Playing Texas Hold'Em Online - The Professional's Guide (A.j. Mills) .Unlocked

Click this link to download and install Full Tilt Poker.
Receive the maximum deposit bonus of 100% up to $600. Bonus Code: 2XBONUS600
Click this link to download and install PokerStars. Receive the maximum deposit bonus of 100% up to $600. Marketing Code: PSP6964
Click this link to download and install PartyPoker Receive the maximum deposit bonus of 100% up to $500. Bonus Code: 2XMATCH500
PLAYING TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE
THE PROFESSIONALS GUIDE

A.J.Mills2004
CopyrightandDistributionNotice AllrightsreservedunderInternationalCopyrightConventions. Thisdocumentisforpersonaluseonly.BookcopyrightofA.J.Mills,2005. ForcopyrightordistributionenquiriesemailA.J.Mills@1stcasinos.co.uk
Playing Texas Holdem Online
The Professionals Guide
AN INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE POKER THINKING AND INSIDERS SECRETS

IdiscoveredthesecretrecipetoKFCChicken15yearsagoandI havebeenhookedonInsidersSecretseversince.
H
ave you ever been to a party or a bar where youve metsomeone for the first time who told you an insiders secretto their business or work? Maybe Im just a good listener but this happens to me all the time. We all know these insiderkinds of details about our own little world. For example, if weworked at Cadbury, the Cadbury Secret would be one of the firstthingswewouldlearnaboutonthejob(evenifitwasntoffici allypart of the training program). There are other kinds of insiderknowledge how something is really made at the plant we workat, how certain products are marketed, where an idea really camefrom, or how you can make a product yourself for onetenth the
price. Dontyouwishyoucouldtalktoaninsiderattheplantwherethec ar you are considering buying is made? Or someone who reallyknowsthescooponthemortgageindustrywhenitstimeto getre financed? How about talking to the guy who programmed theVLT machine you play everyday at lunch? Would that help youwinmore? EverybodywehavetalkedtoaboutTexasHoldemhassaidthat whattheyreallywantismorethanjustabookthattellsthemthe rules to the game. They want something new. Something freshthat will give them an edge over the other players. Somethingexciting. Sowetalkedtotheinsiders.Howdoesthesystemwork?Howaret he cards shuffled (whats the randomizing algorithm)? Hasanyonedoneanystudiesonwhatcardsreallypaythebest?W hattables play the best? Are there systems that work online betterthan others? What do the insiders know about cards to play? Canwereallymakemoneyatthisgame? Fromthisfeedbackwedevelopthisbookconcept.Thenwehunted down the facts. In the end, this has been a lot of fun and quiteprofitable. We love the game of Texas Holdem but now we havethe tools to win more games. As usual, if you have the insider stuff, you are better armed to succeed. Pretty much one of those simplerulestoliveyourlifebyifyouaskme. I believe that winning in life, love, business and sports and yes, poker,isallaboutthreedynamicsIliketocalltheCSIs. Contingency(chanceorluck) Selfawareness(knowyourstrengthsandweaknesses)
Intelligence(orstreetsmarts) We have divided this book into these three key areas for a verygood reason. When you play online poker for real money for thefirsttimeyouwillfinditdifficultjusttosurvive.Yourstack(yo urpersonal chips) will disappear like an umbrella in a typhoon. Ifyou have what it takes to stick it out through this initiation (andthe expendablecashtolast),youwillnextdiscoverthatwhatyouare lacking is real technical knowledge. You will soon realize thatyou need to play this game more with field intelligence thaninstinct.Thatis,ifyouwanttowinconsistently. Finally,asyouprogressintolargerpotgames,therealtestwillbey ourabilitytobementallytough,disciplinedandaggressive.Ourla st section on selfawareness discusses the philosophy of greatpokerplayers. Therearedozensofbooksavailabletodayonpoker.Ivereadmost ofthem.Theytendtofocusononeormoreofthefollowingareas: Analysisofoddsandstrategy Historyandactualplayexamples Techniquesontellsorhowtoreadtheotherplayers Mentalpreparationforthegameitself Noteventhebestbookscoveralloftheseareasorattempttobring these different practicestogetherinsomemeaningfulway.Thisisour goal with Insiders Guide;to link strategy and intelligence and mental preparation in a waythat will ramp you up to be successful at the best game in theworldintheshortestpossibletime. Whatsnewaboutthisbook?First,unlikemostofthebooksonthe market,thisvolumeisNOTbasedonfiftyyearsofwritingaround
the traditional bricks and mortar game of Poker. Our focus isspecifictothenewonlineversionsofTexasHoldemPoker,playe dby over 20,000,000 people worldwide over the Net every singleday. Anyone who has played online poker knows this is quite adifferentanimalindeed. Secondly, we present the Food Chain Theory, a new systemof play based on the results of three major research programscarried out by computer simulations on Texas Holdem Poker. Ifyou follow the system religiously, you will find your winningsincreasing gradually at first, and then substantially. All theresearchshowsthataggressiveplayisthekeytowinningmons terpots; aggression at the right time and based on a solid body ofknowledge.Wewillshowyoutheprocessandoutlinethestepst obeingatruecardshark.Butyoumustfollowtherules.Whenwe runlabsontheCageFoodChainTheorywefindthatplayersget caught up in the game and bend the rules of the system, lettingtheir emotions rule their play. Or they go by gut feeling on adecisivehandinsteadofconsideringpotoddsandcardodds.The online casinos love that kind of play it makes them millionseverymonth.Itwonthoweverputanyextramoneyinyo urbankaccount.Youvegottostopplayingbygutfeel. Of the three dynamics, we start with the intel section andcontingency data first; this is where the rubber hits the road formost players and we wanted to get you started with an excitingnewsystemofplayingthatwillgiveyouafirst handadvantage. Whats Intel? typical military speak for field intelligence orrelevant knowledge. What you need to know, now. In the covertworld of spies and agents, havingtherightnuggetofinformationavailable when required can save your life or someone elses. InPoker,itmeansmakingthewinwhenotherswouldntandaddi nga few points to your odds. This is different from lifetime
experience which you can only gain from playing the game thousandsoftimes. Fieldintelhelpsyouparachuteintoasituationandbecompetent andsavvyinabighurry. The Food Chain Theory of Poker condenses dozens ofschools of thought on Poker into an easy to digest program thatyou can begin using immediately. The goal of this technique is toget you out of the fish category and in to the shark categorybeforeyougeteatenalive.Pardonthefoodpunsbutthes peedandaggressiveness of real money online poker can spin your headaround.Youwillneedtobearmedandready. In many areas of this book we deal with the latest in research on contingency, another word for odds. Whynotjustcallitluck?Becausecontingencyisafarbroaderand moreelegantterm.Luckis not a thing you can buy or create and you certainly cannotattractitorcaptureit(orchaseitaway).Whatweashumans seeas luckisreallyjustchancecircumstanceplayingoutbeforeus. The best way to visualize contingency is to imagine a fork in theroad. Which then leads to another fork. And still another. Eachrequires a decision and each decision can lead to very differentconclusions. Thats what contingency is all about. Sometimes wechoose the path without knowing where it will take us and othertimeswedontgettochooseatall. InPoker,wecanusemathtobetterunderstandtheoddsofcertain combinations occurring in your game. Really understanding theodds in Poker is one of the keys to success; not only because ithelps you to better understand the possibilities but because itteaches us the expected monetary value of our hand as well.Whats the good in knowing that the chance of pulling another
Queen is 1:7 if we dont know how to translate that information intoapracticalbettingdecision? Recent computer simulations of Texas Holdem have taught usquite a bit about real game odds and strategy. What theyve alsoshown us is that it takes several lifetimes to average out the oddsbetween matched players. So you need a powerful advantage towin against others with similar skills and preparation. Thatadvantageisbetterselfawareness. Assumethatyouandanotherplayerareperfectlymatchedincard skills. You play each other every week. But one of you has hadlifetime wins of several times the other based on pulling bettercards.Howlongdoyouhavetokeepplayingbeforethewin ningsevenout?About250,000yearsaccordingtocomputerresear ch. So how does a better player gain advantage if they dont have afew thousand lifetimes at their disposal? By being significantlybetter than the other players. You need huge advantage to be aconsistent winner. You need to know the other players and youneed to gain this advantage as quickly as possible. You need tounderstand betting odds better. You need to know yourself. Andyouneedtobeveryaggressivewhenthetimeisright. Thats the essence of a shark. Skilled. Aggressive. Knows the environment.Knowstheprey.Undaunted. Havefunandbestofluckatthetables. A.J.Mills
WHY IS ONLINE TEXAS HOLDEM POKER SO DIFFERENT?
Texas Holdem Poker has become the fastest grow ing game on the Internet. Play it a few times andyouwillunderstandwhy.Itsaddictive.Fast.E nter taining. Colorful. And there you are, playing livewith people from all over the globe, a great virtual casino experience and real money is being won by people just likeyouandme.Whatsnottolike?
Well,yousay,Iwouldliketowinmoreoften...
Like the people who play slots or video poker terminals (VLT), most people just play poker online for fun. Dont get me wrong.
10
They would love to win; they just arent prepared to do thehomework necessary to get really good at the game and winconsistently.Whohastimeforthat?
TheProsdo,thatswho! And the Pros like Online poker. Unlike VLTs, the odds are notstacked so much in favour of the house and players can actuallymakeconsistentprofits iftheyunderstandthegamewellenough. I have an uncle who is famous in our family. He has an unusualcareer. He has made a great living playing professional poker forover 40 years. (He was known in the trade as a rounder fordetailsseethedictionaryattheendofthisbook.)Andhehasm ademorethanjustadecentliving hehasseveralhomesandayachthe moors in Florida. Hes an interesting character and he hastaught me a lot. Much of this book is based on his advice andteaching.
My uncle says there are two major differences between casual playersandprofessionals.
OneProfessionalsalwaysknowexactlywhomtheyareplaying with. Dont be deceived. When you play poker you are not playingagainstthecards youareplayingagainsttheotherplayers.Greatpoker players never forget this. The goal of our book is to teachyou how to better understand the guy or gal sitting across fromyou at the virtual poker table. A better understanding of thedynamics between humans at the table alone will dramaticallyimproveyourchancesofwinning.
TwoProsunderstandtheodds.
11
Thisbookwillteachyouhowtocalculateoddsusingactualgamee xamples and give you shortcuts that will help you to increaseyourchancesofwinningeverytimeyouplay.
Oddsdonttellyouhowtoplay,theytellyouhowtobet.
Firstyouneedtounderstandwhyreadingabouttheconventional brickandmortargameofTexasHoldem(thekindyouplayinar ealcasino)certainlywonthurt butitwilldefinitelynotprepareyoufortheuniqueexperienceofp layingthegameonline.
WHY IS ONLINE POKER SO DIFFERENT? Online poker adds several interesting wrinkles to the game ofTexasHoldem.Somuchischangedinfact,thatthereareawho lenewsetofgamestrategies.Theoddsofwinningtheonlineversi onofthisgamearenowstackedevenmoreinthefavourofthebett er educated players. This is one of the secrets to real success at thevirtualtable.
1.YOUCANWATCH. If you walk into a bricks and mortar casino tomorrow and decideyou would like to just watch a game of Texas Holdem to betterunderstand how its played, security will soon hustle you out ofthebuilding.Pokerisnotaspectatorsportatcasinos.Ifyouwan tto learn the game you need to play. And playing when youre arookie (or as the pros call it a fish) can be a very expensivelearningexperience. On the other hand, online, you can watch a real game as long asyou want, for no cost and for no risk. Watching a table can teachyoualotabouttheplayersandtheirbettingstyleandthega mein
12
general. Watching playersforfreeisoneofthegreatadvantages ofonlinepoker.
TakingnotesisanothergreatstrategyinOnlinePoker. Thereisnothingwrongorunethicalaboutkeepingnotesonotherp layers. Some Online Poker rooms even provide a feature thatallows you to take notes online while you play. This featurefacilitates the building of a database around the playing styles ofconsistent players. Our advice is to record what kinds of handsthey play, how quickly they react, and to record detail on bettingandraisingbehaviour. In the heat of the game, you may not always have time to gothrough all of the details. But one day, a regular player will joinyour table with a healthy stack of chips and you will appreciateknowing everything you can ahead of time about their playingstyle.
2.YOUKNOWEXACTLYWHATSINTHEPOT? At a regular card game, you need to do some rough guessing atpot totals. (The other players rarely encourage you to go diggingthrough the pot to come up with a tally). Online, the total iscalculated for you to the penny. This makes calculations abouthow much to bet very accurate. Why is this important? You willlearnlaterthatoneofthekeystowinningisasystemusedby prosfordecadescalledPotBetting.Themoreaccurateyourknowle dgeof the pot, the better able you are to know exactlyhowmuchyoushould be betting on a given hand. Online Poker is a Pot Bettingdream come true. Sharpen up your math skills a bit, and you areontheroadtomakingmoney.
13
3.YOUHAVEMORETABLEANDBETTINGCHOICES! Haveyoueverwalkedintoarealcasinolookingforaseatatacard game? You may be lucky to find a few dozen. Which one is thebest for your playing style? You wont know until you sit downandplayanumberofhands.Andifyoudontlikeyourcom panyatthattable?Youmovetoanothertableandtryagain. Therearethousandsofonlinecasinoswithdozensorhundredsoft ables at each one fro you to choose from. You can pick from awiderange of betting options and from an infinite variety ofdifferent player combinations combinations you will haveobserved before putting down your hardeared money. And youcan do this in a matter of minutes right from your computerscreen. Never have there been so many options for the poker playerwilling to learn. Remember, you are not just playing against theodds,youareplayingagainstotherplayersandinamathemati calsense, the table as a whole. This is the real key to winning. Lookfor a table with the greatest number of weaker players and youwillhaveanautomaticadvantage.
14
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO JUST WANT TO GET STARTED NOW!
I
f you are anything like me, you just want to get to the goodstuff. So lets jump right into the game and the Food Chainsystem. Sure,therearerulestolearnandtechniquestounderstand andall kinds of interesting tips on betting and odds. This book isfullofstrategyandbackground. But I just want to jump into the game itself as a starting point.Howcanyoubeawinner?OK!Letsstartwithanexampleo fhowthis system works. Then you can learn about the details more atyourleisure.
15
TheFoodChainTheoryofOnlineTexasHoldemPoker!
Fish,astheyarecalledinTexasHoldem,areprey. Fisharethelosersandthebeginners andthesloppyplayers who get eaten everyday by the bigger fish. Innature they are called prey. Thank goodness for the fish.Theysustaintheentirepokerfoodchain.Withoutfish,there would be no monster pots or big paychecks and the game wouldnotbenearlyasinterestingnorasprofitable. Dont get me wrong. Everyone is a fish in the beginning andthere is no way around this essential truth. Everyone gets burnedand eaten repeatedly when they start to play poker. Everyonelosesoneventhebestnutshands.
This book is about how to get out of the fish category as quicklyaspossibleandstarttakingmoneyhome.
Anoteabouttheresearchthatbacksthisbook. The book you are reading, unlike most of the poker booksavailableonthemarkettoday,isnotbasedonanecdotalexa mplesand table stories told by the old pros, a few lucky winners or
16
guys who have spent decades learning the ropes; the majority ofthem playing the old fashioned bricks and mortar version of thegame. IamaComputerProgrammerwithanintenseloveforPoker(and other games) wherethereisastrongcomponentofskillinvolved. ThisbookisallaboutthescienceofPoker. CardShark, our research team, has gone through millions of linesof code, data results and analysis on billions of played hands ofPoker. A good percentage of this research was sourced from thesame online casinos you and I play at everyday. The rest camefrom reputable sources such as CarnegieMelon University wheregrad students have been running computerized Texas Holdemsimulations for years. Our theories are based on solidmathematics, proven odds calculations and the results of someveryinterestingcomputerstudies. At least three major research studies over the past three yearshave generated over 5 billion virtual hands of Texas Holdempoker. Youwouldhavetoplaypokereverydayforseveralmillionyearst o experience that many hands. (I know youre trying to live ahealthierlifestylebutImnotbettingonanyoneschancestomak eitthatfar!) Most of the strategy in this book is based on this new excitingresearch PLUS some good oldfashioned table sense based onover20yearsofreadinggreatcardplayers.
Youmaybesurprisedbywhatthisnewresearchshows.IknowI was.
17
The better the information you have about what is reallyhappeningwiththecardsandthetable,thefasteryouwillge toutof the fish category and into the winning zone. We open up thebig black online poker box and show youtheinsides.Whatcouldbemorefun? Heres the question we hear every day. How much money canyou make? Again, based on recent surveys, a good player canmake $40,000 to $50,000 per year playing medium $3$10 stakegames.
A real expert, a SHARK, can make $100,000 or more per year andhundredsdo.
Letsstartwiththeresultsofarecentcomputeranalysis.
Imagine what we could learn about this game if we created a virtual 10player Texas Holdem table, programmed the playersindifferentways andthenjustletthemplayforafewthousandyears. With some of the test runs we would use very aggressive playerbehaviours just to see how that type of combination of playerseffectswinningandlosing.Inotherexampleswewouldus eaverytightandconservativegroupofplayerstoseehowthataff ectsthegame over a period of time. Billions of hands were then playedand analyzed again and again over several months. More thanmanylifetimesofplay.
Here is the simplest form of the results of this research based on yourchancesofwinningwiththefirsttwoholecards.
18
Player Type If you are a beginner, you are fish. Ifyou are more interested in playing than winning, youarefish.Ifyoudontdoyourhomeworkandcomple tely understand how the odds affect your chances then yesVirginia, youareafish. But even good players can become fish during play. Tournamentplay is a good example where the game can change radicallydepending on the number of players left in the game. If you startto panic or get shortstacked, you may unintentionally revert to fish tactics. As a beginner you will tend to act like a fish youmaystayinthepotlongerthanyourhandwouldjustify.You mayraise when your cards are not that strong. Fish are typified by aplayingcharacteristiccalledloose.Loosenessimpliesadisregar dfor card odds and a general lack of knowledge about the otherplayers. Combine this looseness with aggressive behaviour andyouhaveoneofthemostinterestingcreaturesataPokertable a maniac. To survive and make money, fish need to play a very tight game.As knowledge and table smarts improve, they can increase theiraggressiveness,boldwithfreshwinnings.
The best guide to beginner card play is to use the Fish Rule as stated in the Player Type Chart. Based on the latest computer
19
research, fish should only stay in the hand if they have one of thetop24pocketcardsdealt. Why? Because if they have one of these hands, regardless of thetype of talent at the table, they will have an excellent chance ofwinning. They will also begin to understand the discipline of a tighter playing style, which is based on knowing the odds and readingthetable. Betting tactics should not be an issue here and neither should thereadingoftellsorevenplayerposition(whichwewilldiscuss indetaillater).
Here are the top 24 pocket hands in any Texas Holdem game (outofapossible169).
Letsstartoffwiththetopofthehitparade.(Thesreferstocards inthesamesuit.) ThebigTop4AA,KK,QQ,JJ areridiculouslyprofitableatanytable.Alwaysraiseandre raisewiththesecards.Theydontcomealongoften,sotakeadvant age.Notraisingonthesecardsisasignoffoolishness.Beingaggres sivehereisanobrainer. The top 16 ranked starting 2 card Holdem hands (or pocketcards)arefundamentaltowinningplay.Theymakeupon ly7%of all hands dealt, so its unlikely that you will get rich by
20
limitingyourplaytojustthesecardcombinations.Butyouneed toknowwhattheyrepresentwhentheydocomealong. IfyoucomparethischarttoolderbooksonPokeryoumaynoticea n obvious variation. The latest research has shown that theoverall power of AKs is slightly greater than that of KQs especiallyingameswherefewplayersareleftaftertheriver. Infact,withsixplayersaftertheriver,AKplaces10th,whileinag ame with 6 players, it places 5th. This revelation was firstdiscovered in the R&D being done using the latest computerizedpokersimulationsinthelate90s. JJisanotherexampleofholecardsthatvarygreatlydependingont he type of game they are played in. They have been highlightedonthechartforthefollowingreason Atalargetableof6ormoreplayers,JJisranked4thinpower.Inas ituationwheretherearefewerplayers,thepowerofthispairgoes downto9th.
GamerankwithonlyTWOplayersaftertheriver(Top10)
GamerankwithSIXplayersaftertheriver(Top10)
21
ThekeydecisionanyHoldemplayermakesiswhetherornotto playthestarting2 cardhandtheyaredealtwith.Andiftheydoplay,howdothey playsmartthroughthehand.
I you are a FISH, never bet on anything but the top ranked24pocketcards.
InsiderSecret
WewouldalsosuggestthatyouALWAYSraiseontheTop10. Raise on the Top 16 unless you think the raise is not likely to driveoutotherplayersinaveryloosegame.
Underverytighttableconditions,onlytheTop5shouldberaised beforetheflop. However,ouradvicewouldbeifyoufindyourselfataverytight table, you should probably get up and go find better playingconditionselsewhere.
AK is a good example of hole cards that only do really well in ashorthanded game so you need to raise and drive out otherplayers right away. If you cant, you will have lost most of thepowerandadvantageofthesecards.
22
TT on the other hand drops dramatically in power with fewer playerssoraisingtopushoutweakerhandsisapoorstrategy. Barracuda The next level up from the Fish category isBarracuda. Youre not the biggest and meanest fish inthe sea, but you have experience and youve survived.Andyouremakingmoneywhenyouplay.
The Barracuda Player can safely play the Top 40 pocket cards as listednext.
You are now in the land of the mediumsuited connectors KQs,QJs,JTs,T9swhichdoverywellinsmall stakegamesaswellasthebiggishoffsuitacesAQ,AJ.
BarracudaTip: Pick your 10player table carefully. Look for playerswho seem to be having fun, and where at least halfofthemstayintoseetheflop.Pickingtherightt able
23
is a major determinant of how well your hands will hold up in thelongrun. When other players know what youre holding, you suffertremendous disadvantage. Just playing good cards is not enoughasaBarracuda.RaisingAAandKKisclearlynotenough. You need a carefully planned but hard to read raising strategy aswell. At the Barracuda stage you begin to experiment with moreaggressive play. As you will read later, timing your aggressivestrategy is the key. Being aggressive with a large number ofplayers at the table, unless they are all very conservative, will notwork most of the time. And no matter how aggressive you are, ifyouaresurroundedbysharks,youwillbechum.
As a Fish you were focused on the top 1016 pocket cards dealt. Youneedtoexpandthisnowintwoways.
