99 Poker Tips

Tip #4 – Simple Steps to Improve Your Poker Game

Ok, its a little bit of a more general post this week. Here are some of the simple steps you can take to improve your poker game.

Everybody loves to play poker. Why not, since it can bring a lot of money and bragging rights when you win your home poker game. Being even a little bit casual and not focused on the game and you will find yourself losing your money. So you need to keep some simple things in your mind while you are risking your hard earned money in this game.

These are more guidelines to follow while you are playing and are some of the more basic tips for those who are just starting to play in tournaments and against their buddies. Some simple steps are listed below.

No need of playing every hand

Beginners always play too many hands and this causes them to lose early. Here’s a couple of pointers. The number of people at your table should dictate how much you play. If there are 9 or 10 people playing, then the most you will want to get involved is about 1 out of every 4 to 5 hands.

Once there is 6 or fewer, you have to change up and start playing more. If you don’t, then people will fold when you bet and take your blinds away from you. When you get down to the point where people are concerned about holding on to win some money, that’s when you start to bluff and take advantage of the other players weakness.

What hands should you fold? At a table with 9 or 10 players, depending on how many people are in or have yet to act, you may want to fold anything worse than a King-9 suited, Queen-jack or a pair of 8′s.

Drinking Deteriorates Thinking

I’m kind of proud of myself for that rhyme. Drinking too much alcohol may be fun and your more unpredictable. But you will predictably lose most of the time. Your judgment goes to crap when your Irish eyes are smiling.

Plus, you negate any advantages that you can take away from others like who is full of BS and who is likely to fold.

Don’t bluff too much

This especially holds true on the internet. People just love to call, even if they only have a small pair. Bluffing is an art which needs to be learned. You should never bluff too much, or otherwise people will be expecting it and will try to use that to take you out of the game.

Also, you have to know who your bluffing against. Is it the person who hangs on to their chips and won’t commit? Then that person is very easy to bluff against to win. Did that person just raise you? Time to pack your bags or fold your hand.

Never be in a hand because you are already in it

I know your the big blind and it’s tempting to play that 6-2 off suit. But if someone raises you, don’t call. Best case scenario is that you fold after the flop and feel stupid. The worse case scenario is that you actually make something on your hand, then promptly lose your money to a better hand.

This also includes calling all the time to try to make your straight or flush. It seems like if your one card away from the flush after the flop, you should have a 1 in 2 chance of making the flush. You don’t, its more around the lines of 1 in 4 because of the cards in your hand and on the board.

Don’t check to see what your cards are until it is your turn to bet

This is a great tool to use, it prevents people from picking up tells about your hand. People will see what you do when you fold and what you will do when you have a great hand. Don’t give them more information than you need to.

Never play with money that you can’t afford to lose

This is the most important of all. Winning in poker is far from guaranteed. You should always play within your limits so that you can take care of your business.

Tip #3 – Spot and Exploit the Weaknesses in your Opponent’s Poker Game

No matter which game you are playing, being a master of your own skills is not the only thing that is going to make you win. To over power your opponent is necessary to know about him strengths and weaknesses. Of these two, knowing the weaknesses is more important.

If you are on a table with 5 players, having an idea of their game plans and the loopholes in it can give you a wonderful opportunity to actually exploit their weakness to your advantage. Every player on the table is human and every person has a unique style.

These styles can be put into categories according to the basic nature of game play.

Different types of poker players

Tight Poker Players

A player may be called ‘tight’, if he makes his bets very restrictively. He may think too much before making a bet can even if he makes one, he will not make it big.

In case you are playing against a tight player, you will face problem in knowing what they up to. They don’t make their moves easily. So, it becomes very difficult to make out their hands. The best solution is to try to steal their blinds. Make your efforts to steals from the blind and from the dealer and the player sitting on the dealer’s immediate left.

Most times, you will find that these players will only play hands like QJ, K10 or A8 or better.

