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If you play No Limit Texas Hold’em, particularly online, you are constantly presented with situations where it is basically a coin flip as to who will win the hand. In other words, you will win about 1/2 the time and lose about 1/2 the time. According to the percentages, no player has much of an advantage over another. Examples of these hands are usually something like pocket 7’s against A-K, or something similar. Many times you will have to decide whether or not to call an all-in bet pre-flop when these situations come up. How you handle these plays depends on what kind of player you are, and ultimately will determine your success, especially in tournament play.

First, going all-in early in a tournament is a dumb play. You will see it time and time again in online tournaments. Novice players LOVE to over-bet their hands. No matter how you slice it, A-K is just an Ace high hand if neither cards pair up on the flop. (which they do not most of the time) There is just no way that it is worth putting your tournament life on the line, simply because you have a good starting hand. This, of course, is the great equalizer in No Limit Texas Hold’em. Amateurs can even things out by making all-in plays. It eliminates all the tough decisions that have to be made post-flop, on the Turn, and on the River.

So, should you call when you have a good hand and someone goes all-in? I would say, 95% of the time, “no”. No matter what happens, you cannot win the tournament in the early stages, but you sure can lose it. There will be many better opportunities that will come up over the course of the game, for you to get all your chips into the pot. The risk does not out weigh the reward. The exception to this rule might be if you have pocket K’s or A’s, or if you are such a terrible unskilled player, that your only hope is to double up and play the big stack. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Since the addition of online poker, the prize pools at the World Series of Poker has skyrocketed. Chris Moneymaker, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, Joseph Hachem, and Jamie Gold have all won millions of dollars by winnig the main event. These past champions were basically amateur poker players before becoming famous bracelet winners. Can you be the next WSOP champion? Anyone who catches a good run of cards and plays decently could possibly take down the main event this year. With the addition of online poker, winning a seat is easier than you think. Most poker rooms will be promoting WSOP seat like crazy in the upcoming months. They will be offering huge sign-up bonuses, WSOP packages, and all expenses paid trips. [Read the rest of this entry...]

At the higher stakes of poker, you have to find as many edges over your opponents as possible. Many times you will have a weak pair on the river after your opponent has checked. The board might be very dangerous where your opponent could possibly have a flush. After playing many hands with this opponent, you are almost certain that he has an even weaker pair. A decent player would simply check in this position to avoid the possibility that his opponent has a monster hand. A world-class player would make a thin value bet in this situation. A thin value bet is a bet made to extract maximum value from a hand. It is thin since you are only marginally ahead of your opponent. It takes a lot of trust in your reading ability to make these thin value bets. If you know how to make thin value bets, you will make a fortune in the long run. It may take some experience at the tables and some courage to make this play. [Read the rest of this entry...]