Fundamentals for the NL Post-Flop game

As described in the pre-flop article, No Limit Hold'em is a very situational game. It is virtually impossible to offer a fixed betting sequence for the different situations, because the opponents range of action is so wide compared to fixed limit play, where your opponents can either call, fold or raise. In No Limit Hold'em the bet size isn't fixed and can range from a minimum bet to an all-in. Therefore, the following guidelines will be geared to your hand's strength and rather show principal concepts to maximize benefit and minimize loss.

It is essential for understanding this article that you have read and understood the „Theoretical Fundamentals for NL Pre-Flop", especially the concepts in chapter 1.

Basic Concepts

To follow this chapter, you need to be familiar with these concepts:

• Out and discounted outs
• Odds and pot odds
• Implied odds and reverse implied odds
• Equity

You'll find these concepts in the Outs, Odds, Implied Odds and Reverse Implied Odds article.

Before we start, let's have a short look at three more important concepts:

Protection and Bet Sizes

The concept of protection follows one of these two aims:

• To reduce the number of opponents and increase the chance to win the hand.
• To decrease your opponents odds / implied odds in order to force them into crying calls that are profitable for you.

Obviously it is only reasonable to protect a hand that is likely to be the best hand. There is no gain in protecting a hand that is unlikely to be the best hand.

In this regard, have a look at the bet sizes. As already described, in No Limit Hold'em you can choose the size of your bet yourself. So what odds do we bring our opponent with different bets?

Chose the size of your bet depending on your opponents possible hand range. I'll come back to this topic in the following chapters.

Pot Control

When playing a weaker hand (with which you still want to see the showdown), it is essential in NL Hold'em to keep the pot small. Otherwise you risk to lose your whole stack. If you risk your whole stack every time you have a made hand, you'll inevitably lose money. It is impossible in NL to simply call down, for this is usually a very pricey and bold venture, as demonstrated in this example:

Stacks: Hero and Villain, 100BB each.

Pre-flop raise: 4 BB´s + 1,5 BB (from the Blinds).
Pot size on flop: 9,5 BB.
Bet and following Call on the flop: 7 BB each.
Pot on the turn: 23,5 BB.
Bet and following Call on the turn: 20 BB each.
Pot on the River: 63,5 BB.
Bet and following Call on the river: 45 BB each.
Pot on the Showdown: 153,5 BB.

To see the showdown, we put a total of 76 BB into the pot. This is approximately ¾ of our stack.

When playing weaker hands that still have showdown value, we have the following options to keep the pot as small as possible:

• Choose adequate Betting Sequences (see: Classification of Hands).
• Adjust the bets accordingly. A pot-size bet increases the pot size quickly, while half a pot-size does not do so at all.

This concept is the exact opposite of protection. It is impossible to both keep the pot small and at the same time give your opponent bad odds. Which of these concepts should be applied, depends on the situation; there's absolutely no general answer to that question.

Continuation Bets

A continuation bet is a bluff bet, made by the pre-flop aggressor (the one who raised pre-flop) with the aim to immediately win the pot, without having hit anything on the flop. It is pretty common to not hit a useful card on the flop even though you raised pre-flop. Fortunately your opponent is likely to miss too. Yet as the pre-flop aggressor you have indicated a strong hand, so chances your opponent folds to a raise leaving the pot to you are pretty good.

Size of the Continuation Bet:
Of course an adequate price-performance ratio for the size of the continuation bet is necessary, meaning that on the one hand it should be extensive enough to scare away an opponent who didn't hit anything on the flop, but on the other hand it should be small, so it doesn't cost you too much in case you don't succeed with your bluff.

A good empirical size for a continuation bet is ½ of the pot's content, because your opponent only has to fold in one of three cases to make your bet profitable. Yet a ½ of the pot sized bet signalizes you hit something and your opponent is likely to fold if he didn't.

For the beginning, I suggest you only play „fit or fold" to keep the number of continuation bets with mere Overcards or the like at a very low level or even completely avoid it against more than one opponent. Very few opponents are attentive enough to recognize that you only play strong hands on the flop. By and by you'll start to find out in which situations such a bet is worthwhile. And by and by you will increase the number of continuation bets.

With continuation bets, there are two essential forces to be reckoned with: Firstly to evaluate how likely your opponent is to call and secondly what the board looks like. Opponents that are likely to call are easily spotted by their „Went to Showdown value" when using PokerTracker. The higher this value the higher the chances this opponent will call and the harder it is to place a successful bluff. The texture of the board is an indicator for the chances an opponent hit something on the flop. T, T, 2 is significantly better for a bluff than a flop with J, 9, 8.

