You Must Know Your Opponents When Playing Marginal Hands
I’ve written a bunch of poker blogs over the years and for me personally, it is hard to write what
I consider a good blog unless I am in the writing “mood” and also in the writing “mode”. By writing
“mood” I mean that I just have to be ready to get my thoughts out of my head and onto the computer
screen. By writing “mode” I mean that I have to have a subject that I feel is relevant to discuss. Many
times, I’ve discussed poker subjects that have already been discussed and dissected a million different
ways by several different poker authorities. I additionally try to come up with topics that I feel aren’t
discussed or written about very often or at all. Those fresh topics are usually more interesting to me.
Maybe it is because I am hoping to get additional feedback from other poker players on that topic in
order to gain some sort of edge. I always enjoy reading other people’s opinions on poker subjects
whether I agree with them or not. It, at the very least, helps me to understand how people think and
isn’t poker all about understanding how people think? I truly believe that if you can somehow follow
someone’s logic, you can usually make the right decision on how to try to counteract that logic.
That brings us to the topic of our blog. The decisions are usually substantially easier when we
have monster hands or trash hands. In many cases, they pretty much play themselves. Let’s face it, the
hardest hands to navigate through are the marginal hands.
For this example,
I am going to categorize marginal hands as any hand that doesn’t fall into the monster or trash hand categories. At each inflection point in a hand, you have different information about your opponent’s hand strength. What you also need to make sure to gauge is how your opponent plays. At the simplest comparison, is he only concerned about his own hand strength or is he also thinking about your hand or hand range? How you proceed in the hand should vary depending on the answer to this question. If he doesn’t seem strong (only thinking about his own hand) then you can basically bet with anything to most likely take down the pot if that is your intention. If he is thinking about your range then you most likely will need to vary your play in order to not get exploited. You need to take this information into consideration also when deciding on a bet size.
If your opponent is only considering the strength of his hand then you can try to
determine what bet size he would call (if you want to get value) and what bet size he would fold to (if
you want to bluff). Against a player who is thinking about your range then it becomes more complex
because you know that he knows what your range should be. Of course, when it is a multi way pot then
it gets way more complicated.
Ok, so how do you know how to gauge your opponent? Again, that can be a complex thing to
figure out. It’s a combination of hand histories, actions, tells and much more. In a nutshell, it’s a
I’ve written a bunch of poker blogs over the years and for me personally, it is hard to write what
I consider a good blog unless I am in the writing “mood” and also in the writing “mode”. By writing
“mood” I mean that I just have to be ready to get my thoughts out of my head and onto the computer
screen. By writing “mode” I mean that I have to have a subject that I feel is relevant to discuss. Many
times, I’ve discussed poker subjects that have already been discussed and dissected a million different
ways by several different poker authorities. I additionally try to come up with topics that I feel aren’t
discussed or written about very often or at all. Those fresh topics are usually more interesting to me.
Maybe it is because I am hoping to get additional feedback from other poker players on that topic in
order to gain some sort of edge. I always enjoy reading other people’s opinions on poker subjects
whether I agree with them or not. It, at the very least, helps me to understand how people think and
isn’t poker all about understanding how people think? I truly believe that if you can somehow follow
someone’s logic, you can usually make the right decision on how to try to counteract that logic.
That brings us to the topic of our blog. The decisions are usually substantially easier when we
have monster hands or trash hands. In many cases, they pretty much play themselves. Let’s face it, the
hardest hands to navigate through are the marginal hands.
For this example,
I am going to categorize marginal hands as any hand that doesn’t fall into the monster or trash hand categories. At each inflection point in a hand, you have different information about your opponent’s hand strength. What you also need to make sure to gauge is how your opponent plays. At the simplest comparison, is he only concerned about his own hand strength or is he also thinking about your hand or hand range? How you proceed in the hand should vary depending on the answer to this question. If he doesn’t seem strong (only thinking about his own hand) then you can basically bet with anything to most likely take down the pot if that is your intention. If he is thinking about your range then you most likely will need to vary your play in order to not get exploited. You need to take this information into consideration also when deciding on a bet size.
If your opponent is only considering the strength of his hand then you can try to
determine what bet size he would call (if you want to get value) and what bet size he would fold to (if
you want to bluff). Against a player who is thinking about your range then it becomes more complex
because you know that he knows what your range should be. Of course, when it is a multi way pot then
it gets way more complicated.
Ok, so how do you know how to gauge your opponent? Again, that can be a complex thing to
figure out. It’s a combination of hand histories, actions, tells and much more. In a nutshell, it’s a
“feel” from a whole bunch of pieces of information. Most players are now more aware of not giving
away any obvious tells, but there are still some subtle things that are still frequently out there.
One of the biggest giveaways that I’ve seen a lot lately is when a player acts so incredibly fast
in a detailed situation. This usually means that someone is only considering his own cards.
It could also mean that he already made up his mind to do a specific action. If you have someone
that you have repeatedly stolen blinds from, he may say to himself, the next time that guy
raises me, I am going to re-raise him regardless of my hand. The key is to pay attention to
the timing! Also, make sure to be wary of your timing. Be vigilant in looking for information,
but be even more vigilant in not giving any information away. Information and the ability to
process that information in its context is always the key to making the best poker decision.
Check out the monthly poker podcast at NerdthusiastPoker.com
---Frank DiRe
@FLD15
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