Thank you for your wonderful comments on my last Guess That Hand.
Let's recap the hand. You woke up to big slick (A-K offsuit) and threw in a strong pre-flop bet and a strong continuation bet on the flop. Both times you were called, and you ended up slowing down on the turn and your opponent bet into you and made you fold.
The hand the opponent had was... A-Q. Yes, you had him dominated throughout this hand, but his superiour position (sitting on the button) gave him enough of an advantage to take down this monster pot. Let's explain why through the eyes of the opponent.
**************
"I'm on the button, and I wake up to a decent A-Q. I have a strong bettor in middle position. Should I call and see a flop? I know he either has two big cards or a decent pocket pair. I'll just call."
"He bet out again on this flop big. His pot sized bet makes me think he is stealing this pot with two high cards, as a pocket pair would more than likely not bet that much into this pot. I'll call and see if he slows down on the turn."
"Bingo! He slowed down on the turn when it didn't hit him. Now he must assume I'm on a pair and have him beat. I'll bet out half the pot, because a pot sized steal is unneccessary here. He'll fold to almost any sized bet here. Plus the illusion that I'm pricing him into this pot for cheap might make him think I'm sitting on a big hand like a set and want to be called."
*************
This illustrates quite well that our man on the button could have had any two cards and probably would have taken this hand down. Having position on a player is very important because a good amount of time in a heads up situation, you are going to have both opponents miss the flop. Continuation bets are the defense that early position has, but if they at all waver and become scared of the person in position, the pot can be stolen away very quickly.
This is why you often hear poker pros say that they won't play certain hands in early position, but will play them in late position. The position not only allows you to garner more information from your opponents and their betting patterns, but it allows you to try a few tricky plays that might win you more money than if you had that same hand in early position.
"Play the player, not the cards."
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Guess That Hand! (8/20/2006)
Welcome to another addition to Guess That Hand! The last one was a great success so here comes another one. I would also like to continue to extend the invitation to others to send me some hand examples that they consider themselves to have made a great call, a questionable fold, or was just a fun hand with a few hard decisions. If you are lucky, you might find yourself on the next edition of Guess That Hand!
Tireur(at)Gmail(dot)com
I do this to reduce spam in my mailbox just replace the (at) with @ and (dot) with .)
**********************
Online Cash Game:
No Limit Texas Hold 'Em
Small Blind $5/ Big Blind $10
You are sitting in middle position with $985 in chips in front of you. Everyone folds over to you, and you look down at Ace-King offsuit. This is the first hand you've entered a pot in this game so far. So you have relatively no read on anyone.
(What do you do? Bet or Call?)
You like what you see, and you raise it a standard 4 times the big blind or $40. Making the pot $55. It folds over to the button who after thinking for a while calls the $40 bet. The pot is now $95.
The flop is dealt. 2 of hearts, 5 of diamonds, 9 of clubs.
(What do you do? Check or Bet?)
The flop is trash and doesn't help your hand, but doesn't neccessarily hurts your hand either. You figure your opponent hasn't hit anything either and you lead out with a pot sized bet of $100. Your opponent again thinks for a while and calls your bet. This scares you that he would call your large bet, and you begin putting him on a pocket pair or a set. The pot is now at $295
The turn is dealt. 10 of spades.
(What do you do? Check or Bet?)
You are scared of his flop call, and the turn doesn't help your hand. You decide to check the board to him. After a little thinking he now makes a half pot bet of $150.
(What do you do? Call, Raise or Fold?)
You figure he has atleast a pair right now, and you figure out your pot odds and the odds of hitting your king or ace on the river. You have 6 outs and 46 cards left in the deck. You have approximately 7.5 to 1 chance of hitting your out on the river. The current pot odds are a little under 3 to 1. You aren't getting the odds to play this hand any further. You decide to fold this hand.
What hand do you think the button had?
Tireur(at)Gmail(dot)com
I do this to reduce spam in my mailbox just replace the (at) with @ and (dot) with .)
**********************
Online Cash Game:
No Limit Texas Hold 'Em
Small Blind $5/ Big Blind $10
You are sitting in middle position with $985 in chips in front of you. Everyone folds over to you, and you look down at Ace-King offsuit. This is the first hand you've entered a pot in this game so far. So you have relatively no read on anyone.
(What do you do? Bet or Call?)
You like what you see, and you raise it a standard 4 times the big blind or $40. Making the pot $55. It folds over to the button who after thinking for a while calls the $40 bet. The pot is now $95.
The flop is dealt. 2 of hearts, 5 of diamonds, 9 of clubs.
(What do you do? Check or Bet?)
The flop is trash and doesn't help your hand, but doesn't neccessarily hurts your hand either. You figure your opponent hasn't hit anything either and you lead out with a pot sized bet of $100. Your opponent again thinks for a while and calls your bet. This scares you that he would call your large bet, and you begin putting him on a pocket pair or a set. The pot is now at $295
The turn is dealt. 10 of spades.
(What do you do? Check or Bet?)
You are scared of his flop call, and the turn doesn't help your hand. You decide to check the board to him. After a little thinking he now makes a half pot bet of $150.
(What do you do? Call, Raise or Fold?)
