This business of adjusting to the ante structure

[Andy B]

There have been a number of posts over the years in which people have said that you have to adjust for the big ante in this game or the small ante in that game. No one, however, seems to be willing or able to quantify this adjustment. I have maintained all along that the adjustments needed are pretty subtle and will attempt to back that assertion here.

There are basically four kinds of playable hands:

Rolled-up trips
Three-card flushes
Three-card straights
Pairs

With rolled-up trips, you're going to play every time. Well, someone posted a hand several years ago where he folded rolled-up trips on third street, but I'm guessing that no one reading this has ever even considered folding rolled-up trips on third. Your decision to play this hand is independent of the ante structure. How you play this hand is dependent mostly on game conditions, not on the ante structure. If the game is loose, you should be raising early and often. If it's tight, you should probably wait until fifth or sixth street to pull the trigger. This is true whether the ante is big or small.

With three-card straights and flushes, if your cards are live, you're going to play for at least the bring-in, probably for one bet, and maybe for two bets. This has little to do with the ante structure. These hands are dependent upon implied odds, which are not closely tied to the ante structure.

That leaves us with pairs. Even here, I don't think that you're going to adjust much from one structure to another. You have Aces, you raise. Maybe you slow-play big pairs in a tight, no-ante game, but in most games, you're best off raising right away.

You have (J8)8 and the bring-in is on your immediate left. He gets called by a Q, a 7, and a 4. You're last to act. You're calling whether this is a standard $75/150 game or a standard $5/10 game, right? The difference in structure doesn't change your decision.

You have (QQ)8. Low card brings it in, two players fold, an Ace completes, and it's on you. What do you do? If it's ol' Max who always has it, you quietly fold and never let anyone know that you're capable of folding a big pair. If the player is loose and aggressive, you raise in the hopes of getting it heads-up. Again, you'll do this whether it's $10/20 or $75/150.

Now it might well be true that the Ace is more likely to be on a steal at $75/150 than at $10/20, and that is in part a function of the ante structure. The point I'm trying to make is that your reaction to this scenario is not a function of the ante structure, but of your particular opponent. If it's ol' Max, you react one way, and if it's a loose-aggressive guy, you react another way.

This is by no means exhaustive. Those of you who maintain that there are huge adjustments to be made between high-ante and low-ante games should be able to come up with lots of distinct counterexamples. If you are not, please stop talking about all these huge adjustments that need to be made between the two games.

I maintain that if you win, say 3BB/100 at a $1/2 game with a $.10 ante and then move to a $1/2 game with a $.25 ante and make no adjustments, you will still be a significant winner in the high-ante game. And the reverse is true as well.