Big Slick in a Vacuum

I’m going to address one of the most talked about and coveted starting hands in hold’em poker. I’m going to discuss it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses. I’ll also discuss, in some detail, what circumstances determine the relative power of the hand, and why. The hand in question, of is course, AK (Ace King) better known as “Big Slick”. Some players hold this hand in reverence, and even have a difficult time containing their poker faces as their eyes smile wide at the rare and beautiful holding. Other players seem to be in near torment by it’s arrival in their hand, sort of wondering “what trouble is it going to get me into this time? Is it a made hand? Is it a drawing hand? Is it a tier one hand? How does it rate against QQ? Well the answer to all these questions is, you guessed it….. It depends. But what does it depend on? I’m going to try to dissect this hand bit by bit over the next couple of pages and see if we can’t reach some sort of quantative understanding of one of the most talked about hands in poker, big slick.

It’s been said that in order to win a big no limit hold’em tournament you have to win with big slick when you have it, and beat it when you don’t. What is this saying alluding to? Maybe it refers to the sort of coin flip situations you often find yourself in when playing big slick for all your chips. The most common example is when all the money goes in before the flop and the players turn over AK vs QQ, nearly a fifty/fifty proposition. Maybe the point is that you need to be very lucky and win a lot of coin toss situations to survive in a tournament, maybe. Or maybe the saying means more than that. Maybe to more astute players it refers to being able to properly expose the weaknesses of AK while taking advantage of its strengths. Well, for the purpose of this discussion we’ll suppose the latter. It would be foolish to underestimate the helpfulness of getting really lucky, but let’s just admit we cannot control that and let’s try to move onto the things we can control.

What can you control in no limit hold’em poker? Quite a bit actually, that’s what makes it one of the most skill intensive poker games in existence. You get to make a lot of choices, and your choices actually do matter. The decisions you make at the felt will determine whether you are a profitable player. Before the flop, you can decide whether to raise with your AK, or call. You get to decide how much to bet when you do bet. You get to determine whether you believe your hand is beaten or boss. You decide whether or not the pot odds leave you “stuck” to the hand, and whether or not you should “get away from” the hand. These are all surface concepts, but there are more decisions to be made just under the surface. For instance, do you want to play this hand against a lot of players or a few? Are there specific players you would like to get involved with? Are there some you would prefer not to get involved with? Would you like to play the hand out to the flop and maybe further, or do you want to try to take the pot down now? Do you want to represent strength with your hand or weakness? The list goes on and on and on, and making these decisions effectively is what makes one player a losing player and the other a winner.

No limit hold ‘em is a very situational game, that’s why the answer to many of the questions people ask regarding specific hands is, well, it depends. There are a huge number of variables that must be considered before a player can determine the proper course of action in any given hand. Much of the skill in poker comes from being able to effectively weigh the plethora of available information and adjust accordingly. One of the most situation dependant starting hands in no limit hold ‘em poker is, without question, AK. You cannot just play the hand the same way every time you’re dealt it and expect long term success. The hand is so variable sensitive that, in my opinion, it rivals JJ as the most difficult hand to play in NLH. But why should this be? Well the main reason that slick is such a difficult hand to play is it’s unwillingness to fall into a hierarchy of hand strengths. It is a huge favorite against a number of good hands, but does not play nearly as well against many hands that are not particularly powerful, or even playable for that matter. Some hands that AK seems so much better than, such as 5-4 off- suit, are close to 40% to win in a showdown. That’s right; five- four off suit will beat AK more than three times in ten if all five community cards are revealed. AK is also a small dog to any pocket pair at all. Even pocket two’s are a favorite to beat AK by the river.

So, why is big slick considered by many to be a powerful starting hand? There are many reasons; we’re going to discuss a few of them. We’ve already stated that many, otherwise unremarkable hands are not that far behind AK. We should also understand that AK is not very far behind any starting hands at all, with only two exceptions; AA and KK. The fact that there are only two hands that consistently beat AK in a showdown gives us allot of pre-flop betting leverage. Let’s consider the fold equity we have when we raise a pot. When we make a stiff raise before the flop it makes it hard for someone to call with many of the hands that we really aren’t that favored to beat. It’s interesting to note though, that many of the hands that we have dominated and are beating badly such as AQ are more likely to call our raise, that’s one of the hidden strengths of big slick. That’s why it is usually very important to raise before the flop with AK. It’s usually a mistake to not open with big slick from any position, under almost any circumstances. In fact, when we take into account the inherent edge that comes from being the first player to move his chips into the center there aren’t enough hands that will beat AK consistently to make pushing all of your chips in an exceptionally bad play. The second noteworthy strength about AK is the oodles and oodles of implied value that the hand often offers us. When playing big slick against hands that may call our raise, we sometimes find pretty good opportunities to bust our opponents. The most frequent example is when they are unfortunate enough to find themselves holding the second best hand with an ace and a lower kicker. That’s what I mean by implied value. I’ll use the example of AQ again; the reason AK plays so well against AQ is not just that it’s about a 4 to 1 favorite to win in a showdown, the real reason slick runs so well against AQ is that there will be a certain number of times that you will both flop top pair making it difficult for your opponent to think he is beaten. When that situation arises you will usually take a good chunk of his chips, and sometimes all of them.

Big slick also has great post- flop playability. Playability refers to how difficult or easy a hand is to play after the flop. Hands like JT and 98s are easier to play than, say, A3. When you flop a pair with a hand like A3, it’s difficult to know for sure whether you’re ahead or behind. That’s why playing hands like ace small is so dangerous. When playing AK, you usually have a pretty good idea where you’re at after the flop assuming you played it correctly before the flop. When you hit the flop with AK by pairing either card, you know you have the highest pair with the highest possible kicker. You won’t have to worry about you and your opponent both catching top pair but being out kicked. When you pair either of your cards on the flop there is a high probability that you have the best hand and you can play as though you do until you have strong evidence to the contrary.

Big slick has at least one other hidden strength. Players as a whole, especially low stakes players, internet players, and casual home game players have a tenancy to over value the presence of an ace in their starting hand. Some of them also over value and over play KQ and KJ. Therefore, you will often have your opponents hands dominated. You will find schools of internet fish and casual home game players who will call raises before the flop with KQ, KJ, or any AX combination, often they will also be willing to commit all there chips on the flop when you both hit top pair. Typically, it’s a pretty profitable hand when you can get all the money in after the flop with your opponent drawing at three cards in the deck that can save him.

To put this all simply, big slick does not play impressively well against random two card combinations and pairs, and it does play impressively well against many of the hands most players are willing to call raises with. If that seems almost paradoxical, then you’re starting to understand the point of this article. Now that we’re beginning to look big slick in the eye, and see her for what she really is, we need to learn to utilize this understanding? We need to realize how this hand morphs in its optimal application based on the situation. .

Hopefully I’ve made it clear that it is usually a big mistake to just call with big slick from any position unless you have a very specific reason. There are many other decisions to be made when playing big slick, and several factors that will govern them. Among those factors there are three that are of particular importance 1) the number of players at the table. 2) The blinds relative to the stack sizes in play. 3) The experience level of your opposition.

The first factor, the number of players at the table, is pretty simple to understand. The fewer players at the table the less likely it is that someone has a big pair and the more likely an opponent is to think there Ace high hand might be good. The more players at your table the more likely it is that someone has made one of the big pairs, meaning you may sometimes find yourself in positions where you should fold AK. If there are players calling your big raises at a five handed table it is much more likely they are chasing you with two high cards, they are looking at a flop with a medium or small pair, or they are dominated with a holding such as AJ or KQ. None of these situations are bad for you. Before the flop at a short table it is very likely that AK is the best hand. The high likelihood that AK is the best starting hand before any given flop, combined with the fact that the blinds will come around relatively quickly means that you will have to play big slick very aggressively when short handed. If you’ve been playing a tournament format that started with multiple full tables but are now playing short handed, the blinds have probably escalated to the point that you don’t have time to wait around for AA. At a table of five you will need to take the blinds down and aggressively attack pots just to keep from being blinded out. If your table is short handed you should be raising and re-raising fiercely with AK. If you do get called, you should usually bet again after the flop regardless of its texture. If the flop comes out all low cards it is pretty unlikely it helped your opponent (assuming you raised or re-raised pre-flop), so your aggression pre-flop coupled with your aggression on the flop is likely to win you the pot. Even if your opponent held onto a pair of sevens and the flop comes out 2d Js Td, if you bet it will be difficult for your opponent to call while staring at two over cards and the possibility that you have a bigger pair. If there are many players at the table you should still raise pre-flop with AK most of the time but be prepared to muck it following a string of calls and re-raises, at a full table you should play it more like a drawing hand. Remember, you need to see all five cards to give you a coin flip to hit a pair. So, at a full table it is usually correct to see the flop without calling large amounts, or get all the money in before the flop so that you can see all five cards without having to make any tough decisions, leave those to your opponents. Again, you’re about even money to pair you AK by the river. You really want to avoid getting over committed to the hand before the flop, unless all the money goes in. One of the keys to Hold’em is the ability to avoid having to make difficult decisions after the flop. I think at a full table you should raise, from any position, with slick, but try to either see a relatively cheap flop or try to get all the money in before the flop. The in-between ground seems better suited for hands like TT or JJ.

The second factor that determines how you should play AK requires a bit more explanation. The stack sizes relative to the blinds should have a very large influence on the way you play AK. With large stacks and small blinds you should definitely want to raise pre-flop for two main reasons. The first is to limit the field, AK is much easier to play against one or two players than three or more. The other reason you need to raise before the flop with AK is to charge inferior hands to draw against you. Your main objective when the blinds are small is to look for low risk situations that offer you a chance to double up. It is good to look at AK as a drawing hand when the blinds are small. Ideally you want to play your AK against one or two players and you’d like to make bets that will be called by hands such as AQ or KQs and pray for that perfect flop that pairs you and your opponent, and then proceed to bust him. Big slick is a difficult hand to release before the flop but you must learn to do so when necessary. With small blinds and large stacks there is usually no reason to go bust when you have AK and you are facing an open and a significant re-raise that would commit allot of your chips. With large stacks and small blinds you will often need to muck AK before the flop, which can be difficult for beginners, but for veterans it is a common play. For instance, if an early position player puts in a large re-raise and then another player re-raises the rest of his chips. When you look at the types of hands that would move all-in against an EP (early position) open it is very likely you would be in any better than a coin flip or “race” situation if you called all-in with the AK. When the blinds are relatively large you might be more than happy to gamble in a spot like that, but not when you have plenty of time to find better spots to get your money in. Also, when the blinds are relatively small compared to the stack sizes it will be difficult to limit the field substantially without committing a large portion of your chips to the pot. When the blinds are small it is best to play slick hard from late position. Your big cards give you allot of leverage over the medium pairs on the flop, fourth street, and fifth street play. With the blinds small I tend to tread very cautiously with AK from the first few positions. That’s not to say you shouldn’t open from early position with AK, surely you should. You should, however, usually avoid creating extremely large pots to play for from early position; the exceptions to this rule of course are the nut and second nut pre-flop hands, AA and KK. When opening from early position with AK, I think you should only raise to three times the big blind, from middle and late you might use four times the blind as your standard raise. Remember, with small blinds and a lot of players you will usually need to connect on the flop to win with slick. Otherwise you run the risk of being taken out of the pot. With large stacks/small blinds it is rarely correct to raise specifically to get more money in the pot with AK. If your raise cannot limit the field and you do not have position on the other players, it is often correct to wait until after the flop to commit allot of chips. The ability to fold AK before the flop should be considered a milestone in your NLH development. A string of raises and re-raises should be a red flag that your AK is in dire straights. Many raising hands contain an Ace, others contain pairs. When faced with an early position open and a re-raise, especially with other callers, you have to suspect one or more of your aces is out and running into a pair could be disastrous. With small blinds, the need to gamble is just not present, you have time to wait for a better opportunity and capitalize on the mistakes of less experienced players.

