Leaving yourself an out - Exit strategy

Poker Strategy / Marcus Bateman / 20 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

One of the other truly great things about leaving yourself an out in poker is the effect it can have on an opponent if you do hit.

Although picking when, where, and why to bluff is a complex science, one thing that should always be at the back of your mind is some kind of escape route. Be it a gutshot straight draw on the turn, or a double back door flush draw on the flop in Omaha, having a slim chance to win the hand is always a useful factor to consider when thinking about when to make a move.

The percentage chance you have of hitting your hand (even if it is a very small one) is always a useful addition when trying to work out the likelihood of a move succeeding, as in the worse case (that of your opponent having a made hand and calling your bet), you still have a chance at escaping. If you make these sort of plays with total air, you have no chance to win the hand, and in the long run these differences really start to add up in poker.

One of the other truly great things about leaving yourself an out in poker is the effect it can have on an opponent if you do hit. If you bluff someone with total air and miss, they just reason that you a wild maniac and feel good about winning the hand. However, if you make a big turn bluff with a gutshot in hold'em and hit it on the river when they call, the player in question is extremely unlikely to take it well. This often leads to future profits against the player, as they curse their luck and your stupidity (even if the turn bluff was a well balanced move against that opponent), and their play and stack deteriorate in equal measure.

Just like a good general tries to always leave himself a possible route of retreat, good poker players are always looking to leave themselves some kind of escape route when making very risky plays. In terms of the advertising given out to those around you, there is little difference between getting it in with total air and a very long shot draw, but a big difference in the long run to how many more pots you will win when you have some kind of out. Good players are masters of squeezing every last little bit of equity out of the situations that confront them, and nowhere is this more obvious than in leaving escape routes.

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