Freaky Leaky By Phil Gordon Originally published on May 29, 2006 by ESPN.com Freaky Leaky Recently, a friend (we’ll call him “Freaky”) asked me to look over the hand history of a Sit and Go he recent played on Full Tilt. He ended up winning the tournament, but I found quite a few leaks in his game I wanted to help him plug. Take a look at the following hands and see if you can pick out the flaw in his game: Average Chip Stack: 2700 Three places paid out: $400 for first, $300 for second, $200 for third. Hand #1, Blinds 100-200 Seat 2: 3460 Dealer Seat 3: 1060 SB 100 Seat 5: 1565 BB 200 Seat 7: 925 Freaky: 6490 Freaky is dealt Ah – 6d. Freaky raises 400 to 600 Hand #2. Blind 100-200 with a 25 ante per player SB 100 Seat 2: 3435 BB 200 Seat 3: 1035 Seat 5: 540 Dealer Freaky: 8490 Freaky is dealt Kh – 7s. Freaky raises 600 to 800. Hand #3, Blinds 100-200 with a 25 ante per player Dealer Seat 2: 3310 SB 100 Seat 3: 810 BB 200 Seat 5: 515 Dealer Freaky: 8865 Freaky is dealt Qh 9h. Freaky raises 600 to 800. Looks pretty straightforward, no? A massive chip lead, relatively big blinds, above average hands. In each case, I agree with the pre-flop raise. So, what’s the problem? The Freaky Leak lies in the amount of the pre-flop raise. In each case, Freaky just hit the “Bet Pot” button without much thought. That is effective in most cases, but the laziness of that action is problematic in this situation. Here, it is clear that with the massive chip lead, Freaky will be committed to calling the all-in raise of Seat 3,5, and 7 in each case. The only seat at the table that makes a difference is Seat 2. If Seat 2 picks up a great hand and comes over the top, Freaky should lay his hand down in each case to preserve the chip lead. When I’m in a spot like this with the chip lead against several short stacks and another big stack, if I’m going to raise before the flop I raise the exact number that will pot commit the short stacks and be a minimal risk against the other big stack. In Hand 1 above, I’d raise to 500 and call any short-stack all-in getting 2-1 or better on my money. I’ll lose 100 less if Seat 2 picks up a good hand and re-raises. In Hand 2 above, I’d raise to 540, just enough to put Seat 5 all-in, pot commit Seat 3, and get away from a re-raise from Seat 2 with a minimal loss. I’ll lose 260 chips less than Freaky if Seat 2 picks up a monster. In Hand 3 above, I’d raise to 515 for the same reasons as Hand 2 above. This is a small, yet important, leak to plug. Losing less to the nearest competitor when you’re the chip leader will keep you the chip leader. You give up essentially nothing except the time and energy required to read the chip stacks and make the best bet possible. << Go Back To Articles