The third and final factor we’ll discuss is the experience level of your opponents. This is the one that is least understood by NLH players. AK is such a great hand against a field of helpless fish that it almost deserves a seat next to AA. I can’t stress enough how well this hand plays at small stakes games, especially online. Against very poor players AK is an exceptionally profitable hand. The main reason for this is that poor players will play any hand that contains an ace in it even against an early position raise. If a very bad player holds A7o and you raise with AK in first position he will usually call you and be more than happy to commit all his chips to the pot if an ace flops. Likewise, many poor players will play hands like KJ like the pre-flop nuts. So when you flop the K, look out, someone is getting busted. Most of the time it won’t be you, because you don’t call EP opens with KJ, right? Against more experienced players I feel there is a need to add variation to your play with big slick. You’ll have to mix it up a bit to keep them guessing. In rare instances it may be OK to just call with big slick, but the situation has to be perfect. You will only ever consider that strategy when the table is especially aggressive and reasonably poker savvy. When the situation is exactly right I especially enjoy limping in early with slick and then re-raising against the first opener. Experienced players will often be very suspicious of this move and fold hands like, JJ, and TT that you really didn’t want to race against anyway. I use this play often and never reveal it unless it goes to show down, and I do sometimes show the times I make the play with Kings or Aces. Remember, people remember what they see much more clearly than they remember what they may suspect.

To summarize, big slick is a hand that you cannot really afford to let speculative hands take cheap flops against, and one that actually plays better against the types of hands that are likely to call raises. It is better to raise and re-raise with AK than to call with it. One of AK’s best attributes is that it isn’t a significant dog to any hand other than AA or KK. Remember though, it isn’t as far ahead of many random hands your opponent may be bluff raising with. It just loses some of its power when you call with it instead of raise. Big slick is very situation dependant and you absolutely must learn to adjust to the exact situation based on a wide array of variability. Is big slick a tier one hand, a made hand or a drawing hand, is it better than QQ? Well, I guess at the end of the day; big slick is just big slick. I hope I’ve helped to shed some light on what that means. The short answer again though is, well, it depends. Good luck.

Big Blind And Little Blind

There are many strategies one can incorporate when playing a game of poker. Though poker is a game of chance, and your game is only as good as your hand, there are ways you can learn to play those hands in order to optimize what you have and help increase your chances of winning the game. One such strategy is Big Blind vs Small Blind.

The big blind and small blind are the automatic bets that must be made in any single hand of a poker game. The higher the stakes you are playing, the higher the blinds. When you are on either one of the blinds, you aren’t in a positional advantage. Remember, acting last gives you positional advantage because it means you get to see what your opponents do before you act. This is why where you sit at the table during a poker game is very important to your game.

The big and little blind act first, (pre-flop), but since you are last to act after the flop, turn, and river, which puts you at a disadvantage.

Since the value of a small blind is half that of a big blind, you should see more flops as you already have chips in the pot. If no raises occur in the pot and the big blind is $10.00 the small blind will have to be $5.00 in order to see the flop.

In this scenario, the big blind will get to see a free flop. A trap that players sometimes fall into, especially beginners, is trying to aggressively defend their blinds. This is a very bad move because it is an automatic bet that you have no control over having to pay. Because of this, you should base the decision to put more chips into the pot on if the pot size and the cards you have warrant committing them.

Don’t feel that you have to defend anything. Only put more chips in the pot if the situation will be profitable for you.

Generally, if you are on the small blind and there has not been a raise, you should play the pot, since you have already put half that amount that you will need in order to see a flop. If a few players have limped into the pot, you should play suited connectors to suited aces, pocket pairs, and suited cards.

In this situation, you can loosen up a little, since it is costing you much to see a flop. In the big blind, you should play much the same, even with one raise. It does, of course, depend on the strength of your hand.

Once you understand how this works, you will be able to use it to your advantage when possible, which will, in turn, help improve your game.

Adjusting Your Playing Style to Opponents

In a previous article I stated that it was important to properly and quickly adjust to your opponents but I just left it at that. It takes experience to become a fast adjuster, to quickly recognize how your opponents are playing and to know what kind of plays you will need to make to counter that person’s style.

The traditional classifications are pretty broad but they provide a starting point in learning how to recognize opportunities to exploit your opponents. Eventually you will want to be able to adjust to specific players, not just styles. For now, though, general styles will do the job and get you going in the right direction. I’ll be discussing seven major styles today:

1. The LAG (loose-aggressive) a.k.a. The Maniac

2. The Tight Passive Player

3. The Calling Station (loose-passive) a.k.a. The Fish

4. The TAG (tight-aggressive)

5. The Habitual Floater

6. The Tilt Monkey

7. The Rock

The LAG

He is loose in his starting hand requirements and plays them very aggressively. He plays a lot of hands and makes a lot of bets and raises. Lags often stick around on the flop if you bet so they can try to hit something weird to surprise you or make a turn steal.

Lags are very difficult to play against because you never know what they are going to showdown with at the river. If they are good lags and you just sit around all day hoping to trap them, you won’t get anywhere. Slow playing is still a good strategy though because they tend to bluff too much and take hands too far.

Against the lag you want to tighten up a little, especially when out of position while at the same time lower your showdown standards a bit. Don’t be afraid to get it all in preflop with AK or TT or get it all in on the flop with top pair, good kicker unless you have a read that says otherwise.

Depending on how smart the lag is you will probably want to slow play the majority of your big hands. Just think about how you play your marginal hands against him and try to mimic that with your strong hands.

Turn the tables and semi-bluff the lag, raise him when you have a strong draw or decent hand, and value bet him more. Lags love to make big calls that they justify by their wild image.

The Tight Passive Player

He may have read a poker book or two that said to play tight preflop but he plays those hands like a fish post flop. He seems scared to bet or raise or play a big pot. The key here is to just play with solid poker strategy.

Take advantage of him by checking your drawing hands and not bluffing/semi-bluffing. Value bet the passive player with a tighter range of hands than you would value bet against a fish. The passive will play their strong hands weak so they won’t let you know when they have a strong one.

The Calling Station

This is the classic fish. They should be your favorite opponent. They don’t enjoy folding, betting, or raising. They just like to play a lot of hands and not fold them post flop. It’s hard telling what these people are thinking. Sometimes they are chasing draws, sometimes they have an Ace and are trying to pair it up, and sometimes I think they just misread their hands.

The best way to beat The Fish is to play a straightforward, tight-aggressive game. Don’t bluff or slow play the fish because they don’t fold or bet. Just wait for strong hands and then bet the flop, bet the turn, and bet the river.

They don’t pay enough attention to catch on to you so don’t worry about them catching on to your tactics. Its safe to value bet a wider range of hands against fish because they call so liberally and raise so infrequently. You don’t have to worry a whole lot about your thin value bets getting check raised on the river.

The TAG

These are usually the more skilled opponents you will face. They have tight starting hand requirements but play very aggressive when they do contend a pot. They try to mix in appropriate bluffs and the occasional tricky play as well.

There are quite a few tags out there who aren’t the greatest though. These are the guys who’ve read enough strategy to know how to not lose money, but they aren’t overly tricky or difficult to play against. There are several ways to adjust here.

First of all, check your game selection. It’s counterproductive to sit at tables full of tags. The easiest strategy is avoidance. Go after the easy money and let everyone else fight for the leftovers.

To actually deal with a tag find a tactic that takes them out of their little strategy-book comfort zone. If they continuation-bet every flop, start floating them. Some tags can’t handle a floater. They get too uncomfortable on the turn and river because of the larger pot sizes, scarier boards, and fewer cards left to draw on.

Keep an eye open for any leaks you can exploit. Keep notes on everything you notice. Maybe you’ll see that they raise weak hands from early position preflop. Maybe they fold too much on the river; or maybe they defend their blinds too hard.

You should actually be looking for these exploitable leaks on everyone but you just have to dig a little deeper with the tags. The style in itself doesn’t have nearly as many exploitable weaknesses as the other styles.

The Habitual Floater

This isn’t really a style all by itself but it deserves a mention here anyways. The floater is extremely irritating for players who haven’t yet learned how to deal with him. The floater likes to stick around and call all of your flop bets with the sole intention of stealing the pot from you on the turn. It doesn’t matter what their hole cards look like, they just want you to give up and hand them an easy pot.

There are several ways to deal with habitual floaters. First, lower your continuation-bet frequency a little. If you increase the percentage of real hands he tries to steal from while decreasing the percentage of empty c-bets you make, it’s going to make his floats unprofitable.

Sharply lower your c-bet frequency when he has position on you. There’s not a whole lot going in your favor when he’s trying to steal, you have an empty hand, and you’re out of position. The times you do c-bet from out of position, follow up more often with a 2nd barrel on the turn. Don’t make it easy for him.

Second, mix in a few more turn check raises do it with real hands and the occasional bluff. That way it keeps him wondering what you’re going to do and if it’s worth sticking around for the turn.

So now you will be randomly check raising the turn (sometimes with air, sometimes with a hand), you will have decreased c-betting with air, you will be out of position less of the time and you will be 2nd barreling the turn more. Add in your own reads and you’ll have the floater shut down in no time.

The Tilt Monkey

This guy is entertaining. He goes off the hook if you win a pot with a strange play or funky hand. He’ll get active in the chat box and start making a bunch of dramatic bets and raises.

