Funny Stuff is all around

Canadian Casino News November 22, 2008

Edmonton Casinos

B.C.’s casino operators choose to play it safe in a risky economy

If Las Vegas is any kind of barometer, B.C. gambling operators should brace themselves for slower growth.

The U.S. recession has cut visitation to Sin City by an estimated 15 to 20 per cent and the fire sales are on. Rooms at the ultra-luxurious Bellagio — normally $300 and up — have been slashed to $149.

Harrah’s recently scrapped plans to build a $500-million resort in Kansas and casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. avoided bankruptcy this month with a share offering that raised $2.1 billion in badly needed capital.

B.C. gambling officials say Metro Vancouver casinos won’t automatically feel the same pain because they depend largely on the local market, not national and international visitation like Las Vegas.

But B.C. Lottery Corp. vice-president Kevin Gass said they’re not immune from economic realities either.

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poker star

Vancouver Canucks team up with River Rock Casino

The River Rock Casino in Richmond will become “the official casino of the Vancouver Canucks and General Motors Place” under a new partnership announced Thursday between the Canucks and Great Canadian Casinos.

The deal will also see the club section of GM Place becoming “the River Rock Club.”

Great Canadian said in a news release that River Rock will host “two VIP road trips and VIP hosting nights” as part of their promotions this season.

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online poker lessons

Canada Eyes Legalized Sports Betting

The Toronto Star reported that the federal and Ontario governments in Canada are quickly moving towards legalizing Las Vegas style sports betting. Revenues in Canadian casinos have declined as they have in the US casinos and the casinos are looking for ways to increase business. Legalized sports betting would be especially beneficial in the casinos that border the US in Niagara Falls which attracts players from New York and Windsor which attract players from Detroit.

Currently the Canadian casinos offer a government run sports lottery called Pro-Line which is similar to the parlay cards where you must choose three or more teams. The new proposal will let players bet on individual sporting events.

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Global Payments Announces Agreements With Nine Casinos Throughout the U.S. and Canada

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:
GPN), a leader in both payment processing and gaming cash access services,
today announced agreements to provide nine U.S. and Canadian casinos with
its comprehensive suite of cash access products and services.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010221/ATW031LOGO )

The gaming establishments have signed contracts to utilize a number of
Global’s innovative VIP LightSpeed(R) products including: PlayerCash
@dvantage(R) credit and debit card cash advance services, VIP Preferred(R)
check-cashing services, and ATM Cash @dvantage(R), which allows patrons to
initiate electronic check transactions at ATMs without casino cage
assistance.

Global will provide services to the following U.S. casinos: Mardi Gras
Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado; Player’s Club Casino in Ventura,
California; Running Aces Harness Park in Forrest Lake, Minnesota; Hoosier
Park Racing & Casino in Anderson, Indiana; 7th Street Casino in Kansas
City, Kansas; Bodine’s Casino in Carson City, Nevada; and Wind River Casino
in Riverton, Wyoming. Services in Canada will be provided to Flamboro Downs
in Hamilton, Ontario and Georgian Downs in Innisfil, Ontario.

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Poker News November 21st, 2008

November 22, 2008

Gambling in Great Falls

The drive down 10th Avenue South in Great Falls looked a lot different twenty-five years ago. Casinos started to spring up in the mid-80s and now you’ll find ten of them on the main drag alone. So what effect does the gaming industry have on our community nearly 25 years after the Video Poker Machine Act was passed? Jane Yonkin says she had a hidden addiction that consumed her life for fifteen years. “It was horrible, suicide was there…it was one of the options because I let my life go so badly…I didn’t feel I had anywhere to turn,” she said. The darkest hours of life were spent in front of the flashing lights of an electronic gaming machine. “Almost from my very first time, there was a problem. I lost like only a dollar, but I wanted to win it back like me versus the machine.”

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poker chips

Card Player Player of the Year Update

A handful of players made progress on the Card Player Player of the Year leader board during the past two weeks, but two of them made moves near the top 10, as Michael Binger and Dario Minieri added to their point totals. Binger won the third poker tournament of his career when he beat 131 opponents to win the title at the World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe. For his victory in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event, he took home $181,379 and 624 points. This took his point total up to 4,416 and put him in sixth place, ahead of David Benyamine.

This was the 10th final table of the year for Binger, who has won $1,005,846 during the course of 20 cashes in 2008. This was the seventh time that he has cashed for more than $100,000 in any one tournament since he started competing on the tournament trail in 2006.

