A kill game is a little different than playing with a straddle. It's specifically advertised as a kill game in advance, so it's usually full of good players who occasionally like to play higher limit. A kill game has tougher players than the same limit game without the kill, on average.

The kill is activated by one of two circumstances:
1. The same player wins two hands in a row. When that happens, the next game is played at the kill limit, usually double the original stakes.

2. A player wins a pot that's bigger than a predetermined limit, usually ten times the size of the big bet. The next hand is played at the kill limit.

In each case, the player who won the pot, called the "Killer," posts a big blind twice the size of the usual big blind, regardless of his position at the table. If you were playing $3-$6 and you were the Killer, you'd post a blind of $6 instead of $3, and the game would be played at the $6-$ 12 limit. If a different player wins the kill hand, or the pot is not big enough to trigger a kill, the next hand reverts to the original game limit.

When a player wins a hand, he is said to "have a leg up." To show this, the dealer gives him a button that says, "Leg Up" on one side. This helps everyone remember and identify him as the winner of the last hand. If he wins the next hand, he turns the button over, revealing its second side, where it says, "Killer."

If you have a leg up, you have to ask yourself this question: "Do I, or do I not, want to win this next hand so we can play a kill game with me as the Killer?" I think you should lean towards wanting a kill game if you can meet two of the four following criteria:
1. You're slated to be in the big blind the next hand anyway. In this case you can kill for only an extra $3 instead of the full $6.

2. You're in late position. Players tend to call less often before the flop in kill games, which in turn makes a late position steal raise more likely to be successful.
3. The game is short-handed. With few players, a raise from the Killer will give almost everyone the wrong odds to play. If you also happen to be in late position, or even in the small blind, a raise is a good move.

4. You're one of the best players in the game. It's impossible to cover every conceivable situation in a book this size. But if you're a great hold em player, or at least one of the best in the game, you'll know how to outplay your opponents. Playing for twice the usual stakes will be all the better for you.

The above advice applies only if you have a truly undecided hand when you have a leg up. If you have A^AV or 742V, you'll know instantly what you want to do. It's those hands in the middle that you have to think about. So know yourself. Do what you think will work best for you. If you're really undecided, throw the hand away. Don't bet that you know what you're doing when you really don't.

• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs Ii (0)
• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs (0)
• Playing With An Ace In Poker Part4 (0)

It's very important that you don't complain about the straddling or in any way let others know that you don't like it. Don't let your words or demeanor contradict your actions on the subject of straddling. Try to look happy, and don't give your opponents anything to doubt your (fake) image, as a Loose/Passive player.

When one of the other players has straddled, here's what you need to consider:
1. The straddler will have a random hand since he raised before he saw his hand.
2. The raise has reduced your implied odds, and you don't know what the straddler has, so you should play only your very good hands.

3. If you do have a playable hand, you should think about coming in for a reraise. That would make it three bets to go for the players behind you, which helps increase the chance that you'll get head-up with the straddler. Your good hand against the straddler's random hand, plus the fact that you have position on him, all make you a big favorite to win the hand.

4. If another player reraises behind you, he probably has a great hand and is raising to eliminate players.

5. You just can't steal the blinds in this situation. Who's going to straddle and then fold when you reraise? Most of the time the straddler is going to reraise you just because you raised. You're always going to have to take a flop here so remember that ahead of time.

• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs (0)
• Playing With An Ace In Poker Part3 (0)
• Playing With An Ace In Poker (0)

Straddles, kills, and overs are related because they affect the structure and limit of the game you're playing. When you take a seat in a $3-$6 or a $l-$4-$8-$8 game, you know what the limits are, and you have an idea of how much it would cost to play each hand to its conclusion. You therefore also know what an appropriate buy-in is for that game.

Playing the overs or playing with a straddle or a kill increases the limits. All of these plays require you to invest more money in the hand than you might originally have intended to when you sat down in the game. That in turn means that you might be busted out of the game before you realize it. Let's look at each one of these subjects separately.

Playing With A Straddle
A straddle is when the player to the immediate left of the big blind raises in the dark (before he gets his cards). In most cardrooms, this blind raise does not count toward the maximum raise limit, so, if your card-room has a three raise limit, you'll be playing with a bet and four raises if there's a straddle. With one possible exception, you should never straddle the pot yourself. Take a minute here to see if you can think of what that exception might be.

