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Position in poker

Sunday, February 20th, 2011 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | 1 Comment

Submitted by Matthew Tonge this article about position in poker belongs to the Poker Strategy Series.

This is the last article in a series describing 5 key steps  to become a winning poker player. The topic at hand is position in poker.

Overview of the entire article series

1. Which starting hands to play in poker
2. Poker hand strength
3. Bet sizing in poker
4. Aggression in poker
5. Position in poker

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Position in poker

Summary: Play less hands when in early position. Having position in a hand gives you an advantage.

If you watch poker on TV, you will hear the commentators talk about ‘position.’ “He’s going to play this out of position”, “She will have position for the rest of this hand.” But what is position? Put simply, it is based on when it is your turn to act in relation to the other players. So, if you are first to act after the blinds have been posted (also known as under the gun), you are in early position. A player who is in early position is also referred to as being ‘out of position.’ The closer you get to the dealer button, the later your position. If you are on the button you are always last to act, and you will be ‘in position.’ Being ‘in position’ gives you an advantage, as it means you will be able to see other players act first, and gather information about the strength of their hands before you have to make your decision.

Restrict your playing range in early position

Generally, you need a stronger hand to play in early position than you do in later position. For example, if you get a hand such as King-Ten suited, which can look quite nice, in early position, you are best folding. You still have most of the players at the table to act behind you, and there is a good chance someone will have a better hand. And if you decide to play, they are going to gather information from you before they have to act – giving them the advantage. However, if you get dealt the same hand on the button, and everyone folds around to you, then you can certainly play. You only have the blinds left to act, and so there is less of a chance that there is a better hand than yours out there. You should make a raise. And if the big blind, for example, opts to call, you will ‘have position’ on him, and the advantage will be yours.

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Open up your playing hand range in later positions

Also, hands such as suited connectors and 1-gappers, such as 5-7 hearts, are best played in position, as you have the chance to see a free card when other players check to you, and you get to hit your straights and flushes without paying too much. If you play these hands out of position and check, a player in later position is more likely to bet to try to win the pot, which makes seeing another card more expensive. If you have a hand that you would like to play, such as King-Queen suited, and you are in middle position, raise. This may force everyone behind you to fold, giving you position for the rest of the hand if you get a call from the blinds. If you just call, there is more of a chance that others behind you will also call, meaning they will have position on you.

Matthew Tonge

For free poker tutorial videos, please visit my YouTube page at you tube.com/unkempt27

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

Aggression in poker

Friday, February 18th, 2011 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Matthew Tonge this article about aggression in poker belongs to the Poker Strategy Series.

This article series contains 5 key steps  to go from break-even to a winning player in poker. This fourth step deals with aggression in poker.

Overview of the entire article series

1. Which starting hands to play in poker
2. Poker hand strength
3. Bet sizing in poker
4. Aggression in poker
5. Position in poker

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Aggression in poker

Summary: Be the aggressor – you have more chance to win the pot if you don‘t have a good hand, and you can build a nice big pot if you do have a good hand. And don’t give your opponents cheap cards to beat you.

Be more aggressive! So, you’ve learned to fold your weaker hands. But what about hands you do want to play? Beginners tend to ‘limp in’ (call the big blind) too often pre-flop, and just call other players’ bets on later streets (on the flop, turn and river). You should try to bet and raise more often. This gives you a better chance to win the hand right away, as you will look like you have a strong hand, whether you really do or not! Also, if you have pocket aces, you don’t want to limp in and risk having 5 or 6 other players in the pot, as there is a higher chance that one of them will beat you. With every extra opponent you have, the chances of your Aces winning decrease. In fact, if your Aces are up against 4 other hands, you are more likely to lose than to win. You should raise, ’thinning the field ie. Forcing other players to fold and hoping to get only one or two callers,’ meaning a higher chance that your aces will remain best. If you have Ace-Queen, and raised before the flop, your opponents already believe you have a strong hand. Therefore, even if you completely miss the flop, you can bet again and still win! If you flop 2 pair, you want to build up a nice big pot as you are likely to have the best hand. You aren’t going to achieve this by checking and calling. Also, you don’t want to give your opponents the chance to see cheap, or even free, cards to beat you.

