Rookie Mistakes at the Poker table (Showing hands for free)

 



It is often said, there are no friends in Poker and I am a strong believer in that theory. I don’t care if my mom sits down at the table next to me if mom is she is an opponent then she’s getting pounded, I know my mom feels the same way. Often times when I go play I will see players voluntarily show their hand to the table, even if no one calls. I never understand this, in any competition the goal is to give up as few advantages as possible, in Football you don’t decline penalties even ones that were wrongly called, just to be friendly to your opponent. Dictionary.com defines the word call as it relates to poker as….

A. to demand a card.

B. to demand a showing of hands.

C. to equal a bet

Essentially if someone doesn’t call your bet you can assume that they don’t want to see your cards. Many people watch the pros on T.V and they see them playing the old show one card game. Well, that is a completely different dynamic. Many of these players have played cash games together for years. Seeing the card of their opponents is a strategic ploy designed to gather information. They also understand which card to show. In many of the 1 -2 NL games I play in I see this being done time and time again by 1^st level thinkers or players who only understand the strength or their hands. They do this because.
1. They want the other players to think they only play solid hands.

2. They want to let other players know they don’t bluff

3. They are excited to show a big hand

These are all valid points but lets examine the pro’s and con’s to see if they are valuable points.

Point #1 Whenever level 1 thinkers tell me this, my response is always the same. “must be nice.” Essentially what you are telling me is that when you come to the table you expect to get a number of solid hands. And at your discretion you are going to show some of those hands to your opponents for free just so they think you only play solid hands. Do I have that correct? Unfortunately the game doesn’t quite work like that. I don’t know about you but the majority of my poker sessions are filled with mucking trash and looking for spots to 3bet. The idea that I will receive a number of “solid hands is foreign to me” When I do get these solid hands and they hold up I want people to pay me, I certainly don’t want to let them off the hook by giving them a free look during the hand, it would be considered a mistake and considering that the game is constantly in motion it is also a mistake after the hand. The last thing I want them to do is find out for free that I only play solid hands this is only going to provide me with less action over time.

Point #2 This statement is so contradictory, in the same breathe that they make this statement players will say “Everyone at the table is terrible” It can’t be both if the players are terrible they certainly won’t be able to recognize the significance of you showing your hand. In your average 1-2 game many of the players are not paying attention to what is going on when they are out of the hand. Some times they are even oblivious to what your hand means. For instance when you bet the river on a As - 4s Js 2h 10s board with Ks - Kh in your hand your opponent folds on the river and then you show the table your hand. Many at the table will only glance and see that you were betting Kings with and Ace on board, in their mind you are a bluffer. If you consider the players at the table to be above multi level thinkers than you shouldn’t be showing them anything for free for fear of giving away information. So either way it is a bad idea.
 
Point 3 This is the one point that I can empathize with, it is hard to make a big hand in poker and when you do make one you start to feel a little rush of adrenaline. Your so disappointed that no one called you that you feel like you have to share your enjoyment. If this is your feeling let me let you in on a little secret. No one at the table cares about your enjoyment. The players are there to take your money, so unless you have to turn over you hand to collect a jackpot just keep em to yourself. You might not recognize it right away but in the long run it will pay off. Remember your cards have value to you make em pay to see them.

Crucial keys to Crushing Limit Poker games.

Limit Poker? The name alone sounds foreign to many of today’s players. In today’s fast action poker world limit poker often takes a back seat to NL games. Many players frown upon the game complaining that it’s silly and filled with stations. While I won’t argue with that It’s a lot more profitable than your average 1-3 game. To those who say they can’t win at Limit my response is that they probably can’t win at poker period. Every game whether it’s football or poker has a strategy to it, the key is to identify and employ a winning one. So that’s exactly what I’ll do

In my opinion the key to winning at Limit is more intangibles than tangibles. Like knowing when your running good and knowing when to cut your losses. As for the tangible there are some things you can do.

Pre - Flop aggression - It is key in Limit poker to get the last raise in Pre-Flop even more so than in NL. The main reason is because you can’t be raised off your hand. In No Limit when you 3bet someone you open up the possibility of them re-raising you off your hand. In limit the best they can do is give you better pot odds. Increase your 4betting range in these games to build pre-flop pots. Because many people will check to the last raiser regardless of their hand, You will be assured of at least one street of control. Finally by building that pre flop pot you provide yourself with correct pot odds should you have to make a tough call on latter streets.

