I was playing in Unleashed Poker last night and it seemed to be a quiet uneventful session until this hand came. I am good with pocket tens and with the board of J,8,J,T,5 I am holding my breath and biting my lips in anticipation. However no prizes for guessing what hole cards my opponent had, yes J,T! That was one expensive and bitter reminder how Zeebo Theorem works when you play poker.
Zeebo Theorem is one of the fundamental poker theorems and states "No player is capable of folding a full house on any betting round, regardless the size of the bet". Ask yourself "Can I fold a full house?" and don't kid yourself with the answer. The only honest answer is "No" and neither can any other player at any table. This theorem works 100%. Why? Well, to start with, a full house is a very powerful hand and it does not come up very often. Therefore no one is happy to fold it and wait for another one to come through even when the bet is uncomfortably large. Even when a player holds a very weak full house he is not going to fold it because the chances of you holding a better hand are much lower than the chances of you bluffing in an attempt to push him out of the pot.
With this fact in mind, what is the best way to use Zeebo Theorem to your advantage? First of all never bluff against a player who you think might have a full house, it will never work and will cost you a lot. On the other hand if you believe that someone has a full house but you have a better hand, you should exploit this to the full and get the pot as big as you can. Your opponent will protect his hand and call.
This brings me neatly to The Fundamental Poker Theorem, which was formulated by David Sklansky in his famous "The Theory of Poker" book. The Fundamental Poker Theorem states "Every time you play your hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents' cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose." Although the statement seems to be nothing but common sense it is the basis of any profitable poker game whether you play poker live, or in online poker rooms.
Let's say that you have Td,9d and your opponent has Kd, Qc, and the flop of Qd, 8d, 7c. You check, he bets, you call. The turn brings As and you bet in semi-bluff trying to pretend a pocket ace. If the other player could know your cards he would have raised you until it was too expensive for you to see the river and draw your straight of a flush. So if he calls you have gained as you have a cheap opportunity to try to complete your hand. Even better if he folds, not you have won the pot, but from his perspective, he lost by mucking the best hand. If and the end of the game you say to yourself "Oh if I knew his hand, I would have played it differently" you have just cost yourself money, even if you won that pot.
So to be successful in poker you must try to aim to play as much as possible the way you would have done if you knew your opponent's cards. You will never get it 100% right but if you always pay attention to the behaviour and betting patterns of other players' at the table, if you are good at spotting tells and know what they mean your poker games will become more profitable. It is always good to practice these skills so they become an integral part of your poker game and one of the best ways to do it is through online poker freerolls, where you can win real money prizes without risking a cent of your own. Unleashed poker runs series of freerolls for its players as well as many other online poker promotions.
And always remember that "Most of the money you'll win at poker comes not from the brilliance of your own play, but from the ineptitude of your opponents." Lou Krieger.
Zeebo Theorem is one of the fundamental poker theorems and states "No player is capable of folding a full house on any betting round, regardless the size of the bet". Ask yourself "Can I fold a full house?" and don't kid yourself with the answer. The only honest answer is "No" and neither can any other player at any table. This theorem works 100%. Why? Well, to start with, a full house is a very powerful hand and it does not come up very often. Therefore no one is happy to fold it and wait for another one to come through even when the bet is uncomfortably large. Even when a player holds a very weak full house he is not going to fold it because the chances of you holding a better hand are much lower than the chances of you bluffing in an attempt to push him out of the pot.
With this fact in mind, what is the best way to use Zeebo Theorem to your advantage? First of all never bluff against a player who you think might have a full house, it will never work and will cost you a lot. On the other hand if you believe that someone has a full house but you have a better hand, you should exploit this to the full and get the pot as big as you can. Your opponent will protect his hand and call.
This brings me neatly to The Fundamental Poker Theorem, which was formulated by David Sklansky in his famous "The Theory of Poker" book. The Fundamental Poker Theorem states "Every time you play your hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents' cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose." Although the statement seems to be nothing but common sense it is the basis of any profitable poker game whether you play poker live, or in online poker rooms.
Let's say that you have Td,9d and your opponent has Kd, Qc, and the flop of Qd, 8d, 7c. You check, he bets, you call. The turn brings As and you bet in semi-bluff trying to pretend a pocket ace. If the other player could know your cards he would have raised you until it was too expensive for you to see the river and draw your straight of a flush. So if he calls you have gained as you have a cheap opportunity to try to complete your hand. Even better if he folds, not you have won the pot, but from his perspective, he lost by mucking the best hand. If and the end of the game you say to yourself "Oh if I knew his hand, I would have played it differently" you have just cost yourself money, even if you won that pot.
So to be successful in poker you must try to aim to play as much as possible the way you would have done if you knew your opponent's cards. You will never get it 100% right but if you always pay attention to the behaviour and betting patterns of other players' at the table, if you are good at spotting tells and know what they mean your poker games will become more profitable. It is always good to practice these skills so they become an integral part of your poker game and one of the best ways to do it is through online poker freerolls, where you can win real money prizes without risking a cent of your own. Unleashed poker runs series of freerolls for its players as well as many other online poker promotions.
And always remember that "Most of the money you'll win at poker comes not from the brilliance of your own play, but from the ineptitude of your opponents." Lou Krieger.
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