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An example of aggression in poker

Take this hand for example. You are in early position and are dealt Ace-King off suit. You raise, and the button and the big blind call. The flop comes King, Nine, Eight, with 2 hearts. The fist player to act checks. Now, you have a strong hand – top pair, top kicker, and you might not want to scare your opponents away and not make any more money from the hand. But there are 2 hearts on the flop, and a possible straight draw if your opponents have a hand such as Ten-Jack. So you need to bet. Do not make it cheap for them to beat you. And if they fold, remember it is better to win a small pot than lose a large one!

Matthew Tonge

For free poker tutorial videos, please visit my YouTube page at you tube.com/unkempt27

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

Bet sizing in poker

Sunday, February 13th, 2011 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Matthew Tonge this article about bet sizing in poker belongs to the Poker Strategy Series.

This series of articles covers 5 key steps  to go from novice to a winning player in poker. The third step deals with bet sizing in poker.

Overview of the entire article series

1. Which starting hands to play in poker
2. Poker hand strength
3. Bet sizing in poker
4. Aggression in poker
5. Position in poker

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Bet Sizing in poker

Summary: Remember what you are trying to achieve by betting or raising. The size of your bets and raises should be big enough to achieve this.

Bet sizing early in tournaments

So you now know when you need to bet, and why. But how much? Like we said, you don’t want to give away cheap cards. If you want to raise pre-flop in the early stages of a tournament when the blinds are 10 and 20, making a minimum raise to 40 is usually a bad play. If you have a strong hand, and want to minimize the amount of opponents you have, this is unlikely to achieve that. If a player was willing to pay 20 chips to see a flop, they will probably pay 40. Generally, you want to raise to 3 to 4 times the size of the big blind in the early stages when the blinds are small. The same applies to cash games when the blinds remain the same.

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Bet sizing late in tournaments

In the later stages of a tournament, when the blinds increase, 2 ½ to 3 times the big blind should be enough. If your opponent has a flush draw and there is 500 chips in the pot, it is pointless betting 50. Your opponent is not going to fold for 50 chips. You should generally bet between half the size of the pot and the size of the pot. So, in this case, between 250 and 500. Also, if you have a very strong hand on the river, for example, and you want your opponent to call your bet, you must size your bet accordingly. Let’s say there is 1,000 chips in the pot, and you both have around 3,000 chips left in your stacks. Going all in is likely to scare your opponent off most hands, and if you don’t have the absolute nuts, then a shove will only be called by a hand that beats you. Betting around half the pot is much more likely to be called by a hands which yours beats but still has some showdown value.

Matthew Tonge

For free poker tutorial videos, please visit my youtube page at you tube.com/unkempt27, and check out Quicksilver if you’re looking to play slot games.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

Poker hand strength

Sunday, February 6th, 2011 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Matthew Tonge this article about poker hand strength belongs to the Poker Strategy Series.

Matthew recently submitted an article series about 5 key steps  to go from beginner to winner in poker. The second step is all about mastering the concept of poker hand strength

Overview of the entire article series

1. Which starting hands to play in poker
2. Poker hand strength
3. Bet sizing in poker
4. Aggression in poker
5. Position in poker

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Poker hand strength

Summary: Don’t fall in love with your hands. Some look nice at first, but if the action gets too hot, throw them away!

The strength of your poker hand is relative to the strength of your opponents’ hands. You are on the button and are dealt Ace-Jack. That’s a good hand. If it is folded around to you, there is a good chance that your hand is best. But let’s say that a player in early position raises, and then a player in middle position re-raises. Now, do you still think your Ace-Jack is strong? Remember what we said about needing a stronger hand the earlier your position. The player who raised in early position probably has a strong hand. Then the person who re-raised said “hey, I know you probably have a strong hand, but my hand is even stronger!” A good player will probably not re-raise here with a hand worse than yours, like Ace-Ten or King-Queen. In other words, your hand is almost certainly behind! It is a slight underdog to a pair of tens or lower, is a big underdog to Jack-Jack, Queen-Queen, King-King, Ace-King and Ace-Queen, and is a huge underdog to Ace-Ace. The beginner would still want to play the Ace-Jack. The intelligent player will realize that it is no longer good enough, and fold.

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So, be more selective about which hands you play, try not to play too many hands out of position, don’t be passive – be aggressive, bet an amount that will achieve what you want to achieve, and pay attention to the strength your opponents are showing. If you can do these, you will be well on your way to becoming a competent poker player.

Matthew Tonge

For free poker tutorial videos, please visit my youtube page at you tube.com/unkempt27

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

Which starting hands to play in poker?

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Matthew Tonge this article about which starting hands to play in poker belongs to the Poker Strategy Series.