Saving bets - In Limit poker it’s not so much the bets you win as it is the bets you save. Many people play a calling station type of game just check calling on every street hoping to turn over a winner. The most obvious example are the players that call down all three streets with one pair hands. This is a common mistake that limit players make thinking “I flopped a pair so I should go to the river with it“. You should be trying to use the post flop street to get significant information on where you stand in the hand. Wasting two small bets is much cheaper than wasting two big bets speculating. So many players never make a profit in Limit because they waste so many bets calling down with weak holdings.

Keep your pots big and their pots small - You no how you can check to see if you are having a winning day at Limit poker? Count the number of times their pots go check - check vs. the number of times your pots go bet call. This is one of the main reasons I like raising Pre to get the field to heads up as quickly as possible. Heads up play in Limit is much simpler than NL because now there is a cap on what you can lose. The quicker you get the hand to heads up the quicker you can decide if you want to play for max value or not. You should be trying to play passive and get to cheap showdowns with marginal holdings, but conversely pressuring and raising big made hands or draws. Let’s say you have AK spades and the board comes 5-9-2 with two spades. You opponent leads into you for $20 and gets called in one spot. You raise to $40 and both your opponents just call. The turn is a blank and they check to you. If you decide to check behind it has only cost you $40 to see two cards as opposed to $60 also you have taken control of the pot and if you do bet the turn and make your hand on the river you have built a big pot for yourself if you miss your hand they win a check - check pot. The point being you want to let the size of the pots be dictated by your holdings. Strong hands big pots marginal hands small pots.

Enough’s enough - NL is a game of swings limit is a game of runs, In a No Limit game your money is at risk every minute your in the game. Nothing is more frustrating then to build a big stack and have a fish sit down and wipe you out because he got there. Limit is not like this In Limit there is only so much they can take from you each hand. When I’m in a limit session I am trying to get to a winning day a number so much that I can’t loose it all unless I sat through an awful run (which I won’t do) In $20 - $40 that number is usually about $800 If I get up that much in the game then it is unlikely that I will give all my profit back if after a short time I’m down to only $500 profit then I will start making decisions about when to leave, usually I make some sort of goal for myself, I will say if I don’t win a hand by the next dealer, or the next blind or in the next $100 I’ll leave. I know it sounds suppositious but I have found that the gut knows. When your playing NL hold em there are so many wild card factors that it’s hard to predict what the next hand will bring. Limit is a true grind and to win consistently you must recognize that. There is no glory in beating Limit only profit.

Get your AK... No Good Gear @ www.aknogood.com



How to beat 1-2 NL games(Alex, Gary, Alec Blog comments)

The last blog I wrote received a lot of interesting feedback, it also provided me some insight into what some of my opponents are thinking about at the table. After reading many of these comments I wanted to reply but felt like a blog response would allow me to elaborate in better detail. I think everyone’s comments were insightful and I am sure that every player believes that their line of thinking is the most productive. However want to play Devil's Advocate to see if we can look from a different P.O.V
　

Just the facts please - The definition of opinion is (wikipedia) - a belief about matters commonly considered to be subjective, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts.
 The definition of fact is  (wikipedia)- something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be proven

I like to make sure I put up these definitions because many times people get these two confused. A good example of this is when people say that “bluffing a weak player won’t work” or as Gary put it “is like trying to train a coyote to be a dog” Bluffing like many things that go on at the table is situational. Some games it’s profitable to bluff some games it’s not. Some spots you may need to bluff in some spots waiving the white flag is the correct play. Bluffing like many other things in the game is also relative and based on perception. How many times has a guys shown you his hand after you have folded thinking he bluffed you when in actuality he was bluffing with the best? In my opinion the belief that bad players can’t be bluffed is incorrect but I will talk about that in another blog. Another opinion stated as fact that I read was “your image means nothing to bad players“. How do we prove that? I’m sure that everyone has a story about the fish in the game who got lucky on them and then donked off all their chips. But does that really prove that your image means nothing? Or is it simply a matter of looking at only the results of a small sample size. One could argue that winning players craft their image at the table so thoroughly that it is almost impossible for the other players at the table not to recognize. In this day in age with all the public information about poker isn’t it unreasonable to believe that a good majority of your opponents are trying to get some sort of read on you. In fact if you asked most poker players what their strongest ability was I bet they would mention their reading ability. (I smell a poll question). How can you have a accurate read on a player without having a image for them? The point being that many times opinions are stated as fact, when reality they are not. This can be a determent not only to our psyche but also our bankroll.

