POKER HAND #32

SOME ADVICE I WROTE UP: for you, the learning poker player. Hey, I've been playing eight months, how much longer do I have to wait?

PLAY BEFORE THE FLOP:

Basically you want to play A-A, K-K, A-K, Q-Q, J-J, 10-10, 9-9, 8-8, A-Q, A-J.

I consider these the top ten hands. A lot of people like the 7-7 and 6-6 but once you get into that range you’re very much in trouble from overpairs. People play small pairs way too strongly. This is why calling with small pairs is a bad play. I almost never do it unless I can win a really big pot. Fortunately, some people believe it's correct to limp with the A-A, and that can give you a chance to see a flop. If you're going to call a big bet, you better be sure your opponent has the A-K and not the A-A.

The advantage of course is that you can hit your set and be set.

Other hands I routinely play. 9-8 and 7-6. Never play the ten nine as it’s generally a nightmare hand. The 5-4 is the same hand, only on the bottom of a different straight.

Being suited adds a lot more to premium cards that it does to the 7-6, for instance. Take this example, which isn’t hard to imagine.

You have the 7-6 of hearts. With three to four callers, the following situation is one I’ve been in countless times.

Kh-10h-8d

You have a straight draw (any 9 that comes off will make you a straight.

You could easily be up against the K-K, or the Ah-Qh. You could also be up against the Q-J, to which you’re a huge dog, even huger if your opponent is suited. That’s simply a losing hand. It’s tough to fold, but it’s generally the right play.

So why are you playing the 7-6 suited in the first place?

Another dangerous hand is the A-x anything below a J. Lots of people play the A-10, but it’s not much better than any other A-x. Suited is worse. You don’t know what you’re hoping for to hit the flop.

PLAY AFTER THE FLOP:

Mixing up your play is the most crucial part of no-limit Texas hold ‘em. You want to constantly be gambling—you don’t make the money by sitting back. Winning pots is what it’s all about, of course.

Putting all your chips on the line (and I am not talking about vastly different tournament play) is the goal of a cash game. When you sit down,wherever you sit down, you want to make your opponents gamble.

Cultivating a wild image is always effective. You make money when players with worse hands call bets they should not. So get wild out there.

Raising in the dark, though frowned on memorably by James McManus on the ESPN broadcast of the World Series of Poker, is a money-maker. Right after you make that play, put all your chips on the line with the nuts and watch the callers start pushing their chips in to beat you.

This sets up the slow-play. It is rarely correct to slow-play. All you have to do is scare them once and even if you won less money than you might have, you’ve got them afraid of you. And once that happens, go ahead and play that K-Q, even when you might an underdog. You can outplay your opponents every single time. In the words of the great master Doyle Brunson, “they keep saying, Take it, Doyle. Take it Doyle.”

The raise is the most powerful play in poker. Since everybody likes to check-raise, I only use the play as a bluff. If you try to check raise when you might be out against a draw, you’re being stupid. Never give free cards. There will always be draw-outs, but it’s most profitable to avoid them.

The old tricks still work. One of the oldest moves is to pretend to throw your cards in the muck. This is always a winning play. If you’re on the button, and the guy in first position starts to play, begin to slowly move your cards in front of you. Then, as the play passes around, being to indicate it clearly. You will fold. Then raise. It will work once. Then your opponent will catch on. He’s smarter than you. Now that he really believes this, begin using this play indiscriminately. You’ll get free cards when you need them to make your hands and extra bets that you would not normally get when you’ve got the nuts.

Maximizing the amount of money you make with the winning hand is crucial. For most players, one or two hands will either double their money or have them reaching for more chips. Often I lose money early on in a game through advertising plays and coin flips. When the strategy doesn’t work, I’m often down early. It’s not a situation a “tight” player would ever face.

Speaking of tight players—they don’t make enough money with the A-A and K-K to justify only playing those hands.

When you get the A-A, it’s not much better than the K-K or Q-Q. You’ve got most opponents in a bad, bad situation. People play players, and those hands are huge favorites to all other pairs. But slow play them, especially from a short stack, and you’re apt to either win a small pot or lose a big one.

Go all-in. If you’ve been coming down on people throughout the game, you’re probablyh 50/50 to get a call at any time. I’d never call an all-in with the K-Q but plenty of people do. They think they might be in a coin flip with you, the maniac. But that isn’t a coin flip.