Any STT or SNG player will tell you that when the blinds get very high that you are far better shoving all in than calling all in. The fact of the matter is that if you want to call all in then you have to be substantially ahead of the raisers range and in fact unless you are desperately low in chips then your equity edge to call all in needs to be crushing. This is because when you shove all in as the first to speak then you present yourself with two chances to win. Your opponent cam fold and you can win the pot that way or your opponent can call and you can win at showdown.
If you are the caller then you have no fold equity and it is fold equity that helps to keep you alive in no limit Texas hold’em tournaments. Strangely enough then there are similarities between cash games and tournaments that are not always obvious. For example in higher stakes cash games then your opponents will be much more aggressive and the power to pounce and get the last word in is very powerful as it gets fold equity. Let us look at an example from say NL600 to show you what I mean.
It is folded around to the button that makes it $18 to go and the small blind calls and you call with the 10s-9s in the big blind. Each player has a $600 stack and both you and the button are very strong players with a lot of history with each other. The pot is now $54 and the flop comes 7s-4s-3c. The small blind checks and so do you but the button makes it $29 to go. The small blind folds and you consider check raising but feel that your opponent stands a great chance of barrelling the turn especially if an overcard peels off.
You also feel that your opponent may also suspect that you are aware of the width of their range and has the potential to shove all in thus forcing you to call or fold and you would be calling with little equity. So you call the $29 thus making the pot $112 and the turn is the Qh. This is a good card for you because it allows your opponent to use that as a scare card. You check and your opponent takes the bait and bets $70 and both of you had $553 left before the turn.
In this situation then where both players are trying to get the last word in then bet sizing is crucial. For example a min-raise to $140 would only make the pot $322 and leave you with $413 left and your opponent has $$483 left which is perfect for a shove. If they have pot equity like with something like K-J for example then this would be a very powerful play. To deny our opponent this line then we could over shove their turn barrel which considering the width of their range would pick up the $182 in the pot at least 80% of the time as long as you use this play sparingly.
When you get called then you should have at least 20% equity or more and so this makes the play very profitable. Had you been forced to call as an all-in then you lose a massive amount of fold equity. If you opponent has say A-Q and you shoved and your opponent tanked and then called then you would have around 20% equity which is actually pretty decent considering how often your opponent will call such a powerful move.
An all-in move in no limit Texas hold’em cash games in high stakes poker is an essential tool to have in your arsenal and one that you will need to utilise very often. If your opponent has very little equity or is simply on the tight side then these power plays can work an alarming percentage of the time. The key though is to be the one that gets all in first and stack sizes mean that your opponent has more than enough to fold.
Once again this is very similar to the situation that you would find in many situations in tournament poker and STT’s during the later stages of play. Against weaker opponents in low stakes cash games then these moves are disastrous for the simple reason being that your opponents will call more often and so your fold equity will be small. Also the overall nature of low stakes cash games is less aggressive and so you shouldn’t really be stacking off too much without very big hands. Low stakes cash games and especially in full ring are all about patience and that gets rewarded at these levels more than overly aggressive play.
Carl Sampson is a professional poker player who plays at www.888poker.com
