Today we’re going to go over some Texas Holdem poker tips that will help you keep your chips where they belong, in your stack. While these are written mostly for the cash game grinder they may also be applied to tournaments or sit n go’s as well. For those of you just getting started in poker, in a cash game you can get up and leave whenever you want whereas a tournament is played until one player has all the chips. Let’s get to it.
1. Avoid trying to throw out a late round bluff against an opponent on the short stack. If your short stacked opponent has made it to the turn, he’s holding something. You can throw out raises pre-flop or on the flop but if they’ve made it that far chances are they aren’t going away and you’re just giving them more ammunition for future hands. If you’re getting into the habit of bullying the short stack pre-flop, be prepared for them to make an all in raise on you at some point. They will get frustrated and push on you. Unless they’re holding a high pocket pair, they’re at best 60 40 to beat you. Calling an all in raise pre-flop is a much wiser decision than trying to bluff a short stack out when they have a made hand.
1.1 You can apply a similar strategy to the very tight player at the table. A tight player typically only plays premium hands so you want to avoid playing against them if they’re in the hand. You wouldn’t want to bet at someone holding aces with rags right? You can almost guarantee the tight player has something better than you if they’re betting. If they’re in the hand, fold. It’s much easier to let the blinds slice them away then try to recover chips you lost to them. A tight player cannot win pots if opponents won’t play against them. Very simple strategy.
2. Always be on the lookout for the player who loves to trap or slowplay. They take advantage of aggressive players and check call away the aggressors chips. If you notice your opponent is check calling, then more than likely they’re slowplaying you. If the flop came ace ace king and you’re holding the king with an opponent calling your bet you can rest assured they have the ace and want you to keep giving them more chips. Slow down. Stop betting against them. That’s the simplest way to play against them. If you don’t bet they have to bet, or check letting you get away cheap.
3. Players who are on a straight or flush draw that enjoy the art of semi-bluffing will have a betting pattern that looks something like this – check (someone bets) raise or bet (someone raises) re-raise, then they check the turn when the straight or flush card doesn’t show up. If you check the turn as well your giving this hand away. You don’t want to give them a free look at the river. You want to bet and make them pay for their draw. Hitting the flush will only happen about 18% of the time and an open ended straight will only happen about 16% of the time. If you bet the turn with a decent sized bet (at least half the size of the pot, but ¾ to the entire pot is better) you’re messing up their odds. If they call they’re making a bad lifetime poker decision and you’re playing winning poker. Your chip stack will thank you for this in the years to come.
3.1 An opponent using the same betting pattern in the above example may also be holding something like middle pair hoping to catch two pair or trips or they holding a face card and are looking to make top pair. Again you don’t want to give them that free look at the river. Bet the turn, make them pay to see another card.
Stay tuned for future Texas Holdem poker tips.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Poker for beginners
The game of poker takes only a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. For all you poker beginners out there, this article should take you through the basics of what you need to know to get you playing.
Hand ranking is the most important aspect of the game of poker. In a regular poker deck you have a total of fifty two cards broken up into four suits – spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs. There are a total of thirteen cards per suit – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, then ten through two. In hand ranking the Ace ranks the highest. One pair will beat an ace high. If you are holding two of the same card you have a pair. If you’re holding the ace of spades and the ace of hearts you have one pair. Another example of a pair would be the six of diamonds and the six of clubs. Two pair is better than one pair. As the name implies you would be holding something like the nine of diamonds, the nine of spades, the four of clubs, and the four of hearts for two pair. Three of a kind comes next. An example of three of a kind would be the king of spades, diamonds, and clubs. Three of a kind loses to a straight. Next up is the straight, which is five cards in a row of varying suits. Ace, king, queen, jack, ten of various suits is the best straight. The ace plays as a low card as well. The lowest straight is nicknamed “the wheel” and consists of the ace, two, three, four, and five. Straights must be in order! Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three does not count as a straight, the ace is either high or low, not both.A flush will beat a straight. If you have five cards of the same suit you have a flush. Five clubs is a flush, five diamonds is a flush, five hearts is a flush, and five spades is a flush. This brings us to the full house. Three of a kind and a pair is a full house with our example here bearing the ace of clubs, diamonds, and spades and the king of clubs and diamonds. Four of a kind will beat a full house. The best four of a kind would be the ace of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. The straight flush is the best hand in the game of poker. If you have five cards in a row in the same suit you have a straight flush. An example of this would be 3,4,5,6,7 of spades. The royal flush is the best straight flush in the game and consists of the 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.
After you understand hand rankings you graduate up to understanding betting. If you are playing texas holdem, there will be two players at the table who have to place what are known as blinds before the cards are dealt. Blinds are forced bets made by the two players sitting directly to the left of the dealer. The player directly to the left of the dealer has to place ½ the size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards. This is known as the small blind. The player directly to the left of the small blind is known as the big blind, and has to place the full size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards.
After each player has two cards face down in front of them the player directly to the left of the big blind is the first player to act. There are three options available. The player can fold, meaning he surrenders his cards and risks nothing, call, meaning he places the minimum bet in the middle of the table, or raise meaning he places a minimum of 2 times the minimum bet in the middle of the table. This continues in a clockwise fashion until the small blind is up to decide. If no one has raised the pot, the small blind only has to put the other ½ of the bet into the middle to make it to the next round of betting. Once that is complete the big blind has the option to check to see the next round of betting if no one has raised the pot.
The second round of betting now begins with three cards being placed face up in the middle of the table, which is known as the flop. Players use the cards in the middle of the table with the cards in front of them to make up their poker hand. The small blind is the first to act on the flop. If the small blind has folded, the big blind would be first to act. Play moves about in a clockwise fashion until all players have either folded or matched the bet. Now we have the turn, which is one card face up in the middle of the table. The small blind is again the first to act. Once all the bets have been placed we have one final card placed face up in the middle of the table known as the river. After bets have been placed the players turn over their hands in a clockwise fashion to see who has the highest hand ranking. The winner receives all the chips in the pot.
The easiest way to learn betting order is to play online where the computer takes care of this order, as well as placing the blinds for you. This is the best option available for poker beginners, and can be enjoyed for free from the comfort of your home.
