We have been playing poker at lunch once a week. This week we had eight people playing. It was a zoo. One serious problem though is that we have not been playing with big enough blinds. On every hand there were seven or eight people seeing the flop, which is way too many. I watched the World Poker Tour and on most hands only two or three people at the table saw the flop.
I think the difference is that they use a 'big blind', so on any hand it costs about 60 or so basic units to see the flop. In our games it was about 2 units to see the flop.
This is important because people were winning on these crazy hands. Here is an example, on the very first hand both Dalbir, Josh and I went in strong. I had Ace-6, Dalbir had Ace-3, Josh had 8-2. The flop was two eights and an Ace. So we all bet hard. Dalbir and I were betting on two pair, Josh on three of a kind. Dalbir and I lost, Josh won. The problem is that Josh shouldn't have even been in there. He was only betting because it was so cheap to see the flop, normally he wouldn't have played at 8-2 off-suit because it would be expensive to see the flop.
That is why I think a big flop is important. If it's cheap to see five cards then everyone will do it. That makes the game a battle of the 'big hands'. Where it should really be a battle of the pocket cards.
Posted by jherr at November 23, 2003 03:48 PMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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