Josh checks.

THAT WAS IMPORTANT. This is my “free card” opportunity that my $40 raise bought. Now I’m in complete control and feeling pretty good about this hand. I can check and see the river for free. I’ve still got a lot of outs here. Or I can bet STRONG and try to scare Josh away.

“One hundred dollars”, I say, as I push a huge stack of red chips into the middle. True, I only have a queen high and the beginner card player may think this type of play is crazy. But then again, that’s why they’re called “BEGINNERS”.

Anyway, Josh thinks for a minute and then mucks it. I rake in a beautiful pot. Even if Josh had called, I still had a good number of outs. And if I missed, I could have tried to bluff again. Now think back to when the flop came out. After Josh bet $20, what if I had called? (And not raised.)

Well, here’s what would have happened…

The queen would have came and Josh would’ve immediately fired a huge $80 bet. I would’ve had to either call the $80 to see the river, or muck my beautiful straight flush draw. And THAT, my friend, is why it’s CRUCIAL that you TAKE CONTROL of the game.

This type of technique allows you to truly DOMINATE THE TABLES and win more money playing poker. Period.

That’s what makes Texas Hold‚Äôem such a fascinating game. There are just so many scenarios that can occur, and so many special “tricks” and “techniques” you can use to beat the competition.

How to Play Big Slick in Late Position

Big Slick has the reputation for being a MONSTER hand. A hand that most players LOVE to get dealt. And with good reason. After all, it’s got a TON of potential. Think about it:

If you have Big Slick and a king or ace hit the board, you’ve automatically got top pair. And not only that, but you’ve also automatically got the highest kicker possible. And Big Slick is connected, which means it has the POTENTIAL to become the highest STRAIGHT on the board.

Then again, if you’re an experienced poker player, then you KNOW that Big Slick is often HIGHLY OVERRATED by most amateurs and beginners.

Because if you REALLY think about it, Big Slick by itself is NOT a good hand. By itself, it’s an ace high with a king. Period.

It can be beat by just about ANYTHING from a flush to a 3-of-a-kind to a pair of deuces. What Big Slick has is the POTENTIAL to be a great hand, but that doesn’t mean it IS a great hand. And this distinction is VERY important in order to learn how to play your AK properly.

If you play Big Slick the RIGHT way, you can with it at least 75% of the time. If you play it the WRONG way, you’ll end up losing all your chips and whining about your bad beat. The decision is yours.

So, let’s approach our strategy for Big Slick with LATE positioning; which is the equivalent to GOOD positioning, as you know.

Since the hand can get run down easily, your strategy is to GET RID of as many players as possible BEFORE THE FLOP. In other words, SCARE AWAY everyone who doesn’t have a pair or face cards. If you let too many players stay in, someone with rags is bound to catch great cards on the flop and steal your chip stack. But if you go up against players with face cards, then YOU have the advantage and the odds are in YOUR favor.

This is accomplished, of course, with a pre-flop raise, which will also give you control over the table as you’ll see in a minute. Let’s use a real-life hand I played to demonstrate. This is from last night, actually.

I was in a $1-2 no-limit game and got AK on the button. Drew was first to act and made it $7 to play. The action went around the table and every single one of the next five players called. Now the action was to me.

Million Dollar Poker Star

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