DANGER ON THE TURN

in no limit hold-em the most dangerous time is on the turn because this is where the hammer will come down on you if you happen to have the second best hand. way too many people over-bet the turn putting themselves in a position to be check-raised and then having to make a really difficult decision. for instance, you have made a raise from late position with ace-queen suited and are called in two places. flop comes ace-ten-7 with one of your suit. you make a fairly big bet on the flop and are called by one player. the turn is a 3 not of your suit. on the surface you have the best hand but you are vunerable to a set of tens or 7's plus ace-ten, ace-7 or ace-3; remember, in low limit no limit people tend to play ace-anything and will take a card off against a big (but usually not an all in bet) on the flop. i believe the best way to play the hand is to check the turn and see what happens on the river. by checking, you can also induce a bet on the river by someone with a lesser ace. usually, at least in the games i play, you do not have to face an all-in bluff on the river because at the low no limit games there aren't really strong players who will do this. if you check the turn you can call a small to medium bet on the river with you ace queen and will win most of the time. this is also a case of you "playing the player" and not just "playing the cards." you have to know who your opponent is and what his tendencies are: will he trap, will he bluff, will he just call you down with a medium to weak hand?

conversely, the turn is where you want to drop the hammer if you have the best hand. this is especially true when you have flopped a set and there are multiple draws on the board. if i have a set i want to eliminate the draws and i do this by putting in huge bet or check raise (if i know the player will bet for me) on the turn.

going back to the first paragraph and knowing your players: for the first 30 minutes to an hour i play in hardly any hands at all, only big pairs usually. why? because i want to watch how everyone else at the table plays. where i play, mandalay bay in vegas, usually i know two or three of my opponents but the others are tourists/strangers; and it is these people i am interested in. given enough time most players will declare themselves and will show just what kind of opponent they are going to be for the rest of the game. one of the advantages of playing what i call "low limit no limit" is that the games usually do not have really good players in them. those players go on to play the "higher limit no limit" games and the good players who are left are like me, grinders waiting for the monster hands. in no limit you can have a very profitable night of it by winning just one or two hands; remember you are trying to get the other guys entire stack if possible.

as an example of that particular strategy one time i was on the bb with a pair of queens and there had been a medium raise from an aggressive player and it had been called by two people and i just cold called with my queens. flop comes Qs, 7h, 5h. i check, just knowing the raiser will bet right here but he doesn't and neither do the other two players. fuck! i am going to lose this hand to a heart flush just sure as shit now. the turn comes a heart but it is the queen of hearts. heh-heh-heh. other than the straight flush possible draw, i have the proverabial monster. i check my four queens and the three players ALL GO ALL IN!!! can you fucking believe it? the raiser has AK of hearts, one guy has 5's full and the other guy has 7's full. i call. heh-heh-heh. that was about a thousand dollar win on just that one hand. that is what you are looking for.

right now i am in scranton, pa. and guess what? i am opening! how this came to be, i book myself for the week end prior to atlantic city in clubs called "wisecrackers" which are owned by a comic, scott bruce. well, months ago when i got my upcoming a.c. gig scott gave me this week end but he didn't know just where. turns out there is a hypnotist who scott had bumped several times and so he had to give this guy this week so instead of bumping me, scott did the right thing and kept me in so the hypnotist has a very expensive opening act this week-end. i haven't opened in ages so, in a pervese way, i am looking forward to the shows.

incidently, the area up here is just beautiful. people in the west have no idea of just how pretty the northeast is. we tend to think of only the big cities and forget that pennsylvannia is heavily wooded and has some great mountains. not like the rockies but mountains just the same. today i am going to just go on a nature drive and look at the countryside.

for those of you who have requested poker blogs, write me and tell me what you want to discuss. once again, let me reinterate; i am not an expert at no limit, i am learning this game. i am ahead so i guess i know something but am far from being what i would consider to be a really good player. my strength is patience. i can be a leather-butt and wait 'em out. but i do like talking/writing about the great game of poker so if you have questions, comments or would just like to start a discussion, bring it on.

how many american bridges are in need of repair? how much will that cost? how much are we spending in iraq? could that money be better spent here in america? how about really making america safer? just a thought you know. or as my friend, brad, said, "just me, tilting at windmills."