The Re-Re-Steal

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 19 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

Frequently in tournament poker you will encounter players who are re-raising your opens at an inappropriate frequency.

At the lower stakes they tend to re-raise too little, either trying to fold to cash or just call and play passive pots without the momentum of a raise or a strong hand. As you rise up the stakes though, you will start to encounter players who re-raise too much, and against these players you must be prepared to make one of the boldest plays in poker - the re-re-steal.

This play can only ever be effective if both players have enough chips that fold equity can be created, as there is no point making a big bluff like this if your opponent is pot committed by the bet; and should only be made against a player whom you know is capable of re-raising you with a lot less than premium hands.

In my earlier article about re-stealing from loose players, I mentioned that this is a very high risk/reward strategy, which is often crucial to success in the later stages of tournaments, where your priority is to win big occasionally rather than get in the money constantly (due to the extremely top heavy prize structures). The re-re-steal is perhaps the most high risk/rewards strategy possible, and it can win you massive pots without showdown if timed correctly - which is always a huge asset in tournament poker, where every all in could see you exit.
One of the best situations to execute this play is when playing deep stacked and raising a hand like a suited connector in early position. Say a loose and observant player makes a re-raise and they have seen you open a lot of pots. This is often a great situation to make a big re-re-steal if the flow of the game feels right - it is unlikely that your opponent can ever justify calling without an absolute monster in this type of situation, as all the signs are that you are sitting on aces, kings or at worst ace king.

So thats the good news, the bad news is that this play can easily go spectacularly wrong when your opponent either has the goods or makes a marginal call against you because they have a read that you might be up to something. This is why it can often help to make these sort of plays with hands like suited connectors, that although behind, give you the best possible chance of cracking big pairs or big aces.

The re-re-steal is a play that really can make or break a tournament for a player. If pulled off correctly it can help someone hugely chip up and push on for the win, if it goes wrong it can just look like a massive spew as someone loses a massive pot with a weak hand. Try and look for spots where this super high risk play can be executed successfully and give your self every chance for that big first place cash.

More Marcus Bateman

The Art of The Re-Steal
Staying One Step Ahead
Playing Suited Connectors
Poker Pride and Warfare

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