The 2009 WSOP Ladies Event had the pleasure of one of our friends play in Las Vegas.
Donna survived most of the field of over 1000, to bust out late in the evening on Day 1 with a little over 300 players left. You did good girl, Come see Donna play No Limit Texas Hold'em every Thursday @ Wicked Witches. She is our Tournament Host for the evening. Buy her a drink and I am sure she will share the knowledge from the big game. Anyways, Donna, you should feel good about the tournament, its the world series of poker, it attracts the best there is. And you are one of them.
________________
Donna survived most of the field of over 1000, to bust out late in the evening on Day 1 with a little over 300 players left. You did good girl, Come see Donna play No Limit Texas Hold'em every Thursday @ Wicked Witches. She is our Tournament Host for the evening. Buy her a drink and I am sure she will share the knowledge from the big game. Anyways, Donna, you should feel good about the tournament, its the world series of poker, it attracts the best there is. And you are one of them.
________________
TEXAS HOLD'EM
THE GAME OF CHOICE
________________THE GAME OF CHOICE
In four years of hosting tournaments, I feel that I have seen a lot happen on the playing felt. From the ultimate bluffs, to some great lay downs, and just good quality poker playing from the many players that make up are big happy family. Together we can attempt to share our stories and experiences with the poker world. I put a form on the bottom to use for any tale, bad beat, or whatever is on your mind. We will see what happens, until then, enjoy, play the positions, and win!
New Entry from our friend Don.
posted July 1, 2009
posted July 1, 2009
I wanted to add on to Fred's great advice (which I agree with whole heartedly) with things to consider after you've master his 4 things above.
Before I do, I would just like to mention that it was my aces that Fred cracked with Q-7 (and he actually hit trip queens not the 7.... but who cares his logic involved in the hand was completely sound). But his calling me "Loose-aggressive" it what leads me to tell this story from last night. Here?s the tale of the hand?. Fred above called me a ?loose-aggressive? player. Which at time I would agree is true. What a lot of people don?t realize, is that I want people to think that about me. I WANT people to think I play any two cards, at any time, and I?m willing to raise with them.
Here?s the hand: This just happened last night. Blinds were 100-200, I was sitting in the small blind with 3-5 suited. Six players had made the call before me, and it was my turn to act. Now, as Fred said above, I am in the worst possible position, and for that reason, I raise (you?ll see my reasoning at the very end of this hand).
The flop hit K-8-3 (rainbow). I have flopped low pair. Now, with 5 players in the hand, I am well aware my 3 is no good so I check. One player fires a bet of 1000 at the pot of around 3000, 2 players fold, and the button calls. In my mind I have two options. Call or fold. There is no way I take this pot with my 3, so raising at this point is just throwing chips away. Folding saves me chips, however, calling and hoping to get lucky sets me up for future success, and right now the bet is relatively small. So I call looking to improve.
The turn is a 3? making the board K-8-3-3, and I have hit my set. I can say with relative certainty that I am now the leader in the hand, barring pocket 8-8's, or A-3 (kings are unlikely since no-one raised pre-flop). I also am relatively sure a K-3, Q-3 or a hand of that sort is no longer in the hand because of the pre-flop raise and the bet on the flop. I check my trips. The same player bets 2000 this time, the button calls. Now, I must either raise or call. Raising may get the button to fold, but I want them in the pot because they are another ?revenue source? for me in this hand. In fear of scaring either player away, I just call.
The river is a 5?. Making the board K-8-3-3-5, and my 3-5 of spades is now a full boat. A lot of players will look to bet here, and they look to bet huge. I didn't. I placed a bet of 600 into the pot of 12000. This instantly gets raised to 4000 by the aggressor, and the button calls. Now is my chance to get paid big. Calling is only an option if I believe I could be beaten at this point. Like I said before, the odds are slim, and I am 99.9% sure I have the best hand, so I double the bet to 8000, leaving myself 3000 in front of me just in case. Both the aggressor and the button call and I rake a huge pot. I proudly show my 3-5, and the groans at the table start. ?You played 3-5?!?!?? ?He raised pre-flop with it!!? ? so on and so forth.
Here?s the beauty of the situation. We are at 100-200 blinds, I now have a stack of 30000+, and everyone at the table believes I will raise and play mediocre hands. So as a player, what to you do from here?
TIGHTEN UP. From that point on, I am looking only for premium hands, and I raise large when I get them. The powerful thing about being viewed as ?loose-aggressive? is that when you tighten up and raise large, people never expect your hand to be as strong as it is. About ten hands after I pulled this play off, I was dealt A-K of spades, I raised large, and was call by a middle pocket pair. When the flop hit A-K-5, no-one believed I had flopped two pair, and I was off and running with another large pot.
Here are my tips to be added to Fred?s?
1.) The perception other players have of you can get you paid more than your cards. By letting people believe I am loose and aggressive, I allow myself the opportunity to tighten up, play premiums, and get paid more in the long run. Also, by having the perception that
2.) Show your cards only when it has a powerful purpose. I wanted to show my 3-5 so people would think I always am playing weak hands. People always love showing their bluffs. Don't show your bluff unless you have the ability to not bluff for a long time. Because the more you bluff, the more likely it is you will be called. You can shoot a bear 10x's, but if you don't kill it, believe me, it will eat your face off.
