PLUGGING PRE FLOP LEAKS

Recently, a friend (we'll call him "Freaky") asked me to look over the hand history of a Sit and Go he recently played. He ended up winning the tournament, but I found quite a few leaks in his game that I wanted to help him plug. Take a look at the following hands and see if you can pick out the flaw in his game:

Average Chip Stack: 2,700

Three places paid out: $400 for first, $300 for second, $200 for third.

Hand No. 1, Blinds 100-200

Seat 2: 3,460
Seat 3 (Dealer): 1,060
Seat 5 (SB 100): 1,565
Seat 7 (BB 200): 9,25
Freaky: 6,490


Freaky is dealt Ah-6d.

Freaky raises to 600

Hand No. 2. Blinds 100-200 with a 25 ante per player

Seat 2 (SB 100): 3,435
Seat 3 (BB 200): 1,035
Seat 5: 540
Freaky (Dealer): 8,490


Freaky is dealt Kh-7s.

Freaky raises to 800.

Hand No. 3, Blinds 100-200 with a 25 ante per player

Seat 2 (Dealer): 3,310
Seat 3 (SB 100): 810
Seat 5 (BB 200): 515
Freaky: 8,865


Freaky is dealt Qh-9h.

Freaky raises to 800.

Looks pretty straightforward, no? A massive chip lead, relatively big blinds, above-average hands. In each case, I agree with the preflop raise. So what's the problem?


Poker DVD by Expert Insight with Phil GordonThe Freaky Leak lies in the amount of the preflop raise. In each case, Freaky just hit the "Bet Pot" button without much thought. That is effective in most cases, but the laziness of that action is problematic in this situation.

Here, it is clear that with the massive chip lead, Freaky will be committed to calling the all-in raise of Seats 3, 5 and 7 in each case. The only seat at the table that makes a difference is Seat 2. If Seat 2 picks up a great hand and comes over the top, Freaky should lay his hand down in each case to preserve the chip lead.

When I'm in a spot like this with the chip lead against several short stacks and another big stack, if I'm going to raise before the flop I raise the exact number that will pot commit the short stacks and be a minimal risk against the other big stack.

In Hand 1 above, I'd raise to 500 and call any short-stack all-in getting 2-1 or better on my money. I'll lose 100 less if Seat 2 picks up a good hand and reraises.

In Hand 2 above, I'd raise to 540, just enough to put Seat 5 all-in, pot commit Seat 3, and get away from a reraise from Seat 2 with a minimal loss. I'll lose 260 chips less than Freaky if Seat 2 picks up a monster.

In Hand 3 above, I'd raise to 515 for the same reasons as Hand 2 above.

This is a small, yet important, leak to plug. Losing less to the nearest competitor when you're the chip leader will keep you the chip leader. You give up essentially nothing except the time and energy required to read the chip stacks and make the best bet possible.