Dealing with Card Death
Have you ever sat down to play poker and, though you’re doing your best to play a tighter range, you just can’t seem to ever get dealt a hand worth playing? So, you sit there, folding and folding, watching other people play the game. Maybe you start complaining about your bad luck. Or perhaps you start thinking to yourself about how you deserve to finally get a good hand. If you play enough poker, these stretches that we call “card death” are bound to happen. It’s part of the
Strategies for Sets
You’re holding a small to medium pair like 44 or 88 and, at long last, the flop brings your card. You’ve got a three-of-a-kind. Now what? How do you play your set? A lot of players aren’t sure what to do here because they’re afraid that they won’t get paid off. They want to disguise their hand so they check, hoping that their opponents will either bluff or value bet with a worse hand like top pair. Then they spring the trap at the end. This isn’t the best way to maximize the
Combos and Blockers
One fundamental concept in poker strategy is combos, as well as their corollary, blockers. Remember, the best way to get in edge in this game is by studying and knowing the math better than your opponents. Your hard work will pay off. Combos are the next step in thinking about ranges. Essentially, it’s how many ways our opponents could make each hand that’s in their range. We may be able to figure out what bluffs and value hands are in their range, but figuring out how many c
Squeeze Plays
One poker play that you should have in your pre-flop arsenal is the squeeze play. They’re a great way to collect dead chips and exploit players with a tendency to overcall with weak ranges. Let’s say the player in the cutoff open bets 10 chips and the button and small blinds both call. It comes around to you on the big blind, and you put in a big 3 bet of 70 chips. Since these players often call openers with marginal to junky hands, they’ll often fold to your bet. Congratulat
