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What I’m really remembering is: “Making your two-card hand relatively strong is more important than constructing a powerhouse hand behind.”.

Meh.

For the record, we’re talking No Limit Hold’em.

1. Whether or not the player you’re up against is winner or loser, and how he reacts in these situations.
2. The stack-sizes. Don’t risk your whole stack by valuebetting a mediocre hand against a dangerous board. If you’ve got $300 invested and you both have $2500 –you don’t want to have to face an all-in decision on a weak hand.
3. The board. What dangers are out there? If a 3-card flush or straight is out there, be cautious. If you read your opponent as strong, check it down.
4. Your table image. Don’t valuebet a mediocre hand if you know you’re only getting called when you’re surely beat. Being aware of your own table image is vital in poker, so keep your eyes on yourself as much as your opponents.
5. Bankroll management. Fold to a big re-raise if you’re not strong enough. Your money is worth a good laydown every once in a while.

More factors to come, but feel free to join in and give opinions here…

Here are my most favorite ways of seeing people lose with their Weapons Of Mass Destruction:

1. Slowplaying Aces pre-flop.
   Don’t make a habit of slowplaying Aces. As Dan Harrington said: just call only a marginal percentage of the time, and when you do — try to do it with aggressive players behind you. You don’t want 5 people limping in to a pot. You want one, maximum two players in the hand. This is VITAL for the strength of your aces after the flop!
   
   
2. Not keeping your head straight.
   Yes, your aces are strong — but you can’t stop paying attention. Keep studying the board and the players around you — trying to stay on top of the game. Think about what kind of hands beat you, and if they’re likely to have called your raise pre-flop. Keep in mind that against aces, looser opponents are more dangerous than people playing only premium starting hands. With a J94 flop, the solid player made AJ tops (or a set). The loose player may have flopped J9 — and your aces might be in serious trouble.
3. Checking after the flop.
   With aces; BET. Make a continuation bet if nobody has bet the flop, and raise if someone else has bet into what seems to be a safe flop. Define your hand. Checking is giving free cards, and it’s stupid. Not raising is stupid to, unless against a very aggressive opponent, who might keep bluffing at a pot when he thinks you’re weak. Keep in mind though — he’s getting free cards too, so you’re taking a risk.
4. Putting someone else on a set.
   Yes, someone may have flopped a monster — but it’s unlikely. Decide on the flop whether or not you put someone on a set — it’s the right time. If he bets out, you raise, and he comes over the top. Make your decision based on his image and your instinct. Same when you get check-raised. Don’t second-guess, it’s the wrong play. Once you feel he hasn’t flopped a set, stick to it.
   
   
5. When it’s obvious your aces are beat — lay them down!
   4-card flushes and straights on the board are typical situation you don’t want to see. Let your hand go if you are facing a big bet in these situations. Yes — the other guy might be bluffing, but he’s probably not.

Aces are great — don’t spoil the fun yourself!

Yesterday, that wasn’t necessary. The poker game was so über-live that I decided to play lock down poker, only get involved with wired pairs and AQ+ — and it worked out. Pushed every TT+ from any position strongly with pre-flop raises of 5BB (getting multiple callers each time) – and pretty much moving in on any flop that hit. The best pot of the night saw me holding AQ of spades, the flop coming AJ4 with two spades – me checking, one guy moving all in, other guy calling – me thinking it over and moving in over the top. Second caller calls my hand and shows…. A pair of jacks. The first shover showed a lower flush draw – which was a sick play at the table….

Anyway, ended up close to tripling up in that hand, beating two hands that were in a pot they probably never should have entered.

Final result: buy-in * 7. Good night, but… not good for the heart.

The dealer will then deal you an additional card to each hand, and you will play each hand individually. It is important to know the different splitting pair types when you play blackjack. Not every pair should be spilt.

You should ALWAYS split a pair of Aces. Just over 30% of the cards in a single deck have a value of 10, so you have a good chance of hitting two more 10 cards and to improve both your hands into a blackjack. (Although the house may not pay out 3:2 on Blackjacks that come from split Aces).

Don’t split 10s you numpty. 20 is a winning hand. If you split 10s the dealer is morally obliged to slap you with a wet fish.

You should always split 8s. A total of 16 is not good enough to stand but you are likely to bust almost two thirds of the time if you hit. With a large proportion of the pack being 10s you have a good chance of ending up with two hands with a total of 18.

For other hands the decision should be made based on the dealer’s upcard.

	Dealer’s Up Card
	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	T	A
Pairs
2 2	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
3 3	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
4 4	H	H	H	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
5 5	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	H	H
6 6	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H	H
7 7	P	P	P	P	P	P	H	H	H	H
8 8	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P
9 9	P	P	P	P	P	S	P	P	S	S
10′s	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
A’s	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P	P

Action: H = Hit S = Stand D = Double P = Split

I would stress that like doubling up; splitting pairs can also affect the effectiveness of your betting strategy. This is especially true if you are using the Paroli or Martingale system. You should make the decisions about when you are going to split pairs and the effect it might have on your betting system and stick to them.

Avoid Distractions
Don’t drink while playing. We all know alcohol makes you do silly things. Some casinos will offer winning players drinks. This is not to be nice. The naughty casino people know if you drink you start to make mistakes. If you are playing online don’t sit and watch TV or the children whilst playing. You should be concentrating on what you are doing. If you are tired stop playing. You will only start making mistakes. Get some sleep, some exercise or some food or all three.

Use the Basic Strategy
Always use the basic strategy. Always. It is maths and you can’t argue with it. (Well you can but the maths will win) Even those times that you are dealt a bad hand, for example you have a 16 and want to stand when the dealer is showing a ten. By not using the strategy you increase the houses edge and we don’t want that!

In the end playing Blackjack is like anything else. Be disciplined and it will pay off.