Poker Situations and Strategies
Question: Which takes more skill, tournaments or cash games?
Actually both of them take a lot of skill, but usually it takes a different kind of player for tournaments and a different kind of player for cash games. Most people that play tournaments really don't do so well in cash games, and a lot of people that do good in cash games can't play tournaments that well. The differences are that in tournaments, you have to be willing to put everything on the line and stay cool. Playing tournaments is a very risky endeavor. In cash games you can be selective. You cannot be that impulsive or aggressive. In tournaments aggression is a very big factor. You have to be able to be aggressive at the right time. They both require skill but they both take different kinds of skill. There are a few pros who can play both successfully, but they are few and far between.
Question: You are in the middle stage of a tournament and a third of your stack is in on the big blind. One player has raised and it is folded to you. The raise would put you all-in. You have pocket deuces. What do you do?
You would have to call there because most likely you won't be facing a pocket pair. Even if you are looking at a pocket pair, with the blinds, antes and a third of your stack already in play, You're not getting that bad a price. If he doesn't have a pair you are the big money favorite here. So, you would have to call in that situation. With a third of your stack already in there you couldn't really wait for a better hand at that point.
Question It is the first ten minutes of the Main Event at the World Series. A player raises the blinds and the next player goes all-in before the flop. You have pocket kings. What do you do?
You would have to fold in that situation even if you had the best hand. It would be unfortunate to be up against an A-Q or A-K and let him have an ace on you. It's probably not worth the risk to have the whole tournament on the line so early in the game. The guy likely has a pretty strong hand, he could even have aces. Even if you knew he didn't have aces, you shouldn't call. You would prefer to play smaller pots because it is the beginning of the tournament. You wouldn't want to risk your whole tournament there. It only comes once a year, and it is a really big deal. Even if he's got queens and your a 4.5-to-1 favorite, you wouldn't want to put all your money in there that early. You should rather play smaller pots during that time.
Question: What is the most reliable tell?
A pretty good tell is when people don't want you to bet, they grab their stack. If you are acting before them, they want to stop you from betting, and that lets you know that they have a weak hand. They might pay you off or you could even bluff them at that point. You can use that information to your advantage. Sometimes people use that as a reverse on you. A tricky player might do that, to try to induce you to bluff. You have to be a little careful, but most of the time they don't want you to bet.
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