cover all three options in this chapter. The key is to always think about how your hand will fare against your opponent’s raising range. Also, take care not to set yourself up to make a huge mistake later in the hand.
In general, you want to call raises when you have a hand that will connect well with the flop. Specifically, hands like suited connectors and pairs are best for calling a raise because you will usually know quickly whether you have a strong hand after the flop. Your hand, your position, your opponent’s position and everyone’s stack sizes are all of the utmost importance when determining whether you can profitably call a raise. As long as everyone is deep-stacked and you will be in position throughout the hand, you can call with suited connectors and pairs basically every time.
Suppose someone raises UTG and you have 7 -6 on the button. If you all have over 80BBs or so, you should call this raise every time. While you are certainly behind before the flop, your hand can easily beat your opponent’s under-the-gun raising range if you connect well with the flop. Not only can you out-flop your opponent, you will most likely have huge implied odds, as most under-the-gun raising ranges are made up of big pairs and big cards. So, if the flop comes 7-6-2, you can be confident getting in a lot of money, as your opponent will usually show up with an overpair. You have to be careful though, as you don’t want to get all the money in with one pair and a weak kicker.
If you call with the same 7 -6 and it comes 7 -4 -2 , you should call a flop bet, but if your opponent fires again on the turn, unless you know him to bluff multiple streets, you should fold, as this usually narrows his range to only hands that can beat top pair, bad kicker.
Fold hands like K-J and Q-10 to an early-position raise. Those hands perform very poorly against a standard early-position raising range. These are called “trouble hands” for a reason. Playing them only in position and as the aggressor will keep you out of trouble.
You can call with a slightly wider range when someone raises from middle or late position. Hands like 9-6s and J-10o become playable. Your pair outs are usually a bit more live and your opponent’s range will be weaker, giving you more bluff equity. Say a loose opponent raises from middle position and you call on the button with J-10o.
If it comes J-7-2, you can be pretty happy calling down, as you usually have the best hand. If it comes 8-7-3, you can call, hoping to catch a pair, a gutshot or a chance to bluff later. You can also raise immediately, hoping to pick up the pot right there, with outs if you’re called. Hands like K-J and Q-10 are sometimes playable against a middle- or late-position raiser. Many people open up their ranges
significantly in late position, giving you a decent chance to dominate your opponent. Again, be careful when you make just top pair with a bad kicker, because when a lot of money goes into the pot, you are usually beat.
As long as you do not call with hands like A-8, K-10 and Q-9 when you are out of position, you will tend to be in good shape. Playing hands like these will result in you flopping top pair, only to be beaten by top pair with a bigger kicker. These hands are not unplayable. You should actually be re- raising hands like A-9, K-J, A-K, Q-Q and A-A. If you only re-raise with premium hands, your opponents will quickly realize that you always have a strong hand when you re-raise. To balance this, you should re-raise with some weaker hands as well. I also suggest you re-raise with weaker suited connectors such as 9 -6 or J -8 because most opponents will rarely put these hands in your re- raising range, allowing you to win a lot of chips when they flop well.
Suppose an aggressive opponent raises from middle position and you are on the cutoff. Again, everyone has a fairly deep stack. In this spot, you can re-raise with a very wide range. In fact, your hand doesn’t actually matter that much, as most of your value will come from making your opponent fold pre-flop or winning with a continuation bet on the flop. What is most important here is what percentage of your opponent’s raising range he will fold pre-flop, and how often he will fold on the flop if he does call. Since we know this player is aggressive, he will probably fold a decent amount of his hands pre-flop, so re-raising with a wide range is probably a good play, as long as you do not abuse it. So, you can re-raise with literally any two cards in this spot, although I wouldn’t suggest playing quite so loose. I would re-raise 9-9+, A-K, A-10 to A-2, K-J to K-9, Q-9+, J-8+, 10-7+ and random suited cards like K-5s and 8-6s. Notice that I suggest just calling with some strong hands, namely A-Q, A-J, K-Q, small pairs and suited connectors. It would be a disaster to raise one of these hands and be forced off a hand with a lot of equity by a re-raise. Besides, it is usually best to just call with small pairs and good suited connectors, as they flop too well to turn them into a bluff.
If called, you should make a continuation bet on every flop, as you are representing a strong hand by re-raising pre-flop. Again, do not go overboard with these plays or they will become unprofitable. If your opponent knows you are going to re-raise with a wide range, he will start calling with a wider range, or even four-bet, which is never good when you have a bad hand. Note also that while you can re-raise with A-x, don’t just call, because you will often be dominated. Either re-raise or fold hands that tend to have large reverse implied odds, such as A-8, K-10 and Q-10. These hands are basically stone bluffs. Even if you hit a decent hand like top pair, if your opponent is willing to put in a lot of money, your top pair with bad kicker is almost always behind and should be folded.
Against a standard opponent who raises a moderate amount from late position, I re-raise less often as a bluff than I would re-raise aggressive players. I will re-raise him once or twice to see how often he defends his initial raise. The first time you re-raise someone, you will almost always get credit for a big hand. You should first re-raise with a fairly weak hand because you don’t want your opponent to play back. Later, when you pick up a real hand, your opponents will think you are a maniac because this will be at least the second time you have re-raised. My second or third re-raise will be with A- 9+, K-10+, Q-10+, 9-9+ and some random suited connectors. Hands as weak as A-9 are still in my re-raising range because having an ace in your hand decreases the likelihood that your opponent holds an ace, weakening his opening range. Again, always have some weaker hands in your range. You want your opponent to second-guess himself, which leads to mistakes. To sum up, you should re-raise hands you don’t want to see a flop with because of reverse implied odds, hands that flop decently but not well enough to normally call a raise, and hands that are much better than your opponent’s raising
range.
One other option is to re-raise an initial raiser fairly small, with the intention of continuation-betting every flop with a range of hands made up of monsters and weak hands. Suppose someone raises from middle position and you have K -6 or 9 -7 on the button. You can re-raise to around 2.5 times the initial raise. He will most likely call, and you can take him off every flop he misses with a bet of around 2/3 pot. I usually only make this play against straightforward players who can’t resist seeing a cheap flop but will play poorly afterwards.
Fold any hand not listed above if someone raises in front of you. Even in position, you should rarely play hands like K-2 unless your opponent will check-fold every time he misses the flop, which you will not encounter too often in today’s games. If you are lucky enough to run into one of these super- straightforward players, you can call in late position with a wide range of hands with the intention of picking the pot up post-flop. But don’t get carried away with this play. Even the most standard opponents will adjust over time.
A few books suggest never re-raising pre-flop. You can win this way if you play very well post-flop, but I don’t think it is optimal, especially against competition at a skill level similar to yours. In the high-stakes tournaments I play, I do not believe anyone has a big enough edge over anyone else to never re-raise pre-flop. If you are a world-class player with terrible opponents, you can get away with never re-raising pre-flop because you will be able to outplay every player in the tournament after the flop. I am not nearly so egotistical as to think I can outplay everyone in the world.