As a general rule the more deep-stacked you are, the more having (or drawing) to THE NUTS matters.
Also, the difference between getting all-in as a short stack and getting all-in very deep stacked becomes very significant.
Flopping a non-nut straight on a wet textured board and losing is not really considered a 'cooler' if you have something like 300 big blinds and you're facing heavy resistance from a very tight passive player.
But with something like 40-50 big blinds, you would get all-in more easily.
So put simply, implied and reverse implied odds become more significant as effective stacks become larger.
It could become quite dangerous to become attached to a non-nut hand as stacks get deeper.
Now, your implied odds are how much you stand to make if you complete your hand.
But just what are reverse implied odds? They are just the opposite of implied odds: how much you stand to lose if you complete your hand (usually a drawing hand), but end up losing to an opponent with a stronger hand.
Reverse implied odds are similar to implied odds in that we cannot put an exact figure on how much we can expect to lose.
Our reverse implied odds increase when there is a greater chance that our hand will not be the best after completing our draw, and they decrease when there is a greater chance that our hand will be the best after completing our draw.
There are three scenarios reverse implied odds may apply, and they all can spell disaster for you: 1.
Your hand has no chance to improve, but an opponent's (or opponents') does.
Let's pretend you hold Jd8d and you see a flop of Qc10h9h.
Surely, you could see worse flops, but the lesson here is if you see multiple opponents continue in this hand, it may be a clear sign of trouble.
Your hand has no chance to improve.
You flopped a Queen-high straight on a very wet board.
That's it.
No more help is coming.
The possibility of a flopped King high straight is already there.
Also, draws to a higher straight or to a flush are definitely possible, as well as flopped sets drawing to full boats.
2.
You are drawing to outs that will improve your hand, but will make an even stronger hand for your opponent or opponents.
For example, if you hold 97o, on a flop of QJ8, that 10 that you need for your gutshot has the possibility of making a higher straight for a player holding AK or K9.
3.
Careless preflop starting hand selection.
If you do choose to enter pots with more marginal starting hands like QJo, you should carefully consider what needs to happen for you to be able to continue in the hand.
Advanced players who choose to enter pots with starting hands like QJo usually do so without the intention of going broke with just top pair.
For example, if you flop a Jack, you can be in serious trouble if an opponent holds AJ or KJ.
So flopping just a pair with a starting hand like QJo has high reverse implied odds, but especially deep-stacked.
Making such precise reads on your opponents is not always possible, and clearly there are times where we are happy enough to go with our hand, even if we do run the risk of being outdrawn or slightly behind (especially in shorter stacked situations).
But if you think you may be in a high reverse implied odds situation, there are steps you can take to reduce the possible damage.
One is not bloating the pot.
Another is having the discipline and savvy to make a big fold when you're sure you're beat.
If you put an opponent on a flush, and he's betting like he has a flush, chances are...
he has a flush.
Recognizing reverse implied odds situations can usually be done purely on intuition and common sense.
If a player bets on the flop and you call on a 7 high flush draw, and 5 players call behind you, chances are your flush will not be the best hand if you do complete it.
To an advanced player that is a very clear cut example of high reverse implied odds, and an easy hand to get away from.
But what about this? You're playing HU.
You raise 99 on the button, and villain re-raises.
You call.
The flop is A94r.
How deep-stacked do you have to be before you don't feel comfortable getting all in? At 50-100bb this is a dream flop.
At 200bb, we still love it.
But what about 500bb? 1000bb and beyond? When does this monster hand, which is not the nuts, start to adopt reverse implied odds instead of implied odds? There's no exact answer, but at some stack size it does happen.
So let's repeat.
The point is this: when deep-stacked, having or drawing to the nuts matters.
So to avoid high reverse implied odds situations, we need to start forming the best possible hands.
We need to be more prudent pre-flop.
This means: 1) High pocket pairs are much better than low pairs.
Obviously.
But not just because high pairs will fare better in a showdown, but because there is less chance to be over-setted.
Set over set situations when deep-stacked are very bad.
We want to do our best to avoid being on the losing end of this.
Phil Gordon, a well-known pro, teaches to never put an opponent on a higher set because players might start making bad folds.
That may be true, but if you subscribe to this school of thought, on the occasions when you do get over-setted, you're going broke.
2) Suited Aces increase in value.
Over-flushing an opponent will generally be a "cooler" at 50-100bb, but deep-stacked it carries much more value.
3) High Connectors also increase in value.
Completing nut straight draws is much better deep-stacked because your hand is disguised.
