TABLE POSITION

In a poker game your position at the table is changing by rotating the Dealer button. The position is important for every player but not everyone is playing the position.

Not only your cards and chip stack, but also your position helps you decide about your betting, raising or folding. The best position at the table is the “Dealer”, that means the player with the dealer button has nothing to invest and sees what all other players do before he can decide how he is playing his cards. Preflop, all players at the table (except 2 – small and big blind, already have their chips more or less in) are acting before the dealer position and then the dealer button player already knows how many players are involved in this one hand.

You can use the position to bluff with a raise if nobody was raising or everybody was folding. Also after the flop you can benefit from the “dealer” position, because you are the last to speak.

The other positions at the poker table are called:

SMALL BLIND – is the one after dealer and has already put half of the Big blind in

BIG BLIND – is the second seat after dealer and has to bring the minimum bet

UNDER THE GUN – is the position after the Big blind and is not recommendable to raise this position with any cards, if there is big raise from this position you can be sure it is a big bluff or really one of the best starting hands sitting at the table

CUT OFF – is the position before dealer button, it is not bad if dealer button folds, then you are in the “position of the dealer”

DEALER – the best position at the table, you can choose and vary your game depending on actions of other players before your turn

 

 

ACE KING STARTING HAND

A K starting hand is known also as “Big Slick”, “Anna Kournikova” or "Walking Back To Houston", this is the 4th best starting hand in Texas Hold'em Poker. The odds of being dealt ace king (suited) are 1 in 331. If suited, it is one of the premium hands. If off-suit, it is still a great starting hand.

With AK, you hit at least top pair with top kicker if there is an Ace or a King on the flop which will be a winning hand most of the time. A hand like this is a strong pre flop hand, but quite difficult to play correctly. Pre flop you can play this hand in every position. It is only a question of if you should play slow (just to call) or raising the blinds. You must also observe your opponents play. If there is a big raise before you act or one or more raises behind you, then you have to consider how the raising players have played before this hand… are they playing tight, then there is a possibility they hold a better starting hand… are they playing loose and re-raising you or how have you played your game? If you are a tight player, it is possible they are checking your hand and trying to steal your chips. If you are an active player, they may also have a strong starting hand.

There are many aspects that you must consider if you are playing A and K:
1. Your position
2. Your opponents
3. Your play
4. Your chip stack
5. The part of game if it is a tournament – is it at beginning, middle or late part of the game AK as starting hand really needs to be dealt a good flop!

If you can’t see an ace or a king on the flop you have to get out of this hand after raising your opponents. Otherwise you risk further damage…

Where are the nicknames coming from?  

“Big Slick” - originally was called "Santa Barbara" from the destructive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara. It eventually transformed into "Big Slick", because of the English adjective slick (slippery and appealing) which means ambiguous. A K is a "slippery" hand since it is often misplayed or overplayed and can result in big losses.  

“Anna Kournikova” - nicknamed after the tennis player Anna Kournikova by Vince Van Patton during a commentary of an episode of the WPT because the hand "looks great but never wins".  

"Walking Back To Houston" – used by T.J. Cloutier in his book “Championship No-Limit”, after guys who came up to Dallas to play poker, got busted with Ace-King, and had to walk home.

 

Bad beat and suck out

Anybody who ever played poker has had a bad beat or has experienced suck outs. You start playing with one of the best starting hands and you are thinking “I can’t lose” and then it happens… Your opponent becomes best possible cards on the board and wins the hand. The more cards dealt, the more your favorite hand looks like a losing hand. If you for example have a flush with an ace or full house it is only a small possibility your opponent has a straight flush or quads. Therefore you are statistically right to believe your hand is the best. That’s a bad beat. You are beaten by a “weaker” start hand after the last card was dealt.

Watch this example: BAD BEAT 

 The most of the “calling station” players will play any two cards and rely only on luck. Others fall in love with their start hand and call till the river even though the board has become stronger. They don’t count their outs or pot odds or even think about a possibility that there can be a better flush, straight or more. Then they become lucky and win the hand by a suck out.

Watch this example:  SUCK OUT 

I think the difference between bad beat and suck out is only giving your opponent the possibility to hit his draw. If you give bad pot odds by your betting and lose, it is bad beat, if not and your opponent is calling and wins, it is a suck out.

 

 What is your experience? What is your definition of BAD BEAT and SUCK OUT? Am I right?

Don’t touch my big blind...

You see it all the time on the poker tables. A raise pre flop and big blind calls every time. Once chips are in play the big blind rarely folds his cards. This can be very dangerous but also an easy win of a lot of chips. You can never know what the big blind is playing. He can play two strong cards and he can play any two and win at the end by hitting his draw on the river. There are players who play their big blind every time, thinking only about not losing the blind bet. Some players in big blind even answer with a reraise which means “don’t touch my big blind”. But you can also win lots of big blinds chips, if he is playing this way. He loses not only his big blind bet, he also loses his playing chips very fast and therefore his play/tournament too.

STARTING HAND ACE FOUR

A 4 starting hand also called “Transvestite”or “Blind Man’s Aces”. Called this because you see the first ace, and the 4 looks like another, but it turns out not to be.

Ace Four off suit (A4) pre flop statistics are not so good. In the ranking this hand is placed in the 104^thposition and the probability of being dealt Ace Four off suit is only 0.9 %. It is not recommended to play this hand in any position, except in small or big blind if there is no raise before. But A 4 off suit is better than A3, A2 and A6 off suit and any other ace free off suit hand smaller than K8.

Suited A 4 in opposite belongs to a range of very good starting hands like suited A2, A3, A5, AT, AJ, AQ and AK. These starting hands generate a positive return in the value charts, which analyze the rate of return of each starting hand.

The “Blind Man’s Aces” are not pocket Aces but if they are suited and played correctly you can win a nice pot.

VALENTINE'S DAY AND POKER

Also poker players celebrate Valentine’s day. The most of online poker rooms offer for Valentine’s day special events, happy hours or for example winning a trip to Paris. They know on this day there are not so many players playing Poker online like usually... Everybody who is in love with somebody celebrate this day outside of poker table.

But there are also poker players their only one and real love is poker. For them we created a couple of poker shirts with really special poker designs! Go to http://pokershirts.hpage.com and check it out!

You can make a nice gift for your poker friend too! Special offer for Valentine’s day for poker players you can find on my homepage http://pokershirts.hpage.com!

What you have to do is to find the right shirt for your sweetheart in the SHOP or choose one of the designs in the menu POKER DESIGNS and create your own poker or “not poker” shirt!

                                                                                        

The ACES

The premium combination of start hands is pocket aces and pocket kings. Somewhere was written the chance to win pocket aces is 75%. It is a very good statistic, but also with aces you can lose.  More players playing on the table and calling this hand raise the chance to win a bigger pot; but reduce the chance to win the hand also.

You can play slow or aggressive; it’s only the question of how your opponents see their starting hands. My feeling about winning and losing pocket aces, that I ever played, is near 50:50. I would even say online possibility to win this hand is only 40%. Is it the best way to push all in with this hand? Not necessarilly… But it is the best way to say I lose the turn or  my tournament with the best possible start hand I could have. But once out of a tournament there is no way to come back!

Remember: “… any two cards can beat the aces…!”

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