HI, I like this thinking about table selection. I also think that it is very important to choose when to leave the table. I like to leave it when I am ahead. Or if I figure out that I am very unlucky on particular table or that the players play in the way I dont enjoy, or dont have time for, or not in a mood for, and I leave the table at that moment I feel like a winner.
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Why do you suspect that he thought you had a str8 flush?
You played it perfectly!
Limping is a mortal sin. It’s terrible strategy.
In ring games I think this is true, but in tournaments I think it is different, because tournaments are stack warfare and a hand that has potential to make a nut straight or flush has the potential to get someone chips in the middle and stack them.,
Ring games are much more about flop warfare. If you are behind at the flop, then the odds are always against you. and if you stack an opponent, they can rebuy at any time.
It is interesting that in the videos of professional players, the hands nearly always go to the river, and no one ever folds on the flop, but I think that must be because the hands that are shown on videos are preselected for maximum dramatic effect and are not average hands.
A lot is said about ranges, usually in the context of making the best 5-card hand from 7 cards, but clearly the real cash game is about which hole-card hands are most likely to be ahead on the flop.
For example the strength of AA is that opponent must have 2 pairs minumum to lead after the flop, and the probability of flopping 2 pairs or better with T9s is only 5.6%. Also flopping two pairs with any hand containing an Ace is certain destruction vs AA, unless you can make runner-runner quads on the turn and river. So you know that with AA you are 94% certain to lead at the flop and no drawing hand has the right odds to call if you bet right in a hand that is heads-up.
AK is infinitely weaker than AA, though people will play it very strongly preflop. If you make a pair on the flop, then you have top pair, top kicker every time–so far so good. And if you don’t pair the flop, then you are a significant favorite against any other A that did not make a pair on the flop. So around 85% of the time, you will be ahead of any other ace at the flop.
But over 5 cards you are a significant underdog to 22 and TT does even better against you. And if any other hand does pair the flop, that makes you a huge underdog on most flops. The real questions is whether the caller in the blinds is bluffing or not when he leads out into your AK on a Q high flop. The only way to determine this is to play down to the river and see his cards, or reraise, to see if he folds or re-reraises, which is a rather costly way of doing business.
Resolve these issues and you have solved poker, which is what range play is supposed to do. It does not matter what cards you have as you just play your range against (what you think is opponent’s) range, and the more closely you can simulate a computer, the better you will do.
The trouble is that this destroys poker as a game. Imagine playing golf against a computer whose drives never missed the fairway, and hit the ball as far as is humanly possible every time. Or playing tennis against a computer opponent who hits an ace onto either corner of the service box every serve and never needs a second serve.
So really to play poker and derive any enjoyment from beating other people, you have to revert to playing on a hand-by-hand basis with a conscious knowledge of whether you are betting for value, semi-bluffing, or bluffing based on your two hole cards rather than just operating a range vs a range.
Of course, you also have to consider the origins of poker, which was originally invented as a way for card sharps to cheat people out of their money, not as a recreational sport.
In 1969, the Las Vegas professionals were invited to play Texas hold 'em at the Dunes Casino on the main Las Vegas strip. This prominent location, and the relative inexperience of poker players with Texas hold 'em, resulted in a very remunerative game for professional players like Doyle Brunson who could play against wealthy tourists who were being served free alcohol.
I get rivered the most I have gotten more royal flushes also