Poker Help – Poker Tips – Poker Strategy

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

When you raise pre-flop in a game of No-Limit Hold ‘em and are called, you’re faced with a decision when the flop hits the board. Should you put out a continuation bet on the flop or should you check and let the turn come off for free? Of course, there are a variety of factors that will effect any decision in a hand of poker, but if I was the one who raised pre-flop, I’ll put out a continuation bet on the flop a large proportion of the time.

I can afford to put out a lot of continuation bets, whether I hit or not, because my post-flop bets are usually pretty small – about half the size of the pot. Pre-flop, I normally raise to three times the big blind, then on the flop, I’ll put out a bet of the same amount. When I bet these relatively small sums, I don’t put a whole lot at risk. If I get check-raised on a flop that I missed, I can fold without having lost a whole lot of chips. Most of the time, however, my opponents will have missed the flop, so my small bet will win me the pot right there.

While I prefer to put out continuation bets on most flops, there are some situations where checking is the right play. For example, say I raised with K-T and was called by the big blind. The flop of A-J-2 gives me a gutshot straight draw. I know my opponent in the hand likes to check-raise on top pair. When he checks to me on the flop, I’m happy to check behind and have the free draw to the nuts. If my opponent hit something like two-pair, I could double up if the Queen comes on the turn.

I also like to check the flop in hands where I’m either very far ahead or very behind. Say I raise pre-flop in late position with pocket Kings. The flop comes A-J-3. Here, my pair of Kings is either very far ahead (if he missed completely or has something like pocket 5s) or is very far behind (if he hit an Ace). In a spot like this, I don’t want to get check-raised and I don’t want to just give up, so I’ll often check the flop and then call a bet on the turn. I can then try to get a read on my opponent if he bets the river. The worst thing I can do in this sort of situation is to put out a big bet on the flop and then call an all-in check-raise.

As with every aspect of poker, it’s vital that your continuation bets don’t become predictable. If you check every time you miss and bet every time you make top pair or better, then you’re opponents will know exactly how to play against you. They’ll be able to bet any pair with total confidence. So occasionally, you’ll want to check when you hit top pair on the flop. Your hand will be disguised and you’ll stand to win a big pot if you hit trips on the turn. Showing that you can sometimes check a good hand will keep your opponents off balance.

It’s a good idea to put out frequent continuation bets, but also be sure to look for spots where a check may be to your advantage. If you’ve got a draw or hold a hand that will be difficult to play for a raise, a flop check may be your best play. Also be sure to mix up your play – being unpredictable is vital to playing winning poker.

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

In 2006, I cashed in the $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event at the World Series of Poker. I enjoyed the tournament; it was great to spend some time playing a game other than hold ‘em. One thing that surprised me about the tournament, however, was that the quality of play was quite poor. Some players didn’t even know the very basics, like starting hand values. I was amazed that so many people would put $2,000 into a tournament where they didn’t understand even the most rudimentary elements of the game’s strategy.

For this article, I want to discuss how the quality of your Omaha Hi/Lo hand relates to the number of people in a pot. If you’re playing a multi-way pot, you need a very strong hand going one way or the other. The nuts or a draw to the nuts is preferable. Absent that, in multi-way pots, you want to have strong draws in both directions.

In heads-up play, however, you can continue with far weaker hands if your opponent is going to need to play all four of his cards in order to scoop the pot. An example should clarify what I mean.

Let’s say you have 2-3-4-7 in the big blind and call a late-position raise. The flop comes K-Q-7 and you both check. The turn, a 3, gives you two pair and a low draw. You check again and your opponent bets. You’d absolutely want to call. Your two pair may very well be good and, if it’s not, there’s a chance your low draw will get there. Should the river bring an 8, you’d definitely want to call a bet and showdown the hand.

In this situation, in order to scoop the pot, your opponent would need to have something like a better two pair and A-2 or A-4. All four of his cards would need to be involved in the hand. This is unlikely enough that you should call his bet.

If you had the same hand, but were playing a four-way pot, you probably wouldn’t want to call any bets. Say you make your same two-pair and low draw on the turn but, this time, after you check there’s a bet and two calls. It’s likely that you’re not going to get either part of the pot as someone probably has a stronger high while someone else holds a better low draw.

This is only one important aspect of Omaha Hi/Lo. If you spend some time polishing your game, you can make some good money in cash games and get great value in tournaments since so many players are just starting to learn the game.

What’s more, you might also find that you enjoy taking a break from hold ‘em once in awhile.

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

In No-Limit Hold ‘em, it can be difficult to know what the right play is on the river when you’re out of position with a marginal hand. In my experience, if you think your hand is good enough to call with, you should consider betting the river if you don’t think your opponent will try to bluff.

