Full Tilt Poker Pro Isaac Baron Talks About ABC Poker
For those of you unfamiliar with the term ABC poker, it means poker without any frills; in fact it is playing poker by the book. Although the technique can be criticised for being a little predictable, it is the best place to start from before you progress to higher levels. Isaac Baron is a pro at Full Tilt Poker and in the latest issue of their newsletter he writes about some aspects of this manner of playing.
He starts by indicating that with ABS poker it is necessary to start with premium hole cards such as a pair of aces or suited Ace-King. This is because with hands like this it is reasonably easy to judge how strong one’s hand is compared with the opposition.
After getting some practice with hands like that you should start to extend your range of opening hands. Here the technique is to optimise the value you can get from suited hands such as 7-8 or 6-5. These kinds of hands are described as medium suited connectors. It is necessary to neither overplay nor underplay such hands; the advice is to be neither over-confident nor over-cautious.
How to play these hands should depend on position. The most likely outcome of these hands is to get a pair, so using position to maximise the information available it a good tactic.
You should aim for an inexpensive flop with many players remaining, so that there is plenty in the pot to give you good pot odds and so make playing worthwhile. Furthermore, with more players in there is an increased chance that you will find yourself up against a weak player. Should you get a nut hand, then you can anticipate a big payout from a weak player.
It takes practice to play these connectors correctly along with the ability to read your opponents hands. You should always try to calculate the opponents’ hands and check how correct you were. Eventually with practice you will become good at this and can start to play more confidently and aggressively.
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