Hand ranking is the most important aspect of the game of poker. In a regular poker deck you have a total of fifty two cards broken up into four suits – spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs. There are a total of thirteen cards per suit – Ace, King, Queen, Jack, then ten through two. In hand ranking the Ace ranks the highest. One pair will beat an ace high. If you are holding two of the same card you have a pair. If you’re holding the ace of spades and the ace of hearts you have one pair. Another example of a pair would be the six of diamonds and the six of clubs. Two pair is better than one pair. As the name implies you would be holding something like the nine of diamonds, the nine of spades, the four of clubs, and the four of hearts for two pair. Three of a kind comes next. An example of three of a kind would be the king of spades, diamonds, and clubs. Three of a kind loses to a straight. Next up is the straight, which is five cards in a row of varying suits. Ace, king, queen, jack, ten of various suits is the best straight. The ace plays as a low card as well. The lowest straight is nicknamed “the wheel” and consists of the ace, two, three, four, and five. Straights must be in order! Queen, King, Ace, Two, Three does not count as a straight, the ace is either high or low, not both.A flush will beat a straight. If you have five cards of the same suit you have a flush. Five clubs is a flush, five diamonds is a flush, five hearts is a flush, and five spades is a flush. This brings us to the full house. Three of a kind and a pair is a full house with our example here bearing the ace of clubs, diamonds, and spades and the king of clubs and diamonds. Four of a kind will beat a full house. The best four of a kind would be the ace of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. The straight flush is the best hand in the game of poker. If you have five cards in a row in the same suit you have a straight flush. An example of this would be 3,4,5,6,7 of spades. The royal flush is the best straight flush in the game and consists of the 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.
After you understand hand rankings you graduate up to understanding betting. If you are playing texas holdem, there will be two players at the table who have to place what are known as blinds before the cards are dealt. Blinds are forced bets made by the two players sitting directly to the left of the dealer. The player directly to the left of the dealer has to place ½ the size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards. This is known as the small blind. The player directly to the left of the small blind is known as the big blind, and has to place the full size of the bet into the pot before seeing any cards.
After each player has two cards face down in front of them the player directly to the left of the big blind is the first player to act. There are three options available. The player can fold, meaning he surrenders his cards and risks nothing, call, meaning he places the minimum bet in the middle of the table, or raise meaning he places a minimum of 2 times the minimum bet in the middle of the table. This continues in a clockwise fashion until the small blind is up to decide. If no one has raised the pot, the small blind only has to put the other ½ of the bet into the middle to make it to the next round of betting. Once that is complete the big blind has the option to check to see the next round of betting if no one has raised the pot.
The second round of betting now begins with three cards being placed face up in the middle of the table, which is known as the flop. Players use the cards in the middle of the table with the cards in front of them to make up their poker hand. The small blind is the first to act on the flop. If the small blind has folded, the big blind would be first to act. Play moves about in a clockwise fashion until all players have either folded or matched the bet. Now we have the turn, which is one card face up in the middle of the table. The small blind is again the first to act. Once all the bets have been placed we have one final card placed face up in the middle of the table known as the river. After bets have been placed the players turn over their hands in a clockwise fashion to see who has the highest hand ranking. The winner receives all the chips in the pot.
The easiest way to learn betting order is to play online where the computer takes care of this order, as well as placing the blinds for you. This is the best option available for poker beginners, and can be enjoyed for free from the comfort of your home.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Texas hold em strategies
There are many texas hold em strategies a new player must learn when becoming a master of the game. I refer to three different levels of player, the fish, the piranha, and the shark. I myself am by no means a shark, I rank somewhere in the piranha level. The piranha level is by far the hardest to graduate from as the level of skill required to become a shark takes years of practice. Thanks to internet poker players are able to learn much more quickly, but without playing in live games as well, skills such as controlling your adrenaline while in a live game will be non-existent.
The most important part in any strategy is to learn what beats what. If you think a flush loses to a straight you’ll be folding winners and will have no chance of ever coming out ahead. After you’ve learned hand rankings you graduate up to hand selection. At first it’s important to learn how to fold the majority of the hands you see. Why? Because hand selection is very important, especially when you’re first learning. If you’re playing a lot of 7 3 offsuits in the beginning you’ll develop bad playing habits that will be harder to break in the future. Just because you are winning a few times with a bad hand from early position doesn’t mean you’ll always be winning with those hands. The odds are against you.
So once you learn how to fold you’ll start to learn about position at the table. Position has to do with where you are sitting in relation to the dealer button. Those who have to decide if they want to play or fold first are in what is known as “early position.” This is a bad place to be as you will have to bet first throughout each betting round. You do not want to play many hands out of early position because you have no idea what everyone else is holding. They can make moves and plays on you leaving you at the disadvantage of having to call away chips in hopes of making hands.
After early position we have what is known as “middle position.” Here you can start to play a few more hands but still want to make sure you are playing quality hands. Finally we have what is known as “late position.” Here you can play more hands, especially if you are “on the button.” On the button means the dealer button is right in front of you and you are last to act on every round of betting. This is a powerful position because you can make raises to force other weaker hands to fold, as well as see cheap flops or turns if no one else has bet. From late position you can play more hands because you can fold if someone bets large and you didn’t make a hand or you can check your straight draw if no one else has bet leaving you with more free cards. There is no wondering what other players will do from late position because they’ve all already made their decision. You can see who is weak and make a play on them or you can take free cards if you so wish if no one else has bet.
After learning position different playing styles can be learned. Do you want to be aggressive, tight, tight aggressive, see lots of flops, chase straights and flushes, or just play like a maniac raising a lot of pots? You’ll learn your table image the more you play and you’ll learn how to adjust based on how other players at the table are playing. If a lot of people are trying to see cheap flops why not make it cost them more to see the flop? If someone is raising every flop start playing tight then when you pick up a good hand re-raise them. Learning how to play in different scenarios and with different players is key to becoming a great hold em player.
Once you’ve mastered these texas hold em strategies you’ll be ready to move on to bigger pots and against better opponents.
