Thursday, 28th March 2024 14:01
Home / News / When should you call for a chop?

A straight on board. Five monotone cards out there. Quad aces and a queen kicker in the middle.

We see boards like this every day in both tournaments and cash games, but when you’re put to the test by an opponent who likely shares the same hand you do, when is it good to call for a chop and when are you being taken to value town?

Thankfully PokerStars School dives into that, and plenty of other things.

THIS WEEK:

  • Get involved in the Community Tournament
  • Calling for a chop
  • Pot Odds and the 50-50 fallacy
  • PLO Beyond the Basics: Opening the Button
  • More new strategy videos
  • Win WCOOP 2020 tickets with PokerStars School

Get involved the Community Tournament

The good folk at PokerStars School like to encourage their members and give them a chance to grow their poker bankroll for free! The monthly Community Tournament is a great way to do just that with at least $1,000 GTD each and every month.

How to Play

You can play in this tournament for free – all you need is a Comunity Tournament ticket. You can claim your free Community Tournament ticket by using the Star Code ‘COMMUNITYSEP’ between September 14-18.

Click here for all the info.


Calling for a chop

“Calling for a chop means calling a bet in a situation where your best case scenario is to split the pot. And your worst case, of course is to lose the whole thing.

“Players often don’t like folding in some of these scenarios, perhaps feeling like it will look weak if they fold, or they don’t want to be bullied or bluffed.

“But there are times where folding is far superior to calling for a chop. Let’s dig in.”

Find out when you should be calling for a chop.


Pot Odds and the 50-50 fallacy

“As humans, we are hardwired to do things which are more good than bad and to avoid things which are more bad than good. Our subconscious minds love to use the threshold of 50% good, or right, as a benchmark.

“But poker asks us to do things that are more bad than good all the time. We often have to throw money into a pot that we will usually lose.

“This is all because of pot odds.”

Brush up on your pot odds and learn from the 50-50 fallacy.


PLO Beyond the Basics: Opening the Button

Check out Part 2 of Pete Clarke’s PLO Beyond the Basics video series below.

This week Pete’s looking at button-open strategy:


More new strategy videos

ICM is one of the most important components of tournament strategy. After all, it’s where you make your money.

Yet many players still don’t fully understand it.

Here’s Part 1 of a new ICM Review series from Federico Sztern:


Spin & Go Reloaded – Through the Limits

James Mackenzie and Nick Walsh from OP-Poker takes us through the different player types you’ll find across all levels at the Spin & Gos.

Check it out.


Win WCOOP 2020 tickets with PokerStars School

The legendary PokerStars series which crowns the best in the game is back. That means it’s your chance to become a world champion.

Between August 30 and September 23, the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) returns with $80M GTD and a huge $10M GTD Main Event on September 20.

Find the full schedule here.

New for 2020 is the Sunday Slam Events; each of these 15 tournaments guarantees a 2021 Slam Package, which consists of full buy-ins to next year’s SCOOP, WCOOP and Stadium Series Main Events.

Read information regarding all WCOOP promotions on PokerStars here.

PokerStars School will also be giving you the chance to join the action. Three special WCOOP freerolls will take place between Tuesday August 25 and Tuesday September 8.

To take part in the freerolls, just enter the Star Code ‘SCHOOLWCOOP’ on your client and receive your School WCOOP Freeroll Ticket, valid for the whole series. Find details on using Star Codes here. Please claim your ticket in good time before the tournament to avoid disappointment. Please note that you will only be allowed to play in one tournament per each freeroll day.

Head here for more info.


More from PokerStars School:

Try Poker DoJo today

Download the Poker Dojo app:

Poker Dojo is the fun, free app to help you learn to play poker and improve your game!

Choose from three exciting games: Grid Poker, Strongest Hand or All-in or Fold.

All training games include leader boards, so you can see how you rank among your fellow students.

Download the Poker Dojo app on Android and iOS.


All the latest promotions:


Twitch:

Grand Tour with OP Poker Nick

NL100 Zoom Cash Game with Pete Clarke


Discord:

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