Okay guys. I have been playing poker for as long as I can remember and took a break last year as found other hobbies and wanted some time away from the screens. I have started back playing on full tilt again and discovered rush poker. At first I was very dubious about this style of poker as it seemed a load of tight fish and not enough LAGs for my liking. Anyway, I thought I would give this form a go. My first few attempts were a learning curve to say the least, not from least from the new styles that have developed due to the evolution of the game but of the speed of the game. However, once I adapted to this genre I have quickly become a winning player at this level and wanted to offer some of findings and strategy. I play at NL $0.02/00.5 (6 max) to learn the joys of rush!

• Top pair – the nuts?

This was the first problem I encountered, because of the tables tight strategy. For example typical starting hands across the bored range from all pocket pairs to A-K, A-Q, and A-J and in some cases K-Q and K-J. It’s a pump it or dump it strategy with a twist. Because these players are only playing a small range of hands they overrate their hand post pre-flop. Top pair becomes the nuts in their eyes and they will play this, in most cases, until the river and on any bet sizing and in any position around the table. To combat this generalist style of play I implemented a three bet strategy pre flop and opened up my range for doing this. Hands such as suited connectors, two gap connectors and suited aces are three bet hands. The theory behind this is that most players on rush believe that most players who play this form of the game will use their strategy. They think they will be up against A-K or AA-QQ against a re-raise preflop and one can usually take down the pot post preflop with a continuation bet or dual continuation bet onto the turn. Further to this if you hit your open ended straight draw or flush draw you usually get paid off due to your aggressive nature pre-flop. As in any cash game hands that you usually wouldn’t play in tournament poker become very profitable, play your suited connectors hard, play your suited aces hard, in fact play every hand hard until your meet re-raises on your three bets. This leads us back to top pair the nuts? If you play the hand as above against the villains’ range and he calls your flop bet he will have top pair or second pair at best, if you are ahead of this at the time bet very hard, get his stack into the middle as quickly as possible, he will, he thinks his top pair is the nuts! If you are behind at this stage and the bored is favourable to a turn bet, fire one out (by favourable I mean no picture cards for him to have hit his range). Generalist range theory is key in rush poker, most live and die by text book poker due to the volume of hands per hour being huge, they will sit and wait for their aces and go meglo with the,, their stack is yours if you notice this play and pick it off with some tactical poker.

• To steel or not to steel?

Again, due to the large volume of hands played per hour and the tight nature of most of the players I take the basic strategy for pre-flop play: (note all plays are raised to 3-4 times the BB…

1st position after the blinds
A-K-A-Q, all PPs

2nd position after the blinds
A-K-A-Q, all PPs

3rd position after blinds
A-K-A-Q, all PPs
All suited Aces and suited connectors, all suited gap connectors

Button
Everything unless raised by an earlier position. Re-raise with all from 3rd position plus suited two gappers

Small blind
A-K-A-Q, all PPs
If just BB left then raise all suited Aces and suited connectors, all suited gap connectors

Big Blind
A-K-A-Q, all PPs
If just SB left then raise or re-raise all suited Aces and suited connectors, all suited gap

This is a strict rule I follow and is a winning formula. You must be loose aggressive to make money at this game, plain and simple. Continuation bet on the flop and turn and access the river for a 3 barrel bearing in mind the rule of top pair as above. Due to the large volume of hands played and the strict ABC starting hands most players play with steeling blinds is massively EV+, that is if you do it over say 1000 hands it will have a positive outcome in terms of profit, its profitable, hugely so. Punish limpers with large raises in position, raise on the button at every opportunity (unless raises or pre-raises before you, then you have to pick you hands a little more but not as much as any other position). The button is the most profitable position in poker and even more so in rush. Even if the fish in the BB or SB call you can continuation bet most flops to a fold making even more profit. Steel blinds as much as you can, if you don’t you will quickly fall into an EV- game strategy.

To some up this article to be successful at this type of poker you need to be a LAG, loosen up, bet freely and steal those blinds. Know when to fold, if you are getting re-raised they usually have a huge hand, if you get called on your continuation bets they usually have top or second paid (rarely are they drawing unless they have called your raise and are using my trap theory and playing suited connectors). If they fold, take it down! You will come up against AA VS KK, it happens, more so in rush due to the volume or hands, suck it up, its not fixed its variance, variance will be common place online due to the number of hands you play. Play as above and you will be a winning player at rush

Any questions let me know or comments on the above appreciated

Good luck at the tables all

Manty

Hi Manty, I am also new to this posting and read your post with interest…mostly as we are friend and more poignantly you got me interested in poker in the first place!

I will give my thoughts on each topic in order....no doubt in a sparadic fashion. I will start by saying that obviously there are many strategies in poker and finding one that suits you is what really counts as most will work in certain circumstances. I would like to preface my comments with the fact that a lot of what you have said I agree with. As such I will just add observations which run contrary to your views to save the poker world from obsequious back slapping…and as a means to cause some debate.

