When You Are First To Act

You wake up in the cut-off with Qd-Jd

You wake up in the cut-off with Qd-Jd. The table has folded to you. What do you do? Contemporary poker theory argues that you should act aggressively; if a hand is worth a call then it is worth a raise when you are first to act. Is that always the case? With a marginal hand with positive expectation is a call sometimes the better move? If you hit the flop wouldn't that be the time to get aggressive?

In fact, I believe there are no hard and fast rules in poker. In fact, the idea of mixing up one's play seems to me to take precedence over a rule that suggests that one should never call when first to act; raise or fold advocates miss out on their ability to misdirect. I tend to want to call around 25% of the time, even with the strongest hands. I use my second hand to generate the randomness I have pre-planned. If the second hand is between 1 second and 45 seconds I will raise a standard 3x the big blind and if it is between 46 seconds and 60 seconds I will just call the big blind and call if raised behind me up to 3x the big blind.

Beyond Random Play

Even my 25% plan is subject to alteration. If, for example, players behind me seem to muck their hands to a raise far more often than would appear to be correct play, while I still may use the 25% rule, I will vary that rule by putting in a bigger raise 25% of the time rather than a call.

If you are against a player who calls or raises too often then you might want to reverse your random approach and call 75% of the time while raising 25% of the time. By meeting the player who seems to bluff far too often with a majority call approach you will be able to punish him later.

The point I am making is that if there is a hard and fast rule in poker it is simply that there are no hard and fast rules, that every situation is a decision point where sometimes one path is correct and other times the opposite decision is correct. I like aggression as a tool but to mix my play up so as not to be so predictable I must slow down from time to time.

When to Speculate

I like to play suited connectors from 6-7 and up in certain situations. When I am in late position, hi-jack to the button, I am first to act and players behind me tend to fold too often suited connectors provide me with the perfect hand to speculate with. I will not speculate from early position and I hesitate to speculate in middle position, although I will sometimes do so. I do not want to speculate against loose players or calling stations because too much will go wrong.

When I speculate with suited connectors I plan to divide my calls and standard raises evenly. Using the second hand I have two choices for randomization. I could simply decide that if the second hand is even when I look I call and if it is odd I raise. This is something like a coin flip. I could also use larger blocks of time, say between 1 and 15 seconds and 31 and 45 seconds I raise and between 16 and 30 seconds and 46 and 60 seconds I call. By randomizing in this way I am able to mix up my play so as not to be predictable. I also gain an advantage because I am selective as to with whom I choose to speculate.

by: Roger Fischel

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