Standard play: Advanced

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Every strategic poker player has a more or less fixed repertoire of playing styles which he applies in certain situations. Depending on many factors, situations can be distinguished, categorised and associated to favourable playing styles.

In the Bronze section's Post-flop: Standard play against one opponent, some plays were already described and explained. These are moves which relate to flop and turn play, and tend to describe optimal playing styles in defined situations, with certain kinds of hands.

These categorisations are an indispensable tool to reduce the complexity of FL Hold'em. The goal is to pick the best playing style in many situations, without having to analyse the whole hand (maybe mathematically) in the short amount of time you usually have.

This article expands on the topic of standard plays. You'll learn how to identify and apply the criteria for each optimal playing style. They depend on position, initiative, your hand strength in relation to the type of opponent and the board texture. Read on for explanations on how to evaluate these parameters and determine the correct decision.

Standard plays and balancing

Depending on position and initiative, 4 different situations may appear which can be associated with 3 different standard plays (the unraised pot will be treated in a separate article):

• Out of position (OOP) with the initiative: bet/3-bet flop, bet turn
• Out of position without the initiative: check/raise flop, bet turn
• In position (IP) with the initiative: bet flop or call flop, raise turn on a donkbet
• In position without the initiative: call flop, raise turn

With which hands should you use these plays? To put it simply: with made hands and draws.

In general, it's important to make sure that you don't play a standard series of moves only with one type of hand. You shouldn't just play the standard moves with made hands, but also with draws (at times even with pure bluffs). If you don't follow this principle, it'll be easy for opponents to draw advantages from this type of play.

Example:

You are OOP without the initiative on the flop and the opponent bets. The standard play is check/raise flop, bet turn.

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with JQ or 6 7
3 folds, BU raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) J, 8, 5
Hero checks, BU bets, Hero?

Turn: (3.25 BB) 4

If in this often recurring situation, you only check/raise the flop with good made hands (JQ in this example), but always play your draws (67) passively, your opponent might adapt to your style and abuse it.

If you continue to check/raise the flop, he'll start to play his draws passively, knowing that you won't fold your hand. He'll also find easy folds on the turn with weak made hands. Neither of these situations are in your best interest.

If you play in the same way with different types and strengths of hands, this is called balancing. By mixing up the hands with which you play the standard steps, it's impossible for opponents to read your hand, so they won't play optimally against you.

Balancing your standard plays is important, but it isn't to be used in every situation and at any price!
If you don't balance a your play, it's only problematic if opponents can draw an advantage from this. So when isn't this the case?

1. Situations in which you carry out the play don't happen very often.
If you don't play the standard strategy very often, because apt situations only occur rarely, it'll be difficult for opponents to remember your playing style.

Example: The cap on the river doesn't have to be played as a bluff. The pot is already so big that the opponent cannot find a fold, even if he knows for sure that you only execute this play with a monster.

2. You only rarely play against the same opponents.
If you don't play regularly on the lower limits of the big poker platforms, the player fluctuation is so high, that you will rarely face the same opponents in one same situation.

3. The opponents play badly or don't pay attention.
Especially on the lower limits, most opponents aren't able to adapt their game, even if they notice particularities in your style. Other opponents play 6 tables at the same time and don't have the time or inclination to take notes, or keep an eye on your game.

Due to the fact that you also use standard moves for draws, your plays are balanced enough on draw heavy boards.

But what about dry boards? Here, the only possibility to outbalance value plays is to use the pure bluff.

As mentioned above, you shouldn't just play the bluff to balance your play, even though you know that you don't have any fold equity. The move shouldn't have a positive expected value (+EV) when examined as an isolated case. To evaluate this, you have to ask yourself the following question: Are players with better hands going to fold?

Without a strong draw, you need greater fold equity to make a bluff profitable. But especially when the board doesn't offer any draws, most opponents will give you more credit for having a made hand.

If there are enough better hands in an opponent's range which he would fold in response to your own aggressive game, a pure bluff could become your standard play.

Example:

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 89
3 folds, BU raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 4, 7, Q
Hero checks, BU bets, Hero raises, BU calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) 3
Hero bets

A button raiser often misses this kind of board. You on the other hand, can easily make out that you have a pair, because you often defend hands with a Q or a 7 in a passive way, as well as check-raise them on the flop.

If your bluff gets busted, the opponent will have trouble letting go of weak made hands on similar boards in the future, which gives you further value for your made hands.

Similar to the pure bluff, it's not optimal to use the standard plays for all kinds of made hands and draws and in every situation. In the next chapter, you'll learn how to recognise situations in which the standard moves represent the optimal playing style.

