Marginal hand analysis 2flush+2big cards

Dear Bull,


You make some excellent points.


Like you I feel most agressive about playing the two big cards with two live flush cards marginal hands in two different situations. One is the loose passive game with big pots. In those types of games the flush draw becomes the name of the game.

Because:


1 You often need a big hand to win the pot in these big multiway hands.


2 Flushes (ever since 1864) beat straights (both above and below thew mason dixon line). Unifying the nation as to which was stronger the flush or the straight was one of the most important out comes of the civil war.


3 Flushes are mathematicaly easier to fill than straights (since you have one more out to fill a flush than you do a straight.


So like you with my two big cards and a live two flush I like to limp in and take those nice low implied odds in those loose passive games. If I hit my hand I'm off and runnin. And if I miss I'm just off.


And like you the other way that I like to play this hand, is if I am in a verry tight game, and I have a big card up, and can jam the hand to either steel the antes, or get heads up against a pair smaller than one of my big cards.


In that situation of course the value of my big cards goes up.


And like you in the in between situations. I'd rather stay away from the hand. And under those conditions if I do call with the hand and it gets raised I often will just muck it.


(which reminds me of a poker story. You don't have to read this if you don't want to.)


President Nixon,Marginal starting hands ,and the KGB


Years ago my wife Honey and I were playing Stud at that big Indian Casino east of San Diego.


And there was a great big guy, with a snow white beard sitting between Honey and I.


This guy was an excellent Poker player, and a lot of fun, and before long Honey, Santa (he looked a lot like Santa Clause anyway) and I were having a great time playing cards and laughing about one thing or other.


Well the game was one of those verry loose and agressive games, that it would have beeen easy to get trapped in with marginal starting hands.


Because you would call, and then some baby card would raise and if you called him, someone behind you would re-raise. And if you wern't careful you'd end up turning into a cheese sandwitch.


Well after about an hour Santa (I am afraid I forgot his name, if you read this Santa I'm sorry) Santa and I, after originaly calling had both mucked our hands when they were raised,.


And he looked over at Honey started to laugh and said "You know Honey, I knew Doc was a very good player after we had only been playing together for a fewminutes."


"Honey" I said "you should listen to this guy not only does he have a good sense of humor, but he is obviously blessed with an unusualy keen sense of observation." I laughed.


Just out of interest xxxxx (I forgot his name) could you tell me what you found so funny about that last hand we played?"


"Sure" he said "I got to laughing, because I haven't seen a player that could drop a weak hand faster than you, since I played with my old friend President Nixon."


Then he pulled out his wallett and got out a picture of himself and President Nixon with their arms around each other.


It turned out that this guy (Santa) was the director of poker instruction at the Casino. And that he had played Poker off and on with President Nixon for some 30 years.


Santa then said, that one time when Nixon was President he (Santa) had been traveling around the Soviet Union in an old Volkswagen Van.


Anyway he got lost and somehow got on to a restricted road (probably to some old military base) that he wasn't supposed to be on.


Any way he got arrested and was taken in to custody. He said that after a while they called him in to a room to "interview" him.


And while one officer was asking him questions another one was going through his personel belongings.


As the officer that was searching his stuff was going through his wallet when he came across this photo of him and Nixon together.


On the back of the picture it said something like "Thanks for sharing a lifetime of joy with me, and for always being a best friend.

Signed Dick Nixon.


Well anyway the officers took him to another rooom, and he could hear them making some phone calls, and then after about an hour they politly returned his things and released him.


But he said that from the day that he was arrested onwards he was followed where ever he went.


If he'd go for a drive, way back in the distance there would always be someone tailing him.


If he went in to a restraunt there would always be someone follow him in, and someone elce in a car parked not far from his.


Well after about three days, he said that he had gone into a cafe and shure enough after about 10 minutes here came the guys that had been tailing him.


Well he said that he finaly just couldn't take it anymore. And he went up to the two Russians and asked them if they were tailing him,


"Why yes" said one of the Russians in perfect english.


Are you with the KGB he said "You might say that" said one of the Russian"


Well Santa just could't take it any more he explained all over again how he had gotten lost, and how he didn't know that that road had been restricted. And that he was no danger to the Russian people.


Then he said that one of the Russians looked up at him and said "We understand that you and The President of the United States are old Poker buddies"


Why yes Santa said, whenever he's not been in Washington we have played together for years."


"That's why were here the Russian said. We aren't worried that you might do any thing wrong.


"We have our orders to see nothing happens to you as long as you are in our country!"


So I guess there are some benefits to haveing poker pals.


Your "poker pal"


Doc AZ