Know When To Hold Em

[Kramer]

By Daniel Negreanu :

I'm going to share with you which may very well be the most valuable
tip you'll ever hear from me .
Its simple , easy , but extremely powerful and effective .

You'll often find yourself in a poker situation where it comes down to this one basic question :

Does he have it or is he bluffing ?
All the cards are dealt including the river , your opponent makes a bet on the river , and you hold a marginal hand that could beat a bluff but can't beat a legitimate hand.

Here's a hand illustrating the scenario : let's say the final flop is
Js,8c,4s,4h,6c.

you hold 8,9
If your opp isn't bluffing he surely has your pair of 8's beat.
Otherwise he may have anything from a pair of jacks to a full house.
If so you're beat.
It all comes down to a read.
In these situations a player will usually go over the hand in his head and ask himself these questions :

1. How often does this player bluff ?
2.If he has a strong hand , would he play it the way he just did ?
3.Could he have busted a drawing hand if so is he trying to bluff his missed draw?
4.Does he think I'm on a draw trying to steal the pot himself?
5.Does he look like he's bluffing?

Sometimes you'll go through a list of questions and have no idea what to do.
I've been in this spot many times myself and I'm considered a pro.
So what do you do?

Go with your FIRST instinct/.

Think back to the very first though that came into your mind and go with it .
That first instinct comes from the most powerfuul computer in the world -
your subconsious mind .
It acts as a processor collecting data and storing it away for later use .


Have you ever been in a poker hand and just "felt" like it was a player bluffing?
You couldn't explain why , but something told you you had to make the call ?

That's your brain sending you a message based on all your prevous playoing patterns it has compiled.
It has seen that situation pop up many times before and while you weren't necessarily conciously aware of it , the information is continuously being stored .

Your instincts tell you that an opponent is bluffing . Your concious mind might attempt to disprove that conclusion with these kind of thoughts :

- this bet is too big
-I don't want to look foolish calling
-why would he try to bluff me

The more often you trust your subconsious mind the better you'll get at reading people .

If you only approach poker hands analytically going over pot odds and calculating the chances of your opponent having a certain hand you may miss an important message being sent to your subconsious mind .

Do everything you can to solve the puzzle
which includes relying on your instincts .

[Hoosiercatdaddy]

i should have read this sooner lol, I was just at the final table and i was sitting on jacks and I KNEW he had aces, but something in my hand told me to call since i was low stack at the table. Even though i was low i was still about 5K in chips. I called and sure enough he had aces and nothing eles hit on the board. Cat OUT

[Dr. Jack]

Good stuff Kramer. I like these posts in here you make

[Hoosiercatdaddy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jack

Good stuff Kramer. I like these posts in here you make

Jack, you ever play poker online?

[jaypasco]

krammer,,does danial ever post wher he wins? it seems all he ever writes is he lost 1.3 mil over night and then cameback and only was down 3ook

[Jimmy K]

isn't daniel having a hell of a year this year?

[Kramer]

Originally Posted by jaypasco

krammer,,does danial ever post wher he wins? it seems all he ever writes is he lost 1.3 mil over night and then cameback and only was down 3ook

Daniel Negreanu is the 2004 Card Player Magazine and World Poker Tour Player of the Year

good enough to be voted player of year back in 2004

when you get that vote ,
let us know ...



big name guys like him get paid just to show up at wsop and not even win ...

[jaypasco]

serious quesion kramer, tahts all i see in this guys article

[Kramer]

Originally Posted by jaypasco

serious quesion kramer, tahts all i see in this guys article

Jay look at it this way :

he's likely signed a contract to write a number of articles for X amount of dollars whether he's up or down dollars

like Tiger Woods making more $ in endorsements than earning in golf
or Air Jordan Playing basketball

Nothing wrong with making extra loot on the side ,
everyone does it

lot of other poker players write articles ,
I just happen to post his articles from a local paper I buy ...

[upinya83]

Originally Posted by Jimmy K

isn't daniel having a hell of a year this year?

no, i just saw him lose to a diet pepsi can