Here I want to break down a hand I played last month at the Venetian Deepstacks $5k Main event. With almost 900 entries, this was a great value tournament. I came in feeling good and played my A+ game for 3 days straight. I was big stacked most of tourney, that is until the middle of day 3 when my KK lost to QQ for a 650k pot when the average was 400k. That left me with 250k (instead of 900k and among the chip leaders).

Soon thereafter, I played an interesting hand against Men the Master. Men and I have a bit of history… let’s just say we are adversaries at the poker table. This was the last hand before dinner break, and some people were already getting up to leave. I usually consider this a good time to steal the blinds, which were 5k-10k. I looked down at 7c8c and raised to 25k with about 300k total. It’s folded to Men in the big blind who calls. The flop comes Td9h2s, giving me the bottom end of an open ender. I had already planned to check behind when Men comes out firing 40k into the 60k pot. I put him on a ten: either JT, QT, KT, or AT being most likely. He has me covered with about 350k starting the hand. It is tempting to raise here (either all-in or a pot committing amount), and many aggressive players would take this approach. But I think that Men might get stubborn and call me with a ten, and force me to hit my straight draw for my tourney life. On the surface, calling seems bad because I am not getting the right pot odds, and even including implied odds (what I might win if I hit my draw), it is marginal at best. However, calling here looks strong… and allows me to potentially bluff later in the hand.

So I call 40k, making the pot about 140k. The turn was the Qh, an interesting card because in Men’s mind I could easily have KQ, or maybe J8 or QT. He thinks for a while and checks. Now I go into the tank. I think about betting this card, but decide there is too good a chance that either Men is trapping, or has a hand like JT which he won’t fold. I also think that he will check the river with an unimproved ten and I can often win the pot there. So I check the turn. The river brings the 9c, pairing the middle card on the flop. Men thinks and checks. I decide this is the perfect card to bluff at… I could easily have called with middle pair on the flop, or had KQ (or maybe AQ) and decided to play it safe and check the turn. I bet 60k, almost too small a bet with the pot being 140k, but in this case I thought it looked more like a genuine value bet. Men read it the same way and after a while folded.

This bluff gave me the confidence that I could come back and win the tourney. Sadly, things turned south for me after dinner and I busted in 29th place, pretty disappointing overall.

Two important lessons from this hand are (1) to anticipate how things might play out in later betting rounds, and (2) to think about what your opponent thinks you have.

The key in winning poker games is playing strategically. It is always advisable to have a poker strategy before entering a poker table. There has been so much strategy in playing poker. Often most people have the fallacy that playing poker is a game of luck but it is a proven fact that it is not.

Sometimes while playing poker games, you find your instincts kicking in and almost forcing you to call or bet on a hand that your strategy does not call for. When this time comes, stop for a moment and think about your strategy and the cards. Then you can decide whether this can be the best move for you. Have a second thought about that initial instinct and not acting on it.

This is why there are strategies in playing poker games. Prevent yourself from instinctively wanting to play your cards in a way that does not follow the basic rules of poker. The best strategic move in this card game is to keep your strategy that you had prepared in advance before entering the game. Flexibility in poker games is always a key element in winning.

It is very important to have a strategic plan in mind when entering in every poker games. Whether it be monitoring card patterns or playing only a certain cards in a certain positions. You must always remember what your plan is and if you are sticking on it. There will be times for you to change plans as other players call or rise unexpectedly. You must be a very open strategic player to situations that may come your way. Also check your competitors on how they execute their strategy this will assist you to counterpart their plan.

Therefore playing your planned strategy throughout the game will bring in the consistent profit.