Matthew wrote an article series about 5 steps you can implement in your poker game to go from beginner to winner. The first step is about which starting hands to play in poker and how a more strict poker hand selection will improve your win-rate.

Overview of the entire article series

1. Which starting hands to play in poker
2. Poker hand strength
3. Bet sizing in poker
4. Aggression in poker
5. Position in poker

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1. Which starting hands to play in poker?
Summary: Don’t waste chips on weak hands!

So, you’ve learned the rules of No-limit Texas Hold ‘em – you know the difference between a blind and an ante, and that a flush beats a straight. But there’s a lot more to the game than mere rules. Make these 5 changes to your game and you’ll go from a beginner to a competent poker player in no time!

Play fewer hands. One of the biggest giveaways as to which players are beginners and which are more advanced is the number of hands they play. A beginner will play far too many hands. King-7 suited, Jack-Ten off suit, Ace-6 suited. Almost any two cards can seem playable to the novice. But the more advanced player realizes that too many chips are lost by playing these weak hands.

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If you are playing a tournament, then the blinds increase at regular intervals, meaning that even more chips are wasted the later in the tournament you are. Also, other players will realize that you play too many hands, and will know that most of the time you have trash. There are, of course, instances where these cards can be played – namely when in late position when the action has been folded to you (see number 2), but, in general, learn to fold, save some chips, and wait for a stronger hand.

Matthew Tonge

For free poker tutorial videos, please visit my YouTube page at you tube.com/unkempt27

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

Full stack vs half stack poker strategy

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | 4 Comments

Submitted by Adam, this article belongs to the Poker Strategy series.

Adam wrote the article below about full stack vs half stack poker strategy. What do you prefer?

There are lots of playing styles that you can adopt in NLHE cash games.  One of the most common approaches is LAG vs TAG, however we can also split poker strategy into two more topics, namely short stack and full stack.

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Half Stack Strategy
Half stack strategy involves buying into tables with 50BBs.  The idea is that you will re-buy when you sink below 40BBs and you will leave the table once you lose around 100BBs.
The main advantage to half stack strategy – as opposed to full stack strategy which involves buying in with 100BBs – is that it makes your poker strategy simpler.

Half stack strategy is very common among new players since it hardly requires any skill or post-flop reading ability (it is also advantageous to sit down with a half-stack in order to make the regulars think that you are a fish). Playing with a half stack means that you’ll only be playing your top 10% of hands pre-flop i.e. AJ+/JJ+. The idea is that you can shove all-in with premium hands pre-flop and stack off with opponents whilst you’re ahead.  When you’re dealt mid-pocket pairs in LP than you simply 3bet or shove all-in against open-raisers as opposed to slow-playing.  The value of pocket pairs and premium cards AJ+ goes up massively in half stack strategy since these hands are good enough to commit your entire stack with pre-flop.  You will win a lot of dead money pots, particularly against weak players open-raising from the blinds or opponents 3betting light in front of you.

The downside to half stack strategy is that you can’t afford to play as many hands.  You’ll be sat out of the game more, and a major consequence is that when you do get a strong hand your table image will be too strong to get enough calling value from.  For example, if you’ve been say out the entire game and suddenly 3bet AK from UTG then all the decent players will be folding around you.  You can no longer afford to limp marginal hands like suited connectors (76s) out of position,  and your implied odds for set-mining and floating bets with combo-draws going way down since your effective stack is so small.  With a half stack you can’t afford to limp to see flops since the stack to pot odds won’t be in your favor.

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Full Stack Strategy
Full stack strategy is more common in the higher stakes cash games.  Having a full stack (i.e. 100BBs+) enables you do adopt a loose-aggressive strategy.  You can widen your pre-flop hand range to 30% and start limping your marginal hands like suited connectors 56s or even 3betting them light from position. The concept also applies to tournament strategy.

The main advantage to full stack strategy is that it makes more hands playable.  Set-mining with low to mid pocket pairs becomes more profitable since your effective stack is large and you will win more from monster hands on the flop.  You can also afford to start floating bets or semi-bluffing drawing hands in position which gives you a better chance of winning the pot.  With a small stack both of these moves would become unprofitable, since you wouldn’t get the fold equity required from regulars at the table.

