Posts Tagged ‘General Poker Strategy’
Different Betting Structures in Texas Holdem Poker
Texas Holdem poker game is played both as cash game and tournament game. These two games follow different strategies.
Cash games - before invention of tournaments most of the players used to play poker for real money. They used to bet actual currency or chips which represented currency on the hands. These games which feature actual money on individual hands are called as ring games or cash games. In Texas Holdem most of the players play no-limit or fixed-limit cash games. The strategies followed in these two games are entirely different. In the no-limit game players find it difficult to gear down for limit, while limit players lack in courage and feel necessity of limit to excel. In limit games size of bets are restricted, they do not allow people to bluff. Most of small stake games involve more players in each hand and vary from extremely passive position (less raising and betting) to extremely aggressive position(high raising).
Tournaments - Texas Holdem can also be played as tournament. Poker tournament is not played with currency; it is played with chips (representing currency). In standard play all players have to “buy-in” fixed amount of money and start the game. The play proceeds until one player has accumulated all the chips and the money is distributed to players based on the place they finished in tournament. Most of the times in tournaments only 10% of players receive money and others are left without anything. Playing tournament is entirely different from cash game. The strategy followed by this game varies widely depending upon chips a player has, amount of chips others have, the tournament, playing styles of opponents. Some of the proficient players recommend beginners to follow tight playing strategy while other players recommend following loose playing strategy. In loose playing strategy players should play more hands. In these tournament games the binds and antes increase regularly and sometimes reach to their maximum at the end of tournament. Sometimes players make mistakes at the end of tournament; they play more hands at the end when compared to the beginning. This leads to severe loss at the end.
November 26th, 2008 / No Comments » / by suicidalsam
Strategy to Follow While Playing Texas Holdem Poker
Most of the professional Holdem gamers prefer tight-aggressive approach. In this strategy each player plays relatively few hands (tight) and places bets and raises them aggressively. The position where a player sits is important; it helps him in achieving more benefits from the game. Especially in a no-limit Texas Holdem game players who act at a later stage have more advantage than those who act before. This implies that players play fewer hands from early positions than later positions.
Position is Power
Position is the place where a player is sitting in relation to the dealer’s button. This position is quite important for any player; it can help him in winning or loosing the game. The position plays an important role because of the fact that Texas Holdem follows Clockwise betting strategy. This position helps a player to decide and know the moves of the opponents. It will help him to choose any one of bet, raise, fold or call. There are many positions in accordance to the dealer button; these positions decide the performance of the player and his winning chance. Before knowing about positions, players should understand some technical terms.
“Dealer” or “Dealer Button” or “Button” is the best possible position, player in the dealers seat will be last person to act on the flop, turn and river. “Under the Gun” is the first player who takes action in the hand. This player will be to the left of big blind. This position is the worst position in Texas Holdem Game but this player will have better position pre-flop compared to blinds. “Big Blind” is the player to the left of the small blind. “Small Blind” is the player who is left to the dealer button. “Cut off” is the player who sits right to the button. This position is called as cut off because the player sitting here usually “cuts off” the dealer ability to steal blinds by placing bets.
- The small blind has the worst position after the flop. He has to invest half of the bet.
- The big blind invests the whole bet and similarly has a poor position.
- The player who is under the gun has worst position pre-flop. At a later stage he has junk position.
- The best position during any round is the dealer button
November 20th, 2008 / No Comments » / by suicidalsam
General Poker strategy
A common mistake, a lot of beginners (and frightening many of those who should know better) make is that players feel the need to participate in each hand. On average, a player plays only 20-30% successful hands. Indeed, as a professional player baseball is responsible by a contract of several million dollars to maintain a batting average of .300, a poker players know that most time, another player go away with the pot. You will always have someone who can out play you so get used to it.
In this sense, it is important to play offensively once one hand has been dealt. Remember that 70% of the time other players are willing to bend to find a hand, they believe that their going to win time. Be prepared to force the weaker players with your aggressive bets. If you are sure you have the strongest hand in the game, increases the bet! The main reason for this aggressiveness lies in the fact that people with weak hands folded earlier, as some tend to get stuck on finding a miracle to win. Thanks to the forcing you are reducing the chances of other player’s position and thus the guarantee of winning the pot. Focus more on winning small pots instead of the big one.
Your self image is also very important. Establishing a strong persona of table bluff shouldn’t be in your game immediately. Too much bluffing can lead to a bluffing brand by other savvy players who will be able to see right through it. Remember, you can’t bluff a fellow bluffer 100% of the time. Play good maps and throwing unwanted cards, other players at the table will only see the strong hands you play. This represents the possibility to use a good bluff later in the game, as you have conditioned the other players in the way you throw the cards.
Studying other players and their betting behavior is equally important. I can’t stress that Poker tip enough. It is too easy to get all wrapped in your own game and miss the tell tale sign that the other players may make. Usually with a strong hand you can tell and you should make your decisions on bets accordingly.
The most important tip of all is knowing when to stop! The mental fatigue of sitting at a table for too long leads to errors and ends up costing you money. The frustration is another sign that you need to call a night, or at least a break.
August 6th, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by suicidalsam
