Heads Up
I’d like to think of my game as a campaign over the skies of Europe.
You see them all ready to engage.
The naïve flyboy with high self-esteem and an outdated Dewoitine. The slick Mustang in shiny silver, spouting fire from 6 Brownings. And the smiling assassin in a Messerschmitt jet, waiting in the clouds for another victim to claim.
Do not be fooled. This is war.
Scramble!
Unless you have the big blind or the little blind, there’s no penalty in folding a bad pocket hand.
New flyboys and flygirls forget that 75% of all fights are decided on good cards, not on bluffing. To tackle your mission and get through to the end, you need to jump into the cockpit when your starting hand is good.
Think of your stack as fuel and ammo. Why waste valuable resources with a hand of 3♠ 9♦?
I do not bother to start the engine unless I have:
- Pair of 8 or higher, or
- One picture card and one 8 or higher, or
- One ace and one 8 or higher, or
- Two suited cards, lowest card 8 or higher , or
- Two cards in a pattern for a straight. If the lowest card is greater than 8, much better.
The rest of the combinations are not worth the fuel in my tank.
Maybe 1 out of 12 junk pocket hands I fly, in the hope that the flop makes the cards I hold worth the sortie. I only do this at the start of the game, when the bids are small, the sky is clear, and the rest of the table is still working out who is who.
In case of doubt, fold. Your future self will be glad you did not end up as a trophy in some enemy shelf.
Radio talk
A reasonable poker vocabulary is here, in Wikipedia.
Disclaimer: Ton has been playing poker for a while now, and while successful, he never plays for money. Only for amusement.