With regards to full stack vs half stack strategy, the only realistic downside to full stack is that you need to be better to implement it.  You can end up losing more chips with a full stack from a single hand (e.g. AA running into sets) and you need to have excellent post-flop reading skills to be able to fold and recognize when you’re behind.  If you’re interested in learning full stack strategy than I suggest buying/reading a few high quality poker ebooks that are written by high stakes cash pros like Nguyen or Aaron Davis.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy

3 betting in poker

Sunday, August 29th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games, Poker Strategy | 1 Comment

Submitted by Cory, this article belong to the Poker Strategy series.

3 betting in poker by Cory the lead singer in corywilkinsband.com.

Poker goes through cycles and evolutions and the current state of no limit focuses a lot on pre-flop action.  Whether it’s tournaments with short stacks and fast blinds, or four bet bluffing 300BBS deep in a cash game how you’re playing pre-flop, notice I said, “how,” not, “what,” is going to set up your story for the rest of the hand.

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Right now, I just want to talk about 3 betting.  I know a lot of people watch shows like High Stakes Poker and just can’t figure out why Durrrr is 3 betting with Ten 7 off suit.  There is a rhyme and reason for different 3 betting strategies and the most important factors are stack size, position and opponent.

Importance of stack sizes

Let’s talk first about stack size.  If you’re 100BBS deep or less, your 3 betting range is going to include the top of your range, AA, KK, QQ, JJ as well as the middle of your range, hands like 88 and KQO.

When you’re deeper stacked, hands in the middle of your range become great implied odds hands, so you may not want to 3 bet them as often.  If you and your opponent are 200BBS deep, why 3 bet 88 pre-flop?  If you’re 15BBS deep, your shipping it.  Many people don’t account enough for stack sizes.  The problem with 3 betting a hand like 88 when we’re 200BBS deep is what do I do when I get 4 bet?  I have way more to gain and far less to lose by just calling a raise with a strong implied odds hand than I do by possibly getting 4 bet off of it or risk getting way too much money in the middle in a marginal spot.

However, when I’m deep I’ll need to polarize my 3 betting range so my opponents don’t know whether I have aces or not.  I’ve found that good hands to do this with are hands that I can throw away easily when I’m 4 bet, I can easily continuation bet and fold to a raise on the flop if I need to and when I do go to showdown I help my image be a little more crazy by showing that I 3 bet with jack 8.

Why 3 betting will make your decisions easier on later streets

Your next factor is position.  You’ll need a slightly different range based on your position.  I tend to three bet hands like AK, AQ, TT and 99 more often out of position than I do in position.  The two main factors I’ll need going to the flop are position and initiative.  Since I can’t have position, I’ll take the initiative and be the last aggressor pre-flop.  Also, sometimes my opponent will fold and I’ll take down the hand without any post-flop decisions.

By taking the lead with a 3 bet, I’m trying to negate my positional disadvantage as much as I can.  I can now continuation bet a lot more flops successfully since people play far more straightforward in 3 bet pots than they do in 2 bet pots.  If I just flat with Tens out of position and the flop comes Q, 8, 3, now what do I do?  Donk bet?  Check raise?  If I check raise, what do I do on the turn if my opponent calls?  Now the pot is getting huge and he could easily have a hand like AQ or KQ or QQ for that matter.

If I put in a reraise pre-flop the action might look like this.

1. Opponent opens from LP for 3X.
2. I reraise from SB to 9X with TT.
3. BB folds and original raiser calls.
4. Flop is Q, 8, 3 rainbow with 19BBS in the pot.  I’ll bet about 2/3 pot or 12BBS and generally take down a nice pot and my opponent’s range is much better defined if he should call.

The other huge upshot in this example is I was able to get the pot heads up and create dead money which is the best kind to have in the middle.

If I had just flatted with my tens, the hand may look like this.

1. Opponent opens from LP to 3X.
2. I call from the SB and the BB calls making a pot of 9X going to the flop.
3. Flop is Q, 8, 3 rainbow, I check and BB checks.
4. The original raiser makes it 2/3 pot or 6BBS to go and I raise to see where I’m at and get value against hands that I still beat.  I’m going to have to raise to at least 15X here which should fold out the BB.
5. The original raiser calls. Now the pot is 39BBS and I’m just realizing that I might be in a lot of trouble.  Do I lead the turn hoping he’ll fold?  That’ll need to be a pretty substantial bet now.  At least 25X.  Now I’ve got 43X in there and have no idea what’s going on.

Do I check the turn and let him just fire away?  Yes my opponent is betting queens here, but if he’s tricky he might have seen through my flop check raise and have floated the flop to fire at the turn.