All you have to do is estimate his general hand ranges, hit a decent hand, and hope the money ends up in your stack before he gives it away to the rest of the table. The variance can be pretty sickening but overall you have a massive edge vs. tilt monkeys and stand to win some good money off them.

The Rock

This guy is no good. It’s hard to make any money off him other than the blinds. If you’re playing no-limit, it’s easy to donate his stolen blinds right back if a couple of your steals don’t work out. Just ignore the rock and get him to sit on your left.

If he is predictable and you can steal his blinds, he belongs on your left. If you absolutely must, the best strategy is to stir the rock to life. Try stealing a lot or talking to him but if that doesn’t work you’re not going to win a lot off him. If he wants to be a boring rock and marginally losing player, that’s too bad for him.

These are some of the basic categories. Not all will fit neatly into one category and many will switch among styles. No matter how an opponent plays there is a way to counter it. Just take a step back and analyze the situation to decide on the best way to proceed. Good luck!

The Game Rules of No Limit Texas Holdem

No Limit Texas Holdem is one of the most popular poker games enjoyed by millions of poker buffs. As the name states, in this game there is no limit for betting. No Limit Texas Holdem allows players to bet different amount of money in four betting rounds. That is, players can bet on all of their chips in this kind of game. From a beginners point of view it is quite easy to play the game, however they need to be very careful on how much money they bet. The most important thing is to consider probabilities, hand rankings, and odds. It is easy to learn the rules of the game, however to win the game one need master the game to its subtle intricacies.

No Limit Texas Holdem rule is same as the ordinary Limit Texas Holdem. The game is played with standard 52 cards. The game starts with two cards dealt to each player. Known as Hole Cards, these cards are dealt face down. The first betting round begins after each player is dealt with hole cards. Same as Limit Texas Holdem, in the game also there are community cards. Known as The Flop, these cards are placed in the middle of the poker table. The players are allowed to use these cards to make the best possible poker hand.

No Limit Texas Holdem, Forced Bets

There are usually two forced bets in the game, known as the Ante and the Blinds. An Ante bet is usually seen in tournament play, in which each player need to place a specified amount as bet before the game begins. The ante is not counted towards any future bets.

According to Texas Holdem rules for Blinds, two forced bets need to be placed by players on each hand. There is a small blind in this game, this is half of the low limit bet size, and a big blind, which is generally same as the low limit bet size. Before each hand begins, the player positioned immediate left to the dealer is forced to post the small blind and the big blind is put up by the next player towards left. These bets are regarded as live bets as the players can select to raise even if nobody else has.

The main aim of the game is to make the best poker hand with the cards in your hand and the community cards. The game of No Limit Texas Holdem will be a test of ones own judgment of character, mathematical skills, and common sense.The game has more money at stake when compared with the other Limit Texas Holdem games. The potential gains and losses are also higher than other poker variations. If you are a skillful player you can take better advantage of this no limit game.Otherwise it is better to keep off from competitive Texas Holdem No Limit games completely.

Texas Holdem Secret

Many Texas Holdem experts have written that the best-kept Texas Holdem secret to winning lies in your two starting pocket cards. The odds, however, change when the flop comes down. To win tournaments and make money playing the game, you need to adopt the best Texas Holdem secret strategy.

Texas Hold’em Secret Strategies

Lets say, for example, a flop reveals an ace, a nine, and a four. Now, if youre holding an ace and a king, the decision to bet or raise would be an easy one. What if you have a pair of nines, with a ten kicker, though? Making a call with that kind of middle pair is a hard for any poker player. These hard decisions are what Texas Holdem secrets are all about.

Its delicate business when you hit second pair with a middle kicker on the flop. Being able to read your opponents is one of the best Texas Holdem secrets to learn, and will aid you immensely in deciphering the hand of your opponents. Watch every mannerism a player makes. Does he look nervous? Does he look calm? A general rule of thumb is the rule of opposites. If your opponent appears to be in the lead, you may have him beat. If he looks nervous and continues to check his cards, he probably knows that he has the best hand.

Texas Hold’em Secret Formula

If you know that there are high cards out there and you have flopped your second best pair, there is a great possibility that one player may have top pair. “How many outs do I have? “Is the most important texas holdem secret question you need to be asking yourself in the process of making your next decision. An out is any single card that comes out of the deck that will help you complete your hand. A Texas Holdem secret strategy is to calculate you hand odds by taking you number of outs, multiplying them by two, and adding one. The outcome, in a percentage, would be, roughly, you chances of completing your hand.

The Texas Holdem secret to winning is not solely about your pocket cards, but about how you decide to play them. Play the top hands aggressively, but dont be tempted into a pot with a sub-par holding. Play the best, and youll be the best.

Surviving the Sit ‘n’ Go

Sit ‘n’ go tournaments are quickly becoming one of the most popular formats in No Limit Hold ‘em poker. Originally the format was used for satellite tournaments that would allow players a chance to win a seat at a large buy-in event with a relatively small investment. Instead of putting up $1,000 to enter a major poker tournament, 10 players would each put up $100 plus a little something for the casino (maybe 10%) and the winner of the satellite tournament would win a seat at the larger tournament. Today, the sit ‘n’ go tournament format has taken the online poker community by storm. A sit ‘n’ go tournament is an impromptu tournament that starts as soon as a certain number of players are registered (most commonly 10) and is over when one player has captured every chip in play. Generally the pay out structure for a ten player sit ‘n’ go is 2 buy-ins for third place, 3 buy- ins for second, and 5 buy- ins for first. Sit ‘n’ go tournaments offer a great opportunity for players interested in sharpening there tournament poker skills by allowing them to practice early stage, middle stage, and late game strategy all with a minimal investment of time and money. They also offer an extremely lucrative opportunity for anyone willing to put in a little study time and practice.

Optimal sit ‘n’ go tournament strategy is much different than cash game strategy and offers less variance and swings than multi-table tournaments. You need a much smaller bankroll to play one table sit ‘n’ go tournaments than to play larger field tournaments. Because the players at sit ‘n’ go tournaments tend to be less experienced than cash game players, and due to the lack of published literature on proper sit ‘n’ go strategy, it is my format of choice. There are many exploitable subtleties to the format that will allow skilled players to make more money per hour with less variance (or swings) than any other structure within any given bankroll limitation.

Most internet poker sites offer a good selection of sit ‘n’ goes that can fit practically any bankroll size. The difference in skill level of your opposition at these games can vary quite a bit, for the sake of simplicity I will be addressing small stakes No Limit Hold ‘em sit ‘n’ goes, say $10-$50 buy in, ten player, events. We’ll assume 1000 in starting chips and blind rounds starting at 10- 20 and progressing relatively quickly. I’m going to list the most important concepts in sit ‘n’ go strategy.

Patients
Position
Implied odds
Aggression

Most small stakes sit ‘n’ goes are reminiscent of Wild West shoot outs. They could be described as loose-aggressive, high action games. Patients will be the most important element of long term success in the face of such “carnage”. Many of the players who are attracted to these games are the players who watch a lot of televised poker and believe No Limit Poker to be a game about bluffing, fancy plays, and all-in moves. When I refer to patients I am advocating an extremely tight playing style, particularly in the first two or three blind rounds. In the first blind round you should be folding almost every hand you get. You’re just looking for one hand to play to double up and or bust someone. When you finally do enter a pot you will be entering with a raise, not a call with premium hands, really only AA-TT, AK and AQ. When you play those hands you will be playing them aggressively, raising three to four times the big blind and trying to hit a flop and get all the money in. You will also play speculative hands in the early stages when you can play for a very small portion of your stack, never more than 8% and only from late position. When you play a speculative hand such as a small pocket pair or AXs, you will be looking to flop a monster or a draw to a monster so you can double up. You can also play good suited connectors like JTs or T9s from the dealer or cutt- off position.

When the blinds start getting larger, say the fourth blind level, you will have to start playing more aggressively from late position. You’ll also have to open up your starting hand requirements; your goal is to steal one round of blinds per orbit by raising in late position with hands like AJ, ATs, and 77. If you can double up one time in the first three rounds, you will then be able to succeed just by maintaining your blind position throughout the rest of the tournament. With all the wild players getting in massive confrontations over huge swing pots it is important to stay out of trouble when at all possible. Remember, when one guy busts every other player at the table and only the two of your remain, even if he has four times the chips you have, you are still guaranteed at least 3 buy-ins. That’s a very good result for the amount of time it takes to play your average sit ‘n’ go. Sit ‘n’ go tournaments are about survival. You have to protect your chip stack while looking for low risk opportunities to double up. Once you’ve obtained a comfortable stack, you have to maintain your chip position by looking to pick up some blinds with strong hands in late position. If you’re the type of player who likes to push small edges and play for first place, maybe these tournaments aren’t right for your style of play. The pay out structure rewards survival. You are penalized, mathematically, for winning a sit ‘n’ go tournament. You will have captured 100% of the chips and only be awarded 50% of the money. Let’s assume a pay out structure in which the winner takes all, you would only have to win 2 out of 10 tournaments to double your buy-ins and get a 100% return on investment (disregarding the house fee). If you win 2 out of 10 sit ‘n’ goes you without any 2nd or 3rd place finishes you will actually be losing money. Conversely, if you took second place in a winner takes all event 4 times in 10 but never actually won one, you would lose 100% of your investment, the same as a player who busted out first in all 10 games. If you place 2nd 4 times out of 10 with the standard sit ‘n’ go structure, you will turn a profit even without ever winning one. Any first place finishes are really just icing on the cake, if they come they come. The key, then, to sit ‘n’ go tournaments is to survive and thrive, let the money come to you. Really you should just be trying to make it ITM (in the money) 40% of the time. If you follow a very safe, tight-aggressive strategy, while looking for low risk opportunities to double up, and use position and aggression to maintain your chip position, you should be well on your way to beating these games.

Good Luck!

When to Quit Poker for the Day

Even professional players have losing sessions. One important quality for a winning poker player is to know when to call it a day. This can greatly help your bankroll grow. In fixed limit Hold’em, you should be quitting for the day if you either lose forty big bets or win forty big bets. Although it may not sounds like much, forty bets is quite a sum in limit poker. The only exception to this rule is if you’re at a table that is extremely loose, and you’re just dominating.

Another time you should quit for the day is if you are tilting. Here are some common traits of tilt:

• You believe that your opponents are always betting with nothing.

• You’re fighting to recover from a loss and get back to even.

Here are a few common traits of just plain old playing too much:

• You’re becoming drowsy, or are resting your head on the table.

• You have played for over 10 hours consecutively.

• You aren’t focusing on the other players, just your own cards.

If you are having any of these traits, you should quit for the day, and it will have a significant positive effect on your bankroll.

