Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Here are some useful strategies to assist you in becomming a better hold em player.

The information in this blog is in no way meant to promote gambling. It provides information on hold em to be used in its legal and non-gambling applications.

A Hold Em Article to Instantly Improve Your Game

Keep It Simple


When you start to play poker, you will more than likely be playing low-limit games. Beating these games does not require you to become a masterful poker player, it primarily entails that you are able to outplay poor opponents. Beating good players at high limits can be incredibly difficult, entailing many complex moves. However, winning at low limits is pretty straightforward.What do I mean? Basically, other players won't be paying attention to you. They only care about their own cards; they don't care about you or your cards. They will play their hand as they always play their hand, regardless of whether or not you are in the pot. You are basically a ghost to them... but hopefully you will be a ghost that's slowly taking their money! If you want to beat these types of players, you simply need to a play a straightforward game that will win in the long run. For example, play tight, don't do any fancy bluffs, bet aggressively when you probably have the best hand, and utilize pot odds for your drawing decisions.When it comes to deception with these players, slowplaying can work. These players are easily fooled into thinking they have the best hand when they hit a pair on the turn, so giving them a free card when you hold the stone nuts can be to your advantage. However, bluffing is simply an exercise in futility. These guys want to see if they have the best hand. They'll pay to see your cards just so they can see them sometimes! Don't expect to scare any fish at lower limits with an extra $2 bet.Master the art of choosing starting hands, employing pot odds, and aggressively betting your winning hands. However, psychological strategies are generally useless. Your opponents are not thinking too deeply, and attempting any fancy plays will only hurt you.

Source: http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/keep-it-simple.php

Latest Hold Em News:

Event #30, $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship: Rob Hollink Victorious

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Before today, Dutch pro Rob Hollink had an admirable list of poker accomplishments -- 18 prior WSOP cashes, two WPT cashes, first place in the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo and over $2 million in tournament winnings...

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Vitaly Lunkin had only one prior cash in the WSOP, an 829th-place finish in the 2006 Main Event. He can now add to that a first-place finish in a 2008 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. A Russian pro who has cashed in ten previous...




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Hold Em can be tricky. This article will help remove some of the guesswork.

This blog is for entertainment purposes only. It is meant to provide information relating to the game of hold em in its legal and non-gambling applications.

This Hold Em Article Will Make You A Better Player

Important Skills


I was reading this article on http://www.pokertips.org/ and realized how valuable it could be to beginning poker players. It highlights important skills and concepts that are needed to be a good poker player. The material contained in the 4th section "Understanding Risk vs Reward" is especially important as it is a fundamental concept that so many players of all skill levels overlook.

Four Key Poker Skills

Poker sharks are commonly described as tight and aggressive: "These poker pros do not play many hands, but when they play them, they play them like they have the nuts."That's a nice general description, but it doesn't say much. In my opinion, a solid poker player is one who has mastered the four key skills of poker.

Skill #1: Mathematics� A solid poker player knows the general probabilities of the game. For example, they know that you have about 1 in 8.5 chance of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair, and that you have about a 1 in 3 chance of completing a flopped flush draw by the river.� Good players understand the importance of outs. Outs are simply the number of cards that will improve your hand. Count your outs, multiply them by two, and add one, and that's roughly the percentage shot you have at hitting.� Good players can figure out the pot odds. Knowing outs is meaningless unless it's translated into rational, calculated betting. Knowing you have a 20% chance of hitting, what do you do then? If you're not sure, check out our Pot Odds article.� Math skills are the most basic knowledge; it's day-one reading. Anyone who doesn't understand these concepts should not play in a game for real money until they do.

