Bet With a Purpose

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

Sorry Senior Newton, but your third law of poker needed some tweaking.

One thing I've been working on is thinking ahead.  Something I try to answer during each phase of a hand is what exactly do I want to have happen?

Do I want to play heads up?  Do I want to hide my hand?  Do I want to keep the pot small?  Do I want to go to the flop with a large number of players?  Do I have to win this hand?

Knowing what you want should help you make a decision when it's your turn to act.  The other half of the equation is knowing HOW to achieve what you want.  Here's a recent example.

Player under the gun raises to $7.  Call, call, call, call, call, call, call, big blind raise to $15.  WTF?!?!?

So of course it goes call x 8 players.  Family pot for $15.  Flop 772.  BB Bets $50 one caller.  BB bets turn one caller.  BB bets river, one caller.  BB with AA losses to player with 97 suited.  He can't figure out how he lost.  How could a hand like 97 call a raise to $15?

I assume he knew what he wanted, which was to take down a nice pre-flop pot, or play heads up.  So how the heck could a player with these intentions take the whole table to the flop?

He failed to understand what reaction would come from his action (an almost min raise)

Second example.  Flop.  First to act bets $10.  Next player pushes $10 in is left hand then comes back with the right with $50.  A classic string bet.  Dealer says "sorry sir, that's a call" player is disappointed but understands.  Third player calls, fourth player raises to $20.  Back to the first guy who calls, second player says "RAISE" and makes it $120.  Fold from the third guy, and dude number four folds!!!  Are you serious?!? The MIN raiser folds.  Fold fold fold fold.

Did that really just happen?  This is the sort of thing you see at 1/2 from time to time.

The whole table watches a guy try to raise.  He can't...discount baby!  Then a player raises, opening it back up to the guy who loves his hand.

Clearly the min raiser was missing at least half of the equation.  Either he didn't know what he wanted, or he didn't know how to act in order to achieve the reaction that he wanted.

Lets look at it from a different angle.  We flop the nuts.

Action and reaction.

The reaction we want is a huge pot, lots of players, lots of money.

What action will help us achieve this?  Lets give the man who we know loves his hand, who we know wants to raise an opportunity to do it correctly this time.

We min raise.  He makes it $120.  Cha-Ching.

We knew what we wanted to have happen, we acted accordingly in order to maximize the opportunity to achieve it.  Count your money.

Continue to think ahead.  Make sure you look to the left and right before you act.  It's nice knowing what the guy behind you (so to speak) wants to do before you have to act.  Oh, and be flexible.  Your discounted call could turn into a waste/fold when the next guy misplays his hand.

Patience Is Profit

Music Selection: Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail
Beverage: A&W Root Beer in a mug

My cash game of choice is 1/2 NLH.  There are tons of pros and few cons when it comes to this game.  The best part is that I consider myself a top three player at any nine handed table.

"Oh no he didn't!"

Yes that sounds like a cocky statement but it's really not.  I'm not a great poker player.  I'm not in the top third of all poker players.  What I am is more experienced then 69% of your average 1/2 players.

Lets look at 1/2.  It's the cheapest no limit game offered at most casinos.  I play on weekends.  Weekend evenings are the party nights.  Walk into a poker room on a Friday night, and you'll find a group of players who are there to have fun, party, gamble, and play the most popular poker game in the world.

At this low level, experience is everything.  Reading your opponent.  Putting your opponent on hands.  Correct checking, betting, raising, folding all come with experience.

This is the advantage I have over most 1/2 players, this is why I play 1/2.

So, I have a small advantage over a lot of the people you'll find at a 1/2 game.  So what?

Well, this group of players have wallets too.  They can buy in for as much as any other player at the table.  The most profit comes from these guys.  The inexperienced.

Sometimes, this knowledge hurts me.  I feel rushed.  I know they're bad, so giving them credit for a hand is tough.  Seeing bad plays makes me want to open up.  Now I'm making calls with top pair Aces with that shitty ten ish kicker.  Sometimes I find myself giving chips away in hands I'd never normally play due to the lack of respect.  When this happens, I come back to one word.

Patience.

Let them play bad, let them keep scooping small/medium size pots.  Eventually, the discipline will pay off.  My over pair, two pair or set destroys these players.  They can't fold top pair.  They can't fold a flush draw, they can't fold an open ended (or sometimes gut shot) straight draw.  Cool.  Welcome to value town, population your and me.

During my last session, I'd usually raise to about $10 in good position.  It just so happend that I some loose players to my left and a player of interest 3ish seats to my right.  Three of my pre-flop raises in a row, he re-raised all-in.  I'm looking at decent hands, but they weren't $100+ hands.  Fold.  Fold.  Fold.

Finally I'm dealt JJ.  Raise to the same $10.  Call, Call, Call, All-in $120 ish, I insta-call.  We're heads up.  8 hi flop.  Blank Blank.  I say I have a pair, he mucks.  There's a $150 win.

Patience.

Let them make the mistake, they'll pay you I promise.

Newton said Force = Mass x Acceleration.

Einstein said E=M x C^2.

Rhino says Patience = Profit.

Betcha my breakthrough makes you more money ;)

Note:  Patient + Aggressive to maximize profitable situations.  Sometimes you have to be willing to call All-Ins with a slight edge (JJ vs AK suited is 54 to 46).  1/2 is cheap enough where you can take some risks and win in the long run without risking an arm and a leg.