Pokerwiner.comTexas holdem strategies

Occasionally reraise from the big blind against a late position blind thief.

While it would normally be advisable to just call a raise on the big blind (since re-raising would be unlikely to get rid of any rival, and just calling would present some deception about the strength of your poker hand), that the small and large blinds would be different animals altogether.

When you would be in the small blind, one of the major reasons to re-raise a late-position raiser would be to knock out the bigs blinds.

Without this prospect, you would want to re-raise less repeatedly from the big blind than from the small.

Re-raising from the big blind would let you take control of the pot. As shown in Tip thirteen, the poker player with the lead after the flop would often win the pot when the flop would be of no help to either poker player.

Characteristically, whenever a poker player were to get the final bet in prior to the flop would bet in spite of what was to come, putting the burden on the other poker player to either call the bet or fold.

For instance, let’s say you were holding a king and queen offsuit in the big blind, and the button (a loose-aggressive poker player) was to raise.

Perceptibly, you would at least call here, as the button might have a wide range of poker hands (most of which you could beat).

Let’s say you were to call and the flop would come a nine and a pair of sixes. That would be of no help to you.

It would seem natural to just check and fold to your rival’s predictable bet here, or perhaps to call one time in the hopes of spiking a king or a queen. But what if you were to re-raise before the flop?

This flop would be doubtful to have helped your poker rival either, and perhaps your re-raise, coupled with a follow up bet on the flop, might have won you this pot.

Your rival might have a queen and ten just as easily as an ace and ten. Either way, he would bet the flop if you had re-raised. So, your aggressive play would have earned you the chips.

How low could you possibly stop in your re-raising standards? This would hinge largely on the play of your poker opponent, as well as his position?

For the most part, we would suggest making this play (unless you were to have a monster hand) only against a loose poker player on or next to the button.

This way, you would be most likely to be up against an mediocre hand. That said, you could make this play with hands as weak as an ace and eight offsuit, a king and queen, or small pairs.

One final reason to re-raise here would be the intimidation factor. You would be better off if the poker players in late position would think twice before raising your blinds.

It would sometimes be useful to make this re-raise play once or twice early on in a session, as it would help set the tone for the session.

If you would succeed, your rivals would be more prone to wait for real premium hands before raising your blinds in the future, as they would realize you would not be afraid to challenge them.

Poker would be a psychological warfare, and making a few well-timed re-raises on the big blind would be an effective pre-emptive strike against the enemies to your right.

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