Raise Reraise Poker

One of the most common questions I am asked is, “Which hands should I reraise with before the flop?” (A reraise is also called a three-bet.) The answer is not cut and dry. As with most things in poker, your strategy should depend entirely on your opponents’ strategies. If you blindly three-bet the same range in all situations, you will lose a huge amount of money in the long run.

The reraise is a versatile play that can be used profitably in many different poker situations. Of all the reasons to reraise, the most obvious is to build the pot. Frequently, when you get the opportunity to reraise, it is because one of your opponents had a strong enough hand to raise. More and more in today’s poker, aggression is the key. This is particularly true in tournament play. The best poker players know how to pick their spots and are great at sensing weakness. One aggressive play that should be in everyone’s arsenal is the re-raise (also known as a re-steal). He may raise to $30, declaring himself all in, but this does not constitute a 'real' raise, in the following sense: if a third player now calls the $30, and the first player's turn to act comes up, he may now call the additional $10, but he does not have the right to re-raise further.

Three-betting ranges are referred to as either “linear” or “polar.” A linear three-betting range consists of only the best hands. This is an example of a typical linear three-betting range:

It is ideal to three-bet with a linear range versus players who will call your three-bet with many hands that you dominate, and only four-bet with premium hands that crush even your strong linear range. The vast majority of weak, straightforward small-stakes players fall into this category.

For example, if a somewhat splashy, small-stakes player raises from middle position to three big blinds out of his 100-big blind stack and you are in the cutoff or on the button, you should often three-bet with the above linear range. Your opponent will usually call with many hands you dominate, such as 4-4, A-4 suited, and K-10, and only four-bet with A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K. Your strategy against these players is incredibly simple and intuitive. When they call your three-bet, you extract a huge amount of value and when they four-bet, you get off the hook. If you want a detailed discussion on the strategies I use against small-stakes players, I wrote two books on the topic: Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments and Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Cash Games. You can get them at JonathanLittlePoker.com/books.

A polarized three-betting range consists of the absolute best hands and a few hands that are not quite good enough to call a preflop raise with. This is an example of a typical polarized three-betting range:

It is ideal to three-bet with a polarized range versus players who will either four-bet or fold most of the time. Many good, aggressive players fall into this category. It is important to realize that your hand’s post-flop playability isn’t too important when you will rarely see a flop.

Notice that both the linear range and the polarized range examples contain about nine percent of hands. While 9 percent is not a magic number, it is important to understand that players can three-bet the same percentage of the time, but with drastically different ranges. Do not assume that all three-bettors are three-betting with the same set of hands.

In fact, the example of a polarized range could consist of a different set of bluffing hands. Here is another reasonable polarized three-betting range:

You should be more inclined to three-bet with hands containing a “blocker” (an ace or king), versus players who will almost certainly four-bet or fold. The presence of an ace or king in your bluffing hands makes it less likely that your opponent has a premium hand because there is one fewer ace or king in the deck. Against players who may be inclined to call your three-bet, you should three-bet a range that contains various suited connected hands because you will play postflop more often.

It is important to understand that when you three-bet with a polarized range, you are calling with many hands that flop well, such as 6-6, A-J, Q-10 suited, and 7-6 suited. Calling with these hands allows you to realize their post-flop equity as opposed to three-betting them and then being forced to fold to a four-bet.

So, the next time you find yourself facing a preflop raise, ask yourself what you expect your opponent to do if you three-bet. If you pay attention, you will find many opportunities to get out of line with marginal holdings, allowing you to steal pots that you would otherwise concede. Even if you steal only one preflop raise per hour, that will add a huge amount to your win rate in the long run. ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament winnings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want to win at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excelling at No Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup.

If you’re playing small ball poker, you’ll be entering a lot of pots, and in most of them, you’ll be coming in for a 2 ½ times the big blind raise.

Now, there will be situations where you’ll get reraised, either by a premium hand or by another player who just gets fed up with the fact that you won’t stop raising his blind.

As a general rule, when you get reraised, it’s best to dump your hand right there. But there are times when it is entirely appropriate to stick around to see the flop.

You must consider the strength of your own hand. Obviously, if you have a premium hand like pocket aces or kings, not only would you want to play against a reraise, you’ll usually want to reraise before the flop.

It also makes sense to stick around in the face of a minimum reraise.

Suppose the blinds are 100/200, you make it 500 to go, and an opponent reraises to 800. There is simply no circumstance where it would be correct to fold in this situation – even if you were certain that your opponent had pocket aces! Call the minimum reraise and try to outflop him.

Some players refer to the minimum raise as the nuisance raise. The truth is it accomplishes very little except to add a little more money to the pot. It’s extremely rare to see the initial raiser fold for the minimum reraise before the flop.

You can also stick around to see the flop if you have position.

Position is power. So, if the reraiser has position on you, use discretion when deciding to call his reraise unless you have a very strong hand. However, if the player who reraised is out of position, your marginal hand can suddenly become worthy of a call.

Let’s say you are on a semi-steal with 8h-10h. With the blinds at 100/200, you raise to 500. If the big blind raises another 1,000, there’s a decent opportunity to see the flop because you have position. Reverse the positions, however, and it’s difficult to justify calling his raise.

Raise Reraise Poker Game

Aside from hand strength, stack size is the most important factor to consider when deciding to play against a reraise. Remember that a bust’em hand like 7h-8h plays much better against a reraise in deep-stack poker than it does when stacks are smaller.

Okay, say it’s early in a tournament. You raise to 150 on the button with 7h-8h, leaving you with 9,850 in chips. The small blind then reraises to a total of 500.

Not only do you have position, you also have the type of hand that could hit a home run if you get lucky on the flop. Go ahead and call with this hand, hoping to win the pot by hitting the flop or bluffing your opponent by using board cards that may scare him away.

Generally speaking, though, you don’t want to jeopardize more the ten percent of your chipstack on a hand like middle suited connectors or middle pairs.

Let’s recap: In small ball poker, you must get involved in a lot of pots. And in many of those pots, you’ll get reraised. Make sure to maintain your composure when that happens. Don’t get away from your strategy by making sloppy calls.

If you have trouble laying down hands like Q-J, K-10 or K-Q in response to a pre-flop reraise, it just might be time to get up from the table and take a walk! These hands perform horribly against a reraise before the flop. Avoid them like the plague.

Raise Reraise Poker Games

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Raise Reraise Poker Games

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