You usually bet, raise, check and fold based on only a partial hand. Since most poker games do not begin with a full five card hand, we are generally playing the early portions of each hand based on expectations of making a good hand. So the question always arise: What are the odds of making the winning hand?

If our odds are very low then either we fold the hand or perhaps we bluff.

If our odds are somewhere in the middle range then we might call a bet and see another card. We say that we are drawing to the winning hand. We could hold four to the flush or to the straight or maybe top pair with a decent kicker.

The real question is: When are we drawing and when are we chasing?

Chasing generally means that we are either drawing to a very poor odds hand or we are calling bets that make our drawn mathematically long odds. Chasing is generally a bad proposition for a winning poker strategy and drawing is playing to good pot odds.

You chase and you lose, most of the time. When you draw, you win enough times to justify the risk. It is all about risk and reward; chasers are usually rewarded with an early exit.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #68

You have KQ in your hand and four players see the flop. You were in the big blind, the pot was not raised, so you just checked pre-flop; no one has any idea what you have and being in the big blind in an un-raised pot you could have any two cards.

The flop comes out King, King, Queen and you are first to act. What do you do?

There is not a poker player on the planet who will not check this flop. Why? Because you want other players to bet, you have flopped a monster hand and you do not want to bet out and scare anyone away. You hope someone bets and the others call and then you will call and everyone gets to see the turn card and you will check again. What you are going is called: slowplaying.

Now you don’t need a complete monster hand to slowplay but, of course, the chances that someone will catch-up is there, so the smaller your big hand is, the more risk to slow-playing. Sometimes a player will just bet out with their big hand on the theory that they would rather win a small pot then lose a big one.

Every professional player we have ever talked to or read will tell you that to be a winning player you must learn to use the slowplay. You must disguise your big hands and maximize your winnings with them. It’s not like you get them all that often and they must pay you off to the max. Slowplaying will make you money.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #67

OK, it happens; you get your money in with pocket Kings in a Hold’em hand and someone else has pocket Aces. It happens! Now what….

Well if your Kings and Aces are the same suit, you are a 82.6% to 17.4% underdog. If the Kings and Aces are the opposite suits, then you are only down 81.3% to 18.7%. In other words you are toast at over 4-1.

But here is another question, you might want to keep in mind. If you do look down and see pocket Kings in a full ten handed situation….. what are the chances that someone else at that table is holding pocket Aces?

Now we know that any single player is likely to be dealt pocket Aces once every 212 hands. We also know there are nine other players with two cards and we know that there are 50 cards left in the deck including 4 Aces.

The flat odds are that there is a 22 to 1 chance of another player being dealt Aces to your Kings. Remember position is not a consideration in these odds; this is with a full table and the odds that “one” of those players holds the Aces. That being said, you still have to bet your Kings strong; 21 times you are way ahead. And that one time in twenty-two; well sometimes you will get your miracle King and the rest of the time try not to lose all of your chips. The sign of a great player can be minimizing your losses.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #66

The term “fish” is used to describe those players in a game who have little or no chance of winning. They are the fish in the sea of sharks and they (or their stacks) will be devoured. Now in any game there may or may not be any fish. Sometimes players of near equal strength and ability play and the cards determine the winner. Also a shark in one game could easily be the fish in another. And from one day to the next your status at the table may change based on many factors including whether or not you show up with your best game each day.

The point about “fish” is that they provide food for the sharks and without them the games collapse. Sure at one time or another we all were fish and some players never stop being the minnows, guppies or bait but there is a cardinal rule about fish that some players violate. You may have heard someone utter the immoral words: “Don’t tap on the glass.” Basically, it means that you don’t want to scare the fish away from the game. Some ignorant players will berate the less skilled players at the table, either because they have made bad plays that resulted in the inevitable suckout win or because the loudmouth is simply a boorish oaf. Whatever…

The one thing you never want to do in a poker game is to scare the less skilled players away. You should never berate their play nor correct them at the table. In fact, what you should do is berate, deride and muzzle the idiots who do scare the fish away. The object of poker is to win chips and increase your bankroll. Anyone who aids you in that quest should be encouraged and anyone who detracts from that goal in any way should be avoided. Fish are to be treasured and the Omega-3 oil is good for you too!

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #65

Watch the dealer next time you are at the poker table. You will see that he or she shuffles exactly the same way every time. The number of cuts, the number of shuffles and how the cards are placed before the deal; always the same in each house. In many card rooms the deal is uniform by country or region. Now watch again, when the dealer cuts the deck and then peals back the corners to shuffle the two piles of cards together–that is called a riffle.

The riffle becomes important in tournaments because when the blind levels increase they often take effect during the tournament play, which means different tables are at different points in a hand or a deal. The standard rule is: If the dealer has started the first riffle then the new blinds will start on the next hand. Anytime before that first riffle and the blinds are in place on the immediate hand. This can make a difference to the players in the blinds, particularly if they are short-stacked and trying to get through the blinds one more time.

