Red Chip Poker: Late Position

Big implied Odds with Big Stacks

(Villains flaw)

(Difficulty rating)

(Heros exploit)

Hands such as medium pairs and suited connectors increase in value as

the game gets deeper. This is because the implied odds attached to these
hands grow with the stack depth. In this hand we play a suited connector,
catch a deceptive flop, and plan ahead to create the most profitable line.
$2-$5
Parx Casino
Friday 5am

Image:

Action:

UTG+1

Unknown

$20

$1000

MP1

Unknown

Call

$800

MP2

Unknown

Call

$1500

Button

Hero

Call

Covers

Big Blind

Unknown

Call

$1800

Hand:

Starting
Stack:

After the $20 open-raise and two calls to us, this is a standard pre-flop
call. We have position and deep stacks, which offers great implied odds for
the times we do smash the board. Having position is very important when
playing drawing hands since it makes drawing post-flop easier and allows us
to take free cards more easily. Note that we are not looking to catch a single
pair and make a big pot, rather we are looking to draw favorably with
position.

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Hands

Pot: $102
Unknown

$85

Starting
Stack:
$1780

Unknown

Fold

Unknown

Fold

Unknown

Fold

Hero

Call

Covers

(Big Blind)

(UTG+1)

(MP1)

(MP2)

(Button)

Range:

When the Big Blind leads into the field on this board, we can assume
his range is strong. Our double gutshot draw is hard to see on this board,
and we can expect to get paid if we hit. Also, we can represent the obvious
draw a flush in Hearts. This gives us eight outs to the best hand and seven
bluff outs to win the hand. We also have a backdoor Spade flush draw.
We have to make a decision if the Big Blind is leading out with a flush
draw, and we are going to assume he does not have a flush draw that often.
Most players at this level do not donk bet draws in deep multi-way pots.
Pot: $272
Unknown

$200

Starting
Stack:
$1695

Hero

Call

Covers

(Big Blind)

(Button)

Range:

Once our opponent bets big on the turn, it further increases the
likelihood that our opponent has a strong hand. We are not getting the
correct pot odds on the turn to profitably call for our draw. However, let us
make the assumption that we will improve to a straight on the river. When
this happens, we will stack our opponent, and our call is profitable.
For simplicitys sake, let us assume we always stack him when we
improve to a non-Heart straight card. That is six outs, which equates to
about 12% equity. That means we need about 7:1 odds to make this play
profitable. We are calling $200 on the turn to win the $472 pot plus his
remaining $1,495 on the river. This means we need to win roughly 7 times
our $200 call on the river. With these numbers we can expect to win
roughly 10 times our call ($1,967).
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Red Chip Poker: Late Position

There is also the possibility that we can bluff Hearts on the river.
If we are able to bluff Hearts, it reduces the value of improving to either the
Eight of Hearts or Four of Hearts. In that case, we would bet size
accordingly. If the river is a Heart and we decide to bluff, it needs to be a
big bet in order to generate folds. He is not likely to fold a set if we bet 2/3
pot, but it would be very tough for him to call an almost three buy-in shove
without the nuts.
It is worth noting that some of the Heart bluff outs are tainted, since
they pair the board and will not be good some percentage of the time.
Pot: $672
Unknown

$450/Snap call

Starting
Stack:
$1495

Unknown

Shove

Covers

(Big Blind)

(Button)

Range:

When our opponent tables his hand before ours, it is evident that he
did not see our draw come in and is confident in his holdings. As suspected,
the Big Blind had a value hand with pocket Nines for a flopped set.
Unfortunately for him, our hidden straight was able to deliver the bad news;
tabling 76s for the win and a $3,662 pot.
As stack depth changes so does the game, and how we approach the
game should follow suit. As you noticed here, and will throughout the
book, our hundred big blind strategy will differ from our deep stack game
plan. This is a crucial concept as many live games will be played deep
stacked and having the correct approach will be vital for success.

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