We spoke in our last post about the importance of being able to play after a flop has missed your hand. One of the most recognized “post-flop” strategies is the continuation bet. The continuation bet is one that continues your pre-flop aggression, which generally means you raised before the flop and are going to bet out after the flop regardless of what cards fall.

Here is the perfect example: You are in early position and the first player to enter the pot, you raise holding AKo. You get two callers and the flop comes 962. You have missed the flop but hold the two highest unpaired cards. What do you think your opponents have? Yes, they could hold 99 or 66 or 22 and possibly A9 or A6 or even A2; they could be ahead of you. But checking and letting them check behind you and see the turn card for free is just timid poker.

You make the continuation bet, showing no fear and implying that you have a over pair to the completely unconnected flop or you have AK, which is better than their AQ or KQ or whatever other speculative hand they are holding. You will often take down the pot when you make the strong continuation bet.

The continuation bet forces your opponents to pay to continue with their drawing hands and also, if they did make some sort of playable hand, the continuation bet will give you the information you need to play the remainder of the hand. If they call, they have something. But most importantly the continuation bet alerts your opponents that they should not be expecting passive play from you, they will respect your game, which will pay dividends later in the game.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #127

Playing poker with a big hand is fun, you can win a pile of chips, a big hand is exciting BUT it doesn’t happen very often. In fact, in most poker games you will fold many more hands than you play and when you do play, you will miss hitting the flop most of the time. Playing poker is about playing well under less than ideal situations as far as your cards go. Here is a poker factoid you should always remember.

The flop misses everyone in the hand two-thirds of the time.

This is a stunning statement about Hold’em in particular. Consider that this means 2 out of 3 times after a flop, the hand will be won by the person who plays the best not necessarily the person with the best cards. Betting, bluffing, table image, position, aggression all become paramount when everyone misses the flop, which they usually do.

So what do you do when the flop misses you?

You must decide what type of player you are or rather what type of player you are going to be on this hand. You do that by asking one of two questions:

1. Is it possible for me to win this hand?

2. How can I win this hand?

An aggressive player asks question #2; a passive or tight player asks #1; a good player asks and answers both.

Sometimes you should simply abandon a hand after a missed flop, remember 2/3 of the time the flop missed everyone but we still play the other 1/3 of the time and if you are beat, surrender is not a bad course of action. However, you must win some of the pots where the flop misses you or you will not be a winning player. Learning to bet with nothing or make a continuation bet with less than ideal cards is a skill learned at the tables. But the best advice you can consider when the flop misses you is that most of the time everyone at the table is in the same situation and someone will win that pot; with skill, well timed aggression and the use of the table image you have built up; some of the time those pots will be yours.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #126

In every form of poker there is a minimum amount you must bet in order to raise the pot, how the minimum is calculate changes from game to game but every form of poker has a minimum raise.

Perhaps even more controversial then limping into a pot is just making the minimum raise or “Min. Raise”. If you are playing a tournament and the blinds are 25/50 then entering the pot for the minimum raise would require you to bet 100, double the big blind. The reasons some players find this a weak or passive raise is that it really doesn’t put a lot of pressure on players to fold and in the case of the blinds, might actually price them in to a call.

Suppose and early player makes it 100 and another player calls. When the action comes to the big blind, who already has 50 in the pot, the call is 50 more into a pot that has 275 in it already. Those are pretty good odds (5 1/2 to 1) to play just about any two cards.

Many players like to standardized their opening raise and that is often three times the big blind. The reasoning is that a min. raise of 2X the blind just does not get the job done, but 3X will get those drawing hands to fold pre-flop. A bigger raise also makes it more difficult for another player to reraise with the minimum raise now that much higher.

On the other hand, there is the logic those says any raise is better than a limp call and the min. raise is not great but much, much better than just a call. Remember that variation is one of the keys to disguising your hands from other players, so perhaps both the min. raise and the limp should be options in your poker arsenal.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #125

Limping means entering the pot by calling the big blind or making the minimum bet and definitely not raising the pot.

Limping is considered to be a conservative play and is frowned upon by aggressive players, particularly No Limit players. There is a lot to be said about limping, here is just a fraction of the opinions on the no-raise move.

-In limit games, where many players see the flop, limping is the accepted practice; in these games a single raise will seldom push out players but will reveal the strength of your hand;

-One way to win a hand is to force other players to fold, a raise pressures players to not make the call of the larger bet, a limp scares no one;

-If you limp, the small blind gets great odds to complete the bet and the big blind plays for free;

-Limping is a great disguise, no one knows what you have, so if you limp a lot, you will see flops with opponents who don’t know if you are play 34o or KK;

-If you limp and are raised, will you be calling a second bet with a marginal hand? How often do you want to waste two bets on such hands?

-Unless you always limp, players are going to know you raise with big hands and limp with small ones, that is too obvious of a tell to be giving your opponents;

-They don’t call it “Limp” for no reason.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #124

Do you have a table image?

Answer: Yes!

Why? Because table image in not what you project or how you play or what you say. Table image is how the other players at the table see you and at any poker table there are going to be some players paying attention and formulating an impression of how you play. That is your table image.

Aggressive, passive, calling station, rock, maniac, tight aggressive, loose passive and on and on; more potential table images then there are wild cards in a home game.

So, since you have no choice but to have a table image, you should be aware of what it is on any given day, at any given table, during any given span of time because your table image is not consistent, it will changed over time and if you know what it is, you can use that image to manipulate your opponents into making mistakes.

For example: You have been playing a limit Hold’em cash game for two hours, you haven’t caught any cards to speak of, the only big hand you won was when a short stack got reckless with top pair on the flop (tens) and you had pocket kings. So you have been folding most of your hands for two hours. Some players are the table are going to think you are a tight, conservative player, who only plays premium hands; they are not going to think you are just having a horrible run of cards. So use that, steal some blinds, aggressively open from early position.