Automatic shuffling machines have, in some houses, made the riffle obsolete. At tables with an auto-shuffler there will be another signal to signify the beginning of a deal and he cut-off for new blinds to begin. Sometimes it is when the auto-shuffler is opened or when the newly shuffled deck is cut before dealing. Another ‘local rule’ worth knowing.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #64

You know how you really want to see that river card but the price is just too high for you to call. Don’t you want to fold but have the dealer turn up that last card? Well, first of all–bad idea! If the fold is the right action then fold and move on to the next hand. Most card rooms and casinos have a strict policy against showing any community cards after the hand is over, it slows down the play. But seeing them does have a name–we call it rabbit hunting. You will see rules in most rooms that say: No Rabbit Hunting!

Now don’t confuse rabbit hunting with “Running it Twice”, which refers to a variation where some of the community cards (all five or only the turn and the river or just the river) are dealt twice. This is a cash game variation not tournament.

Let’s say one player is all in after the flop and he gets called. The all in shows KcKd to a board of AsKhJh with two hearts; the other player shows AhTh. The three kings are ahead but can lose to any heart; any queen and several runner, runner combinations. The players may decide to ‘run it twice’. A turn and river card are put out and half the pot goes to the winner with those two cards; then a second turn and a second river are put out and the other half of the pot goes to that winner.

Some houses do not allow running it twice but most good card rooms do. So you can usually run it twice but you can’t rabbit hunt.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #63

One of the cardinal rules of poker is that a player is responsible for protecting their own hand. This is why you see players cupping their hands around their hole cards when they peek at them. Should you lift your cards high enough for another player you see what you are playing, it is your fault. Another player is not liable for seeing your cards and using that information; you have the duty to keep your down cards hidden.

Another aspect of protecting your hand has to do with the dealer. The dealers are paid to work fast and sometimes they will scoop up cards that are just laying on the table. Particularly if you are seated immediately to the dealer’s left or right, you should always protect your cards by putting a “card cap” on them. Use a chip, use your grandmother’s keepsake glass penguin, use your petrified dung beetle from Madagascar but protect your hand. You have no recourse is your cards are scooped, your hand is dead.

Also unprotected cards could have random cards tossed into them. A player throws his cards into the muck but they hit the chips in the pot and richoquet over and land on your hole cards, if there is any doubt which (uncapped) cards are yours and which were the other players….your hand is dead. Capped cards are protected.

Protect your hand, play your hand, win with your hand.

Now here is a guarantee, many new players who read this warning will not “get” it until they have their pocket aces mucked by the dealer and only then learn the costly lesson that a player must protect their hand.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #62

We talk about how important position is in poker. Betting first or last on any betting round has a profound affect on how we play a hand. Some of the standard betting positions have acquired nicknames that you should know.

In standard nine or ten player game with blinds (Hold’em or Omaha), we all know that the button moves and the two blinds are put out to the left of the button. We know the button will act last in all rounds except the first round where the blinds get the final action.

So the worst position during the first round of betting is just to the left of the big blind, this player is first to act after the deal and is said to be “under the gun”. The standard playing advice is to severely tighten up your starting hand selection when you are under the gun. Not only do you have to act before everyone else at the table in the first round, you will be acting early, if not first, the entire hand. You also must remember that everyone at the table knows you are first to act; so they are likely to back down on any raise you make, assuming you would not ‘act first’ without a very good starting hand.

The button is considered the most advantageous position in each hand, so it should come as no surprise that the closer you get to the button in late position the stronger you should weigh your position in any betting round. The place just to the right of the button has come to be known as the “cut-off” or the cut-off seat. You can expect either the cut-off or the button to attempt to steal the blinds in a unraised pot. In fact, the competition between the two players in the cut-off and on the button is one match-up that other players should be aware of each and every hand.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #61

I used the term “Dead Money” in a previous post and I guess I should explain the two meanings of that term.

First, amateur players or beginning players are often referred to as “dead money” when they play in tournaments with professionals. The term is meant to be humorous (most of the time) and simply implies that you may be easy pickings for the seasoned professional.

The other, more important usage of the term has to do with the blinds and antes that are in the pot before the cards are dealt. For example, when the blinds are 200/400, the “dead money” would be 600. There are 600 chips in the pot ready for anyone with a hand or the skill or gumption to bluff; the “dead money” is there for the taking.

More importantly in games, particularly tournaments, with antes; the “dead money” can become very significant. If the blinds are still 200/400 but with a 50 ante, then a full table of ten players would have 1100 in “dead money” in the pot. Pots fatten by antes become much more interesting and profitable targets for the skilled player. As every good tournament player knows: to win a tournament you must steal your share of the blinds and antes; you have to pick up some of that “Dead Money”.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #60

Let me ask you a question? If one player as pocket aces and another has 53, who is the favorite and by how much?

I hope everyone knows the AA is a big favorite but by how much?

Would it surprise you to know that the 53 will beat AA about 15% of the time? You don’t have to know the exact math but it does help if you have thought through the possibilities once or twice to understand what could happen. So let’s do that.

A 53o can crack those aces if two fives come or two threes or one three and one five. Also the 53o makes a straight with A24, 246 and 467. All of this assumes that there isn’t another ace hitting the board to beat the trip fives, trip threes or two pair. Oh and then there is the matter of the 53449 board; the 53o makes two pair but the aces and fours win. And let’s not forget that A24 board that makes the 53o into a straight but then pairs the 2 or the 4 and makes a aces full house.

And should that 53 be suited, then we have to consider the flush potential and even if it is 53o, if the suits don’t match the suits of the aces, we could still lose to a four card flush board hitting the 5 suit or the 3 suit.

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