Calling Too Often To See Flops.

Time and time again, it never fails. Even at higher stakes it happens. What am I referring to??? Making calls or even calling raises just to see a flop. A recent offender had 9-4 0ffsuit and called a raise 3 1/2 times the big blind with 9 people at the table. Unbelievable!

Here is what happened in an online tournament I played yesterday:
1) Under the gun (position 3) raises 3 1/2 times big blind.
2) Positions 4 and 5 fold.
3) Position 6 calls the raise with (9-4 offsuit).
4) Position 7 (me) folds K-9 offsuit.
5) Positions 8, 9, and small blind fold.
6) Big blind (position 2) calls making 3 players in the hand.
7) Flop comes A-4-K.
8) Position 2 makes a small bet.
9) Position 3 raises by betting the pot.
10) Position 6 (9-4 offsuit) calls.
11) Position 2 folds, leaving positions 3 and 6.
12) Turn card is a 9, making the board A-4-K-9
13) Position 3 bets about 33% of the pot.
14) Position 6 goes all-in
15) Position 3 calls.
16) River card is a K, making the board A-4-K-9-K
17) Position 3 wins with AK suited making a full house Kings over Aces.

There are several lessons to be learned from this hand. One, take people seriously when they raise under the gun unless otherwise given a reason. Two, be selective about your starting hands, especially during the first part of the tournament. Recognize, even if I would have called with my K-9 offsuit (some would consider this a decent hand), I would have been dominated (although a bit better off than our friend with the 9-4 offsuit). Recognizing which hands are truly "good" starting hands at what position and what point of the game is essential to being a successful tournament player. For starting hand selection, see Starting Hand Selections.

Remember, tournament play is about being selective. Pick your battles appropriately, be cognizant of starting hand selection, make sound decisions...and you might just make it in the money.

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Suited Cards In Hold'em

One of the primary personal fouls I see in Texas Hold'Em is the overvalue of suited cards. What this blog will do is explore the advantage of using suited cards and understanding when to play them.

First off, when it comes to starting hand selection, please read and refer to my blog on Starting Hand Selection: http://pokerconcepts.blogspot.com/2009/05/starting-hand-selection.html
This will encompass starting hand selections of both suited cards and unsuited cards alike.

I have seen players play hands like 6 clubs 2 clubs and hit a flush on the flop. Awesome right? Wrong, because while they were playing 6 2, I was playing A clubs J hearts and rivered the nut flush by hitting a fourth club on the board. Heartbreak city for the guy playing 6 2.

Playing suited cards without consideration of value will end up causing more heartache than anything. You will receive severe disappointments when flushes are cracked by stronger flushes and when the river makes the board show four of one suit, the only thing that may stand is a strong flush, thereby making your small flush obsolete.

It is important to keep in mind that most players trying to flush using the ASAP principle (All Suiteds Always Played) seldom have the wisdom and discipline to lay down the 6 high flush at the right time. Remember, playing poker requires discipline more than anything, and very few players are capable of the discipline involved in being a consistent LAG (loose aggressive) poker player.

Just for general knowledge I will provide an example. Two players each start with AK. One has A of Hearts K of Clubs, the other has A of Spades K of Spades. The odds are as follows pre-flop with two players in the hand:
A hearts K clubs 2.2% chance to win, 90.7% chance to tie
A spades K spades 7.2% chance to win, 90.7% chance to tie
This should demonstrate that the best one can hope for is a 5% advantage on another player. That is the very best.

Here is another example:
UNSUITED
A of clubs K of spades versus 6 of diamonds 2 of clubs
A of clubs K of spades has a 66.0% chance of winning
6 of diamonds 2 of clubs has a 33.5% chance of winning
Now let's see what happens when the underdog is
SUITED
A of clubs K of spades versus 6 of diamonds 2 of diamonds
A of clubs K of spades has a 61.4% chance of winning
2 of diamonds 6 of diamonds has a 38.1% chance of winning
Suited cards in this case do provide about a 4% advantage, but this is not significant enough (in my humble opinion) to take the risk of playing such low valued cards.

Keep these statistics in mind as well:
1) A player with two suited hole cards has a 1 in 120 chance of flopping a flush.
2) A player with two suited hole cards has about a 1 in 10 chance of flopping a flush draw.
3) A player with two suited hole cards has less than 7% chance of making a flush by the river.

Are these odds acceptable to you? I hope not, because they sure are not appealing to me.

Bottom line: start simple. Follow the aforementioned starting hand selection, and resist the urge to play low valued cards simply because they are suited. It will save you money in the long run and demonstrate to other players that you play strong hands (which is a good reputation to have at any poker table).