Now be aware your table image changes as you play more hands and show more hands, the other players get better information on you. So as your image shifts, you shift your game to take advantage of their new image of you. The key is that if you are aware of your own table image, you can use it to your advantage and what’s one more image to keep track of, you already have the other nine players figured out, right?

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #123

ABC Poker is simple, straight forward and safe poker. Raising with your big pairs, folding nearly everything else in early and even middle position and not getting into big pots with drawing hands. ABC Poker is what defines players who we call “rocks”, but there is more to ABC Poker than simply a very conservative style, which involves a lot of fold, fold, fold.

Many professionals will tell you that ABC Poker is what you should play on Day One of a big multi-day tournament. You know the saying: “You can’t win the tournament on Day One, but you sure can lose it!” ABC Poker keeps you out of trouble and it is so obvious that you are playing this way, you actually can get away with stealing the blinds a couple of times because everyone at the table will respect it when you make your “once an hour” raise.

ABC Poker is also the default mode when you are on tilt. You just shut down, collect your thoughts and play ABC. Players will also revert to this basic game in the wee hours of a 14 hour tournament day, just keep your head down and make it to tomorrow.

Finally, ABC Poker is what every beginner should learn; not only because you should know the ins and outs of ABC but you also need to recognize this type of game when other players resort to it. You can’t play against it, when you don’t recognize it.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #122

Another important selection from the Tournament Director’s Association rules.

TDA Rule #28:

If a dealer kills an unprotected hand, the player will have no redress and will not be entitled to a refund of bets. However, if a player had raised and the raise had not yet been called, the raise will be returned to the player.

One of the key unwritten rules of poker is that a player is responsible for protecting their hand. That means you must keep your cards safe, always use a “card cover”, one of those heavy metal coins or some other favorite good luck piece. This is particularly important if you are seated to the immediate left or right of the dealer. Dealers work fast, if your cards are just sitting there, the dealer may assume you are folding and sweep your cards into the muck. Let’s be very clear: You have no recourse! Your hand is dead! You did not protect your hand and your lose your cards. No argument, end of story.

The TDA rule is clear and every card room has the same rule. Protect your cards or be prepared not to complain if you don’t because no one will listen.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #121

Sometimes you run out of money. It happens in a tournament to everyone but the eventual winner. Suppose someone bets 25,000 and you only have 6,000 left. You are not out of the hand. In old movies, if you couldn’t cover the bet you lost the hand, that is not the case in modern poker. If you cannot cover the full bet, you may call the portion of the pot that you do have in your stack. For example:

You have 700 in chips left and the player in front of you bets 1,200; you like your hand so you bet you remaining 700. If only you and the original bettor are in the pot, then he takes back with 500 overbet and the two of you contend for the pot.

But what if two other players are also playing and they both wish to call. Well, they must call the 1,200 bet not just your 700 all-in short call. Since three players have bet the full 1,200 then each of them has wagered 500 on top of your 700 and a side pot will be created with those three 500 bets. If there are betting rounds remaining those three players will be betting into the side pot. The main pot will get not larger than the bets that called your 700.

Once the hand is over, the procedure is that only the players who are fully invested in the side pot will show their hands first and the winner will collect the side pot first. Then you will show your hand and if you win you collect the main pot.

With multiple players and varying stacks, there may be more than one side pot in a single hand. Each side pot is decided among the players fully invested in that pot.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #120

Do not confuse the previous post on “Table Stakes” with the cash game rule called “Money Plays”. Many rooms allow players to have both chips and cash at the table. When cash is allowed, we say that: “Money Plays”. This does not mean that the cash game actually becomes ‘cash only’ instead of chips but the idea is to facilitate the flow of the game and to accommodate the previously mentioned table stakes rules.

Suppose their is a big No Limit game in progress. Players have between 1,000 and 10,000 stacks at the table. Just from a practical point of view, that is a lot of chips. So players may have a thousand or two in actual chips and the rest is on the table in cash. Now there is no doubt what the table stacks are and money can move around the table more easily when some cash is involved.

Not all card rooms allow cash to play on the tables and those that do often limit the “money plays” rule to the high stakes games. One final tip, if money plays in your game, be sure you know which denominations play and which do not. Often only 100+ bills are accepted under the “money plays” rules.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #119

Tables Stakes is a very simple concept, easily understood in practice but often the reasons for table stakes are not well grasped by the beginning player. Table Stakes simply means that you play any hand of poker with the money (or chips) in front of you. You may not add chips to your stack or take money out of your pocket or purse during the course of a hand. You may buy more chips between hands in most games to increase you stack, unless you are playing in a game with a fixed cap on buy-in and you are at or above that limit.

The other part of Table Stakes is that you may not remove chips or money from a table while you are still playing at that table. This is the part that many players do not fully understand. The term “Going South” refers to pulling part of our stake off the table and this is not allowed in any public card room. If you want to “lock up” part of your win, you will need to cash out of the game completely and then, if allowed, you can buy back in. Some houses require you to wait a minimum amount of time to re-enter a game under such circumstances and, if there is a waiting list, you will be moved to the end of the list.

The reason is that winnings are not winnings until you actually take them away, up until that time those chips are table stakes and are in play at the table where you won them. Players have the right to not have big winners pulling chips off the table and playing from short stacks to limit their loss exposure in a situation where they have already won chips in that same game.

The simple rules of table stakes are these: 1) you play each hand with only the stake you began that hand with; 2) you may not take chips off the table unless you take them all off and cash out.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #118