Seemingly contradictory poker axioms

Henry Minute

Henry Minute

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I'm thinking of those poker sayings/axioms that are a bit confusing when you're starting out.

Such as
1. If there are two of the same card on the board then it's less likely your opponent has one too.
2. If the board do pair, player beware. Watch for full-houses/sets.

Both are true and yet appear to contradict each other.

I was going to add a few more but unfortunately the heatwave we're having has melted my brain cell.

Anyone have any others?
 
sj_pi

sj_pi

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3. If you have an Ace, there's a 50% less chance that anyone else holds an Ace.
 
duggs

duggs

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except it matters whether pairing the board improves a hand that already beat you or not, i.e. QQ on KT2, a K on the turn helps QQ as less hands beat it, but a T hurts it as all Tx now beats it.
 
Arjonius

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They don't seem contradictory to me. Mildly so at most.

If there's a pair on the board, there are 2 other cards of the same rank that opponents can hold vs. 3 for an unpaired board card. So it's less likely that an opponent holding unpaired cards hit trips than a pair. However, caution is warranted since trips are stronger than a pair.
 
Henry Minute

Henry Minute

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They don't seem contradictory to me. Mildly so at most.

If there's a pair on the board, there are 2 other cards of the same rank that opponents can hold vs. 3 for an unpaired board card. So it's less likely that an opponent holding unpaired cards hit trips than a pair. However, caution is warranted since trips are stronger than a pair.
To a beginner, they are contradictory because the first one says if the board pairs it's OK to bet because your opponents are less likely to have one of that card whilst the second says whoa don't bet here because there might be a boat or a set.

Remember, I specified that they seem contradictory to beginners..
 
BenjiHustle

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I'll try.

1. You want to play premium hands and attack players when you get them.
2. You want to open up your range and control the size of the pot.

Is that about the same? This actually did confuse me for a while; trying to figure out the balance of these two separate ideas.
 
T

trent32la

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>If you have AK for instance on 99884 board, you are chopping the pot with anyone else that has an Ace in their hand that isn't A9 or A8.
>If you just call (limp) preflop, you cannot win the pot preflop.
 
dj11

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Fortune favors the bold

vs

Tight is right
 
Henry Minute

Henry Minute

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I'll try.

1. You want to play premium hands and attack players when you get them.
2. You want to open up your range and control the size of the pot.

Is that about the same? This actually did confuse me for a while; trying to figure out the balance of these two separate ideas.
Good example of the sort of thing I was thinking of.
 
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