MATTHEW ROBINSON

Weblog: Giving insight into online poker

Show nerves of steel and some unpredictability

WHAT should you do if you flop the best, or second best hand
possible? And how exactly do you get paid off?

A little trick I like to use is to not slow play the hand. If I
raised pre-flop and flop a monster, then the usual course
of action most players take is to check and then call if their
opponent bets, trying to build a pot and set a trap.

Instead, if you play it the following way, in my opinion,
you increase your chance of getting all of your money in and
being called!

Let's say you raise pre-flop, hit a monster hand and fire off a
continuation bet. An opponent will often see this for what it is;
you represented a good hand pre-flop and now are betting
again to show it's still good, even if it's not.

The real skill here is distributing enough rope for your opponent to hang themselves. If they call your bet, they're saying, "I'm
not being pushed around, I have a hand here too", so you should let them be the bully and dictate the playground.

I suggest checking on the turn. Opponents will invariably bet,
swelling the pot and increasing their commitment to it. I would
then call this bet, not raise, making it look that I'm really weak and desperately clinging on to the hope that my hand is still winning.

The river is a gamble and there are two ways to play it, check and hope they bet, then raise. Or bet, possibly all in, hoping that the pot odds are compelling enough for them to call.

By betting your big hands too, you will create an aura of unpredictability, which is never a bad thing and in turn could
lead you to being paid off more frequently.