David Sklansky Those of you who have read, or read about, our new book, are probably aware of the controversy surrounding the way I played pocket kings and the fact that I recommended that readers sometimes play that hand the way I did. Namely, limp with it after others have limped, in the hopes of someone in later position putting in a raise.
I am not going to discuss the pros and cons of making this play in various types of games, (seriously, it’s in the book!) However, I coincidently got the chance to witness one of my students take the concept to the next level. So, I thought I would tell you about it.
It was a $3-$5 game at the Venetian and a rather aggressive player had put up a $10 straddle on the button. Four or five people limped, the straddle was skipped over, and the small blind called.
My student, Rubin, had about $550 in front of him in the big blind, and looked down at pocket kings. He decided to just call!
Now it went back to the button who could either check or raise. He made it $30. It’s twenty more to everyone starting with the small blind, who called.
Again, Rubin just called!
Now the first limper, instead of calling twenty made it $120. The straddler called the $90 and NOW Rubin moved in.
His opponents thought about it for a bit, but they both ended up calling the shove. The UTG player had pocket jacks and the button had A-5 suited. Rubin profited over $1,100 with a hand that, if played normally, would have almost certainly won much less.
But did he play it right? Almost certainly GTO players would say no.They would have raised the first time when it was five to them. Non-GTO players might have just called knowing that the button straddler would raise fairly often, but even then, they would have probably three-bet once it got around to them again. Instead, Rubin realized that there was not only a decent chance that the straddler would raise, but also a decent chance that at least one […]
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