All players are not created equally - In the comments to my last blog their were two hand history re-caps, in both the hero’s took what they would call a bad beat and while I agree %100 with the bad beat portion, I think that there are other aspects that both Alex and Gary are ignoring. It’s not their fault however. Poker players by nature of the game tend to be a more narcissistic group then most. The game is an individual sport, in fact one of the most common expression is “No friends at the poker table” Because of this I think many times we fail to look at the other guy’s P.O.V. For instance in Alex’s comments he mentions his opponents reasoning behind making the call was. His opponent believed he had two over’s and a straight draw for the win. My first impression upon hearing this is that …… I could understand how he could think that. In fact Alex did a good job of letting him think that with his line of betting. The way the hand was played I would expect you to turn over AK suited more than A-6 It wasn’t really unreasonable for him to think what he thought he just happened to be wrong. We have all been wrong on our reads before. I think it’s important to remember that when you sit down at the poker table many of your opponents are going through the same emotions as you. Despite what you believe or what they say no one enjoys loosing. Your opponents our not sitting down at the table to try to give you an edge, in fact they are deciphering ways to out maneuver and manipulate you just as your are them. In Alex’s hand he got unlucky, but I don’t think we can always dismiss our opponents line of thinking as nonsense simply because they outdraw us.

What’s the 411? - In Alex’s story he forgot to let us know the stack size of our opponent. Information like this is crucial in NL poker how can I judge someone’s decision when I don’t know the stakes? Time and time again I will hear players Bitch about a bad beat that they took and they will leave out the fact that Mathematically the guy would be a fool not to call. Have you ever heard a tournament player talking about getting busted from a tournament?

Player 1 “ I had AK guy called me with 10-5 off and spiked".

Player 2 “How deep were you?”

Player 1 “Uh I don’t know I had about 5k”

Player 2 “ What were the blinds?“

Player 1 “ 2000 -4000 with a $100 ante".

Poker is a situational game and certain situations call for certain decisions without knowing the specifics of a situation how can we accurately critique? Now in fairness to Alex he does explain that he’s all - in, but I still would like to know the size of his opponents stack.

The final thing that I would like to touch on in regards to the comments on the last blog is this notion that the way to win at 1-2 NL is to sit back and wait for only AA and KK and then get max value. It is my belief that the game of poker is constantly evolving and to me the tight is right strategy has gone the way the dodo bird. First off it’s hard enough to pick up enough premium hands per session to play. I have gone sometimes weeks without seeing JJ or better as starting cards, if my strategy is to wait for these hands, what do I do now? I used to be a student of the tight is right school. I once thought that the best way to win at poker is to sit and wait and only play your top tier starting hands. Much of this is because my background is in Stud and Limit poker. In Limit poker especially this can be a very profitable strategy as many of the pots will be bloated from all the pre-flop action. However NL is different, there are going to be so many times that your opponents are going to simply fold to you not only because they themselves don’t have playable starting cards but also because of the ultra tight image you have created for yourself. It is my hypothesis that to consistently beat any NL hold em games a player must have the ability to play a loose aggressive style which incorporates skills like, bluffing, pot building and Over -betting. In Low limit Vegas hold em games these skill become even more important as many of your opponents as we see will be incorporating a tight aggressive style. In my humble opinion you ability to exploit that style is a major key in building your bankroll and booking winning sessions

 

Bruce Williams is a Las Vegas poker pro who is know around the city as Ak...No Good. 