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poker rakeback

High-est Stakes Poker Ever

Two hundred thousand dollars. That’s the minimum for how much players will have to buy in for on the fifth season of High Stakes Poker.

The unprecedented amount highlights the newest season of the poker series that regularly features the richest cash games in television history.

In all prior seasons, the series began with players buying in for “only” $100,000. However, by the end of last season, the amount was upped to $500,000 per player.

“High Stakes Poker, by a wide margin, has become a must-see on Game Show Network for poker players and poker fans all over the world,” said Henry Orenstein, an executive producer of the show.

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JC Tran to represent Team PKR in Premier League III

PKR.com, the next-generation poker room, has today announced that leading pro poker player JC Tran will be representing Team PKR playing in the forthcoming PartyPoker.com Premier League III.

JC Tran is one of the world’s most feared tournament players and is the #1 ranked player in the ESPN-Bluff power rankings. He has over $6.8m in career tournament winnings, and is one of a select few to have scooped both a World Series bracelet and a World Poker Tour title. Over the past five years, JC has recorded 23 WSOP cashes (including seven final tables) and 11 WPT cashes (with five final tables).

The $75,000 buy-in event will take place in London from November 21 – 30 and will feature an all-invited field of 12 of the world’s finest poker players battling it out for a share of the $1.25m prize pool. Players include Roland de Wolfe, Phil Hellmuth, Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan, Annette Obrestad and 2008 WSOP main event winner Peter Eastgate.

While representing Team PKR in this event JC will wear PKR branding and will also provide an interview that will be featured across PKR’s online TV station (PKR.tv) and its customer magazine (Stacked).

Simon Prodger, Marketing Director at PKR said: “We’re honoured to have the world’s best tournament player represent PKR at this year’s Premier League. It’s a great format, and our association with JC will help introduce PKR to a whole new audience of poker fans”.

poker strategy

It’s late in a no-limit Hold’em tournament, and you are the chip leader at your table with 120,000 in chips. The blinds are 2,000 and 4,000, and you are the big blind. Someone in middle or late position with 30,000 in chips goes all-in, and everyone between the two of you folds. You slowly examine your cards and find A-7. You “have to call,” right?

Wrong. In my humble opinion, “ace rag” hands are some of the most overplayed starters in the game. They’re not very powerful, and in this case you have no way of outplaying your opponent after the flop.

First, the player who went all-in shouldn’t have done so in desperation or as a pure bluff. He has enough chips for five rounds (assuming no antes). Therefore, what does he probably have? A pocket pair, an ace, or something like KQ suited are my guesses. You’re an underdog to any pocket pair (yes, even pocket ducks!). If he holds an ace and a higher kicker, you’re dominated. Imagine calling an all-in when you’re dominated by something as lame as A-8 off-suit! Even if he went all-in with an ace and a lower kicker, there’s a good possibility that you’ll tie. Your best-case scenario is that he has KQ, QJ, or JT, and even then your advantage is at best 58%-42%.

Second, 30,000 chips isn’t chicken feed. If you lose, he’ll have 60,000 chips and you’ll be down to 90,000. Why give up your domination of the table on something as tentative as A7? You don’t have to play hands at this point. Surely something better will come your way soon.

Third, you may have to give up the 30,000 chips without even seeing the flop. Someone who checked in early position may have set a trap into which you and the all-in player fell. What will you do if someone to your left re-raises? Will you compound the error of your first call by committing more chips to the pot on the back of your mighty stallion named A-7?

Fourth, even if you call, and a third or fourth player does as well, you are out of position. The odds are that you won’t improve on the flop, but it may be worse if you do. Suppose the flop contains an ace. Can you bet with any confidence? If you check and another player bets, can you call? Is this REALLY the way you’d like to get crippled in this tourney, with your A-7 losing to an A-J or A-T suited, who only called because YOUR call gave her the pot odds?

Fifth, there is no downside to folding. No one else knows what you have, unless you want them to know, and the rules allow it, so you won’t be perceived as a chicken. If you want, after the hand finishes you can smile at the all-in player and say something like, “I don’t think both of my cards added up to one of yours.”

In sum, you worked hard to build your dominating stack, and my guess is that you didn’t do it by playing many, if any, ace-rag hands. Keep your edge, keep your momentum, and let someone else play “sheriff.”

