I win all of the times that they fold the best hand where I WOULDN’T have made my hand had they seen the hand through. This is akin to the dealer taking your money in blackjack when they have bust simply because you had to play first and you bust before them. The dealer in blackjack has two chances to beat you, you play your hand and bust and they win. You make a total and they make a total that exceeds your total and they win.

This is the same principle in Texas Hold’em poker, my power raise puts them to a very difficult decision where many players will fold even good hands against this type of pressure. But even if your play gets called, you are STILL greater than even money to make the hand with two cards to come.

This is another secret of my success in NL cash games and is something that few players are aware of. Because I want to enter into as few major confrontations as possible, I will refine this strategy by only doing it against players who have shown a tendency to back down under pressure.

Against the right type of poker opponents, it is quite rare to get called. They literally need two pair or trips to make the call and the mathematics of the situation dictate that they will not hold anything as remotely powerful as this the vast majority of the time.

The Power of Betting

There is an old sales motto that says that a good salesman should not forget to simply “ask for the business”. It is surprising just how many sales are lost each year simply because the sales person involved simply did not ask for the business.

This is a game theory connection with poker if you think about it carefully enough. Many bets and money gets left on the table simply because one of the players could not summon up a bet either through lack of knowledge, lack of attention or lack of courage.

Obviously I am not advocating here that you bet here there and everywhere on highly dangerous boards against numerous opponents. But in small pots against one or two opponents then the player who can summon up a bet simply takes down the pot. Let me tell you why.

When the flop comes down, many players unknown to you will have simply given the hand up. They will have done this through a combination of factors. Missing the flop entirely and having bad position are the main two. Also, tight solid “by the book” players and especially players who go by hand charts will be just waiting for someone to bet and take it and many will have even clicked the fold button.

In fact this even goes a step further, numerous times I have witnessed online poker players fold online who could have checked and seen another card……they had simply given up. Once again using these strategies will be far more successful against weaker players in a smaller stakes online poker game.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson