Sunday, October 31, 2010
Beginners Bluff
I know you saw Tom Dwan bluff with 2,4 suited so you can too, right? Wrong! When watching professional poker players realize that they are professionals. When Tom Dwan or any other highly aggressive professional poker player bluffs with nothing it is because they are representing a hand. They know what range of hands their opponent is on and they also know what they are most likely putting them on. They then do about a million calculations in their head just to decide whether or not it is profitable to bluff at the chips in the pot. If you are a beginner you cannot possibly know all the information that you need to make a profitable decision. Instead check or fold the hands that you did not hit. Continue to play tight (very little hands and premium starting hands) while starting out. Otherwise good players will pick up on your bluffs and you'll end up being a losing player. I cannot tell you how many times I have been able to call down a player with bottom pair, only because it was an obvious bluff. Remember just because you saw it on TV, does not mean you are ready to bluff.
Prom Queen vs. The Nerd
In high school I was a nerd. You know pocket protecter, suspenders and you better believe I didn't go anywhere without my calculator. I knew all the cool calculator tricks and made sure everyone else knew that I was the connoisseur of calculator humor. You better believe I was pretty unpopular, but that didn't mean I didn't know how to put the moves on the ladies.
You see my next door neighbor, she was the prom queen. Occasionally I would go over and socialize with her, show her some of my calculator tricks and can you believe she loved them! After a while we grew close to each other, so close that we actually kissed once. That was a big mistake.
For all of you who have ever been to high school you know that the nerd never gets the prom queen....even if she likes you. You see in high school there is a certain image that one must maintain. And if she was ever caught socializing with me at school, well she would be finished. She would lose all her friends not to mention her shot at winning prom queen. Her image was important to her; her image was her and she could not escape it. Well her friends found out about the kiss and she did lose everything. This was an early lesson on the importance of image and how it translates to the poker table.
You see at the poker table you to have an image. Every time you sit down you might be the prom queen or you could be the nerd. There are two basic images that one portrays whenever they sit down at the poker table. They are either a tight player (plays very little pots and premium hands) or they are a loose aggressive player (plays almost every pot regardless of their hand). We will refer to the tight player as the nerd, after all they are patient, wait for good cards and are calculated when they have them. We will call the loose player the prom queen.
When you sit down you need to decide whether you're going to be the prom queen or the nerd at this table. Usually this will depend on the other players at the table. If you notice everyone is calling raises and playing any two card (prom queens) then you better play the nerd. Trap the prom queens and let them bet into you. After all you are playing premium hands, so be patient and wait until you can stack them. Now if you are playing with a bunch of nerds you can open your game up and be a little more aggressive. When your in this game you can usually take down the pots with a good continuation bet. If they didn't hit, you can usually take it down.
You must always be aware of what other players view you as. If you have been playing the part of the nerd, every once in a while you can revert to the prom queen and win a hand that you might not have otherwise. Remember you have shown nothing but premium hands, there is no reason for them to think otherwise. But you must remember to change your image occasionally, because if you don't you're going to end up like the prom queen that got caught kissing me. You're going to lose everything.
You see my next door neighbor, she was the prom queen. Occasionally I would go over and socialize with her, show her some of my calculator tricks and can you believe she loved them! After a while we grew close to each other, so close that we actually kissed once. That was a big mistake.
For all of you who have ever been to high school you know that the nerd never gets the prom queen....even if she likes you. You see in high school there is a certain image that one must maintain. And if she was ever caught socializing with me at school, well she would be finished. She would lose all her friends not to mention her shot at winning prom queen. Her image was important to her; her image was her and she could not escape it. Well her friends found out about the kiss and she did lose everything. This was an early lesson on the importance of image and how it translates to the poker table.
You see at the poker table you to have an image. Every time you sit down you might be the prom queen or you could be the nerd. There are two basic images that one portrays whenever they sit down at the poker table. They are either a tight player (plays very little pots and premium hands) or they are a loose aggressive player (plays almost every pot regardless of their hand). We will refer to the tight player as the nerd, after all they are patient, wait for good cards and are calculated when they have them. We will call the loose player the prom queen.
When you sit down you need to decide whether you're going to be the prom queen or the nerd at this table. Usually this will depend on the other players at the table. If you notice everyone is calling raises and playing any two card (prom queens) then you better play the nerd. Trap the prom queens and let them bet into you. After all you are playing premium hands, so be patient and wait until you can stack them. Now if you are playing with a bunch of nerds you can open your game up and be a little more aggressive. When your in this game you can usually take down the pots with a good continuation bet. If they didn't hit, you can usually take it down.
You must always be aware of what other players view you as. If you have been playing the part of the nerd, every once in a while you can revert to the prom queen and win a hand that you might not have otherwise. Remember you have shown nothing but premium hands, there is no reason for them to think otherwise. But you must remember to change your image occasionally, because if you don't you're going to end up like the prom queen that got caught kissing me. You're going to lose everything.
The Power of Position
"As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information."
~ Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli did not even live during the time of Texas Hold 'Em, but what sage advice he left us. He knew that the more information you were given the easier it is to make the right decision, and making the right decisions are what makes men successful. In poker there are many ways to gather information and the first you need to know about is position.
Position is your seat at the table and how it relates to the big blind. We're going to show you how you can use your position to gather information about your opponents and how to sometimes throw away those hands that will get you in trouble.
