Tag Archives: all-in
Free Online Poker Guide To The Art Of Moving All In
Whether you play free online poker or for big stakes going All-In is just about the most heavy duty poker move of all. Generally you should only consider moving all in if you have a hand that stands a good chance against powerful hands such as A-K and A-Q which are the most common hands played all-in.
This is because these are the hands also most willing to call. Which hands, then, are we willing to put our tournament life on? Pocket pairs spring to mind. So does A-K (or A-Q or even K-Q suited or K-J suited if you are running out of chips)
But someone does it differently. I would like to add that here; player B is an impatient, rowdy player who is familiar to us TV poker fans.
BLINDS 12k/24k
A has Ad-Kd raises 75k
A’s raise is simply standard for A-K suited, though it is slightly stronger (the average preflop raise is about 2.5x the big blind, but this raise is a little more than thrice). But look at B’s move, which might be less standard:
B has 10c-5c moves all-in 544k
What about that: a 10-5? With about 22 big blinds left, which is relatively a short-stack (but not so short), B moves all-in. However with a 10-5? B can wait for slightly better hands than this.
Now let us try to justify the 10-5 in this situation. If B did it with a small pair, he is a slight favourite (about 55-45). If with A-x (with x smaller than a King), he is a significant underdog (about 75-25).
With any 2 cards apart from A or K he much less the underdog (approx. 66-34). So with the win-rate of 10-5 against Ace King (B deciding that A’s hand is Ace King or alike is a gamble; if he is up against Ace Ace then he is a serious underdog at about 85-15) is simply the average of the win rate of a pocket pair against Ace King and the win rate of A-x against A-K, and as such not too nasty.
Moreover, with 10c-5c B has two live cards, compared with A-x, where x is the only live card. Moreover, B may dislike having 22 big blinds dwindle to, say, 15 or 14 later, so he decides to put his heart and soul into this hand. Who is this player, anyway? “I’ve got a 10-5, girls and boys.” You heard that right, the garrulous Mike Matusow! “The Mouth!”
A calls 469k (Pot 1.124m)
Now let us observe how “The Mouth” will fare against all odds.
FLOP: Js-7c-5s
“That’s a Flop!” A Five fell, pairing Matusow!
TURN: Js-7c-5s-8d
RIVER: Js-7c-5s-8d-6d
Moving all-in can end up being one of the most dangerous moments in poker. Even in free online poker it can also be the most thrilling, anyway. The all-in recharged Matusow’s stack to 45 big blinds.
This unconventional play is not exploitable forever, anyway. For Matusow to think A has AK or alike is, quite frankly gambling.
While most players will work a strategy where they will call with pocket pairs I doubt in this case that A will call with anything less than 10-10.
Against A-A or K-K or a higher pair, 10-5 will win only about 15% of the time, and with 10-10 to 5-5, about 25%, and with 4-4 to 2-2, nearly a coin flip.
Play Poker Online For Free And Win With All In With King-High Hands
When a desperate player in a poker tournament even a free online poker one doesn’t get A-A or K-K they tend to go all-in with Ace-something. A lot of players will go for it with AK, AQ, in some cases even as low as A4.
At worst, if someone with A-4 is called with the medium Pair, there is still one overcard. With A-K you could be called by Ace-lower whilst still being be a significant favorite.
So players running out of chips have a tendency to wait for Ace-something before they move all-in. While the Ace element gives them assurance, the likelihood is that someone will call them with Ace-higher and make them a significant underdog. Furthermore, if the purpose is to move all-in, why not try the same move with King-something (preferably suited)?
The trend for tournament players today has changed slightly in favor of moving all-in with King-something, like K-Q, K-J, K-10 (naturally, the applications here apply also to A-K) as well as K-x suited. Other players will also call with a smaller pocket Pair, and thus A-x has the same chance of winning as K-x against a smaller Pair if both cards are overcards.
And K-x posseses an additional advantage. While a hand like A-5 is really a substantial underdog against A-J, K-Q or K-5 is just a slight underdog.
Approximately, it is a 13 to 7 underdog, but compare this to A-5 which is a 15 to 5 (or 3-1) underdog. What you want to fetch with K-x is its live card value.
While using A-5, you must hit the Five if you want to pair and take the lead. With K-5, you can have both King and Five pairing.
If you extend your all-in hand range to include K-x, you might have to move all-in more than usual. Because many players will fold to an all-in (including marginal high A-x such as A-10 or A-9) other players at the table will get a more aggressive impression of your play.
Also you can steal the blinds more frequently. The all-in itself (and not really the cards employed to move all-in) is a sign of strength; it’s the same with A-x or K-x.
Overall, should you be running out of chips and the all in approach beckons don’t limit yourself to just Ace-x, think about the King too, it may just make your day!
So why not check out the King High approach on the free poker online tables first, get accustomed to it and then apply in more dangerous poker games later.
Hopefully this was interesting and helps your poker game be it free poker games or for cash. Certainly it should demonstrate that in any given poker game situation you will find options to think about based on the cards you’ve got, the game point, opposition and known and estimated risk to name but a few. If you’re a new comer to this approach then by far the simplest way to get ahead is to practice a LOT on free online poker sites such as