Strategize and Learn How to Adapt to the Different Poker Games

In these hard times, you need to learn how to adapt and formulate strategies in order to recoup some of your losses.  The same can be true in your poker game.  Nowadays, you no longer need to depend on what you know and what works for you, but you have to really get in there and learn more strategies.

Since there is a big difference, too, when you play online poker from live poker, it will do you very well to learn strategies from both.  This way, you get to make the right decisions when you play, be it online or live.

Understand the Flops

While it will do your online poker game good if you habitually build big pots when you play against multiple players, this is actually a big mistake if you play in live poker.  By this strategy, you allow yourself to miss the flop and open the game for other players to hit.  What you should do then in live poker is to increase your raise, especially if you have a good hand, and increase your calls if you have a tentative hand.  [Read][more][...]

The final stage of any Holdem Tournament

Almost without exception the final stage of a Holdem tournament comes down to two players with a ton of chips playing Heads Up.  This is far different than at the beginning of the tournament when each player had the starting stake.  Heads up is different in play and starting hand value.  Players try to take away the power of the other player's hand by betting aggressively.  The starting hands are not even noted in poker books in many hands, as they are so low in quality.  The play at times seems to be a card version of the game of chicken and who is the best bluffer.

If a player gets a quality stating hand, they can only hope that their opponent has one too, only of lower value.  At this stage of the game, the players are ready to end it as quickly as is possible.  A lowly pair may generate a rather large bet after the flop and the other player never knows for sure whether the better is bluffing or they have a hand.  To make it worse, give the caller a small pair that is just a bit higher than the better.  This is the way the final part of tournaments usually goes. [Read][more][...]

Connectors Suited or Otherwise

Talk about a starting hand that has believers and non-believers.  Watch any tournament and you will soon see who is willing to play this hand and who folds it immediately.  The point is this: some very good players are willing to play this hand all the time out of the gate.  Others would never do it at any time.  Being of the playing school, these are the reasons for it not being that bad of a starting hand.

It can be discarded after the flop if it is totally missed and it can be a great trapping hand if the flop falls friendly toward the two cards.  An opponent with a big pair will think they have a lock on the hand.  Slow play a set or two pair and this hand can score big time.  A straight or a flush is even better although not as well hidden.  Some very big name players play this hand all the time from the start.  Farha and Negreanu do it all the time in tournaments and cash games.

Big pairs and Ace King get beat all the time in poker games.  As often as not it is a small set or two pairs that cuts the head off.  The very best players use this starting hand a great deal early in tournaments when the anties are small and less painful when lost.  [Read][more][...]

Calling Stations and Automatic Raisers

When you are in a poker game online or in a live poker room, you will run in to these two types of players.  The Calling Station is a player who has to see every winning hand that he plays against.  This player is just not able to fold any hand although he knows he can only beat a bluff or a very poor hand.  The automatic raiser is the player who just likes to raise no matter what cards he or she is holding.  This type of a player is great to have in the game, as they will constantly make the pots bigger with their raises.

A good player can use both of these players to advantage, and let them help you get more for a good hand.  Just remember, they may really have a hand from time to time.  But let them do their thing when you have a good hand.  Slow play or bet heavy and let them call or raise as they please.  This kind of player, with this serious defect in their game, can be of terrific financial help to a good player. [Read][more][...]

Small Pairs Win Too

Many poker tournament winners got there playing small pairs and betting then right.  Pairs of threes, fives and sixes are seen winning many pots in TV tournaments.  Early in the tournament when the blinds are small, this type hand can win some big pots.  This can happen when the flop is set and the pair turns into three of a kind.  This hand if that happens can set up an expensive pot for a big pair or two pair.  If the player holding the small pair slow plays the hand hoping the opponents make a big pair or two pair and he catches the third card for the set this sets the trap.  This can make a lot of money early in the tournament and allow the player to be more aggressive due to the larger chip stack

Negreanu and Hansen play these kinds of hands all the time.   If you see them playing a hand like this, watch how they manage their bets.  This can be a lesson in real time on how to bet the hand for maximum profit.

If the flop does not help the player, they should bail out if the betting gets too stiff. [Read][more][...]

