As in all forms of poker, we must tighten up when someone has opened the pot before us. We can no longer win the pot uncontested and also since your opponent is representing some strength, our holding needs to be correspondingly stronger.
In some games such as Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball and Omaha High-Low, it’s possible to play hands that are an underdog against the range of the opener as position means a lot and the draws or flop have the ability to alter hand values dramatically. However, in other games such as Dramaha High and Limit Omaha Double Board, it is quite important to be at least on par with your opponent’s range otherwise you will take the worst of it way too often.
Outside the Blinds
Getting in a re-raise and having 40% equity and position plus dead money contributed by the blinds is typically not that bad of a result but in this game it’s really not that good as your opponent will often realize their equity and is so much more likely to scoop.
In Limit Double Board having 40% equity means your opponent is approximately 2.25 times more likely to scoop. Due to the fact that the two boards are not independent of each other, it’s slightly less than this but it’s still a big disadvantage nonetheless and should be avoided. Having position does indeed help in regards to realizing your equity and winning more money the times you hit really well. However, one cannot recover from continually taking so much the worst of it in terms of your ability to scoop.
Let’s first discuss the situation where we face an open from the first two positions and we are outside of the blinds. Our general default play here should be to re-raise any holding that has at least 50% equity (or very close to it) against a top 15% range and fold the remainder.
Even though many players probably open too wide from early position, we will still analyze various holdings assuming we are up against a top 15% opening range. This helps build in a necessary dose of conservatism to reflect the fact that some players do play appropriately tight from early position and there are still other players left to act that can wake up with a premium hand. If we have the button, we can push the envelope a little bit further especially if we have observed our opponent getting too involved with medium pairs, middling rundowns, and mediocre double-suited holdings such as J
96
5.
With any pair of Aces, a re-raise is automatic for both value and the ability to preserve the heads-up power of the premium pair. If you recall the A
A
72 is around a 60% favorite over AKQJ and approximately 55% versus KQKQ.
Kings is a slightly different story as you must be somewhat selective. For example, mucking an unsuited KK95 holding that you would have played if you were the first to enter the pot is reasonable. Against a 15% opening range this hand is a slight equity underdog (49%) and has clear reverse implied odds against a pair of Aces as you will often feel inclined to go to showdown. And if the opener does not have Aces, it’s always possible one the remaining players left to act holds them.
Some examples of minimum re-raising standards would be Kings that are suited at least once (e.g. KK85) or at least has some straight potential such as KKT8. Both of these holdings have a slight equity edge over a 15% opening range and provide other lifelines should you run into Aces or if the pot goes off multi-way. Against a very loose player that will be playing many medium pairs, we should take our chances with any Kings as we can often dominate particularly if we have the button.
Queens needs to be played much more carefully as we are dominated by both Aces and Kings from either the opener or one of the players left to act. Still, any double-suited Queens are an automatic re-raise as are the times you hold a suited Ace.
Just having an Ace kicker may not be enough especially if the other card is a dangler. For example, the AQQ6 has 46% equity against a top 15% hand and should be a fold. Changing the six to a ten AQQT, we have around 49% equity, block Aces, and have big straight potential thus we should play. If we hold a suit and have decent side cards such as KQQ9, we can also put in a re-raise even though we may be a very slight underdog to the opening range as this hand has both straight and flush potential.
Jacks and Tens should only be played when the hand is otherwise premium such as AQJJ or AKTT. These hands have greater than 50% equity against a top 15% range, have lots of playability, and help block big pairs.
The TT98 looks pretty but only has around 43% equity versus a top 15% holding. Some players will cold-call hands such as these. However, mucking is probably best as Double Board is not a game of middling pairs and draws. Big pairs, big cards, and big suits are what we want especially when we smooth-call since the pot is often going to be contested by multiple players. It’s reasonably close though. Double-suited we can choose to break our re-raise or fold rule and just flat call but an unsuited version of this holding is an elementary fold.
Against an early position open when we don’t have a high pair in order to re-raise, we require a fistful of high cards headed by an Ace and suited at least once. The importance of the Ace should not be understated; AQJT has around 48% equity against a 15% open while KQJT only has around 43%. The KQJT is another exception to the re-raise or fold mantra; it has too much value to fold but isolating ourselves against the opener is not ideal thus by default a flat call appears to be in order. This also allows weaker hands that you may have dominated in regards to flush and straight draws to enter the pot.
Another situation where we can just smooth-call is when we are on the button with a holding such as AJT5. This particular holding has around 44% equity against a top 15% holding thus isolating an early position raiser doesn’t make too sense. However, with a nut suit and straight potential and the best position it is just too good to fold.
Premium double suited medium rundowns such as JT97 are generally worth flatting. However, it’s important to realize that the 8765 and similar holdings are worth a lot less in Limit Double Board. Flatting this specific hand may be slightly positive EV but assuredly playing hands that are not double-suited and/or have gaps are definite leaks.
Now let’s consider the situation when the cut-off opens and we are on the button. This scenario is vastly different as a majority of players tend to play way too loose from this position and will showdown holdings such as J964, QJ65, and weaker. Here we should re-raise any holding that we choose to play and this universe of hands would normally include those previously identified in previous articles as cut-off or earlier opening hands. For example, we should definitely re-raise a holding such as AJT6 [r 20] versus a cut-off open.
Blind Play
The small blind has the worst post-flop position at the table thus we need to play relatively tight particularly if the opener originated from early position. In this situation, our hand selection and re-raising/flatting strategy should be quite similar to the guidance given above when we were outside of the blinds. We are out-of-position, but are partially invested with the small blind and there is only one player left to act who can possibly have a big hand.
Many players defend their big blind way too wide. While we are getting immediate 3 to 1 odds to defend, we cannot continue on profitably post-flop with weak holdings where our opponent is often more than twice as likely to scoop us. If you recall from the introductory issue, when we have 40% equity our opponent is around 2.25 times more likely to scoop. And this is just “hot/cold” equity. In reality, we fare worse than this as we are out-of-position and weaker hands will have problems realizing their equity and often have reverse implied odds.
In Limit Hold ’em, it is standard to defend against a steal with a wider range than you would have opened yourself from the button. Hold ’em specialists state that as long as you have over 35% equity versus the opening range you will be fine as long as you play well post-flop. And players with large databases of results have the evidence to back this up. However, if you take this mindset over to Double Board you will get destroyed. The presence of two boards makes for a completely different animal as the chasm between stronger and weaker hands is much larger.
A good rule of thumb to follow is that you should have at least around 45% equity against whatever opening range you believe you are up against. For example, when choosing to defend against a reasonable UTG open it would be against a 15-20% range while a loose player on the button may be opening 60% or more. This is just a guide; we should also include factors such as playability when making a decision. For example, against a 50% range the J975 (44% equity) is probably a better defend then the K543 (46% equity). With the latter holding, it is extremely difficult to effectively realize the equity of smaller pairs.
In the first five issues, we have rightfully concentrated primarily on hand selection and pre-flop play. Without this solid foundation, one essentially has no chance to win in the long term. However, in next issue’s finale we will discuss play after the flop and take a look at some examples.
