In this post, we are going to look at how we are going to make a great deal of money from attacking low connected boards when defending from the blinds, let’s jump right in…
So here is our example that we will be using to explain some plays today, we defend from the Big Blind against a late position raise and the flop comes down 4 5 5 rainbow.
This is a good flop texture for us to attack with the hands we will have in the Big Blind, because we can have many combinations of hands that hit this board such as 45, 56, 57, 58, A5, 44, 55, 76, 36s, 23s… whereas our opponent can’t have nearly any of these hands in their range as often, this gives us what is known as the nut advantage, meaning we will have more hands that connect with this flop compared to our opponent.
Spots like this are good times to make moves on the pot, let’s look at why in a little more detail.
Bluff lots on this board type
We will want to be bluffing around twice as many bluff combinations as our value combinations on boards like this, so we are bluffing at a good frequency and mixing up our play.
Look to check-raise combinations like:
- 76o (12 combos)
- 36s (4 combos)
- A3o (12 combos)
- 78o (12 combos)
all in all, this gives us, 40 combinations of good bluffing hands to go with the 21 combinations of value hands that will consist of three of a kind or better, which is a good ratio of bluff to value to have.
We will never want to only have certain hands when we make check-raises, so we will want to pick good bluffing hands that have a good chance of catching up when called as well as our strong hands, this way when we continue in the pot we will either have a strong hand already or the potential to improve.
Adjust to the type of player you’re against
We will want to deal with different C-bet sizes from our opponents in different ways, for instance, if our opponent bets large we may only want to check-raise with some of our most lucrative semi bluffs and value hands.
Whereas when our opponent bets small we can raise with all our bluffs because smaller bets from our opponents can be made with a wider range that we can put more pressure on with a check-raise.
A larger bet is more polarised and will probably come from players that will not fold as easily as they are now more committed to the hand, so whilst we want to pick our spots to steal these types of pots, be wary of the pot committed fish that won’t be thinking in terms of ranges and mix in some occasional calls against these types of bets.
Use Check-Raises to Protect your vulnerable hands too
Pairs like 66–99 will do well from protection on this board type as there are not too many good turn cards.
Look to check-raise for value and protection against your opponents range some of the time with these holdings too.
The same can be said for slightly weaker hands too like A4o, K4s, Q4s etc raising to protect our equity in these spots can be a good move from time to time instead of a check-call line, as we protect our hand from the rest of the deck rolling off on the turn and river.
Getting our Check raise called and missing our draw on the Turn
So what do we do now… our opponent has called our check-raise on the flop and we have missed our hand with a random high card hitting the board.
This can be a good time to size down a little but continue to apply the pressure, some players will float a check-raise on the flop just to test for further aggression which they will fold to
Other times when we get our small turn barrell called we will set up a larger pot to win on the river by either going for a value bet when we hit our draw or a triple barrell bluff for the times we miss.
These spots where we have the nut advantage from the flop are good times to really get after these pots, so don’t be scared to find some bluffs here, it’s going to balance out with the times are going for value with our flopped trips or better here.
Get Playing Cash Games or Tournaments today on 888Poker!
Whatever your game is, we have a great sign up offer for our readers…
Sign up today with our great offer and get FREE MONEY!
888Poker has some great cash games for you to build your bankroll.
With SNAP cash games, a fast-fold game where a new hand is dealt with a click of a button and tonnes of regular cash game action of all stakes, there is something for all types of players here.
Use the link below and claim your FREE PLAY on this great poker site, without even having to deposit!!!
This is one of the only Poker Sites offering this to new players, so jump in the action today and win some money…