Best Poker Tips

Going all in is an extremely powerful tool of No Limit Hold’em.

You could actually say that the game is called ‘No Limit’ because you have got the possibility to go all in.

The only problem of going all in, is that some players use it unwisely.

When you want to go all in, first you have to consider what purpose you want to serve. Do you want to scare your opponent away, or do you want to take all of his chips?

Let me give you an example:

You’re playing 5/10€ No Limit at a 9 man table and you find yourself heads up on the button, with a KQs. The flop reads AQJ rainbow, and you have reason to believe your opponent has a weak ace. Something like A5(s). 

So he has you beat, but you think he might be willing to let this one go because of his weak kicker and the possibility of a straight.

Your opponent has made a reasonable size bet, and now you’re contemplating whether or not to raise him. Going all in would seem like an obvious choice here, right? Wrong. If you go all in now, you risk all of your chips on second pair, in a pot that you might just as well win by making a normal size raise.

If he bets out 50, raising 200 will probably do the job as well. If he calls that bet, he probably has some kind of read on you and knows he’s got you beat. So by going all in, all you accomplish is a small extra chance of inducing a fold, at a huge price; all your chips at risk. 

In a cash game you could get away with it and just re-buy, but when you’re in a tournament, you’re done for.

So remember this: If you want to scare an opponent away, a lot of the times a fairly large bet will be enough to do just that. You might even make him suspicious by going all in, because you’re sending out a clear message: Go away. And a good player will know this means you are weak.

A different example: Suppose you’ve got aces on a flop of AK3. You’re heads up and first to act. A lot of money has gone into the pot before the flop already, and this is just the flop you like to see.

So you bet out about half the pot and get raised big time by your opponent. Now this would be a good moment to move all in on him.

You can bet your ass he’s made two pair with an AK or trip kings, and he’s not going to lay this hand down. If he’s got kings, you’ll get called for sure, and you get to take his entire chipstack.

But remember, this would be a lot different if both of you had shown weakness before the flop by limping (for example). In that case there’s too big a chance your opponent will fold to your all in, as opposed to him maybe calling a decent bet.

Another good moment to go all in, is when the pot is big enough and you have something like second pair with the nut flush draw. In this case you want your opponent to fold, but if he does make the call, he’s going to have to dodge your flush.

So next time you want to go all in; think about what you want to accomplish, and what your all in will do before you push all those chips in the middle.