Entries Tagged 'Poker Tips' ↓

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

I had a great Christmas, and enjoyed taking a break from poker to spend time with family and friends.

I’m ready to get back to the tables, though.

Playing In The Blinds: Comparison

In Limit, it is difficult to over-defend your big blind. Against a single raise we are typically getting 4:1 (or better) to see a flop.

If we fold, we lose .5BBs immediately. So, making the call only needs to result in us losing .49BBs or less and we have a profitable hand.

No Limit is very different, however. A typical raise is 3 times the big blind, so we are getting 3:1 on our money instead.

However, postflop is where the problem comes in. Most of the times we will miss, and against an aggressive opponent it will be difficult to show-down medium-strength hands cheaply.

Because of the huge disadvantage of being out of position in NL, we are forced to fold many hands that we would otherwise want to play.

Note that when the SB raises and we are in the BB we can call all these hands, things like Axs and JTo that play poorly OOP play well in position.

OOP we typically want hands that flop well, and can hold up to some heat. Pairs 66+, AJs+, AQo+, KQ is a decent range for calling heads-up OOP.

Against a passive / bad player we can call more hands, since he will give us cheap cards and pay off well. Hands like A9s-ATs, ATo+, KJs, PPs 22-55, and some stronger SCs like JTs become playable.

Fighting Back

There will be aggressive players at your tables who try to steal the blinds too often. How do we fight back?

The answer: Preflop Reraises.

Someone who is opening 30-40% of the time from the button very rarely has a strong hand. They don’t mind being called, however, since they have the advantage of position after the flop.

Reraising a range of JJ+, AQo+, and occasionally some “creative” stuff like JTs, 65o, etc, will make him think twice about stealing your blind.

Be Confident

It’s easy to over-defend your blinds in NL, since we put so much at risk both preflop and postflop, that it is usually correct to just fold when OOP.

However, making sure to fight back against aggressive players with liberal preflop reraises, coupled with tight starting standards, will make you a tough blind to steal.

A poker instructor - or coach - can be a powerful tool in the quest to improve your game and win more.

Successful players do lots of self-evaluation, reviewing tough hands after sessions and thinking about different lines. However, there are inherent limitations to self-review.

You Are Biased

This simply means that you already know the outcome of the hand. Knowing in advance that you got stacked by a set can skew your immediate reaction.

Innovating New Strategies Can Be Difficult And Time-Consuming

Each of us have a general set of strategies we use on a regular basis. Occasionally we develop a new one, but in general our play stays pretty consistent. Having outside perspective can facilitate rapid improvement in your game.

It’s Hard To Break Habits

We each form habits over the course of our game. Some go back so far that we don’t even notice that we are making tiny unprofitable plays, perhaps by raising an offsuit broadway hand from middle position or something else entirely.

A poker instructor can help you spot these tiny leaks quickly.

A poker coach is not for everyone. However, those who are serious about learning and getting better will reap great benefits from the help of a poker instructor.

Today I will make a short post on poker and gambling tips for the novice.

First

Ask yourself what you want to accomplish. What are your goals? Do you just want to learn the rules? Or are you after something more?

Second

Once you’ve decided what your reason is for poker or gambling, you can start reading some poker and gambling tips. I would recommend you start by reading some good no-limit holdem books.

Third

When you’ve read one good book and splashed in play money or micro-stakes real money games it is time to head to some good forums.

Finally

As I said, I decided to keep this post short and concise for the novice. Poker and gambling tips can be found all over the internet. Most of it is really bad though!

I want to keep you focused on simple steps that will keep you on the right track.

1. Identify Goals
2. Learn Rules
3. Read Book
4. Participate in Forums
5. Play Poker!

Sounds good, right?

The biggest winrate-killer in poker is simple - TILT.

However, it is within each player’s power to control tilt. It takes discipline, and self-awareness, but to be successful one must master tilt.

It is very do-able with a couple strategies:

Prepare before Playing.

This is simple - make sure you are well-rested and well-fed before playing. There’s nothing that tilts me faster than being tired or hungry.

Don’t Play When Emotionally Agitated.

Did you just have a fight with your girlfriend?

Did your cat run away?

Are you sobbing because your favorite person got voted off the island?

Don’t sit down and play when upset, poker requires calm concentration.

Know Thyself

It is critical to know your own symptoms of tilt. They differ from person to person - some examples are:

• Whining about bad beats, either in chat or on IM or to a friend
• Feelings of frustration or despair about lost money
• Feelings of anger or thoughts of revenge towards a specific player
• Impatience, the desire to win money back right now
• Making decisions based on emotional wants rather than logical reasons

Which leads us to….

