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Two ways of interpreting the coin flip


July 16, 2008 Poker is a game of choices. Some decisions are easy to take while others require a deeper reason. The unique aspect of this game is the fact that there is a way or strategy to win any hand is up to you and the path that you choose to follow ...

That said, we asked Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, Full Tilt team members, to explain one of the most difficult decisions to be taken in poker: the coin flip. Here are two ways to interpret this decision:

Chris

In most cases, I always try to avoid a coin flip type situation. It is always wrong to take a decision which has a negative EV (expected negative value), and for this reason that you can easily switch hands like AK if you're sure your opponent has top pair, or how Jack Donne. Some players are willing to risk a flip-EV at the beginning of a big tournament to increase their chips. This is not the right decision unless you have to quickly take the plane back home.

Of course, there may be situations in which to play the coin flip may be the right decision. For example, if you think your opponent is a better player than you, then go for a coin flip may be right. If you think your opponent is stronger and can dominate after the flop, play for the coin flip may be a strategy to follow.

Similarly, it is right to try to win a coin flip against a player who thinks he's stronger than you. With several bids, you can put under pressure and you can create a situation in which he wants to avoid playing the game with a coin flip. If you think being a top player, will certainly want to avoid this type of situation and will go until they think to be really strong on the flop. Can you think of being a better player, but if you put him under pressure, could leave defeated.

Howard

I think many players try to avoid them too often, especially after most of their chips in the pot. If there are 1,000 chips in the pot and if you put your last 500 chips to see, you are making an investment in the share of 2-1. Very often, the players want to avoid these situations, however, is wrong. 2-1 in a coin flip is good anche se hai il 48% di probabilità di vittoria.

Quando hai A-K e pensi che il tuo avversario possa avere coppia d’assi o re, allora mettere le tue chips nel piatto non è la mossa giusta. Ma allo stesso modo, quando sei sul 2-1 per le chips che hai messo, penso che sia giusto provarci. È abbastanza grave quando hai una coppia di Jack e non sei disposto al coin flip contro A-K ed alla fine il tuo avversario fa vedere una coppia di 9.

Spesso vediamo il più classico dei coin flip con A-K contro una coppia di donne. Ma non dimentichiamoci di tutte le volte che hai A-K ed il tuo avversario ha A-Q, quindi il tuo avversario ha una mano dominata.

Ci sono naturalmente altre situazioni quando non vuoi andare in coin flip. Not a good idea when for example you have many more chips than your opponent. Have more advantages than your opponent, the less ncessità to go to a coin flip. This situation can be avoided by not putting too many chips in the pot and waiting for the flop to get the better of your opponent.

As you can see, there is no single approach to the coin flip situations. There are always different interpretations.