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	BACCARAT BLACKJACK CRAPS KENO POKER ROULETTE SLOTS FEATURES How to Play Three-Card Poker Secrets of the Stars' Home Game "How I Won the World Series of Poker" Nicole Sullivan: "How I Won Celeb Poker" Beating the New Slot Machines Play "Sexy Showgirls" Slots COLUMNS Travels with Dick The latest in tours and specials Hot Bets Tips from our SportsBook expert Club Queen Celeb-hopping the sizzling night scene Poker Hand How would you play it?	Opposite Day Most poker players do not think much about their plays. If they have a strong hand, they bet and raise. With a weak hand or a draw, they check and call. If their hand is hopeless, they fold. They just make the obvious play. Unfortunately, this "doing what comes naturally" strategy doesn't work very well. Often the correct strategy is very different from the "natural" play: Sometimes you should raise a weak hand to knock opponents out, raise a draw to build the pot for those times you hit or call with a strong hand to keep opponents in the pot. Experts sometimes make plays that seem so strange to average players that they might start thinking that it is Opposite Day. You're on vacation in Los Angeles, and you have decided to visit one of the local card rooms to play in some of the best public $4-$8 games in the country. You have been in this particular game already for a few hours, and it has been no disappointment. Most pots are six-to-eight-handed on the flop, and your opponents play very predictably after the flop: They bet and raise with good hands and check and call with weak ones. You have played only a few hands so far, but you have won most of them--all big pots in this loose game--and you are ahead by around $250. You are on the button this hand, and you are dealt A10. Five players limp to you. What should you do? A. Fold. Ace-10 suited is not a good hand, especially since you'll probably have to beat at least six opponents. B. Call. Ace-10 suited is not very good, but you have the button, and that makes it worth at least seeing the flop. C. Call. Ace-10 suited is reasonably strong, but you are better off keeping the pot small and waiting to see if you flop a strong hand before committing more money. D. Raise. Ace-10 suited is strong, but it's very hard to beat six players. Your chance to win this pot would be much better if you could get people to fold. So you should raise to try to knock out as many players as possible. E. Raise. Ace-10 suited is a great hand in this spot. It will win a large percentage of the time, and you should raise to get more money in the pot. You are not trying to make anyone fold; you are just building a pot. Ed Miller is a professional Hold 'Em player in Las Vegas. His new book, Small Stakes Hold 'Em: Winning Big with Expert Play, co-authored with David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, will be available this month from Two Plus Two Press. You can contact him on the forums at http://www.twoplustwo.com/.
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