Playing Out of Position -- Introduction
We are operating under the assumption that everyone knows the following: You ought to be playing many more hands from LP than from EP. Take a look at your winnings and total hand investments. The bulk should come from LP. If there is a balance, you are playing too many hands out of position, and it is likely costing you money.
Think of position like many of us thought of hooking up back in college. You want to end up on top of the hot girl at the party. If you do, you’ll always get what you want, and you’ll usually finish ahead of her. Occasionally, though, you have to let her get on top;
she’ll enjoy the position more, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get what you want.
I guess this analogy stops at busting: you’ll always bust, and it takes forever to reload.
Anyway, moving on…
Reads are Essential: Study Hands You Don't Play
To be comfortable playing out of position, you must also be comfortable trusting your reads and your feel for flop textures. There are ways to make this easier on you. But before we get there…
There will be hands, and circumstances, in which the highest EV line is to muck a reasonably strong hand when you are out of position. It will be much easier to develop reads and handle your positional disadvantage as a session goes on; playing big pots OOP early in a session is generally a bad idea because you haven’t had the time to
develop reads and a feel for the rhythm of the table. Let’s say you raise A K UTG and get one caller, and you are both new to the table. You have no read on this player.
Flop comes A 8 3
and you lead for 3/4 pot. Villain comes over the top for a PSR. He might certainly be wielding his position like a weapon, as many strong players do. But you will quickly be playing for your stack to find out if he flopped a set on you, and mucking your hand now is not a bankroll killer by any means. Make a note of his play. Watch how he handles position in future hands. Most importantly, do your best to pay attention to similar situations even when you are not in the hand.
Players who like to multi-table often make the mistake of only paying attention to hands in which they are involved. Some of the best reads you can develop will come from studying these hands. If you notice a big pot that happened a hand or two ago while you were devoting your attention elsewhere, pull up the hand history if you can. Sit out for a few hands at your other tables. Party Poker in particular is very generous about revealing a player’s hand at showdown; use that information to make detailed notes.
If you are dealing with aggressive postflop players who have a positional advantage over you, it will benefit you to carefully watch their play as often as you can. Again, this does not go for every opponent; you’ll run into players who like to raise less often than Clear Channel likes to raise salaries in a union negotiation. It’s the tougher players who will challenge you, but you will eventually be able to ascertain the times in which they are simply trying to intimidate you based on position.
Having said this, sometimes the best advice is the simple "leave and wait for a better seat." But I’m only doing this against a maniac, not a tough TAG or a good LAG who
knows what position is. I want to beat those players at their own game.
Eventually I won’t mind if a strong, aggressive player thinks he can float and bully me.
I’ll adjust and there are multiple lines I can take to win pots from him.
Here is an example from a hand that happened last weekend.
I had the following notes on a player who is 21/12/3 in 500 hands: "Strong player, capable of making good laydowns. Seems to understand position and has pushed me out of several pots after I raised preflop. I wanted badly to call him and force him to show me a set, but I have backed down each time. Likes to raise flop Cbets, or float and raise turn. Worth watching some more."
I was in MP with A Q , and I opened for $4. He called on the Button, and we were heads up to the flop.
Flop came J 5 4 , and I led for $6. He raised to $18, a play he had used on me on my second orbit of the session. He would certainly make this play with a set, but he seemed to be raising with TP just as often. I thought it was possible I was behind to a JT suited, AJ kind of hand. I could have been behind a set or two pair, only occasionally an overpair, and often enough an unimproved PP. I decided it was, overall, much more likely that he had an unimproved pair, TP or air than a big hand like a set or overpair. In other words, he can not call a re-raise with much of his range, because by re-raising, I am telling him that I have a monster pair. If he beats that, he pushes, and I fold. But my re-raise knocks out his drawing hands and folds out many hands that beat me, along with changing the table dynamic that had previously convinced him I could be run over.
We were both reasonably deep, with effective stacks $175, and I made it $58. He seemed to think for a while and folded, but he might very well have been playing it up.
I immediately made a note of the hand, as I felt this opponent was perhaps less likely to raise my flop Cbet, and more likely to float or fold. Keep in mind that had I attempted this play early on, I would have had to do it with no information about this player and I would have been simply hoping I was not up against a set.