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Using a blocking bet to save you money

A blocking bet is used when you think you might have the best hand after the river card, but you are not entirely sure. A blocking is usually made against a single opponent, when you are out of position so that after the river card is turned over, you are first to act. Even though being out of position is normally a disadvantage, by putting in a blocking bet here, you are actually negating your opponent’s positional advantage.

One of the advantages of adding a blocking bet to your game is that you set the price of finding out if in fact, you do have the best hand. Let’s say the pot is 1200, and you put out a blocking bet of 800, making the pot 2000 in total. A few things can happen.

Your opponent can call with a better hand, but had you not put out the blocking that your opponent likely would have a possibly a higher price than you wanted to pay, setting up for a difficult decision. In this way you avoided it.

Your opponent can call with a weaker hand or the same hand as you. Either way, once again you avoided making a tough decision based on what your opponent does first. This gets down to the basic fundamentals of poker in that power and advantage is an extension of aggression.

Your opponent can fold. This is a clear indicator that your suspicions were right all along and you did have the best hand, and your opponent was likely on a draw, or planning to take the pot away from you by bluffing on the river. You’re blocking bet took that play away from him.

Finally, your opponent can re-raise you. Of course, this is the result you want to see the least, but this is almost certainly an indication that he has you beat. There is a rare exception to this, in that your opponent may be bluffing you because he has actually read you for a blocking bet, but that is rather rare in online poker, especially in the low limits. The good thing about your opponent re-raising you here is that you don’t have to spend any more money than you want, to find out who has the better hand. You decided how much it was going to cost to figure that out.

There is an element of confusion to the blocking bet, which will give your opponent pause, and it’s always good when your opponents find it difficult to read you, as well as it cutting into his big-bluff-on-the-river strategy.

Tournamnet Poker: Whats It All About

Basic of Tournament Poker

A poker tournament is entered by players through a ‘buy-in’ which means they all enter for the same amount of money. The casino or poker room charges an entry fee that each player must pay for entering the poker tournament. For example, if the tournament buy-in is $50 and the house charges a $10 entry fee, each player must pay $60 to enter the tournament. If 150 players enter, the prize pool will equal the number of players times the buy-in, in this case 150 X $50 = $7500 prize pool. The exact structure of the pay outs is established by that tournament but, generally speaking, there will be a prize for about the top ten players with each prize being a set percentage of the prize pool. For example, the first place player might receive 30 percent of the pool, second place 20 percent, third place 15 percent, etc.

In tournament play, each player begins with the same number of chips and, over time, the stakes are raised periodically(small blind, big blind), perhaps every 15 to 60 minutes. The number of chips, the stakes and the time periods between advances in stakes defines whether the tournament is fast or slow. Many expert player choose slow tournaments because they begin with more chips, lower stakes and longer time periods. This provides the better player with the greatest chance of outwitting the other players before the stakes are raised to such a level that they must simply gamble too much.

If there are a large number of players, such as the 150 example above, the tournament play often begin with tables of ten players each. As players lose all their chips, they are eliminated from the tournament unless they buy-in again, which some tournaments allow during a specific time period. Once players are eliminated, tables are reorganized so that the number of players are each table remains as close to equal as possible. Eventually, the tournament play will boil down to only one table and the winner will be the player that wins all the chips.

Top Ten Hold'em Beginners Mistakes

Like in any other sport or game, beginners make mistakes. No one is born with the innate skill to be a hold’em poker star. The way we naturally react to some classic situations is not always the optimal play. Here is a list of the top ten most common novices’ mistakes.

1. Wait to post a blind until you become the big blind. Do not post the blind as soon as you sit down. This extra blind payment seems like nothing, but if compounded over a long time, this will make a hole in your bankroll.

2. Know something about the game beyond the rules. Read a beginner’s book. Read some of the strategy articles on this website. It will save you a lot of times and money to have a notion of strategy instead of wandering in the wrong direction.

3. Exert patience. Control your tendency to seek action and only play a select group of strong hands preflop. It is suboptimal to play more than 30% of hands preflop.

4. Exert control. Do not chase miraculous cards. If you missed the flop or have a weak hand, do not pay an aggressive opponent likely to have you beaten. Do not be the sheriff trying to catch every bluff.

5. Exert prudence in your bankroll management Only risk the money you can lose. Play first at low limits you can afford. Try fixed limit before no-limit to learn the ropes. Put one toe in the water before jumping in.

6. Do not over slow play or over trap. Slow playing is a strategy to be used with caution. If used systematically with strong hands, it will backfire because it enables your opponents to draw cheaply against you and to give you bad beats. It is better to collect a small pot with a big bet, than to lose a big pot with small initial bets.

7. Do not take it personally. No one is there to get you. Do not seek revenge against a villain who gave you a bad beat by calling your preflop raise with 7♥ 3♣. When you play texas hold’em on the Internet, opponents change very frequently so there is no point in making a crusade against a lucky donkey.

8. Do not be impatient. Remember that against 9 players, you have 10% chance to have the best hand each time. Do not expect to win every hand.

9. Do not play more tables than you can handle. Multi-tabling is a buzzword in online poker. Do not abuse it! Start with one table and increment progressively. Playing multi tables at the same time can be dangerous if you have to make two difficult decisions simultaneously.

10. Do not play scared, or too “nit”. Poker is a risk reward game and very exceptionally will you hold the unbeatable nuts. You must take risk, meaning that you have to be willing to lose money sometimes in order to make money overall. Scared play is easily exploitable.

If you can avoid the top ten mistakes, you are on the road to success.

The Truth about Suited Connectors - No Limit Holdem

Many players love to see flops with suited connectors. I’ve seen, otherwise strong players, call early position raises with unimpressive hands like 65s more times than I can believe. Now, I know there is a time and place to make such a call. Maybe when the blinds are extremely small compared to the stacks and the raise came from a particularly weak player. I know a lot of top players will take flops with the medium suited connectors like 87s to see if they can flop a monster and bust someone. There is a time and there is a place for playing suited connectors. More over, however, the hands are overplayed by players who are unable to profit with them.

The first thing I want to note is the skill level that is required to effectively play these hands. I feel like beginner and intermediate players should leave them alone all together. Looking back on my first couple years of no limit hold ‘em play, I know I lost a lot of money messing with marginal hands like T9s. I think I’ve gone bust with QJs more than any other hand, and still find myself in really tricky spots playing it. The point I want to make here is that suited connectors are extremely difficult hands to play. You should leave them alone until you have a great handle on pot odds and counting outs. You also have to have a lot of table time under your belt to stay out of trouble with these hands. You should have a good read on the other players you’re up against and be comfortable playing flops with those players. Suited connectors get you into a lot of murky water that requires a lot of experience to effectively navigate.

There are two very important requirements that I look for before deciding to enter a pot with suited connectors. The first one is the size of the blinds in relation to my stack and the stacks of my opponents. The second is my position, both relative to the dealer, and relative to the raiser if the pot has been opened. If I’m playing in a cash game with blinds of say one and two dollars and all the players have around two hundred dollars in play, I will usually be willing to call a small raise if I’m on the dealer button or the cutt-off seat (one from the dealer.) with suited connectors JTs, T9s, and 98s only. I will limp in with these hands only from middle or late position. I’d play the hands similarly in the early stages of a tournament with, say, 1000 in tournament chips and blinds of maybe 10- 20. In the middle stages of 1000 chip tournaments, when the blinds are around the 50-100 stage, I will rarely play suited connectors except when I can limp in on the button or complete the blind from the small blind. Of course I will often open with suited connectors T9s, JTs, and QJs from late position if the players in the blinds are fairly tight, just trying to steal the blinds.

The Novice Poker Player

It’s happened to everyone. A novice calls and calls you for no particular reason, then catches a miracle on fifth street and takes a whole lot of your money. Say you’re in the poker room at the local casino, playing no limit Texas Hold ‘Em and betting strong with two-pair going into the river. Everyone has dropped out except for the man two spaces to your left, a bespectacled and grumpy-looking 75-year old whose mannerisms and erratic betting make him a tough read, but also give you confidence that he bets when he feels like it regardless of the cards. He’s hunched over, staring at the cards in the middle. He’s been calling you almost dutifully. You have him pegged for a pair, maybe even a low one. Then again he might just be senile and betting for fun with nothing. Under the circumstances, you’re sure your hand is the winner and thank the old man in your head for giving away his money.

The fifth card up is a nine of spades, of no consequence to your hand and surely not to his either. He leans back and exhales. You bet, and in an obvious but futile move, he tries to save all the money he’s wasted by doubling the raise in an attempt to buy the pot. You raise back and look up, almost feeling sorry for him. He raises back, not even looking at you. Finally, you raise again and he calls. You flip your cards, feeling good with your queens and jacks. But, without looking, he tosses his cards into the table, and there it is: a straight to the ten. He collects the money without even a sideways look at you, like he somehow earned it, while you’re left with your head in your hands, possibly trying to flag down the cocktail waitress to bring you a shot of whiskey.

What happened? All of the coy strategy, the Rounders patois and information gleaned from hours of reading poker manuals, and you got your clock cleaned by an inferior player just entertaining himself between pension checks. The answer comes in bringing yourself back to a time when you barely knew the rules; when you had to be constantly reminded whether a flush is better than a straight. Poker, to the very occasional player, is not about the complex, deeply psychological battle of will and mental faculty that it is in more seasoned competition. Instead, the novice player is dealing mainly with tension and release. So if you’re not yet able to spot tells like a pro, the key to cracking novices is remembering these key fundamental motivations. After that realization, a novice’s seemingly erratic betting patterns become easy to crack. It’s a matter of associating simple actions with the size of their bets and the cards on the table.

Now look back at his first raise after he caught the nine to complete his straight. The raise means two possible things, and it’s likely that he’s got it written all over his mannerisms. One is the tension of a man deeply involved in a pot with a weak hand. The other is the release, and vindication, of all that betting he was doing earlier. That’s all you’re looking for, either tension or the release of earlier tension.

Yes, he caught an inside straight on the river. Go ahead and feel sorry for yourself. But in medium and low stakes games where less-than-competent players are throwing their money around, it’s not as uncommon as it should be. A big raise from someone who had been calling on a card like a nine, that late in the game, means the nine either helped him or hurt him. So take a look. Is he hunched over, hardly breathing and squinting through a weak smile? Does he keep shifting in his seat and emitting dissatisfied sighs? Think about how someone would look when they’re tense. Or is he leaned back, fighting to hold off a smile that threatens to break out across his face? Those would indicate the release of tension and the vindication of their actions.

Looking back, everything from his lean to the audible exhale indicated a release of tension, and that coupled with a raise should have thrown up all kinds of warning signs.

