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Under the Gun

published on 10/13/06 at 2:08 am

A great deal has been written about how one should play when under the gun, pre flop. Conventional wisdom tells us to only play premium hands from this position. Secondly we are told that if we are a conservative player we should be aggressive and if we are a loose player we should try to camouflage our hand.

In my opinion it is far more complicated than that. One can play rather creatively under the gun and approach this disadvantageous position from a position of strength. Before one can begin to contemplate defying conventional wisdom, one must first have a good grasp on the following:

1. One must have an excellent read on the table and have a clear understanding of their opponents.
2. One must know what the table’s read on him is. Is he viewed as being tight? aggressive?

In my opinion, it is always best if you initially establish a conservative presence at a table before attempting to get creative, especially under the gun. When you get to you table take some time and get settled in. Start paying attention and get a good read on your opponents. See what kind of hands they are showing down and keep track of their pre-flop actions and reactions. When involved in a hand be aggressive and make your opponents pay to see cards. Make sure if you have to show down a hand, you are showing down the winner. Once you have established a strong presence at the table, now you can consider the option of getting creating when you are under the gun.

Many people like to get aggressive when playing from the Button. The problem with this is that it is expected that you would be aggressive when playing from the most advantageous position. In fact, when you happen to wake up on the Button with a real hand and bet it out, few people will take you seriously and you will end up with more callers going to the flop than you would care to have. The exact opposite is true when playing under the gun. As this is the least advantageous position, few players expect you to make a move on them from under then gun, especially after having taken such care to establish a strong conservative presence at the table.

Hand Selection
Now that we have decided to make a play under the gun, let’s select a starting hand. In 29 years of poker I have seen every possible hand played from this position, right down to 7-2 off-suite. This of course, does not make it a good idea. If you are going to push from under the gun, at least do it with a hand that has a chance of winning. Some players like to push with high suited cards, K-Q, Q-J, for example. I tried to avoid these types of hands because they tend to pose a great deal of danger in the event you do hit the flop. The types of hands that will most likely call a large bet from a conservative player leading out under the gun are premium hands (AA, KK, AK, QQ, AQ, etc.). If you hit a flop like K-10-10 or Q-7-6, you may be in more trouble than you know. My favorite hands from this position are small suited connectors. 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, etc. These are the types of hands you could bust a player with if you hit the flop. I also like to lead out with small pairs that I may not otherwise play from this disadvantageous a position (22-77).

What to Bet
The amount one bets under the gun is extremely important as it will force your opponents to react based on your actions. Most will try to put you on a hand, most likely a premium hand. Again, conventional wisdom tells us that you should bet out aggressively under the gun, yet a conservative player limping in from this position has just as significant an impact as it appears that the player may be holding a hand like AA or KK and is trying to trap. One that limps from this position and gets raised, should almost always re-raise pre-flop.

I recently found myself in a cash game whereby, after having established a good table presence I decided to take advantage of my image and make a move under the gun. The hand I selected to play was 4s-5s. I fired out a raise of 4 times the Big Blind. I got one caller from late position (one off the Button) that thought about it for a while and made the call. The flop revealed Qs-2s-3c. A pretty nice flop for me having flopped and open ended straight draw as well as a flush draw. Having more outs than my opponent would care to count I fired out a bet of 75% of the pot. Once again, he thought for a while and called the bet. The turn was a 9of hearts, a virtual blank most likely for both of us. I placed out a pot sized bet and was called. The river brought the Ace of Diamonds giving me the nut straight. Once again I led out with a pot sized bet and was immediately raised. I contemplated the situation for a while and realized that for my opponent to have followed along all this time he most likely had hit top pair (Q). His reaction when the Ace hit left little doubt that the Ace had hit him as well and was most likely playing a hand like AQ suited. I waited a minute and re-raised, only to be put immediately all in by my opponent. I called and took down a very nice pot.

My opponent remained frozen in time for a moment as he stared at the board focused on the 4-5 of spades I turned over. It was the last two cards he expected to see. I was personally a bit surprised by his all in bet, as I could have very easily been holding pocket Queen’s of pocket Ace’s from under the gun. When I questioned him about it later he indicated that having an A-Q in his hand limited the likelihood that he may be facing one of those hands.

Nonetheless, it was obvious I had selected a good time to get creative under the gun as that single hand accounted for more than 30% of my net take at the tables that day. Half an hour later I picked up pocket Aces under the gun. I fired off the exact same bet I had previously when playing the 4-5s and got two callers and a re-raise. I re-raised all-in in an attempt to isolate one player, which I did. My Aces held up against his King’s and I took down another very nice pot. Had I not make the earlier play under the gun with the 4-5s, I would have never gotten this type of action in this hand from the conservative players I was facing in the hand.

So in conclusion if you decide to get creative under the gun make sure if you show down the hand to be prepared to immediately switch gears and tighten up as the table will, most likely, come gunning for you next time they think you are making a play from early position.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience. He is currently in the process of publishing a book on poker and runs his own website called JohnTheGreekPoker.

1. Under the Gun-Part 2
2. A Pocket Pair in First Position
3. Playing from the Big Blind Post Flop Strategy
4. Putting on the Breaks
5. How The Novice Player Can Have A Direct Affect