Some years back, I wrote a column about the exact same hand (Q-J suited) being played completely differently when dealt to me twice in three hands. Recently, I picked up K-K and A-A three hands apart, and as was the case with the Q-J suited, they played incredibly differently.
No-limit hold'em players are well aware of the strong influence that stack size has on betting. Any problem posed in regard to your decision of how to play a hand needs to specify your stack size and your opponent's. Most bets and raises in no-limit approximate the pot size. Let's...
For the past hour, seat 9 had been running over our $5-$10 no-limit hold'em game. He had dark shades and a mean-looking goatee, and combined with his calm and controlled manner, he created a pretty intimidating presence. His massive chip stack certainly helped. He had more than $3,000 in front of him, while no one else had more than $2,000.
The sheer size of the drawing hands in Omaha has a dramatic effect on the dynamics of the game. In no-limit hold'em, a player with an open-end straight draw may be reluctant to bet into a field out of fear of getting raised an amount that he can't call. But in pot-limit Omaha (PLO), the combination of the size of the draws and the restrictions of the pot-limit betting structure means that it is virtually impossible to price you out of the pot, and thus you can bet the 13-card nut-straight draws and bigger without fearing a raise.
When was the last time you three-barrel bluffed? Was it months ago? Years? Never? Let me back up a bit. A three-barrel bluff is when you make a bluff bet on all three of the post-flop streets. You bet the flop and get called. You bet the turn and get called. And then you make another bluff on the river.
If you're new to limit hold'em, and you've read a poker book for beginners, you're probably playing tight -- and that's fine. It's important, however, to understand that an ultra-tight strategy won't work forever, and even has its drawbacks. As I've written before, I think tight play is perfectly appropriate for someone who is just starting out in poker and has little understanding of the differing hand values. A problem can occur, however, if this new player has some success and then tries to move up to higher stakes without really being ready.
Recently, I was honored to serve as "Expert of the Month" on Matthew Hilger's forum at InternetTexasHoldem.com. Here is one of the first hands posted to me:
I recently won the Full Tilt Poker $750,000-guaranteed event under the moniker "IonlyplayAA." My win earned me a little more than $132,000, as I weeded through more than 3,500 players. This tournament has been good to me this year, as I've had three top-100 finishes, two final tables, and now this big win.
The World Series of Poker history book is filled with stories of multiple wins, amazing cashes, and empty chairs, of bad beats and world-class drawouts, of piles of silver and crashed racecars. The 2008 WSOP should be no different.
People ask me questions about talking tells all the time. "While I was thinking about calling a big bet, my opponent kept saying, 'You should fold.' Should I have believed him or not?" It's a difficult question to answer, because the meaning varies from player to player. Some players will say, "You should fold," when they want a call. Some will say it when they want a fold. And some will switch it up. I frequently just ignore statements like this one, because the information isn't reliable enough for me to act upon it.
