Living As An Underdog

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

You will now and forever start as an underdog. Know it. Accept it. It is true. Embrace it as such.

Sure there will be exceptions. You'll be playing heads up sometimes. You have a 50/50 chance of being a favorite when it's heads up. But most of the time, when you're playing with more than one opponent, nearly all of the time in fact, you will start out as an underdog.

Think I'm wrong? Think that if you only play high quality hands you're starting out as a favorite most of the time. Wrong. Very, very wrong.

Do the math. Start with Aces in hold'em and you have no better than a strong underdog's chance to win the hand if everyone stays in. Start with a pair of Aces in Stud? Against a typical field you're no better than 40%.

Truth is that you have to play from behind and catch up nearly all the time. It's how you handle that and how you catch up that will determine whether you're a winner.

There are generally three strategies that winning players employ - as underdogs. Both are correct in their appropriate setting and wrong when they are used out of place.

The first strategy is to cut down on the opposition by raising or re-raising to limit the field. You do this when you are the favorite in a heads up match but an underdog against a large field. No magic. You have a strong heads up hand like Aces or Kings or Queens and you bet aggressively to drive out the drawing and random hands that might catch up to you if they stay.

The second strategy is to call and play passive and get in cheaply when you have a hand that does poorly heads up but does well against many opponents. You do this with flush draws and straight draws and, to a limit extend, when you have a low pair to begin. Try to get in quietly and cheaply and with many opponents who might continue on even after you have vastly improved to the powerhouse you're drawing to. Your advantage comes from the largeness of the few pots these hands win when they infrequently improve.

Each strategy rests on your understanding of how to play from behind and how to manipulate your opponents when you are ahead.

In the first instance, when you propel yourself into the lead by knocking out your opponents and establish yourself as a favorite over your lone opponent, you need to press your advantage by betting, to make it more expensive for your opponent if he wishes to stay. You do this as long as you are sure, or nearly sure, that you are in the lead. You only back off if you are reasonably sure that your opponent has surpassed you and you are no longer a favorite. You then must recalibrate your strategy - either staying and chasing if the pot odds remain in your favor even as an underdog - or folding if they don't.

The fact that you are a favorite does not mean that you will remain one until the hand is concluded. You must adjust your strategy accordingly.

In the second instance, when you propel yourself into the lead by hitting your draw, you must do two things at the same time - entice your many opponents to call while you are hugely in the lead - and get them to commit more money to the pot that you expect to win. Ere on the side of building the pot if you find that you must choose one over the other. A bird in hand and all that.

Embracing your status as underdog does not mean committing yourself to always playing when behind. Quite to opposite is true - as you will concede most of your contests. But you must recognize the potential in your quality hands and play them accordingly.

There's no shame in being an underdog. It's an inescapable part of the game of poker.

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