poker school
lesson 15: how to make money in no limit hold'em
Welcome to your next class. This topic should catch your attention as this is obviously everybody's goal when they sit down at the poker table. Alright let's go and make some money.
trapping hands
Trapping hands is a great way to increase your bankroll at the No Limit tables. A trapping hand is defined as having a powerful hand and your opponent has a weaker hand than yours, but they cannot get away from playing it. However, trapping with pocket aces or pocket kings (especially the kings, because you are susceptible to an ace hitting on the flop) can be severely fatal at times. By "trapping" with the above hands, it is best to just call one or two bets before the flop, as opposed to raising or re-raising with your hand. With you just calling pre-flop you have now trapped your opponents into playing their hands that they would normally discard. By doing this you have now increased the size of the pot, and you have given yourself an opportunity at winning a big pot, but at the same time there is a risk that you could lose that big pot. But that's the game of poker as long as you keep giving yourself opportunities to win, you will take one home.
Another example of a trapping hand would include you hitting a set or trips on the flop while your opponent is holding onto pocket aces or kings. You now have control of the hand and your opponent is not going to lay their cards down, so it's time to finish them off (hoping that they don't make a set on the turn or river). Trapping hands come in all kinds of variations. Such as: you flop a straight and your opponents hold trips, or you have a full house and your opponent has trips or a smaller full house.
Trapping is a strategy that you can definitely make money off but again just be careful of not getting trapped yourself. It is very easy to hold onto cards that you like, but they might not always be the best ones. Play smart and stay aggressive and you'll do fine.
big pair over big pair (Ace-King included)
We gave you an example above with trapping with a big pair, now we are going to show you another technique when you are holding a big pair. Remember, the more you change your style of play the more you will have your opponents off guard and they are not going to know which direction you are going in.
When you are holding onto a big pair like pocket aces or pocket kings the typical routine is to raise pre-flop. The strategy behind the raise is to get a caller or two and then bet the flop and try to get everyone to fold. Sometimes you will get called because your opponent doesn't believe you especially if you just played a hand with a different strategy (remember change things up a bit). A great position to get a big pair like A-A, or K-K is when you are sitting on the button because players will think you are playing the position instead of the cards you are holding. You will have a tremendous opportunity here to increase your chip stack. This is why if you are on the button and you hold a strong hand, and players all check to you don't slow play it and limp in; raise the bet since your opponents will not believe you. Your opponents might think you are trying to steal the blinds, so someone will call or better yet raise over the top of you because they believe you are bluffing and you will fold. When that happens, you are running right to the bank.
drawing hands
Drawing hands can be quite risky when playing No Limit. Unlike when playing Limit, it is a relatively easy decision to keep calling to the river. In No Limit if you miss your draw on the turn, chances are the next bet will be too large to make it profitable for you to go to the river. If you find yourself in early position with a flush or straight draw it is sometimes better to come out betting rather than just checking or calling. The main problem with checking and calling is that you could leave yourself open to being bet right out of the pot. On the flip side, by betting you could win the pot right there. Like everything in poker, there is a risk involved with betting here because someone could come over the top of your bet to an amount you don't want to call. Remember that if you do flop a large draw, you don't have to hit it to win. If you are aggressive with your bet you can win it there and if you get called hope to catch it.
If you are drawing to hit a nut flush or a nut straight (which requires at least one over card higher than any board card) and you have calculated eleven outs or more, you can vary your strategy be betting, check-raising, or raising in order to take the pot right there or in an attempt to draw out in the subsequent rounds. However, if you find yourself at a table with players who are calling stations you will find it tough to win a number of pots with semi-bluffs. Another option you have with betting this type of hand is to check-raise or move all-in if you have a short stack and the pot is fairly large. Again this gives you two ways to win, it either forces your opponents into folding or you go to a showdown and outdraw them.
It is also a good play at times to call a bet on the flop because you feel you have strong odds. Your call on the flop is initiated by the size of your remaining chip stack and your opponents' remaining chip count as well as the size of the bet. If you have a large chip stack and a less formidable opponent with a nice size stack decides to bet, a call in these circumstances would be a good move since it provides you with an opportunity to double-up with a hit on the turn.
As a player you need to find other ways to win your drawing hands other than just hoping you make your draw on the remaining cards (turn and river). Understanding and implying different strategies will help you in your quest to become a more successful poker player. We are going to discuss a strategy that is one of extreme risk and at the same time is one of the more rewarding tactics you can use in No Limit and that is the check-raise (typically only used with strong hands).
The check-raise strategy is equipped with many benefits. Since this section is on drawing hands we are going to look at the check-raise strategy in relation to drawing hands. To begin, the check raise provides your drawing hands with deception against your opponents in two ways. The first one being is it appears as if you have a completed hand and you could possibly win the pot at this point if your opponents fold. The second one is if you do get called, you have camouflaged your hand so well you are far more likely to get paid off. Also, because of your check-raise you have increased the pot size and therefore the competition will heat up as your opponents will find it harder to get out of the hand. This strategy is an excellent way to change your style of play and it to keep your opponents' continually guessing as to what your next move will be.
Remember that the check-raise strategy is a play that helps you set your opponents up for future hands (whether you win that hand or not). If you go to a showdown with one of your opponents and you check-raised a draw regardless if you win this hand or not they will remember what you check-raised with. So, the next time you have a big hand, check-raise the flop and check the turn, and watch to see your opponents call even with a marginal hand. Check-raising draws is a strategy that involves precise action at the right time, but adding this to your arsenal is one way to help ensure your opponents chips are ending up in your stack at the end of the night.
smooth-calling
A smooth-call is the execution of calling a bet or raise while you are holding a very powerful hand in order to disguise the strength of your hand and to keep all of the attention focused on the initial raiser. The smooth call is a strategic move that can be very deceptive and it generally leads to creating larger pots.
Say you have A
J and you hit your nut flush draw on fourth street, at this point you would want to smooth-call someone else's bet in order to win the maximum amount of chips with your hand. Here's the situation. You are up against five other players at your table. The first player to act bets out into you and with your hand as strong as it is, you decide to raise him in order to build the pot. Now the last three opponents at your table decide to fold, and your opponent that bet first catches a good read on you and realizes that you hit the nut flush, so he folds. Now you had the absolute best hand possible and all you were able to accumulate was one bet. Because you raised right away you scared off all the remaining players and you generated hardly any chips for such a strong hand. However, if you were in last position to bet and someone bet out into you, then it makes sense because you would already have all the bets in the pot and if you bet chances are most people would call an additional bet if they were already in for one.
Continuing on with the example above, if you had of smooth-called your opponents' bet instead of raising there is a strong possibility that a couple of your opponents behind you would call the bet as well. Then the river card comes and the first opponent bets into you again, but instead of calling here you raise, and you get called by your remaining opponents. Now you have accumulated the pot to a nice amount and that is all because you decided to smooth-call the bet on the turn you then bet on the river and BAM, you take home a nice big pot. As you can see the difference in the two scenarios that smooth-calling definitely has its advantages in being able to increase the pot size.
Smooth-calling is definitely a trick play and it something that you should seriously consider to put in your memory bank as it is an important part of the good player's arsenal.
Alright, thanks for coming to class and we hope that these tips have given you some additional insight on different strategies to making you some cash at the tables. Remember, there are a variety of ways to make money but there also a lot of ways to lose money at the poker tables so play smart and make the proper reads and you'll win more than you'll lose. See ya next time.
good luck and enjoy your experiences at the poker tables
