Here's my guide on what you should do to lose all your money playing poker - im sure it will help some people who want to increase the monthly bonus of any poker company staff they know!!! :D

First off we look at the rockets

The Rockets

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Situation

Your at the button (ie late position) in a 11 player no limit ring game. 5 people call with no raises. Your sitting with

:Ah :As

Now you could raise but you want to be sneaky and catch everyone off guard and raise them all in

Blinds call it as well and then you see the flop

:Kh :Kd :10c

A player in early position makes a raise of about 7 times the big blind - 3 players call to you on the button

You have about 11 times the big blind in chips at this time

What do you do?

You should call the raise and re-raise 4xBB by going all in. Theres no way theyre gonna call an all in raise. Plus youve got the aces - you cant be beat.

Rest easy knowing that youve done the right thing and if for some weird reason you get beat, know that you caught a bad beat and you were robbed!!!

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Major mistakes with doing this

First mistake made was not raising pre flop.

* This is a hand that you are favourite to win - you need to remember that one of the basics of playing poker is to maximise the pot when you think your gonna win or are favourite and to try and lose as little as possible in the hands you lose.

* When it gets to you 5 players have called with the players in blinds still to decide whether to fold, call or raise. You need to get rid of the players with trash hands by raising at this stage - players can be limping in with absolutely anything. If a player wants to see the flop with bad cards then make sure you make them pay for it

* You have position. Your on the button and are in the right place to either knock out some players so theres not too many players seeing the flop and of course, to maximise the pot.

Then the flop comes

:Kh :Kd :10c

This is a bad flop for you. If you were heads up against someone it wouldnt be too bad a flop but with 8 players in total seeing that flop you have to assume the worst that one of them has a king. With someone making such a high raise the chances are one or even two players have hit trips. Your looking for a reason to fold this hand.

Mistakes after the raise is made

* Anything other than folding with 3 people calling such a high raise is a wrong move.

Why is the re-raise is the wrong move?

* The main mistake was thinking that the words 'all in' will scare players out.

The pot is huge at this point. The players who are still in the game are gonna call a 4xBB raise after calling a 7xBB raise. If their hands are good enough to call the initial raise then they are getting the correct pots to call your all in 4xBB raise regardless of if they just have a 10 or whatever. The players are comitted to the pot

* If you were silly enough to want to stay involved in this hand then calling the raise would have been a less idiotic move. Youd basically be calling hoping that an ace drops and if it does youd raise all in and again, the players involved would be correct in calling such a small raise in relation to the pot

* You cannot raise people out of pots if you dont have enough chips to scare them away

Summary

* Aces can be beat just like any other hand in poker

* Like any other hand, get ready to fold if there are a lot of raises and players involved in the hand.

* Watch out for straights, flushes and full houses.

* Most players bet two pair and trips in the same way (roughly in my experience anyways) but some agressive players (tight agressive or just plain loose) will raise highly with top pair and a good kicker. Do your best to read players while you play as if no other ace drops your still sitting with only one pair

* Pay attention to the number of players in the game and the number of players who saw the flop.

* Pay attention to who raised - think about why they raised ie. if you were in their shoes would you be raising to get more money in the pot or just simply to reduce the number of players involved (or both)

** You can comment on this article at http://www.texasholdemforums.com/showthread.php?p=25494

Kevin Muldoon plays poker around 20+ hours per week and is the owner of http://www.texasholdemforums.com. TexasHoldemForums is a large online texas holdem poker community with thousands of players and dozens of private tournaments and game for members every week. They have a large group of players who play poker professionally and several of the members have played at the World Series of Poker. This wealth of experience ensures every member can improve their game in some respect.

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