When you play both free poker online and any level cash poker Three-bets mean good hands (or bluffs). Four-bets mean better hands (or bluffs). Where you’re basically saying “I dare you!” to your opponent(s)

But luck gives you the best hands of all.  Here is one example:

BLINDS 50k/100k, ante 10k

PREFLOP:

A has K-K, raises to 290k

From the cutoff, A’s raise might want anybody else to fold. But he certainly plays K-K shrewdly. Many other players would play A-A or K-K weakly preflop for trapping later. A plays K-K as if it were any other hand.

• B has A-Q, raises to 650k
• A to call 360k

B’s reraise is to try if A has a decent hand or is just trying to steal. With suited connectors, A can call, but with K-K, A does better:

• A reraises to 1.49m
• B to call 840k

Now A plays K-K conventionally. He is enlarging the pot. It’s like saying “I Dare You!” Had his reraise be small (line only a reraise to 720k) it would not be “I Dare You”; it will be “I Want a Call” and B may call, but A has nothing to fear if B calls unless an Ace falls.

But he does not want a call. It is OK if B folds (which is just expected if B had no hand, but he wants B to put him on a bluff and push him.

B, meanwhile, is thinking something. Because A’s raises are from the cutoff, B may think that the second is a bluff (and good for A if he knows this is what B is thinking). So what does B do?

• B moves all in
• A to call 3.76m

Now B is the one daring A! A could have thought some of these:

(1) Was B trying to bluff me out? (He can’t, if he is. In fact, I want him to do that.)

(2) Did B trap me with a four-bet with the A-A? or K-K? (There is a small possibility.)

(3) How much will I invest? (I had 10.7 million at the start and I am going to invest 5.3 million. About half my stack. But I am going to try to knock him out, anyway.)

(4) Did B have A-x? (Most probably. They do it all the time. However, I’m quite uneasy if it’s worth half my stack.)

But A didn’t, because he instantly called. Moreover, A could have thought instead, “My ploys were successful. I trapped him. Now he’s finished.”

A calls 3.76m (Pot about 12 million)

Three-bets and four-bets almost always signify A-A, K-K or with some brave players, A-K or Q-Q. B had A-Q, which is not so

good for a call (A may have figured out that B held A-Q, so he reraised instead of trapped; if he just called, then an Ace may fall and he may not continue with his K-K) but even worse for staying in a hand with plenty of raises and reraises.

However, luck has the last word in this hand.

The board ended up Js-7h-3s-Ad-Qd, which clinched B’s win.

Concluding I Dare You

It takes time to learn how to play poker online or offline and most players can’t be bothered. But, fact is, that learning hand scenarios like this is something that you just have to do in order to be good.

And this is great news for you as a player who wants to learn as so few players you will find playing lower stakes or free online poker do learn. So once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the “all-in-all the time” maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free online poker that pays real cash such as that found at www.NoPayPOKER.com.

As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and learn to play poker online free on the NoPayPOKER.com tables to get it nailed

Whether you play free poker on NoPayPOKER or play for the biggest stakes imaginable a common theme is that aggressive players do all the betting and the raising, and get all the chips.

Those who just call are deemed to be passive. This is because calling puts you into a decision which the bettor hopes you to make. But if you have tons of reasons to call, and you have contemplated about it very carefully, you can call with no shame.

Here is one such hand (Shame on him if he folds):

BLINDS 60k/120k, ante 15k

PREFLOP:

• A has 5h-5d, raised to 310k (under the gun)
• B has Kc-10c, calls 310k (from middle position)

A’s raise from under the gun signifies a strong hand, but let us add that A is a strong aggressive player (somewhat on the loose side) that can represent any hand. Also, A can make everyone fold. B’s K-10 suited is good for just calling, and he does.

With K-10, one should be more careful if a King comes up. With a King, A may have K-J or A-K (A-K, especially from a raise under the gun). I don’t think B is aware of this, maybe because he hasn’t seen the Flop yet. Here it is:

FLOP: 10d-4c-2d

Now only a Ten comes, which is more favorable for B. Those who do not have flush draws with two Diamonds may play a J-10 or a 10-9 strongly, and the King kicker is very strong.

A bets 535k

Because A raised under the gun, he tries a continuation bet. If he gets called, he can put B on a flush draw or a small pair (like 7-7), so he can frisk away later with not much loss.

But B may want to end the hand with his Pair of Tens, probably because overcards can fall. Moreover, A has been too aggressive all throughout, as we said, and it may be with two face cards or A-x, so B returns A’s favor:

• B raises to 1.61m
• A needs 1.075m to call

Because A has been representing a strong hand so far (raising under the gun and continuation-betting), he might as well stay consistent. Moreover, A may think that B raised because he thought A had nothing, and he is trying o push A out of the pot with something like K-J or a Flush draw.

As for the possibility of a Ten in B’s hand, why would A think B had a Ten? Even if B did, he would just call (commonly) and then check-check it all the way, because a Pair of Tens is not so strong, especially if faced with a three-bet like this:

• A moves all-in 3.075m
• B needs 2.5m to call (Pot now about 7.5m)

Maybe A moved all-in because his Pair of Fives have value on a board with only one overcard and whose caller may have a Flush draw (in this case, the caller may still be reluctant because even with a Flush draw with two overcards, it’s still a draw) but he may also be thinking that B is putting a play on him, so he played-back.

