All Across the Felt

TIP #1: Learn to Fold
Good poker players play a tight game. Most poker players are too loose with their starting hand selection. You’ve got to stick with better hands... especially when you’re at a 8-10 man table. You cannot limp in with bad cards in hopes of hitting something on the flop. All those blinds add up... and it’s not worth it. At larger tables, focus on playing hands like pocket pairs, suited connectors, A-X (X is any card) suited, or two face cards. Fold poor hands like J-6, Q-3, 10-5 pre-flop. The reason most people play too many hands is because they want action. They do not want to just sit and wait until they get good cards. But if you want to win, you must be patient. In fact... if you’re playing good poker, you should often be bored. Yes, that’s what I said, bored.

TIP #2: Don't Play Out of Position
Positioning is very important in Texas Holdem poker. Good position means you get to see what your opponents do before you have to act. Based on their behavior and betting, you can make an informed decision about what you want to do. Good positioning is late position. That means you are one of the last to act after the flop. The best position is the dealer (or button). The mistake most players make is playing the cards without considering their position. For instance, the way to play pocket Aces in the big blind is totally different than the way to play it in the dealer position. And that goes for all starting hands... and all positions. The basic strategy you need to know is that you want to play more starting hands from a later position. And you want to play these hands more aggressively. Most of your bluffs should come with good positioning too... because that’s when you’ll have the best read on the players at the table. In early position you want to play fewer hands. Especially when you’re immediately to the left of the big blind (also known as “under the gun”).

TIP #3: Be A Student of the Game
Poker is an extremely complex and multi-faceted game. It involves math, psychology, body language skills, self-control, performing under pressure, and a ton of other things. The problem with knowing it all- is that it limits your ability to improve. No matter how good you are at poker, there is always room for improvement. And in each respective area of the game, there is always more to learn. Not only that, but poker has been around for many years. Long before it started appearing on every television station. A lot of poker strategy has been developed over many years. These strategies will not just “come to you.” Instead, you must study the game, talk to other players, and be constantly learning in order to push yourself to the next level. And you must be playing. Whether you are playing free rooms or high stakes, seeing flops, and seeing how successful hands are played, is the key to becoming great at poker.

Tip #4: Keep Your Emotions in Check
Emotional control is a big part of Hold’em Poker. You have got to be able to become, at least somewhat, unattached from the outcome of the game. Emotions run high in poker because your mixing money, ego, and chance. It is a recipe for some strong emotions. The key is to expect in advance that the experience of playing will get stressful and intense. Expect that you will at some point lose on the river card (5th community card). The reason it’s important is because if you let go of your logic and start playing based on emotion, you will never win, ever. Stay in control of yourself and be “unattached” to the game. Don’t let a lost poker hand effect you. Remain focused on winning. Period.

Tip #5: Step Up to The Challenge, and Back Down if Necessary.
The stakes you play is what determines the skill you play against. And if you’re outmatched, ultimately, you will lose over an extended period of time. But if you’re way better than everyone at your current level, then maybe it’s time to “step it up a notch” to increase your winnings. Playing the right stakes is a delicate balance. The most effective way to determine the right stakes is to calculate your profit per hour over time. The difference in your “profit per hour” at a .50-$1 limit game versus a $1-$2 limit game can be dramatic. When you try to move up in stakes, don’t be afraid to move back down if it is not working. The action plan I recommend is to build your bankroll where you know you can win... then move up. If you lose (and only risk a piece of your bankroll), move back down and build it up again. Try it again when you feel ready. Repeat this process over and over and you’ll be continually improving and banking more money.

