One of the key factors surrounding the concept of implied odds is that different opponents offer you different levels of implied odds. For example if someone asked me what the correct play would be with a hand like pocket fours on the button to an early position raise then I would need more data before giving my answer. How big is your stack size? How big is your opponents stack size? How likely are they to lose a lot of money post flop? Are the players to your left likely to call or 3/bet?
Questions like these and more besides are highly pertinent to how the hand is played and if it is correct to play it at all. This is why you get more implied odds in six max games and heads up games than in full ring. If you call a raise with 100bb in a NL600 heads up game with pocket fours and flop a set then you could stack an opponent that was bluffing much more frequently than you would in a NL50 full ring game. Also in very tough mid-stakes game then an opponent may bet all three streets with a hand like top pair.
This could be for value or to balance their range and so a set of fours can extract a lot of value here and thus gain good implied odds. Now transfer that to a weak-tight player in a full ring cash game that only ever stacks off with the nuts or something close to it. If the flop comes K-J-4 and your opponent decides that they would like to stack off then you are going to be facing a set of kings or jacks in all probability. You have some chance of being ahead of K-J but if they raised from early position then K-J is less likely than K-K and J-J.
Knowing where your opponents are likely to give you money is a vital part of the game. For example this could happen in any form of poker. In STT’s for example then play on the bubble is vital to your chances of making these types of tournament profitable. If you cannot play well on the bubble and do not understand ICM then it will be difficult to advance beyond the intermediate level of STT’s. All forms of poker have an area where the average opponent plays sub-optimally.
In cash games this tends to be post flop rather than pre-flop. It is much easier to play well pre-flop because that part of the game is simpler. You only have two starting cards to think about and there isn’t even any board cards to complicate matters. If you have a good indication of what your opponents range is then you can use PokerStove or previous experience to accurately estimate your equity against that range. So pre-flop play is more or less figured out even by relatively inexperienced players!However post flop play is where you will find your biggest edge and you should strive to play more post flop poker.
Against players that play well pre-flop (and there are many) then your edge at that particular stage of the game will be thin at best. When your opponents play post flop then it becomes a different story. For example if someone raises from the cut-off and you estimate that their range is say 25% and you have 10c-9c on the button then are you correct to 3/bet or call? Well that sort of depends because if you 3/bet with a wide range against a good player then you will find that they will 4/bet you more frequently. Then you may have to 5/bet shove to find your line profitable but if you don’t like the thought of that then don’t 3/bet light against a good player.
Remember that your opponents range is wide and you have position. So you can call and see a flop because you have a playable hand, position and the knowledge that if your opponent is multi-tabling that they could even fold many hands that are better than yours. Let’s give our opponent 10d-10h and the flop comes Jh-8c-4d. They c-bet for two thirds of the pot and we know that they are unlikely to hold a big pair and would c-bet against a single opponent.
So we have a clear call here or we could even raise with our straight draw equity. However the key thing is that we can use our position to increase our profit in the hand. If the turn card comes Kh and our opponent checks then a bet will probably take it down. If it doesn’t then we have the option to fire another barrel on the river. They are in a tough spot whatever they do and calling pre-flop has improved our implied odds.
Carl Sampson is a professional poker player that plays online at 888poker
