The concepts in this chapter are both subtle and complex and successful application of these concepts involves not merely knowing and understanding them but possessing the judgement to know how and when to apply them.
This chapter will show you how to re-raise opponents who are stealing blinds. So you'll be stealing off the stealers! Also, further to the cards you would play in the beginner and intermediate level, we will add suited connectors to the mix of hands you can play before the flop and how to use them to "advertise". Also included will be re-raising opponents with nothing, in order to bluff them out of the hand. Trapping with big hands and check-raising opponents, how to play hold 'em on the flop (anything goes!) and also how beneficial position can be will be explained too. However, the advanced concepts should be used with great caution and shouldn't really be used by anyone who is not a top pro.

If you are contemplating advanced play, you can add suited connectors to the list of hands to sometimes play on the flop. Hopefully you noticed the word 'sometimes' in the previous sentence as there is very little in terms of advice given as 'always' or 'never' when playing at an advanced stage in hold 'em.
Generally, to play suited connectors, you will need to have multi way action (3 players at least in the pot). Also, you don't really want to be calling three bets with these hands or play these hands too often. Probably the best time to play the is when re-raising (3 bet) someone who you feel is weak, before the flop in order to attempt to take the pot from them later in the hand. The problem with suited connectors is that they don't win pots all that often. Sometimes you can hit a flop that looks good for your hand but end up getting into a lot of trouble through it. So, the best way to play these hands iv very, very carefully. If you're trying to play suited connectors, you have to learn how to fold them at the right time. This will take skill, finesse and, above all, reading ability.
Playing suited connectors, you are looking to hit the flop pretty solidly, and if you don't, be prepared to fold your hand and surrender your one or two previous bets. You should also be prepared to jam the pot if you think you have flopped the best hand in order to protect it.
The idea behind calling a maximum of two bets is to try and win a big pot. You should be looking for a lot of opponents when you consider calling. It wouldn't make much sense calling two bets when no one else has called before the flop. You should be looking for good pot odds for this type of drawing hand. An occasional big win pays for a lot of little losses.
When in the blinds, you can usually call with even the weak suited connectors for two bets. After all, with your forced bet already in, it would only call you one bet to call. Even in the small blind, playing hands like 4-5 suited could be okay to defend, but probably nothing less than 4-5 as it will call you one and a half bets to call. Hands like 10-J and J-Q suited could be called for three bets in the blinds (2 more to call).

You can also play suited connectors to 'advertise'- messing with players' heads in order to confuse them and to induce action later on. The reason you would play this way with suited connectors is because it is the type of hand that you might easily hit when making a play. One key thing is timing this move right. It has already been said but you shouldn't play these hands that often but when you do, it has to be against the right players. You won't not really use this against a very tight, conservative player because he won't give you action whatever you do and if you do get action, why would you want to put your 7-6 suited against a possible big pair? Early on in the evening is maybe the best time to use this play because you could encourage extra action all night long! Using it towards the end of the game is pointless because you are not gaining any long term benefit from this play if everybody is going home in half an hour. Basically, three betting an opponent is a losing play for that one hand with suited connectors but you could get extra welcomed action for another hour or two. In future hands, when you three-bet pre flop, players will begin to wonder if you have 7-6 or 5-4 suited.
If you happen to win these pots without showing your hand, fold your hand face down and attempt the play again soon. If it works and you don't have to show your hand when winning, keep using it. When finally it happens that you show your losing hand and have been caught bluffing, always show it and maybe even declare that "I have nothing". For a short time after, play really tight because you could get a lot of unwanted action due to the initial reaction from the other players to your crazy play. Usually 'advertising' costs money but well placed advertising eventually pays big dividends.

Stealing from the blinds is a very advanced hold 'em play. It might not always be a winning play but it is in the category of an advanced hold 'em play. Re-raising players who you feel are stealing with K-10 or 10-Q or any two cards valued at 10 or above is something you should look at doing. Even when you are holding an ace against players who you suspect are stealing, you could re-raise also at this point, especially if you have better position than the original raiser. Re-raising with these hands is solid enough because even if you are called, you have at least a playable hand.
A lot of good things can happen when you re-raise a blind stealer pre-flop. If the stealer misses his hand, which is very likely, then they would probably have to surrender their hand to you on the flop. You could also get lucky and win a massive pot when you hit your own hand re-stealing.On the other hand, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble making a three bet re-steal with a weak hand. If the alleged thief has you beat, you've already put in three bets to little purpose when you are losing and they will have both position (when you are playing in the blinds) and has just as much chance as you do of hitting something on the flop. This play works best of all in perhaps the later stages of a hold 'em tournament when players are more likely to fold hands on the flop rather than going broke with their weak hands. (If you think that this paragraph is sending mixed signals, this is just the way poker is, some advice and plays are reliable but nothing is 100%, sometimes it can be a 50/50 play).

When trapping players before the flop, a good time to do it is when you are sitting in late position with AA or KK and you suspect that both blinds will fold if you make it two bets to go. By just calling one bet, you allow the players behind you to call before the flop. When slow playing AA or KK to look for action, you will often get it but be careful of what you ask for. The weak cards that you let the blinds play for cheap could end up hitting the flop better than your AA or KK and you could end up in trouble. Usually though, it works out pretty well when you trap in this situation.

The flop

Advanced hold 'em on the flop is really about reading players. If you read your opponent as weak and think you can take the pot away from them then do it. If you have flopped a big hand on the flop and you feel that at betting at this point will drive out your opponents when what you want to do is keep them in the pot, then you can go ahead and trap check your opponent. You will need to use your reading ability to determine whether you can do this or not.
Reading your opponent is something that keeps getting mentioned in this section and, unfortunately, it is pretty impossible to teach you how to be intuitive. However, one thing that can be explained is that a lot of information that goes into your reads should be coming from working hard at studying your opponents, both when you are in a hand and when you are not. At this level, you will find the top players will be able to bet out on the end with a hand like 99 with a board of A-Q-8-5-3, simply down to the fact that they felt they had the best hand, and to be proved right. In advanced hold 'em play pretty much anything goes.

One of the big problems with advanced play is that playing these suited connectors for example, it causes you to play too many hands. Playing these hands and winning with them, you can begin to play them all the time and once you start to lose with these hands like 7-6 suited you could begin to think you got unlucky!.Really they should only be played on certain occasions, not always.
It is recommended that all beginners stay away from playing this advanced strategy, since they will find it very hazardous to their bank balances, with maybe one exception: suited connectors and re-raising (to advertise) before the flop once or twice per night, even for a beginner, this could be a positive move as it would make them more difficult for the rest of the table to read.

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