02-22-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Being Raised On The Turn
Is this strategy flawed?
You wrote:
Losing Your Stack With One Pair
This tip will save you some money. It is pretty rare that someone will make a substantial raise against you on the turn or river and not have one pair beat. You'll find some crazy players that do that but they will be easy to spot. Everyone else will have one pair beat.
Top 3 Beginner Rooms
Answer: I think it is true that in most games you'll find yourself in, if you have the initiative -- you are the person doing the betting -- and someone raises you, most of the time they will have one pair beat; this is especially true if multiple players are in. For example, let's say you have AA and raise preflop and get two callers.
The flop comes back and both players call your flop bet. If on the turn card one person bets out and the other person raises, the vast majority of the time one pair isn't good. Now there are plenty of exceptions but if someone is capable of making a tough play like that to force you out of the hand or is raising hands that you have beat, you'll be aware of it.
People are creatures of habit and if someone is putting in excessive raises in bad spots, it shouldn't be too hard for you to see it and adjust. Most of the time poker is a lot more simple than we make it out to seem, you bet good hands and fold when the signs are you are beat.
Now for your question about raising top pair... A few points:
Scared Poker - I'm assuming this is no limit holdem. You don't want to always think someone is going to run you down on the river. If you play constantly fearing people drawing out on you, you won't do very well. Have confidence in the numbers. If you have a 3:1 favorite, you are going to lose some but in the end you should be a big winner.
Value Vs Safety - If you do have confidence in the strategy you have developed, you should be able to bet in a way that balances risk and reward. You won't win much money if every time you have top pair and a better kicker than your opponent, you scare him away with too aggressive betting.
Making bets relative to the size of the pot is generally what you want to do in no limit holdem. You make bets relative to the pot because it makes it harder to read how strong your hand is and also because you want to get some action. No limit holdem isn't just a game of going all-in and hoping to get called. Most of the time you just make good size bets.
Mixing Up Play - To win in poker your goal is to get a winning hand and to get paid off on that hand. Things get more tricky when the opponents are able to dodge your good hands. It is my guess that if you always make the same large bets when you have top pair, the players in the hand will be able to fold when they are behind and make you pay more so when they are ahead.
If you can always keep your opponent off balance -- giving you too much credit, or not enough -- then he/she can't help but make mistakes. If I were you I would experiment with betting more and see if you can't figure out how to milk certain type of players. Intentionally underbet pots sometimes, and intentionally overbet pots sometimes. When to do so depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Feigning weakness is the most common move but you can also overbet pots and get people to assume you are weak.
Your rating:
Click on the clover of your choiceTop 5 Poker Rooms
| Colt Poker Free $10 | Read Review |
|---|---|
| Cake Poker Free $10 | Read Review |
| Minted Poker | Read Review |
| Poker Stars | Read Review |
| 888poker | Read Review |
