LEARN FROM A MASTER Whenever you get chance to watch a poker master like Daniel Negreanu play in a televised tournament, take it. You can learn so much from how he handles his play. He always plays the player and the cards, giving equal weight to both activities. I recently watched him play a pair of Fours to perfection. This took a lot of nerve as a brilliant young player called Joe Cassidy had raised pre-flop with a $2,400 bet. This would be enough to make most players fold. Not Negreanu! He decided to stay in for the flop which duly delivered the beaming Daniel Four-Three-Three. Cassidy kept right on steaming with a $4,000 follow up bet. Daniel decided to use what he calls a “little Hollywood”. He muttered something like,“This might be a close one!” implying that maybe he and Cassidy both had two pair: The Threes on the board and whatever pocket pairs they both might be holding. Daniel was giving Cassidy respect, figuring him for Queens or Kings.
A LITTLE HOLLYWOOD Long story short, by using a “little Hollywood” play-acting the master was able to keep Cassidy and another opponent in the pot long enough to get paid royally for his deserving Full House. Daniel came away from the game with $90,000! Had he played his Full House aggressively in such smart company he would’ve driven them off too early and come away with less than half of the ninety grand he eventually achieved. My take was that the comment, “This might be a close one!” was worth at least $50,000 of the $90,000! So simple. So effective.
ADVANCED POKER TERMS Q: What does it mean to “represent the flop”? A: It means you are betting as though the flop strengthened your hand. Whether it did or not is for you to know and your opponents to guess.
Q: What does the term “effective odds” mean? A: The ratio of the total amount of money you expect to win if you make your hand to the total amount of money you expect to invest in the pot (either by betting or calling) to continue from the present round of betting to the end of the hand. It is important to remember that for any opponent to also continue in the hand he or she will have to contribute the exact same amount as you. To make this clear let me now define the more usual “pot odds”. Pot odds are the ratio of the total amount of money in the pot to the bet you must call (or the amount of money you must otherwise invest in the pot) to continue in the hand, to see one more card that will take you from one betting round to the next. Phew!
