Intermediate Poker Strategy - Tactical Help

Types of hands to play:

The types of hands you play in No-Limit Holdem differ than those in Limit. This is because of implied odds. Hands like KQ offsuit go down in value because they cannot withstand much pressure. Even if you hit a K with this type of hand, you still may be losing to a set, two pair, AK, or may lose eventually to a draw. Thus, with big cards, you generally want to take down the pot at the flop. The exception to this is if you think you have someone outkicked (say AK vs KJ with a K on the board), or if you hit the flop hard (like KK3 when you hold AK). In these cases, you generally want to extract money from your opponent bit by bit.

The types of hands that go up in value or ones that you can bet with confidence: pocket pairs and suited connectors (strong draws in general). Pocket pairs do well because they are sneaky and can often withhold pressure. With pocket pairs, you can bet hard if you have a set or an overpair, which are hands that people generally don’t expect. Suited connectors go up in value for several reasons. First, if the flop comes weird, you generally will be paid off. For example, if you hold 76, you’ll get paid off a lot more if flop is A76 (against an AK) than you would pay off an AK if the flop were A72. Furthermore, you can take down pots and disguise your hand with semi-bluffing. If you hold 76 and the flop comes 45J. People will probably put you on a jack if you bet. They will then either fold or will probably call. Thus, you will either take down the pot at the flop or will be drawing to a hand that people don’t expect. If the next two cards are 8 and A and youre opponent holds AJ, expect a huge reward.

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How to bet

Many novice No-Limit players simply don’t know how much to bet. Well, the concept is simple. You want extract as much money from people who have made hands but are probably losing to you, you want to punish draws, but at the same time you don’t want to be trapping yourself.

Example: Suppose you have 99, flop is A89. You are pretty sure he doesn’t have 10J.

You want to put in about pot size bets here. Reason being: He either has a straight draw or pair of aces. If he has a straight, you don’t want him to draw on the cheap, and if he has pair of aces, he probably won’t let go of them so take as much as you can.

Example: You hold KQ of spades, flop is A95, A5 are of spades.

Bet into this flop. But don’t bet too much, just enough to make ppl fold if they don’t have an ace but enough to maybe make an AQ just freeze up and call. A 1/3 size pot bet would be good. This way you draw relatively cheaply and can punish if you hit your flush.

Bluffing

This relates back to the showdown percentage. More showdowns means bluffing works less. If you are in a game with a lot of showdowns (typical of lower limits), cut down on bluffing and punish them when you have the boss hand.