General principles of NL Post-flop Play

This chapter is about the general theory of NL post-flop play. Practical application and examples will follow in chapter 3 and 4.

When should I bet?

(In the following a bet can always also be substituted for a raise)

Of course, this is always a crucial question. Here are some guidelines to help you determine if you should bet / raise:

• Is there a fair chance my opponent will fold to a bet? This question is only interesting when thinking about bluffing or semi-bluffing. For the beginning, bluffing should be avoided (except maybe the already discussed continuation bet). Semi-Bluffs are illustrated in chapter 4 „Drawing Hands"

• Is it possible my opponent holds a weaker hand, that he will call with? If there is no such hand possible, a bet would be unprofitable if you don't want to bluff. (On the lower limits I recommend NOT to bluff!)

What bet size should I chose?

At first you should think about the following questions:

• Do I want my opponent to call or to rather fold his hand? As a basic principle, the more I want him to call, the smaller my bet should be.
• Is the board likely to offer a draw? Can I afford giving my opponent good odds / implied odds?
  The more dangerous the board is, the higher do I have to place my bet in order to protect my hand sufficiently.
• If I bet, am I pot committed afterwards so that I would have to call another raise? If this is the case, I might as well raise to a high level myself, so either my opponent or I go all-in.
• Does my opponent tend to call? Does he also call high raises when holding poor hands? Obviously, the more likely my opponent is to call, the higher can I place my bet to gain a maximum value out of my hand.

It is impossible to clearly state in what situation which bet size is ideal. It too much depends on either hand, board and opponent. I will only give general guidelines on how to act best in the beginning. This knowledge is the foundation for you to build on, refining your skills as you move your way up.

• Always bet a minimum of half the pot's size. Smaller bets give your opponent the opportunity to call with good odds. Additionally, opponents on the lower limits tend to call relatively big bets with relatively poor hands.
• The more dangerous the board is, i.e. the more likely it is to offer a draw, the higher your bet should be. Doing this, your opponent gets bad odds / implied odds if he is on a possible draw. The bet size should vary between ½ and 1 times the pot size, depending on how dangerous the board is.

How to interpret the meaning of a certain bet size of my opponent's raise?

Again, this is very much depending on the opponent and the situation. However, a general rule is:

The bigger your opponents bet, the better the hand he holds!

This may sound very trivial at first, but especially beginners often ignore this simple guideline. They tend to think: „The bigger my opponents bet, the higher the chances he is trying to bluff. The smaller his bet, the more he wants me to call it." While this might be true in some situations, it is definitely wrong as a general statement.

When should I fold?

Obviously, the absolute strength of my hand is by far not as interesting as the strength of it compared to the possible hand my opponent holds.

First of all, ask yourself the following questions:

• What information did I get pre-flop and on the prior streets? Did my opponent's actions indicate strength? And again: the more strength my opponent demonstrates, the stronger the hand he holds. (There isn't a lot of bluffing on the lower limits)

• What's the board's texture? Is it likely my opponent hit something? The greater the chances that my opponent hit something, the more I will consider folding my hand.

• What are my odds for a possible call? The worse the odds, the more often do I need to be ahead to make the call profitable; hence, the worse the odds, the more often do I have to fold an average hand.

• When holding a hand I'd like to see the showdown with: how much more will I have to pay to actually get there? As described above, in No limit Hold'em a call down can be very expensive. It's usually no use calling a bet on one street, when you assume the next street will bring another bet that you wouldn't want to call. Folding in the first place is a real money saver here.

If you should actually fold of course depends on whether you think you have a stronger hand than your opponent or not. Because of the vast costs of a call down, it is impossible in No Limit Hold'em to see the showdown with a weak hand for a little money. Accordingly, when holding a poor hand and an opponent demonstrates the will to fight (no matter if this is by calling or raising), you should definitely lean towards folding.

Classification of Hands

In order to decide how to act in a particular situation, you firstly have to be aware of the value of your hand. The different hands are roughly grouped into five categories. Of course, the strength of a hand is likely to vary from street to street. Because of this, the same hand can switch between categories, depending on the situation. (For example, a set on a 4-connected board of a single suite certainly is not a good hand against four opponents any more.)

