Poker Strategy

Avoid the Fancy Moves in Limit Poker

This is something that you see new player try quite a bit when they are first starting out in limit.  There really is nothing but television to blame for this one as the only poker that is televised is no limit.  Limit tournaments are few and far between because producers tend to think it is much less interesting, and the result is that newcomers try and make the same moves in limit as they do in no limit.

Why this does not work is because of the odds that are present in limit poker that you can eliminate in no limit.  For instance, if you make a pre-flop raise in limit, there are few draws that will not have odds in a multi-way pot.  Once the flop hits and that flush, straight or over card draw is present, you can only make a single bet. If the same thing were to happen in no limit, you could bet 3 times the pot and virtually take away any odds that a player was looking for.

That being the case, you are going to get called.  While you will want to keep the hammer down if the draw does not hit, you have to take a second look at how you are going to play when the board blanks you or the draw pops. If you bet, you are going to get called.  If you are behind the player, you may very well get check raised.

The issue with all of this is if you get check raised on the river, you pretty much still have to call because of the money that is in the pot.  If you are playing in a $20/$40 limit game and bet $40 into a $500 pot and then get raised, it is costing you $40 to see a pot that is worth $620 at that point.  Regardless of what you have, you are forced to make the call because of the 15:1 odds.

The entire thought process in limit needs to be straight forward.  When you don’t hit, play very cautiously and try to keep the pot to a minimum.  If you are the raiser, stay aggressive if nothing hits the board and you think you are still ahead.  If you hit, continue to pound the pot and give no mercy to anyone.  If the board hits a draw, you are better to back off and give up the pot if that is the hand that you put your opponent on.  You do this before you get into the 2 bets and you are forced to call and waste money on the river.

Limit is not a place for fancy moves.  Plain and simple, it is about crunching numbers and playing the odds.  The ONLY time that you can get away with a move is when you have the absolute nuts.  In that case, you can try a check-raise that may set up one bluff down the road, but for the most part, you need to play ABC poker and take the odds when they are there.

Tags:
ABC Poker, Limit Poker, Online Poker, Poker, Poker Tips, Pre Flop

Making the Most out of the ‘Nuts’

There is nothing like flopping the absolute nuts in poker.  Your eyes pop out of your head and all you can think of is how to get the most money out of the hand.  This is not often very easy to do, but when you are in late position, you can make some more sophisticated plays that will allow you to get a little more money out of your opponent.

For the sake of argument, we will assume that you are on the button and have a middle position raiser in front of you.  The flop comes out and it is all you.  There is no other draw or card that can hurt you unless the board was to pair and give someone a boat.  As your opponent will probably throw out a continuation bet regardless of whether or not he hit, you know there is going to be more money in the pot.

This is where most poker players will make an error.  They get a little excited and decide to throw out a raise.  If your opponent does not have a hand, they are going to get out cheap at this point.  Just make the call and see what the turn brings before you make a move.  Now the turn hits and you are still in no danger or getting beat regardless of the river (except of course if the board were to pair and the danger of the boat is brought in).  If your opponent throws out a check, this is the one time that you may want to give him the free card and let him think that you are on a draw.

What this does is induce him to make a bet on the river regardless of what card hits. He will more than likely put you on some type of a draw and throw out a decent bet in order to take down the pot.  If you are lucky, the river card will improve his hand just a bit and then you can drop the hammer.

Reading your opponent is the key to the success here as it is going to dictate how much of a raise that you put in.  If you want to get called, the raise is going to have to be perfect.  Some players will come right back at you when you simply double the bet and others will wait for an overly aggressive raise, such as 6 or 7 times the last bet, that evokes a feeling of you trying to be a bully.  Pay attention to how they are playing and you may just end up getting all of your chips in with the nuts.

Flopping the nuts and making money on poker sites is not an easy thing to do.  You sometimes have to be very patient and let things develop before you can try and get some money from playing poker on poker sites.  Evaluating your opponents and patience will be the key to your success when you are building a pot with the nuts.

