Lesson 1:
We begin with a poker quote by Walter Mathew "the game exemplifies
the worst aspects of capitalism that have made our country so
great".
A lot of talent and poker skills are needed to become a professional
poker player, but anyone can improve their game considerably by
knowing certain basic aspects and strategies. With these strategies
you will become closer to the professional rather than the amateur
poker player.
Let's start sharpening our poker tools...
Lesson 2: The importance of position and seat
selection
Once you have chosen your game and table, you must select a seat
where you will get the most value for your money. Poker players
place their bets in a clockwise direction. It is worthwhile to
identify the big Bankroll players and to sit at the position to
their left. By doing so all the betting and raising will be done
by the time the action reaches you.
The importance of position can not be stressed enough. Even the
same cards dealt in the same order may produce vastly different
results depending on where you're sitting. Playable Hands and
winning combinations in late positions will often be unplayable
in earlier positions.
If you are first, second or third to play after the dealer
button you are in what's called the "early" position (also known
as "up front"). If you are the dealer button (also known as
"playing the button") or one or two seats to the right of the
dealer button you are in what's called the "late" position. All
players in-between (and normally facing the dealer across the
table) are in the "middle" position.
If you are in the "early" position, the types of hands you must
try to play are restricted to high cards or good hands, since
you have no way of knowing what the other players in the group
are holding.
If you are playing the "middle" position, you'll have players
waiting behind you and others that have already played. The
chance of a raise is slightly less in this position and there
are already several players in the pot so you will get better
odds playing weaker hands.
The advantage of being in the "late" position is that you get a
chance to see almost every play so far, and will be able to read
how other players feel about their hands by the way they have
checked, bet, raised or re-raised.
It is a great advantage to be in the "playing the button"
position, since you are last to act in each betting round of
that hand. Like the "late" positions, you can play a much weaker
hand than normal and can use bluffing more often to your
advantage, particularly as the game advances.
Betting the Flop
If you see the Flop and you are truly undecided between checking
and betting it is recommended to bet. By betting you won't give
away any free cards so you won't get beat on the River by a
player who may have folded, also the pot will be greater if you
should happen to win.
Should you Flop a good hand the reasons to do so must depend on
a number of things: the strength of your hand, how many players
are left in the hand, the odds of getting an over-card on the
turn or River and your ideas about what the opponents are
holding. Your decision should be based on this criteria.
You should bet your good hands for value but its' also good to
vary things up and always keep your opponents guessing.
Raising the Flop
What you must remember about raising on the Flop, especially
during a low limit game, is that rarely does it force out a
player who Flopped any kind of hand at all or any kind of flush
or straight draw. The point of raising on the Flop is to build a
pot and to coax your opponents into paying.
Always raise and re-raise if you Flop a pair with top kicker and
are pretty sure you have the best hand at that point. You are in
the best position to win the hand against any single straight or
flush draw, and also against any other player with top pair and
a weak kicker.
Another good thing about playing your hand in this way is that
when a flush is drawn on the board your opponents won't know
which of the two hands you have; the top pair or the flush draw.
This uncertainty helps you as you will be called more often on
the River when the flush card does not come.
It's advisable to play cautiously. If there is a lot of raising
on the Flop, it usually means that someone has flopped a set or
two pairs and already has a better hand than you. You also have
to be sure if one of the raisers is in the blind.
They could have anything in the pocket, got a miracle Flop and
are now betting in order to save it.
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Starting hands and pot odds only go so far when playing Hold'em.
While these perceptions are of high importance at beating the bad
players, you generally have to add a few more tricks to your
repertoire in order to beat out the better players.
Hard limit games are very challenging and it can be hard to beat
tough competition. However, you can raise your chances for winning
if you do certain things to give yourself that extra edge.
An important factor is relative hand strength and odds. If you have
KQ and a skilled player raises in front of you, it's likely that you
are beat. But at the same time, KQ is a playable hand in the right
circumstances. It is desirable to have hands that you will be able
to dominate in the pot so you can beat them later on. If you are in
the middle or early positions, you will have to call with this hand
and move a dominated hand along.
Other plays with certain hand strength would be coming in with
suited connectors, or small pairs, in order to provoke others to
come in with you. But if you have a mid pair and some guy at the
table raises in front of you, you need to consider re-raising in
order to cut him off. Now, imagine you have 99 and you place him on
Ax. You currently have odds on him and want the pot to be you
against him.
When playing a flush or straight draw, it is generally uncomplicated
with bad players, but is usually mercurial with good players. If you
are heads up at the flop, you should for sure semi-bluff at the pot
and pray to take it down. Moreover, if its heads up and another
player bets at you, you ought to think about raising in order to
either intimidate the other player into backing down or to save
yourself half a bet. In the event that he has a top pair and is just
calling if you pass on the turn, you can be more sure and earn
yourself a free card. You will have seen the turn/river for just 2
small bets instead of 1 small bet and a big one.
An Ace and a suited low kicker is one of the most frequently
misplayed hands when it comes to limit poker. In fact, this is a
much better no limit hand because of its likelihood of beating
another player when you hit a flush. People tend to go in with this
hand and frequently though it is usually dominated, and it's rare to
hit a flush.
People generally like to stuff the pot with AA or KK, but it is more
advisable to try to play these hands a bit differently against the
better players. You should try to re-raise with KK because you want
to charge someone for looking for an A. It is probably best in this
case to flat call with AA unless there are a number of runners and
you want to avoid too many from entering the pot.
However, if you're in late position or the blinds and there is a
raise, it will wind up a flat call. It is expected to be a heads up
between the players and the raisers, it will likely have about an
80% advantage. Now you should call his flop bet and then raise him
on the turn. Through this method, you can make a significantly
larger amount of money than if you just knocked him preflop.
When playing a tight game, the players tend to get scared at a
re-raise preflop because this usually means QQ or better. Therefore,
it is often best to re-raise with just a average hand preflop if
you’re sure that this will improve the chances of a flop bluff.
After playing with the same people for awhile, you will learn to
tailor your AA line of attack and play that hard preflop in order to
re-raise.
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Basic Texas Hold'em preflop
strategy
Once the game has started and the cards have been dealt. This is a
critical time in the game as you will need to decide if the cards
are worth playing.
Basically you should play with any two high cards i.e. 10's up; Ace
and 9; or any suited cards with an ace, and pairs are usually played
from 7 up.
High consecutive same suit cards e.g. 9s, 10s (spades) and lower
pairs can also be played depending on your position and the
following factors which are general points to consider before
playing the hand.
Number of players – in a 10 player game chances are someone will
have a strong hand and you'll need two high cards (jacks up) or a
high pair to play.
Your bankroll – if you are about to be called "all in" choose the
hand you play carefully if you have one last hand you want it to be
a good one.
Others playing aggressively - assuming some amateur players tends to
raise constantly, let him win the blinds, wait for a good hand and
press him to the wall.
Your position – as mentioned in the last lesson, when seated in a
later position play more than in an earlier position.
Remember that the key to becoming a good player is to have patience,
a player that tends plays a lot of hands will eventually lose.
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