Save All in for Fourth Street

One of the biggest mistakes that new poker players make, especially online poker players, is the pre-flop all in move. While books have been written on the subject - namely using this technique in order to put pros on edge, tilting them and frustrating them with such aggression, it is still technically a mistake to do so - depending on where you are during a tournament. In most cases, it is advisable to save the powerful all in move for 4th St or later in any given hand, simply because there's always the chance you could lose. Think back to the last time you participated in an online tournament of any reasonable size: do you recall how, usually within the first 15 to 30 minutes of the event, a sizable chunks of players are gone? These players typically belong to the "any two cards" school of poker playing, counting on pure luck to save them when they are called after moving all in pre-flop during the first few hands of a tournament. The reason so many players think moving all in pre-flop is a great idea is because they have heard over and over again on poker television that they need to "get all their money in with the best hand." The problem is, once the flop hits their hand is rarely still the best - even pocket rockets can be toppled by a two pair of deuces and treys.

Once you hit Fourth Street you have had a few rounds of betting to determine whether or not your opponent is on a draw, or made hand. If you think he has you beaten, you now have the option of checking and folding to get out of the way and still be in the game. If you had moved all in pre-flop, you would be out of luck. If your opponent is on a drawing hand, however, and you move all in with an amount that threatens his stack should he call, you are putting real pressure on him to fold - even a big slick is going to fold facing a board of 99T5 rainbow and an opponent who has raised pre-flop, on the flop, and now moved all in on the turn. That same big slick would have likely called you pre-flop if you had moved all in. Take your time, think it through, and outplay your opponent after the flop.