This is the second in the Texas Holdem Strategy Series, focusing on no limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament play and associated strategies. In the first installment, we examined a real-world tournament scenario and how to handle a particular class of difficult players – the “maniacs”, aggressive, wild players that are commonly encountered in today’s poker tournament venues.

In this article, we’ll examine the techniques that were used more closely to best these players, along with stitching a Texas Hold’em tournament poker strategy together with some good poker tournament fundamentals.

Let’s begin with some foundational elements of any winning tournament poker strategy – clearly understanding our priorities. In poker tournaments, each player’s primary objectives are:

1. Survival – first and foremost, surviving to play at the final table, and ideally to be the last surviving player (the winner!) is of paramount importance.

2. Building and Protecting that Chip Arsenal – to survive increasingly large blinds and tougher competition at the latter and final tables, a player must build up and sustain a “chip arsenal” – a substantially large stack of chips – early enough in the competition to be capable of surviving and taking various necessary, calculated risks from time to time.

This must be accomplished without risking the entire tournament and building that chip arsenal in the process. Failure to build an early chip lead is a sure ticket to being eroded away once the blinds and antes increase, chewing away at your stack until you’re cornered or dead.

3. Sustained Focus – concentrating on your game plan, attacking when the right cards and situations present themselves and converting those opportunities into “profits”, while avoiding killer momentary lapses of reason (i.e., making occasional mistakes by not paying close enough attention). Focusing like this over an extended period of time is much more difficult than it seems, requiring a constant vigil, self-awareness and self-discipline.

4. Adaptability – as the tournament progresses, it’s critical to recognize when the game dynamics change and quickly adapt to new conditions such as:

• Number of players at the table

• Style of the players

• Size of your chip stack vs. opponents’

• Odds the pot is giving you, especially as blinds and antes increase

• New players arriving that are initially unknown quantities

• New table you’ve been moved to and avoiding mistakes.

Since Texas Holdem tournament events are specifically designed to progressively eliminate players, your foremost objective must be to survive and protect your stack of chips. Taking unnecessary risks is a formula for disaster and an early trip home…someone can always get lucky against you.

Demonstrating the patience to hold back and attack at the most opportune moments, when the odds favor your success, and with a proper battle plan in mind is critical. While others are visiting and socializing, daydreaming, watching the waitresses, and otherwise taking their eyes off the ball, when you’re at a tournament table, it’s time for your focused attention on the game at hand. This kind of extended attention span becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, so rest up before playing in a tournament – do not play when tired if you can avoid it.

I also recommend against alcohol while playing, as it leads to impaired judgment and fatigue.

Here are some basic guidelines to use when playing in poker tournaments or at any table where there are many players that you don’t know well:

1. Prepare and Refine your Battle Plan – when you enter a tournament, you’re going to be fighting a “battle” for survival – against the blinds, the antes, fatigue, as well as against the other players. Would any good military commander go into battle without having first surveyed the battle field, understood the enemy and its tactics, and without having a well-conceived battle plan which takes these facts into account and ensures success? Of course not! If they did, they probably wouldn’t live to tell about it.

You shouldn’t go into a poker tournament without having completed some pre-planning for the battle ahead either. Think about your plan and several things you’ll do in each typical situation ahead of time. Refine this once you’re at the table as your battlefield unfolds before you.

2. Start out slowly. Be patient. Use the early tournament period, while the blinds are still low, to study everyone at your table, identifying the most likely prey, understanding their habits and play styles. Use this time to mentally prepare and refine your “battle plan” for transferring their chips into your stack. It’s best to formulate several strategies during your pre-tournament planning, and then refine each one as you see how the game is actually shaping up, the types of players at your table and how you’ll approach each situation.

3. Set the Stage – play a few “ugly” hands early, limping in occasionally and feeling your way around the table with the other players while the blinds are still low, playing a few hands you wouldn’t normally even consider. This prevents you from starting out with a table image as a solid or tight player; otherwise, you may not get the action you’ll need when you do get those pocket rockets (AA) and great opportunities later.

