Do Not Reveal Your Cards At The Showdown: Good Or Bad Idea In Poker?

Peter BrownCasinoLeave a Comment on Do Not Reveal Your Cards At The Showdown: Good Or Bad Idea In Poker?

You have played the pre-flop, flop, turn and river hand and now is the time to show your cards. Should you “muck” (“give your cards back to the dealer keeping them hidden”) or show them?

For most of us, this is one of the easiest decisions to make in poker. You have to respect the rules. If you are the first to act, it is customary to show your hand. If your opponent shows their hand first, you show when you beat them and hide them if they don’t. But sometimes weird things happen. I will discuss some of these situations that I have encountered in this article.

Do Not Reveal Your Hands In A Big Pot… Attention!

When you’re in a big pot, you shouldn’t throw your hand away too quickly.

I got there while I was playing a game of € 2/4 poker at the Deauville live online casino Malaysia . An inexperienced guy (let’s call him “Noob”) had AK and the flop was AJ6 with two hearts. His opponent (“Reg”) bets the flop and Noob calls.

The turn is the 5 of spades. Reg bets and Noob calls again. The river is the 9 of hearts. The Reg goes all-in. Apparently Noob thinks Reg is bluffing because he pays. Reg very calmly returns KQ reds. Noob looks at him in disgust and throws his hand down. The rest of the table stares in disbelief at Noob who throws his hand down. You pay and you can’t beat height K? Reg had the K of hearts and Q of diamonds. Noob made a good decision. But Noob only saw the two red cards and he then thought there was a flush in the face… But, he was wrong, but since he threw his cards, he loses the pot!

What can we learn from this? It’s simple, if you’re betting big make sure you take a good look at your opponent’s hand twice before deciding you’ve lost and throwing your hand away. And when you’re still not sure you’ve won or lost (because you’re drunk, blind, or stupid), don’t throw your hand away, show it and let the dealer handle it.

I remember when I started out in poker, I threw a straight… I realized this when the other player said to me “I had little that you are 87 for a straight”. Fortunately, it was in an associative tournament.

Don’t Always Bluff  Your Cards

Some people bluff on the river and throw their cards away as soon as they are paid. You should never do this!

There are two reasons why you shouldn’t do this. First of all, because it can easily be exploited by experienced players. When they notice you are doing this, they will call you out with any hand when they think you are bluffing because they know you are going to throw even before the cards are revealed. That way they win even if they don’t have anything either.

Also, it sometimes happens that people pay you with the ace high if they think you are bluffing. You might think you are bluffing, but you still win the hand. For example, you have ace-two on a 2KQQ5 board and your opponent calls you with AJ, thinking their hand is better.

Additionally, showing a bluff can be good for you if you have a tight image. If your opponents see that you are able to bluff, they might call you more easily when you have a good hand.

In addition, you miss out on some important information. You would like to know which hand your opponent paid you with. Did he have a huge hand or did he just read your hand well? If he had a big hand, you could try a bluff again even if it’s not very well built. If he had an average hand, you should bluff less against that player and bet harder to pay off when you have a big hand.

Finally, it’s a little rude not to show your hand after getting paid. If your opponent has the guts to call you out, they deserve to see your hand. Don’t fool around and show some respect. After all, poker is a social game.

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Basic 5-Card Draw Strategy

Peter BrownCard StrategyLeave a Comment on Basic 5-Card Draw Strategy

A trap that less skilled 5 card players often fall into is playing too many hands, especially hands that draw a straight or a straight flush. In many cases, the saying “tight is right” applies when it comes to starting the selection of your starting hands in 5-Card Draw.

As in all variations of poker, your position in relation to the button is also important in 5 card poker. The closer you are to the button, the more hands you can play and make them profitable. Regardless of your position, you should almost always get into the pot with a raise because by just calling the blind, several other players are calling behind, which means you need a much stronger hand to win the pot. .

Play tight from the top positions and raise hands with aces or kings. As your position improves, you can add other high pairs such as queens, jacks, tens and nines, provided the latter has a good kicker (a good high card like a Ace or King).

Those of you who are lucky enough to receive two pair or three of a kind should always come into your hand when raising, whether you are in the first or last of position. During this time, beware of starting hands such as four cards in a row for a straight draw or a straight flush, because those are the hands that lose the most.

With a card coming up, you have odds close to 4/1 to hit your straight, and often times you won’t have the right pot odds to call profitably over the long term.

What Cards To Throw / Trade In Closed Poker?

Knowing which cards to trade during the trading round is what often makes the difference between a bad closed poker player and a good one. On a basic level, you should consider the following:

  • Have a pair = draw three cards
  • Have two pairs = draw a card
  • Have a set = draw two cards

The above list only scratches the surface of what a good strategy for playing 5-Card Draw is, but if you stick with it, especially in low-stakes games, you should see positive results against it. to opponents who do not respect its bases.

Advanced 5-Card Draw Strategy

Once you have a good grasp of the basics and feel more confident with how to play 5-Card Draw, you can begin to apply more advanced strategies to your game. There is a great psychological element to it. 5-Card Draw since there is no card shared (unlike those on the flop in Texas Holdem) or visible (as in Stud).

For example, although statistically it is the best game to draw three cards when holding a pair, if you still do this game your opponents will be able to read your hand easily and change their strategy to beat you. Therefore, sometimes just drawing a card or two with a pair in the hand – or even staying – is enough to represent a position that is stronger than what you actually have.

Unlike games such as hold’em, there is very rarely a 5 card total bluff; players usually have at least one playable hand when betting, even if they think they are bluffing because they bet you better. This is why it is vitally important to take detailed notes while playing 5-Card Draw, as they are extremely useful. If you notice that a player only opens with a pair of jacks or stronger on the button, you can easily throw a pair of nines in the blinds instead of calling.

Where Can I Play 5-Card Draw Online?

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, 5-Card Draw is not a game that enjoys as much popularity as games like hold’em, but there are places where you can play 5-Card Draw. online.

Parties between individuals are practical. You also have casinos in the United States that offer it since many old people love closed poker. In France, no casino in fact.

For French online sites, Pokerstars no longer even offers the variant so thanks to the fabulous Arjel, it is impossible to find online games of closed poker in France …

5-Card Draw, Less Mathematical?

5-Card Draw is therefore very different from No Limit Hold’em, which is by far the most popular variant at the moment. When you do not know closed poker, the first instinct is to imagine a cowboy poker where the most reckless always ends up winning thanks to magic bluffs. The different towers lend themselves well to this image …

However, this is not the case: Mathematics again remains a key factor in becoming a winning player. The odds are even very high with such a drawing game. If you get into the habit of calling all the raises in the hope of finding a miracle card that can complete a deep straight, you risk serious setbacks in the long run. It is very important to calculate the odds, and in particular the implied odds.

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