Eric Rizen Lynch

Ask Rizen

I'll go into more detail in a formal recap on Monday, but last night I had a few cashes and productive cash games. It was enough to ensure a profitable month, but I'm still well short of the $10k threshold. I'll probably play a little cash tonight since I believe I'm going to be recording, but unless I have a super unusually successful session it should more or less end this way. On to the questions.

Q: How low must your M be that you are willing to commit all your chips in the BB when it is raised and you hold a marginal hand like T8? Is it different to complete trash like 37offsuit? Where does push or fold mode start for you? Furthermore: If you are in push or fold mode, what is the weakest hand you are willing to shove with? Any two?

A: Well, most of the time I try and make sure I'm pushing with fold equity before I get so short that I have to call in the big blind with any 2. In the event that I just lost an all in or something then I base it off how loose I think my opponent is raising (I'm much more likely to call if he raises the button than UTG) and then how well my hand holds up against his range and what the pot odds are. If the button pushes, and I'm getting 2:1 with J9s in a situation where I have less than 5 big blinds (and therefore very little fold equity with pushes) then I probably put the rest of my chips in. I know I'm probably a slight dog against his range, but not a 2:1 dog.

As far as being in push fold mode, I will definitely shove any two, but it is largely dependant on what my stack size is, my read on my opponents, and how many chips they have left. If I have 5M in middle position and the big blind also has 5M, I'm going to be pushing more hands because it is very hard for another small stack to call me. Conversely if he has 20M or 2M I'm less likely to push because he's either so big a stack he can gamble or so short a stack he HAS to gamble.

Q: Since in an unraised pot the SB is getting always the right odds to call with any hand, do you complete it? Does the answer differ from cashgame to tournament play because it is more important to prevail your chips there instead of losing steadily small amounts to the SB completion?

A: No, in fact before antes come into play I give walks quite frequently. You have the correct price on a pure odds basis but many players will raise a limped SB and you also end up playing some very tricky hands (J2o for example) out of position which can lead to huge losses. I'd just as soon give up my small blind than put myself in a very akward position for a larger chunk of chips early in a tournament. Once the blinds come into play then it often makes more sense to fight for the blinds with a much wider range of hands, but I usuaully will raise instead of just complete. The exceptions come if I know the BB will call often but doesn't raise limpers very often, or when I'm attempting to limp/re-raise a player.

Q: What are you looking for when you are choosing an online cash game to play in? And does it depend on the limit?

A: To me this usually depends on style. First and foremost I keep lists of regulars that I run into at the various limits I play. Some of them I seek out, some I avoid. Some of them I'll sit down with if I can get position on them but not if they have position on me (these players are usually hyper-aggressive). I keep a list with notes on it, but a lot of it is from memory as well. Lots of the players on my list honestly aren't bad players, they simply match up poorly against me stylistically (especially in heads up and 6 max games).

If that doesn't produce enough tables I then often look at average pot size and % of players to the flop to get an idea of how aggressive a table is. With my style of play I prefer to play in games where lots of people see the flop and the pots are big, but some players prefer the tighter games they can just run over.

If all the games look tight and I don't recognize anyone playing, I'll often just do something else. One of the most difficult things to recognize in cash games is when your time is probably spent doing something else. Either because the games are no good, your frame of mind isn't right, or any one of a bunch of other reasons that can lead to you losing money.

Q: In a recent pocketfives thread, one top player said the biggest leak in another player's game is that he turns a hand with marginal showdown value into a bluff.  Can you explain this concept and its relation to pot size control.  I don't have a specific hand to give you--so, please feel free to make up any hand parameters that would show when not to bet a hand v. betting a hand, etc. Thanks.

A: Well, I'm not sure it has any relation to pot control really. The basic idea is that you have a hand that has some showdown value (let's say second or third pair). If you bet that hand out you basically turn your hand into a bluff because your opponent will probably only call you with a better hand. Whereas if you check (if you act first) you can induce a bluff from another player, or if you act last you can check behind and show your hand down, and not lose more chips to a hand that is in fact ahead of you while still winning the pot when you're ahead.

The really simple version is that any time you bet and will only be called when someone is ahead of you, you are essentially bluffing. If your hand has showdown value it is often better to just check behind or check/call so that you don't lose more chips than you have to when you're behind. Although obviously if you believe that your opponent will lay a better hand down if you bet, then bluffing may be the correct strategy.

Q: I keep hearing people talking about thin value bets on the river.  Can you explain this a little and perhaps give an example or two.

A: A thin value bet is when you make a bet with a very marginal hand on the river with the hopes of getting called by a slightly worse hand. It kind of relates to the question above although in this case players will actually call you with hands that you're ahead of. I feel a lot of times the difference between weaker players and stronger players is that stronger players can really have a good feel for when they can extract that extra bet on the river with a somewhat marginal hand. I don't have any great examples, but JohnnyBax is one of the better players i've seen at making thing value bets, although I think I do a pretty good job at it myself.

Good luck to everyone this weekend, and I'll check in again on Monday with an update on the big Sunday tournaments as well as a monthly wrap up for August.

-Rizen