Ranges
Along with the villains assumed range - AA/AK/AQ/AJ/QQ/KQ/KJ/Pockets; I would think that you can safely throw in A10 suited and QJ/J10 into that mix.

Top pair
For starters, the 3 bet strategy pre-flop is fine. However, I would also add position into the mix when considering each hand and how to play it. Do you really want to be raising pocket 2's UTG?..and if you do, what do you do when the cut off flat calls and the BB raises? Do you call hoping the cutoff will fold/call and what do you do if they re-raise? There is always a chance someone has a bigger pair and any flop other than hitting your trips would be troublesome. Indeed, with such a hand even trips could finish behind come the river.

I would also be weary as lots of players slow play AA/KK on rush (rightly or wrongly…I think wrongly), as with so many hands an hr, they don't have to wait 5 hours before seeing them again. That being the case, being overly aggressive on the flop and turn can leave you open to check raised turns or rivers which will be troublesome unless you have hit somewhere along the way.

Also playing all the hands you've stated, I would imagine your VP is close to 40%, which with no read on your opponents and playing against such imagined tight ranges can't be EV+ long term. I have always found that with 6 seaters games (rush/standard) patience is a virtue and whilst others tend to open up their ranges, the tighter you are out of position the better. Chances are you will be ahead pre-flop when you do play and that is an advantage any player should crave.

I would say however, a lot of the plays your are advocating, such as playing suited connectors/pocket pairs/aces hard, pre flop and then on the flop (and in some instances even on the turn) can be strong plays whether you hit or not. Indeed, whether you are in position or not, the 3 bet nature of your pre-flop game will normally mean your villan is isolated heads up. If they have AK they have only got a 1/3 chances or pairing them on the flop, so a continuation bet is a valid play. If they have missed, a continuation bet will be enough, though I would throw in a checked flop/bet river every now and again. The reason for this is that these days everyone expects a continuation bet. So, if you have missed and your continuation bet is called on the flop, you will find yourself overbetting the turn or checking the turn which either way can be construed as weakness. A checked flop and turn bet looks trickier to the average player and may have them folding thinking they have saved themselves money on the flop, when in fact, they have just been out maneuvered . I realise this gives them an extra card to hit, but I have found it effective. It also gives you an extra card (when the action is check to you) for your suited connectors/flush draws for free.

Finally, I liked your point about getting all their money in. Many players fail to get the best value from their made hands by beating too small. I am a big advocate of bet sizing each street so that their stack is in the middle by the time the cards are turned over.

Time to steel
I personally would not be raising AQ in first/second/third position. In fact, I would muck it if it wasn't suited until the cut off. In early position I would be much tighter. I would limp with pp's reluctantly (and that includes 10's/JJ and only raise AA/KK/AK/QQ. Indeed I would muck all suited connectors until the cutoff where I would raise them along with AA/KK/AK/QQ and all suited aces and pockets pairs.

In contrast, I would be very loose in the blind on blind/blind on button action. Taking a view, I would re-raise any button raise or sb flat call from the BB. I would also raise on the button with any two cards on rush as the opponent is likely to have mistakenly folded their blinds if they don't like them. Most called button raises from the blinds fold to a continuation flop bet in my experience.

For me, assuming ranges in Rush can leave you in a precarious position. Due to the sheer amount of hands I think a number of players will be creative even at these stakes. In my mind this leaves position as king….as always. I am sure a LAG approach can

Hi Prometheus

Glad to hear the poker is going well. I would like answer back to your observations with some comments.

Firstly I agree with your range for rush poker. I failed to mention that A-10 suited (even off-suit from time to time) and Q-J & J-10 suited are all credible starting hands in any form of online poker. However, these should be played in position and not before the cut off. These should be added to the range as I stated previously.

I find your comments on deuces very interesting. You state that you may reluctantly limp with PPs up to J-J under the gun and later positions. In doing this you are at a disadvantage in the long run. You agree that its key to get your chips in the middle when you have a good hand and size bets according to achieve this. Tripping PPs on the flop will surely be more EV+ in the long run should you raise pre-flop. Let me explain further with two examples:

You limp in with 2-2 (Only you BB and SB)
The flop comes down 2, A, J
You bet the pot, your opponent in this situation will most likely fold as they have limped in and seen a free flop most likely with rags. However, if the flop comes down 2,3,4 and they hold 5-6 off suit for example you are screwed, a simple pre-flop raise would have eliminated this threat.

You raise pre-flop and the next two scenarios in that you don’t get a caller (happens most of the time in rush) and you steel the blinds, an EV+ move in rush due to the tight nature of the tables. If you get a caller you are against my predetermined range with the common player or my range with a trickier player (not many at the above limits). You get one caller and then flop comes down 2, A, J and he has A-J-A-K, PPs as well. With your pre-flop raise the bets sizes are larger meaning on first, second and Third Street you can attempt to stack you opponent with greater ease.

