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Poker Strategy
41

If they are doing it intentionally, they probably want you to think they are facing a hard decision. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. There could be other reasons too: slow connection, multi-tasking, trying to get the right bet or raise size, and so on.

Do you mean the BB as a position, or as a bet? Technically, the SB is a blind bet and the BB is a blind raise. Both are designed to stimulate action.

I would play AA like aces! Generally, you want to raise whatever amount you think will limit the field to 1 or 2 callers.

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42

In my particular case, I find the adjective “occasional” to be offensive! :rofl:

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43

I’m honestly proud of this one: https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/482747245

Show and then go for value next time around. Its not always about the hand we’re playing.

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44

LOL - how do you get away with this stuff?

Yer learning kid! :slight_smile:

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45

Better yet, do the same thing next time. People will think, “Oh, clever, he must have it this time. I’m not falling for that obvious trap!”

And they will think that even more the third time. Hahaha

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46

I’m clever, like the wily donkey :slight_smile:

I learned a long time ago that when you can’t call, sometimes its better to raise than to fold.

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47

Tell you what, what I’ve learned here is that anything that works for playing for free is EXACTLY how NOT to play for real…what works for free is exactly the worst possible strategy to play for real, it’s truly beyond ridiculous the way idiots play their garbage and win against real hands…sorry, really steamed the bs I’ve gone thru for several months :slight_smile:

48

This is what I think of when I play a player I will only refer to as “Boo.” (I would be the guy having fun)

The point is: sometimes it’s not about the cards, it’s about playing the player.

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49

opinions on this bluff?
https://www.replaypoker.com/hand/replay/483315286

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50

Beautiful, it brought a little tear to my eye!

If you can do that, you know you’re pokering!

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51

I will reserve my comments…

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52

Nicely done. Opponent limps in hoping to hit a flop. Opponent is ranked #33,000 in chips, so probably not a poker wizard. Possibly has a suited Ace or a small pair, or small suited connectors, or worse.

Since he limped in and you raised from BB, he posts a small bet on the flop to see if you are scared of the flop or would like continue in the hand and to give you the impression that he might have a little something and to buy time to see another card. Perhaps he has a T, so an inside straight draw needing a Q.

You raise to ask if he is serious about this hand, and to save face he flat calls. Possibly he has a 9 and an inside straight draw and would like to see another one On the turn another jack shows up. Either the Jack is a great card for opponent, or a very bad card. You doubt whether he has a Jack or a King, otherwise surely he would have put in a bigger bet on the flop to try to take the pot then and there, so you try to take the pot down again, because if he has no Jack, he will have to fold now.

SInce he evidently does not have a Jack or a King, there is no point him in continuing on any straight draw as he may be up against a full house, if you have KJ, J9, or K9, all of which are possible given your miniraise from BB, so he folds.

I win pots like this all the time from the BB as it is a useful source of revenue if you are not picking up good starting hands. Occasionally it goes bad, but if opponent fights back, then you fold (do not show your cards) and try again next time. The key is to observe the betting patterns of your neighbor and exploit any weaknesses. A lot of players will limp in from SB with any 2 cards early in a tournament just to see a flop, but the odds are always against them getting hit by the flop.

I will often raise from the Big Blind with nothing much, especially if there are several limpers. If the flop comes low and raggedy, I may then take a shot at the pot. The beauty of this strategy is that if 4 opponents get into the pot against you, even if you can’t steal the pot, three other players are going to pay the price of 2BB as a penalty for limping your BB, so they are less likely to do it in the future.

It is also useful if it is folded to SB, and SB limps in. SB is probably hoping to get hit by a flop and pick up the BB on the cheap. By raising from BB, you put SB on notice that you have a couple of high cards or some kind of pair (even if you have trash). If the flop comes with high cards that he does not have, he will assume that you likely have them and will most likely fold even if he has an underpair.

Of course, sometimes your trash hand will flop a well-disguised monster, after which your neighbor will probably go on tilt and start posting comments about bingo and so on.

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53

In a blind-versus-blind situation, I like to see a slightly larger bet (~2.5BB, probably not quite as big as 3BB) if you choose to open on the big blind instead of checking your option. Otherwise, you’re giving your opponent basically the same odds to call as when he flatted, but with the benefit that he’ll close the action. That also creates a larger pot to win if your opponent decides to call.

Also, I’m really not a fan of min-raises. They generally accomplish very little. If you’d raised larger on the flop, you could’ve taken it down right there (forgoing the extra 1BB that ended up in the pot), but it also would give you a bigger pot to try picking up on the turn. This is a very connected board that will hit a lot of your range - plenty of top pairs, medium/bottom pair with inside straight draws, broadway draws, &c. If you’d raised to ~1K, that would give you the chance to barrel for your opponent’s tournament life on the turn.