One, you need to be more aggressive before the flop on a wider rangeofcards. Two, you need to mix up your betting strategy. As you will seelater, the best player type is tightaggressive. Thischaracterization is based more on how the other players see youandlessonyourownstrategy.Inpoker,perceptioniseverythi ng.You need to be seen by your opponent as someone whos style isslightly hard to read and occasionally unpredictable. Then whenyoudoraiseaggressively,youropponentswilltakeyouserio uslyandsurrenderthepot. Be aware that in online Poker, because players come and goconstantly,itsmoredifficulttobuildareputationatthetable.It slikeperformingonthestage;youneedtoexaggerateyourmoves abitmorethanyouwouldonaoneto onebasis.Becauseitseasier
24
to be aggressive online, your aggression needs to be clear that meanspushingupthebetsmorethanyouwouldatarealtable. Slow play can have its advantages here too. It tends to catch theattention of other weaker players anxious to donate to the pot.Evenifyouknowexactlyhowmuchyouplantoraise,slowdo wn.Letthecounterclickoff.Thisisagreatattention gettingdevice.Ifafterstalling,youfold,youcommunicateindecisi on.Ontheotherhand, if you raise heavy, youve made the move quiteclearandyouvegottheotherplayersthinking. Mentaltoughnessisoneofthekeystosuccessasyoumoveupthe poker food chain. Being mentally tough means ignoring the otherplayersconcernsabouthowfastyouplay.
Mr.SlowPlay One of the toughest tournaments Ive played in had one playerwho constantly ran up to the last few seconds of their availabletime on every turn. At first it looked like they were distracted, orplayinganothergameonlineatthesametime.Virtuallyeveryti meitcametotheirturn,theywouldstalluntilthecountdown.Soo n,other players began chatting about the slow play. Name callingbegan. One player suggested taking aggressive action against thisplayer as a group, simply because of the shared aggravation.Which is exactly what happened. At one point, one player betaggressivelyagainstMr.SlowPlayandwentallinandlost. Who won the tournament? Mr. Slow Play. What a great strategy.Herattledalmostalloftheotherplayerswithhisslowdet erminedpace. He went right down to the last few seconds on the clockdozensoftimes.Themoretheotherplayerscomplained,the morehehesitated.
25
Because he was slow on every play, it was very tough to read hisactual playing style. He was consistent. He also got a lot ofattention.Whenhewon,noonemissedit.Hemanagedtocontro lthe table in a way. Table control is clearly a goal of the consistentwinner. The Shark Player will have 80 hands in their play list (see chartfollowing) knowing that they are good hands if the flop is goodflop, that your opponents will generally discount the likelihoodyoullbeholdingthem,andthattheywillhavethewillt ofoldonasmanyroundsasittakeswhentheflopdoesntgointhe irfavor.
As a gambler, with these cards, the real magic is getting the right flopcards.
Based on using the Shark play list you would on average, participateinabout1/3rdofallpotsatyourtable.
Theactualnumberwillfallintherangeof25%to33%depending ontheraisingbyotherplayers.
26
Again, if your goal is to win, please stay away from very tighttables because no matter how well you play, only the house winswheneveryoneisgood. AuthorsSklanskyandMalmuth(S&M)haveauthoredoneofthe most popular poker book to date called Holdem for AdvancedPlayers.Ourpre floprecommendationsdifferinmanyways. S&M has always advised raising with your strongest hands andlimping (calling) with your weakest. But this a major mistake intighter games, since your strongest hands are worth much morethan the blinds, while your weakest hands are worth much lessthantheblinds.Foldingisthewisestchoice. Also, S&M advises not raising with hands like KT after severalloose limpers. The newest research however indicates you shouldusuallyraisesinceyourhandislikelytobebestandwillwi nmorethan your fair share of pots (though usually not much money).S&Ms argument is that fish will call correctly with gutshots (drawing one card to a straight) and pairs on the flop if you raisepreflop, and you will suck more players into the pot. Raising willnot greatly reduce your chance of your winning the pot, soifyouwill win more than your fair share of pots, you should generallyraise. StatsfromanumberofonlinecasinoshaverevealedanotherS&M myth that you should raise with baby pairs like 33 even if youknow the blinds will call. The odds are that you will flop a thripmore then 1 in 9 times but you will win the pot less than 1 in 9times. Since you will win the pot less than your fair share, youshouldnotraise.
27
PLAYING THE PROGRAM STEP-BY-STEP
Letsstartwithanexamplehand.Iftherearetermshereyoudont understand, you can check the Dictionary in the back or theIntroductionToTheGamechapter.
Ready?
The three basics you need to understand before you bet one cent onanyTexasHoldemgame.
1)Checkouttheotherplayers!Aretheygoodorlousy?Checkout the section called Watch Who You Play With and then make
28
notesonthestrengthofeachplayer.Ihavesuppliedasystemyou canusetodeterminetheirabilitytoplay. 2)Decideontherightspotatthetable.Veryimportant.Probably one of the most important decisions you will make in the game.YouwillfindalotoftipsinthechapteronTablePosition. 3) Make sure you have enough chips. Stack size does matter inthis game. You will find tips on how to decide on how much toplaywiththislaterinthebook.
OK!Youreseated.Youhavereadthetableandtheotherplayers. Youhaveenoughchipstowin.Nowwhat?
Fromthispointon,justfollowoursystem.
InthisexampleyouaredealtaKingandanine.
Yourfirstquestionwillbehowgoodismyhand?
Well,welltellyou.ReferfirstofalltotheOpeningOddsChartat theendofthisbook.
Look up K9 from the chart (which you will keep by your side whenyouplay.)
Theoddsofwinningwiththesetwocardsis14%.
29
Now look at the pot. What is the total now? This is easy because thecomputerkeepstrackofthisforyoutothepenny.
Letssaythepottotalis$80.
14% of $80 is $11.20. (This is our Pot Odds calculation. This tells youhowmuchyoushouldbetbasedonwhatyouhave.)
So you match the bet of $10 and you are in. (Ten dollars is less thanyour$11.20limit.Youunderpaidtostayinthegame.
Nowtheotherskeepbetting.Itgetsbacktoyouagainandthepot isnow$120.
Whats14%of$120?Around$17.
Youve already bet $10. That leaves $7. (Your first bet on that roundplus$7)
Youneedanother$10tostayin.
Accordingtomyrulesthen,youshouldfold.
Now the $3differenceisnotmuch.Youmightdecidetogotothe $20 if necessary. But dont go any further. The odds are againstyou and you are overpaying for the cards you have yet to see.Now you are playing scientifically and based on well understoododds. This is how the pros play. They watch the other players.Theywatchtheothercards.Andtheyknowthemath.
ThesecrettowinningTexasHoldem?Beattheoddsby knowingtheodds.
InsiderTip
30
You need to beat the other players by knowing the odds betterthan they do. Now lets learn more about the secrets of onlinepoker.
Letsgetbacktoourtwopocketcards.
HerestheFLOP.
Now youre pretty excited. You just ended up with a pair ofKings. Is a pair of Kings good enough to win?Areyoureadytobetthefarm?DoyouhavetheNuts?
50%ofTexasHoldempotsarewonwithapairof9s orbetter.
InsiderTip
So that sounds good. Except there is a partial straight on the table.
Atthispoint,aftertheFLOP,thereareTHREEthingstoconsider.
31
Whatdotheotherplayershave(Tells)?
Whataremyoddsofgettingawinninghand?
Whatwillitcostmetoseethenextcard?
Backtothefirstpoint. What do the other players have? Short of those xray glasses theyusedtoadvertiseinthecomicswhenyouwereakid,howwill youknow? This is the art of the tells evaluating the other playerscards.
First,lookattheoddsfortheotherplayers. Inourgame,thereisa2cardstraightonthetable.Anotherplayer needs to have a 56 or 69 or 9T in any suit and they are close to astraight.(Lateronwewillshowyouexactlyhowtofigureoutthe exactodds.)
It is very likely that someone at the table is 1 or 2 cards from a straight.Andtheystillhavetwomorecardstofillthatstraight.
Clearly, you need threeofakind to stay in the game. Another King.
Asfarasyouknow,thereare2otherKingsinthedeck(younever countwhatyouthinksomeoneelsehasintheirdowncards).
32
Theoddsaresimpletocalculate.
There are 17 cards dealt (based on 3 down and 7 players with 2 cardseach).
Youneed2outof17cards=11.7%odds.
The betting starts and you can see the pot is $180 when it gets to you.
Howmuchcanyoubet?
11.7%of$180=$20.
If you know that you need another King to win, the most you shouldbettoseethenextcard(basedonwhatyouknow)is$20. You have one other very valuable bit of information at this point.You can see how others are betting. This should give you a goodsense,combinedwithyourreadingofthetablebeforeyousta rted,ofwhatkindofhandstheyhave.
LetsseethenextcardtheTURNcardasixofhearts.
33
WHAT WOULD YOU DO AT THIS POINT IF YOU KNEWTHAT ONE OF THE OTHER PLAYERS ALREADY HAD ASTRAIGHT?
Youwouldfold.Right?Wellneverbetonthecome.
Acardinalruleinpokeriftheyvegotyoubeatand youknowit,foldnow.
InsiderTip
Yes,youmaygetacardtoimproveyourhandbutsocanthey,so unlessyoucanseethenextcardforfree,dontwasteyourmoney. Thequestionis,howdoyouknowwhattheotherplayerhas?Are you making the determination based on how they are betting?Maybetheyrebluffing.
Youknowyoucantbeatastraightwithathrip(threeofakind).
Ontheotherhand,besidethePAIRofKINGS,youhavefourcards inastraight6,7,8,9. Why you should not play anything below AT off suit? Why itsbesttohaveA5sandbeloworATsandaboveoversomething inthemiddlelikeA8s?
34
Any Ace unsuited hand below AT can be big trouble in any kind ofgame. Some people might even consider AT and AJ difficult hands toobutforthegamesyouaregoingtobeplayingintheyareadequ atestartinghands.
ThereasonA8,A7,A5allsuckisbecauseyoureallycanthitmuch towin.TakeA8forexample.
Yourkickerisntthatgreat,the8,andyouhavenochanceofhittin ganystraightsorflushes.Theonlywayyoucanwinreallyistoh opethattheyhaveaweakerAcethenyoudoandyoucatchone.
Playingpokerislikeinvestinginthestockmarket. Youwanttoputyourmoneyintogreatstockthathasachanceto deliveragoodreturn.A8isntthatkindofstock.
NowtoanswerthequestionofATsandaboveandA5sandbelow versusA9sA8sA7sA6s. The first oneswork because you can also make a straight withthem.I would take A5s over A8s because the A and the 5 canworktogethertomakeastraight,unliketheA8s.
35
When you play weak Aces though like A5s, you have to be extra cautiousifyoucatchanAceontheflop. You wont be sure if your kicker is good or not so youll have togive the next step some thought. Playing these only in laterpositions can help you make better decisions because people willcheckmostlikelyiftheydonthavetheAorthathandbeat.
WhydohandslikeAA,KK,QQ,AK,AQworkbestatsmaller tables?
Imagineascenariowhereeveryoneisinthehand,andyoulook downandseetwogorgeousredAces?
Yourpulsestartstorace.Thenyoulookuptoseethateveryone hasalreadycalled.Atthispointyouhavetoknowthatyourcha ncesofwinningareslim. Powerhandslikethisrarelywinwhentherearethatmanypeople callingpreflop.Why?
Howdoyouimprovethishand? Inbigallinpotstwopairrarelywinsagainstflushesandstraights. Sowhatdoyoudo? Theresonlyonetacticleft.Youcouldcheckraiseontheflop insteadofbettingrightnow.Theideawouldbetotrytoforce
36
someoftheotherplayerstoleave.Limitingthefieldwould increaseyourchancestowin.
WhyarehandslikeKTs,QJsJTs,89s,79s,and46sbetterwhen youhaveafulltableofplayersin? Youcanalmostnevergetintotroublewiththesekindsofpocket cards.Ifyouhitsomething,itslikelytobequitestrong.Ifyoud ontgetthecardsyouwant,itseasyatthispointtofold. TrythatwithapairofAces!Withthosekindsofcardsyouare marriedtothepotusuallytothebitterend.AhandlikeJTsand 89sareidealforplayingagainstbigallinpots.Ouradviceisto alwaysraisetobuildthepot. Thereasonthesefavourbigpotsisbecausetheyarealways drawingtoflushesandstraights. Makeyourhand...andyouwillbehardtobeat.
SUMMARY FOR THE BEGINNER

Readthetable. Playverytight,especiallyinthebeginning. Startwithenoughchips. Betbasedonwhatthepotoddsare(neveroverbetthepot)
Watchtheoddsforupcomingcards.
37
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW (AND MAYBE DIDNT) ABOUT ODDS, PERMUTATIONS AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT
WHATARECARDODDS? Ifyouhaventalreadynoticed,probabilityisahugefactorinTexas Holdem.Forexample,thereare2,598,960possiblehandsina52 carddeckbutonly4RoyalFlushes.Iftheaverageseriouspokerpla yerisdealt100,000handsintheirlifetime,theywillneverhold
Click this link to download and install Full Tilt Poker. Receive the maximum deposit bonus of 100% up to $600. Bonus Code: 2XBONUS600
38
(onthefirstfivecards)morethan4percentofallthepossible hands.Andlikelyalotless. Figuringoutstraightcardcombinationsforthepurposeofthistext are called Card Odds (you will be introduced to other kinds ofodds later). Card Odds can reveal some quite interesting information. For example, how many pat straight flushes will you see in yourlifetime?Todeterminethatnumber,theexpectednumberofh andsthat could be dealt during your lifetime is estimated by thefollowingcalculation:
10completepokerhands/hr.x5hrs./gamex50games/yr. x40yrs./pokerlife=l00,000handsofpokerperlifetime. This is a pretty aggressive estimate, as most people will nevercome close to this number of complete hands in Texas Holdem.Based on this level of play, the number of pat (on the first fivecards) poker hands that you should get during your lifetime iscalculatedfromthecardoddsandtabulatedasfollows:
CardsDealt NumberofPatHands Nopair 50,000Onepair 40,00Twopair 5,000Threeofakind 2,000Straight 400Flush 200Fullhouse 170Fourofakind 25Straight flush 1.4 Royal straight flush 0.15
39
Sostatistically,youshouldseeapatstraightflushonyourfirstfive cardsonceortwiceduringyourlifetime.Mostaveragepokerpla yerswillneverseeevenone. Cardplayersoftentalkabouthavingaluckystreakorarun.Ma thematically,streaksdontexist.Butsupposeyoudidhaveanam azingrunofcardsoneevening.Whatwouldtheoddsbeofhaving fiveconsecutivestraightflushesinarow?
Royal Flush Other Straight Flush Four of a kind Full House Flush Straight Three of a kind Two Pairs One Pair Nothing Total
4 36 624 3,744 5,108 10,200 54,912 123,552 1,098,240 1,302,540 2,598,960
.0000015391 .0000138517 .0002400960 .0014405762 .0019654015 .0039246468 .0211284514 .0475390156 .4225690276 .5011773940 1.0000000000
In every 1.7x1024 deals . . . or once in every 700,000,000,000,000,000,000years.Youdhavetoreadthosecardsi n the dark though, because our sun will be long gone by thattime. Playersusecardoddstomakeplayingdecisions.Adecisionmade without taking into account card odds makes poker a guessinggame.Thechancesoffinishingaflushorastraight,thepr obabilityof getting an over card (face card), the percentage of times youregoing to flop a card to match your pocket pair are all extremelyimportantfactorsinTexasHoldem.
40
Knowledgeofthesestatisticsiskeytowinning.
Herearesomeotherbasicprobabilitiesthatyoushouldknow about:

Youneedonemorehearttomakeyourflushontheturn orriver35% Probabilityofhittinganopen endedstraightdraw(i.e.4straightcards,needoneoneit herendtohitonturnorriver)31.5% Probabilityofbeingdealtsuitedcards:23.5% Probabilityofhittingathreeorfourofakindattheflop whenyouholdapocketpair:11.8% Probabilityyouwillmakeapairattheflop,holdingtwo unpairedcardsinthehole:32.4% ProbabilityofbeingdealtAA:.45% Probabilityofnooneholdingaspecificcard,bynumberof players,assumingyoudonothavethatcard,bynumber oftotalplayers. 284.5% 370.9% 459% 548.6% 639.7% 732.1% 825.6% 920.1% 1015.6% Probabilitysomeoneelsedoesnothaveanace,assuming youdohaveanace,bytotalnumberofplayers:
41
288.2% 377.5% 467.6% 558.6% 650.4% 743% 836.4% 930.5% 1025.3%
HOWARETHEODDSCALCULATED?
Lets look at the example of having 4 outs (four cards you need to make your hand). Say youre holding 6c7dandtheflopcomes9s 10hKc.Inthiscaseyouneedan8tomakethestraight.Sincethere arefour8sinthedeck,youhave4outs.
YOURPOCKET
THEFLOP
42
ODDSWITHONECARDTOCOME
Calculatingtheoddswithonecardtocomeisrelatively straightforward. When youre looking to make the inside straight, you have fourouts. There are a total of 46 unknown cards (52 minusthe2cardsinyourhandminusthe3cardsfortheflopandt he1turncard).42of the cards dont make your hand and four do. 42:4 or 10.5:1 =about 9%. I prefer to use the percentage as it helps whencalculatingPotOdds(tocomelater).
ODDSWITHTWOTOCOME To calculate the appropriate odds with two cards to come, youmustfirstdeterminethetotalnumberoftwo cardcombinationspossibleaftertheflop. The easiest way to calculate this is by multiplying the number ofcards available for the turn (47) by the number of cards availablefor the river (46) and dividing that number by 2 (because a cardcantmatchitself).47*46/2=1081. A certain number of these 1081 twocard combinations will haveeightsinthem.Todetermineoddsproperly,youneedtocalcu latetwomorefigures.
EIGHTS ON BOTH THE TURN AND THE RIVER

One of the four eights can appear on the turn. And if one does,there will be three left for the river. If you multiply 4 by 3 anddivide by 2 (because a card cant match itself) you see that therearesixuniquepairingof8s.
43
EIGHTSONTHETURNORRIVER Ifaneightcomesontheturn,thereare46unseencardsremaining. But youre no longer interested in the three remaining eights, soyoucansubtractthose.Thisleaves43unseencardsthatwillmak eauniquepairwithoneoftheeights.Multiply4(thenumberof8s inthedeck)by43(thenumberofunseencards)toarriveat172.
FINISHTHECALCULATION 172 plus 6 comes to 178 the total number of two cardcombination that have at least one eight in them and as many astwoeights.
Outof1081possibletwocardcombinationsontheturnandriver, 178 of those combinations help us make our hand. Subtract 178from1081tofindthenumberofcombinationsthatdontmaket hestraight(1081178=903).
The odds against making a straight by the river are: 903:178, or 20%.
WhatAboutTheCardsTheOtherPlayersAreHolding? Everwonderwhyweneverfactortheopponentscardsorthe burncardswhenfiguringouthowmanycardsareleft? The reason is that we only considerunseen cards. If you sawwhat the burn cards were, or an opponent showed you his hand,you would know that those cards are not going to be drawn andcould use that. We typically do not know what they have, so wedonteventhinkaboutitwhentalkingaboutodds.
44
Forinstance,takeastandarddeckof52cards,remove2Acesandb urn25ofthem.Ifyoudrewthenextcard,whatarethechancesofit being an Ace? It would be 2/50 (2 Aces left out of 50 unseencards). It would NOT be 2/25 just because you burned half thedeck.Okay,dothesamethingagain,butthistimeyougettolo okat the burn cards. Lets say that of all the cards you burned, nonewereanace.Nowyouroddsare2/25becausetherearestill2 Acesandnowonly25unseencards. You will find that you can easily remember a few of the mostcommonsituationsforoutssuchasthefourflushorstraight drawbut there has to be aneasierwaythanmemorizingthefiguresforeverynumberofout s.Thegoodnewsisthatthereisawaytogetagood estimation of the odds without theheavymathandyoucanalsousehandyoddscharts.
WHATHANDSWILLWINTHEPOT? The following are the most valuable starting hands in TexasHoldem. This chart assumes a medium to loose $510 TexasHoldemgame.Theresultsarebasedonacomputersimulati onof 5,000,000 played hands. The percentage shown indicates how manytimesintypicalgamethatthesehandswinthepot.
2Pair 31%Pair 27%Threeofakind 12%Straight 9%Flush 9%Fullhouse 9%Bust(nothing) 2%Fourofakind 1%Straightflush <1%Royalflush <1%
45
This is interesting data butheresthekickerlookatthepower oftwopairsandsinglepairhands.Itsnotonlyhigherthanthe WHATAREMYCHANCESOFWINNING? Whataremychancesofwinningahandwithagivensetofpocket cards?Whataretheoddsoffillingastraight?
46
Howmuchyoucanexpecttoprofitfromthesestartinghands? Thestartinghandaveragewinforeachtimeplayedbasedon mediumtolooseTexasHoldemPokergameswitha$5/$10limit. AA $34.19KK $24.13QQ $17.36JJ $12.08AKsuited $11.63AKoffsuit $8.65AQsuited $8.32 1010 $7.72AJsuited $5.69AQoffsuit $5.47 POCKETCARDODDS
Hole Cards Odds

Any Pair Suited Cards A-K Suited Connecting Cards A-A or K-K A-anything Any two cards J's or Higher 16 : 1 3:1 82 : 1 24 : 1 110 : 1 5.3 : 1 10:1
After the Flop Pair J's or Higher No Pair improving to a Pair 55 : 1 2.7 : 1
47
Pair improving to 3 of a Kind Flop being 3 of a Kind The River (5th Street) A-K hitting an A or K by the River Q-Q vs A-K (A or K hitting) Hitting 5th card to complete a Flush Completing an Open Ended Straight Three of a Kind improving to Full House Pocket Pair improving to 3 of a Kind after the Flop Hitting a Backdoor Flush More Interesting Texas Hold'em Odds 5 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole. 4 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole. 3 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole. 2 Players, there's an A on the flop. Chances a player has an A in their hole.
8:1 391 : 1
1:6 : 1 1.5 : 1 1.6 : 1 2.9 : 1 2.7 : 1 12 : 1 33 : 1
1.7 : 1
2.1 : 1 2.9 : 1 4.3 : 1
WHATAREPOTODDS? Pot odds are the odds you get when analyzing the current size ofthe pot vs. your next call or bet. Pot Odds help you makeimportantcall,raiseorfolddecisions.
Example 1: There is $200 in the pot and a final $10 bet coming at you.Youarelookingtofillinyour4cardflush.Basedonneeding
48
one of four suits, the shortcut math is 1:4 chances or 25%.Winning consistently is about beating Pot Odds and not over betting.IfyourCardOddsare25%(youhavefourheartsandneed another to win) and you only need to bet 5% of the present pot ($10 as a percentage of the $200) to see the last card, you are ingreat shape. Based on Pot Odds for this hand you could go ashigh as 25% of the pot based on your odds to pull a heart on theriver.
Example 2: You are in a $5/$10 Holdem game with JackTen pocketcardsandoneopponentleftontheturn.
