Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Win

• Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Wins
• Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Winner
• Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Winners

The blinds are 3M/6M/6M w/ a 12M straddle in local currency!! This is the NEW biggest poker pot ever, $2,300,000 USD between Tom Dwan and Paul Phua! Big blind should be defending when facing c-bet: any pair or better (excluding low pocket pairs), open-enders and gut-shots. This is how you should be playing the vast majority of your Texas Holdem poker hands and learning how theoretically sound strategy looks is a must to reach long term success.

Building a big pot may be simple in theory, but in reality there's a lot more to it. One of the first concepts that you learn when you start playing poker is there are big-pot hands and small-pot hands.

What dictates whether a hand's a big- or small-pot one depends on the circumstances.

How to Build Big Pots in Poker

Generally, small-pot hands are hands like one pair. Big-pot hands are flushes, straights, sets, full houses - hands you're willing to risk your whole stack with in hopes of winning your opponent's.

The reason building large pots is so much more difficult than it looks is because your opponent is trying to protect his stack. He, just like you, is trying his best to only put his money in when he thinks he has the best of it. He isn't just going to give up his stack without a fight.

Poker isn't like that (any more). You have to trick your opponent into thinking that his hand is better than yours - which is not always an easy task.

When you make that big hand, your ultimate goal is to get it all-in because you can't win your opponent's stack without putting your stack on the line.

The problem is, you can't just bet your stack right away. No opponent will ever call you if you elect to bet $200 into $6.

The pot starts out small, and you need to gradually build it so that by the time the river is dealt it's large enough for you to bet your entire stack.

Bet, Bet, Bet

The most basic method of building a pot is to just bet, bet, bet. Bet all three streets, the flop, the turn and the river.

In No-Limit poker, bets are always made in relation to the pot size. That means that on each street the pot grows exponentially. While the pot may be small on the flop, by the river it could be massive.

Let's look at an example.

$1/$2 No-Limit, effective stacks $200. You raise to $9 on the button with A♥K♠ and the big blind calls. The flop comes down Q♠J♣10♥.

The big blind checks and you bet $15 into $19. He calls once again. The turn comes 2♥ and the big blind checks again. You now bet $45 into $49 and he calls again.

The river comes down 6♣ and your opponent checks.

The river now contains $139 and you have $131 in your stack. You can now get all-in on the river without ever having to make an overbet.

The bet, bet, bet method works especially well against weaker, calling-station type players.

It can also be effective if your image is very bad - i.e. you've been caught bluffing recently or you have recently lost a few big pots and your opponents have reason to believe that you're tilting.

Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Wins

The Check-Raise

Another way to build a pot fast is to use the check-raise. As you probably know, the check-raise is when you check the action over to your opponent in hopes that he will bet and then you come over the top with a raise when he does.

The check-raise is effective at building pots because it allows you to get two rounds of betting from a single round - your opponent's bet and then your raise. Thus it allows you to build big pots faster.

The check-raise is not without its own faults. Check-raises scream strength and will often blow your opponent completely out of the water.

Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Winner

Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Winner

Furthermore, when you check, your opponent may elect to just check through, eliminating an entire round of betting.

Both forcing your opponent to fold and eliminating a street of betting are counterproductive to building large pots. You need three streets to build a pot big enough to get a 100BB stack all-in.

If you eliminate one of them, you're seldom going to get all-in without having to make an overbet - which is the major reason why slow-playing is not an effective way to build a pot.

You're best limiting yourself to check-raising only when you know your opponent will bet. That way you minimize the risk of losing a round of betting those times your opponent checks through.

If you find your opponents are folding too often to your check-raises, you have to balance your ranges better. Start occasionally check-raising with top-pair-type hands or your strong draws.

If you only check-raise your monsters, your opponent will quickly catch on and just fold everything that you beat.

The Overbet

Another way to build a big pot is to overbet the pot. The overbet can be extremely effective against certain types of opponents.

Texas Holdem Poker Biggest Pot Winners

Many players still believe to this day that any time a player overbets the pot they are bluffing. You can use this to your advantage and punish this type of player with large overbets.

The reason overbets are so effective is for the same reason they say 'Fast play is the new slow play.' Players think, 'If you have such a great hand, then why are you betting so much? If you had a real hand you would bet smaller and hope that I call.'

Tom 'durrrr' Dwan is a player who makes well-timed overbets regularly. He's such a dangerous player because he balances his ranges so well. His opponents are always left guessing as to what his overbets mean. They can signify a monster or complete air.

If you leave your opponent guessing, they are going to end up guessing wrong more often than they guess right. So start adding the overbet value bet to your arsenal.

Related Reading:

Making Your Hand Is Only Half the Battle

Trying to decide how best to build a big pot is a good problem to have because it means you have a hand you're willing to go to the felt with.

Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide which line is the best for the situation. The right decision, like everything in poker, depends on many factors ... your image, your opponent's range, the table flow, etc.

There is no cookie-cutter way to play any hand, and one line might be best against one player but could be completely terrible against a different player.

It's up to you to pay attention to your opponents and use whatever information you have to your advantage to find the best possible line with your big hands.

Related strategy articles:

What are Pot Odds In Texas Holdem Poker?

