Ralph Plays 10-6 Off Suit

I have about eight months more poker experience than my best friend and roommate Ralph, so I occasionally try to introduce him to some of the trickier intermediate challenges of Texas Hold-em. His exposure to the game has so far been limited to TV poker coverage with its helpful commentary and a weekly home game. Learning to push money into a pot when you are likely to have an inferior hand can be an awkward concept to articulate with a novice or a naturally tight experienced player with inadequate courage, but I felt Ralph was equal to the challenge. There are many hands comparable to 10-6 off suit and positions other than the button in which strategic aggression can be justified, but for the sake of simplicity and Ralphs short attention span, I chose a narrower-than-average array of variables. Additionally, I proposed a hypothetical 10-handed game with players who range from slightly aggressive to conservative and all have equal stacks of chips. I patiently counseled Ralph to ignore the obviously flawed options of folding after a number of limpers or calling a healthy raise. This hand is neither bad enough nor good enough for those two choices. If this make sense so far, then the remaining question is when to raise and by how much. My personal muse keeps me from raising if too many players limp in ahead of me since I am vulnerable to being limp-raised by a slow player or being outflopped by more potential callers. If I know I can only be opposed by three or fewer players, in this situation, I like to raise 2.5 to 3.5 times the big blind. Not always; not once in a while; variably. For the most part, the first raise against three other hands will be a potent bonus to the pre-existing advantage of the button. Heres the part that Ralph is uncomfortable with. When the flop has an overcard in it, particularly an ace, you have to make a continuation bet when it is checked around to preserve the illusion of strength. By now, the field is smaller and the reward greater, so risk-reward becomes simpler to assess. An out of position bet from this group will usually suggest top pair-good kicker so respect must be given. Top pair low-kicker may not bet as much as flush or straight draws. The point is, if it is checked to you, then you must back up your position raise with an aggressive post-flop bet, or dont waste your money raising to begin with. Keep in mind also that there are flops that include quads, full houses, straights, and royal flush draws with which you can practice suppressing elation and honing technique. The perfect setting for maximizing the effectiveness of this maneuver is early in a tournament (with which Ralph has no experience) when the blinds are a tiny percentage of the stacks. The impact of aggressive play on some of the other players, whether it works or not, sets the stage for slow play, limpraise, and other such shenanigans. It is also a splendid testing ground for

showing your hand unnecessarily to project information that can potentially manipulate opponents thinking. Ill discuss this with Ralph later. Ralph kept shaking his head as I unraveled my patient analysis but I sensed that he was coming around to my way of thinking. We turned on the TV and waited for the following evening as he curled up beside me and licked himself. Did I mention that Ralph is a golden retriever? Hes smarter than two of our group and he smells better than at least two others if they come directly from work. Ralphs regular seat is rigged with a ledge so he can see his cards and he pushes chips and cards in with his nose. His chair is a little higher and there is an adjoining table that we used to put a half-bowl of beer on, but the cards would get wet and snotty so Ralph must play dry until he learns to wipe his muzzle. His only bad moment came when someone called him a donkey. He likes words like arf and ruff because they are like his name, easy to pronounce. He disliked being called a donkey so much that we suspended him for two weeks for biting the name-caller. Anyway, game night arrived and about two hours in, Ralph three-raised from the button against the two blinds. The small blind pushed his whole stack toward the pot and sent Ralph a defiant stare. Thats when the strangest thing happened. I have never heard of Ralph or any other dog rotating his head 160 degrees very, very slowly. As his weird gaze arrived on me he stared for about five seconds, then jumped down and left the room. This eloquent gesture gave the rest of us the creeps since we never gave Ralph credit for expressing himself with such burning contempt. Nobody turned Ralphs cards face up out of respect, but I knew what hand he had played.