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Brad Booth

Bradley (Brad) Booth (born September 20th, 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player known for his appearances on the GSN series High Stakes Poker. He is one of the most successful high limit players of the last decade. He was once referred to as a “poker savant” by Phil Laak and is rated as one of the best poker players in the world by Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson.

In 13th episode of the third season of High Stakes Poker, Booth stated that he has been playing poker every day for 14 years – first in Vancouver, then Calgary and then in Yukon hence his nickname “Yukon Brad” – but is now slowing down.

Booth appeared on the second season of NBC’s Poker After Dark on the episode “International Week” and finished in second place to Patrik Antonius.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $640,000.

Kid Poker

Daniel Negreanu (born July 26, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian professional poker player.
Early life

Daniel Negreanu’s parents, Annie and Constantin, moved to Canada from Romania in 1967. When he was several credits short of graduation, Daniel dropped out of high school and began his life as a rounder playing at the local charity casinos and looking for illegal games around the city. While in Toronto, Daniel met and began dating Evelyn Ng, who would also become a well-known professional poker player. After building up his bankroll, he left for Las Vegas at the age of 21 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional poker player. However, “The Strip” got the better of him and he was forced to move back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll.
Poker career

In 1997 his luck began to change when he won two events at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, earning himself $133,600 as well as being named the tournament’s best all-around player. Negreanu followed this triumph in the 1998 World Series of Poker by winning $169,460 at the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event and becoming the youngest WSOP bracelet winner in history — a record he held until 2004.

Over the next few years, he became one of the most successful poker tournament players in history, winning two (WPT) events, another two World Series bracelets, and appearing at 11 final tables. He was also named the World Poker Tour World Series of Poker player of the year in 2004 and World Poker Tour player of the year in 2005.

Upon opening, the Wynn Las Vegas resort recruited him as their “Poker Ambassador” to play for any stake in their poker room. The arrangement lasted until October 2005 when he opted out because it was restricting his ability to play for high stakes outside the Wynn. In December 2005, he started his own online poker cardroom “skin” site on his official site, Full Contact Poker, which also includes his blog and a variety of poker forums. He played at his cardroom under the screen name “KidPoker”. In 2006, he used Full Contact Poker to launch a competition to select a protege, whom Daniel would attempt to mold into a world-class live tournament poker player. In addition, he would pay the protege’s entry fee into four $10,000 buy-in events. Daniel’s first protege was Brian Fidler. In 2007, Daniel ran a second protege promotion, which was won by Anthony Mak.

On June 11, 2007, Negreanu signed with PokerStars, joining Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and many other professional poker players as a member of Team PokerStars. His Full Contact Poker site has since returned to being a forum and informational site.

Daniel has been a regular at the big game in Bobby’s Room, in the Bellagio casino, Las Vegas, for several years. He is a self-admitted action junkie who always seeks new challenges and sets high goals for himself, not only at the poker table but also on the golf course. Unlike many other players, he is very outspoken about his poker results and regularly posts updates in the forums at the Full Contact Poker website.

Some of Negreanu’s success is attributed to his ability to read opponents. When asked about this skill, Negreanu explained that the most important skill he employs is observing what hands his opponents play and how capable they are of playing them.

He has written over 100 articles for CardPlayer Magazine and contributed to Doyle Brunson’s revised book, Super System II. He has tutored on the web as part of Poker School Online and also personally given lessons to celebrities such as Tobey Maguire. In addition, it was announced in early 2006 that Negreanu had assembled a team of “Superstar Contributors” to write a book called Daniel Negreanu’s Power Hold’em Strategy. Modeled after Brunson’s Super/System, the book delves into every aspect of hold’em, and is due to be released in early 2008.

Negreanu has played poker on various TV shows such as Late Night Poker, Poker After Dark, and High Stakes Poker, as well as serving as a commentator and stand-in host on Ultimate Poker Challenge. He also appeared in the third season of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. In January 2007, Negreanu appeared in the Fox Reality original series Rob and Amber: Against the Odds in which he mentored reality television personality Rob Mariano in his bid to become a professional poker player.

Negreanu was named “Favorite Poker Player” at Card Player Magazine’s Player of the Year Awards Gala in February 2006.

