Archive for September, 2008

In general terms this is very risky and certainly not a play that amateurs should try. Basically, if you choose to reraise with no hand, it is favourable to at least have some sort of draw as a back up plan. This ensures that if you are called, you can still make a good hand and scoop a big pot, but the basic idea of reraising with nothing is to try and win the pot there and then.

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In attempting to do this you should feel strongly that either, your opponent is on a draw themselves, or has a weaker pair that they are trying to steal the pot with. There is also the possibility that you feel they are bluffing the pot entirely, or putting out a feeler bet because they sense some weakness.

It is possible that you have checked and then been raised by your opponent, with them putting out a tester bet to try and pick up the pot. Reraising in this position shows more strength, as long as you have not shown weakness in your posture or expression when you checked in the first place.

The check-raise always suggests strength, but you have to be sure your opponent was raising without a reasonable hand in the first place, to make this reraise.

In short, reraising with nothing requires a lot of trust in your reads, and until you have developed your reading ability and understanding of the game, it is not something I would advise.

But if you do manage to trust these reads and reraise with nothing to good effect then it is a great feeling, as a poker player, as you have clearly outplayed your opponent.

Recently, I have to say that pocket fours are one of the few hands in live play that have been very kind to me.
Although I am not a superstitious player and won’t attach any extra importance to the hand when I am dealt it, I have made a full house both times when I was last dealt it.

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The first time, I slow played it and managed to win about 3,000 in chips, and the second time, I made a very unusual play and could have perhaps tripled up if I had played it right.

Having flopped a set, and with two other players in the pot, I decided to push all in on the flop. I guess my reasoning was that I had been very aggressive in previous hands and I knew my table image was loose. Both players had top pair with sevens, but with a weak kicker, and both folded. Flicking through the next two cards I saw that both would have hit three sevens on the turn, and I would have made a full house. Lesson learned. I almost always play this type of situation slow, and I should have done then too, but I felt both players could have a piece of the flop, as I limped into the pot preflop in late position. Personally, I always try not to become predictable by playing the same type of hands the same way, and this time it truly cost me.
Perhaps this a perfect example of how you should often slow play big hands, but doing so every time can often bite back. Despite this, I cannot say I definately played the hand terribly, beacuse the logic behind the move was ok, but giving my opponents the chance to improve their hand on the turn would have been the better option.

But then hindsight as they say, knows everything.