A player's pot odds refers to the ratio between how much they can win and how much they must invest when they are facing a bet. So in a no-limit game, if player A were to bet $100 into a $100 pot, then player B would be facing pot odds of 200:100 which should be simplified to 2:1. Alternatively, a bet of $50 into a $100 pot would offer odds of 3:1, and a bet of $200 into a $100 pot would provide pot odds to the caller of only 1.5:1. In order to calculate your pot odds, you simply put the bet and the size of the pot on the left side of the colon, and you put the bet on the right side, ie pot + bet : bet.

Click Here to Learn the secrets to playing Texas Holdem poker from a pro in this video!!

Are Pot Odds Important And How Do They Work?

Pot odds are very important, especially when it comes to calculating whether or not you should call on a draw. In order to determine whether or not it is profitable to draw, you simply compare your pot odds with the ratio of non-outs to outs. So for example, imagine that you have Qh2h on an AhKh4s flop. There is $60 in the pot, and your opponent bets $20. Should you call? Here it is easy to calculate your outs. There are nine hearts left in the pack. We know five cards (our two hole cards and the three community cards on the flop), so there are forty seven unknown cards. Of these, thirty-eight do not give us a flush and nine do (38:9). This can be simplified to 4.3:1 against improving on the turn. Our pot odds are 80:20 or 4:1. So here our pot odds do not quite justify a call, but because we are drawing to the nuts and the difference is quite modest we can rely on our implied odds to make up the difference.

Implied Odds In Texas Holdem Poker.

Implied odds refer to the fact that there are still bets to come. Looking back to our flush draw example, after calling the $20 on the flop there is still a turn and river to play. We could potentially make our flush on the turn, bet $70, get called, and then get called again for a large bet on the river. Or our opponent might simply fold once the flush comes in. Predicting the future is always a tricky thing to do, and that is part of the joy of playing poker.

Here Is A Great Example Of Texas Holdem Poker Hand Odds .

The first three players fold, and then mid-position (MP)+1 raises to $7 in a $1/$2 game. You flat on the button with 6s5s, and the big blind comes along as well. There is $22 in the pot. The flop then comes down as As2s7h. MP bets $20 and the action is on you. You are getting ever-so slightly better than 2:1, and like 9 cards on the turn, so your odds of improving are again 4.3:1 against. Here there is a very large disparity between your pot odds and your implied odds. The situation is also significantly worse in two additional ways. Firstly, and most importantly, you are drawing to a six high flush that is not at all the nuts. Secondly, you are not closing the action. The problem with drawing to a six high flush (especially in a multiway or mass multiway pot) is that it is very easy for someone else to have a better hand. In poker, you want to be very cautious about drawing to non-nut holdings (see poker winning hands for the nuts). And the problem with not closing the action is that the player in the big blind could still raise, which means your effective pot odds are reduced. Because of all these factors (we aren't getting the right price, we might be drawing dead, and there is still another player left to act who could raise causing us to forfeit our call) the best play is to simply fold. In fact, we probably shouldn't have called to see the flop in the first place, simply because our cards are too low.

How Important Are Your Texas Holdem Poker Hand Pot Odds?

Your pot odds inform many of your decisions in Texas Hold'em poker. Of course, but there are other factors as well. It is crucial to study your opponents and observe their tendencies to better appreciate the quality of their bets. But from a mathematical point of view, there are few things as fundamental as the concept of pot odds. For example, consider the idea of defending your big blind vs a 3.5x open and a min-raise. In example A, the button opens for $7 in a $1/$2 game, and the SB folds. In example B, the button opens for $4 in a $1/$2 game. Assuming that the button is opening at the same frequency in both examples, then we should defend much more liberally in example B, where we are getting 3.5:1, than in example A, where we are getting 2:1. Basically, because the pot odds are greater, we have less risk and more reward, so calling becomes more profitable. Essentially we only have to win the pot 22% of the time instead of 33%. And with higher pot odds and less invested to see the flop, our implied odds increase as well. Of course, we do face a positional disadvantage, which should temper our enthusiasm somewhat, but that can be mollified with accurate play after the flop.

When Should You Call Based On Texas Holdem Poker Hand Odds?

Another example where pot odds matter is in determining whether you should call or not on the river. The greater the pot odds the more liberally you should call. If there is $200 in the pot and your opponent bets $30, then you would be getting great odds and should likely call with any pair, or maybe even ace high. You only have to be right 1 in 7 times to show a profit. On the other hand against a larger bet, you should generally be a bit more cautious, unless you think that they are bluffing. Against a player who does not bluff (or bluffs at a low frequency), you would want to have a pretty strong hand to call a large river bet, one that would beat some or many of the hands that he is value betting.

Conclusion.

To progress in Texas Holdem Poker and make money in the long run you must understand pot odds and implied odds in order to understand when to call a bet. You need to take into account the size of the pot and the chips you need to throw in to make the call, against the cards in your hand and the chances of winning. If you don't know the chances of winning, based on pot odds, you will never know if you should be calling or not. And its not just about the hand you are in right now, or even todays game, but it is based on the results of all the games you play over a season, a year, a career. If you want to come out ahead in the long run, you have to know the pot odds for the hands you are in. Sure, you can make a hero call now without the odds in your favor, and you might win today, but if you keep doing that over a multiple games, you will lose in the long run.

So sit down tonight at the poker table, take some time to consider the pot odds for each hand when you are on a draw, and fold or call appropriately. Good luck and see you on final table!!