Avoiding Destackings

The Key Concept

Some days we lose money slowly without being able to do much about it. You know the feeling – your continuation bets are all getting called or raised, you have to fold TPTK to a big river raise, your two-pair gets counterfeited, and the list goes on.

It can be frustrating but it’s a part of poker that everybody encounters. You deal with it and move on. The real trouble comes when you make a bad decision in a large pot and lose your whole stack. You always tell yourself it won’t happen this session, and it happens less & less as you progress, but it still happens.

It’s all about this one key concept:

Don’t get wrapped up in big pots without big hands.

That’s it! That is the key to poker that will make you rich. It sounds so simple yet it is such a difficult concept to master. You always have to be on guard to stop yourself from breaking this rule.

Sure, its OK to call a small bet or raise with that TPTK to see what happens on the next street. You just can’t get too attached to it. But the thing is most of your weak, scared opponents won’t raise without a better hand than you. They are too scared! (Remember this is small stakes poker, not high stakes.)

Don’t call a big river raise with TPTK because you’re almost always dead in that spot. Sometimes these opponents will lead into you with a bet on a missed flush draw or they’ll bet if you check the river; but they won’t raise without the goods. Read the board, think about your opponent, and make an educated guess. You want to let them make the mistakes.

Another tip – do not EVER push all-in into a small-medium sized pot with something like TPTK or two-pair without a read. Why? Say you raise with AQ preflop in middle position, the button calls, and the flop come 4TQ giving you TPTK. You make your standard continuation bet of about 3/4ths size of the pot and the button raises. It doesn’t matter how much he raises. It could be a min-raise or it could be a healthy raise, it doesn’t matter.

The absolute worst thing you can do in a situation like this is to just close your eyes and push all-in over the top of his raise. What do you think his range of calling hands is? Unless he’s the fishiest of fish, he will probably make his calling range something that can beat TPTK or an overpair like AA or KK. He is going to call with every hand that beats a big pair and he is going to fold everything else.

He’ll be thinking “Yep, my 44/TT/QQ/QT is good, here comes the money!” or he’ll be thinking “Damn, my Q9/KT/bluff isn’t looking so great, I better fold.” If they happen to call with an inferior hand you’re either very lucky or you have a wild image. So all you have ended up doing is fold out all hands worse than yours and gotten called by all hands better than yours. Instead of closing your eyes and pushing, play some poker and make some decisions.

The Turn Checkraise All-In Play

The turn checkraise all-in play is used quite often by players confronted with the above scenario. What this entails is simply calling the opponent’s raise on the flop and then checking to them on the turn with the intention of checkraising all-in. You will have to do some hand reading to pull this off successfully, but if you’re not entirely sure what their range is, a big checkraise on the turn will trap more money in the pot if you are ahead. If you are behind and do the big checkraise, you will lose your entire stack. That’s OK though if you practice hand reading and, in the long run, end up getting your money in while ahead more often than while behind.

There are a couple of benefits to the turn checkraise all-in play. The first is that you are giving your opponent an extra chance to overplay his hand. If he has KQ and gets checkraised after making a big turn bet, you have just about committed him to losing his stack. The second benefit is that you have made it more difficult for opponents to “float” you. A float is when a player calls a bet on the flop without much of a hand in the hopes of taking it away on the turn when the preflop raiser checks. If opponents see you check raising big on the turn, it will make it a lot more difficult for them to try and steal the pot every time you check.

But wait, you ask. Why is it suddenly OK to get your whole stack in the middle with only a pair? Just a couple seconds ago you said to never do this! Well, the caveat to that rule was not to get your stack in the middle with only a pair in a small pot. Checking the turn, you have induced bluffs and weaker hands to bet that would not have called a large 3-bet push on the flop. Now you have trapped them with more money in the pot with a wider range of hands.

You still need to be careful though. You can’t just go around checkraising the turn all-in every time you get a little confused. Remember, you still have only a pair and the opponent may still have a strong hand. This move has only increased the amount of money you trap when the opponent has a weaker hand than you.

If your opponent raised you on a draw and you attempt a big turn checkraise, you may just end up giving them a free card instead. In fact, by just calling the raise on the flop you have already made it cheap for them to draw on one street. So if you strongly suspect the opponent is on a draw or the opponent is incredibly loose, it can be OK to make that big 3-bet on the flop. You just need to have a somewhat reliable read on the opponent.

If you’re not sure whether or not the opponent has a draw and you’re not sure whether or not he would call a push if he was on a draw, then the 3bet push becomes a bad play again because your lack of information will just make it easier for him to make the correct fold/call based on his hand. It’s all about hand reading.

Other Options

Some people are afraid to play some poker in this situation so they just push and hope to avoid a destacking. Instead of making it easy for the opponent, just call the raise. Now you have options. You can lead the turn with about a half-pot bet from out of position – that will really slow them down on bluffs and will give you back control. This move is often referred to as the donk-bet.

Many weak players use this move when they are unsure of what to do but it’s not always a bad choice. This play works best against weaker players who have a wide calling range. Against stronger players, this move isn’t as useful because they can easily decide on whether or not to commit more money to the hand after you have already committed more money first. But, it is good to keep a wide range of plays in your mix to keep the opponents off guard – especially the regulars you run into often at the tables.

Another option is to play the hand passively. This is best saved against the most aggressive players you encounter. You can check and then call the turn bet and then check and call a river bet. This will give them more chance to put money in with a bluff, if that’s what they have. Against an over-aggressive player like this, your passive play has one major advantage and one major disadvantage.

The advantage is the chance you give your opponent to put too much money in the pot by either bluffing at you or value betting a weaker hand. If you were to bet at him when he has those hands, he will likely fold them and you will earn no more money.

The disadvantage with this play is that it gives you no information and lets the opponent dictate the play of the hand. You will be almost totally in the dark as to whether the opponent has a real hand, is bluffing, or is trying to value bet a weaker hand (like his KQ vs. your AQ on the 4TQ board). You could be letting him draw for cheap, you could be paying him off for full, or you could be working on trapping him if he does have a weaker hand. This limitation is so severe that this play should be used sparingly.

However you end up playing the hand, just remember that if you get the bad feeling that you’re behind that the sooner you get out the better. Go ahead and call some flop raises if you’re still unconvinced, but if the opponent keeps the heat up on the turn you need to plan ahead for the river. If you plan on folding to a large river bet, then there’s no point to calling a large bet on the turn.

Putting It Together

The whole point of this article is to stress the importance of working on your getting-the-money-in-while-ahead game. It sounds obvious, but it’s not an easy thing to master at all. You don’t just want to go calling off your stack blindly with TPTK and you don’t want to go around folding it anytime some maniac decides to put a little heat under your ass.

The key to this is to stop, calm down, and think. Don’t get into the heat of the moment and make a rushed decision. Try to put your opponent on a likely range of hands based on his actions, betting patterns, and the board texture. Then try to make the best decision possible based upon the available information and your chances for improving to a better hand. There are so many factors to consider – stack sizes, opponent’s image, his perception of your image, etc – that you can’t always make perfect decisions at the table. But, the more you try, the better at it you will become.

Also remember that this whole discussion doesn’t just revolve around TPTK. It’s based on not having the nuts and wondering if the opponent has you beat. It could be a set on a flush board, a straight on a paired board, etc. Its all based upon making the best decision possible based upon imperfect information.

Stop, think, practice pot control, and fold when it gets too hot. And remember: don’t play big pots with little hands.