You figure he has atleast a pair right now, and you figure out your pot odds and the odds of hitting your king or ace on the river. You have 6 outs and 46 cards left in the deck. You have approximately 7.5 to 1 chance of hitting your out on the river. The current pot odds are a little under 3 to 1. You aren't getting the odds to play this hand any further. You decide to fold this hand.
What hand do you think the button had?
Sunday, August 13, 2006
How to play Omaha HoldEm 8 or Better.
Rules:
Each player is dealt 4 cards face down, and the rounds of betting take place exactly like Hold Em. With the UTG being the person to the left of the big blind and the button being to the left of the small blind, and betting taking place preflop, flop, and then big betting takes place on the turn and river.
How do you use the 4 cards and the 5 cards on the board in Omaha/8? Well you must use 2 cards in your hand and 3 cards on the board. You can use 2 different cards in your hand for the low as well, and a low must be 5 cards under 8 that are unpaired, so if the board comes off with 3 over 9 cards then you and your low hand should pack the bags and leave. This has some far reaching implications, and can be confusing and costly to Hold Em players. Here are some examples of mistakes and things to look out for.
You have A234 unsuited and you have the Ace of Spades. The board comes to the river with 4 spades, and you think back to the old Hold Em days and say,"Weee I got the nut flush!" And in fact you don't have jack squat, you MUST use 2 cards in your hand and 3 cards on the board. So unless you have a suited card in your hand, you will not see a flush by the river. I've made others pay for that mistake before when they thought their ace would complete the flush.
You have A234 again but this time the ace is suited. The board comes 44558 and completes your flush. The flush is all you have in this hand, but you may wonder, but wait I have a fullhouse right? Wrong. You have to use 2 cards in your hand and 3 on the board, so your 4 makes trips, and you have used 1 card in your hand and 2 on the board, and you can't use the other 5s to complete the fullhouse. However in this hand you have the nut low, and the nut flush if no one has a fullhouse either. And this should be called down to a showdown.
You have A224. The board comes A2478. First thought for many beginners is that, hey I hit the fullhouse right? Wrong again. You have trips on your 2s and you can't use the Ace or the Four in your hand to complete the fullhouse with the board. Just like Hold Em, you must have a paired board in order to have a fullhouse possible. You do however have a horrible low hand with A-2-4-7-8, but chances are someone will have Ace-3, 3-5, 3-6, Ace-5, Ace-6, and even 5-6 has you beat for the low here.
So now that we are past the rules and some practice hands of situations that people can get into trouble with, I'll get into the most important part of Omaha/8 which is picking your starting hand. You'll want to be tight, because there are only certain hands that can be profitable in this game.
The object of making money in Omaha/8 is to "scoop" pots, or take the low AND the high. How do you do that? With the Ace of course. Have one or even two suited aces gives you a great chance at the nut flush and when paired up with a couple low cards under 5, can win you the low as well.
So here are my requirments for starting hands. A2xx A3xx 234x A45x and High hands that you can choose could use the blackjack point system. Don't play with anything under 40 in your hand, 10 through king counts at 10 points and the ace is 11 points. And be prepared to throw this away if any 2 low cards hit the board, not counting the ace.
The importance of "backup" cards in Omaha/8:
Lets say you have A289, not a great hand, but you may not know why, and I'll explain here. Lets say you have this hand and the flop comes 378, wonderful right? You just hit the nut low on the flop with your A2. Turn comes a King, you're still in a good shape. Then the river comes down with a deuce, and ruins your low. We in the Omaha Biz call this a counterfit card, when a card pairs our low card and totally screws us. Now we still have a low, but it is a horrible low now. Ace-4, Ace-5, Ace-6, and 4-5, 4-6, 5-6, all have us beat now. Why do they have us beat you may ask yourself?
Ace-2 (our hand) = A-2-3-7-8
Ace-4 = A-2-3-4-7
Ace-5 = A-2-3-5-7
Ace-6 = A-2-3-6-7
4-5 = 2-3-4-5-7
4-6 = 2-3-4-6-7
5-6 = 2-3-5-6-7
So this should explain how low is calculated. They go from highest card to lowest card, if someone is tied they go to the next card, and if they are tied to continue down the line until someone wins or they are tied.
So how do we try and avoid these bankroll busters? With backup cards, that's what! So lets take our hand and now turn it from A289 and turn it into A234, the best hand for picking up a low. Flop comes 268, you hit the nut low again. But how? Didn't we counterfit our 2? Yes, but we have a backup, the 3 and the 4. Now we have A-3 and that still gives us the nuts. Turn comes Ace, oh no that counterfits another card right? Yes, but now we have the 3-4 which still gives us the nuts. The river comes with the 5, now we have the best possible low at Omaha/8 with the A-2-3-4-5. And we have the 2-3-4-5-6 straight. However with a board like this the best possible high hand is going to be the 9 high straight if someone has the 7-9. And this brings me to the next part of my lesson, the dreaded and hated 9. You may not hate it right now, but you will begin to hate it after I tell you how evil it is.
Having a nine in your hand doesn't seem so bad right? It connects with several cards in your hand if you wanted to make a straight with it, so it can't be all that bad right? Couldn't be more wrong, the 9 is an evil and sneaky card that can snatch away profit before your very eyes. Why?