You have an outside straight draw with a board of 259Q, andonly the river card left to make your straight. Any 8 or any Kingwill finish thisstraightforyou,soyouhave8outs(four8sand4Ks left in the deck) and 46 unseen cards left. 8/46 gives you a 6:1chance or a 17% chance of getting the win. Your opponent bets $10. 6/1=17%PotOdds
49
If you take a $10 bet you could win $100. Your bet is then 10% ofthefinalpot.The10%betissmallerthanthe17%odds,soyouar eingoodshapefromaninvestmentpointofview. Whenever your call or bet (in this case 10% of the pot) is smallerthanyouroddsofgettingthewinninghand(17%)youare buyingthe next card at a discount. The key is looking at the odds of awinninghand,notbuildingapartofawinninghand. Toomanybeginnersjustplaygoodcardsandjusttossbadones oriftheyhavetheprospectofstraightoraflush theywilljustdrawanddrawwithlittleconsiderationtoanythin gelse. Unless you have the NUTS (nuts = the very best possible hand)every time there is a certain degree of risk when you put yourmoneyinthepot. In the heat of the battle you may not always have time to get outyourcalculatoranddothenumbercrunching.Youcanlookat PotOddsinamuchsimplerway justaskyourselfifthereisenoughmoneyinthepottojustifytheri sk? If there is a big pot unless you just know you are beat, or itsimply costs too much too call (which means your pot odds maynotbesogreatafteritsallsaidanddone) trytogetsomeaction.Evenifyouknewyouwerealongshot wouldyoubet$25or$50on a chance to win $500 or $1000 or more? While you may be along shot its not a bad bet if there is a reasonable chance youcouldwin. On the flip side, and this is important, you may have a decenthand anditmayevenbethewinner,(useyouropponentortellsknowl edge)butifitsgoingtocostyou$250tocallandyoustand
50
toonlywinafewhundredthenyourpotoddsarenotsogreatand isprobablynotworththerisk.
Potoddsratiosareausefultooltoseehowoftenyouneedtowin thehandtobreakeven. Ifthereis$100inthepotandittakes$10tocall,youmustwinthis hand 1 out of 11 times in order to break even. The thinking goesalongthelinesof:Ifyouplay11times,itllcostyou$110,but whenyouwin,youget$110($100+your$10call). The usefulness ofcardoddsandpotoddsbecomesveryapparentwhen you start comparing the two. As we know now, in a flushdraw, your card odds for making your flush are 1.9 to 1 or 35%.Letssayyoureinahandwithanutflushdrawandits$5to youon the flop to call. Do you call? Your answer should be: What aremypotodds? Ifthereis$15inthepotplusa$5betfromanopponent,thenyoua regetting20:5or4:1potodds 25%.Thismeansthatinordertobreak even, you must win 1 out of every 5 times. However, withyourflushdraw,youroddsofwinningare1outofevery3ti mes!You should quickly realize that not only are you breaking even,butyouremakinganiceprofitonthistoo.Letscalculatethe profitmargin on this by theoretically playing this hand 100 times fromtheflop,whenisthencheckedtotheriver.
TotalCosttoPlay=100hands*$5tocall=$500 PotValue=$15+$5bet+$5call=$25 OddstoWin=1.9:1or35%(Fromtheflop) TotalHandsWon=100*OddstoWin(35%)=35wins NetProfit=NetCosttoPlay+(TotalTimesWon*PotValue)
51
=$500+(35*$30) =$500+$1,050 =$550Profit As you can see, you have a great reason to play this flush draw,becauseyoullbemakingmoneyinthelongrunaccordingto yourcardoddsandpotodds.Themostfundamentalpointtotake fromthisis: IfyourPotOdds>CardOdds,thenyouaremakingaprofit. So,eventhoughyoumaybefacedwithagutshotstraightdrawatt imes,whichisaterribledrawat5to1handodds,itcanbeworthit to call if you are getting pot odds greater than 5 to 1. Othertimes, if you have an excellent draw such as the flush draw, butsomeone has just raised a large amount so your pot odds are 1:1for instance, then you obviously should not continue trying todraw to a flush, as you will lose money in the long run. In thissituation, a fold or semibluff is your only solution, unless youknowtherewillbecallersbehindyouthatimproveyourpoto ddstobetterthanbreakeven. Your ability to memorize or calculate your card odds and figureout your pot odds will lead you to make many of the rightdecisionsinthefuture.Justbesuretorememberthatfundam entalprinciple of playing drawing hands when your pot odds aregreaterthanyourcardodds. Another good rule to follow a lot of players want to somehowfactor in money they wagered on previous rounds. With the lastexample, you probably had already invested a significant portion
52
ofthat$200pot.Letssay$50.Doesthatmeanyoushouldplayor foldbecauseofthatmoneyyoualreadyhaveinthere?$50/$200? Thatsabigno. Thats not your money anymore! Its in a pool of money to begiven to the winner. You have nostake in that pot. The onlystakeyoumighthaveistotallymentalandhasnobearingon hardstatistics. Thenextstepistousebetoddsandimpliedodds.Thatstougher, because it involves predicting reactions of other players. With betodds, you try to factor in how many people are going to call araise. With implied odds, youre thinking about reactions for therestofthegame.Oneexampleonimpliedodds... Sayitsanother$5/$10Holdemgameandyouhaveafourflushon theflop. Yourneighbourbets,andeveryoneelsefolds.Thepotis$50atthis point.Firstyoufigureoutyourchanceofhittingyourflushonthet urn,anditcomesouttoabout19%(about1in5).Youhavetocallt his $5 bet vs. a $50 pot, so thats a 10x payout. 1/5 is higher than 1/10, so bet odds are okay, but you must consider that this guysgoingtobetintoyouontheturnandriveralso.Thatsthe$5 plustwomore$10bets. Sonowyourfacing$25moretilltheendofthehand.Soyouhavet o consider your chances of hitting that flush on the turn or river,whichmakesitabout35%(betterthan1in3now),butyouh avetoinvest $25 for a finishing pot of $100. $100/$25 is 1 in 4. Thatsprettyclose. Buttheresmore!
53
If you dont make it on the turn, itll change your outs and odds!Youllhavea19.6%chanceofhittingtheflush(littleworseth an1in5),buta$20investmentforafinishingpotof$100!$100/$20 is1in 5. So the chances could take a nasty turn if you didnt hit it!Whats makes it more complicated is that if you did hit it on theturn,youcouldraisehimback,andgetanextra$20ormaybee ven $40inthepot. Once youve mastered simple outs and pot odds, bet and impliedodds are just a longer extension of these equations. If you thinkabout these things while you play, they will eventually becomesecondnaturetoyou.
MoreOddsExamples:Apocketpair
You start with a pair of Jacks in the pocket. Not too shabby. The flophowever,doesntcontainanotherJack.
YOURPOCKET
THEFLOP
54
Lesson 1: Whats my chance of getting a Jack on the turn?Youneedtojustfigureoutthenumberofoutsanddivideitb ythenumber of cards in the deck. There are 2 more Jacks. Theres 47more cards since youve seen five already. The answer is 2/47, or .0426,closeto4.3%. Lesson 2: No luck on the turn, how about the river card?Still 2 Jacks left, but one less card in the deck bringing the grandtotal to 46. Whats 2/46? Thats .0434, which is also close to 4.3%.Yourchancesdidntchangemuch.
Lesson3:ForgetjustgettingjustoneJack!Iwantthemboth!What aremychances? Since were trying to figure out the chances of getting one on theturn AND the river, and not getting one on EITHER the turn orriver, we dont have to reverse our thinking. Just multiply theprobability of each event happening. Chances of getting that firstJack on the turn was .0426, remember? The chance of getting asecond Jack on the river would be 1/46, because therell only beoneJackleftinthedeck.Thatsabout.0217,or2.2%.
Togettheanswer,multiplythem..0426X.0217isabout.0009! Thatsaroundonetenthofapercent.Iwouldntbankonthat one.
Lesson4:Hey,whatweremychancesofgettingapairofJacks anyway? To figure that out, think of it as getting dealt one card, thenanother. What are your chances of the second card matching thefirst one? There will be 3 cards left like the one you have. Theres 51cardsleftinthedeck.3/51is.059or5.9%.Whatthechancethat
55
itllbeJacks?Well,thereare13differentcards.So,.059/13isabout .0045,alittlelessthanhalfapercent. Lesson 5: What were my chances of getting a Jack on the flop?Nowyoudohavetothinkinreverseasinthepreviousexa mple.Figure out the chances of NOT getting a Jack on each successivecardflip.Firstcardyouhavea48/50chance(48non Jackcardsleft, 50 cards left inthedeck),secondcardis47/49,thirdcardis46/48.Those come out to .96, .959, and .958. Multiply them and get .882,oran88.2%chanceofNOTgettinganyJacksontheflop.Inver titto figure out what your chances really are and you get .118 or 11.8%.ThiswillbeyourchancetogetoneortwoJacks.
Example#2Thestraightdraw
THEPOCKET
You start with a Jack of Spades and a Ten of Spades. You get arainbowflopwithaQueenofSpades,aThreeofDiamonds,and aNineofClubs.Youvegotastraightdraw.
THEFLOP
56
Lesson 1: What are my chances of hitting it on the next card?Same as before, but with different outs. A King or an Eight willcomplete your hand. There is presumably four of each left in thedeck. Youve got 8 outs. The chance of getting one of them on theturn is 8 over 47, because theres 47 cards left in the deck. Thatcomesouttoabout.170,oraround17%. Lesson 2: I didnt get it on the turn! What are my chances now?Therearestill8cardsleftinthedeckthatllhelpyou,but46c ardsleftinthedeck.Thats8over46.Itchangesto.174.Itsimprov edtoawhopping17.4%! Lesson3:Ishouldofthoughtaboutmytotalchancesfirst,Imsuch anidiot.WhataremychancesofgettingthatcardontheturnORt heriver?
Once again well have to calculate the chances of a King or Eight NOTappearing,sowecandoitlikethelastproblem(inthiscase, {39/47}X{38/46}).Or,sincewevealreadyfiguredoutourchancesi n the previous two lessons, we can just invert the probabilitiesand multiply them. You had a .170 chance on the turn, and a .174ontheriver.Byinverting,Imeansubtractingthemfromone. Nowwevegot.830and.826!Multiplyandget.686!Thatsourchan ceofNOT hitting our card at all. So invert it again and get .314, or 31.4%.
Example#3Toptwopair
THEPOCKET
57
THEFLOP
YougetdealtaKingofDiamondsandaNineofHearts.Theflopis looking pretty good for you with a King of Spades, a Nine ofClubs,andaFourofClubs.Toptwopair!
Lesson 1: What are my chances of getting a full house on the turn? To get a full house, you need another King or Nine to pop up.Thereistwoofeachleftinthedeck.Soyouvegot4outs.After thefloptheresalways47cardsunaccountedfor.4/47isaround.08 5oran8.5%chanceofyougettingtheFullHouse.
Lesson 2: What are my chances of getting a full house on the river?
If itdidnthappenontheturn,yourchancesusuallydontchange all too much, but lets check. Youve still got 4 outs and now 46
58
unseen cards left. 4/46 is about .087 or around an 8.7% chance of hittingitontheriver.A.2%difference.
Lesson3:Howaboutthechancesofgettingtheboatontheturn ORtheriver? Like the previous examples, to figure your chance of somethinghappeningonmultipleevents,youneedtocalculatethe chanceofit NOT happening first. On the turn it wont happen 43/47 times.Ontheriveritwonthappen42/46times.43/47is.915,and42 /46is .913. Multiply them and get .835, or 83.5% chance of it nothappening.Invertthatandyougeta16.5%ofgettingatleastaf ullhousebytheshowdown.
Lesson4:WhatdoyoumeanbyatleastaFullHouse? Since we figured the chances to NOT get dealt a full house, thechancesarebuiltiniftheturnandriveraretwoKings,twoNin es,oraKingandaNine.IfyouaredealttwocardsbothofeitherKi ngorNine,itllbefourofa kindandnotaKingandNine33%ofthetime. Think of it as being dealt one card then the other. What arethe chances of the first card matching the second? Whether its aKing or Nine, there will be only one unaccounted for, but two oftheother.Thats1/3,or33%.
Lesson5:Thenwhataremychancesofgettingfourofakind? This one requires a little more thought. It doesnt matter whichcardwerehopingfor.Weneedtofirstgetafullhouseonth eturn.According to lesson #1, the chance of that happening is .085. Thechanceofgettingthesamecardwegotontheturnis1/46.Ther esonlyoneout,andtheusual46unseencards.1/46isaround.022, or 2.2%. Multiply the two probabilities (.022 X .085) and get .002 or
59
onefifth of a percent. It will be Kings half of the time and Nines theotherhalf Is this making any sense? If you really want to be a master ofcalculatingodds,youneedtoseethesecalculationsinaction,ove rand over. Like anything else, practice makes perfect. In onlinegames especially with very few if any tells (shown cards),statistical knowledge becomes the main factor when choosingwhethertobet,call,orfold.
Ifyoudohaveahandthatyouknowcantloseyouhavethenut. Betlikecrazy. While there is a lot more to Texas Holdem poker than this thisshould open your eyes to more things about the game of pokerthanjustthecardsandtheirstatistics. Yes YouDOneedtoknowyourgeneralchancesofpullingwhattypes of hands but if you learn to study your opponents, theywill tell you their hands and youll be able to beat them withoutevenknowingyours.
RETURNONINVESTMENT(ROI) When the stakes required to play a game of Texas Holdemincrease, there is not a proportional increase in the averagewinnings or money flow because most players, especially at thestartofplay,playtighterathigherstakes.
Hereshowthatworks. Higherstakescauseplayerstobemorecautious.Potsdonotgrow proportionately as the stakes and blinds increase. Your return oninvestmentwillthereforedecreaseastheminimumblindgoesu p.
60
Max Bet Pot Size $ 2 Max 28 - 37 $ 4 Max 25 - 35 $ 6 Max 20 - 22 $ 10 Max 10 - 28 $ 20 Max 6-7 $ 50 Max 12 $ 60 Max 7.6 $ 100 Max 6.11 $ 200 Max 5.5 Most major online casinos release data on hands played (for aprice) on a regular basis. A recent study (June 2004) from one ofthelargestonlinecasinos,basedonseveralmillionactualhands ofPokerplayed,revealedthatthereturnoninvestmentvariesquite abitbasedonthemaximumbet. Inthe$2games,thevalueofthewinningpotvariedfrom28to37ti mestheBigBlind(BB) themostyouwouldhavetoinvesttoseethe flop (short of raises). The average pots were in the $60 range.With the right cards, you could expect a return of 3000% on awinninghand. As you can see in the chart above, this ratio falls as the Blinds goup. In the $200 game, with pots averaging $6001200, the ratioaverages 5.5:1. Sure, greater overall winnings but much greaterriskbasedontheinvestmentyouhavetomaketoseethefl op. Also notice the volatility or variance of this ratio. On the highstakes tables, play is very tight and often passive, so the ratioremainsverynarrowpotsarepredictably5 6timestheBigBlind.At the smaller stakes tables, there is considerably more volatility,indicative of a lot of looser players and more aggressive playingstyles.
61
The$1/$2tablesaretheloosestwithpotsrangingfrom2837times theBigBlind.
AreLowStakeTablesFaster?
Not necessarily. Texas Holdem is the king of fast play. Several $1000 plus pots were played in less than a minute and ranged aslongas6minutes thesamerangeforthesmallstaketables.Overall, the average length of an online Poker game today is just overoneminuteor5060handsperhour. Inhigherstakesgames,onethingisquiteclear.Thereareahigher percentageoftighterandaggressiveplayersatthesetablesthanatt hesmallstakegames.Thatmeanstherearemoresharksatthebigt ables and a much better chance that you will be one of the fish.The smart thing to do here is to say away from these kinds oftables. Given the fact that the return on investment is lower at the highstake games, that the average level of play is much moreaggressive and that a much larger stake is required, there is verylittleopportunitytobeaconsistentwinnerontableswith$50 andupblinds.
Alloftherecentresearchpointsto$5/$10Limittables asidealcombinationofriskandreward.
InsiderTip FACT!Whentheaverageloosegamblerloses,heorshekeepson playinginanattempttorecovertheloss.Thisisirrationalandun plannedplayandcanbeveryexpensive.
62
Ontheotherhand,whenmostinnategamblerswin,theyforgetall about their losses and conclude incorrectly that they have finallylearned how to win or that their luck has finally changed. Theyexpress what is an irrational optimism at this point a totallyunfoundedandundeservedoptimismthatkeepstheminth egameuntiltheyrevertbacktoalosingstreak. Sharksexploitthisirrationalplayingstyleingamblerstogenerate acontinuousincome. POCKETCARDODDS
HoleCardsDealt SuitedStarters ConnectedStarters SuitedConnected Starters PairedStarters AADealt KKDealt QQDealt JJDealt TTDealt 99Dealt 88Dealt 77Dealt Dealt 680,351 454,220 114,304 13,010 13,182 13,122 13,069 12,886 13,092 13,046 13,111 Percent 23.56% 15.73% 3.96% 0.45% 0.46% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% Expected Percent 679,596 453,064 113,266 23.53% 15.69% 3.92%
64
66Dealt 55Dealt 44Dealt 33Dealt 22Dealt AllPairedStarters AKSuitedStarters AKOffsuitStarters AllAKStarters
13,130 13,173 13,015 13,075 13,076 169,987 8,717 26,051 34,768
0.45% 0.46% 0.45% 0.45% 0.45% 5.89% 0.30% 0.90% 1.20%
169,899 8,713 26,138 34,851
5.88% 0.30% 0.90% 1.21%
THERULEOFFOURTWO The rule of fourtwo is an easier way to figure the odds for anysituationwhereyouknowyourouts.Itisnotcompletelyaccu ratebut it will give you a quickballpark figure of your chances formakingahand.
Hereishowitworks. With two cards to come after the flop you multiply your numberofoutsbyfour.Withonecardtocomeaftertheturn,you multiplyyournumberofoutsbytwo.
Thiswillgiveyouaquickfiguretoworkwith.
If you have a fourcard flush after the flop you have nine outs. Withtwocardstocome,youmultiplytheninebyfourandyouget 36percentchanceofmakingtheflush.
65
The chart shows the true odds at 35 percent. With one card tocome you multiply nine by two and get 18 percent. The chartshowsthatthetruefigureis19.6.Itisnotcompletelyaccurate butitisprettyclose,anditisaneasycalculationtodoinyourhea d
Howtocalculatehandodds(thelongerway): Once you know how to correctly count the number of outs youhave on a hand, you can use that to calculate what percent of thetime you will hit your hand by the river. Probability can becalculated easily for a single event, like the flipping of the rivercardfromtheturn.Thiswouldsimplybe:TotalOuts/Remai ningCards.Fortwocardshowever,likefromthefloptotheriver,i tsabitmorecomplicated.Thisiscalculatedbyfiguringtheprobab ilityof your cards not hitting twice in a row. This can be calculated asshownbelow:
FloptoRiver%=1[((47Outs)/47)*((46Outs)/46)] TurntoRiver%=(47Outs)/46 Thenumber47representstheremainingcardsleftinthedeckafter theflop(52totalcards,minus2inourhandand3ontheflop=47r emaining cards). Even though there might not technically be 47cards remaining, we do calculations assuming we are the onlyplayers in the game. To illustrate, here is a two overcard draw,which has 3 outs for each overcard, giving a total of 6 outs for atoppairdraw:
TwoOvercardDraw=1[(476)/47*(466)/46] =1[(41/47)*(40/46)] =1[0.87*0.87] =10.76 =0.24 =24%ChancetoDrawOvercardsfromFloptoRiver
66
However, most of the time we want to see this in hand odds,whichwillbeexplainedafteryoureadaboutpotodds.Toch angeapercenttoodds,theformulais:
Odds=(1/Percentage)1 Thus,tochangethe24%drawintoanoddwecanuse,wedothe following:
Odds=(1/24%TwoOvercardDraw)1 =(1/0.24)1 =4.171 =3.17orapprox3.2 ANALYZINGPROBABILITIESINDEPTH You may want to skip this section and go back to it later. Some ofthisisprettydeep.Butimportant! Getting a handle on the probability of being dealt various pokerhandsisoneofthemostimportantandvaluableskillsaplay ercanhave. We present a number of different ways to do thesecalculations, from a rough guesstimate system called the 2 4 Ruletotheactualcombinationmath. Thefirstoddscalculationthatmustbemadeistodeterminethe totalnumberofpossiblepokerhandsinadeck. As weve shown, a poker hand consists of 5 cards drawn from adeck of 52 cards. Therefore, the number of combinations isCOMBIN(52,5)=2,598,960. If you use Microsoft Excel, you can duplicate these calculations using the COMBIN factor. COMBIN returns the number of
67
combinations for a given number of items. To find the COMBIN factorinExcelgotoINSERT...FUNCTION...MATH&TRIG. For each of the aboveNumber of Combinations we divide bythis number to get the probability of being dealt any particularhand. For the calculations, we will first split out theNo Pair handswhich include Royal Straight Flushes, Straight Flushes, Flushes,Straights, andNothings. Then, we will look at all combinationsthathaveatleast1pair. The cards in a hand without any pairs will have 5 different denominations selected randomly from the 13 available (2, 3, 4...Ace). Also, each of the 5 denominations will select 1 suit fromthe four available suits. Thus the total number of nopair handswillequal: COMBIN(13, 5) * (COMBIN(4, 1))^5 = 1287 * 1024 = 1,317,888. AStraightFlushismadeupof5consecutivecardsinthesamesuit andmayhaveahighcardof5,6,7,8,9,10,Jack,Queen,King,orA ceforatotalof10differentranks.Eachofthesemaybeinanyof 4 suits. Thus there are 40 possible Straight Flushes. An Ace highStraight Flush is a Royal Flush. Since there are only 4 differentsuits there are only 4 possible Royal Straight Flushes. When wesubtract the 4 Royal Straight Flushes from the total of 40 StraightFlushes we are left with 36 other Straight Flushes that are Kinghighorless. A Flush consists of any 5 of the 13 cards from a particular suit.There are 4 possible suits. The number of possible Flushes is:COMBIN(13,5)*4=5,148.However,thisincludesthe40possibl e
68
Straight Flushes. When we subtract these out, we are left with: 5,14840=5,108possibleordinaryflushes. Astraightconsistsof5cardswithconsecutivedenominationsand mayhaveahighcardof5,6,7,8,9,10,Jack,Queen,King,orAcefo ratotalof10differentranks.Eachofthese5cardsmaybeinanyof the 4 suits. Thus there are 10 * 4^5 = 10,240 different possiblestraights. However, this total includes the 40 possible StraightFlushes.Thuswesubtract40,whichleavesuswith10,200 possibleordinarystraights. Finally,wecometothenothinghandswhicharebasicallyallthel eft over garbage. This is simply the total number ofNo Pairhands minus all the good stuff. This gives us: 1,317,888 4 36 5,10810,200=1,302,540nothinghands. Howabouttheoddsofgetting1pairorbetter? A hand with just 1 pair has 4 different denominations selectedrandomly from the 13 available denominations. 3 of thesedenominations will select 1 card randomly from the 4 availablesuits.The4thdenominationwillselect2cardsfromthea vailable4suits. Finally, the pair can be any one of the four availabledenominations. Thus the calculation is: COMBIN(13, 4) * (COMBIN(4, 1))^3 * COMBIN( 4, 2) * 4 = 1,098,240 possible hands thathavejustonepair. Thecalculationforahandwithtwopairsissimilar.Wewillhave3 random denominations taken from the 13 available. Two of thesedenominationswilluse2ofthefouravailablesuitswhilethe thirddenomination selects 1 of the four available suits. The singletoncard may be any one of the three denominations. Thus, thecalculation becomes: COMBIN(13, 3) * (COMBIN(4, 2))^2 *COMBIN(4,1)*3=123,552possiblehandswith2pairs.
