Value shoving, otherwise known as value betting, is when a player overbets (raises) the pot with more than a pot-sized bet. It is a very common occurrence in No Limit Hold’em Games – particularly in Sit and Goes and MTT strategy.

Advantages of Value Shoving

Although there are risked involved in value shoving; the principle of value shoving is so popular in No Limit games because it can be used with a wide range of hands under a number of different situations.

In Multi Table tournaments, value shoving can be done when you hold the best hand in the game. Holding KK and shoving for example, can actually make your hand look like a standard steal or bluff, and the chances of getting called are much higher. This means you can win a much bigger pot and win value for your money than regular slow play. It also removes the risks involved from this i.e. allowing limpers and non-premium hands to see the flop.

In tournaments – or even cash games – the value shove can be used as a strong re-raise or 3bet. Because of the gap concept involved in 3betting, value shoving as a re-raise in a cash game or tournament means your opponent has to have an excellent hand in order to call you. Most of the time this won’t be the case, however even if you get called you’re still likely to have outs with a good hand. Even with little outs you can get extremely good value for money in the later stages of a poker tournament.

Example of Value Shoving Preflop in Online Tournament: Blinds are 100/200. The opening bet is 700. A 3bet in this situation should be around 3 times the first bet – around 2000. A value shove here, rather than a standard 3bet, would make your hand look much weaker; giving value for hands like 77 or even 55 to call you. In a normal 3bet only hands AA – JJ will call you in this situation.

The Delayed Value Shove

The delayed value shove is a principle built upon the idea that it conceals the strength of your hand. If you delay your shove, and give your opponent the opportunity to catch something on the turn or river, it allows you to make a value shove in a situation that would otherwise seem entirely normal. The advantage is that it makes your overbet look more natural, and your giant hand is disguised.

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Pairs

Obviously, having one or two pairs in your starting hand is always a good thing. But, unlike in Texas Holdem, they should not be held on to for dear life. Only if you make a set should you continue with the hand. Remember, it takes a higher ranked hand than in Texas Hold’em to win a pot in Omaha Hi. A pair of twos will usually not win the pot for you. If you have a high pair, like aces, you will have to access the action at the table and make an appropriate decision based on your experience.

Draws

Draws are great hands to play in Omaha Hi. If you have a hand like Ace-2-3-4, you should pay to see a flop. There are just so many different possibilities for making a straight with a hand like this. If your hand is coordinated like this, it is a bad idea to fold before the flop.

Suited Groups

When playing suited groups, the object is to try and draw to a flush. An example of a suited group hand is As-2s-kd-5d. You have two suites covered, spades and diamonds, and you have a high card on each, and so if you do get a flush, it will be a high one. These hands have potential to make you a lot of money.

If you are looking at various poker rooms, trying to find a place to try out these new starting hands, you should check out Littlewoods poker. They have busy Omaha hi tables so you will never have to wait! Give it a shot today!

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All of a sudden, it comes to the turn and the river and suddenly the guy opposite you seems to have picked up the only two cards in the deck that persuades Lady Luck to get off your knee and go to sit on his. Oh, and she’s taken a load of your chips with her.

Bad Beats are the worst part of the game. Nobody likes them, but anyone who has played more than a couple of dozen hands has suffered at least one of them … and if you haven’t, then you SERIOUSLY need to start playing more aggressively.

Despite bad beats being the lowest point of the game, they mustn’t be ignored. If you just bury your head in the sand, then you’ll never improve as a poker player.

Instead, concentrate on putting the problem behind you. If you don’t manage to do that then at best you’re going to be stuck there playing a particular hand over and over in your mind. At worst, then you’re going to go on tilt.

Now I totally understand that putting a bad beat behind you is a whole lot easier said than done. So what can be done to put the last hand behind you?

Well firstly, I wouldn’t worry about talking to someone about it because that’s not going to happen.

The truth is that your fellow poker players just don’t want to hear about it. It’s an unwritten rule that you don’t talk about your bad beats at the poker table. As was mentioned right at the beginning, we’ve all had beats … we don’t need to hear about other people’s bad luck stories. Anyway, from your own point of view, why would you want to tell them about it? Moaning about it is purely the simplest way of telling everyone else at the table that you’re riled and about to go on tilt at any time!

So with the idea of talking to other people out of your way, what other options have you got?

Well luckily enough (for you!), I’ve been a fair few bad beats in my time and I’ve come up with the following list that you might find useful.

1. There’s no point dwelling on things. Give yourself literally sixty seconds to get over what has just happened. Shout at the screen, wave two fingers in the air, smack two fists together. Whatever it takes, just make sure that you get the sense of injustice out of your system. Once you’ve done what you need to do, sit back down at the table and concentrate on your next hand.

