The Key to No-Limit Hold'em

'When you have a big gun, shoot it.'

Poker is no different than other money-making endeavors, such as playing the stock market or investing in real estate. There are plenty of hucksters trying to tell you how to become a zillionaire in a few short weeks. They claim that all you have to do is pay them some money, and you will be told the secret of becoming set for life in their suggested area of endeavor. Bah! Even if you should be so lucky as to get decent advice, it will not be that easy to use it proficiently.

There is no one magic wand to turning poker into the goose that lays your golden eggs. But if there were, here is the closest I can come to giving you information that is the key to no-limit hold'em success: "When you have a big gun, shoot it."

I know that you understand me, because these words are often spoken when referring to strategy in team sports. In that context, they mean that your "big gun" needs all the playing time he can get, so don't keep him under wraps, waiting for those special moments. In the case of no-limit poker, I would like to apply this advice to your bet sizes. You can bet as much as you like, up to all of your money. I am not trying to get you to go all in every time, but I want you to get away from using a BB gun when you have a high-powered rifle and it's hunting season. A BB gun is what you were used to if your starting poker form was limit hold'em. Now that you have your hands on a rifle, use it.

There are many people besides myself trying to exhort you would-be no-limit hold'em players to make bigger bets. The main reason you will hear is, "You have to try to protect your hand." I of course agree with this, but I would like in this column to focus on another reason to make solid-size bets. That reason is to gain information that will help you make good decisions later on in the betting. The bigger your bet, the narrower the range of hands that your opponent is likely to hold when he stays in.

It is a matter of record that the winningest no-limit hold'em tournament player throughout the '90s in premier events was T.J. Cloutier. If you ask T.J. what his secret of success is, he probably will tell you that his excellent memory of opponents' betting habits is his best poker asset. While it is true that T.J. has a fine memory, I believe that is only part of the reason he is known for making good reads in critical situations. At least of equal importance is the fact that Cloutier has an exceptionally heavy hand in selecting his bet sizes. He perhaps more than any other poker player loves to constantly bet big to get a better idea of what you hold.

Here is the letter (slightly edited for clarity) from one of my poker students that gave me the idea to write this column:

"I started with $394 in a $2-$4 blinds no-limit hold'em online game. The cutoff had me covered. I was under the gun with the 4 4 and called. The cutoff called and the two of us and the big blind saw a flop of K 7 4, giving me bottom set. The big blind checked, I bet $10 (the pot was $14), the cutoff called, and the big blind folded. The turn was the 9. I bet $24 (the pot was $34), and the cutoff again called. On the river, the J came, putting a three-flush in the original suit on the board. I bet $24 (the pot was $82), and the cutoff called. The river card was a scare card for me (possible made flush). Should I have bet perhaps $42 and folded to a raise, or checked and called a reasonably sized bet?"

He did not tell me what his opponent had, but he evidently won the hand and thought that he might have made more money on it. This was my answer to him:

"Bet enough on the turn so that your opponent is unlikely to be on a flush draw if he calls, because he is getting such a bad price. The pot size on the turn was $34. Betting only $24 is too small an amount for you to wager when holding a set. I would bet at least $30, maybe even $35. If called, figure that your opponent is unlikely to be on a flush draw. (The non-flush card on the flop is small, and in this case, the card of the flush suit is actually in your hand, so he did not start with a pair and flush draw.) The cards with which he would have some kind of straight draw are small, although in an unraised pot, a player in late position here could have a straight draw with a flush draw. Still, it makes a big draw less likely than if there had been two big cards and one little card.

"On the end, I would make a small value-bet, rather than checking. If I had bet $30 on the turn, there would be $94 in the pot, so I can bet $30 to $40 as a value-bet. You may not think it such a big deal between betting $24 and $30 on the turn, but I do. The smaller bet shows that you do not take the right approach to turn betting, which is to make it as easy as possible for you to define what type of hand you face so that you can play correctly on the river. This useful tool of giving a draw very bad odds on the turn is one of the biggest reasons a good player makes better decisions than an average player."

The scenario of betting into a board that has a flush draw on the flop that does not get there on the turn is quite common. You want to load up on the turn and bet close to the full size of the pot. If you make a wimpy bet of half of the pot, or even a normal-looking bet of two-thirds of the pot, you doubly err. You make it too easy for your opponent to stay in, and you fail to define the type of hand he is likely to hold when he stays. Naturally, you do not have a money-back guarantee that a caller on the turn does not have a draw (especially in a low-stakes game, in which the players call a lot), but you greatly reduce the possibility.

You have a big gun available in no-limit hold'em. Use it to fire a big projectile, especially on the turn when the draw does not arrive. You will be glad you did - even when your opponent calls.