Poker Strategy

Making the Most out of the ‘Nuts’

There is nothing like flopping the absolute nuts in poker.  Your eyes pop out of your head and all you can think of is how to get the most money out of the hand.  This is not often very easy to do, but when you are in late position, you can make some more sophisticated plays that will allow you to get a little more money out of your opponent.

For the sake of argument, we will assume that you are on the button and have a middle position raiser in front of you.  The flop comes out and it is all you.  There is no other draw or card that can hurt you unless the board was to pair and give someone a boat.  As your opponent will probably throw out a continuation bet regardless of whether or not he hit, you know there is going to be more money in the pot.

This is where most poker players will make an error.  They get a little excited and decide to throw out a raise.  If your opponent does not have a hand, they are going to get out cheap at this point.  Just make the call and see what the turn brings before you make a move.  Now the turn hits and you are still in no danger or getting beat regardless of the river (except of course if the board were to pair and the danger of the boat is brought in).  If your opponent throws out a check, this is the one time that you may want to give him the free card and let him think that you are on a draw.

What this does is induce him to make a bet on the river regardless of what card hits. He will more than likely put you on some type of a draw and throw out a decent bet in order to take down the pot.  If you are lucky, the river card will improve his hand just a bit and then you can drop the hammer.

Reading your opponent is the key to the success here as it is going to dictate how much of a raise that you put in.  If you want to get called, the raise is going to have to be perfect.  Some players will come right back at you when you simply double the bet and others will wait for an overly aggressive raise, such as 6 or 7 times the last bet, that evokes a feeling of you trying to be a bully.  Pay attention to how they are playing and you may just end up getting all of your chips in with the nuts.

Flopping the nuts and making money on poker sites is not an easy thing to do.  You sometimes have to be very patient and let things develop before you can try and get some money from playing poker on poker sites.  Evaluating your opponents and patience will be the key to your success when you are building a pot with the nuts.

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Chips, Flop, Nuts, Online Poker, Poker Game, Poker Sites, Poker Tips

When to put your chips in on a draw in a tournament

This is something you see quite a bit in tournament play, especially poker online. However, there are good times to do this and bad times. Remember, just because you won the hand does not mean that it was the right play. There are several situations when it is okay to get in there on a draw, you just need to know what they are.

Let’s get the time that it is not good to throw your chips in on a draw. Let’s say you see a flop that has 2 cards to a flush and your hole cards are suited. You fire out a bet and someone comes right back over top of you to put you all in on a call. What do you do here? Odds aside, you have to let the hand go. You are going to see arguments for both sides of this, but the bottom line is that this is not a cash game. You cannot re-buy and you are risking everything pretty much knowing that you must improve or you are gone.

On the flip side of that, you get the same flop but hold position on the other player. He fires out and you are short stacked and decide to come over the top of him and go all in on a draw. This is actually a good play. You have two ways to win this hand. Your opponent could fold thinking you already have the made hand and of course if he calls, you are still alive with a 35% draw. The difference in the two situations is that you are being the aggressor and putting someone else on a decision.

Finally, you can also make this call when you are stacked and not in danger of putting yourself at risk by covering the bet for the all in. In most cases, you don’t want to risk any more than about 25% of your stack and you have to make sure you are getting odds for the play. You are going to need to see about 2:1 to make the call off of the flop and about 5:1 to make the play on the river. If the odds are there, make the play.

Draws are great when you catch them, but they are way to overrated and lead to a lot of early deaths in tournaments. A good way to keep your head straight about it is to remember that you can always push on a draw, but you should never call on one. You only need a chip and a chair to stay alive. Putting your money in on a hope and a prayer will more than likely get you to the rail rather than to the final table.

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Chips, Online Poker, Poker Tips