Poker Strategy – Intermediate Players 1

Shorthand Limit Texas Hold’em

Shorthand (tables of 6 or less people) is very popular in online poker; in fact, most of the higher limit games are played shorthand. Thus, to make any sort of of money playing net poker, the best strategy says that you really should learn how to play shorthand.

What type of game should I look for?

One of the most important skills at playing poker is simply playing the right game. Unless you just want to practice, there’s no reason to play against other pros! You certainly can’t expect to make money! The best way to tell if the game is easy or not is to look at the flop %. If it is 40 or higher, the game is good. If it’s 25-30, stay away. Some sites express the flop % as average number of ppl at flop. This isn’t as helpful, but generally go there if it says the average is 3 or more. More people going to the flop means that the quality of hands being played is lower. Thus, all you have to do is sit and wait to strike.

Preflop Starting hands

So what exactly are the good hands and the bad hands? Many books have been written about this, but I’ll summarize what I briefly believe are the ‘playable’ hands.

One thing to remember is that hand values are relative, so a hand can be good under some situations and total trash under others. For example, if there has been a lot of action, like a raise and a reriase and then someone calling the reraise, I would fold anything besides AA/KK and I maybe would even fold KK if I knew the players were really tight. Remember, hand values are relative, so always think about what the other guy has and guess if you have the better starting hand than him before going in.

Hands to raise with, non-raised flop: Paired cards, A10+, KQ,KJ, QJ, J10s

Hands to call a raise with: high paired cards, AQ, AK, AJ, KQ

Hands to reraise a raise: This depends on the raiser. Reriase a maniac with any pair or A9+ because you’ll probably be winning at the flop. Otherwise, reriase with made hands like JJ, QQ, KK, AA (although you may want to smooth call with JJ)

Hands to call and hope to build a pot with (early position) high suited connectors (i.e. 910s)

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Flop Tips

When you have a made hand, bet it. If flop is AK5, bet with your KQ, maybe they’ll fold. If one calls, then you have a decision to make, if you think he’s drawing, continue to bet at him. If he’s the type to call with the second best hand. Maybe check to him to see if he bets (he probably has a pair too, it just matters if it’s ace low kicker or king lower kicker or a pocket pair).

When you pair but it’s not the top pair, DON’T call a bet. Either raise or fold. Find out where you are on the flop. If you just flat call, that’s a total of 5 small bets. If you raise and he comes back firing, you can probably fold and save yourself 3 small bets (unless he’s a maniac, in which case just call him to river).

Drawing hands and pot odds: Always know your number of ‘outs’ i.e. number of cards that will make you a hand that you are pretty sure will win. Number of outs X2 + 2 is the percentage of hitting at the next card. So divide the pot by that number and if the bet is smaller than that, call. So, for example, suppose you are on a flush draw in a 10-20 hand, you have two spades in your hand and there are two on the flop. So there are 9 spades out there. The chances of hitting on turn are about 20%. So if pot is 80 and bet to you is 10, call! When calculating the pot size, it is generally best to remember future bets. For example, even though the pot is 80, if you hit, you’ll win 40 more on turn/river bets. So all you really need is a 1/12 chance of hitting.

Poker Training Texas Hold'em

Bluffing

General rule of bluffing: It doesn’t work until $5-10 or higher.

Semibluffing: this is betting when you don’t have a made hand yet, but you can. For example, betting on a flush draw. Example: Flop is A64, you have KQ suited and there are two of your suit on your board. Go ahead and bet. Not only do you have a good chance of hitting, you also can steal the pot. Semibluffing is only effective at higher levels, because at lower levels you are just value betting b/c ppl will call you.

Pure Bluffs: These don’t work too well at limit, but they do work at times. At higher levels, if the flop is kinda scary, say AQ9, if the action is passed to you and there aren’t many in it, go ahead and bet at it if you had shown strength preflop.

POKER STRATEGY - PLAYING KK AND QQ

Pocket Kings and Queens are great to be dealt preflop in Texas hold’em. They’re made hands and you’ve got a big pair already, even if you don’t improve. Unfortunately, they’re also very vulnerable hands that can get you into a lot of trouble. For this reason, you should very rarely, if ever, slowplay these two pocket pairs. You’re just asking your opponents to take your money if you do.

Suppose you get dealt Q-Q in third position. Naturally, you’re going to play the hand, but how should you play it? In a no-limit cash game, suppose you just smooth call the minimum bet. Much to your disappointment, no one raises the pot behind you so you can reraise. Instead, 4 other players call the minimum bet and both blinds stay in. The flop comes down J-10-6 with two clubs. With an overpair to the board, you feel pretty confident right now. There are 7 players in the pot who’ve come in on the cheap. The small blind checks and the big blind makes a reasonable bet.