Negreanu is also featured in the 2006 poker video game Stacked with Daniel Negreanu, providing tips and hints as to how to play effectively.
# On August 19, 2005 Negreanu married Lori Lin Weber. On November 24, 2007 he announced their separation in a blog entry.
# Negreanu’s surname is pronounced “Neg-rah-noo”.
# Negreanu has a blog at Full Contact Poker where he posts his thoughts and feelings about poker and various life topics.
# Negreanu is a vegan.

As of January 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,650,000, behind only Jamie Gold and Joseph Hachem. He is the 2nd all-time leading money winner on the WPT circuit, recently passed by Carlos Mortensen in April 2007 at the WPT Championship. With a 2nd place finish at the World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi, Negreanu has now cashed in a record 4 consecutive WPT events (which has since been tied by Kirk Morrison), and ties John Juanda in total WPT cashes with 14. He has the highest tournament earnings of any individual who has not won a WSOP Main Event.

Canadian Poker Rooms

Online poker often takes a back seat whenever credit is given for the recent poker explosion. The lipstick camera, the World Poker Tour and Chris Moneymaker are the usual reasons mentioned. For those who play, though, there’s no denying the contribution made by poker sites.

With the ability to play any time of day or night in the comfort of their own home, players could sit down to the virtual felt for a few hands or a few hours depending on how much time they had. With hands being dealt much quicker than in a brick or mortar card room, a player could gain as much experience in six months as would have previously taken years.

There is one area of online play, however, that is simply not available in most card rooms. It’s a game that is just not practical to offer in a brick and mortar casino and I find it more useful to my overall development than any other game I play. It’s playing heads-up No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em. While brick and mortar casinos cannot afford to offer head’s up matches, they are available online around the clock.

Many proponents say that online poker is great to work on the fundamentals. Play solid straight forward poker and you’ll do fine. While that is good advice, if that is all you are looking for in your online play, you are doing yourself a disservice. There is a great deal of psychology in poker and you can work on that aspect of your game as well by playing online.

Heads-up is a battle of wits, guts, and determination. If poker is psychological warfare, heads-up matches are played with nuclear warheads. If you’re waiting for cards, you will get eaten alive. You will be forced to see a lot of flops and if you see a ton of flops, you will see how hard it is to hit a flop. That will force you to develop a good post-flop strategy. Post-flop play is probably the weakest area of most players, simply because they don’t get sufficient practice. In a full ring game, it’s too easy to fall into the trap of playing flops you hit and giving up on flops you don’t. I believe most players too easily give their opponents credit for hitting the flop when they don’t.

When you play heads-up, though, you will start to get a better feel for how hard it is to hit a favorable flop. Good hands are hard to come by, which means you have to develop and rely on other aspects of your game. You’ll get extensively more experience playing post-flop than you ever could in a full ring game. This experience alone makes heads-up play worthwhile.

Yet, the psychological development you will enjoy is perhaps the best reason to play heads-up. While position is important, knowing your opponent is critical. Heads-up play affords you the opportunity to study one opponent and learn him inside out. Even though you can’t see him, you’ll see every move he makes and every move he makes will be made directly against you. That’s right. Everything your opponent does will be done in the context of your own game. It’s the ultimate psychological battle. You are engaged the entire time. I’m a big believer in observing and staying involved when you are not in a hand.

However, there’s no substitute for facing and making decisions – especially against an opponent who is trying to outplay you.

While you must be aggressive in finding and attacking your opponent’s vulnerabilities, you have to constantly look inward as well to shore up any cracks in your own game.

Of course, poker is not all psychology. There is the science aspect of the game and I believe heads-up matches will help you in that area as well. By being engaged in every hand, you will consistently be calculating pot odds and making bets and raises accordingly. The comfort and anonymity of a computer will allow you to take your time in making the calculations.

Finally, let me make one more pitch for heads-up play. The advent of online play greatly accelerated the learning curve of poker players. Players could get in a game any time of day or night and play in the comfort of their own home even if they only had a short period of time. Additionally, the number of hands dealt per hour is so much greater online. Well, in heads-up play, you will play exponentially more hands and face far more decisions in an average hour than you would in a full ring game. That acceleration of your learning curve will pay dividends in every other game you enter.

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Talking About A Hand While It’s Still In Progress

This is an extremely hot topic with more than a few people. The opinions covered all of the bases, ranging from friendly chatter to unethical angle shots, and outright illegal moves that are made to intimidate other players. It started with this question,

In an effort to bring some basic rules to this argument, I would like to propose some ideas for dealing with this problem.

