Poker Strategy

Fast Playing the Nuts
What do you do when you flop top set or a nut straight and no-one else has bet yet? Usually you will check to encourage a bet from someone who has a bit of a hand or on a bluff/semi bluff. However there are some situations when you should just come out betting strong and take what is in the middle. The following is a real situation that occurred in a tournament I played recently.

The blinds are now 300/600 with a 75 ante and I am in the big blind with 89 of clubs. A young player raises to 2000 from early position. The cut off and small blind both call and with over 7000 in the pot already I put in the 1400 to see a flop.

The flop comes down J Q 4 giving me an inside straight draw, there are also two hearts giving a possible flush draw. The small blind checks as do we all. The turn is an innocuous 7 and everybody checks again. The river is a King and the small blind and I check and the initial raiser moves all in. Cut off folds, and after a small think the small blind calls for all his remaining 6000 or so chips. Obviously I fold, but what hands are turned over?

The small blind had JJ and had slow played his hand with not only a possible flush draw but a straight draw on the flop as well. By not betting he has let someone catch a gut-shot draw and consequently been busted out of the tournament. There 8750 in the pot after the flop and I doubt very much he would have had a caller had he moved all in on the flop. He would have more than doubled up on this hand. Even if he had been called it would have been a bad beat, however most players will lay-down a gut-shot for this kind of bet. The moral of this tale is if you hit a big hand on a drawing board then you make it as expensive as possible for someone to outdraw you. Most times you will take a big pot uncontested, some of the time you will win a bigger pot when they call and miss and occasionally they will get lucky and bust you. If you let them see the river for free or too cheap then the pot will only get bigger when you are losing it!

Had this flop been a two way pot then checking it to induce a bluff may be fine but you need to put a bet in on the turn.

Let's put it in money terms using the example described. So, say the raiser is loose and may call the draw half the time and we play it over 10 times and assume he does not call with Ace high when he misses.

5 times you win 8750 that is in the pot which equals 43750

4 times you win the 8750 plus the extra 6000 he calls which equals 59000

1 time you lose when he calls and hits his card, a loss of your 6000

43750+59000-6000 = profitability of 96750 chips

Now play it the way it happened:

Remember I could have hit my 10 for a straight also and the other player is drawing dead.

3 times one of your opponents hits their draw and you lose your 6000 chips calling.

7 times you win 8750

So 61250-18000 = profitability of 43250 which is less than half of fast playing them.

Of course in a moment of madness the player with my hand may also call which makes fast playing even better as you are still a clear favourite to win a bigger pot.

The moral of this tale - Always fast play the nuts on a drawing board in a multi way pot.