You raise him, and everyone folds to the button who goes all-in. The big blind calls the all-in bet and action is back to you. This is a terrible situation for you, because while you have an overpair to the board, what could these guys possibly have to make that large of a bet? You nervously call. The big blind turns over 10-6 offsuit for two pair, and the buttons turns over the 5-3, both clubs on a flush draw. The turn brings a K of hearts, and the river a 2 of clubs. The button rakes in the massive pot with his completed flush.

This type of hand is very common, especially in online poker. When you allow that many players to come in for the minimum bet, you’re going to see all sorts of garbage hands stay with the hand. You can’t even really fault the guy with the 5-3 – he’s getting great pot odds to see a flop. With 7 players seeing a flop of two more suited cards, you can be reasonably sure that at least one opponent has two more of them. Someone else could have a set or two pair. And sometimes you’ll run into opponents who have slowplayed pocket pairs even bigger than yours!

The lesson is: you’re not going to know where you stand with Q-Q or K-K unless you raise preflop! When you raise, you’re going to thin the field out and those trash hands are going to think twice about staying in the hand. Raise it enough, and only the complete idiots and premium hands will stay with you. Fire in a pot-sized raise from any position and see what happens. If you’re in early position and get reraised, slow it down a little. With Q-Q, you’ll probably just want to call the reraise and see a flop. He could have A-K, K-K, or A-A. When you have K-K, you can consider putting all your chips in at this point. K-K is a little safer because the only way you’re beat at this point is if your opponent is holding Aces.

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Be very careful on the flop with these two pocket pairs. Invariably, you’re going to see an Ace come on the flop all too often when you have pocket Kings. What are you going to do? Since you raised preflop, your opponent is likely to have called with big cards, perhaps an Ace-high hand. If you’re first to act after the flop, bet a small amount with the intent of getting more information. If he raises you with any authority, you should probably fold.

You’re also going to run into times where you have Q-Q or K-K and end up all-in against A-A. It seems to happen a lot because these are hands that people are willing to go all-in with preflop. The few times that these hands are dealt together, both opponents are usually going to end up all-in. One quick note to consider about Q-Q: if you make a standard raise and get reraised all-in, do you think that your opponent is likely to have done that with a worse hand than Q-Q? If not, throw your hand away.

Play your Queens and Kings right: raise ‘em hard preflop, and be willing to let them go if you get too much action for your liking or the flop brings an overcard.

POKER STRATEGY - TOURNAMENTS

In most of my first online poker tournaments, my best finishes were just in the money. The way most online poker rooms structure their tournaments, this pays you just over what you paid to get into the tournament. Even though playing poker is always fun, there is something quite frustrating about playing for 2 or 3 hours to get your money back.

This is why tournaments can be tough on tight-aggressive players, who, in my opinion, are best suited for cash games. I would wait until I would get strong cards and raise them. Unfortunately, you don’t always get action on your good hands, especially if you aren’t playing very much. Unless you consistently get hit over the head with the deck throughout the tournament, tight players don’t usually end up with the top prize.

If you tend to play a tight game, you might want to loosen up a bit and become more aggressive as the tournament continues. I recommend staying out of the action early on since the blinds are so low and you can afford to play tight. But if you’re not getting any hands and the blinds are creeping up, you probably should consider playing more hands than you normally would. If you can get in cheap, try playing any pocket pair and go for the double-up if you hit a set.

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Also, if your table is short-handed (less than 7 players), you definitely should play more hands and raise more pre-flop. Playing more aggressively can cost you bigger pots and might bust you out earlier, but I would rather have a better shot at winning the tourney than making my money back.

Why play if you’re not going to play to win?

Position in No Limit Hold'em

Position in No-Limit Holdem refers to where you are in the order of betting either before or after the flop. The player with the ‘dealer button’ (to the immediate right of the blinds) will act last on each betting round once the flop is dealt. Acting last conveys many advantages in No-Limit Holdem games, the main factor being that you get to see what your opponents do before you decide on your own action.

The best way to look at taking advantage of position in No-Limit Holdem is that you are able to win the most when ahead and loose the least when behind. At the end of the day the strongest hand will win a showdown regardless of where at the table the holder of this hand is sat.

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Hand Selection

Before the flop you are able to take advantage of late position by playing a wider selection of hands. For example if you are in early position (one of the first to act) in No-Limit Holdem you may not be able to profitably play hands such as suited connectors, small pairs or unsuited high cards.

The reason for this is that all of these hands need high ‘implied odds’ to be profitable. They will not hit the flop too often and so need to be cheap to play in the early betting rounds. In early position most of your opponents have yet to act. The risk here is that one or more will raise you forcing you to lay down your hand.

