Thu 29 Jul 2010
In this free poker sites tips guide you will learn how to recognize and play the poker hand known as the “Big Hand”.
The reason why you need to know this is you will simply learn to play poker so much better when you understand the way different hands can play out.
This can then be related to the context of play. From here you can begin to determine the motives of the other players for their actions, based on the cards that fell, your betting patterns, their player types, their chip stacks, the pot size, and many other factors.
Your objective, simply is to be able to play this type of hand with skill rather than the luck alone most players reply upon and so win loads more cash!
For this poker hand analysis we will examine the “Big Hand”
BLINDS 1,000/2,000 - (Pot 5,400)
PREFLOP:
A has Js-9s, calls 2,000
B has Ks-Kc, raises to 14,000
A calls 12,000 (Pot 33,400)
A just initially calls, hoping that there will also be many callers because he has suited connectors and wants to get sufficient pot odds.
B, though might interpret the call from early position as A-A or Q-Q, and because he has a large stack (the two are the largest on the table) he can afford to raise a bit more, because if the other player reraises and he thinks the other one has A-A, he can fold.
Plus, K-K is a little bit more shaky if an Ace falls on the flop, so this can work as a tester raise. A calls, because he has a big stack and can afford it.
FLOP: Kh-9d-Kd
A checks
B checks (Pot 33,400)
Suddenly B has Quad Kings! A checks, because he has only a Nine, and can proceed carefully if B bets. B, hoping to conceal his unbeatable hand, checks too.
Paired boards are often good bluffing situations. For example, a 8-8-3 board is good for bluffing because on a, say, J-7-3 board, there are three cards which can pair one of them, and a bluff will be less effective.
But on the 8-8-3 board, bluffing has big benefits because there are only two cards which will conceivably help anyone, and also anyone there with a Three will be less likely to call. (Only an Eight will do.)
But with a board with bigger cards like our Flop, B may have bet, but after that, A will be less likely to put him on a bluff (and more likely on a made hand) because he may have, say, K-10, and we play big cards more than small ones.
B doesn’t want A to back out of the pot. So B just checks.
Also, with two Diamonds B should check in the hope that A will put him on a flush draw so that if the flush doesn’t come, A will bet or raise to push B away, and B can gain extra chips.
TURN: Kh-9d-Kd-5h
A checks
B bets 20,000
A raises to 70,000
B calls 50,000 (Pot 173,400)
B still has invincible Quads, A still has Two-Pair. B could have now put A on the Nine or a draw, so B bets 20,000 so that A will call.
But since during the flop B may have represented a Diamond flush draw in A’s perspective, A raised to 70,000 so that B will move away.
B just calls, because there are two draws already, and B might choose to represent one of them again so that A will attempt another bluff on the river.
RIVER: Kh-9d-Kd-5h-9h
A checks
B moves all-in 106,000 (Pot 279,300)
A folds
B still has Quads, but A is now in trouble because he has a bottom Full House. A King can kill him.
What A is hoping, though, is that B back-doored a Heart Flush and just check it along with him.
But B moves all-in. This is a very intriguing move by B. A strong player would value-bet this (sat, 40,000 on a pot of 173,400) and A can just call it.
It is OK to represent a Flush here, because the board is double-paired, which can destroy Flushes because the board is just one card off a Full House.
So what I am thinking is: B moved all-in because (1) he wanted A to think they may have the same hand or that his hand is weaker, like a Flush. B’s play on the Flop and the Turn was weak, so A might not have put B on a King but likely on the Flush draw we are talking about.
B wants a call. B now hopes that A backdoored a Flush too and also that he thinks his all-in is just a bluff, but A is in trouble because of the sudden strong play.
It was psychologically jarring.
Did B hide that King or not? A might imagine that better hands could come later, so he folds.
Also (2) B might not want a showdown; he did not want to show the two Kings; he wanted to trouble the minds of A and other opponents.
If they saw how he played K-K it will be added information. He wants to have them guessing.
You need to play more unpredictably in order to gain chips later than to gain chips now, but be unable to get some later. I believe this is a brilliant reason.
In summary of the Big Hand
I know this may seem like a lot to take in all at once, the fact is though that while poker is an easy game to learn it is hard to be very good at, hence the crazy stupid “chip flinging” you will come across on many poker sites.
Yes it is mad that so many players play with so little skill, but it is also very good news for you as a player who is learning to play correctly. That’s because once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the “all-in-all the time” maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free poker games that pays real cash such as that found at www.NoPayPOKER.com.
As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and learn to play poker online free on the free poker games tables to get it nailed.