4. Know Your Own Table Image – Everyone develops a “table image”. Be aware of your own table image, and be careful to mix your game up along the way so that you can’t easily be “typed”. Once others can predict your behavior and your likely reaction to a given situation, they’ll definitely use it against you. For example, if you play mostly premium hands and fold at the first sign of trouble, other players will quickly type you as “weak” and will steal you blind, taking advantage of that knowledge by representing hands they don’t actually have so you’ll fold. If you project that image, know it, so you can trap them with a good hand – make the most of it, since that will definitely destroy your weak table image…

In the first article, I let several aggressive players push me around a little early on, then limped in and dropped out on a few draws, so they all thought I was a tight, weak player and a good target for their aggressive style of play. Letting them push me around some, while not losing much to them, conditioned these aggressive players to push me even harder when they absolutely shouldn’t have – a huge error on their part that I converted into a chip leadership position.

5. Be Careful, Protect Your Stack – You must protect your stack and survive until you get some good hands you can use, so be careful to expend that chip depot deliberately and judiciously – always with purpose. When a player raises you significantly, you must think: 1) how much of my stack can I afford to invest in this one hand, 2) can I win this hand if I play it fully, and 3) what kind of play will yield me the most chips and give me the best overall odds to win against this particular player.

6. Get a Real Hand and Extract Its Value – don’t go up against maniacs and aggressive raisers without a real hand – and definitely, do not challenge them while you’re chasing a draw! Their strength is their bravado and wild, aggressive betting style – it’s also their biggest weakness. When you do get a real hand that you believe is a winner, you must get the most value for it by extracting as many chips as possible from the other players:

• Hit aggressive players head-on, triggering their aggressive response systems, and be willing to stick it out with them, re-raising them all-in if necessary since you know you’re likely in top position, or

• Trap them with a check-raise play. You can often just let aggressive bettors take the initial lead, betting into you and thereby become pot-committed, leading them to putting many or all of their chips at risk. That’s another reason you’d better have a real hand whenever you challenge the aggressive players – they typically just will not fold or back down, and

• Bet enough to extract a significant chip “profit” from the opponents, without forcing them to fold, if you’re sure you have the winning hand.

7. Pay Attention and Focus Outwardly – watch everyone and everything that’s going on at your table. Don’t daydream, and for Pete’s sake – do not focus on your own hand! As a general rule of thumb, spend 3 times as much energy and time trying to determine what other players are holding (especially when you’re not in a hand), gauging their play and betting styles, and refining your battle plan – than you do thinking about your own hands and play. You won’t be playing that many hands if you’re a good poker player, so use this available time wisely.

8. Play the Pot Odds – most people think too much about their own hand and what they might draw next. That’s because calculating and playing the pot odds isn’t yet second nature to them. If that’s you, then you definitely need to get the poker odds ingrained into your subconscious mind, so they’re second nature and you don’t even need to think about them while you’re playing. Find yourself a good Texas Holdem poker odds calculator, practice with it, and you’ll learn the odds of drawing each type of hand and find that you don’t need to think about them.

9. Bluff for the Pot from Good Positions – as the blinds and antes increase, the size of each hand’s pot becomes substantial. Bluffing for these pots from proper positions (e.g., acting late with a big bet, acting first with a semi-bluff hand and bigger bet) is a good way to hold your own while everyone else struggles against the blinds.

10. Play the Player – the key to winning in poker is to get other players to make the wrong play, which you then profit from. To do this, knowing your opponents, understanding what kinds of hands they play, whether they’ll fold when bluffed, and knowing when it’s time to lay down your hand to simply survive and play another is crucial.

The alternative is to do what many players do – just leave most everything to chance and play the game in a random, unpredictable fashion with whatever hands you’re dealt; a.k.a. “gambling”.

They say “those who fail to plan, plan to fail”, and that “hope is not a strategy” – a couple of my favorite sayings that come to mind…have a plan, and execute it.

You must be prepared to mix up your play enough that players aren’t sure what to expect from you. It’s helpful to “shift gears” from one mode of operation to another from time to time. It’s also recommended to play the opposite from everyone at the table; e.g., if most everyone is playing tight overall, then loosen up your play and take advantage of them by overplaying some hands, going on some draws, and a few semi-bluffs. If the table becomes loose, tighten up and attack with a good hand or trap them.

Remember, aggressive players’ egos usually can’t handle being overtly raised or publicly challenged. They expect to be the preeminent raisers and dominate the game, so they’ll often re-raise or go all-in in order to leverage their aggressive position against you. Be ready! You can just about count on it. When they push you at the wrong time, sock it to ‘em! You can use these types of players to build up your chip arsenal and possibly earn yourself a seat at the final table.