The most important part in any strategy is to learn what beats what. If you think a flush loses to a straight you’ll be folding winners and will have no chance of ever coming out ahead. After you’ve learned hand rankings you graduate up to hand selection. At first it’s important to learn how to fold the majority of the hands you see. Why? Because hand selection is very important, especially when you’re first learning. If you’re playing a lot of 7 3 offsuits in the beginning you’ll develop bad playing habits that will be harder to break in the future. Just because you are winning a few times with a bad hand from early position doesn’t mean you’ll always be winning with those hands. The odds are against you.
So once you learn how to fold you’ll start to learn about position at the table. Position has to do with where you are sitting in relation to the dealer button. Those who have to decide if they want to play or fold first are in what is known as “early position.” This is a bad place to be as you will have to bet first throughout each betting round. You do not want to play many hands out of early position because you have no idea what everyone else is holding. They can make moves and plays on you leaving you at the disadvantage of having to call away chips in hopes of making hands.
After early position we have what is known as “middle position.” Here you can start to play a few more hands but still want to make sure you are playing quality hands. Finally we have what is known as “late position.” Here you can play more hands, especially if you are “on the button.” On the button means the dealer button is right in front of you and you are last to act on every round of betting. This is a powerful position because you can make raises to force other weaker hands to fold, as well as see cheap flops or turns if no one else has bet. From late position you can play more hands because you can fold if someone bets large and you didn’t make a hand or you can check your straight draw if no one else has bet leaving you with more free cards. There is no wondering what other players will do from late position because they’ve all already made their decision. You can see who is weak and make a play on them or you can take free cards if you so wish if no one else has bet.
After learning position different playing styles can be learned. Do you want to be aggressive, tight, tight aggressive, see lots of flops, chase straights and flushes, or just play like a maniac raising a lot of pots? You’ll learn your table image the more you play and you’ll learn how to adjust based on how other players at the table are playing. If a lot of people are trying to see cheap flops why not make it cost them more to see the flop? If someone is raising every flop start playing tight then when you pick up a good hand re-raise them. Learning how to play in different scenarios and with different players is key to becoming a great hold em player.
Once you’ve mastered these texas hold em strategies you’ll be ready to move on to bigger pots and against better opponents.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Texas hold em tips and tricks
There are many texas hold em tips and tricks but none more important than this – do not ever attempt to bluff a new player. There are thousands of books written on how to play texas hold em, many of which tell you to play the odds against the new players. My honest opinion is avoid them as much as possible. Play with the new players who play tight, you can figure out what they’re going to do quite easily, but avoid the new players who call every hand and will call on the river with a pair of twos. Well, don’t entirely avoid them, but don’t land yourself in a coin flip situation with them either. Wait until you pick up something they can’t beat then take all their chips.
As for beginning tight players, intermediate players and advanced players just don’t outthink yourself. If you think you have the winning hand, you probably do. If you’re playing with a group of intermediate players and you see a possible straight or flush on the board and there are more than two people in the hand betting, it’s safe to assume someone has the straight or the flush and you should fold immediately. The intermediate and beginners will play for straights or flushes more often than a great player. The great players know odds, outs, and what not so if you’re playing a numbers game you’re much safer against the good players than the bad.
Then again the good players will bluff you out of certain hands you could win, but if you think it’s a lost hand, well you already lost the hand. If you feel you have the hand won, then call or bet. Pick your spots to bluff, and know your opponents. You can study their habits, hand selection, etc while you’re not in the hand. Keep track of what they’re winning with. People have patterns about them. Professionals are professionals because they are good at switching up how they play depending on the situation and the opponent but they still have an underlying style to which they play. If you’re playing tight, they may switch to a more aggressive style to take advantage. Pick a spot to move in. Wait for your chances. This isn’t a game where you have to play every pot or win every battle. It’s a war. Take down the pots you can and throw away the ones you can’t. It’s that basic. You don’t have to bluff everyone every five hands to pick up chips. Pick your spots. Think football or hockey. When you’re on offense you want to win the pot. When you’re on defense you want to prevent your opponent from taking your chips. It’s basically that simple. Fold when you can’t win as you’re preventing your opponents from taking any more of your chips and bet when you have a good hand. You may not win every pot you’re betting, just like in football you don’t score a touchdown every time, but you’re going in with the intention of taking down the hand.
There are millions of texas hold em tips and tricks that can be given out. The most important one is protect your chips. Take from your opponents without letting them take from you. Don’t make bad calls and you’ll be fine.
As for beginning tight players, intermediate players and advanced players just don’t outthink yourself. If you think you have the winning hand, you probably do. If you’re playing with a group of intermediate players and you see a possible straight or flush on the board and there are more than two people in the hand betting, it’s safe to assume someone has the straight or the flush and you should fold immediately. The intermediate and beginners will play for straights or flushes more often than a great player. The great players know odds, outs, and what not so if you’re playing a numbers game you’re much safer against the good players than the bad.
Then again the good players will bluff you out of certain hands you could win, but if you think it’s a lost hand, well you already lost the hand. If you feel you have the hand won, then call or bet. Pick your spots to bluff, and know your opponents. You can study their habits, hand selection, etc while you’re not in the hand. Keep track of what they’re winning with. People have patterns about them. Professionals are professionals because they are good at switching up how they play depending on the situation and the opponent but they still have an underlying style to which they play. If you’re playing tight, they may switch to a more aggressive style to take advantage. Pick a spot to move in. Wait for your chances. This isn’t a game where you have to play every pot or win every battle. It’s a war. Take down the pots you can and throw away the ones you can’t. It’s that basic. You don’t have to bluff everyone every five hands to pick up chips. Pick your spots. Think football or hockey. When you’re on offense you want to win the pot. When you’re on defense you want to prevent your opponent from taking your chips. It’s basically that simple. Fold when you can’t win as you’re preventing your opponents from taking any more of your chips and bet when you have a good hand. You may not win every pot you’re betting, just like in football you don’t score a touchdown every time, but you’re going in with the intention of taking down the hand.
There are millions of texas hold em tips and tricks that can be given out. The most important one is protect your chips. Take from your opponents without letting them take from you. Don’t make bad calls and you’ll be fine.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Winning texas hold em
For those of you hoping that winning texas hold em will be easy, well think again. There is no real winning, as the game never ends. Granted you can win a tournament, but once you win, well you have to play again to prove that your victory was genuine. Look at Phil Hellmuth, he’s won quite a few bracelets, and yet he continues to play. He wins some tournaments, loses others. He may win a tournament here and there, he may win some money here and there, but he never has truly won the war.
