Changes that Need to be Made in No Limit

[DaveduFresne]

I believe over the past year, as the newer players (like myself) have gotten some seasoning in No Limit Hold'em, some plays that formerly worked no longer do work, and general adjustments need to be made. I want to make a list of some of these and see whether other players agree or disagree.

1. Don't draw to flushes, unless your hand has something else going for it. (ie a straight draw, possibly two overcards etc.)

You almost never have "pot odds" for your flush, and the implied odds just aren't there. People aren't paying off anymore when that third suited card hits.

2. Don't raise AK preflop (at least not religiously) you won't get paid if you hit, but if you hit and someone else hits even better in a raised pot with you, you lose your stack. In an unraised pot, you can get away from the hand.

Sometimes you lose to crappy two pairs that wouldve folded to a raise, but you benefit from KQ's and QJ's that assume their hand must be good.

3. Aces or Kings are not an all in hand post flop. (Unless you've gotten a minimum of twenty percent of your stack in preflop). Obvious exceptions with this one, but most mediocre or better players are not going to gamble their whole stack with a hand that can't beat a pocket pair, even a big one.

4. Unless you're a bluffer, don't bother going all in, unless the pot size dictates it. People rarely bluff all in, so going all in with the nuts rarely works. People used to always assume all in meant bluff, but they've learned expensive lessons this is not the case.

5. Don't call a raise from a decent or better player with just top pair. Either reraise or fold here (unless you have a flush draw or straight draw to go with your top pair.)

6. Slowplay more. Slowplaying used to be stupid, as you'd be losing bets that people would be calling virtually drawing dead. If someone had Aces or Kings, and you flopped a set, you could almost always lead into them and expect a reraise all in, now this some times shuts players down. If you slowplay your set, they may pot commit themselves to the point that whenever you do raise them, even though they know they're likely beaten, they'll throw in a crying call.

7. Don't reraise all in with pocket Kings someone who has threebet you preflop. Look for that King on the flop and increase your chances of taking someone with pocket Queens chips. An all in preflop (against a full stacked player) will almost only be called by Aces unless a player is bad or is on tilt.

Note:

I know poker is about reads and situations. For example, if you have a maniac at your table, you're not going to fold your pocket Aces just because he leads into you on the flop, and in fact going all in there might be a great move. Against an average or better player, such a move would be foolhardy.

These are general guidelines based on average plays I see. Taking the flush draw example, you might just want to call a pot sized bet by a fish to make your flush if you KNOW he will call your all in if you hit. Against normal players, calling pot sized bets on flush draws will break you.