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Ditchdoc

Be Chair Committed

How many times have you heard that the key to playing winning poker is all in the starting hand selection? While it is true that it is a great start, the real key to playing winning hold'em is recognizing traps and avoiding them. New players are especially vulnerable to overly aggressive preflop play with a premium starting hand. They over-bet the pot preflop to narrow the field, only to find the flop missed them completely. The next thing you know, they are bluffing the flop to represent a strong hand and being called down by an opponent. Feeling pot committed, the player pushes all in on the river hoping to make their opponent fold, but instead gets called. They are now busted out of the tournament because their AKs met up with QQ. The only thing left for them to do now is to walk away from the table mumbling about what a bad call QQ made because they might have had Aces. Aggression is a good thing, when you have the best of it. It is folly when you are behind.

One of the biggest obstacles for new players to overcome in hold'em is recognizing trap situations. This is especially important in tournament play where you are limited to a certain number of chips. Anyone who has ever read a book on poker knows what are considered the best starting hands. But that is all they are, starting hands. Those pocket aces looked great until you saw the flop of K6K. Instead of proceeding cautiously, many new players convince themselves that either A.) Their opponent doesn’t have a King or B.) Another Ace will come. After being busted out of the tournament, they complain about what a bad beat they had. “I can’t believe my Aces were cracked by KJs!” Personally I don’t consider this a bad beat. The KJs did not bust you out of the tournament. You did it to yourself. You were counting on your 2 cards winning in a 7 card game. The odds were not in your favor.

Another trap for new players is the feeling that they are pot committed. I don’t know about you, but when I am in a tournament, I am chair committed. There is no such thing as pot committed when you have the worst hand. When you lead out the betting with your aces and someone raises you on a scary board, stop and think about what can beat you. What cards might my opponent be holding after calling my preflop raise? Is there a flush or straight possibility out there? Could they have 2 pair? Did they flop their set? Knowing your opponent and how he plays in these situations is crucial. However, in a tournament, you rarely know the person you are up against. Lay your hand down and wait for a more appropriate opportunity. This is not a weak play, this is a smart play. Once your chips are gone, so are you. Tunnel vision in a tournament is suicide. You set yourself up for disaster when you focus on your great pocket hand and the board turns it into a poor hand.

You get to see your big blind for free with A6s. You flop four cards to your nut flush and decide it is worth check calling to catch your flush. You call a moderate bet and turn your flush. Unfortunately, the turn also pairs the board. Your bet on the flop is raised. What do you do now? Although an Ace high flush is a great hand, on a paired board you are up against a possible full house or quads. Most new players find it impossible to lay this hand down. There is no such thing as a nut flush on a paired board. Proceed with caution.
You raise preflop with AhQc. The flop is As9dJs. You bet out and get raised. Where do you stand? Hands like AA, JJ, 99, AK, AJ, A9, and even J9 have you dominated. Your turn is the Qd. Now you have top 2 pair. What do you do? Well, you have overtaken AK, AJ, A9, and J9. Terrific. Way to play. You are a shark. And after removing these four hands from the danger list, you have to add QQ, KT and T8 - not much of an improvement. The river is a Ts. Now you have to worry about any two spades, any K, any 8, and all the sets that still have you. I know this is an extreme example, but think about your board when your flop bet is raised and be prepared to lay your hand down if you enjoy playing in tournaments more that telling bad-beat stories - or more accurately bad-playing stories - on the rail.

Overly aggressive play, pot committing yourself with the worst hand, and trap hands are the easiest ways to knock yourself out of a tournament. For new players, laying down a good hand is one of the hardest things to do in tournament play. But you can’t win if you don’t survive. If you commit yourself to keeping your chair, you will tell better poker stories, like how you won a tournament by making a very tough fold.

Doc

Editor's Note: Ditch Doc has been a staff writer with OWPT for over a year now, and recently played in the WSOP in Las Vegas. She has also recently put up her own webpage for poker players - http://totalbluff.com/

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