REAL POKER MASTERY

Timmor L. White asked:


If you play poker regularly, and you understand the game exactly as it is, you probably know that there are misconceptions among people with no direct experience. You’ve probably heard many of these erroneous viewpoints. If you are like me, you spend a fair amount of time explaining to uninformed people precisely what poker is and what it is not. For the benefit of all, this article will clear up some of the more common misconceptions.

Conversely, if you never play poker, and your entire experience of the game is what you read in print and see in movies, you probably have many wrong ideas. That is to be expected. Please, allow me to enlighten you on a few points.

1. Poker is not casual. Many people think of poker as a mellow social pastime, where friends sit around drinking, laughing and whooping it up. In fact, there is nothing friendly about poker. You can be cordial with others at your table (and you should be), but the game itself is vicious. Played properly, it is a form of warfare. It is an aggressive battle for domination. I think of poker as “violence, without the violence.”

2. A poker face is not the main requirement to play. I cannot tell you how often I hear this misconception. Nearly every time I mention poker to someone whose only exposure to the game is the media, I hear some lame comment like, “Oh, you must have a good poker face.” No, a poker face, a steely-eyed gaze, is not the essence of skillful play. True, you do not want to be sending tells to your opponents, but the so-called poker face is widely misunderstood. The ability to create a poker face does not make you a poker player. Consider this: When you play poker on the Internet, everyone has a poker face.

3. Winning at poker is not easy. Blame television for this one. You generally see only the winners on television. Those who win get the most exposure and are most often featured. The final table in a tournament, for example, is comprised solely of players who are winners. Very little attention is paid to those who lose, say nothing of the vast majority who bust out of tournaments without fanfare. Playing well takes a huge amount of study, discipline and practice. Succeeding in the world of poker is far from automatic.

4. Women can play. The idea that poker is exclusively a man’s game is another falsehood. Years ago, many well-known poker authors wrote that women do not have the killer instinct necessary to play well. Time has proven that theory wrong. Nowadays, women compete at every level, and plenty of skilled women win in cash games and tournaments. The idea that poker is a man’s game is laughable these days, and I wouldn’t have included it among common misconceptions were it not for the fact that many still believe it.

5. Poker is not a game of mathematics. In blackjack, for example, you always have one best move at any moment. Your task is to determine what that move is. If you have 13 and the dealer is showing an ace, then you should hit. That is always true, no matter who is seated at the table or what they are doing. Poker is different. In poker, you must take other players into account, and the mathematically preferable move may not be wise. Top caliber players often debate what is the best move in a particular situation. Poker cannot be reduced to mathematics because there are too many human factors.

6. Poker is a not game of luck. This is perhaps the most common misconception, and it is dead wrong. Luck averages out. Over time, all players receive the same percentage of good hands and bad hands. The difference is what players do with those hands. A good player will maximize the amount won with good hands and minimize the amount lost with bad hands. The key element that separates winners from losers, over time, is not the cards dealt, but the decisions made. Stu Unger, three-time World Series of Poker champion, put it this way: “In cards, the luck always balances out. The good players are going to win. Any player that thinks card playing is a game of luck, I’ll show you a fool. That’s what the losers always say. The winners don’t worry about the short term; we play for the long term.”

7. Cheating is not rampant. The prevalence of cheating is another incorrect impression held by many. In private backroom games, cheating does happen occasionally. But in modern casino cardrooms and high-profile tournaments, where most of today’s professionals play, cheating is virtually nonexistent. (Online poker, however, is a different story. It is possible to cheat when playing on the Internet, due to the nature of the technology. If you’d like to explore a particular way to cheat when playing online, click here: Poker Cheat.) Although cheating is technically possible in some situations, and it does happen, it is not nearly the factor that many people suppose. If you are hesitant to play poker out of fear of being cheated, you are overreacting.

8. Poker is not an addiction. No matter what the media would have you believe, the vast majority of poker enthusiasts play because they enjoy the game, not because they are hooked in some way. Sure, a tiny percentage of players do struggle with addiction, but they are people with an addictive personality, whether or not they play poker. We should not blame poker for someone’s compulsive behavior any more than we should blame sex for someone being a rapist.

