Way Ahead, Way Behind

Here are few concepts in poker which I have seen as poorly misunderstood or as managed as the way ahead, way behind concept. The general idea is simple; on dry boards there will often be a time when you either have your opponent crushed or he has you crushed and neither is likely to draw out on the other. Take for example, AK on an A22 board without a flush draw. What draw can your opponent have? A gut shot has four outs, another ace has three. If you are beating him, he is probably drawing nearly dead (no ace) or drawing very slim (an ace). If he is beating you, you have two outs to draw out on him, because he's got a two (or AA, in which case you scream cooler! and run out of the room crying).

When you are in a WAWB situation you will generally want to either call or fold and seldom raise. The reasoning is simple; if your opponent is bluffing, why raise and scare him off? If your opponent has you beat, with three of a kind, he's never going to fold so you cannot get a better hand to fold; but you can of course get a worse hand to fold. The ideal solution is usually to simply call your opponents bets (folding if your handing reading skills tell you that your opponent has you beaten) and generally betting if he checks to you (to extract value versus a weaker ace). There is simply nothing to be gained by raising and much to be lost.

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It is absolutely crucial not to misapply this concept, as many do. While I do not subscribe to radical theories about only ever raising or folding, it is absolutely true that for me, like most winning players, calling is usually the least attractive option. When you call you allow your opponent to control the hand but simply because I use this tactic less than others does not lower it's value as a “strategy”.

The danger you must be wary of, when applying the Way Ahead Way Behind strategy, is of course that your opponent is only "somewhat behind" in that he has live outs to draw against you. In this case you will generally want to punish him for his draw by betting the size of the pot; both to protect your hand and of course to make money. As charging “more” for a draw (i.e not giving pot odds) will make you a more profitable player in the long run.