Hindsight, of course, is 20/20. But in the end, you will only do yourself a favor by remembering that all novices are ruled by simple motivations, day and night different from the cryptic, complex strategies of an expert. To remember those simple motivations can save you from wasting even more money on the inconceivably lucky draws to which novices are prone.

The Continuation Bet

Continuation bets are funny things. Everybody places continuation bets and we usually expect each other to place them, but we don’t really analyze the process. Almost everybody places continuation bets but few people realize why they do or how much strategy there is behind the continuation bet.

In today’s lesson on the art of the continuation bet, we will cover five topics:

1. Explanation of the continuation bet
2. The purpose of the continuation bet
3. When to place continuation bets
4. Stealing others’ continuation bets
5. How to defend against floaters

Explanation of the continuation bet

First of all, a continuation bet is a bet that is placed on the flop by the person who raised the hand preflop. Let’s use an example to get started. Say you raise preflop with a hand like AQ. One of the opponents, it doesn’t really matter who, calls your preflop raise and the flop comes down 23J. He checks to you, you bet and he folds. There you go; you have just placed a c-bet. It doesn’t matter if you hit or miss your hand or if your opponent calls or folds. A c-bet is any bet that you place on the flop after raising preflop.

The purpose of the continuation bet

Now that we have the idea of the continuation bet down pat, let’s move on to the reasons we use them. There is more logic behind the continuation bet (c-bet from now on) than just well you raised preflop – you have to bet!

There are three major reasons we place c-bets:

To win pots:

The main reason you place a c-bet is because there is a pot of money in the middle of the table just begging you to take it. Your opponent has no idea what you have you might just have AA for all he knows. You did show strength by raising preflop so go ahead and see if you can take the pot down. Even if the flop completely missed you, your opponent will need a good reason to continue against what looks like a strong hand. So go ahead and get yourself that money. Every little bit helps.

To remain unpredictable:

The second reason we place continuation bets is to keep our opponents guessing. You would be predictable if you only placed flop bets when your hand was strong and checked when it was weak. Everybody would be able to play perfect poker against you and that would be no good.

To protect your hand:

A part of basic sit and go strategy is raising your strong hands preflop so that you can charge weaker hands to stay in and try to beat you. After you have raised preflop, there’s a pot out there that you need to protect. You don’t want to let your opponents draw for free so you place a c-bet.

When to place c-bets

There are good times to place c-bets and then there are bad times. Against a single opponent, it’s almost always a good time to place a c-bet. Unless you are up against a super calling station, an insistent floater or a really scary board, it’s safe to bet almost 100% of the time against a single opponent.

The best time to place a c-bet is when you have position on a single opponent. One of the worst times to place a c-bet is when out of position against multiple opponents. When you are out of position against two or more opponents, too much is going against you to profitably continue the hand. Even when in position, you should usually skip the c-bet if there are multiple opponents in the pot.

Insistent floaters are people who call continuation bets for the sole purpose of stealing the pot from you on the turn. They know all about c-bets and they love to steal them. I’ll get to these guys later.

Stealing others’ continuation bets

Now that you know all about c-bets, why not try stealing them from other people? You know that at least half the time you place a c-bet, you don’t really have anything. When other people place c-bets, especially tight, predictable players, you have a great opportunity to call the c-bet and then wait from them to check to you on the turn so that you can place a bet and take the pot.

The term for this play is floating. It’s really annoying when other people float you, so you should do it to other people. No, you don’t do this just to pass the annoyance on; you do it because it’s a hard play to defend against. It wins pots and it keeps you unpredictable.

How to defend against floaters

Floaters are annoying because they constantly steal the pots we are trying to take down. They like to call c-bets so that they can steal the pot on the turn when you slow down and check. Well, there are three things you can do to defend against the insistent floater:

Raise less preflop when out of position

If you’re raising a bunch of trashy hands preflop, it’s going to put pressure on you to c-bet while at the same time making it less likely to hit a real hand. The floater has the advantage because it’s going to be hard to win many pots without decent hands from out of position.

Continuation bet less

No, this isn’t giving up and letting the floater win. It is simply a change of tactics. By c-betting less, you are increasing the percentage of good hands that you do c-bet with. If you are c-betting with strong hands more often, the profitability of floating you diminishes.

Check-raise the turn more

This one will keep the floater wondering. If you have a strong hand, go ahead and c-bet it and then go for a turn check-raise. This will totally take the floater off guard and he’ll remember it the next time he thinks about floating you. Every once in a while, just to mix it up, check-raise the turn as a bluff. Use this sparingly, though, because it’s expensive and there’s a chance the floater will think you’re just getting mad and bluffing.

Texas holdem poker rules

Texas Holdem poker is the most popular form of poker played for real money. You can find texas holdem from the internet, from the casinos and from home around the world. It is so universal game that its almost mandatory to know the rules of texas holdem poker

Rules you need to know to get started in texas holdem

Two first players left to the dealer put out an ante or in other words a blind bet, the smaller blind is half of the bigger blind, with the big blind posted by the player who is last to act preflop.

After the blinds have been put out every player in the game is deal two cards these cards are called either pocket cards or hole cards. After the cards have been dealt the player who is next to dealer on dealers right side is first to act and after that the game proceed in clock-wise order. This phase of the game is called “preflop” and everyone makes a decision on their turn if they want to call, fold or raise. These are the rules of texas holdem poker you need to know to get a game going.

Flop, Turn and River texas holdem poker rules

After preflop action has been completed dealer deals 3 cards in the middle, these cards are also known as community cards and everyone in the table can use them to make the best possible poker hand. The first 3 cards are called the “flop” and first player to act on flop is small-blind and after small-blind everyone acts on their turn in clock-wise order. If the game is Texas Hold’em no limit you can bet any amount at any point of the hand (when its your turn) that is between or equal to the big blind and your whole chip stack. IF the game is limit texas hold’em the rules say that preflop and flop you can bet at max the amount of small blind and total of 4 of those bets can go in. The bets have to go in so that 1 player bets at max 1 bet mro then the previous, for an example player 1 bets one SB, player 2 raises to two small blinds. In turn and river betting rounds the maximum bet in limit holdem is equal to the big blind and also then maximum of 4 bets can go in.
After the flop action has been completed 4th community card is dealt, this card is also known as the turn and again small-blind(or if he is no-longer in the hand the player who is still in the hand and was closest to small-blind in clock-wise order) is the first to act.
After the turn action has been completed final community card is dealt, this card is also known as the “River” and again the action goes in same order, if there is still two or more players left in the pot after the final round has been completed the holder of the best 5 card poker hand wins. Pot can be also won if on anyone of the rounds there is only one player ready to put in the moneys. E.g if 3 players saw a flop and small blind bets out 100 chips on flop but no-one wants to call the pot small-blind player wins the pot. These are in a nutshell the texas holdem poker rules you need to know to get a game going.

Hand rankings:

There are the rankings of poker hands in texas holdem poker from best to worst:

1) Straight flush. 5 cards of same suit in a row, example of this is A,K,Q,J,T all hearts

2) 4 of a kind. 4 same number cards, like A,A,A,A

3) Full house 3 and 2 of same number, like A,A,A,K,K

4) 5 cards of the same suit, for example K,T,9,7,4 all hearts.

5) Straight 5 cards in a row like A,K,Q,J,T

6) Three of a kind, for an example 9,9,9

7) Two pairs, for example 99,88

8) One pair, like A,A

9) High card, nothing

Remember that you can use total of 5 cards from the community cards and the ones you hold in hand, if two players have same category hand the one with higher biggest card wins. For example 99,88 two pair beats 66,33 two pairs and 99,66 beats 99,55. If two or more players have exactly the same hand they split the pot. With these rules you should be able to enjoy and learn texas holdem even if you have never played it previously.

Taking Notes in Sit and Go's

Basically every poker site online allows players to take notes on other players. Doing this will give you an advantage in future hands against the same opponents. Because players are often very loyal to their site, you will see the same players quite often even on large sites such as Poker Stars.

When you take notes you should be looking for the best players and the weakest players. The reason for this is because you’re looking to avoid the best players and take advantage of the weakest players. Here are some good things to look for when taking notes:

Are the players tight or loose? For example, do they like to call often preflop with weak hands, or do they only play premium hands for raises?

Passive or aggressive? Aggressive players will be betting on the flop with nothing, raising often preflop, and playing many draws. Passive players will just be calling constantly.

Another good thing to note is if the player defends their blinds or not. If you notice a player always folds in the blind to a raise, you should start raising them in late position when they are in the blind.

Obviously, you can note if the player is winning or losing. This is an easy note to take, and can help you identify good and bad players.

The final thing you should be looking for is if the player is playing straightforward or trying to pull tricky moves. For example, do they like to semi bluff, check raise, and slow play strong hands, or do they just bet with good hands, and fold with bad ones?

Taking Beneficial Risks In Poker

Generally you shouldn’t enter a pot unless you feel you have an advantage. However, in certain cases you want to take a chance when your payout will be well worth it. Eventually you will hit a flop and win a monster pot. Consider it this way, have you ever gotten busted with AA because you let people limp in preflop?

When to Take a Risk

You want to take a risk when you have the potential of winning a big pot without sacrificing much money. For example, when most of the table limps in preflop you need to reconsider folding certain hands. Even if you don’t have much of a hand, you could get lucky and flop anything.

If you happen to flop a strong hand you will get paid off very well, as there are so many players in. Of course this won’t happen often, but when it does you will reap the benefits. By occasionally limping with suited connectors into multi way pots, you can hit a flop hard, and get paid off very nicely.

Specific Hands

If you are one of the last to act at the table, and most people have limped in, you want to play almost all suited cards as well as connecting cards. As you know, you aren’t likely to hit a flush or make a straight, but when that time comes, you will get paid off. One example of this is if you hold 34d in late position, and six people have limped in. This is an easy call, as your hand has great potential to become a monster.

Also, if you’re in the big blind with the same hand, and multiple players have called a small raise, you should call this as well. You’re the last person to act, so you know it won’t be reraised, and you have great pot odds to try and hit a flop.

When you Make a Flop

If you actually hit a flop, let’s say with the 34d, you still need to be cautious. If the flop is 34K, you need to play the hand aggressively. Anyone with a hand like KQ has a great chance of outdrawing you. If someone in early position bets the flop, and a few players call, you need to put in a large raise. Your goal is to take the pot here, as your hand is vulnerable.

If the flop comes A25, it is another story. Now your hand is very strong, and can only lose to a full house if the board pairs. On the flop you should just call a bet, and if no one bets, check. Depending on what the turn brings, you may have to bet to force draws out. If the turn is a 6, or makes 3 of a suit, then you need to bet out fairly strong, so any long shot draws are forced out.