Connecting on a flush draw is more obvious and would almost certainly prevent a good player with a large stack from getting all in.
The moral of this story is that while nut-type hands (nut flushes, nut straights, and high sets) increase in value, non-nut hands (non-nut flushes, low straights, low sets) decrease in value due to higher reverse implied odds.
Let's delve more into coolers and how they relate to deep stacked poker.
There is a common assumption that all coolers are created equal, which is to say there is no possible way to control who gets coolered more.
This is completely wrong.
Here is why.
If we have pocket Kings and an opponent with pocket Aces goes all in for 40 big blinds, we're never folding...
and we get coolered.
Now imagine we're deep-stacked and we hold those Aces.
We raise, and someone re-raises us.
One reason why some advanced players will choose to 4-bet here is because against a 3 bet situation, those Aces will cooler a lot of starting hands - like KK, QQ, AKs, and depending on the situation, maybe even JJ, AKo, and AQs, and more.
I can think of three different, real world scenarios from three different occasions where 4 betting Aces pre-flop helped "cooler" the same maniac player in a deep-stacked cash game.
On each different occasion, the maniac held KK (obvious cooler), 1010 (terrible but consistent with his aggression level), and AJs (even worse).
I've never gotten all in with Aces more easily.
This is due to more and more aggressive players 3-betting lighter than they should, and then feeling compelled to 5-bet shove when they probably shouldn't.
But now, what if we were holding pocket Queens against that 3-bet? KK and AA generally get all in pre-flop with us (terrible), AK gets all in pre-flop (splitting equity, not good or bad), and maybe JJ and AQ (good).
It's bad for us if we possibly cooler our opponent sometimes, yet we find ourselves getting coolered far more often.
So this tells us it might not be the best play to 4-bet Queens when deep-stacked, especially against a tighter player.
Now obviously against a light 3-bettor, or a player who overvalues starting hands like JJ, AQ, and pocket 10s, we could by all means re-raise pocket Queens for thin value and to capitalize on dead money, which compensates us for the times we get coolered.
The point is, you can control how much you get coolered, and also how much you cooler other opponents.
We do this by recognizing those times when reverse implied odds against us are high, and adjusting our play when deep-stacked.
Master these two things, and you'll be well on your way to becoming an expert poker player.
Also, the difference between getting all-in as a short stack and getting all-in very deep stacked becomes very significant.
Flopping a non-nut straight on a wet textured board and losing is not really considered a 'cooler' if you have something like 300 big blinds and you're facing heavy resistance from a very tight passive player.
But with something like 40-50 big blinds, you would get all-in more easily.
So put simply, implied and reverse implied odds become more significant as effective stacks become larger.
It could become quite dangerous to become attached to a non-nut hand as stacks get deeper.
Now, your implied odds are how much you stand to make if you complete your hand.
But just what are reverse implied odds? They are just the opposite of implied odds: how much you stand to lose if you complete your hand (usually a drawing hand), but end up losing to an opponent with a stronger hand.
Reverse implied odds are similar to implied odds in that we cannot put an exact figure on how much we can expect to lose.
Our reverse implied odds increase when there is a greater chance that our hand will not be the best after completing our draw, and they decrease when there is a greater chance that our hand will be the best after completing our draw.
There are three scenarios reverse implied odds may apply, and they all can spell disaster for you: 1.
Your hand has no chance to improve, but an opponent's (or opponents') does.
Let's pretend you hold Jd8d and you see a flop of Qc10h9h.
Surely, you could see worse flops, but the lesson here is if you see multiple opponents continue in this hand, it may be a clear sign of trouble.
Your hand has no chance to improve.
You flopped a Queen-high straight on a very wet board.
That's it.
No more help is coming.
The possibility of a flopped King high straight is already there.
Also, draws to a higher straight or to a flush are definitely possible, as well as flopped sets drawing to full boats.
2.
You are drawing to outs that will improve your hand, but will make an even stronger hand for your opponent or opponents.
For example, if you hold 97o, on a flop of QJ8, that 10 that you need for your gutshot has the possibility of making a higher straight for a player holding AK or K9.
3.
Careless preflop starting hand selection.
If you do choose to enter pots with more marginal starting hands like QJo, you should carefully consider what needs to happen for you to be able to continue in the hand.
Advanced players who choose to enter pots with starting hands like QJo usually do so without the intention of going broke with just top pair.
For example, if you flop a Jack, you can be in serious trouble if an opponent holds AJ or KJ.
