Phil Gordon’s Plugs for Hold’em Leaks Part 2: Wrong Sized Bet and Dominated Hands
Phil Golden is a poker player, commentator and professional at Full Tilt Poker. In a recent talk he explained the five main reason beginners lose at Texas Hold’em. These reasons he defined as leaks. Earlier we described what he had to say on limping when you should be raising. Here we look at his thoughts on the second two of these leaks: the reasons why people make the wrong sized bets and playing hands that can be easily beaten.
The problem arises from varying the pre-flop bet size. For instance, he said that some people raised a larger amount on a strong hand than they did on a weak hand when their intention was to steal the blind whilst other players did precisely the opposite. He advised people to always keep their raises before the flop at exactly the same level. People should be influenced by neither their position on the table not the strength of their hand.
The third leak he described as playing easily dominated hands. The amounted, he said, to not understanding the principal of the gap. This means that you should be more willing to raise than to call. He gave an example of a King Queen. If he was on a late position and the other players folded to him, he would raise; however if a middle position player raised, then he would fold his King Queen immediately. The reason is that the hand could easily be dominated by the kind of hands that a middle position player would raise from, for instance Ace King, pocket Aces, pocket Kings pocket Queens, or Ace Queen. It would be difficult for King Queen to beat any of these hands.
In the worst case scenario, the flop could give both players a pair, in which case the late player with the King Queen would be in danger of a major loss. Having a dominated hand, he said, was so dangerous at Texas Hold’em that it should be disposed of at the first available opportunity.
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