The Right Times To Move "All-In" Part 1

Friday, August 5th., 2005 (By the PokerStrategyKing)

Do you ever go All-in? How often? Once per session, once a week? Do you cringe when other players go all-in on you? Well, going all-in is a powerful concept in No-Limit.

No limit Texas Holdem poker is the most popular game around. Personally, it’s my favorite. I notice that most of my opponents don't know how to truly utilize going all-in to their advantage. Going "all-in" is so important, yet most players don't know the right time to make this bold move. They sit back, relax and wait for the absolute nuts and then they go all-in. The problem with that? Well, firstly, the nuts don’t happen all the time, and secondly, if you play that tightly, who would even call your all-in when you wake up and do it?

In this article, I’m going share my thoughts on how, when, where, and why to go "all-in" against your opponents. Not only is this move what makes no limit poker so exciting, but this is also the biggest difference between limit and no limit Holdem and its why you have to be tougher to play no limit. The ability to go All-In actually adds more skill to this great game. Without all in, the game is an exercise in math and odds. Instead, by being able to go "all-in" you can rely on the skills of psychology and intimidation, and bluffing. When you learn the right times to go all-in, you'll have a consistent edge over your opponents and you’ll be able to win all the time even with bad cards.

One of the core principles of poker is that it's always much easier to bet than it is to call. You can make a bet without actually having good cards. You might be "representing" the board, you might just have middle pair, you could be on a draw, you could have absolutely nothing. But to call a bet, you need to have a strong hand. That's one of the reasons I play aggressively. I win a lot more pots even when I don’t have good cards because my opponents become defensive and are forced to fold to me.

The concept that it's easier to bet than call couldn't be more true than with all-in bets. It is much easier to push all your money in the middle than it is to call an all-in bet. When your opponent goes all-in, he has put you to a decision for all your chips. Being forced to call takes away any and all bluffing opportunities and you must choose. Your life in the game/tournament could be over with just this one pot.

In order to call, you must be confident that you have him beat. But in order to make an all-in bet yourself, you just need to be confident that your opponent will fold or that you have him beat. This gives the person making the all-in bet the advantage every time. And that leads to our second main principle, which is this:

If you don't risk chips, you can't win chips. However, no limit Texas Holdem gives you the unique opportunity to win big pots with all-in bets, even when you don't have the best hand. The All-In Factor is what allows you to bully your opponents and take a dominating position. One of the best times to go all-in is to steal a pot from your opponent but when you do this, you must be sure that:

1. You have outs
2. You have good positioning

Let's look at an example. Say you've get dealt 8-7 of diamonds while you're on the button. Three players limp-in and the action is to you. You raise the pot to $15.The small and big blinds fold. But then Pete, who's under the gun, comes back over the top of you and raises it to $30. You forgot that Pete is a smart player who doesn't play anything but premium hands while under the gun. He limped-in, which was a warning that he had something good. Anyway, the action goes around and Jared-- the guy to your right-- also calls the bet of $30. So it's $15 more to call and the pot size is already up to $80. With your positioning and the pot odds, you decide to call and see a flop. You don't like the way this hand is going so far, because now you have $30 invested with just suited-connectors and you're putting Pete on a hand like A-K, A-Q, or maybe something like pocket Queens. If he had anything better he would have been more aggressive than simply raising $15. OK, so the flop comes out 3s-4s-5s. Pete bets $10 into the pot and you know this flop didn't help him one bit. You can tell right away that he doesn't like what he sees on the board. Jared mucks his hand and the action is to you. There's $90 in the middle. You've got about $350 more in chips, and Pete has about $225. This is one of those times to consider going all-in. You don't have a single spade and that's not good. But you do have the gutshot straight draw which means you do have outs. But that's not why you're going all-in. You want to make a move at this pot because you've very confident that Pete is going to fold. For all Pete knows, you could have two spades, or the straight, or a straight draw and flush draw, or even a straight flush. The truth is, Pete probably has the best hand right now with two overcards he may even have a high spade. But that won't be enough for him to justify calling an all-in bet. Pete knows there are simply too many cards out there that can beat him. So you go all-in and he mucks it making you $90 richer.

When stealing a pot like this, be sure it's worth the risk. The fewer players in the hand, and the more money in the middle, the better the payoff is to you. The key is knowing that your opponent is going to fold. If you're up against someone who's too smart
(or too dumb) to muck it, then you're in trouble.

Let's say Pete looked at you and said, "Well, I know you've got the flush, but I can't lay this down." And then he called flipping over an Ace of hearts and an Ace of clubs.

Now you're in trouble, of course. But at least you left yourself some outs as you've got a 16.47% chance of hitting that six. And you've also got the slight chance that two more spades come out or the board makes a straight (which would be a split pot).

If a player has fewer chips, he'll be easier to “push around" and "bully". That lowers your risk. Of course this gets more complicated. You want to be very careful about stealing pots or making stone cold bluffs against anyone who's "short-stacked". If you've got $400 in chips and your opponent has $40 in chips, you wouldn't make the same kind of bluff as you did against Pete in the example.

Moving All-In is a key technique for no limit Texas Holdem. Not only does it separate limit from no-limit, but it also separates the men from the boys. Next time I’ll go into the power of all-in in other situations like tournament play.

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.

(For more poker strategy and tips, please visit the PokerStrategyKing’s website at www.pokerstrategyking.com )

 

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