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| Win the Big Pots Right Away | ||
As we
showed in the last page, it is often important to disguise your big hands
so that your opponents don't know what you have because you want to get
as much value for them as you can. However, there is one special application
of the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, which we hinted at: As a pot gets
larger and larger, you nearly always want to win it instantly. Naturally
you would like your opponent to play incorrectly and throw away the best
hand. But even when your hand is the best hand, you generally prefer your
opponent to fold rather than call when the pot is large. The reason is
that when you bet in a limit game and the pot is large, your opponent's
hand, though second best, is rarely so much of an underdog that he is
not getting good enough odds to chase you. Hence, his calling you with
good odds is a profitable play for him in the long run. Since he is correct
to take the odds, you do not gain when he calls. You gain only when he
folds and turns down those odds. When he calls, you lose even if you happen
to win that particular pot; for over the long run his call has positive
expectation. It will end up costing you money. |
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