3.) Know when to pump the breaks. When you get a large chip stack, don?t be afraid to play tight and wait. That?s the beauty of having a lot of chips. You no longer must be hurried to build your stack.
PS? if you don't believe perception is a powerful thing, ask Dave about my antics when he first started, and ask how many top 5's I had for that season ;-)
May your flops be plentify and the opponents rivers be bare!
Don Shearer
Before I do, I would just like to mention that it was my aces that Fred cracked with Q-7 (and he actually hit trip queens not the 7.... but who cares his logic involved in the hand was completely sound). But his calling me "Loose-aggressive" it what leads me to tell this story from last night. Here?s the tale of the hand?. Fred above called me a ?loose-aggressive? player. Which at time I would agree is true. What a lot of people don?t realize, is that I want people to think that about me. I WANT people to think I play any two cards, at any time, and I?m willing to raise with them.
Here?s the hand: This just happened last night. Blinds were 100-200, I was sitting in the small blind with 3-5 suited. Six players had made the call before me, and it was my turn to act. Now, as Fred said above, I am in the worst possible position, and for that reason, I raise (you?ll see my reasoning at the very end of this hand).
The flop hit K-8-3 (rainbow). I have flopped low pair. Now, with 5 players in the hand, I am well aware my 3 is no good so I check. One player fires a bet of 1000 at the pot of around 3000, 2 players fold, and the button calls. In my mind I have two options. Call or fold. There is no way I take this pot with my 3, so raising at this point is just throwing chips away. Folding saves me chips, however, calling and hoping to get lucky sets me up for future success, and right now the bet is relatively small. So I call looking to improve.
The turn is a 3? making the board K-8-3-3, and I have hit my set. I can say with relative certainty that I am now the leader in the hand, barring pocket 8-8's, or A-3 (kings are unlikely since no-one raised pre-flop). I also am relatively sure a K-3, Q-3 or a hand of that sort is no longer in the hand because of the pre-flop raise and the bet on the flop. I check my trips. The same player bets 2000 this time, the button calls. Now, I must either raise or call. Raising may get the button to fold, but I want them in the pot because they are another ?revenue source? for me in this hand. In fear of scaring either player away, I just call.
The river is a 5?. Making the board K-8-3-3-5, and my 3-5 of spades is now a full boat. A lot of players will look to bet here, and they look to bet huge. I didn't. I placed a bet of 600 into the pot of 12000. This instantly gets raised to 4000 by the aggressor, and the button calls. Now is my chance to get paid big. Calling is only an option if I believe I could be beaten at this point. Like I said before, the odds are slim, and I am 99.9% sure I have the best hand, so I double the bet to 8000, leaving myself 3000 in front of me just in case. Both the aggressor and the button call and I rake a huge pot. I proudly show my 3-5, and the groans at the table start. ?You played 3-5?!?!?? ?He raised pre-flop with it!!? ? so on and so forth.
Here?s the beauty of the situation. We are at 100-200 blinds, I now have a stack of 30000+, and everyone at the table believes I will raise and play mediocre hands. So as a player, what to you do from here?
TIGHTEN UP. From that point on, I am looking only for premium hands, and I raise large when I get them. The powerful thing about being viewed as ?loose-aggressive? is that when you tighten up and raise large, people never expect your hand to be as strong as it is. About ten hands after I pulled this play off, I was dealt A-K of spades, I raised large, and was call by a middle pocket pair. When the flop hit A-K-5, no-one believed I had flopped two pair, and I was off and running with another large pot.
Here are my tips to be added to Fred?s?
1.) The perception other players have of you can get you paid more than your cards. By letting people believe I am loose and aggressive, I allow myself the opportunity to tighten up, play premiums, and get paid more in the long run. Also, by having the perception that
2.) Show your cards only when it has a powerful purpose. I wanted to show my 3-5 so people would think I always am playing weak hands. People always love showing their bluffs. Don't show your bluff unless you have the ability to not bluff for a long time. Because the more you bluff, the more likely it is you will be called. You can shoot a bear 10x's, but if you don't kill it, believe me, it will eat your face off.
3.) Know when to pump the breaks. When you get a large chip stack, don?t be afraid to play tight and wait. That?s the beauty of having a lot of chips. You no longer must be hurried to build your stack.
PS? if you don't believe perception is a powerful thing, ask Dave about my antics when he first started, and ask how many top 5's I had for that season ;-)
May your flops be plentify and the opponents rivers be bare!
Don Shearer
View Question/Blog
The following can be found at http;//pokertda.com
And I am proud to be a certified member of the Tournament Directors Association
Missing Chips by Dave Young
I had the opportunity to play a no limit texas hold`em tournament. This event was held in a casino, I survived the first couple rounds, When I arrived back at my table after the break. Another player also returned to find he had no chips in front of him. When this player asked the dealer about his chips, a tournament director was called over, the player and director stepped away from the table, and returned with a complete rack of chips. I questioned this procedure and was given no direct answer. Is there a correct ruling if I should ever have this situation happen, and what would you do? I asked for a copy of the rules they follow but one could not be found for me to read. I will not play there any more, but I would like to know if there is a solution to this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6/16/2009 8:03:49 AM Stuart Murray
Dave, Jan is quite correct in her explanation and solution. When chip stacks are in question or the pot has been interfered with it is best to collate information from cameras (where available) and also from third party players and dealers to try to reconstruct pots and stacks to as fair an amount as possible. Something like this happened to me recently when a player returned after the first break to find his stack was short on his count, the player always kept a tidy stack with piles of 10 or 20 and higher values at the front so it was easily reconstructed from other players opinion of what he should have.
