One
way to deal with the unenviable consequence of finding your
hand dominated by an opponent who also has the advantage of
acting last is to avoid getting into this kettle of fish in
the first place.
|
DOMINATION
by: Lou Krieger©
One of the recurring themes that are periodically discussed
on the Internet newsgroup, rec.gambling.poker deals with the
concept of dominated hands. You’ll find entire books
on poker strategy based primarily on the concept of making
hands that dominate those held by your opponent, and avoiding
situations where yours in the hand being dominated.
If this concept is new to you, here’s how it works. If
I’m holding A-10, and you have A-K, my hand is dominated.
Miraculous straights and flushes that might accrue to A-10
notwithstanding, I have three outs and three outs only to
win this pot. And while there are a few more hands that will
enable me to split the pot æ a rainbow coalition of
K-Q-J-10 might hit the board and our straights will propel
us to a split pot æ that’s beside the point since
my objective is to win, not play a lesser hand in hopes of
getting my money back courtesy of a really miraculous fall
of cards.
Dominated hands, by definition, have three outs. Except for
those aforementioned miraculous straights and flushes and
a few oddball split pots, only three cards will enable a dominated
hand to win the pot. The hand that’s doing the dominating
owns the rest of the deck!
I’m probably not telling you anything new here; and unless
you are a beginner at poker this information isn’t anything
you don’t already know. Regardless of the fact that opponents
sometimes seem to make three-outers against you with regularity,
no poker player wants his opponent’s foot on his throat
with only three cards enabling escape. Sometimes it’s
not even as good as all that. If the dominating hand is fortunate
enough to make two pair, then for all intents and purposes
you’re drawing dead. Imagine that. You pair your kicker
on the turn or river and bet, or even raise, thinking yours
is the best hand. But your hand is still dominated; and what’s
worse is that your two pair will probably result in a bigger
loss æ especially if you are frisky and do some raising
æ than you would have experienced if you suspected you
were dominated and made crying calls all the way to the river.
Dominated hands are trouble. That’s right, folks. They’re
trouble æ right here in River City, and they’re
trouble in Flop City and Turn City too. And when you’ve
got trouble it’s time to ask yourself, "What can
I do about it?" and "How can I avoid getting in
situations like this in the first place?"
Many poker authors who write about Texas hold’em have
gone to great lengths to discuss what they euphemistically
call "…trouble hands." After all, lots of hands
fall into this category. In early position, hands like A-J,
A-10, K-J, K-10 and Q-J are classic trouble hands. "Call
with hands like these in early position," you’re
invariably admonished, "and you are in big trouble if
an opponent raises." After all, conventional wisdom holds
that most of your opponents will raise most of the time with
hands that are better than those. Whoever is raising is much
more likely to have a hand like A-A, K-K, A-K, or A-Q, than
a trouble hand.
While that’s true as far as it goes, the fact remains
that many of your opponents have never read the book, and
they don’t play by it, either. Some players have raising
requirements that are far less stringent than others, and
other than whim or some inexplicable gut feel that’s
correct only about as often as the laws of chance say it ought
to be, real maniacs often have no raising requirements at
all.
I’ve seen players who will raise with any suited ace
in any position, as well as raise with hands like K-J, K-10,
Q-J, J-10, and any pair of sixes or higher. I’ve seen
maniacs raise with 10-7 offsuit just because they "…had
a hunch." When you are playing against an opponent who
raises with a very broad spectrum of hands, you won’t
necessarily be dominated if you hold an otherwise troublesome
hand like A-J. In fact, the raiser might be the one who is
dominated, and while he may think otherwise, it just might
be your foot that’s firmly planted on his throat. There’s
no tactical edge more important than knowing your opponents,
and a hand like A-J, which I’d release in the face of
a raise from a sound player, might be a hand I’d reraise
with against others.
Nevertheless, when you’re holding a trouble hand, you’ll
seldom be sure whether you’re in the lead or not. Because
you have to consider that your hand might be dominated, you’re
apt to play passively by checking and calling rather than
betting and raising. Even when you win these confrontations,
caution minimizes the amount of your win, while your opponent
æ who seized the initiative with aggressive play æ
will maximize his or her wins.
File that thought away and don’t lose touch with it.
It’s another example of why selective and aggressive
play is a major factor underlying winning poker. It’s
also an example of the "know your opponents," line
of reasoning: You know the mantra; strategy often depends
on the situation æ and a hand that’s playable against
John might not by playable against Mary. When you’re
in early position, you won’t know which of your opponents
might come out firing. It could be Mary, the gal who never
raises unless she holds a premium hand. But it might also
be John, the maniac who is always on tilt and just as likely
to come after you with 7-6 or K-2 as he is with any other,
more legitimate holding.
One way to deal with the unenviable consequence of finding
your hand dominated by an opponent who also has the advantage
of acting last is to avoid getting into this kettle of fish
in the first place. You can avoid that boiling cauldron by
severely restricting the hands you play from early position.
While face cards are pretty, they’re not equally desirable,
and a hand like Q-J in early position æ or even in middle
position in an aggressive game æ flings the door to
domination wide open.
If you don’t play hands that can get you in trouble,
you won’t find yourself staring up at three-outers and
the improbable odds you’ll have to overcome in order
to win the pot. Remember, the first decision in a poker hand
is usually the decision that’s most important, because
all subsequent options are driven by that initial choice.
Although you cannot avoid dominated hands with 100 percent
certainty æ unless you refrain from playing all hands
save a pair of aces æ it’s your first decision
that matters most. If you are nimble enough to avoid getting
yourself into this kind of trap in the first place, and both
deft and sufficiently disciplined to extricate yourself from
its clutches at the earliest hint of trouble, you’ll
find yourself doing just about all you can to minimize the
adverse impact of finding yourself dominated whenever you
hold a troublesome hand.
This entire article amounts to a wordy way of saying that
much of poker is all about developing your senses to the point
that you’re able to realize when you have the best of
it, and exercising the sorely needed self-discipline required
to release hands when you’re staring up a long and lonely
hill. If you can master this æ and the skill required
to execute this strategy is a lot tougher than any words I’ve
used to describe it æ the tactical aspects become pretty
simple when you’re playing limit poker: get your money
into action when you have the best of it, and use your discipline
to fold those dominated three-outers when you don’t. |
