Suited Gappers (2) - Preflop
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Suited Gappers (2)
by MiiWiin
In the first part, you learnt a lot of general things about gappers, together with the mathematical reasoning as to why a connector or a one gapper is significantly better than a suited hand with two or even three spaces.
Apart from the theory, practice is the key: what should you do with hands like this preflop? To find out we'll take a look at a few standard spots in this article.
What could happen?
You'll generally be confronted with two situations:
- You can open raise
- There's already been a raise
In the first case you've got an attempted steal (theoretically, a UTG raise is a steal), in the second there's already been interest in the pot. You need to carefully consider the options fold, call or 3-bet here.
Your opponent
In the two cases above, you want to have different opponents in the pot. On one hand you want to generate fold equity, if you manage to get the pot preflop with a hand like this, it can only be a good thing.
However, if there was already a raise, the probability sinks. You'd need to place a 3-bet here, without the card removal effect.
There still hasn't been a raise
If you're first to act, you can decide for or against an open raise.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
Hero ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25) calling station
BU ($25) LAG
SB ($25)
BB ($25) calling station
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 
Hero..?
Anything is possible. It's not crazy to introduce the odd raise here. You already know the complications that you might provoke with this.
Do you have fold equity? A bit, but with five opponents behind you still to act, it will dwindle to very little. There are two calling stations as the table, as well as a looser opponent on the button who likes to squeeze or 3-bet occassionally.
The playability would be restricted in the case of one or more calls. You'll generally have to act out of position, which doesn't make things any easier.
Under normal circumstances you should start by folding the hand.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25) LAG
BB ($25) calling station
Preflop: Hero is BU with
3 folds, Hero..?
Now you're on the button, three opponents have already folded, you want to steal against two players here.
It's not a perfect spot, despite everything, the combination of fold equity preflop, fold equity postflop and the potential playability should be enough.
A hand such as 64s on the button is essentially an obligatory steal, you're sitting at the best position on the table and can give yourself an edge postflop, the relatively weak hand is still enough.
That's why you can raise here.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25) TAG, fold to stealSB 82%
BB ($25) rock, fold to stealBB 86%
Preflop: Hero is BU with 
3 folds, Hero...
You've found two perfect opponents for your open raise in this situation.
Your hand is already secondary here, as the fold equity alone will make this move +EV .
If you raise to 3BB here, the following has to apply:
Raise size: 3BB => to win 1BB + 0.5 BB => required fold equity (3/(3+1.5)) = 66.66%
What fold equity do you have?
0.82 * 0.86 = 70.52%
As long as nobody puts up a fight, which generally won't be the case with these two opponents, a raise with any 2 here is profitable.
Even if you don't want to raise any 2 over a long period, a hand such as 84s is stil much better than 94o or 72o. Because you already know that you could hit something postflop.
There was already a raise
If there was already a raise throughout the hand, the situation changes.
Now you have three options you need to weigh up altogether.
There are a few factors for playability (in addition to your own hand), primarily here your position, your type, the opponents and the number of them.
Your aim with a drawing hand is clearly to play a multi-way pot in position. If this sort of thing is indicated, you can spend some time in this pot.
However, it's still necessary to observe all the opponents. You can't end up in a heads-up pot too often against an opponent who plays quite well, there should also be few to no squeezes behind you, as in this case you'll be investing money completely unnecessarily.
That's why you need to remember: it's not just crucial who open raises but also which opponents could still act behind you.
You can also consider bluffing your hand. If the option above (call) is out of the question, could you maybe still bluff? Is this a good spot because a multi-way pot can be made behind you but the open raise will fold to a lot of 3-bets?
In this case a 3-bet is conceivable.
If you consider a call to be unprofitable and can hardly estimate the fold equity for a 3-bet, than just fold. As already mentioned in part 1, you're not obliged to join in every had with hands such as this one, if you can't assess your opponent and also have a few problems with postflop playability.
