Expert Lessons In Avoiding Poker Traps
When it comes to enjoying poker online, everyone wants to steer clear of a bad beat. There are a lot of strategies out there designed to help you avoid poker traps, but how do you know if they are on target? Here are a few tested tips to help cut down on experiencing bad beats that drag you down and lower your morale.
Learning The Hands
Starting off with the right hands makes all the difference. Do not go all in unless you have a great hand - or can make your opponent think you have one, of course. In general, you should bet strongly pre-flop if you have good starting options in the top 5-6. In fact, the better off you are, the harder you need to play to protect yourself. If your opponents all fold, then so be it. It's a mistake to assume that pocket Aces or Kings are unbeatable - they are still just a pair which is the next to lowest possible hand. If you are weak with the top 5-6 hands thinking you are setting a trap, you may very well end up only trapping yourself and giving away free cards to the opposition. Experts just love to sit at a table with players who try to set traps based on their hold cards.
When it comes to post-flop strategy, avoiding poker traps is easier if you really evaluate what's on the board. When you're the first to act, you don't have much of a read on what your opponents have, so analyze what cards on the table could end up hurting you. Assuming you have the top four, there are many possibilities when an opponent calls on the pre-flop. The obvious risk is that he has already beaten you with a pair of Aces or gained three of a kind on the flop. Not only is this possible, but it is even likely. Are there two hearts on the board? He could possibly draw a flush. Are there consecutive cards on the board? He could possibly draw a straight.
Tips
You will always run up against lucky amateurs who just started playing, or aggressive opponents with huge chip stacks. These players will call or raise you no matter what the bet. The best thing you can do in these cases is to make sure that if they try to play you, you give them a bad return on their investment - this is really avoiding poker traps. When called, you will have to go through the process of evaluation again as many times as it takes. What was changed by revealing the turn card? What possible winning hands could your opponents now have? You will have to calculate these risks before placing your bet. If there is some danger on the board, make a fair bet, watching the pot odds your opponent gives you to call when he raises.
Bluffing is important too, but just try to make them look like you've crunched the numbers and are really playing the pot odds. Too high and it's obvious you're bluffing, too low and you're giving away free cards. Just use common sense and practice as much as possible, and you will start to notice that you are avoiding poker traps with more regularity.
