» Sat May 12, 2012 10:35 pm Now that I got the meatloaf in the oven I can expand on this a bit. I don't play nearly enough poker, I used to play on-line quite a bit before it became illegal here in the States. I play pretty serious competitive poker with my friends a coupel of times a year; unfortunately the game is usually over an hour away and with drinks involved I only go when I can crash there.
There are a lot of different things that go into a poker hand:
Position of the players
The players' pot size
Tournament or cash ring game
Past history of the players
Opponent's state of mind
My cards
You see I put my cards last, and many times they are the lowest priority when I am deciding what to do. I have folded pocket Aces on a seemingly harmless flop and I have gone all-in pre-flop with 7-2 unsuited.
wolf bite's example was OK if you are talking about some friends just screwing around throwing chips and cards around for giggles. It doesn't work in a competitive environment at all, both players played the hand terribly. First off I would never be in a two person hand with neither player raising pre-flop and we don't know who, if anyone, raised. I also would have no problem folding a weak top pair like Jacks with a Queen kicker if I respected my opponent's bet.
Secondly calling is almost never the right decision, especially calling all the way to the river with a marginal hand. The vast majority of the time you should be making the first bet, raising your opponent's bet or folding. Don't get stuck in the middle where you are throwing money into a pot when you have no idea where you stand. In wolf bite's example after your opponent makes a big bet on the flop you either fold (if you have reason to respect the bet) or raise in order to either win the pot, or most importantly to gain infomation. Even if opponent calls, or re-raises you, you then know you are likely beat and you fold probably saving money as compared to calling out to the end.
You should always have a reason to make a bet/raise. Either that bet/raise will win the hand right there, or that bet/raise will give you information which will help you later in the hand, or even later in the tournament. Making a bet just because, is almost always a bad idea and will cost you money in the long run.
There are a lot of different things that go into a poker hand:
Position of the players
The players' pot size
Tournament or cash ring game
Past history of the players
Opponent's state of mind
My cards
You see I put my cards last, and many times they are the lowest priority when I am deciding what to do. I have folded pocket Aces on a seemingly harmless flop and I have gone all-in pre-flop with 7-2 unsuited.
wolf bite's example was OK if you are talking about some friends just screwing around throwing chips and cards around for giggles. It doesn't work in a competitive environment at all, both players played the hand terribly. First off I would never be in a two person hand with neither player raising pre-flop and we don't know who, if anyone, raised. I also would have no problem folding a weak top pair like Jacks with a Queen kicker if I respected my opponent's bet.
Secondly calling is almost never the right decision, especially calling all the way to the river with a marginal hand. The vast majority of the time you should be making the first bet, raising your opponent's bet or folding. Don't get stuck in the middle where you are throwing money into a pot when you have no idea where you stand. In wolf bite's example after your opponent makes a big bet on the flop you either fold (if you have reason to respect the bet) or raise in order to either win the pot, or most importantly to gain infomation. Even if opponent calls, or re-raises you, you then know you are likely beat and you fold probably saving money as compared to calling out to the end.
You should always have a reason to make a bet/raise. Either that bet/raise will win the hand right there, or that bet/raise will give you information which will help you later in the hand, or even later in the tournament. Making a bet just because, is almost always a bad idea and will cost you money in the long run.
While I did not specify the pre-flop action, I would assume that a queen-jack or king-jack hand would result in a pre-flop raise. As for the opponent, I'm also assuming that they are a good player that knows how to drag a person to the final bet. The major part I did not mention was that I only play limit poker, so the raises and re-raises don't really tell all that much because they are maxed. If it were a no-limit game it would all depend on the amount of money in the pot, your stack, and his stack.
As for the rest, our different views are really non-debatable because we play two entirely different games. I'm not too familiar with no limit, but in limit the idea of a call is not a bad idea simply because you know that your opponent only has two more max bets left.
I've had some bad beat stories myself. In a game of Omaha high I started out with pocket kings, a ten, and a six double suited. I raised max pre-flop and I got one person to call. Flop came ten,ten, and six. He bets max (ten) and I call. Flop is a two, so I still have the best possible hand. He checks, so I bet max. He calls. River is a queen. He checks, and I bet max. He raises. I call. He flips over pocket-queens. I could have raised post flop, but a slow play approach in limit tends to be more effective.
I prefer limit because I cannot stand large pre-flop action. To me it makes the game a bore.
I'm banned from dealing now 