Loose Poker Players

A player, on the other hand can be ‘loose’ if he makes his bets very freely. Such player will not think too much making his bets and raising them. Loose players are a double edge sword. You want to play them because you will win the most money off of these people. You just have to have your wits about you when they are actually are holding onto cards.

If you’re playing against a loose player, he will play his cards freely. In such a situation, you have to take your time and wait for the right card to be played by him. Once you get the correct opportunity, you should strike. The best thing about the loose players is that they want to increase the size of the pot and this can be very beneficial if you looking to get the big win.

Aggressive Poker Players

A player may be called ‘Aggressive’ if he looks to bet on cards which may not even be worth of betting on. His motive is try to get the other players into making bets and making haste. He knows well that ‘haste makes waste’ and is trying to make the other players make the ‘waste’.

You have to play carefully with the aggressive players as they can drive you in the wrong direction. You can think that you can beat this aggressive play, but these players will often lure others into a trap.

A favorite move I often see is that the aggressive player will show when he has beaten you with a bluff. This will make the player who folded more suspicious and thus the aggressive player will more easily get a call out of them. Usually, the next time you play the aggressive player, he’s waiting to set a trap or get you to call each time.

Passive Poker Players

A passive player on the other hand is the one who sits back and watches the game. He will just look what’s happening and will not make any striking decisions He will just flow with the game and not try to turn the table in into a battleground like the aggressive player.

You have to take the benefit of the passive players as they just go with flow of the table and thus their moves are easier to guess. They are relatively easy to play against. Bet on the flop to get them to fold. If they didn’t fold and just call, they have one of a couple of things: top pair, second pair with a high kicker, two over-cards or a draw of some kind.

Passive players do not raise often, so fold when they do.

Timing is everything

Now, what you have got to do is to recognize every player, as the right type and make your strategy according to your observation. Players of each type have their own weaknesses and knowing them will enable you to exploit them.

Also, the timing of your exploitation has to be right. Usually, the longer you wait in the game, the bigger the pot gets. The right time is when you make the most things. If you make your moves too early, you might end up winning a ‘mini-pot’ and if you are too late, you may end up losing the game.

Here’s a great example that I will sometime use. Late in your home tournament, there are still several players left (between 4 and 6). If you have stayed silent for several hands, you can wait until your at or close to the button and put a moderate raise up to try to steal the blinds.

However, don’t wait too long until you are short stacked. If you do that, you have already gone to the phase where you will inevitable be all-in if someone calls.

In any of the above cases, the right thing to do is to have patience and to keep trying to recognize the playing styles of the players. If you get their weaknesses right, you will be able to exploit them to your advantage.

Tip #2 – Strategy to Maximize the Chance of Winning

You should start every poker game that you are in with a strategy.

Do you want to play conservatively at first or do you want to bet a lot and try to build an early lead?

When you are considering these possibilities, take notice at what your opponents are doing.

I’ll give you an example. If you are playing online poker site at a sit & go tournament with 1 table and nine players, try to notice the following within the first 10 hands played:

1. Has every hand been contested? If people are willing to play often at first, especially multiple people per hand, they are likely to be trying to catch something. Either bet big to scare them away or stay out of those hands. Even if you do hit your hand, there’s a good chance that you’ll be exiting if that hand is beat.
2. Have others place early large bets without good reason? One of two things, someone is trying to steal the blinds or someone is trying to get another person to think that they are stealing the blinds and calls. Either way, avoid these hands at first because the blinds are low and don’t hurt your chip stack. That is unless you have a powerful starting hand, where the obvious move is to put that person all in.
3. Has the action been folded around to the blinds multiple times? This is a good sign that most people are playing tight and can be pushed out easily
4. Is there anyone who has made a smooth call after a large raise pre-flop? This generally means that person is not all the way into the hand or else they would have re-raised. In cases of smaller raises pre-flop, a smooth call is saying the person is trying to catch their hand on the flop.
5. Has there been more than one all-in before the blinds have gone up once? This reeks of inexperienced and impatient poker players. Avoid them at all cost unless you have a good hand to bust them with.