69
Three of a kind is calculated in a similar manner. There will be 3different denominations from the 13 possible denominations. Onedenomination will select 3 of the 4 available suits while the othertwo denominations select 1 card from each of the 4 possible suits.Finally, the three of a kind can be in any of the threedenominations. The calculation becomes: COMBIN(13, 3) *COMBIN(4,3)*(COMBIN(4,1))^2*3=54,912possiblehandswit h 3ofakind. The next calculation will be for a Full House. A Full House onlyuses 2 of the 13 denominations. One of these will select 3 cardsfrom the 4 available while the other selects 2 cards from the 4available. Finally the denomination that has 3 cards can be eitherone of the 2 denominations that we are using. This gives us:COMBIN(13, 2) * COMBIN(4, 3) * COMBIN(4 , 2) * 2 = 3,744possibleFullHouses. The final calculation is for 4 of a kind. Again, we will select 2denominations from the 13 available. One of these will select 4cardsfromthe4available(Obviouslytheonlywaytodothisisto take all four cards.) while the other denomination takes 1 of theavailable 4 cards. The denomination that has 4 of a kind can beeitheroneofthe2availabledenominations. Thus, the calculation becomes: COMBIN(13, 2) * COMBIN( 4, 4) * COMBIN(4,1)*2=624differentwaysofbeingdealt4ofakind. PokerOddsFromTheTurn Many players who really understand Holdem odds still tend toforget that the turn can change their odds dramatically. Its truethatforaflushdraw,thecardoddsare1.9to1fromtheflopto theriver. However, this is a theoretical situation where it assumes
70
there is no additional betting on the turn. Typically this is notgoingtobethecasesoyouwillneedtorecalculateyourcardo ddsandpotodds. Wewillusetheflushcalculationexampleagainandrunthroughit 100 times assuming there was $20 in the pot on the flop with two $5bets.Ontheturn,thisleaves$30inthepot,plusa$10betfrom youropponenttocall. CosttoPlay=100hands*$10tocallonturn=$1,000 PotValue=$30+$10bet+$10call OddstoWin=4.1:1or19%(Fromtheturn) TotalHandsWon=100*OddstoWin(19%)=19wins NetProfit=NetCosttoPlay+(TotalTimesWon*PotValue) =$1,000+(19*$50) =$1,000+$900 =$100Profit Now,youcanseethatwhatwasaveryprofitabledrawontheflop suddenly turned into a not so great draw on the turn. This isbecause by not hitting your flush by the turn, it lowered yourchancesofmakingaflushbytheriver.Theoddsthusincrease dto 4.1 to 1insteadof1.9to1.Soeventhoughthepotoddsremainedthesam eat4:1,becausethecardoddswentdown,thisflushdrawhasnow becomeunprofitable. Realizing the dynamic changes in your odds is extremelyimportant so that you dont go making incorrect draws based onodds from the flop. Just remember that your odds essentiallydoublefromthefloptotheturn,soadjustyourplayacc ordingly.
71
Each entry in the following table is the result of 1,000,000simulated hands of Texas Holdem played to the showdown andrepresents the percentage of pots won (including partial pots inthe case of splits) by the indicated hand against the indicatednumberofopponentsholdingrandomhands. The study shows a very clear correlation between your odds ofsuccess against the number of players. Notice the JJ, TT, 99anomaly where the power of these cards increase dramaticallyover perceived better pocket cards depending on how manyplayersareleft.ThehandsindicatedinBOLDcanhaveimpr essiveresultsbutrequireaggressiveraisingtoforceoutweakerpla yers.
Opponents: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hand AA 85.3 73.4 63.9 55.9 49.2 43.6 38.8 34.7 31.1 KK 82.4 68.9 58.2 49.8 43.0 37.5 32.9 29.2 26.1 QQ 79.9 64.9 53.5 44.7 37.9 32.5 28.3 24.9 22.2 Aks 67.0 50.7 41.4 35.4 31.1 27.7 25.0 22.7 20.7 AQs 66.1 49.4 39.9 33.7 29.4 26.0 23.3 21.1 19.3 JJ 77.5 61.2 49.2 40.3 33.6 28.5 24.6 21.6 19.3 KQs 63.4 47.1 38.2 32.5 28.3 25.1 22.5 20.4 18.6 AJs 65.4 48.2 38.5 32.2 27.8 24.5 22.0 19.9 18.1 KJs 62.6 45.9 36.8 31.1 26.9 23.8 21.3 19.3 17.6 ATs 64.7 47.1 37.2 31.0 26.7 23.5 21.0 18.9 17.3 AK 65.4 48.2 38.6 32.4 27.9 24.4 21.6 19.2 17.2 TT 75.1 57.7 45.2 36.4 30.0 25.3 21.8 19.2 17.2 QJs 60.3 44.1 35.6 30.1 26.1 23.0 20.7 18.7 17.1 KTs 61.9 44.9 35.7 29.9 25.8 22.8 20.4 18.5 16.9 QTs 59.5 43.1 34.6 29.1 25.2 22.3 19.9 18.1 16.6 JTs 57.5 41.9 33.8 28.5 24.7 21.9 19.7 17.9 16.5 99 72.1 53.5 41.1 32.6 26.6 22.4 19.4 17.2 15.6
72
AQ A9s KQ T9s A8s K9s J9s A5s Q9s 88 AJ A7s A4s A6s A3s KJ QJ 77 T8s K8s AT A2s 98s K7s Q8s J8s KT JT 66 QT K6s 87s K5s 97s T7s
64.5 46.8 36.9 30.4 25.9 22.5 19.7 17.5 15.5 63.0 44.8 34.6 28.4 24.2 21.1 18.8 16.9 15.4 61.4 44.4 35.2 29.3 25.1 21.8 19.1 16.9 15.1 54.3 38.9 31.0 26.0 22.5 19.8 17.8 16.2 14.9 62.1 43.7 33.6 27.4 23.3 20.3 18.0 16.2 14.8 60.0 42.4 32.9 27.2 23.2 20.3 18.1 16.3 14.8 55.8 39.6 31.3 26.1 22.4 19.7 17.6 15.9 14.6 59.9 41.4 31.8 26.0 22.2 19.6 17.5 15.9 14.5 57.9 40.7 31.9 26.4 22.5 19.7 17.6 15.9 14.5 69.1 49.9 37.5 29.4 24.0 20.3 17.7 15.8 14.4 63.6 45.6 35.4 28.9 24.4 21.0 18.3 16.1 14.3 61.1 42.6 32.6 26.5 22.5 19.6 17.4 15.7 14.3 58.9 40.4 30.9 25.3 21.6 19.0 17.0 15.5 14.2 60.0 41.3 31.4 25.6 21.7 19.0 16.9 15.3 14.0 58.0 39.4 30.0 24.6 21.0 18.5 16.6 15.1 13.9 60.6 43.1 33.6 27.6 23.5 20.2 17.7 15.6 13.9 58.2 41.4 32.6 26.9 22.9 19.8 17.3 15.3 13.7 66.2 46.4 34.4 26.8 21.9 18.6 16.4 14.8 13.7 52.6 36.9 29.0 24.0 20.6 18.1 16.2 14.8 13.6 58.5 40.2 30.8 25.1 21.3 18.6 16.5 14.8 13.5 62.9 44.4 34.1 27.6 23.1 19.8 17.2 15.1 13.4 57.0 38.5 29.2 23.9 20.4 18.0 16.1 14.6 13.4 51.1 36.0 28.5 23.6 20.2 17.8 15.9 14.5 13.4 57.8 39.4 30.1 24.5 20.8 18.1 16.0 14.5 13.2 56.2 38.6 29.7 24.4 20.7 18.0 16.0 14.4 13.2 54.2 37.5 29.1 24.0 20.5 17.9 15.9 14.4 13.2 59.9 42.0 32.5 26.5 22.3 19.2 16.7 14.7 13.1 55.4 39.0 30.7 25.3 21.5 18.6 16.3 14.5 13.1 63.3 43.2 31.5 24.5 20.1 17.3 15.4 14.0 13.1 57.4 40.2 31.3 25.7 21.6 18.6 16.3 14.4 12.9 56.8 38.4 29.1 23.7 20.1 17.5 15.6 14.0 12.8 48.2 33.9 26.6 22.0 18.9 16.7 15.0 13.7 12.7 55.8 37.4 28.2 23.0 19.5 17.0 15.2 13.7 12.5 49.5 34.2 26.8 22.1 18.9 16.6 14.9 13.6 12.5 51.0 34.9 27.0 22.2 19.0 16.6 14.8 13.5 12.4
73
K4s 76s 55 K3s Q7s 44 J7s 33 22 K2s 86s 65s Q6s 54s Q5s 96s 75s Q4s T9 A9 T6s Q3s J6s 64s Q2s 85s K9 J9 J5s 53s Q9 A8 J4s J3s 74s
54.7 36.4 27.4 22.3 19.0 16.6 14.8 13.4 12.3 45.7 32.0 25.1 20.8 18.0 15.9 14.4 13.2 12.3 60.3 40.1 28.8 22.4 18.5 16.0 14.4 13.2 12.3 53.8 35.5 26.7 21.7 18.4 16.2 14.5 13.1 12.1 54.5 36.7 27.9 22.7 19.2 16.7 14.8 13.3 12.1 57.0 36.8 26.3 20.6 17.3 15.2 13.9 12.9 12.1 52.4 35.4 27.1 22.2 18.9 16.4 14.6 13.2 12.0 53.7 33.5 23.9 19.0 16.2 14.6 13.5 12.6 12.0 50.3 30.7 22.0 17.8 15.5 14.2 13.3 12.5 12.0 52.9 34.6 26.0 21.2 18.1 15.9 14.3 13.0 11.9 46.5 32.0 25.0 20.6 17.6 15.6 14.1 12.9 11.9 43.2 30.2 23.7 19.7 17.0 15.2 13.8 12.7 11.9 53.8 35.8 27.1 21.9 18.5 16.1 14.3 12.9 11.7 41.1 28.8 22.6 18.9 16.5 14.8 13.5 12.5 11.7 52.9 34.9 26.3 21.4 18.1 15.8 14.1 12.7 11.6 47.7 32.3 24.9 20.4 17.4 15.3 13.7 12.4 11.4 43.8 30.1 23.4 19.4 16.7 14.8 13.4 12.3 11.4 51.7 33.9 25.5 20.7 17.6 15.4 13.7 12.4 11.3 51.7 35.7 27.7 22.5 18.9 16.2 14.1 12.6 11.3 60.9 41.8 31.2 24.7 20.3 17.1 14.7 12.8 11.2 49.2 32.8 25.1 20.5 17.4 15.2 13.6 12.3 11.2 50.7 33.0 24.7 20.1 17.0 14.9 13.3 12.1 11.1 50.8 33.6 25.4 20.6 17.4 15.2 13.5 12.1 11.1 41.4 28.5 22.1 18.4 15.9 14.2 12.9 11.9 11.1 49.9 32.2 24.0 19.5 16.6 14.6 13.1 11.9 10.9 44.8 30.2 23.2 19.1 16.3 14.3 12.9 11.8 10.9 58.0 39.5 29.6 23.6 19.5 16.5 14.1 12.3 10.8 53.4 36.5 27.9 22.5 18.7 15.9 13.8 12.1 10.8 50.0 32.8 24.7 20.0 17.0 14.7 13.1 11.8 10.8 39.3 27.1 21.1 17.5 15.2 13.7 12.5 11.6 10.8 55.5 37.6 28.5 22.9 19.0 16.1 13.8 12.1 10.7 60.1 40.8 30.1 23.7 19.4 16.2 13.9 12.0 10.6 49.0 31.8 24.0 19.4 16.4 14.3 12.8 11.5 10.6 47.9 30.9 23.2 18.8 16.0 14.0 12.5 11.3 10.4 41.8 28.2 21.7 17.9 15.3 13.5 12.2 11.2 10.4
74
95s 43s J2s T5s A7 A5 T4s 63s T8 98 A4 T3s 84s 52s T2s A6 42s A3 J8 K8 94s 87 73s Q8 93s 32s A2 92s 62s K7 83s 97 82s 76 K6
45.9 30.4 23.2 18.8 16.0 13.9 12.4 11.3 10.3 38.0 26.2 20.3 16.9 14.7 13.1 12.0 11.1 10.3 47.1 30.1 22.6 18.3 15.6 13.7 12.2 11.1 10.2 47.2 30.8 23.3 18.9 16.0 13.9 12.4 11.2 10.2 59.1 39.4 28.9 22.6 18.4 15.4 13.2 11.4 10.1 57.7 38.2 27.9 22.0 18.0 15.2 13.1 11.5 10.1 46.4 30.1 22.7 18.4 15.6 13.6 12.1 11.0 10.0 39.4 26.5 20.4 16.8 14.5 12.9 11.7 10.8 10.0 50.0 33.6 25.4 20.4 16.9 14.4 12.5 11.0 9.9 48.4 32.9 25.1 20.1 16.6 14.2 12.3 10.9 9.9 56.4 36.9 26.9 21.1 17.3 14.7 12.6 11.0 9.8 45.5 29.3 22.0 17.8 15.1 13.2 11.8 10.7 9.8 42.7 28.1 21.4 17.4 14.8 13.0 11.7 10.6 9.8 37.5 25.3 19.5 16.1 14.0 12.5 11.4 10.6 9.8 44.7 28.5 21.4 17.4 14.8 13.0 11.6 10.5 9.7 57.8 38.0 27.6 21.5 17.5 14.7 12.6 10.9 9.6 36.3 24.6 18.8 15.7 13.7 12.3 11.2 10.4 9.6 55.6 35.9 26.1 20.4 16.7 14.2 12.2 10.7 9.5 51.7 34.2 25.6 20.4 16.8 14.1 12.2 10.7 9.5 56.3 37.2 27.3 21.4 17.4 14.6 12.5 10.8 9.4 43.8 28.4 21.3 17.3 14.6 12.7 11.3 10.3 9.4 45.5 30.6 23.2 18.5 15.4 13.1 11.5 10.3 9.3 40.0 26.3 20.0 16.4 14.0 12.3 11.1 10.1 9.3 53.8 35.4 26.2 20.6 16.9 14.1 12.1 10.5 9.2 43.2 27.8 20.8 16.8 14.3 12.5 11.1 10.1 9.2 35.1 23.6 18.0 14.9 13.0 11.7 10.7 9.9 9.2 54.6 35.0 25.2 19.6 16.1 13.6 11.7 10.2 9.1 42.3 27.0 20.2 16.4 13.9 12.2 10.9 9.9 9.1 37.5 24.8 18.8 15.4 13.3 11.8 10.7 9.8 9.1 55.4 36.1 26.3 20.5 16.7 13.9 11.8 10.2 9.0 40.8 26.3 19.8 16.0 13.6 11.9 10.7 9.7 8.9 46.7 30.9 23.1 18.4 15.1 12.8 11.1 9.8 8.8 40.3 25.8 19.4 15.7 13.3 11.7 10.5 9.6 8.8 42.7 28.5 21.5 17.1 14.2 12.2 10.8 9.6 8.8 54.3 35.0 25.3 19.7 16.0 13.3 11.3 9.8 8.6
75
T7 72s 65 K5 86 54 J7 K4 Q7 75 K3 96 K2 Q6 64 Q5 T6 85 53 Q4 J6 Q3 Q2 74 43 J5 95 J4 63 T5 J3 J2 T4 52 84
48.2 31.4 23.4 18.4 15.1 12.8 11.0 38.1 24.5 18.4 15.0 12.8 11.2 10.1 40.1 26.7 20.0 15.9 13.3 11.5 10.2 53.3 34.0 24.5 19.0 15.4 12.9 11.0 43.6 28.6 21.3 16.9 13.9 11.8 10.4 37.9 25.2 18.8 15.0 12.6 11.0 9.8 49.9 32.1 23.5 18.3 14.9 12.4 10.6 52.1 32.8 23.4 18.1 14.7 12.3 10.5 51.9 33.2 24.0 18.6 15.1 12.5 10.6 40.8 26.5 19.7 15.5 12.8 11.0 9.7 51.2 31.9 22.7 17.6 14.2 11.9 10.2 44.9 28.8 21.2 16.6 13.5 11.4 9.8 50.2 30.9 21.8 16.9 13.7 11.5 9.8 51.1 32.3 23.2 17.9 14.4 12.0 10.1 38.0 24.7 18.2 14.4 12.0 10.3 9.2 50.2 31.3 22.3 17.3 13.9 11.6 9.8 46.3 29.2 21.2 16.5 13.4 11.2 9.5 41.7 26.5 19.4 15.2 12.4 10.5 9.1 35.8 23.3 17.1 13.6 11.4 9.9 8.8 49.0 30.2 21.4 16.4 13.3 11.0 9.4 47.9 29.8 21.4 16.5 13.2 11.0 9.3 47.9 29.2 20.7 15.9 12.8 10.7 9.1 47.0 28.4 19.9 15.3 12.3 10.3 8.8 38.6 24.5 17.9 13.9 11.4 9.7 8.5 34.4 22.3 16.3 12.8 10.7 9.3 8.3 47.1 29.1 20.7 15.9 12.8 10.6 8.9 42.9 26.7 19.2 14.8 12.0 10.0 8.5 46.1 28.1 19.9 15.3 12.3 10.2 8.6 35.9 22.7 16.4 12.8 10.6 9.1 8.0 44.2 27.1 19.3 14.8 11.9 9.9 8.4 45.0 27.1 19.1 14.6 11.7 9.8 8.3 44.0 26.2 18.4 14.1 11.3 9.4 8.0 43.4 26.4 18.7 14.3 11.5 9.5 8.1 33.9 21.3 15.3 12.0 10.0 8.6 7.6 39.6 24.4 17.5 13.4 10.8 9.0 7.8
9.7 9.2 9.2 9.5 9.2 8.9 9.2 9.1 9.2 8.7 8.9 8.7 8.6 8.8 8.3 8.5 8.3 8.1 8.0 8.1 8.0 7.9 7.7 7.6 7.5 7.7 7.4 7.5 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.0 7.0 6.8 6.8
8.6 8.5 8.5 8.3 8.3 8.2 8.1 8.0 8.0 7.9 7.8 7.8 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.4 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.4 6.3 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.1
76
T3 42 T2 73 94 32 93 62 92 83 82 72
42.4 25.5 18.0 13.7 11.0 32.5 20.5 14.7 11.5 9.5 41.5 24.7 17.3 13.2 10.6 36.6 22.4 16.0 12.3 9.9 40.7 24.6 17.3 13.2 10.5 31.2 19.5 13.9 10.8 8.9 39.9 23.9 16.7 12.7 10.1 34.0 20.7 14.6 11.2 9.1 38.9 22.9 16.0 12.1 9.6 37.5 22.4 15.7 11.9 9.5 36.8 21.7 15.1 11.4 9.1 34.6 20.4 14.2 10.7 8.6
9.1 8.3 8.8 8.4 8.7 7.7 8.3 7.8 8.0 7.9 7.5 7.2
7.8 7.3 7.5 7.2 7.3 6.8 7.1 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.4 6.1
6.8 6.6 6.6 6.4 6.4 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.4
6.0 6.0 5.8 5.7 5.6 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.2 5.1 4.9 4.8
77
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE RULES OF TEXAS HOLDEM
SoyourenewtoTexasHoldempoker?Notaproblem. Texas Holdem poker is by far the best game for a beginner tolearn. Instead of other poker games like Omaha High or 7 cardstud which entail a great many more possibilities for calculatingodds and perhaps even trying to count cards, Holdem can belearnedinafewminutesbyanyone,andyoucanbeplayingfair lywell with a few hours practice. In order to learn the game,however,youmustplayandyoumustplayfairlyoften. AllOnlinePokerCasinostodayofferawidevarietyofplaymoney tables for beginners to practice their skills until theyre ready tomoveuptothefunatrealmoneytables.
78
ATexasHoldempokergamegoesasfollows: 1. The betting structure can vary, but most games start with twoplayers placing out a predetermined amount of money so there isaninitialamounttoplayfor.Thisiscalledpostingtheblinds.Thes eplayersarethetwototheleftofthedealer.
2.Thedealershufflesupacompletedeckof52playingcards.
3.Eachplayerisdealttwocardsfacedown.Thesearecalledyour holeorpocketcards. 4.Thenthereisaroundofbettingstartingwiththeguytothelefto fthetwowhopostedtheblinds.Thisroundisusuallyreferredtob ythetermpreflop.
5. The amount betted depends on the table stakes, which are postedbeforeyoujointhetable.
6.Muchlikemostgamesofpoker,playerscancheck,raise,orfold. 7.Afterthebettingroundends,thedealerdiscardsthetopcardoft he deck. This is called a burn card. This is done to preventcheating.
79
8. The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table.These cards are called the flop. These are communal cards thatanyonecanuseincombinationwiththeirtwopocketcardstof ormapokerhand.
9.Thereisanotherroundofbettingstartingwiththeplayertothe leftofthedealer. 10.Afterthebettingconcludes,thedealerburnsanothercardandfl ips one more onto the table. This is called the turn card. Playerscanusethissixthcardnowtoformafivecardpokerhand.
11. The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting.Inmanytypesofgames,thisiswherethebetsizedoubles. 12.Finally,thedealerburnsacardandplacesafinalcardfaceupo nthetable.Thisiscalledtheriver.Playerscannowuseanyofthefi ve cards on the table or the two cards in their pocket to form afivecardpokerhand.
13. There is one final round of betting starting with the player to theleftofthedealer. 14. After that, all of the players remaining in the game begin torevealtheirhands.Thisbeginswiththeplayertotheleftofthela stplayertocall.Itscalledtheshowdown.
80
15.Theplayerwiththebesthandwins!
LEARNINGHOWTOPLAY Its difficult to learn to play Texas Holdem in the traditionalsetting of a casinos poker room without losing to experiencedgamblers. Thankfully, you can practice all you want for free withonlinepokerrooms such as Pacific Poker or PartyPoker. The only way to learn the game is to play. And pay attention.Check out Online Casinos to get a feel for the action. Play all youwant for free, and start playing for real money when you feelready. They have both low limits (betting) for newer players aswell as high stakes tables. Since we mention betting, lets look atthebasics.
