How To Play The Blinds - SB or BB Strategies

Position is a critical factor in poker and the blinds are considered the worst positions to play from. Clearly here our strategy should be to take any cheap chances that we can and limit any losses.

The ideal situation is that everyone checks and you get to see the flop for free. Whilst this might happen on some no limit tables with very loose players, this is extremely unlikely to happen in reality. Most likely someone will raise and you will be forced with a decision to call/reraise or to fold.

Whatever you do, don’t fall into the beginners trap of possessing mediocre cards and deciding to throw some more chips in just to see the flop. If you keep doing that then you will lose money.
However, if you are up against a lot of players then the possible payout is quite high and it would be worth calling a raise, even with not-so-great cards. On the other hand, if many people have already folded then the future value of the pot will be reduced and you should fold on anything but the nuts!

The best thing to do is to fold on mid-range hands. If you have the nuts then obviously play it out. If you don’t, then so long as players remain in the game, the odds are in your favour. Otherwise, fold in this situation.

Remember, poker is a long term game - you should play when you think your chances are good and not play when you think they are bad. In the long run, this will balance out and you should profit handsomely.

Flopping A Pair

When you flop a pair, there are a variety of tactics to use depending on the strength of your hand.

If you flop top pair with a high kicker, then it is best to raise, especially if playing from late position. If you are playing from early position and are confident then you could even check-raise if you are confident that someone in later position will bet (the earlier round should give a clue).

If you flop top pair with a medium or low kicker then things are much different. Reason being that if anyone else also flopped a pair then there is a high likelihood that they have a better kicker than yours. It is worth staying in the game if you can get a free card but if there is a lot of action before you then forget it. On the other hand, if you are in late position and most people fold then it may be worth pursuing. A good aggressive raise could halt a betting rivalry between you and whoever is left in the game. At least there will be less competition that might beat your hand, remaining in the game.

If you flop low pair then it is probably best to just fold or try to get a free card, regardless of position.

If you had a pocket pair that doesn’t improve, and the other cards are all lower, then this is a strong position. Be aggressive.

Poker Odds - Why Pot And Implied Odds Are Important

Like all card games, poker is a game of probabilities. Put simply, you need to assess each situation for what it is.

If you stand a good chance of winning a lot of money for relatively little investment then go for it.
If you stand a small chance of winning some money for relatively high investment then pass on the opportunity.

It is difficult to compute the odds during a game because you are often limited for time but with experience it will come. You may find it easier to use a poker calculator. These are software programs that sit on top of most poker room software and analyse the probabilities for you as the cards are played.

Poker players use the term pot odds to show the cost of calling to stay in the hand. Let’s say that the pot has $100 in it and you need to play $10 to call and stay in the hand. That is basically a 10 buck investment to potentially win 100 bucks.

If you had 3 hearts and the final card was to be played then you stand a 1 in 4 chance of getting that monster hand. With a 1 in 4 chance it obviously makes sense to pay this $10. You might not get the flush (you probably won’t) but in the long run you will win from these kinds of decisions.

On the other hand, if the pot only contained $15 then risking $10 to win $15 based on a 1 in 4 chance is not worth it at all.

These odds show why it is important to bet aggressively. Not only will this improve your odds of not being beaten by an opponent’s hand but it will also make the pot much more attractive compared to your investment. Do not let other players cheap access to the pot.

Starting Hand Tactics

Knowing what to do before the flop is a commonly thought through practice by poker players. And with good reason too - whatever actions you take here will affect you for the rest of the game.

Remember that unless you are a loose cannon, most of your plays here will be to fold. You must be patient and wait for a decent hand with which to progress. You don’t necessarilly need to wait for pocket pairs but you should have a good hand which is also determined by your position.

When you have a great hand such as a pair of aces or kinds, you should definitely raise. But remember, you should be consistent in the amount that you raise dependent on your position. The strength of your hand should merely dictate whether you raise or whether you fold.

The more players that are in the game, the more often you should pursue “weaker” hands. This is because the price of entry compared to the potential winnings is very small. Therefore, the risk to reward ratio is the same as it would be for a better hand in a game of fewer players. However, if there is a lot of betting from early position and many others fold then not only is there a likelihood that those betting players could have good hands but also the size of the pot will be much reduced. If you hold weak to marginal hands in this case then it is better to fold.

So basically, you should raise or even re-raise on a very good hand such as AA or KK - QQ, JJ and TT following behind. If you’re in middle position then consider also playing medium pairs down to the likes of 77 and good high straight and flush draws. In late position, this can even be extended to the lowest pairs, connected straight flush draws and ace high flush draws.

Anything else - dump it!

Starting Hands - Big Slick And How To Play It

Ace-King used to be the starting cards of folklore. Even today, some people consider it to be a “monster hand”.

Technically, it is the 5th or 9th best starting hand (on or off suit) and Whilst it offers great possibilities, you run the risk of being beaten by someone already with a pair.

The best way to play Big Slick is to get aggressive before the flop. You want to narrow the opposition a little or make them pay to stay in the game. This is because as soon as the flop hits, your position could change drammatically. The worst thing is to let everyone see a free card.

It is even worth re-raising. You want to use A-K as an opportunity to flush the losers out and gauge the people staying in. Your A-K is a kind of insurance that allows you to act dominantly and aggressively. This shows that you are confident in your hand.

Remember that nobody knows that you have an A-K. For all they know, they could fear that you have a pair of Aces. Especially if you raise again at the next betting round, unless someone has the nuts then they will probably fold or check.