Also keep in mind, I picked about the driest board possible for this example.  This hand just got pretty complicated without a flush draw or straight draw.

Choosing your opponents

The final consideration is who I’m up against.  I want to 3 bet players that open with a wide range and it’s even better if they tend to fold sometimes.  If I’m against someone who goes to showdown a lot I’ll need to 3 bet more on the top end of my range because though I may be ahead of his opening range I might be in trouble against his showdown range and he’s not folding enough to make it worth it.

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Unless you’re more of a smallball player, you need to work on your situational 3 betting.  It will help establish you as the table captain and will get you tons of action because your opponents won’t remember the times you 3 bet with AA because they would 3 bet with AA.  However, they’ll remember when you 3 bet with K9 because they’ll think you’re crazy and put you on air more frequently than they should.  To help you get more aggressive, play a bit of 6 max.  Good luck and happy reraising.

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Running bad in poker

Monday, August 16th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games, Poker Strategy | 2 Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker Strategy series.

Cory wrote the article below about running bad in poker….something I’ve experienced myself lately. If you have time check out his band’s website at corywilkinsband.com.

We’ve all been there before, it’s called running bad. What is running bad though? It’s actually a combination of a few things.

First, never picking up hands. Remember, in low stakes cash games your opponents are calling too much, so your goal is to make strong hands and get maximum value. If you don’t get strong hands, your bluffs are not going to be effective enough to keep you winning. The last thing you want to do in a low stakes game is bluff off all of your money.

The second part of running bad is getting cold decked. You have KK and he happens to wake up with AA the last three times. Oh and the last time you had AA against KK, he flopped a King.

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Then you have running bad in the form of never getting your good hands up against strong second best hands. You raise pre-flop with Aces and everyone folds. The flush draw finally comes home, you bet and everyone folds. This can be particularly frustrating in low stakes cash since you expect to get action almost every time you hit big.

Another kind of running bad is when you have a lot of small and medium pairs and go a long time without flopping a set. Or you have open ended straight draws, flush draws, or even big combo draws that don’t ever seem to come home. There hands you need to play and put some money in the pot with, but you need to catch a card or two to rake the big pot.

Now that we know what running bad really is, how do we deal with it? It can be very difficult, but too many otherwise winning players either blame bad luck too much when they make mistakes, or they change their game too much when they’re just running below expectation.

All winning players analyze their hands after losing sessions and winning sessions, but if you’re honest with yourself, way more analysis happens after a big loss. This is because if you are a long term winner, you have an expectation to have more winning sessions than losing sessions. While this may be true, it doesn’t stop even the strongest players from running bad for a while. The worst thing a good player can do is start to make drastic changes to their game.

My local card room runs a promotion where any time you have a flush or better you fill out a little ticket that gets submitted in to a drawing which takes place every half hour Friday through Saturday nights. The winner of each drawing gets $200, so the more flushes, boats, quads or straight flushes you get, the better chance you have of winning one of the drawings. I recently went through a run where I played two times a week, for five hours or more per session for about a month and never qualified for a single ticket. That means I went something like eight, five hour or more sessions without making a hand as strong as a flush. Let’s face it, beating low stakes cash is very difficult when you never hit hands. I did not find a way to somehow come out ahead over this sample size, but here are some things that helped me get through it with my bankroll intact and never going on tilt.

First, I know I’m a winning player. I needed to keep my confidence up. There’s a huge difference between losing because I played badly and losing because I had ten pocket pairs and never flopped a set and had four missed flush draws in two hours. If I let my confidence drop, I’m going to start playing sub-optimally and start losing even more.

The second thing is to avoid trying to make something happen. I found my best fix was just to stay patient and stick to my standard game plan. Eventually the cards will come to me and the action will come along with it. I didn’t start trying to bluff more to make up for the pots I was losing, if I saw a bluffing opportunity I would take it, but I didn’t force the action any more than I would if I were running hot. In fact, maybe even a little less since my table mates know I’m losing and since most people try to push harder when they’re stuck, that is exactly what many of my opponents would expect me to do.

The third thing I do is what I like to call a line check. I have a couple of friends who I feel comfortable discussing strategy with, who think on my level or higher and I go over some hands with them without giving away the result before they check my line, or the actions I took in the hand. They tell me if my line is good, or not without having the meaningless results of the hand to influence their opinions. I also will do line checks when I’m winning, so my friends don’t know if they’re analyzing a hand that I won or a hand that I lost.