Final Lesson

If you are late to act and almost everyone at the table is in (and assuming there hasn’t been much of a raise), you’ll want to limp in with any cards that have some sort of potential, such as suited cards, or connecting cards. You can’t expect to win all the time, but it’s worth the risk due to the reward you could get. So remember that if you can get into a big pot cheaply, go for it, but don’t stay in unless you hit or have good odds.

STRATEGY GUIDE FOR HIGH CARD FLOPS

Texas Hold’em is a big card card game. We all know that, or at least we ought to. Hole cards such as pocket Aces, Kings, Queens, and A-K dominate the average overall winning percentages. Naturally, we gravitate toward playing these big hands and your opponents will add hands like K-10 suited, K-J, or Q-J into the mix despite their position or their hole cards’ trapping nature. This means that flops containing these big cards are likely to hit lots of players and amount to big pots in no-limit Hold’em. My goal in this article is to help you make the most and lose the least when one of these monster tricky flops arises.

Tip #1: Protect heavily with two pair or a set. When you play two big cards like A-K or K-Q and you hit two pair on a flop like K-A-10 or J-Q-K you have to play extremely carefully in order to both protect your hand and/or find out if you’re already beaten. You should naturally be more suspect and cautious when 3, 4, or more players are contesting the pot. When you hit top two pair on a big flop you probably have the best hand but you need to protect against straight draws and perhaps flush draws. For some reason, hold’em players love to draw to broadway straights (10-J-Q-K-A), even if they’re only using one of their hole cards. When you make two pair the next card could always give your opponent(s) a better hand so I recommend betting out or raising at least the size of the pot. The same risks apply when you flop a set. A big card flop is likely to have helped your opponents as well so you’ll probably get plenty of action while protecting against draws.

Tip #2: Don’t slowplay anything. The only exception to this would be when you flop something like quads or the nut flush. Even the nut flush is vulnerable to a full house draw if your opponent hit a set with his big pocket pair. When you see a high-card flop against multiple opponents, slowplaying a big hand essentially only kills your own value. Since your opponents will also be playing big cards it’s very likely that they flopped a worse hand than yours. When you flop a set, a straight, or top two pair you’ll usually get action from straight draws, top pair top kicker type hands, or flush draws depending on the board. Why give them a free (or cheap) draw to make a better hand? Instead, make a sizeable value bet on the flop, build what appears to be your pot, and protect against bad beats in the making. Bottom two pair on any flop is even more dangerous as the next card could counterfeit your hand or give your opponents a higher two pair.

Tip #3: Watch out for one-card straight draws and flush draws. As mentioned above, you’ll often run into loose players willing to gamble on their one-card straight draw. For example, I’ve seen countless players draw with a hand like A-8 on a 10-J-Q board. Despite the fact that it is a gutshot straight draw with 12-1 odds against hitting, poor hold’em players routinely draw to broadway straights using only one big card. The big blind may have 9-2 offsuit on that same board and he will probably call a decent-sized bet with his open-ended straight draw (of considerably better odds). When you’re holding pocket Queens or J-Q, you need to be vary wary of a fourth-connecting card coming on the turn or river. Bet out at least the size of the pot and definitely slow down if that scare card does hit. Even if you have the nut straight with A-K on that 10-J-Q board, you have to protect against some other fish holding a A-2. Why? If a K comes on the turn, you’re both only playing your Ace for a split pot. Of course, don’t overlook the weak flush draw if there are two (or more) suited cards.

Tip #4: Know when you’re beat. Big card flops make for big hands. Top pair doesn’t hold up very often against a big connected board, especially against multiple opponents. If you run into heavy resistance with a hand like A-K on a board of K-J-10 you need to have the discipline to lay it down. Weak hold’em players will limp in with any two face cards and cripple your chip stack with bottom two pair or a freak straight. If you don’t hold top two pair or better, you’re better off playing defensively and keeping the pot as small as possible. If a major scare card hits such a fourth connector or a completed flush with 2 or more opponents, you’ll probably need to be looking for reasons to fold unless you have an excellent read on a weaker hand. I see too many players who don’t give up on their two pair or even top pair when it’s obvious that a straight is out. When it’s a high-card board, it makes it that much easier to know that your opponents are playing correlating cards.

Some situation not to bluff in a poker game

Bluffing is general in poker and many people think they can bluff more in online poker because there are no gestures, they are hidden behind their computer. But there are moments when you should not bluff. We are telling you when, just read on.

When you bluff keep in mind that everyone else is also looking for an opportunity to bluff. You can spot them, but beware they can spot you too! You have to use bluffing sparingly.
So when no to bluff in poker?

Other players are expecting you to bluff

I suppose you don’t want to be the fish at the table. When you bluff and are caught you reveal your playing style to the others, so you will be vulnerable. Always consider this before you bluff.

You have been caught bluffing recently

If you were caught as a poor bluffer recently you should not bluff but start to build your reputation back.

Bluff when the flop is dangerous

You have to recognize whether is a flop dangerous or not. I know, it is a difficult task, but for example the flop contains an Ace, you could be sure that someone has an Ace at the table. People love their Aces and keep them almost until the end of the hand.

Lots of players at the table

With a lot of players at the table there is a great chance that someone has something that he will stick with. It is not worth the money to bluff in this situation.

Against bad players

It is much more profitable to play straight up in these games. They will bluff a lot, but will keep en eye on you too.

You have just lost a big pot

Not only might you be on a bad run, but other players will expect
you to be on a bad run, and will more readily call you.

In the blind positions

You really have to evaluate the flop, but generally other players
will think you have a poor hand and expect you to bluff.

To summarize: be careful with bluffing, always take into consideration when you bluff you could be caught.

Single Table Sit n Go Basics

Single table sit n goes are the fastest growing game in online poker. A standard sit n go consists of 9-10 players with the top 3 making the money. Recently, different forms of sit n goes have come into play. One new type is the shorthanded sit n go, where 5-6 players enter and the top 2 finishers make the money.

Also, satellite sit n goes are becoming popular. In these sit n goes 9-10 players enter for a certain buy in, and the top finisher wins his/her way into a larger buy in tournament.

Step Tournaments

Another common form of single table sit n goes are “step tournaments”. In these, players start out at step 1, which may have a $5 buy in, and the top 2 finishers advance to a step 2 tournament, which may have a $25 buy in. There are usually around 4-5 steps before the final tournament, where cash prizes are awarded.

In sit n goes players enter the tournament for a fixed buy in. Besides the buy in, there is also a small tournament fee, which is usually 10% of the tournament buy in. This means that if you enter a $5.50 sit n go, $5 is going to the tournament prize pool, and $.50 is going to the poker site for hosting the tournament. It is similar to the rake of cash tables.

Chip Structure

When the tournament begins the players are all given the same amount of “play chips” that they use to play in the tournament. The chips you have aren’t real money, but you have to use them to try and outlast all of your opponents. When players get out that are in the money they are awarded their cash prize. In the most common form of single table sit n go, the 9-10 man, the top 3 finishers get paid with payouts as follows:
1st Place Finisher 50% of the prize pool
2nd Place Finisher 30% of the prize pool
3rd Place Finisher 20% of the prize pool

Some of the advantages of single table tournaments are as follows:

Single table sit n goes are very quick, because the blinds are continually raised. Usually blinds are increased every ten minutes, and as the tournament progresses an ante may be added as well. This puts pressure on everyone, as they are blinding away, so the tournament progresses quickly.

Sit n goes can be entered at anytime. They are literally running non stop at just about every single online poker site. This means that as soon as you bust out of one sit n go, you can join another instantly. This feature attracts many weak players, as they want to play without waiting in line for a ring table, so experienced players can take advantage of them.

Another advantage is the fact that you aren’t playing with chips that aren’t real money. At a cash table you can lose all of the money you have at any time. In a sit n go however, you can only lose what the buy in was for the tournament. This reduces the variance for sit n go players.

Single table sit n goes are a great way to increase a skillful players bankroll. At the lower levels the players are almost all fish, so if you learn the proper strategy you can win consistently.

Position in No Limit Hold'em

Position in No-Limit Holdem refers to where you are in the order of betting either before or after the flop. The player with the ‘dealer button’ (to the immediate right of the blinds) will act last on each betting round once the flop is dealt. Acting last conveys many advantages in No-Limit Holdem games, the main factor being that you get to see what your opponents do before you decide on your own action.

The best way to look at taking advantage of position in No-Limit Holdem is that you are able to win the most when ahead and loose the least when behind. At the end of the day the strongest hand will win a showdown regardless of where at the table the holder of this hand is sat.

Hand Selection

Before the flop you are able to take advantage of late position by playing a wider selection of hands. For example if you are in early position (one of the first to act) in No-Limit Holdem you may not be able to profitably play hands such as suited connectors, small pairs or unsuited high cards.

The reason for this is that all of these hands need high ‘implied odds’ to be profitable. They will not hit the flop too often and so need to be cheap to play in the early betting rounds. In early position most of your opponents have yet to act. The risk here is that one or more will raise you forcing you to lay down your hand.

Compare this to being in late position you have seen most of your opponents limp or fold and can now play these hands with little risk of a re-raise. Even when raised you may choose to call having the advantage of seeing your opponents act before you do on the flop may also mean you can steal the pot.

Betting Rounds

The real advantage of position in No-Limit Holdem comes from being last to act on the flop, turn and river betting rounds. Compare holding a medium pair when first to act to being last. In order to find out where you stand you will need to bet. Betting when first to act risks being re-raised by any opponent, or even flat called as a bluff.

Betting when last to act gives you the advantage of seeing your opponents check first, making your bet more likely to succeed. Sure, an opponent may be trapping with a strong hand but check-raising you ‘out of position’ will show a lot of strength and allow you to get away from your medium strength hand.

Bluffing Advantage

If you completely missed the flop then being last to act may enable you to pick up small pots with a bet on the flop. If an opponent who is in the habit of betting every flop acts before you then you can even choose to call taking away the pot with a bet on the turn instead.

With a strong holding last to act you are able to decide whether to check, enabling your opponents to ‘catch up’ in the hand. You may also be in a position to flat call a raise, thus building the pot, or to re-raise an amount that you expect to be called by at least one opponent. With strong holdings you want to build the pot, the advantage of being in last position is that you can do this without arousing too much suspicion from opponents.

To summarize, taking advantage of position in No-Limit Holdem involves being able to play hands you might otherwise have folded, steal pots that nobody has shown an interest in, build a bigger pot when you are strong and get away from a medium strength hand early when the action in front of you gets heavy. This is quite a list, and explains why profitable poker players make sure that they play the majority of their hands from late position.

