Tag Archives: hands
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.
Online Poker – Basics For Beginners
Online Poker, specifically Texas Holdem, can be a very fun way to spend time and possibly even make some money. Before you can go out and conquer the online world, you must first learn the very basics to online poker. The basics are hands, position, and betting.
A necessity to playing good poker is knowing all of the hands that one can play. It should be said that in Texas Holdem a player is dealt two cards and there are five community cards. A player must use the best five cards out of those seven cards to create the best hand they can. Lets go over the hands of poker starting with the best and going to the worst. The very best hand is a Royal (Straight) Flush, which is when you have a A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. A straight flush follows which is five consecutive cards of the same suit. Next is four of a kind which is four of the same card, such as four aces. A full house is the next best hand which is three of a kind plus a pair. An example of a full house would be three jacks and two threes. Following that is a flush which is five cards of the same suit. We are now at a straight, which is five consecutive cards, like 2-3-4-5-6. Following a straight is three of a kind. Next we have a two pair, which is having two of two different numbers. An example would be two aces and two fours. Following is a pair, which is two of a card. Last we have a high card, which is simply your highest card. Once you are able to master the hands you are ready to play poker for fun, but until you master position and betting I would not recommend gambling.
Position is one of the most important things in poker, other than your hand, when it comes to gambling. Position is where you are in the betting, or where you are seated at the table. Position is usually broken into three categories: early-position, mid-position, and late position. Early-position would be the first three people to bet at a ten person table. Mid-position would be the next four people at a ten person table. Late-position would be the last three people to bet. This may seem weird to put so much emphasis on where you are sitting, but it really determines what you can get away with betting. If you are in early position you are not going to want to bet unless you have a very good hand, because others could raise you and if your hand is not great you may not want to call the raise. In mid-position you can get away with betting a little worse hand, but it still has to be a good hand. In late-position you can usually get away with a lot, especially if others at the table have folded. One of the key strategies to keeping your money is to raise the pot when one person at the table has called. This can only be done in late-position though so you have to make sure that no one will raise on that hand. If someone raises it usually means they have a good hand, opposed to a call which usually signifies they just want to see how the flop goes. If you raise with one person calling, they usually will not call your raise and you will get the blinds (money two players put in to stay at the table, this rotates every turn). Now that we know about position I am going to step back and talk about betting.
Online Poker and Offline Poker can be very different when it comes to betting. In the online world you should not call the majority of your hands. Most players will say that you should never call and always raise. This is a good mantra for whether or not you should put money in the pot, if you are not willing to raise than you should not be calling. That being said in order to even call a hand you need to have a decent hand. Usually I will only call if I have two cards of ten or higher. I will definitely bet if I have a pair or two of a suit of tens or higher. Some players may say that this is to conservative of a strategy and in some applications it is a very conservative strategy. What it comes down to is you have to analyze what the table is doing and then set your limits for when you will call and when you will raise.
Poker hands, position, and betting are definitely the three keys to succeeding in online poker, but there is one last thing that must be considered and that is mindset. One should only approach online poker in a positive, happy mindset when one is ready to relax and have fun with the cards. If you approach online poker in a negative or tired mood your game (and bankroll) will suffer. Online poker is a game where you must pay attention and focus so that you can make good bets that will make you money.