The game can’t end. It’s just a series of battles. You can win the hand, you can win the tournament, you can win the sit n go, but you have to keep playing.
The secrets to winning tournaments
If you want to win a tournament, you have to play smart. Unlike cash games, you cannot buy back in during a tournament. Well, in rebuy tournaments you can but that’ll cost you more money, and well, you’ll be at a disadvantage in chip stack size because your opponents now have more chips than you.
In a rebuy tournament you can play more aggressively in the beginning because the stacks won’t be much larger than yours if you buy back in during the first or second round. In a no rebuy tournament you have to play smart, and pick your spots.
Being that the size of the blinds is small relative to your stack in the beginning it may be tempting to play a lot of hands. In a no rebuy tournament this is a terrible idea. You want to save your chips for when the pots get bigger. If you’re playing every flop at 10 / 20 well, after about 10 hands you just lost 200 chips, and that’s if you fold every time someone at the table bets. If your starting stack was 2,500 chips, you just lost about 1/12 of your stack just trying to see flops.
In tournaments where the blinds increase every 10 – 15 minutes, those 200 chips come in handy. You just want to pick up a good hand here and there and take down a nice sized pot. Typically the “bad” players are trying to amount a good amount of chips in the beginning, or bust themselves out. Let them. Don’t get involved. They’ll be playing hands they shouldn’t and the odds just go right out the window. Who knows, they may pick up a lucky flop against your good hand, and being that you can’t believe anyone would possibly call with such a bad hand, you ignore and bet, losing your chips.
This is why I refuse to play a lot of hands in the beginning. I let the bad players go out then take the chips of the decent players. Decent and great players are more predictable than bad players. Bad players don’t know how to play, so remember that. If you spot a bad player wait until you have the nuts then take them out. If you don’t have the nuts they may outdraw you. Outs go out the window when you’re only playing a few hands. I know some may not agree with me on that, but I’ve seen bad players hit straight flushes and win hands when they didn’t even know what they were going for.
Around round 3 or 4 most of the ‘bad” players should be out so you can start playing a typical game of poker at this point. Pick your spots, bluff, and play the way you would against someone who knows what they’re doing.
If there’s still bad players in the game, well, my suggestion is to avoid them. In tournaments you can’t afford a bad beat, just plain and simple. This is why Hellmuth rants and raves so much on TV. He knows you can’t take a bad beat in a tournament, especially early, if you want to survive and win. Remember, avoid the bad players early and you’ll be winning texas hold em tournaments in no time.
The game can’t end. It’s just a series of battles. You can win the hand, you can win the tournament, you can win the sit n go, but you have to keep playing.
The secrets to winning tournaments
If you want to win a tournament, you have to play smart. Unlike cash games, you cannot buy back in during a tournament. Well, in rebuy tournaments you can but that’ll cost you more money, and well, you’ll be at a disadvantage in chip stack size because your opponents now have more chips than you.
In a rebuy tournament you can play more aggressively in the beginning because the stacks won’t be much larger than yours if you buy back in during the first or second round. In a no rebuy tournament you have to play smart, and pick your spots.
Being that the size of the blinds is small relative to your stack in the beginning it may be tempting to play a lot of hands. In a no rebuy tournament this is a terrible idea. You want to save your chips for when the pots get bigger. If you’re playing every flop at 10 / 20 well, after about 10 hands you just lost 200 chips, and that’s if you fold every time someone at the table bets. If your starting stack was 2,500 chips, you just lost about 1/12 of your stack just trying to see flops.
In tournaments where the blinds increase every 10 – 15 minutes, those 200 chips come in handy. You just want to pick up a good hand here and there and take down a nice sized pot. Typically the “bad” players are trying to amount a good amount of chips in the beginning, or bust themselves out. Let them. Don’t get involved. They’ll be playing hands they shouldn’t and the odds just go right out the window. Who knows, they may pick up a lucky flop against your good hand, and being that you can’t believe anyone would possibly call with such a bad hand, you ignore and bet, losing your chips.
This is why I refuse to play a lot of hands in the beginning. I let the bad players go out then take the chips of the decent players. Decent and great players are more predictable than bad players. Bad players don’t know how to play, so remember that. If you spot a bad player wait until you have the nuts then take them out. If you don’t have the nuts they may outdraw you. Outs go out the window when you’re only playing a few hands. I know some may not agree with me on that, but I’ve seen bad players hit straight flushes and win hands when they didn’t even know what they were going for.
Around round 3 or 4 most of the ‘bad” players should be out so you can start playing a typical game of poker at this point. Pick your spots, bluff, and play the way you would against someone who knows what they’re doing.
If there’s still bad players in the game, well, my suggestion is to avoid them. In tournaments you can’t afford a bad beat, just plain and simple. This is why Hellmuth rants and raves so much on TV. He knows you can’t take a bad beat in a tournament, especially early, if you want to survive and win. Remember, avoid the bad players early and you’ll be winning texas hold em tournaments in no time.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Texas hold em hands
With 169 different texas hold em hands to start with its hard to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em in the game. A person has to ask themselves, should I play this 76 suited or should I fold? Should I raise with my pocket queens when there’s an ace king on the flop? Knowing which hands to play pre flop and how to play them once you get to the flop are two totally different skills.
Before the flop you have two cards in front of you. You have to decide whether or not you want to play your hand based on probability, the number of players at the table, your position to the dealer button at the table, and the previous hand selection of your opponents. In a loose game it may be safer to play 76 suited in middle position, whereas in a tight game you don’t even really want to play the hand in late position. A loose game consists of many people taking cheap flops to see who can wind up with the best hand on the flop. By cheap flop I mean no one is really raising the pot before the flop, or they’re simply doubling the blind. In loose games the pot odds are better for you to play different hands because there is so much money in the pot compared to what you are investing into it.
For example, if there are 10 players at the table and eight or nine people are consistently calling pre flop with a $2 blind, that gives you between $16-$18 in the pot before seeing the flop. Being that you know the table isn’t going to raise preflop, or if they do the pot will be somewhere around $32 and you only have to invest in $4 to see that flop, you haven’t really put that much into the pot compared to what you can win. This would be known as investment or implied odds. You aren’t investing much into the pot for the chance at making a good chunk of change.