Now B is put on the decision which calls for a call. Here are B’s reasons why he may not call (which B may be thinking, but which will be my reasons for so doing):

(1) A three-bet plus all-in may signify J-J or higher, which is very likely if only small cards are on the table. Or: even a Set which A may have used to trap with.

(2) He is getting approximately 3-to-1 on a call (2.5 million to win approximately 7.5 million), but he should call only if he is getting 4-to-1 (21% chance of hitting Two-Pair or Trips), which is the right price.

(3) If he calls, he will have about 6 million chips remaining, but if he doesn’t, he will have about 8.5 million remaining, and his loss is relatively small for his stack (which is nearly 10 million).

Now here are B’s reasons why he should call:

(1) He can knock out an opponent who has proven to be very dangerous so far.

(2) Maybe A is the one on a Flush draw. Or maybe a Flush draw with two overcards where both of them have nearly equal chance of winning. So it’s OK.

(3) Maybe A put B on a Flush draw and decided to push B out of the pot instead of letting a Diamond emerge. So A’s all-in is just a bluff now.

(4) Maybe A put B on a bluff and decided to counter-bluff.

(5) With only one overcard which is not so likely to be in someone’s hand just as a face card is, B may put A on a pocket pair 5-5 to 9-9. In that case, he has a better Pair (Tens).

(6) He can lift himself up to 14 million chips after this.

(7) It is because B’s guts says so.

With these things in B’s mind, but still brewing over the cons, B tried hard to decide. For a long time he stared at his opponent and the Board. He commented first, You may hate me for this,” but then added, as if nothing but instinct prompted him, “but I call.”

B calls 2.5m (Pot just above 9 million)

A is in trouble now. B won the hand and knocked out A (who is Antonio Esfandiari! B is Steven Begleiter). B may be neutral in choosing between folding and calling, but if I’ll call, I’ll call not solely because of value of the Tens, but because of the above reasons.

Summary of A Good Call

It takes time to learn how to play poker online or offline at a level above the unthinking “chip flinging” seen at many tables and learning hand scenarios like this is something that you just have to do in order to be good.

But this is also very good news for you as a player who is learning to play correctly because very few players you will find playing lower stakes or free online poker bother. So once you learn to play poker at an above average level and combat the “all-in-all the time” maniacs then you can take them apart in coldly calculated genocide anytime you like in low stakes money games and when you play free poker that pays real cash such as that found at www.NoPayPOKER.com.

As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and learn to play poker free on the NoPayPOKER.com tables to get it nailed

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In poker be it free poker like you play at NoPayPOKER or big stakes you do not just play the cards. You also play the player, or to put it another way, you aim to manipulate other players so that they do what you want them to do. The desired end result of course is that they give you money!

Playing the player has 2 sides. On your side you are trying to read your opponent, classify their style, of play, motivations and actions and play your cards in accordance with your conclusions.

On the opposing player side you are trying to play them to increase the degree of error with which they classify your style of play, motivations and actions.

To learn how to do this lets look at an example of playing the player in action from a WSOP event.

BLINDS 50k/100k

• A has Ac-Qh raises 350k
• B is on big blind, has Kc-Js, calls 230k (Pot 880k)

K-J is usually a bit weak to call a raise. Moreover, B doesn’t have position over A, but he calls because he wants A to guess.

From the big blind, generally we just call because we are on a discount, so we might have 6-5, 10-8, and a bunch of other indeterminate hands which require guessing.

FLOP 4d-5h-3d

B bets 535k

Because small cards fell, B now wants A to think that his call from the big blind hit the Flop, and that his hand may well include those indeterminate hands like 5-4, 8-5, or even 6-7, or two Diamonds. But what did A think?

• A raises to 1.8m (Pot 3.215m)
• B needs 1.265m to call

Here, A thought that B’s bet was just a continuation bet, and with small cards falling A’s belief is reinforced that B is just trying to finish the hand. How would small cards likely hit B?

Additionally, B has been playing aggressively all night (stealing pots, etc.) so B could be betting with something (which is not likely with small cards falling) or with nothing. B could be playing just about anything, especially from the big blind.

At that point, A gambled that B has nothing. He may have also figured out that if B had something and then moves all-in later then he can move out quickly. So he raised to try B’s strength.

B folds

B folds, because, indeed, he has nothing, and if he calls, he will be committed to continue. (Had B moved all-in then it will be a good all-in, for A could still be guessing at this point what B’s hand was. But B’s cards were not strong enough.)

Also, he folds, because A raised from late position, which allows for a wider range of hands, like even 5-4 or two Diamonds.

Poker, indeed, is not simply a game of good hands versus good hands. Experienced poker players will win with bad hands under the right conditions.

We give credit to B for first trying to win with a bad hand, a good effort to play he player. Unfortunately for B, A did the playing the player task superbly too, having noted previous actions and motivations and related that to current con text and probability and so played out to win well.

The good news is that the majority of players can’t be bothered to learn how to play poker, they are happy to play in the donk zone and call it fun (it’s more fun to win money guys) so, for you, the player who wants to learn to play well the great news is that when you learn to play poker well you can go mercenary and deliberately hunt them down in cold blood in low stakes games on money poker sites and on free online poker NoPayPOKER that pay real $s and happily build your skills and bankroll!