Hand 9: Button, 3c-2c Folded to me and I raise to £20, both blinds fold. Stack size £455

Hand 10: Cut-off, 8c-3c, folded around to me and I also fold. Stack size £455

Hand 11: 8s-3s, UTG calls and I fold. Stack size £455

Hand 12: UTG, A-3, I fold. Stack size £455. I tend to find that American players like bad aces like these but they are just trouble spelt with a capital T, better to fold and stay out of trouble as that is never a bad online poker strategy.

Hand 13: Big Blind, J-7, two callers and small blind calls, I check. Flop 9-5-3, SB bets the pot and I fold. Stack size £450

Hand 14: Small blind, 7-2, folded around to me and I fold. (must not let the big blind think that I want to grab every last penny). Stack size £448

Hand 15: Button, 8-5, Folded around to me and I raise to £15, SB folds and BB calls. Flop comes 6-4-K giving me a gutshot draw but a chance to represent the king as I am the raiser. I bet £20 and they call (there is no flush draw). Turn card is the 2c. BB checks and I bet £50 ( I do not back off just because my flop bet gets called, my image is aggressive so this player could be testing to see that I am serious….well I am). the big blind calls this bet as well.

Oh dear…. looks like he may have a hand as the chances of them having exactly 7-5 for a straight draw are slim and especially as they called my pre-flop raise. The river card is the 7d making my straight….aw come on, I AM ALLOWED TO GET LUCKY YOU KNOW!! I am quickly trying to work out the correct thing to do, I feel that they have some sort of hand because they called two consecutive bets from the flop onwards.

I have half a mind to go all in and put them to a serious test for their entire stack, it was still very early in the session and I had no real information on this player as yet. I would hate to go all in only to then see him fold. Quickly running out of time I bet £75, my opponent quickly calls and I take the pot not getting to see their poker hand. Stack size £607. Now the entire table has seen me raise with an 8-5 and continue firing, TIME TO CHANGE GEARS AND SLOW DOWN!!

Let me just go over my thoughts at this stage, I have an aggressive image and this has almost certainly led to me taking down an inflated pot. Unless they had trips or two pair then they were prepared to call me down with something marginal. The most likely scenario was that my opponent had top pair and simply did not believe my aggression… and they were right. But this is what makes aggression so rewarding, they call you and then you hit your hand.

I am over a hundred pound ahead in a very short time period and the table knows that I am playing fast. True, they may have missed it because they are watching TV or playing multiple tables but I cannot assume that. The game plan has now changed, I slow down for two or three rounds or so and hope that I get dealt a premium hand or two which may get more action than it normally would because of how I have been playing.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Play all sorts of poker games in browser on bwin.

I played no limit holdem with some business partners. Well, one hand came down to two players, player A and player B. Before the river, player A was hoping back then for a flush with clubs in the pocket and two on the table. Player B was already committed to pocket with QQ. River card came and good for player A as he got his flush. Suddenly, without betting or even checking, he showed his cards. A keen observer who was around since the start of the game said that he mucked. Later, he admitted his mistake that he had forgotten however everyone at the table believed then it was a muck. What do you think? And if in case no one went all in, what will be the verdict?

Thanks!

Schultz
Schultz,

This was not a muck. He just prematurely showed his hand. Action could continue as normal, but the other player would have added information.

I love to play .50/1.00 NL Holdem with some of my closes friends. Typically, we pass around the deck and let everyone at the table deal and then use the deck as the “dealer” button. However, there was a problem at some point, several of my friends can’t deal well. Therefore, I started dealing every hand and eventually used a real dealer button. Also, I then started to play in the game, but some wanted me to deal with every hand as for them I was quick, fair, and doing good. Well, I must admit, I also had some misdeals or improper flops and I don’t know why they find me good as long as dealing is concern.

As time pass, I tried to become better. I also tried to familiarize myself to some things I used to be of no knowledge about. First, I tried seeking out possible answers as to what’s the best way to shuffle for a home game. Well, a number of times, I just do a standard bridge shuffle. And I have read 7 times makes it total randomized, however on televisions, play with all the cards in their hands till it is randomized. Second, I tried to find the answer to the question on my mind, when you have a full table of 10, where is the standard place to put fold cards. And then the last, something about if people are allowed to fold out of turn. Unfortunately, till now, I haven’t yet found any answer for all of my questions. Hope you can help me.

Thank you very much. By the way, I love your site and it’s been a great help to me.

Warm regards,
Gunnar Lundmark
Gunnar,

What you see dealers do is wash the deck. The spread out the cards and wash them around with their hands. This is not part of every shuffle and deal. This can be done, but is time consuming. A player may request it once a round.

When shuffling, the dealer usually takes the cards, shuffles at least three times. Does some mini cuts where it looks like they are quickly stacking the deck in thirds. Then they shuffle a time or two more and then cut the deck onto the cut card. There are some variations in this but most dealers do similar.

At a table of 10, if you are not playing, put the muck pile directly in front of you as to not interfere. If you are playing, put the muck pile slightly to your right side.

Players are not allowed to fold out of turn. If they do, they receive a warning. They do not receive their cards back however.

Before I lay down my question, I would like to thank you for creating and maintaining a site like this one. Thanks for all the efforts!

For my question, well say at a table, 100-100 blinds. Then player A is the big blind, 200. There is player B who will go all in for 150. Finally, there is player C who will raise to 400. Later on, player A who is the big blind will fold. What do you think should happen next? Player C will match the 150 all in of player B?

Also, I’m wondering, what if player B wins, is he going to take home the pot including the 200 of the big blind? Or else just the 150 as the 50 will go to player C? What do you think?
Thanks!

All the best,
Del Wilhelm
Del,

Player C will only have to match the 150 of Player B. The most that player B can win from each player is 150. The extra 50 from player A would automatically go to player C he calls the all-in bet.

At home together with some friends, I usually play poker. In a recent game, there were three players left, player 1, player 2 and me as player 3. Player 1 has somebody to help him all throughout while me and player 2 have no one. At mid part of the game, I noticed that the person helping player 1 was keeping half of the chips. Do you think that was legal? Personally, I believe it wasn’t at all.

Thanks in advance!

Kaye Welbourn
Kaye,

This is outright cheating. I am surprised you are allowing this to continue. Also, they are removing money from the table. This is also frowned up in cash games. In some casinos, players that take money off the table must cash out and come back into the game after going through the list.

In poker it is supposed to be one player to a hand. Receiving help is cheating.

Yesterday, I played poker. Well, something happened that caused the argument at the table.

A friend of mine who was the dealer just finished distributing the cards when he realized he has wrongly dealt the cards, he actually skipped a certain player. Eventually, all of us at the table just decided to re-deal the cards.

However, one guy got so mad because of my friend’s mistake, and so maybe because of curiosity I decided to look at that guy’s cards. He had an ace and king same suited actually. Unfortunately, he saw me looking at his cards so he became very furious and said that he mucked. I defended myself of course and said that there was no harm done on him as the cards weren’t going to be played after all. But he still fought out that it doesn’t matter if the cards are to be played or not, what’s important is that he mucked and so I am not allowed to take a look or peek. What do you think, does he makes sense?

Thank you very much.

Cheers,
David
David,

First, the hand was a misdeal since a player was skipped. The person that got offended that you looked at his hand had no reason to get mad. Since the hand was a misdeal, the hand doesn’t count. If he had mucked in a live hand, then he has a reason to get mad.