My latest poker strategy article, Out of Position Against a LAG, has just been published in the March 2011 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s a street-by-street analysis of a single hand, highlighting a lesson that can be learned from each. Here’s an example:
Lesson: Against an opponent who is capable of reading your hand, you can determine which hands he will value bet and which hands he will bluff based on what kinds of hands he will expect you to hold.
As always, check it out and let me know what you think.
Great article.
I have only two minor quibbles:
(1) It’s not clear whether you favor folding or limping preflop. Personally, unless the money is super deep, I favor folding this gappy shit. It rarely hits a playable flop, and the LAG is often going to raise on the button anyway, thus foiling my attempts to keep the pot small and the implied odds high.
(2) Probably the best play, when you have a tough LAG on your left in an online game where you have choice of dozens if not hundreds of other tables to sit at, is to leave the table. There would have to be a bi-stacked cash dispenser at the table for me to justify remaining in a seat where I will be constantly beating my head against a concrete wall. At higher stakes, there are so many tough LAGs (as well as fewer tables to play at) that this is not a viable game-selection strategy, but at 1/2 there’s really no excuse for toughing it out when you don’t have to, unless you enjoy pain, variance, and trying to wring profit out of small edges.
1) Folding. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve open limped at a 6-handed table in the last year, and the majority of those were misclicks.
2) Very good advice.
Very nice article!
When we came to the river I said to myself – “Damn, I´d probably talk myself into a call b/c it´s such a great bluff spot for Villain – the only problem is the small bet size.” – and immediately felt bad about my stationary tendencies. After reading the article, my day was made. 🙂 Thanks for that!! Thanks as well for the explanation regarding betsize, that was another good hint.