Tip #6:Pay Attention to the Cards; not your Opponents Antics
Always remember these principles, in a live poker game, play the player, not the cards. In an online poker game, play the cards, not the player. Ultimately, the cards determine who’s the winner for a hand... but that’s only when a hand plays out until the end and all cards are flipped over. Good poker players hardly ever make it to that level in a live poker hand. Good poker players either force opponents to fold, or they fold because they pick up a read on their opponents. The only times you should be flipping your cards up at the end is when you are very confident you have the best hand. In live poker, the player you are up against is what you need to focus on. Not your cards. Figure out his betting patterns, his habits, his tells. In online poker, these tells are not nearly so easily identified. Betting habits may actually be easier to track, but the rest of it is lost in cyberspace. Play the Cards, know the outs, weigh the risk, know the pot amount, and factor in the player as you can tell from the information you have...Then bet to win.

Tip #7: Switch Up Your Act
Just as you should be studying your opponents, your opponents should be studying you. The biggest mistake you can make is become predictable. When you’re predictable, you may win at poker, but you will not win much. Because every time you get good cards, everyone will fold. And every time you get bad cards, everyone will bet. The key is to be aware of your betting patterns. Bet strong hands a certain way for initially, then change your starting hand bets a bit. Such as raising pre-flop on 8-7 suited. Whatever. Mix it up and kill any consistencies that appear in your game.

Tip #8: Take a Walk
This is crucial when you’ve either just won a lot of money or just lost a lot of money. Because in either case, the tendency from that point forward is going to be to lose. Winning players tend to loosen up their games. They get greedy. They forgot what built up that fattened bankroll. Losing players want to “make a comeback.” Again, this leads to a loose game, and nothing good. So if you’re way up or way down in a game, just stop playing for the day. Go back at it in a few hours.

Tip #9: The Odds Have it
Knowing poker odds and probability is a standard ingredient for success. You can win some games just by being able to read your opponents and “guess” at what types of betting decisions to make. But ultimately, knowing the odds is what it takes to be a good Texas Holdem poker player. Knowing the odds is having an understanding of making a winning hand. This is especially important after the flop. The good news is, you don’t have to be a mathematician to know the odds of a hand. There are a lot of information available you can memorize to calculate pot odds, hand percentages, outs, and other important numbers.

Tip #10: Learn and Practice
Like I said before, No was born knowing how to play poker. It is a learned skill. In every aspect of the game, you've got to continually ask yourself the question, "Is this what I should be doing in this situation?" There are two main ways to improve your Texas Holdem poker skills:
Learn from experience.
Learn from someone who has mastered the game.
Information such as playing tight cards, which starting hands to play, not playing too many hands, understanding outs, may differ slightly in all of them, but is not that much different in any of them. At this point, your best education would be to get on a site, get in a room, and PLAY….

I can remember spotting these things back in the early days when Party Poker had all the action... I used to play a lot of 7 stud games online then, as well as all the others.. Something I always used to my benefit was the perfect card order these types of games offered... Example: I could match the involvment of the hand to the order of the cards as they fell, and not have to rely on my memory to replay the action.. I always found it to be an added bonus..

Action Buttons:
Many online poker rooms have action buttons that will allow players to state their intentions on a hand before the action actually gets to them. The computer will execute this decision as soon as it is the player’s turn. You can tell that a player has used an action button because there will be absolutely no pause between that players action and the previous players. Your opponents will most likely use the “call any” action button if they are on a draw and the “raise any” button if they have a solid hand. They will seldom use these buttons on a bluff, since a bluff is situation dependant. As a result, be more likely to respect these types of bets.

Pauses: (My opinion on this one is that we have to take into consideration that people playing on-line often times play in multiple games at once. This can cause pauses in there play as well..)
Pay attention to how long your opponent takes to call or raise you. If a player intentionally stalls and then raises you, they often have a very strong hand and are trying to lure you in. If they stall and then just call, they often have weak, marginal hands, or drawing hands.Word of caution: While poker tells are a very powerful tool that will take your game to the next level, they should be viewed as a supplement to (not a replacement of) the solid fundamental game that you learned as a beginning player. Do not, for example, call an opponent all the way down with a queen high just because you know he is bluffing. Do, however, use the information you learned to make tough and marginal decisions easier and more profitable.

All Across the Felt

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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