All About Small Ball Poker Strategy That You Should Know
However, due to the preflop-raising action, many board textures do not provide significant advantages for us. This leads to the fluctuations being interconnected with the community cards. To avoid this situation, another Texas Hold'em strategy, known as the small ball poker strategy, has emerged. So, what kind of fluctuations does this Texas Hold'em strategy face? Let's explore.
Small Ball Poker Strategy You Should Know Game Introduction
In the previous Texas Hold'em strategy article, we discussed the potential fluctuations that may arise from using the long ball strategy. We also illustrated, through an example, the win rates at different positions and the probability after the flop when raising before the flop.
In the context of the long ball strategy in Texas Hold'em, we often need to use larger bet sizes for continuation betting. This is done to balance our own hand range and extract value while narrowing down the opponent's range.
However, due to the preflop-raising action, many board textures do not provide significant advantages for us. This leads to the fluctuations being interconnected with the community cards.
To avoid this situation, another Texas Hold'em strategy, known as the small ball poker strategy, has emerged. So, what kind of fluctuations does this Texas Hold'em strategy face? Let's explore.
Small Ball Poker Strategy Fluctuations
Let's first review the small ball poker strategy in Texas Hold'em. It involves increasing our entry rate, playing a wider range of hands to respond to community cards, and employing a Texas Hold'em strategy that can beat the big-ball strategy hands.
Because this Texas Hold'em strategy allows us to enter the pot with a broader range, it means that our pre-flop volatility decreases since we fold less frequently. Consequently, it increases our probability of reaching the turn, followed by strategic play through the turn and river cards.
It's essential to note that, in this Texas Hold'em strategy, we often bet or call more frequently after the turn, even though the size might not be large.
However, attention must be paid to the action on the turn and river cards. Errors in this stage can lead opponents to exploit us by raising, squeezing opportunities to build the pot, as illustrated in the following cases.
Small Ball Poker Strategy Fluctuation Example
Blinds are 20/40, UTG+1 raises to 160, folds to the small blind who calls, we, holding 10s10h, choose to call in the big blind. The pot is 640.
- Flop: Js 7h 4h
The small blind checks, and with our pair of 10s blocking combinations like 9/10 and 8/10, and simultaneously blocking hands like A/10h and K/10h, we are inclined to use a checking strategy. The Texas Hold'em strategy here is based on the fact that we have the 10h as a blocking card. There are many favorable cards for us on the turn and river to take action.
At the same time, we can limit the volatility of our pre-flop call on the flop and decide whether to increase the volatility on the turn based on the range and our winning chances.
Small Ball Poker Strategy Fluctuation Example 2
Blinds are 20/40, UTG+1 raises to 160, we, in the cutoff, with Ah5h, choose to call, and the small blind calls. The pot is 640.
- Flop: Js 7h 4h
The small blind checks, UTG+1 continue with a bet of 300. Since we hold the Ah as a blocking card, the opponent does not have the combination of A/J of hearts.
Considering the potential straight draw, we can use a calling strategy to blend our range, and as we need odds for our flush combination, the small blind might also call with 10/9/8 pairs, increasing our pot odds.
Therefore, the suggested action here is to use a calling strategy to control the range of fluctuations and initiate an attack on the turn, expanding our range.
That concludes our Texas Hold'em strategy discussion on fluctuations related to the small ball poker strategy.
We provided examples to illustrate how to apply this Texas Hold'em strategy and control fluctuations on the same flop texture. Feel free to try it out in your own games.
Stay tuned for the next article, where we'll delve into the fluctuations and further developments of the Texas Hold'em strategy. Until next time!
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