Got it yet? This is one instance where it's useful to think outside the game. The one time you should straddle concerns your image. If you're in a game full of loose, wild players who are playing and straddling almost every hand, you should also straddle the blind once in a while. You don't want to stand out as a tight, conservative, no-action rock, especially in light of all that action going on around you.

The one extra bet that it costs you to straddle is really more of an investment than an actual bet. If you get into the spirit of the game and appear to be one of the loose players, the pots that you win in the future will have more bets in them, on average, than they would if the other players perceived you as a too-tight player.

If you've decided you're going to straddle, the most important thing you need to know is: do it as soon as you can after you've made the decision. You only have to do it once or twice so that the other players can see it and think that you're just playing for fun. The earlier in the game that you straddle a hand or two, the more time there will be for you to take advantage of your looser image.

• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs Ii (0)
• Playing With An Ace In Poker Part4 (0)
• Playing With An Ace In Poker (0)

Since, as you can see, all you need is an ace in your hand to win the jackpot, many players will play every time they have an ace for that reason. A jackpot gets hit this way only once in about 12,500 hands, so you'll have to know the size of your jackpot and decide for yourself if it's worth it.

This calculation also assumes that you're the one to hit the jackpot. Consider this question: "Is the jackpot big enough to make up for all those ace hands that I lose with while I'm trying to hit it?"

It's impossible to answer this question precisely, because there are so many variables that cannot be quantified. My advice is that you don't play aces solely for the jackpot unless all three of these conditions are met:

1. The jackpot is over $ 15,000.
2. You're playing at a full table.
3. You are a solid, experienced player.
See Chapter 20 for a more detailed explanation.

I can tell you that in all the years I've been playing hold 'em, I've been a winner in a jackpot hand three times. The first time, I held A*AV, made four aces, and beat a player who made four kings while holding K*K*. The other two times I held AVKY and A*Q>, respectively, when three more aces came on the board, and the other player had a big pocket pair. Holding a single ace has helped me win a jackpot only twice in twenty years, and I think my experience is typical.

My personal philosophy regarding aces and jackpots is to forget completely that the two are related. I play my cards based on their poker value, and I don't worry about the jackpot. I've never thrown away a hand like A47£ that would have won the jackpot if I'd played it. Let the jackpot take care of itself; devote your mental energy to the more profitable aspects of the game.

Nothing in this short chapter was exceedingly difficult to learn. I just want you to think about those hands that have an ace in them.

Your assignment, therefore, is to make a list of those hands with an ace that you used to play but, after reading this chapter, have now decided not to play. Every time you throw away one of these hands before the flop, record the outcome of the hand. All you want to know is whether you would have won the hand. I'm betting that most of the time the answer will be "No."

• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs (0)
• Playing With An Ace In Poker Part2 (0)
• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs Ii (0)

A4A«£, A4AV, A4A4. Always raise and reraise before the flop with these hands.
A4K4, A4K*, A4KV, A4K*. Raise in early position and just call in late position unless you're raising to steal the blinds.

A4Q4, A4Q*, A4QV, A4Q4. Same play as with the kings, except you don't have to play the hand at all if you have to call three or more bets cold. That raise and reraise ahead of you mean something-probably that someone has pocket aces, kings or AK.

A4J4, A4J*, A4J*, A4J4. These hands are usually best if there's no preflop raise, or if you're short-handed. Being suited helps but not until you see the flop.

A4104, A410*, A±10V, A*104. At least you can make the nut straight using both cards, which is a big plus.

A494, A*9*, A49V, A494. A 9 kicker is about as low as I will play in most instances. If another player in the hand has an ace, his kicker will almost always be bigger than mine.
A484, A474, A*64, A454, A444, A434, A*2*.

Although these hands are all suited, they don't have much value until you see the flop. You will flop two more 4s only 10.944% of the time, which is about one out of nine times. You need to be playing in late position or have a lot of other players in the hand to have the right odds to see the flop. You can, though, raise to steal the blinds with these hands.