Compare this to being in late position you have seen most of your opponents limp or fold and can now play these hands with little risk of a re-raise. Even when raised you may choose to call having the advantage of seeing your opponents act before you do on the flop may also mean you can steal the pot.

Betting Rounds

The real advantage of position in No-Limit Holdem comes from being last to act on the flop, turn and river betting rounds. Compare holding a medium pair when first to act to being last. In order to find out where you stand you will need to bet. Betting when first to act risks being re-raised by any opponent, or even flat called as a bluff.

Betting when last to act gives you the advantage of seeing your opponents check first, making your bet more likely to succeed. Sure, an opponent may be trapping with a strong hand but check-raising you ‘out of position’ will show a lot of strength and allow you to get away from your medium strength hand.

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Bluffing Advantage

If you completely missed the flop then being last to act may enable you to pick up small pots with a bet on the flop. If an opponent who is in the habit of betting every flop acts before you then you can even choose to call taking away the pot with a bet on the turn instead.

With a strong holding last to act you are able to decide whether to check, enabling your opponents to ‘catch up’ in the hand. You may also be in a position to flat call a raise, thus building the pot, or to re-raise an amount that you expect to be called by at least one opponent. With strong holdings you want to build the pot, the advantage of being in last position is that you can do this without arousing too much suspicion from opponents.

To summarize, taking advantage of position in No-Limit Holdem involves being able to play hands you might otherwise have folded, steal pots that nobody has shown an interest in, build a bigger pot when you are strong and get away from a medium strength hand early when the action in front of you gets heavy. This is quite a list, and explains why profitable poker players make sure that they play the majority of their hands from late position.

Single Table Sit n Go Basics

Single table sit n goes are the fastest growing game in online poker. A standard sit n go consists of 9-10 players with the top 3 making the money. Recently, different forms of sit n goes have come into play. One new type is the shorthanded sit n go, where 5-6 players enter and the top 2 finishers make the money.

Also, satellite sit n goes are becoming popular. In these sit n goes 9-10 players enter for a certain buy in, and the top finisher wins his/her way into a larger buy in tournament.

Step Tournaments

Another common form of single table sit n goes are “step tournaments”. In these, players start out at step 1, which may have a $5 buy in, and the top 2 finishers advance to a step 2 tournament, which may have a $25 buy in. There are usually around 4-5 steps before the final tournament, where cash prizes are awarded.

In sit n goes players enter the tournament for a fixed buy in. Besides the buy in, there is also a small tournament fee, which is usually 10% of the tournament buy in. This means that if you enter a $5.50 sit n go, $5 is going to the tournament prize pool, and $.50 is going to the poker site for hosting the tournament. It is similar to the rake of cash tables.

Chip Structure

When the tournament begins the players are all given the same amount of “play chips” that they use to play in the tournament. The chips you have aren’t real money, but you have to use them to try and outlast all of your opponents. When players get out that are in the money they are awarded their cash prize. In the most common form of single table sit n go, the 9-10 man, the top 3 finishers get paid with payouts as follows:

• 1st Place Finisher 50% of the prize pool
• 2nd Place Finisher 30% of the prize pool
• 3rd Place Finisher 20% of the prize pool

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Some of the advantages of single table tournaments are as follows:

Single table sit n goes are very quick, because the blinds are continually raised. Usually blinds are increased every ten minutes, and as the tournament progresses an ante may be added as well. This puts pressure on everyone, as they are blinding away, so the tournament progresses quickly.

Sit n goes can be entered at anytime. They are literally running non stop at just about every single online poker site. This means that as soon as you bust out of one sit n go, you can join another instantly. This feature attracts many weak players, as they want to play without waiting in line for a ring table, so experienced players can take advantage of them.

Another advantage is the fact that you aren’t playing with chips that aren’t real money. At a cash table you can lose all of the money you have at any time. In a sit n go however, you can only lose what the buy in was for the tournament. This reduces the variance for sit n go players.

Single table sit n goes are a great way to increase a skillful players bankroll. At the lower levels the players are almost all fish, so if you learn the proper strategy you can win consistently.

Some situation not to bluff in a poker game

Bluffing is general in poker and many people think they can bluff more in online poker because there are no gestures, they are hidden behind their computer. But there are moments when you should not bluff.

When you bluff keep in mind that everyone else is also looking for an opportunity to bluff. You can spot them, but beware they can spot you too! You have to use bluffing sparingly.
So when no to bluff in poker?

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Other players are expecting you to bluff

I suppose you don’t want to be the fish at the table. When you bluff and are caught you reveal your playing style to the others, so you will be vulnerable. Always consider this before you bluff.

You have been caught bluffing recently

If you were caught as a poor bluffer recently you should not bluff but start to build your reputation back.