6/13/2009 1:11:18 AM Jan Fisher
Al, Good points. My experience has always been in Nevada casinos and many other places don`t have the luxury of cameras etc. That said, if you don`t like the way your home casino runs things, run away and find somewhere else to play. Before you leave, try to get an audience with the CRM. They may be interested to know what you think and care why you are leaving. They are usually trying to get it right. Jan
6/12/2009 11:40:25 PM Al Wise
Dave: Sorry I gave you such a brief answer. It looks like Jan was giving you a complete answer while I was writing mine. Jan`s answer was correct (in a perfect world.) This presumes that the casino followed accepted security procedures such as: cameras on the game; accurate `impress` (that is - starting chip count;) the tables were monitored during the break; dealers didn`t have tournament chips in their tray, etc etc. It appears from the way you were treated that they don`t do things like `downtown` so your solution might have been the only one. Jan`s answer was an excellent treatise on how `things should be done.`
6/12/2009 11:10:41 PM Al Wise
Your solution was the correct one - don`t play there any more. If you are interested in pursuing this, go to the management and if you are still not satisfied, make a stink.
6/12/2009 11:07:42 PM Jan Fisher
Hi Dave, First off, in the scenario you`ve described, I would have to ask where the dealer was while the chips were disappearing. I would go to surveillance and ask that the film be rolled back. In the absence of any answers this way, I might try to poll the table (individually) to get an idea of how many chips the player had. I also would try (depending on the # of tables and players) to get an accurate chip count of the tournament and see if the chips were in play. If the table in question hadn`t lost or gained a player, then we would know that they were still on that table. I think you`d have to have the camera for some help and perhaps delay the restart of the event. I did have this happen once during an event I was running and it turns out the player next to the missing chip player had inadvertently picked them up when rearranging and stacking his chips. The camera showed it quite clearly and it looked very innocent as well. I also have seen a WSOP event (MANY years ago) when a railbird grabbed a handful of chips during a break (not realizing they weren`t negotiable) and ran out of the building. The chips had to be estimated and returned to the player. Strange things happen and sometimes the chips just have to be replaced with the best estimate of the amount you can come up with. If it is no fault of the player, then he must be taken care of. Another option may be to refund his entry or comp his next play and apologize for the problem. This would prevent more chips from entering the event... you may have to be quite creative on this one. I hope some of these ideas have helped. There is no TDA rule for this situation. Jan Fisher Cardplayercruises.com
The following can be found at http;//pokertda.com
And I am proud to be a certified member of the Tournament Directors Association
Missing Chips by Dave Young
I had the opportunity to play a no limit texas hold`em tournament. This event was held in a casino, I survived the first couple rounds, When I arrived back at my table after the break. Another player also returned to find he had no chips in front of him. When this player asked the dealer about his chips, a tournament director was called over, the player and director stepped away from the table, and returned with a complete rack of chips. I questioned this procedure and was given no direct answer. Is there a correct ruling if I should ever have this situation happen, and what would you do? I asked for a copy of the rules they follow but one could not be found for me to read. I will not play there any more, but I would like to know if there is a solution to this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6/16/2009 8:03:49 AM Stuart Murray
Dave, Jan is quite correct in her explanation and solution. When chip stacks are in question or the pot has been interfered with it is best to collate information from cameras (where available) and also from third party players and dealers to try to reconstruct pots and stacks to as fair an amount as possible. Something like this happened to me recently when a player returned after the first break to find his stack was short on his count, the player always kept a tidy stack with piles of 10 or 20 and higher values at the front so it was easily reconstructed from other players opinion of what he should have.
6/13/2009 1:11:18 AM Jan Fisher
Al, Good points. My experience has always been in Nevada casinos and many other places don`t have the luxury of cameras etc. That said, if you don`t like the way your home casino runs things, run away and find somewhere else to play. Before you leave, try to get an audience with the CRM. They may be interested to know what you think and care why you are leaving. They are usually trying to get it right. Jan
6/12/2009 11:40:25 PM Al Wise
Dave: Sorry I gave you such a brief answer. It looks like Jan was giving you a complete answer while I was writing mine. Jan`s answer was correct (in a perfect world.) This presumes that the casino followed accepted security procedures such as: cameras on the game; accurate `impress` (that is - starting chip count;) the tables were monitored during the break; dealers didn`t have tournament chips in their tray, etc etc. It appears from the way you were treated that they don`t do things like `downtown` so your solution might have been the only one. Jan`s answer was an excellent treatise on how `things should be done.`
6/12/2009 11:10:41 PM Al Wise
Your solution was the correct one - don`t play there any more. If you are interested in pursuing this, go to the management and if you are still not satisfied, make a stink.