A454», A45V, A45^. If you absolutely must play an ace with a garbage card, this is the one to pick. Why? Because you can make a wheel using both hole cards. A5 doesn't win many hands, but it's worth more money to you than A6 because of its straight potential.

A*8*, A48V, A484, A47*, A*7V, A474, A46*, A46V, A464, A44*, A44V, A444, A*3*, A±3V, A*34, A42*, A*2¥, A*2*. These are all of the other hands with an ace. They are all garbage hands, and you should play them only in the blinds or perhaps when you're stealing the blinds. If you follow my advice, these will be the hands that the other players will be holding when you beat them.

There's one other time when you might think about playing an ace with a bad kicker-when the jackpot for your game is very high and it takes aces full or better to be beaten to qualify. Statistically speaking, it's likely that the winning hand will contain exactly one ace more than any other card. Let's look at an example:

You hold A*6V, the board is A*A*J49*A4, and another player holds QVQf, or JYJ*.

That's a jackpot in most cardrooms in the country. You have four aces, and your opponent has a full house—aces full of kings, queens or jacks. In most places, the loser must play both hole cards, and the winner must play only one hole card. In some places, the winner's kicker must beat the board, which is a stupid rule because it means you're using six cards to make up your poker hand. In most places, though, the winner's kicker is irrelevant.

• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs Ii (0)
• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs (0)
• Poker – Playing With A Kill (0)

Most low limit players see the flop every time they have an ace in their hand. Most low limit players are also losers in the long run, and I can tell you that this incorrect play of aces is one of the reasons. A player who learns to play his aces correctly will have fixed a big leak in his game. With an opportunity to make an expensive mistake as often as once every six hands, it is positively worth your time and effort to learn to play correctly.

If you're one of those players who likes to play every ace, and you're looking to improve your game a little bit without too much work, the best advice I can give you is: don't play your ace unless your other card is either a 10 or higher or the same suit as your ace. This will plug a big leak in your game and help keep you out of trouble if you're presently playing more hands.

For those of you who'd like to fine-tune your game a little more than that, keep reading, because this chapter offers much more specific advice. I'm going to take the A4, pair it up with every other card in the deck, and give you a brief comment about the resulting hand.
You don't have to agree with everything I say about these hands. How you play a hand depends on the situation you're facing when it's your turn to act. A correct play in one instance might not be best the next time you have that same hand. My main purpose in this exercise is to make you think about your aces, so you don't automatically play all of them every time.

• Playing With An Ace In Poker Part4 (0)
• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs Ii (0)
• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs (0)

About 15% of the time, one of your hole cards will be an ace. That's about one out of every seven hands, six times per hour, or fifty times per eight-hour playing session that you'll be dealt an ace with another random card. It's very important that you learn to play correctly when you have an ace, as this one aspect of the game alone has a huge effect on your hourly rate.

If you're in a certain situation as many as six times per hour, and you have a chance to put as many as four or more big bets into play each time, then you can see what an impact playing your aces correctly can have on your hourly rate. When you're betting as many as twenty-four big bets per hour, you'd better know what you're doing if your long-term goal is to win one to two big bets per hour.

Here's the golden rule of playing with an ace: Every other player at the table also gets an ace one out of six hands. Getting an ace is no big deal, so there has to be something special about yours. Following are two tables of ace-related odds that will be helpful to you:

ODDS THAT YOU WILL BE DEALT
At least one ace 5.7-1
AK (not suited) 110-1
AK (suited) 331-1
AA 221-1

PERCENTAGE CHANCE THAT NO ONE
HOLDS AN ACE BEFORE THE FLOP
In a ten-handed game 13.3%
If you do (ten-handed) 25.3%
If you don't (ten-handed) 15.6%
In a five-handed game 41.3%
If you do (five-handed) 58.6%
If you don't (five-handed) 48.6%

Looking at this second table, you can see that in a ten-handed game, someone will be dealt an ace 86.7% of the time, if you have an ace, another player will also have one 74.7% of the time, and if you don't have an ace, someone else will have one 84.4% of the time. You see the importance of playing your aces correctly.

• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs Ii (0)
• Poker – Straddles, Kills, And Overs (0)
• Poker – Playing With A Kill (0)