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Hi,

I’ve been playing Poker for more or less 4 months now, mainly I play No Limit. Just this morning I participated in a 2/4 game. I must admit I barely had enough to buy in then.

At some point, I remember I was dealt 83os in late position. I thought of playing it till the end however I considered the players present, they raise preflop most of the time. To make the long story short, flop came but didn’t grant me the top pair. Turn and river followed and were actually 8′s. Unfortunately I missed my 4 of a kind. Highest hand of the day was payed out $1000 and I was really mad and upset.

Do you think I made the right call? How about my buy in which was in minimum, am I just right about it?

Please I need your advice.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
Matthew
Matthew,

8-3 offsuit in late position is the same action as any other position, fold. If you can play it in the big blind to no raise, then play it. Otherwise fold. By the way, you didn’t have four of a king, you would have had trip 8’s.

Personally, if you only have enough money to make a minimum buy-in, you shouldn’t play. You don’t have enough money to stand any downswings early on. Come back another time when you have more money to commit. That’s my view.

Hello,

Just last week I was invited to a twenty-three player, $50 buy-in no-limit. Later part I made it to the final table and was actually third placer in terms of chip count however ended up on the sixth.

I remember I was the dealer then and was dealt wired 99′s. There were six players at such point. Three limped in and so I raised two times the big blind. Do you think I should have just called? Then two players folded and the chip-leader who appeared to me as a loose-aggressive one re-raised me the big blind. I then went all in with about 3/4 of his stack. I considered what if he had high cards and he’d catch any of those to the river. With pocket ladies, he then called. At such point in time, I knew the game was finally over for me.

I know I’ve made some mistakes but I can’t directly pinpoint what are they. Please help me.

Best regards,
Jester
Jester,

You were in late position with 9’s. A raise is not a bad play here, but limping in may have been a better option. When you were reraised, then it is time to get out. Chances are you nines were beat, and they were. With 3 limpers and a raise, someone usually isn’t going to reraise without some type of strong hand.

Hi,

Last night, I was in a NL tournament with 12 players. I remember re-buys are allowed for double the original buy-in if in case a player goes out on the very first hand of the tournament.

First hand came and all of us had 1000 chips. Blinds then were 10/20 and I was the small blind. I remember there were 6 callers. At some point, when my turn came, I immediately raised 100 with pocket Js. As a result, player A called, player B folded, player C raised all in, player D called, player E followed and also called, and lastly player F folded. After a while I decided to fold and player A called. I can sense back then that player A would call thus making 4 callers against me, two of the four are for sure tight ones. Well, with 12 sets of cards I don’t think my cards would hold up. At such point, do you think I should just fold?

Before I forget, turns out all of them were searching for flushes and a pair of 6′s took the winnings.

Glad to hear from you soon.

Many thanks,
Eric
Eric,

Since this was rebuy event, you should have called, even if you felt you were behind. In rebuy events, you need to push your strong hands and hope to get lucky. If you bust out the event, rebuy. The fact that this was a rebuy event explains the amount of action. As a result making calls such as that will usually pay off. Yes, you hand has reduced odds when its multi way, but you need to take some chances in rebuy events. Otherwise you will just sit there with a normal sized stack at the end of the rebuy period with a long road to travel to have a chance to do well.

Hello,

I’ve been into micro-stakes no limit holdem online. Typically I play at .10/.25, $25 max buy-in. Ever since, I don’t know already how to play pocket pairs, more specifically 10′s and lower. As of the moment, I’ve been applying what you advised before to a particular player and things have been running smoothly. But I still have some clarifications.

At what point do you stop limping in with pocket pairs? Is there any magic value I should consider so that I can isolate one or more players? 9′s, 10′s, J’s? Normally, it appears to me as good thing when lots of players are in preflop with a small raise and I call with a low pocket pair and hit the set, however it’s also at times a bad thing when I lost lots of money as I can’t get out of a set. I admit I can’t teach myself how to get out of a set and I don’t have the discipline as well. Oftentimes, I get burned on the turn or river bets and end up losing two times or more of what I typically win when I play with sets.

Any thoughts now? By the way, in order to have more money in the pot, will you not anymore isolate players with anything? Except A, K or Q’s?

I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you very much.

All the best,
Chris
Chris,

In early and middle position, I like to limp with pairs up to 9’s to try and hit a set. 10’s and up I tend to raise. In late position, I will raise most any pair above 5’s. Sometimes I will raise 5’s too if the blinds are the only players left.

You can try and isolate players with other hands other than big pairs, but if you do so, you must at least fire out a continuation bet on the flop, even if you miss. Otherwise, when you miss with you’re A-K, you will look like someone who missed with A-K.