Theory: How to properly reraise for steals.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot more about reraises and using it to steal limped pots that were trying to be stolen by someone, or making stone-cold bluff reraises on flops and turns.

I never used to reraise much. But I'm discovering that it can be an incredibly profitable tool in helping you take down pots you don't really have a chance of winning playing conventually, IF YOU CHOOSE YOUR SPOTS RIGHT.

So basically I'm just wondering if any of you veterans have any tips on reraising and when to utilize it, how often, etc. I know it's always different player-to-player and table-to-table, but there has to be some common characteristics that can help you sniff out weak steals, and when you think you can pull a move on a player with a better hand then yourself (making him think you hit draws, etc.)

as far as mtt's, the common spot for a resteal is :

1. late position raiser with a midstack makes a standard raise.

2. your on the button, sb, or bb with roughly the same size stack.


since the original raiser has such a wide range, you pick up the pot a BIG percentage of the time. Since they arent shorstacked they'll fold everything besides total monsters.

dont listen to me though, ive never done it without a pretty good hand. i see some of the well known mtt'ers find good enough spots to push any 2

since low buy in players are ususally loose, imo you dont really need to have it in your bag of tricks. in spots like this people just cant fold their PP or AJ, AQ.

i wasn't just strictly speaking SnGs/MTTs either. i'm curious to see the advantages of it in ring games as well.

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Focus: Situations where a ring game Re-raise bluff would be appropriate?

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Originally Posted by johnnyBuz

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Focus: Situations where a ring game Re-raise bluff would be appropriate?

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I've been toying with the concept in NLHETP of coming out of the BB with your worst hands. But like most of my toys they are still in the original packaging since they appreciate in mint condition!

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Originally Posted by johnnyBuz

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Focus: Situations where a ring game Re-raise bluff would be appropriate?

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If you took the post-flop 3-bet stone cold bluff completely out of your game, it would probably be the smallest exploit in the history of poker.

i dont bluff 3 bet, i may go a little light sometimes, but i dont bluff in cash games.

I did it twice in yesterday's session and wrote a disgusting bragging post in Tales section.

But it's very rewarding if done in good spots. Nice pot + fearful image as bonus. If you show, very few players will know what were you doing and why, rest of them will give you more passive action or turn into setfarmers and both results are easier to exploit.

i did it today with Kj after some fish had been constantly raising. I took kJ with me and pushed a rag flop.

Fish calls with unimproved AQ and says 'haha' pwned
he then went and called a 3bet push with TT, so it obv works to get bad players to make horrible decisions.

so it looks like there seems to be some mixed signals regarding this. does it matter if it's a 3-bet (out of position) or just a re-raise (in position). i feel like, out of position, is obviously a lot trickier, but i think it really makes villain have to reevaluate his hand.

i guess i am a bit of an action junkie, and like the thought of being able to pull something like this off, but i don't want to do it "just because" or just to say i did it. i want to really know how to stick this into my game as a viable weapon in my arsenal that i can use and exploit when the opportunity presents itself.

Here's a common one I am capable of...

The board shows something large with no draws to be had. For instance, say there was a raise from EP, and 3 go to a flop. You are on the button. The flop comes out KK6 rainbow. EP Bets out close to pot amount (indicating TT, JJ, QQ or AA), and the next guy folds. This is a perfect spot for a mimick slow play against a lot of opponents. I'll often float (call) this flop, and gun it on the turn with reasonable fold equity.

DP

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Originally Posted by Rondavu

Here's a common one I am capable of...

The board shows something large with no draws to be had. For instance, say there was a raise from EP, and 3 go to a flop. You are on the button. The flop comes out KK6 rainbow. EP Bets out close to pot amount (indicating TT, JJ, QQ or AA), and the next guy folds. This is a perfect spot for a mimick slow play against a lot of opponents. I'll often float (call) this flop, and gun it on the turn with reasonable fold equity.

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So does "floating" just mean to stick around, usually calling, with the hopes of making a big play on a later street? what do you think the opp's stance would be on that KK6 flop on the turn if he didn't hold the K? you think he'll bet 1/2 - 2/3 of the pot, whereby you reraise to something like 2-3x the pot? just trying to see if i understand the theory behind it correctly.

If someone is constantly raising in late position when folded to them then i will 3 bet them every now and then.

I never reraise with complete air, but I do on occasion when I have a hand that isn't usually strong enough to warrant it.

If I think the raiser is weak for some reason, I will reraise strongly (at least 3x) when I think my hand is behind only if:
- I have position
- it is (or will most likely be) heads up, and
- I have at least some kind of a draw.