1. When somebody does something that is clearly out of order at the table (discussing possible hands, exposing cards, etc.) Politely ask them to stop. If they give you any lip, the dealer should step in and, tell them they are wrong, and then tell them not to do it again.

2. In #1 above if the dealer cautions the person without prompting by others, I will often throw them a $1 chip.

3. In #1 above, if the dealer doesn’t step in to your defense, seek out a floor-person. Tell them that you shouldn’t have to police the game, but when you go to the effort to do so, the least the dealer can do is come in on your side when you get flak about it.

Note that this may get you a reputation at the table for being a snob or worse. Ignore it. First, you’re doing the right thing for the game, and many players will thank you, even if only silently.

Opinion 4

I totally agree with Lee. I recently played a hand where I held KK and the flop came KQT. The turn brings the Jack. One of the two remaining players states “Well, I’m not going to bet because we obviously all have the straight.” Then another rocket scientist pipes up and says, “Don’t be so sure of that, I would bet anyhow.

Opinion 5

I disagree insofar as it applies to players who are in the hand. If I’m still in the hand I expect I should be able to say anything I want. I would do this in an attempt to influence others to call, fold, or react in such a way that I can guess what they have. Only once that one ceases to have a financial interest in the outcome of the hand, do I believe it becomes inappropriate to indulge in table talk that may affect that hands outcome.

Opinion 6

If I was hoping to fill a boat, and had you pegged for a flush, and someone else for a straight, I would try to do anything I could to discourage a player behind me from raising, and making my draw more expensive than it had to be. It wouldn’t matter to me in the slightest if what I said about your hand was true or not, if it achieved my purpose of intimidating the other player into calling instead of raising. How different, really is this from advertising my strength by making a face or exercising some fake tell? Poker is a game of trickery and deception perhaps as much as it is a game of mathematics and probability. If I am not in the hand I would agree that it’s exceedingly bad form to interfere in any way with the hands outcome.

What is the definitive rule on table talk? It seems the definitive rule and the ethical rule seem to be different. I believe that it is possible to draft a set of rules that would eliminate these ethical considerations that always seem to be causing difficulty. It seems that many inexperienced players are used to playing stud where it is common to call out potential hands as the streets’ progress. In Hold’em this is not only frowned on, but also absolutely incorrect.

In closing I would like to mention one of my gripes. It is when I am playing in a stud game and the dealer insists on speculating and announcing a possible hand. I have been in games where the dealer not only announced what he thought the hand looked like, but also gave a running commentary, such as “A possible flush or straight in the works.” Give me a break, is this not breaking the one head to a hand rule? In stud, this favors the player couldn’t care less about what is on the board in front of the other player’s. It puts him on a level with those of us who watch the board, track folded cards and then try to use this information to our advantage.

If a player is having a problem seeing the other end of the board, I have no problem with the dealer or anyone else reading the cards to them. My problem comes with helping those not skilled or interested enough to read the cards held by other players at the table, being spoon fed this information by the dealer. I realize that dealers are trained to do this as a help to newer players and a courtesy to others, my only thought is that they not carry it too far. You may think this is wrong on my part.

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Big Pots On the River

Pots often grow quite large by the river, particularly when there has been a raise before the flop. This can cause a lot of players to marry the pot (stay in the pot because of its size even though they really shouldn’t be involved). Now if the flop brings a four flush or straight draw to your opponents, you can be certain they’ll be there to the river.

If the straight or flush cards fail to come, a bet will most likely drop all of the opponents who were trailing along, hoping to make their straight or flush. Often there are only two or three opponents contesting a very large pot on the river.

You might be in there with second pair, or perhaps top pair with a marginal kicker, and your opponent comes out betting. You’re holding a hand you’d throw away if the pot were small, but with all that money in it, what should you do? Suppose you’re playing in a $3-$6 hold’em game and the pot is $90 by the time you reach the river. If your opponent bets, the pot now contains $96. It is offering you 16-to-1 on your money. If you call and are beaten it will only cost you that additional $6. If you throw your hand away and your opponent was bluffing, you made a $96 mistake.

If you believe this to be a situation in which your opponent would bluff more than one time in 16, go ahead and call. Only if you are sure your opponent would almost never bluff, can you comfortably throw your hand away.

Generally you’re always better off committing the small error of calling with a losing hand, than the catastrophic error of folding a winner. In the situation cited above, even if your opponent would only bluff one time in ten, you are far better off calling than folding.

