Holding Top Pair On A Straight Board

For instance, on a 987 board, you can have JT one of 16 ways, T6 one of 16 ways, and 65 one of 16 ways for 48 total made straight combos. (For comparison, your can have AA only 6 ways, and AT only 12 ways.)

Did you mean that there are only 12 combos of A9, or T9, or some other specific top-pair hand?

This article makes me want to be the “extremely loose and aggressive” guy.

imagine the disaster in limit poker! yesterday a friend of mine was on shock when he flopped a straight and Q8 beat him by the turn for a better straight. of course he capped all rounds and even typed on the chatbox “why you called with that hand” because Q8 was the backdoor four outer thing or something like that… Of course, watching him play I could see the bad beat brewing. of course the (donk) sorry the other player was probably sure like hell that his nut hand would hit… because his instinct of (donk) of poker player taught him that in this situation, noone is a clear favorite… I hate those flops when I hit two pairs on a bicolor board, I know the hand is far from won yet and probably too many times I will lose it. Thanks to make us keep it in mind ed.

“I think you’re on to something.”

I hope you’re planning a follow up article for this comment. I can’t tell how serious you are, but I’ve never felt like you were one to advocate an extremely loose and aggressive style.

Nice article. I think this explains some of those bad beat posts I see on other forums - you know, where the poster is moaning about “there’s no skill in poker anymore… all these donks going in with air and drawing out on me all the time… makes it nothing but a crapshoot” etc. etc.

I guess they overestimate the strength of their own hand and understimate the strength of the draw that their “donk” opponent has…

JSS-

I don’t think it’s so much about underestimating the strength of the draw as much as it is about underestimating the strength of the range of hands. Maybe that’s nit-picking, but I feel like that is a pretty important difference.

I agree with you Deryl. You don’t really know whether your opponent has a draw or not. I made my above post quickly, but the point is that the people who complain about “donks drawing out on me all the time” really need to take a closer look at what they are doing. Chances are they tend to underestimate the strength of their opponent’s range as you said.

Nice article. I’m looking forward to more. After all, a particular “style” should not make us miss out on profitable plays in certain situations. Thus I like open-mindedness.

By the way, is there a target date for the second Vol. of PNLH?

I agree. This was a very nice read!

Later
John Sothers
Poker Chips and Cards
http://www.pokerchipsandcards.net