Unique among all online
gambling, poker players sometimes
know that they can’t lose
Considering
online gambling? Poker is unique, my fleshy chums, in that there are
times when you know you can’t lose.
I am talking about those wonderful times
when you have the nuts on the river. There’s almost no better
feeling
in online gambling, poker or any other game of skill. The
only question which remains is: how can I get paid the most money
before the showdown?
There’s three main
considerations you
should be running through in your mind. It will be obvious at the time;
it's only complicated in writing.
1) The earlier actions of your
online gambling poker opponents
A famous player once commented:
“If you
can’t figure out who the sucker at the table is within 20
minutes, it’s
you.”
What this teaches us is that
it’s
important to have an idea of how your opponents play. Are
they any good? Are they calling stations or crazy-raisies? Are they
bluffers?
By the time you’ve spent 20
minutes in
their company, you should have a rough fix on every person seated at
the table. Make notes using the note applet feature of your online
gambling poker site of choice. All this information is invaluable when
you have been dealt the nuts on the river, because it helps define your
strategy.
2) The actions of your online
gambling poker opponents in this hand
The single most important question you
should be asking yourself is: “How is the opponent likely to
react on
the river, based on what I’ve seen so far during this
hand?”
This depends on position too. If you are
last to act in a hand, you have a huge advantage: you can bet or raise
if there’s been no action, or raise or reraise if
there’s been action.
If you’re first to act,
you have
more of a dilemma. A check is risky because you may find your
opponent checks behind you, costing you a last payday in the hand.
Remember, there’s no way you can lose: you want to get more
dollars in
the middle.
Betting when you’re first to
speak and
being flat-called is better than trying for a check-raise and missing
that last call.
3) What your online gambling
poker opponents think of you – and what they think your hand
might be
What kind of image have you been
representing at the table so far? A tight, conservative
‘rock’ type,
who only commits chips when he’s ahead? Or are you seen as a
crazy
gambler who goes for the longshots?
Your perceived image will have a profound
effect on how your opponents will react when you bet, or check, on the
river while holding the nuts.
Don’t forget that most players
are also
trying to assess what you might be holding in the current hand. So your
actions before the river are important. The good players will have
tried to figure out your most likely hand and have ‘put you
on’ a range
of hands.
Can you put yourself inside their
skulls and predict what they think you have? If so, you must act the
opposite way to their assumption.
If your online gambling poker opponent
thinks you are afraid of the river, you must bet. Here,
you’re hoping
for a raise, so you can reraise.
On the other hand, if they think you like
the river, you must check. You risk losing that last bet, but you are
setting a trap for more aggressive opponents. Bigshots who always like
to bluff or semi-bluff cannot resist a chance to steal a pot from under
your nose if they sense weakness.
Next time, I’ll begin a study of
your
options when holding a hand that’s not the nuts.
It’s a big subject, so
there will be a series of articles, working up from a busted hand right
through to the second nuts.
Online
gambling, poker and other advice?