Well if you use a 9 in your hand to make a nut straight, then a low or fullhouse is possible on the board. And you either split the pot with a low, or you give up all your money to the fullhouse.
If you use a 9 in your hand to make a straight and no low or fullhouse is possible, then a higher straight is possible with the board.
These reasons are enough to tell you not to chase after straights that use the 9 in your hand. If you do have a chance at a nut straight, you are chasing after half the pot. Or drawing dead to a higher straight or fullhouse.
So I hope this helps "prime" those newbies looking to break into this fabulous game. Remember this game is full of fish that haven't a clue about the strategy above, and will be throwing away their money to you. So if you play good tight poker, then you should profit regardless of what happens. And a major reason this game is so wonderful to unlocking bonuses is that fish like to call and make monster pots. Seeing the pots in these games reach 2 to 3 times bigger than they would normally be at those limits in Hold Em isn't uncommon.
So enjoy, and any comments, questions, suggestions or whatever are greatly appreciated.
Each player is dealt 4 cards face down, and the rounds of betting take place exactly like Hold Em. With the UTG being the person to the left of the big blind and the button being to the left of the small blind, and betting taking place preflop, flop, and then big betting takes place on the turn and river.
How do you use the 4 cards and the 5 cards on the board in Omaha/8? Well you must use 2 cards in your hand and 3 cards on the board. You can use 2 different cards in your hand for the low as well, and a low must be 5 cards under 8 that are unpaired, so if the board comes off with 3 over 9 cards then you and your low hand should pack the bags and leave. This has some far reaching implications, and can be confusing and costly to Hold Em players. Here are some examples of mistakes and things to look out for.
You have A234 unsuited and you have the Ace of Spades. The board comes to the river with 4 spades, and you think back to the old Hold Em days and say,"Weee I got the nut flush!" And in fact you don't have jack squat, you MUST use 2 cards in your hand and 3 cards on the board. So unless you have a suited card in your hand, you will not see a flush by the river. I've made others pay for that mistake before when they thought their ace would complete the flush.
You have A234 again but this time the ace is suited. The board comes 44558 and completes your flush. The flush is all you have in this hand, but you may wonder, but wait I have a fullhouse right? Wrong. You have to use 2 cards in your hand and 3 on the board, so your 4 makes trips, and you have used 1 card in your hand and 2 on the board, and you can't use the other 5s to complete the fullhouse. However in this hand you have the nut low, and the nut flush if no one has a fullhouse either. And this should be called down to a showdown.
You have A224. The board comes A2478. First thought for many beginners is that, hey I hit the fullhouse right? Wrong again. You have trips on your 2s and you can't use the Ace or the Four in your hand to complete the fullhouse with the board. Just like Hold Em, you must have a paired board in order to have a fullhouse possible. You do however have a horrible low hand with A-2-4-7-8, but chances are someone will have Ace-3, 3-5, 3-6, Ace-5, Ace-6, and even 5-6 has you beat for the low here.
So now that we are past the rules and some practice hands of situations that people can get into trouble with, I'll get into the most important part of Omaha/8 which is picking your starting hand. You'll want to be tight, because there are only certain hands that can be profitable in this game.
The object of making money in Omaha/8 is to "scoop" pots, or take the low AND the high. How do you do that? With the Ace of course. Have one or even two suited aces gives you a great chance at the nut flush and when paired up with a couple low cards under 5, can win you the low as well.
So here are my requirments for starting hands. A2xx A3xx 234x A45x and High hands that you can choose could use the blackjack point system. Don't play with anything under 40 in your hand, 10 through king counts at 10 points and the ace is 11 points. And be prepared to throw this away if any 2 low cards hit the board, not counting the ace.
The importance of "backup" cards in Omaha/8:
Lets say you have A289, not a great hand, but you may not know why, and I'll explain here. Lets say you have this hand and the flop comes 378, wonderful right? You just hit the nut low on the flop with your A2. Turn comes a King, you're still in a good shape. Then the river comes down with a deuce, and ruins your low. We in the Omaha Biz call this a counterfit card, when a card pairs our low card and totally screws us. Now we still have a low, but it is a horrible low now. Ace-4, Ace-5, Ace-6, and 4-5, 4-6, 5-6, all have us beat now. Why do they have us beat you may ask yourself?
Ace-2 (our hand) = A-2-3-7-8
Ace-4 = A-2-3-4-7
Ace-5 = A-2-3-5-7
Ace-6 = A-2-3-6-7
4-5 = 2-3-4-5-7
4-6 = 2-3-4-6-7
5-6 = 2-3-5-6-7
So this should explain how low is calculated. They go from highest card to lowest card, if someone is tied they go to the next card, and if they are tied to continue down the line until someone wins or they are tied.