6/12/2009 11:07:42 PM Jan Fisher
Hi Dave, First off, in the scenario you`ve described, I would have to ask where the dealer was while the chips were disappearing. I would go to surveillance and ask that the film be rolled back. In the absence of any answers this way, I might try to poll the table (individually) to get an idea of how many chips the player had. I also would try (depending on the # of tables and players) to get an accurate chip count of the tournament and see if the chips were in play. If the table in question hadn`t lost or gained a player, then we would know that they were still on that table. I think you`d have to have the camera for some help and perhaps delay the restart of the event. I did have this happen once during an event I was running and it turns out the player next to the missing chip player had inadvertently picked them up when rearranging and stacking his chips. The camera showed it quite clearly and it looked very innocent as well. I also have seen a WSOP event (MANY years ago) when a railbird grabbed a handful of chips during a break (not realizing they weren`t negotiable) and ran out of the building. The chips had to be estimated and returned to the player. Strange things happen and sometimes the chips just have to be replaced with the best estimate of the amount you can come up with. If it is no fault of the player, then he must be taken care of. Another option may be to refund his entry or comp his next play and apologize for the problem. This would prevent more chips from entering the event... you may have to be quite creative on this one. I hope some of these ideas have helped. There is no TDA rule for this situation. Jan Fisher Cardplayercruises.com
Tips
Dave asked me to write something up about poker for his web-site. I told him
sure I would, thinking this would be an easy task. At the time I had a pretty good hand in
mind that I played, why I played it, how it ended up winning, and what mistakes were
made by my opponent. But then I began thinking that the most profitable advice I could
give wouldn't be a story about how my Q-7 offsuit cracked a pair of aces(though, this is
in here). So I decided to give out a little bit of the advice which put me on the path of
being an arguably successful poker player.
There are many different topics I could discuss, and a ton of info for each one
which I'm now realizing, but I think these 4 tips would be the most beneficial for most
people, and a good starting point to help someone play solid poker and create their own
style. I've put these in order of what I feel is most important to least important.
1. Starting Hand Selection - This is the most important topic to start with when learning
to play poker. You've got to make a decision about what kinds of hands you are willing
to play, and in which situations you'll want to play them. While every poker player
knows that strong starting hands put you in a better position to win, we all know many
bad beat stories about Aces getting cracked by the likes of 2-3offsuit. However, that
should not sway you to play 2-3offsuit or hands like it in order to crack big hands. If you
take a peak at the percentages that the stronger hands win over weak hands, it will help
you decide what hands to play in which situations.
Take AK suited, one of the least favorite hands I hear people talk about. It's just
about a favorite over everything pre-flop, a 50/50 race against pairs Queens or lower,
only a 30% underdog to Kings, and it's really only destroyed by Aces, which is only the
best starting hand you can get. On the other hand, AK vs a lowly Shae hand, or the 2-3,
is only a 65% favorite pre-flop, but still a favorite. The other thing to think about before
deciding to play a hand is position. Think of your starting hand selection and your
position as a balance equation. You should play very strong hands in weak positions(first
to act till middle position) and you can play weaker hands in stronger positions. If you
are 1st to act after the deal through mid-position, your starting hands should be of the
stronger group because your position is a weak one. If you plan on playing a hand in
weak position, your opponents get to make their decisions after you for the rest of the
hand, which gives them that last-to-act power. If you are somewhere in the middle of
being between the button and the blinds you can open up your hand selection a little, but
keep in mind those acting before you probably have stronger hands. Near the button and
on the button you can play looser because you have the power to see what others do and
then make your decisions accordingly.
2. Playing in position - Probably the second most important point of playing good, solid,
successful poker is to play your opponents in position. The best position you can be in is
on the button. This position gives you full power over what happens in the hand and you
get to see everything your opponents do before making your decisions about how to play
the hand. The person who acts first in the hand has the toughest challenge in that he/she
has to bet their hand without the knowledge of what the other players are going to do.
The person last to act, on the dealer button, or just last to act in a particular hand has a
much easier job because he sees what everyone else wants to do before he/she has to
make their decision. Playing pots in position gives you the power to steal pots you
should not win if the cards were the only thing that mattered, build the pot when you have
the nuts, force players to decisions, and even check a free card if you need it.
3. How to bet - There are many different strategies to betting. One of the biggest
mistakes I see people make is not betting/raising enough or betting waaaaaaaaay too
much. A good player will keep track of the size of the pot and the sizes of their
opponents' stacks and bets and bet according to them. I learned from Phil Gordon that a
standard pre-flop raise in an unopened pot (meaning no one else has raised the action
before you) is about 3-4 Big Blinds. So if the blinds are 100-200, the first one to raise
should raise somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-800. This should probably change if
there are a few limpers in the pot because the pot is now bigger. If you raise something
like 6 or 7x the blind, to 1400, then it's 1200 to win 1900, which makes it a tougher
decision to call with rags, but still good enough for hands you will have beat if you are
following my first points above. There is such a thing as betting too much; you don't
want to bet so much that you'll only get called by hands that have you beat, or worse, you
scare out hands that you have beat.
Before I make a bet, I always ask myself a couple things. One of which is "Why am I
betting here?" If I can't give myself a good answer, (i.e.; to steal the pot, to build the pot,
to chase out draws, to make my opponent make a mistake, etc...) I don't bet.
