By: Nick Pokered
Submitted: 2010-08-24 10:54:10 | Word Count: 613
Regardless of if you're a beginning free online poker player or a WSOP top table pro, the all-in is the biggest move in poker. As a rule of thumb, usually one moves all-in only with hands that can stand a chance against, say, A-K or A-Q (the most common all-in hands).
This is because these are the hands also most willing to call. Which hands, then, are we ready to put our tournament life on? Pocket pairs come to mind. So does A-K (or A-Q or even K-Q suited or K-J suited if you are running out of chips)
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But someone does it differently. I'd like to add that here; player B is usually an impatient, rowdy player who is familiar to us TV poker fans.
BLINDS 12k/24k
A has Ad-Kd raises 75k
A's raise is just standard for A-K suited, although it is slightly stronger (the average preflop raise is about 2.5x the big blind, but this raise is a little more than thrice). But look at B's move, which may be less standard:
B has 10c-5c moves all-in 544k
How about that: a 10-5? With about 22 big blinds left, which is relatively a short-stack (but not so short), B moves all-in. However with a 10-5? B can wait for slightly better hands than this.
Now let us try to justify the 10-5 in this situation. If B did it with a small pair, he is a slight favourite (about 55-45). If with A-x (with x smaller than a King), he is a significant underdog (about 75-25).
By comparison with any 2 except Ace or King he is only about 66-34, much less of a disadvantage. So with the win-rate of 10-5 against Ace King (B deciding that A's hand is Ace King or alike is a gamble; if he is up against Ace Ace then he is a serious underdog at about 85-15) is simply the average of the win rate of a pocket pair against Ace King and the win rate of A-x against A-K, and as such not too nasty.
Moreover, with 10c-5c B has two live cards, compared with A-x, where x is the only live card. Moreover, B may dislike having 22 big blinds dwindle to, say, 15 or 14 later, so he decides to put his heart and soul into this hand. Who is this player, anyway? "I've got a 10-5, girls and boys." You heard right, the garrulous Mike Matusow! "The Mouth!"
A calls 469k (Pot 1.124m)
Now let us see how "The Mouth" will fare against all odds.
FLOP: Js-7c-5s
"That's a Flop!" A Five fell, pairing Matusow!
TURN: Js-7c-5s-8d
RIVER: Js-7c-5s-8d-6d
Moving all-in can prove to be the most dangerous moments in poker. Even in free online poker it can also be the most thrilling, anyway. The all-in recharged Matusow's stack to 45 big blinds.
This isn't the sort of eccentric play that can be exploited forever though. For Matusow to think A has AK or alike is, quite frankly gambling. While most will run a strategy where they will call with pocket pairs I doubt in this case that A will call with anything less than 10-10. Against A-A or K-K or a higher pair, 10-5 will win only about 15% of the time, and with 10-10 to 5-5, about 25%, and with 4-4 to 2-2, nearly a coin flip.
Author Resource:-
Nick who works for top free online poker site http://www.nopaypoker.com/articles says that by far the best way to learn how to play poker is to start with free poker sites and work up from. At NoPayPOKER you can play with zero risk yet still win real money, perfect for beginners as well as practice for all levels of play.
