In this hand our hero had the 10c-9c and it was limped by three players in a full-ring $5-$10 texas hold’em game. In this instance then the call is pretty automatic given the hand type and the pot odds which are very good. Then when you consider the implied odds as well then we have a profitable situation. The big blind raps the table and there is $25 in the pot.

The flop comes Qc-4c-2d giving our hero a flush draw. He is now the first to speak and rightly checks. There is little point in semi-bluffing here into four opponents or pumping the pot. If one of his opponents has flopped top pair and they raise then he could find himself heads up with the worst hand trying to outdraw the only player left in the hand with reduced implied odds.

If you bet and it gets raised then that raise can prevent other players from calling. Here is a situation where you really don’t mind other players staying in the hand if you check and someone else bets. Everyone checks to the final limper who bets and now it is back on our hero.

Once again the correct play here is to call, folding is not an option simply because of the pot odds so the choice is between calling and raising. But raising presents our hero with a similar problem as before. If his opponent is betting a hand like top pair with something like Q-J then a raise will simply thin the field against the one hand that they have to outdraw to win the pot.

It is simply better to call and let other players come along for the ride so to speak. Our hero calls as does one other limper and there is now $40 in the pot and three players left in the hand. The turn card is the 8h which misses our hero so he checks and so does the first limper. The final limper bets $10 making a $50 pot and our hero rightly calls getting 5/1 immediate odds and some implied odds as well so he cannot fold even though the limit has doubled.

The other player folds so the hand is now heads up with $60 in the pot. The river card misses our heroes flush draw but pairs his ten. He checks and the final limper bets again.

This now puts $70 into the pot. Despite the fact that he is almost certainly beaten here, pot odds of 7/1 coupled with a hand that does have some potential to be the best hand then a fold is simply out of the question here.

Raising is a poor play as if our hero has the best hand then he will win the pot by calling as any weaker hand wouldn’t call the raise anyway. Our hero called and lost the pot to a K-Q but he can be commended for playing the hand well.

This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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1. For an instance, the blinds are 500 and 1,000 but the person who is supposed to be the big blind has only about 800 to post and a number of players are still on board. I don’t know whether or not these players have to post 1,000 in order to stay in or otherwise just match the 800 of the big blind.
2. In what specific situations do you think there are no small or big blinds? I’m not so sure, but I think you already shared something about such before.
3. For example there is a King high straight on the board and it’s the best hand. However, in the later part, it turned out that one of the players also holds a King in his pocket hand. What do you think, does the King that first occurred on the board overrule the King in pocket hand? Or else, the player could claim the hand?
4. For an instance the blinds are 100 and 200, then after the flop, a certain player raises to 400. I’m wondering if the player to the left of the one who raises wants to raise, does he need to raise to 800 or just double the big blind otherwise? Any idea about this?

Thanks,
Francis
Francis,

1. The players need to call the full 1,000 blind amount.
   
2. The only possible way there would not be a blind would be a case that both opponent were all-in for the ante. There are instances in a tournament where a small blind is eliminated the hand prior to their turn to post. In that case there would not be a small blind.
   
3. The player king in his hand is irrelevant. The object of Holdem is to make the best five card hand. Since the best five card hand is on board, everyone still in the pot splits the pot.
   
4. A reraise must be in the amount of the prior raise. In this case, they must raise to 800.

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For about a month now, I’ve been playing No Limit Holdem in tournaments online. To get some tips and added strategies, I tried to looked for some books and websites that could help me out. Well, they can potentially help me, but I noticed that most of the sources I found talk about evaluating opponent’s style of play; which in a way is intriguing.

I tried to use some of the pointers I got like for example I caught somebody bluffing for a good pot, or the like.

On the other hand, when I’m playing online games, I noticed that most of the pots are won without any of the hole cards being turned, but I don’t exactly get the hang of it. Same case when keeping a written record during games of the number of flops that other players see, pre-flop raises, etc. I’m not sure if they’ve been a help.

Any advice on what kind of moves by an opponent should I be watching of? What kind of attitude, strategy of opponents, etc. should I really consider to eventually classify various playing style?

Thanks!
Donald G.
Donald,

You need to watch the betting patterns of your opponents and the cards that they show down to get an idea of how they play when you play online. Watch how much they raise, reraise, limp in, etc to try and get an idea of the hand ranges they play and how they play hands when they have strong hands and when they are bluffing. Pay attention to their moves depending on their position as well. These are the best ways to classify your opponent online.

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