NO LIMIT HOLD 'EM POKER THOUGHTS

As we embark on an interesting night of non-league, multi tournament (hopefully) poker this week, I want to share some thoughts I have, as well as some quotes from an article I read last week from Chris Ferguson.

I don’t know if anyone has ever noticed, but I don’t play a lot of hands (in No Limit Hold ‘Em, I rarely see more than 34% of the flops), and when it’s time to play, it’s time to play. Now keep in mind, by no means am I saying what you are about to read is the CORRECT way to play no limit Texas Hold ‘Em. What I’m saying is, it’s the way I feel most comfortable playing.

I watch players limp into pots, and call other people’s bets all night long, hoping to get lucky, catch a card or two and take back some chips. The way I see it, these players are just dying a slow death and eventually they will run into a trap and be gone. Usually this style, unless they just catch a great run of cards, doesn’t yield enough big pots to get them into the final group.

If it’s your turn to act, and no one has raised the pot in a No Limit game, raise. If you’re not willing to raise, you probably should fold. Why give the big blind a free look? Why give other marginal hands the chance to catch cards and take chips away from you? By raising, generally the middle of the pact hands will fold and you reduce the number of players in the hand that you have to beat.

Now I know we all see on TV how sneaky and tricky the pros try to be on TV, setting their traps and looking like they are so slick and so smart, and while I acknowledge that at certain times it’s possible to set someone up, and they never see it coming and you can win a monster pot, that is the exception rather than the rule. You do need to vary your play, and sometimes you can limp in with a pair of Kings, but if that flop comes out A-9-8 suited, and two players bet, you are going to have to have enough discipline to fold and get out of the way.

The question then becomes, how much do I raise. I try to almost always raise the same amount, so as not to give any insight to my hand, but there are other factors that some into play as well. Depending on what type of player still has to act, I may want some action thinking I can out play (or out draw them), and therefore not make a huge raise, or I may simply just want the hand over right there and then and make a larger bet. You need to be aware of the stack sizes still left to act, a large stack may take a flyer on your raise regardless of what he has if there is a chance you can be bullied out of a hand, and also know where the tournament is round wise and blind wise. As we get closer and closer to the final 5 or 6, players generally get more conservative and take fewer risks hoping to just hang on and let other people knock players out and move up on the point list and the money list. Be aware of everything.

Know your opponents, be aware of position, be aware of stack size, and know your odds.

According to Chris Ferguson;


“You always want to make your opponents' decisions as difficult as possible. In choosing the size of your raise, you want to give the big blind a tough decision between calling or folding if the rest of the table folds around to him.

Raising from early position is to advertise a very strong hand - one that can beat the seven or more other players who still have to act. Since you are representing such strength, it doesn't take much of a raise to convince the big blind to fold. Also, since your hand is so strong, you actually don't mind a call from the big blind anyway. The real reason for a small raise is that you have so many players acting after you, any of whom might wake up with a monster and re-raise you.

When you raise in late position, you're representing a hand that can beat the two or three remaining hands. This gives you a lot more freedom to raise with marginal hands, but your raise must be bigger or the big blind can call too easily. Another reason to raise more from late position is that you're trying to put pressure on the big blind to fold, not call and, more importantly, you don't have as many remaining opponents who can re-raise you.

If you're representing a big hand by raising from early position, it stands to reason that you'll only get played with by huge hands. Why risk four, five or more bets to win only one and a half bets in the blinds when you're often going to be running into monsters along the way? If you're holding A-Q rather than A-A and a player comes over the top, you can lay it down without having risked much.

Some beginners raise more with their strongest hands to build a bigger pot or raise less with these monsters to get more action. Instead, I recommend that you play your starting hands the same way no matter what you have. With A-A or A-J, raise the same amount so you're not telegraphing the strength of your hand to watchful opponents. An exception would be if you know your opponents aren't paying attention and you feel sure that you can manipulate them.

Again, I’m no expert, and I know I have plenty of weaknesses, especially when it comes to playing to conservative post flop, and trying to avoid showdowns, and generally not maximizing the value of a pot when I have a winning hand. That’s probably an article better written by Rich or Jay, who have no fear and have had more success than I have. But when it comes to pre-flop play, and making strong reads and strong lay downs, and avoiding potential traps and bad beats, I think myself and Neil do a terrific job at minimizing risk, and accumulating chips.