Bluff when the flop is dangerous

You have to recognize whether is a flop dangerous or not. I know, it is a difficult task, but for example the flop contains an Ace, you could be sure that someone has an Ace at the table. People love their Aces and keep them almost until the end of the hand.

Lots of players at the table

With a lot of players at the table there is a great chance that someone has something that he will stick with. It is not worth the money to bluff in this situation.

Against bad players

It is much more profitable to play straight up in these games. They will bluff a lot, but will keep an eye on you too.

You have just lost a big pot

Not only might you be on a bad run, but other players will expect
you to be on a bad run, and will more readily call you.

In the blind positions

You really have to evaluate the flop, but generally other players
will think you have a poor hand and expect you to bluff.

To summarize: be careful with bluffing, always take into consideration when you bluff you could be caught.

STRATEGY GUIDE FOR HIGH CARD FLOPS

Texas Hold’em is a big card card game. We all know that, or at least we ought to. Hole cards such as pocket Aces, Kings, Queens, and A-K dominate the average overall winning percentages. Naturally, we gravitate toward playing these big hands and your opponents will add hands like K-10 suited, K-J, or Q-J into the mix despite their position or their hole cards’ trapping nature. This means that flops containing these big cards are likely to hit lots of players and amount to big pots in no-limit Hold’em. My goal in this article is to help you make the most and lose the least when one of these monster tricky flops arises.

Tip #1: Protect heavily with two pair or a set. When you play two big cards like A-K or K-Q and you hit two pair on a flop like K-A-10 or J-Q-K you have to play extremely carefully in order to both protect your hand and/or find out if you’re already beaten. You should naturally be more suspect and cautious when 3, 4, or more players are contesting the pot. When you hit top two pair on a big flop you probably have the best hand but you need to protect against straight draws and perhaps flush draws. For some reason, hold’em players love to draw to broadway straights (10-J-Q-K-A), even if they’re only using one of their hole cards. When you make two pair the next card could always give your opponent(s) a better hand so I recommend betting out or raising at least the size of the pot. The same risks apply when you flop a set. A big card flop is likely to have helped your opponents as well so you’ll probably get plenty of action while protecting against draws.

Tip #2: Don’t slowplay anything. The only exception to this would be when you flop something like quads or the nut flush. Even the nut flush is vulnerable to a full house draw if your opponent hit a set with his big pocket pair. When you see a high-card flop against multiple opponents, slowplaying a big hand essentially only kills your own value. Since your opponents will also be playing big cards it’s very likely that they flopped a worse hand than yours. When you flop a set, a straight, or top two pair you’ll usually get action from straight draws, top pair top kicker type hands, or flush draws depending on the board. Why give them a free (or cheap) draw to make a better hand? Instead, make a sizeable value bet on the flop, build what appears to be your pot, and protect against bad beats in the making. Bottom two pair on any flop is even more dangerous as the next card could counterfeit your hand or give your opponents a higher two pair.

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Tip #3: Watch out for one-card straight draws and flush draws. As mentioned above, you’ll often run into loose players willing to gamble on their one-card straight draw. For example, I’ve seen countless players draw with a hand like A-8 on a 10-J-Q board. Despite the fact that it is a gutshot straight draw with 12-1 odds against hitting, poor hold’em players routinely draw to broadway straights using only one big card. The big blind may have 9-2 offsuit on that same board and he will probably call a decent-sized bet with his open-ended straight draw (of considerably better odds). When you’re holding pocket Queens or J-Q, you need to be vary wary of a fourth-connecting card coming on the turn or river. Bet out at least the size of the pot and definitely slow down if that scare card does hit. Even if you have the nut straight with A-K on that 10-J-Q board, you have to protect against some other fish holding a A-2. Why? If a K comes on the turn, you’re both only playing your Ace for a split pot. Of course, don’t overlook the weak flush draw if there are two (or more) suited cards.

Tip #4: Know when you’re beat. Big card flops make for big hands. Top pair doesn’t hold up very often against a big connected board, especially against multiple opponents. If you run into heavy resistance with a hand like A-K on a board of K-J-10 you need to have the discipline to lay it down. Weak hold’em players will limp in with any two face cards and cripple your chip stack with bottom two pair or a freak straight. If you don’t hold top two pair or better, you’re better off playing defensively and keeping the pot as small as possible. If a major scare card hits such a fourth connector or a completed flush with 2 or more opponents, you’ll probably need to be looking for reasons to fold unless you have an excellent read on a weaker hand. I see too many players who don’t give up on their two pair or even top pair when it’s obvious that a straight is out. When it’s a high-card board, it makes it that much easier to know that your opponents are playing correlating cards.