Poker: Blockers Part 2

All-In at the Pre-Flop?
Firstly, here is a definition of a ‘Live Card' for those of you who are unsure: Live Card as you will need to understand it for the following advice:

"A pocket card that is of a different number value than each of the favoured opponent's pocket cards; a pocket card that could make a winning hand if paired and that would otherwise be part of a losing hand.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Example: If Player A had Kh-Qs in the pocket and Player B had Qh-Jd in the pocket, the Jack of diamonds would be a live card. Player A would win with the King-high if no player paired a card and would win with the King kicker if a Queen were dealt to the board, but Player B could win if any of the three remaining Jacks were dealt to the board."

-(http://dictionary.pokerzone.com/Live+Card)

In a tournament situation, the question of blockers arises often, but in a different way, with the ‘live cards'. Players say to themselves that if they go All-In with a 6-5 (suited) and they are followed, there cards will almost always be ‘live'. If your hand does not contain any blockers, it means that they are ‘live; and have outs. This is why it is sometimes preferable to go All-In with 7-6 (suited) than with a Queen-Jack (unsuited); your cards would be more ‘live'. In addition, your opponents can fold more often because the number of combinations in his range is more limited by the blockers that you may be holding.

In this example, four additional cards are added against your opponent's different range of hand:

A number of different hands will be represented under a range. The column ‘Number of Combo's' is the number of combinations with two cards in this range. There are four different hands, Ace-King unsuited are a little less important as blockers, this is because you will often bet All-In pre-flop with such a hand, however, you will still be at a slight disadvantage against any pair. Here, we are starting from the principle that you are in a 3-bet or a 4-bet situation, and that your opponent goes All-In with the following ranges.

Say, for example, that your opponent only ‘pushes' with a very tight range after your 3- bet or 4-bet. This tight range (e.g. Ace-King, Jack-Jack, Ace-Ace) includes 40 different combinations and is thus representative of 3% of all possible combinations. If your opponent decides to go All-In and you have an unsuited Ace-King in hand, then he will only be able to a total of 27 possible combinations, which then represents 2% of all possible combinations. Your blockers will thus have reduced your opponents range by 1% (so we went from 3% to 2%). Put another way, your blockers managed to block a third of your opponent's range, which will then mean that your opponent will fold 33% more frequently. Plus, you hold Ace-King (unsuited), and this is often a great reason in itself to go All-In. Now we will move on to some additional hands.

With Queen-Jack (unsuited) you will block 6 combinations of your opponent's tight range (Jack-Jack and Queen-Queen). Against his range of push hands you will always be in the position of under-dog, but you will be able to limit your opponents push range by taking the step of going All-In. The number of hands that your opponent will choose to follow with will pass from 3% to 2.6%. If you hold an Ace blocker (for example unsuited Ace-7), he will only be able to push with 2.5% of his hands, but if you have 6-5 (suited) it will have no effect whatsoever.

Playing against a tight range is often difficult if you want to incorporate the use of blockers into your game, but the more your opponent's range is larger, then the more important blockers become to your game. A range composing of Ace-Queen (unsuited) +, Ace-Queen (suited) + and 10-10+, includes a total of 62 possible combinations, that is equivalent to 4.7% of all possible hands. With Queen-Jack (unsuited) you block 10 combinations and with Ace-7 (unsuited) you block 11. This means that your opponent will only go All-In 3.9% and 3.8% of his hands, respectively. As you may have noted, you have reduced your opponents push range against your raises and re-raises, by 1/6th. A weak Ace will have, practically, the same effect as two broadways, such as Queen-Jack. The higher the value of the broadway, the greater will be their impact on the range of push held by your opponent.

Below is a detailed table of push ranges, represented in the percentage of hands:

You can also use the above table to determine the range of possible 3-bets. If, for example, you play against a ‘loose' range, you can assume that your opponent will fold 14% more often when you have an Ace-7 (unsuited) hand, than when you have a 6-5 (suited) hand. On the other hand, you can also assume that the greater the range of your opponent's push, the less influence your blockers will have. Against a tight range you block, roughly, 21% of your opponent's possible combinations, with a Queen-Jack (unsuited), whereas when your opponent is a very loose player, you will only be blocking 16% of his total possible combinations. This is why the looser your opponent plays, the less you block of his hands with two broadways. With small unsuited connectors you will really need to hope that your opponent is large, in order to be able to have any chance of blocking

Poker: Blockers Part 1 Poker: Blockers Part 2

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