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.