Now if the table is playing tight, and players are raising with good hands, then you really don’t want to be playing without having a great starting hand. Great starting hands would include pocket aces through pocket sevens, ace king, ace queen, ace jack, and ace ten. King queen all the way down to king nine suited would also fall into this category, as would jack ten and queen jack. The tighter the table, the less likely you should be playing a lot of different hands. Why you ask? Your investment and implied odds are worse when less players are playing. If four people are seeing the flop and they’ve tripled the blind you are now investing $6 into a pot for a chance at $24. Instead of being 1 out of 8 in the loose table example, you are now 1 of 4, therefore you want a better hand that has a better chance of winning.
If you’re in early position you don’t want to be playing bad hands because this also eliminates your chance at knowing what the rest of the table is holding. You come out with a feeler bet from early position on the flop, the guy next to you can quadruple your bet still leaving other players to act. If you play a weaker hand from late position you have a better gauge on what everyone else at the table is doing because you get to bet after them.
Pay attention to how the table is playing and adjust accordingly. You’re trying to have the best odds possible so when you do hit a hand it pays off. If you’re risking a lot of money on a hand that doesn’t have a very good chance of winning, your pocket book will feel it in the long run. If you risk a little to win a lot, your pocket book with thank you for it. Know your table, know your opponents and know your texas hold em hands and you’ll be winning in no time.
Before the flop you have two cards in front of you. You have to decide whether or not you want to play your hand based on probability, the number of players at the table, your position to the dealer button at the table, and the previous hand selection of your opponents. In a loose game it may be safer to play 76 suited in middle position, whereas in a tight game you don’t even really want to play the hand in late position. A loose game consists of many people taking cheap flops to see who can wind up with the best hand on the flop. By cheap flop I mean no one is really raising the pot before the flop, or they’re simply doubling the blind. In loose games the pot odds are better for you to play different hands because there is so much money in the pot compared to what you are investing into it.
For example, if there are 10 players at the table and eight or nine people are consistently calling pre flop with a $2 blind, that gives you between $16-$18 in the pot before seeing the flop. Being that you know the table isn’t going to raise preflop, or if they do the pot will be somewhere around $32 and you only have to invest in $4 to see that flop, you haven’t really put that much into the pot compared to what you can win. This would be known as investment or implied odds. You aren’t investing much into the pot for the chance at making a good chunk of change.
Now if the table is playing tight, and players are raising with good hands, then you really don’t want to be playing without having a great starting hand. Great starting hands would include pocket aces through pocket sevens, ace king, ace queen, ace jack, and ace ten. King queen all the way down to king nine suited would also fall into this category, as would jack ten and queen jack. The tighter the table, the less likely you should be playing a lot of different hands. Why you ask? Your investment and implied odds are worse when less players are playing. If four people are seeing the flop and they’ve tripled the blind you are now investing $6 into a pot for a chance at $24. Instead of being 1 out of 8 in the loose table example, you are now 1 of 4, therefore you want a better hand that has a better chance of winning.
If you’re in early position you don’t want to be playing bad hands because this also eliminates your chance at knowing what the rest of the table is holding. You come out with a feeler bet from early position on the flop, the guy next to you can quadruple your bet still leaving other players to act. If you play a weaker hand from late position you have a better gauge on what everyone else at the table is doing because you get to bet after them.
Pay attention to how the table is playing and adjust accordingly. You’re trying to have the best odds possible so when you do hit a hand it pays off. If you’re risking a lot of money on a hand that doesn’t have a very good chance of winning, your pocket book will feel it in the long run. If you risk a little to win a lot, your pocket book with thank you for it. Know your table, know your opponents and know your texas hold em hands and you’ll be winning in no time.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Texas Hold Em Calculator
Texas Hold Em Calculator
Building your own texas hold em calculator on your computer is very easy, all you need to know are the math equations have a copy of Microsoft Excel. If you want to go high tech, you can always look for programs that will allow you to put your Excel spreadsheets online, turning your desktop calculator into an online calculator. Ok, so the first step to building your calculator is knowing what math equations you will need to produce the right results.
The first equations will be for the number of outs you have remaining to win the hand. If you want to determine how many outs you have after seeing the flop for the turn the math equation is as follows: The number of outs you have divided by 47, which is the number of unknown cards remaining. There are 52 cards in the deck, you have 2 in your hand and 3 on the flop, thus 52 minus 5 equals 47. So let’s say you are holding King Queen of spades and the flop came Jack of Spades, Ten of Spades, four of diamonds. If you pick up any ace or any nine you will have a straight, which gives you a total of eight outs for your straight. There are a total of 13 flush cards in the deck and you currently have 4 of them, leaving you with nine outs. However, being that there are 2 flush cards being accounted for if you hit a straight (the ace of spades and the nine of spades) you have to subtract those two cards from nine leaving you with seven more outs to hit a flush. So you have a total of 17 outs to win the hand by either straight or flush. Being that a king or queen may also give you the highest hand with a pair, you have 6 more additional outs, the king of diamonds, clubs, and hearts as well as the queen of those same three suits. So best case scenario you have 23 outs to win the hand. 23 / 47 will tell you your percent chance of making your hand. In this case its about 49%. If you want to avoid the decimal system multiply the number you came up with by 100.
For the river the equation will be exactly the same, only you would divide the number of outs by 46 instead of 47, because there is one less card left in the deck for the river. So your river equation would be # of outs divided by 46 times 100 to avoid decimals.
If you want to know your chance of making your hand on either the turn or river the equation goes something like this: 1 minus ((47 minus the number of outs you have) divided by 47) times ((46 minus the number of outs you have) divided by 46) times 100. The reason you are using the number one at the beginning is because without it, you would have the percent chance you won’t win, as opposed to the percent chance you will win.
If all these numbers are too messy and complicated you can always use the “on the fly” method to calculate. If you want to know your chance of winning on either the turn or river take the number of outs you have and multiply that number by 4. The more outs you have the more inaccurate this method becomes, but then again at it’s worse its only off by about 4%. For hitting your card on either the turn or river multiply the number of outs you have by 2.
