Champions of Poker

Hello,

I joined a certain NL tourney with 19 players at two tables the other day. Earlier part, it was just actually first round of blinds, I was dealt TT in middle position. Everyone else then folded. Three times the BB, I then raised and got two callers. Flop came and brought J98 all spades. I checked on what I have then and saw I have Ts.

Later, BB checked and I followed. A certain guy placed a very big bet, I believe it was about four times the pot. BB then folded and so am I.

Eventually, a guy I don’t know personally won the pot. He mucked his hand and luckily I was able to take a peek. He had Ad then. I wasn’t able to see the other card he had and he even refused to show me. Well, if he had A K or Q of spades, then sorry for me but if it was something else, maybe I could have won.

What do you think of how I’ve played the game? I think I should have called or have pushed all in, but I’m not sure. Any advice or comment perhaps?

Thanks!

Spike
Spike,

You did not have pot odds to make the call. You had probably 14 outs or 56% to win if you were behind to a pair. Your opponent bet four times the pot. You did not have the odds to call.

It was a good fold.

Hello,

For more than a month now, I’ve been playing holdem online. Just weeks ago, I decided to improve my skills as I already considered the game fun and exciting. I started to add more hours to my playing time and then make some adjustments with how I see my cards. I also stopped focusing on how other players play. Well, all my efforts eventually paid off. In a WPT tourney, I ended having the 7th place.

Luckily, I got then the chance to see your site. Thanks to you and your site as I was able to learn not only what the good cards are but also what the bad ones are. I was also able to learn how to play, when to play, so on and so forth.

Because of the many things I learned, in a $1 tourney just recently, I was the 2nd placer out of 1300 players who joined. And in a $5 tourney early this morning, I was in the 24th place out of 900, not so bad I believe.

Despite the achievements I got, I still have some questions to ask. One of the most intriguing to me actually is the one about closing the deal. How do you actually close the deal? In the two recent events where I got the 2nd and 24th place, I had high chip count later part. I tried to play loosely then and tried two bluffs as well. I’m thinking of posting and folding then but I’m not sure.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks!

Engelbert
Englebert,

In the later part of the tournament you need to punish the short stacks and force them to either play for all their chips or lay down. Don’t get into too many big confrontations with big stacks unless you have a strong hand. Otherwise, try and see flops cheaply and punish your opponents when you hit the board strong.

When you get to the last few players, open up your hand ranges a bit to try and take the win. Two big cards, any ace, any pair, and large suited cards are strong hands 4 handed through heads up. Otherwise, continue to play small pot poker and see cheap flops.

I was in a game of $10 buy-in last week. Earlier part of the game, I was the chip leader with pocket 6s and a flopped set. However, later on, my cards dried up, therefore I had to tighten up. Also, my stack decreased after I paid blinds.

Following rounds and I folded, also limped into hands with suited connectors. I was in the small blind when I was dealt AQ suited. A certain player called the blind while others folded without doubts.

Later, I had to raise 2,000 hoping to steal or else have some excitement and then win the pot. Unfortunately, I was re-raised by the big blind, the second-biggest stack. Others folded immediately while I called afterwards.

Few seconds passed and he flipped over Jacks.

Now I was thinking if I made the right call. What’s your thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Irwin
Irwin,

Both of you woke up with big hands in the blinds. A-Q against just the big blind is usually a favorite. He just happened to wake up with a pair. You still had over cards however.

I would like more information on your stack. If you were short stacked, then this call was fine. If you had a medium or larger stack, then this may have been a poor call as this was one of the stacks that could bust you.

Overall I think that it was a case of two reasonable hands going to war and you happened to be on the short end of the stick.

Hello,

Just the other night, I joined an online tournament with $10 buy in. Earlier, I was moved to a new table with approximately $7500, this was in chips. By the way, I started with $5000 and the blinds back then were at $100/200 and were moving almost twice just within 30 minutes.

I believe the room was filled with loose players as well as tight players. At some point, I was able to have pocket fives in the BB. Few minutes and middle position player, player in cutoff, and on the button limped in. SB folded and I just checked. Flop came and brought 765 rainbow, thus giving me a set of 5s. I then placed $800 bet while middle position player folded. For approximately $2200 player in cutoff moved all-in. Player on button followed for approximately $7000, that eventually had me covered. I then called though there was much risk as I was hoping the board would be a pair.

Later, player in cutoff turned over J7 unsuited while player on button had 43 unsuited. Turn and river came but were blanks and so I was busted out.

Now as I look back, I know I’ve committed couple of mistakes. I believe I should have raised pre-flop. It was an honest mistake as I believe there are too many loose and strange calls in small buy-in tournaments that actually make effective reading and bluffing not possible. I also believe that I should have considered the idea that the button had the straight or at least had a hand that had me beat. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Gifford
Gifford,

I think you played correctly preflop. Pocket fives are really not a raising hand. Raising may have thinned the field, but you said the field was a mixed bag. A raise may or may not have worked. Pocket fives are limping hand, in the hopes to flop a set.

Beyond that, I think you played the hand find. You flopped a set, bet and then the cutoff moved all in. The button flopped a near miracle hand and moved all in. You were correct to call the bets. Also remember that you had 8 outs to still win after the flop.

I would have played it the same way and probably went broke too.

Hello,

I’ll start by sharing that I love to play a lot of online tourneys with play money because I’m not yet ready to lose with real money.

In one of the tourneys I was able to participate in, something happened. I remember we started with approximately 3000 players and the starting stack was 3000 chips. At the start, I was seriously tight.

At mid part of the game, about 1000 players were left. I remember that point, the average chip count of all players was always beyond my stack. So I’m curious, is there any sense at all to continue playing when you are just at your starting chip count and then blinds go to 400/800 and antes then kick in?

And another thing, do you think I played too tight at the start? How about going out early to have a good chip count, should I have done it?

Thanks and great site!

Regards,
Thorsten
Thorsten,

As long as you have chips, you are still capable of winning. Freeroll tournaments are tournaments that you need to either try and gamble a lot early to win chips, or you need to push your strong hands almost hyper aggressively.

In freerolls with large fields, I would try and pick up chips early as I can to have a shot to win. With me, I will usually push with any pair or any reasonable hand like A-K or A-Q. These are freerolls. If you bust out first, you lose the same as everyone else, and that’s nothing.

Hi,

I have two questions to ask.

1. In various holdem shows, it seems that dealer most of the time doesn’t deal every card out. Typically, cards are taken off the top of the deck and then will be disregarded. I’m curious if you know how all cards should be dealt. Can you explain it to me? And about cutting cards, is there any proper etiquette to consider?
2. Say two players were keeping Q4 and Q6 and on the table was QQ467, do you think pair then will come into play?

Please, I need your help.

Thanks in advance.

Clark
Clark,

1. Not every card will be dealt. In a 10 handed game, 20 cards will be dealt to players, 3 cards will be burn cards, and there will be 5 community cards. 38 cards total will be dealt. The dealer starts dealing at the small blind, and gives everyone the first card and then makes another rotation. After the preflop betting, a card is burned, and three cards are put face up in the middle. After the flop betting, a card is burned and another card is dealt face up in the middle. After the turn betting, another card is burned, and a final card is dealt face up in the middle. In regards to cutting cards, in a home game it is usually customary for the player to a person’s left to cut the cards, although the dealer may cut the cards.
2. In this case, the player with Queens full of sixes wins. When the three of a kind in a full house is tied, the pair is what determines the winner.