Take Breaks

If any of these tilt symptoms show up, it is time for a break to cool off.
Take a walk, get some water, grab a sandwich, check your email, whatever. Give yourself a chance to calm down so you can return to the game clear-headed.

Also, marathon sessions can be dangerous, as one’s ability to focus dwindles as sessions get longer. Taking a break every hour or two helps tremendously.

Last but not least…

Stay Hydrated

The brain needs water to function properly, and many people drink caffeinated beverages like soda or coffee which actually dehydrate the body further.
Grab a glass of water, stay hydrated, and stay focused.

With a little practice and effort, these tips will help any player cut down on their tilting.

Less tilting = less losing, and more winning!

Do you go to the store without a shopping list? Some do and I’m one of those that don’t. I guess that wasn’t a good example, was it?

What about if you go on a long trip, do you take a map or anything similar? The point I am trying to make here is that if you plan ahead it will make your life easier.

And I don’t care about being super effective in real life but in poker I care a lot!

Dan touched on this point in his post about Thinking Ahead. I am going to build on that post by providing a few more concepts and examples that will help you understand the concept of planning ahead.

Anticipating The Action

For you to be able to plan ahead you have to anticipate the action to some degree. For example, if you know that an opponent will check-raise you a lot on the flop. And you also know that you can’t really call a check-raise.

What happens if you check the flop? Does your opponent become more controllable? Most opponents have a plan like “I am going to check-raise this guy on the flop because he doesn’t have anything”.

When you just check it back to him he doesn’t really know what to do and becomes confused. He lacks another plan obviously!

He might just bet the turn and you can easily call a turn bet with your middle pair. Or he might check and let you value bet.

Example #1

You raise AJ on the button and an aggressive player in the big blind calls.

The flop comes KJ8

The big blind checks and you decide to check.

The reason for the check is that you know that the big blind will check-raise a lot of hands but not so many that you want to put all your money in with middle pair here. So checking here enables you to control the pot and avoid folding the best hand if he check-raises.

There are of course exceptions to this “rule”. If you know he check-raises and instantly gives up on the turn with worse than a King then you can easily bet and call a check-raise.

Turn comes a harmless 2

The big blind bets pot and you call.

No reason to raise here against a player like this. Although if your opponent was a more loose bad fishy player you could raise his bet 2-2.5 times to get a call from a worse jack or a draw like QT, AQ, AT, T9, Q9. It all depends on how you think your opponent will react to you (anticipating his actions).

River comes 4

That puts the back-door flush out there but it doesn’t scare us since it is so unlikely that he has it. Now the big blind bets 1/2 pot and we call. He flips up QT which was planning on check-raising the flop.

If your opponent were to show you a big hand here you would adjust your reads.

Although I would not stop calling someone down in this spot with a hand like this just because they show me two pair or something like that a few times, his hand-range is so wide for me to be folding AJ when the action goes check, pot, 1/2 pot. If he does it a few times with the same betting pattern I would note it.

Example #2:

You raise AQ UTG+1 and get a call from the button who you don’t know that well but he seems loose and doesn’t like to give up pots.

Only the two of you see the flop which is 67T

Many players would just tell you to bet your Ace high here but I disagree. How do you think your opponent will react?

A board like this hits your opponents hand-range hard, even if he is loose and you are out of position. Which means that you will have a hard time contesting the pot.

If your opponent is someone who calls you all the time then you shouldn’t focus on betting him off a hand. You should focus on value-betting your made hands MORE.

If you had a hand like A7 or 99 you could value-bet him relentlessly. We are of course assuming he will not be raising you off that hand if you do, that is for another post though.

Position plays a huge part in a game like No-Limit Hold’em. In this spot I would simply check-fold my Ace high.

How can you adjust to a player like this?

1. Play tighter when he has position on you
2. Value bet more
3. Learn his patterns
4. Continuation bet/bluff less

Those are a few things you can do. You can always leave the table if he is making your life difficult. I am pretty sure there are a lot of better tables out there.

Summary

In summary, what I do is simplify my decisions. Below are a few examples…

Tendency: Opponent calls too much in position with weak hands

Adjustment: Value bet, Tighter when he as position, Bluff less

Tendency: Opponent check-raises flops

Oops, you forgot to mention with what? Never base your decisions on reads that do not exist.

Tendency: Opponent check-raises flops with any pair, any draw and big hands.

Adjustment: Check behind on the flop and learn how he plays after that.

I know it is easy to get caught up in a personal vendetta against someone. I have done it and still do.

Someone who constantly floats (calls) you in position and you have to check-fold time and time again.

You want to start firing those 2nd and 3rd barrels, because he is owning you.

What you have to consider is that he will be very likely to call you down no matter how much you bet.

That is why you have to adjust your strategy wisely and not just throw more money at him and hope he folds!