Poker is one of the most played card games around the world. If there is one game that has made casinos popular, it has to be poker. And now with the advent of technology, you can sit at home and play your favourite card games online. All kinds of people indulge in poker, especially business-minded people. Bill Gates admits to having played poker religiously while he was in college. Besides being an entertaining leisure activity, it also helps corporate executives train themselves to deal with stress, read the rival’s body language and face; and use the right strategy at the right time.
Having the perfect strategies up your sleeve can make your game much easier. But people often make the mistake of using the same strategy at every table. For example, you cannot use the same trick in antes that you use at a regular game. Anteing up in poker changes a lot of things for players. If you open from the same range irrespective of antes, you are not playing the game right. A lot of people are often confused about ante-up in poker; is it a strategy? Is it a position? We are here to solve all the doubts you must have regarding it, in the course of the article.
What Does ‘Ante’ mean?
Before we get to ante up in poker, let us understand the meaning of the word. In simple words, anti is the mandatory bet amount that each player must pay before the dealer deals a hand. So basically when you are ‘anteing’, you are placing your bet on the table. You have three cases- the first being the blinds, the second straddle, and the final antes. Irrespective of whichever you choose, you must contribute money to the pot.
Antes are common in Games like razz, five-card stud, etc. These games are not played with blinds and without antes, a player does not have an option other than a strong starting hand. Other versions also use antes but it is not always mandatory.
What is Ante Up?
Now that you know what the word means, you must be wondering what does ante up in poker mean. Well, ante up is to add value to your Antes with each level. To ante up in poker means to raise your bet value as the level increases in a tournament. This is not to be confused with ‘up the antes’ as that would mean raising the best amount with subsequent rounds.
Antes are mostly common in poker tournaments but if you want an exciting online gaming experience, you too can achieve that by playing games that use antes. Tournaments use it to make the game more interesting and increase the speed. With each ante, the levels of blinds are increased with the proceeding stages.
Anteing up in poker is to add value to the pot.
Ante Up Strategies that Can Help You Win Easily
Playing ante up with your regular strategies will not do you much good. You must follow certain strategies that will help you win most dealings. These strategies are not difficult to understand but just a little variation of your familiar ones. The variations have been made to suit the need of the game. Playing with Ante up in poker can be really fun if you are winning.
Steal the Blinds
Stealing the blinds is one adjustment in your poker strategy that suits this case immensely. It means you have to bluff and make an attempt to take down the blinds. This move can prove to give you an upper hand by helping you build your stack. Utilise your position and try to steal the blinds.
Shoves
Shoves or resteals are used when an opponent opens and immediately creates dead money. However, do not be impulsive about this and remember that between the antes and other players in the pot, there is a whole lot of money to justify a resteal. The pots must contain at least more than 15% of your stacks.
Short Stack Strategy
The short stack strategy works well when you go for ante up in poker. This can only be applied to short stains as the stack sizes are smaller than they appear to be. If the stack size is really small, you get a wide calling range and better odds. Thus when applying this strategy, make sure that you have greatly observed the stack sizes, the opponent’s mind and the pot worth.
Ante in poker makes the game extremely exciting and gives its players an extra dash of adrenaline rush. These extra bets add value to the previous blinds. It lets you open more hands, make more plays and steal blinds. It lets you add a dynamic to the game and gives you the chance of making extra money provided that you have the right strategies at the back of your mind.
When Can You Raise the Ante in Poker?
When we talk about raising the ante, the rules (of when and how much) differ from game to game. ‘Ante up’ will mean something different from ‘up the ante’. Thus, it is very important to understand the rules laid down by the deciding party before you make a move. In any case, the idea is to increase the pot.
Ante up on poker can either be introduced at the beginning of the game or in the middle of it.
Often antes are introduced in between a game to make the game interesting and increase its speed. Some may even start off a game with antes. So the answer of when to raise the ante differs from one game to the other.
Poker has several versions and each comes with its excitement and thrill. Ante up is mostly used in poker tournaments and professional players love to add more to the pot. This gives one the chance of winning more. You too can make a great profit out of it by applying the strategies on GetMega, as we mentioned above. However, make sure that you are playing carefully as ante up in poker often involves a large amount of money.