So flopping just a pair with a starting hand like QJo has high reverse implied odds, but especially deep-stacked.
Making such precise reads on your opponents is not always possible, and clearly there are times where we are happy enough to go with our hand, even if we do run the risk of being outdrawn or slightly behind (especially in shorter stacked situations).
But if you think you may be in a high reverse implied odds situation, there are steps you can take to reduce the possible damage.
One is not bloating the pot.
Another is having the discipline and savvy to make a big fold when you're sure you're beat.
If you put an opponent on a flush, and he's betting like he has a flush, chances are...
he has a flush.
Recognizing reverse implied odds situations can usually be done purely on intuition and common sense.
If a player bets on the flop and you call on a 7 high flush draw, and 5 players call behind you, chances are your flush will not be the best hand if you do complete it.
To an advanced player that is a very clear cut example of high reverse implied odds, and an easy hand to get away from.
But what about this? You're playing HU.
You raise 99 on the button, and villain re-raises.
You call.
The flop is A94r.
How deep-stacked do you have to be before you don't feel comfortable getting all in? At 50-100bb this is a dream flop.
At 200bb, we still love it.
But what about 500bb? 1000bb and beyond? When does this monster hand, which is not the nuts, start to adopt reverse implied odds instead of implied odds? There's no exact answer, but at some stack size it does happen.
So let's repeat.
The point is this: when deep-stacked, having or drawing to the nuts matters.
So to avoid high reverse implied odds situations, we need to start forming the best possible hands.
We need to be more prudent pre-flop.
This means: 1) High pocket pairs are much better than low pairs.
Obviously.
But not just because high pairs will fare better in a showdown, but because there is less chance to be over-setted.
Set over set situations when deep-stacked are very bad.
We want to do our best to avoid being on the losing end of this.
Phil Gordon, a well-known pro, teaches to never put an opponent on a higher set because players might start making bad folds.
That may be true, but if you subscribe to this school of thought, on the occasions when you do get over-setted, you're going broke.
2) Suited Aces increase in value.
Over-flushing an opponent will generally be a "cooler" at 50-100bb, but deep-stacked it carries much more value.
3) High Connectors also increase in value.
Completing nut straight draws is much better deep-stacked because your hand is disguised.
Connecting on a flush draw is more obvious and would almost certainly prevent a good player with a large stack from getting all in.
The moral of this story is that while nut-type hands (nut flushes, nut straights, and high sets) increase in value, non-nut hands (non-nut flushes, low straights, low sets) decrease in value due to higher reverse implied odds.
Let's delve more into coolers and how they relate to deep stacked poker.
There is a common assumption that all coolers are created equal, which is to say there is no possible way to control who gets coolered more.
This is completely wrong.
Here is why.
If we have pocket Kings and an opponent with pocket Aces goes all in for 40 big blinds, we're never folding...
and we get coolered.
Now imagine we're deep-stacked and we hold those Aces.
We raise, and someone re-raises us.
One reason why some advanced players will choose to 4-bet here is because against a 3 bet situation, those Aces will cooler a lot of starting hands - like KK, QQ, AKs, and depending on the situation, maybe even JJ, AKo, and AQs, and more.
I can think of three different, real world scenarios from three different occasions where 4 betting Aces pre-flop helped "cooler" the same maniac player in a deep-stacked cash game.
On each different occasion, the maniac held KK (obvious cooler), 1010 (terrible but consistent with his aggression level), and AJs (even worse).
I've never gotten all in with Aces more easily.
This is due to more and more aggressive players 3-betting lighter than they should, and then feeling compelled to 5-bet shove when they probably shouldn't.
But now, what if we were holding pocket Queens against that 3-bet? KK and AA generally get all in pre-flop with us (terrible), AK gets all in pre-flop (splitting equity, not good or bad), and maybe JJ and AQ (good).
It's bad for us if we possibly cooler our opponent sometimes, yet we find ourselves getting coolered far more often.
So this tells us it might not be the best play to 4-bet Queens when deep-stacked, especially against a tighter player.
Now obviously against a light 3-bettor, or a player who overvalues starting hands like JJ, AQ, and pocket 10s, we could by all means re-raise pocket Queens for thin value and to capitalize on dead money, which compensates us for the times we get coolered.
The point is, you can control how much you get coolered, and also how much you cooler other opponents.
We do this by recognizing those times when reverse implied odds against us are high, and adjusting our play when deep-stacked.
Master these two things, and you'll be well on your way to becoming an expert poker player.