THEBASICSOFBETTING?
Abetisadeclarationthateither a)IhavethebesthandandIllwagermoneyonit
or
b)Youhaveapoorhand,andyouwillfoldifyouare forcedtowageronit.
Typically,playersaresupposedtobetwhentheyhaveagoodhand. Playerswhodonthavegoodhandsaresupposedtofold. Of course, if this was the case, we all might as well wager onflipped coins. Most players play contrary to this idea, attemptingto be clever or deceptive. Dont fall into this trap when you arejustlearningtoplay.
81
Keepitsimple.Dontbeclever.Betwhenyouthinkyouwillwina nd fold when you cant. But there are going to be situationswhereyoushouldbetevenifyourcardsarentthebest.
Here are some situations you should start looking at to improve yourgame.
BLINDSTEALING
TexasHoldemisuniquebecausethetwoblindsareinwhether theywanttoornot. Asaresultofbeingforcedtobet,theyarealsolesscommittedthan a player who really believes they can win butsincetheyhavetobet,theywouldbefoolsnottostayinthega me. Nowimagineyouarethedealer,andonlyyouandthetwoblinds arestillin.Inthissituation,ifyouraiseagainstthem,yourraiseisc alledblind stealing.Why?Yourraiseisforcingtheblindsintoasituationwhe retheymayfold.
Remember,theyareonlyinthehandbecausetheyhavetobe. Itseasytopushplayersinthissituationoutofthegame.Itslikely that if you didnt raise and just called, the blinds would probablycheck. You can make money this way, especially if the blinds arelooser players. Its also a way to get the hand over so you can goontothenextgame.
THESTEALRAISE Thechoicespotinabettingroundisthecat birdseat.Youarethelastinsequencetobetsoyougettoseewhat theotherplayersareup to. If all the other players have checked to you, and you bet
82
(regardlessofyourhand),youcanoftenforcetheotherplayersto fold.Takingthepotinthissituationiscalledstealraising. Obviously, if you try this every time, the better players will beontoyouandseethroughyourtactic.Itsagreatideatostealrai sewhenyouhaveagooddrawinghandsuchasaflushdraw.
THECHECKRAISE
Most Texas Holdem tables will permit raising after you have checked. Check raising is a technique to build the pot. If you have awinning hand and you bet right away, you may chase awayplayerswhocouldaddtothepot.Soletssayyoucheck.Ano therplayer sees an advantage, assumes you are uncertain about yourhandandraises.Nowyoucanraisetheirbetagain.Itsunlike lyatthis point that they will fold having committed to the round byraisingthebet.
THEOPENER Thisisaverytraditionalbluffingmove.Thefirstpersonfollowingt he blinds in the round raises aggressively, making all otherplayers call both the blind and the raise.Theonlyreasonaplayerwould do this so early in the game is to limit the number ofplayers. Usually you will see a number of players fold. The onesleft though will have great hands or will refuse to be intimidatedbythistactic.Somepeoplecallthismovebettingforin formation.Thisonlyworkswithsmallgroupsofplayers.
83
HOW TO WIN MONEY IN TEXAS HOLDEM BEFORE THE FIRST CARD IS EVEN DEALT
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Poker is a game ofconstant decisions. They range from the critical tothe mundane and they occur at a dizzying pace;often dozens of times per minute. Online card playis especially fierce and the pressure can be intense.Do I raise? Do I stay? Do I call? Do I fold? Even when a loss attributed to a wrong decision is small, it eventuallyadds up. Making the best decisions based on the information youhaveathandisthekeytobeatingyouropponents.
84
A great example of a critical decision in Texas Holdem thathappens on almost every hand is the problem associated withdefending a small blind. Suppose that while playing online in aTexas Holdem game, with $1 and $2 blinds, a player alwaysdefends their small blind stays in even with a garbage handbecause theyve already invested the $2. Based on the randomdistribution of cards, youre typically dealt such a throwawayhandaboutonethirdofthetime. At 50 60 hands per hour a typical pace in online card rooms the average player is dealt the small blind six times every 60minutes.Iftheyalwayscall,theywindupcallingtwiceeachhou rwhentheyshouldbefolding.Thats$6perhourminimum.Ifyou playtenhoursperweek,attheendoftheyearyouvegivenawayo verthreethousanddollars.Ouch. Thats only one example of the kind of big picture thinking thatcanmakethedifferencebetweenbeingawinneroraloserover thelonghaul. All the latest research (from the online casinos themselves)showquiteclearlythatover50%ofyourwinningsat theonlinepoker table will be determined BEFORE YOU ARE DEALT ASINGLECARD(somewouldsuggestitsevenhigherthan50 %). HerearetheTenkeynon cardbaseddecisionsyoumustmakeinTexasHoldempokertob esuccessful.Fewofthesehaveanythingto do with the bricks and mortars version of the game. After thesummary,wewillgointomoredetail.Butevenifyouneverrea dthefollow up,ifyouadoptthesesimplebasicsyourwinningswillincreasedr amatically.
85
1.SELECTACASINO.Rulenumberone.Beamemberofnolesst hansixonlinecasinossoyoucanrotateandmovearoundfromcas inotocasinoduringplay.Selectonlywell knowncasinoswithexcellentreputationsforpayingquicklyand maintainingindustry acceptedrandomizingalgorithms(moreonthislater). 2.SELECTABETTINGLIMIT.Butonlyifits$1/2,$2/4or$5/10 blinds.Thissectionwilldiscusstheresearch,themath,andthestu diesonhumannaturethatproveconclusivelythathigh stakelimittablesarenottheplacetomakemoney.Theyarehowev eranexcellentplacetoloselargeamountsofcashinabighurry.T hereturnoninvestment(ROI)isbestatmediumlimittables. 3.SELECTYOURSTAKE.Nodecisionhereifyoursmart.Youmu sthave50to100timestheBigBlind.Anylessandyourchancesof makingmoneynosedive.Morewillonlyimproveyourtable credandhelptointimidateweakerplayers.
4.SELECTATABLE.Spendatleast15minuteswatchingtheplay ateachtable.Reviewyournotesifrecognizedplayersarepresent. Checkoutatleastthreetablesbeforeyoustart.Thenselecttheloos esttable.TowinatTexasHoldemPokeryoumustplaytightinlo osegamesandplayinloosegamesonly.Ifallthetablesaretight,r un.GobacktoStep1. 5.SELECTAPOSITIONATTHETABLE.Watchforthetightest playeratthetable.Pickaspottothatplayersleft.Wehavededica tedanentirechapterlaterontotablepositionstrategy. 6.TAKENOTESONPLAYERS.Recordplayingstyles.Dotheyr aisebeforetheflop?Dotheyfoldbeforetheflop?Whatsthesize oftheirstake?Dotheyreactquicklyorslowlywhentheirturn
86
comesup?Whatkindofcardsdidtheyplayon?Everyoneshould takeplayernotesatcasinoslikePartyPokerwheretheyofferthef eature.Dontknowhowtotakenotes?Justright clickontheavatar(picture)ofthetargetplayerandclickPlayer Notes.Thatfeatureisthereforaverygoodreasonuseit. 7.TURNOFFCHAT.Itsdistractingandrarelyvaluable.Ifyou wanttochat,useMSN butneverwhileyoureplayingformoney. 8.TURNOFFTVs,MUSIC,OTHERDISTRACTIONS.Nowis notthetimetocatchthescoreonyourfavoritegameorconsumea bucketofchicken.Ifanyonesgoingtobedistracted,itshouldbey ouropponents.Letthemmisscues,watchtheirstackdisappearan dwonderwhathappened.
9.PLAYTIGHT.FollowtheFoodChainTheory.Learntherules. Understandtheodds.Betlikeashark,notafish. 10.PLAYFORONEHOUR thentakeabreak,regardlessofwhetheryourewinningorlosi ng.Thiswillkeepyousharperthantheotherplayerswhoareh angingonforthatonelastwin. Andthereyouare.Tenstepsthatwillmakeyouthousands,maybe a lot more over time. Interested in understanding the machinerybehindthesebasicrules?Readon.
NeverStartShortStacked! One of the keys to winning Poker is having enough chips. Youneedtobeabletoweatherastreakofbadcardsandbetherew henthecardsfinallyturninyourfavour.
87
So what would we suggest for a minimum buy in? If you areplayinga$2 $4game,startwithatleast$400to$800(roughly100times the big bet). The degree of variation accounts for your styleof play. A super aggressive player should bring more to the tablethanatighterplayer. Bigger stacks tend to get bigger respect as well. Especially fromnew players. So keeping a decent amount of chips in front of younot only improves your chances of winning, it provides anintimidation factor. However, you should always have enoughchips available in your bank to jump into a different game. Ifyoukeep your whole bankroll in front of you, you cant buyin tosecondgamewithoutcashingoutofthefirst.
TheAwesomePowerofShortPlayingSessions OnebigdifferencebetweentheInternetandlivebricksandmortar play is that players are constantly moving in and out of games.TheaccessibilityoftheInternetallowsplayerstojustsitdo wnandplay a few hands, a few minutes, or maybe just an hour. In a livegame, you generally are playing with the same opponents for atleastafewhoursandmaybeevenuptosevenoreighthours.Thi srarelyoccursontheInternet.Howdoesthisaffectstrategy? Your opponents will not have a very long time to evaluate yourplay. This means that you should play more straightforward andlessdeceptivelythanyouwouldinalivegame.Oneoftheben efitsofplayingdeceptivelyortryingabluffistheadvertisingvalue youreceive on future hands when your opponents think you are aloose wild player. A loose table image can help you earn morechips later when you hold strong hands that your opponents callbecause they think you might be bluffing. On the Internet, you
88
maynotbesittingwiththesameopponentslongenoughtobenefit fromthisimage. Against regular opponents, you still need to mix up your play ontheInternet,butoverall,youshouldmixituplessthanyouwou ldin a live game. Against new opponents, the best strategy is tosimply play a straightforward tight game without worrying toomuchabouthowyourtableimagemightaffectfuturehands.
SomeUsefulOnlineBluffingTips OntheInternet,youaredealingwithnamesandavatars,notfaces. Some of the most powerful cues used in poker are no longeravailable to us. This psychological part of poker makes for adifferenttypeofgameontheInternet.Forexample,thereseemsto be more bluffing on the Internet compared to live games. Playersfeel far more anonymous on the Net and are therefore prone towilder,lesscautiousmoves. Anotherreasonwhyplayersmaytendtobluffmoreonlinethanin acasinoistheeaseinwhichyoucanbluff.Onlineyoujusthaveto click your mouse. In a live game, you have to physically moveyourchipsandstaredownyouropponentsatthetable.Chip sarepopular in casinos because they remove us emotionally from theconcept of real money. Studies have shown that players are morereckless with chips than with real cash. Online, we are even moreremoved from the idea that this is real money (they are virtualchips)sotheaveragebluffsarelargerandmorecommon.
Overall,ifyoulookatthedata,playerstendtobe moredeceptiveonlinethaninalivegame.
InsiderTip
89
Thisimpactsonlinestrategiesintwoways.First,youcantassume your opponents arebluffingallthetime,butyouwillneedtocalland raise a little more often against those opponents who aretryingtowineverypot. On the other hand, you should probably bluff a little less oftensinceyouropponentswilltendtocallyoualittlemore.They alsorealizethatplayersonlinebluffalot,sotheywilltendtocallm oreevenwithweakhands.Theywillalsofinditeasiertojustclickt hemouse to call compared to physically moving their chips in a livegame.
Remember!EarlyDecisionsMatterMost EarlychoicesinTexasHoldemusuallymeanmorethanlaterones becauseoftheirimpactonsubsequentdecisions.Wheneveryoum akeanincorrectmoveupfront,youruntheriskofrenderingeach subsequentdecisionincorrectaswell.Thatswhyyourchoiceofst artinghandsisusuallymuchmorecriticalthanhowyouplayonf uturebettingrounds.

Preflop:Thepersonwiththebesttwoholecardsismost likelytowinatshowdown. Aftertheflop:Theplayercurrentlyholdingthebestfive cardhandismostlikelytowinatshowdown. Aftertheturncardisdealt:Theplayercurrentlyholding thebestfivecardhandismostlikelytowinatshowdown. Aftertherivercardisdealt:Theplayercurrentlyholding thebestfivecardhandhaswonatshowdown.
What have we learnedfromthis?Thevalueofyourpresentcardsisalwaysmuch greaterthantheexpectedvalue.Ifyouropponenthas you beat now and you know it, calling heavily for a card to
90
come is not tight play. Evaluating the hands of your opponentswill only help your game if it helps you to avoid unreasonablerisk.
WorkingTheLobby Dont rush through the lobby of your favorite online casino.Spending some time there can be as important as the time youspend playing the game itself. Take a walk around the room.Checkoutthegamesandthelimitsbeingplayed.Theonlinel obbyoffers a wealth of valuable information that is only a click away:infoonthenumberofplayersseeingtheflop,theaveragepot size,number of hands played per hour, names of the players in eachgame, who is on the waiting list, and how many games of aparticularlimitareinplay. Thisinformationisessentialtochoosingtherightgameandlimit.S ome folks prefer wild games. Some prefer more passive ones.Some like full games; some like shorthanded. Players who arenearlyequallycompetentinallgamescanchoosebetweenado zenormoregamesatthelimitoftheirchoice. Game and table selection is a critical part of casino poker.Fundamentally,itisevenmoreimportantonline.Atfirstgla nceitmight seem that table selection is less important online because itis extremely easy to move from one game to another. This is notthecase.Thetoolsareavailableforplayerstobeconstantlyawa reof where the good games are. Constant vigilance is a price ofwinningonline. When signing up for games, never choose theany game at thislimit option. This takes away your ability to manipulate yourposition oneachsign uplist.Forinstance,ifyouvesignedupforany$15/30Holdemga me,andyournamecomestothetopofthe
91
list in a game filled with players you dont want to play with, ifyou pass this game, you are removed from all the $15/30 listsautomatically.Likewise,ifyourisetothetopofthelistonaga methat doesnt look good now, but has potential because of othersbehind you on the waiting list, you may want to unjoin that listand then rejoin again at the bottom perhaps when your name,nowsixth,risestothetop,thegamewillbegood.Ifyouves ignedupforanygame,thatoptionisnotavailabletoyou.Yousi mplywillbeputatthebottomofeverysinglelistyouareon! Atthemostpopularonlinecardrooms,youhavegreateroptions andalotofinformationtouseinchoosing.Dontrestrictyourself. Keep severalcard roomsonyourcomputertochoosefrom.Lookfor the games that fit with your style. When your game styleevolves and improves, cruise the lobby for a better fishing hole.Keepconstantlyvigilant.Fieldintelligenceisthekeytowinni ng.
LookForDistractedPlayers Manyplayersassumethatstrategyforonlineandlivegamesisthe same. After all, you still receive two down cards, five communitycards, and play against nine opponents. However, there areseveral characteristics unique to Internet play that requires subtleadjustments including playing shorter sessions, adjusting yourplaying environment, and avoiding distractions at home. Letsdiscuss these unique characteristics in a little more detail and theimpacttheymayhaveonyourstrategy. Youd be surprised how many players play two poker tables atone time, read email, watch television, or even talk on thetelephone while playing online poker. Those delays we allexperience waiting for someone to take their turn is often caused
92
by something other than a complex oddscalculation.Basedonallofthesedistractions,someofyourop ponentsmaynotbeawareofalltheactionthatistakingplace.This isyetanotherreasontouseless deception in your game, since some of your opponents willnotevenseesomeofyourplayssothatyoucangainsomefutu revalueoutofthem. Since players move in and out of games a lot, cant see your face,and are distracted by many other things, they tend to notice lessthatyouareplayingatightgame.Inalivegame,ifyousitther eacouple of hours without playing a hand, dont expect a lot ofaction when you decide to bet or raise. On the Internet, you canplayastraightforwardtightgameforalongtimeandstillgetg oodaction when you bet since opponents either do not notice or havenothadenoughtimetorealizethatyouaresuchatightplayer . On the other hand, if you dont play many hands in a live game,your chances for pulling off a successful bluff are high, while onthe Internet I doubt this gives you much of an advantage. A bluffon the Internet is usually only profitable by the merits of theplayoftheparticularhand,notbytableimage. So remember, table image is not as important online as in a livegame. Play a more straightforward game with fewer bluffs andprotect your hands against those opponents who try to win everypotbybluffingtoomuch.
LookAroundForAwhile Once you have a solid low limit game plan, this becomesextremelyimportantforbecomingaprofitableonlineplay er.Whatgood is being a good player if you only play against othergood players? Everyone will shuffle his or her money back and
93
forth and the house will rake it all. Fortunately there are many easy games online. Find games with players playing 50%+handspre flop,mostsiteskeepstatisticsofthisontheirtablelists. Many sites also have notekeeping systems; you can flag aplayerasafish.Everytimeyouseeplayersmakingpoordecision s,markthem.Ifyouspendenoughtimeonagivensiteyoullnotic emany players have been marked as poor. Join the games withthese players. Look out for players with large (800$+) bankrollsplaying very low limit games (12$). These are usually tightaggressiveplayers.
MonitorTheirStackSizes Keep a very close eye on the exact size of the short stacks of theother players. Paradise Poker has a very poor rule where a bet ofany size below a full bet does not constitute a raise. For instance,playing $10/20, on the turn you check with the intention to checkraise. A player bets allin for $19, and another calls. Your plan isscrewed. All you can do is call. On the other hand, if you knowthat player has $21, you will be able to check raise. In bricks andmortar casino poker, you very often cant tell how many chips aplayerhasleft.Onlineyouknowwithin$1. Anotherthingtoconsiderisbecarefulaboutcompletingbets.Ift wopeoplecheck,thensomebodybets$19all in,youbetterhavea supermonster to make it $20. Those first two players cantcheckraisethe$19,buttheycancheckraiseyouwhenyou makeit $20. Likewise, a player behind you can raise it to $40 if youmakeit$20,butcanonlyraiseitto$20ifyoujustcall. While everyone has his or her favorite sites, its best to spreadyourselfaround.Havingsixdifferentonlinepokeraccounts makesit easy to find soft games at any given time. Dont miss out onprofitable games because you have confined yourself to one site.
94
There are plenty of soft games online, you just have to do a little searching!
StayExtraCoolWhenPlayingTournaments Because of the nature of tournaments and the escalating bettinglimits, your bankroll is the key to your ability to win. If youbecome shortstacked, try to stay calm and play as tight aspossible. Only bet on highranking pairs (the Fish 40), and onlycontinueplayingthehandiftheflophasimprovedyourhand.
Example:YouaredealtQ,Qasyourholecards.
TheflopcomeswithA,K,3.
IfsomeonebetsIwouldfoldthehandimmediately.
Why? Because you have not built on your pair and the betting is goingtogetexpensive.
Some players make it a habit of playing loose during the first coupleofroundshopingthattheycancatchuplater.Thereisno
95
logic for this kind of play in a tournament and can reduce yourstackandpushyouintopanicmode.Anexamplewouldbet ogoallin on a hand like J9 suited. Even if you see that you willlikelybeshortoncomingblinds,thisisabadmove.Wait.
PlayLikeARock As long as you have chips in front of you, you have a chance ofwinning. Wait, wait and wait longer if need be, but never panic.Youhavetime.Inlimitgames,patienceissupremelyimport ant. Youmaygoanhourortwobeforeyougetaplayablehand.Thisis normal. This will set up two things for you. Credibility and moreplaying time. Why do you want credibility? One word, bluffing.Themoreyoufoldortakepotswithanextremelystrongh andthebetter you lay the groundwork for a bluffing situation. You willbecomeknownasarock(Arockisanextremelytightplayer). Thetighter the player, the harder it is to win against that player. Inpokerperceptioniseverything.Bepatient,ItWillPayOff!
TurnDownTheMusicButTurnUpYourSound Researchersnowthatwelearnfasterandengageourbrainsbetter whenweusemoreofoursenses.Theonlinecasinossupplyplenty of color but make sure you take advantage of the sound as well.Turn up the sound effects. Sure, it may get annoying sometimeslisteningtoallthoseclinks,shufflesandchipsoundsbu ttheyhelpustuneintothegameandoutofthosethingsgoingona roundus.Youaremuchlesspronetomakemistakeswhenyoucan hearandseewhatpeoplearedoing,asopposedtojustseeingit. Clickbetweengametabstorefreshyourtablelistings.Thistrickis useful mainly for tournaments, whicharenotoriouslyquicktofillup.Manytimes,youllseeWtng for5playersasthetablestatus,
96
butwhenyouclickonthegame,itwillhavealreadystarted.Thisis duetothetablestatusnotupdatingquickly,whichyoucanforceb yclickingbetweentabs.Ofnotehowever,isthatPartyPokerhasr ecently upped the refresh rate of the tables substantially, so thisisntamajorissuelikeitusedtobe.
HowToGetHandHistories Youropponentdidntshowdontshowtheircards?Heresagreat PartyPokertrick.Clickonthehandnumberatthetoprightofthe screen and request the hand history for that game via email.Depending on how busy Party Poker is at the moment, youshouldgetanemailwiththehistoryinamatterofminutes. Scroll to the bottom of the history and you can instantly find outwhattheotherplayerwasholding.Youcandothisinconjuncti onwithplayernotestogetagoodideaofwhataplayeriswillingt oplay with on a river. Showdown information is always the mostcritical,asyoucananalyzetheirdecisionmakingprocessfro mthegroundup.
GetCaughtBluffingOnceInAWhile Onceinawhilethisisnotabadidea.Itisawaytovaryyourplaya nd not be too predictable. You win pots that you dont deservewhenyourbluffworks.Youloseafewchipswhenitdoesn tworkbut it will get you calls from weaker hands down the line whenyouhaveastronghandandneedtheaction.
BluffWithCautionInLowLimitGames Oneshouldbeextremelycarefulineffortstobluffplayinglowlimit onlinepoker.Youwillfindmanyplayerswillcallyoujusttokeep youhonesteveniftheirhanddoesntwarrantacall.Forthemost
97
part, you should forget about it until you are already a verysuccessfullowlimitonlineplayer.Whenyoudobluffitshoul dbedonewithcarefulattentiontopot/impliedodds:IestimateIh avea 1 in 10 chance of winning this bluff, do I get better than 101return? Since these estimations can be even harder to makeonlinesincetherearefewtellstogoby,itsadifficultplay.
NeverLetThemSeeYouSweat Ithinkthisisasignificanttipbecausewhenyouloseabigpot,itse asy to let your emotions show even online. Dont let the cardsdefeatyou.Andneverboosttheconfidenceoftheotherplaye rsbylettingitgettoyou. Ifyouwanttokeepyourpsychologicaledge;ithelpstotakeawayt heirs.Nevergivethemareasontobeabletofeedoffofyou,evenif youarelosing(bythewayeveryonelosesandhasbadbeats.Noo ne can win 100% of the time; never give them the edge, even ifyouarefuming.)
