Using Position to Respond to a Raise
When you hold a strong pocket pair in a poker tournament, and a raise comes out ahead of you, how do you know what to do in response? Your stack size is an important factor. A short stack can shove all-in and a big stack can make a standard three-bet raise. If you stack is middle of the pack, then consider your position in relation to the raise.
If you are in early position behind the raiser, then a simple flat call is effective. A re-raise will chase away most other players, and when you’re holding A-A or K-K, you want at least one or two callers to chase the action. With a flat call, you don’t put a lot of chips at risk to see how the flop enhances or de-values your pocket pair.
Middle position response is a trickier situation to navigate. The best course of action may be to seize control of late position and re-raise the pot to chase away the other casino players behind you. This is true if you are in the big blind seat too since you will be out of position in all ensuing rounds, so by re-raising pre-flop you are taking control of the action pre-flop. If the table is loose, then calling the raise from the blind position can effectively mask your hand. You can let the loose poker players behind you do the betting if the flop hits your big pair or consists only of blanks that probably missed everyone.
