A Few Advanced Poker Plays

Most strategy articles, forums, blogs and training sites teach players how to play good, solid, profitable poker. And it works. Learning the plays that lead to winning chips in tournaments consistently will always make a player better. The truth is, there are a few advanced plays in poker that are so rarely talked about, barely anyone knows they exist besides only the top 2% of poker players.

These skills generally aren’t talked about because most players aren’t up to the level where they should be learning them. On the contrary, all poker skill should be known, but maybe not used. Yes, maybe a player does not have the hand reading ability yet to execute the advanced play, but he must know it exists so if someone tries the play on him, he knows what they are trying to do. Although there are many of these advanced plays, here are two good examples of intricate plays executed in poker:

Advanced Bubble Play

This advanced play needs a scenario first. Play must be on the money bubble of a tournament, otherwise this play cannot work. The hand goes like this: on the bubble, one player raises. That raise gets a call, and then another player re-raises. But it doesn’t end there. Then, a 4th player re-re-raises all-in. Now, given those circumstances, what would a player put the 4th player on?Obviously, nobody would think anything but Aces. However, some advanced bubble players would do this play with any two cards as long as they have the biggest stack on the table.

The reason is that all three players in the hand before he went all in could not think he has anything except aces. Not only that, but all three players would risk their tournament lives if they called him, since the player going all in has the biggest stack. Many times, the first 3 players are all going to fold since it is on the money bubble. This play can pick up a huge amount of chips with no risk.

Post Oak Bluff

This is an advanced play that occurs on the river. The play is actually a bluff that looks like a value bet on the river. For example, say a player has J-10 on a K-Q-4-K-Q board. The player was chasing a straight draw the whole hand, and in the end has 2-pair with J high.

However, on the river, the player makes a very small bet that looks like it can’t be folded to. Imagine the pot was 5000 on the river, and the player bets 750, who would think he is bluffing? Could anyone fold to a bet so small? Many people think exactly this way, so they DO fold!

Related posts:

1. Holding on to your big stack
2. Playing Small Ball Poker