Comments on: Becoming a Winning Poker Player

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:19:34 +0000

Very true Alastair. I think my bigger point though is that you need to learn these moves. Many players just play standard fit or fold poker.

It’s always tough for me to write strategy for my blog because of the differences in experience level amongst the readers. People like yourself might find this a tad too basic but I can guarantee you that I can go onto most $2/$4 and some $3/$6 tables and pop a raise on the flop and see a free card about 90% of the time. And I don’t see that many people doing the same move to me.

By: Alastair

Alastair — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:15:22 +0000

Okay - that’s not my experience, but games do vary. It’s well worth mentioning either way, because it’s a important move to know about in any game. If you run into opponents who are wise to that play, then you can rep a free card raise with a made hand. I’ve personally found that very profitable, as people will call you all the way down where the board doesn’t obviously complete a draw, and often even pay off a turn reraise when they lead out to push you off your non-existent draw.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:15:54 +0000

I would disagree. At most low stakes games I’ve watched the aggression factor is very low so the raise on the flop does buy you a free card on the turn.

By: Alastair

Alastair — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:27:20 +0000

I think raising for a free card used to be a lot more effective than it is now. It’s become almost the standard play with a draw and will be fairly transparent to most players - I’d say 9 out of 10 times you try it against a made hand, even at lower stakes, you’ll be facing either a reraise or a lead bet when the turn doesn’t complete, and will be .5BB down instead.

I agree completely with your broader point, that you should be fighting tooth and nail to save a few BBs, and that this is what differentiates the long-term winners - but I don’t think this move is +EV anymore in most situations.