POKER STRATEGY - TOURNAMENTS

In most of my first online poker tournaments, my best finishes were just in the money. The way most online poker rooms structure their tournaments, this pays you just over what you paid to get into the tournament. Even though playing poker is always fun, there is something quite frustrating about playing for 2 or 3 hours to get your money back.

This is why tournaments can be tough on tight-aggressive players, who, in my opinion, are best suited for cash games. I would wait until I would get strong cards and raise them. Unfortunately, you don’t always get action on your good hands, especially if you aren’t playing very much. Unless you consistently get hit over the head with the deck throughout the tournament, tight players don’t usually end up with the top prize.

If you tend to play a tight game, you might want to loosen up a bit and become more aggressive as the tournament continues. I recommend staying out of the action early on since the blinds are so low and you can afford to play tight. But if you’re not getting any hands and the blinds are creeping up, you probably should consider playing more hands than you normally would. If you can get in cheap, try playing any pocket pair and go for the double-up if you hit a set.

Also, if your table is short-handed (less than 7 players), you definitely should play more hands and raise more pre-flop. Playing more aggressively can cost you bigger pots and might bust you out earlier, but I would rather have a better shot at winning the tourney than making my money back.

Why play if you’re not going to play to win?

POKER STRATEGY - PLAYING KK AND QQ

Pocket Kings and Queens are great to be dealt preflop in hold’em. They’re made hands and you’ve got a big pair already, even if you don’t improve. Unfortunately, they’re also very vulnerable hands that can get you into a lot of trouble. For this reason, you should very rarely, if ever, slowplay these two pocket pairs. You’re just asking your opponents to take your money if you do.

Suppose you get dealt Q-Q in third position. Naturally, you’re going to play the hand, but how should you play it? In a no-limit cash game, suppose you just smooth call the minimum bet. Much to your disappointment, no one raises the pot behind you so you can reraise. Instead, 4 other players call the minimum bet and both blinds stay in. The flop comes down J-10-6 with two clubs. With an overpair to the board, you feel pretty confident right now. There are 7 players in the pot who’ve come in on the cheap. The small blind checks and the big blind makes a reasonable bet.

You raise him, and everyone folds to the button who goes all-in. The big blind calls the all-in bet and action is back to you. This is a terrible situation for you, because while you have an overpair to the board, what could these guys possibly have to make that large of a bet? You nervously call. The big blind turns over 10-6 offsuit for two pair, and the buttons turns over the 5-3, both clubs on a flush draw. The turn brings a K of hearts, and the river a 2 of clubs. The button rakes in the massive pot with his completed flush.

This type of hand is very common, especially in online poker. When you allow that many players to come in for the minimum bet, you’re going to see all sorts of garbage hands stay with the hand. You can’t even really fault the guy with the 5-3 – he’s getting great pot odds to see a flop. With 7 players seeing a flop of two more suited cards, you can be reasonably sure that at least one opponent has two more of them. Someone else could have a set or two pair. And sometimes you’ll run into opponents who have slowplayed pocket pairs even bigger than yours!

The lesson is: you’re not going to know where you stand with Q-Q or K-K unless you raise preflop! When you raise, you’re going to thin the field out and those trash hands are going to think twice about staying in the hand. Raise it enough, and only the complete idiots and premium hands will stay with you. Fire in a pot-sized raise from any position and see what happens. If you’re in early position and get reraised, slow it down a little. With Q-Q, you’ll probably just want to call the reraise and see a flop. He could have A-K, K-K, or A-A. When you have K-K, you can consider putting all your chips in at this point. K-K is a little safer because the only way you’re beat at this point is if your opponent is holding Aces.

Be very careful on the flop with these two pocket pairs. Invariably, you’re going to see an Ace come on the flop all too often when you have pocket Kings. What are you going to do? Since you raised preflop, your opponent is likely to have called with big cards, perhaps an Ace-high hand. If you’re first to act after the flop, bet a small amount with the intent of getting more information. If he raises you with any authority, you should probably fold.

You’re also going to run into times where you have Q-Q or K-K and end up all-in against A-A. It seems to happen a lot because these are hands that people are willing to go all-in with preflop. The few times that these hands are dealt together, both opponents are usually going to end up all-in. One quick note to consider about Q-Q: if you make a standard raise and get reraised all-in, do you think that your opponent is likely to have done that with a worse hand than Q-Q? If not, throw your hand away.

Play your Queens and Kings right: raise ‘em hard preflop, and be willing to let them go if you get too much action for your liking or the flop brings an overcard.

Poker Strategy - Beginner Players

Poker Jargon

This article is a quick glossary that explains the basic poker terms (flop, blind, etc.) and also some of the basic poker strategies (pot odds, outs). It is assumed that you know the basic rules of Texas Hold’em. (For a quick recap see the Poker Strategy homepage) For a more complete glossary, visit the Empire Poker School.

Blind (Small blind/big blind): These are the forced bets that take the place of an ante. The person to the left of the dealer must pay the small blind and the person after him must pay the big blind.

Board Cards: The cards in the middle of the table that are shared by everyone.

Draw: Drawing means hoping to improve your hand with the cards that will come on the board. You are on a draw when you want other cards to come out on the board to complete your hand. If you have 10 9 and the flop is QJ2, you are trying to draw an eight or a king on the turn or river.

Flop: This is when the first three cards come out in Holdem.

Implied odds: The same as pot odds (read below) except it takes into account making bets in the future. Thus, you may call a bet at the flop, but have implied odds of making bigger bets on later rounds if you hit your draw. So, if you have AK of diamonds and the flop comes two diamonds, your implied odds are what you have to call at the flop compared to how large the pot will be at the end of the hand.

Limit Poker: Poker with fixed bets. In a $2-4 limit game, all bets and raises are two dollars in the first two rounds (preflop and flop), and all bets and raises are four dollars in the last two rounds (turn and river).

Longhand: This refers to a poker game with seven or more people.

Outs: Number of cards that can improve your hand. If the flop is QJ2 and you have 10 9, you want a king or an eight to complete your straight. There are 4 kings and 4 eights in the deck, so you have 8 total outs.

Position: Where you sit at the poker table. The dealer has the best position because he bets last and therefore has a better understanding of what other people have in their hand. The small blind has the worst position because he goes first.

Pot Odds: This is the odds you are getting when you are drawing. For example, say you have Ace and 2 of diamonds and the board is King, seven, six- the six and seven are of diamonds. You are sure that someone else has the king. Nevertheless, there is a total of 9 other diamonds out there (13 your two, – two on board), so you have a roughly 18% chance of hitting a flush on the next card. Thus, if the pot is 100, and the bet is 10, even though you are clearly losing, you have odds with your flush draw. However, let’s say the pot is 100, you’re at the turn (one card left) and your opponent bets 300. The pot is 400 and you must put in 300 to see the river. Your pot odds are 300/700 which is too high, considering your chances of hitting your flush are about 1/5.

Preflop: When you just have two cards in your hand and there are no cards on the board yet.

River: This is the fifth and final card that comes on the board in Holdem, after the turn.

Shorthand: This refers to a poker game with six or fewer people.

Turn: This is the fourth board card that comes out in holdem, the card after the flop.
Poker Strategy – Thinking Like a Poker Player

THE FOUR KEY SKILLS

Poker pros are commonly described as tight and aggressive: “These poker pros do not play many hands, but when they play them, they play them like they had the nuts.”

That’s a nice general description, but it doesn’t say much. And it’s not even totally right about no limit games, as a solid loose, aggressive player is a person to be feared. Thus, when I think people say a player is tight/aggressive and therefore good, I really think they mean that the player has mastered four critical elements of poker. #1. Math skills

• Good poker players know general percentages. They know that you have about 1 in 8 chance of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair, and that you have about a 1 in 3 chance of completing a flush draw at the flop.
• They know the importance of ‘outs.’ Outs are simply the number of cards that will improve your hand. Count your outs, multiply them by two, and add two, and that’s roughly the percentage shot you have at hitting.
• They can figure out the ‘pot odds.’ Knowing outs is meaningless unless it’s translated into rational, calculated betting.

Knowing you have a 20% chance of hitting, what do you do then? Well, simply once you figure out your chance of hitting/winning, you divide the size of the pot at the river (i.e. the current pot plus the amount of money that you think will be added through future bets) by the amount you have to put in. If you have a 20% chance of hitting and the bet to you is 50, if the pot at the river will be greater than 250, call. If not, fold.

• Math skills are the most basic knowledge. The purpose of this book is not to go over pot odds, implied odds, etc. That’s day one reading. Anyone who doesn’t understand these concepts should not play in a game until they do.

2. Discipline

• Good poker players demand an advantage. What separates a winning poker player from a fish is that a fish does not expect to win, while a poker player does. A fish is happy playing craps, roulette, the slots; he just hopes to get lucky. A poker player does not hope to get lucky; he just hopes others don’t get lucky.
• Good poker players understand that a different game requires a different discipline. A disciplined no limit player can be a foolish limit player and vice versa. A disciplined limit player is always very tight preflop. He or she will not play too many hands, only the ones that have a very good chance at winning.

  However, a disciplined no limit player is VERY different. This player is not so concerned with paying too many blinds; instead, he or she does not want to get trapped. The main difference between a disciplined limit and no limit player is that the limit player avoids piddling away his stack bit by bit while a disciplined no limit player avoids losing his whole stack in one hand. Hence, a disciplined no limit player can play a lot of hands. Preflop, he or she can be as loose as ‘that’ girl in high school. However, a good no limit player knows when to toss hands that will get him or her in trouble.

• A disciplined player knows when to play and when to quit. He recognizes when he is on tilt and is aware when a game is too juicy to just quit while ahead.
• A disciplined player knows that he is not perfect. When a disciplined player makes a mistake, he learns. He does not blame others. He does not cry. He learns from the mistake and moves on.

3. Psychological Skills

• A good player is not a self-centered player. He may be the biggest SOB you know. He may not talk about care about anyone but himself and may enjoy stealing food from the poor. However, when a poker pro walks into a poker room, he always empathizes with his opponents. He tries to think what they think and understand the decisions they make and why they make them. The poker pro always tries to have an answer to these questions:

  a- what does my foe have

  b- what does my foe think I have

  c- what does my foe think I think he has

• Knowing the answer to these questions is the first step, manipulating the answers is the second and more important step. If you have a pair of kings and your foe has a pair of aces, and you both know what each other have and both know that you each know what the other has, why play a game of poker? A poker pro manipulates the latter two answers by slowplaying, fastplaying, and bluffing in order to throw his opponent off. Good poker players know that psychology is much, much, much more important in a no limit game than in a limit one. Limit games often turn into math battles, while no limit games carry a strong psychology component. I would NEVER play against a solid computer ‘bot’ in a limit game. However, in a no limit game, that bot would be toast.