So how do we try and avoid these bankroll busters? With backup cards, that's what! So lets take our hand and now turn it from A289 and turn it into A234, the best hand for picking up a low. Flop comes 268, you hit the nut low again. But how? Didn't we counterfit our 2? Yes, but we have a backup, the 3 and the 4. Now we have A-3 and that still gives us the nuts. Turn comes Ace, oh no that counterfits another card right? Yes, but now we have the 3-4 which still gives us the nuts. The river comes with the 5, now we have the best possible low at Omaha/8 with the A-2-3-4-5. And we have the 2-3-4-5-6 straight. However with a board like this the best possible high hand is going to be the 9 high straight if someone has the 7-9. And this brings me to the next part of my lesson, the dreaded and hated 9. You may not hate it right now, but you will begin to hate it after I tell you how evil it is.
Having a nine in your hand doesn't seem so bad right? It connects with several cards in your hand if you wanted to make a straight with it, so it can't be all that bad right? Couldn't be more wrong, the 9 is an evil and sneaky card that can snatch away profit before your very eyes. Why?
Well if you use a 9 in your hand to make a nut straight, then a low or fullhouse is possible on the board. And you either split the pot with a low, or you give up all your money to the fullhouse.
If you use a 9 in your hand to make a straight and no low or fullhouse is possible, then a higher straight is possible with the board.
These reasons are enough to tell you not to chase after straights that use the 9 in your hand. If you do have a chance at a nut straight, you are chasing after half the pot. Or drawing dead to a higher straight or fullhouse.
So I hope this helps "prime" those newbies looking to break into this fabulous game. Remember this game is full of fish that haven't a clue about the strategy above, and will be throwing away their money to you. So if you play good tight poker, then you should profit regardless of what happens. And a major reason this game is so wonderful to unlocking bonuses is that fish like to call and make monster pots. Seeing the pots in these games reach 2 to 3 times bigger than they would normally be at those limits in Hold Em isn't uncommon.
So enjoy, and any comments, questions, suggestions or whatever are greatly appreciated.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Solution to "Guess that Hand! 8/9/06"
Welcome back everyone, hope you all are having a wonderful Friday. I have decided to post the solution to the previous blog a little earlier than planned. I got so much feedback on the post from my favorite poker community over at www.poker-strategy.org that I wouldn't want to make them wait until Sunday to get the solution.
Another note about "Guess that Hand!" is that I am opening an invitation to any and all to send in suggestions for "Guess that Hand!" If you have any good hand examples or just some poker concepts that can be taught well through a hand example, please e-mail me at "Tireur at Gmail dot com".
***************
Props go to Gaspar98 who actually played a hand just like this very simmilarly and "sorta" called the hand.
The hand held by our opponent was actually A-A. The player had developed a table image of being a Maniac who will be ultra aggressive with a very wide range of hands. This poker strategy keeps his opponents from being able to make good reads on him. More importantly it frustrates players and begins to make them play more recklessly than they should, increasing opponents mistakes.
This shows a thought fallacy that occurs far too often for the beginner players. They believe that a maniac will never wake up to A-A, and it gives the LAG a very huge advantage over other players. They can not only push people off of marginal hands with their ultra aggressive play(stealing pots in the process), but when they wake up to a huge hand, their is a much better chance of being paid off by the showdown.
In this particular example it could have easily of been a set that this guy was holding as well. The lesson is that you need to play back at the LAGs, and make them respond to you, not the other way around. This will allow you to garner more information from your opponent and possibly avoid a monster vs. monster pot situation where you will lose your entire stack.
Also in this example, you would more than likely have lost your whole stack, no matter the outcome of the board, except maybe if an ace hits the flop. It was more or less a way to illustrate that you must give everyone at the table, no matter how terrible or how good they may be, respect for the fact that they can pick up a premium hand.
Another beginner pitfall illustrated here is that too often a big hand is played slow and a small hand is played fast. Big hands should always be played fast except in the rare cases of trapping a monster. Small hands should almost always be folded or checked unless you think you can steal the pot with a bet.
****************
This will bring me to my next lesson dealing with playing hands at different speeds. As I said before, big hands should be played fast 90% of the time, and small hands should be played slow 90% of the time. When should this change? Here are a couple examples.
You have A-6 suited in the big blind. It's limped into by one player in middle position and you check. You hit your nut flush on the flop. You have to act first, betting into such a scary flop tells that player you either have the flush or you are not scared of that flush draw. This show of strength will often make any hand fold, however, if a call is made on a bet you know that you are facing a semi-decent hand who may be drawing to a full house.
If you check instead, this may induce a bluff. The middle position player may decide that you don't have the flush and will try and represent the flush himself. Now you can either check-raise him and probably take down a decent sized pot, or you can just "smooth call." Holding the absolute nuts and maybe in a few *second to the nuts* hands should you ever "slowplay" them like this, because you may be giving your opponent a free look at the turn and river which can spell disaster for your hand.
----
Picking your spots to bluff are a little more difficult. You must go through a mental checklist before deciding to bluff a certain hand.
1. Do I think the opponent has anything? (Is he weak, did the flop scare him or help him?)
2. Is my opponent(s) a calling station? (Does he call with any hand, even marginal hands?)
3. Given my current betting patterns, can I represent a big hand, or atleast a hand that can beat my opponents?(Does bluffing here make no sense to my opponent which will alert him to a bluff?)
