There is a lot of talk about ways players can simplify their strategies postflop. This is usually referring to c-bet strategies. The solver doesn’t mind expanding the game tree and balancing several different strategies, but for a human it can be mentally taxing and difficult to execute. However you aren’t always the preflop raiser and there are ways to simplify your game when you don’t have the option to c-bet. One that used to be a big part of my game was never or almost never raising in position on the flop or the turn. I kept playing defensively and left my range as open and undefined as possible. The idea was that I’d keep a large stack to pot ratio, such that when you I got to the river and knew my exact hand strength I could dictate how big the pot would end up with my value bets, make the most efficient bluffs with the bottom of my range and showdown the middle of my range.
Generally if you are in position and your opponent is betting into you, you have a weaker range. Either in terms of raw equity or frequency of very strong hands. Playing OOP is hard if they’re betting into you, it’s usually because their range is strong. Playing defensively and waiting for the board to run out good/bad for your range/hand and leveraging your positional advantage accordingly is a sensible strategy. It is not an airtight strategy. In POTD #302, I wrote about a hand where Stephen Chidwick missed the opportunity to fastplay in position when Jason Koon has a polar nuts or air preflop range. Then Stephen made a questionable river bluff and got looked up by ace high. Stephen tried to use his positional advantage to steal the pot, but he missed the chance to steal the pot on the flop or on the turn and ended up losing most of his stack. In today’s hand, I missed a chance to fastplay and instead of bluffing off all my chips, I folded on an ugly river. I had a hand worthy of playing for stacks and instead I yielded my positional advantage poorly, letting my opponent see five cards and potentially bluffing me or sucking out on me in the process.
Triton Poker Series Cyprus 2023 - Event #8 $75,000 NLH 8-Handed
(2.5k/5k/5k) (SB/BB/BBA) 200k Starting Stack Registration is Open.
It folds to me (336k/67bbs) on the button with Q♥️8♥️ I make it 11k, it folds to Mike Watson (166k/33bbs) who makes it 35k from the SB, I call.
Flop (80k) Q♦️6♣️2♦️: Mike bets 20k, I call
Turn (120k) J♥️: Mike bets 30k, I call
River (180k) A♥️: Mike shoves 81k, I fold.
