News

product_type_icon Learning to Lay Down. By Scotty Nguyen - Expekt Poker 26/05/2010


Click here for the Expekt Poker Bonus Code.


I see it in every big tournament. A guy gets married to his pretty hand in a big pot, and he ends up going broke because he couldn’t release his hand. It is always great to look down and see a big hand like Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces, but you have to be willing to give them up when the situation dictates.

When I get involved in a pot with any decent hand, I want to make sure I never invest too much of my stack in a pot where I might be beat. It sounds simple, but you would be surprised at how many players raise with Kings pre-flop, get called by a tight-conservative player, and get in a raising war on a 9-10-J board. Yet still, players think about how much they put in to the pot, and they think they are right to call, most of the time knowing they are beat. To prevent this situation, you have to make sure not to get married to a hand and know when to lay down a good hand.

When I have raised it up with players to act behind me, the first thing I notice about any callers is their stack size. By seeing how much of their stack they have invested pre-flop, you can begin to think about how strong their hand is and how much you might have to invest the rest of the hand.

For example, if a call represents greater than one-third of a player’s chips and they flat call, I am counting on the player getting the rest of their chips in the middle no matter what. When a player invests that much in a pot, they are usually prepared to go with it. However, if a chip leader at the table calls, he may just be splashing around chips wanting to see a flop. A player’s stack size helps me determine how I can maintain control on the size of the pot so I don’t get overly invested in a marginal situation.

When the flop comes down, I pay close attention to the texture of the board in relation to both my hand and the types of hands a player might be calling. For example, if I raise in position with J-J, and the flop comes down K-Q-10, my hand has gone from premium starting hand to drawing hand. Now, anyone that called me with a Nine, King, Queen, Ace, or one of the remaining Jacks, might be looking to play a big pot and I might have been outdrawn. I look to check behind since I am in position, and only call small bets in relation to the pot and my remaining stack. It is nice to be able to try and see all 5 cards to give myself a chance to hit the straight, but not at the expense of too many chips. If I face any real pressure, I realize that what started out as a good hand is now a folding hand.

Another common hand players die by is a flopped set on a suited board. For example, let’s say Player A with a conservative image raises in position with a short-stack. Player B calls from one of the blinds with 6d-6s. The board comes down Q-6-9 all hearts and Player B bets out and gets called by the conservative Player A. The fourth heart falls on the turn, and Player B bets out again, but this time faces a big raise from Player A. Here is where Player B has to release his hand because there is little chance the conservative player is pulling off a bluff without a large enough stack to push Player B off the hand. Quite simply, Player A has the hand beat, and there is no sense going broke in this spot. This hand is now an easy fold.

Sometimes the chips you save from a marginal situation are the chips that matter most when you do pick up a winning hand. Those extra chips can mean bigger gains to your stack later. Sometimes poker is a game as much about folding in a pot as it is winning a pot.


$600 free poker bonus at PokerStars

The best tournaments you find at PokerStars



Create your own 3D Poker avatar at PKR Poker - PKR Poker Bonus Code: MYBONUS800


Copyright 2009 by www.casino-and-poker-bonus.com All rights reserved.