If you answer no to 1 and 2 and yes to 3, you can safely bet here. Number 2 is the most important for a beginner to understand before trying to bluff, never try and bluff a calling station, most of the time it won't work. Number 1 is quite important, but if you can represent a hand that you think beats his hand, then bluffing may very well win you the hand. And if your betting patterns are erratic and confusing, it may be easy for another player to put you on your bluff and call you down.
Here is a good method for learning to bluff successfully once you learn to figure out whether or not your opponent can be bluffed. Think of a hand that you can *realisticaly* hold (nothing crazy like quads or something) that you think has your opponent beat. Now just play the hand as though you had such a hand and were betting it quite aggressively.
That is all for today, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Please continue to leave your wonderful commentary, and I will be posting another entry hopefully next week sometime.
-Tireur
Another note about "Guess that Hand!" is that I am opening an invitation to any and all to send in suggestions for "Guess that Hand!" If you have any good hand examples or just some poker concepts that can be taught well through a hand example, please e-mail me at "Tireur at Gmail dot com".
***************
Props go to Gaspar98 who actually played a hand just like this very simmilarly and "sorta" called the hand.
The hand held by our opponent was actually A-A. The player had developed a table image of being a Maniac who will be ultra aggressive with a very wide range of hands. This poker strategy keeps his opponents from being able to make good reads on him. More importantly it frustrates players and begins to make them play more recklessly than they should, increasing opponents mistakes.
This shows a thought fallacy that occurs far too often for the beginner players. They believe that a maniac will never wake up to A-A, and it gives the LAG a very huge advantage over other players. They can not only push people off of marginal hands with their ultra aggressive play(stealing pots in the process), but when they wake up to a huge hand, their is a much better chance of being paid off by the showdown.
In this particular example it could have easily of been a set that this guy was holding as well. The lesson is that you need to play back at the LAGs, and make them respond to you, not the other way around. This will allow you to garner more information from your opponent and possibly avoid a monster vs. monster pot situation where you will lose your entire stack.
Also in this example, you would more than likely have lost your whole stack, no matter the outcome of the board, except maybe if an ace hits the flop. It was more or less a way to illustrate that you must give everyone at the table, no matter how terrible or how good they may be, respect for the fact that they can pick up a premium hand.
Another beginner pitfall illustrated here is that too often a big hand is played slow and a small hand is played fast. Big hands should always be played fast except in the rare cases of trapping a monster. Small hands should almost always be folded or checked unless you think you can steal the pot with a bet.
****************
This will bring me to my next lesson dealing with playing hands at different speeds. As I said before, big hands should be played fast 90% of the time, and small hands should be played slow 90% of the time. When should this change? Here are a couple examples.
You have A-6 suited in the big blind. It's limped into by one player in middle position and you check. You hit your nut flush on the flop. You have to act first, betting into such a scary flop tells that player you either have the flush or you are not scared of that flush draw. This show of strength will often make any hand fold, however, if a call is made on a bet you know that you are facing a semi-decent hand who may be drawing to a full house.
If you check instead, this may induce a bluff. The middle position player may decide that you don't have the flush and will try and represent the flush himself. Now you can either check-raise him and probably take down a decent sized pot, or you can just "smooth call." Holding the absolute nuts and maybe in a few *second to the nuts* hands should you ever "slowplay" them like this, because you may be giving your opponent a free look at the turn and river which can spell disaster for your hand.
----
Picking your spots to bluff are a little more difficult. You must go through a mental checklist before deciding to bluff a certain hand.
1. Do I think the opponent has anything? (Is he weak, did the flop scare him or help him?)
2. Is my opponent(s) a calling station? (Does he call with any hand, even marginal hands?)
3. Given my current betting patterns, can I represent a big hand, or atleast a hand that can beat my opponents?(Does bluffing here make no sense to my opponent which will alert him to a bluff?)
If you answer no to 1 and 2 and yes to 3, you can safely bet here. Number 2 is the most important for a beginner to understand before trying to bluff, never try and bluff a calling station, most of the time it won't work. Number 1 is quite important, but if you can represent a hand that you think beats his hand, then bluffing may very well win you the hand. And if your betting patterns are erratic and confusing, it may be easy for another player to put you on your bluff and call you down.
Here is a good method for learning to bluff successfully once you learn to figure out whether or not your opponent can be bluffed. Think of a hand that you can *realisticaly* hold (nothing crazy like quads or something) that you think has your opponent beat. Now just play the hand as though you had such a hand and were betting it quite aggressively.
That is all for today, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Please continue to leave your wonderful commentary, and I will be posting another entry hopefully next week sometime.
-Tireur
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Guess that Hand! (8/9/06)
Well here is the first interactive fun thing I'm going to try and do at the site. I will take you through a hand in the eyes of someone sitting at a NL Hold Em table, showing their cards to you and showing you what their thought process is. We will go through the play and then about a few days later I will post the results to this quiz.
*****
You are sitting on the button at a $5/10 NL Hold Em cash game and have a healthy stack of about $1,000.
It folds around to a loosey goosey sitting directly to your right who raises it $40.
(This player has been raising almost every other hand and playing incredibly loose, he can have any two cards at this point.)
You look down at your cards and wake up to pocket Kings. (Woohoo what a hand to wake up to!)
