Poker Tournaments

Learn How To Play Poker And Read Set Hands

Regardless of if you just play free poker online or play for the highest stakes imaginaable a Set is one of the most unreadable hands in Texas Hold’em. A Set is made ip of a pocket pair plus one of the Community cards that has the same rank as your pocket pair. For example, if you have 4-4 and the Community cards are 5-4-10-J-K, you have a Set of Fours. Sets are unreadable because most players are accustomed to reading (a) two different hole cards, (b) high cards or overpairs, (c) draws that complete the Board, or (d) cards anyway related to the Board cards.

Given that your hand reading habits usually are a combination of limiting possible hands to the given characteristics, how would you put someone on 5-5 or 4-4 when it is much easier for you to put him on A-K (for top pair, best kicker), A-Q (for a made Straight), or K-10 or 5-4 (for Two-Pair), or even A-A (a high pair)? Or maybe you’ll put him on one Five, say, 6-5. But on two Fours or Fives? This is why Sets are very potent in Boards which have no Straight or Flush potential.

But lets suppose in a Flop of Q-7-2 with no Straight or Flush possibilities, you have 3-3. You check in the hope of trapping and the other player bets. You raise all in then he immediately calls and reveals Q-Q. You thought your opponent had A-Q or K-Q. How is this possible? It’s possible. Even in this spot you are more at risk.

Because there are no Straight or Flush potentials your opponent will fold cards that didn’t fit into the Board cards. If you read hands according to the criteria above, you might put your opponent on A-Q, K-Q, or even Q-7 (can you go as far as 7-2?!). Here because you are the one who moved all-in, the outcome of the hand is not fully on your control; it’s up to whether your opponent calls or not. But suppose the situation is reversed. The player with the Q-Q checks, you bet, then the response is a raise all-in. What would you do?

If you find yourself slammed in a situation like this (which usually occurs on the Flop) on a cash game, take it as it is. Pay him off. Another time you will have the Q-Q, another player will have the 2-2, and you will be paid off. But in a tournament, you have plenty of givens to consider (and you might want to consider these even in an ordinary cash game). Compare your stack sizes relative to each other. If the difference is great, expect one of you to put his chips in the middle.

A Set could be the best hand both of you can have to get a double-up. If you have the smaller Set get eliminated, attribute it to bad luck. However, assuming both of you have stacks above chip average, and you are put to a decision costing you all or almost all your chips. You have 2-2. You are not likely to be blinded out in a few hands.

You might like to reason out: I have a Set. He raised me enough to put me all-in, or almost. He may do it with Q-7, (and whether your opponent had Q-7 or not will depend on what happened preflop. If no raise occurred it might be with Q-7, and you can safely call. Whether your opponent had 7-7 or not can also come under similar scrutiny) or if there is a raise, it might be with A-Q.

Now, top pair, top kicker is a weak hand to risk an above-average stack. And there is no Straight and Flush incoming, so the all-in could be made only with an extremely strong hand. It might also be with A-A or with K-K (most probably it is) but it might also be just with Q-Q. If I put him on those three hands, there is a 2/3 chance I’m right, but a 1/3 chance of wrong, and when I’m wrong I will be busted. So I’ll fold.

If you have the middle Set (Set of Sevens), the same analysis may also apply. But you will be much safer since there is only one Set to kill you instead of the two possible Sets a while ago. If you have the Set of Queens, enjoy! The above analysis is agonizing and painstaking, especially when it all amounts to giving up one of the most cherished hands in Hold’Em.

Reading Sets Summary

It takes some time to learn how to read hands, it’s not something the unthinking donk “chip flingers” seen on many free online poker tables even consider. Most players it seems can’t or won’t put the time in, they claim to play just for fun which misses out on the key fact that winning lots of money is a lot more fun!

Ironically the fact that so many players play at this low skill level is excellent news for you. The reason why is that when you really learn how to play poker well you can go mercenary and hunt the “fun donks” down in low stakes real money games as well as free online poker tournaments sites that pay out real money while you happily build your skills and bankroll!

As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and play free poker sites to learn how to play poker good and get your skills finely honed.

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

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

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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