The four factors determining the category of a hand are:

• Character of the hand (Set, Pair, Draw, etc.)
• The board's texture (3-suited, 4-connected, etc.)
• Number of opponents
• Pre-flop Action (opponent's Hand Range)

With each of these hand categories, you'll follow a different aim in the post-flop game. Look at the five categories:

Strong Made Hands

Strong Made Hands form the category of hands that almost guarantee you are ahead of your opponents. This category contains sets, straights or flushes, but also hands like top two pair (of course always considering the four factors above)

Have a look at some examples:

Flop: Q, 8, 2

Hero holds: Q, Q

In this situation, Hero holds the nuts (set of queens). On this board, no better hand is possible.

Hero holds: 2, 2

In this case, Hero holds the third nuts (set of deuces). Only a Set of Queens or a Set of Eights beat him. Even though Hero does not hold the best hand possible, this still counts as a strong made hand, for it is very unlikely that an opponent hit another set. (Set over set situations of course are possible, but still they are very rare. It is absolutely no shame to lose your whole stack in this situation.)

Flop: Q, J, T

Hero holds: Q, Q

Again, Hero holds a set of queens, but this time, it's not the Nuts. The board shows possibilities for a Straight or a Flush. You have to evaluate the situation depending on the number of opponents and their pre-flop action. Against a single opponent, Hero is likely to still be ahead, so the hand would be categorized as a "strong made hand", but his chances fade with the number of opponents seeing the flop. If, for example, six other players are still in the hand, Hero's hand does not fall into the group of "strong made hands" any more; chances are too big someone holds a flush or a straight.

Medium Made Hands

Medium made hands are hands that have showdown value, yet are not strong enough to risk the whole stack. The reason why you don't want to risk your stack for these hands is as follows:

There are not too many possible hands an opponent could hold, that we would beat.

It is unlikely that an opponent holds a weaker hand and is still willing to invest his whole stack. In this case, we would win a small pot if he folds, but lose a large pot if he calls or raises.

This category includes firstly top pair (with high kicker) as well a weak two pairs. Sets and top pairs on extremely dangerous boards also fall into this category. (See the last example above)

Some Examples:

Flop: K, Q, 3

Hero holds: A, K

Hero holds top pair top kicker (TPTK). Even though it is probable he's ahead, there are some hands that will clearly beat him, like for instance sets or two pairs.

Hero holds: Q, 3

Hero hit a two pair. Again, he's ahead in most cases. Other than in the previous example, there's one more hand Hero will beat: AK. All the other hands that beat him in example 1 will again beat him this time. A weak two pair is generally not much better than a TPTK.

Marginal Made Hands

With a marginal made hand, Hero has practically no showdown value against a resisting opponent, yet it still is a made hand.

This category includes all pairs (apart from top pair with good kicker), but also medium made hands on very dangerous boards.

Some examples:

Flop: Q, T, 4

Hero holds: T, 9

In this Situation Hero holds middle pair with relatively low kicker. This hand has virtually no showdown value, there's almost no worse hand that could pay him out.

Flop: T, 9, 8

Hero holds: T, K

Here, Hero holds a top pair with second best kicker, but the board is suited and connected, i.e. holds best opportunities for straights and flushes, as well a good chance for pairs. Hero will only beat one pairs lower than TT with king kicker.

Drawing Hands

Drawing hands are hands that have now showdown value right now, but are likely to improve with one (or more) hits on the board to a strong hand. Mainly this means straight draws and flush draws.

A strong drawing hand is a draw with a least 8 clean Outs, like for example an open ended straight draw (OESD, 8 Outs) or a flush draw (9 Outs).

The term "weak drawing hand" refers to draws with less than 8 Outs, like, for example, a gutshot straight draw (4 Outs)

Some examples:

Flop: A, 6, 3

Hero holds: 5, 4

In this case Hero holds an OESD. Every 2 and every 7 give Hero the nut straight, so he has 8 outs to the nuts.

Hero holds: 2, 4

Here, Hero holds a gutshot straight draw. Every 5 brings him a straight, so he has 4 Outs.

Flop: A, 8, 3

Hero holds:. K, 2

In this case, Hero has got a nut flush draw and therefore 9 outs.

Trash Hands

"Trash Hands" is the group of hands that neither have showdown value at the current street, nor the chance of gaining it throughout the game.

