The Scottishben Dhammapada

THE DHAMMAPADA VOL 2

Crapshoot talks about putting the fear of god into people. In many forms of Buddhism there is no god and there is no god that people fear in low buy in online poker. People will often call rather than fold where as in a live game they might actually be scared of you. Many people online (even at the $30 buy ins I often play) devote very little energy to trying to read you or watching your play. If you play 10% or 40% of the flops they will play against you the same way. Clever play is all very well but only advertise to those who are actually reading the paper. You will often find that you have to play a fairly boring, by the numbers style of play to exploit these unobservant players.

Building pots will make people more inclined to bluff. That is great if you are on a very strong hand but can be dangerous particularly if there is a scare flop (i.e. a pair on the flop, 2 of a suit or a straight draw). Online, at lower buyins people struggle to fold hands if there is a sizable pot. Thus whilst it is dangerous to build a pot with the right sort of hand it can lead to big profits.

The importance or otherwise of pot odds is a much debated point on the forum. Anyone unsure what we are on about should look to the members guides section as I will be going in at the deep end here.

Ok if we take pot odds and implied odds together the main justification for calling against them will be when you are advertising. As I have said earlier many people are not reading the paper as it were so keep the advertising cheap and do not use it as a poor justification for a bad play. Similarly beware of overvaluing implied odds – when in doubt undervalue or discount them.

Decisions are not made in a vacuum and the same is true for pot odds. I believe that you should always have some sort of situational value attached to your current position in a given tourney and to what your position would be if you win a particular pot. If you are say down to 6 players in a 5+1 tourney play out 45 for 1st down to 15 for 5th and you hold average chips as does everyone else – what is that worth? I would put that at 20$ at least depending on how good my reads are of the others, how I rate them as players – what the blinds are etc. Generally at that level I would value that at c. 30$. This will affect my willingness to call a 50/50 as would the value I would place on having 2* as many chips as everyone else with 5 players (including yourself) left.

In my pot odds post in member guides I deal with this to a greater degree but I would make it clear that 1) pot odds are fundamental 2) they cannot be viewed in a vacumn. If you are a good player and are playing in a competition where there is a “house share” then you should need something better than pot odds (+ implied odds to call)

My rule is without pot odds (+implied odds) fold but having pot odds doesn’t mean you should call!

You must always remember that it is not anyway near an exact science because 1) there is a chance you have misread the holdings of your opponent (leading to a miscalculation of odds or to you drawing dead to a higher flush draw etc.), 2) you might misread implied odds as this is really a guess. You don’t know for sure whether you will get any extra chips in the pot if you catch your flush etc. it is a guess and there is a margin for error 3) there may be ways of increasing your chip stack that are less risky remember that. So the key is which has a higher situational value calling * chance of winning or folding. I would also not that you should beware of giving yourself pot odds by betting in early position. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t then call but it is something to beware of. I see players who want to stay in a hand betting on a semi bluff JUST TO GIVE THEM POT ODDS TO STAY IN THE HAND!!!!

So if you have pot odds consider

1) margin of pot odds
2) margin of error in calculation
3) is it a scare flop (eg 2h2ckh if you hold Ah7h)
4) situational values to folding and to calling

As a general rule only count implied odds if you have a decent chip stack as having say 700 chips has a lower situational value compared to 1500 * chance of catching (start on 1000) and simple pot odds calculations don’t reflect this.

OK that’s pot odds

GENERAL ADVICE ON multitable sng’s for money

1) – keep records of opponents and your own performance
2) – don’t play outwith your bankroll to do this whether you win or lose it should have no real effect on your bankroll either way otherwise the stakes are too great and you cannot play in the best way to maximize your earnings
3) – don’t glory hunt and don’t settle for the bubble or bottom money play to maximize your long term earnings. This is done by making right decisions. If you make right decisions then the short term is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter whether your opponent catches flushes or out draws you if you played the hand in the best way. Too often people either play really tight on the bubble and then really loose when finishing 4th as opposed to 5th is worth the same as finishing 5th or just out of the money. Equally well some people set a strategy right from hand 1 to win the tourney and play all out for that as though the other positions were worth nothing moneywise.
4) Start tight passive and then adapt ONCE you have reads then play your natural game.
5) Whilst you generally need better than pot odds (+implied odds) to call bets you should not be discouraged from entering 1/5s or 1/3s IF calling has a higher situational value
6) Play wisely (see my poker virtues post or fonzes bankroll guide)– when you are playing well, sober etc and GIVE THE GAME YOUR FULL ATTENTION!!
7) Before considering moving up a level make sure your bankroll can take it and watch several games at higher level to get the feel for the play. Similarly if you are going to play for money in tourneys on a new web site – watch before you play to get a feel of the styles of players you are against
8) Opponents quality/style varies with the time of day get a feel for when the difference between their play and your play is most in your favour (particularly for non US timezone players.
9) Be patient
10) Beware of scare flops
11) Generally let other players risk their bankroll knocking out the ultra aggressive players unless your reads are solid
12) Try to generally bet the same amount to disguise holdings. Generally 50%-67% of pot is a good amount – I might expand this later. The mini bet (BigBlind when pot is huge) is surprisingly affective 1) with complete trash at getting players to fold 2) inducing a raise that you can re-raise. It is sometimes worth considering rather than a standard check-raise play