First let's explain the seats. Seat 1 is the person to the left of the big blind and seats go up in order clockwise. So the seat to the left of seat 1 is seat 2, and so on. Now how do we use this strategy to gain information to make us a successful poker player? The answer is easier that you would ever believe.
We're going to assume you're playing a normal 9 player table. The later you act in the hand (the higher your seat number is) the more information is given to you. Think about it. If you are in seat 1 and you have pocket 10's, what do you know about anyone else's hand? Nothing. Why? They haven't acted yet. You could easily be up against AK, AQ, AJ, or even a pocket pair higher than you. Too often do I see people going all-in from seat 1 with a hand like pocket 10's which is very vulnerable. Let's just assume one person has AJ, you're what they call a coin flip, meaning that you win about as many times as you lose. That does not make a successful poker player. Now let's look at the same hand if you were in the big blind.
If everyone just calls your big blind (no raises) you can now safely assume that you have the favorite hand and can raise. Reasoning, if someone had AK, AQ, or a pocket pair bigger than 10's they most likely would have raised you pre-flop. You see you gathered information from acting after them. Therefore the big blind is the best position to have pre-flop (you have the most amount of information). So what about post flop?
The best position to have post flop is the button (the dealer). If the dealer is not in the hand then the person to the right of the dealer has the best position. This is why you will see numerous players raise on the button. They know that post flop they will be able to gather all the information they can, to see wether they can win the hand with a raise, check or just fold and go to the next hand. For example, a player had 9,10 suited on the button. He calls a min raise and three players are in the hand. The flop comes out 8,7,J. He has hit a straight, but he gets to see how to best act on his straight. If player 1 bets and player 2 calls. Player 3 can now decide whether he feels he can get the most from his opponents by just calling or re-raising. If he feels the players do not have a made hands yet, he can just call and let him bluff more money off to him. Now he has the best hand possible and the other players are betting blindly into him! Now let's take a look out how this hand might play out.
Let's just assume player 1 has A,J so top pair with top kicker. He bet big and player 3 re-raise him 2.5 times his raise. Now the pressure is on player 1. He has no information about player 3's hand. He does not know if he is reading him as weak, so are re-raising him to have him fold. He doesn't know if he has trips, or a straight. He now has to decide what you could have called the raise with. Most novice players in this position assume that he is bluffing and will raise all-in. After all they have top pair, that's a good hand. Player 3 is going to get all of player 1's money because he acted with less information.
Hopefully you'll think about position and the information you can gather before you play next time. Remember the player with the most information is able to make the best decisions and the player that makes the best decisions makes the most money.
~ Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli did not even live during the time of Texas Hold 'Em, but what sage advice he left us. He knew that the more information you were given the easier it is to make the right decision, and making the right decisions are what makes men successful. In poker there are many ways to gather information and the first you need to know about is position.
Position is your seat at the table and how it relates to the big blind. We're going to show you how you can use your position to gather information about your opponents and how to sometimes throw away those hands that will get you in trouble.
First let's explain the seats. Seat 1 is the person to the left of the big blind and seats go up in order clockwise. So the seat to the left of seat 1 is seat 2, and so on. Now how do we use this strategy to gain information to make us a successful poker player? The answer is easier that you would ever believe.
We're going to assume you're playing a normal 9 player table. The later you act in the hand (the higher your seat number is) the more information is given to you. Think about it. If you are in seat 1 and you have pocket 10's, what do you know about anyone else's hand? Nothing. Why? They haven't acted yet. You could easily be up against AK, AQ, AJ, or even a pocket pair higher than you. Too often do I see people going all-in from seat 1 with a hand like pocket 10's which is very vulnerable. Let's just assume one person has AJ, you're what they call a coin flip, meaning that you win about as many times as you lose. That does not make a successful poker player. Now let's look at the same hand if you were in the big blind.
If everyone just calls your big blind (no raises) you can now safely assume that you have the favorite hand and can raise. Reasoning, if someone had AK, AQ, or a pocket pair bigger than 10's they most likely would have raised you pre-flop. You see you gathered information from acting after them. Therefore the big blind is the best position to have pre-flop (you have the most amount of information). So what about post flop?
The best position to have post flop is the button (the dealer). If the dealer is not in the hand then the person to the right of the dealer has the best position. This is why you will see numerous players raise on the button. They know that post flop they will be able to gather all the information they can, to see wether they can win the hand with a raise, check or just fold and go to the next hand. For example, a player had 9,10 suited on the button. He calls a min raise and three players are in the hand. The flop comes out 8,7,J. He has hit a straight, but he gets to see how to best act on his straight. If player 1 bets and player 2 calls. Player 3 can now decide whether he feels he can get the most from his opponents by just calling or re-raising. If he feels the players do not have a made hands yet, he can just call and let him bluff more money off to him. Now he has the best hand possible and the other players are betting blindly into him! Now let's take a look out how this hand might play out.
Let's just assume player 1 has A,J so top pair with top kicker. He bet big and player 3 re-raise him 2.5 times his raise. Now the pressure is on player 1. He has no information about player 3's hand. He does not know if he is reading him as weak, so are re-raising him to have him fold. He doesn't know if he has trips, or a straight. He now has to decide what you could have called the raise with. Most novice players in this position assume that he is bluffing and will raise all-in. After all they have top pair, that's a good hand. Player 3 is going to get all of player 1's money because he acted with less information.
Hopefully you'll think about position and the information you can gather before you play next time. Remember the player with the most information is able to make the best decisions and the player that makes the best decisions makes the most money.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)