Crushing Opponents with Reraise Resteal Mastery

More and more in today’s poker, aggression is the key. This is particularly true in tournament play. The best poker players can pick their spots and sense weaknesses. One aggressive play that should be in everyone’s arsenal is the reraise (also known as a re-steal). We will use the two terms interchangeably, but this poker lesson will focus on situations when raising pre-flop is to get the other player to fold.

The first step in learning the power of the reraise is to recognize situations in which the re-steal is more likely to be effective and profitable over the long run. Sure, sometimes you reraise, and the guy wakes up with Aces, but you sometimes have to take that chance to win a poker tournament.

Risk/Reward of Reraise Resteal

Plain and simple, there must either be enough chips in the pot to make the risk of raising profitable, or your stack about the binds must dictate that you are in a situation where you need to take risks. For example, if the blinds are 10/20, you and your opponent both have 1500, and he raises from the button to 60, there is little value in re-stealing here, and he’s not as likely to fold.

Stage of the Tournament

Bubbles are the best time to re-steal in poker because people are less likely to take big risks that might cost them their tournament life. This could be the money bubble stage, the final table bubble, or near any significant jump in pay.

Stack Sizes

If stacks are deep and there are enough chips in the pot to make reraising worth it, you can re-steal and have two ways to win:

1. They fold
2. They call, and you continue your aggression post-flop.

If there’s a chance your opponent will call, you are much better off re-stealing from the button or cut-off so that you have a position after the flop.

Caution – ensure you’re deep stacked enough to re-steal effectively without pushing all-in pre-flop. If you are mid-stacked, committing yourself to an awkward flop situation is easy. If you are short-stacked, push all-in is the best re-steal. Depending on how much fold equity you have (see below), this can put much pressure on your opponent. Re-steals tend to be more effective and valuable during the late stages of a tournament since stacks are shorter on average, and pots contain more blinds and antes.

Fold Equity

Assuming your re-steal is pushing all in, it is best to do this when you do not give your opponent the correct odds to call. Most conventional advice says that if you are getting around 2-1, you have the odds to call with almost any two cards. It doesn’t always make it a correct call, but since many people use this as a guide, you should start looking for re-steal opportunities around 7-10M (M = your stack divided by the size of the pot pre-flop). Depending on their stack size, you increase the amount of fold equity by giving incorrect odds to call.

Damage to the Other Player

When looking for profitable re-steal situations, consider your opponent’s stack size. Generally, you want to avoid re-stealing into a huge stack because they have the chips to gamble with. At the same time, you don’t want to re-steal into a short pile that may feel desperate. The best stacks to re-steal against are those you can damage if they called and lost. If you have 15,000 and your opponent has 22,000 with blinds at 500/1000, they will risk dropping to 7BB. Even if they have a hand possibly ahead of your range, they will often still fold because they can pick a better spot to risk their chips.

Your Opponent’s Image

Have they been stealing a lot? Are they capable of folding to a reraise? Are they willing to gamble? Are they new player who overvalues their hand? These are some of the questions you have to ask yourself. Generally, re-steals are the most effective against loose-aggressive players who know how to let go of a hand. Shoving into them means you are taking away their play, and they will likely pick another spot. But pay close attention to who you are re-stealing from. Because re-steals have become more prominent, people are loosening their calling re-requirements. Where it used to be commonplace for someone to fold AT to a reraise, some people are now Insta-calling with this hand.

Your Image

The main question to ask yourself is, “What hand range will they put me on based on how I’ve been playing?” If you have re-stolen the last three times you were in the blinds, you will probably be called by someone who decides to look you up. If you’ve been playing like a rock, you could re-steal with any two cards, and someone will fold AQ to you.

Position

The most popular positions to re-steal from are the blinds because people often raise with any two cards from the late post. While these are still effective, an often more believable re-steal place is from the button. Since a late-position player may be stealing with a marginal hand, a button push is still effective against his range. A reraise from the button looks much more believable that you have a very strong hand and will get the blinds and your opponent to fold a decent hand, such as a mid-pocket pair or AJ.

Your Cards

Notice we are waiting until now to talk about your cards. That’s because these should be the last thing you consider when determining if the situation is right for a re-steal. Ideally, you will want live cards to re-steal in case you get called. A hand like this is still only a 40% underdog against two over-cards. When you factor that, along with the % of the time they will fold, it makes the re-steal profitable.

Be careful re-stealing with hands like KQ or A-rag because you are likely a 25-30% underdog if you get called. If you have an indicator you feel is the favorite pre-flop, you aren’t necessarily “stealing.” A shove might still be the correct play, but it’s more of a shove for value than for fold equity.

Hand Example – Re-Steal with Suited Connectors

The following hand example is from the money bubble stage of a no-limit hold ’em tournament. It folds to your opponent in the cut-off, who raises to 3,000. You are in the small blind with :

Figure 1

Your opponent is an experienced, loose-aggressive player. While he isn’t in every pot, you can be assured that he will be raised if it folds to him in a late position. Your image is pretty solid. You haven’t been involved in too many pots and shown down good hands the last few you have won. The big blind in hand is a new but very tight player who keeps commenting about making money.

Should you fold, call, or raise? Well, the worst play is to call. You are out of position with a marginal hand against an aggressive player. Unless you hit the flop perfectly, you must let the arrow go.

There is nothing wrong with a fold here, but given the table image of each player still in hand, the tournament stage, and the stack sizes involved, I would re-steal and shove all in. You will be giving your opponent 1.5-1 (23,900 in the pot and 15,400 to call), which makes it mathematically incorrect to call, and he’s experienced enough to know that. Your stack can also do much damage since it would leave your opponent with 7,500 if he lost.

If, for some reason, the big blind or your opponent wakes up with a hand, you are still not that big of an underdog. Regardless, the likelihood of them folding is very high, making it move with the positive expected value. You shove the big blind folds, and your opponent folds.

Strategies for Playing Against a Re-Steal

Since more and more players are utilizing the re-steal in their bag of tricks, you must be observant, watch who may be using this technique, and adjust your play. Here are some ways to counteract its effects:

Randomize your space by limping in the late position

If you normally raise in a late position when it folds to you and is now limping, this could freeze the action and cause the other players to be suspicious and worry you might have a monster. Since fewer chips are in the pot to win, it also reduces their likelihood of rising from the blinds, and you will have a position on the flop.

Open up your calling requirements.

Depending on your opponents’ propensity to re-steal, your stack size, and your need to gamble, you can call a re-steal with a hand like AJ, KQ, or a mid-pocket pair and be confident that you are ahead.

Steal more from an early position rather than late.

Button steals have become so common that many players automatically assume it’s a steal. But stealing from an early position puts more pressure on the other players because they will give you credit for a good hand.

Make your big hands look like a steal.

If you pick up AA or KK in a late position, consider raising larger or smaller than normal depending on what the re-stealer thinks of your size (if you typically randomize your raise sizes). If you always present the same amount, stick with that since any variation might look suspicious.

Reduce the size of your pre-flop raise.

Instead of raising 3-4 times the big blind, start raising 2.25-2.75. These raise sizes are just as effective late in a tournament and reduce the amount you lose if someone does decide to come over the top.

This brings our lesson on re-stealing to a close. Hopefully, you’ve picked up some tips to help you in future poker tournaments. Remember that the best poker players know how to pick their spots and are great at sensing weakness, which is what you should be doing, too.