Advanced No Limit Holdem Cash Game Strategy

 

Bet Sizing in Deepstack Situations

In no limit cash games, the goal is to get your opponent’s entire stack. In deepstack situations, that can be difficult unless both players have absolute monster hands. Proper bet sizing can help you get into a situation where if your hand is good, your opponent will be priced into a call on the river for all his chips.

In a deepstack situation (commonly defined as 150BB stacks or more), a standard 3x raise preflop, and pot-sized bets on the flop, turn, and river get only slightly more than half the stacks in the pot. That’s a nice win, but with almost half of your opponent’s stack in his pile after you win the hand, you’ve left a lot of your winrate on the table. The solution is to get the flop bets to be much greater than preflop pot-sized.

$2/4 no limit holdem. You have more than $800 thanks to an early double up. Your opponent has slightly less than you, so the effective stacks are 150 BB. You are in the small blind with KsQs. Your opponent raises from late position to $14. You have a read on this player as being very tight and aggressive, so there is a decent chance you are dominated, and you will avoid getting into a bad situation with only top pair. You play against this player regularly, and believe that he perceives as very aggressive, willing to make a fancy move for a pot.

You are playing for the implied odds of hitting a big hand, knowing that your aggressive opponent will make a bet or two to help you out if you hit. You call $12, and the big blind folds. There is $32 in the pot. 

The flop comes JsTd4s. You have an open-ended straight draw plus a flush draw for a grand total of fifteen outs (three kings and three queens could be good against AJ as well). You are a big favorite over any made hand except a flopped set (you are a 2-1 favorite over AJ, slightly less against KJ or QJ, even money against JT, or a 3-2 dog against a set). You want to get the money in here if you can, but you know that although your opponent is aggressive, he will back off of a top pair hand if you get too aggressive too soon. Of course, if your opponent has nothing, you’ll just take the small pot win and move on.

First, look at what happens if pot-sized bets are made and called on each street. If you check the flop and let him bet pot, your call makes the pot $96. Another PSB on the turn bumps the pot to $288, and if you hit on the river, and can get another bet, you only have $430 of his money, and you have left $170 on the table. All that is assuming that he will call your bet on the end if you hit your hand, which is very doubtful anyway.

Sticking in a raise on the flop can be the solution to your problem. If you allow him to make his standard aggressive continuation bet, a decent raise by you can build this pot to the point where you can get his entire stack. On the flop, you check, he bets $32, you raise to $120. Now, if he has nothing, the hand is over and you win a small pot. If he has something, he will likely call your raise here, as you could be on a bluff or a lesser hand. Now the pot is a tidy $272, and he has invested one fourth of his stack in it.

If the turn card is a blank, you go from being a favorite to a slight underdog, but you have the implied odds to check to him and call even a pot-sized bet. If he bets pot, you can call here, knowing you’ll often get his last $190 on the river if you hit your hand. If he bets small or checks behind, then it’s not the biggest loss in the world, as you’ve lost some of your equity when the turn card missed you. Raising all in on the turn seems like a bad play, because you’re no longer the favorite here, and can easily save $190 if you miss the river. That’s half a buy in, and making a reasonable play to save it seems intelligent here.

If the turn card is money for you, you’ll have a tough decision based on your read of your opponent’s perception of you. Will he call a bet on the turn with a straight or flush showing? 

There is no one correct way to play these situations. Ask ten different pros and you’ll likely get ten different answers, although leaning towards aggression will be a common theme. The value in studying hands like these is preparing yourself to make the proper bets to get all in, playing big pots with big hands. Against a range of JJ, and any JT, QJ, KJ, or AJ, Hero is better than a 3-2 favorite. If you can get your stack in as a 3-2 favorite a lot, you’ll be way ahead in the long run. Think about how you’ll play that to maximize your return.