Learn To Play Poker For Free And Master Moving All-In At Poker
Regardless of if you’re a beginning free online poker player or a WSOP top table pro, the all-in is the biggest move in poker.
As a rule of thumb, usually one moves all-in only with hands that can stand a chance against, say, A-K or A-Q (the most common all-in hands).
It is because these are the hands also most prepared to call. Which hands, then, are we ready to put our tournament life on? Pocket pairs come to mind. So does A-K (or A-Q or even K-Q suited or K-J suited if you are running out of chips)
But someone does it differently. I’d like to add that here; player B is an impatient, rowdy player who is familiar to us TV poker fans.
BLINDS 12k/24k
A has Ad-Kd raises 75k
A’s raise is simply standard for A-K suited, although it is slightly stronger (the average preflop raise is about 2.5x the big blind, but this raise is a little more than thrice). But look at B’s move, which may be less standard:
B has 10c-5c moves all-in 544k
Think about that: a 10-5? With about 22 big blinds left, which is relatively a short-stack (but not so short), B moves all-in. But with a 10-5? B can wait for slightly better hands than this.
Now let us try to justify the 10-5 in this situation. If B did it with a small pair, he is a slight favourite (about 55-45). If with A-x (with x smaller than a King), he is a significant underdog (about 75-25).
With any two cards except Ace or King, he is a less significant underdog (about 66-34).
So the win-rate of 10-5 against A-K (here B deciding that A’s hand was A-K or similar was quite a gamble; if he’s up against A-A he is a big underdog, about 85-15) is just the average of the win rate of a pocket pair against A-K and the win rate of A-x against A-K, and therefore not so bad.
Moreover, with 10c-5c B has two live cards, compared with A-x, where x is the only live card. Moreover, B may dislike having 22 big blinds dwindle to, say, 15 or 14 later, so he decides to put his heart and soul into this hand. Who is this player, anyway? “I’ve got a 10-5, girls and boys.” Yes it’s true, the garrulous Mike Matusow! “The Mouth!”
A calls 469k (Pot 1.124m)
Now let us observe how “The Mouth” will fare against all odds.
FLOP: Js-7c-5s
“That’s a Flop!” A Five fell, pairing Matusow!
TURN: Js-7c-5s-8d
RIVER: Js-7c-5s-8d-6d
Moving all-in can prove to be the most dangerous moments in poker. Even in free online poker it can also be the most thrilling, anyway. The all-in recharged Matusow’s stack to 45 big blinds.
This sort of unusual play can be exploited forever in any case. When Matusow believed that A has A-K or similar, he is gambling.
Most players will call with pocket pairs but I doubt in this case that A will call with less than 10-10.
Against AA, KK or a higher pair the 10-5 will only win approximately 15%. With 10-10 to 5-5 it’s approx. 25% and with 4-4 to 2-2, just about a coin flip.
Summing up the All-In
Invest time to read and thoroughly grasp the principles behind this article. Try and thoroughly grasp the key facts behind what is going on within this example and think of strategies to put these lessons into your personal play.
Poker, while not so difficult to learn if very difficult to make a living from, or, indeed, not lose money at most of the time!
But if (and when) you figure out how to play poker well then you will make some great money. Why?
It’s because 80% or more players won’t ever make this sort of play level.
So if you can learn to play above average then it is not hard to make some good money. You certainly don’t need to play WSOP levels.
The fact that most players are at such a low skill ensures that when you hunt/play them on free online poker sites or low stakes sites you’ll be able to clean up.
To learn to play poker online free go read the NoPayPOKER blog, the free poker lessons there cover all levels from beginner to expert, plus, the site itself as a free online poker site is the ideal place to practice what you learn.
Tags: free online poker, how play all in, learn to play poker for free, poker
