I play a lot of free online poker, and honestly I think my record on the sites I've played shows I'm reasonably good at it. Free online poker is a strange kind of poker; because it is free, it seems to attract a bajillion idiots. Watching their wacky luserish antics reminded me that I've seen some of them, to a lesser degree, in live cash games. So, for your edification and amusement, I present the Seven Deadly Sins of free online poker players… I list these sins roughly in decreasing order of severity. If you avoid these, you'll be a long way toward a reasonable poker game. In a future installment, I'll go further and talk about how to actually win at free online poker.
Without further adieu, the sins…
The "power fold". I regularly see people fold when they could check. This is, to my mind, the single dumbest play in poker; it has literally no upside. If you win one in a million hands by not power folding, that's one hand that you would not have won if you power-folded. If you're determined to fold, wait for someone to bet first.
If asked to justify it, the luser may say something about "concealing their hand". Face it, if you're a player who power-folds, I don't care what your hand is. Indeed, the only possible excuse I can find for a power-fold is if you want to project a table image of "completely clueless". Unfortunately, at free online poker, nobody at the table is likely to notice, much less "get it", so even this slight upside is gone.
Failing to raise at the end with the nuts. This is only epsilon better than folding; now you're foregoing a move with absolutely no downside. If you honestly have an unbeatable hand, and your pass would end the auction, any bet you can get your opponent to call is free money—and if your opponent folds you won't get any less than you would by passing.
Maybe this should be #1 on the list: unlike power-folding, the "conceal my hand" excuse doesn't even work. You might hear some claim that "I'm trying to build a tight table image", but that's crazy: you can always show afterward whether your opponent folds to your bet or not. Terrible, terrible poker.
Note that "the nuts" is slang for "the best possible hand", not "a really good hand". Suppose I hold 8? 8?, and the community cards are
8? 8? T? A? 6?
I have a really good hand. Is it the nuts? No, because a possible straight flush is on the board. A really unlikely straight flush, but still. If instead I have that straight flush, though, I darn well better bet…
Note that if you're not the last to act, you may choose to check in the hope your opponent may raise. This is a reasonable play if you have a reasonable expectation that your opponent will fold—not what I'm talking about at all.
Calling at the end with a near-guaranteed loser. Another beautiful no-upside play is to call your opponent's final bet when your cards are so terrible that it makes no sense. If you hold 22, and the board is 3KKAA, your hand is worthless. You would have to be a total idiot to call any bet whatsoever. I see it done.
Note that raising with such a hand, while usually stupid, is not insane: it's just a bluff, and your opponent could fold. Either fold (preferred) or raise. Do not flat call.
Making the min-bet into a giant pot with a big stack. I don't even get this. I see it again and again; I'm on the turn with 3000 chips in the pot, and with a 2000 chip stack you bet… 30. What is this bet? An expression of the fact that you have two cards? Anyone who actually knows how to play poker will call, on the off-chance you're bluffing. The only thing I can figure out is that the next one is encouraging you…
Folding a min-bet into a giant pot with a big stack. This should really be way higher on my list, and is only down here for pedagogical purposes. I'm watching the turn with 3000 chips in the pot, and someone bets 30 (uggh) and four other players fold. Fold!
Look, I almost don't care what your hand is. If there's any chance you have a pair, or even a high card, at the river, pot odds say that you call (or raise). Your expected return is just too good.
Calling a big preflop bet with garbage. Look, it's true that hands aren't too differentiated pre-flop. Your 83o could be a winner. In practice, though, the odds are terrible, and you're just giving the preflop raiser(s) money almost always.
By the way, in the face of a big preflop raise, 66 is a terrible hand.
Making the ridiculous all-in overbet. You are at the river holding A? 2?, and the board is
A? Q? 9? 5? 3?
Your opponent bets 200 into a 300-chip pot and you go… all in for 3000!?!
At this point, one of several things will happen. If your opponent was bluffing or even semi-bluffing—for example they had caught the 3—they will fold. You will get nothing more than the 500 already in the pot. If, on the other hand, they rivered the flush and were betting for value—jackpot for them! Perhaps they held two pair and were pushed off by the threat of the flush? Then probably a 600-chip bet would have done just as nicely, while putting a a lot less of your chips at risk.
As a general rule, you should be suspicious of making bets that are more than about three times the size of the pot. They usually represent significant extra risk without significant extra probability of reward. You should definitely avoid making bets that opponents will "only call with a winning hand". Even TV poker commentators know that one.
Bonus Sin: Being the perfect "calling station". Do you call with anything? Always? Never ever raise, but call any bet that comes along, no matter how audacious the bet or how lousy your cards? Probably not. But I've played with a lot of folks who come really, really close.
There's a reason why most books on poker recommend that you strongly consider raising or folding before making every single call. Call is a poor poker bet most of the time. If you have a strong hand, you should usually be making a small raise for value over someone who has bet, or making a large raise to protect your hand. If you have a weak hand, you should usually fold, although you might bluff by raising. Calling small bets when on a good draw is the main use of calling. You might also call a small bet when you suspect an opponent is bluffing. Other than that, really, the call is a questionable play.
So there they are. Seven Deadly Sins plus a bonus. If you avoid all of these—and they are easy to avoid—you'll be better than 90% of the players I encounter online in free games. I look forward to seeing you at the table, playing strong. (B)