1st Rule Of Poker

I had mentioned this before it think but didn’t really talk about it much. One belief that I have is that you should never go all in if you can help it. That’s both for NL and especially Limit Poker. Now in no limit games obviously if a person has more chips and is above the table max there may be nothing you can do about it. But you should always buy in for the max, or for limit, have more then enough to cover a full hand of betting and raising. The reason for this is you cant protect your strong hands and you don’t get value on your draws. The worst thing to do in poker is to put your money in when you are behind. That is exactly what you do when you go all in on a draw. If you make it you don’t get the value of betting or raising after you make the hand.

People also play you differently when you are almost out of chips. Now the problem with this is you don’t know if they are just playing you differently or if they really have a hand. It adds variables to the hand that makes it harder for you to play correctly. I know that I also tend to lose extra bets when I am almost all in in a hand. If I only have two more bets left on the turn I may raise, part tilt, part because I think it’s the right play. If I wouldn’t raise with a full stack then it probably not the correct play. Anything that makes you play different the perfect, should be avoided.

For NL tournaments and live play are very different. In a tournament you are going to go all in because you have no control of your chip stack. If it is a rebuy tournament they you should always rebuy the first hand so that you have more chips then everyone else. This way you will get the maximum value out of every hand that you play.

If you don’t have any more money to bring to the table and you don’t have enough to bet out the hand I always quit. I will play until my blind, but wont post again. Sometimes even playing those few hands to my blind I get all in syndrome. That is where any hand I play I plan on going all in even if I just have over cards. That’s horrible poker.

Well this is a lesson that I think most people know, but if you didn’t, or don’t agree, let me know.