FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS Q:As a housewife who enjoys playing horses occasionally I like to know exactly what I stand to lose. It seems to me as an outsider that it is far more difficult to predict the downside with poker? A: You might make a very good player with that attitude. You are ALWAYS in control of your downside if you are a person with basic common sense. Your question indicates that you certainly are such a person. Remember, you can always fold if the financial pressure is beyond your budget. People who lose at poker don’t have that discipline. Start off on the low-limit games. Playing poker online enables you to play for extremely small amounts which would not be economic or tolerated in bricks and mortar casinos.
PLAYING A BLINDER Q: Whenever I’m in the small blind I have the habit of hanging onto rubbish hole cards like Seven-Three unsuited just to see what the rest of the table does. Often the table goes into fold mode all around to me and I’m left with only the big blind to follow me. I’ll usually call figuring in a heads up I’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of pulling off a win. Is this undisciplined play? So far I’d say the habit is neither costing me or earning me anything very much. A: Phew! Interesting. If you are holding unpaired hole cards you’ve got about a forty percent chance of pairing one of them on the flop and about a five percent chance of pairing them both. You have a less than two percent chance of pulling off a three-of-a-kind. Obviously being in the small blind gives you the chance to see the flop at a bargain basement price as you have already been forced to put in half the money required. I’d say your call is a good call. It’s what I’d do under the circumstances you describe if that’s any comfort.
Q: I’ve been reading about some fairly sophisticated software called “poker tracker”. Is it worth downloading? A: For a serious player who has already decided they are going to be playing poker online for the foreseeable future I’d say install it. The tracker will record and remember every hand you’ve ever played and evaluate it for future play. It records rakes, flop details and will build a data base of all plays made by your online opponents. You are allowed to download the software for free use on one thousand hands just to see how effective it is for the development of your game. Clearly you have nothing to lose by trying it. I’d say the main advantages are the ability to replay complete tournaments, track sharks or fish and your previously successful plays. Professionals that I know use it to track multiple screen names across a whole range of web sites. Spooky.
