How many times do you here ohh i had you till the river? I can not believe you called all the way down with that. Or my personal favorite I had aces i do not want to go any further in the hand. Well these are topics which i have learned lately that you need to go all the way to the river to get the most value out of your hand. you can raise pre flop, raise on the flop, and raise on the turn, and go all in on the river. The problem is this game has randoms all the way to the river. My advice is to bet to see where you are at in the hand all the way through unless you flop quads or a straight

flush or full house monster hand than you trap. Think about it i have jack 10 or hearts and the flop is 8 hearts 9 hearts 4 of clubs. Well what would you as a poker player do? Check to hope to hit the straight flush and get no value out of your monster flop. Go all in and the only one that will call you has a set or 2 pair. How would you get value out of this hand i ask? Here is my answer, the correct way to play this hand is to bet on the flop. If someone calls you what could they have a set or 2 pair or a flush or straight draw. What do you have ? Correct jack high. Well the value is betting for the reason of those hands will call you and on the turn or river you are favored to get your draw. Now do not get me wrong all you have is draw but the turn comes out a queen of hearts and you hit your straight flush and the table checks to you. Well now you bet and they all fold you get no money for your monster hand. The reason you bet is because your value of hitting gets you more money in the long run than them just checking it down and you catching your cards. The other hand is the game goes all the way to the river so on the turn you dont hit what do you do? Bet again i tell you because now the ace 9 off suit sees you keep betting and says ohh i could be beat now with 2 pair or he hit a set on the turn. Well a good player will lay a hand down but a bad one will draw all the way to the river so now when they call what do you do? The river comes out and you hit your flush a king of hearts on the river. So in your head a ace high and queen high flush has you beat. Well highly unlikely they have a flush aswell as you. So how do you get value now that u hit. I would make a bet 1/4 size of the pot. If they raise you have to figure you are still good. If they go all in you can say they hit a higher flush. If they just call you now know your flush is the best hand. The reason this game goes to the river is the value of your hand and that is it. Use your value all the way. How many times do people go all in on the flop with aces and the board is king dust dust. they say well i do not want to get sucked out by the turn or the river. Well you lose all the value of your 220 to 1 chance of getting a pocket pair so now you have to wait another 220 hands to hit it. Make the most value be a little knowing that ace king or king queen will call you. the turn comes a king or queen they go all in what now? Well its easy you only have 1 pair lay it down. Most people call and that is where they over value their aces. WARNING Do not over value your hand. You have plenty of chances to make money and tournament winnings. You over play and you lose "self taught lesson" trust me. Do not be afraid to go to the river. If they beat you so what it is one hand of poker over the long haul you will win. Now this also depends on how many players call on the flop,turn,river. If there are 4 callers pre flop and you flop open ended straight flush draw push and the only one that calls you is yes a set 2 pair or a straight draw. So i tell you play the hand with value in mind and all the way to the river.

may you have big pots,
diesel@learnpokerfromthejoes.com