Obviously, don’t do that if you’re not sat at home in front of a computer screen or you could find yourself being thrown out of the nearest door.

If you’re in a live casino, then push your seat away from the table and go to the toilet. When you come back, get a drink from the bar or maybe even chuck a couple of coins in to the nearby slot machine. Either way, get your mind off the last hand that happened. When that has happened, pull that seat back up to the table, take a deep breath and concentrate on what’s happening.

2. Have confidence in yourself. You thought you had the best hand and you bet out on it. That was the right thing to do – the only reason you didn’t take the pot down was a freak of nature. Your opponent on the other hand, has shown that he is not a particularly strong player who is liable to play any hand. It shouldn’t be long until he loses the chips that he’s just won off you – you just need to make sure that you continue to play the right hands and hope that you’re around when your chips next get pushed into the pot.

3. If you play your poker online, make sure you head over to a room that offers its players a Bad Beat Jackpot. For example, the Carbon Poker Bonus means that if you end up holding at least quad sevens and still don’t end up winning the hand, then you could receive several hundred thousand dollars in compensation. And lets face it, I can’t think of a better way of getting over a bad beat than that!

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Tight-aggressive players are often the most profitable opponents you will meet. By combining good starting hands with aggressive and positive play they ensure that the money goes into the pot when they have the ‘best of it’. Beware of building large pots by getting into raising wars with this opponent type, though taking a small shot at a pot from position after the flop will often get the tight-aggressive player to release the bottom of their range of hands.

Loose-passive players are characterized by playing too many hands and calling too often, this is an absolutely terrible combination that will lead these players to go broke very fast indeed. The key to beating players who call too much is to play solid values and to value bet with them over several betting rounds. Ensuring the bet sizes are reasonable will keep your loose-passive opponent in the pot with some horrible holdings. Conversely you should avoid bluffing against this type of player – their calling reflex will make this unprofitable.

Tight-passive players will play few starting hands and play them timidly. The defining characteristic of this type of player is that they fold too often after the flop – their hand is never quite good enough to call your large bet. This makes tight-passive opponents great targets for large semi-bluffs as well as value bets.

Another ‘axis’ on which opponent types in online Texas Holdem poker games can be judged is tricky vs straightforward. The more tricky a player is the less likely that their bets, calls and raises mean what they suggest – the extreme of this is that a player is completely ‘backwards’ (bets when weak and checks when strong). Making sure you work out which players are tricky and which not can further help you profit from observing information on your opponent types.

Online players who really want an edge at the tables there are several independent Texas Holdem Poker Software Tools which will watch opponents for you and even suggest profitable plays against them. Be sure to check out what is on the market to improve your profits from the online poker tables.

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The easiest player types to notice are those who play too many starting hands in Texas Holdem Poker Games. These players are labeled as ‘loose’ and are characterized by playing dubious starting hands without regard to position or any betting action ahead. Though it is possible to be profitable playing a ‘loose and aggressive’ poker style, the vast majority of loose players are losers in the game – consistently playing weak starting hands is very difficult to make up for with post-flop play.

Tight players wait for the best starting hands and situations. While this strategy can be profitable in many games, observant opponents will avoid playing large pots with tight players – as they usually have a very strong hand when entering a pot. Tight players are often aware of the ‘gap concept’ – the fact that you need a stronger hand to call a raise than to raise to open a pot yourself. If you see a raise from early position and a tight player re-raises you can be fairly sure that they have a monster hand.

The second axis used to define poker player types is based on how aggressively they play when they have entered a pot. This information is used together with the tight / loose axis to give an opponent one of the 4 possible combinations. Aggressive players tend to raise and re-raise once involved in a pot and are characterized by daring bluffs and large value bets. Conversely passive players limp a lot and call a lot of raises, waiting for the nuts (or very close to it) before raising.

Loose-aggressive players can be very volatile opponents. While you should be aware that some very good players employ this style, the majority will lose money playing this way by playing big pots with marginal holdings. The best strategy to combat this player type is to sit to their left and allow them to build a pot when you have a good hand, check-raising on later streets once they are committed to the pot.

This article series continue in: Texas Holdem Player Types Part 2

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1. Continuation Bet against as few opponents as possible. The ideal number of opponents is just one, you might also consider continuation betting against 2 opponents on some occasions. Any more than this and you need a hand to continue, it is just too likely that someone hit enough of the flop to call your bet.

2. A Half-Pot Bet only needs to work 1/3rd of the time to break even, any more than this is a profit for you. If you vary your bet size to ensure that ‘made hands’ and continuation bets are similar in size you will be more difficult for your opponents to read.