Some examples:

Flop: A, T, 2

Hero holds: K, 5

Hero has nothing of value and the chances this will change later on are slim to none. (Even when the turn shows a king, Hero could already be beat by an ace)

Hero holds: 8, 3

Same case as above; even worse. A typical trash hand.

Aims for the Post-flop game and their realisation.

All the categories just described have the same aim in common:

Profit maximation in case you hold the best hand and limitation of loss in case you hold the inferior hand.

The priorities vary depending on the hand category. The stronger a hand, the more important becomes the profit maximation while limiting the loss takes a back seat. The weaker a hand, the more important the limitation of loss will become while maximizing the profit becomes negligible.

Strong Made Hands

When holding a strong made hand, the top priority is to get as much money as possible into the pot. But keep in mind that even these hands might need the proper protection in case of a dangerous board.

The best case scenario with such a hand is winning the opponent's full stack.

There are different methods to achieve this:

• "Slow play" means to play a strong hand weakly, signalizing a poor hand, and thereby bringing your opponent to fill the pot voluntarily.
• Aggressive play to increase the pot size.

At first have a look at slow play:
For the following reasons, I do not recommend slow playing on the lower limits:

• The opponents on the lower limits will usually fill the pot anyway, as soon as they hit something.
• There's a fair chance that your opponent will not response to your slow play the way you'd like him to and the pot remains small.
• With a very dangerous board you have to protect anyway. Because you hold a strong hand, our opponent has very high implied odds. (We cannot simply fold our hand in case he hit his draw)

Consistent betting and raising usually brings the greatest value. In general a bet size of ½ - 1 times the pot is adequate, always depending on how much your opponents are willing to call. On a very dangerous board where you suggest your opponents could be on a draw, you would usually bet about 2/3 - 1 times the pot size in order to give your opponents bad odds / implied odds.

Sample hand 1

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.5/1 Dollar)

SB ($99)
Hero ($99)
Villain (UTG) ($95)
CO ($135)
Button ($145)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, 4.
Villain (UTG) calls $1.00, 3 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: ($2.50) 5, T, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.00, Villain (UTG) raises to $4.00, Hero raises to $15.00, Villain (UTG) calls $11.

Turn: ($32.50) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $25.00, Villain (UTG) calls $25.00.

River: ($82.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $58.00, Villain (UTG) calls $54.

In this hand Hero hits a flush on the flop. Even though his hand isn't the nuts, he holds a "strong made hand" and it is unlikely anyone is ahead of him. The best case scenario would be an All-In situation on the flop. But in order to not scare Villain away, we only bet about 2/3 the pot's size to build up the pot on the one hand, and to protect our hand against A and K (and possibly a Set that could draw to a Full House). Villain places a Minraise (the smallest possible raise). For the same reasons we bet on the flop, we decide to raise to about pot size (We give Villain in this example odds of 1:2.1). Villain calls.

The turn does not change the situation. We still have a great chance of holding the better hand, so we bet again for reasons of pot building and protection.

On the river the pot is $82.5 and Villains has $54 left. We push for a value all-in. An alternative in this situation would be a smaller value bet of about $30 to increase the chance of a call, but on the lower limits most opponents call a push even with significantly worse hands.

Sample hand 2

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.25/0.5 Dollar)

MP3 ($51)
Villain2 (CO) ($73)
Button ($51)
Villain1 (SB) ($56)
Hero ($50)
UTG ($86)
UTG+1 ($15)
UTG+2 ($75)
MP1 ($55)
MP2 ($75)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 5. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
4 folds, MP2 calls $0.50, MP3 calls $0.50, Villain2 (CO) calls $0.50, 1 fold, Villain1 (SB) completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($2.50) 8, 7, 6 (5 players)
Villain1 (SB) bets $2, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, Villain2 (CO) calls $8, Villain1 (SB) calls $6.

Turn: ($26,50) 3 (3 players)
Villain1 (SB) checks, Hero bets $15, Villain2 (CO) raises to $65.50 (All-In), Villain1 (SB) folds, Hero calls $36 (All-In).

In this hand Hero flops the second nut straight (the nut straight would be 9T). Still, in all likelihood we hold the best hand, so we raise to about pot size. This is, because we want to get a good amount of money out of our opponents and of course to protect our hand against a 5 or 9. A 5 would introduce the problem of a 4-connected board which would make a straight obvious for our opponents and thus would certainly prevent them from further payments. A nine would cause the same trouble. Also, a 9 would mean every T will beat us and our hand would become almost valueless.
Two people call and the turn shows a completely harmless card. For the same reasons as before, we bet again, this time about 2/3 of the pot's size, which is a good compromise between protection and pot building. Of course we call Villain2's push.

