Getting Reraised on a Semi-Steal
Suppose you have a medium small pair with a small kicker, such as most everyone folds and you raise the low card, hoping to steal the ante stealing or to play heads up with the bring-in.
If you re in what appear to be a steal position, an aggressive player frequently will raise back with a low card that is smaller than your pair.
In this case, you usually will have the best hand, and your opponent is probably raising on three small cards or a small pair with a bigger kicker (which could be an ace), trying either to knock you out or to better define your hand.
When this happens, you should raise back and play the hand aggressively as the leader, since it is unlikely that you are beat.
You might be against a large pair in the hole, but if that is the case, you are not a huge underdog.
This play works extremely well because your hand is not clear to your opponent, plus you probably do have the best hand.
If you catch a badly on fourth street and your opponent catches anything from a nine on up, you sometimes will win the pot right there, as he will now be afraid of what you may have.
If you catch bad and your opponent catches small, you will have to make a tough decision, which might be to throw your hand away.
If you both catch small cards, you probably will still want to lead just for deceptive, but be cautious.
If you both catch badly, your hand becomes stronger.
Your opponent likely will have a busted three low – in which case his hand is terrible – or a smaller pair than you have, and he won’t know where he stands.
If he plays, he probably is taking a card off in the hope that you have three low cards.
Introduction / Starting Hands / Three of a Kind Wired / Disguising Your Hand / Ante Stealing / Getting Reraised on a Semi-Steal / When an Ace Raises / When the Bring –In Raises / Afterthought