For odds against take the number of cards remaining in the deck and subtract the number of outs you have. This gives you the first number in your equation. Now divide that number by the number of outs you have.
For example you are chasing an inside straight draw giving you 4 outs to make your hand. So you have 47 cards remaining in the deck minus 4 gives you 43 cards that hurt you. Divide 43 by 4 to find out your odds against. In this case its 10.75 to 1. This number tells you how many chips need to be in the pot for you to make the right play mathematically to win. In other words if you are chasing an inside straight there should be about 11 times more chips in the pot than what you are investing to make your play worth it mathematically.
For a more detailed look at pot odds, we have this equation. Take the amount of money in the pot and divide that by how much money you have to put into the pot. Let’s say there is $250 in the pot and you have to call another $25. So you are putting $25 into a pot that will then be $275. Those are pretty good numbers and will be worth a call depending on the numbers you came up with in the odds against equation.
If you want to know your winning percentage compared to cost to call the equation is as follows: cost to call divided by the money in the pot plus your cost to call. So in the above equation you would have $25 / $275 which comes out to 9%. If you are chasing an open ended straight draw the numbers are on your side to making a good call. If it’s an inside straight draw and you don’t have to make another bet on the turn if you don’t hit, then it’s a solid bet as well.
Finally we have investment odds. This is an educated guess of what you’ll win from your opponents. This is why it is sometimes mathematically correct to play a weaker hand in the hopes of cracking your opponents hands. If you know two players are willing to risk a lot of chips on the hand you can be correct in your play being that you believe you will make a return on your investment. This equation lets you make some wilder plays than what you typically would if just playing by odds alone. The equation is the perceived pot size by the end times your percent chance of winning divided by your total investment. If the number is greater than 1 then you are making a good play.
Let’s say for example you have a 20% chance to win and you believe the pot will be $400 by the end but you are only investing in $60 as other players will fold by the time you hit the river. So you have (400 times .2) divided by 60. You will come up with a value of 1.3 meaning it is a good play.
Hopefully now you can go off and write your own texas hold em calculators with the equations found in this article.
Building your own texas hold em calculator on your computer is very easy, all you need to know are the math equations have a copy of Microsoft Excel. If you want to go high tech, you can always look for programs that will allow you to put your Excel spreadsheets online, turning your desktop calculator into an online calculator. Ok, so the first step to building your calculator is knowing what math equations you will need to produce the right results.
The first equations will be for the number of outs you have remaining to win the hand. If you want to determine how many outs you have after seeing the flop for the turn the math equation is as follows: The number of outs you have divided by 47, which is the number of unknown cards remaining. There are 52 cards in the deck, you have 2 in your hand and 3 on the flop, thus 52 minus 5 equals 47. So let’s say you are holding King Queen of spades and the flop came Jack of Spades, Ten of Spades, four of diamonds. If you pick up any ace or any nine you will have a straight, which gives you a total of eight outs for your straight. There are a total of 13 flush cards in the deck and you currently have 4 of them, leaving you with nine outs. However, being that there are 2 flush cards being accounted for if you hit a straight (the ace of spades and the nine of spades) you have to subtract those two cards from nine leaving you with seven more outs to hit a flush. So you have a total of 17 outs to win the hand by either straight or flush. Being that a king or queen may also give you the highest hand with a pair, you have 6 more additional outs, the king of diamonds, clubs, and hearts as well as the queen of those same three suits. So best case scenario you have 23 outs to win the hand. 23 / 47 will tell you your percent chance of making your hand. In this case its about 49%. If you want to avoid the decimal system multiply the number you came up with by 100.
For the river the equation will be exactly the same, only you would divide the number of outs by 46 instead of 47, because there is one less card left in the deck for the river. So your river equation would be # of outs divided by 46 times 100 to avoid decimals.
If you want to know your chance of making your hand on either the turn or river the equation goes something like this: 1 minus ((47 minus the number of outs you have) divided by 47) times ((46 minus the number of outs you have) divided by 46) times 100. The reason you are using the number one at the beginning is because without it, you would have the percent chance you won’t win, as opposed to the percent chance you will win.
If all these numbers are too messy and complicated you can always use the “on the fly” method to calculate. If you want to know your chance of winning on either the turn or river take the number of outs you have and multiply that number by 4. The more outs you have the more inaccurate this method becomes, but then again at it’s worse its only off by about 4%. For hitting your card on either the turn or river multiply the number of outs you have by 2.
For odds against take the number of cards remaining in the deck and subtract the number of outs you have. This gives you the first number in your equation. Now divide that number by the number of outs you have.
For example you are chasing an inside straight draw giving you 4 outs to make your hand. So you have 47 cards remaining in the deck minus 4 gives you 43 cards that hurt you. Divide 43 by 4 to find out your odds against. In this case its 10.75 to 1. This number tells you how many chips need to be in the pot for you to make the right play mathematically to win. In other words if you are chasing an inside straight there should be about 11 times more chips in the pot than what you are investing to make your play worth it mathematically.
For a more detailed look at pot odds, we have this equation. Take the amount of money in the pot and divide that by how much money you have to put into the pot. Let’s say there is $250 in the pot and you have to call another $25. So you are putting $25 into a pot that will then be $275. Those are pretty good numbers and will be worth a call depending on the numbers you came up with in the odds against equation.
If you want to know your winning percentage compared to cost to call the equation is as follows: cost to call divided by the money in the pot plus your cost to call. So in the above equation you would have $25 / $275 which comes out to 9%. If you are chasing an open ended straight draw the numbers are on your side to making a good call. If it’s an inside straight draw and you don’t have to make another bet on the turn if you don’t hit, then it’s a solid bet as well.
Finally we have investment odds. This is an educated guess of what you’ll win from your opponents. This is why it is sometimes mathematically correct to play a weaker hand in the hopes of cracking your opponents hands. If you know two players are willing to risk a lot of chips on the hand you can be correct in your play being that you believe you will make a return on your investment. This equation lets you make some wilder plays than what you typically would if just playing by odds alone. The equation is the perceived pot size by the end times your percent chance of winning divided by your total investment. If the number is greater than 1 then you are making a good play.
