OCCOM BILL wrote:Thank you very much for the detail! I'd buy your book, before any other Pro's... though I have read a ton of their stuff online.
I thought of writing a book, but like all the others I've written it'd go unfinished.
So I'd likely forgo the more prestigious book format and the money that would be made in favor of a wiki format where myself and other poker minds I trust would give the information out for free bit by bit as we are able.
No time like the present! Perhaps a more formal blog of your progress wouldn't go unnoticed either. I know more than a few of us novices would appreciate it.
I'm waiting on any blogging I do until I release my own blog software on the next a2k...
I can't do it unless I do it right.
Well, hell Craven; you can use this thread to store your thoughts in the meantime! I can't imagine it taking you more than few seconds to filter out the rest of our babble when you're ready to change it over.
Ok, here's my random thoughts on poker theory for today:
A6 is the leader pre-flop against KQ in theory, but KQ is easier to play after the flop.
For example, let's say nobody bets hard and you flop queen-high with KQ. It's likely that KQ is good whereas you are unlikely to flop your bottom card as the flop's high card with Ace rag and if you hit Ace you are running a good chance of being out kicked. Note: it's almost always better to hit your low card as top pair than your high card.
So this should highlight that starting hand strategy should take into account avoidance of dangerous matchups.
Pocket 2's may be leading against non-paired high cards but any flop WILL have overcards and you may not know when they are good and have to fold to simple over-aggression. It's better to try to call and catch a set instead of overplay this in many situations.
Excellent! ...and not that it matters, but I concur! Unless severely short stacked and desperate in tournament play or in a shorthanded game; I don't usually play A-rag unless suited... and even then I'm mostly just kicking out a small blind for a lottery ticket to a flush, much the same as 22 to trips. Unless I've got a solid read (famous last words, right?); I'll happily dump either at the first real raise. Typically, I view 22 through 66 much the same way, and frequently restrain myself all the way through 99. I should mention for clarity, that I generally play with mostly overzealous players, so can trap my way into sizable enough pots when I do score to toss more than a few potential winners along the way. The "rocks" around the table will generally buy whatever I'm peddling, because it's usually the goods.
Question: If I'm not being too much of a pest (
) (ignore me at will, I won't whine :wink:): Phil Gordon once said during an episode of Poker after dark that his book teaches that you to bet on every hand you play. Something like "if it's not worth betting; it's not worth playing"... and it struck me as pure idiocy. Am I wrong; or is that a brain-dead statement?
I used to play a lot of online poker and it was moderately profitable for me. Then came the poker legislations which made me rethink what I was doing. Basically, I realized that poker was driving me crazy and I'd be more sane with a desk job. I still paly poker for fun once every month or two at a casino.
Craven de Kere wrote:Ok, here's my random thoughts on poker theory for today:
A6 is the leader pre-flop against KQ in theory, but KQ is easier to play after the flop.
For example, let's say nobody bets hard and you flop queen-high with KQ. It's likely that KQ is good whereas you are unlikely to flop your bottom card as the flop's high card with Ace rag and if you hit Ace you are running a good chance of being out kicked. Note: it's almost always better to hit your low card as top pair than your high card.
So this should highlight that starting hand strategy should take into account avoidance of dangerous matchups.
Pocket 2's may be leading against non-paired high cards but any flop WILL have overcards and you may not know when they are good and have to fold to simple over-aggression. It's better to try to call and catch a set instead of overplay this in many situations.
Wow. I barely understood any of this, but it sure sounds cool. I wish I knew how to play. Or at least talk poker lingo.
Good luck, Craven...if luck is even a factor when you get to this level of play.
Luck is always a factor in gambling.
and knowing whatever lingo they are talking probably helps.
Is there an English translation?
Where did he lose you? I can answer the easy questions.
Just scanning through... Ace rag means his second card is a 6, 7, 8, or 9. It is a "rag" because it can't be played in a straight with the Ace, so is less likely to be a factor at all. Now, if you pair your rag, it's still probably not the highest pair available on the board. By out-kicked, he means if you pair your ace, and someone else does too, your "rag" is probably lower than their second card. At his level, I would imagine most players are playing higher percentage starting hands, which doesn't include A-rag... so the assumption if you suspect someone else paired their ace is you're probably beat. By hoping to catch a set with 22 he means 3 of a kind, since the odds of at least pairing are only slightly under 50%, you're only a favorite with that pair in a heads up game. Hence, you call a blind and cross your fingers instead of betting with them.
In a home game, on the other hand, A rag-seems to be played most of the time so if you see an Ace on the board at all on a multi player pot, it's generally best to assume someone's at least made that pair before proceeding... no matter how good your reads are. The problem here is that even if you're conservative with your starting hands; 2 pairs has an ugly habit of popping up when you least expect the A ragged hand to beat yours. Watch your opponents betting style with stronger and weaker combinations and after a while you'll usually see if he tends to over bet strength or weakness. Players of Craven's caliber, will mix this up, or even throw out false patterns, just to burn you when it really matters.
I'd heard of it before and didn't think too much of it. I don't pay much attention to most poker books, they are usually better at making the author money than the reader.
I believe I would handle Craven with relative ease in a game of poker.
How should we arrange such a match?
gustavratzenhofer wrote:
How should we arrange such a match?
I'll be in Vegas all of June.
Craven de Kere wrote:gustavratzenhofer wrote:
How should we arrange such a match?
I'll be in Vegas all of June.
I'm not going to travel cross country, like an old gunslinger.
There must be some online arrangements we could make.
Let it be here, Craven. Let it be now.
Fair enough, we start out with 500 chips and I call out the cards and you call out the bets.
I have a pair of 10s, you have Ace high. Your turn to bet.
Or if you'd like we can play a play-money game online.
I play on Full Tilt and Poker Room. Choose your poison.
I don't have an account on either site. Which one's the easiest to setup a free heads-up tourney on?
