
Top Poker Pro Borrows Common Low Stakes Tactic ($99,136 Pot)
Let’s visit the top of the poker food chain!
The following hand took place in an online nosebleed $500/$1,000 ($200 ante) cash game.
The players who went to war for a nearly six-figure pot are Linus Loeliger and Kevin Paque.
What more can you want? Letโs dive right in!
Preflop Action
The effective stacks to begin the hand are $100,000 or 100 big blinds (bb).
Linus limps in from the Small Blind with Ac Ts.
Kevin Paque raises from the Big Blind with Ks Qsย to $4,500.
Linus responds with a 3-bet to $16,000, which Kevin calls.
Simple Preflop Analysis
Linus makes a correct decision to limp with Ace-Ten offsuit from the Small Blind. Limping in blind vs blind battles is a tough strategy to pull off in practice, but it is important in games with an ante (like this one). The ante improves your pot odds, making it more enticing to just call that extra 0.5bb.
When using such a strategy, it’s critical you limp with a well-thought-out and balanced range.
Keep in mind that if you play small stakes online or live games without an ante, limping is inadvisable. The high rake in those games has the opposite effect as the ante — it makes your pot odds worse. This is why playing a raise or fold strategy is usually best in the majority of cash games that run around the world.
Kevin makes a good raise with King-Queen suited. He has a strong hand that benefits from building the pot. His raise size (4.5bb) is good.
Faced with this raise, Linus has two good options: call or 3-bet. Folding is the only option that is off the table (that would be far too tight). Calling is good because, put simply, Ace-Ten offsuit is a pretty good hand (even against a raise when out of position).
By 3-betting, Linus is essentially turning his hand into a semi-bluff.ย He’d be happy to force a fold and win the pot right away, but if his opponent does call, he has a decent hand with which to battle postflop.ย
Typically speaking, if you see a player in a low stakes game limp and then re-raise, it’s because they have an absolute monster or have no idea what they’re doing. Usually both. But top players like Linus make this play fairly frequently (when it folds around to the blinds) with a much more diverse range of hands.
Against the 3-bet, Kevin should always call with such a powerful hand. Folding would be far too tight, and his hand is too strong to turn into a semi-bluff by 4-betting (especially in position).
Advanced Preflop Analysis
Linus should look to complete the Small Blind with around 88% of all hands in this spot. He’d only fold the absolute trashiest hands (like 7c 2d). This is because his pot odds are so good due to the ante, which makes many marginal hands become profitable calls.
To protect the weaker hands with which he’d just call, Linus should also do so with some of his stronger hands (including Ace-Ten offsuit).
Against the limp, Kevin should raise with a polarized range and check back with his medium-strength hands. This strategy is optimal because he is closing the action — no player behind him can punish his capped checking range.ย
Against the polarized isolation raise, Linus should look to re-raise with a fairly merged range. Since he’ll be out-of-position, he shouldn’t bluff 3-bet with trash. Rather, he’ll be better off doing so with strong hands that realize equity decently (like his Ace-Ten).
Other hands that can take this line are other offsuit broadways, Kx suited hands, suited connectors, and suited Ax.
Against the 3-bet, Kevin should defend with roughly 50% of his range. Folding the trash, calling the strong/playable hands, and 4-betting with monsters and a some semi-bluffs.
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Flop Action
The flop comes Qh Td 3s with $32,800 in the pot.
Linus bets $10,168. Kevin calls.
Simple Flop Analysis
Both players flop well, with Linus hitting middle pair and Kevin top pair.
Linus makes a good c-bet with Ace-Ten offsuit. His hand is not a monster, by any means, but he can get a lot of value from weaker Tx, pocket pairs, and draws. He’ll also force some hands that have equity to fold (like 5s 5h).
Kevin’s strong top pair is clearly call-worthy on the flop. There is no need to raise and his hand is obviously too strong to fold. (Funnily enough, Linus has one of the few worse made hands that would call a raise in this situation — but we aren’t results-oriented thinkers here at Upswing Poker!)
Advanced Flop Analysis
As mentioned, Linus’ preflop 3-betting strategy is quite high-card heavy. So, he retains a range advantage on this double-broadway flop — he’s more likely to have connected with the board or have an overpair.
C-betting small with close to his entire range (if not all of his range) is optimal. This strategy puts Kevinโs weak pairs — of which he has many — into a tough spot (Pocket Eights through Pocket Fours). Kevin makes the trivial call with top pair. Let’s take a turn.
Turn Action
The turn comes the 2h, making the board Qh Td 3sย 2h. The pot is $52,136.
Linus checks. Kevin bets $23,000. Linus calls.
Simple Turn Analysis
Linus makes a good check. Given the action so far, his Ace-Ten offsuit is squarely a medium-strength hand. His goal is now to reach showdown as cheaply as possible.
Kevin’s bet is a good, profitable play. Top pair second kicker is relatively strong in this situation and Linus will call with many worse hands. He is likely planning to go all-in on the river if it’s a safe card.
Linus’ call is correct. He’s not loving life with just middle pair, but his hand is too strong to fold at this point. Kevin could easily have a draw (like Jh 9h or Ks Js) or a less intuitive bluff.
Advanced Turn Analysis
The turn 2h is more helpful for Kevinโs range, but Linus will still have plenty of strong hands.
Linus makes the correct decision to check. He is turning his marginal hand into a bluff-catcher.
Faced with this check, Kevinโs King-Queen is strong enough to start betting for value. At this stack-to-pot ratio (SPR), a half-pot size is perfect. This sets up a 50-60% pot shove on the river.
Linus should always call now as he holds a premium bluff-catcher. He blocks a ton of Kevinโs value range (Ax Qx, Ax Ax, Qs Ts) and very little of his bluffing range.
River Action
The river comes the Jh, making the final board Qh Td 3sย 2hย Jh. The pot is $99,136.
Linus checks.
Simple River Analysis
A dynamic river card completes a potential flush and makes a straight possible with Ace-King.
Linus should always check with his hand. He is praying to check, see Kevin give-up with a bluff, and win at showdown.
Kevin should check-back with top pair. His hand is no longer strong enough to value bet and expect to get called by worse with so many draws completing. He also now loses to Jx Jx and Qx Jx.ย
Advancedย River Analysis
The river Jh is the second-best card in the deck for Linus’ range. He vastly outguns Kevin in terms of flushes and straights in his range. This is due to his flush draw-heavy check-calling range on the turn. Plus, he is the only player that is likely to have Ace-King present in his range.
A small donking range built around the Ace-King straight could be created here. This would prevent him from facing a shoving range composed of flushes or bluffs. That being said, Ace-Ten is too strong to bluff and too weak to value bet. Thus, it should remain in the checking range.ย
As you may have gathered from the paragraphs above, Kevin should react to this river card with a very cautious strategy. He should check and take the showdown with the vast majority of his range. This includes his King-Queen as it is too weak to shove and expect to get called by more than 50% worse hands.
Results
Kevin checks back and wins the $99,136 pot.
Final Thoughts
This hand was interesting because of the blind structure of the game which lends itself to this limping strategy being optimal for the Small Blind. This caused them to end up in a way different scenario than what we usually see in more standard 6-9 max games. Both guys played very well, showing their expertise even in these ante games.
Thatโs all for this article! I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned from it! As usual, if you have any questions or feedback feel free to leave a comment in the section down below.
Tillโ next time, good luck, grinders!
Note: Poker players (maybe even the ones in your games) are improving their skills every day in the Upswing Lab training course and community. Don't let yourself fall behind. Learn all about the Lab here!