Here's a recent example of betting too much: 4 people are in the hand, no one raised, we
all limped in, I have 8-9offsuit and I'm in middle position, blinds are 300-600, so quick
math tells you the pot is about 2400. The flop is A-A-A and 2 players check to me with
one player behind me left to act. I think about betting, then I ask myself, "Why am I
betting here?" My answer: to steal the pot, hopefully, but then I think for a second and
this is a perfect hand someone would check-raise and there is still 1 player left to act. If I
were on the button, this might be a good time to bet and try to steal, but maybe not so
much in this position with this flop. The next player checks as well, which I figured if
someone had an Ace they would do hoping someone will eventually hit a pair and pay
them off. The turn was a Q and an odd thing happened. The first player checked and the
second player went all-in for a little over 10,000. So, the pot has 4 people for 600 each,
that's 2400 in the pot, and 10,000 on top, so it's 10,000 for someone to call in order to
win 12,400. Not good odds for someone to make the call, unless they have a great hand,
which if someone has an Ace or a Queen or pretty much any pocket pair they'd probably
think they are good, right? Someone called with a Q having AAAQQ and the 1st person
had 10-high in which he/she was drawing dead. This is a great example of betting so
much that you'll only get called by hands that have you beat. Also, ask yourself this
question: "Is the 2,400 in the pot that important that I need to risk 10,000 chips hoping
that no one else has a hand and I can steal the pot right there?" This player was trying to
steal the pot, and why not? The point is that a pot-sized bet would have given him the
same information that the all-in bet did; he'd either win it right there, or someone would
call or go over the top, allowing him to either put out another bet on the next street, or
fold and still be in the game. Think about the situation you are in, try to put your
opponents on a range of hands and try to bet to cause them to make mistakes.
4. Pot Odds -Pot Odds is a term that is used to describe the amount of chips a player has
to put into the pot relative to the pot size, and the percent their hand will win. Making the
correct calls in these situations is based on making the most profitable play in the long
run, and not necessarily in an isolated scenario.
This is the reason you should keep track of the pot size. Here's an example of pot odds:
At a 100-200 level, first to act raises the minimum to 400, everyone folds to the big blind.
The pot has 400 from the raiser, 100 from the small blind and 200 already from the big
blind for a 700 chip pot. The big blind has to put in 200 more to try to win 700 that's
already in the pot, which is a little under 30% of the pot. So basically, the big blind has
to have a hand that will win at least 30% of the time to make the call profitable in the
long run. This brings me to some basic estimated winning percentages of hands, preflop:
-AK vs 23 is 65%-35%
-Any pair versus 2 overcards is basically 50%-50%
-An Ace-whatever versus any pair KKs or lower is 30%
-KKs or lower versus any Ace that's not 2 overcards is 70%
-Any live cards is between 65-35 to 55-45 depending.
-An Ace-X versus X-whatever is what's called dominating, sharing a card with your
opponent where you have the better kicker, it's 75%-25% roughly.
So unless the big blind can put the original raiser on pocket Aces without a shadow of a
doubt, calling is almost always the right play here. The big blind could also take this
opportunity to raise and put pressure back on the raiser since, as I touched on in the
position section, a reraise from the big blind would signal that he has a very good starting
hand. This doesn't take into account post-flop betting or odds after the flop, however, as
the odds change after every street. This also doesn't take into account the big blind will
play out of position the rest of the hand. But my point is only from the pot odds point of
view, any 2 cards can be a call of this min-raise.
This brings me to my storied hand. I was in a multi-table tournament down to 2
tables, edging closer to the bubble. The blinds are 2000-4000, I'm the big blind with
about 30,000 chips + my blind, give or take a few thousand. The first to act folds and the
next player has 15,000 in chips. This is a loose-aggressive player usually, but he's only
got almost 4 bets left and the blinds are coming his way soon, so he could/should push
with a lot of starting hands, I figured. He raises to 8,000, a minimum raise. Everyone
folds to me, I look down at Q-7 offsuit. To me, this is a strange bet because it leaves him
with 7,000 left over, I figure he's already put more than half his chips in and he'll most
likely have to push no matter what after the flop. I do the pot odds, which it's 4000 more
for me to call to win 14000, which is a little less than 30%, and I figure unless he's got an
overpair to my Q, or has A-Q which would have me dominated, I should at least call.
Also, I weighed in that 4000 more puts me at 26000 and I figured I'd only call his all-in if
I hit something on the flop just because that extra 7000 is so valuable to me at this point
in the tournament where most of the players have less than 10 bets. The flop comes K-Q-
5, I hit my Queen. I check to give him the opportunity to go all-in and he puts his final
7000 into the pot. Do the math here and it's 7000 to win 8000+8000+2000+7000=25000,
which is about 28% of the pot, so I have to figure I'm about 28% or over to make the call.
I thought I probably have the best hand since I knew he had to go all-in with almost
anything here. If my Q wasn't good, I'd need to hit one of the other 2 Queens or one of
the other 3 sevens. The percent of this happening is around 20%. And since I figured I
might be good with my Q, I could take that chance. Unfortunately, this guy had pocket
Aces, which makes my hand actually an 18% dog but someone smiled on me because the
turn was a 7, giving me 2 pair and the river didn't help him.
