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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
Play Online Poker
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