Medium Made Hands

When playing medium made hands it is important to find a good middle course between minimizing the loss (in case we are behind) and maximizing the gain (in case we are ahead).

Medium hands often have the characteristic to either win a small pot or lose a big pot.

This becomes obvious when asking the following question:

"Would an opponent with a weaker hand go all the way to the showdown, when I represent strength?"

This is usually not the case with medium made hands. If we, for instance, hold top pair top kicker (TPTK), our opponent can at most hold top pair with a worse kicker to still be beat by us. Yet top pair with a low kicker is usually not the hand one would see the showdown with, because it's simply too expensive to call high bets on three streets or go all-in.

This leads to an important conclusion:

It is usually wrong to invest the whole stack with a medium made hand!

So playing medium hands is in general about finding the right compromise between extracting value, protection and pot control. On the very low limits (NL $0.01/0.02 to NL $0.15/0.25) pot control is not yet too crucial. This is mainly due to the fact that weak opponents tend to even call their poor hands down to the showdown. When moving on to the higher limits with more skilled opponents, pot control becomes more and more important.

To keep the pot small, it's often handy to help oneself with the various bet sequences. I cannot cover all of them, for it would go beyond the scope of this article, but I will give you some general advice and show you a couple of examples to give you an idea.

Firstly, the pot can be controlled and kept small by the size of your bets. Why place a pot size bet (PSB) on a harmless board, when you could as well place a half pot size bet (HPSB). The advantages of smaller bets are that firstly even opponents with weak(er) hands are likely to call and secondly the pot remains small thus we limit our loss in case we are behind.

Another alternative to keep the pot small would be using a suitable bet sequence. In the following examples I will show you some interesting bet sequences.

Generally speaking, you can almost always bet medium made hands on the flop and the turn, when playing on the micro limits (as long as none of your opponents fights back). This fills the pot and also protects your hand against possible draws. The size of your bet greatly depends on the board texture. The more dangerous a board is (i.e. the more cards the next street could show that you wouldn't want to see), the bigger your bet should be. Chose a bet size between ½ the pot size and 1 pot size.

On the river, this is a little different. First of all, ask yourself:

Are there worse hands than mine that would still call our bet? If this is the case, we can place a value bet. The more likely an opponent is to call, the higher our bet can be. Again, the size should vary between ½ and 1 times the pot size. If it is, on the other hand, unlikely an opponent holding a worse hand will call our bet, a bet obviously is in vain. We now have to chose between playing check / call and check / fold. Here are some guidelines in what situations either of these moves is suitable:

• Did the river complete many draws? If this is the case, we are probably behind and should consider folding against a large bet. If this is not the case, it is possible your opponent is still on his draw, probably trying to bluff us. In this situation, we should rather tend to call.

• Does your opponent play aggressively? The more aggressive an opponent is, the more we should tend to call his bet.

• How big is my opponent's bet? What are my odds if I call? The bigger an opponents bet, the greater the chances he holds a strong hand. If he bets ½ the pot's size, we need to be ahead in 1 in 4 cases. If he however bets a full pot size, we have to be ahead in 1 in 3 cases to justify a call.

Summary:

• Playing medium made hands is about finding the right compromise between extracting value, protection and pot control. While the latter does not play much of a role on the micro limits.
• As long as no opponent fights back, you should play a medium made hand aggressively in order to gain value and to protect against draws. (Bet size between 0.5 and 1.25 pot size)
• It is usually wrong to get stacked with a medium made hand.
• As a beginner facing a difficult situation, you should rather tend to fold, than to call

Sample Hand 3:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.05/0.1 Dollar)

Button ($11)
SB ($16)
BB ($11)
UTG ($10)
Hero ($10)
Villain (CO) ($12)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, Q.
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.4, Villain (CO) calls $0.40, 3 folds.

Flop: ($0.95) A, 6, 3 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.8, Villain (CO) calls $0.8, UTG folds.

Turn: ($2.55) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.5, Villain (CO) calls $1.5.

River: ($5.55) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Villain (CO) bets $3, Hero calls $3.

In this example Hero raises to 4 BB in MP, holding AQo. The flop brings us top pair with second best kicker. It is probable we hold the best hand, so we bet between 2/3 and 1 pot size. (We obviously need to protect against flush draws). Villain calls. The turn shows a rag (a card that is unlikely to help anyone). We bet once again between 2/3 and 1 pot size and Villain calls.