1. ** What do you do? (Fold, Call, Raise?) (Pot size of $55, $40 to call)
You end up calling and the Blinds fold. You think he has a poor hand and would like to trap him with your premium pair.
The flop comes down (2)(3)(Q) rainbow. A wonderful flop for you. And you lick your chops when Sir Loose raises it up another $100.
2. ** What do you do? (Pot size of $195, $100 to call)
You decide to just call again, hoping to sink that hook in as far as possible before setting it.
The turn comes and it is an (8) of hearts giving the board no possible flush draw. Now you think you are in great shape, you feel he has paired the Queen or something like that. He again comes out betting with $300.
3. ** What do you do? (Pot size of $595, $300 to call)
Once again you just call.
The river comes (7). Now there are no straights or flushes possible and you feel you have the best hand. Now he comes in and raises you all-in for an additional $560. You have him pinned on a hand like A-Q or something like that.
4. ** What do you do? (Pot size of $2000, $560 all-in to call)
You end up calling and showing down.
What hand do you believe he has? And what would you have done differently all throughout this hand?
Please post your comments and stay tuned as I will post the results on Sunday August 13.
*****
You are sitting on the button at a $5/10 NL Hold Em cash game and have a healthy stack of about $1,000.
It folds around to a loosey goosey sitting directly to your right who raises it $40.
(This player has been raising almost every other hand and playing incredibly loose, he can have any two cards at this point.)
You look down at your cards and wake up to pocket Kings. (Woohoo what a hand to wake up to!)
1. ** What do you do? (Fold, Call, Raise?) (Pot size of $55, $40 to call)
You end up calling and the Blinds fold. You think he has a poor hand and would like to trap him with your premium pair.
The flop comes down (2)(3)(Q) rainbow. A wonderful flop for you. And you lick your chops when Sir Loose raises it up another $100.
2. ** What do you do? (Pot size of $195, $100 to call)
You decide to just call again, hoping to sink that hook in as far as possible before setting it.
The turn comes and it is an (8) of hearts giving the board no possible flush draw. Now you think you are in great shape, you feel he has paired the Queen or something like that. He again comes out betting with $300.
3. ** What do you do? (Pot size of $595, $300 to call)
Once again you just call.
The river comes (7). Now there are no straights or flushes possible and you feel you have the best hand. Now he comes in and raises you all-in for an additional $560. You have him pinned on a hand like A-Q or something like that.
4. ** What do you do? (Pot size of $2000, $560 all-in to call)
You end up calling and showing down.
What hand do you believe he has? And what would you have done differently all throughout this hand?
Please post your comments and stay tuned as I will post the results on Sunday August 13.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Books, and the future of the blog.
Hello everyone, hope all is well this weekend for anyone reading up on my blog.
Today I thought I'd talk about some poker books as I mentioned them in my last blog. I've become quite the reader of books that don't pertain to academics in the last few months. Good and bad come from this, I'm at least reading for once, but it's not the books that I should probably be reading. However, from all this reading I've come across a wealth of knowledge that may still pertain later on in life, especially if this poker thing blows up for me (I'm an optimist, if I wasn't I wouldn't be playing poker). I'd like to share at least my thoughts on several books I've read thus far.
Currently reading: Take me to the River by Peter Alson
Take me to the River has turned out to be a pleasurable read so far (I'm about half way through it) as it tells the story of a man who is bound to get married very soon but has decided to go to the 2005 WSOP event before the marriage is to held. With a 15 thousand bankroll and a few friends, he tells his story from the eyes of a semi-professional poker player who has observed the game of poker evolve from it's underground roots to it's gold laced present. The story is enough to keep any level of poker player interested, and the more savvy of us can pick out a few very good tips, ideas and strategies from the text as well.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is actually interested in my blog.
Books I've read: One of a Kind
Again by the same author in junction with another author tells the story of one of poker's greatest players. The story is about the original "Kid Poker", Stuey Ungar. A card playing savant who had a craving for any action, whether at the poker table or at the bookies. The man had turned a self-destructive personality into a winning poker player, but not before his personality got the best of him and he ended up dyeing of a heart attack from his years of drug abuse. A great story for anyone, poker player or not, with many life tips mixed along with a few poker tips.
Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read stories about weird but strangely interesting characters.
The Philosophy of Poker
A great mix of philosophy and poker with more of an emphasis on poker that anything else. It's a book written by mostly card playing college professors and the like. It's a book that Aristotle, Einstein, and Karl Marx would write if they were card playing aficionados. Great book for reaching down into the nitty gritty details of poker away from the statistics and basic strategies. The book delves into psychology, sociology, and intangibles of poker.
Highly recommend it to any poker player out there.
Great books on the strategy of poker:
Dan Harrington on Hold Em Volumes 1 through 3.
Quite possibly the greatest books ever written on tournament No Limit Hold Em. Tells the secrets the pros never wanted anyone to know or never knew how to articulate into words. If you want to be a serious tournament player, then you must know these books inside and out.
Super/System 1 and 2
The bibles of poker. Should be in every poker player's library.
Theory of Poker
David Sklansky letting the whole world know exactly how the math in poker works. Again, if you are a serious poker player, this book should be read or at least all the concepts contained within should be known.
*************************
As is suggested by the title of this blog entry I have something in store for the blog in the future.