Evaluating when to play a standard move

In general, there are no necessary hand strengths, like a top pair or an OESD, which absolutely require playing the standard steps.

In certain situations, it may be correct to only play call down with a top pair and in other situations a bottom pair might be enough for a standard move. In the same way, a gutshot might be enough to play call/flop, raise/turn, while under different circumstances even a monster draw might have to be played passively.

You can approximately determine the opponent's hand range (the entire set of possible hands the opponent might hold) by correlating the information about the opponent's playing style (readings, history, stats, tells) within the board texture.

With these assumptions, you evaluate your own hand, anticipate the opponent's probable playing style on the later streets, and then decide if your hand is suitable for a standard play.

These considerations are very complex and particularly difficult because, as always with poker, you have to deal with incomplete information. To reach a somewhat optimal decision, we will now show you the criteria and the goals of a standard play.

Preferably, you want to be called down to the showdown and paid off by worse hands, while you yourself have hands with a good chance of being in the lead. At the same time, your hand should be protected against other hands which could improve and become strong. Free cards for the opponent should therefore be avoided and draws should pay as much as possible down to the river.

So how does a made hand qualify for a standard move?

1. You should be the favourite over an opponent's hand range.

To be able to estimate the range, you have to make assumptions about the opponent's playing style with the help of stats and readings from previous hands. You have to ask yourself the following questions:

• How often does the opponent open-raise?
• Does he often hit the board with his range?
• Does his playing style on the flop narrow his range down, or does he repeat his play with every hand?
• What hands do his actions on the flop point to?

Example:

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with X X
3 folds, BU raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) X X X
Hero checks, BU bets

After his flop bet, you play against his entire button-raising range, as he will definitely make a continuation bet. As an average TAG, this should be the top 30-40% of his hands.

Against such a wide range, you're often a favourite with any pair and often even with Ace high. With these example hands, the standard move of check/raise on the flop : bet on the turn, is an option.

Pre-flop: Hero is BU with X X
3 folds, Hero raises, 1 fold, BB calls.

Flop: (4,5 SB) X X X
BB checks, Hero bets, BB raises

In this example, you don't play against his entire big blind defense range, but rather against hands that the opponent would play aggressively in exactly this given situation. Depending on the opponent, these are either made hands, draws or at times pure bluffs. For the standard move of call-flop-raise, raise-turn to be an option, you need a much stronger hand than in the first example. With bottom pair you are often no longer a favourite.

2. Worse hands could call you down (value, protection)

To evaluate if worse hands are calling you down, you have to think about the opponent's hand range and make assumptions on how he would play which hands on the later streets. You have to ask yourself the following questions:

• Are there even worse hands in his range?
• Is he still going to bring them to the showdown when facing aggression?
• How high is his 'Went to Showdown' value? And how do I stand against him?

Example 1: Villain: 35, 20, 1.5, 42

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 2 A

3 folds, BU raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 2, 8, 5
Hero checks, BU bets, Hero raises

Loose opponents with a high Went to Showdown value will give you little credit, especially on boards with draws or low cards. Here, your chances of being called down with bottom pairs or high-card hands are quite high, when you play the standard moves.

Example 2: Villain: (20, 14, 1.5, 33)

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 3 A
3 folds, BU raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 3, 9, K
Hero checks, BU bets, Hero calls

On dry boards against opponents with a low Went to Showdown value, it is  improbable to be called down to the showdown with worse hands, if holding a middle or bottom pair.

Made Hands Summary
If you are a favourite on the board and have a good chance of being called down by worse hands, you should play the standard steps with made hands.

The criteria are very often met with top pairs or better; not so often with middle pairs. With worse hands, you're rarely a favourite. In these cases you should use standard plays on draw heavy and/or low-card boards and especially against opponents aiming to reach the showdown, because as such, there's an increased chance to be called down by worse hands (e.g. A high).

Your goal is to win the pot without a showdown, while holding trailing hands that have many outs, as your equity is < 50% (otherwise you might raise for value, although this rarely happens in the heads-up stage).

Strong draws are ideal for these semi-bluffs, because your necessary fold equity for a profitable move decreases with the amount of outs (also check Semi-bluffs - Theory and Practice).

Ultimately you hope your aggressive game will urge the opponent to give up a better hand. Even when the opponent folds a worse hand, this could be positive for you, as he is folding outs instead of bluffing you out of the hand.

So how does a draw qualify for a standard move?

1. You're often behind, but have many outs

To make your decision, you have to consider the opponent's hand range. If you don't have a high card in your draw, you're most probably behind at this stage. With a strong draw you usually have many outs, but with an OESD your opponent might block outs and with a lower 1-card flush draw, it is quite possible for your opponent to have a higher flush draw.

