Just because you're sitting at a poker table with some guy doesn't give him the right to say whatever the hell he wants about the way you live your life.
Just because you're sitting at a poker table with some guy doesn't give him the right to say whatever the hell he wants about the way you live your life.
Some players like to add a little more spice to their no-limit Hold 'em game. They add a live blind, also known as a straddle, where the player to the left of the big blind voluntarily puts up twice the big blind before looking at his hole cards. The player in the straddle then has the option to raise it up when the action returns to him.
Playing fast and aggressive poker can help manufacture chips out of thin air and is one element of the game that separates the great players from the merely very good. But beware; it can be risky.
For five or six years, I didn't play in some of the good games leading up to the World Series of Poker, because with so many below-average players there, I reasoned it messed up my game.
Internet players have successfully addressed the all-in play from a mathematical perspective. For example, it's fairly common to see a net player move all-in over the top from the big blind with a hand like K-Q when they have less than twenty big blinds remaining. And for good reason - it works!
Players talk about pot odds all the time, especially when they try to justify a call that they made. Whenever I hear this line of reasoning, though, I can't help but wonder if they properly thought through the consequences of their call.
Every poker player has ups and downs because luck is also involved. When a great poker player smashes, he's making the right moves and making the right reads and he's getting lucky.
The benefit of fast play is that you'll get players to commit their chips with relatively weak hands since it will be hard for them to believe that you have a strong hand every single time. The downside is that your opponents will raise weak when you have nothing at all, forcing you to fold.
I bought a midnight blue Porsch with a whale tail when I was winning big one time in L.A. That car was fast, fast, fast!