The REM Process, Part Four: Maximize

We've gone over the first two steps in the REM Process (range, equity) and now we use this information to make the best possible decision about what to do with our hand. If we've assigned our opponent a range, then we can estimate our equity against their range of possible hands. Once we estimate our equity against that range, we use the final step in the REM Process to make the best possible decision that we can. This brings us to "maximize". By maximizing our decision-making process, we can do our best to get the most money in the pot when we are ahead, and the least when we are behind. 

The fundamental theorem of poker states: “Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents' cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose.”
By knowing what our opponents are holding at all times, we would obviously be able to make the best possible decisions with all of our hands. Unfortunately, since poker is not a game played face-up, using the REM process is the most efficient, and really only way to make the best decisions you can. 
If you are contemplating a bet or a raise, you should always ask yourself: “Do I want my opponent to call or fold?”

·         If you want your opponent to call then you are value-betting.

·         If you want your opponent to fold then you are bluffing.

·         If you’re not sure yet what you want your opponent to do, then you should not be betting.

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

We are playing a six-max $1/$2 cash game. It is folded around to us on the button and we find A♠K♦. We raise to $7 to and big blind calls. The pot is now $15. The flop brings A♣8♥5♣. This is a spot where we will most likely be ahead a good amount of the time, so we want to be our hand for value. We want to get our money in the pot for value with what is more than likely the best hand because we can get called by all sorts of weaker hands here such as a weaker ace and a flush draw. If we assign our opponent’s range to a flush draw, we want to bet it so that they are getting bad odds to call. If we only bet half of the pot here we are giving our opponent 3-to-1 odds, and they would be right to call to try and hit a third club. However, if we bet something like $11 or $12, we are only giving them around 2.2-to-1 odds on a call and they will be making a mistake by calling here. With a flush draw our opponent has about 36% equity in the pot, giving us 64%. While sometimes they will call and make a flush, it will be much easier for us to shut down our betting because the third club is a big scare card for our hand. It’s likely that we won’t lose any more money in this hand.

Now let’s look at a different example:

It’s the same situation: it’s a six-max cash game and it is folded around to us on the button and we find A♦Q♦. We raise to $7 and the big blind calls. The flop this time comes out T♦5♠8♦. Now we have no pair here, but we have two over cards and a draw to the best possible flush. The big blind checks. Although we would be bluffing here, we can still bet because of the substantial amount of equity we have in the pot. Any ace, any queen, and any of the nine remaining diamonds will more than likely give us the best hand here, so we have an estimated equity of around 52%. If our opponent has a hand like JT, then we are essentially a coin flip to win the hand, and by applying pressure we may be able to make him fold a ten. However, what if he has a hand like AT or QT? That takes away our outs to an ace or queen because our opponent would make two pair. In this case we have a perceived equity of 47%. Although we have lost some of our equity, we can still bet here to try and get our opponent to fold or make the better hand.
As we established, the idea of maximizing is making the best possible decision with the information you have at hand. This will allow you to, with the other two parts of the REM Process, to deduce useful information and receive better insight as to whether you should be betting, checking, or folding.

I hope this series helped shed some light on the idea of the REM Process.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.