Playing this card game is not easy. In addition to the deep knowledge all the rules of the game a well-planned move is also required to win. It is basically a mind game where you have to put your best foot forward.

Starting Hands

There are some key points to keep in mind while playing Texas Holdem. You have to know about the different types of hands you can get and how to deal with them. Here are some of the descriptions of the various hands.

The game begins with each player having two cards to deal. There are 169 possible starting hands out of which some of them have been discussed below.

Strong Starting Hands:

These are hands that you always want to raise pre-flop: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, Any AK, AQ or AJ Suited

Here are starting hands that you have to be wary of your starting position (early position) before you make any raises: A10, KQ, KJ, QJ, 10′s, 9′s, 8′s, 7′s

Moderate Starting Hands:

These are hands that you would call the big blind with the intent of trying to hit the flop: K10, K9, K8, Q10, Q9, J10, J9, Suited connectors (example 9 10 of spades), pairs lower than 7′s

I would consider all other hands to be too weak to play with out already being in on the blinds.

Staying for the flop is a good option but you have to be cautious for the turn card. There should be some thinking before any act. Try to judge what the other players might do next. Is there a better chance of flush or straight for them? Is there an ace card in the flop which might ruin your high pair?

The game is all based on assumptions. People may play fair or may bluff their bet. You have your hand and the table. Keep your mind open and notice keenly the moves of all the players in the table. You will surely learn when to raise or bluff a be to get a hand on the pot. This article surely gives you a hint of ideas to play in the game.

(Sticky Post – This site will start offering a new poker tip about once a week. Today, I thought I would start the list with what I have deemed to be the most important poker tip)

Tip #1 – Always play within your bankroll – Bankroll Management – Build your bankroll

If you play sit and go poker tournaments, your bankroll should have 30 buy-ins.

If you play cash tables, you should have at least 200 big blinds.

Managing your bankroll is the biggest difference between being a winning player or going bust.

Poker is a very volatile game. Even the best players go on huge downswings. I have never went on more then a 30 buy in bender, and I have played in over 5,000 sit and gos. But I have had 28 buy in downswings, and if I wasn’t managing my money I would not have gotten to this point without busting.

I put $150 into a poker room and played $5 sit and go tournaments. 30 buyins * $5 tournaments = $150 starting bankroll.

I would play $5 tournaments until my bankroll reached $330, where I would switch to $11 tournaments. $330 = 30 buyins * $11 tournaments.

At $480 I could play $16 tournaments.
at $750 I could play in $25 tournaments.
etc.

Part of managing your money is to NOT take shots. Taking a shot means to play in a tournament outside of your bankroll. The guy with a $300 bankroll playing in $100 tournaments will go broke. It is only a matter of time. Do not take shots if you are looking to play your best poker.

I found working my way up in levels with my winnings was very gratifying. By having an adequate bankroll, it also very rarely felt much like gambling. If you go down 30 buyins at a particular level, I suggest playing a new game or going back down a level. That game isn’t for you.

When you move into any phase of a poker game, it is essential to make the right choice for your starting hands. There are roughly 3 phases of a poker game, the start of the game, the middle and the finish.

When the game starts, clever way to approach is to play tight. When you play tight, you keep you decisions to your self and let the others make the moves. This way, you wait to get an idea of your odds.

By the middle of the game, you mostly get in a position where you hands are stronger than what they were at the start. And at the finish, you should look to use your hand to get yourself in a position to grab the pot. It is important to keep this plan in mind to avoid hurrying into decisions.

But remember that you have to make yourself stronger as the game progresses and so, even if you play a loose pre-flop, you get yourself together and continue to keep it tight after that. Don’t be too loose for the emotion of it, be loose because you are cunning and have a plan.

