Defending Against a Habitual Steal Raiser

By Nick Eisel

Defending Against a Habitual Steal Raiser I've received numerous emails over the past couple months that posed the same question. Rather than write separate emails back to all of the people who inquired about the same thing, I figured I'd just turn it into an article. The issue in question is "How do I deal with someone who steal raises a lot, but also isn't a complete maniac and has some ability after the flop?"

I feel obligated to write about the topics my readers are interested in, and I also felt this topic would make a good article because there is a ton to talk about. I'm going to start at the beginning here by giving you some common tendencies that players using this super aggressive style will usually possess.

Profile of a Blindstealer

From my experience, these guys will open the pot with a raise with basically any hand they were going to play in the first place. Their thought is naturally "Hey, nobody is in yet, maybe I can steal the blinds." Another characteristic which will be in 90% - 95% of all of these players is that they feel they are required to bet the flop after raising preflop, regardless of whether they hit or not. I'd like to also reiterate that I'm not talking about a complete maniac here, just someone with some larceny in his blood that is looking to make steals and other tricky moves on a regular basis just to keep his ego happy. He usually loves to bluff and you can use this against him.

There are a few things that you need to be aware of when playing against one of these guys. The most important thing you can do is watch when you aren't in a hand. I really cannot stress it enough since most people nowadays get too caught up in playing multiple tables or watching television and they don't pay attention to the action enough to pick up on who is playing what style. If you haven't figured it out, this will end up costing you quite a bit. You could easily throw away the best hand against a loose and aggressive player if you weren't watching the action enough to realize who you were playing against. You also have the problem of putting the SAP on a hand if you aren't paying attention, since you will probably assign much higher values to his cards than you would if you were paying attention. There's nothing wrong with multitasking, especially if you're playing 2-3 tables, but you need to be able to still take notes and focus on watching as many hands as possible after you've folded.

Since the super aggressive player plays a lot of hands, you'll eventually get to see some of them in a showdown. This is extremely helpful in figuring out how he plays postflop in different spots. Will he raise with just overcards after someone leads into him on the flop? What about draws? Is there any information that can clear up exactly what type of hands he is raising with (any two cards 9 or up, small pocket pairs, suited cards) ? You need to assimilate notes on this player if you plan on staying in the game for a while because you can make a lot of money if you just pay attention to his postflop play and figure out how to counter it.

Another seemingly obvious point here is that you're going to have to play a wider range of hands, especially in the big blind. How can you make money off of someone who is giving it away if you aren't in there against him as much as you should be? I'm not saying to start playing 82o or even 96s, but you should be defending your big blind with something like J9 if you know the raiser is loose and aggressive. By playing more hands you also send a subtle message to him that you're willing to get in there and gamble with him, and this usually results in your big hands getting paid off more often.

Once you've decided you're going to play a hand against him, you need to determine the best preflop play for your hand by basing it on how he plays after the flop. If he's capable of getting off a hand (which a good amount of these guys are), then you should be getting in there and making some strong moves in spots where you think he can get away from his hand. I realize that's kind of vague, but you'll just have to trust your judgment there and experiment with some things to see what works for you.

The best kind of super aggressive player to play against is one that has weak raising standards preflop but can also get off of a hand if he misses or thinks he is beaten. This is good news to you since your marginal hands can pick up a lot of pots with that will be pumped up due to his preflop raises if he plays poorly enough after the flop. You also have to remember that he is eventually going to become annoyed if you are leading into him or checkraising every time you are in the pot. This is the last thing you want since he is most likely capable of bluffraising the turn and other tricky plays. To beat this type of player you have to do as much as possible to keep them "happy" in a sense. If he gets annoyed by your play and starts playing very dishonestly against you, you'll have a much harder time figuring out where he's at in a hand and whether you are ahead or not.

An interesting thing to keep in mind is that if you know the button will always steal raise your blinds with essentially any two cards, you should sometimes three bet with weaker hands like QJ, KT, A7, etc. As long as you have a tight image and haven't done this play before, your opponent is likely to put you on a big hand and fold the flop if he misses. Be careful using this play against someone who will throw in random raises postflop though, because you can't exactly call down with Q high and you'll have no clue where you're at unless you flop a big hand. Finally, don't overuse this play as he will see right through it and then you'll be in a world of trouble because you won't know if he's bluffing or actually has a hand.

Combating a Super-Aggressive Player

Say for instance you decide to defend your blind against an SAP. The flop comes down pretty harmless and you have to decide if you're just going to give it up, lead out into him as a bluff, or checkraise.

Here are a few things to consider :

The Board
Just how bad is the board? If you decide to try and steal from an SAP on an all rags flop, he probably won't go away so easily and you'll have to fire a bet on every street and hope he can't call on the river. You don't want to put yourself in that situation as it's very costly when he calls you down and beats you.

You want to bet at boards that give you a high percentage of winning based on the types of hands your opponent raises with as well as what he will do with a draw postflop. The classic "Steal Flop" is one containing two rags and one large overcard which you can represent with your bluff. Another important factor is how many other people are in the pot with you and the SAP, as you'll be much less likely to pull off a bluff against multiple opponents.

The Opponent & His Mood
So now that we have a good idea of how our opponent plays, how do we put that into use?

Has he been winning at the table? The answer will usually be that he is not winning, but what you want to know is how both losing and winning affect his overall play. You also have to remember your own personal image and how that will affect his view of you. If he thinks you only play the better hands he will be more likely to give it up when big cards flop, but if he's seen you showdown a bluff a few times then he will question every move you make and you'll have to adjust to that by not bluffing for a while. When you know his tendencies and his current mood, that information can go a long way to earning you a few extra bets on marginal hands.

