Poker Table Games

by AffiliateBob

Author: J. Scott Miller

“How to lose with Pocket Aces”

When playing poker online, you have one distinct disadvantage (if you are a good player), and that is you cannot see your opponent’s faces.  Knowing your odds of winning a hand helps a lot, but really in the end, it can boil down to plain old luck. 

How good do you have to be to draw a pair of aces?  Online poker now offers table sizes of 6 players, which is more popular these days.  With a table size of 10, your odds of catching a pair of aces in the hole are about 220 to 1.  That is an automatic win, right?  Simply go all-in” and it’s over. A good portion of the time going “all-in” only scares most of the players out of the hand and your 220 to 1 hand is shot to hell, and you’ve won a minimal amount of money.  Of course someone can call you if they have good cards.  Any high pair would prompt a call, and from there, as they say, “it’s all in the cards,” or the flop in this case. But still, your odds of winning are high.

Table position is key when drawing aces, and how you play them.  If you can be lucky enough to draw them in the “Big or Small Blinds,” you would be the last player to make a call, or even a raise.  That would be the time to raise, especially if several people have called the minimum ante.  Depending on the amount you raise will determine how many people will stick around to see the flop.  If a re-raise comes, that is the moment of truth and you shove your all of your chips to the center of the table.

If you are in the middle of the table, and few people are calling, you might want to make a subtle raise, or just call.  If you raise a ton, there you are again with a couple of bucks and your fantasy hand has gone “bye-bye.” 

Here is how I lose with pocket aces:

I am sitting there minding my own business, playing 25/50 cent blinds, when BAM!  It happens, and I begin to wonder what to do!  Pocket aces have fallen out of the sky and God likes me again.  I am in the middle of the table and three people have called in front of me.  So here is what I think I’ll do:  “I pull a sneak attack on them!”  I’ll slither up behind them like a cobra and take a bite.  I will “lay low,” and just make the 50 cent call, letting in as many people in the hand as possible.  And when the flop comes, I will drop the hammer on them, and it will all be over before they know what hit them.

Unfortunately, the “Lay low, and play it slow” is really a bad way to play the hand. What you are doing is allowing the players with average or sub-par hands play the hand at a minimal cost.  And when the flop comes (This has happened to me) and it is 2h-2s-7d, and several people have checked in front of me, I will make my bet.  Maybe I won’t pull the trigger, but I will bet .  Then someone down the line goes “all-in” on me, and I think I have the hand all locked up.  I call the all-in bet, and that person was on the big blind and had 2d and 7h.  He flopped a full house! “Oh my God,” I say to myself.  I just lost to statistically the worst hand in poker.  Had I raised anything, he would have folded. 

Apparently God no longer likes me.

of waldo483

Author: J. Scott Miller

I

in a six-seat room to walk, sit, play for about 20-30 minutes, and see up to 5 different people coming in and out. Now some of these people can come with a short stack, and lose in a few minutes and then disappear into cyberspace. These are not the people I refer to as “Iceland Hoppers me.”

I am pleased with people who speak deliberately go into a room, sit about 15-30 minutes, and then make a small amount of money, and go to the next room. This can be a good way to play, if you try your style of play will be covered. Too many amateur players will be in a room for a long time sitting and whether they win or lose, can pick up others as they play. You can lose a lot of money playing against an experienced player who knows exactly how you play. He can literally nickel and dime “you to death.

So the next time

go online to play poker, try this method and see how it goes. Drop in a room win or lose, and leave for another room. Do this for a while, and you will keep many of your opponent confused. The other good thing is that you see a lot of faces (I mean real names) of people in these areas. Start now your own homework. Create your own journal and see if you can detect errors in certain players in the poker community. Then you can start your way to filter to the top, where the big money is!

Related online poker article