GetUpAndStretch Takinga small break will help you to focus. While you are onbreakdontthinkaboutthegame.itwillonlyhurtyoursession astimegoeson.
StayAwayFromAlcohol Do we need to even say this? Nothing can alter your thinkingmorethanalcohol.Youneedtobeawareandfocusedatal ltimes.Ihave no idea how many online players are drinking or doingsomethingelsewhiletheyareplayingbutIcantellyouthatf ocusiseverything.Thereisalotgoingoninagameofonlinepoker anditshappeningatwarpspeed.Youreallyneedtostayclear.
98
KeepAccuratePlayerRecords If you dont keep records of your Texas Holdem Poker playing,start now. Make a form in MS Word or MS Excel that you arecomfortable with. Develop something you can use to track andupdatenoteswhileyouplayonline.Ifyouhavethesoftware,e venbetter,setupadatabasethatyoucansearchonandcreaterepo rts.If none of this works for you, at least get a fold flatnotebookthatyou can use while you play. Accurate play records will tell you alotaboutyourself,yourstrategyandyouropponents. Everyone falls into a losing streak, its normal. What you want toavoidishavingthisnegativelyaffectyourplayandattitude.You llbe asking yourself am I playing too tight? Should I change mystrategy?AmIplayingtooloose?WillIeverwinagain? Lookoveryourplayrecords.Youllfindtheanswersthere.Agood setofrecordsisthebestthingIknowforapokerplayerspeaceof mindandagoodnightssleep. Your play records should include the date of each session, startandstoptimes,hoursplayed,winsorlosses,runningtotalsan danhourlywinrate.Youllalsowanttohavetotalsintermsofbig bets.If you play in Holdem games of various limits then big bets perhour is a better indicator of how you are doing than dollars perhour. Your play records should have notes about your play, youropponents, tells youve noticed and other information that mightbe useful. At the very least, your play records should be goodreadinglater. TexasHoldemPokerisenjoyable.Winningisgreat.Keepingplayr ecords is unexciting at best, but the information in good playrecords is essential if you want to win. Without play records you
99
wont know if changes in your strategy have had a positive or anegativeeffect.Youwontknowifyouregettingbetterorworseo rwhy. In fact, if you dont keep records, you dont even know ifyourewinningorlosinginthegameandyoucertainlydontkno whowmuch.
LearnHowToKnowWhenYoureDone This is really just a general poker tip, but it still nabs even thepoker pros at times. If you find that you are being outplayed,outclassedorjustunluckyatthetable,itsoktoleave.D ontthinkabout getting your money back or getting revenge on the bastardthat rivered you for the 3rd time now. If you are losing money atyour table, you do NOT have good table image no matter whatyoumightthink.Notonlyareyounotinagoodmood,which putsyouontilt(admititornot),butotherplayerswillbemorelik elytomake plays against you. This makes your game harder in moreways than you want. With so many tables at Party Poker, just getupandgo,itsthateasy.
Ifthegamegetsshort handed(6orlessplayers)andyouarenotfamiliar with short handed play, get out. This is an easy way tolosealotofcashifyoudontknowwhatyouaredoing.Iseeth ishappen all the time, when a table breaks up and players arestuck with two tight players and three fish who dont realizetheyareabouttogetruneatenalive.Dontbechumwhe nallittakesisasingleclicktosaferwaters.
When you feel yourself slipping and playing too loose or having troublefocusingonthegame,gatheryourchipsandgohome.
It should not matterifyouareupordown,leavethetable.Ifyou are up, why risk your winnings? If you are down, why risk more
100
of your bankroll? There is not a good reason. Get some sleep. Playingwhenyoucannotfocusisarecipeforlosing.
DontLetTheRakeBeatYou Whydoonlinecasinosmakesomuchmoney?Becausetheymakea profitfromeverysinglepokerpotthatisplayed oftenmillionsofpotspermonth.Themoregamesyouplay,them orethecasinosmake. Their profit from each pot is called the rake. The rake is apercentage or a flat fee that the casino charges you to play. Nomatterhowgoodapokerplayeryouare,thehousehasanedge onyou.Therakeisbuiltinsothatthehousetakesmoneyfromyo uinsmall, unnoticed amounts. There are a few guidelines you can gobytominimizethis. Some poker rooms will only rake the pot once it has reached acertainamount,soyouwanttoplayoppositethestyleofthetable inthesecases.
Iftherakeisasetpercentage(usually4%to10%),thetacticsforan aggressiveplayerwontbeassuccessfulasiftheratewasaflatfee.
Everyfailedattemptatblindstealing,forexample,isgoingtobe raked,andallbluffingisnow4%10%lessworthit. You have to be a better player to overcome that percentage, andonce you get to that point,youshouldntbetoopreoccupiedwiththerake.Ifyouarea beginner,playtighterthanusual.
Mostonlinecasinoschargeapercentageofthewinningpot.
Example:Thewinningpotis$125.Thecasinoorthehousetakes aminimumof$1and5%ofthebalance.
101
Total rake is $7 or 5.6%. That leaves 94.4% for the winners.Compare that to 60% on most lottery games. The less the rake isthe more money you can win and the better your return on yourinvestment.
Thesizeofthepotandthebettinglimitcanhaveahugeeffecton yourchancesofwinning.
Lets apply the same rules to a game where the maximum bet is only2$.
Example: The winning pot is $22. The reason for the lower pot is thelowbettinglimit.Nowletsapplythesameraketothepot. Minimum of $1 and5%or$2.10.Thisdoesntsoundlikealotbutits actually 9.5%. The amount left to the winners in this game isnow90.5%. It may not seem like much, but the house can now pull from thetable an entire pot every 10 games. Thats a pot you cant win soyouroddsofwinningaremuchlower. Theoppositeofthiseffectistoplayaveryhighmaximumgame for example a $50 maximum bet. This could create a $1000 pot ormore. Sure, the percentage will now be even lower, but can youaffordtoplaythesehighstakes?
A rule of thumb is to have 100 times the maximum bet with you whenyoustartthegame.A$50maximumbetwouldmeanhaving $5000withyouwhenyoustart.Amaximumbetof$5wouldallow youtoplayfor$500.Quiteadifference.
For most players, a $12 maximum bet is too low. The rake just becomestoohighasapercentageofeachpot.
102
The ideal game range is the $510 maximum bet range. Thisrange will give you the best odds at winning and will notrequirethatyoumortgageyourhousetogetintoagame.
WhathappensifIstartplayinga$510maximumbetgamewith only$100? The problem is you may need several hands before you get theright cards to win. With too small a bank, you may run out ofmoney before you get a betting hand. Years of experience haveshownthatthe100xruleworks.Havingmorecertainlywont hurt.The50xisaminimumrequirementtoplaytowin.
PlayingTexasHoldemMoneyGamesForFree Betting in Texas Holdem is dictated by the big and small blinds.Whenitbecomesyourturntoplacetheblind(theinitialbet )youcan pass. This means you can see two cards without any costunlessyouaredowncardfromthedealer. The only problem is you cant come back into the game until thedeal passes you again. That mean in a game with 10 players youhavetositoutthreehandsperturn.
Inagamewithsixplayers,youwouldonlybeabletoplayforfree inthreeoutofthesixgames.
Itmaynotsoundlikemuchfunbutyoucanplayforfreeand itstotallylegalandwithintherules.
103
THE IMPORTANCE OF TABLE POSITION IN TEXAS HOLDEM

PositionisthemostoverlookedaspectofgameslikeTe xasHoldembybeginners.Andthatsahugeshame.It coststheseplayersalotofpots.
InsiderTip Your position at the table is based simply on your position inrelation to the dealer. The dealer is at the most advantageousposition,ashe/shegetstoseehowalltheotherplaye rsatthetablereactbeforemakingtheirowndecision.
The chances of your hand being a winner increase as more and morepeoplefoldtheirhand.
104
Yes ifyouhavesayKQsandaregoingupagainst1otherplayer,your chances are not bad but if youre going up against 8 or 9others who feel theytoohaveahandworthbetting yourKQsisnotnearlysostrong. Now ifyouareinanearlyposition(meaningyouareamongthefirstwh ohastobet)thenyouhavenoideahowmanyplayerswillbeplayi ngthishandwhenitstimetobetorfoldyourholecards. Ontheotherhand ifyouareinalateposition(meaningyouareamong the last to call) you not only have the knowledge of whoand how many players are in on this hand but if anyone hasmadeaggressivebets.Ifyouareinalatepositionandholdan OKhandsayasmallpairoraKJ ifeveryonebeforeyouhasfoldedyouvegotastronghand butifeveryonebeforeyouhascalledorraised youknowyouvegotaweakhand.
As you see this has little to do with your hand but more the circumstancesinwhichitisplayed.
Thepersontotheleftofthedealerisnotonlythesmallblind(SB), butmustactfirstaftertheflop. Thepersontotheleftofthesmallblindisthebigblind(BB).Thisp erson is already obligated to the game and is in another earlyposition. Thepersontotheleftofthebigblindactsfirstbeforeboardcardsa re dealt. This is often referred to asbeing under the gun. Theclockwise motion of play allows those who act later (in lateposition) to be at an advantage. As a result, those in late positioncan play weaker hands or gambling hands with less fear offinancialobligationorloss.
105
The blind positions . . . and the player under the gunneedstobeveryselectivewiththeirhands.Theyd onthave the privilege of watching other players betting/raising before they must decide if they want to stay in themselves.
InsiderTip For example, lets say youre under the gun (first to act). You haveJackTen, unsuited. The player to bet after you raises, andeveryonebutyoufolds.Nowyoureinajam.
Chancesaregoodthatthisplayerhasabetterhandthanyou,with atleastanaceorapocketpair.Unfortunately,youvealreadybet,b ecauseyouhadnoideaornowaytotellwhatotherplayersatthet ablehadinthepocket. You will always . . . throughout the game, be actingbefore this player. This positional advantage willcontinuethroughoutthishand.
InsiderTip On the other hand, being in the dealers position not only givesyou the benefits of observing how the other players are betting,butitalsogivesyoutheabilitytoadjustthesizeofthepot.
106
Afterallotherplayershavebet,araisebytheplayerinthedealers positioncouldpotentiallydoublethesizeofthepot(assumingnoo ne folds). Since the players have already committed to one bet,itseasiertocommittoasecond(orathirdorfourth!). Ifyouwatchedapokertableoveraspaceofmanydays, youwouldbegintonoticethatthewinninghandtends tomovearoundthetableinaclockwiseposition. Longtermstudieshaveshownthatovertime,thewintendsto moveinthatdirection.
InsiderTip
Why? Because your knowledge of the hand increases your chanceofwinning. The blinds and player under the gun have the least knowledge.As the play moves around the table, each player gains moreknowledge about what the other players are doing. Are they in?Are they hesitating? Are they raising? Are they folding? The lastplayer to bet has the maximum knowledge and therefore the bestposition theyareinwhatissometimescalledthecatbirdseat.
Knowinghowmoneymovesaroundatablecangiveyouasense oftheimportanceofpositionatthetable.
Oneofthelittleunderstoodbenefitsoflastpositionat thetableisthatyougetalotoffreecardsaswell.
InsiderTip Whenyougetafreecard,youretakingafreeride.Ifnobodybetsd uringaround,yougetthatopportunityatzerocost.Thatswhata free card is. Fine. A governing concept of free cards is that you
107
getlotsmoreofthemwhenyourelasttoactthanwhenyourefirst to act. Even better, when youre last to act, you get control overwhether or not you take a free card. You can accept theopportunity, or you can bet and deny the same opportunity toyouropponents.
Befriend players to your left; declare war on players to your right.
108
PLAYER PROFILING OR WATCHING WHO YOU PLAY WITH!
H
eressomeadvicethatwillimproveyourgameasmuchasi tll have a positive impact on your wallet or purse. If youwatchedthemovie,TheBeautifulMind,youllbefamil iar with the Mathematician John Nash and his discovery of GameTheory. Game Theory is a fascinating concept that turns gamerelationships,opponentsandplayers,intomathematicalfunc tionsthat can be crunched and computed. Playing styles can beanalysed and defined. In fact, the best Texas Holdem computersimulations focus on playing styles more than just odds to studyhow the values of cards change depending on the betting style oftheotherplayers.Playingstylehasamuchlargerinfluenceonth eoutcome of the game than most of us realized until the last fewyears.
109
Basedagainonthesecomputerstudies,fourbasictypesofplaying styleshavebeenidentified:
Loose-passive Net Looser Loose Aggressive Low - Moderate Wins
Tight-Passive Moderate Wins
Tight-Aggressive Maximum Wins
Loose passive:Oftenreferredtoascallingstations,theseplayerstendto callanybetaslongastheyhaveeventheremotestchanceof winning the pot. Interestingly, loosepassive players often willnot raise when they have a good hand (thats the passive side oftheir unique personality). By the same token, theyll also not foldwhentheyhaveagarbagehand.Theytendtostayinthemajor ityofhandsunlesspushedhardtocall. Looseaggressive: Looseaggressive players will make often andinappropriate raises. They will not always have the best handwhen they raise, and will even raise with garbage hands. Looseplayers tend to bet irrationally first they raise, then they stay,then they raise and then they fold. That uncertainty is a deadgiveaway. Due to their inconsistent and irrational play, loose aggressives are often calledmaniacs. Playing against maniacscan be profitable, but they can also be expensive to play against,duetothenumberofwildraisesyoullhavetocall.
110
Tightpassive: These players are known asrocks. Tight passiveplayers play fewer hands than most and play them verycautiously. This is the preferred style of fish play when startingout according to the Food Chain Theory of play. When atightpassive player does raise though watch out, its more thanlikely that they have thenuts. Playing tightpassive will keepyoufromlosingmoney,butitwontmakeyouricheither. Tightaggressive: Tightaggressive players also play few of thehandsdealttothem,butwillbemuchmorevariedinthewayt heyplay. If a tightaggressive player raises, youll never know if theyhave a good hand or if theyre bluffing. And thats exactly thepoint. Tightaggressive players are selectively aggressive. Theywill bet very cautiously on good hands to try and trap playerswithlesserhandsintobettinglaterandbuildingthepot.Th eywillraise to create an expectation in other players that they have agreat hand in order to push weaker players out of the hand. Andthis is very important, as you understand how reducing thenumberofplayersinthehandcandramaticallyincreasethepo werof your hand. Tightaggressive is the standard that you shouldaspireto. To practice your ability to read player types, find a mid sizedgame.Thissizeofgameallowsyoumoreofachoiceofwhot ositby.Watcheveryoneplay.Getafeelforwhosplayingtight,w hosaggressive, and who sucks. Note who checkraised, bluffed orsemibluffed. Count the number of times each player bets on thepreflop or folds. These are key indicators to player type. If youcan label each of the players in this way, you will have advancedyourabilitytowinbyleapsandbounds. Thefirstthingyouneedtodecideasyouobserveiswhetherthese players are clearly better than you. Always avoid games whereyou see a lot of early pre and post flop raises, and avoid games
111
where it looks like one or two strong players are cleaning up oneveryoneelseatthetable.Veryaggressiveplayerswilltakeover atable and cause a lot of grief. Steer clear of these tables if youconsider yourself a fish or a barracuda. Even as a shark, usuallyone or two aggressive players at a table is enough eliminate easywins. Increasing the overall tightness of a table only benefits thehouse, which will make more money from the rake than you willevermakefromthepot.
TheMathematicsofAggression
How effective is aggressive play in online Texas Holdem? Now, noguessinghere.Iwantthefacts. A very detailed study carried out by CarnegieMelon Universityshowed the precise value of aggressive play. For the sake of thisexercise, they had their computersimulated player come outplaying aggressively on every hand, regardless of pocket pairquality, against a varied field of opponents. There were two very
112
distinct scenarios (and only two) where this was a winning strategy. One against a loose table, very aggressive play was a winningstrategy. In the case of our experiment, betting preflop on everysingle hand added up to moderate winnings. In a real onlinegame, betting like a maniac on every hand may diminish thepower of this strategy because other players will pick up on yourstrategy but we suspect, not by much in online play. Again, thesecretisfindingtherighttable.Imaginethejoyofsittingdown atalargetablefullofnewplayersandyoursisthebiggeststack.Li ke shootingfishinabarrelastheysay.Thisisthekindoftableyou aresearchingfor. Two against three or less players, this aggressive approach wasalso a net moneymaker. As soon as you go to four players orbetter, the technique started to haemorrhage serious money. Allof our research shows that bluffing at full or near full tables is awaste of money, and this study supports that. At the end of thischapter we have included a complete chart on the pocket handsthat successfully take the pot based on number of players at thetable.Youwillseequiteclearlythatstronghandsdoubleinpo werand relatively weak cards can become big winners. Narrow thefieldandyoucanpumpupthepowerofyourcards. An excellent indicator of playing style is that thebankrolls of tight players tend to go down in smallamounts incrementally, and periodically go up inmid and large amounts. Watching stacks can give you valuable informationaboutplayerstyle.
InsiderTip
113
LoosePlayersHaveBiggerSwings. Money tends to move clockwise around the table because itseasiertoreadplayerstotheright.Whenthatreallylooseplayer isabout to take a negative swing, you want to be at a positionaladvantageoverhimorher. Even more, you want a maniac on your right. Maniacs eliminateplayers with okay and drawing hands. Twenty year old highschoolstudentsaremorereadable,andyouprofitfrombeing abletoactdirectlyafterthem
Heresaquestionthenwouldyouprefertositdowncardfrom agreatplayerorapoorplayer? Sitting in late position (next in sequence) from a poor player doesnot give you much of an advantage. You really need to know asmuch as possible about the best players, the ones most likely totakeyourmoney. Alooseplayer,someonewhoplaysonlyforfunanddoesntreally understandthegame,islikeanoldcar.Heorshewillwanderallo vertheroad,theirsteeringiswobblyandtheycantbedependedo ntoplayaccordingtotheircards.Watchforandappreciateloosep layers. They are great contributors. They tend to bet more thantheywinandbuildpotsfortherestofus. While different players prefer different styles of play, the generalconsensusisthattheidealtableisloose passive.Thatmeanslotsof callers and few raises, especially before the flop. You will alsowant to play at tables where most, if not all of the players areworse than you. You will make most of your profit from otherplayersmistakes.
114
Tight players on your left will more likely call a bet than re raiseeven though they might have a decent hand. Youcanmoreeasilyscare them into thinking youve got the nuts and buy more freecards despite the fact that theyve got a positional advantage onyou. Researchshowsthatlotsofpre flopraisingreducesyourpotentialprofit. It also becomes more expensive to see the flop overall,which negatively affects your bankroll all those times when theflopdoesnthityou.
It is always better to have six players calling one bet than three players calling two bets. Even though thepot size in both cases is the same, in the first situation you willmake a profit of 5:1, whereas in the raising situation you willonlymakeaprofitof2:1.Simplyput,themoreplayersthere areputting money into the pot, the more profit there will be whenyouwin.
InsiderTip Atightergame,wherefewerplayersarecallingbeforetheflopand staying until the showdown, can also reduce your overall profit.But some players prefer a tightpassive table, since tight passiveopponents are rather predictable. A tightpassive table gives aplayer the opportunity to steal more pots, since you can oftenmakeotherplayersfoldwithawelltimedraise.
FishingForLoosePlayers Ifyousitatatableoftenandatleasthalfoftheplayersarebettert hanyou,youwilllose.Ifoneortwooftheplayersarebetterthany ou,youhaveafairchanceoftakingsomemoneyhomebutthisis
115
still not an ideal situation. Your profit is going to be determinedmorebythecompositionofthetablethanthetypeso fcardsyouare dealt. You cant control the cards you can pick your tableandmoveifitgetsugly.
Howdoyouknow? Aswehavebeenpreaching,thegreatadvantageofonlinepokeris that it allows you to observe the table before you play. Once youhave chosen what appears to be a fairly loose table, you begin tocarefully observe. The best recommendation I can give you is, ifyou want to be a winner, spend at least 15 minutes. Many wouldsuggest spending at least 30 minutes before beginning play.Thismayseemslikealotoftimetoinvest butonceyoubegintoplay,youwillhaveaclearideaofwhoyoun eedtobeatandwhoyouneedtomilktowin.
TheTableRatingSystem
Heresasimpleratingsystemweusetoevaluatehowwinnablea tableis.
Weassigneachplayeranumberfrom110.
Ten (10) is the loosest player a beginner, someone who bets wildlyandshowpoorcardsattheshowdown. One (1) is for the tightest player. Someone who plays and winsconsistently, cant be bluffed, has accumulated substantialwinnings,makesreasonabledecisions,doesntplayeve ryhand.
Assigneachplayeratthetableanumberfrom110.
116
Ifyouarenotsurefromobservationwhattheirscoreis,scorethem higherthanyouwouldguess.Theyareprobablybetterplayers.
On apiece of paper or in your head, mark the table with these numbers.
When you get a chance to, always play down card from the two bestplayersonthetable.Thisisawinningposition.
Nowaddupthenumbersanddividebythetotalplayers.
1+3+7+4+5+1+1+10+9=4.5 If the average of the table is 6 or better, dont play. There are toomany good players for you to be a consistent winner. Even anaverageof5canreduceyourchances.Whatyouarelookingfor isa table where most of the players are looser than you. The lowerthenumberthebetter.
TheCasinoGivethSometimes Players who never fold on the first two cards even when it coststhem, are loose. A higher percentage means a much looser game.Mostonlinepokerrooms,suchasPacificPoker,listtheperce ntageof players who are seeing the flop. Players who fold often on thefirsttwocardstendtobetighterplayers. All online poker rooms also list the average pot size. You do notnecessarily want to play at the table with the highest average potsize,sincethismayindicatealotofraisesgoingintothepot.
For loosepassive games, choose a table with a relatively high floppercentageandareasonablyaveragepotsize.
117
Another factor to consider is the number of players at the table.Most online tables are tenhanded, which means youll have toplay relatively tight. You should take position into account andcall before the flop with premium cards or good drawing hands.More players means more competition, so youll have to showdownbetterhands. At a sixhanded table, you can play considerably looser than youcan at a tenhanded table. The side effect of this is that youllexperience more variance (the swings in your bankroll will begreater).Someplayersprefershort handedtablesbecauseyougettoseetheflopmoreoften,andthus havemorechancesatwinningthepot.
Aggressioninpokerhasfarmorepoweratashort handedtable.
InsiderTip It will take some experience to learn what type of table is best foryou. While you cant go wrong with a loosepassive table full ofmediocre players, you may find that a looseaggressive or tight passive table suits you best. If you find yourself at a table whereyouarestrugglingtomakeaprofit,donthesitatetoleavean djoinanothertable.