The river brings another rag. We still have a fair chance of being ahead (especially on the lower limits). The question is, if we can dare to place a value bet or rather switch to check / call. Because of the dangerous flop and Villain's passive play, we put him on a draw. For this reason, we decide to check and wait for his reaction. Now Villain bets $3, so we have odds of 1:2.85 for a call (we need to be ahead in about 1 in 4 cases). Because Villains range of hands goes from a weak ace to a bluff with busted draw, we decide to call.

Sample Hand 4:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.10/0.25 Dollar)

UTG ($12)
UTG+1 ($42)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($25)
Villain (MP3) ($31)
CO ($7)
Button ($21)
SB ($24)
Hero ($45)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, J. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
UTG calls $0.25, 1 fold, MP1 calls $0.25, MP2 calls $0.25, MP3 calls $0.25, 3 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.35) J, 9, K (5 players)
Hero bets $1.2, UTG calls $1.2, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $1.2, Villain (MP3) raises to $5, Hero ...

This is a common situation on the low limits. We sit in big blind and receive J9o. UTG and the whole MP limps in, we check. The flop brings us bottom two pair, which is, as described earlier, not much stronger than TPTK.

Because it's still possible we are ahead, we place a nearly pot-sized bet. We get two callers behind us and Villain raises to $5. This puts us in a pretty nasty situation. The board shows possibilities for straight draws, a complete straight, as well as better two pairs or one pairs. There's still the chance we are ahead, but with two callers and one raiser (who indicates a strong hand by raising after one bet and two calls) it is pretty slim. For this reason, we decide to fold.

Sample Hand 5:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.10/0.25 Dollar)

Villain (CO) ($31)
Button ($7)
SB ($24)
BB ($23)
UTG ($26)
Hero ($36)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, Q.
1 fold, Hero raises to $1, Villain (CO) calls $1, 3 folds.

Flop: ($2.35) 9, J, Q (2 players)
Hero bets $2, Villain (CO) raises to $6, Hero folds.

I this example we raise first, holding AQs. The CO calls and two people see the flop that brings us TPTK. Because of the dangerous board, we decide to place a bet near pot size (protection). Villain raises to $6. The following hands are possible straight draws,flush draws, set, two pair, overpair, top pair, bluff.

Against this hand range we either are behind or get very bad implied odds. Because it is important for the beginner, not to play in case of doubt, we decide to call. We are out of position (OOP) and have no idea where we stand. A call would only lead to an even more difficult situation on the turn.

Sample Hand 6:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.02/0.04 Dollar)

MP3 ($6.06)
Hero ($4.60)
Button ($3)
SB ($2.04)
BB ($1.32)
UTG ($5.14)
UTG+1 ($5.20)
MP1 ($4.68)
MP2 ($8.90)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, A. SB posts a blind of $0.02.
4 folds, MP3 calls $0.04, Hero raises to $0.2, Button calls $0.20, 2 folds, MP3 folds.

Flop: ($0.50) 9, 8, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.25, Button raises to $0.75, Hero calls $0.50.

Turn: ($2) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.05 (All-In), Button calls $2.05.

In this Situation we hold AA, so it's needless to say we raise pre-flop. The button calls and two people see the flop. We hold an overpair on a paired board. We are beat by every 8 and every pocket pair of nines, but these hands are pretty rare. And because the board doesn't make us vulnerable to draws, it's no big deal to give away free cards.

Because we are the pre-flop raiser, have a strong hand on the flop and want our opponent to fill the pot, we decide to bet about half the pot size. This is a good size, because we want our opponent to call, plus we're not afraid of any cards in particular on the turn (what card would change the situation?).

In this example, the opponent responses to our bet with a raise, symbolizing a playable hand. Still, only the named hands will beat us, we still have the lead against many other plausible hands like pocket pairs (except 88 and 99) or A9, maybe even high card ace, that look reasonable on this board.

The question now is: how to get the most out of our opponent if we are ahead? A straight 3-bet on the flop often looks too strong and will scare away other players, so we decide for a call with the aim to push him all-in on the turn (which would then mean a mere PSB).

Sample hand 7:

Villain (CO) ($23)
Button ($23)
SB ($57)
BB ($25)
UTG ($15)
UTG+1 ($24)
UTG+2 ($12)
Hero ($25)
MP2 ($46)
MP3 ($27)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q, A. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
2 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, Villain (CO) calls $1.25, 3 folds, UTG+2 calls $1.