You also mention about oversets, these are rare but you can’t fold a set to a bigger set that is to the LAGiest fish an EV- move. More often than not you will be against 2 pair or A-X with your pre-flop raise disguising your hand well. That brings me on to saying that a raise under the gun with low PPs will disguise your hand as a big ace, allowing you to stack your opponent when you hit 1/8 times you go to the flop. The answer here is raise your PPs in any position or fold them if you aren’t a confident post flop player.

You mention villains slow playing hands such as A-A and K-K. They limp in with these hands. I have too seen this but is easy to spot. You need to raise pre-flop. Simples!! The players at this level will not flat call your raise, okay, they will say one out of ten times but then you can worry about that later. They will get so excited that they have action from their limp that they will re-raise you. This three bet to their initial limp signals immense hand strength and I would fold immediately. If it doesn’t happen pre-flop it sure as well will happen on the flop allowing you an easy fold to your raised continuation bet.

I think you may be some what confused by your use of EV- playing LAG against a tight rush player. You need to play the opposite to your opponents in order to extract maximum value. TAG to a LAG and LAG to a TAG (this is very basic theory as there are a whole plethora of players but not so much at the lower stakes). For example, if you raise constantly to a tight player they will fold the majority of the time but in normal poker they will cotton onto this and your hand ranges will be large in their eyes. This is the beauty of rush poker, its harder to spot a consistent raiser due to the number of players you are playing. Make notes, players wont do this much on rush, if you are in a bug hand, click sit out next hand and make notes, these will improve your style and you can adapt you style to the betting nature of the villain. Study hand histories; get poker tracker, all invaluable tools in any form of poker. Know your opponents and pick your spots well. Furthermore, EV- by playing loose against a TAG in rush is incorrect. It is EV+ all day long as long as you raise him when he is BB and steel his blinds! Position is always key against TAGs they hate playing out of it!

Raising A-Q under the gun is probably an EV- play you are right, I will try mucking that as it is EV- on my poker tracker. Point noted. However, I think you are too tight with your suited connectors, open these up in 3rd position as well and you will ultimately steal more blinds. Stealing blinds is massively underrated in rush, do it at every opportunity.

Finally, loose blind on blind play is a great strategy in rush, its basically heads up, do it!

I would also like to add one final point that if you have a favourable flop after flat calling a preflop raise and you face a continuation bet raise that bet quickly, it must be quickly I add as this seems to scare them off. Try it, you’ll be surprised how many times they fold ;-)

Manty

Hola Manty,

This thread is a masterclass for other poker players to follow. We should charge Rogers and Les to view this

Anywho. On to the first point, I wrote in my first reply that I would limp with pockets in early position. I would however raise these hands in later position. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

I agree there is value in raising your pp's from later positions though these tables aren't as tight as you claim in my experience. Also, with raising 22 from under the gun I think you are more than likely to get called/raised than you suggest. Once this has happened and you miss the flop 7/8, you have invested 3 big blinds and must bluff one or two streets (potentially pot sized bets) to wrestle the pot away. On 2c/5c tables this could equate to at least 60c each time. Now bearing in mind you are raising not only pairs but all the other hands that you mentioned (suited aces/suited connectors/aa/kk/ak/qq/ak etc) against assumed tight ranges, you can see the point I am making.

You have aleady commented that other players are tighter than you, so chances are that whenever your 3 bet is called, you will be behind. As the fish won't be able to give up their top pair, at times you will be stranded on the river having bluffed two barrells with nowhere to go. I agree that when you hit, you will be able to bleed these monkies dry, I am just pointing out that you are raising a lot of hands out of position which can't be good long term.

I think you make a valid point with players limping AA/KK. In fairness in higher stakes games I sometimes limp a little utg with suited connectors and then 3 bet raises (on occasion) to represent a monster (especially against loose opponents) but on the lower stakes I agree that they will have the real thing when they re-raise.

I know that to play opposite your opponent is beneficial. I understand the pro's and cons of LAG v TAG play. I just think that generalising against a whole level of poker is a mistake. I think you are too LAG in certain spots but hey, that is the beauty of poker and I may well be too tight on this level but that is because at these stakes I think people are quite ropey and loose with it. Once they have lost a quarter of their stack often they will try and chase their loses, opening up their hand ranges to a wreckless degree. This is where a TAG strategy cleans up. I think you would have even greater success at the higher limits with your style of play. Your giving them too much credit.

Now, I am not saying that your strategy won't work, as it does. I am just highlighting areas where I think it can be tweaked. I love discussing stuff like this though as I am not saying I am definitely correct. I am sure both of us will learn varying plays from sharing like this....obviously next time we play on line, I will play differently!

Finally, I like your point regarding the quick flop bet. I will give it a go. I always assumed that a quick flop bet is phoney strength (must have read it somewhere). If you did that against me you would probably be staring down the barrell of a chunky raise....good to know for future reference that you have the nuts! It is the ones who think about it for a while that start to worry me!

Gambo