9. Poker is not sleazy. There is nothing even remotely “underbelly” about the beautiful game of poker. A great many good and decent folks play for a wide variety of reasons, such as fun, challenge and personal betterment. Poker highlights the best of human interaction and calls into play the most honorable of human qualities, such as courage, sound reasoning and self-control. Poker is a wonderful way to build character.

10. Poker is not illegal. Most people with a functioning brain do not actually believe this, but the forces of misguided morality want you to think that the game of poker is against the law. It is not. Poker is not associated with crime in any way. Nor is it controlled by the mob. Not is it dangerous. You do not need to be on the lookout for gangsters. Or gunplay. No, you do not need to carry a sidearm and shoot your way out of the casino to protect your loot. You’ve been watching too many movies.

These are a few common misconceptions held by many in the public. If you encounter people with these ideas, please set them straight. But be understanding; it’s not their fault that they hold these incorrect viewpoints, which are passed off as fact everywhere in today’s media. It rests with us, intelligent members of the poker-playing community, to spread the truth regarding the magnificent game of poker.



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Stephen Todd asked:


A carefully thought out pre-flop strategy is essential if you are to win at Texas holdem poker.

Here is a basic Texas holdem pre-flop strategy to get you off to a winning start:

Tip 1 – Consider the Number of Players

With 10 people in the game, there is a greater chance of someone having a good hand, than in a game with a lesser number of players. Players need to be more cautious in large games as more players means more competition.

Tip 2 – Consider the Other Players Playing Style

Consider how the other players are playing and adapt your strategy to give you the best possible advantage against them.

For example, if you notice a player is raising every hand pre-flop, you should consider playing tighter. You can then take him out when you have a good hand in the pocket pre-flop.

Tip 3 – Your Bankroll

If you only have a small bankroll, you should play extremely carefully and select one hand to bet on, hoping to get as many players involved as possible for a good size pot. On the other hand, if you have a large bankroll, you can take the higher-risk higher payout bets and be more aggressive.

Tip 4 – Consider Your Table Position

Players in late position have the ability to influence the size of the pot more than players in early position. This is especially true pre-flop. The dealer is obviously in the most advantageous position, as they get to see how all the players play before making their own playing decision.

Players must be more selective with their hands in early position, as they don’t have the advantage of seeing other players betting before they decide if they want to stay in the hand.

Players in late position can play weaker hands with less fear of loss.

Tip 5 – Know the Hands You Should Play

When playing Texas Holdem, it’s essential to know which hands you should pursue during pre-flop betting i.e. which hands are most likely to yield a win, and to determine which hands are worth risking money on.

There are many books and downloads on the Internet that will do this for you automatically, and for novice players these tools are useful until you gain experience

Tip 6 – Discipline

The most important pre-flop skill is to play with discipline and patience.

The idea is to only play a hand when you have an advantage.

You have to beat 10 other Poker players, and most of the time, your hand will simply not be good enough to win.

Playing only the hands when you have an advantage requires a great deal of discipline, since you will not be involved in many pots.

Playing with this strategy, will however, provide you with a lot of time to study other players and their potential weaknesses that you can exploit.

Texas holdem is a game of psychology as well as odds, and the above are general pre-flop strategy guidelines to follow.



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vipin asked:

Beginners in the texas holdem are most times not newbie’s in the other games of poker. For you to become really good in the texas holdem game, you need to start on the low. When you play limit games, do not bluff and make sure to play only premium starting hands where you would see no more than 30% of the flops.

Avoid playing on strong tables as you would most likely get robbed of your money. As a beginner, know that strong table’s would most likely consist of poker players like yourself but with much greater understanding of the texas holdem game. Sizing yourself up against them only makes you their prey. They would most likely read your game and beat you to it.

For limit texas holdem games, make sure to fold in time. One rule of thumb as regards this is ‘the earlier you fold the less likely you are to lose that round’. In addition, your ability to read your opponents’ game is very essential. Ask yourself the following questions that would help you to read them. What kind of hands do they raise with? What hands do they re-raise with? Do they call all the way with weak holdings? How do they play pocket pairs? How do they play their draws? What kinds of hands do they call/raise with from early position? What type of hands do they check-raise with?

In all, your ability to becoming a good texas holdem player only comes with constant playing of the game. If you really would like to become good in it, then constant practice and sitting at the tables seems to be your only way.

www.pokerroom.com

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