3. Beware of ‘Draw-Heavy’ flops. A flop containing suited and / or connected cards is less attractive for continuation bets. If your opponent calls you then you will not know whether they have a made hand or are drawing to a flush or straight. This will make your future decision making difficult.

4. Skilled opponents will know that continuation betting is a high-percentage play and will expect you to do this on many occasions. Tend to continuation bet less against tricky opponents who may call you just to see if you will fire again on the turn. Not betting every time you are checked to on the flop will improve the credibility of the times you do choose to continuation bet.

5. When an ace falls on the flop you usually have an excellent opportunity to continuation bet against a small number (preferably one) opponent. Since an ace is the first assumption opponents will make about your holding they are unlikely to continue with the hand unless they hold an ace or a stronger hand themselves.

Continuation bets are great if used wisely. Remember that sometimes you will be called and don’t worry about that. If you are called and have nothing, don’t try a second bet on the turn, unless you are pretty sure that you are ahead.

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Details:

Full Tilt Poker > $22+$2 Texas Hold’em Sit and Go Tournament

6 Players; Starting Chips: 1,500

Prize Pool: $132 (1st $85.80 2nd $46.20)

Part #5

After a disastrous suckout of a full house versus quads, we’re finally down to 2 players. Fortunately for me, my opponent is the tight and conservative player, and judging by the last few hands he’s played his style hasn’t change. Although that’s not to say he won’t change his style in heads-up mode, so I’ll have to put in a few raises early to get a feel for how he plays.

• Blinds: 600/1200
• Chip Stack: 4,600
• Position: Dealer
• Hand: A♥ 10♥

In heads-up if you have an Ace in your hand the probability that your opponent has one as well is approximately 12% making any A-x a strong starting hand head-up.

I raise to 2,400 and he quickly folds, and I pick up his 1,200 leaving him with just 3,200.

• Blinds: 600/1200
• Chip Stack: 5,800
• Position: Big Blind
• Hand: K♠ 7♥

Player 1 completes the BB and I raise again to 2,400, he pushes all-in and I fold.

• Blinds: 600/1200
• Chip Stack: 4,600
• Position: Dealer
• Hand: A♣ Q♣

Another big hand in the dealer position but this time I decide to slow play and I just complete the BB. Player 1 checks.

Flop

10♥ 5♠ J♠

Player 1 checks.

I bet 1,200 and he folds.

This is a crucial mistake made by my opponent. If he had bet 1,200 I would have folded immediately. By checking he relinquishes control of the betting and essentially invites me to raise.

I continue to raise with any Ace and King until finally he’s left with just 1,200 in the BB with Q♣7♠ and I win with K♣ 10♥.

The key to winning in heads-up is taking control of the betting. Most of the time pots are won either before the flop or on the flop, it’s very rare that you’ll find yourself going to the turn or the river. Establish early on how your opponent plays. If he’s tight and conservative you’ll need to raise with any decent hand you have. Against an aggressive player you’ll need to pick your spots. While you shouldn’t become submissive and fold to his every raise, you shouldn’t re-raise with 8-3 either.

This is the end of this series, but stay tuned for experiments like this in the future.

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Details:

Full Tilt Poker > $22+$2 Texas Hold’em Sit and Go Tournament

6 Players; Starting Chips: 1,500

Prize Pool: $132 (1st $85.80 2nd $46.20)

Part #4

With the blinds at 300/600 only one player away from the money and the chip stacks being very close together it’s time to switch into hyper aggressive mode and start stealing blinds.

Here is the chip count at this point:

1. Player 1: 3,750
2. Me: 3,225
3. Player 2: 2,025

• Blinds: 300/600
• Chip Stack: 3,225
• Position: Dealer
• Hand: Q♥ 10♦

Q♥ 10♦ is not a hand I would normally consider raising with, but it’ll do the job for stealing the blinds. Sitting under the gun pre-flop is also not the ideal position to attempt a steal either but my logic for doing so is that the players against whom I am playing are fairly experienced and a raise in the BB at this stage of the tournament would raise some alarms. Instead by raising under the gun I am sending out a message that I am holding a strong hand and I’m ready to follow through.

I raise to 1,800 and just as expected both players fold immediately, and I pick up 900 in chips to put me over the 4,000 mark and regain the chip lead.

The important thing to remember when stealing the blinds is to constantly vary your bet amounts, and the position from which you raise. If you constantly raise 3x the BB from the BB position players will quickly recognize a pattern and it won’t be long before players start calling or raising you.

Another point to consider is that when you’re on the bubble, one away from the money, most players tighten up and only play premium hands. This presents a great opportunity for me to come in and steal their blinds which they so easily relinquish.

A few hands later I’m in the BB and I’m ready to attempt another steal.

