A Limits Media Limits High: Open your mind, Phil Galfond

So you've reached the level where you can win without problems on the tables of No Limit $ 3 / 6. Have you studied the game and spent many hours. Congratulations, it's not easy. If you take a look at the $ 25/50 games you'll find that most people that play have read the same books and has even performed better than you. They know what they're thinking. Know why betting on the river. They know what range of cards resubirías in that position before the flop. They practice, condition, calculated and normalized all. So how do you beat them? As you've been moving to higher levels and have begun to play against opponents who understand the game, you have opened your game. One way to gain solid professional players online, it is widely studied with standard moves, making multi-and making them think. They are accustomed to the same situations. You make a pot sized raise from the button. Pay in the big blind. The flop comes A Q 5 offsuit. He goes, bet $ 30 on a pot of $ 44. He has already been there, experienced that scenario (or a very similar) hundreds of times, and knows how to handle it.

But what if you bet $ 10 into a pot of $ 44? What if you bet $ 87? I'd have to stop and think. It would be in a situation that is familiar and not feel at ease. Why bet that amount specifically? In No Limit games have many options. Why make a move that is out of your arsenal? The reason why you should make plays out of the ordinary (and almost any move fulfills that) is to allow your opponents commit a fault. And please be careful. The key to using your options well is to know why you're doing the move you're doing. DO NOT go around making strange bets without any particular reason. Let's go with some examples. The simplest reason to make a play is strange picture issues: to change what other players might be thinking you are. My friend Craig once told me about a play he likes to do. Three players call before him and have Js 8s in late position. Instead of paying or making a large raise, make a mini climb, Why? To make your opponents think that is idiotic.

It's a great way to confuse your opponents, and later you will pay, the night he committed judgments based on that they think is your game will be a great night for you.

Sometimes you make a move for reasons of image and receive the added benefit of gaining information. $ 50/100 No Limit play with stacks of $ 10,000. Raise to $ 300 on the button and you pay the big blind. The flop comes 9 7 2 with two diamonds, your opponent does check to you. You bet $ 150 on a pot of $ 600. Your opponent pay. You've done two things. You've probably gotten your opponent think you're stupid, and you get some information from his hand. It is almost impossible for your opponent has two pair or better. On a flop with so many possibilities of linking project would never call with a strong hand. I'd go to protect and make money from it. Now you can use your information to bluff against his weak hand later or to slow down and take out all the possible value of your strong hand. We also have the opportunity to see a river of very cheap, as it is likely to check on the turn. Here is a hand I played recently against a very good professional player and very aggressive high stakes. We were playing at a table of four $ 200/400 NL.

He has $ 47ky I have covered it (I have more money on the table than him). Up on the payment button and the big blind with Ad 8d. The flop is K 8 offsuit 6. Paso bet the pot ($ 2600) Payment. The turn is an offsuit 6, to those in the flower. Step and bet the pot again $ 6800. It is very aggressive and definitely value bet on the three streets a hand like K Q. Happen on the turn with K 10 probably. Also bet on the turn but sometimes they leave the river with hands like 9s 7s, 5d 7d, 10 9, and sometimes with a bluff. I decided to pay on the turn. The river is 10. Paso. Think for a while and bet $ 15.200 in a pot of $ 24,400. To pay this bet bluffs would argue that 30% of the time (based on pot odds). I have a pair of eights, so I can only win against a lamppost. So I shot payment or no? I felt that I was not bluffing 30% of the time. Perhaps 15-20%, which was not sufficient to pay, so I went!

I went all in for $ 36,000, $ 21,000 had to pay more to see. So, I was risking $ 36,000 to win $ 35.600. This move would be run half the time to be profitable. So, even won the 15-20% of the time you're bluffing. If you are not bluffing, will have a hand like KQ or AA, a hand that we will have to pull at least half the time to make a profit. (Give them notice that if calling is profitable, an increase may be even more profitable). Making someone pull overpair it seems a difficult task, but watch the game from his perspective: I call a flop in which almost did not have any type of project. On the turn the last card is matched and again paid a jackpot bet. It is impossible to have paid twice a pot-sized bet with a project in the two streets. I have to have a made hand, a pair or better. Now when I raise on the river, the AA can only win against a lamppost. Do not bet on the river for value with A K.

So, What hand could pay two bets on the size of the boat, doing that to win had to be going to bluff? Time ran out and pulled what I assume would be an AK guy's hand, and so got a jackpot of $ 52,000 with much effort. A warning before I go: Do ​​not make a bluff raise on each river. Your opponent has to be able to get a hand and make a big fold. The same warning for the handsome stranger. Think what kind of reaction you expect and if your opponent is adjusted or not. The examples I have given here are just to show how to think outside the box. I could have made a list with hundreds of situations where ways of thinking other than normal might help. Consider all your options. Before you pay or do fold, think for a second whether a rise could be better and why. Before betting 2 / 3 of the pot, consider what would your opponent if you bet the pot ¼. Even if you decide that the standard is the best move, at least now you know why you're doing. Good luck considering all your options.

Source: Bluff Magazine.

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