You Play Poker, but Do You Know When to Go All-In?
May 31, 2008 1:38 am Casino Gambling, Online Gambling, PokerDo you have the “all-in” addiction?
Do you envy those that do?
Do you watch that action on TV and decide it’s the right play?
As you may guess – the answer is… Sometimes!
All-in – When’s the right time to push all-in?
I always know when I’m at a table playing with a fish. He’s the guy
that keeps going all-in. Sure he steals a few pots, and maybe even
gets called, then sucks out and doubles up. Playing like this is
known as “loose – aggressive”, and it’s generally not the way to go.
There is a time and place for everything. “Loose – aggressive”
plays well when you’re short handed or heads – up. The rest of the
time, you should be playing “tight – aggressive”.
When the other players spot a loose guy, they sit back and let him
win a few blinds, then take all his chips when he goes all-in with
a crap hand.
When making a big bet while playing Texas holdem,
timing and table image have a lot to do with winning or losing.
The tight part of “tight – aggressive” means only playing strong or
premium hands to begin with.
If for instance you are playing loose with an A-8 starting hand.
You stay in and see the flop, it comes up A-4-7 . Ye-haw, you just
hit top pair.
The problem is that you don’t know where you stand
because of the low valued kicker (8). You will have to bet to see
if anybody else has an ace. If they do, you are probably beat. It’s
better to be the guy with the big kicker that’s raising the loose
guy’s bet and winning.
To be able to make an all-in bet with confidence, you need to
know that you have the best hand, and this begins with the starting
hands that you choose to play.
Starting Hands is quite a science.
In poker, the ability to judge the value of other players’ hands is as important as knowing the value of yours.
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Your position at the table can either help you or hinder you.
In early position, you have to act first, and everyone reacts to
what you do. It’s easy to fall into a trap in early position, so
it’s best to slow play your big hands.
However when in late position, you have the advantage of seeing how
the other players bet, and you can better judge who you will be up
against and what they have.
You should only go all-in when in late position, and it’s always
best to be the aggressor.
Table image is another thing that can work for or against you.
If you bluff too much, it will work against you. After I win a hand
with a big bet, I like to show the other players that they were
smart to fold by showing my cards. Later in the game if I feel the
need to bluff, the other players will fold. Because of my tight
table image, my bets get respect.
If you find yourself with a loose image at a table, don’t bluff,
because you will be called. You will have to wait for the nuts then
go all-in and get your call.
Although these concepts are considered basic poker strategy, you
will find that a lot of players ignore them, especially online.
Play “tight – aggressive”, also pay attention to your table
position and to your table image, and you will win big pots and
only lose the little ones.
Of course, all this changes when you move from a cash game to a tournament. And then, everything’s affected by the amount of the blinds, the size of your stack and the size of your opponents’ stack(s), and the game stakes… etc.
When’s the time to push all-in? The answer is simple – when you
know you are going to win!
More strategies for you tomorrow – this is fun – isn’t it?
PS. You’ll be way ahead of your opponents both online and offline
after reading:
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