Skill #2: Discipline� Good poker players demand an advantage. What separates a winning poker player from a fish is that a fish does not expect to win, while a poker player does. A fish is happy playing craps, roulette, or the slots; he just hopes to get lucky. A poker player does not hope to get lucky. He just hopes others don't get lucky.� Good poker players understand that a different game requires a different discipline. A disciplined no-limit player can be a foolish limit player and vice versa. For example, a disciplined limit hold'em player has solid preflop skills. When there is not much action preflop, he or she only plays the better hands. When a lot of people are limping in, he or she will make a loose call with a suited connector or other speculative hand.� A disciplined player knows when to play and when to quit. He recognizes when he is on tilt and is aware when a game is too juicy to just quit while ahead.� A disciplined player knows that he is not perfect. When a disciplined player makes a mistake, he learns. He does not blame others. He does not cry. He learns from the mistake and moves on.

Skill #3: Psychology� A good player is not a self-centered player. He may be the biggest SOB you know. He may not care about anyone but himself, and he may enjoy stealing food from the poor. However, when a poker pro walks into a poker room, he always empathizes with his opponents. He tries to think what they think and understand the decisions they make and why they make them. The poker pro always tries to have an answer to these questions:1. What does my opponent have?2. What does my opponent think I have?3. What does my opponent think I think he has?� Knowing the answer to these questions is the first step, manipulating the answers is the second and more important step. Suppose that you have a pair of kings and your opponent has a pair of aces. If you both know what the other has, and you both know that you know what the other has, then why play a game of poker? A poker pro manipulates the answers to questions #2 and #3 by slowplaying, fastplaying, and bluffing in order to throw his opponent off.� Good poker players know that psychology is much more important in a no-limit game than in a limit game. Limit games often turn into math battles, while no-limit games carry a strong psychology component. Thus, poker tells are much more important in no-limit games.

Skill #4: Understanding Risk vs. Reward� Pot odds and demanding an advantage fall into this category. Poker players are willing to take a long-shot risk if the reward is high enough, but only if the expected return is higher than the risk.� More importantly, they understand the risk-vs.-reward nature of the game outside of the actual poker room. They know how much bank they need to play, and how much money they need in reserve to cover other expenses in life.� Good poker players understand they need to be more risk-averse with their overall bankroll than their stack at the table.When you play in an individual game, you must value every chip equally at the table. You should only care about making correct plays. If you buy in for $10, you should be okay with taking a 52% chance of doubling up to $20 if it means a 48% chance of losing your $10.However, you should be risk-averse with your overall bankroll. You need to have enough money so that any day at the tables will not affect your bankroll too much. If you worry too much about losing, then you will make mistakes at the table. You need to leave yourself with the chance to fight another day.

Source: http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/four-skills.php

Latest Hold Em News:

World Series of Poker Daily Summary for June 16th, 2008

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:53:00 -0700
It was a frontrunner's day at the WSOP on Monday, as both events that saw bracelets awarded wound up having those bracelets awarded to the players leading those events at the start of the day. Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond...

2008 WSOP Event #30, $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship Day 2: Katz, Hollink Head Final

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:29:00 -0700
Aaron Katz, who at times plays in the legendary "Big Game," is the only player going into the final table of the $10,000 limit world championship Event #30 with over a million in chips. But that doesn't mean he will have...

2008 WSOP Event #27, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em: Lunkin Wins Bracelet

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:00:00 -0700
Vitaly Lunkin had only one prior cash in the WSOP, an 829th-place finish in the 2006 Main Event. He can now add to that a first-place finish in a 2008 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. A Russian pro who has cashed in ten previous...

2008 WSOP Event #31, $2,500 NLHE Six Handed, Day One: Shahar, Minieri Lead Pack

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:00:00 -0700
It stands to reason that if short-handed tables play fast, short-handed tournaments play fast. Logic ruled and the 1,012-player starting field whittled itself down to just 73 players in Day 1 of the $2,500 NLHE Six-Handed event...

2008 WSOP Event #28 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys: OMG Phil Galfond Wins

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:13:00 -0700
We've already seen some great final tables at the WSOP this year, but it would be hard to come up with one better than the group assembled for the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys event. At the very end of Day 2, Phil 'OMGClayAiken'...


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