My Poker lessons are lessons that I learned usually for the first time the night before. Last night I was playing No Limit Texas Hold'em at Hustler Casino in Gardena California. I think this will become my new home casino. The people there are nuts and the staff is disorganized, but the facilities are clean and the food is pretty good.
Principle #1: Unless you are on a drawing hand or trying to slow play, bet in the first place as much as you are willing to call.
About half way through the night I found myself holding Big Slick (AK) in the small blind. There were a few callers for the five dollar big blind, so I raised it pre-flop to $15. I usually won't come into a hand for less than 3x the big blind.
I do this for three reasons:
1. By raising preflop I am telling my competitors that I have a good hand, so theoretically when the flop comes I will bet into them no matter what. When this is done the other players have no choice but to imagine that I hit my hand. Even if the flop is full of garbage they could think that I hit trips.
2. If the pot is not raised pre-flop then once the flop comes there is no reason reason to try and steal it. A $15 pot, after the house takes their $4 rake, is hardly worth the risk of making a reasonable sized move.
3. If you do hit your flop and are holding a monster hand you will not get any action unless there is a pot with enough chips in it to warrant action.
In this case I came in with just 3x the big blind because although Big Slick is a monster hand, it isn't a monster in it's native state. Unless you hit one of the six cards in the deck that would give you top pair with top kicker or better, then A high isn't all that great. That’s what makes it such a great gambling hand; Lot's of winning potential if it hits, and easy to throw away if it doesn't.
Now here is where I get to my first Principle.
So I bet $15 before the flop from the Small Blind position and everyone folded except for the player to my immediate right, the Button, and he just flat called the $10 raise. He is a good player. He's tight but understands the value of position and at this point I knew he didn't hold a pocket pair or A-10 through AK because if he did, he would have raised in the first round of betting. When he flat called my $15 I put him on high connecting cards like, KQ, QJ, J10, or middle suited connectors.
The flop hit 6 clubs, 9 hearts, King of clubs. At this point I was quite sure I had the best hand and so I decided to bet $50. BIG MISTAKE!!! Right after I bet it I asked myself, 'what exactly was the purpose of that bet? Do I want him to call and milk more money from him, or do I want him to fold and pick up the $45 pot right there and then. " He pondered his move for quite awhile, so during that time I continued my internal dialogue by asking myself the next most likely pertinent questions: 'If he raises back over the top of me, will I call or fold.'. I decided that I would call his raise regardless of the size. At that point I realized that if I was willing to call his reraise I should have just gone All In on the flop.
He ended up raising me back all in, another $125 more or less. At this point I pretty much new he was on a flush draw, or a pair of Kings with a Queen or Jack kicker, as two pair or a straight draw really wasn't possible, so I called. Sure enough the turn was a club and he made his Flush. Turns out he also had a gutshot straight draw, and of course he could've hit runner-runner for trips or two pair. It doesn't really matter what the last two cards were; I had him beat on the flop and if I would've went All In I probably would have won the hand, and if I didn't win the hand at least he would have been CALLING a $175 bet with a drawing hand.