There aren’t any absolutes in no-limit Texas Holdem tournament strategy, which is one of the things that make it so entertaining and challenging. These are just a few good tips and techniques that will help you get started and do reasonably well against some good players and some aggressive ones.

Finally, it’s been said “if you can’t spot the sucker at your table, it’s probably you!” I love this saying, because it’s so true. If you do your pre-planning and have confidence in your game plan, along with an ability to observe the opponents and apply the proper techniques against different kinds of players, you’ll go far in Texas Holdem poker tournaments.

So, there’s your first set of Texas Holdem poker tournament strategies. I sure wish someone had condensed things down like this for me when I first started playing. It would’ve saved me years of learning it the hard way. Enjoy.

Good luck!

Rick

By: Rick Braddy

About the Author:

Play With the Legend Himself – Mr. Doyle Brunson at Doyle’s Room and Get $550 Free!

Welcome to the third in my Texas Holdem Strategy Series, focusing on no limit Texas Holdem poker tournament play and associated strategies. In this article, we’ll build upon the poker tournament strategy fundamentals from last time, with some important poker betting strategy basics.

Winning at Texas Holdem poker doesn’t have to be a gamble, since it’s actually a game of skill. Of course, there will always be an element of chance, but there’s a lot more strategy and skill to poker than meets the untrained eye. When you learn to play the odds properly, it can make a huge difference in your winnings.

No limit Texas Holdem is the game of choice these days – and for good reason. The fact that anyone can decide to push a large raise or all of their chips into the pot by going “all-in” at any moment, adds an exciting dimension to the game. Unlike limit Texas Holdem, where each round of betting takes place in prescribed, fixed increments, no limit Texas Holdem is as varied as the players at the table, since everyone chooses their own betting style and approach.

When playing no limit Texas Holdem, you’re faced with some important decisions. Arguably, the most important decision you’ll make is how much to bet in a given set of circumstances; e.g., hand strength, your position at the table, total number of players, their styles, etc. There are many different betting strategies, but one of the first things to learn and pay close attention to are “pot odds” and whether you have a positive “expectation” to win.

You have a positive expectation whenever the odds favor you winning more than you’re wagering at anything greater than 1 to 1 odds. For example, when flipping a coin, there is a 50/50 chance of it coming up either heads or tails. If you flip a coin enough times, both heads and tails will come up an equal number of times.

Casino games, such as craps, blackjack, slot machines, etc. all give the player a “negative” expectation and the casino a positive expectation. If you play these types of “gambling” games long enough, you will ultimately lose, since the game’s odd structure is never in your favor – negative expectation. People who experience “hot streaks” also have losing streaks (they just usually quickly forget about the losing and don’t discuss it). When you’re making a wager, you’d always prefer to have a positive expectation. This is generally true in poker, but not necessarily always in no-limit poker. I’ll explain why.

Pot Odds are the odds the pot is giving you for making a bet. Let’s say there is $50 in the pot and it’ll take $10 more to call – you’re getting 5-to-1 pot odds to call, since if you win you’ll be paid $50 in exchange for risking only $10. For purposes of this decision, any amounts you previously placed into this pot are irrelevant, since they’re already expended and gone (if you fold).

It’s essential to understand pot odds as it relates to your hand odds, as one key factor in making your betting decisions. If the odds of you holding or drawing to the winning hand are better than the odds the pot is giving you, you should call or even sometimes raise; otherwise, you should typically fold (unless you’re going to bluff, a different story).

Continuing this example, let’s say you’re holding a pair of fives, and the board flops 9, K, 2 “rainbow” (no flush draw, different suits). With 9 players at the table, it’s certainly possible and likely that someone else holds a King or a Nine, or both, making your 5′s look pretty flimsy at this point. Your best shot to win is to draw another 5. There are two more 5′s remaining out of the 47 cards that you can’t see (in the deck or in another player’s hand).

So, the odds of pulling that next 5 on the turn or river are: 2 in 47 (2/47 = about 4%) on the Turn, plus another 2 in 46 on the River (an additional 4%), for a total of roughly 8.6%, which equates to a 1-in-11.6 chance of pulling that third 5 to make a set. Since the pot is only giving 5-to-1 odds, it’s generally time to fold. Otherwise, you’d just be “gambling” with a highly negative expectation of losing that additional $10. In no limit Texas Holdem, players will often raise the pot sufficiently to actually lower your pot odds so far that you can’t possibly justify staying in the hand – at least not statistically.

