ANALISE THIS! It’s official! Bad behaviour at the poker table does disadvantage opponents. Psychiatrists in America led by Dr. Tim Lavalli have been studying the phenomena as exploited by top professionals like Phil Hellmuth and Men “The Master” Nguyen. Apparently a barrage of crude and demeaning comments directed at the opposition causes players on the receiving end to make rash judgements. Those of us with spouses of a certain persuasion will know how to screen this kind of abuse out but for the single folk among you it’s tough luck I’m afraid.
FREQUENTLY ASKED POKER QUESTIONS Q: What is a “backdoor flush”? A: Let’s say you have the Jack of Hearts and Ten of Hearts and the flop is the Queen of Hearts and the Four of Spades and the Three of Spades. This means you require two Hearts in succession. If that happens, it’s a backdoor flush. Be warned. It’s a twenty to one shot.
Q: I keep hearing the expression “gut-shot”. What does it mean? A: A gut-shot is a straight draw when only one card can complete a perfect hand. Let’s say you have the Queen and King and the flop delivers the Ace and a Ten. If fate delivers a Jack as your next card you’ve landed your straight and that’s the gut-shot. Most players will draw all the way to the river for the gut-shot with odds of success at around six to one. Your odds of hitting it earlier at the turn are eleven to one. These are good stats to keep in mind.
Q: What is meant by an over-card? A: An over-card is a card with a face value greater than the highest rated card on the board.
Q: What does it mean to “flop a draw”? A: If the flop takes you to a four card flush or straight that means you have flopped a draw. In other words you will need to decide whether to continue to the turn or even the river, in the hope of “drawing” the fifth card for your flush or straight. Before making this decision you’ll need enough opposing players to make the pot size worth the mathematical risk you are taking. In other words you need to calculate the odds against you completing your hand. This is not as complicated as it sounds. The question is simply how many players make the risk- reward -ratio worthwhile? Usually a professional player will want to see at least three other players going for the pot before he will attempt the potential draw. That’s the magic figure to keep in mind. If three or more players are left in the game with you, go for it.