In case you look around on the table and see that the blinds are low, you can plan on making the flop. But beware, that there are other players too who probably have stronger hands and may just take your stake away.

If you don’t choose the right moment to make your moves, you may end up loosing your chips to others. But that is about the hurrying part, which I don’t prefer. The intelligent way to do it is to play tight and wait. Let the other players draw their swords and fall. You don’t have to do that, you have to keep you eyes on the pot. But if you just want to go at it, do it only if you have a very strong like 2 aces or 2 Ks or something of the like.

When you are in the middle of the game, you have seen the game progressing and have fair idea of what’s happening around you. Others players might be trying to make poker faces, most of them doing it wrong. What you have to do is to choose your starting hands for this phase of the games according to size of your chip stack.

If you have only a large chip stack, you can play much more aggressively and not worry about losing your chips as much. If you are short stacked, you have to wait until you get the right hand to make your move. Your aggression and passiveness at this stage of the game mostly depends on the cash you got and so make the appropriate decision only after counting it.

Finally, if you reach the finishing part of the game, it means that you have waited and by now have better hands and a better idea of other’s positions. But now, the waiting part is done; you should try to steal blinds and look to get the cash in. You will notice that even the other players will start to play loose.

Don’t be surprised because even they have read articles like these and they know that this is the right thing to do. Your job is to maximize your share of the loot. The players who are low on the chips will push all in but stay away from such ‘all-in’ type players. Just play according to the strength of your hand the size of stack. Luck will do the rest.

Poker is a renowned game all around the world. The game is played by most of the people. There are different games of poker available all around. But all these games are not same throughout. The rules for the game never change only the form of the game play changes. There are various rules associated with the poker which are to be understood. The success behind the game lies in the regular practice. The game is somehow complicated but regular play can also make masters of it.

There are some rules of the poker which should be fulfilled. The deck is counted with 2. Ace is of the highest priority. The total of five cards is useful, to make a winning hand.

The most powerful hand always wins the game. The bet should be placed by visualizing the strength of the hand. As the game of cards have certain rules associated with it, be it the game of 3 cards, the cards are provided with the sequence. There is an order associated with the game of poker. The list of the sequence is as follows: -
These sequences are very helpful in increasing the winning rate.

Royal flush: This hand is most difficult to be seen. The topmost priority is given to the Royal flush.

Straight flush: The second most strong is the straight flush which.

Four of a Kind: When the value of the four cards is same.

Full House: this also is a winning streak in which three cards are of same numeral and rest two of the same numeral.

Flush: When the all five cards are of the same order then it is flush.

Straight: When the five cards are numerically same. The condition is regarded not regarded to be good for winning.

Three of a same Kind: this includes 3 cards of the same numerical value.

Two pair: The bet should not be placed on this sequence

One simple way of winning remains to play against your weaker opponents. For online poker games available on various sites like poker stars or bodog, top poker players always wish to play among the best and thus play mostly on the top sites like poker stars. Such sites are therefore sites where more money is on stake among the top poker players for whom winning are everything and they seem to be the masters of the game. Playing among these players is obviously a good experience but in order to win you need to push such masters down, which is not easy as it seems. Such site like poker stars catches more attention due to the huge money on stake.

However in order to win one must avoid such site offering online poker and must go for some other sites which also offer online poker but opponents on such sites are those who are in your range. Bodog is one such site offering poker game which can be played among various opponents but here probability of winning always succeeds the probability of winning among the best players. Here more instance of winning are observed as players of same class are competing against each other and game is never seen one sided. However money won with bodog is less compared to other big sites but such site offers you decent competition with a hope for winning.

Bodog can however be not considered as a second tier site as it always attracts new players and players who are not the masters of the game or may be those players who have found interest in the game recently or those players who are playing just for the sake of fun. Online poker has began a new trend with lot of sites offering poker online with best features and a feel that you are playing live on table competing with opponents that you might don’t know.