If you were to call ten times, you’d lose $6 on nine occasions, for a loss of $54. On the tenth occasion, you’d win a $96 pot, for a net profit of $42. If you divide that $42 profit by each of the ten times you called, your decision to call is worth $4.20 each time you make it — regardless of whether you win that particular pot.

If you are second to act, and think there’s some chance you have the best hand, even if you don’t consider yourself the favorite, you might want to raise if your opponent comes out betting. By doing this, you may get the third opponent to lay down his hand. If your first opponent came out betting a fairly weak hand in hopes that you might fold, he, in turn, may now fold if he suspects you’re holding a powerhouse. A play like this also adds some deception to your game. But like all deceptive plays, you have to use it sparingly.

Overcalling On the River

Occasionally you’ll be last to act against two or more opponents on the river. If one bets and the other calls, what should you do? With a bet and call in front of you, you’ll have to credit at least one of your opponents with a legitimate hand.

While the first player might have been bluffing, the second player could not call unless he had a legitimate hand. While it is possible, although somewhat remote, that he could bluff-raise, there is just no reason to call unless you have a hand that figures to win the pot.

Consequently, you’ll need a hand strong enough to beat a legitimate calling hand in order to overcall. If you had a hand you would have raised with had there been no caller, then you should definitely overcall. But if you have a hand which beats a bluff, but not much else, you’ll save money in the long run by not overcalling in these situations.

Many players make a big mistake by overcalling when they know they’re beaten. Consistently making crying overcalls can be costly. Unless you have a hand which is better than a calling hand, save your money for other opportunities.

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If you’re still contesting the pot while awaiting that river card, you should have a strong hand, or a draw to what you believe will be the best hand if you make it. What may have begun as a confrontation between many opponents before the flop probably will be reduced to two — or perhaps three of you — once all the board cards are exposed.

Realized versus Potential Value

Because there are no more cards to come once the river card has been dealt, any strategic considerations based what the next card might bring have all gone out the window. Not only might your pair be the best hand at that point, your bet could force a better hand to fold — never mind that flush you’ll make if a third suited card appears on the turn or the river.

Your hand had value from many sources. Taken together, that pair, coupled with your hand’s potential for a flush as well as the possibilities of improving to two pair or trips, made it a valuable hand. And its worth was made up of realized value plus potential value.

Once the last card is dealt, potential value is a thing of the past. Your hand’s value has been fully realized. If that flush draw never materialized, you’re left with one pair, and it may not be enough to win the pot. More importantly, your strategic thinking has to change too.

Apart from a naked bluff, your decision to check or bet if no one has acted, or fold, call, raise or reraise if there has been action, can only be based on the realized value of your hand. It no longer has any potential.

What Should I Do If I Make My Draw?

Many players automatically check a good flush from early position, hoping to trap their opponents for an additional bet. Others automatically bet whenever they make a flush. These are two very different strategies. Is either strategy better than the other?

Here’s part one of the general rule on checkraising. Do it when you believe you will have the best hand most of the time you are called. Just believing you have the best hand is not enough to justify a checkraise. Sometimes you’ll find yourself facing a reraise. To compensate for these occasions, checkraise when you believe you will hold the winning hand if you are called — unless, of course, you believe checkraising will cause your opponent to lay down a better hand.

Part two of the general rule on checkraising is obvious: You need to be fairly certain your opponent will bet if you check. It’s no fun to check a big hand only to have your opponents check behind you, especially when you know they would have called — if only you had bet.

If you are not certain you’ll hold the best hand if called, or you aren’t sure one of your opponents will bet if you check, do not checkraise. Unless you can answer “yes” to both of these questions, bet. Don’t checkraise.

Sometimes even aggressive opponents who have been betting the entire hand will slow down when a third suited card appears on board. Since they’ve been doing the betting and you’ve been calling, it’s natural for them to assume you’re on the come. When that third suited card appears or an apparent straight is on board, many players — even aggressive ones — apply the brakes.

If you’re going to checkraise in a situation where it appears you’re trying for a flush, you need to be certain that your opponent is aggressive enough to bet right into that flush or straight draw. It helps if you can delude your opponents into thinking you do not have a drawing hand. Here’s how you can do just that. Suppose you’re in early position with A-J of clubs. You’re raised. You call, and the flop comes Q-7-4 .

