Part: Part Two - Playing Styles & Starting Requirements
Position over raw strength
Pre-flop
A solid player raises from middle position and it folds to you on the button with A♣T♣.
Solid MP raises to 600 (3 BB); you hold A♣T♣ on the button. Best play?
WhyThree-bet A-T suited here and you fold out everything you beat while the hands that call have you crushed - that's the gap concept: an easy open, but not enough to re-raise a solid opener. It flops top pairs, flushes and straights, and you'll have position every street, so take the flat. Folding a suited, playable position hand is the other mistake.
What happensYou call; the blinds fold. Heads-up with position. Pot: 1,500 (7.5 BB).
Flop
Flop: A♦ 8♥ 4♣ - top pair, plus a backdoor flush. The solid player c-bets.
You flop top pair (ten kicker) and the solid opener c-bets 900 (4.5 BB). Best?
WhyTop pair with a ten kicker is ahead of his bluffs and worse pairs but behind the A-K and A-Q a solid opener c-bets - so it's a hand to win a medium pot with, not a big one. Flat in position: you keep his bluffs firing, control the size, and avoid blowing up the pot as the likely underdog when he holds the better ace.
What happensYou call. The pot stays a size you're comfortable playing. Pot: 3,300 (16.5 BB).
Turn
Turn: 2♠ - a blank, and now the solid player checks to you.
He checks the turn. With top pair, decent kicker, in position, what's best?
WhyWhen the solid opener surrenders the lead and checks, he's mostly signaling he doesn't have the strong ace he'd keep betting. A small-to-medium stab now milks worse aces and pairs and denies a free card to draws - just keep it modest, because you're value-betting a medium hand, not looking to stack off.
What happensYou bet 1,600 (8 BB); he calls. Pot: 6,500 (32.5 BB).
River
River: 7♦ - a blank. The solid player checks to you again.
River bricks and he checks. With top pair, ten kicker, in position, best?
WhyYou already banked the value on the turn; a third bullet with top pair-ten kicker gets hero-called by better aces and folds out everything worse - and it hands him a spot to check-raise you off a showdown you'd win. Take the free river. Checking a medium hand back in position isn't passivity, it's pocketing the pot you built without paying off a bigger one.
What happensYou check behind, table top pair, and it's good. Pot controlled from flop to river - the medium hand won a clean medium pot precisely because you never let it grow.
You flatted rather than three-bet a hand that would only fold out worse and get called by better, then used position to take a thin bet on the turn and shut it down on the river. A medium hand, kept to a medium pot - position did the earning.
The gap concept in action: a hand strong enough to open isn't automatically strong enough to raise a raise. In position with a hand that flops well, calling and outplaying beats re-raising into a range that has you dominated.