Texas Hold’em Poker – Revealed – The Only Time You Should Be Showing Your Cards Č Always remember this principle: Play The Player, Not The Cards. Most of the inconsistencies that you are currently experiencing are because you’re chasing some high cards that have no chance of winning. Sure, you may have called three raises in a row with pocket pairs, or bluffed two completely limp flops, but you still get the chips in with these hands. It’s time to move on to another hand, like the one you got out of the blinds today.
The Player, Not The Cards
The basis of this thought process is the fact that the cards you see on the table don’t really matter. Don’t pay attention to the cards in your hand or your opponent’s hand. Instead, consider the betting history of your opponents, or what cards are on the table not withstanding what you know about them.
For instance, you’re sitting on the cutoff and two players call the big blind with a 3-amount bet. The flop comes 5-of-a-kind. One of the players bets more, approximately 8 times the big blind. You figure he has a good hand, but you know he could have called with aces. You have nothing in the pocket, but decide to call the pot.
The turn is a 4. The player bets again, again approximately 8 times the big blind. Now you have a pretty good hand, the best you can get with that flop is a set. You know you’ve got to make this one count, so you decide to make a pot sized bet to get the most out of the hand. 8 times the big blind is a lot to bet, so you call.
The river is a 9, and you are ready to rake in the money. One player bets twice the pot, another times three times the pot, and the third time five times the pot. Your eyes go big as you see the 10 going in. One player calls, the other two either stay in the game, or go all in. You decide to stay in the game, and the cards fall as they should. A Q on the river from a player who had called the flop and bet twice the pot is, of course, a no-brainer. You just make out the call, and reveal your hand. And…your opponent sees your cards.
Your weak hand gets exposed, and they gleefully point and laugh at you. You don’t even realize what has happened. You spend the rest of the hand explaining what has happened, and explaining to your friends what you believe is a very strong hand. You explain that you had quads (with the King and Ace of hearts). They could have any Rogue hand, and could have just as easily made a straight, or flush, or straight draw, or whatever. But the 10 would have meant a lot of money.
The next day, your friends start asking you about the “Pokerace99” you mention in the first post. You tell them about Ace King, and promptly get called every time you have the cards. Eventually, you give up on the concept. “It’s just a ten; a lot of people play that. It’s not very strategic if you’re playing a lot of pots.”
No! Wait, I’m not done talking about that! Actually, that’s the exact opposite of what you just said. You’re not going to play just a ten, because that’s a hand you’re going to lose. You’re going to throw away a lot of losing hands in order to protect the hand you have. The ten is the hand you are trying to protect. If you think about it, that’s the only hand that really gets to you – the rest just kind of fade into the background.
But, that hand didn’t really exist in the first place. It was added by the post-flop betting in a tournament. You picked up Ace King off the flop, and called a bet, then it was raised to you. You had nothing in the pocket, but it was an easy call; you were beaten by a flush on the turn.
The first player to act in the blinds busted out, and the second player to act could only call the raise. He was out of chips, so he called. You picked up a small pot. You could have kept on calling, and possibly made a little more, but you didn’t want to risk a lot of your chips just to try and get heads up with the winner. You were only able to double up with only the blinds, which don’t count at all in an heads up situation.