Suppose you bet. If your opponent holds A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or A-Q, you’ll probably be raised. When you check and call if a blank falls on the turn, your opponent may now assume you were either trying to steal the pot from early position, “testing” your kicker with a hand like Q-9 or Q-8, or were betting second pair — to find out where you stood.

Example:

Your hand: A-J

Your opponent’s hand: K-K

the board: Q-7-4

You hold the nut flush draw

Your opponent holds an overpair to the board.

He may no longer put you on a flush draw. If you make your flush on the river, you’ve set your opponent up for a checkraise. Believing you were checking a lesser hand on the turn or river, your opponent, especially if he is aggressive, will come out betting. Now he’s trapped. When you raise, he’ll realize you’ve probably got him beat, but most players won’t throw their hand away for one additional bet. They’ll make a crying call, but they’ll pay you off nevertheless.

By betting a four-flush on the flop and checking the turn, you’ve enabled yourself to bet other marginal hands on the flop, and get a free card on the turn if the board is threatening. Because you baited the checkraising trap so successfully, you’ve created some deception in your game. That deception is your opportunity to extract additional money from your opponents, or see the turn for free, since they will not be certain about your hand.

This, of course, only works against opponents who are astute enough to put you on a hand, and then see whether your holdings confirm their supposition. When they’re wrong, you will have created some additional maneuvering room for yourself since those opponents will no longer be able to trust their judgment. Of course, when your opponents are absolute maniacs, compulsive callers, or just brain dead, don’t waste any energy trying to deceive them.

With a maniac, you don’t need to set up a checkraise. He’s going to bet most of the time, and you can snap him off whenever you’re holding a better hand. With a calling station, don’t checkraise. Just keep betting if you’ve got the best of it. You’ll have to show the best hand to win, but you’ll always get paid off.

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Your basic strategy on-the-turn-strategy should include:

Betting, or checking with the intention of raising, when you’re sure you have the best hand.

Making it expensive for opponents who hold lesser hands, or who are on the come, to draw out on you.

Seeing the river as cheaply as possible when you’re on the come.

Betting if you think it will cause your opponent to fold.

Being alert to picking up a draw on the turn. It may allow you to continue playing a hand you otherwise should throw away.

Occasionally you’ll find yourself in a pot with lots of callers on the flop. Let’s say you hold 9-8 on the button, and flop 10-8-6. You don’t have top pair, your kicker is weak, and your draw is to an inside straight. Even so, with enough players calling the flop, you’re getting sufficient odds to take a card off the deck.

But suppose the turn card is a king. Suddenly there’s a bet up front, and most of the remaining players fold. Now you don’t have sufficient callers to supply the proper odds. Unless there’s already sufficient money in the pot to justify continuing, wait ‘till next hand.

If you’re in a $3-$6 game the cost has escalated to $6, or $12 if you’re raised. If you don’t improve you’re probably beaten. Even if you hit your hand, there’s one less round to extract extra bets from your opponents. If you made your straight on the turn and someone bets in front of you, your raise would trap your opponents for an additional bet.

Should I Continue With My Draw?

Flopping a four-flush or an open-ended straight is a common situation. If it’s relatively inexpensive, you’ll invariably stay for the turn card — particularly when you’re certain yours will be the best hand if you make it. But most of the time the turn card won’t help you. After all, if you’ve flopped a four-flush there are only nine more cards of your suit remaining in the deck.

If you’ve flopped an open-ended straight draw, only eight of the remaining 47 cards will help you. You’ve got a 19 percent chance of making your flush on the turn, and a 17 percent chance of hitting your straight. Expressed in odds, you’re a 4.3-to-1 underdog to make your flush on the turn and a 4.9-to-1 underdog to make your straight. Most of the time, you’re going to have to decide whether to take another card off the deck. How should you go about doing this?

While some players stay with any draw all the way to the river, regardless of pot size or the number of opponents, there’s a better way to go about it. Here’s what to do. Estimate the current size of the pot as well as how many opponents will stick around and pay you off if you get lucky.

If the estimated payoff is 5-to-1 or better, then either of your draws will show a positive expectation in the long run. If you could replay this situation thousands of times you’d show a profit by making this play. If the estimated payoff was only 3-to-1, however, you’d show a loss in the long run.

The process of estimating pot odds versus the odds against hitting your hand can be confounded by the possibility that you’ll occasionally hit your hand and still lose. Suppose you’re holding A-Q of hearts and the flop is 7h-7d-6h. You’ve got a draw at the nut flush. But you may be up against a full house or a set that can improve to a full house. The presence of a pair on board should be a warning to any flush or straight draws.

