If you want to truly improve as a poker player, you must play. Period. You must put your time in and learn the game. You can read all the books you want to learn about strategy and positioning and other tools of the trade. But nothing, and I mean nothing is more valuable than experience. You just need to play, plain and simple. When you play, you discover things. You see certain situation that repeat themselves, and though you may not have known how to handle it the first time, the next time the situation arises, you should be ready for it. This is even truer when you’re up against familiar players. When you play against the same people over and over, you should be able to learn about the way they play – their betting patterns, their overall tendencies, their image. Poker is a game about information and the more information you gather, the better off you’ll be as a result.

Keeping this in mind, on to this week’s hand of the week. I was playing in a no-limit game the other day when the following hand came up. I was in the big Blind with the Kh-Jh, high suited connectors. I generally like to see flops multi-handed at the right price with these cards. The Under the Gun player folded and the player to the right of him bet $8. Three players called as did the small blind. I called as well and there was $40 in the pot.

The flop came and it was the Qc-10s-4d giving me an open-ended straight draw with one over card. I didn’t figure the K would help me by itself so I gave myself 8 outs. I checked, one player bet $20, the button called and I called as well. $100 was sitting in the pot with 3 players left.

The turn came and in was the 4 of hearts, pairing up the board. When the board pairs, it generally gives me a warning sign of a potential full house. Keeping this in mind, I checked and surprisingly both players behind me did as well. You have to love a free card in this spot. However, I felt a bit apprehensive because I was pretty sure someone had something here.

The river came and brought the Ace of spades. Perfect! I just hit my Broadway straight. Now I had to sit back and decide how much to bet. I decided to bet half the size of the pot for $50. One player folded and the button sat and thought for a minute. Then two minutes, then 3 minutes. Finally, he announces “I’m all in for $150”. This really made me stop and think. What could he be holding? And what was he thinking about for so long. At first I suspected a bluff. Why else would he make such a bold move? But I thought about it some more. This player is fairly conservative and at this point, he must have me on a fairly big hand. Apparently, the full house on the board didn’t really scare him. Were we holding the same hand? I doubt it and the only thing he could have that could beat me is some kind of full house. I decided to fold but I showed my hand. He quickly said, “That was an excellent laydown”, as he flipped over Ac-4c. Wow! He had a full house. I’m pretty happy with the read I made on this player and it saved me $100 in the process.

Next time you’re at a game, don’t just simply react. Sit, analyze and think. Your bankroll will thank you for it.

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