Regardless of if you’re a beginning free online poker player or a WSOP top table pro, the all-in is the biggest move in poker.

Generally you should only consider moving all in if you have a hand that stands a good chance against powerful hands such as A-K and A-Q which are the most common hands played all-in.

It is because these are the hands also most willing to call. Which hands, then, are we ready to put our tournament life on? Pocket pairs come to mind. So does A-K (or A-Q or even K-Q suited or K-J suited if you are running out of chips)

But someone does it differently. I would like to add that here; player B is an impatient, rowdy player who is familiar to us TV poker fans.

BLINDS 12k/24k

A has Ad-Kd raises 75k

A’s raise is just standard for A-K suited, although it is slightly stronger (the average preflop raise is about 2.5x the big blind, but this raise is a little greater than thrice). But look at B’s move, which may be less standard:

B has 10c-5c moves all-in 544k

How about that: a 10-5? With about 22 big blinds left, which is relatively a short-stack (but not so short), B moves all-in. However with a 10-5? B can wait for slightly better hands than this.

Now let us try to justify the 10-5 in this situation. If B did it with a small pair, he is a slight favourite (about 55-45). If with A-x (with x smaller than a King), he is a significant underdog (about 75-25).

With any two cards except Ace or King, he is a less significant underdog (about 66-34).

So the win-rate of 10-5 against A-K (here B deciding that A’s hand was A-K or similar was quite a gamble; if he’s up against A-A he is a big underdog, about 85-15) is just the average of the win rate of a pocket pair against A-K and the win rate of A-x against A-K, and therefore not so bad.

Moreover, with 10c-5c B has two live cards, in contrast to A-x, where x is the only live card. Moreover, B may dislike having 22 big blinds dwindle to, say, 15 or 14 later, so he decides to put his heart and soul into this hand. Who is this player, anyway? “I’ve got a 10-5, girls and boys.” You heard right, the garrulous Mike Matusow! “The Mouth!”

A calls 469k (Pot 1.124m)

Now let us observe how “The Mouth” will fare against all odds.

FLOP: Js-7c-5s

“That’s a Flop!” A Five fell, pairing Matusow!

TURN: Js-7c-5s-8d

RIVER: Js-7c-5s-8d-6d

Moving all-in can end up being the most dangerous moments in poker. Even in free online poker it is also the most thrilling, anyway. The all-in recharged Matusow’s stack to 45 big blinds.

This isn’t the sort of eccentric play that can be exploited forever though. When Matusow believed that A has A-K or similar, he is gambling.

Most players will call with pocket pairs but I doubt in this case that A will call with less than 10-10.

Against A-A or K-K or a higher pair, 10-5 will win only about 15% of the time, and with 10-10 to 5-5, about 25%, and with 4-4 to 2-2, nearly a coin flip.

The All-In In summary

Take the time to read and understand the principles behind this article. Begin to understand the key points behind what is going on within this example and think of ways to put these lessons into your personal play.

It takes time to learn how to play poker at a level where you make money consistently.

But if (and when) you learn to really play poker well then you will make some great money. Why?

Because most players never get close to what we can call a good standard of play.

So you, if you can get to a good standard will do very well very easily. You don’t have to be a TV pro to make good money in poker!

The fact that most players are at such a low skill will mean that whenever you hunt/play them on free online poker games or low stakes sites you’ll be able to clean up.

To learn to play poker free go see the NoPayPOKER blog, the free poker lessons there cover all levels from newbie to advanced, plus, the website itself as a free online poker site is the ideal place to practice what you learn.