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Don't Be Afraid To Fold |
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The Most Important Skill In Poker
A few years back, I had a chance meeting with Doyle Brunson at the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas. During our brief conversation I asked what the secret to being successful at poker was. Mr. Brunson said not to be afraid to fold. In my many years of dealing and playing Texas Hold'em, I have found that far too many players donate a great portion of their stack to chase a hand that can come no better than second best. This trend has become far more prevelant with online play than I have ever seen in live play. Anytime you have seen the flop, you should try to ascertain whether or not you have a possibility of having the nuts should you get perfect-perfect on the turn and river. It helps if you can figure out the odds of this by counting your outs and multiplying that number by 2 to get the percentage of your chances of hitting. Should you think you may not attain the nuts, you should also work out the chances of another player getting the nuts. If your odds of getting the nuts is less than the other players, you would be advised to fold and save the donation for another hand or series of hands. With the popularity of online play, far too many players do not pay the proper respect to potential strong hands by trying to chase down a potential winning hand. This is caused by having lower limits online than are usually found in live games. By folding the weak starting hands you will enough chips to allow good payoffs on those winning hands. During tournament play, it is also recommended to fold weak starting hands early on while the blinds are still small and the field is large. On television broadcasts of tournaments, most top players fold a great majority of their hole cards. Through the magic of editing, it looks as if there is action on every hand and that players are going all in a great deal of the time. This also has led some players to forget how to fold. Play tight and pick your spots to be aggressive. By creating a belief in the minds of other players that you do not play weak hands, you will also be able to bluff your opponents and win some chips when not having the nuts. -Marc
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