Posted by Dr Fro 1:34 PM

I love to read Paul Samuel. Maybe because he quoted me once. Maybe because he has written about playing in my favorite UK cardrooms. I ran across this one recently, and it caught my attention on two fronts. It says:

Look at the following selection of rules. Are you a follower or a transgressor?

• Do NOT persistently limp with small pairs or weak suited aces from early position.


• Do not play hands such as KQ, QT, QJ, KJ, and JT in raised pots, except in very special circumstances.


• 22-88 are SMALL pairs, 99-JJ are medium pairs. QQ is awkward. The others are big. Do not forget this.


• Almost never limp with a big Ace, especially from early position. It is awful.


• Rarely limp with AA, KK, except occasionally from early position when you think there is a good chance of a raise.


• Take account of others stack sizes before stealing their blinds. If they are low stacked, they may call you with anything. If that is the case, you weren't stealing in the first place.


• Play suited cards as if they they were unsuited. Their suitedness only gives you an advantage of another few percent!


• Do not habitually make up the small blind 'for value'. A hand like 9-2 only hits a really good flop about two percent of the time! (I don't count top pair as truly good). A number of these bets saved will eventually add up to a lot.


• Do not on a regular basis commit all your chips pre-flop. Hold'em is a seven card game!


• Do not persistently play 'cliché' moves; like going all in on the BB to a limping field, or stealing from the button. Online these moves are well known and you may get an unwelcome play-back.


• Never show bluffs. You are giving away free information and those players who claim they do this to create value later are either fools or liars. Usually, players show bluffs to show off. Any player who thinks there is enough good opposition at his e-table to react in a way that makes him money at a later hand because of his 'show' is delusional.

I actually get a green check on all but one bullet point. I still struggle with bullet point #2. It is so hard for me to lay these hands down to a 2x-3xBB bet when I have position.

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