Let’s say for example you have a 20% chance to win and you believe the pot will be $400 by the end but you are only investing in $60 as other players will fold by the time you hit the river. So you have (400 times .2) divided by 60. You will come up with a value of 1.3 meaning it is a good play.
Hopefully now you can go off and write your own texas hold em calculators with the equations found in this article.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Poker Strategy Answers
When it comes down to questions we have a lot of poker strategy answers. The general consensus with the non poker playing world is that poker is a game of luck. Those who have played the game and understand it, understand it’s a game of skill. Players have to be able to read a board, understand math, understand psychology, all while attempting to make the best hand. While its true that the cards you’re holding don’t determine if you will or will not win the hand (unless you’re playing with someone who doesn’t know how to play, in which case the only thing that matters is the cards you’re holding) its important not to be making moves that will cost you money in the long run.
Yeah, you can bluff your opponent and pick up a pot here and there but sooner or later they will call you. It’s important to pick your spots. If you bluff too much, you’re just throwing away chips. If you keep chasing straights and flushes, you’re throwing away chips. Pick your spots wisely.
So what’s the most important element in poker strategy? Knowing the types of players you are up against. You can learn a lot about a person by watching them play. Notice their hand selection, keep track of whether or not they like to chase, like to play certain hands, etc. People are creatures of habit. Even professional poker players have “favorite” hands they like to play. Granted, the pro is more disciplined about when they’ll play a favorite hand, and have a variety of different ways to play each hand, but they are still creatures of habit. It’s inevitable that a pro will have a certain underlying strategy in which they approach the game.
Let’s take Sammy Farha for instance. You know the guy is going to play a lot of hands and take a lot of risks. Now you’re playing against the player knowing how he likes to play. Yeah, he’ll switch it up here and there but there is an underlying style to which he’s playing. Same applies with any other player. They have an underlying poker personality. They can switch gears from playing only a few hands to playing a few more hands but overall a tight player will be playing tight more than not and a loose player will play loose more often than not. It’s part of the psychology of poker.
Watch some players for a bit. Keep track of what they win with. Keep track of betting patterns. This is much easier to do online than in live play. You can keep notes if you’re playing online without anyone noticing. Watch for patterns and learn some profiles. Then you’ll have your poker strategy answers on how to beat the player.
Yeah, you can bluff your opponent and pick up a pot here and there but sooner or later they will call you. It’s important to pick your spots. If you bluff too much, you’re just throwing away chips. If you keep chasing straights and flushes, you’re throwing away chips. Pick your spots wisely.
So what’s the most important element in poker strategy? Knowing the types of players you are up against. You can learn a lot about a person by watching them play. Notice their hand selection, keep track of whether or not they like to chase, like to play certain hands, etc. People are creatures of habit. Even professional poker players have “favorite” hands they like to play. Granted, the pro is more disciplined about when they’ll play a favorite hand, and have a variety of different ways to play each hand, but they are still creatures of habit. It’s inevitable that a pro will have a certain underlying strategy in which they approach the game.
Let’s take Sammy Farha for instance. You know the guy is going to play a lot of hands and take a lot of risks. Now you’re playing against the player knowing how he likes to play. Yeah, he’ll switch it up here and there but there is an underlying style to which he’s playing. Same applies with any other player. They have an underlying poker personality. They can switch gears from playing only a few hands to playing a few more hands but overall a tight player will be playing tight more than not and a loose player will play loose more often than not. It’s part of the psychology of poker.
Watch some players for a bit. Keep track of what they win with. Keep track of betting patterns. This is much easier to do online than in live play. You can keep notes if you’re playing online without anyone noticing. Watch for patterns and learn some profiles. Then you’ll have your poker strategy answers on how to beat the player.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Texas Hold em Poker Hands
There are 169 texas hold em poker hands if you make only one distinction, suited and unsuited. The numbers would be way higher if you tried to identify clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. The best starting hand in texas hold em is pocket aces, or two aces. After that it breaks down to pocket kings, ace king suited, ace king offsuit, pocket queens, and so on. Depending on who you ask ace king offsuit may come after pocket queens.
Pairs in your hole cards, or cards only you see, are referred to as “pocket pairs” because they are your hole cards, they’re in your pocket, or some sort of “slang” along those lines. Pocket queens and pocket jacks can be difficult hands to play if you are unlucky enough to see a king or ace on the flop, turn, or river. While its recommended that you raise with pocket queens or jacks, these two hands can get you into a lot of trouble if someone else catches their hand.
The most important thing to consider when you are sitting at the table is where are you in relation to the other players at the table. If you are “acting” last, meaning you have the dealer button in front of you, you have a much better opportunity to play what most would consider weaker hands. When acting late you can essentially play any suited king and a lot of connected cards you typically wouldn’t. Connected cards would be hands such as 76, 54, 89, etc. Any two cards in a row would be considered a connected card.
So if there are 169 different starting hands in poker, how many different hands should I play? Well, it depends on your skill level, your chip stack, and how your opponents are playing. There are a total of 106 hands that may be worth playing depending on your chip stack, leaving 63 you should never play. Of course 72 is part of the 63 so technically if you want to mess with people its 61 as you can play 72 offsuit and suited if you so please, just don’t expect to win very often with them.
Knowing when to hold em and when to fold em is the most important part of poker. Know your Texas Hold Em poker hands and move yourself up the food chain.
Pairs in your hole cards, or cards only you see, are referred to as “pocket pairs” because they are your hole cards, they’re in your pocket, or some sort of “slang” along those lines. Pocket queens and pocket jacks can be difficult hands to play if you are unlucky enough to see a king or ace on the flop, turn, or river. While its recommended that you raise with pocket queens or jacks, these two hands can get you into a lot of trouble if someone else catches their hand.
The most important thing to consider when you are sitting at the table is where are you in relation to the other players at the table. If you are “acting” last, meaning you have the dealer button in front of you, you have a much better opportunity to play what most would consider weaker hands. When acting late you can essentially play any suited king and a lot of connected cards you typically wouldn’t. Connected cards would be hands such as 76, 54, 89, etc. Any two cards in a row would be considered a connected card.