Flop: ($4.10) 3, A, 9 (3 players)
UTG+2 checks, Hero bets $3, Villain (CO) calls $3, UTG+2 folds.

Turn: ($10.10) 4 (2 players)
Villain (CO) checks, Hero checks.

In this example, Hero holds AQo in MP1 and makes a standard pre-flop raise. Two people call and three players see the flop of 3A9 rainbow. We hit top pair with second best kicker, so we bet again about 2/3 the pot size. Villain calls.

The turn brings a rag, that probably didn't help anybody, and Villain checks. Now, the concept of pot control comes into play. The question is: What possible hand that we would still beat, would call? The flop was extremely dry (no draw possible), so Villain hast to have a "made hand" in order to call us on the flop. Playing a check behind now brings the following advantages:

• Villain has a weak hand and would probably fold against another bet. With a check behind on the turn we can hope he will bluff or value bet on the river. So we can still get value from a poor hand.
• We avoid a check-raise in case we are behind. This would lead to an unpleasant situation: We have a hand with showdown value but a there still is a range of hands that would beat us (i.e. AK, 2-pair, set or better). With the check behind we keep the pot small and avoid a potentially difficult situation on the turn.

When we play check behind here, we do it with the aim of calling river bet (if it's within a certain range of course. We would still fold against an all-in). As a guideline, we will call every river bet as long as our odds remain better than 1:2. So that we only have to be successful in 1 in 3 cases (33%) to justify the call.

Marginal Made Hands

With a marginal made hand, minimizing the loss is top priority for these hands usually don't have any showdown value. As soon as the opponent shows resistance, one should almost always prefer a fold.

Generally you can bet these hands on the flop (with a maximum of 3 opponents), hoping to directly win the pot. Of course, the success of this greatly depends on the board's texture. The easier a draw is possible and the more Broadway cards show up, the more likely the chance one of your opponents hit something, they would call with.

Sample hand 8:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.25/0.5 Dollar)

MP3 ($51)
Villain2 (CO) ($73)
Button ($51)
SB ($56)
Hero ($50)
UTG ($86)
UTG+1 ($15)
UTG+2 ($75)
MP1 ($55)
MP2 ($75)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, T. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
4 folds, MP2 calls $0.50, MP3 calls $0.50, Villain2 (CO) calls $0.50, 1 fold, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($2.50) A, T, 3 (5 players)
Villain1 (SB) checks, Hero checks, ...

In this example Hero holds T9s, with the flop bringing him a middle pair with bad kicker. Four opponents see the flop, making it very unlikely we are ahead, especially because of the ace. Now, every ace will beat us, as well as every other T with a better kicker. So we decide to play check / fold.

Sample hand 9:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.02/0.04 Dollar)

MP3 ($8)
CO ($5)
Hero ($11)
SB ($3)
BB ($9)
UTG ($4)
UTG+1 ($5)
UTG+2 ($2)
MP1 ($13)
MP2 ($7)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, T. SB posts a blind of $0.25.
5 folds, MP3 calls $0.04, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.04, 1 fold, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.14) K, T, 3 (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.08, SB fold, BB fold.

In this situation Hero holds QTs on the Button and the flop brings a middle pair with middle kicker. Both opponents check, which makes it likely we have the best hand, so we decide to bet. And in this case, both opponents fold. If one of the would check-raise after our bet, we would immediately fold. If one of them would have betted in the first place, we would fold as well. But because the opponents demonstrated weakness this time, we can assume we are ahead.

Drawing Hands

Weak Drawing Hands

For beginners, my suggestion for weak drawing hands would simply be to play check / fold. These hands do not only offer little value, you can also easily lose a lot of money by playing them.

Strong Drawing Hands

If you should play a strong drawing hand greatly depends on the overall situation and your opponents. Generally we have the choice between fold, call and a semi-bluff raise. First of all, some basic rules when dealing with strong drawing hands:

A semi-bluff raise is the right decision, when there is a high chance your opponent will fold to a raise. This is especially true for very strong draws (12 or more outs) because even if he calls your bet, you have enough outs that can help you on the next street. A positive side effect of a called semi-bluff is that the pot is already big. So in case we hit our out we can place much larger value bets.

