The Best Damn Hand In Poker - Poker Strategy, Tips and the Secrets of 72o

The Fallacy Of Pocket Rockets

Well done, initiate, you are now officially promoted to Level Three. You have made good progress.

Having now mastered some of the basics and now having a greater understanding of the subtleties of playing 72o, it is time to venture into deeper waters and to shockingly expose the biggest trash hand of all time.

I am, naturally, talking about Pocket Rockets. AKA: American Airlines.

Let us take a look at this nasty and despicable wrecker of so many tournament players:

Looks nice, doesn't it? Don't be fooled by first impressions.....

Here's a stark situation for you, so that you may begin to realise what utter trash this hand really is.

You are in a tournament, blinds are 100/200, you have 3600 in chips and are Under The Gun with Ah Ad

Being ignorant about this trash hand you limp UTG, hoping for a raise further down the table so that you can re-raise and get some heads up or small multi-way action. (Masters will know that the correct action here is to hit FOLD)

Naturally, a *jackal raises further down the table and a *mouse re-raises. (*See Hellmuth animal types for more info)

Well immediately, you know the mouse has KK (he is too scared to re-raise with QQ, like the gutless rodent he is) and the jackal naturally has a powerhouse such as J 10 off.

You make your masterful (hardly!!!) re-raise, the jackal pushes all in, expecting you to fold under pressure of losing your entire stack and the mouse calls with his KK, knowing that the jackal does not have him beat.

Well, you make a fundamental mistake here (I hope you will not do so in future) and risk your entire stack in a 3 way all-in. It looks like this:

VS VS

68.4% 17.7% 13.9%

What a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE situation to be in. There is now a 1 in 3 chance you will LOSE YOUR SEAT.

You sit for three hours in a tourney, playing great poker and now you could be out on a 1 in 3. Shocking.

If this situation occurs twice in the tourney, your chance of surviving both encounters is 0.684 x 0.684 = 46.8%

What does this mean? You are likely to LOSE and get busted out. It would be a travesty indeed to see such a fine initiate busted out with this over-rated trash hand.

Now let us see this same situation in a different light, except that this time, you are fortunate enough to be dealt the BEST DAMN HAND IN POKER:

You are in a tournament, blinds are 100/200, you have 3600 in chips and are Under The Gun with 7h 2c

As is correct for aggressive 72o strategy you open raise UTG, immediately making the jackal think you have something good and causing him to LOSE under Sklansky's fundamental theorem of poker. He raises you by the minimum (jackal's can't help but raise) and now the mouse is worried.

The mouse is not bothered about the jackal but is concerned about you. An UTG raise is worrying for the terrified little rodent and he immediately quivers with fear at the thought of AA.

He barely manages to call the jackal's raise and you too call as you know that the flop is a fundamentally important aspect of correct 72o play. Notice how this differs to AA, where most players will happily shove their entire stack all-in and run the risk of finishing out of the money.

You, the jackal and the mouse are privileged enough to see the flop without any of you risking your entire stack and before the flop comes down your odds look like this:

VS VS

10.9% + X 73.0% - 0.5X 16.1% - 0.5X

This is a great situation for you as you pretty much know what your opponents have and you know where you stand.

Note that in addition to having the chance to bust these guys on an improbable and highly psychologically damaging draw, both the jackal and the mouse now have to suffer a merciless reduction in their pre-flop odds. They must share the burden of X.

A level three initiate such as yourself will gladly say: "I'll take that 10.9% + X any day......"

As is the way of the world in such situations, the universe immediately invokes the power of X and brings down a deceptively delicious flop such as the following:

FLOP:

This is a great flop for you. You couldn't really have asked for anything better as you now know exactly where you stand.

From your perspective, the jackal has two high-ish cards, perhaps a pair of queens if he is lucky, the mouse has an overpair and you are proudly building up to a psychologically heart wrenching ultimate all-time bad beat inducing monster of a double tournament chances busting victory.

The odds now look like this:

VS VS

6.5% + X 88.4% - 0.5X 5.1% - 0.5X

This is the dream flop situation for 72o. The younger initiates may not understand why so I will explain:

YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU STAND

Where would you rather be? On a 1 in 3 chance to lose your seat or knowing that it will require a bizarre runner-runner occurrence to bring you the winning hand? Think about that.

The betting opens as follows:

You check, representing a slow play of AA and the jackal puts down a small flop bet (jackals really can't help betting the flop, or any other situation for that matter.)

The mouse knows he has the jackal beat and guesses the jackal has nothing at all and is making a typical aggressive jackalesque steal attempt.

However, because you worship at the temple of 72o, the mouse now thinks you're slow playing AA due to your brave and wise pre-flop raise. He therefore tentatively calls the bet, waiting to see if you raise.

Now of course the correct action here is to simply call, thus allowing yourself to see the turn card very cheaply and for the universe to roll out it's next stage in the master plan:

TURN:

Well this is great news for you. Things are now proceeding exactly as planned. The mouse now has a dilemma. He thinks the jackal could have anything and knows you made a pre-flop raise UTG. Since you didn't re-raise the flop he has now put you on AK or AKs (typical trash hands played by inexperienced players)

The jackal is worried about the Ace too but if you check he will definitely bet it in an attempt to represent Ax.

Remember, the jackal also has a good idea of what the predictable mouse is holding and will gladly relish the chance of bluffing him into folding his KK.

Your odds are now as follows:

VS VS

9.5% + X 85.7% - 0.5X 4.8% - 0.5X

Why is this now good for you?

YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU STAND

Naturally, you check the turn too, now causing the mouse to think he has correctly deduced you hold AK and are about to check raise. Sure enough, the jackal puts down a reasonable size bet and the mouse calls, waiting to see what you do. Yet again, you merely call and you all see the river:

After giving thanks to the universe for staying true to you and delivering on your faith and belief in 72o, you get ready to deliver a crushing defeat.

The beauty of this situation is that neither player in a million years will ever put you on a deuce. They are expecting AK.

Oh, what joy to look at the odds now:

VS VS

100% 0% 0%

Your correct action here is to check yet again. It is the perfect way to deliver that masterful crushing defeat to your two unsuspecting victims.........

What a wonderful development! You knew you would win anyway but it never ceases to amaze when the universe bends the odds according to the Fundamental Theorem of 72o

Boy are the jackal and mouse confused now. They've probably got you on a medium pocket pair or something similar and expect you will fold to any bet.

The jackal makes a final large bluff, trying to desperately represent the deuce now and after some thought the mouse raises. (What a brave and highly foolish move from Mr. Mousey!)

At this point you re-raise and the jackal folds, leaving you and Mr. Mousey in the pot......

He thinks for ages. His pondering lasts an unfathomable eternity...... The clock ticks down......

After a bout of agonising soul searching he hits call and you deliver your crucifying defeat.

You pause for two seconds and then type into the chat box:

"The Best Damn Hand In Poker."

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