2. Better hands could fold (fold equity)
 
This criterion is crucial with draws. You might often have both the best hand and a draw. Even though you block your opponent's outs with draws, and protection therefore plays a minor role, you don't want to make your opponent fold in this case.

Example:

Villain: 20, 16, 2, 38

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 2 A
2 folds, CO raises, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 4, 9, 8
Hero checks, CO bets, Hero calls.

Only worse hands will fold when facing aggression. Ace high won't fold that quickly on this board. But as you have a flush draw and worse hands like a KQ often only have 4 outs, the costs for a free card on the turn are small. You might even win an extra 1-3 BB if the opponent hits an out which gives you the flush.

For this reason, the standard move is not the optimal playing style here. The exception would be a weak opponent who would easily give up Ace high on the turn. In this case, there might be better hands which could fold, and would be able to play the standard steps of C/R flop, bet turn.

Draws Summary
If you are trailing on the flop but have many outs and there is a chance that better hands might fold, you should play draws following the standard strategy. These criteria are popular with flush draws and OESDs without high cards. For weaker draws, you will need greater fold equity (see pure bluffs above), and if you have a K or an A, there aren't many chances you'll get better hands to fold.

If you are in a situation where you feel your hand is apt for a standard move, you should first consider if the necessary criteria are met before you playing. The examples on the next page will help you how to realise this.

Examples with made hands

Criteria to be met before playing the standard moves with made hands are as follows:

• You are the favourite over the opponent's range.
• Worse hands might call down (value, protection).

Pre-flop: Hero is CO with X X
2 folds, Hero raises, BU calls, 2 folds.

Flop: (4.5 SB) Q, 8, 5
Hero bets, BU raises, Hero?

The standard line OOP with the initiative is bet/3-bet on the flop, bet on the turn. With which made hands and against which opponents are the criteria for playing the standard move fulfilled here?

a) Hero is CO with Q J or K K Villain: any

Is your hand the favourite?
Against the raising range of most opponents, in this example you have the best hand with top pair or better in most cases.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
You have a good chance of being called down to the showdown against any opponent with worse hands. In general any Q, any 8, possibly pockets and the 5 will fully pay you off.

As your opponent could have from 2 to 9 outs, it's sensible to either protect your hand, or make good draws pay the pot. You should keep the initiative and not give the opponent the chance of a free card.

• The criteria for a standard move are fulfilled here.

With Q J or K K you play 3-bet flop, bet turn.

Top pair and better are suitable for the standard move against any opponent on most boards.

b) Hero is CO with 9 9 or A 8 Villain: LAG (40/20/2.5/40)

Your opponent here is loose aggressive, so what does this change?

Is your hand the favourite?
Yes! This time, you only have 2nd pair and are raised on the flop. But against such an opponent, if you have the next pair down from top pair and a top kicker, you are the clear favourite against his range after the flop raise. Villain might play the queen, semi-bluffs, pure bluffs, the 8, the 5, pockets and probably even A high.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
The opponent is aggressive enough to raise any pair and aim for the showdown. He'll probably call down with any pair and probably with A high. It is improbable that such an opponent checks the turn after you if you give him the opportunity, nonetheless you cannot know for sure. It is therefore a good idea to keep the initiative.

• The criteria for a standard move are fulfilled here.

With 9 9 and A 8 you play 3-bet flop, bet turn against LAGs here.

c) Hero is CO with 9 9 or A 8 Villain: LPA (40, 10, 1, 35)

Your opponent here is loose-passive, what does this change?

Is your hand the favourite?
Against a passive player who isn't showdown-bound, things look a bit different. More often than not you are not ahead, as a big part of the opponent's range consists of top pair and better.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
If he does have a worse hand, it is rather improbable that he will call you down to the showdown when you play the standard moves, due to his low WTS value.

With this opponent, it is also improbable that he will try a free card raise, as such players usually play their draws passively.

• The criteria for a standard move are not fulfilled.

With 9 9 and A 8 you play bet/call flop against a LPA here.

With made hands weaker than top pair, and on certain low-card boards, the standard play (3-bet on the flop, bet on the turn) is the only optimal playing style against aggressive, showdown-bound players. You should do this if you are OOP with initiative and facing a raise on the flop. If you are instead raised by passive players, you should play passively, simply calling down as the standard. You should include a fold with mid-pair if you have a good read on your opponent, or if the board turns really ugly. Even if, on average, you are no longer favourite on the flop, you'll win often enough to justify the costs for your call down.

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with?
3 folds, BU raises, 1 fold, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 2, 3, 7
Hero checks, BU bets, Hero?

