The CRAPSHOOT Bibles II

Play fewer hands than your opponents, but play them stronger. If you are going to get in a hand then go in with a raise…see where your opponents are and get the BB and the SB out of the hand. Your play should be raise or fold on the flop and turn, very seldom should you check unless you are check raising…you are in the hand for one reason and that is to get your opponents out…you are not looking for showdowns, you are looking for uncontested hands.

Do not try to build pots, the pot will build fast enough on its own, when your stubborn opponent refuses to fold…you might have to convince your opponent with a very strong raise on the turn, but if you have him figured right and have set the right image, your opponent will give in to your wishes. When you slow play or set traps they usually spring on you rather than your opponent. Some chips are better to win than to have a hand backfire on you and have your opponent win a lot of chips…take the sure thing…an uncontested hand!

When you check…check raise then next time that you want to see a free card your opponent will think twice before betting your check.

I have had a lot of opponents tell me that I overplay my hand…I don’t know what that is “overplaying my hand”…I don’t play my hand, I play my opponents hand. I am continuously trying to end the hand…its not important what my hand is…what is important is what my opponents hand is!

You see the pros on TV betting 60,000 100,000 200,000 fine they are on the final table…those small bets do not work online…those bets are a small percent of their banks….when you bet your opponents bank online at 10%, 20% and 30% you will get called in many cases….hell in many cases, I can’t get them to fold at 60% or their total bank even when they are still on a drawing hand.

It appears that many players are paying attention to pot odds…pot odds might still be important in NL but they are more important in the limit game. In NL you might deviate away from pot odds because you might be setting up a take down with the next card…force betting and bluffing is a very important part of the NL game. The other reason it might not be as important…say on the flop, you are figuring pot odds with two cards to come…you might never get to see two cards, if your opponent knows that you are on a drawing hand…he is going to make it very difficult for you to see the river card. It might just be better to figure pot odds on the flop as turn odds – since you might only get to see one more card. When you do figure pot odds you also have to figure bank percentage….in other words it doesn’t help to have pot odds and have the call to be 35% of your bank…three of those loses and your out of the tournament repeating to yourself “but I had pot odds”. Remember the reason that you are figuring pot odds…is because the hand odds are against you…meaning that you are not going to hit your hand in a majority of the cases…so therefore, it is not worth calling if it is going to cripple your bank. You also have to be very careful as to what your opponent might have…if the board has a pair…your opponent could already have a made full house, then you are drawing with a dead hand….now is it worth calling pot odds with a hand that says hand odds wise you are not going to hit and then to have the possibility that you are drawing with a dead hand…this is a situation where you could lose a lot or win a little…wait for a better battle. Also while I’m on pot odds…if you know that your opponent is paying attention to pot odds…then take him out of the hand, by placing a bet that would put him out of the pot odds ratio.

Rookies are continuously looking for a reason to stay in a hand…Pros are continuously looking for a reason to get out of a hand…Play strong aggressive poker and if you see that you do not have the best of it and cannot end the hand with a strong bet…then get out of the hand!

More to come!

You continue to amaze with your(spelling) great posts full of information, i think i might print this one out or archive it somewhere on my computer.

Ive got a noob question for ya... How many of these non-contested show downs should I show? 0%, 10%,20%.... So people don't start chasing me all the time thinking im a bluffer.

ur the best crapshoot

you want 100% uncontested hands if they are successful and possible...nothing beats a guarantee...no suprises

If you mean showing your hand then...0%

As far as table image....if you are bluffing ...then you know that you are getting challenged before any showdown...so fold.

You want to keep up your image by showing winning hands when you have to and folding bluffs before they are exposed...some might get exposed but keep them to a minimal...A rare exposed bluff should not hurt if your showing mainly winners...and it leaves to doubt...is it a bluff or is it for real...if your showing winners mostly..it should then be taken as for real.

It is not as much of a bluff as it is force betting...you have a hand, might not be the best..you are just trying to push your opponent out...but in more cases than not...it is the beast hand at the time.

LoL hey crap how come Zaphor got banned?

I think he had mutiple accounts or sumthing n ot too sure just curious, drop a line mate.

P.S. very nice post.

Also is anyone watching the heads up tourney on NBC. I watched round 1 today, pretty interesting I watched The old Dolye B, bust out to a noob.

Felt bad for the guy.

Man I've been wondering if I should be doing that for the beginning of tournaments, but I figured it was just basic strategy to not show your cards. Though in the back of my head I've been thinking "I need to let these people know not to mess with me!" .... definitely a tip I've been waitin to hear.

Killer posts.

mike...I did not mean it that way...I ment when you are called and your hand has to be shown...make it winners.

I don't believe showing a hand unless you are head to head, then there are times when you might want to show.

I will also show in a normal tournament..if I am taking down a lot of hands in a very short period of time...I will show good hands, so they do not think that I was bluffing and buying on every hand.

And I never believe in showing bluffs.....I dont want them calling...when I want them out!