Tags:
Chips, Flop, Nuts, Online Poker, Poker Game, Poker Sites, Poker Tips

6 Man Tables -vs- 9 Man Tables

There is a lot of debate between players about what kind of tables are the best to play in both SNG’s and Ring games. It all really comes down to what type of player you are and how much you want to be in on the action. Each of these tables presents their own sets of challenges and skill sets to be successful.

SNG’s

When you are looking at SNG’s, you are taking a much larger risk to play in the 9 man tourneys than you are in the 6 man tourneys. It takes you longer to fight your way to the money and you also are adding an additional 3 players to get through. Together this means that your cards are going to have to hold up longer in order for you to cash and you are going to have to have much better hands early on in order to stay alive.

When you are playing a 6 man table, you only have to get past 4 players as compared to 6 in order to make the money. The main concern here is that you are creating the extra traffic to merely get your entry fee back in a 9 man tourney. The payoff for making the money in a 6 man tourney is usually significantly higher than it is in the 9 man tourneys.

Ring

This is much more difficult that SNG’s. This truly comes down to playing style. A lot of players are not comfortable playing a lot of hands. When you are in a 9 man game, you can use all of your live skills at the table. You can be very selective in your starting hands and not mix it up so much unless you are playing a monster. This is the style of a lot of players as they do not like to get in there with small starting hands and take a shot. You may have one or two players on the table that are like this, but for the most part they are going to play very tight.

A 6 man table is the total opposite of that. You are already starting out short-handed and when someone gets up from the table, the game really opens up. Your starting strength goes way up on hands that you would not even consider playing were you on a 9 man table.

Another factor that scares a lot of people when they are playing a 6 man table is that the blinds come around much more frequently. This means that there is the potential to go through a lot more money when you go card dead as you are facing 3 rounds of blinds to every 2 at a 9 man table. When you do the math, you can see how quickly this can add up.

In all, you would have to think that playing 6 man SNG’s is a much more reasonable move. You have to fight through less people and the payouts are more rewarding. For a cash games, it is a matter of preference. If you are a tight player, stay away from the smaller tables. If you like to mix it up and play a wide variety of starting hands, you are the ideal player for a 6 man game.

Tags:
6 Players, P Players, Poker, Poker Table, Sit And Go

Ideals to Steer Clear of

When playing a game of chess there are many things you steer clear of doing, because if you make the wrong moves or use the wrong strategies it will ultimately cause your loss in the end. For instance, you never throw your queen out in the open early on in the game; if she is taken things may as well be over for you. As with chess the same holds true for poker. There are many different problems that can arise while playing that every good player needs to avoid.

Probably the most harrowing of ideals that one must never come across while playing poker; involves enticing the mind to only think short term. Often, players only look at the hand in play rather than look further down the line and see the big picture. The simple fact remains, if you pull in money and win the pot you have won the hand; it doesn’t necessarily matter how a player did it; just that they did. In the long run a win, is always a reel in of cash; and consistent wins over time are what every good player needs; whether the win is big or small. That means a very long string of losses, or even a few losses can be worse over the long run than originally anticipated. The key, especially for poker novices’, is to practically remain stingy with your chips during the first rounds of the game and pull in wins when you can, this ensures that your stack remains full. But no matter how large your stack is, it is very important to remember that keeping a long term mindset is exactly one huge way to win the game of poker.

Poker can be very stressful and very frustrating at times but is important to always keep your cool. Therefore another ideal that all poker players should keep their distance from involves excessively letting emotions and feelings spill out. Because Poker is a game of decisions, and every move must be planned carefully just like in the game of chess, it is important poker players keep a clear mind at all times. If you lose a few hands and then let emotions and your anger get the best of you, then your decisions will go nowhere and end up losing you more money and eventually the game. Every decision must be approached very carefully; however the decisions must be also made concisely. Keep a clear mind devout of excessive emotion, and you will be on the path to winning more poker games.