Clearly you can’t sit there in a real poker room with a calculator and run through all of these pot odds calculations while at the table! So, how does one learn poker odds well enough to apply them in real-time? Well, it starts by seeing the poker odds repeatedly, in a context that’s suitable for you to learn and eventually retain them. A poker odds calculator is a piece of add-on software that runs on your PC, monitoring your actual online play. A poker odds calculator computes the prospective hands you and your opponents are capable of drawing at any point in time. It then displays all possible hands you and the opponents could draw, teaching you what the odds of making that kind of hand would be.

This makes it easy to see what’s going on, and since a poker odds calculator displays the poker odds right there in front of you while you play, you’ll begin to learn them, making it semi-automatic, so you don’t even think about poker odds any more – you just know them. So, the first step is learning and internalizing these “hand odds”. Then, you can quickly calculate pot odds anytime you’d like.

Calculating pot odds requires you to pay close attention to the game, a key trait of good poker tournament players. Unlike playing online, where the total size of the pot is easy to determine (the online Texas Holdem poker program typically displays the pot amount right there on the screen for you), when you play in traditional offline poker tournaments, you must keep track of the pot size and chip count yourself, so you can estimate the pot odds and your best betting options.

Pot odds become especially interesting as the blinds and antes increase as the tournament progresses. Let’s say there are 10 players at your table, and the poker tournament structure has you at $25 antes with $200/$400 blinds. That’s a total of $850 that’s sitting thre in each and every pot before anyone even places their first bet! So, before you even look at your hand, you know that the minimum bet is $400, so you’ll need a good hand (with roughly 1 in 2 odds or better) in order to simply break even.

At this point, people will be angling to “steal the blinds” by placing a hefty bet, typically at least two times the big blind, or $800, in order to make the pot odds so unattractive that everyone just folds. Therefore, the first player to act often makes off with the booty, since the pot odds become even less attractive and most everyone hasn’t made a good enough hand to call. Of course, this can definitely backfire…

Let’s say the first player to bet raises to $800 in an attempt to steal the blinds, making the total pot now $1,650. Let’s say that a second player then calls with another $800, boosting this pot to $2,450. To get in on the action, you’d only need to call with $800, which means if you win the hand you’re getting a slightly better than 3 to 1 on your money. If it’s the Flop and you are one card short of making a King-high flush, then your hand odds are roughly 1-in-3. This would be “even money” if you joined in on this basis alone; however, you’re holding a King and there’s a King on the board from the Flop, so you now have a better than 1 in 3 chance of winning – a positive expectation! You place your $800 bet, so now the pot sits at $3,250.

You should generally make this bet, since it will yield a good return and you have the high pair (Kings), plus a flush draw, thereby improving your odds even further. Let’s say there was an Ace also showing, making your Kings second best pair. In this case, it time to fold because you have a less than a 1 in 3 chance of winning this hand, and if you continued throwing money at this pot, you’ll end up “pot-committed” and beaten by a pair of Aces (there’s usually at least one player in 10 hanging in there with an Ace hole card).

So, let’s say the last player to act goes “All-in” – after we’ve put our $800 in this pot. Now what? The first reaction should be – what kind of hand *could* this player actually hold? If the player is a relatively tight or solid player, chances are they’ve made a set or an Ace high flush. It’s always possible they’re bluffing, but very unlikely if they’re a good player, since there are already far too many people in this pot and it’s likely they’d get called with a real hand when bluffing.

So, what’s happened to our pot odds? Let’s say they went all-in with $5,000, pushing this pot up to $8,250. If you called with $5,000, you’re now only getting a 8.25 to 5 return, or roughly 1.65 to 1 – especially unattractive under the circumstances with highly negative expectation and so many players in this hand, further reducing your chances of winning. Therefore, everyone will likely just fold; unless they have a very strong hand plus a great draw (some outs).

There’s clearly a lot more to poker betting strategy, including position and acting first vs. last. Generally speaking, though, if you’re going to take a shot at that pot, and you’re in a position to act first, there’s a good chance everyone else will fold; however, you’d better think carefully about the pot odds the opponents will be getting after your bet is in there.

