A newbies take on winning poker |
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Posted Mon Jun 27, 2005 5:22 am GMT by dlakey
Just thought I would give one newbies (mine) opinion on what it takes to win at poker. And I would be very interested on other peoples take on my reading.
I have only been playing poker regularly online for only about a month now. So take my opinion for what it is worth.
I believe there are really only a few secrets to playing winning poker. I will start with patients. Wait on the right hands. Don't unnecessarily risk your chips just because you are getting bored, and want to have some action. I have actually caught myself doing this before, just because I was bored.
Another thing I believe is essential to winning poker, is to adjust your playing style and agressiveness to the number of players at the table. While a pair of pocket A's would be something worth going to the river for in heads up play, I would be very careful taking only a pair of A's to the river playing at a table of 10. The chances of an opponent having a hand better than AA is just so much greater when you have 10 opponents, than when you have only 1. How many 2 pair, 3 of a kind, full houses ect do you see when playing with a full table.
I would be interested if anyone knows of any charts listing minimum starting hands for varying number of players I would be very interested.
Thirdly, I try to be very conservative in the amount of bluffing I do. When you bluff very randomly, it allows you to capitalize on your reputation when the time arrives for bluffing.
Well that is the basics of what I have come up with so far, would be interested in opinions
Dan
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Posted Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:47 am GMT by titans4ever
You definitely have hit the major milestone and understand the basics of winning. Now you just need to start practicing the concepts of betting to make it more profitable by how and when to bet. Sqeeking every cent from every hand is what can elevate you from good to great. Start understanding EV, pot odds, implied odds etc. will take you to the next level.
Posted Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:47 pm GMT by Tadzio
It may be because I'm inexperienced, but I actually prefer more players at the table. If I play tight heads-up, the other player can take my blinds all day long and fold whenever I indicate strength. If I never indicate strength, taking on a tight/passive style, then I'm asking to get sucked out by a crappy hand.
If I play tight in a game with 10 players, I can play tight without losing my blinds as often. I can also predict the sorts of hands I'm going to be facing. Chances are good that if I get a good hand in a full-table, someone else will also get a playable hand. Therefore, I can be agressive pre-flop and force most of the hands out of the pot, however, there will still be 1-3 players with playable hands in the pot.
If I hit top-pair or better on the flop, there's a strong chance I've got the best hand (at the moment) and I can play to force any draws out of the pot. If I get a caller (or, god-forbid, a re-raise), depending on their observable play-style, I can put them on certain hands. If I notice a player that likes to bet draws often, I'll usually call to the turn and if a flush (or straight) still isn't possible, I'll pressure more which at this point will usually put the drawer off the pot. If the drawer sticks around and makes the river, then I make note of his leak and plan to take advantage of it next time. The important thing is not to get angry-- that's worse than being bored.
I usually play at tables with 7-10 players and of the pots I'm involved in, the most common winning hand is top-pair. When I played more passively, I saw flush, straights, sets, and two-pair much more often. Now I almost never see them. This goes to show the power of strong bets.
There are times when a slow-played pocket-pair turns into a set and takes me off guard, or when a laggy larry will suck me out with 52o that he took to the river against all reason. Your exposure to these sorts of situations is limited once you start making people pay to beat your hand.
It seems to me that in heads-up, you have to play a bit looser to protect against blind-stealing, you have to play aggressively to do a little blind-stealing of your own, and you simply cannot put people on certain hands as often. Therefore, the chances of getting sucked-out are much greater. Whether because of my own inexperience or because of the situation of heads-up play online, I cannot read players in a heads-up setting. If I'm in the SB and get As, Ad heads-up, I have the best hand, but if my opponent just calls my pre-flop raise (assuming I'm blind-stealing, perhaps) and the flop comes 3c, 4c, 5h, I start to lose confidence fast. In a full table, I would lose little to no confidence because most of the time my pre-flop raise will have shaken off all the bad hands and the only thing I should realistically be worried about is the flush-draw. That's something I can manage. With heads-up, my opponent could literally have anything, two-pair, straight, a set, a 4-flush, "top" pair, etc.
At a table with a good number of people, on the other hand, I can to a certain extent control what hands I'm playing against, and, most importantly in my opinion, I can figure out other player's play-style without paying. These things are inter-related in that people won't waste money calling you with a weak hand if they can figure out how you play by watching someone else that's calling you.
So, yeah, I prefer the more populated tables, and I fear heads-up.
Posted Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:54 pm GMT by Geno
| Tadzio wrote: | | So, yeah, I prefer the more populated tables, and I fear heads-up. |
Then we have to change this! :D
Consider this:
Q) Why do you raise a hand pre-flop?
A) To force players with shoddy cards out of the hand.
Since that is pretty much the whole purpose of poker, you have to start embracing short-handed action not shy away from it. I know that you are talking in the context of number of players at a table but it is the same principle as playing QQ after a raise with only 2 people calling to see the flop.
What you must learn and not avoid is playing short-handed with an adjusted game. You must relax your starting hand requirements, playing more pots and stealing more blinds when you have position. I think poker really becomes interesting with 4 or less players. If only half the hands you play are 'free', it really makes you learn fast and play well if you can hang in there on a consistent basis.
Remember: if you do not learn, you will always be the guy who makes his way to the last few in a huge tourney but blows the big cash reward with his inexperience. You don't want that now do you? 
Posted Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:02 pm GMT by Loonbat
| Geno wrote: |
Consider this:
Q) Why do you raise a hand pre-flop?
A) To force players with shoddy cards out of the hand.
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Yes and no no no!
Loon's revision:
Q) Why do you raise a hand pre-flop?
A) To make them pay when they call with their lesser cards.
If the point was to force out shoddy cards, AA would raise all-in every time, pre-flop. One of the points is to keep the 5 2o in the BB from outdrawing you ... the main point of the pre-flop raise, IMHO, is to take the pre-flop advantage you have with superior starters and translate this into dollars.
-Loon
Posted Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:47 pm GMT by suitedaces84
| Loonbat wrote: | | Geno wrote: |
Consider this:
Q) Why do you raise a hand pre-flop?
A) To force players with shoddy cards out of the hand.
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Yes and no no no!
Loon's revision:
Q) Why do you raise a hand pre-flop?
A) To make them pay when they call with their lesser cards.
If the point was to force out shoddy cards, AA would raise all-in every time, pre-flop. One of the points is to keep the 5 2o in the BB from outdrawing you ... the main point of the pre-flop raise, IMHO, is to take the pre-flop advantage you have with superior starters and translate this into dollars. |
I agree. Remember why you can win in the long run: your oppoents' mistakes. The majority of these mistakes will come in the form of bad calls. You should appreaciate those calls, not try to prevent them.
Posted Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:03 am GMT by Silhouette
Hold on, hold on..
Are you saying I SHOULDNT play 52o to an all in pre flop raise?
And to think, that could be the key to my problems all this time..
(Kidding..)
Posted Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:24 am GMT by Loonbat
| Silhouette wrote: | Hold on, hold on..
Are you saying I SHOULDNT play 52o to an all in pre flop raise?
And to think, that could be the key to my problems all this time..
(Kidding..) |
Of course you should ... what's your screename on PokerStars?? 
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