand and 2) define the short stacks hand. It will give me a better idea of how strong they are. I raise 1,500 to 2,000. The big stack re-raises 8,000 to 10,000 and the short stack insta-calls all in for his remaining 4,475.

When it is re-raised and called by the original bettor before it gets to me, I KNOW that I am behind. I know this because I have gathered information about my opponents hand by betting. It's a tough fold for sure, especially considering the board... but it's the correct one. I fold. The short stack in the small blind has pocket kings. The big stack has pocket aces. I avoid going broke and go on to win the tournament. As the saying goes, sometimes it is not about the pots you win... it is about the pots you lose and how much you lose. By betting to get information you can make the tough folds much easier.

Putting someone on a hand

Now that you understand how to use betting to get information, you can start to put players on hands. To figure this out, you need to pay careful attention to how each player at your table plays. Here are some things you should be looking for:

1)    How much they bet with strong hands. Do they always bet big, bet small, or do they mix it up?
2)    How much they bet with weak hands. Do they not bet at all? Do they overbet or bet extremely weak?
3)    When they bet. Do they bet only with made hands or will they bet draws? Do they bet weak when strong and strong when weak?
4)    What hands do they just call with? Do they bet with middle pair or call? Do they bet with a draw or call?
5)    What hands do they raise with? Look for what hands they are raising with. If they are only raising with made hands then you can use this information later when you are involved in a pot.

Watch and in time you will be able to pick up on what they are doing. Do they just check and call when there is two of one suit on the flop? Might be a flush draw – make them pay for it. Did they bet small and call your raise with no potential draws on the board? Probably top pair with a bad kicker – make them pay for it. Did they call your raise pre-flop and then check on the flop after you checked and then raise your turn bet? Probably slow-playing something hoping to get more money from you. Did they make an over sized bet into the pot? More times than not this is a hand that does not want to get called and/or is trying to buy the pot. What about the small but not over sized raise of your pre-flop raise? This person might want a call because they have a big hand. What about the over sized raise of your pre-flop raise? This will often depend on the person but usually it is a hand like jacks, tens, or a big ace that feels like they have the best hand but does not really want to see a flop.

Here's an example of a hand where I was able to put someone on a hand based upon their actions. It was the same tournament as before except now there are 246 players remaining and the average stack is 18,000. I have 27,575 in chips and my opponent in this hand started with 23,475. The blinds are 200/400 with a 50 ante. My opponent limps in first to act from middle position and I do so as well from the cutoff with 5d-4d. The small blind folds and the big blind checks their option. The flop is Jc-10h-7c.

The big blind and my opponent both check. I bet 1,000 trying to use position to take the pot. The big blind folds and my opponent flat calls. This signals to me that this person is either on some type of straight or club flush draw (most likely) or has middle/bottom pair and is trying to hit two pair or trips. It is checked to me on the 6h turn so I decide to bet 2,000 to see which one it is. Notice that I bet enough to not make it cheap. My opponent again flat calls me. This narrows his range of hands for me to a draw. If no straight card or club comes on the river I am going to bet it again if he checks it to me and I might even raise if he leads into me. The river is the 4s. My opponent leads out for 2,000. This feels like one of those “the only way I can win is if I bet” bets. I raise 4,000 to 6,000 and my opponent folds. I win a nice sized pot with 5th pair because I was able to correctly put my opponent on a hand. How many people do you know would have continued to bet here after being called on the flop? It does make a difference.

The next time you face a situation and you want to know where you stand... try betting or raising. You might be amazed at what you find out.