Even though their stacks might take a small hit each hand, the TAGs can reload their chips in between deals, thus allowing them to gain maximum value when they happen to catch a hand. While this may not seem like a great idea because of the antes whittling down their stacks, remember this is a cash game, not a tournament. Most of these players make their money by sitting back and waiting on strong hands. Tighter players can still remain profitable in ante games. This might seem obvious but LAGs are used to marginal situations holding mediocre hands while TAG (tighter players) will be uncomfortable having to play more hands. Finally, loose players are used to being loose. The last thing you want to do is spend your entire stack going after a few extra bucks. This is a great strategy for ante games because it allows them to continue to win a lot of pots all the while still being successful in the overall game. Most successful loose players (called LAGs) are great at playing a wide variety of hands from later position while remaining relatively tight from earlier position. Because of this, the antes are an added bonus they earn every time they take down a pot. The simple fact is ante games play looser than non-ante games, which can be both beneficial for tight and loose players.įor loose players, ante games are great because they are already used to raising and re-raising pre flop. This “dead money” in the middle attracts a lot of action as players fight over the blinds and the antes pre flop. First of all, the use of the ante automatically creates a larger pot before the flop. Understanding how the ante affects the game will go a long way in adjusting your strategy for ante games. In this case, players will ante a much larger amount, but only have to do it once every orbit.

In some live games, players ante up just once each round when they are on the button. Before each hand is dealt players will “ante up”, creating a pot prior to the start of the hand. For those who are unfamiliar with antes they are another forced bet before the flop typically 20-25% the size of the Big Blind. Those who learned the game by playing live (casino) poker might already be familiar with antes. Ante games tend to bring more action and create bigger pots, which is great for those looking for some instant excitement. One of the recent trends in online poker is the introduction of No Limit Hold’em cash games with an Ante.

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