Your assessment of your opponent and what kind of hand he has is key to executing a good Big Slick starting hand strategy.

Check-Raise: To Bet Or Not To Bet, That Is The Question

Check-raising in poker is when you check early in a betting round in the hope that someone else will bet. When the play comes back to you, you then raise this bet. If you had betted in the beginning then unless someone else had raised you then there would not have been a chance for the pot to get this big.

Basically, it’s an aggressive move in itself and you do it when you have a good hand - so you are pretty much hiding your hand and then pulling the trigger when the betting comes back round to you. Especially the loose players will take your bait and call to your raise even if they suspect you have at least a moderate hand and the pot will grow nicely.

Check raising is also useful if you have a not especially good hand. By doing this you make the price for staying in the game much higher than it would have been if you had betted instead of checked, and everyone had simply called.

The check-raise is basically an aggressive move designed to lure in the fish. The smarter and tighter poker players will usually fold at this point unless they have a good hand or they think that you are bluffing.

For best results, you should at least have a marginal hand anyway in case your check-raise does not come off as well as you had anticipated. Also, your raise should be at least twice the size of your opponent’s bet.

Some poker pros rarely use the check-raise. They think that it is better to be aggressive and just bet anyway. By check-raising you may be giving an obvious sign that you have a great hand and giving a cue for everyone to fold. Or if no one else bets then you are effectively giving your opponents free cards.

Moving From Free Money To Real Money

As any poker player will tell you, the game changes when you start playing for real money. In fact, many people would argue that playing poker for free money is not really poker at all.

Oh, and let’s remind ourselves - the whole point and thrill of poker is to win money, not just have fun!

Only when real money is played for do you see the true behaviour of poker players. Bluffing suddenly means something and players are generally more “tight”.

But how do you start playing for real money without risking the house?

The easiest way is to play the low limit tables. Many poker rooms offer limit Holdem games where the bets can be as little as just a few cents. Even though you won’t break the bank on a few cents, it is sufficiently a difference from playing for free that you will be able to observe how your opponents play differently and how your reactions in the game also change.

There are also some very cheap tournaments that you can play for next to nothing, a measly sum of a couple of bucks or so where you can take home a large amount of the pot.

Enrol with some of the poker rooms listed on the right and you will see that most of them have some low or micro limit games that are perfect for graduating to the paid game. Most of them also have some good freerolls too.

Slow Playing - Sandbagging Galore Your Way To Winning

Slow playing is when you have a great hand, possibly the nuts, and you don’t want to give it away so you don’t play aggressively. You’re hiding the fact that you have a great hand.

It’s the opposite of bluffing where you don’t have a great hand but pretend that you do.

Slow playing can backfire if other people are doing it as well and you believe that they don’t have a good hand when in fact they do. So you should only use it when you are pretty sure that the body language and behaviour of your opponents is telling you that they don’t have any good hands and definitely not a hand that can beat yours. For instance, a flush on the flop is a great hand to slow play.

The idea is that the pot will build and most players will conribute into seeing the river at which point you will happily take the entire pot.

The beauty of slow playing is that it works well against good players who tend to be aggressive. This can only help but build up the pot value.

The best way to slow play is to make a small bet - this will make your opponents think you are bluffing. Too high and they really will think that you have a good hand and are playing super aggressive. You can check but this will only give your opponents a free card. Why give cards away for free when you are going to win?

Stealing The Blinds - Effective Blind Stealing In Texas Holdem

Stealing the blinds is when you sense weakness in your opponents who are only calling the big blind. You then raise a suitable amount in the hope that everyone else folds.

Although you are risking a large amount to win a small amount, these small amounts add up to quite a lot by the end of a night. If you need an analogy, it’s a bit like always betting on the favourite horse, except there is no bookie’s edge here.

Position is very important here and being on the button is ideal because you are the last to act if everyone else calls the big blind.

This works well in limit poker and with tight playing players as opposed to loose players and on no limit tables where the showdown is more likely to be seen.

If you are going to raise then my recommendation is to raise 3 times the big blind. This should be enough to flush the other players out. Actually, let me rephrase that, raise somewhere near to 3 times the amount. If you don’t use the slider and instead enter an amount like 2.9, it will look to the players like you have thought about it and are confident.

Remember to mix it up and don’t steal the blinds successively for a long time. You want it to look like you are serious and thoughtful about your blind stealing and probably not worth calling.

Taking The Free Card - How To Do It Right

Setting up to take a free card is when you raise from late position on the flop. By doing this, you are hoping that on the turn that your opponents will not want to raise again since they were not aggressive in the first place and have already spent chips on meeting your earlier raise.

So because they simply check then you too can also check and get to see the river thereafter.

Although you “pay” a small raise, this buys you the turn card and gets you to the river as well, hence why it is called “taking the free card”.

This works best when you play from late position and in no limit games. In limit games, people are more likely to want to see the showdown and will pay the limit to do so.

Taking the free card works well because at the river you can then raise if you think you are on to a winner or otherwise check-fold.

If you are re-raised at the flop then this gives a good indication of the type of player and hand that you are up against so at least you remain educated.

On the other hand, don’t give away the free card cheaply either. You could be giving someone with a poor hand a chance to turn it into a winning hand. If you yourself have a great hand then it is fine to give it away. Or if you think that you are up against a bunch of loose playing fish then it can also be a good idea to allow the free card to be taken as it will cost you relatively little to see such players at the showdown when they will also be less likely to hold good cards anyway.

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