Victories in Initiative

So often in poker, hands don't go to showdown. Whoever can win the lions share of those non-showdown pots will be the victor long term. How do we win those pots? By being aggressive, but also, by having the initiative at key points. What are those key points? What do I consider a victory of initiative?

Limping a trash hand and having villain let you do it. This is a victory because you have just had the opportunity to out flop your opponent and maybe get great value from his top pair hand postflop for a cheap investment preflop. If he knew you had trash he should have raised you off of it.

Raising preflop in position and not getting 3bet. This is a victory because you will be able to bet most flops and take the pot down or build a big pot with a value hand. Pretty obvious.

3betting a preflop raise and getting a fold. This is a victory because you correctly assessed villains raising frequency and calling range.

3betting a hand preflop, getting called, and betting the flop. While not always as simple out of position against a good opponent because you are playing a big pot out of position, this to can be quite valuable on it's own in the right spots. 

Shoving over a limp at high blinds and getting a fold. Villain tried to limp some trash and you caught him red handed. Nothing he can do but fold now. Victory.

Raise/calling a shove at high blinds. Victory. You knew he was 3bet shoving wide and you were only raising hands you were planning on calling a shove with.

Trapping with a strong hand at high blinds against someone who is shoving a wide range. You were committed, you knew he was shoving wide, and you limped, big victory for a lot of chips.

Raising a limp when he has a weak range. Victory. He wanted in cheap and you raised it up, now you can also bet the flop a lot. He's not too happy about it.


Don't let villain get away with these things himself! Don't let him limp in with trash and bet the flop in position constantly. Don't let him raise too wide of a range without 3betting him. Don't raise at high blinds, get shoved on, and not know what to do. Don't raise, get 3bet, call, and then autofold the flop when you miss. Don't limp trash when you're constantly being raised, or worse, call, and fold the flop.

Now not all of these are always as cut and dried. Since position is so critical I think it's important to realize that if you limp and get raised or raise and get 3bet, you are still in position, and that means a lot. It's still possible in those circumstances to sometimes make your out of position villains life hell. But know when those times are, know when you can float, know when limp/calling is going to give you sufficient implied odds postflop.