RaisesinLooseGames All new poker players will generally start out in loose, low limitgames. While most experienced players prefer the sort of loose passiveplaypresentatalowlimittable,othersmayhavedifficulty playing against opponents who repeatedly suck out and win
118
with garbage hands and bad plays. A common complaint amonglow limit players is that opponents will not always fold toappropriate raises, and occasionally, mediocre low limit playerswill make incorrect raises. Knowing when to raise, and how tointerpret an opponents raise is covered below. The followinginformation assumes that you have made an appropriate tableselection,andarenotplayingatatablethatisoverlyaggressi veortight. Ifyouvegotagreatstartinghand,especiallyahigh pair(JJorhigher),donthesitatetoraiseandre raisebeforetheflop.
InsiderTip
One of the most common complaints among lowlimit players isthat opponents often suck out with inferior hands against a solidhandsuchasAA.Thebestwaytowinwiththesehandsisto playthemfastandaggressively. Raisebeforetheflop,andkeeponbettingaftertheflop.Unlessthe game is ridiculously loose (and your opponents are ridiculouslybad), almost all of your opponents will fold to your aggressivebetting. You wont always win with AA or KK, but if you playthemaggressively,themajorityofthetimeyouwill.
119
Again, the research shows that aggressive play will drive downthe number of players in the hand and increase your odds ofwinning. Since many low limit players will play incorrectly and call betsandraiseswithjustaboutanyhalf decenthand,youneedtomakesure that you are raising when you think you have the besthand.Ifyoudohavewhatyoubelieveisthebesthandatthat point,thenyou need to raise to get other players out of the pot, who maydraw out on you with a garbage hand. If you are repeatedlywinning and showing down the best hands, then other playerswillstarttorespectyourraisesandgetoutofyourway. Ifyouvefloppedadecenthand(toppairwithgoodkicker,twop air, etc.) and are betting on it, dont be scared off if someoneraisesittotwobets. Although you could very well be beaten, experience shows thatbad players will sometimes raise with any decent pair, a draw oreven overcards. Call the bet, and be prepared to call to the riverunless the board looks scary or the action gets too intense. If youfoldeverytimeyougetraisedwithadecenthand,thenyoulll oseout on some pots that you would have won, had you shown thehanddown. Utilizepotoddstodeterminewhetherthepayoffisbig enoughtojustifyputtinginmorebets.Thenobserveo pponentplaytoseeiftheraiseisvalid.
InsiderTip Ontheotherhand,ifanopponentre raisesittothreebets,beveryconcerned.Generally,amediocrelow limitplayerwillnotreraiseunless they have a great hand. Take time to study the board to
120
determinewhatyouropponentmighthave.Youmightbetempted tofollowtheaboveadviceandcallhimtotheriver,hopingthathe is bluffing. But time and time again, they will turn up a superiorhand. Dont reraise unless you have the nuts, and if you donthavetheabsolutenuts,bepreparedtocalltotheriver.
PlayingTighter
IfeveryoneattheTexasHoldemPokertableplaysloosethenno onecanwin. Theplayerswilltradepotsbackandforthwhilethecasinoslowlyr akes all their money. The better Holdem players will lose less,butinthelongrun,noonecanwin.
Noonecanwinifeveryoneplaystight.Onlythehousewins.
InsiderTip The tight players will trade smaller pots back and forth while thecasino rakes all their money. The better Holdem players will loseless,butnoonecanwin. If everyone at the Texas Holdem Poker table plays the same, noonecanwin.LearningHoldemonlybysimplyplayingHoldem isplayers folly. If you learn to play Texas Holdem poker likeeveryoneelseplays,youcannothavealongrunedge.
TowinatTexasHoldemPokeryoumustplaytightinloose gamesandplayinloosegamesonly.
Thereisnootherway.YouhavenoedgeinatightHoldemgame and you only have an edge in a loose game if you play tight. It
121
might be possible to play loose and win in the long run if all theother players are complete idiots, but nature does not provideenoughcompleteidiotswhoplayHoldempoker. AsplayerscomeandgoduringaHoldempokersessionthegame will sometimes get tighter. Youll see more players folding on thefirst round. The pots will be smaller. If your Holdem game getstootight,findabettergameordontplayatall. You want to be the only tight player in a loose Holdem pokergame, but often there are one or more other tight players at thetable. Sometimes loose players tighten up their play for whateverreason,butthatsusuallytemporary.Youllhavetotakea llofthisinto consideration when evaluating a Holdem poker game.Theresnoexactwaytomeasureit,butyoucandevelopafee lforit.
TheLawOfBigNumbers Most of us are impressed with big numbers like the size of BillGates fortune. But what about small numbers that give you ahugeadvantage? Lets say that you improve your odds of winning by 5%? Soinstead of winning 10 in every 100 pots (on average) you couldincreasethatto15.Doesntsoundlikemuchdoesit? Ten in 100 pots for 10 players really means you are getting backthe money you bet less the house rake. Start with $100. Play 100handsofPoker.Therakeis$1perpot.Thats$100thehouseta kesfromallthewinningsleavingyou$90attheendofthenight.T heplayedallnightandlost$10.Writethatofftoentertainment.
122
With15potsthatlittle5%advantagemeansalot.
Youarenowup,justbasedonaverageplay,$115forthenight.
Smallnumbersmakehugedifferences.Playthreetimesaweekfor ayearandyouareup$18,000basedonyour5%advantage.
NeverSequenceBet AsequencebetisabetbasedontheideathatWell,Iveputinso much money on this lousy hand, I might as well see it through.Never change future strategy based on a past hands. So you gotlucky and drew on an inside straight? You should have folded.Notonlywillthatlucknotreturn,itwillmakeyoualooser player.Wewilltendtousetheexperiencetomodifyfutureplay. Show the avatars (people in chairs), but dont stereotype them.This is probably the most debatable tip Im guessing, because ifyouve turned them off, you probably really dont like the avatarstobeginwith.Andifyoudolikeavatars,well,theyreprob ablyonalready. I just want to get my two cents in about this Party Pokertip by saying that even though avatars are computer graphics, itsagain human nature to easily identify faces. That means we canmoreeasilyassociateapersonalitytoaface,soitmakesiteasie rtorememberhowsomeoneisplayingwhenwecanattachafacet oaplayingstyle. Thatbeingsaid,Imsurethereissomenegativeinfluenceofthesef aces as well, because we probably tend to associate a certainavatar with a playing style. For instance, Ill admit that I used tomentallyassociateoneoftheavatarpictureswithbluffing.Ithin kthis was caused by a long string of coincidences, when differentplayers using that avatar would constantly bluff, so I just starting
123
linking that specific avatar with bluffing. Dont let this happen to you.
Ifyouarea2ora3howdoyougettobea7oran8?
PlayingPokerSolitaire Human psychology is very interesting. Research has shown thatthe average gambler tends to underestimate the cards of theiropponents and overvalue their own. One of the best ways tounderstandthistendencyistoplaySolitairePoker. Playout6 10handsofTexasHoldem,evaluateyourcardoddsforthe flop, and then look at the other down cards. You will besurprisedatthenumberofopportunitiestowinyouwillseeint hecompetitionshands.
Be hard on your hand. Sure you could draw a card that will help youbutsocanalloftheotherremainingplayers. Oneofthebestexercisesinanactualgameistotryandguesstheot her players two down cards based on their playing style andbetting. The better you become at this, the better your game willbecome.Intheend,isntthisreallythepointofthegame?
ReadingYourOpponents Online Poker eliminates visual and verbal clues tells) from thegame.Youcantseethefacesoftheotherplayers(theirrealface s,inanycase).Thislimitsyourabilitytoreadtheotherplayers.The rulesinonlinepokercompensateforthisbygivingusawealthofi nformationinotherways.
Howtheotherplayersreacttothebets?
124
Howquicklydotheyrespond? Whatstheirbettingstyle? Howoftendotheyraiseandwhen? Aretheyconsistentstay,raise,raise? Orraise,stay,raise,fold?
WaitaFullTableRotationBeforePostingtheBB Online Tells The inturn buttons lead to the most obvious tellunique to online poker. If the blinking light representing a playeracts immediately, its likely this person has clicked the box of anin turnaction.Itisusuallyeasytodeterminewhenaplayerhasano brainer hand. The immediate check is often incrediblyrevealing. If you are first to act, and for some reason take amoment before checking, and your three opponents immediatelycheck behind you like rifle fire, this is a tell as big as Texas. Theyhaventgotathing. Anothercommonsituation...thefirstplayertakesamoment,and then finally checks. You have the bet/raise in turn buttonchecked, so your bet appears, but instantly the player next to youraises. Uhoh, he had the bet/raise button checked too, and didntcare what you or the first player did. That tells a lot more than ajustnormalraisewouldanawfullotmore. Besidesthespeedofactionresultingfromusingthebuttons,other online tells can be discerned from how slow a player commonlyacts on their hand. Players who are consistently super slow (rudehuman speed bumps) are likely not paying attention to the game,either because they are playing two gamesandarenotcompetentatit,orbecausetheyaredoingother workathome.Eitherway,ifallofasuddenthispersonplaysahan dcrisplyandpromptlyandaggressively... well, they just woke up because theyve gotsomething.
125
The Stall is a common tell among average or slightly belowaverageplayers.WhenthelastcardinHoldemorOmaham akesacoordinated board (making a nut hand like a flush), the mediocreplayer pauses as if thinking, and then finally bets. This pausealmost always means powerhouse or at least that the bettorthinkshehasakillerhand.Somewouldcallitreversepsych ology,butmoreoftenthannot,itstrue.
PREFLOPSTRATEGY Beforeyoustartbettinglikeamadmanwhenyougettwoeightsi nthepocket,youneedtocarefullyconsiderallfactorsinvolvedi nsolidpreflopstrategy. The factors to consider are the number of players, howaggressive/passivetheplayersatthetableare,yourbankroll, yourposition,andhowmuchriskyouarewillingtoentail.
THERIGHTNUMBEROFPLAYERS With 10 people in the game, its much more likely that someoneelsehasastronghandinthepocketthaninashort handedgame.Also, youll need to be more cautious in larger games, as thechances of someones preflop hand fitting the flop will be muchbetter.Morecompetitionmeansstiffercompetition.
HOWAGGRESSIVEARETHEOTHERPLAYERS Assuming youve been playing with a few people for severalhands, and you noticed some jackass is raising every hand pre flop, youll want to play tighter. Let the guy win the blinds (bigdeal) and nail him to the wall when you have a solid hand in thepocketpreflop
126
YourBankroll If you have $2 left, youll want to play extremely carefully andselectonehandtobeton,hopingtogetasmanyplayersinvolv edaspossibleforalargerpot.Youllwanttobeall inbeforetheflopisdealt.Ontheflipside,ifyouhave$1000ata$1/ $2table,youcantake the highrisk, highpayout bets. If you are worried aboutlosing your money, you should stop playing poker, switch tablesortakeabreak.Secondreasontobuymorethanisnecessary, isforintimidation factor. Opinions may differ, but faced off against abig stack, my feelings are that a good amount of players (but notall)showabitmorerespect(read:fear)andwillplayaccording lywhich is to your benefit. Now, dont read this as buying in for $1,000 in a $1/2 game, because then people will think you arejust nuts,but$400.Nowweretalking.
BuyinMoreThanNecessaryAtThePokerTable Ifyouvebeendoingyourhomework,youllknowthatyoushould always sit in with at minimum 50 times the big blind at any pokertable.Intherealitiesofonlinepoker,thisshouldbemorealo ngthelines of at least 100 times the BB. You should think about doingthis too. Why? First, dont ever be in the position of holding thenuts and not having enough money to raise the pot. Ive seen thishappen too many times, where a guy will have flopped a fullhouse ina$3/6game,butonlyhave$12inhisbankroll.Hecouldhavema deakillingifitwerentforthefacthewasplayingwithasmallstac k.
127
CHEATING, BLUFFING AND SEMIBLUFFING
Trusteverybody,butcutthecards.FinleyPeterDunne No, we are not going to teach you how to cheat. Our topic isspotting cheaters. And of course, our focus will largely be ononlinecheating. Online poker rooms are probably the safest place to play at rightnow. Did your mother ever tell you tonever trust a stranger?Well,playingonlinelimitsthenumberofsneakypeople youcouldpotentially be dealing with. The dealer is a program. Programsdontcheat.Youdonthavetoworryaboutanysortofill egalcardhandling.Therearenocardsonline.
Somepeopleworryabouthackers.
128
Itsbeenmany,manyyearssincethelastmajorinstanceofhacking affected anyone wagering money in an online Holdem game.Since then weve had breakthroughs like the SSLv3/TLSv1encryption algorithms and multilayered random numbersequencers. Not only do we have these very technical advances,butalltheonesyouwouldexpectinarealcasino.
Themostcommonformofonlinecheatingisplayercollusion. Thats when two or more players reveal to each other what cardstheyhold.Thisformismoredifficulttopulloffinalivegam e,butplayingonlinegivesplayersthechancetohaveafellowplay eronthephonewiththem,orsittingnexttothematanothercomp uter. Fortunately most of these players are the ones who have no ideahow to use that advantage. These two must coordinate welltogether, which takes practice. Online poker rooms not only lookfortelltalesignsofcollusion,butchecktoseeiftwoplayersal waysplay at the same table together. They would have to usehit andrun tactics when using this form of cheating. Colluding playerswouldhavetohitupahigh limittable,thenfleetoanotheronlinepokerroomwiththeirwinni ngsandneverlookback.
Itisbarelyworthittotrycollusion.Butjustincase,herearesome thingstolookfor 1.Ateamofplayerswhotrytosteamrollotherplayersoutofthe game. This means reraising each other to make non colludingplayerscallmultiplebetsatonce. 2. Players who never play fast preflop. Thats the time to talkabout what they hold. Watch whoever is under the gun and bemindfulofreactiontime.
129
3.Agroupofplayerswhohikeupbetsbyre raisingwithsomeonein between them. This gets the maximum amount of bets out of athirdparty.Thealarmshouldreallygooffifoneofthosere raisingplayershasapoorhand,orifoneofthemfoldswithonebet togodespiteamassivepot.Theresatimetobluffandatimetofol dandmost people have an idea when that is, so be on the lookout forplayers who exercise horrible judgement like that. Identify thatpersonasapotentialgoldmineforyourselforapotentialcheat er. Onceagain,itsVERYrareforsomeonetoevenattemptthesesorto fthings.Still,neveraccuseanyoneofcheating.Eithercontactthep okerroomsadministratorsorjustgetupandleave
BLUFFING
Youcanfoolsomeofthepeopleallthetime,andallofthepeoplesomeof thetime,butyoucannotfoolallofthepeopleallthetime.
AbrahamLincoln
AKeyElementInPokerIsDeception. Bluffing is the quintessential trick in poker. Of course, thereasoning for a bluff is to deceive the other players into thinkingyou have a better hand when you actually do not. For a bluff towork, you need the other players to think you actually have thatbetterhand. Manybeginningpokerplayerslovethisideaofbluffingandoften misuse it. The value of the bluff increases under certain generalcircumstances that often have a lot to do with information youassume about the other players. This vagueness makes it difficultto give definitivereasonsorplacestobluff.Somelessgeneralizedtimesto bluffandsomeadvicearegivenbelow.Thebottomofthe
130
page gives some more ideas and perspectives on deception in poker.
Sometypicalreasonstobluff...
A.Whentherearentmanyotherplayersinapot.
Simply put, its easier to trick a couple people than a crowd. With fewer hands out there, chances are better that no one hasmade a reasonable hand. This is fairly common though, so manyplayerswontbelieveyou.Somewillstayinthehandjustto keepyouhonest,sosometimesthisneedstobeapersistentbluffo veraperiod of two or three betting rounds. That can be costly if theydont fall for it. You need to know the players before you use thistypeofbluff.
B.Whenyoureupagainstfairlytightplayers. Thosethattendtofoldeasilyarethebiggesttargetsofabluff. Betswillbeputoutjustasaformofinformationgatheringonthis playershand.Ifyoubluffearly(pre flop,flop)againstaverytightplayerandtheydontbuckle,yoush ouldthinktwiceabouttryingit again on a future round. They have something. Your job is todetermine whether they have a made or drawing hand. Onceagain,youneedtoknowtheplayers.
C.Ontheriver. Especiallyifapparentdrawinghandsmissed.Thatswhenplayersr eact to rule #1the moment you know you cant win, throw inyourcards.Itisoftenagoodideatobluffwithaweakhand,lik eacehigh or lowest pair with these kinds of bluffs, because some
131
players will stay in just because of pot odds. If you do that, it is actuallysemibluffing.
D.Youreinlatepositionandeveryoneelsechecked. Thisoneyoullhavetogaugeforyourself.Itwillmostlikelyforces ome players out, but not all. This is a pretty common bluff onceagain, and many players will stay in just because of bet odds,and/ortoonceagainkeepyouhonest.Thisisanotherexam pleofa bluff that needs to be more persistent over a couple bettingrounds. E.Youbetpreflopandmissed. Thats because they dont know you missed! This can bedangerous,andyoureallyhavetoevaluatetoboardbeforeyou getinto this one. Sometimes its good to bluff when AK misses,sometimeswhen99misses.Youhavetoreallyfeelthisone out.
F.Youhavegivenotherplayersthefear. Its about how other players perceive you. If you just won a handthrough good play, the players who saynice hand are the oneswho now respect you. They will more likely fold to your bluff ifyou play it right. The trick is to play the hand exactly the sameway you played the other winning hand. Give it thehere we goagainact.
G.Whentheflopisntsogreat. Some players will fold automatically if all they have is an overcard. With a rainbow flop of 2, 6, 9, not many players will havemuch.Thisisanotherexampleofabluffthatcangohorriblya wry.
132
I wouldnt be too persistent in this case, unless only more low cardspopup.Onceagain,knowyourplayers.
H.Prefloponthebutton,andeveryoneelsehasfolded. This is usually best used with tight players to your left. Its goodbecauseitcanchangefromablufftoadeceptivelygoodhand withluckandtherightflop.
I.Whenthereisapairontheboard. Thisisespeciallyusefulwhenthepairis88orlower.Chancesaret hat these cards might have been folded or are still in the deck.This is one situation where you want to evaluate the hand verycarefullyiftheydocallthough.Thisisagreatsituationtoread thetells of the players who are NOT involved in the game. Its mucheasier to give away the fact that you HAD a card than if youHAVEit. Keepinmindthattheseareprettycommonreasonstobluff.Many players know these reasons. Most of the time it just wont work.Themainthingisalwaystoknowyourplayersandtonotdo itsooftenthatitneverworks.
SEMIBLUFFING
Semibluffingisasortofbluffwhereyouhaveapoorhandora drawinghandthatcanpossiblyimprove. Againstplayerswithnothingitfunctionsalotlikeabluff.Against playerswithsomethingitfunctionsasaformofaggression.Itisap owerful tool, as it can lead to adeceptivelypowerfulhandifthe
133
cardscometoyou.Itcanalsobeasourceofgreatlossifoverused ormisused. Semi bluffinginTexasHoldemisusedbestinbluffingsituations.Its usefulness comes from the fact that players who recognize abluff wont necessarily recognize when you make your draw. It ismoreuseful(andpreferable)againstalotofplayers,asopposedt ooutrightbluffing,sincetheoddstendtobebetter.Otherthanthat ,youllwanttousesemi bluffinginlateposition,usuallyonthefloporturn,againstmedioc reflops,andagainstpoorplayers.
Lets look at two examples of semibluffing from a perspective of oddsandfromaperspectiveofbluffing:
1.YouhaveaJackofHearts,andaTenofHearts.
THEPOCKET
The preflop betting round concludes with six players investingtwobetseach.TheflopisAceofHearts,QueenofSpades, SevenofHearts.
Youareinamiddleposition,anddecidetosemibluff.Why? Youve got draws, thats why! Any Heart or King will give you ahand. Whenever you have multiple draws like that, startthinkingof what would be ideal. If a Heart pops up you have to worry
134
about a higher flush draw, so you probably want the King ofHearts, as he is the most likely to be in someones hand. AQueenofHeartswouldbedangerousforyou,sinceyoudbeloo kingataroyalflushdrawvs.apotentiallymadefullhouse.
IdeallyyouwantanonHeartKingandthestraight.Thatwouldbe thenuts.
Forsimplicityssakeletssaythatinyourevaluation,eitheraflush orstraightwillgiveyouawinninghand. Youhavetwelveouts(dontcounttheKingofHeartstwice).Thats a little better than a 25% chance of hitting a winning card on theturn.Evenreraisingorcheck raisingwouldbeagoodideainthisposition based purely on odds. Even if you miss on the turn, itwouldbeinyourinterests(basedonplayersreactions)tocontinu etobetitrightout.
2.Youhaveapairofsixesinthepocket.
THEPOCKET
Preflop eliminates all but you and another player who was in earlypositionbeforeyou.
YougetarainbowflopofFour,Five,Ten.
135
Semibluff! In this case you have to think of it more as a bluff. If this onlyplayer played a hand in early position, they probably have someovercards in this case. You want the pot right then and there.MostplayerswillbluffbackatyouinthiscasewithjustanA ceinthepocket.Sticktoyourresolve.Bluff.
Your chances of getting that six are pretty slim, and not worth theodds. You only have to worry about your opponent having over pairsandmatchingtheTen.Soyoureallyhavetoevaluatetheplay er,asopposedtothemathinthiscase.
TryToBeOnTheAggressive. Youneedinformationaboutyouropponentshand.Bettingisareal good way to get information. Also, a casual semibluffing check raisecanbeallyouneedtoscareanotherplayerifyouthinktheyll bluffatthepot.
136
How To Tell If You Have A Texas Holdem Nut Hand
W
anttohaveaTexasHoldemhandthatnoonecanbeat? Withalittlepractice,youcanlearntoreadthetableand determine the hole cards necessary to make the nut hand. Most of the time no one actually has the nuts, but whensomeone raises, take time to study the table carefully. Do theyhave what it takes? It pays to know the difference between aprobablewinnerandtheabsolutenuts. A nut set is three of a kind with a pair in the hole equal to thehighest card on the board and no possibility of a straight or aflush. The smallest possible nut set on the river is a set of queens (seeexample)
137
Thissetofqueensisthenuts.Thereisnopossibilityofahigher set,astraightoraflush.
In this hand, one or more players could have 10,9 in the hole andthis top set of queens could then be sandwiched between nutstraights.Even7,5intheholewouldmakeastraight.
138
Thenutholecardsarekinganythingofspades.Anytwospades intheholewouldbeatthissetofaces.
Threeofakind with a pair on the board is trips not a set. Tripscannot be the nuts. Kings, fives or threes in the hole would beatthesetripjacks.
