Posts Tagged ‘pot’

Rake in Holdem

Hello,

I just want to know what’s a rake in holdem and how does it works. Your thoughts?

Please I need your help. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Janz
Janz,

The rake in Holdem is the amount of money the casino takes from each pot to run the game. In a game where there is a 10% rake, by the river, 10% of the pot is removed and goes to the casino.

AA or KK

Hi,

For some time now, I’ve been thinking on what’s the proper way to play starting hands like AA or KK as I oftentimes hear that normally with AA or KK you will either win a small pot or lose a big one. Well, I started thinking that because you rarely get such cards in the hole, probably these are actually not so good hands.

Consider what I have above, what if instead of following customary wisdom and betting such hands hard preflop to eventually clean up the field and reduce the number of players, why shouldn’t I just consider such like any small pair and then try to see the flop cheaply? In this way, I believe strength will remain kept and in case I flop a set I can have the opportunity to extract important value from the hand itself. In case I won’t flop the set, I can still have a feel as to where I stand. But more or less I have to muck on the turn, however at least I gave myself the opportunity to fight out.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Joey
Joey,

You can play the hand that way if you desire, but when you let multiple players in, you give them the same opportunity to draw out on you and chase after larger hands. If you are heads-up with one opponent, this is sometimes a decent strategy. Another option would be to limp into a pot that you know will be raised by an overly aggressive player. When they raise, you reraise them. Chances are they will go all in and you will be a big favorite.

Pot Committed

Hello,

I usually hear this statement: “He had to call the all in bet because he was pot committed”. It sounds simple but I don’t know how would I ascertain if I’m already pot committed. Any thoughts? Also, is it a bigger factor in tournament play compared in a ring game? What do you think?

Many thanks,
Luis
Luis,

This scenario is the same for ring games and tournaments. When someone is pot committed, the pot has so much money in it compared to their remaining stack, they must call or go all in. This is more applicable to short stacks, but usually if a pot is laying better than 2 to 1 to your money, you are committed in a lot of hands. The only time you would not be is if you have a limited number of draws.

Meaning of “Kill”

Hello there!

I have a simple question. The term “kill”, what does it mean? I often encounter such term in poker books and sites.

By the way, your site is so helpful. Thanks!

Yours truly,
Steve Stewart
Steve,

There term “kill” refers to a pot where the stakes are double the prior hand. In some cash games in a casino, if the pot gets to a certain amount, the next hand is a kill pot. This means stakes are double the prior hand. The person that won the prior hand gets a kill button and posts the small kill bet amount. In a 3-6 game, the stakes would now be 6-12 and the kill button would post $6.