First I am going to start something that may create more traffic and more interaction with the site. I am going to start something along the lines of "How would you play it?" and "Guess that hand." I will walk through a particular hand and a particular way of playing that hand, and will leave it up to the viewers of my site to not only guess the hand, but try and point out possible mistakes they see in the play. Should be fun, I'll give it a try within the next week, keep on the lookout for that.
Secondly, I'll be throwing up a blog on some other poker variations such as Omaha H/L and such. I'm admittedly not as much of an expert on other games as I am with NL Hold Em but I know enough that I can post a primer of sorts on them.
Thirdly, I may start occasionally letting everyone out there know exactly how my own poker career is faring. I'll post my current bankroll and any occurrences, and will probably be followed up by a snippet of knowledge I may have gained from playing with that bankroll.
That about wraps it up this Sunday afternoon, have a great week everyone and please keep checking on the site for updates.
Today I thought I'd talk about some poker books as I mentioned them in my last blog. I've become quite the reader of books that don't pertain to academics in the last few months. Good and bad come from this, I'm at least reading for once, but it's not the books that I should probably be reading. However, from all this reading I've come across a wealth of knowledge that may still pertain later on in life, especially if this poker thing blows up for me (I'm an optimist, if I wasn't I wouldn't be playing poker). I'd like to share at least my thoughts on several books I've read thus far.
Currently reading: Take me to the River by Peter Alson
Take me to the River has turned out to be a pleasurable read so far (I'm about half way through it) as it tells the story of a man who is bound to get married very soon but has decided to go to the 2005 WSOP event before the marriage is to held. With a 15 thousand bankroll and a few friends, he tells his story from the eyes of a semi-professional poker player who has observed the game of poker evolve from it's underground roots to it's gold laced present. The story is enough to keep any level of poker player interested, and the more savvy of us can pick out a few very good tips, ideas and strategies from the text as well.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is actually interested in my blog.
Books I've read: One of a Kind
Again by the same author in junction with another author tells the story of one of poker's greatest players. The story is about the original "Kid Poker", Stuey Ungar. A card playing savant who had a craving for any action, whether at the poker table or at the bookies. The man had turned a self-destructive personality into a winning poker player, but not before his personality got the best of him and he ended up dyeing of a heart attack from his years of drug abuse. A great story for anyone, poker player or not, with many life tips mixed along with a few poker tips.
Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read stories about weird but strangely interesting characters.
The Philosophy of Poker
A great mix of philosophy and poker with more of an emphasis on poker that anything else. It's a book written by mostly card playing college professors and the like. It's a book that Aristotle, Einstein, and Karl Marx would write if they were card playing aficionados. Great book for reaching down into the nitty gritty details of poker away from the statistics and basic strategies. The book delves into psychology, sociology, and intangibles of poker.
Highly recommend it to any poker player out there.
Great books on the strategy of poker:
Dan Harrington on Hold Em Volumes 1 through 3.
Quite possibly the greatest books ever written on tournament No Limit Hold Em. Tells the secrets the pros never wanted anyone to know or never knew how to articulate into words. If you want to be a serious tournament player, then you must know these books inside and out.
Super/System 1 and 2
The bibles of poker. Should be in every poker player's library.
Theory of Poker
David Sklansky letting the whole world know exactly how the math in poker works. Again, if you are a serious poker player, this book should be read or at least all the concepts contained within should be known.
*************************
As is suggested by the title of this blog entry I have something in store for the blog in the future.
First I am going to start something that may create more traffic and more interaction with the site. I am going to start something along the lines of "How would you play it?" and "Guess that hand." I will walk through a particular hand and a particular way of playing that hand, and will leave it up to the viewers of my site to not only guess the hand, but try and point out possible mistakes they see in the play. Should be fun, I'll give it a try within the next week, keep on the lookout for that.
Secondly, I'll be throwing up a blog on some other poker variations such as Omaha H/L and such. I'm admittedly not as much of an expert on other games as I am with NL Hold Em but I know enough that I can post a primer of sorts on them.
Thirdly, I may start occasionally letting everyone out there know exactly how my own poker career is faring. I'll post my current bankroll and any occurrences, and will probably be followed up by a snippet of knowledge I may have gained from playing with that bankroll.
That about wraps it up this Sunday afternoon, have a great week everyone and please keep checking on the site for updates.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
The The Lost Art of Reading: Opponents, Cards, and Books.
In personal blogger space, I have finally moved into my new apartment and slowly but surely making it feel more like home and a little less chaotic. I will be returning to poker within the next week I would imagine, schoolwork allowing.
******
The Lost Art of Reading. What do I mean? Well the poker amateur community has been so bombarded by books, television, and everything else poker, that we have strayed away from the basic strategies of poker.
An example. You can pick up any poker book, and probably watch an episode of Full Tilt's Learn From The Pros, and they will all have general strategies for any given hand. "You have this hand, you fold it in this position, and you play it like this after the flop...", etc. What happened to the old saying, "Play the players, not the cards."
So should you stop reading books on poker? Of course not, you can never suck up enough information, whether you consider it good or not. If it's good information, you follow it and expand on it. If it's bad information, you learn about it and adapt to it if you see it at the poker table.
