Tournament poker can be very challenging. One of the feelings you will feel, especially towards the very final table, is “alive” vs “dead”. But it is a feeling that you must try to recreate in your mind, in your life, or out loud. Mostly though, when we are talking about hands that are too close to being decided, or pots that are concerning “all-in” scenarios, we are talking about hands that could still (or may) be won, regardless of what cards you hold.
The first number to consider when thinking about going “all-in” is a fairly simple one. You need to ask yourself, is your hand strong enough? Is it likely to be better than your opponents? Useful, and certainly, achievable.
A good rule of thumb could be, if you feel, or think, that you have the strongest hand on the table, you should probably bet all of your chips. Even if you are betting in position. Even if you are betting light. Even if you are betting first. (Of course, it would be stupid to do any other kind of play, because then you would be giving a free card.)
The hands that you feel most strongly about are the hands that you are most likely to benefit from an all-in. The most strong hands – the top ten to twenty percent – would also be the hands that you should bet on. They are the hands that you will see a lot of other players in the tournament with, so watch out for them. They are the hands that can turn into a great hand, the hands that will win big pots if you push all-in.
The next thing to consider, though, before you get all-in is how likely it is to make it with your hand. How many players are in the tournament? Are there a lot of players ahead of you, or are there a lot of players behind you? How many players will call your all-in?
The overall odds of you or any other player winning the hand are something important to take into account, and a good way of doing so is to calculate your pot odds, explained in a later article. Once you have your pot odds, you can compare your hand to the odds of winning your hand against the odds of your hand winning against any other hand.
To take an example, say you have two hands – a pair of kings, and an Ace of hearts. The flop, say, is bookmark – two, three, four, five of the same suit. Should you bet? Well, first, you know that the chances of you or any other player making a straight, or a flush, are only 18.1%, or indeed less, so they odds are not quite 1.00 (or even close to it).
But there are still good reasons to bet, and a minimum qualifying hand would be the one with the highest card, Ace being preferred. In fact, given that you will be relying on the next card to make your hand, a small high card is better than a low high card.
In a nutshell, compare your hand to the highest card carried.
For example, you hold ://(£40£10) and the next card is the (£41£10). This gives a total of £70. You feel that your hand is not enough, though, because the best possible hand you could make is (£56£10) also. This seems like a bad hand to hold, but in this situation you have a good chance of improving the hand, so you can justify betting.
If you have any Ace cards, and are not dealt any more, you can always fall back on the ‘Vodka138‘ rule – that is, bet anyway on the fourth card, if you have an Ace.
You should also consider taking the risk of going all-in with a weak hand, because you motivate other players to keep in running when you do have a strong hand. This continues the game, where you can be betting with and against one another, in turn.
The next time you faced the same situation, you might consider changing the way you play the hand. Don’t react to every hand by calling the big all-ins, but rather use this time to consider making an all-in play with a hand you have a better chance of winning with.
This makes for an extremely interesting game of poker.