If your bet modifies the pot size such that it improves their pot odds (by limping in with just a small bet), you’re actually encouraging the opponents to hang in there with you, since they still have a good, positive (and improving) expectation level. If you bet enough, such as two to three times the size of the big blind, you’ll be reducing their pot odds enough to swing into a negative expectation, so they’ll be much more likely to fold. It’s really important to think your bet amounts through and understand the pot odds implications of your betting.

When you make such a play at the pot, it’s ideal to have some kind of hand, along with a good draw. If you find yourself short-stacked, then this may be as good as it gets. Bluffing will be covered more thoroughly in a later article, but at this point it’d be great to have at least a small pair, as well as a good straight or flush draw (since you’ll also have the potential to make a set of trips, too). In this situation, you have so many good “outs” that your small pair begins to look a lot stronger, and your hand odds acceptable enough to go on a “semi-bluff” at this pot.

So, these are the basics of Texas Holdem poker tournament betting strategy that you should know and practice (the other good players do). Knowing your basic hand odds and being capable of quickly calculating pot odds are essential to making intelligent betting decisions under fire in poker tournaments, and regular ring game and limit play for that matter. A good poker odds calculator will help you learn the hand odds, and along with practicing calculating your pot odds, you’ll be making better decisions and getting the best of it the next time you play Texas Holdem poker.

In the next article, we’ll explore a popular Texas Holdem poker tournament format – the Sit & Go poker tournament. Until then, have fun. And as always – good luck!

Rick

By: Rick Braddy

About the Author:

My internet poker playing friend was out of town a few weeks ago, and couldn’t get his regular site to work well, so knowing I had extra cash in my Party Poker account he asked for a hundred bucks to play there during his visit. Sure fine. A few hours later he lets me know he lost 2, $20+2 SNG tourneys in a row, both by bad beats. His intention at that time was to go into a $30+3 to try and make it back. He is a good player so I wasn’t about to lecture him on his bankroll, but herein you will find exactly that.

The skills involved in managing your bankroll effectively are basic math, dedication to learning the game, the humility to drop down a level, and anger management. Seriously.

The above scenario is no doubt very common. In fact, poker sites love reload players like my friend. The players who know they are good, make that, “too good” to play within their own bankroll are the most profitable. Inevitably, not managing your bankroll, no matter how good you are, will result in failure. By the incontestable laws of probabilities and mathematics, this is undeniable. It doesn’t matter if you are playing with a hundred bucks or a million, the result is always the same. It has been widely reported that a certain multiple WPT champion has repeatedly played over his bankroll and blown his WPT winnings. It happens on any level, as the principle is the same.

You will need basic math skills to the tune of knowing what 2, 5, and 10 percent of your bankroll is. No matter what your game you should never be playing with more than 10% of your bankroll. For example, if you deposit 100 dollars into your account, you shouldn’t take more than $10 to any game. This is going to limit you to .50/1.00 limit hold’em, or $5 to $10 SNG’s. You could also play an MTT for that entry, but I don’t recommend that because it would be unlikely for you to place in the money. If you think you can lick this game right off and deposit $1000, then you can bring $100 bucks to any table for play. Still, this is not recommended. If you are learning, you should learn to move up to that level, rather than buy yourself into it. Trust me, you will want to avoid the painful strategy of buying yourself into a higher limit.

Enter humility.

Your humility should allow you to play at a level that forces you to become proficient and earn yourself a bankroll to move up. If that means .25/.50 hold’em, then that is your challenge. If you are going to learn, learn cheap, learn smart, and earn your way up to the next level. You will feel so much more confident when moving up a level in having conquered the level before it. Others will have paid to get in that level, and those opponents will be at your mercy.

On the other hand, once you move up a level and find yourself struggling, you need to go back down a level and refocus your efforts and education. When to do this exactly, is a question of math. If your bankroll has not increased at your new game level and comes perilously close to that 10% guideline, it’s time to back up. Don’t let it get below that level, because once you break the guideline once, it’s much easier the next time, and the next, and the next… This will lead to mismanagement, and reloading. Here is an example: You deposited $100 and started with the 5 buck sit and go circuit and skillfully built your bankroll up to $250, where you correctly decided to move up to the $10 SNG tables. You played 7 tournaments at that level and only placed once with a second place showing. This has dropped your bankroll down to $203. Although another $10 entry is well within 10%, it is more than 5%, and since you haven’t performed well, you should gather your humility and understand that there is more to learn. In this case, I would go back to the 5 buck SNG tables, and work my bankroll up to $300, before attempting your next move up. Once you reach that goal, and have proven yourself a better player, you will also have more bankroll room at the $10 level.

