The Gambling Weblog

Let’s talk about positioning in Texas Hold’m for a bit. Position is more important in Hold’em than any other form of poker. The later you are to act, the better. The value you gain from watching all your opponents act before you can greatly influence your decisions. Let’s say you hold suited connectors, 7-8 suited, and the player under the gun raises the pot pre-flop only to be re-raised by the player to his left. The next three players fold and now your eighth to act with your suited connectors. They sure don’t look as attractive as they did 30 seconds ago. In a regular nine-handed game the blinds, player under the gun and the fourth player to act are in early position, players 5-7 are in middle position and the eighth player and button are in late position. Hands you would fold in early position become hands you can raise with in late position.

The power of position is only compounded by the fact that there are four betting rounds in hold’em. In last position you get the advantage of information exposed by your opponent’s actions on every round of betting. Drawing hands become profitable if enough players have limped in, you can give yourself a free card, you can raise with out the fear of being check-raised. When in doubt about a starting hand make sure you factor in all the advantages of late position and the disadvantages of early position into your decision.

You played solid starting cards, hit enough of the flop to continue and no help came on the turn. This is a sticky situation, what should you do? This is where the information obtained by observing everything going on at the table is a major advantage. If you haven’t improved you’ll most likely hold a draw with the right amount of opponents, a big pocket pair in the hole that you believe will hold up or absolutely nothing, but you believe you can bluff and pick up the pot.

A lot of time when you flop an open-ended straight draw or a four-flush you will not improve on the turn. If you have two or more opponents you can call a bet and give it one last shot on the river. Watch out for a lot of action on the turn though. If there’s a bet and raise ahead of you, be wary. Make sure the board is not paired so that you’re not drawing dead to a full-house.

If folding is the superior play to checking with your hand, it might be the most profitable to bluff against your opponents. The turn is a good place to do so, if the action leading up to it is passive. This will require that you pull in all the information from the hand to pick a good situation to pull it off. If everyone has checked on the flop, then you have a good chance of pulling off a bluff on the turn from early position, especially if a blank card has fallen.

On most hands you’ll never see the turn, but when you do make it to this turning point in the action without much hope, know when you can correctly continue to the murky waters of the river and when you should fold.

You played solid starting cards, received good news on the flop and once again improved on the turn, or you had a strong hand on the flop and the turn was an inconsequential blank card. What now? Pour on the aggression! Betting or raising is a far superior play to calling or checking on the turn. You set the tone for the rest of the hand and run the show. If you call here, you better have a good reason to have done so, either to set someone up for a play on the river or if you have the correct odds to continue a draw.

The general rule of thumb is, if you have top two pair and an opponent bets into you, fire out a raise that separates the contenders from the pretenders. You want to build the pot and knock out the opponents on draws. In late position bet if no one has already done so and only check in early position if you’re absolutely sure someone will bet and allow you to check-raise. As always, before you blindly rush in with guns blazing double-check the board for connecting, suited or paired cards that could put you in the path of raises and re-raises.

A lot more weapons are available in your strategy toolbox once the flop is dealt. Don’t waste all these weapons by making your play mechanical and predictable. Never become so tight or loose that your opponents can predict what you hold with some degree of accuracy. Have an overall plan with every play you make to deceive the table. This will also help you remain patient by keeping the game exciting.

You want to deceive your opponents whenever you can; act weak when you are strong with slowplays and check-raises and strong when you are weak with bluffs and semi-bluffs to throw them off track. Show your hole cards every once in a while when your caught bluffing. Start out playing tight then change gears to loose play, and vice versa. Make it so your opponents always have a little voice in their head second-guessing what you hold when they are in a pot against you.

Pre-flop play is just the tip of the iceberg. Post-flop play is where it gets creative and where winning players truly establish themselves. To become a winning player you need to use all the plays available to you and mix them up to make the most money you can off your opponents. Be observant and you’ll notice the right situations to make these plays. Never stop thinking about your opponents and all the information available to you. Remember, the part of the iceberg concealed beneath the water is usually what sinks the ship, not the part that’s visible. Have a plan so that your opponent only observes the small part of your play you want them to see while you formulate a master plan to sink them with deception.

For some lucky players of the Monday Night Madness promo, betting $100 on the Pittsburgh Steelers to beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Monday Night Football was a can’t miss. If this expression seems to be used all too often, in this case it was literally a CAN’T MISS because the $100 laid down was automatically refunded into their accounts.

Everyone was expecting a defensive battle and knew it would be close on the Monday Nighter but no one could have predicted that not a single TD would be scored on either side of the field. With the 9-0 (three Field Goals) victory that the Jacksonville Jaguars laid on the Steelers, bettors across the country that bet on Pittsburgh as the -3 favorite were left to hold their head in their hands. But that’s where the Monday Night Madness players took only a shot to the ego instead of the wallet which is the incredible part of this promotion

Well if you missed the chance to dive into to last week’s event, have no fear Monday Night Madness returns. This time were heading to the “Big Easy” for the emotional Home Opener of the New Orleans Saints as they welcome the Atlanta Falcons to town. Both teams are riding on a high right now with matching 2-0 records on the line. New Orleans had a dramatic come from behind victory over the Green Bay Packers 34-27 and Atlanta literally ran all over Tampa Bay to the tune of a 14-3 win.

The side to go with for this weeks MNM is the Falcons from Hot-lanta. The Saints struggled to beat the packers and against this run they will not have the answer. Michael Vick is on fire after racking up 438 all purpose yards with 127 rushing 311 through the air last week, and that was against the Buc’s D which is a much more established unit compared to the Saints. Add Warrick Dunn’s 266 rushing yard totals this young season and the fact that the Atlanta Falcons Defense is yet to give up a TD to the mix, and you have yourself a safe bet on the Falcons at -3. The Saints will be emotional and the crowd will be on their side but the Falcons are looking like the team to beat in the NFC South.

Monday Night Madness is simple to be a part of. The first 1000 new signups at OasisCasino.com get a free $100 dollar bet on the Atlanta Falcons to cover the 3 point spread against the Saints. If the Saints win or the Falcons do not cover than the participant gets the $100 he or she put down refunded into their accounts with no rollover requirements. If the Falcons do beat the spread than it is business as usual and they receive the regular payout of being on the winning side of a standard bet. The reviews are in and the crowd loves this CAN’T MISS event that is a classic case of a win-win scenario.