How to beat 1-2 NL games (Playing against bad players Part II)

This Blog is in response to a hand history conversation I recently had. Playing 1-2 NL @ Harrah's I limp into a multi - way pot from the cut -off with K5 off. 7 players see the flop of K-5-6 rainbow It's checked to me I bet $14 get 1 called by the SB. I have about $400 left and he has about $150. The turn is a 7 It's checked I bet $42 and get called. The river is an 8 and the SB bets $27. What do you do in that spot? Well a player asked me why I called with K-5. That’s a very good question and the answer is just as good. For Value. I’m sure your shaking your head right now but the fact of the matter is almost any two cards that you can see for the minimum in position in a multi - way pot is for value in the long run. That assuming your better than you opponents. Let’s break down some of the reasons

1. The price is right - In the k-5 hand there were about 4 limpers in front of me, so it only cost me $2 to try to win a pot of $11. Not to mention I have position on everyone else if the button doesn’t call.

2. Play your position - Many players in these Vegas low limit games are going to play their hands pretty straight forward. They will be checking weak hands and betting strong hands. You should have a pretty good indication of the strength of your opponents hand after the flop. In fact, if you’re having a hard time reading your opponents your in the wrong game. There are several flops that are going to completely miss your opponents or be two weak for them to continue on, because you have position you should be able to ascertain the information needed to make the most profitable plays over the long run.

3. No shame in folding - The easy rebuttal to this Loose aggressive style is: What if you get raised? However that’s an easy answer, fold. There is no shame in Limp folding in these games in fact your ideal goal when in position is to get in for the minimum, then profitably out play your opponent. You will have to sometimes call these raises or even 3bet in some spots just to keep you opponents off balance.

4. Pre flop Champions - Poker is not new to the mainstream anymore. Even the most novice player has some understanding of the game. They have been told by the W.S.O.P and WPT broadcast that aggression is the key. The problem for many of them is that this aggression is limited to the flop and usually limited to one raise. Pre flop everyone is a champion. If you pick up Kings or Aces all you have to do is raise and don’t back down. If you pick up JJ or QQ raise and just call a re-raise. All the other hands are pretty much calling hands including AK (which in my opinion is the most misplayed hand). After the flop however many players are lost. It is there where you can take full advantage of them. Their either checking big hands or over betting marginal ones, calling with two many draws or not bluff into weakness. This mistakes add up and over time as long as your opponent isn’t running like God you should be able to win.

5. Luck be a Lady tonight - You know? There is the chance that you could get lucky, I mean it is allowed to happen right? Every now and then your going to cooler AK in this spot or just flop the nuts. I know it might not be the best reason to make a call but you have to factor that in.

It’s important to remember that these tips are for when you are playing low limit cash games in Vegas. If your sitting in a game with 8 other guys that are professional grinders my first suggestion to you would be to find another game. If you don’t have a choice then you are going to have to tweak your style. For these games however playing loose aggressive is the way the go. If all is going right you should be able to take down a few pots bluffing, show them the best hand every now and then and every once in a while cooler the shit out of somebody. Add that in with the times you will win with strong starting hands and you can see how your profit starts to add up.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Middle Pair Strategy for NLHold 'em tournaments

For the purpose of this post middle pairs will be broken up into two categories Low middle and high middle.

22 - 77 Typically you are looking for spots that you can get in for cheap. In the early stages of tournaments many players “set mine” with these hands looking to trap their opponents and win a big pot. From early positions limping can be profitable, from late position a small raise can sometimes freeze your opponents allowing you to buy a 4^th card for free if they all check the flop to you. After the flop these hands should be played straight forward, meaning no set no bet from early position. No set no over pair no bet from late position. I like playing the flop passively with these hands because I believe more information is gained on the turn.

88 - JJ I think these hands should always be opened for a raise from any position, and 3bet against opponents you think are aggressive. From early position I want to play this hand for value. Open for a raise if you only get calls then I am going to C bet any flop that doesn’t have me crushed… I.e no A- K -9 board, no all suited connected boards. I will be betting all boards that have only one over card. One of the main reasons is to get information right there. I also like to vary my bet size here depending on if I think I have the best hand or not. If I receive any resistance then I must re - evaluate the situation. I think many times novice players give up to easily on these hands simply because they don’t improve on the flop. One of the most important thing to check for is if there are any draws on the board. This is crucial for two reasons.

1. Your opponent might be and that draw

2. You might be able to represent that draw on later streets.

From Late position I am betting any board that my opponents check to me, and will probably be double barreling most turns that are checked to me. Any donk lead should be raised for example blinds 100 -200 you raise to 500 get a caller and they lead for 400. Put pressure on these hands simply to regain control of the pot.

