{"id":202,"date":"2014-05-13T15:35:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T19:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhumag.dev.173.166.187.154.xip.io\/?p=202"},"modified":"2014-06-04T12:34:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-04T16:34:35","slug":"hold-em-fold-em","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2014\/05\/hold-em-fold-em\/","title":{"rendered":"Hold \u2019em or Fold \u2019em?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man \u201cpassionately obsessive\u201d about poker shares his tips for going home with the winnings.<\/em><\/p>\n\"hold-em-fold-em_lead\"\n

Avi Rubin<\/strong> is no stranger to hobnobbing with the best and brightest.\u00a0Perhaps that\u2019s because he is one of them himself. A nationally recognized expert on computer security issues, Rubin has been interviewed by 60 Minutes<\/em>, The New York Times<\/em>, the Washington Post<\/em>, and other major news media. He has also testified before Congress on issues involving network security, including the glitch-filled rollout of the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

Still, Rubin admits to having been a little star struck when he found himself surrounded by professional poker players at Maryland Live Casino in Arundel Mills in late March. An avid poker enthusiast, Rubin was one of several amateur players invited to the cash game being filmed for an in-development television series called Poker Night in America.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like a kid trapped inside a candy store; a boy sitting on Santa Claus\u2019s knee,\u201d wrote producer Nolan Dalla in a blog about Rubin\u2019s participation. \u201cRubin revealed that sitting down in a live televised game \u2026 amounted to the experience of attending a poker fantasy camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am passionately obsessive about poker,\u201d says Rubin, a professor of computer science at the Whiting School and technical director of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. \u201cThe geek in me loves the math and science of it. The competitor in me loves the action. It\u2019s been a dream of mine to play with some of these guys whom I\u2019ve seen on TV many times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubin began playing poker eight years ago, and plays weekly with friends. His goal is to compete in the World Series of Poker Main Event by age 50.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Avi Rubin\u2019s Top 10 Poker Tips<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Don\u2019t play poker tired.<\/strong> Don\u2019t drink when you play. You need to be able to focus and concentrate.<\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t play garbage hands.<\/strong> There are at least 35 percent of poker hands that you should just never play, except possibly heads up.<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t bluff unless your move has a story.<\/strong> Your bluffs need to be consistent with what you have represented throughout the hand.<\/li>\n
  4. Calculate pot odds.<\/strong> You may be surprised by the calls you are supposed to make.<\/li>\n
  5. The most important factor is position.<\/strong> As stacks get bigger, this is even more important.<\/li>\n
  6. In a cash game,<\/strong> you should try to squeeze from time to time.<\/li>\n
  7. In a tournament<\/strong> if you are down below 10 big blinds, you should only shove or fold.<\/li>\n
  8. Learn hand reading.<\/strong> You need to be more concerned with the cards your opponent might have than with your own cards.<\/li>\n
  9. Consider implied odds.<\/strong> If you make a speculative call or a semi-bluff, are you going to get paid off if you hit your hand?<\/li>\n
  10. Have fun!<\/strong> If you are not enjoying yourself, then find something else to do.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Glossary<\/h3>\n

    Garbage Hands:<\/strong> These are hands that are ranked well below average, such as 83 or 29. These hands connect with very few flops and are usually losers.<\/p>\n

    Has A Story:<\/strong> A bluff needs to represent a strong hand. If you play the hand weakly throughout and then suddenly put in a big bet on the river, what story are you trying to tell? That the river card made you strong?<\/p>\n

    Position:<\/strong> Your betting position relative to that of other players is important. If you get to bet last, then you have more information when it is your turn than if you have to go first.<\/p>\n

    Squeeze:<\/strong> When one person bets and another person calls, this can set up a squeeze play: you raise big. Here\u2019s why this works. The first person who bet has to worry about the person behind them who called, and so they will often fold. That first player is squeezed. The second person is usually weak because they only called and did not raise. A squeeze play is very effective,\u00a0especially in position.<\/p>\n

    Blinds:<\/strong> forced bets that two players must make every hand. The big blind bets a designated amount, and the small blind, directly to that person\u2019s right, bets a fraction (usually a half or slightly less than half) of the big blind.<\/p>\n

    Shove:<\/strong> to go \u201call in\u201d (to put all of your chips into the pot).<\/p>\n

    Hand Reading:<\/strong> trying to figure out what cards your opponent holds based on your understanding of that person\u2019s tendencies, their betting, and their body language.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Calculating Odds<\/h2>\n

    One of the most important mathematical concepts in poker (not just hold \u2019em) is the notion of pot odds\u2014the odds that you are getting from the pot. Let\u2019s say that the pot contains $180. Your opponent bets $20. After that bet, the pot contains $200 and it will cost you $20 to call the bet. The pot odds you are getting are computed as the amount of the pot divided by the bet you have to call. So, in this case the pot odds are 10-1.<\/p>\n

    Now say that you hold two hearts, including the Ace of hearts and there are two hearts on the board with one card to come. And let\u2019s assume that your opponent in this pot has a straight (obviously, you would not know this, but this is just an example). The question you need to figure out is if you should call the $20 bet. Well, the chance of your hitting your flush (making your hand) is approximately 20% (trust me). So your express odds are about 4-1. That is you will make your flush one out of five times (4 times no and one time yes). Anytime your express odds are greater than the pot odds, in this case, 4-1 is greater than 10-1, you should at least call. Over time, you will win more money (or lose less money) making this call than you would if you folded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The man \u201cpassionately obsessive\u201d about poker shares his tips for going home with the winnings. Avi Rubin is no stranger to hobnobbing with the best and brightest.\u00a0Perhaps that\u2019s because he is one of them himself. A nationally recognized expert on computer security issues, Rubin has been interviewed by 60 Minutes, The New York Times, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","issue-summer-2014"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHold \u2019em or Fold \u2019em? - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2014\/05\/hold-em-fold-em\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2014\/05\/hold-em-fold-em\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hold \u2019em or Fold \u2019em? - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The man \u201cpassionately obsessive\u201d about poker shares his tips for going home with the winnings. 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