Posts Tagged ‘poker players’

If you’re in the big blind and no one raises before the flop, then how to play in the big blind is one of the easiest decisions you’ll ever have to make in this game. Unless you have pocket aces or kings, all you have to do is check, see the flop, and decide how to play from there. It’s seldom that easy, though. There’s often a preflop raise, which gives you an opportunity to make a costly mistake if you don’t play the hand correctly.

Most beginning players play incorrectly in this area. They play too loose when they’re raised in the blinds, especially in the big blind. Their thinking usually goes something like this: “Well, I’m already in for one bet, I might as well call one more bet to see the flop.” This view is the wrong one to take in this situation for four reasons: casinos

1. In a way, the money that you already have in the pot did not come from you. Once money is put into the pot, for the purposes of making decisions, it doesn’t matter where it came from. It’s as if it came from nowhere. One of the statements that you’ll often hear from poker players is, “I’ve already invested X dollars in this hand, so I have to call again.” This is very erroneous thinking.

2. If you are in a $3-$6 hold ‘em game, then the blinds are $3 and $1, if you don’t call the other $2 in the small blind. This is a total of $4 per round. In a ten-handed game, this comes to 40<t per hand. Even if you must think of the money you’ve already invested-which, as I said, is the wrong way to play-you should think of it as only 40<t and not as the $3 you have in the big blind.

3. In taking the “money-I’ve-invested” perspective, you’ve missed the correct way to see the situation, which is mainly from a pot odds point of view. When you’re facing a raise when in one of the blinds, your decision whether to call should be based on how much it costs you to call versus how much money is in the pot, or how much you think will be in the pot after everyone else calls. It should not be based on how much you’ve already invested.

4. You must also take into account what you think the preflop raiser has. If you think he has a premium hand, you have to know what the odds are that your hand can beat his. You then have to compare those odds to the odds being offered by the pot when making your decisions to call or fold.

• Raising To Eliminate Poker Players Part4 (0)
• Raising To Eliminate Poker Players Part3 (0)
• Raising To Eliminate Poker Players Part2 (0)