The standard play OOP without the initiative is check/raise on the flop, bet on the turn. With which made hands and against which opponents are the criteria for playing the standard move fulfilled here?

a) Hero is BB with A 2 or A 3 Villain: TAG - LAG

Is your hand the favourite?
Against a 38% open-raising range from the button, you have 61% equity on this board and are the clear favourite. On such low card boards, it doesn't make a big difference if you have bottom pair or top pair, as the opponent usually misses the flop completely with his range. You are therefore ahead with A2 almost as often as with A7.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
Here you have a good chance of being called down by worse hands, as K2s and often also A-high will go to the showdown, as long as the flush draw doesn't hit. Protection isn't necessary becaue the pot isn't big, and you can reverse dominate the opponent with your hand as he only has 3 outs against you with A high.

• The criteria for a standard move are fulfilled.

With A 2 or A3 you play check/raise flop, bet turn against TAGs or LAGs.

b) Hero is BB with A 5 or A 4 Villain: TAG - LAG

Here you only have A-high against the same opponents. What does this change?

Is your hand the favourite?
With A-high you are the favourite over a 38% open-raising range with about 53% equity.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
Things here are different to example 2a. It is improbable that you'll be called down by K-high or Q-high, whereas a better A high won't often fold. Protection doesn't have a high value here, as you are only a very marginal favourite and don't want to be faced with a raise on the turn.

• The second criterion is not fulfilled.

With A 4 or A 5 you play check/call on the flop against TAGs or LAGs.

If it is improbable that worse hands call down and better hands fold, it could also be better to play passively as a statistical favourite. In this way you also avoid being bluffed out by worse hands and don't risk a raise on the turn in case you are behind.

Pre-flop: Hero is BU with J 8
3 folds, Hero raises, 1 fold, BB calls.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 6, 9, J
BB checks, Hero bets, BB raises, Hero?

Turn: (3.25 BB) 4

The standard play IP, without the initiative is: call on the flop, raise on the turn. Against which opponents are the criteria for playing the standard move fulfilled here?

Is your hand the favourite?
With top pair, you are the clear favourite on the flop against the TAG's range after his check-raise. The opponent will play any pair and any good draw this way, or sometimes they might be pure bluffs.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
You have a good chance of being called down by worse hands if you play the standard move of call flop, raise turn. The opponent will often put you on a draw, bluff or a free showdown raise. As for you, you put pressure on draws and make them pay as much as possible, or also fold outs.

• The criteria for a standard move are fulfilled.

With J 8 you play call the flop, raise the turn against TAGs and LAGs.

Does the playing style change against a very passive player?

Is your hand the favourite?
This opponent will probably only play check/raise with top pairs or better on the flop. With top pair, middle kicker you are now no longer the favourite against the check-raising range of this opponent.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
Should the opponent have a worse hand, there's hardly any chance that he will also go to the showdown due to the low WTS value.

• Neither of the criteria for a standard move are fulfilled against this opponent.

With J 8 Hero plays bet/call the flop, call the turn against Rocks.

The opponent type is crucial for evaluating the situation. After most opponents who check-raise on the flop, you can play the standard move of call the flop, raise the turn if you have a top pair, middle kicker. Exceptions include playing against very passive opponents, because you no longer have the guarantee that playing aggressively is going to be profitable after a C/R on the flop.

Villain: TAG (23/17/2.2/33)

Pre-flop: Hero is BU with K K
1 fold, MP raises, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, MP caps, Hero calls.

Flop: (9.5 SB) A, 8, 3
MP bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (5.75 BB) 3
MP bets, Hero ?

The standard play IP without the initiative is call the flop, raise the turn.

Is your hand the favourite?
Against the capping range (TT+, AQs+, AKo) you have 56% equity and are therefore usually ahead.

Could worse hands call down? Do you have to protect your hand?
The pot is big and protection is therefore generally important, but due to the board structure and the pre-flop action, the opponent will never have more than 2 outs against you if he is behind. Worse hands will seldom call down (and better hands will never fold).

• Criterion 2 for a standard move is not sufficiently fulfilled.

With K K you play call the flop, call the turn.

In typical 'way ahead, way behind' situations, you shouldn't play the standard moves even if you are the favourite IP. Remain passive. You risk unwanted 3-bets, but remain in control thanks to your position and don't risk free cards either. Check the article: Way ahead - Way behind

Examples with Draws

Criteria which should be fulfilled for playing the standard moves with draws are:

• You are behind, but have many outs.
• Better hands might fold (fold equity).

Pre-flop: Hero is CO with?
2 folds, Hero raises, BU calls, 2 folds.

