When to go all-in preflop?
I just started playing no-limit poker online and I noticed that many hands, people will go all-in pre-flop. Under what circumstances should people attempt this? When should I call/fold when someone before me does this?
Comments
That for me (and perhaps KK) would be the only hands I would call on, it's funny you'll get people going all-in early trying to double up, personally I fold to them and stay outta of their way. I like to go all-in on my terms and usually you will find these players out of the tourney early enough.
When is a good time? Well that is really up to the player. In a cash game I don't think you'll see this happen as often, since the person going all-in will only steal the blinds and there won't be much to brag about. In a tournament it happens to steal the blinds, overbet someone else to steal the pot and as a last desperation move to double up when you're short stacked.
If you are going to move all in pre-flop you should really have the hand to do it. It is a very risky bluff. Some players will go all-in frequently to steal pots and blinds pre-flop, but as it is written, going all in all the time may make you a few small pots when it works but it only needs to fail once to ruin you.