When our hand has some value, but little chance to improve, we always want to be aware of our opponents range. In certain specific situations, which we call way ahead/way behind (or WA/WB), the proper play is playing passively even with a strong hand. The way we define a WA/WB situation is by the opponent either having very strong equity against us (10%/90%) or our having very strong equity against them (90%/10%), but we don’t know which one it is.
Example: We have KK and our opponent 3-bet us pre-flop (and we called). Flop: Ad 7s 3h.
Now, if our opponent has an ace, we are drawing at two outs to win, so our equity is about 8%. If our opponent has anything else in his range, like JJ or QQ, he is drawing at two outs, so his equity is about 8%.
At this point, if our opponent checks to us, the proper play is to check. This way, we don’t put in value when we’re behind to an ace, but we can induce some bluffs from JJ-QQ later in the hand.
We have to be careful not to confuse WA/WB with two other situations. The first is when the board is drawy, like when we have KK on a flop of Ad 7d 3d. On drawy boards, we are never WA/WB, because a draw has strong equity (30% instead of the 8-10% required for WA/WB play). The second is when we are not WA/WB, but are just WA or are just WB. In other words, when our opponents range is heavily weighted toward one side, our decision is clear.
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