It’s not a big issue. You can continue to play. Just make sure you have somewhat higher pot odds to offset those instances when you make your hand and lose with it.

Losing with the nut flush doesn’t happen all that often. When it does, you’ll know it. You’ll bet or raise, only to be raised, or reraised. Is it a bluff? Does your opponent have a full house or did he make the mistake of raising with a smaller flush than yours? You have to know your opponents. It’s no fun to throw away the nut flush in the face of an apparent full house, but against the kind of player who never makes a move unless he’s got the goods, I’ll toss my flush most of the time.

Sometimes you’ll make your flush, only to be up against another one. Your concern, of course, is whether yours is bigger. If you hold the nut flush, there’s no problem. You’re only dilemma is how to extract the maximum possible profit from your opponent. But if you called the flop with a hand like 10-9 suited, and make a flush on the turn. Sure, the bettor might have top pair, two pair or a set — all of which you can beat — but what does the raiser have? He could have a smaller flush than yours — or a bigger one. What should you do?

In most cases, you shouldn’t raise or reraise unless you’re sure you’ll have the best hand most of the time you’re called. Many seemingly adept players figure they can raise anytime they think they’ve got the best hand, never considering the possibilities that they could be reraised, rather than called. Because there is always the possibility that you’ll be beaten by an opponent who calls your raise, as well as the possibility that you might also be reraised, raise only when you have a hand that figures to win if it is called.

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Most of the time you won’t even see the turn. You’ll have thrown away most of your hands before the flop, and mucked others once you saw the flop did not fit it. You need a valid reason for seeing the turn.

If there’s no logical reason to be in the pot by the turn, you should have folded. It’s very easy to squander your bankroll one bet at a time. Many players do just that by calling one more bet and then another. While calling any one bet might be insignificant by itself, collectively it can break you.

If you’ve made it to the turn you should be holding a good hand, a promising draw, or believe your bluff (or semi-bluff) can pick up the pot.

What to Do When You Improve

Your hand can improve on the turn in one of two ways. The turn card can complete your flush or straight. You can also improve when the turn card converts your holdings into a set, trips, two pair, or an overpair. The turn is also beneficial whenever you had the best hand going in, and the turn — while not improving your hand — did not improve your opponent’s either. While you won’t always be able to know this with certainty, there are clues you can pick up by recalling your opponents pattern of betting and raising.

For example, suppose you hold Q-J and flopped Q-J-6 of mixed suits. Chances are you’ve got the best hand. Even if the turn card does not improve your hand, you’re still likely to hold the best hand. While any turn card could conceivably make a set for an opponent holding a pocket pair of that same rank, and an ace, king, ten, nine or eight could make a straight, and are potentially more dangerous for you than any other cards.

When you’ve got top two pair on the turn and an opponent bets, you should usually raise. If you are in late position and none of your opponents have acted, you should bet. If you’re in early position, check with the intention of raising if you are fairly certain that one of your opponents will bet. If you think your opponents will check, go ahead and bet.

If you have the best hand, betting gets the maximum amount of money in the pot, and makes it expensive for anyone to draw-out on you. But it’s not a totally risk-free strategy. If your opponent has made a set or turned a straight, you can count on being raised or reraised.

If you raise and are reraised, your opponent probably made a set or a straight. But if you were the bettor and are raised, your opponent could also have two pair — and since you’re playing the top two pair, his will be smaller.

Assume the turn card was a seven. Everyone checks, you bet, and are raised by the big blind. Since the big blind had a free-play, he could be holding anything. He might have J-7 or Q-7, and is now raising because he thinks his two pair is the best hand. You won’t be sure what he’s holding, but knowing his playing style will frequently provide clues.

When You Don’t Improve

Most of the time the turn card will not help you. So what should you do? The answer depends on the kind of hand you have, and the relationship between the pot odds and your chances of making your hand on the river.

If you’ve got an open ended straight or flush draw, and you’re up against two or more opponents, call any bet on the turn, under most circumstances. However, if the board is paired, and there’s a bet and raise in front of you, be wary. You might be up against a full house. If you are, you’re drawing dead.

You could also be up against a set or two pair. The strongest clues to which hand you’re facing lie in knowing your opponents. If you’re up against someone who never raises a three-suited board unless he can beat that probable flush, release your hand.

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