Be a Small Pot Poker Pirate

When playing poker, you'll often find small, uncontested pots laying out on the table. If you want to get ahead in the game of poker, take these pots!

Sometimes you'll find yourself on the button looking down at a raggedy hand like 2 7 offsuit. This is an easy, automatic fold, right? Not necessarily. If a player raises under the gun, get's re-raised by another player, and yet another goes over the top with an all in move, that would make your decision to fold pretty easy and automatic. But let's say everyone at the table folds around to you. At this point folding your 2 7 offsuit should not be so automatic. Poker is a game of situations and exploitations, folks. If the small blind and big blind are tight players who don't call many raises, you should in fact raise in this situation. With 1.5 blinds lying out on the table, you've just bought yourself a free trip around the table and a free look at another entire round of hands. And even if you get called, they will be playing out of position to you, which puts them at a serious disadvantage. The fact is that if they're holding unpaired hole cards, they are going to miss that flop 70% of the time, which is going to make it very difficult for them to call a bet or a raise from you!

Another situation you could use to take advantage of some easy money is after players limp in to see the flop. If you didn't hit anything when the flop comes down, the obvious play to make here would be to check. After all, you've got nothing. But don't be so quick to tap that table. If you're in a strong position and the other players check to you, they're telling you that they missed the flop, too. Fire off a bet. Again, poker is a game of situations. When a situation where you can make some easy money presents itself to you, take advantage of the opportunity.

Many pots are heavily contested. In those situations, you'll need the best hand to win the pot. But it's not up to you whether or not you end up with the best hand. That's the luck of the draw. But those uncontested pots, the one where nobody has a good hand, will go to the player who wants it the most and is willing to risk some chips to buy that pot.

One important note to keep in mind here is that not every player is the same. Remember that tricky players lay traps. Many players who check are doing so because their hand is weak. But some players are the type who should worry you when they check. Know who you're up against. I'll go back to it again; poker is a game of situations. Be sure you are reading your opponents correctly before getting yourself caught in any sticky circumstances.

Generally speaking though, when your opponents show weakness and your position is strong, that pot is yours for the taking. Don't worry too much about what your holding. Find the courage to fire a bet in these situations and put the easy money into your stack.

I agree, we need to be mindful of the situation. Sometimes, I get too caught up in what I have and neglect the situation aspect. One thing I've attempted to do to improve is by playing in a SNG without looking at my hole cards and playing in position and adjusting to how people are playing...sort of like how Annette Obrestad did with her supposed SNG win when she only looked at her hole cards once. I should note though - I've only done this in play money and not with real cash. Maybe once I improve my game, I might try this in small buy-in SNG, but until then, I'm content with play money!