Could I still pass a poker MOT? This is essentially what I try to ask myself from time to time to make sure that I don’t let standards slip or fall into bad habits. Obviously it’s important to keep looking for improvements in your game but it’s just as vital that learnt lessons stay learnt. Otherwise, before you know it you could be chasing your flush draws unprofitably or just playing at the wrong stakes for your bankroll. All the while not noticing the leak in your game because you haven’t taken a fresh look at things in a while.
When reading some poker literature recently it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn’t really ‘block betting’ as well as I should be. This is often described as an advanced Holdem move even though the basic premise of the play is quite simple. The idea is that you lead bet out of position to discourage your opponent from making a larger bet that you wouldn’t want to call. As straightforward as this sounds the artistry comes, as always, from applying the bet at the right time, in the right way. This requires a great deal more thought.
Authorities on this subject seem to suggest that block betting is often a good approach when chasing a draw. The theory would be that by betting a smallish amount you give yourself the odds to stay involved in the pot. The alternative of checking can lead to your opponent betting much harder thus making it unprofitable to chase your outs. This play therefore sounds good but my experience suggests that it doesn’t always work so well in practice. The first problem is that a weak lead out bet on what they call a ‘wet flop’ (cards that potentially suit a wide range of hands) normally represents a draw, and typically it will be made by a loose player. With that read I will normally re-raise my opponent assuming I like my own hand. Naturally a re-raise is the nemesis of the block bet if the intention was to keep the pot small.
But of course block bets don’t have to be the calling card of the loose draw chaser. It does seem to be the case about 80% of the time in shallow stacked SNGs but that’s all the more reason for good players to make the same play with genuine strength AND with draws. Imagine if you play your flopped sets in much the same way as your flopped flush draws. Suddenly you become very difficult to read and the automatic re-raise of your opponent may well be abandoned.
But it is block betting on the river that interests me most as an area for personal improvement. To give a classic example of when the play may be invaluable consider the following. I have raised pre-flop and hit top pair on the flop prompting a continuation bet. The turn is seemingly even better giving me top two pair so I gleefully bet again. Then possible disaster on the river. Suddenly there are four clubs on the table and I have none. On the turn I would have been relatively unconcerned by the three clubs as my one opponent was a lunatic calling station who chased everything and was liable to bluff given half a chance. But with four clubs surfacing the situation was suddenly much more perilous. Any one club in the lunatic’s hand would put him ahead and yet there would be still every chance I had the best hand with top two pair.
What to do? Well out of position my tendency for too long has been to check in this spot a very high percentage of the time. It would be a check with a very high likelihood of calling my rival’s bet but this is always fraught with danger. I could call a large bet and win against a total bluff or I could call a big bet and find that I have indeed been beaten by the river club. But why not a river block bet for about half the pot or even slightly less? If the lunatic has missed the flush as well he will require a lot more bottle to re-raise bluff against apparent strength than against the check that appears to give up on the hand. Furthermore, he might call and win the hand with a low club and you will be annoyed, but actually you will have made a money saving play. Coaxing your wild opponent into winning less by his calling of a bet of 500 is much better than check-calling for 1600 chips yourself.
Poker is a game where you try to maximise your pot wins with your best hands but it’s just as important to lose less when the community cards turn against you. Money saved is effectively money won in the long term. Blocker bets can be invaluable in this pursuit but just be careful not to over-use them either. Always remember that a weak lead-out bet, however small, is still capable of costing you chips instead if your opponent was in fact going to check out behind you with the best hand. Unless you induce a fold that is…