Riverplay part 3 - out of position

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Riverplay part 3 - Out of Position

from MiiWiin

After we talked about the basics of playing on the river in the first column, we discussed some examples where hero was in position in the second column. Today we want to discuss our options when we are playing out of position. Unfortunately we have very little information and have to act before everyone else when we are playing out of position.

THE DISADVANTAGE OF BEING OUT OF POSITION

Everyone should be aware of the fact that we have a great disadvantage when we are playing out of position. We should therefore try to play in position as often as we can. However it sometimes can't be avoided because we want to play aggressively from the early positions as well and will be called quite often.

Depending on how the hand developed up to the river, we are faced with a tough decision. Alongside the question of whether it is sensible to bluff, it is also important to determine how to extract the most value from our strong hands.

Our standard options should be clear: We either check or bet. We could include a third option as well, though. Besides our normal value bet of 2/3 of the pot (which you could vary as well, since its purpose is not to protect the hand) we can also make a block bet.

This block bet could serve several purposes. With this bet we try to equalise the disadvantage of being out of position and gain valuable information for a relatively cheap price. The prerequisite for such a bet is that we think that villain is not going to raise.

Lets include a block bet among a normal-sized bet and a check and go through the possibilities to see when we could theoretically use which option.

We assume to be way behind on the river and don't assume to have any showdown value. Furthermore we don't think there is any possibility of making villain fold by betting. If we don't think that we have enough fold equity, a bluff doesn't make sense. We simply give up the hand.

By check/calling we enter a way ahead/way behind situation. We don't want to pay off strong hands but try to see a showdown cheaply. On the river, this is a special case, for example, in comparison with check/calling on the flop or the turn.

We don't have to protect our hand any more, the hand is already finished. We have to categorise and evaluate our hand to see whether we have any showdown value. Villain will make a bluff bet on the river quite often, in comparison to the turn, namely often enough to enable us to call this bet profitably.

An important factor is the board. If, for example, the draw didn't complete, which we think villain will have happen quite often, a check/call might be a good option as long as we have a hand like TPTK. Villain will often make bluff bets because he might interpret our check as weakness if he is an aggressive player. However he also knows that he doesn't have any showdown value with his draw (without a hit).

A check/call would also be possible when we are holding a marginal hand like top pair without a good kicker. We want to see the showdown but don't assume that any weaker hands will call us.

Check/calling shouldn't be the standard move though. It should always be evaluated in connection with the pot- and bet size, as we discussed in the previous weeks. You could definitely call a ½ pot size bet but fold to a push.

Check/raising is a tool that should have been made use of earlier in the hand. Either on the flop or the turn but it shouldn't be used on the river.

The basic requirements for check raising on the river are having a very strong hand and a very aggressive villain. We have to assume that villain basically always bets the river (bluff) and also think that he would call our raise with weaker hands enough of the time (mostly this would be a push all-in). These situations are very rare and tend to be misjudged quite often.

Bet/fold is an option that should be used with caution. We have to be clear about what we want to achieve with this move. A strong bet on the river costs us a lot of money and causes us to miss the showdown if villain raises.

You therefore have to be convinced that villain will only call and that he has to be willing to take a worse hand to the showdown which he wouldn't bet with himself. On the other hand, we would have to be certain of being behind if he raises.

Generally this type of move is most profitable against bad loose-passive players, also referred to as calling stations.

Bet/call is one of your easiest options. If we have a very strong hand, which we would go broke with anyway, we should bet against basically any opponent instead of trying to checkraise (this behaviour would be contradictory to our behaviour on the previous streets).

We touched on block bets a little earlier. I assume that everyone knows why we make these block bets. If , for example, someone missed their flush draw, we identified a check/call to be an acceptable option. We try to induce a bluff by doing this. However, I must emphasise that we do need to consider the odds we are getting in order to decide whether to call or not.

Lets consider a situation where the draw completes. We have a good made hand like TPGK or a weak two pair, but we don't assume that we re ahead that often. The problem is that the option of check/calling is not profitable when we think that we aren't ahead enough of the time in order to call a 2/3 PS-bet. Furthermore we would like to prevent inducing a bluff, because even if we assume that we are up against some bluff bets, we don't think that we are ahead often enough.

We don't want to pay off a strong hand but also don't want to be bluffed out of the pot cheaply.

