Exclusive Netbettor Texas Hold'em Article:

Crushing the Microlimits
The Check-raise Part II

To this end we’re going to break this installment into two sections; the first will deal with those hands where you’ve flopped a big hand, and are simply looking to get as many of your opponents’ chips as possible into the center of the table. The second example will look at those hands where you have a big but vulnerable hand, and have decided that if you can’t get anyone to muck you might as well make it as expensive as possible for your opponents to continue with their hands.

Example 1: When you flop a huge hand

This example will apply to those hands where you’ve flopped huge; a set, perhaps, or even a ‘gadget’ (the term we used to use in Denver for a made hand on the flop; i.e., a straight or better). Typically this will happen when you’ve limped in early position, there’s been a raise from your immediate left, and there’s a gaggle of callers by the time the action gets back to you. Example: you have pocket 6’s under the gun, and limp in. The next guy raises, and there’s four cold callers by the time the action is back on you. You of course call, and are treated to a flop of J 6 5.

Before we go any further, let’s take a deeper look at this hand. First, in a middle limit game you could probably make an argument for betting out. On your best days the pre-flop raiser will raise, and at least a few players will drop. Most of the time they’ll be folding hands that you would like to have stay in—hands like Q T, for instance, or A 9—but you might get a few hands to muck which you’d actually like to see folded. Hands like 7 7, or perhaps even hands like A T. So, you bet out, and if the pre-flop raiser makes it two bets you take the good with the bad—some hands fold that you’re glad are out, and some hands fold that you wish had stayed in.

But remember, we’re talking microlimits here. This means, amongst other things, that any hand that has any kind of live draw against your hand is going to come for two bets. Since a raise by the pre-flop raiser won’t knock anyone out, you decide to go for a check-raise, and hopefully trap your opponents for multiple bets. Sure enough, the pre-flop raiser bets and gets four callers. Now you raise, the pre-flop raiser three bets, and two of the callers drop out (leaving you in a four-handed pot).

Now the temptation here is usually to re-raise. But if you do that, the pre-flop raiser will probably just call with his likely overpair on the turn, which means everyone will get to look at the river for one big bet. Thus, you should strongly consider just calling the three-bet on the flop, and going for the check-raise on the turn. By doing this the field ends up being charged 3 ½ big bets to see the river as opposed to just 3 big bets. With three other players in the pot, this is equal to another 1 ½ big bets in your pocket every time your hand is good on the river—or, put another way, you put almost another hour and a half’s worth of earn in your wallet (assuming you win at a 1 big bet an hour clip).

Most decent players grossly under-utilize this play, yet it can prove to be one of your biggest moneymakers in limit hold ‘em. In no-limit, you usually do most of your gambling on the flop. In limit, however, you can often make a strong case for waiting until the bets double.

Example 2: Check-raising with a vulnerable hand

Here’s a play you almost never see, yet it should be in every strong player’s arsenal. Typically this play comes up when you have a big hand—something like an over pair, or maybe top two on a fairly co-ordinated board—in a ‘zoo pot’ in early position. For example, let’s say you have K K under the gun, and raise. By the time the dust has settled someone has three-bet, there’s been a bunch of callers, and you’ve capped off the action. Seven of you take the flop for 4 small bets each. The flop comes Q 8 4. Since there’s no earthly way you can check-raise the flop and make anyone fold, you decide to bet out and see what happens. The player to your left raises, and the whole field calls. Now it’s on you.

Almost everyone would three bet here. But why? You still have no idea where your at in the hand (except for a vague suspicion that you're holding on to a tenuous lead), and your three bet definitely won’t get anyone to muck. In a case like this, I would usually wait and see what the turn brought. If it brought a dreaded ace, or a queen, I might check and call the rest of the way. If it brought anything else I would check-raise the turn.

The keys to the hand are as follows. First, the highest card on board is a face card. This is pivotal, since with a flop like 7 6 2 it would be very easy for an over card to come off on the turn, which might scare the player on your left into not betting (it’s also much more likely that the flop raiser is pressing a draw). With the queen on board, and the board only moderately co-coordinated, it’s much more likely that he has a queen, which means the only cards that could scare him are an ace or a king. Also, if he’s pumping a flush draw there’s probably someone behind him that has a queen, and you can fairly sure that that guy will bet his top pair if it’s checked to him in this monster pot. So, with the queen on board you’re not too concerned with the hand getting checked around on the turn. Secondly, you’ve reached a point in the hand where you know nobody is going to fold until their cause is clearly helpless. Given this, you might as well pump up the pot. Remember: if you can’t improve your chances of winning the pot- which means knocking out players with live draws against you—you might as well built as big a pot as possible so long as you suspect that you’re still in the lead. In the case here, you’re probably going to end up winning the pot around 30-45% of the time (depending on the turn card). You can’t improve that percentage by knocking anyone out, so your next best move is make the pot as big as possible for those times that you do end up dragging the cookies.

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