My reraises are aiming to make them fold, and if they don't I'll hopefully hit big, or they'll shut down with a weak hand and my hand will have some showdown value.

E.g. I may reraise with 88 preflop from the button if UTG made a weak raise and it was folded to me.

Postflop I will need to think they're pretty weak to reraise with a two-outer, but am more likely to do it with a flush draw.

I will also look at stack sizes. If I think I'm behind and the raiser is a short stack I won't reraise bluff, as they love to go all-in. If there's a large effective stack and I have even a weak draw I'm more likely to do it.

I never 3-bet bluff with air. It's just too expensive.

I don't think reraise bluffs are something you should look to do often. Only do it rarely and if there's a good chance they'll fold. It could end up becoming very expensive if you do it too often and in the wrong places. Never doing it at all is possibly a profitable move.

In terms of non-bluff but non-regular reraising, if I have a hand that I wouldn't normally reraise but I think I'm ahead anyway, I may reraise with it. E.g. if I have AQs and the opponent has raised 22% of their hands or something. If I do this though I will probably be willing to play for stacks with TP against this opponent with an agreeable board. I will never do this with a weaker drawing hand like AQo though.

This is at $25NL.

nice post pengy.

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Originally Posted by flyingPenguin

E.g. I may reraise with 88 preflop from the button if UTG made a weak raise and it was folded to me.

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My range is even wider *cackle*

Lukie has seen me do this with KQo and have the best hand....

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Originally Posted by Fnord

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Originally Posted by flyingPenguin

E.g. I may reraise with 88 preflop from the button if UTG made a weak raise and it was folded to me.

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My range is even wider *cackle*

Lukie has seen me do this with KQo and have the best hand....

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so you often reraise UTG or UTG+1 if they raise weak and theres at max only 1 other caller with mediocre cards? is the intention to take it down preflop or on the flop with a c-bet?

No, I check it down and hope my KQo holds up unimproved.

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Originally Posted by Fnord

No, I check it down and hope my KQo holds up unimproved.

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is that like a reverse psychology thing? villain plays weak because of your reraise and lets you see a cheap showdown if unimproved, and boost the pot if you hit?

ie: if you just call the preflop raise, assume he will c-bet the flop regardless, and you may or may not be ahead, so it's a tougher spot. but if you reraise preflop, it makes him pretty wary, and much more likely to check unless he hits it hard. so you sacrifice a bet preflop to save you 2 or 3 postflop? just want to see if im following the logic.

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Originally Posted by Fnord

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Originally Posted by flyingPenguin

E.g. I may reraise with 88 preflop from the button if UTG made a weak raise and it was folded to me.

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My range is even wider *cackle*

Lukie has seen me do this with KQo and have the best hand....

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Nice one. I'll leave that kind of move to the good players.

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Originally Posted by johnnyBuz

so you often reraise UTG or UTG+1 if they raise weak and theres at max only 1 other caller with mediocre cards? is the intention to take it down preflop or on the flop with a c-bet?

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I certainly won't do it often (only a few times ever I guess), and it's more likely to be if it's folded around to LP where a raise is made and I read it as weak. A raise by UTG often shows some kind of strength. Bad e.g. by me.

For me the idea is to take it down preflop or with a c-bet. My reading skills aren't good enough to use Fnord's strategy. If I know they're a chronic calling station I won't try it.

Probably the main reason I do this so rarely is I'm bad at reads and don't usually see the opportunities. I don't think there's any harm in never doing it, particularly if you're a full ring multitabling TAG.

Nice thread. I'm basically with flyingpenguin on this...I try to only do it in position and when I know the better has a wide range and will fold marginals.

For example, when I played at full ring on party, I came across FTRers who had a pretty wide pre flop raising range, but I knew they weren't call stations, so reraising with a suited connector or pocket pair in position every once in a while is very profitable, especially since they probably have HUD stats on me showing I'm pretty tight. It's like a blind steal, they need a much stronger hand to call with then they are likely betting, and if they call, there's still a decent chance to hit a flop with a hidden hand.

Another situation with the same type of player, but I'm really not sure about how good this one is, is to call the flop and raise the turn on a draw. I read this looking at renton's blog once. It looks like a set to the aware players who are betting a wide enough range but capable of folding marginals. Then you can play a set fast on the flop like the way they think most play a draw.

I'd really like to hear some more thoughts on this though, and see some hands or situations (Fnord did you really check down the KQo hand post flop? Lukie didn't bet at you at all?). I'm sure reraising more then great hands could add significant BB/100.