Learn Texas Holdem

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Answer:

To answer your first question, when the blinds increase quickly, you do need to play more hands. I would do a little limping behind the other limpers, if I could get away with it; hopefully maybe making one big pot. Otherwise, the best approach is to raise some middle range hands that you think will do well against the limpers hands. For example, AT isn't a premium hand, but if everyone just limps in, it may be the best.

You would try to raise enough to get heads up, and then go from there. You might be more aggressive with hands like suited Aces, KJ, KT, etc. Pairs would also fair well. When you are raising with lighter hands at a full table, you always run the risk of running into a big hand; keep that in the back of your mind. Most of poker is made up of plays like this: making a stab at a pot with an ok hand and seeing how it fairs. As long as you don't do it too much, you'll make it harder on your opponents. Next, I would be careful about getting too fancy early on.

Generally speaking, most players won't risk their entire stack early on in a tourney, unless they have something very good. For example, it would be a mistake to go for a coinflip hand in the first round when the blinds are so small. So if someone plays back at you, just move on to the next hand. It doesn't mean the strategy won't work, it just didn't work that once.

Now, let's get to the second question regarding trips, flop texture and weaker players. I take a more liberal approach to hands than what you might read elsewhere. My philosophy is that I would much rather play a hand a bit more deceptively, taking on some added risk, than I would playing it too aggressively early on and most likely limiting how much it could win. I think part of this comes from playing in bigger games where getting value on hands is the hardest part.

Let me give you an example from yesterday. I was playing in a limit game and I had AQ. The woman to my right opened with a raise. I reraised, as I had before against her in similar situations. She capped the betting and we were heads up. One key part of the story is that they also capped 22 against me in a previous hand in which it won since my AK didn't improve. I was aware of that, and so was she.

The way I played the hand was to use this information against her to maximize my winnings. The flop was A-9-8 or something. She bet of course, but instead of raising, I just called. Now, on the turn, she fired again. When I didn't raise again, that really threw her a off. Now I know exactly what her line of thinking was and it was something like this, "if he had an Ace, he would raise, my pair may be good, and I might get him to fold a hand I can't beat." I got the bets in on the river and she just had another small pocket pair. I got more than I should have on the hand because I mixed up the play.

Now, would I be regretting things if I ended up getting rivered? No. I don't mind taking on additional risk by not protecting my hands quite as well all the time because often times two things come into play; one, many times, if you just play the hand to trap them, you get more action on hands that wouldn't be putting in a dime otherwise; secondly, often times, regardless of what you do, the cards are set in stone already.

Let me explain both points, because they may not be clear. Most games now days online are very aggressive, even smaller games. At big games when you are heads up and check, the player is usually brave enough to try and bet you out, since you haven't shown and interest in the pot. If you know this, and have a fairly strong hand, then I would slow roll them some and try to maximize my winnings. I might call the flop, check raise the turn.

For the second point, I simply mean that often times regardless of what you do, raise or whatever, the guy will still call and hit whatever he is going to hit. Now, you might be saying, well if that were true, then why not put all the money in when I have the best hand? That is true and an example of that is if you have a set like 333 on a flop like A-Q-3 against a preflop raiser in no limit holdem. If you know you are ahead and you got your man to bite, get the money in.

There are other situations though where I don't put everything in immediately. An example might be if I have a set or two pair and the flop is all one suite. A better plan would be to call the flop and then raise the turn if nothing hits. What you are doing is skewing the odds more so than raising immediately.

Think about a hand like TT or JJ. If you know your opponent has two overcards, what is the best way to play the hand? Is it best to go allin preflop and have a coin flip? No. A better way to play is to call the reraise and then see what the flop looks like. Then at that point you can check raise or bet him out. Next, let's talk specifically about how to play against a flush draw in no limit holdem. Is the idea to shut out any possible draws and make only as much money as was went in preflop? If you did that you would make nothing. How I would play the hand is to try and suck the guy in. If I had a set and he came out firing, I might just call and wait till he committed another bet on the turn. This way too, I avoid the possibility of him catching the flush on the turn and breaking me.

Also, like I mentioned above, he might assume you don't have much since you just called and try to bet you out of the pot with a semi-bluff if he did just have a flush draw, in which case you really nail him. The same goes for multi-way pots. If I had a set of 5's in a flop like KcTd5d against multiple players, my hope would be that the person with the King would try to defend and I would get to suck him in before dropping the hammer.

Lastly, it is important to give your opponents an opportunity to play worse hands than your hand against you. An example might be if you have 55 on a flop like 7c-5c-2h. What do you accomplish by going all-in on the flop? You will definitely chase away anyone who you would like in the pot still. What if you just called someone's bet and let in a hand like AJ or A2 and the person quite an Ace on the turn. Now you really nail them. On the other hand, if you go all-in here or raise too much, you might only get called by the hand that you don't want to see in still, something like a pair and a flush draw or a straight and flush draw.

Don't underestimate other player's bad play. You'll get plenty of players who will go all-in with just a flush draw. If I had AcKc on the flop above, I might play with you too for all my chips. The saying is, "protect yourself at all times." The best way to protect yourself and make money is to get him hooked in first with a call or smaller raise, then pull the trigger on the turn where he now only has less than 20% chance to hit his draw versus doing it on the flop where, with two cards to come, he has over a third of a chance.

** As a side note, all of this information is geared to help you win more and lose less. There are plenty of exceptions on how play to hands. As a skilled player, part of your job is to adjust how you play hands to meet these goals better. Don't feel like anything you read anywhere is always "right."

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