The 25% Rule
I tend to make an assumption about players that I am not sure is perfectly accurate, but it has seemed to help me. It is this, similar to Harrington’s 10% chance of a bluff
concept: If I have a strong enough sample size against an opponent I respect, and he has position on me, there is at least a 25% chance that any aggression he shows against me in a heads-up pot is based solely on his positional advantage. How did I come to that number? I spent a lot of time combing through the PT database, checking out hands, and making my best guess. I also considered my own tendencies and my proclivity to use position like a hammer on a stubborn nail.
Again, this is quite a nebulous number and concept, but I try to keep it in mind when I make a reasonably strong hand against a solid opponent who has position on me. Is 25%
a huge number? It is not, but it brings a bluff, a float, or a semi-bluff into the equation a lot more often. I don't expect everyone to agree with the range, but I the concept has worked for me.
I would also assert that this number is going to rise based on the stakes you play.
Recalling my long-ago days of 25NL, I would guess it’s much lower. I don’t use the number without a lot of hands or a solid read on a player, because at SSNL, most players tend to play their cards based on the strength of their hand. It’s pretty darn
straightforward. We’re trying to improve our play against the strongest opponents and
prepare our game for higher stakes.
Handling Min-Raises: They Don't Always Mean Sets
Here’s a hand that I butchered like an overweight cow on Hamburger Day that indicates the power of raising in position.
I was dealt A K and made my standard raise, one caller. He seemed solid, but I didn't have much history with him.
Flop came A 7 6 . I led for $6, and he min-raised to $12. I called but feared a set immediately. Turn was a total brick, the 2 , I checked, and he checked. River was the T
, I checked, he bet $30, and I called. He showed 9 8 for a straight.
The min-raise froze me on the flop. I was convinced he would only min-raise for value with a set; instead I let him draw cheaply and I fell for the trap on the river.
I still tend to think that the majority, or at least the plurality, of flop min-raises indicate a set. Even seemingly solid players – and I’ve seen plenty of 2p2ers do this – min-raise their set on the flop because they want to build a pot and get value, but they don’t want to lose their opponent. However, I’ve come to find out that it can mean something else.
Many players know that a min-raise is regarded with dread because of what it represents, and I’ve run into plenty of players who use it to float or shut down their opponent. I’ve run into opponents who will min-raise a Cbet with top pair or an unimproved PP. It’s amazing how effective it can be against us, maligned as the min-raise is.
So here’s how I handle it: Every time I see a player min-raise a flop Cbet, I will make note of it. If that player shows his hand down, perfect. It’s a bounty of information. But let’s say I raise A K in EP and get one caller, and the flop comes K 8 3 or even T 8 3 . I’ll make my Cbet, and if I get min-raised, I’m coming over the top. If I lead for 6 and get raised to 12, I’m making it 35. My opponent’s action is then going to tell me a lot. If they push I fold and make a note that I believe they’ll min-raise sets. If they fold, I note that they’ll try to take away the pot with a min-bet and will back down to further aggression. Their best play with a set is to call, cause that makes it very difficult for me on the turn, but thankfully most opponents at SSNL won’t just call there with a set. They’ll push.
Does it get expensive sometimes? Yes. But you’ll be surprised how often you can take the pot and when you get pushed, it’s helpful to know how opponents play their
monsters. Having a note on what a min-raise means is one of the most helpful pieces of info you can have in this game at this level.
A Default Line for Handling AA or KK vs. Resistance
Playing AA or KK against resistance when you are OOP can be dreadfully difficult – harder than a group of teen boys at a Scarlett Johannson photo shoot. One of 2p2’s best
posters, Foxwoods Fiend, shared some of his thoughts on handling this spot and I’ve built them into my default line.
This is assuming the flop is at least somewhat innocuous. If I’m raised with normal or deep stacks, I’ll call and lead the turn for 2/3 pot. If I get called I have to check the river, and a call/fold will be reads-based. If I get raised again on the turn, I’m gone. There are also times when I will muck AA or KK on the flop to one raise, but of course that’s dependent on the read and opponent. I think folding to every raise when OOP is giving away too much value.
Conclusions
Being OOP bites like a vindictive girlfriend who finds out you’ve been cheating. Lots of teeth. Not generally much fun, unless you’re into that kind of thing. So do yourself a favor and play the bulk of your hands in position.
But don’t roll over dead just because you have to act first. Trust your reads. Use check/raises occasionally. It just takes some adjustments to get your opponents off balance, and then they’ll be dreading playing any pots with you at all.