Say you’re playing in a tournament and raise in late position with K-10. You know K-10 isn’t a great hand, but from late position, it’s strong enough to pressure the blinds. The player on the button calls and both blinds fold.

Now the flop comes 10d-7c-3d. This is a nice flop for you and you lead out at the pot. The button calls. What are you to make of the call? Well, he’s probably got something – maybe a flush draw or another ten – but it’s hard to pinpoint an exact hand.

The turn brings the 2c. This wouldn’t appear to have helped your opponent, but you don’t really know where you stand and you’re trying to avoid playing a big pot at this point in the tournament, so you check. Your opponent bets about half the pot and you call.

The river brings an interesting card: the 4c, making the board, 10d-7c-3d-2c-4c. What’s your best play? It’s tempting to check again, because of the completed flush draw. But betting here has a few advantages over checking and then having to make a decision if your opponent fires at the pot.

Since the flush cards came backdoor (on the turn and river), your opponent probably doesn’t have the flush, and he may doubt that you have it, too. Thus, he will suspect that you’re bluffing, having missed the diamond flush draw. So if you bet here, he may call with a hand weaker than yours, like J-10, Q-10, or even 9-9 or A-7. However, there’s still the possibility that you have the club flush, so your opponent probably won’t raise with a hand like A-10, J-J, or maybe even a set. On the other hand, if you check, your opponent might bet on the river with those hands and you may pay him off, because you think he might be making a thin value bet with a weaker hand like Q-10.

The trick here is to bet a little less than your opponent would have, had you checked to him when he had the best hand. By putting out a somewhat smaller bet, you get to show down your hand cheaply against a better ten or a set, and you will also get your opponent to call with weaker hands that he would have otherwise checked with. Your bet here serves a purpose whether you’re ahead or behind in the hand.

If your opponent raises, you can be pretty sure he has you beat and you can fold (unless he’s a tricky opponent who may bluff in this spot), having gotten some very good information on the strength of his hand at minimal cost.

Note that this is the kind of bet you want to make when you’re pretty sure that your opponent has some sort of hand that you have a decent chance to beat, and that he won’t bluff if you check. In spots where your opponent might hold a busted draw and bluff, it’s often more profitable to check and then pick off the bluff with a call. For example, you might check and call in this same situation with 10-9 or 9-9 against an opponent who bluffs a lot.

There aren’t too many worse hands (if any) that your opponent will call you with if you are beat, and your opponent may check some of the marginal better hands like J-10 or Q-10. The idea in this situation is to lose fewer bets against better hands while you get some value from your opponent’s bluffs.

Do that often enough and you’re sure to have a good poker career.

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

I’m writing from Tunica, MS, where I’ve played in several World Series of Poker Circuit events at the Grand Hotel and Casino. [This article was originally published in 2006 – Ed] A couple of days ago, I played in a $2,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament, and I saw some of my opponents make some pretty odd plays. For this tip, I decided to highlight a couple of these strange decisions and describe why you should avoid making similar plays.

A Curious River Raise

Midway through the tournament, I saw King-9 in the cutoff (the seat to the immediate right of the button). I raised to put some pressure on the blinds, and I was called by the big blind. The flop came T-5-2 rainbow, so it was no help to me. My opponent checked, and I checked behind him.

The turn was a 9, giving me a pair. He checked, and I made a small bet that he then called. The river was a King and I now had two pair. After my opponent checked and, thinking that I had the best hand, I made a substantial bet. At this point, he surprised me and made a large raise. I was reasonably sure I was up against a set or Q-J for the straight, but still, I made the crying call.

He showed pocket Aces and I took a nice pot.

What should my opponent have done?

For starters, he could have re-raised pre-flop, though calling pre-flop was certainly reasonable. He also could have taken the lead in the betting on the flop or the turn, not allowing free cards to hit the board. However, his real trouble came on the river.

When he check-raised, he failed to ask himself a critical question: What hand can I call with that he could beat? His river check-raise showed a lot of strength – so much, in fact, that I probably wouldn’t have called with any one pair. By the river, he really had no idea what I was holding. For all he knew, I could have had Queen-Jack or any sort of two pair. If I held the straight, he’d be facing a very large raise, one that would certainly be a mistake to call.

In this sort of situation, his best play was to check-call on the river. By the time the river card hit, he should have been looking to showdown the hand with the hope that his pair survived.

