Money won is twice as sweet as the money earned. This is well known in all systems and sports. However when it comes to poker, less the money actually won is twice as sweet.
Imagine sitting in a waiting room and trying to read your waiting room handbook. You’ll probably know what the hand is for, how much to bet, what the big blind is, and what position you are in. You read the hand quite well, and can tell there are several playable hands. You decide not to bet and just call the blind. The play proceeds normally and you get your chips into the pot. All of a sudden you have half a millionsecret Weaponson the 200/600 blinds.
That’s just one of the ways you can think of this little scenario.
In reality it’s not as easy as you might think to procedure. Most of the time you have to wait several hands before getting a playable hand. You always wait for the all-in situation. This means that even when you have a half decent hand you can bet the minimum bet and still get called or raised by someone.
If you are in an early position it’s generally a hand or hands you might want to stay away from. You don’t want to unknown hands or raises quite yet until you know who you’re facing. You are also increasingly likely to get called when you go all-in. So unless you have a really big hand, it might be a better idea to wait a bit and only call if you have a reasonably decent hand (and an opponent that is likely to raise or re-raise).
Now although a million secret weapons is still a secret weapon (as is any secret weapon you might have planned before your actually decide to use it) I actually recommend using one or two or three of these every once in a while. You won’t use them every time you play, but over time you should be able to pick up quite a decent pot each time you do decide to use it.
So now to explain why you might want to consider using it, why it might actually help you. Suppose you are in the small blind. Every one has folded to you. The blinds are around 130/300, the spread to you is probably something like 50/100, which if the blinds and antes stay the same, means you should get around 25 big blinds before seeing the flop with this hand.
And although that sounds like a pretty good hand (two pair, top kicker, no draws) we all know how often that kind of thing goes off. A flop like 9-4-2. unlikely, but it can happen. Now you don’t know what to do, you have no possible way to win this hand unless your opponent has a monster (and he will know when he has a monster). And most (all?) players who have a pocket pair will have a higher probability than you do of making a full house on the flop.
So what should you do?
If you have 25 big blinds and you are in the big blind and there is 150,000 in chips in play, call. If you have 25 and there is 150,000 in chips in play and your opponent makes a 1,650,000 bet. Think about it. Odds are he will have at least a pair, and probably a bigger one. Even if he raises you in this situation, you will have at most, say 30 chips, left. Then you can free up your chips in the middle and maybe get paid off when you hit a monster.
Before you act to learn even more Texas Hold Em Dewalive tips have a think about a time when you have faced a situation like this before. Have you got a mental picture of the players, the cards, the bets, what you each did, and how you all checked the hand, so you know exactly what to do? If you have a plan before you start playing poker, you will be much more likely to succeed.
And if you don’t want to lose your own chips to the more experienced players your you’re really better off staying out of the Texas Hold Em Poker tournament game altogether.
When the you’re in late position and there are no raises in front of you, you can call with a wide range of hands. This is the situation to play against the worst players. They won’t be raising, but when they do have a hand, you will end up paying dearly for it.
Be careful though, and you should header anyone who raises you to a big raise or re-raise. It’s amazing how often this happens.
While you can’t influence what cards come out and what cards you don’t, you can make some sensible decisions based on the range of cards you might be facing.