# People who go "all in" on EVERY hand in online poker **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 21, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262 "2009-01-21T04:18:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/21 "2009-01-21T18:24:32Z")
I play poker online on Puzzle Pirates, and I have never won on pocket aces. Ever. I did win on pocket 2s that turned into four-of-a-kind, though. That was fun. ---
**Author:** ![MissIntent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MissIntent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissIntent)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/22 "2009-01-21T22:48:42Z")
If it bothers you so, why do you play? I’ve played online poker for a few years, and I’ve always been curious about the mindset behind those who complain about bad players. You don’t make money off of good players. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/23 "2009-01-21T23:24:52Z")
> [@MissIntent](#): > > If it bothers you so, why do you play? > > I’ve played online poker for a few years, and I’ve always been curious about the mindset behind those who complain about bad players. You don’t make money off of good players. Why do I not like playing against bad players? For the same reason I don’t like to play basketball against small children. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/24 "2009-01-22T04:14:23Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > The curious aspect of Hold’Em is that novice/bad players are actually **harder** to play against than pros, because they don’t bet as predictably based on their hands. This is wrong on so many levels that I don’t know where to begin. ---
**Author:** ![MissIntent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MissIntent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissIntent)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/25 "2009-01-22T05:33:11Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Why do I not like playing against bad players? For the same reason I don’t like to play basketball against small children. I guess if I was getting a $1 a point playing basketball, even against the small children, I would enjoy it. My motives for poker are I enjoy making money, I guess yours are different. I don’t mean that maliciously, I often forget that people play poker for different reasons than I do. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/26 "2009-01-22T05:58:25Z")
I play an online text based MMORPG (torncity) that has a casino wherein you can play poker. I like to dabble, but in a 50,000 buy in table, there is always one of the old school, “has more money than god’s investment banker” guys buying out all the pots. It’s frustrating. Luckily, in the game, I can then put out a hit on them. Kinda gratifying. ---
**Author:** ![Jdeforrest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@Jdeforrest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jdeforrest)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/27 "2009-01-22T15:15:17Z")
> [@FarmerChick](#): > > I play a lot of online poker. I stopped playing for money a couple years ago, too many bad beats, and I have anger issues I haven’t resolved yet. The play money is ridiculous though, it’s very hard to find a good game. I lose with pocket aces at least 25% of the time because of the above mentioned reasons. You have a 75% chance of winning against one player with a lower PP with AA. So 25% is actually about right. The odds go down dramatically as you add players. The problem with bad players is that there is no rhyme or reason to their madness. You can’t put them on a range because they’ll normally play anything, you can’t beat them after the flop because they just bet wild. Your best bet is to try to get in cheap, and if you hit your hand, get your chips into the pot. However, when you have a table full of idiots, getting in cheap can be difficult all by itself. I’m currently taking a break from online poker. The bad beats from bad players were getting to me. I wish I had the bankroll to play higher stakes where (I hope) people play at least a little more rationally. Just to give an example of the kind of play you see, even on money tables, these are my last two losing hands. AA preflop, rose to 6x BB from SB postion. 1 caller from cutoff position. Flop was Ks7h2d. Raised 1.5x pot. SB reraises all-in (about 5x pot). I happily call. SB had K4o. Hit his 4 on the turn and took the pot. The pot that he should have never been in the first place. Last hand and end of my bankroll: Dealt QQ on the button. One player in MP2 had been betting crazy and made an all-in bet which was small, but bigger than my stack. I called and did a fist pump when he showed 45o. Except that he hit his straight by the turn. Got my Q on the river though. It gets to you after a while. Making all the smart decisions and losing to people just counting on dumb luck. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/28 "2009-01-22T19:06:39Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Dude, if you have AA, you want everybody to go all in. True, but not necessarily by going all-in yourself or calling 6 people. Depending on your seat, your player reads, and chip stacks you would play the hand differently. I’ve found since Texas Hold’em has taken over, no one bothers to play the other variants. The secret to being successful is building potential winning pots for yourself. Sometimes you want to maximize how many rounds of betting occur with more players involved. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/29 "2009-01-23T04:32:49Z")
Maybe I’m missing something here (I don’t play poker, online or otherwise) but if I’m understanding what’s going on, then going “all in” every hand is optimal play. I assume “freeroll” means you’re being given free money to play with. So you’re risking nothing. If so the smartest move is to bet everything everytime. Sure, you’re going to lose most times but who cares? It’s not real money. You bust out, you just start over with a new supply of free money. And if the flop is a miracle and you get exactly the cards you need, then your payoff is as high as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/30 "2009-01-23T04:34:38Z")
The only thing more useless than playing poker without using real money is man nipples. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/31 "2009-01-23T04:38:44Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > The only thing more useless than playing poker without using real money is man nipples. You must have an extremely active social life. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/32 "2009-01-23T04:39:32Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > The only thing more useless than playing poker without using real money is man nipples. I agree 100% Play-money poker does not resemble real poker in any meaningful way. And BTW, I just checked my poker database: I have gotten pocket Aces 242 times since last summer and have won the hand 95.87% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/33 "2009-01-23T05:01:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Maybe I’m missing something here (I don’t play poker, online or otherwise) but if I’m understanding what’s going on, then going “all in” every hand is optimal play. > > I assume “freeroll” means you’re being given free money to play with. So you’re risking nothing. If so the smartest move is to bet everything everytime. Sure, you’re going to lose most times but who cares? It’s not real money. You bust out, you just start over with a new supply of free money. > > And if the flop is a miracle and you get exactly the cards you need, then your payoff is as high as possible. Monopoly money isn’t real money. Why bother buying properties, then? Why get hotels? Because that’s how the game is played, and whether the money is “real” or not, it’s the game’s version of “points” and there should be, theoretically, a limited amount to work with. If you come to a table with $2000 in play money, pretend that all you really have is $2000 in play money, and you have to bet accordingly. People who go “all in” with copious amounts of play money rank right up there with “campers” in FPS deathmatches, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/34 "2009-01-23T05:11:26Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > This is wrong on so many levels that I don’t know where to begin. No, Texas Hold 'Em is the “official” version of the Poker we used to play when we allowed women to make up the rules. “In this hand, Ones are wild and and Kings mean you have to turn around like a ballerina.” It isn’t Poker by any definition of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/35 "2009-01-23T05:12:00Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Monopoly money isn’t real money. Why bother buying properties, then? Why get hotels? Because that’s how the game is played, and whether the money is “real” or not, it’s the game’s version of “points” and there should be, theoretically, a limited amount to work with. If you come to a table with $2000 in play money, pretend that all you really have is $2000 in play money, and you have to bet accordingly. People who go “all in” with copious amounts of play money rank right up there with “campers” in FPS deathmatches, IMO. Part of the difference is that when you play Monopoly you are likely playing it with friends and/or family so you have at least a little bit of vested interest in the game. Not only is there no prize for winning a play-money poker game online, but the people playing don’t even know each other and will never see each other. They just don’t have much motivation to care about the game. I agree that it’s a pretty useless exercise and doesn’t even resemble real poker for money. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/36 "2009-01-23T07:10:16Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > I agree 100% Play-money poker does not resemble real poker in any meaningful way. And BTW, I just checked my poker database: I have gotten pocket Aces 242 times since last summer and have won the hand 95.87% of the time. Hell yeah. Who the fuck expects solid, patient poker play at a play money table? If you want to work on spotting betting patterns, controlling pot sizes, or betting for maximum value, then it needs to be done in a real money game, otherwise any observations are useless due to the artificial nature of play money games. And I am sorry, if you are losing with pocket aces more often than not, you just ain’t playing them right… ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/37 "2009-01-23T07:19:45Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > And I am sorry, if you are losing with pocket aces more often than not, you just ain’t playing them right… And you should play them how…? I’ve played pocket aces the following ways: Bet strong Bet weak Check or call Go all in In online poker, it seems an unsuited 4-6 is just as good a hand as A-A. I think (at least for the online poker that I’ve been playing) that the program is a little more “forgiving” of less than optimal hands. When I play poker live, for real money, pocket Aces almost always wins. Online, I’m better off going all in on the 4-6. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/38 "2009-01-23T16:00:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Monopoly money isn’t real money. Why bother buying properties, then? Why get hotels? Because that’s how the game is played, and whether the money is “real” or not, it’s the game’s version of “points” and there should be, theoretically, a limited amount to work with. If you come to a table with $2000 in play money, pretend that all you really have is $2000 in play money, and you have to bet accordingly. People who go “all in” with copious amounts of play money rank right up there with “campers” in FPS deathmatches, IMO. If I was playing Monopoly and decided to pretend the play money was real, I’d probably decide it’s a bad time to be investing in real estate and I’d buy some bonds instead. You play poker like you play Monopoly - to win the game within the scope of the rules. In poker, that’s getting the most money, which is what I described. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/39 "2009-01-23T16:22:50Z")
> [@SSG\_Schwartz](#): > > I always let these assholes beat themselves. If you can get a table with 3-4 of them, all the better, don’t play those hands. When the wild fucks are eliminated, play your best tight poker and make the survivor have to open up again. If you can’t beat a wild fuck, you need to practice some more. I agree with this – in tournament games. In fact, in small tournament games, you’re almost guaranteed to be in the money by just letting the riff-raff out-bet themselves. I play alot of freeroll at Full Tilt. They have some fun tournaments – anywhere from two tables of 9 to 90 player tournaments, to multiple table tournaments (that is you play four hands at four tables at a time – quite concentration skewing to say the least). Unfortunately, playing with play-money at the casino style tables – where people come and go – is practically useless. I’m pretty confident that a lot of people use those tables to game their play-chips. That is, they get their free stack of $1,000, and immediately bet it all – if they lose it, they go get more free chips; if they double up, it’s gravy. Stick to tournament tables and the All-Inners all in their way out of the equation. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262/40 "2009-01-23T16:36:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Maybe I’m missing something here (I don’t play poker, online or otherwise) but if I’m understanding what’s going on, then going “all in” every hand is optimal play. > > I assume “freeroll” means you’re being given free money to play with. So you’re risking nothing. If so the smartest move is to bet everything everytime. Sure, you’re going to lose most times but who cares? It’s not real money. You bust out, you just start over with a new supply of free money. > > And if the flop is a miracle and you get exactly the cards you need, then your payoff is as high as possible. I’m not sure how it is at other poker sites, but where I play, there are only so many free chips that get handed to you. That is, you start out with $1000 and you can’t get more unless you lose them all. So, when you only have $1000, I suppose it’s good a strategy as any other – soul-sucking as it is. But if you’re just hoping to double up every single time on a wing and a prayer, you’re not going to get a big enough stack to play in games that require higher buy-ins, unless you’re astronomically lucky. The last time I looked, I turned my $1,000 (free chips) into about $300,000 by playing tournaments. First you have to get in the money on the lower ones ($200 buy in – maybe a $1000 first place pay-out (not sure precisely the totals)), but win enough money there, and you can play the $2,000, $10,000 and $100,000 buy-ins – which, obviously, come with bigger pay-outs as well. Just gaming through All-Inning? I don’t thing anyone could generate the kind of stack to continually playing the higher-priced tournaments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-go-all-in-on-every-hand-in-online-poker/482262.md?page=3)