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I always hear players talking about "getting your money in good" and to no be worried about the results. My poker coaches tell me that it's OK to take a bad beat as long as you "got your money in good".

I think I have a general sense of what that means, but what is the best measure to tell me if I'm making good bets along the way, regardless of actual results?

To be clear, I'm mostly referring to scenarios where maybe I go all-in at the flop and get beat by a gutshot or just a better hand that I didn't think would be on the board (like I have an overpair to a board of 10-7-4 and someone flopped two pair on 10/4 and pre-flop play didn't indicate a weak hand).

I use some analysis apps on my iPhone to measure hands. I don't think I've gotten into many (any?) situations where I'm worse than a flip. But does being in flips really constitute getting your money in good? Should I be aiming for 60%? Is there a percentage at all? How do I know if I got my money in good?

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  • Bean: are you asking specifically about calling all-in or betting/raising all-in (in which case you also have fold equity) or both? – TacticalCoder Jul 22 '14 at 12:55
  • @TacticalCoder Thanks for the clarification. I'm mostly referring to betting/raising all-in and and most scenarios that I have in mind are at the flop – Unknown Coder Jul 22 '14 at 15:04
  • If you got you money in 1 pair versus 2 pair you did not get your money in good. – paparazzo Jul 9 '17 at 12:29
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Getting your money in good basically mean to put yourself in an all in situation by making the right decision. In my experience different players might put slightly different meanings behind it: (but the overall idea is that your play is good)

Some people can say that you get your money in when you go all in and you have a hand that has better chance of winning than the opponents. However this is incomplete. To know you made the right decision you have to take into account the pot odds. This means for example that if you already have half your money in the middle it would be a correct decision to put the other half in even if you have 40% chance of wining everything and thus getting your money in would be good.

However making the right decision goes 1 step further because while deciding you do not know your opponents hand. A thing you can do is try to approximate it by deciding on a range of hands your opponent can have. You have to take into consideration any statistics you have for him/her, previous hands and the way the current hand played out. After you find out his range you see where your hand stands and depending on the pot odds you can go all. I want to point out that because of this it is possible that you go all in have 70% chance of wining and still have made the wrong decision since the rest of his range will be crushing you.

Finally I want to point out that all this applies mainly for calling an all in. Raising is another matter because you might win value from folds or loose some by not raising less. It also only applies for cash games since in tournaments there are even more factors to take into account.

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  • Thanks. I'd love to hear your comments on the raising side. The all-ins are, IMO, the easier of the two. But the calling and raising (and even more specifically, on the flop) are much more challenging to decide if you "got your money in good". – Unknown Coder Jul 25 '14 at 14:48
  • The theory is that you should look at his range and his stats and predict his response e.g. he can have ak,kk,aa, he would fold only ak(you decide that from board and his stats) so there is 10/22=45% he will fold(this is clearly oversimplified) Something I do is look at the hands I lost the most and discuss them with more experienced players because they are the ones where I most likely did not get my money in good. Many hands will require a throughout analysis and discussions to put him on a range and decide all the what ifs especially if you did not reach showdown. Sorry for the late reply – Daniel Jul 28 '14 at 11:23
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Its when:

  • you get all your money in
  • before all the cards are dealt
  • all reaming players have to show their cards

AND you currently have the best hands.

Basically you have the winning hand and one of the other players has to get lucky to beat you.

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In the scenario you've mentioned, I'd personally be inclined to bet the pot rather than shoving as it is the best of both worlds.

If you're called or re-raised, you know they have something. Whereas if they call your shove, you are committed.

Sure if you hit a set later you can play a stop and go or such like.

To me, getting your money in good is about playing the odds. Gutshots and miracle cards happen but if you at least put your money in with the odds on your side, you played the hand with the best information you had.

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"Getting your money in good" is going all in with the best hand at the time, but with cards to come. You get beaten by the "new" cards.

Example: All in with AA before the flop.

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