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Copyright 2005 Centre Daily

November 6, 2005

HEADLINE:
Turn the poker table on big raisers

Author: Steve Rosenbloom

BODY:
One of the toughest opponents you'll face is a maniac -- a player who seems to raise almost every hand from almost every position.

The two best strategies against a serial raiser are either to wait for a quality hand to trap him, or to make the big move to put pressure on him, because you need a better hand to call a raise than to actually make the raise.

Allen Cunningham, a respected young pro, faced Gus Hansen, a maniac if there ever was one, at a table on the PokerStars cruise. Cunningham had about $14,000, Hansen had about $17,000.

With blinds at $150-$300, Cunningham open-raised the pot for $1,000 with K-J offsuit. Hansen called from the big blind. The flop came K-7-4 rainbow.

"He does this so often that he really could have anything," Cunningham said. "He could have top pair, a set, ace-high or a draw.

"Knowing that, I raised him a really small amount. I raised about $1,000 just so he couldn't see the turn card for free. I was willing to play top pair and good kicker against Gus if he was on a draw. Now he re-raises me a small amount, about $2,000."

Hansen is now a little more committed to the pot, and Cunningham's hand has gone down in value a little bit.

"I should either call it, hoping that it would signal to him that I'm possibly waiting for the turn to raise him all in or that I have a pretty good hand, and that if he doesn't have me beat, maybe he'll stop betting," Cunningham said. "Or, if I don't want to give him any more free cards, I should just move in."

Cunningham believes the one thing he should not do is call the raise then bet on the turn if Hansen checks, because he could be betting into a Hansen check-raise.

Cunningham called. After a 9 of clubs came on the turn, Hansen indeed checked and Cunningham indeed bet out anyway.

"I bet half my money, $5,000, which is basically like betting it all," Cunningham said. "Now he instantly raises me all in. As wild and crazy as Gus is, I know I called his re-raise on the flop and bet most of my chips when he checked on the turn, and there's no way he thinks I'm going to fold -- and he re-raised me all in so fast, so I just knew I was dead."

Cunningham folded. Hansen showed him K-9, meaning Hansen was allowed to hit top two pair on the turn and check-raise Cunningham out of the pot instead of facing all the pressure if Cunningham had re-raised on the flop.

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