Phil Gordon
August 8, 2005
Let's say an early position opponent -
preferably a loose opponent - raises and gets
called by one or more players. Now there's a lot
of money in the pot. More importantly, the players
who simply called are unlikely to have a hand that
would merit calling a big re-raise. If they had
such a hand, they probably would have raised
instead of flat calling in the first place. Now it
gets to me.
I "sandwich" the callers with a big
raise.
If my raise gets the initial raiser to fold,
the meat of the chips will very often be coming my
way.
I prefer to make this play from the blinds than
from the button; if one of the blinds happens to
wake up with a great hand, it really doesn't
matter what the initial raiser was betting with -
my goose is cooked.
I get maximum value from the sandwich raise
when I am down to about 15 big blinds. For
instance: I'm in the small blind. A loose player
brings it in from early position for three times
the big blind. Two players call. There are now
10.5 blinds in the pot. I look down and find 8-7
suited.
I raise all-in.
The initial raiser now has to make the tough
decision as to whether to call a significant
raise. Even if my timing is off and he has a big
hand - let's say A-K - and decides to call the
bet, I'm still in pretty good shape. My 8-7 suited
will beat his A-K about 41% of the time. I've
invested 15 big blinds and stand to win 37 big
blinds. I'm getting exactly the right odds on my
money here.
I won't make this play with a hand that can
easily be dominated, like a small ace or king. I
don't want to be 25% (or less) to win if I can
help it.
And by making the play all-in, I completely
negate my positional disadvantage, and make the
most of my short stack. With all of my money in
the pot, I can't be outplayed after the flop.
If it's chips you're hungry for, try the
sandwich. You might just find that it hits the
spot.
Phil Gordon
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