4. A Clear Understanding of Risk-vs-Reward

• Pot odds and demanding an advantage fall into this category. Poker players are willing to take a long shot risk if the reward is high enough, but only if the expected return is higher than the risk.
• More importantly, they understand the risk-vs-reward nature of the game outside of the actual poker room. They know how much bank they need to play, and how much money they need in reserve to cover other expenses in life.
• Good poker players are fundamentally slightly risk-averse. In economics, a person is defined as risk-neutral, risk-averse, or risk-loving, depending on how that person rewards the next dollar they gain or lose. Risk loving are perfectly happy risking their entire roll on an even odds bet, a risk-neutral person is indifferent towards it, and a very risk-averse person would never risk his whole roll. Thus, a good poker player is slightly risk averse b/c he demands a big enough advantage to not be considered ‘risk-neutral,’ but he tends to value every dollar in his roll equally. If you cannot afford to lose your entire roll, you should not be playing with that much money.

Poker Strategy – Bankroll

How much money should I invest?

This is an important question, with two simple answers.

If you are looking to just have fun, don’t invest any more than is ‘fun’ to lose. Hence, if you’re comfortable blowing 100 bucks, put in $100 and see if you can win with it. This is what I did. My original roll was only $100 but I built it up into my current, much more powerful bankroll.

If you are looking to make money, you should be able to bank 200 big bets at the limit you play. Hence, if you play a $2-4, you should have $4 X 200= $800 dollar roll. For $5-10, your target roll should be $2000. These numbers prevent you from blowing your entire bankroll b/c of one bad run.

Some may say that the 200 big bets is too low for shorthand, but I believe you need to be reasonable about potential losses.

You don’t want to invest more than 200 big bets unless you’ve proven that you’re successful at that limit.
Poker Strategy – Starting Hands

The first thing you must understand when you play Texas Holdem is which hands are good and which are bad. Though it depends on the number of people in the game and the type, here is a general guide to use when you are just starting out but want to be a winning player at the lower limits. I suggest starting out at a fixed limit of $1-2 or lower.

Hands to Raise with:

These are ‘premium hands’ that you want to jam the pot with preflop:

AA, KK, QQ, AK, JJ, AQ, 1010

Hands to call with:

You want to see the flop with these hands and then decide. Do not call three bets with these hands, call only one or two.

AJ, KQ, QJ, J10, 109 (only if of same suit),99, 88, 77, Ax (same suit)
Poker Strategy – Pot Odds

Once you hit the flop, you should use pot odds to decide your next action. When you hit the flop, either you will be winning or hopefully winning (with a made hand) or you want cards to improve your hand (you are drawing). If you have a made hand, you should bet and raise. You want to win the pot now because more cards can only help your opposition. An example of a made hand is if you hold AK and the board is KJ4.

If you do not have a made hand, you are drawing. You must use ‘pot odds’ to determine if you should call or fold. First, you must count the number of outs you have. An out is a card that will make your hand the best hand. For example, if your hand is KJ, and the board is Q 10 7, then your outs are 4 Aces and 4 9’s, or 8 outs total. To calculate your percentage of hitting an out, you take the # of outs times 2, then add 2. Once you figure out this number, you multiply it by the pot to see what the maximum bet is that you can call. For example, if you have 6 outs (6 cards will help you), you have about a 14% chance of hitting. If the pot is $100 and you must call $10, you should call b/c you can call up to $14 (.14 X 100) but the cost is only $10. However, if the bet to you was $20, you should fold, because that would require a 20% chance of hitting.
Poker Strategy – Deception

Bluffing and Slowplaying are two deceptive techniques you should employ.
Bluffing

Contrary to popular belief, bluffing is almost useless in a low limit game (anything less than $2-4). Rarely will people not call to a showdown, so there is no point in scaring people out of the pot. I suggest waiting to bluff until you play at a higher limit. When you play at a higher limit, it’s best to bluff when you ‘represent’ something and there are only one or two opponents in the pot. For example, betting at the flop with a high card on the board ‘represents’ a pair, raising when a flush is possible ‘represents’ the flush.
Slowplaying

Slowplaying means deceiving your opponents into thinking you have less of a hand then you do. For example, suppose you hold KK. The flop comes K33, so you flopped a full house! There is no need to scare people out of the pot because there is little chance of someone drawing out on you. Thus, you should wait to the turn or maybe even river to jam the pot with bets and raises. You should slowplay if two conditions are met:

1. You hold a whopper and there is almost no chance of someone drawing on you

2. You will only get action if some other cards come out that will improve your opponents’ hands, but these cards are not good enough to make these hands beat yours.
Poker Strategy – Tilt

Being on tilt means letting your emotions disrupt your ability to play. All poker players go on tilt at least once during their career, but limiting these episodes is essential to winning at poker. Poker is a game that requires reason. If you have JQ of spades, and the flop comes AQ10, all of hearts, and there is a lot of betting action, you need to know to fold. If you were on tilt, you would let your emotions take control and make you do whatever it took to take down the pot. You would keep chasing, hoping to catch a king and hoping that no one had a flush.

In general, people who get upset and don’t stay focused and reasonable will lose all the money they brought to the table.

Poker is almost anti-human in the way it triggers emotions but rewards people who are made of stone. I don’t mean to scare you or act as if all poker players are unemotional stones, but it is imperative to stay focused and rational while at the poker table.

Generally, most players tilt due to a bad beat or if they just can?t seem to win a hand. Some players have a slight tilt after they win a big hand or two, but those episodes generally are much shorter than tilts caused by losing.

For example, take a hand I played recently. I had AQ and the flop came AQ2. I bet and was called. A 10 came on the turn. Bet, call. River was a 7. I bet and he raised. I decided to just call, thinking he may have actually had KJ. No, he had 77. The idiot had called me to the river with little hope but won on a very lucky river catch. Needless to say, I was not playing well the next couple of hands.

While going on tilt is natural, you need to limit it. Generally, the best way is to sit out a couple of hands and go on a walk. Another good way to handle a bad beat is to just think about all the bad beats you have laid in the past. After the bad beat I mentioned above, I sat back and thought about the time I stupidly went all in in a pot limit omaha with bottom set. I had 33J7, 3J7 of spades, and there was 368 on the board- the 8 was a spade. My opponent had 88, the best hand when all the money went into the pot. I was lucky enough to catch a backdoor flush on the turn-river and took down a huge pot. I went on to win the most money that day that I have ever won. If I had lost that hand, I probably would have called it quits and never would have won all of that money. Thinking about the time I pulled off this bad beat and went on to win such a huge sum helps me get through the times that some idiot rivers me.

Many people, myself included, tend to curse at the computer if they get bad beat. However, for myself at least, cursing is not nearly as therapeutic as thinking about that huge bad beat I laid at the omaha table. Cursing tends to make you more mad and will cause you to develop some bad habits. When you are about to go on tilt, sit out and think of happy thoughts (as cheesy as it sounds, it’s true) and hopefully you can resume playing your best.
Poker Strategy – Adjusting From Home Games to Internet Games

Most people who play poker just played in a typical home game at first. The structure of these games was simple. Generally, everyone would ante a certain amount (say 25 cents) and then the betting was structured as to have a minimum and maximum bet.

For example, everyone would ante 25 cents and then the bets/raises would range between 25 cents to $2 each round.

The play at the home games was generally bet, call or perhaps bet,raise, call. Most hands would go to a showdown and generally the person who had the hottest cards (not one who necessarily made the best plays) would win at the end of the day.

Internet poker is very different from this in 3 ways: the ante structure, the betting structure, and the competition.
Ante Structure

First, unless you are playing 7 stud, there is no ante. The person to the left of the dealer must pay the small blind and the person after him must pay the big blind. These are forced bets. All the other players are not forced to bet anything to receive cards (they do not need to ante), but they must match the big blind or any raise to the big blind to see the flop.

Thus, a typical game, involving 6 people, with a small blind (sb) of 50 cents and a big blind (bb) of $1 would go as follows preflop:

Seat one: SB ($.50)
Seat two: BB ($1)
Seat three: Fold
Seat four: Calls BB ($1)
Seat five: Raises BB ($2)
Dealer (Seat six): Fold

Seat one: Fold
Seat two: Calls raise ($1)
Seat three: Calls raise ($1)

Then the betting would begin with the big blind (since the small blind folded) after the flop.
Betting Structure

In addition to the blind/ante structure being different in online games, the type of betting differs. The most similar to the spread limit (i.e. the minimum/maximum bet) would be ‘no limit.’ In other words, there is still the minimum bet, however the maximum bet is the amount of chips in front of you. The best place to play no limit is Party Poker or Ulitmate Bet.

There is a common myth at no limit that if someone bets more chips than you have, you must fold. THAT IS NOT TRUE. If Tom bets $30 and I only have $15, I only must put in $15 to call. Thus, Tom is essentially only betting $15 dollars if I’m the only person in the pot. However, if the pot is between me, Tom, and Jane and both Tom and Jane have $50 dollars, Jane must match Tom’s bet of $30. The extra $15 would be in a sidepot. So, at the showdown, I would be in contention for $45 dollars and Tom and Jane would be in contention for the $45 plus the extra $30. Thus, if I have the best hand and Jane has the second best hand, I would win $45 and she would win $30. If Jane hand was in fact better than mine, she would win the entire $75.

Closely similar to no limit is pot limit, where you can bet any amount from the minimum bet to the size of the pot.

Finally, the most popular form of betting is known as limit. This type of game has fixed bets. For example, in a $2-4 game, the size of the bets are $2 or $4, depending on which round it is. In Texas Holdem and Omaha, each bet preflop and at the flop (when the 3 cards come out) is $2. If someone wishes to raise, he or she must do so by $2 dollars. Thus, in a 4-handed situation, this would be a typical case:

Seat one: Check
Seat two: Bet $2
Seat three: Raise $2 (to $4)
Seat four: Call $4

Seat one: Fold
Seat two: Call $4

The bets on the turn (when 4 cards are out) and the river (when all cards are out) would be the higher amount- $4. So, taken the above example, this is how the turn betting may happen:

Seat two: Bet $4
Seat three: Fold
Seat four: Raise $4 (to $8)

Seat two: Call $4
Competition

Finally, skill pays off more on the internet than dumb luck. People actually try to win because the money exchanged is often more than just nickels and dimes. You should not just call to the river ‘just to see what he has’ and such. You must use strategy to expect to win in the long run. Someone who plays his typical home game strategy may win at first, but will probably lose in the long run (unless his or her home game is particularly tough).