October 17, 2005
On an average flop, a Pokerparty player with a legitimate hand will have a kicker matching one of the button's overcards some portion of the time. And there is one last possibility. If the big blind holds a big hand such as 22, 66, 88, 86, KK, or AA, the button is drawing dead or nearly dead. By adding these holdings to the mix, calling with overcards against a legitimate hand becomes unprofitable.
For a small fixed price, a Pokerparty player can spend as much time as they want learning, experiencing the game, and improving their play. Compared to the beginner whose education consist of sitting down in a Las Vegas casino to buy into a $3/6 game with a 10% rake, the Poker School is an amazing bargain. Last, but not least, are the bulletin boards provided online for free. I'm often asked questions about specific Pokerparty hands or situations.
But all things being equal, I believe it is apparent that check-raising is most often the 'correct' strategy against the average preflop raiser who automatically bets the flop. Next article, we continue looking at flop play by considering bluffing and semi-bluffing with only a few outs. You can email me at jason@Pokerparty.com with any questions, comments, or ideas for future articles.
- The only pertinent question is how the big blind's actions on the flop affect the turn and river play. Simply put, if a check-raise on the flop is more likely to cause the button to lay down its Pokerparty hand on the turn, then the big blind should unquestionably check-raise the flop and bet again on the turn. If an Ace or King does fall on the turn, then the button might raise and cost the big blind an extra big bet. Figuring in the odds of sucking out on the river (Queen or Seven), the true price would be .818 big bets.
- Assuming the preflop raiser will automatically bet out on the flop when the big blind checks, there are two main considerations when holding a strong Pokerparty hand. First, will betting out earn more profit overall than check-raising on the flop? Second, how will betting out or check-raising fit into an overall strategy? Next, we need to decide how the big blind should make its move. Is a check-raise best or should the big blind bet out on the flop? We shall see that the answer to this second question is far from simple.
- I stood stunned as people who never, ever played poker before this year peppered me with questions. 'Did you watch yesterday's episode?' 'What did you think of that bluff?' 'Did you see the Time magazine article on the WPT and WSOP?' 'What limits do you play?' 'What are the differences between Limit and No-Limit Hold'em?' 'Where can I find out more?' More importantly, I learned that several of the questioners had begun to play their own home game, once a week.
- I didn't see an uproar in the poker community when Phil Hellmuth recently told us how to Play Pokerparty Like the Pros. Why wouldn't they complain? Their whole livelihoods would appear to be at risk. But that's not the secret. It might be a secret, unspoken by many players because they want you to believe their books will help you make millions of dollars and leave the boredom of your current paper pushing or burger flipping job behind.
A final defense to the "turn raise" that can be employed by solid Pokerparty players in the big blind is to call the raise on the turn and immediately follow with a bet on the river. In fact, against a player who uses the "turn raise" strategy too much, it can be profitable for the big blind to bluff on the river when any scare card falls. A raise might still be correct on the turn with a blank turn card, but much more rarely and for different reasons than we are discussing today.