It is an invaluable experience to care for your bankroll in this way. I have done this several times when my bankroll needed it to the point now that when I sit a SNG table, I know that through my dedication of learning the game at each level, I am a favorite to place in that tournament. This may sound of a drastic move, but treating your bankroll with the utmost respect is the key to success.

To play is to dedicate.

It isn’t going to be easy to double your bankroll at this level. Your commitment and dedication to each stage involves learning, patience, and intense observation. and is a supreme test of your core personality. Think this is overboard? I have seen players losing it to the point of me stopping them from punching a wall or tossing a laptop. These are otherwise normal acquaintances.

And then there was anger management.

This is not a funny movie. This is about battling that desire to make up lost ground by moving up a level, not down. This is where you need to know the value of your cards before you shove an all-in play at that maniacal player who has raised you yet again. By the way, at that point, he is usually holding a monster and has trained you like a monkey to step right in. If you are playing within your bankroll, losing your temper is never really an issue, because losing a game or a hand to a bad beat or poor play is not going to cripple your account. Many of your opponents will play their entire bankroll at a table or a tournament and you can take advantage of this, because in that situation, they will NEVER be able to make optimal decisions. You can surely imagine though how they will be tilting the moment they lose a big hand, because that one hand may represent 75% of their whole bankroll. Tilting after you lose a big hand in such a scenario, is pretty much inescapable. Their mindset is already looking forward to another reload, as they mentally prepare themselves to exit the table with nothing. I have seen this literally thousands of times online.

It’s in the math.

When I say maximum 10%, I really try to play with 5% or less. For example, I usually have between $2,000 and $4,000 in my party poker account. When I have more I withdraw down to about $2,500 because I, personally, never want to be below $2,000 as that will restrict some of the tables/events I play at. Let’s say I have $2,500 now and want to play in the Sunday Million which has an entry fee of $215. Therefore, $215 divided into $2,500 = 8.6% which is within the 10% guideline. However, let me tell you why it’s STILL the wrong decision to pay for that tournament. If that is how you are investing your bankroll, you need to realize the likelihood of playing that circuit profitably. In other words, you have basically 10 chances to place that tourney. You may very well be able to do that however, it is not unusual to go through 10, 20 or even 40 tournaments without placing – even for the pros. If multi table tournaments are your game, you should be looking to have a bankroll of about 50 buy-ins. That is how dry tournaments can get. Using the 50 buy-in formula, you should have $10,000+ in your account to pay for the Sunday Million.

Think of it this way. If you are good enough to profit in this tournament, then you should easily be able to win a qualifier to get in it for about 5% to 10% of the entry fee. If you can’t win one of those tourneys, filled with rookies, then you have no justification for paying the big tourney entry fee outright.

Improving your game and learning strategies at each level are clearly imperative skills in managing your bankroll, but one depends on the other, so in essence you need to train yourself in both and reap the rewards as you advance.

By: Marty Smith

About the Author:

There are many advanced poker strategy moves that one can learn to gain an edge in online poker. Among some of the best advanced poker strategy techniques are check-raising, playing position, and trapping your opponent. However, in the online poker world, these strategies are not nearly as effective for two reasons.

Why Advanced Poker Strategy Fails Reason #1

The main reason you might find it difficult to pull off an advanced poker strategy like check raising or trapping, is because of the large amount of inexperienced players online. The fact that you check to induce a bluff or with the intent of raising or trapping usually does not work because many novice layers see your check as a sign of weakness.

When your opponent perceives you as weak, he is likely to call you all the way down to the river and suck-out on you. Additionally, when your portrayal of weakness is against an opponent that believes you are bluffing, he may call you with his draw and give you a bad beat.

Typically, playing weak online gives the impression to novice players that you are trying to bluff or steal or that you truly do not have a good hand.

