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Poker Homework Assignment for Hold'em Players

Discussion in 'Poker Forum' started by TEACH (AlSpath), Feb 7, 2015.

  1. TEACH (AlSpath)

    TEACH (AlSpath) Active Member Founding Member

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    Occupation:
    Poker Instructor
    Location:
    Maryland USA
    Homework Assignment - by al spath (those beginner and some intermediate players will enjoy learning from this exercise)

    Exercise with cards...

    I'd like each of you to pick up a deck of cards and proceed to the kitchen table or dining room table. Shuffle up and deal (you are the button), deal out ten hands, FACE UP around in a circle so that without straining you can see all the cards faces.

    Now, beginning to your left (the small blind), examine each set of two cards and determine how many hands are really playable (for this exercise, make believe you are at a Holdem' 5/10 table), not just iffy hands, playable hands without a doubt (you can see how the betting might have gone up to that point by your decisions on the previous cards as you go around the table). Write down the number of hands you think are really playable.

    Next, look at them again and determine how many hands are good enough to raise with. (Write that # down).

    Do this at least 5 separate times. A total of 50 hands should be a fair representation of what you can expect at the tables.

    STOP HERE and complete the assignment before reading further...

    Q. How many hands out of 50 were actually playable and how many were hands a good, solid-aggressive player would raise with? Not many of each, is that right?

    There are no wrong or right answers, just see what you discover....

    Goal: To let you visibly see how many worthless hands are dealt each time around the table, and how many are playable (especially for a raise).

    Having said that, imagine what a raise made to any of those marginal/bad hands would do (thin the field, put more money in the pot, garner you information, win the pot outright, etc). The whole idea of winning is to eliminate your opponents and be left with the best hand, so why not use this type of a mindset:

    "If I intend to play, especially from early position, I don't want to limp in and let others see the flop cheaply and eventually out draw me, I want to make it expensive (by raising to enter the pot), and knock out speculative hands, low pocket pairs, and players limping in with connectors and one-gappers. Should an inferior hand call my raise, that's the matchup I desire. If I can't raise from early position, maybe I should fold. Nothing worse than limping in and being raised one or two times before the betting gets back to you.

    Note: I'm not advocating you should never call or limp, I think you should consider these moves (passive actions), when you find yourself in late position with many callers and you have hands such as suited/unsuited (decent) connectors, small to mid pocket pairs, and higher connectors that are unsuited. Again, table conditions (style of players and aggressiveness of table will determine whether you should even be considering playing these type cards). Also the only place you should be playing hands like Axs (a hand that many new players seem to be playing from early position and are making a costly mistake), is from late position with lots of callers.

    Part II

    Back to the table and try the same exercise 4 handed, 3 handed and finally heads-up and clearly see how valuable premium cards (what are they now?) are! Maybe it's a lone ace, or a mid pair, or KT becomes a power hand. Look and see how terrible your opponents holdings are and exploit that when you play short-handed.

    books.jpg
     
  2. TEACH (AlSpath)

    TEACH (AlSpath) Active Member Founding Member

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    Occupation:
    Poker Instructor
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    anyone try this, care to comment on how it affected your thinking?
     
  3. Leon Macfayden

    Leon Macfayden New Member Founding Member

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    I tried it a while ago and if I remember rightly I found 6 hands playable at a stretch. In terms of great hands that I would play no matter what, I had 2. It really hit home for me how many bad hands there really are out there and helped me put my fear of monsters under the bed into perspective.
     
  4. Sharron Powers

    Sharron Powers New Member Founding Member

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    While I have not personally done the exercise, I know from my own experience just how many 'bad' hands get dealt around the table. I'm like Pavlov's dog... it doesn't take me too long to figure out what I have to do to get the bone. As a result I've have been able to steal more from a variety of positions and in a variety of circumstances.
     
  5. VegasGalPoker

    VegasGalPoker Active Member Lineage to Founders

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    Just finished the exercise and found it very comforting. I moved to Las Vegas in 2008. I played at limit every day at Sam's Town $3-6, 4-8 and $2-6 spread. I failed to understand that while 'tight is right' used to be true, it doesn't work today. If you're going to be in the hand, BE IN THE HAND and raise. If you can't raise or you can't call a raise, FOLD. I the beginning I lost and I lost often. I don't always win now, in fact I lose a lot now, too. but I lose as a result of playing, not being a passive fish.
     
  6. DRAikens

    DRAikens Member Lineage to Founders

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    i have masters poker software which i play a lot,. and i can see a lot of hands., it is amazing to know that rounds can go around with not a lot of starting hands,. yet starting hands out of fifty maybe 10,. if you use position chart on when to play hands. than here is another part to that , out of them ten hands, when a flop comes how may hit and how many don't, that also is amazing,. ten out of fifty players, and maybe 2 out of ten hitters,. this shows were playing the players comes in., figuring out if you can take the pot or not,. because i believe anyone who calls has a 50/50 chance to draw out, i have learned to view poker in different way,. most people don't view it like me,. pot odds and outs are what makes a winning decision most of the time., when or loose if the odds are in your favor over the long run you win., took me years to understand that,.
     

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