Standard Lines: How to Play in Unraised Pots
by Cornholio
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Introduction
In this article- Inducing bluffs is more important than protection
- All lines HU in and out of position
- Playing in 3-handed pots
As a TAG, you will nearly always want to enter the pot with a raise. Nevertheless, you will still end up in unraised pots, since there are players who open limp and over limp, even in higher limits. You could get a freeplay in the Big Blind or complete from the Small Blind. There are also times when it can be profitable to over limp after 2 other players have also called.
This subject was introduced in an article in the Bronze section about Standard lines. The standard line in an unraised pot HU is to always bet the flop regardless of the board, then depending on your hand, either give up or bet again on the turn.
The reason for this autobet is that a bluff only needs to be successful in about 1/3 of the cases in order to be profitable (The exact percentage depends on whether or not the SB folds before the flop and, if so, the blind structure of the game). You can expect to generate fold equity with a raise, since your opponent is more likely to have missed the flop than to have hit.
This standard line is useful and +EV in many situations, but it can still be perfected. Our goal is not only to make +EV decisions, but to make the decisions that give us the highest EV. In order to optimize your game in unraised pots, you need to be able to recognize the situations in which a standard line is not the best option.
In this article, we will discuss all lines that can be played in unraised pots. You will learn to select the line with the highest EV given the opponent, the board and the strength of your hand. We will also discuss the importance of balancing your lines, so that your opponent cannot easily guess your hand's strength.
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