Pre-flop action: Player isolation

6-6s

In the middle and late stages of the tournament, try to isolate your opponent with small or medium pairs.

The aim of an isolation action is to place a bet of a size that will leave you with only one opponent in the pot. You can try to isolate a bluffer, a maniac or someone who has a purchase.

Trying to isolate works best when you have a hand that plays better when you are heads-up, such as pocket pair. When you raise your bets to try to isolate one player, the bet must be large enough to discourage other players from responding.

Example:

You have 8♣-8♠ in middle position. The tournament is in the late stages, the blinds are 3,000-6,000 and you have 100,000. The player in early position shoves all in for 20,000. The next player, who has 120 000 chips, just calls. What should you do?

You don't want to just answer, as you would then have to beat two players with your medium-sized pair. Since the second player did not beat the bets, we can imagine that he does not have a very strong hand. This is a great place to isolate and go heads-up against a player who has already stacked all his chips. Go all in.

Example:

You have 3♣-3♠, the middle stage of the tournament. The blinds are 500-1000, you have 22,000 and you are in the big blind. Everyone folds to the dealer. The player on the button has only 2,000 chips and calls. The small blind, with a total of 18 000, just calls. What do you do?

Again, just answering is a poor option as you would have to beat two opponents with only a small pair. You need to isolate the player who is all in so that you are down to two. Push all in.

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