Friday 27th March 2009, 8:39am
Earlier this week I was playing a tournament online and had pushed my stack of $22,000 with AQs. The blinds were at $1,000/$2,000 with a $300 ante which was high enough that I couldn't just raise with my stack, and I was hoping to double up if I got called. Sure enough I was insta called by the big blind who had $30,000. I considered that I was against a pocket pair, AJ, AK, or KQ. No, I was happily surprised when I was called by A3 off suit. Thankfully there was no bad beat story, and I was able to double up. It was very surprising that the BB decided to call me with such a weak hand considering that I had been showing solid hands the whole tournament. The fact of the matter is this happens all the time. Someone goes all in and anyone with an ace feels obligated to call. This is a misunderstood theory.
Ace rag is not a good hand to call an all in unless someone is going all in blind. Even then, you only have one over card to whatever they are going all in with (excluding small pocket pairs with are a coin flip anyways.) You have to consider what kinds of hands your opponent will push all in with. In the best circumstances you are 57%-43% against KJ off suit. Against a pocket pair you are 30%-70%, and any bigger ace has you dominated. This does not prove to be very good odds when calling off most of your chips to someone's all in. Even in the instances where you have someone covered by a substantial margin, the odds that they are pushing with a bigger ace is considerable. In most cases, it is not worth it. When calling an all in, you want to avoid doubling up the short stacks because they can quickly become a force at the table. You want to give yourself the best chances of taking them out and adding their chips to your stack. In the case of calling an all in with a low grade hand like A3, just fold it and wait for a better opportunity. It would be more beneficial to wait for a better hand or a better spot to take advantage of their chips.
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19th October 2009 3:08pm
Video game provider SEGA could be set to launch their own poker and casino platforms following the granting of a gambling licence by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission today.
18th October 2009 10:25am
As with anything new in someone's life - whether it's a new job, or a new recipe or even a new game, you have to learn about it before you can say you understand it. Same thing goes for poker.
17th October 2009 10:32pm
Online poker room Full Tilt Poker is known for keeping mum when it comes to its legal and business matters, but the company broke its silence to comment on a recent lawsuit by former customers Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotov.
16th October 2009 7:02pm
Anybody who sees me at a poker table says that I look like a football player. And of course, that's what I was in my youth. After I got out of the Army, I signed on as with the Montreal Allouettes, where I played first string tight end until I was traded to the Toronto Argonauts.
14th October 2009 8:05pm
Legendary poker player Doyle Brunson will be feted yet again on Friday night, but not for any of his performances over his 50-plus year career in the game of poker.
13th October 2009 6:50pm
The final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event represents the pinnacle of a poker player's career, but every player has to start somewhere.
12th October 2009 10:05am
When "High Stakes Poker" returns for its sixth season in February of 2010, there will be one major change - A.J. Benza will no longer be a part of the show.
9th October 2009 5:18pm
As the great wrestler Ric Flair said, ?To be the man, you gotta beat the man!? In this week?s finale of the European Poker Tour?s (EPT) London stop, Aaron Gustavson did just that, besting reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate heads-up.
7th October 2009 7:04pm
Possibly getting underway with the half-way goal in mind, the latest session in the durrrr Challenge only ended after a total of 1,063 hands were played.
6th October 2009 6:36pm
Even though he has more than 50 years in the poker world under his belt, poker legend Doyle Brunson continues to be one of the leaders in the community, advocating suggestions for improvements to the industry.
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