As a point of reference rather than a boast, I am ranked 2007th on Replay Poker at the writing, having just busted out of a 1M chip tournament, 27th of 39 entries.
Why did I lose? In part, because even players ranked 104th, 302nd, and 323rd, all of whom were at my table, will not reraise preflop. Coming over the top is almost unheard of before the flop on Replay and, I imagine, other free poker sites.
For instance, I pot raised a hand preflop from UTG+2 with AK, heart and spade respectively.
The player ranked 302nd called from the cutoff with no action between. Spoiler alert: She had AK clubs.
In a proper tournament, such as the WSOP or WPT, all the money would have been in before the flop, which was As-7s-Jd.
But, since there were still chips in front of both of us, I led out with a pot bet.
She called. I can let this call go more so than the one preflop because she might have some concern I had raised with AJ. Again, though, she wouldn’t need to worry about that if she had come over the top preflop.
The turn brought the 8s, putting me on top pair with the nut flush draw.
I bet half-pot.
Finally(!), she shoved.
I called to reveal we were chopping when the river did not bring a spade.
If you don’t think she misplayed this hand, consider that her suited AK was stronger than my unsuited one before the flop. She had the best hand but did not get her money in, probably bc I might have AA or KK. Yet she could have put me on a range including far more hands that were either more vulnerable to hers (QQ, JJ, TT, 99) or flat out inferior (AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, even a suited QJ, QT, or JT with bolder players).
Because of the rarity of a reraise in free poker, players with top hands will be forced to face down multiple callers more often than in real poker. When one person calls, more will follow.
The player ranked 323rd would later limp with 89 off in the hijack (with no action behind, for f— sake), then call my pot raise from the small blind with AQ, encouraging the player to her immediate left, ranked 14,800-and-something, to join the fun with a suited 84. They both hit the flop and I lost more chips with a continuation bet for value.
Additionally, a lack of counterpunching makes it easier to bluff-raise preflop from early positions with middle connectors or worse (which Ms 323 should have done from the hijack with her 89). When you’re confident that nobody, not even someone with a monster, is going to come over the top, the worst consequence is to see a flop and miss.
Conversely, if more people re-raised pre-flop, the culture would evolve. Other players would naturally be more cautious about limping or calling raises with weak hands, and especially raising with them. You’d have to seriously worry about giving chips away without seeing a pot.
I believe this cowardice toward reraising preflop is why dogs win so much on Replay, rather than the preposterous notion that the algorithm is rigged.
Thoughts?
