Thursday, December 27, 2007

Strategy Of Playing Poker

Two Rounds Strategy Of Playing Poker
 
Beftingafter the fourth and fifth board cards in hold ‘em is generally like the betting after the last two rounds in any other multiple round 4poker game. The seeds have already been sown (as indicated by the size of the pot developed by the earlier betting) and now comes harvest time. Hopeftilly you are the harvester rather than the harvested.

In limit hold ‘em, both of these last two rounds of betting (third and fourth betting rounds) are double-size bets; that is, in a $5/$ 10 game these are the ten- dollar rounds, whereas the first two rounds of betting were five- dollar rounds. If you were to play a hand of hold ‘em to completion where there was one bet made on each of the four rounds of betting (with no raises), two thirds of the total money that you put into the pot goes in during these last two rounds. The betting has indeed become much more serious and expensive.

Chess skirmishes

To put these last two betting rounds in proper strategic perspective, notice that all of the wild gesticulation and intimidation that takes place during the first two rounds of betting are much like the opening pawn and knight skirmishes in a chess game (sometimes decisive but generally less mtensive) The last two rounds of betting involve a greater level of Commitment and have a greater impact on the final course of the game or war.

As the fourth up card is “turned,” you should now have a pretty good idea of just where you stand in this hand. If you called a single bet after the lop as a somewhat loose speculation (“chasing”), because there was a fair amount of money in the pot (raised before the flop), now is the time you must shape up or ship out. If you are still behind in this hand, before investing further (double size) bets, you should know exactly how many cards (of the 46 cards which might appear) will give you a winning hand, and those odds should be justified by the pot size. Perhaps the greatest difference between consistent winners and consistent losers is that the witmers are playing with the percentages rather than against them.
 Otherwise put, at this point in time, just after the fourth card, you are advised to take a cold hard objective look at the whole hand before you put any of those big bets into the pot. Up until now you have been merely dabbling with the potentials of how your two cards mesh with the flop. After the fourth card the issues have been considerably narrowed — even if not totally resolved. With only one more card to come, do the percentages of your getting certain last cards, considered together with the percentages of what the opponent(s) are most likely to have, justif’ your putting double size bets into this pot? The prospect of actually winning a pot with a miracle last card (low percentage) is often not enough tojustili putting in a double size bet (especially if raises after you call are possible).

Posted by Rohn at 09:06:40 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, December 7, 2007

Game Structure

Hold‘em and other “board” poker games (with five communal board cards) are usually played without antes. Instead, the first two (sometimes three) players to act (on the dealer’s left) are required to put up either a unit bet or approximately a half-unit bet. This “forced bet” is called a “blind” (appropriate, since this bet is posted before the players look at their two private cards).
 There are many different betting structures under which hold‘em is played. Betting structures can be categorized as limit, pot-limit or no-limit. In the United States, most hold‘em games are played with (fixed) limits, such as $5/$lO or $10/$20. In Europe, most hold‘em games (and other poker games) are played pot-limit. At the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the main event (a tournament with a $10,000 buy-in) is no-limit hold‘em, in which, as the name implies, you may bet all your chip whenever it is your turn.
There are also several hybrid structures, such as the CAVERN rules, where hold‘em betting is limited before the flop, played pot-limit after the flop, and no-limit after the last two rounds.
 A Prescribed Amount
 Limit or fixed-limit hold‘em means that the permissible amount of each bet on any given betting round is pre-established. In American casinos, most often limit hold‘em stakes are described by two numbers, such as $5/$ 10 or $1 0/$20. The first number prescribes the fixed amount of all bets (and raises) during the first two rounds of betting; the second number prescribes the amount of all bets (and raises) in the last two rounds of betting. Thus, unless a player has less money on the table than required (and hence must go “all in”), the amount of each bet or raise is fixed at a prescribed amount.

For example, in a typical ten-handed casino $1 0/$20 hold‘em game, if the first two players (to the dealer’s left) have each posted blinds (usually $5, a half bet, on dealer’s left, and $10, a unit bet, two seats from dealer’s left) the first person to act voluntarily is the third player to the dealer’s left. That player may call the $10 unit bet, raise $10 (for a $20 total) or fold. All bets and raises made during the first two rounds of betting are at increments of $10. All bets and raises made during the last two rounds of betting; that is, after the 4th and 5th board cards are at increments of $20.

The Larger the Pot, The More You Should Play
 Much of the information contained within the subsequent chapters pertains primarily to (fixed) limit hold‘em. However, most concepts and principles can be extended to both pot-limit and no-limit hold‘em, assuming that the size of the potential bets in relation to the pot size and the blind size is taken into consideration. As in all forms of poker, the larger the established pot in relation to your proposed investment, the more liberally you should play.

In pot-limit hold‘em, the blinds are similar to those in limit hold‘em, as described above; for example, blinds might be $5 and $10 in the same first two positions. In pot-limit hold‘em, bets are not limited to any fixed amount. Any player, in turn, may bet any amount equal to or less than the present size of the pot, provided that any raise is as least as large as the previous bet. If the pot is $80 and an opponent then bets $40, you are looking at a $120 pot. You have several options: (1) Of course, you may fold; (2) You may simply call the $40; (3) You may raise by calling the $40 (pot becomes $160 before your raise) and raise any amount from $40 (size of previous bet) to $160 (size of pot, including the amount of your call).

In a no-limit game, which usually has a blind structure similar to those described above, any size bet or raise is pennissible, with the usual proviso that any raise must be at least the amount of the previous bet on that round. Thus the only upper limit is the amount a player has available on the table (“table stakes”).

Posted by Rohn at 11:54:51 | Permalink | No Comments »