Poker Tournaments

Play Free Poker Games Guide to Winning All in or Fold Poker Tournaments

June 17, 2010 at 10:44 am | In Poker Tournaments | No Comments
Tags: all-in or fold poker tournaments, free poker, free poker tip, learn how to play poker, play free poker

I found out that there is a tournament variant called All-in or Fold. The rules are this: There is only one blind (called big blind). Every player begins with one chip only, not that it matters much as you only have 2 options, All in or Fold! All in or Fold poker tournaments are increasingly popular in both cash and free poker why not have a play if you come across one, they can be good fun. But be sure to read this first!

If you’re on the big blind you’re automatically all in. You receive change, however, if, say, you have 5 chips and someone moves all-in with 2 chips and you call him (which is an all-in, too). He will not win five chips from you; you will get a change of three chips.

If you’re on big blind you can simply ignore everything else that follows. (It happens only about 1/10 of the time, however, in a 10-player table. If you somehow want to become hooked.) So it’s really a math game, and a position game too.

Why math game?
Because you will be relying entirely on preflop all-ins, and you have to commit to memory the probability of your winning, or at least have a gist of them. I can give some examples (You can generalize; the probability’s pretty much the same in a similar situation; for instance the first example will be: Two Overcards vs. a Small Pair, or say, A-10 over 5-5 and approximate the probabilities:

A-K vs 8-8
55%-45% in favor of 8-8

A-K vs A-Q
75%-25% in favor of A-K

A-10 vs K-K
75%-25% in favor of K-K

A-K vs 7-6
65%-35% in favor of 7-6

A-10 vs K-Q; A-Q vs K-J
63%-37% in favor of A-10 and A-Q

A-A vs 8-8
80%-20% in favor of A-A

A-A vs A-K
93%-7% in favor of A-A

A-A vs K-Q
85%-15% in favor of A-A

But these do not imply that you should wait for A-A or K-K or A-K before you move all-in, of course. Do it with two face cards, a pair, or A-x. Just make sure the big blind doesn’t reach you, for if that happens your decision’s beyond your will.

All-In or Fold is also a game of position. Oftentimes players in these tournaments play hands similar to the above, and throw away the rest.

Consider these two examples:

(1) You are in late position with 4-4 and there are two all-ins in front of you. You might be facing three or four overcards, or an overpair. Fold.

After all, if you are in late position, there will be many hands before you reach the big blind.

(2) You have A-8 in early position. You are two hands away from being the big blind, so you move all-in, and players after you will interpret an early-position all-in as a sign of strength.

What you consider, then, is the strength of your hand and the surrounding action.

With one-on-one, which happens mostly, the above probabilities still apply. But with three or more, hand strength matters more. Big pairs are still big; medium pairs shrink in power (because you can’t see the Flop yet; usually we see the Flop with a medium pair to hit a Set). A-x becomes weaker; A-K and A-Q weaken down a little bit. However, make sure you play a hand while you’re still in control of your decision. When you get yourself blinded out, it’s for your tournament life, mostly.

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Free Online Poker Guide to When to Move All-in Preflop

June 4, 2010 at 12:30 pm | In Poker Tournaments | No Comments
Tags: all in preflop, free online poker site, learn how to play poker, learn to play poker online free, nopaypoker, when to go allin, when to move all in

Why is it that so many players go all in in poker tournaments preflop when they could just as easily call and hope to hit the flop? It’s very common on free texas holdem site but also, surprisingly, in money games.

Of course to steal in cash games. In free texas hold em sadly it’s more just for the hell of it! But if called, what pros does going all-in give? Let us examine two hands to analyze why:

HAND #1

Blinds: 6k/12k

A has Q-Q raises to 36k

B has 10-10 calls 36k

C has K-K reraises to 140k

A reraises all-in (Pot 989k)

B folds

C calls 643k (Pot 1.632m)

Board ended Jc-Jd-6c-Qd-3d

A went all-in mainly because by three-betting, he is able to push one of B and C from the pot, and if C (the likely caller) calls, A hoped that it’s going to be A-K or A-x, where he has still an edge. But it turns out, C had K-K, so A was the underdog. Yet A won the hand with a Full House (Queens over Jacks).

But if A just called, what would happen then is that B would also call, so next it will be a three-way pot.? On a FLOP of Jc-Jd-6c, C would have position over A, whose Queens are weakened because the Board is paired, so if one of B or C bluffs, A will have a difficult time playing.

Also, if A decided to continue playing strongly, B and C may suspiciously put him on a Jack and both of them may fold. Or later on the hand, if A, who hit his Full House on the turn, suddenly played strongly, the remaining player/s may fold because their hands are not so strong enough. So A will win less than what he won when he moved all-in and won the hand.

So one reason for moving all-in preflop is: Your chip stack is so low that any decent hand you have will be sufficient for an all-in (on the above, Q-Q should be played cautiously with two more players and a reraise on the Flop), and it pays to win more chips than less if you are to get back in the tournament.

HAND #2 – Following on from hand action

A has 8s-8h moves all-in 387k

B has 7d-7c, calls 307k (Pot 819k)

They could both have played safe.. But A decided to gamble with a common all-in hand. Common all-in hands include Pairs, A-x and any two face cards (preferably suited). So another reason is: If you don’t have A-A or K-K but a common all-in hand, you will be called also with a common all-in hand.

With Pairs vs. two overcards, it does not really matter what you have, because you’re both even-money. With Pairs vs. Pairs, you run the risk of being the big underdog, but you can also be a big favorite if you are lucky. With any other cards, you either have two live cards or at worst, say A-K vs A-Q, if you have the A-Q, you still have a 25% possibility.

How did the hand turn out?
It ended with 5s-9s-6h-2c-8d. So A hit a Set, B hit a Straight. B bumped out A. It doesn’t matter; we can also imagine a situation that B was the one who moved all-in and A called. B hit his Straight still. But if B just decided to see a Flop, what would happen? A can push B out by representing a Nine on the Flop and the Turn so that B will fold (unless B has the courage to move all-in).

Also, if B hit the river Straight, A will be unwilling to play the Set he has. B will win a reduced amount of chips than he would (similar to HAND #1). But this example gives us another good reason.

You go all in that your marginal hand can’t be pushed away later by a more marginal hand, as a result your marginal hand becomes strong and uncontested.. Here’s a clear example, lets say it’s 7-7 vs A-10.

The board might finish 10-K-K-Q-5, with overcards there’s a Straight chance, and on a paired board the 7-7 can pressure the A-10 at some point. Or it may be 10-K-Q-4-J and the one with the A-10 will be out of the pot before the river if the one with 7-7 plays aggressively.

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