Hey Guys, not much news this month. Sorry about not sending one last month as well, things were a little busy. Hopefully this one is awesome enough to make up for it though. So here's your Holdem strategy for April..
Zeebo's Theorem
This is a pretty interesting theorem that I came across a few months ago. I considered writing an article on it for the site, but I'm not sure how much I can really elaborate on the topic in an attempt to create a healthy article, so I put it on the backburner for a while. Anyways, I thought the theorem could take pride of place in this newsletter, so I hope you enjoy it. So without further ado, I give you Zeebo's theorem...
Zeebo's theorem essentially states that no player can fold a full-house, regardless of the size of the bet, The theorem extends even further to say that a player will often find it incredibly difficult to fold even a non-nut full house. So say for example the board is 47J44 and our opponent holds a 7, they are still more than likely to call a large bet from us, despite them not holding the nut full-house.
So what exactly does this mean?
Well to put it simply, it means that if we ever suspect our opponent to have a full house, and we have a hand that beats their full house, we should bet as many chips as possible. If we take Zeebo's theorem into consideration, we can assume that out opponent will not fold their hand and will call our bet, no matter how large it may be. So the more we can bet, the merrier, as we can expect a nice big payoff at the end of it.
The worst thing we could do in this situation is try and take the 'tricky player' approach by betting a small enough amount that we feel our opponent almost has to call every time. If we use Zeebo's theorem, we know that our opponent is going to call our bet regardless of the size. So by trying to be tricky we are losing out on extra value from the hand by betting small.
In addition, we should know that betting small on the river is usually the second best option to betting big, as described in the article on maximizing value.
In my opinion, there is a lot of truth in Zeebo's theorem. Whilst I suspect that the top players will be able to fold non-nut full houses like the one described above, there are a lot of cases where it is near impossible to fold a full house. A lot of the time, you will lose more money by folding your full house as the chances of winning with a full house are relatively good. In spite of this, I feel it is still the most profitable play on every occasion to push all in on the river if you feel your opponent has a full house and you can beat them.
One thing I would like to point out is that Zeebo's theorem neglects to mention stack sizes when it comes to pushing all-in at the end. If we are 500BBs deep pushing into a 50BB pot, I would say it makes it easier for our opponent to fold non-nut flushes. So maybe in exceptionally deep stack situations we can decrease the size of the bet. But to be honest, I can't see this situation cropping up too often (if ever), so let's just agree that pushing all in is the best option!
So there we go. You might have though about this idea before, but here is a little extra reassurance that it's better to lump it all in rather than mess about with small bets. So if you feel your opponent has a full house that you can beat, just shove it in and wait to pick up the winnings. Easy.
http://captzeebo.supok.net/2006-02-12.html - Original Zeebo's theorem page. Weren't expecting anything fancy now were you?
Test out Zeebo's Theorem at Bodog
Okay, Bodog is still top of my list when it comes to playing poker online. After the introduction of the new software a few months ago I really have no reason to try out any other room at the moment. Don't get me wrong, there  are some truly awesome poker rooms out there with equally good software, but it's always going to be Bodog that takes the cake for me.
Bodog Poker Review
Speaking of which; if you haven't played at Bodog for a few months, or have not played there at all, you should give the new software a download. The great thing about Bodog is that it isn't part of a network, so the software is completely unique and you won't find it anywhere else.
Download Bodog Poker
So get out their and start winning some money. Try and recoup some losses from the Easter holidays (or carry on playing for fun if you're still off work).
So have fun and good luck, catch you on the 1st of May.
Greg
www.thepokerbank.com
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