Playing Fast in No Limit Holdem

This week I want to touch on a mistake that many novice players and even many intermediate make in poker. Most players who read books and play some poker know how to play big hands. Most players also know how to set traps with the nuts. One concept I don't see very often when playing NL cash games is fast-playing.

I hear complaints all the time from friends or from email about how they are getting beat everytime they get aces or kings or when they hit a set. The truth is, many times these players are trying to be too tricky. When I play NL cash games, I rarely slowplay a big hand. The conditions have to be nearly perfect for me to do so. Most players who don't utilize fast-playing are not necessarily bad players; they're simply inexperienced. They don't know when they should be fastplaying in contrast to when they should be slowplaying because they do not have enough experience in reading the board.

To make things clear, when I refer to fast-playing, I'm referring only to situations where you have flopped a big hand. AK on a K high flop is not considered a big hand. Not to say it might develop into a big hand, but mainly, I want to focus on flopped sets and flushes. These hands are where I've seen players throw value down the drain by not extracting what they could have.

In order to illustrate my point more clearly, I'll give an example of a hand my friend sent me, his thinking throughout the hand, and how I think he botched it by not fast-playing. He was playing $400 NL 6-max on Party and raised to $12 (3x BB) in CO with 96h. We will ignore whether or not he should have playing this hand to begin with because that is another question altogether. Personally, I do not have a problem with playing this hand as long as it comes with a raise, but I know some players may disagree. Furthermore, we will assume that all players at the table have $400 because I do not remember the effective stack sizes.

SB and BB end up calling and take a flop of Q T 3, all hearts. My friend has flopped a flush, which happens 1% of the time. SB and BB check and my friend fires a $22 bet. My friend wants to try and extract value out of his hand so he underbets the pot ($36) to try and get a call somewhere. SB folds and BB comes along. The turn is a 6s. BB checks, my friend bets $30 into the $80 pot and BB check-raises to $60. My friend decides to just call the $30 raise to see if a safe card comes on the river. He does not want a four flush to appear and lose. The river comes another blank. BB bets $100 into the $200 pot and my friend pushes all-in and gets called. BB shows 87h for a slightly lower flush and my friend drags an $812 pot.

What do you guys think of this hand so far' Some of you might read it and think it's not a big deal, if both my friend and BB flop a flush, the money is going in anyway. It doesn't really matter how my friend plays it, right' Wrong. I'll give my insight on this hand and why I think he messed up on every street besides preflop by not fast-playing his flush.

On the flop, my friend fires a $22 bet into a $36 pot. This is a great example of throwing value down the drain. Without knowing what the BB has, my friend could have bet $30-$36 into the pot on the flop and gotten a call. Odds are he has the best hand, but at the same time his hand is very vulnerable. If SB or BB has AQ with Ah, two pair, a set, or a lower flush, my friend has missed value by betting so small when he could have bet much stronger and still be called. If SB or BB hold nothing, they will fold for a $22 bet on the flop anyway so he might as well bet stronger to try and get more money.

The turn is where my friend really tried to committ suicide with his hand. Given BB's call on the flop, my friend should have bet way more than $30. If BB is on an ace high or king high four card flush draw, my friend has to make them pay. A $30 bet into an $80 pot is pricing almost any draw to come along. But this is not the biggest mistake my friend made. When BB check-raised to $60, my friend should not have just called to see if the river was a safe card. Why'

My friend has flopped a nine high flush draw with no redraw. He's either way ahead or way behind on the turn. However, there is also a possibility he may be outdrawn on the river by a four card flush. By just calling, he is sacrificing ALL value on his hand. Let's go into two possible scenarios. First, assuming my friend is ahead and BB has no hearts higher than nine in his hand, my friend cannot lose this hand. If a fourth heart were to come on the river, my friend will lose all action from BB, who will fold his top pair, two pair, set, or lower flush because he is easily beat by any high heart. Now, let's consider a second scenario where my friend is ahead with a flush right now, but BB holds a high heart in his hand. If my friend just calls the turn raise and the river comes a fourth heart, my friend loses the hand. BB will either lead with a bet on the river or it will go check-check. Either way, the pot goes to BB. Now if the river does not come a heart, BB missed his flush draw and will check-fold to any bet and my friend will win a much smaller pot than he could have. All in all, if a fourth heart were to come on the river, my friend would only recieve action from a hand that beats him whereas on the turn, my friend will recieve action from a bigger range of hands, a lot of which he has beat.

I think the single biggest mistake my friend made on this hand was just calling the turn raise. This is the perfect time to fast-play your hand when you get played back at. To make things a little more clear, here's how I would have played the hand beginning from the flop. When checked to, I fire $30-$36, BB calls. A blank falls on the turn, BB checks, I bet $80-$100, BB check-raises to $160-$200. Now, rather than calling, I push. BB will call my push here most of the time because it's only another $160-$200 more into a $400+ pot. If BB has a higher heart and he's on the draw, I make him pay the most I can and I win more if he misses. If BB has a lower flush, two pair, or a set, I get my money in with the best hand and hope for the board not to pair on the river.

The importance behind fast-playing is to get action when you can and when you are likely ahead. Naturally, this concept does not only apply to flopped flushes; it applies to sets as well two pairs. There are countless times where I've seen players lose on the river because they got too tricky, too greedy, or too timid with their seemingly invincible hand. There are times where you simply must be aggressive, protect your hand, and make your opponents pay. When a board is draw heavy, the best way to play a big hand is to fast-play it.

Brett Chen

note by gank: Brett Chen is a very talented no limit holdem player, he dominates online sit and gos and is a consistent winner in no limit holdem cash games.