Leading Out vs. Checkraising
This concept is one that most people don't understand.

If you watch some of the games online, most players habitually slowplay their big hands. They also tend to checkraise the flop with top pair against the raiser, and some will even do it with flush draws. Don't you think that if you always checkraise with strong hands and lead out with draws or weak hands, eventually someone will pick up on it? The right thing to do is to mix your play based on your opponent, the board, and previous hands you've played together. If you just checkraised the flop, bet the turn and won the pot against an SAP with absolutely nothing, you should use the exact same sequence the next time you flop a big hand against the same opponent. Most people get too caught up in tables and charts which tell them how to play X hand in X position and they don't account for the many variables which define the right play. Don't forget to think back on previous hands against the same opponent to find any tendencies of his as well as how to best exploit his actions.

Another good general point for this topic is that you should be willing to play more hands preflop depending on how your opponent usually plays after the flop. More hands equals more money from someone who is easy to play against. In choosing hands for defending, keep in mind that suited is not that important in a heads up pot and won't turn a fold into a call. High card is still the most important value in a shorthanded game or head up pot.

As far as when to lead out and when to checkraise, I tend to lead out with medium strength hands like middle pair top kicker on a rags board, and checkraise with stronger hands like top pair. Obviously I will tailor this strategy to whatever opponent I'm playing against, but those are the hard and fast rules.

In essence, what you should take away from this section is that you need to mix up your play postflop with strong hands, weak hands, and stone bluffs so that you can pick up the pot sometimes as well as hide information about your hand. By leading, checkraising, and folding, you should strive to achieve balance in your play in these spots and also confuse your opponent.

Example One

The first example comes from a $5/$10 shorthanded game on Empire Poker. An SAP on the button raises and he's stolen my blind 4-5 times in recent rounds.

Normally this would be an automatic fold against someone who was not a habitual stealer, but I decided I was going to at least make some kind of stand here and not let him run me over. I decided to just call since A5 isn't really a great hand head up and I felt a reraise would be a bad option since this player tended to bet every street after missing. Therefore, building the pot with a bad hand doesn't accomplish anything because I'm very likely to miss or just flop a weak hand like a pair of 5s, or possibly a gutshot. I'm also capable of calling down with ace high should I feel it was good based on what comes on the board. Finally, my opponent liked to chase weak hands like one overcard and I felt I'd gain a bigger edge on this hand to see what comes on the flop.

So I ended up calling based on the above things I'd seen from my opponent and the flop came down..

The Flop : A 9 3

Not a bad flop for me, but not the greatest since I'm near dead if I'm outkicked. I decided to check the flop to the raiser and see what happened. He immediately bet after I checked, and I already knew what I had to do. The best play here is to just call because my hand is very unlikely to be outdrawn on that board unless I'm already beaten. Sure, I have top pair and it's most likely good, right? Well then you should understand how checking and calling will make more money over time since I'd seen this player bet every street with nothing before. If I checkraised the flop instead, he would probably call and then fold the turn if he missed. By letting him bet my hand for me, I let him bluff the turn with few to no outs and then also let him feel obigated to take one final stab on the river with nothing hoping that I will fold. The other problem with checkraising in this spot is that he will reraise me with any hand better than mine and I'll either have to pay it off if I think he's on a move, or let him outplay me and take away the pot. This isn't something I'd always do, but the board is perfect for it and my hand is unlikely to be drawn out on if it is currently leading.

Without taking up too much more time, the river was the 6c, and the turn was the Th. I checked and called on all streets and my opponent had bet with Jc 8d the entire way! Just because you flopped top pair head up doesn't mean you should automatically raise with it, and in this case you actually lose money by doing so.

Example Two

In this example, it's the same 5/10 shorthanded game, but this opponent is much more aggressive preflop and also easily capable of folding his hand after missing.

Everyone folds to our friend the SAP in the cutoff who opens with a raise as usual. The other players fold to me in the big blind and I have Jh 9c. I call since this is a strong enough hand to play against someone holding essentially two random cards (he had previously shown down 64o in a showdown) and raised a ton of hands.

The Flop : Q 6 2

This is a great flop to make a move on an SAP, one with one big card and two smaller ones. If you bluff at a ragged flop, your opponent is more likely to chase you down than if there is a big card out there that could have them drawing to one overcard or worse.

I checked to my opponent with my J9 high, only backdoor draws, and he fired his guaranteed bet. By that time I had already decided that I was going to checkraise him and see if he hit the Q or not. The action came back to me and I immediately fired in a raise. He thought for a couple seconds and made a tentative call which I read to mean that he was going to give up the pot if a brick came on the turn.

The Turn : 7

I led out with my follow up bet and my opponent quickly folded.

Hopefully you can see the difference in these two hands and understand why it is right to sometimes check and call a high top pair like K's or A's (since there are really no overcards), but then checkraise in another spot with J9 high, no draw. These plays wouldn't be possible if I wasn't paying attention to the game I was in and watching for the tendencies of the SAP.

As with everything else in poker, there are exceptions to all of this, and I wouldn't recommend getting too tricky. SAPs know all about bluffs and trickery so use it sparingly and you'll make quite a bit of extra money if you pick your spots right.

Keep in mind that this is not an ego contest of who can bluff more and win, but rather a conservative style that throws in a move here and there to make extra money or to advertise if you feel you aren't getting action. The important thing about blind play is that you need to take a stand against someone like this and be willing to throw in a move here and there to show the SAP that you are not to be trifled with.

Nick Eisel
Sun3urst@hotmail.com

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