 

Bruce Williams is a Las vegas poker pro who goes by the name of AK No good.

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I busted a braclet winner, beat a field of 400 and chopped 25k Guarantee 5 ways.

What a life we lead I just chopped the Golden Nuggets 25k Guarantee tournament. It was a long grind but I was able to fade a few cards in the right spot and get to the final table. Feels good to be the last one standing after a field of 400 people. I know it’s easy to say I played well, but I thought I had close to my A game. There is really only one hand that I wish I would have played differently and even that one turned into a chop. Along the way I got to bust a Bracelet winner sell some T-shirts and make friends. I was only in the tournament because I survived a weird all in very early when I called off with K-6 of diamonds on a As -5d 7d- 6h board. I hit the diamond on the river cause I’m a G like that and I was on my way.

You could say I’m kinda a reg at the Nugget, I like playing against their fields because they are usually soft, both in cash games and tournaments. This was not their usual field however as the 25k Guarantee bought some decent talent and many players that I had battled against for years.

Pro’s: Loved the location of the tournament, I’m a bit biased I know but the room was big and spacious.

Con’s: If your going to hold this on Football Saturday can I please get some T.V action. I’m guessing a few people have more than $125 on the games.

Structure: Not the greatest tournament structure, tournaments like the Orleans weekly still have way deeper structures. The 30 min round levels are pretty standard but they do start the ante’s correctly and place a well timed dinner break in.

Dealers: For the most part the dealers were good both the regular dealers and the temp dealers brought into the tournament, however I did see one massive dealer meltdown when he did not know how to add correctly to see if a the 3bet shove was enough to open back up a raise. The problem was compounded by the fact that it was when we were down to 3 tables, and it was in the later stages of the round. It easily sucked up half the round. He finally had to call the floor over, it was a mess.

Tom Mcevoy: He was the bracelet winner I was talking about early we battled both early in the tournament, and late. He moved to my table when the blinds were only about 400 - 800. He was on my right and I had him out chipped so he didn’t really mix it up with me except verbally to let me know that I only play for “fun” When we got down to two tables he was on my left and had a top 3 stack. I had to play tight as I figured he would play aggressive and try to use his stack to bully the others. He didn't though. When we got down to the final table I was on Tom’s left I was still a bit short stacked but he had been whittled down himself. We final got down to 6 players and by now the tables had turned. I was battling for the chip lead and Tom had let himself get dwindle under 5 BB’s. We finally got in all - in when he shipped from the button with Ad -6d and re-shipped from the SB with AQ off. I faded the 6 and busted the 4 time bracelet winner.

Best Fold: I don’t remember having to make any Hero folds the best one was when I had to fold A-J on a K- 7- 3-8 rainbow board after I put in %70 of my stack

Best Call: With the blinds about 1000 -2000 people begin to get aggressive and play intensified. A new group of players had joined my table younger and more seasoned they begin to raise the overall levels that you needed to play at. After an older guy limped from UTG +1 I raised to 4400 with 66. I had nearly 60k I was called by a LAG directly to my left. It was folded around to the BB who shipped for about 30k. The limper folded and it was back to me Taking into account both the demographic of my opponent. (Young - Asian - American from California) and the situation (Over 12k in the middle with only 1 raise) I ranged my opponent to have most likely two face cards or Ace anything. I re-shipped the guy behind folded. The kid turned over K-J the flop comes 10- Q -2, Pairs the board with 10 on the turn, so he is now officially drawing to the deck but blanks with 8h on the river.

Overall: Don’t get it twisted luck plays a huge role in winning or losing a tournament. I won not one but two races with 66’s. I was dealt aces in a span of 5 hands to buts a total of 3 players. But no one is ever winning or in my case chopping a live tournament with a field size of 400 people without displaying some skill. This was a good spring board and will hopefully propel me on my way to larger tournament wins in the future. For now I’m gonna take my newly won riches and head back to the cash games an

SIn city Poker Blog: How to beat 1-2 NL games (Playing against bad play...

SIn city Poker Blog: How to beat 1-2 NL games (Playing against bad play...:   It’s ironic but to me one of hardest things to do in NL poker is beat a field of bad players. It sounds like it should be easy, but ba...