Editor's Note: Recently, PokerNews launched their new, dedicated 'PokerNews Strategy' section. This section features some of the top online poker players in the world, giving advice, and speaking their thoughts as they encounter situations in their own poker play. The section features one new video a day, from players like Patrick Antonius, Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis, Chris 'Genius28' Lee, and James 'mig.com' Mackey. The videos cover a range of topics including NL cash games, Multi Table Tournaments, Sit N Goes, and many other topics. PokerNews Strategy instructor Lex 'Razsi' Veldhuis took some time out to discuss a very specific situation in a $1/$2 NL Hold Em hand. We join Lex in the middle of a $1/$2 session, playing heads up against a opponent he's been playing a fair bit with.
Below is a hand Lex Veldhuis played in a video made for PokerNews Strategy, where he discusses an important concept in low limit no limit games. Check out the video, and then read Lex's expert analysis.
The scene: $1/2 no-limit hold'em heads up vs. "BR_Manage074"
Previous to this clip, I've been in some hands with "villain" and developed some quick, specific reads. He likes to call us very light, he knows we're recording, and he knows I can play like a monkey. I took advantage of that by value-betting thin on a couple hands and not giving up some other marginal holdings when he did the betting. Right now we're effectively -- meaning the smallest stack of the players involved -- 140 big blinds deep. Again, I have just said I am going to value-town marginal hands as much as I can.
One of the next hands that comes up is me holding
out of position. He makes a standard opening (three times the big blind) to $6, and I call. The flop comes 
. I flop top pair, second-nut kicker -- a hand I really want to go to war with against him. I check, he checks behind. The turn is a pretty good card for me, the 
. I bet out $10 here to get some value for my hand. I'm assuming I have the best hand here, unless he turned a straight with A-4. I am even discarding 6-4 as an option, because he would have bet the flop with that. He could also have a funky two pair, but I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet. This is where it gets interesting.
He reraises us to $35. This highlights one of the most important concepts of today's no-limit, heads-up hold'em: People check behind with hands that they don't want to get check-raised with on the flop, but have showdown value. You could think of a very weak
or a 5, in this case possibly with a 4 or 6 kicker, as otherwise he would not have inflated the pot on the turn in this spot. Basically, the plan of checking the flop behind and reraising the turn with, for instance, the , is to have me put more money in with a spade draw, a naked four, or a pair and a straight draw. He gains initiative in the hand by reraising me on the turn here. This will most likely mean I'm going to check most rivers to him, giving him the option to check behind there and have a showdown. In that case, he is basically pot-controlling the river by raising the turn, plus he lets me pay more to hit draws.
This is a very lucrative play with top pairs, especially if you think your opponent will lead on most turns. You practically gain a bet in profit if he doesn't have anything, too. You also will get paid off more by weaker hands, because from their perspective it doesn't add up. If you didn't hit the flop why would you reraise the turn? People will think you are bluffing a lot.
So knowing all this, I can reverse this concept and put myself in the situation of the position described above. The stacks are bit too deep to shove here to basically fake a semibluff. Don't forget that this is a strong spot to three-bet on the turn; calling is not the only option. The only problem is, in this spot I don't think to gain a lot of value from weaker hands that I have crushed. If I three-bet here there is a big chance he might fold a weaker
. Also, if the board bricks on the river, I can fake a bluff, pretending I missed my draw and get paid off light. Therefore, seeing he was kind of a loose cannon so far, I decided to slowplay my hand a bit.
The river is the
, I check, planning on calling a bet, but he checks behind. As soon as he checks I was amazed to see him turn over a 
for top pair. I definitely would have expected him to value-bet it; I know that I definitely would have in his situation. It's funny to see he did the same thing as described before but in reverse. He wasn't the one reraising to get more value from a draw or making a bluff-lead fold, he was the one drawing. I'm happy I played the hand this way with these stacks.
Keep in mind, that if we had been playing $200 stacks, I would have gotten it in on the turn, to counter his semibluff or check-behind option on a later street. This hand is a huge example for a lot of key turn plays these days. Pay attention and use them to your advantage, to either get more value from a showdown hand when you're in position, or to play hands out of position as in the example video. You can make your bet on the turn seem even stronger if you three-bet his turn raise, or slowplay a pair and represent a draw. You don't always have to the bettor to have the initiative.
Many more insights are available in our PokerNews Strategy section. Watch some of the biggest names in poker, including Patrik Antonius, play online poker, and talk about their thoughts as they are playing. Check out our PokerNews Strategy section, and learn from some of the best players in the game.
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