The final thing I do is I leave it at the table. When I have a losing night, or week, or month I don’t take it home with me. I don’t worry about it, I don’t lose sleep over it, I don’t bore my friends with bad beat stories. Sometimes the best thing to do for your poker game is get as far out of your poker head space as possible for a while.

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Remember, you will run bad. You’ll be bad beat, you’ll finally hit the nuts and not get action, you’ll be cold decked, but only you have control over how much it effects you. Keep this in mind during a down swing. Someone with the most elementary understanding of poker will win close to the same amount as you, a known winning player will when they’re running hot. The only way to tell a good player from a bad player is by how much they lose back when they run bad. You find out just how good you are when you’re not getting hands. It’s pretty hard to not win when you’re getting nut flushes against second nut flushes, or top set against bottom set etcetera. The poker skill really comes in when things aren’t working and you can still keep your head above water.

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Why are your bet sizes so important

Friday, August 13th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Why are your bet sizes so important?

There are countless amounts of poker players who never take into consideration how important it is to correctly size their bets based on the situation they are in.  Since you can bet any amount of chips in no limit Texas hold-em tournaments, it is easy to understand how deciding how much to bet might get a little tricky. The most important piece of advice I can give you is to think about is “When you bet, bet or a reason”.  In other words, what are you intending to do by potentially risking your chips when you throw them in the pot? For instance, if you have the “nuts” you don’t want to scare your opponent away by betting too high do you? Or perhaps you have nothing and want to scare him away. How much would you bet in this situation? With poker being such a dynamic game, this analogy is all but a small fraction of what can happen at the table.

Furthermore, what if your opponents notice that your bets are changing. They may be able to get reads on you if you if you alter your bet amounts when you are in the same situations. Maybe you c-bet high when you miss and low when you hit. These reads can and will be picked up by good players. But how do you know exactly what you are betting all the time? You can’t possibly remember each percentage you decided to raise in each particular hand! This is the first variable of the game which increases the chance for players to make mistakes.

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Playing against drawing hands in online poker

Monday, August 2nd, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy | No Comments

Submitted by Chris, this article belongs to the Poker Strategy series.

Chris submitted the article below on playing against drawing hands when the draw hits.

One of the most annoying things in poker is when a draw (that you’re not on) hits.  This brief article offers suggestions to help make the experience less annoying and more profitable.

In General, Exercise Caution
If you’re betting a made hand into a drawy board, and the draw comes in on the river, you need to take the time to analyze the situation at hand. Look at the texture of the board and the actions of your opponent through the hand, and see if the two correlate. If your opponent three bet preflop, and checks the flop and turn of a 34k5 board, then bets when the 6 hits, it doesn’t add up. Likewise, if your opponent limped preflop, then called bets on a 45K2dd board and the 8 of diamonds peels off on the river, a bet from him should probably be given a lot more respect than normal.

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When the Draw Hits on the Turn

If the flop has a obvious flush or straight draw that comes in on the turn, position is paramount. If in position, base your play on your opponent’s reaction to the drawing card and your relative hand strength.  Like most hold em tips, this is easy to say but not quite as easy to execute.   If your hand has potential to outdraw a drawing hand; you have the nut flush draw when the third diamond hits, the draw to a better straight when the straight hits, it may be best to take a free card and try to peel the winner, without leading out again and getting check-raised to an amount that prevents you from calling. Out of position, or with a non improvable hand, the decision is trickier, but betting out and reevaluating is the best normal line; if your opponent doesn’t have the draw, he’ll generally duck out of the way, and if he does, you’ll find out in the form of a call or a raise.

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When the Draw Hits on the River

When the draw comes in on the river, in position, these decisions are much easier; you don’t have the looming threat of another street to deal with. If your opponent checks, you can probably safely bet your good hands, unless you think the player is capable of check raising with a hand that connected. If your opponent bets, use judgment, pot odds, and your relative hand strength in making the call or fold.  For example, in Rush Poker, players are not as likely to get to the river with a backdoor draw. Good players recognize when draws come in that they can represent; be aware of that when a tricky player fires into you on the river when a draw makes. If you’re out of position, it’s pretty hard to fire again when the draw hits, so checking and calling or checking and folding, depending on those factors listed, is usually the best option. The last thing you want to do is bet out and get raised. If you don’t have the draw yourself, most of the time you’ll be hard pressed to find a call.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy