My book...

[krishan]

I've been writing a book on shorthand limit. I quit recently as I didn't much like the work and the didn't go as planned. I tried to think of a way to commodotize the portion of the book I have done. I thought about trying to sell it as an e-book but decided I didn't really want the hassle. Some on the boards can vouch for my skills as a player.

So I decided to give it away for free. All you have to do is sign up at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBN8265 for an account under my affiliate link. Here is a link to information about the program. http://owntheinternet.blogspot.com/ Once the viewbar is available you get paid 5$ per month + a portion of your affiliates so long as you surf the web 5 hours a month. I figure we all do that.

Once you sign up, PM your signup email and I'll email you the book once I see you signed up.

I don't intend for this to be spammy. It's just a fun way for me to build algoco referrals while you get the benefit of a free 28 pages of shorthand strategy. Here is a sample chapter.

Krishan

Playing strong hands in position

Playing strong hand in position is relatively simple. You want to bet and raise as much as possible to collect bets from weaker hands and draws. The only real decision to make in position is when to slowplay.

Slowplay: To either call, instead of raise, or check instead of bet in an attempt to maximize EV over the entire hand.

Slowplaying seems to have gone out of style recently. People rarely check behind on flops even when they have the deck crippled.

A slowplay tries to achieve two things. You are allowing players to catch up to second best hands and you are giving opponents the chance to bluffs. When you slowplay you give up value on the flop in exchange for the value from second best hands and bluffs on the turn. In general, you should slowplay when a flop bet doesn’t have much value, assuming of course your hand is strong enough to slowplay. Here are the considerations for slowplaying when you have the initiative.

1. Slowplaying looses value multiway since in a multiway hand there is a higher chance that someone has a hand they are willing to call with. I would never slowplay against 3 opponents.
2. You should be more likely to slowplay against a laggy opponent who might bluff a later street.
3. You should be less likely to slowplay on boards that people will call a wide range of hands on. Boards containing mostly low cards fit into this category.
4. Slowplaying should be reserved for hands where your opponent isn’t likely to outdraw you. The weaker your hand, the less likely you should be to slowplay.
5. If you cripple the deck, KK on a K22r board, slowplaying becomes very appealing.

Here are a couple hand examples. Two loose passive limpers call and you raise with TT on the button. The flop comes T54r. Despite the fact that you probably have a lock on the pot equity wise you should still bet. The hand is multiway, you have passive opponents who are not likely to bluff, and there are a lot of hands that might call a flop bet. This flop looks pretty innocuous to 99-66, or overcards. Since there are a lot of hands that will call you on this flop, you should bet despite having a near-lock hand. Slowplay just gives up too much value.

Every folds to you on the button and you raise with Q7s. The SB folds, and a LAG in the BB calls. The flop comes QQ4r. Here is a flop where you are likely ahead by a large margin. Your opponent is an aggressive player who may bluff the turn if you show weakness on the flop. There are not a lot of hands that would call a flop bet. His hand range is very wide since he is calling a button steal and pocket pairs make up a small part of that. Also there are only 2 overcards so it’s nearly impossible for him to have 2 overcards (He would have reraised preflop with AK). A check here might let him catch a weak pair or induce a bluff. There is much more value from those scenarios than from a flop bet. If he does in fact bet out on the turn, we are going to just call. Raising prevents him from bluffing the river and also lets him fold a weak pair. A weak pair may bet the river or check/call netting us an extra BB.

Everyone folds to you on the button with QQ. You raise, the SB folds and a loose aggressive player calls in the BB. The flop comes K33r. This is a good board for you. If villain doesn’t have a K or a 3, you are likely way ahead. There is only 1 overcard to the board so checking behind when you are ahead gives the BB a free look at a 3 out draw, or a 2 out draw (a pp). Checking behind on this flop might also induce a bluff or a bet from a weaker pocket pair. In this situation slowplaying is correct. We can’t get much value from the flop relative to induce bluffs on later streets.

The considerations are quite different when you have position but don’t have the initiative. When the flop checks to you, betting is standard. When someone leads into you when you have a strong hand, you need to compare the EV of raising the flop against calling and trying to raise the turn. Here are some considerations.

1. What is your relative position? Will you be able to trap people in between you and the flop bettor or will you force the field to face two bets if you raise the flop.
2. How draw heavy is the board? Draw heavy board work against you in two ways. First villain might be on a draw and instead of winning two big bets on the turn, he might check netting you only one bet on the turn. Also, if villain has a weak hand, the completion of draws might cause him to freeze up on the turn and check. Finally if the draw comes in, you might freeze up with your strong hand.
3. What is the high card on the board? The lower the top card on the board, the less likely you should be to wait. The problem with waiting on T high boards is that there are a lot of overcards that can cause weak hands to not bet the turn.

Here are some hand examples.

Two aggressive limpers to you on the button, you call with JTo. The SB calls and BB checks. The flop comes Q98r giving you the nuts.

Consider two situations. First the SB bets, BB and MP calls, CO folds and the action is on you. Should you raise or call? We definitely have a strong enough hand to risk waiting until the turn to raise. But in this case with a player trapped in the middle raising immediately is the better play. Generally getting multiple bets on the flop is better than waiting until the turn.

Now consider the same hand except the SB and BB check and MP bets, CO folds and the action is on you. Here is a situation that begs to be slow played. You have the nuts in a multiway pot. Raising would force people out of the pot by facing them with two bets. It’s much better here to call and raise the turn. Even if SB and BB fold, you are in great shape against MP. If they come along that’s just gravy. When you are in position, waiting to raise the turn becomes a strong option because even if the flop bettor fails to bet the turn, you can always bet the turn yourself. The real risk comes when you are out of position.