Yet another form of emotion arises when players think they “feel” their hand’s individual strength. Consider this an emotion that should never be followed. Gut feelings should not be followed through unless a hand has a very good chance of being the strongest at the table. Poker will always remain a game of odds, mathematical odds to be exact; therefore emotions and feelings will never reign in the world of poker skill. Every good poker player knows that a hand should not be played unless it has good odds of winning, and that is exactly how every hand in poker should be played. Assess the odds as soon as your hand is dealt, and do so every time a new flop is turned. If there’s a good chance you have the strongest hand at the table, then you decide whether to call or bet.

Another problem that must quickly be eliminated is the fact that many players end up playing and backing too many hands before the flop. Often when these players do make a mistake and keep playing a weak hand, they stick with the hand too far past the flop and throw away most of their chips. Both instances cause big problems in the long run, and both are mistakes that need to be pushed aside as soon as possible. Players, especially poker novices’, need to get in the swing of folding most hands pre-flop. Even if the blind or bet to stay in is small, over time a lot of small bets equals a big number out of the total percentage of a stack. 20-25% of all hands are the maximum any player should be playing. Don’t overplay a hand either. Often a player mistakes a weak hand for a strong one just because there are face cards involved. Face cards don’t always mean you have one of the strongest hands; pertaining to the flop a face card may even earn you the lowest possible hand at the table. If the flop is thrown down by the dealer and you still have nothing in your hand, then fold. Don’t keep playing with nothing because that will lose you more money than it should. In long term senses losing any amount of money is bad; therefore learn to be careful with your betting and calling.

To sum it all up, basically poker players (even some veterans) need to learn to eliminate ideals and problems with their game that cause them to lose in the long run. A few of the most important problems in the average game includes thinking short term only, letting emotions get the best of you, following a “gut feeling”, playing too many cards pre-flop, and sticking with too many hands after the flop has been dealt. At least one of these problems may pertain to you individually; if that is true then you need to push it aside as soon as possible. Don’t let these problems affect your long term game, and most of all don’t let them affect your stack size.

Tags:
Chess, Poker

Friend or Foe

To play with friends or not to play with friends, that is the question.

In a serious game of poker sometimes it can be great to have a close friend who is just as skilled at the game sitting nearby, and at other times it can just create more difficulties.

A friend nearby can be great in many situations, but should never be kept around if you are looking to maximize your win profits. It holds true that most players do their best at the game when they are in an exceptional, or calm, mood. Friends provide a great way to relieve stress and pass the lengthy and boring time in-between good hands. Friends can also help out when you have tough decisions to make or need straightforward and blunt advice. Not to mention the fact that they provide an extra set of eyes to recall some of the more important hands and strategies of the game, this is great help especially afterwards when you’re reviewing how well you did. Gossip and conversation between you and your friend could even lure some of your opponents into losing interest on the current hand. Friends can also pull you aside or shut you off if you start falling into a losing trap, that way you never toss away too much cash.

A friend can however, be very bad in other situations especially when you are trying to maximize your win profit. It is important to note that a friend sitting nearby pulls from the overall total pot collection of everyone at the table. You will never want to go up against a friend or even pull from their stack, in fact in most cases you are going to want to back your friend so they can win as well. The biggest downside of this however is that your friend’s stack will keep getting bigger, and the amount of off limit cash that belongs to them will pull more and more money out of play because you might as well call your friend’s stack invisible money; you’re never going to attempt to take it from them (If you do, then chances are you’re a little more coldhearted than I assumed). Not to mention the fact that you can’t bluff against a friend who knows you well, or shoot big bets out when you’re friend is still in the round. If you’re trying to pull big cash from your opponent’s stacks it will affect your friend eventually. Friends are also a terrible choice if they do not know the game very well; they can become extremely clumsy and get in the way quite a bit if that is the case.

Next time you feel up to a casual game of poker to boost your overall game and strategies, bring along a friend it can provide a great experience. It can also provide an extra insight on how well you played your own hands after the game is over. If you are going to a big-time casino or high-roller table to pull in quite a bit of extra cash then definitely make sure to leave the counterparts at home, they will most certainly get in the way and steal your potential winnings.

Tags:
Friends, Poker