"Doing Business" Online Can Be a Good Thing
This particular column has little to do with online Texas Holdem and everything to do with playing live hold'em real money cash games. As I've said many times I try and keep a balance between playing in person and online.
And because of the tremendous growth of Texas Holdem Poker I've found some nice live games with weak competition. Typically, I play a $5-$5 No Limit Cash Game. In fact, I played this game at Foxwoods, about 4 months ago and sat next to Greg Raymer who won the WSOP main event 6 months earlier. I digress...
One of the nice things about playing in a No limit holdem cash game is the ability to do "business". Some of you out there, like some at the live tables, have no idea what this is and how it can impact your bottom line. Well let's take a closer look...
We all know that Texas Holdem can be a very volatile game, filled with ups and downs. One of the things I found when I first started playing cash games was I'd be up nicely, outplaying my opponents most of the time and then I'd get unlucky or lose a big pot to someone on a drawing hand and be right back to square one.
I felt like I was getting unlucky, losing hands to players that were willing to gamble way too often and this kept eating into my bottom line. I'm sure a few of you know that feeling.
Then I saw someone do "business" and this turned on a light bulb in my head that has never gone off. Now I'm a big fan of doing "business" and do it more often then not. OK what is it already, you ask. First, doing "business" usually occurs when a pot is heads up and one of the two players is All In and there are a lot of chips in the pot.
Instead of just laying down the turn card and river card one time, you run it three times, so a total of six more cards come out. After the two cards are dealt (3 separate times), the player whose hand holds up wins a third of the pot, if your hand holds up 2 out of three times then you win 2/3 of the pot; your opponent gets the other third. Let's look at a couple examples to really illustrate the point.
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This next example is based on a real hand and experience that I've had many times. I'm up 600 dollars and things are running smoothly but there are some nice stacks at the table and I only have about $1600 total. I'm sitting in middle position, the first to act as the players in front have folded; I've got AsAc's and bring it in for a decent raise looking for one caller. The player on the button calls my raise and both the blinds fold, so we're heads up.
Flop comes Ah10d6h - I've flopped 'the nuts' - or the best possible hand at the moment - and my opponent is holding KhQh. I lead out and bet $75, roughly half the pot, my opponent raises me another $300 on top. Now I've seen my opponent bet his draws pretty aggressively in the past and at this point I've put him on the nut flush draw and possibly the gut shot straight.
In my head, I'm thinking OK this guys' on a big draw and I'm going to try and end this right now, so I come over the top and push All In.Now my raise has distorted the pot odds to the point where he is not getting the right odds from this pot to call me. But some players, even good ones, will call this raise because of the added straight draw possibilities. Personally, I think these type of players are just looking for the action, the so called "adrenaline junkies."
Well, this guy is that type of player and he has obviously won some of these kinds of hands before I got to the table, since he has a lot more chips then I do. He calls.We both flip over our cards and I see his hand and he sees mine. He asks me if I'd like to do some "business" and run it three times. Although I'm a favorite in the hand this guy has a lot of outs.
If I say 'no' to his offer and let's say the 3h comes and the board doesn't pair, I've lost all my money. This has happened to me in the past and I remember how bad that feels. In this situation I agree to do "business" with my opponent. Let's see how the hand turned out'the first time we run it both the turn and river are hearts giving my opponent the first hand.
Now, if we ran it the normal way (one time), I would have lost everything. In this case, I still have 2 more shots at it and my odds have gotten decidedly better, in fact, as the two hearts that came have lessened the number of outs he has.Needless to say, I win both the second and third running. On the third shot, a heart came on the turn giving him his flush but the river card paired the board giving me the full house.
So in the end, justice was served as I won 2/3 of the pot and lived to fight another day. If I was not aware of the "business" possibilities or declined to do it I would have walked out penniless, instead now I have well over $2000 in front of me.Although I've heard big pros like Phil Ivey will not do business, doing 'business' can be a very necessary arrow in your quiver.
I've said it before, you have to be aware of anything that can give you an edge and that's how I view this. I feel like I'm a much better player than many of my opponents and doing "business" dramatically reduces the luck element, therefore, increasing the edge I already enjoy, that much more.
I will probably write another column in the future on this subject because some players will still want to know more about which hands to do business with? What's the downside to it? Do you do "business" every time? Well, this has been an introduction to the topic, I hope it helps you the next time your in a similar situation...
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Good Luck!
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