So if there are 169 different starting hands in poker, how many different hands should I play? Well, it depends on your skill level, your chip stack, and how your opponents are playing. There are a total of 106 hands that may be worth playing depending on your chip stack, leaving 63 you should never play. Of course 72 is part of the 63 so technically if you want to mess with people its 61 as you can play 72 offsuit and suited if you so please, just don’t expect to win very often with them.
Knowing when to hold em and when to fold em is the most important part of poker. Know your Texas Hold Em poker hands and move yourself up the food chain.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Texas Holdem Statistics
Keeping track and knowing the statistics of Texas Holdem is essential to your success as a poker player. There are a variety of statistics to know, ranging from pot odds, the number of outs you have to win, and investment odds. Pot odds and the number of outs you have go hand in hand. If you have four cards to help you win you know roughly how much money you should invest into the hand because you know approximately how often you are going to win.
Texas Holdem is a game of numbers. There are good investments and bad investments. Think of it like playing the stock market or buying a house. You want to put your money in with a good house or a good stock and not buy a bad stock or bad house. The same applies to poker. If you know the statistics of your hand winning you know how much you should put into the pot to take the chance.
Of course, there are a variety of other things that come into play as well. One of these is known as investment odds. Investment odds consist of how much you can make from the hand if you make your hand. Basically think of it like this, the pot odds tell you that you probably shouldn’t make the call but you know if you make your hand you’ll take your opponents entire chip stack. If you aren’t risking a ton of chips to take all your opponents chips if you make the hand then its probably a good play. If you’re risking a lot to win a little then its not a good investment.
Knowing who bluffs and when you can bluff is also a good stat to keep track of. If you know someone bluffs a lot then you have a better chance at catching them for some extra chips. If you know your table image and know all the players at the table are good enough to know when to fold you can bluff them based on what you’ve seen.
The final piece of Texas Holdem Statistics consists of EV. EV is either a positive or negative number. It has to do with your wins and losses. If you are losing more than you’re winning then you have a negative EV. If you are winning more than you’re losing you have a positive EV.
All these components make up the game we know as poker. It’s a game of numbers and math. You as a poker player are just waiting for the numbers to be in your favor when you make the play. Know your Texas Holdem Statistics, beat your opponents.
Texas Holdem is a game of numbers. There are good investments and bad investments. Think of it like playing the stock market or buying a house. You want to put your money in with a good house or a good stock and not buy a bad stock or bad house. The same applies to poker. If you know the statistics of your hand winning you know how much you should put into the pot to take the chance.
Of course, there are a variety of other things that come into play as well. One of these is known as investment odds. Investment odds consist of how much you can make from the hand if you make your hand. Basically think of it like this, the pot odds tell you that you probably shouldn’t make the call but you know if you make your hand you’ll take your opponents entire chip stack. If you aren’t risking a ton of chips to take all your opponents chips if you make the hand then its probably a good play. If you’re risking a lot to win a little then its not a good investment.
Knowing who bluffs and when you can bluff is also a good stat to keep track of. If you know someone bluffs a lot then you have a better chance at catching them for some extra chips. If you know your table image and know all the players at the table are good enough to know when to fold you can bluff them based on what you’ve seen.
The final piece of Texas Holdem Statistics consists of EV. EV is either a positive or negative number. It has to do with your wins and losses. If you are losing more than you’re winning then you have a negative EV. If you are winning more than you’re losing you have a positive EV.
All these components make up the game we know as poker. It’s a game of numbers and math. You as a poker player are just waiting for the numbers to be in your favor when you make the play. Know your Texas Holdem Statistics, beat your opponents.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
How to deal texas holdem
This is a step by step of how to deal Texas Holdem. You have yourself a dealer, a small blind, and a big blind. The small blind is ½ of the big blind. The dealer deals one card to the small blind first, then the big blind, then the next player, the next player, and so on. One more card is now placed down starting again with the small blind, big blind, etc. The dealer then puts back down the cards and we have our first round of betting. The player sitting next to the big blind (not the small blind guy, the one on the left of the big blind) is now first to act. He may call the size of the big blind, fold, or raise the big blind. Then the next guy acts, and so on until everyone in the pot has called whatever the size of the bet is. If one guy raised to six and another guy after him raised to eight, well the guy who raised to six has to put in another two before we see the flop.
OK, so if you’re playing with people who know poker this is where it gets touchy. Put one card face down. This is known as the burn card. If the people know what they’re doing you now deal out three cards face down in the middle of the table (away from your burn pile) and flip them all at the same time. This is done so no one can pick up any tells as each card is shown. If you’re playing at a home game you may be OK just flipping the three cards one at a time.
So we have another round of betting once the flop (the three cards) is out. Betting starts with the small blind. Once this round is done the dealer picks back up the deck, puts one more card face down in the burn pile then puts one more card face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the turn..
We have another round of betting starting with the small blind again. If the small blind has folded it starts with the big blind. If he’s out then it’s the person next to the big blind. The dealer always acts last, except before the flop.
Alright, so once we have the turn over with we have one more final card burned and one more final card put face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the river. Everyone bets. The winner is determined by who has the best hand. And that is how to deal Texas Holdem.
OK, so if you’re playing with people who know poker this is where it gets touchy. Put one card face down. This is known as the burn card. If the people know what they’re doing you now deal out three cards face down in the middle of the table (away from your burn pile) and flip them all at the same time. This is done so no one can pick up any tells as each card is shown. If you’re playing at a home game you may be OK just flipping the three cards one at a time.
So we have another round of betting once the flop (the three cards) is out. Betting starts with the small blind. Once this round is done the dealer picks back up the deck, puts one more card face down in the burn pile then puts one more card face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the turn..
We have another round of betting starting with the small blind again. If the small blind has folded it starts with the big blind. If he’s out then it’s the person next to the big blind. The dealer always acts last, except before the flop.
Alright, so once we have the turn over with we have one more final card burned and one more final card put face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the river. Everyone bets. The winner is determined by who has the best hand. And that is how to deal Texas Holdem.
You gotta know when to hold em
And you gotta know when to fold em, know when to walk away, etc, etc. Poker is a game of timing, skill, and proper mathematics. If you don't have everything in alignment you should just walk away. Don't play mad, don't play when you can't afford to, and don't play when you aren't in the mood.
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