The main point of the story is that by making the minimum raise, the player
allowed me to make the call with a lot of hands that I would have much more easily
folded had he gone all-in pre-flop for just that 7000 more. The other point of the story is
that by making the min-raise and putting all-in after the flop he got exactly what he
wanted, me to call his min-raise and call his all-in. The only mistake he made was giving
me a cheap price with a weak hand to crack his strong, but beatable hand, pocket Aces.
Here's a really quick way to calculate pot odds. This is Phil Gordon's trademark
Rule of 4. Say you flop a club flush draw and your opponent goes all-in. If you call,
there will be 2 more cards to come and you want one of them to be a club, but don't
know the percent, and don't know if you should call for the draw. The easy way to figure
this out is to use the "Rule of 4": Take the number of outs you think you have, which in
this case would be 9 clubs left in the deck to make the flush, and multiply by 4. So for
this case you'd be about 36% to hit your flush after the flop. If you are trying to figure
out the percentage after the turn, it's the number of outs x2, or Phil's trademark "Rule of
2".
These rules will work any time you want to know the approx. percent that you'll hit your
hand or that your opponent will hit his hand and you can bet or call or raise accordingly.
Another example to help cement this is say you flop an open ended straight draw and
your opponent goes all-in. Well, you have 8 cards that give you a straight, 8x4 is 32, so
for the next 2 cards, you'll hit your straight about 32% of the time. You'll want to be
putting 32% of the pot or less to make a profitable call here.
Keep in mind the Rule of 4 pertains to the next 2 cards, and only the current bet,
the rule of 2 gives the approximate percent for 1 card, so if your opponent is NOT all-in,
for example and you'll have to put 35% of the pot in after the flop, if you think there'll be
a bet after that next card, then you should probably fold your open ender because you are
only about 16% to hit on that one card. There are also implied odds which factor in the
amount of chips you could get if you hit your hand, but I'm not even going to touch that
topic on this article.
This is a LOT of info and I really haven't scratched the surface of everything I
think about in every single hand I play. Starting with these tips, I think you'll start to
give me a much tougher time winning these trophies.
Thanks,
Fred "AZ" Berg
Dave asked me to write something up about poker for his web-site. I told him
sure I would, thinking this would be an easy task. At the time I had a pretty good hand in
mind that I played, why I played it, how it ended up winning, and what mistakes were
made by my opponent. But then I began thinking that the most profitable advice I could
give wouldn't be a story about how my Q-7 offsuit cracked a pair of aces(though, this is
in here). So I decided to give out a little bit of the advice which put me on the path of
being an arguably successful poker player.
There are many different topics I could discuss, and a ton of info for each one
which I'm now realizing, but I think these 4 tips would be the most beneficial for most
people, and a good starting point to help someone play solid poker and create their own
style. I've put these in order of what I feel is most important to least important.
1. Starting Hand Selection - This is the most important topic to start with when learning
to play poker. You've got to make a decision about what kinds of hands you are willing
to play, and in which situations you'll want to play them. While every poker player
knows that strong starting hands put you in a better position to win, we all know many
bad beat stories about Aces getting cracked by the likes of 2-3offsuit. However, that
should not sway you to play 2-3offsuit or hands like it in order to crack big hands. If you
take a peak at the percentages that the stronger hands win over weak hands, it will help
you decide what hands to play in which situations.
Take AK suited, one of the least favorite hands I hear people talk about. It's just
about a favorite over everything pre-flop, a 50/50 race against pairs Queens or lower,
only a 30% underdog to Kings, and it's really only destroyed by Aces, which is only the
best starting hand you can get. On the other hand, AK vs a lowly Shae hand, or the 2-3,
is only a 65% favorite pre-flop, but still a favorite. The other thing to think about before
deciding to play a hand is position. Think of your starting hand selection and your
position as a balance equation. You should play very strong hands in weak positions(first
to act till middle position) and you can play weaker hands in stronger positions. If you
are 1st to act after the deal through mid-position, your starting hands should be of the
stronger group because your position is a weak one. If you plan on playing a hand in
weak position, your opponents get to make their decisions after you for the rest of the
hand, which gives them that last-to-act power. If you are somewhere in the middle of
being between the button and the blinds you can open up your hand selection a little, but
keep in mind those acting before you probably have stronger hands. Near the button and
on the button you can play looser because you have the power to see what others do and
then make your decisions accordingly.
2. Playing in position - Probably the second most important point of playing good, solid,
successful poker is to play your opponents in position. The best position you can be in is
on the button. This position gives you full power over what happens in the hand and you
get to see everything your opponents do before making your decisions about how to play
the hand. The person who acts first in the hand has the toughest challenge in that he/she
has to bet their hand without the knowledge of what the other players are going to do.
The person last to act, on the dealer button, or just last to act in a particular hand has a
much easier job because he sees what everyone else wants to do before he/she has to
make their decision. Playing pots in position gives you the power to steal pots you
should not win if the cards were the only thing that mattered, build the pot when you have
the nuts, force players to decisions, and even check a free card if you need it.
