Can you answer this poker question?

[one eight]

First off - I suck at poker. I'm just a beginner, but so far i'm pretty damn good at losing money.

Last night - I went to the $10/$25 room just to watch. These guys have $2k-$20k at the table, and pots reach pretty high.

I watched for 20 mins. and never saw a flop. Why? Each hand most players not in the blind would fold, or sometimes re-raise and the hand would always finish without a flop.

Is it because with blinds so high the players have already decided "in, or out" or is there another strategy at work that i don't know about?

thanks fckers.

[SideShow]

go to a $2 $4 table...you can play for hours on $100

I have found that when you get a bunch of seasoned players together they can figure out the odds of what you might have vs what their best possible hand could be...in this way most good players believe in capital preservation ( keeping you money around for a playable hand) unless you bluff.....but that only works if they think your hand is powerful

I have seen poker players win money even with the wrong cards over and over just by playing the people and the cards second

[one eight]

interesting answer - thanks a lot

[Deej]

Originally Posted by SideShow

go to a $2 $4 table...you can play for hours on $100

I have found that when you get a bunch of seasoned players together they can figure out the odds of what you might have vs what their best possible hand could be...in this way most good players believe in capital preservation ( keeping you money around for a playable hand) unless you bluff.....but that only works if they think your hand is powerful

I have seen poker players win money even with the wrong cards over and over just by playing the people and the cards second

Thats pretty much your answer.

in big money games or final table tournies a lot of money is won without a flop.

Scaring people out of their chips.

[mikeyddddd]

The players know each other and/or they're playing tight.
Only calling/raising with pocket pairs or suited connectors.
Best starting hands: Aces, Kings, Queens, Ace/King, Jacks

[one eight]

thanks, fellas - I get it now.

When i play (smaller blinds) should i wait for such great starting hands? Or play more hands since the pots are small?

[d-null]

Originally Posted by one eight

thanks, fellas - I get it now.

When i play (smaller blinds) should i wait for such great starting hands? Or play more hands since the pots are small?

the variants are too high in low limit games, you can't get people off of their hands, and you are likely to go broke if you play too tightly... without investing 1000 hours of game time playing tight, you won't be able to ride the odds long enough and you will often be the victim of big pot bad beats when multiple players are fishing for a card

in high limit games you have a better idea of what you are up against because people are good and play tight

[Rangermoore]

it's all in the cards...

[one eight]

Originally Posted by d-null

the variants are too high in low limit games, you can't get people off of their hands, and you are likely to go broke if you play too tightly... without investing 1000 hours of game time playing tight, you won't be able to ride the odds long enough and you will often be the victim of big pot bad beats when multiple players are fishing for a card

in high limit games you have a better idea of what you are up against because people are good and play tight

Yes!

It seems when playing with mediocre players its actually harder to win for the reasons you outlined. Wow, great post. I'm starting to really understand.

Sorry for all these questions, but 1 more please:

When playing online, is there only one deck? For example, if I have KK and the flop comes K6K, can i safely presume there are no more kings out there? Or are there 2 decks? Or any amount of K's in any given hand?

[Sebastian Sands]

Originally Posted by one eight

Yes!

It seems when playing with mediocre players its actually harder to win for the reasons you outlined. Wow, great post. I'm starting to really understand.

Sorry for all these questions, but 1 more please:

When playing online, is there only one deck? For example, if I have KK and the flop comes K6K, can i safely presume there are no more kings out there? Or are there 2 decks? Or any amount of K's in any given hand?

You can be !00000000000% certain no more Kings are going to fall or are in anyone's hand at that point. Pocket Kings and 2 on the board means all the King's are out and you have the 4th nuts. D(depending on the other cards on the board) Only a royal or a straight flush or 4 Aces can beat you, but 99.99999% you will be holding the winner there.

But besides that, online or live games, Texas hold'em always uses only one deck of cards per game.

[one eight]

ok, cool. thanks.

I wish i asked all these questions before losing $3k in the last month

[one eight]

i played for free (with play money) first, and made $31k..!!! I thought i was really good. But i quickly learned that people play Very differently for real cash.

My favorite is bluffing.. i go all-in sometime with crap hands. When it works, it's a real rush. But when it backfires.. it's painful.

[Deej]

Originally Posted by one eight

i played for free (with play money) first, and made $31k..!!! I thought i was really good. But i quickly learned that people play Very differently for real cash.

My favorite is bluffing.. i go all-in sometime with crap hands. When it works, it's a real rush. But when it backfires.. it's painful.

do that with good cards, not bad cards ... rush or not...

better in the long run

[Socks]

Before losing another $3,000, invest $50 in some books!

[fuzebox]

Originally Posted by one eight

When playing online, is there only one deck? For example, if I have KK and the flop comes K6K, can i safely presume there are no more kings out there? Or are there 2 decks? Or any amount of K's in any given hand?

Uhhhhhh... Really?

[Socks]

Originally Posted by fuzebox

Uhhhhhh... Really?

while his question is obviously ridiculously absurd, of note...

some sites continually shuffle the remaining cards, so it depends when you click what will fall. Still makes no difference, but there it is.

[dig420]

Originally Posted by one eight

First off - I suck at poker. I'm just a beginner, but so far i'm pretty damn good at losing money.

Last night - I went to the $10/$25 room just to watch. These guys have $2k-$20k at the table, and pots reach pretty high.

I watched for 20 mins. and never saw a flop. Why? Each hand most players not in the blind would fold, or sometimes re-raise and the hand would always finish without a flop.

Is it because with blinds so high the players have already decided "in, or out" or is there another strategy at work that i don't know about?

thanks fckers.

Most players playing pots that high only want to play good cards, you can find exceptions though. Trying to just call in early position means there's a good chance there will be a raise after you act and you just lost your little donation. You really don't want to call unless you're willing to call a raise.

Also, since you came in, the pot is now big enough that any raise is liable to be pretty substantial.

[dig420]

Originally Posted by Socks

Before losing another $3,000, invest $50 in some books!

Harrington actually has the best book for beginning I've ever come across, especially when it comes to preflop play.

[who]

I lost $5k on poker on a single hand once (online), and never played again.

[seeandsee]

Originally Posted by who

I lost $5k on poker on a single hand once (online), and never played again.

ouch, what cards did you have?

[SABAI]

one rule : never play average cards out of position