The worst thing that can happen is having too may spots postflop where you've got no idea what to do and invest too much money with a weak hand. If you suspect this sort of -EV spot then don't even get involved with them preflop.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25) TAG, ft3-bet 55%
Hero ($25)
BU ($25) 32/26 LAG, 3-bet BU 12%
SB ($25)
BB ($25) TAG
Preflop: Hero is CO with
1 fold, MP raises $1.00, Hero..?
You're in the cutoff with your suited one gapper.
MP is a TAG, he open raises 4BB and doesn't fold too often to 3-bets. However, it's clear that he'll fold more than 55% out of position in MP vs CO, although this can hardly be proved precisely.
An aggressive player who will certainly squeeze some things, is acting behind you on the button, more over you've identified another TAG in the blinds.
Can you call here? It would be possible, but you'll rarely be able to expect a mutli-way pot. However, you will get a squeeze from the button more often, or even from the big blind.
The sopt is unclear, which means a call isn't necessarily the best variant.
What about a 3-bet? It's quite close against 55%, this is definitely not a good spot (a 3-bet is always theoretically possible). There's no reason to be aggressive here, the hand is barely playable, certainly doesn't offer any card removal effect, so your primary thought should be to fold here.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25) TAG, ft3-bet 76%
Hero ($25)
BU ($25) calling station
SB ($25) rock
BB ($25) calling station
Preflop: Hero is CO with
1 fold, MP raises $1.00, Hero..?
Now things are getting more interesting. The TAG folds to 3-bets 76% that doesn't look bad.
How much fold equity do you need with a 3-bet?
OR: 4BB ; 3-bet 12BB => 12BB to win 5.50BB (4BB+1BB+0.50BB) => 12/(12+5.50) = 68.6% required fold equity
OR: 4BB ; 3-bet 14BB => 14BB to win 5.50BB (4BB+1BB+0.50BB) => 14/(14+5.50) = 71.8% required fold equity
It's worth having a think about this.
Nonetheless, first take a glance at the other players: there are still two calling stations here, you could be looking at a multi-way pot.
There's also a rock in the small blind who will definitely rarely squeeze lightly, if at all. This means you can almost assume a multi-way pot. You're in position against an open raiser, this could turn into a profitable situation postflop.
That's why you can decide on a call here.
PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)
Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25) TAG, ft3-bet 79%
Hero ($25)
BU ($25) 32/26 LAG, 3-bet BU 12%
SB ($25) rock
BB ($25) unknown
Preflop: Hero is CO with
1 fold, MP raises $1.00, Hero..?
You won't find any calling stations at the table here. There's a LAG behind you, a rock and a player you don't know yet.
You need to be extremely suspiscious about thinking the call is +EV. A multi-way pot is likely to be rarer, but the button will regularly make a squeeze.
If a call is out of the question, there are still the options 3-bet or fold. These are pretty close to each other here.
You can easily make a 3-bet here, MP folds 79% to 3-bets, this looks profitable. There won't be any more calls behind you (there's always this danger with extreme calling stations, hence no 3-bet in example 5), the fold equity is enough for that.
However, this is just one option. It can't be maintained that a 3-bet is best here. The possibility of a fold should at least be assumed as well, this means a fold in this spot is a good choice.
Nonetheless, a 3-bet is plausible, it would make sense, for example, if you've been quite tight, maybe even card dead, up to now. Then this would be a spot where you could show some aggression. However, this certainly isn't obligatory.
| » SUMMARY |
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This hand may offer you many options, but it's also dangerous. You don't have to play for big pots with these hanads and then be forced to bluff. Totally different spots automatically lend themselves to this. Nonetheless, it's important to weigh up the options, a fold will rarely be a mistake, but you should always think about the options call and 3-bet, it won't do you any harm. You always need to bare possible postflop spots in mind. If there's a multi-way pot, how do you play postflop? What happens if your 3-bet bluff is called? We'll consider examples like this in the next part, because you need to bare in mind: what you sow preflop you'll reap postflop. |
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