3. How to bet - There are many different strategies to betting. One of the biggest
mistakes I see people make is not betting/raising enough or betting waaaaaaaaay too
much. A good player will keep track of the size of the pot and the sizes of their
opponents' stacks and bets and bet according to them. I learned from Phil Gordon that a
standard pre-flop raise in an unopened pot (meaning no one else has raised the action
before you) is about 3-4 Big Blinds. So if the blinds are 100-200, the first one to raise
should raise somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-800. This should probably change if
there are a few limpers in the pot because the pot is now bigger. If you raise something
like 6 or 7x the blind, to 1400, then it's 1200 to win 1900, which makes it a tougher
decision to call with rags, but still good enough for hands you will have beat if you are
following my first points above. There is such a thing as betting too much; you don't
want to bet so much that you'll only get called by hands that have you beat, or worse, you
scare out hands that you have beat.
Before I make a bet, I always ask myself a couple things. One of which is "Why am I
betting here?" If I can't give myself a good answer, (i.e.; to steal the pot, to build the pot,
to chase out draws, to make my opponent make a mistake, etc...) I don't bet.
Here's a recent example of betting too much: 4 people are in the hand, no one raised, we
all limped in, I have 8-9offsuit and I'm in middle position, blinds are 300-600, so quick
math tells you the pot is about 2400. The flop is A-A-A and 2 players check to me with
one player behind me left to act. I think about betting, then I ask myself, "Why am I
betting here?" My answer: to steal the pot, hopefully, but then I think for a second and
this is a perfect hand someone would check-raise and there is still 1 player left to act. If I
were on the button, this might be a good time to bet and try to steal, but maybe not so
much in this position with this flop. The next player checks as well, which I figured if
someone had an Ace they would do hoping someone will eventually hit a pair and pay
them off. The turn was a Q and an odd thing happened. The first player checked and the
second player went all-in for a little over 10,000. So, the pot has 4 people for 600 each,
that's 2400 in the pot, and 10,000 on top, so it's 10,000 for someone to call in order to
win 12,400. Not good odds for someone to make the call, unless they have a great hand,
which if someone has an Ace or a Queen or pretty much any pocket pair they'd probably
think they are good, right? Someone called with a Q having AAAQQ and the 1st person
had 10-high in which he/she was drawing dead. This is a great example of betting so
much that you'll only get called by hands that have you beat. Also, ask yourself this
question: "Is the 2,400 in the pot that important that I need to risk 10,000 chips hoping
that no one else has a hand and I can steal the pot right there?" This player was trying to
steal the pot, and why not? The point is that a pot-sized bet would have given him the
same information that the all-in bet did; he'd either win it right there, or someone would
call or go over the top, allowing him to either put out another bet on the next street, or
fold and still be in the game. Think about the situation you are in, try to put your
opponents on a range of hands and try to bet to cause them to make mistakes.
4. Pot Odds -Pot Odds is a term that is used to describe the amount of chips a player has
to put into the pot relative to the pot size, and the percent their hand will win. Making the
correct calls in these situations is based on making the most profitable play in the long
run, and not necessarily in an isolated scenario.
This is the reason you should keep track of the pot size. Here's an example of pot odds:
At a 100-200 level, first to act raises the minimum to 400, everyone folds to the big blind.
The pot has 400 from the raiser, 100 from the small blind and 200 already from the big
blind for a 700 chip pot. The big blind has to put in 200 more to try to win 700 that's
already in the pot, which is a little under 30% of the pot. So basically, the big blind has
to have a hand that will win at least 30% of the time to make the call profitable in the
long run. This brings me to some basic estimated winning percentages of hands, preflop:
-AK vs 23 is 65%-35%
-Any pair versus 2 overcards is basically 50%-50%
-An Ace-whatever versus any pair KKs or lower is 30%
-KKs or lower versus any Ace that's not 2 overcards is 70%
-Any live cards is between 65-35 to 55-45 depending.
-An Ace-X versus X-whatever is what's called dominating, sharing a card with your
opponent where you have the better kicker, it's 75%-25% roughly.
So unless the big blind can put the original raiser on pocket Aces without a shadow of a
doubt, calling is almost always the right play here. The big blind could also take this
opportunity to raise and put pressure back on the raiser since, as I touched on in the
position section, a reraise from the big blind would signal that he has a very good starting
hand. This doesn't take into account post-flop betting or odds after the flop, however, as
the odds change after every street. This also doesn't take into account the big blind will
play out of position the rest of the hand. But my point is only from the pot odds point of
view, any 2 cards can be a call of this min-raise.
This brings me to my storied hand. I was in a multi-table tournament down to 2
tables, edging closer to the bubble. The blinds are 2000-4000, I'm the big blind with
about 30,000 chips + my blind, give or take a few thousand. The first to act folds and the
next player has 15,000 in chips. This is a loose-aggressive player usually, but he's only
got almost 4 bets left and the blinds are coming his way soon, so he could/should push
with a lot of starting hands, I figured. He raises to 8,000, a minimum raise. Everyone
folds to me, I look down at Q-7 offsuit. To me, this is a strange bet because it leaves him
with 7,000 left over, I figure he's already put more than half his chips in and he'll most
likely have to push no matter what after the flop. I do the pot odds, which it's 4000 more
for me to call to win 14000, which is a little less than 30%, and I figure unless he's got an
overpair to my Q, or has A-Q which would have me dominated, I should at least call.
