FAVORITE HAND

It happens every time I play a live poker. If it is in a live tournament or private party with a friendly poker game. At least one of the players at the table starts to report about his game experience and his favorite hand in Texas Holdem.

Why is a favorite hand a favorite hand? Is it because you won more often or the biggest pot with? Or because of your lucky numbers, your birthday or your name initials? Or is it because of the statistics for these hole cards?

Any way… I don’t have a favorite hand… but a hate hand! I hate K Q! With these hole cards I am not feeling comfortable. I could say I lose the most pots with this starting hand. The statistics can really be excellent but they don’t work for me… Already before the Flop every ace is dominating you. After the flop you mostly hit a open end straight draw or gut shot. In this case you can lose a lot of your chip stack for hunting the straight that never comes. Also with suited cards you are looking for your flush and finally there is an ace high flush next to you… 

I know this can happen with other connector cards too but in my case I hit my straight or flush with other connectors than that. Doesn’t matter I am playing online or live poker.

What is your favorite hand and why?

BLUFF

A bluff in a poker game is a bet or raise without holding the best hand but to convince your opponent(s) you have. It is a skill to bring the other players to fold their cards and to win the pot. 

I think, a bluff makes the difference between a lucky gambling game and a skill game. There are many ways to bluff at a poker table and the success of your bluff depends on your skills to know the people (psychology), the way they play (observation task), your chance to win (statistics), how to use the board for your advantage (persuasion) and when to bring your “poker face” into the game (self-discipline).

All these skills and the frequency of bluffing make the difference between a masterfull bluff and a gambling, donkey game.

There are two kinds of bluffs in a poker game*:

Pure bluff

A pure bluff, or stone-cold bluff, is a bet or raise with an inferior hand that has little or no chance of improving. A player making a pure bluff believes he can win the pot only if all opponents fold. The pot odds for a bluff are the ratio of the size of the bluff to the pot. A pure bluff has a positive expectation (will be profitable in the long run) when the probability of being called by an opponent is lower than the pot odds for the bluff.

Semi-bluff

In games with multiple betting rounds, to bluff on one round with an inferior or drawing hand that might improve in a later round is called a semi-bluff. A player making a semi-bluff can win the pot two different ways: by all opponents folding immediately or by catching a card to improve the player's hand. In some cases a player may be on a draw but with odds strong enough that he is favored to win the hand. In this case his bet is not classified as a semi-bluff even though his bet may force opponents to fold hands with better current strength.

* Source: Wikipedia