Better Players can be Bluffed

The one rule of poker that new players have a difficult time learning is that it is not a sin to lay down the winning hand after the river card is dealt.  Players who never do this are not yet as good a player as they can be or should be. Good players can be bluffed out of pots and made to lay down a winning hand.  In fact sometimes it is easier to bluff a very good player than it is to bluff the table calling station that never folds a hand.  Good players will replay the betting in their mind and come to a conclusion of whether they think they have the winning hand or not.  If the bluff was carried out right, the good player may well fold a hand that would win.

No less a player than Daniel Negreanu has stated this fact.  His idea is do not do it too often, but never become a calling station all the time.  If this becomes a tendency it will make it harder to book winning sessions.  Players that compute pot odds all the time are given a slight edge in this situation as the odds enter into their calculations about the hand they hold. [Read][more][...]

Ace Queen Holdem Mystery

Ace Queen is a mystery starting hand for some players and a starting hand that other player seem to love.  When this author plays this hand the flop seems to come with a king in it and miss both of these cards.  Other players seem to make it work.  The question is why and or how come.  There is no logical reason for this disparity of results that seems to prevail when different players play this hand. Doyle Brunson said this was not one of his favorite starting hands.   Other players on TV like this hand.  They have had very good luck with it in live play or online play.   If you watch enough TV tournaments, you will see players draw to this hand all the time, with some missing it and some making it.  Doyle seems to have had my luck with this starting hand, or he would not nave stated that this hand was not a favorite of his.

From a math standpoint it is a good starting hand, however Ace-King, Kings or Aces is far better. This hand is one of those that a player grits their teeth and plays hoping the Flop will be generous.  Truthfully I would rather draw to a pair of tens than this hand.  However I have seen other players catch both an Ace and a Queen on the flop. [Read][more][...]

Stay Focused on Poker when Online

When a player is online at a casino that offers both poker and other casino games, the temptation is to try a few slot spins or some Baccarat.  This is okay if the player really only risks a very small percentage of his stake.  The problem is these games can be very easy to lose sight of playing poker and actually can hook some players.  You read about poker pros that win easily at poker and then lose large amounts on table games or sports.  This is the problem with the other forms of gambling on the net.  The player has no edge at all like they do in poker and it catches up quickly when the losing streak sets in.  Do not bet on games with serious money where you have no edge.  This should be all good poker players' commitment to keeping their poker stake together.

A decent poker stake will keep the player in the game and they can weather the bad beats and the run of crappy cards and poor flops.  This is true because a solid poker player should be able to wait until the hands turn around and give them a chance at some larger pots.  If the stake has been decimated by table games, this could endanger the poker playing also. [Read][more][...]

The Danger of Ace King

Players that know Holdem well are on intimate terms with the math of Holdem and the starting hand rating list.   Ace King is high on the list just after the pair of rockets, also known as aces and the lovely pair of Kings.  The problem with Ace King is it is just a good drawing hand that gets over bet way to often in Holdem games.  On TV you see a lowly pair of fours beat Ace King for all the money a non-paired player has bet.  The hand is a good drawing hand, but that is all it is, just a good drawing hand.   Way to many players over bet this hand before the flop.  Watch a cash game or a tournament at any level, this scenario will be played out over and over with the Ace King winning some times, but losing a lot of the times.

This makes these two cards very dangerous to the stack of player holding them.   They look so good before the flop, but after the fop they can be just a drawing hand.   The Ace Queen can be even worse, but that is another drawing hand story.  This starting hand can easily lose any pot or hand.  [Read][more][...]

The Other Omaha

The other Omaha is the one with only one winner per pot in most hands.  Omaha HiLo seems to be the most popular of the two poker games, but Omaha is the game that is featured in the WSOP each year.  Omaha is a high hand only game with nine cards per hand including the five-card flop.  The game is played just like Omaha HiLo only there is no low hand winner.  You must use two cards from the four that are dealt to each player and three from the flop.  Good starting hands are high pairs or suited connectors.  Many pots are still won in this game with more three of a kind, flushes or straights than you see in Holdem.  The extra two cards per hand open up more possibilities.

The lower popularity than the other Omaha is due to there only being one winner so the pots are uniformly smaller.  The game just does not have the gamble in it that you see in Omaha HiLo.  On the other hand new players to the game are still at a disadvantage as experience with the play of the game is important when figuring if your hand is good enough to win.  [Read][more][...]

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