Why Advanced Poker Strategy Fails Reason #2

Another reason that advanced poker strategy fails online is that the computer generated software behind the poker clients typically is not as true to the statistical odds as it is in live play. The fact is that poker software fails to have the capacity to truly randomize decks and present the cards in the same manner that a live game would.

This is the reason so many flush draws, straight draws, and constant bad beats occur online. The software normally gives a draw-heavy board and puts a lot of superior hands at risk against drawing hands. The fact that you may have the best hand on the flop is largely irrelevant online because of the added computer software that makes draws more often than statistically probable as in live play.

The Solution

Of course, there is a solution to the problem of online poker, and that is to use advanced poker strategy geared for online poker. The check raising, trapping, bluffing, position play, and other methods so effective in live play are largely ineffective in online play. To counter the software anomalies and the novice players, who call down anything, one must understand better how the software works and how to manipulate it to your advantage.

Gaining an understanding of the poker client software and how it works to produce draw heavy boards and constant bad beats, is as simple as learning live advanced poker strategy. If you wish to become a better player online and cash more often, just like in live poker games, you need to study how the online poker game is different and how to adapt your game for it.

By: Paul Westin

About the Author:

Play With the Legend Himself – Mr. Doyle Brunson at Doyle’s Room and Get $550 Free!

Everyone dreams to become rich by playing poker and be like Jaime Gold who won twelve million in the World Series of Poker. Firstly, to become a winning player you need to stop dreaming and start setting short term objectives and goals on how to achieve wins in poker.

Even in a game like Texas Hold’em you need to set goals. You should have determined the one thing you want and how you are going to get it. You must ask yourself that whether you just want to be going after the flushes or do you set an aim to be the holding Aces or the winning hand.

The best way to aim and set goals is by managing your bankroll properly in your pursuit of winning a major tournament. Professionals recommend that you always set a certain amount of your bankroll for a tournament and never risk more than 2%-3% of your entire bankroll on your tournament. It is advised by professionals poker players to make a spreadsheet (easily made through Microsoft excel) with your total money typed on the TOP. It will help you keep track of every penny you spend from your bankroll. Similarly, if your whole bankroll amounts to $2000 then, you should never spend more than $40 in one single cash game. No doubt, poker is a game of risk but spending more than 1%-2% is like giving it all away. The rule applies to all games whether they be multi-table, heads up, sit-n-go tournament or cash games.

Not spending more than 1%-2% of your bankroll is one wise way of strengthening your bankroll. This is not a hard and fast rule as you start winning beginners are advised to start raising their margins and risk more than 1%-2%.

By: Zulfiqar Dodhia

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While playing online poker tournaments you have no doubt taken notice of certain players’ styles of play. These styles could range from loose-passive to tight-aggressive and many variations in between that require a select strategy for counter attack.

You may be familiar with opponent profiles in other ways too. For instance, you can similarly use Phil Hellmuth’s guide that applies creature-like characters to your opponents such as an eagle or an elephant. I have added a profile to this guide as well called the “monkey” – specifically in mind for certain internet players.

The loose-aggressive types of players often come out swinging in the early stages. You can liken these types of players to the type of game many pros like Erik Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey love to play in the early stages. They call it “small ball poker” which basically means playing a lot of small sized pots and forcing opponents nearly every opportunity into making tough decisions. While a professional poker player invariably has an edge in the types of hands using this style of play, there isn’t as much an advantage to using it online, especially in the low buy in levels.

In the low limit tournaments, specifically up to about the $20-$30 range, you are still going to run into a lot of players who simply don’t know when to fold. The number of players that will play top pair, middle pair or call draws all in actually dominate the low level buy-ins. Now granted, they are usually the early departed crowd too, but that doesn’t mean all of them are gone. Some wise up enough after an early, lucky run and do in fact place and make the final table.

The point is small ball poker may be played online but you really have to pick your spots and opponents very, very selectively. Some examples of these opportunities may be against very tight players, near the money, and deep in the money. You can always use your tournament indicator poker calculator profiling grid to find know which players to make a move on. Otherwise, you are best to stick with an mzone strategy playing a tight aggressive game, because in the low limits, chips will eventually fall into your seat by virtue of frequent opponent mistakes.

Hopefully as your skill building in the game improves, you will be able to recognize spots to play without a hand, but rest assured that skill will be most useful in live, higher buy-in tournaments.

By: Marty Smith

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