This thought is based on the fact that villain won't be bluff raising as often as he would bluff bet. If he was planning on bluffing on the river with a crap hand, he would fold to a block bet. However if he does raise, he'll most likely have a strong hand rather than nothing. We have to give up the hand.

Unfortunately this doesn't work against all types of players. What we need for this type of move are bad players, no matter how we categorised them earlier. He shouldn't be able to understand what we intend to do with that block bet. Against calling stations, we would even expect to get some value since these players are known for taking very weak hands to a showdown as well. We want to prevent very aggressive players from bluffing. As this block bet creates additional value quite often and since we receive some good information if someone raises, it becomes a very powerful tool against weak players.

Block bet/call is an option that has to be evaluated carefully. This move doesn't make any sense at first sight since the definition of a block bet states that you should fold to a raise (otherwise it would be a value bet rather than a block bet).

There are two exceptions though:

There are situations where our block bet is min raised. The odds do play an important part on the river as well. If someone min raises and we get good odds (as we tend to make block bets of the size of 1/4 to 1/3 of the pot) it would be possible to call as long as you can assume that villain might have just wanted to move back at you cheaply.

Furthermore block bets can be used as a reverse bluff for example against thinking players. If I know that villain knows what a block bet is and that he knows that I am capable of using that weapon, he could be bluffing me off my made hand with air. It therefore makes sense to make a block bet with strong hands to induce a bluff once in a while (to which we could then push or call). It is important to have very good reads on your opponent though.

Examples

I want to go through some examples illustrating the options mentioned above.

check/call

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats

BU ($25) (35/16/3.4/24/453) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
MP ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A , K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, BU calls $1.00, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.35) A, Q, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.75, BU calls $1.75

Turn: ($5.85) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.00, BU calls $4.00

River: ($13.85) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $7.00, Hero calls $7.00

We are dealing with a relatively loose and aggressive player who doesn't seem to be very good. We bet the flop and the turn in order to protect against the flush. We don't need to protect any more on the river. We think that we are ahead enough of the time and assume that villain is capable of pure bluffing or bluffing with his busted draw. We decide to bet he is not going to call much (his WTS is not especially high). We therefore decide to check/call. The bet is relatively small as well so that we have an easy call.

bet/fold

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats

BU ($25) (30/4/0.5/29/561) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
MP ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A , K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, BU calls $1.00, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.35) 4, 4, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.75, BU calls $1.75

Turn: ($5.85) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, BU checks

River: ($5.85) K (2 players)
Hero bets $4.25, BU raises to $13.00, Hero folds

We make our continuation bet on the flop because we think that we have a lot of fold equity since it's likely that villain won't have hit this board either. We don't think that we have enough fold equity on the turn after he called the continuation bet. He is likely to have a pocket pair or a 7.

We hit our top pair on the river, but the back door flush completes as well. We bet for value because our opponent, a calling station, is likely to call with a lot of hands he wouldn't bet with himself. Check/call is therefore out of the question. As he raises, we have to assume that we are behind. Villain is a very passive player who'd basically never bluff. If he is not currently overplaying KQ or KJ (which passive players don't tend to do anyways, they rather call down) we are up against hands like: 4x/77/78/88/AA/Backdoorflush. This makes a call very unprofitable.

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats

BU ($25) (26/17/5.2/21/333) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
MP ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A , K
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, BU calls $1.00, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.35) A, 8, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.75, BU calls $1.75

Turn: ($5.85) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.00, BU calls $4.00

River: ($13.85) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $4.00, BU folds

We are dealing with a rather passive player in this hand. We protect our hand on the flop and the turn. The river brings a very ugly card. The card doesn't only complete the flush, but also improves AQ to a hand that beats us. We would chase any weaker hands away with a large value bet and only invite stronger hands to take our stack away from us because the odds for calling a push would be too good to fold.

However we don't want to play check/call on a flop like this because we can't assume to be ahead against many hands which villain isn't bluffing with. Villain could definitely bet with hands like Ax/JJ/TT but calling would be unprofitable nonetheless because there are too many hands that have us beat.

We therefore make a block bet. If villain shoves with a weaker hand - nice hand, he will have bluffed us out of the hand. He will usually have a much stronger hand than ours though. Furthermore we don't assume villain to be such a good player that he would exploit our block bet, thinking our block bet is weakness and to shove as a bluff.