Hold Em Authority - Texas Hold Em Strategy and advice for all levels of players

Also known as paying for information, calling to see if you’re right is very tempting in a lot of situations. The problem is, sometimes we can call too much for information that isn’t very useful in the long run. For example, if you call off half your stack late in the tournament because you have a hunch that you might be ahead - what information does this provide in the long run, since your opponent and/or you will be gone from the tournament in a short period of time? Obviously, if you are 90% sure you are correct, then by all means, call. If you are 50/50, forget it - it’s not worth half your chips to find out you indeed made a horrible read.I think that paying for information is most valuable in the early and middle stages of the tournament, because getting players to show down the cards they are playing is such a valuable piece of information. By getting an opponent to show their cards at the end, you can see if they are playing garbage, and how they play that garbage. On the flip side, if they show AA, you can see how their betting patterns were similar or different from other hands they may’ve had to show down.

If you obtain this type of information early in a tournament, you can apply it through the duration, which could payoff big time in a future hand with that opponent. Also, by paying for this information early, you can keep your losses at a minimum because the blinds will still be small relative to your stack.

Everyone wants to know if what they are thinking is correct, but that’s part of the mystique of holdem: sometimes you just don’t get the luxury of finding out what two cards your opponent is holding. Don’t get lured in to making an expensive call just to see what your opponent has, because a chunk of your stack gone is a chunk of your stack that you can’t use in the future. Draw a line for yourself - an amount of chips that you are willing to give to your opponent for information, but make sure that line doesn’t cross a significant portion of your chips.