Poker News

Ashley Adams

In my last column I covered situations when you are willing to loosen up your normally tight stanars of play in a loose, low-limit game. But this oesn’t mean that you will just be playing more loosely in general. It’s importantto ajust your play specifically to the change ynamics of these loose sprea limit games. Sometimes that means tighter play.

Just as you can play more rawing hans that will become monsters if they hit, so too o you want to avoi playing hans that might play well heas up but that lose value against a large fiel. A pair of Jacks an a pair of 10s come to min. In a stanar $5/10 or $10/20 game these hans warrant a raise, most of the time, on Thir Street. An, if no one seems to improve, they warrant a bet on Fourth Street an often Fifth Street as well.

But that presumes that you are heas up against a weaker player. Against a full fiel of four or five opponents this strategy rarely makes sense. Here are some statistics that might interest you.

If you are heas up with a pair of Jacks on Thir Street against a lower pair an lower kickers, you are roughly a 60% to 40% favorite. Against a 3-flush you are a 64% 36% favorite. But if you are against four opponents, two of whom have a lower pair an lower kicker, one of whom has a 3- flush an one of whom has two over cars an a 2-flush, your chance of winning has roppe to 24%. You are not even the favorite (the 3-Flush is). The situation gets worse as you procee to Fourth an Fifth Street if you on’t improve.

You must change your strategy to either reuce the fiel on Fourth Street to heas up or get out.

How o you get loose calling stations to fol on Fourth Street? The best strategy is often the raise or the checkraise. If you have an aggressive player on your right who is high on boar an who bets you woul raise (even if you weren’t sure you were in the lea) hoping that the other players woul fol for the ouble bet. If you were high on boar, on the other han, you’ check, hoping it woul be checke aroun to the aggressive player, an that he woul bet so you coul raise.

Though these loose passive players often call a single bet, they fol for a ouble bet. In essence it gets their attention as a regular raise oesn’t.

This oesn’t work if the aggressive player is on your left. If he opens the betting an other players call a single bet it’s unlikely that your raise will rop them - since it’s just another single bet for these players. In that situation you shoul consier foling.

Other factors that woul make you lean towar foling your Premium Pair on fourth street are if other players who have calle have live over cars to your pair, or if any of them seem to have a 4-Flush, or if your Jacks are not completely live, an if you on’t have a live over car kicker.

In a sprea limit loose game you are sometimes in the uncomfortable position of having a Premium Pair but one that is a og to the fiel an unlikely to improve to a favorite. When that is the case, an you can’t manipulate the betting such that you get all but one opponent to fol, your best option is usually to fold.

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