While here, I’ve seen many players make similar mistakes on the river. They bet or raised with any hand that they suspected was best, including marginal cards like second pair. But their big mistake was that they failed to consider their opponent’s hand. When you hold marginal cards, you should ask yourself two important questions: Do I have the best hand? And, if I do, does my opponent hold a hand that he’s willing to call with? If you can’t answer "yes" to both questions, just check the river and showdown the hand.

Trouble on the Turn

Later in the tournament, I raised pre-flop in late position with King-6 and the big blind called me. The flop came Ac-As-7s. I didn’t have an Ace, but I bet anyway when my opponent checked. After he smooth-called and a 6h came up on the turn, my opponent bet big.

This play makes no sense because it doesn’t tell a coherent story. A check-raise on the flop would be reasonable – my opponent would be representing a big hand, maybe trip Aces. A check-call on the turn would make sense, too. In that case, he probably holds a monster like a full house or he could just have a seven.

As it turned out, my opponent had A-7 (that’s what he said, anyway), and by betting he forced me to fold. That wasn’t very smart. If he checked, I might have continued with my bluff (though that’s unlikely).

In any case, it’s almost never a good idea to check-call a flop bet, and then bet the turn if a blank hits. A play like that might confuse your opponent momentarily, but you’re unlikely to gain much value. Your flop and turn bets should be related – they should tell a consistent story.

If you think carefully about your turn and river bets and what you’re trying to gain, you’re sure to improve your results. You’ll get better value on the turn and avoid drowning on the river.

See you at the next tournament stop.

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt

I get asked a lot of poker strategy questions, from beginner to advanced. Some are easy, but some involve the kind of math I can’t always do off the top of my head. When that happens, I rely on one of a number of free tools to calculate the probability of winning the hand.

Here’s an example based on a hand posted on a website I run:

Our hero was playing at a small stakes No-Limit table online, with $.25-$.50 blinds. At the start of the hand, he had $44. He was dealt Ad-Td and raised to $2. Both blinds called. The flop was Kd-Jd-2c, giving our hero a royal flush draw. The big blind bet $2, hero raised $2 more, the next player called, and the big blind (with more chips than our hero) re-raised all-in.

Should our hero call with his last $38? Let’s assume the third player will fold. If our hero were to call and win, he’d be up to $94 (the $18 in the pot, plus his $38 and his opponent’s $38). If he wins the hand four times out of 10, on the average he’d have $37.60 after the hand ($94 multiplied by four, and divided by 10). In poker, it’s the long run that matters, so he should only call if his probability of winning is greater than 40%. Now he needs to figure out the probability he’d win the hand.

The first step is to put his opponent on a range of hands. Sometimes, you can figure out exactly what your opponent must have by the betting or tells. Most of the time, you’re left to guess a little. In this situation, the other player probably has a very strong hand, but there’s a chance he’s bluffing or even semi-bluffing.

The strongest hand our hero could be facing is three kings. He has 11 outs to win the pot – every diamond but the 2d, and three queens. But even if our hero makes his flush or straight, his opponent could still win by making a full house or quads on the last card. I could calculate the probability by hand, but I don’t need to.

Instead, I head to the Internet and one of the many free poker odds calculators, such as the one at twodimes.net. Enter "Kd Jd 2c" in the box labeled "Board" and "Ad Td" and "Ks Kc" under "Hands", and click submit. The result says that Ad-Td wins under 34% of the time – less than the 40+% that would make a call the right play. If our hero knows that his opponent had three kings, he should fold. The probabilities for the other possible three-of-a-kinds are the same.

But what if he’s up against two pair – kings and jacks? Using the poker calculator again, his probability of winning would be 44%. That’s enough to make calling correct. Our hero might also be against other two pairs, which he’d beat a little less often (42%), or A-K (46%). He might even already be ahead if he’s against an aggressive player who would semi-bluff with something like Q-T (81%) or Qd-9d (82%).

Having calculated the probabilities of winning, our hero is now left with the subjective part of the answer, guessing the probabilities of what the other player has. I would guess that it’s more than twice as likely that the player has two pair, or A-K, or even some weaker hand than that he has three of a kind. And I would guess that maybe 5% to 10% of the time, Ad-Td is actually ahead. I told our hero that, based on the numbers, I would have called.

Our hero did call, and the other player had K-J, giving our hero a 44% chance of winning the hand. The turn card was the 2d, but the river was a jack and our hero’s flush lost to a full house. The river card was a tough break, but playing by the numbers, he still made the right play.

It’s good to know the numbers, but it’s equally important to know how to get them. And if you use the available tools whenever you aren’t sure, you’ll start to remember them when they come up at the table. In poker, every tool in your toolbox brings you one step closer to mastery of the game.

Andy Bloch
Team Full Tilt