I’m holding J♠ 8♣, player 2 folds, and player 1 raises in the SB to 1,200. I’m determined to steal this pot and I re-raise to 1.800. He thinks for a second and pushes all-in. Even though I’m nearly certain this is an attempt to steal the pot and to test me, I lay my hand down.

Never become confrontational when you’re faced with resistance during an attempt to steal. In this case perhaps Player 1 had nothing but napkins, but I was not willing to put my tournament life at risk just to find out.

This series continue in: Short-Handed Sit and Go Example: part 5

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Details:

Full Tilt Poker > $22+$2 Texas Hold’em Sit and Go Tournament

6 Players; Starting Chips: 1,500

Prize Pool: $132 (1st $85.80 2nd $46.20)

Part #3

• Blinds: 120/240
• Chip Stack: 2,725
• Position: Dealer
• Hand: 7♥ 7♦

In early position and middle position I would normally just make a small raise with a medium pocket pair, but playing on the button always warrants a raise of approximately 4x the BB. My goal is of course to win the pot right there without seeing a flop, but if someone looks me up I have a pair to fall back on and a roughly 12% chance of hitting a set on the flop.

The player in front of me limps in for 300, and I immediately raise to 960. The SB calls, the BB folds, and Player 1 calls. Not exactly what I was hoping, but I’ll see how these two play the flop and I’ll attempt a steal with a continuation bet.

The flop comes

7♠ A♣ K♣

Between flopping a set and having two callers to my initial 960 raise I’m feeling fairly confident that I’ll be able to knock out at least one player on this hand.

Player 1 checks

The BB checks

Player 1 is a very tight player and I’m taken aback by the fact that he checked with A♣ K♣ on the flop because I figure he must have paired his Ace. The BB on the other hand is a wild card and he easily could have called the raise with any two cards.

I take a look at my opponents’ chip stacks

• Player 1 1,375
• Big Blind 2,100

With two ♣ on the board I’m not about to let these two see a free card so I opt for a raise. I’m fairly certain that Player 1 does not have two ♣ in his hand but that he did pair his Ace and that he would call an all-in. My only concern at this point is the BB who may very well be holding clubs.

I bet 2,100, the BB does indeed fold as expected and Player 1 calls and shows me A♠-Q♠.

The turn and river come 2♦ Q♣ and I knock out another player.

Post game Analysis

The last thing I wanted in this spot is to have Player 1 triple up to take the chip lead and that’s why it’s always important to isolate an opponent if you’re going to call him all-in.

Alternatively you should never call an all-in if there has already been a call in front of you unless you’re absolutely certain you’re holding the best hand.

This series continue in: Short-Handed Sit and Go Example: part 4

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Details:

Full Tilt Poker > $22+$2 Texas Hold’em Sit and Go Tournament

6 Players; Starting Chips: 1,500

Prize Pool: $132 (1st $85.80 2nd $46.20)

Part #2

The next few hands were very weak and I opted to mostly sit back and observe the other players instead.

• Blinds: 50/100
• Chip Stack: 4,155
• Position: 1 place before the dealer
• Hand: J♠10♠

Suited connectors are very dangerous cards to play, and require some careful analysis.

The player under the gun raises to 300. I’ve identified this player as a very loose player and a raise in early position is not uncommon and he’s made this type of raise before with questionable hands such as A♠5♣.

Everyone folds around to me and with the chip lead in late position I immediately make the call.

The dealer and the small blind fold, and the BB makes the call. The BB is a very tight player and so far has only been playing premium hands.

The flop comes

4♠ 7♦ 5♠

I have 9 outs to the flush, or roughly 2:1 odds against it (9 divided by 47 unseen cards).

The BB bets 600 in a pot of 950.

The other player folds around to me.

With pot odds of 1.5:1 versus my 2:1 odds of making the flush by the river I’m not getting the right odds to call and considering that I’m up against a tight player who’s most likely holding a strong pair, in the 10-10 range I decide to fold.

Post Game Analysis

This hand ran through my head for the rest of the tournament and I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d made the right call. I checked my notes and something which hadn’t caught my attention was the fact that my opponent only had 990 chips left after making the raise. This is was a crucial piece of information because if he was willing to bet 60% of his chips on the flop there was no doubt he would have pushed all-in on the turn.

A few hands later a very similar situation arose with this same player and another player. Player 1 raised to 400 pre-flop and only one Player 2 called. The flop came

A♠ 10♦ 3♦

Player 1 bet 800 and Player 2 pushed all-in for 1,400, Player 1 called immediately and showed

A♦-K♦. Player 1 had A♣-7♦ and lost when the J♦ came on the river.

This simply added confirmation to what I already knew that Player 1 is a very tight player.

Now we were down to 4 players.

This series continue in: Short-Handed Sit and Go Example: part 3

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