Texas Hold'em Poker Tips - All-in Bets

All-in bets are a risky proposition and should be used with minimal frequency by a good player. Amateurish players believe that being super aggressive is good strategy. It is drilled into their brains that the big boys play all-in bets on a regular basis. This is not surprising because of the televised nature of large tournaments where the producers pick and choose the most exiting hands to show and edit out the more mundane but certainly more common strategic play. Certainly the all-in bet is exciting and gets shown more often to keep the viewers glued to the TV set. This causes many viewers to overestimate the number of all-in bets in a tournament.

Poker Or Bingo?

In my experience about half the players in a large tournament are out of chips in one fifth the length that the tournament will eventually will last. 75% of all entrants are out in two fifths of the time the tournament will last. In a ten hour 300 person tournament, 150 players will be out in two hours, 225 in 4 hours. This extraordinarily high percent of players out early can be attributed to a large degree by inappropriate all-in bets and calls.

The urge to play extraordinarily aggressive poker is drilled into new players in many How To Play Texas Hold'em books. What the books do not tell you is that the writers are usually professional poker players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and others who have a lot to gain personally by extreme loose play by other players. They do not go all in as often as you may think. They are always judging the strength of other player's hand and make all-in bets only when they believe they have the best hand on board.

If you are going to be aggressive you should first read my articles on Texas Hold'em Poker - How To Read People Like A Book. I have seen Doyle Brunson fold pocket kings on an all-in bet before the flop. The other player did have pocket aces. Mr. Brunson saved himself an early departure from the game by a very conservative play and correctly reading his opponent.

If you play too aggressively you are not playing poker. You are playing bingo!

When To Make An All In Bet

Table position is very important especially if you are in a late position, dealer or one to the right of the dealer. In these positions you get a chance to see how strong the earlier players are. Often you will see someone's hands shake. If so they have a great first two cards. They may put on their sun glasses. That indicates another good hand. They are trying to hide their eyes so people can't read their strength. Actually it is easier to read this action than to read a hand by looking at their eyes. If you see these tells or any of the other tells I discuss in my three Associated Content articles on How To Read People, you know not to raise or call extreme bets.

The time to make an all-in bet is when there is a confluence of the following factors: 1) the players before you seem weak or meek by their actions. 2) You have a hand such as pocket queens, kings or aces, which may be the winner even without improvement. 3) You have a very large stack or a very small stack.
This all assumes a nine player table with all players active and that you are in a good table position. If there are only two players left, your ace and face card or any pair above sevens deserves an all-in bet. In between, the cards needed to make an all-in bet become stronger. It is best to avoid all-in bets on the first two cards without a powerhouse in your pocket.

After the flop you have much more information. It is important to determine what the nuts (or best possible hand) is. If you have trips but there are three suited card on board be weary of a flopped flush. Do not over bet the trips at this point. If the board pairs with trips you are in seventh heaven. Watch out for a higher full house though. Most likely the bettor against you has a flush or a straight. However, if you have a full house and no player's hands are shaking, bet all in.

Play this way, and I'll meet you on the final table.