Posts Tagged ‘bets’
September 28th, 2009 | 
Author: You have 4-4 in the fourth position, and the player in the second position (two seats to the left of the big blind) makes it two bets to go. You're playing my theory—"three-bet with small pairs"—before the flop, so you make it three bets. No one else calls, and the flop is Q-10-3. The player in the second position then bets out into you and you raise him, thus "representing" a queen (or perhaps K-K or A-A) but also gaining information.
If your opponent reraises you, then either you're already beaten (this is more likely) or your opponent has a straight draw, and it's time for a decision. If you feel you have him beat at this point, then you may want to reraise him. Or you might decide that your opponent has you beaten and fold your hand on the flop. You might decide simply to call his reraise on the flop and defer a decision to call or fold when you see what drops on fourth street. I would call one more bet and make a decision on fourth street heavily weighted toward folding, but trust your instincts here.
If your opponent just calls your raise, then he may still have you beaten, with something like A-10 or Q-J. But if he doesn't have you beaten, then he most likely has some sort of straight draw like K-J, A-J, or A-K. Therefore, any 9, J, K, or A would be a terrible card for you on fourth street.
Let's look at the way this hand would be played on the flop if you had just called the two bets with your 4-4 before the flop. In this case, it's likely that at least one other player will have called the two bets before the flop. Suppose one of them was the big blind, since it costs him only one more bet. Now the big blind checks after the Q-10-3 flop, and the preflop raiser bets out. You have to use a bit more discretion here because you also have to worry about the big blind behind you.
I would probably just call the bet in this case and see what the big blind does. If the big blind were to fold, then I would make a decision about this hand later, on fourth street. (In this case, it's all about how you read your opponent on fourth street.) But if the big blind were to raise the bet on the flop, then I would just fold my hand right there. And if the big blind were to call the bet, then I would assunfce that he has some sort of straight draw, or maybe a mediocre piece of the flop with something like 10-8 or 3-A.
Suppose now that the button player and the big blind both call the two bets before the flop. So we have the second position making it two bets, you calling the two bets with 4-4 in the fourth position, and now the button and the big blind calling the two bets as well.
The flop comes down Q-10-3. Now the big blind checks and the original raiser bets out on the flop. What do you do? With three other opponents still in this hand and two over-cards on the board (Q-10), folding is the proper play. Moreover, the fact that the second-position original raiser has bet out into you, and there are two other people behind you yet to act, is a little bit scary in this scenario. You just have to give up and fold.
Online Casino Roulette Games bladecasino.comInternet Casino Gambling Casino Games
Tags: bets, casino, instincts, poker
Posted in 
Tags: 
Once you add A-x suited to the arsenal of hands you play, you need to pursue this hand within certain constraints:
1. A-x suited is not a hand you would ever want to call three bets with before the flop. Perhaps if your hand is A-10 or A-J suited, and you're in the big blind, then it's OK (recall that we covered A-Q and A-K in Chapter 3). But with only a very few exceptions, you don't ever want to call three bets with A-x suited.
2. When no one else has entered the pot in front of you, you should usually make it two bets with this hand. This way your raise seems to be representing a strong hand, and you may just end up winning the blinds if no one calls your raise. With these types of weak hands, picking up the blinds is a good result.
3. When anyone else has already limped into the pot in front of you (just called one bet), you should call that one bet. For the intermediate-level player, this play is slightly better than making it two bets. If you then hit the flop, you can play your hand hard, but if you miss the flop, you can fold your hand, having lost only one bet. 4. If someone raises in front of you, then just call the two bets. The one exception is that you could three-bet a jackal with A-10 or A-J suited.
I don't think giving you any more examples of what to do before the flop with A-x suited would help very much at this point. You now have the basic principles. (I hope, by the way, that I'm not driving you crazy with all these rules followed so closely by all these exceptions! That's just the way poker is. Personality and relative hand strength are always factors.)
Play Online Casino New Online CasinosOnline Casino - Online Gaming Casino Be a winner!
Tags: bets, blinds, casino, poker