It worked out for you this time, but you probably have missed out on the ability to pick up more value in the long run.

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54

“You have to understand that everything you do at a poker table conveys information,” - Daniel Negreanu

In live poker, there are many ways to pick up information, or “tells.” The way you handle your chips, eye motions, body language, bet sizing, amount of time taken, and what you say or don’t say gives your opponents information they can and will use against you. Giving away information is the same as giving away chips if you are playing with people that pay attention.

I think most would agree that one of the key skills in poker is the ability to put someone on a hand, or at least a narrow range of possible hands. Doing this is critical to determining the correct course of action in any particular hand.

Basically, we look for patterns. For example if someone always bets 10BB with the nuts, 4BB with a fairly strong hand, and 1BB with a draw, they have betting patterns that is giving away way too much information.

There are 2 basic ways to counter this. The first is to play all of your hands, even bluffs, the same way. This is a good way to control the information you are giving away, but I think it’s far from optimal.

The better way, at least in my opinion, is to vary the way you play from hand to hand. This means you will sometimes limp with AA, sometimes min bet, sometimes bet more. You will sometimes check the nuts, sometimes bet one amount, sometimes another. Sometimes you raise a particular hand, sometimes you don’t.

If your bet sizes have little or no relationship to what you have, you will be much harder to read, and people will be forced to make more mistakes against you. It also allows you to tailor your bets to the person you are playing, what you think they have, what you think they think you have, and what you think they think you think they have.

We can further befuddle our opponents by being very selective in what hands we choose to show. This often means showing hands at the low end of our ranges and not showing those at the high end, but there are times when we want to do the opposite.

There is much, much more to it than that. Let’s talk about it, m’kay?

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55

TBH, this is spew. I get what you’re trying to do… but, you can certainly pick better hands and better spots. If you’re going to do this I would prefer to do from late position and when it folds to me. If you’re going to make this play over a limper who is over folding then just shove and maximize your fold equity. If no limpers I would just min open and fold to raise. I also want to point out that you said you had shown down a couple bluffs already, thus your image was already kind of loose and you expected to be called light. This is absolutely not the image you want to have when making these plays. On a positive note, when you hit the board with the K on it, you definitely have to shove. Good play on the flop… you’ll have way more K’s then he does, he shouldn’t have many at all. He should be opening or shoving over you with most or them.

56

I prefer the term “drivel.”

What I’m trying to do is start discussions. There are other reasons, which were already covered in the thread.

If he is willing to call off over 1/2 his stack with K7, he was going to call if I shoved. I gave myself 2 chances to win by taking the line I took. I have admitted that I played the hand poorly, there are other reasons for posting this hand here. :slight_smile:

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57

If someone calls you an idiot, let a player rep know. It is a bad thing to say to someone. They might be muted for a couple days.

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58

I go out of my way to look like an idiot.When someone calls me an idiot, I know I’m doing everything right. If they get muted, I would never know what they think.

Sometimes i do tell mom, and she gives me a hug and some cookies, which helps a lot.

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59

@SunPowerGuru, yeah as discussed in the thread if you are playing the same players all the time in a sit n go setting image building is not a bad thing. That being said if you’re playing 42o like this after you’ve already said you had an image that was shot then it is spew(my terminology) and unnecessary, and I highly doubt that you’re balanced in this approach which would be the only reason to do it. If I was him I would have called the flop shove 100% even if I did not hit the K or 7, as I think it would be good a ton and the price is too good to fold. Did you post the hand so you could defend your play or what? I’m sorry, but I thought my comment was fair and I at least tried to be insightful.

60

It was fair.

There are a few reasons I posted this hand. One of the main reasons was to generate some discussion about the thought process behind making certain decisions. I thought he would fold there often enough to make it worthwhile. The actual cards I held had little do do with it.

Yes, I had shown a bluff or 2 early on, but then went to showdown with strong hands quite a few times after that. I thought it was time to show a reminder. Again, I thought he would fold to my flop shove.

As I said earlier, I misread and misplayed this hand all the way through. Eh, that happens sometimes. I won’t defend winning by stupid luck, how could I?

I find it fascinating that you would call my flop shove 100% of the time, even with nothing. I did flop a pair, so you would be chasing 6 outs twice, making you something like a 3-1 dog. If my madness gets you to put your tournament life on the line like that, then it has accomplished its goal.

But I think we both know you wouldn’t put yourself in that situation to begin with. I highly doubt you would limp/call with K7s, and I wouldn’t have made that play against you anyway.

I didn’t think he would call preflop, and didn’t think he could call the flop, and was wrong both times. If one thinks in a results-oriented way, that’s what they see. I’m looking at it from a process-oriented perspective though.

The discussion so far has been well worth the embarrassment of showing such spew.

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