Posted by Junelli 10:26 AM
Next in our exploration of the poker wisdom of Paula Abdul, we take a look at her advice on playing draws as conveyed in the song “Straight Up”.

Straight Up

Lost in a dream
Don’t know which way to go
If you are all that you seem
Then baby I’m movin’ way too slow

One of the more obvious problems when playing a made straight is knowing when to drop the hammer on your opponent. Here Paula is somewhat lost in a hand. She can’t tell if her opponent has made his hand yet. If he has, then she’s playing to slow and needs to ram and jam it to get some more money into the pot.

I’ve been a fool before
Wouldn’t like to get my love caught
In the slammin’ door
How about some information–please

Yes, haven’t we all? How many times have we all strung an opponent along on a flopped straight only to have them boat up or make a runner, runner flush? Paula is raising here in order to get some information about the strength of her opponent’s hand.

::Chorus::LyricsCafe.com::
Straight up now tell me
Do you really want to love me forever oh oh oh
Or am I caught in a hit and run

Straight up now tell me
Is it gonna be you and me together oh oh oh
Are you just having fun

Ahhh, that moment after you’ve popped your opponent for a raise on the turn and they Hollywood it making you wonder if you sprung your trap too early. Here she’s worried that her opponent didn’t have an ace and might fold (”Are you just having fun”). Of course, what she wants here is a call or a re-raise which will commit her opponent to call everything to the river (”Do you really want to love me forever oh oh oh”).

Time’s standing still
Waiting for some small clue
I keep getting chills
When I think your love is true

Even top pros like Paula can get nervous waiting for their opponents to act and she’s saying that being nervous is okay. Obviously her opponent is taking way too long to make a decision which means he’s probably on a marginal hand. She’s looking for a tell that will indicate to her what his move will be but she’s pretty sure he’s got a good enough hand to call here.

I’ve been a fool before
Wouldn’t like to get my love caught
In the slammin’ door
How about some information–please

Again, she wants some information.

::Chorus::LyricsCafe.com::
Straight up now tell me
Do you really want to love me forever oh oh oh
Or am I caught in a hit and run
Straight up now tell me
Is it gonna be you and me together oh oh oh
Are you just having fun

This is a little repetative, agreed, but she must have felt it very important for her readers to grasp so pay attention here.

You are so hard to read
You play hide and seek
With your true intentions
If you’re only playing games
I’ll just have to say–bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye

Wow, her opponent must really be solid because she can’t get any sort of read on him. Obviously, now she’s a little worried that if the board pairs or the river puts another flush card on the board she might have to fold.

Do do you love me
Do do you love me
Do do you love me
Do do you love me ?

*I lost the link to the website where I got this. It is not an original work...

0 Comment(s):

Post a Comment