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How To Maximize Value In Poker
Every time you sit down at the table for a session of poker, your primary goal is always going to be to play a profitable poker game. Well, maybe your first intention will be to win money, but seeing as that is a goal that is not completely under our control, lets just say that your aim is to make optimum decisions at every opportunity. This way you can hit your targets and reach your goals even if you do not end up winning money at the end of your session.
But anyway, I want to address a key point that reduces the amount of money players are winning from poker, as I believe it is a problem that is rife amongst amateur and even intermediate players. The problem is not maximizing value from your strong hands.
Let me give you an example of a typical mistake that many players will make when they hit a big hand...
Example
You are in early position with 7d 7c and decide to call the big blind. A player from middle position makes a standard 4BB raise, and another player calls this raise. The action is on you, and with your pocket pair you decide to make the call to try and hit a set on the flop. The flop comes Ah 7s Tc, giving you a very tasty set.
To play it cool and avoid scaring the other players off of the hand, you decide to check. The next player makes a pot size raise, and the player after him calls. Once again, you decide to play it slowly and just make the call as well.
The turn comes the 2h, which doesn't really help anyone apart from create a potential flush, but you're not going to worry about that too much. Once again, you continue to slowplay your set by checking. The next player makes a ¾ pot size bet, with the next player to act folding this time. You make your ever so sneaky call once again and move on to the river.
The turn comes the 5h. On this round you are going to stick to your guns and check it once again – the ultimate deception right? However, the next player checks behind you, which is not what you expected and you miss out on a little extra money. Nonetheless, you win the pot, and you feel quite happy with the fact that you won a decent amount, and you forget about the fact that you probably should have won a little more as you move on to the next hand.
So where did you go wrong?
Well, where didn't you go wrong? (yes, it was that bad). The flop was okay, possibly a little weak, but that isn't the focus of the article. On every possible street from the flop onwards, you systematically managed to avoid extracting more money from your opponents. On every round, each play was incredibly weak, and prevented you from building a decent sized pot for you to win. However, with a quick few adjustments, this exceptionally disappointing hand can easily be turned into a money-making masterpiece.
First of all, you have to realise that we have hit a dream flop. Of course the 7s makes our day by handing us a set, but it's the Ah that really puts the icing on the cake and helps to set us up for a very big win if we play the hand correctly. This is because our opponents have shown strength before the flop, which indicates that there is a very good chance that at least one of them has an ace. Now if one of them has an ace, they are going to be hooked into this hand as they are not going to suspect a set, which is why we are very likely to be in the money here.
By checking and calling, we are putting the minimum amount of money into the pot, and restricting the amount of money that we can win. However, if we were to bet out on the flop, there is a good chance that we will get reraised by the player with a strong hand like AK or AQ (which is very possible). If this is the case, we can then make a call, and we will have already built a sizeable over just one betting round. Over the next two rounds we can continue to bet and expect our opponent(s) to call, creating a mammoth sized pot compared to the one we made in our example hand.
A key point to remember is that just because you hit a big hand like a set, it does not mean that a large pot is going to manufacture itself. Hitting your set is only half the story, as now you will have to work hard to extract the most money from the hand as possible. Don't forget that if you do not make bets and raises, you are not going to be able to extract any decent amount of money from a hand. Slowplaying is often going to be a mistake at the poker table, which is why I would advise against doing so 95% of the time.
Evaluation
You may well feel as though betting out with a strong hand is a dangerous play that will scare your opponents away, but it really is the most profitable plan of action at the end of the day. I would much rather risk losing an opponent for a mammoth pot from time to time, rather than get peanuts from my monster hands every time. If you have got the best hand and you know it, you need to take the bull by the horns and work hard to build a big pot without fear.
In the situation above, if I made a bet and our opponents folded, I am not going to be disappointed in the slightest. This is because we should know that if our opponent is not going to make a call on a flop like that, the chances are that they wouldn't have put any more money into the hand anyway, regardless of what cards came out on future streets.
The key to maximizing value from your poker hands is to not be afraid of losing your opponent by betting out.
It is going to be more profitable for you to win $150 1 time in 5, than it is to win $20 4 times out of 5. If you trying to be sneaky, the chances are that you are going to be leaving money on the table.
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