Where people get caught up in is that they consider every poker book a bible of sorts and that there is no bad information on poker. I'm not going to convince you that any information I give here is good or not, it's up to you to decide. A good poker player, however, can discern between good and bad advice and can learn from both.
*******
The Art of Reading boards and opponents. Now I am not an expert, for that you should go talk to Daniel Negraneu or any other successful professional poker player. However, I can give you pointers and tips to becoming a successful reader.
Reading the board. Too often someone will look at a board and see if it hit them at all, and may forget that they have to analyze their opponent and see if it hit them as well. This is where you must start going through a list of hands that you have beat on this board and a list of hands that you are beat on this board. This mental list is important, and must be analyzed constantly.
Reading the opponent. You must first decide whether your opponent is loose, tight, passive or aggressive or you have insufficient information to apply a label to your opponent.
For example, you are playing some No-Limit Hold 'Em with someone at the table that you know is tight and passive. They suddenly come out of early position with a rare raise, now you not only know that he is a tight player but that he rarely raises any hand preflop. You must now place him on a hand like AA, KK, QQ or AK, as you would suspect him not to raise with anything else.
Another example, you are playing against a loose aggressive player, like a Gus Hansen. If he is playing aggressively, chances are you will have no clue as to what hand he may have in the hole because he does this with a wide range of hands.
Getting inside your opponents head. Not literally of course, no Hannibals running this site. This is the ultimate read, where you try and get inside his thought processes. You see the hand through his eyes, figure out what hand it would take for him to have such a betting process, for him to take his time with certain decisions and not with others, etc.
If you get into this mindset, and your reads are spot on, you are in "the zone." This happens from time to time, and probably more often for the pros. This is as good as it gets when it comes to reading your opponents.
******
Bringing it all together.
Read books, but more importantly read your opponents. You can read all the strategy in the world, but if you can play as though you know exactly the kind of hand your opponent is holding, you will play brilliant poker no matter what.
So next time you sit down at a poker table, do this mental checklist in your mind for every hand. Explain every action your opponents are making based on a list of possible hands they can be holding and what strategy they are bringing to the table.
If you get too shortsighted and begin to play like a robot programmed by the 10 poker books sitting in your bookshelf, then you will become no more than a mechanized fish for me to figure out and take all your money.
******
The Lost Art of Reading. What do I mean? Well the poker amateur community has been so bombarded by books, television, and everything else poker, that we have strayed away from the basic strategies of poker.
An example. You can pick up any poker book, and probably watch an episode of Full Tilt's Learn From The Pros, and they will all have general strategies for any given hand. "You have this hand, you fold it in this position, and you play it like this after the flop...", etc. What happened to the old saying, "Play the players, not the cards."
So should you stop reading books on poker? Of course not, you can never suck up enough information, whether you consider it good or not. If it's good information, you follow it and expand on it. If it's bad information, you learn about it and adapt to it if you see it at the poker table.
Where people get caught up in is that they consider every poker book a bible of sorts and that there is no bad information on poker. I'm not going to convince you that any information I give here is good or not, it's up to you to decide. A good poker player, however, can discern between good and bad advice and can learn from both.
*******
The Art of Reading boards and opponents. Now I am not an expert, for that you should go talk to Daniel Negraneu or any other successful professional poker player. However, I can give you pointers and tips to becoming a successful reader.
Reading the board. Too often someone will look at a board and see if it hit them at all, and may forget that they have to analyze their opponent and see if it hit them as well. This is where you must start going through a list of hands that you have beat on this board and a list of hands that you are beat on this board. This mental list is important, and must be analyzed constantly.
Reading the opponent. You must first decide whether your opponent is loose, tight, passive or aggressive or you have insufficient information to apply a label to your opponent.
For example, you are playing some No-Limit Hold 'Em with someone at the table that you know is tight and passive. They suddenly come out of early position with a rare raise, now you not only know that he is a tight player but that he rarely raises any hand preflop. You must now place him on a hand like AA, KK, QQ or AK, as you would suspect him not to raise with anything else.
Another example, you are playing against a loose aggressive player, like a Gus Hansen. If he is playing aggressively, chances are you will have no clue as to what hand he may have in the hole because he does this with a wide range of hands.
Getting inside your opponents head. Not literally of course, no Hannibals running this site. This is the ultimate read, where you try and get inside his thought processes. You see the hand through his eyes, figure out what hand it would take for him to have such a betting process, for him to take his time with certain decisions and not with others, etc.
If you get into this mindset, and your reads are spot on, you are in "the zone." This happens from time to time, and probably more often for the pros. This is as good as it gets when it comes to reading your opponents.
******
Bringing it all together.
Read books, but more importantly read your opponents. You can read all the strategy in the world, but if you can play as though you know exactly the kind of hand your opponent is holding, you will play brilliant poker no matter what.
So next time you sit down at a poker table, do this mental checklist in your mind for every hand. Explain every action your opponents are making based on a list of possible hands they can be holding and what strategy they are bringing to the table.
If you get too shortsighted and begin to play like a robot programmed by the 10 poker books sitting in your bookshelf, then you will become no more than a mechanized fish for me to figure out and take all your money.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