Flop: (4.5 SB) Q, 8, 5
Hero bets, BU raises, Hero?

The standard play OOP with the initiative is 3-bet the flop, bet the turn. With which draws and against which opponents are the criteria for playing the standard move fulfilled here?

a) Hero is CO with: K J or A K. Villain: weak semi-TAG (30/15/1.8/32)

Are you the underdog with this hand? Do you have many outs?
You can assume to be trailing in most cases, as the opponent only rarely makes pure bluffs and has more made hands in his range than draws. You almost always have many outs. The K, sometimes the J and every spade is already enough to give you the best hand in general.

Do you have fold equity against better hands?
Against this weak opponent, you have fold equity against better hands. The opponent is aggressive enough to raise small pairs on the flop, but will not very often bring them to the showdown if you apply pressure.

Most opponents won't fold a pair here. But as you could even consider raising for value with up to 15 outs, this shouldn't happen very often.

Exercise: Let's assume you have 12 outs in this situation and play 3-bet the flop, bet the turn. The opponent would never cap the flop. At the earliest, he will fold a better hand on the turn. In what percentage of cases would your opponent have to fold a better hand on the turn? The necessary tools for solving this problem can be found in the article about semi-bluffs: Semi-bluffs - Theory and practice

• The criteria are fulfilled.

With K J or A K you play 3-bet the flop, bet the turn against weak opponents.

b) Hero is CO with: K J or A K. Villain: LPA (40/15/1/43)

This time the opponent is loose-passive. What does this change?

Are you the underdog with your hand? Do you have many outs?
Against this opponent, you are also behind almost every time because he is passive enough to only raise pairs. However, you have all spades and often K as outs.

Do you have fold equity against better hands?
Against this opponent, you have no chance to get him to fold a better hand. He is passive and showdown-bound, and thus will only raise good hands and call down with them.

• The second criterion for a standard play is not fulfilled.

With K J or A K you play bet/call the flop, check/call the turn and check/fold the river, if your hand doesn't  improved against showdown-bound opponents here.

The more outs you have, the less fold equity is needed. Therefore you should play the standard move especially with strong draws. The less showdown value your own hand has, the earlier better hands might fold. This also favours a standard move semi-bluff.

Pre-flop: Hero is CO with A J
2 folds, Hero raises, BU calls, 2 folds.

Flop: (4.5 SB) 9, 8, T
Hero bets, BU raises, Hero?

Are you the underdog with your hand? Do you have many outs?
You could still be ahead against bluffs and draws, but most of the time you'll be playing against a pair. Against most better hands you still have up to 14 outs.

Do you have fold equity against better hands?
The opponent is very showdown-bound, so you will almost never get him to fold a better hand.

• The second criterion for a standard play is not fulfilled.

With A J you play bet/call the flop against LAGs and continue to play your hand passively with the intention to make the showdown.

Pre-flop: Hero is CO with 8 7
2 folds, Hero raises, BU calls, 2 folds.

Flop:(4,5 SB) T, 7, 9
Hero bets, BU raises, Hero?

This time you have a pair as well as the draw. Does this change anything?

Even with many outs, are you the underdog with your hand?
The chance to be ahead isn't bad, even though you often play against a higher pair.

Do you have fold equity against better hands?
As you have the bottom pair, it's out of question to think better hands will fold. Furthermore, you will rarely be called down to the showdown with a worse hand. To give a draw a free card isn't a real danger, as the opponent is aggressive enough to bluff his draws through, and you'll also block many outs with your own draw.

• The second criterion for a standard play is not fulfilled here.

With 8 7 you play bet/call down the flop against LAGs here, unless your hand improves.

If you have showdown value as well as a strong draw (e.g. A-high or K-high flush draws, small pair), it isn't possible to get many opponents to fold better hands. In this case, you should simply play your draw passively. No worse hand will call down in such situations and no better hand will fold. Your equity isn't above 50%, not even with strong draws. Neither should you risk a raise on the turn, as it would make the hand unnecessarily expensive.

This playing style is especially sensible against aggressive and showdown-bound players. As soon as you see the slightest chance of better hands folding, you should play the standard moves. All you need is very little fold equity and many outs.

Conclusion

With a playable hand, the standard play is correct in most cases. Nevertheless, you've seen how a different approach could increase your edge over certain opponents even further. You always have to evaluate if the use of a standard play is called for. Only after doing so, will you be able to use the standard plays in an optimal way and get the greatest value from your hands.

LINKS
Related articles: Standard playing styles against one opponent Semi-bluffs - Theory and practice Forum discussions: Discuss the content of this article in the forum