Betting Patterns Leading to Easy Steals

By Tony Guerrera

Beating fullhanded games populated by loose players requires nothing more than sitting and waiting for good hands. When you hit your good hands, the primary hand reading skill involved is determining whether you’re beaten. If you’re beaten, you don’t put any more chips in the pot (unless, of course, you’re getting proper odds to draw to a better hand). If you’re ahead, you value bet your foes to death.

Determining whether you’re beaten is the only hand reading skilled required, but don’t think that it’s easy. Determining whether you’re beaten is a skill that will take you some time some master, and even those who supposedly master it are constantly looking for ways to improve. However, these types of loose fullhanded games are probably the easiest to beat, and it’s quite possible to beat these games without being able to beat any other type of game. And hell, even though I can beat pretty much any type of game out there, I always look for these types of tables first because those are the tables where it’s possible to make the most money per hour.

But suppose such a game isn’t available. Or what if you want to try to squeeze more profits out of your sessions? The key to thriving in tougher games and extracting even more profits from easy games is focusing on how your opponents play and finding betting patterns that will induce your opponents to fold to you when you don’t have a good hand. Remember: if you’re capable of making your opponents fold, it doesn’t matter what you hold. When playing to make your opponents fold, it’s solely the betting patterns that matter, and a big part of evolving as a card player is knowing when your own cards matter and when they don’t.

Let’s look at a few betting patters that open up the possibility for thievery. If you see one of these betting patterns, you should at least be inclined to steal. Of course, if you see these betting patterns, your opponents won’t fold 100% of the time…as always, look at what’s happening in the context of the session as a whole before making your decisions.

Betting Pattern #1: Preflop Limpers Beware

Many players like to splash around in pots with little or nothing at all, hoping to see some cheap flops. When confronted with raises, these limpers will usually fold (provided that the size of the raise is large enough). So, if you’re on the button or in the blinds, you should think of making a large raise once in awhile. Of course, you’ll have to be cautious if a tight, passive player limps because these players sometimes slowplay big hands. Also, don’t go to the well all the time. But definitely toss in a raise to take down some easy pots here and there. You’ll find that against unknown opponents, this maneuver will succeed more in tournaments than in cash games, but it’s still highly effective in many cash games.

How big should your raise be? It’ll be a function of your opponents, but a good starting point is to raise to a number of big blinds equal to 4 + n where n is the number of limpers. For example, if three players have limped, then raise to seven big blinds (n equals 3 and 4 + 3 = 7). This betting scheme will result in you making raises that are slightly larger than the pot.

Betting Pattern #2: Postflop Checkers Beware

When players flop top pair against anywhere from one to three opponents, they might check the flop, but they’ll rarely check the flop and the turn. If you’re in late position, and your opponents check to you on the flop and the turn, be highly inclined to bet…especially against opponents who don’t seem to call down with anything less than top pair, though if you’re heads-up or three-handed postflop, you can run this play against opponents who might be willing to call you with second board pair.

Make your bet somewhere around 2/3 pot…a bet that they most likely won’t call with draws or speculative hands. You don’t want to be holding 45s and run this play against someone who’ll call you with 89 on a board of 267. If your opponents will call a 2/3 pot bet on the turn with draws like that, then run this bluff only when both the betting pattern and a desirable hand present themselves to you.

Though this play is most successful when you’re in late position since you get information from the double check, also consider running this play from early position when an undercard to the second highest board card falls on the turn and your opponents have checked the flop.

Betting Pattern #3: Preflop Raisers Beware

Some preflop raisers reliably check when they miss the flop. If you see someone raise with a hand like AK and check when he misses the flop, then abuse this piece of information. Whenever this player raises preflop, and you have a chance to be heads-up, get involved. If you’re out of position, check to him on the flop to see what he does. If he checks, then bet into him on the turn. Meanwhile, if you’re in position, bet into him if he checks into you on the flop. Closely observe your opponents to determine against which ones this line of play will be effective.

Betting Pattern #4: Continuation Bettors Beware

This final betting pattern we’ll cover isn’t exactly an â€œeasyâ€ steal, but it is one that you should have in your arsenal as you move up the hold’em ranks. The continuation bet has become a standard play these days. Most players who continuation bet, especially at lower limits, only fire one bullet. If a player continuation bets on the flop and gets resistance, he shuts down unless he luckily improves on the turn. If you’re facing an opponent like this, you have two lines of play depending on whether you have position on the preflop raiser.

If you have position on the preflop raiser, you can call his raise on the flop and see what he does on the turn. If he checks to you, then bet because, most likely, he bet into you on the flop with nothing. If the preflop raiser has position on you, check/call the flop and then check on the turn. If the preflop raiser checks on the turn, then bet into him on the river.

Summary

If you’re disciplined with table selection, and you’re not playing in high stakes games, you’ll almost always be able to seat yourself at a table where you won’t have to do anything more than play straightforward hit-to-win poker to rake in the profits. However, even if you strictly play in these types of games, you should look for opportunities to steal since such opportunities will increase your bottom line in cash games and help you accumulate chips in tournaments. Additionally, you’ll need to be comfortable with standard bluffing lines of play as you climb the ranks. First, you’ll need these lines of play to stay ahead of the curve against opponents who won’t call you as much. Second, you’ll need to recognize which of your opponents are looking to use these lines of play against you, so you can make appropriate adjustments. As always, focus on your opponents, and continually expand your game!

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers

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