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Be Chair
Committed
How many times have you heard that
the key to playing winning poker is all in the starting
hand selection? While it is true that it is a great start,
the real key to playing winning hold'em is recognizing
traps and avoiding them.
New players are especially vulnerable
to overly aggressive preflop play with a premium starting
hand. They over-bet the pot preflop to narrow the field,
only to find the flop missed them completely. The next
thing you know, they are bluffing the flop to represent
a strong hand and being called down by an opponent. Feeling
pot committed, the player pushes all in on the river hoping
to make their opponent fold, but instead gets called.
They are now busted out of the tournament because their
AKs met up with QQ. The only thing left for them to do
now is to walk away from the table mumbling about what
a bad call QQ made because they might have had Aces. Aggression
is a good thing, when you have the best of it. It is folly
when you are behind.
One of the biggest obstacles for
new players to overcome in hold'em is recognizing trap
situations. This is especially important in tournament
play where you are limited to a certain number of chips.
Anyone who has ever read a book on poker knows what are
considered the best starting hands. But that is all they
are, starting hands. Those pocket aces looked great until
you saw the flop of K6K. Instead of proceeding cautiously,
many new players convince themselves that either A.) Their
opponent doesn’t have a King or B.) Another Ace
will come. After being busted out of the tournament, they
complain about what a bad beat they had. “I can’t
believe my Aces were cracked by KJs!” Personally
I don’t consider this a bad beat. The KJs did not
bust you out of the tournament. You did it to yourself.
You were counting on your 2 cards winning in a 7 card
game. The odds were not in your favor.
Another trap for new
players is the feeling that they are pot committed. I don’t
know about you, but when I am in a tournament, I am chair
committed. There is no such thing as pot committed when
you have the worst hand. When you lead out the betting with
your aces and someone raises you on a scary board, stop
and think about what can beat you. What cards might my opponent
be holding after calling my preflop raise? Is there a flush
or straight possibility out there? Could they have 2 pair?
Did they flop their set? Knowing your opponent and how he
plays in these situations is crucial. However, in a tournament,
you rarely know the person you are up against. Lay your
hand down and wait for a more appropriate opportunity. This
is not a weak play, this is a smart play. Once your chips
are gone, so are you. Tunnel vision in a tournament is suicide.
You set yourself up for disaster when you focus on your
great pocket hand and the board turns it into a poor hand.
-
You get to see
your big blind for free with A6s. You flop four cards
to your nut flush and decide it is worth check calling
to catch your flush. You call a moderate bet and turn
your flush. Unfortunately, the turn also pairs the board.
Your bet on the flop is raised. What do you do now?
Although an Ace high flush is a great hand, on a paired
board you are up against a possible full house or quads.
Most new players find it impossible to lay this hand
down. There is no such thing as a nut flush on a paired
board. Proceed with caution.
-
You raise preflop
with AhQc. The flop is As9dJs. You bet out and get raised.
Where do you stand? Hands like AA, JJ, 99, AK, AJ, A9,
and even J9 have you dominated. Your turn is the Qd.
Now you have top 2 pair. What do you do? Well, you have
overtaken AK, AJ, A9, and J9. Terrific. Way to play.
You are a shark. And after removing these four hands
from the danger list, you have to add QQ, KT and T8
- not much of an improvement. The river is a Ts. Now
you have to worry about any two spades, any K, any 8,
and all the sets that still have you. I know this is
an extreme example, but think about your board when
your flop bet is raised and be prepared to lay your
hand down if you enjoy playing in tournaments more that
telling bad-beat stories - or more accurately bad-playing
stories - on the rail.
Overly aggressive play, pot committing
yourself with the worst hand, and trap hands are the easiest
ways to knock yourself out of a tournament. For new players,
laying down a good hand is one of the hardest things to
do in tournament play. But you can’t win if you
don’t survive. If you commit yourself to keeping
your chair, you will tell better poker stories, like how
you won a tournament by making a very tough fold.
Doc
Editor's Note: Ditch Doc has been a staff writer at
PokerNewsWeb for over two years now, and recently played
in the WSOP in Las Vegas. She has recently put up her own
webpage for poker players.
@
TotalBluff.com
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