The Dangers of Falling in Love with Flop...

Posted in Poker Tips & Strategies on 09 12th, 2009 | No Comments

The flop is definitely a very pivotal point in any poker hand since this is make or break time for many players.  The majority of people at the table won’t see the flop since they’ll muck their worthless cards to avoid paying the cost of the big blind, or greater.  Those who do pay the cost to see the flop will then be sitting at a crossroads where they’ll be forced to make decisions that will affect them during later streets.

But when you’re making these decisions, it is very important not to fall in love with a strong flop because it could cost you major money on down the line.  For instance, if you were holding A-K non-suited and hit a flop of As-7d-3s then you’d be in pretty solid shape since you’re holding top pair.  However, there is still a flush draw present which means top pair may not be good in the end.

Still, the logical choice here is to make a raise and either push others out of the hand or make people pay to see the turn.  If just one player stays in the hand then it could be trouble during later streets - especially if a third spade card would land on the board!   

Even more dangerous than this is a low card such as the 7 because somebody could have been daring enough to call the raise with pocket 7’s.  This makes the hand even more unpredictable and could cost anybody who plays their top pair with reckless abandon a lot of money in the end.  That’s why you really need to avoid falling in love with flops and instead focus on the people you’re playing against.  When you do this, you’ll be able to get a better read on if somebody has your top pair beat later on.

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An Opponent’s Poker IQ...

Posted in Poker Tips & Strategies on 09 11th, 2009 | No Comments

I’m assuming a lot of us have either heard the played out Amarillo Slim quote, “Poker is a game of people… It’s not the hand I hold, it’s the people that I play with.”  Even if you haven’t heard the quote (where’s Amarillo Slim at anyways these days), you probably get the idea that you really need to know the people you’re playing against in order to be successful.

However, just analyzing player’s cards and tendencies won’t always do you a whole lot of good.  That’s why it is necessary to think about what level your opponents are at when playing poker.  When you play at the lower stakes, you’ll find a lot of people who are at the first level of thinking when it comes to poker.  Essentially, these first level thinkers are only worried about their own cards and will play on despite what you may have.

Second level players are going to be a little tougher to deal with since they know what good cards are, but they also realize that you could be holding a good hand as well.  While a second level thinker will have superior skills to the first level players, they also are missing something in the equation.  You’ll normally find these types of players in the $1/$2/ to $3/$6 limits.

The third level players, on the other hand, have put everything together and not only think about their cards and yours, but they also take into account what cards you’re thinking they have.   These players are obviously the toughest to play against as they have a complete poker game.  You will most likely encounter these players in the higher stakes.  And depending upon what stakes you play, you’ll need to be aware of where your own game is at before embarking on certain limits in poker.

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The Risk of Underground Poker...

Posted in Uncategorized on 09 4th, 2009 | No Comments

If you’ve been paying attention to poker news over the last couple of years then you have probably noticed that more and more people have been getting busted for their home poker games.  And no I’m not talking about the rinky dink games where buddies get together and throw a couple of dollars in the pool to play.  Rather I’m talking about bigger games where several hundred to several thousand dollars are exchanged back and forth on a regular basis.

It is these types of games where the participants take a real risk in playing since courts don’t exactly look favorably on poker - especially if rake is taken by the home owner.  In fact, in states like Oklahoma, a person can go to prison for a couple of years if they are caught operating a rake-based poker game from their home.  Even the players themselves can wind up in jail for a few months if they’re just caught playing in the games.

So obviously, choosing to have a big home game is definitely a risk in many states.  Still, some people love the feel of big home poker games so much that they choose to take this risk - sometimes to the detriment of themselves.  Some recent busts have been made in Colorado and South Carolina where people will be facing jail time as well as some hefty fines.

On the other hand, some judges side with the game of poker such as the Pennsylvania judge who ruled that the men busted in a Colombia County poker game were innocent because poker is a game of skill.  Even so, there are still plenty of problems facing those who choose to participate in these underground poker games.  And, unlike the UIGEA, I don’t see a whole lot of people fighting to lift these sanctions any time soon.

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