Calling is appropriate, when the opponent is unlikely to fold to a raise and you also have enough implied odds for a call. (The opponent probably has the better hand, that we can still extract money from in case we complete our hand)

You should fold a strong drawing hand when you have only slight chances to force your opponent to fold and your implied odds are insufficient for a call.

Sample hand 10:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.10/0.25 Dollar)

MP ($15)
CO ($25)
Villain 2 (Button) ($22)
Hero ($24)
Villain1 (BB) ($62)
UTG ($9)

Preflop: Hero is SB with T, K.
UTG calls $0.25, 1 folds, CO calls $0.25, Villain 2 (Button) calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.15, Villain1 (BB) raises to $0.75, 1 folds, CO calls $0.75, Button calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.75.

Flop: ($4.25) A, 2, 5 (4 players)
Hero checks, Villain1 (BB) bets $2.00, CO folds, Villain 2 (Button) raises to $4.00, Hero fold, ...

Here, Hero holds KTs, sitting in Small Blind Position. Because of the good odds, he calls pre-flop. The flop brings us the second nut flush, but we see the flop together with four opponent, among them a pre-flop raiser. The pre-flop action and the ace on the flop make it very probable that at least one of the many opponents now holds a pair of aces. There's almost no fold equity for a semi-bluff raise, so we merely check. Villain1 place a HPSB, followed by Villain2's PSB.

With all the strength demonstration, a raise would have no fold equity, while a call introduces the problem of another raise by Villain1 behind us. For these reasons, we fold.

Sample hand 11:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.02/0.04 Dollar)

UTG+1 ($5)
Villain (MP1) ($6)
MP2 ($4)
MP3 ($4)
CO ($1)
Hero ($4)
SB ($5)
BB ($2)
UTG ($5)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, Q.
2 folds, Villain (MP1) calls $0.04, 1 fold, MP3 calls $0.04, CO calls $0.04, Hero calls $0.04, 1 fold, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.22) K, 5, 7 (5 players)
BB checks, Villain (MP1) bets $0.08, MP3 calls $0.08, CO calls $0.08, Hero calls $0.08, BB folds.

Turn: ($0.54) T (3 players)
Villain (MP1) bets $0.5, MP3 folds, Hero raises to $1.5, ...

In this sample hand, Hero holds QJs and calls pre-flop. The flop brings us a flush draw and 9 clean outs. Villain bets and two players call before us. Because of this action a raise wouldn't bring us enough fold equity; because of the good odds, we naturally decide to call. Our odds for this are 1:5.75 (for a 9-outer we need about 1:4 for a sound call), so we don't even need to worry about the implied odds.

The turn completes our flush, so we can straightly raise after Villain's pot-size bet, because we can assume to be ahead now.

Sample hand 12:

No Limit Hold'em (Blinds: 0.10/0.25 Dollar)

Villain (BB) ($52.25)
UTG ($21.83)
MP ($26.20)
Button ($22.42)
Hero ($24.75)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, T. Hero posts a blind of $0.10.
UTG calls $0.25, 1 fold, Button calls $0.25, Hero (poster) completes, Villain (BB) checks.

Flop: ($1) 4, 6, 2(4 players)
Hero bets $1, Villain (BB) raises to $3, UTG folds, Button folds, Hero calls.

Hero holds T9s, sitting in small blind position. We complete and four players see the flop. We now hold a flush draw and decide to place a pot-size bet. There was no serious pre-flop action and the board shows only small cards so there's a fair chance of winning the pot immediately. In this case, however, we are raised by Villain. For a sound call we need odds of 1:4, but we only have 1:2.5. However Villain's raise indicates strength, so that we can assume to get some more value in case we complete our flush on the next street. So in this case, our implied odds are higher than our odds.

If we start from the assumption that we hit another spade on the turn, thus completing our flush, we will probably get another HPSB from Villain, our implied odds increase to 1:4,5, justifying a call.

Trash Hands

For the beginner it is appropriate to simply check / fold trash hands. Bluffs are rarely profitable on the Micro Limits so I suggest not to play them.

Afterword

This article should have shown you the most essential basis to compete on the NL Micro Limits. Very helpful and in my opinion inevitable is regular studying and posting sample hands in the forum. Furthermore you should attend the free coachings concerning your limit.

All of this serves the overall understanding of the game and gives you the ability to avoid and grasp certain mistakes.

We are planning to build up a library containing separate articles for the different hand categories that will feature way more detailed descriptions and more examples for the different situations in play.