Also, I weighed in that 4000 more puts me at 26000 and I figured I'd only call his all-in if
I hit something on the flop just because that extra 7000 is so valuable to me at this point
in the tournament where most of the players have less than 10 bets. The flop comes K-Q-
5, I hit my Queen. I check to give him the opportunity to go all-in and he puts his final
7000 into the pot. Do the math here and it's 7000 to win 8000+8000+2000+7000=25000,
which is about 28% of the pot, so I have to figure I'm about 28% or over to make the call.
I thought I probably have the best hand since I knew he had to go all-in with almost
anything here. If my Q wasn't good, I'd need to hit one of the other 2 Queens or one of
the other 3 sevens. The percent of this happening is around 20%. And since I figured I
might be good with my Q, I could take that chance. Unfortunately, this guy had pocket
Aces, which makes my hand actually an 18% dog but someone smiled on me because the
turn was a 7, giving me 2 pair and the river didn't help him.
The main point of the story is that by making the minimum raise, the player
allowed me to make the call with a lot of hands that I would have much more easily
folded had he gone all-in pre-flop for just that 7000 more. The other point of the story is
that by making the min-raise and putting all-in after the flop he got exactly what he
wanted, me to call his min-raise and call his all-in. The only mistake he made was giving
me a cheap price with a weak hand to crack his strong, but beatable hand, pocket Aces.
Here's a really quick way to calculate pot odds. This is Phil Gordon's trademark
Rule of 4. Say you flop a club flush draw and your opponent goes all-in. If you call,
there will be 2 more cards to come and you want one of them to be a club, but don't
know the percent, and don't know if you should call for the draw. The easy way to figure
this out is to use the "Rule of 4": Take the number of outs you think you have, which in
this case would be 9 clubs left in the deck to make the flush, and multiply by 4. So for
this case you'd be about 36% to hit your flush after the flop. If you are trying to figure
out the percentage after the turn, it's the number of outs x2, or Phil's trademark "Rule of
2".
These rules will work any time you want to know the approx. percent that you'll hit your
hand or that your opponent will hit his hand and you can bet or call or raise accordingly.
Another example to help cement this is say you flop an open ended straight draw and
your opponent goes all-in. Well, you have 8 cards that give you a straight, 8x4 is 32, so
for the next 2 cards, you'll hit your straight about 32% of the time. You'll want to be
putting 32% of the pot or less to make a profitable call here.
Keep in mind the Rule of 4 pertains to the next 2 cards, and only the current bet,
the rule of 2 gives the approximate percent for 1 card, so if your opponent is NOT all-in,
for example and you'll have to put 35% of the pot in after the flop, if you think there'll be
a bet after that next card, then you should probably fold your open ender because you are
only about 16% to hit on that one card. There are also implied odds which factor in the
amount of chips you could get if you hit your hand, but I'm not even going to touch that
topic on this article.
This is a LOT of info and I really haven't scratched the surface of everything I
think about in every single hand I play. Starting with these tips, I think you'll start to
give me a much tougher time winning these trophies.
Thanks,
Fred "AZ" Berg
Title - The power of position
Before the second tournament last night, I had been discussing position with a couple of the other regular poker players. Let’s call one of them J. for the purpose of this story.
We are into the third blind of the second tournament of the evening, and I’m sitting on the big blind with 600 in the middle. The first person to act raises to 2400 and everyone begins to fold. I look down the table and I see J. fold his cards and I realize that whatever the first to act has, I will have position to bet if everyone else folds. Everyone indeed folds to me and I instantly call.
I look down and see a Q 8 that are unsuited.
Yes, that’s right, I called instantly without looking. I’m pretty sure that I am the only one that knew that at the time, but my game plan for this hand wasn’t luck, it was position.
The flop lands A Q 9 rainbow, and as the last card hits the felt my hands are already moving 3200 in chips into the middle. I am showing aggression that my opponent did not expect, based on his momentary pause before calling. I also showed some commitment to the pot based on the bet slightly over 5x the blind, a little over half the pot.
The next card is a 4, so no obvious help to anyone at the table. As the 4 hits the felt, I move 3600 into the middle. My opponent is now visibly disturbed and pauses, then reluctantly calls.
Now, at this point I have a decision to make. Go all in, check or fire at the (now sizeable) pot again. What do I think my opponent has? By this time I had put my opponent on a pair of kings or an ace with a decent kicker. I have no doubt that I have the worst hand. Do I look at my cards? No. Do I look at my stack? No. Do I have a shot at winning this hand? Yes. Position. That’s it, just position. I decide on what I will do before the last card is out, I’m going to go for it.
The last card is a 6. As it hits the felt, I announce that I am going to bet. I glance at the pot, then at my chips and I quickly put 5200 in the middle.
My opponent grimaces as he mulls it over. He has committed some serious chips to this pot hoping to get a check on the river, and the check doesn’t happen. Instead he gets what appears to be a serious value bet that will hurt his stack a lot. He looks at his cards one final time and tosses them into the muck.
I offer to show one of my cards to my opponent and turn over the queen, to which he says, “I know you had another one of those.” I toss the other card into the muck and take a glance at J. to see if he had figured out what had just happened.
Am I giving away part of my strategy by sharing this with you? Call me and find out.
I’ll see you at the tables.
-Rich Hanula