I am a recovering successful poker player. Why have I said this? Well, it’s because I’m patching things up in the literature of middle limit NL holdem games.

Before, the tight aggressive strategy at the table is effective and in fact I win effortlessly because of the said strategy. But lately, in the modern middle limit NL holdem games, things have been a little different. I noticed that players usually play using the same strategy and for that beat me in the end.

Hoping to find clarity unto what’s going on, I tried to search for some articles about poker particularly about middle limit NL holdem games. I stumbled on so many sites but it is your site I find really interesting. From your site, if I’ve absorbed things right, I’ve learned that players now have to play more raggedy looking hands such as 64s and A2s by limping in preflop and hoping for a good flop and trying to break someone with TPTK or a high pocket pair.

However, one idea bothered me. Is it true that if possible players have to see flops cheaply with suited connectors or gappers? What’s your idea on this.

How about in these situations for an instance:

1. You are seated at a table and everyone else has tightened up. With 75s, you are in middle position and no limpers to be found. What will you do? Are you going to limp or raise and why? And if you limped on then the guy on the button raised to about five times the big blind, will you call or fold? Say you feel he has AA or something close to it and both of you are sitting on about 100 Big blinds.

How about the 75s, will it hit enough?

2. You are seated at a table and almost all others seated were playing tight. Then several guys raised four to six times the big blind preflop with a majority of their hands. But later on they just check fold if they can’t hit or make a continuation bet. If they encounter action, they give up.

Say you then have 75s and was actually seated in MP. Suddenly, a guy raised 5 times in EP, what will you do? Call, fold or re-raise?

3. I’ve tried to call a raise with a rag hand or the like. Have you also tried doing so? If so, what are the things you’ve considered before doing it?

At some point, I’ve tried to limp in and call raises only when I have reason to believe they have a big pair in the hole and are breakable actually. But things for me seemed out of the track. Any idea to share with me?

William

William,

I’m going to address your questions one at a time.

1. 7-5 is a hand that can hit big but also can lose you a lot of money due to the weakness of the straights and flushes it hits. Lets say you have 7-5 and the flop comes 6-8-9. You have flopped a straight. What about when the turn fall a 10? You now have a sucker straight. If you flop or turn a flush, its going to be the weakest type of flush you can make. You have to play these hands carefully. You really want to limp in with these hands. Calling big raises is not a smart play.
   
2. The player raised in early position. This is not a good time to play your rags.
   
3. When I consider calling a raise with a rag hand, the first thing I consider is how many people are in the pot? If I am getting good odds on my money, I will call. If they are particularly weak-tight, then I might consider the call. Obviously, I want position on this player.

I hope you have time to answer my questions. I badly need clarity. Thanks!

1. In one of my games, I have a pocket pair 7-7, and then I have a set because of the flop, it was one overcard and 2 suited cards. I guess it gave someone else a flush draw. Eventually, one opponent went all-in and I’ve seen he has more chips than me. As a result, I placed him on at least a top pair as well as a flush draw. Like at this instance, whenever your opponent is on a flush draw and went all-in, what do you normally do? Do you fold or immediately call his all-in instead?
2. In my game the other day, I had a top pair, top kicker. I had a A-Q and then the flop is Q-10-2 rainbow. I remembered that the game was very passive and loose then, having numerous calling stations. At some point, I longed to thin out the field to get at least 4-5 callers but I know it was a hard thing to do. Eventually, I started thinking of some stuff.

I wondered, if in the event you get called by someone, do you check the turn? And in case you bet the turn, is there a need for you to bet a large amount? If you have to and then he calls, does it mean you’re beaten and check-fold the river?

3. Oftentimes, I lose lots of money by just merely guarding my hand as well as doing the thinning out of the field stuff. Because of this, I thought of betting less to let everyone in. At some point, I also thought of betting just the necessary amount to thin out the field. I don’t know which is which.

Please help me.

Thanks!

Luis

Luis,

1. You are going to call his all in. You still have the lead and he is still drawing. Granted, they had a big chance to hit their hand, but they are still laying a heavy price to hit their draw. Also, you do have 7 outs on the flop, and 10 on the turn to make your full house which gives you around a 30% chance to resuck out on him if he hits. You have the advantage here. Take it.
   
2. In the scenario with A-Q your problem comes with there being so many people staying in. Are they on draws? Did they flop top pair with a worse kicker? Did they have pocket 2’s and flop a set? It becomes difficult to decipher sometimes. If the turn does not produce a third straight or flush card, you need to take charge and bet out. If they call again, you need to see what the river falls. Again, if it is unthreatening, you should be out and take the lead. If it does complete a draw, slow down.
   
3. Sometimes you will lose money doing this. Typically a bet of around 30% to 40% of the pot is sufficient to thin out most players. If there are potential draws on the board, you need to bet enough to keep them from having sufficient odds to draw. Don’t bet less and let more people in. When you let people into the pot, you are inviting them to outdraw you. You need to avoid this.