Crushing Wild No-Limit Games

December 23, 2007

Wild games give many players fits. The betting gets so big, so fast, it takes them out of their comfort zone. “Sure, this top pair is better than what I usually see out of my opponents, but do I really want to bet $500 on it?”

If you avoid wild games, though, you’re missing out on some of the easiest poker money there is. Last issue I outlined my foolproof strategy for beating wild games. The basic idea is to buy in somewhat short, 40 to 60 big blinds, wait for strong starting hands, and get your money in fast preflop or on the flop. It’s foolproof because if you do faithfully wait for the good hands and keep your stack short, you eliminate the chance you’ll get outplayed by your crazy, but sometimes clever, opponents. They may intimidate you or read your hands well, but they can’t outmaneuver the math.

Here are a couple examples of the foolproof strategy in action.

You have A K on the button in a $2-$5 blind game. Your stack is around $250 (50 big blinds). A loose player opens for $30, and three players call. Move all-in. It’s a no-brainer. Obviously you’re at least going to call, which would make a pot of $157. You can raise $220 more for the chance to win without a fight, or you can just call and hope to catch a pair against four (or more) opponents. Overall you’re much better off trying to pick up the sizable pot immediately.

Some of you may be saying, “I don’t like it. This is just another guy who likes to overplay A-K.” But I assure you it’s not overplaying; indeed, not moving in would be a big mistake. It’s all because of the pot size compared to the stack size. You intentionally bought in short, so while your raise is all-in, it’s not for that much actual money. And because of the loose raise and several loose calls, there’s a lot of dead money in the pot.

The only hands you’re concerned about are A-A and K-K. If someone with 6-6 calls you, it might appear at first to be a “coinflip,” but it’s really not. Sure, you’ll be about 50-50 to win the pot, but you’re risking $250 to win $370 (or even more, depending on who calls). Getting 3-to-2 on an even money shot is a terrific outcome! Don’t disparage it with the term “coinflip.” If I could flip coins over and over getting 3-to-2 each time, in a month I’d be the richest man in the world.

So you’re really only worried about A-A and K-K. Those hands aren’t likely. The original raiser is loose, so he could have any number of hands. And the callers are even less likely to have a monster. This is a soft situation, and it’s a perfect place to pounce with impunity.

Indeed, I’d move all-in here with A-Q or 8-8 as well. And depending on how wild the game really is, I might do it even weaker. See, I told you the strategy is foolproof. Even a fool can move all-in with A-K after a raise and a few calls.

Here’s another example. You have K J on the button. The same loose raiser opens for $25, and this time only one player calls. You call with your $250 stack. The big blind calls. The flop comes K 7 3 . The blind checks, and the preflop raiser bets $50. The next player calls. Move all-in again. You’d obviously at least call, which would make the pot $250. You have only $175 more, so you can make a natural, three-quarters pot-sized raise to protect your top pair. In this wild game, you may get called by weaker kings, by flush draws, or possibly even by weaker hands. Don’t worry about whether your top pair is good or not; there’s more than enough in the pot already to compensate you for those times you run into a better hand.

Again, it’s the foolproof strategy at work. If you had bought in for more, then you might have had a tougher flop decision. You would think twice about losing $600 or $1,000 in this $200 pot with just top pair with a moderate kicker. But your short buy-in makes the play automatic.

Wild games cause some people trouble because their hand-reading skills get out of whack. It feels sort of like playing “blind.” Add in the big and fast betting, and crazy games can present some problems. While buying in full can help you get the most out of wild games if you’re already a master at playing them, buying in short is the key to a foolproof strategy. Limit your exposure to the crazy betting, and get your money in fast – preflop and on the flop. Doing that allows you to harness the built in advantage of playing better hands. You can ride that advantage to a solid, long-term winning strategy.

[This article appeared originally in the December 19, 2007 issue (Vol. 20, No. 25) of Card Player.]