Sunday, June 15, 2008

Here are some great hold em tips to bring immediate improvement to your game.

We do not promote gambling of any type. This blog information is to be used when playing hold em in its legal and non-gambling applications.

A Hold Em Article For Your Reading Enjoyment

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:

2008 WSOP Event #26 $1,500 Razz Day 2 – Viox, Greenstein Head Final

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:00:00 -0700
104 players returned to the felt for Day 2 of Event #26, $1,500 Razz, including Day 1 chip leader Barry Greenstein, Shawn Sheikhan, Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner, Dewey Tomko and Cyndy Violette. At the end of the day, only eight remained...

Poker Room Review: 'Old' Seminole Casino – Hollywood, FL

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:02:00 -0700
The tropical décor of the original Seminole casino in Hollywood seems sedate next to the frenzy of the new Seminole Hard Rock across the street. But that's okay. This place provides a nice counterbalance with its extremely flashy...

Jesse Jones Returns as WPA Chief

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:13:00 -0700
In a surprise turn of events, World Poker Association founder Jesse Jones has returned to the head of the WPA following the sudden resignation of current chairperson Wendeen Eolis and eight board directors who were elected...

2008 WSOP Event #22 $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.: Jens Voertmann Best of Show

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:31:00 -0700
16 players out of an original field of 414 returned to the Amazon Ballroom at the Rio for Day 3 of Event #22, $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. at the 2008 World Series of Poker. At the end of three long days of limit mixed games, it was Jens...




Online Casino and Poker
Everything Guys Love
Play Better Golf
|

Labels:

This article will aid you in your quest to become better at online poker.

Please note this blog is meant to provide information on online poker in its legal and non-gambling applications.

A Poker Article to Instantly Improve Your Game

Advanced Texas Hold Em


Here is a more advanced discussion of No-limit Hold'em. This was found on pokertips.org, and offers some great insight into playing better poker.

Advanced No-Limit Hold'em
According to famous poker player and author Doyle Brunson, no-limit hold'em is the Cadillac of all poker games. The skill involved with no-limit games is tremendous, even seasoned professionals admit that they still have a lot to learn at no-limit hold'em. However, don't let this scare you; no-limit hold'em is, in my opinion, the most fun of all poker games as well. It can also be profitable, sometimes even for beginners.

After playing no-limit extensively, I've noticed that the keys to winning no-limit are one's knowledge of the game and his ability to adapt to his opponents' knowledge. You must know what your skills are at no-limit; what stages of the game you have mastered. Once you realize how good you are at no-limit, you must then apply this to how others at your table play no-limit badly.

For the sake of simplicity, I am going to divide the skills of no-limit into several stages. After mastering each of these stages, one can expect his or her profit potential at no-limit hold'em to increase.

Pot odds
You must understand what odds you are getting if you call a bet with a draw. Since you can decide the size of the bet (it's not fixed), you should know if you are getting or giving good odds to someone.

For example, calling an unraised pot preflop with 5 5 is good odds. If you hit a set, you can expect to make a lot of money (people will not expect it, so they will call with top pair). However, let's say you have a flush draw after the turn. The pot is $10 and someone bets $20 all-in, you are getting horrible odds. You have roughly a 1 in 5 shot of hitting on the river, and you would be betting $20 to win $50.

As basic as this may be, many no-limit players have not even mastered this stage! So, if you are still insecure about pot odds, don't worry. Many others are too, and often they don't even realize it.

Knowing the differences between Limit and No-Limit
Check-raising for value is far less valuable when playing a no-limit game than a limit one because you may be giving your opponent's a deadly free card. In limit poker, if you have the second-best hand, you will lose a little bit. In no-limit, you could lose your entire stack.

Aggression
Betting is generally preferable to calling in a no-limit game. When you bet, you can win if you have the better hand or if your opponent folds. If you call, you can only win if you have your opponent beaten. If you bet, you determine the bet size. You determine the pot odds. If you call, you are accepting someone else's odds.

If you bet, you force people to pay off when you have a good hand. If you are a caller, you have to hope someone else will willingly pay you off. The importance of aggression is why tight-passive players can win a lot more at limit than no-limit.

Quick Adjustment
Different types of games require different amounts of aggression. Shorter games require one to be looser and more aggressive. However, if your up against many loose opponents, you must tighten up and wait until you have a strong hand. Generally, the opposite of what the game is does well. If the game is very loose, tighten up. If the game is very tight, take advantage and steal pots.
You also must adjust to your opponent's quality. If you are up against weak players, simply giving them bad pot odds and taking money from them bit by bit works well. If you are against better players, you must set some traps.

Reading skills
Getting an idea of your opponent's cards is very important. This takes time and experience. However, a way to improve your reading skills is what I call the 'three question technique.' Always ask yourself these three questions when someone makes or calls a bet:

� What does my opponent have?
� What does my opponent think I have?
� What does my opponent think I think he has?

Psychology and Traps
Once you hold the whopper and your opponent also has a good hand, what's the best way to double through him? Learning to get out of and set traps is very difficult and only experience will help in this department.

Fundamentally, game psychology and traps are used to manipulate the three questions mentioned earlier. For example, if you overbet the pot with a flush draw and then check when you hold the flush, either your opponent will fall for the trap, thinking you had top pair, or he will recognize the trap and check-fold to you on river. This slowplay is used to manipulate the variable: what does he think I have?

Generally, this sort of game psychology is only used on good players (players that have mastered the first four steps). Against weaker players, you should just build a good hand and extract money out of them bit by bit. Weaker players just play their hand; they don't think about what you have.

Source: http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/advanced-nl.php

Latest Poker News:

Visit the Texas Holdem Poker Strategy Section

GET BONUS NOW | READ REVIEW

MORE INFO ! | ORDER | FREE COPIES!

2008 WSOP: Event #27, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em: Bernard Lee Tops Day 1 Pack

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:01:00 -0700
Event #27 drew a capacity crowd of 2,706 players, including returning champ, Phil Hellmuth Jr. won this event last year -- giving him a record 11 WSOP bracelets and a nice payday in the amount of $637,254. The top 270 players...


Everything Music
Mens Workouts
|

Labels: