Q: I’ve gotten myself in more trouble being the aggressor OOP than I should. Is OOP aggression overrated? Should I start limping instead?
A: It’s not aggression OOP which is overrated but rather playing OOP which is overrated. In other words, folding is very often the correct move even if you have seemingly decent hands like KJo or JTs.
And before we start digging any deeper let me mention something else first. Raising OOP is much harder to play than limping OOP, that’s for sure. Still if you play correctly it is more profitable than limping. (That of course assumes that Raising is better than Folding to begin with).
Q: What happens if I have AJ or AQ and then I miss the flop? Wouldn’t it better had I just limped?
A: No. Missing the flop OOP is pretty tough and requires some elegant maneuvering on your part in order to maximize your value but WITHOUT going too far. That’s not easy and it comes down to the concept of using the aggression correctly. But this is not a reason to limp. It’s a reason to play better post flop.
This is where your hand-reading skills as well as your understanding of the board textures become invaluable. For example, say that you hold AJo and you deem your opponent somewhat fit-or-fold. Then the board comes Q62r (r = rainbow). That’s a very easy “single-stab-and-then-give-up” cbet. That’s because, if your read is right, that particular villain will only call with a decent pair (say A6 or 77+) or better. This means that if we get called we shut down immediately unless we improve. Conversely, if he never calls unless he has a pair, it means that he folds a ton of hands to our cbet which makes the latter very profitable, all by itself. (Let’s call this Hand #1)
Now change the above texture to QT7hh (h = heart, hh=two hearts etc) and all of a sudden you can CHECK. Yes you read this right. I said “check”. Reason being, this board is scary not just for you but also for him. And if he is fit or fold then he’s probably NOT betting all those hands that we beat (like A8o or 56s for example). On top of that he’s probably not betting weak show down value hands either (AT, 88-99 etc). Heck, he may not even bet his draws here. This of course means that if he bets we are very happy to fold because we are likely beat (and we saved a cbet), This also gives us a great chance to see a turn (while keeping the pot relatively small) and potentially make a delayed cbet since we know now that his range is weak. If on the other hand we bet that flop, all his weak SD (SD = showdown) hands will call us and now we have to play two more streets OOP with a speculative hand. (Let’s call this Hand #2)
Q: I’ve been limping a little from early position lately wth playable hands…like KJ or SC. Is that bad?
A: Have you considered flat out folding these hands? The problem with speculative hands (especially suited connectors) is that you REALLY need the initiative and position to be profitable with them. Otherwise you are just buying your cheap lottery ticket (aka ‘limp’) and then you wait to hit a big hand (not a draw mind you – that’s not going to be enough without having control of the pot). But how is that different than what everyone else is already doing at the table?
Speaking of which, if you instead open-fold you essentially reject the offer for the “lottery ticket” which immediately puts you ahead of the curve.
Q: How about a low pair like 22-66?
A: This is the only group of hands you can maybe limp with. Problem is, after a while it becomes too transparent (it’s usually not advisable to take a line based on private information – in this case the strength of your hand – rather than public information like your position or your stack size).
Q: What if I have a hand like KJ, I raise from OOP and get reraised? I can’t call now, can I?
A: We need to look at the big picture here:
1) First of all, from Early Position we shouldn’t have too many hands that fold to a reraise. That’s why open-folding a hand like KJo or even KQo (we reduce the size of the “raise-and-then-fold-to-a-
2) Secondly, they will not reraise us all that often. And the value of our raise should have been realized already from:
– All the times everyone folds and we pick up the blinds
– All the times only the blinds call, and so we have position on them.
– All the times we take it down with a cbet
– All the times we transform our initiative into value (for example in hand #2 above, they check their AT hand after we miss a cbet – because we showed aggression preflop – and then we hit our gutshot on the turn)
3) If we get reraised we should be HAPPY to fold because we are certain we are beat. But if we limp and then we call a raise, we have no idea how far behind we could be. (Imagine for example, that we hold KQ and we limp and then call a raise. Then a K comes and we reluctantly check/call 2-3 streets only to lose to AA)
Q: But if I raise and then get reraised I have to fold. I am now down a raise and I have no chance to catch bc I’m out. If I limp and get raised, I can either call (and I’m in for just a raise…same as if I raised wth no 3-bet) or I can fold and only I’m out a blind.
A:You are correct if you limp and you get raised you are screwed either way!
– If you call, then you might as well have raised yourself (so you at least have the initiative and all the other perks I described above)
– If you fold then you might as well have folded to begin with, to save your blind.
That’s why limping is so bad and it is widely considered to be one of the major “sins” of poker. Raising or folding are usually much better. (Again, let’s not forget folding. Playing OOP sucks so you might as well fold a ton!)
Q: If I am the raiser from oop and the flop comes with a bad texture but I miss it, should I feel compelled to cbet?
A: You shouldn’t be. Just because you have the initiative, it doesn’t mean you have to utilize it right away (or at all). This is what I meant above when I said that using your aggression correctly is hard. So you can check a decent amount here.
Q: Let’s say that I decided to cbet anyway. Maybe that cbet will work, but let’s say it won’t because I’m up against someone who is willing to play his position and see the turn. Now I’m stuck being the aggressor in a decent pot that I’m totally invested in.
A: You are not really “invested” in anything. The money in the pot is not really yours anymore and you play to maximize your profit from that point onward. This means that even if you decided to cbet the flop, you can still give up on the turn if you objectively think that this is the most profitable line (i.e. you cut your losses short, because every other action would lose you even more money!)
And that’s the key. Let’s go back to hand #1 where you had AJo and the flop was Q62o. You cbet that flop knowing very well that your opponent will fold a good 50%+ of the time. That’s your profit right there! If he folds that much, then it really doesn’t matter what happens on the turn. So if we do this experiment 1000 times and he folds 500 times and calls 500 times, you could even insta-fold when he calls (without even seeing the turn) and you would still be making money!
Q: Ok, let’s say the turn gives me 2nd pair and a gutter, it’s gonna be hard to fold right?
A: Hard and Correct are two different things. We are not in this business to make the easy choices. We are in this business to make the correct choices. So if you poker analysis tells you, that you should fold, then you should fold even if you hold the 2nd nuts! Again, it all comes down to how difficult it is to use our aggression correctly. But once you learn how to not “fall in love” with your hand, it’s not as hard anymore.
In closing, a wise man once said: “I don’t care about defending by blinds, I care about defending my button instead“. This principle is applicable to all other bad positions like the early and the middle ones. So you shouldn’t worry too much about getting involved there (just fold but very strong hands). Instead, you should concentrate on maximizing value from the BTN and the CO.