TexasHoldemPokerNutHandsFourOfAKind
139
You have the nut four of a kind if you have at least one of thefour cards in the hole and there is no higher pair on the boardandnopossibilityofastraightflush. Youhavethenutsifthefourofakindisontheboardandyouhave thenutkickerinthehole.IfthefourofakindisKingsorless,then utkickerisanace.Ifthefourofakindisaces,thenutkicker isaKing.Attheshowdownyouwillsplitthepotwithanyother playerswhoalsohavethenutkicker. If the four of a kind and the nut kicker are on the board, you willsplit the pot with all the players who are in the hand at theshowdown.
This is a nut hand. There is no higher pair on the board and nopossibility of a straight flush. Hope like mad you get some actionfrompocketaces,pocketdeucesoraheartflush.
140
The four eights are on the board, but the ace kicker in the holemakes this hand the nuts. If any other players have an ace in thehole,thepotwillbesplit.
Fourthreesandthetopkickerareontheboard.Alltheplayers whoareinthehandattheshowdownwillsplitthepot.
141
Thesequadfivescouldlosetoahigherfourofakind.Thenuthole cardsarepocketsevens
Thejacktenofspadesintheholewouldmakearoyalflush. Threeofa kindwithapairontheboardistripsnotaset.Tripscannotbet henuts.Kings,fivesorthreesintheholewouldbeatthesetripj acks.
TexasHoldemPokerNutHandsFlushes
142
The nut flush is an ace high flush with the highestpossibleflushcardinthehole,nopairorbetter ontheboardandnopossibilityofastraightflush.
InsiderTip
Sometimes, there is a flush on the board and it might be the best hand,buttherecannotbeanutflushontheboard.
In Texas Holdem Poker there can be only one nut flush. If the winninghandisaflush,itwinstheentirepot.
TexasHoldemPokerNutHandsFullHouses
You have the nut full house in Texas Holdem Poker whenthereisonlyonepairontheboardthatishighert hantheotherupcardsandequaltoyourhighholecardandthen exthighestupcardisequaltoyourotherholecardandthereisno possibilityofastraightflush.
InsiderTip You have the nut full house in Texas Holdem Poker when thereare two pairs on the board that are higher than the fifth upcardand each pair is equal to one of your hole cards and there is nopossibilityofastraightflush.
There cannot be a nut full house on the board. If theres a full houseontheboard,thenuthandisfourofakind.
Youcannothaveanutfullhousewithapocketpair.
InsiderTip
143
ThePreFlopWinningOddsSystem
These charts are based on 400,000,000 Texas Holdem Poker handsdealtto10players.
Thisismyfavouritetable.Itsitsbymymouseduringeveryonline gameIplay.Andhereswhy.
HOWTOBETPREFLOP
ExampleYouaredealttwoqueens.Timecomestomatchorraise abet.Thechanceofwinningthehandis22%(seechart).Thepotis $50. Based on a 22% chance of winning, your pot odds wouldindicate a safe bet of $10 at the preflop (22% x $50). Thensomebody goes crazy and starts betting. Do you know what kind
144
of a player they are? Do they have a pair of 9s? Over 50% of the potsarewonbyapairof9sorbetter.
Tight players never deviate from these rules unless they are playingwithaveryweaktable. Whenyoustartout,ifyoufollowtheseguidelinesyouwilllosel ess while you are learning and you will start to win moreconsistently.
Anotherexample
Youaredealtapairofacesinthepocket. The odds of winning with 2 aces is 31% the best odds in thegame. Preflop you have a massive advantage. The only choice atthispointwhatshouldthemaximumbetbe.
Estimatethetotalofthepotattheendofthebettingroundandbet nomorethan31%.
145
If you estimate the pot to be $150 the maximum bet you should takeis31%of$150=$31.
Question If the bet to stay in is much lower, should you raise? Forexampleifthebettoyouis$20doyouraise? Therearetwoconsiderationshere.Withanaveragehand,youmay want to see players leave the game and improve your odds ofwinning.Raisingtothemaximumcouldhavethateffect. On the other hand, having the nuts means you want to build thepotattheearlystages.Anythingcanstillhappen youdonthavea lock on the win remember. You only have a 31% chance ofwinning. Our advice win as much as you can when you have the rightcards.Inthisexample,raisethebetto$30ifyouhavealotof weakplayersandseewhostaysin.Betslightlyless$15 $20ifthetableisstronger.
ExampleYoudrawa2anda7.
This is the worst pocket hand you can be dealt based on the odds ofwinning.Itshouldbeclearwhy.
You have no higher cards to build on. You have no flush potentialandnochanceofdevelopingastraight.
146
Youhavea4%chanceofwinningthepot(seethechartsattheend ofthisbook).Shouldyoustayin?
Only if the cost to stayinthegameandseetheflopislessthan 4%ofthetotalprefloppot. Estimate the pot at $100 that would mean a maximum bet of $4.Basedonagamewheretheblindis$5/$10youwouldneedatle asta10%chanceofwinning.Getoutfast. Whatifyoufoldandseea2anda7intheflop twopairs?Thiscanhappenandyoumaybebeatingyourselfupo verit.Butifyoulet a bad example of odds modify your play and betting, over thelong haul you will be suckered in by long shots and your style ofplaywillsuffer.Theoddsaretheodds. Asyoucanseefromtheseexamples,asimpleruleis thelargerthe pot, the better the cards you would need at the preflop tostayinthegame.
REASONSNOTTOBLUFF Bluffingshouldprobablynotbeanautomaticreaction.Manytimes ittakesafeelforatabletomakeyouwanttobluff.Whendoingitk eepinmindthateveryoneelseisalsolookingforanopportunityto bluff. Maybe you spot them bluffing in a common situation orthey spot you. It only works when you get away with it, so youmustuseitsparingly.
Herearesometimeswhenyououtrightshouldnotbluff.
A.Whenplayersexpectyouto.
147
Dont be the fish. Revealing your playing style can be bluffing intelltale situations against players who know them. Thats acommonmoney makerfortheotherplayers.Alwaysconsiderthisrulebeforeattem ptingabluff.
B.Whenyouvebeencaughtbluffingrecently. Youve been labelled as a poor bluffer already. Ride it out. Letthem forget that hand. Start rebuilding a reputation as a straightplayersoyoucaneventuallytryabluffagainlater(andho pefullynotscrewitupagain)
C.Againstadangerousflop.
IftheflophasanAce,chancesarethatsomeonehasapairofaces. Aces tend to make it beyond preflop. Also, players tend tocontinuetoplaytheirAces.DontbluffagainstAces.
YoualsowouldntwanttobluffagainstafloplikeK,Q,9.Chances aresomeonehassomethingtheyllstickwith.
D.Againstlotsofplayers.
148
Chancesarethatsomeonehassomethingthattheyllstickwith.By bluffing in this situation, you just become an agent of that player.Fromanoddsperspective,thisisneverworthit.
E.Againstbadplayers. As much as they love to bluff, they love to catch someone in abluff.Theyremuchmorelikelytokeepyouhonestbecausethe ydontrealizewhatamoney loserthatis.Itsmuchmoreprofitabletoplaystraightupintheseg ames.Bluffingisonlyeffectivefroma fearperspectiveinthiscase.
F.Youjustlostabighand.
Notonlymightyoubeonabadrun,butotherplayerswillexpect you to be on a bad run, and will more readily call you. G.Youareinablindposition.
You really have to evaluate the flop, but generally other players willthinkyouhaveapoorhandandexpectyoutobluff.
UsingOddsDuringaBluff
Itsalwaysgoodtolookatpokerfromamathematical perspective,andthatevenappliestobluffing. You can determine finite amounts and percentages that can tellyou if it is a financially feasibly good time to bluff. This isparticularlyusefulwhenthereareonlyoneortwoplayersandth epotisratherlarge.
149
Itsgoodtodothesecalculationswithpotentialstraightsorflushes thatappearedontheriver,thatyouweregoingforbutyoudidnt make.
Its nice with a flopthatstartswithHeart,Heart,Spade,andendswithSpade,Spa de.YouhadtwoHearts.OrafloplikeFive,Seven,Eight, and ends with Ten, Jack. You had a Six. Its also goodbecause they might have been on the same draw, which leadsthemtobelieve(alsofromonoddsperspective)thatyouwere notonthatdraw. Letssaythatoneoftheabovecasesoccurredina$5/$10gameand ontheriverthereis$140inthepot.Youronlyopponentcheckstoy ou.
Ifyoucheck,youknowyouvelost. Soyoubluff.Thereasoningisthatifyouinvestanother$10,youre getting 14 to 1 odds. As a percent thats around 7%. If they foldmore than 7% of the time, you make money in the long pokergameoflife.Ifnot,itsalosingventure. You still have to evaluate the player, but from a purelymathematical standpoint, you get the picture. You can alsoevaluateitbyreasoningthattheymissedtheirdrawmorethan 7%ofthetimeandwillfold.
150
If two players were involved in the pot, it cuts the odds in half.Withthree,itbecomes1/3rdof7%,etc.Youcanseewhyyou wanttobluffagainstfewerplayers. Thiscanbeunreliablethough,assomeplayerswillstayinpurelyb ased on pot odds. So when bluffing you cannot ever use justodds.Getafeelforyouropponents,andactaccordingly.
HOWTOKNOWWHENTHEYREBLUFFING? This isnt about reading tells. This is about the situations wherebluffing is plausible, and when other players will do it. You cangenerallylookatthereasonsYOUshouldbluffandapplythem toother players. Of course, you also have to know the player, andevaluateitfromthere,butherearesomeideas.
A.Theyarebettingaggressivelydespiteapoorflop.
Iftheybetpre flopfromapoorposition,andtheflopissomethinglike4,5,5,they areprobablyjusttryingtokeepmomentumgoingand bluff their way out of this hand. They probably havegenuinely zero drawing chances with overcards or maybe anoverpair, but a reraise could have them rethink that strategy. ItmightalsogiveyouabettingroundortwototryandmakeYOU Rhand.
B.PotOddsareintheirfavor.
151
Ifeveryonefoldsontheturnwithabigpot,likewhenanobviousd raw was missed, expect a bluff. Its almost certain that anyonewill bluff against a big pot. With the pot odds the way they are,youprobablywanttostayinthosehandsalso.
C.Itsbetweenyouandthem. The most common time to bluff is when you CAN pull it off. Itsveryeasytotrickjustoneperson.Useyourskillsatevaluatingt heprevious rounds and the board to determine what they mighthave.
D.Theflopdoesnthaveanydraws. Sometimessomeonewillbetinthiscasetoeliminatetheabilitytoa cquire a draw, sometimes because they have a good hand. Youreallyhavetoknowtheplayerinthiscase.
E.TheybetontheFlop,checkedontheturn.
Iftherewasadraw,anditdidnthit,theyareprobablyjustbuying afreecard.Betbackagainstthemandtaketheinitiative.
F.Betontheflop,betontheturn,checkedontheriver.
Same as before, but they bought another turn. Might as well bet backatthem.
G.Theybetandtellyoutosaveyourmoney. Iftheyreallywantedyoutosaveyourmoney,theywouldnthave bet. Sometimes players say that just to create the opposite image,solookout.Fewarethatcraftythough,sotellyouroppositi onthathesbluffingandreraise.
152
HOWTOATTACKAWEAKPLAYER
Themostsuccessfulplayersarenotalwaysthetightest ...andyoucantwinanythingwhenyoufold.
InsiderTip Pros add to their hourly win rate by finding times to play handsthat are small losers in the hands of lesser players. They do thisboth by playing those hands especially well and by playing themwhen a bad player is already in. Thats why knowing your tableissoimportant. The secret to beating online poker can be where you get a lot oftight passive players sitting on their hands while a successfulplayer(ortwoorthree)eatsanawfulplayer(ortwo)aliv e. Most people play backwards. They play loose and see a lot offlops in the early rounds, then absurdly tighten up later. Unlessyouareoneofthoserareplayerswhosimplycantplaywith outabig stack, dont fritter away your chips in the early rounds onmarginal junk. Those chips can be very useful once the importantroundsbegin. Sitting around waiting for good cards to play against the tightplayersisfairlypointless.Thereiszeropointtoplayinginag amewithdecentplayers.
The only reason to be in this game is to play with the fish. BADHANDSTHATLOOKGOOD
153
This hand makes me think of the data a major Casino put outabout the actual results of all Holdem hands for the first sixmilliongamesplayedontheirsite. The hands that lost the most money were not theworst handspossible.Thebiggestmoneyloser(notcoincidentally)is32s. Itlostmore than 32s or 72s. Then also, A2s lost more than 32s. Most players overvalue garbage cards. Its the kiss of death.
InsiderTip
Hands that should do better than other hands (32s should dobetter than 32o) end up doing markedly worse because peopleplaythemandthinktheyhavesomething. 23isthesinglemostcostlyHoldemholdinginthehandsof90% oftheplayers...anditholdsthatdistinctionbyfar.234isabigi mprovement, adding the 7 helps, and adding a suit does too, but
154
anyone who thinks this is agood hand is surely going to lose a lotofmoneywithit. Again,thisscenarioisaboutthebestpossibleforthehand(besides a free ride in the blind of course), but the hand is still highlyspeculative and will be a money loser for nongood players.Contrast this to A347 and even a nongood player will have aprofitablehandonthebutton. Thepursuitofavailableinformation,evenifittakesabitofwork,i s largely what separates winning (and breakeven) players fromlosingplayers. Certainly most players lose, but the combination of the winningplayers and the smallish losers is in the ballpark of half theplayers. Bigtime losers is a smaller percentage especiallyamongplayerswhoplaymorethanfivesessionsintheir life.Also,the whole concept ofbigtime losers is fallacious because whileplentyofplayerslose100%ofwhattheydepositthat100%is often $100.
155
LIMIT TEXAS HOLDEM TOURNAMENT GUIDE
M
uch of the popularity of Texas Holdem recently is basedon televised Texas Holdem Tournaments. If youvefollowed the Food Chain Theory of regular game play,youwillbehappytoknowthatTournamentplayprogressesi n a very familiar fashion from fish to barracuda to shark asthebettinglimitsincrease. Inthebeginning,theruleistoplayveryconservatively.Playveryt ight Fish level rules. Some players become very reckless in thebeginning of tournaments, feeling they need to build their stack.Thisiscompletelywrong.Averyconservativestylewillkeep youalivelonger.
PlayingLimitTournaments
Firstoff,alladviceontournamentplayhereshouldbetakenwith a grain of salt. I dont claimtobesometournamentguru,because
156
if I were, Id probably be somewhere making much more money.However, I do seem to be placing in the money in half of thesingletable tournaments I play, so maybe theres something to besaidforthat. The next chapter is for you if youve already played a fewtournaments andwanttofigureoutwhyyouareendingupshortstackedintoth emidlevels(35)andthenendupgettingranoverby the loose betters who seem to hold nothing. If youre a maniacand find yourself loosing more often than not, you may find thissectionusefultoo. Remember players are eliminated when they run out of chips.Thats the key survival technique at this stage. Make it to the sixplayerlevelbyholdingontothechipsyouhave. Atmid pointinthegame,oncethetableisreducedtosixplayers,revert to a Barracuda strategy. Follow the preflop strategycarefully. Once you are down to three players, Shark strategy is the rule ofthe day. Aggressive play is an absolute requirement to win intournaments. Themostimportantthingtounderstandabouttourneyplayonline is that it is fast. Im not talking about the speed at which playersplay, but Im referring to the blinds structure. You only have 10hands before the blinds go up a level. The limit levels look likethis:

Level1:15/30 Level2:30/60 Level3:50/100
157

Level4:100/200 Level5:200/400 Level6:300/600 Level7:400/800 Level8:500/1000
Level9:600/1200 What this means is that when the deal has gone around the tablefour times, youre already betting a significant percentage of yourstarting bankroll (800 chips to start). Lets say you played ultra tight to level4,thatislikeplayinga$1/2gamewith$7,notreallyfun!Butc riticaltosuccessfulplayintournaments. LevelOnetoTwo There are a lot of theories floating around regarding a playstrategy for the early rounds. Some experts claim the secret is toplay loose and hope for a monster pot at some point to shore upyour stack. (You wont find the word hope in our Pokerdictionaryattheendofthisbook soIcantreallyhelpyouthere.) All the latest research we have looked at supports playing supertight,stayingundertheradarandsavingallthemoneyyouc anforthe later levels when it really matters. The idea behind the firststrategy of seeing as many flops as possible, is based on the sadtruththattournamentsgobyveryquickly.Weveallseentheg uywho manages to win chips early on with garbage hands based onthe fact that the rest of the players are playing very tightly. Heobviouslyendsupinamuchbetterpositionintothelaterlevels.
158
Inthelongrun,thispersonwilllose,butintheshortrun,itcanbef rustrating to see such loose play rewarded. Dont let these short termgainsaffectyourstyleofplay.Staytight.Keeptoyourplan. The Food Chain School of strategy says play tight in theearly rounds. With 7 or 8 callers in a pot, many of whom arenovice players and will draw on you, its very difficult to winpots in the early rounds with mediocre hands. The top pocketcards are what you needtowin.Facingastraightorflushdraw,youcanalmostbesu resomeoneisgoingtochaseafteryou.Betstogetpeopleoutand carefulchecksontheriverwillpayoff.Note: Bluffing at this stage in the game is nearly impossible.Dontwasteyourtime. The most important thing you should be doing in the first tworounds is taking notes on your opponents. Note what handspeople preflop raise with, what hands they play, do they reraiseflush/straight draws, anything that will help you out later. If youdo this often enough, youll find that youll naturally form yourown player profiles and realize how you should play thisindividual. Iftheyretight,thentheycanbebluffed.Iftheyreablufferorliar,y oull want to call down questionable bets or reraise them if youhave anything. Common sense stuff, but most people just hunkerdown and play their hand. Dont do this! Pay close attention toeveryones betting habits when youre not in a hand. Be intenseaboutyourpoker,dontwatchTVonyouroffhands. LevelThreeandFour The big change once the game hits level 3/4 is that bluffing now becomes an option. As the stakes become higher, youll find your
159
opponents less willing to draw on you unless they truly areweak players. This is a doubleedged sword as aggressive players will becomemuch more dangerous into these rounds. This is why playerobservation is absolutely key. Against a tight table, with a majorthreat on board (possible straight, flush, trips), betting out underthegunornearlastpositionareverypossibleoptions.Bettin goutearlyusuallysignifiessomekindofstrengthwhentightplaye rsdoit, so if you have a tight table image (established in the earlyrounds),mostplayerswillrespectthatandfold. Remember looking at the pros and cons of bluffing online? In atournament game, your big advantage is a captive table. (Sure,players are leaving but at least new players arent coming in.)There is an opportunity here to train the other players and setthemup.
For instance, if the board shows Q/Q/6 and you come out betting, mostpeoplewillfigureyouforafourofakind. Tightplayerswontwanttodrawinthissituationandfold.Iftheyc all,youshouldfigurethemforafourofakind,pocketpairandofc ourse,thepossibilityofQueens. A raise should easily make you realize know they have it (or are outplayingyou),whichinanycaseshouldbeaneasyfold.
160
The turn is very difficult to play after someone has called your bluff. You will have to assess it on a casebycase situation. Anothertough decision. If you feel the other person is drawing or has aweaker kicker on his four, then you will want to bet and hope hefolds. If it took him a medium amount of time to call your flop,hes probably got a four of a kind, because hes trying to make adecisiononifyouhaveaqueenornot. If ittookhimalongtime,youcanexpecthimtohavepocketpair (again, has to think about if you have queens or not) or he hasQueensandhewantstosuckyouin.Ifyoudoendupbettingth eturnanddontgetre raised,youprettymuchhavetocheckdownthe river as you can no longer get him out by then obviously. Whileonthesubjectoftrips,Ihavetosaythatitsbettertobluffon smaller trip threats. For example: 2/2/J vs J/J/2. Someone is farmorelikelytobeholdingaJackasopposedtoa2,simplybecaus eaveragestrong players will rarely hold a 2 except for A2s, K2s,Q2s.IntheSBorBB,thisisagoodbluffasotherswillbemore aptto believe you are holding a 2. If you bluffed on the button, mostpeoplewillputyouontheJackfortheverysamereasoningab ove. So in short, bluffs high trips in late position. Bluff the turn ifneeded, butalmostnevertheriverbecausebythentheyllusuallycall. Now that bluffing has somewhat been covered, realize that otherplayerswillalsotrytomakemoves(beaggressive)inthesele vels.Youll tend to see midpairs betting out, or flush draws bet outeven. This makes it a perfect time to trap people yourself if youhold a strong hand. Top pairs will usually be reluctant to slow
161
play in these levels, as they dont want anyone drawing on them.So if the board doesnt have any kind of possible straight/flushthreat that can develop, you may just check/call the flop thencheckraise the turn. Itll help your image if you win, as otherswont be able to bet all over you later in the game, which isimportant. In late position, if the board is nonthreatening, you may evencheck it down to give others a free card and hope someone pairsontheturn.Beingcheckraisedontheturnafterchecksonthe flopis a really scary scenario for most players. Ideas of two pair andtrips usually develop in this situation, as many peopleautomatically dontevenbegintothinkofsomeonecheckingoverpairontheflop . When you are shortstacked and make a play, players are moreapt to call you down on your slow play. They will view yourplayasadesperationmoveandarefarlesslikelytobelieve you. Therestofthegeneralstrategyfortheselevelsistojustplaytight, makeafewmoveswhenyoucan,butotherwisehunkerdownand takecover. LevelFourandUp Nowcomesthefunpart! Nowthatthelimitis200/400(blinds100/200),youneedtochangeg ears very fast. Half, if not more of the table should be gone nowandmorewillfollowquickly.Inashorthandedgame,semi stronghands become strong and strong hands become monsters. A9sforexample, a playable hand with 10 people becomes very playablewith 4 people. K9o, weak in a 10person game, is very playablewith 4 people. The same rules of poker in regard to position still
162
applythough!Theearlieryouplay,thestrongeryourhandsneedst obe.Thelateryouplay,thelessstrongitneedstobe,asyoudont needtoworryaboutitbeingraised. However,youshouldbetheonedoingtheraising! At this point in the game, you do NOT want to go to showdownwith your opponent and should be happy with winning the pot.Blindstealingbecomescriticalatthispoint,becauseeachsetof SBand BB is worth so much. Strong hands need to be raised andweak hands need to be folded quickly. You need to be able toswitchquicklybetweenaggressiveandnon aggressivebetting.Bethe aggressor. Bet the flop when it comes down if you raised preflop. Remember, its not about what you have, but what your opponentdoesnthave! You hold AQ and the flop comes KT7. Youre in last position, buttheBB,whobetpre flop,comesoutandimmediatelybetsout400on the flop. Do you call? Its a very tough decision because youhave to try to figure out what he has. If hes got Kings, youre allbut dead as you have a gutshot or overpair Ace draw. Even if hehas nothing, is this maniac going to bet 400 on the turn and thenanother 400 on the river? Are you willing to pay 1200 to see thisdown?
You dont want to be in this position! You want to be the one puttingOTHERStothisdecision! In the above scenario, you may have held A9o and raised thecaller. When the flop came, you bet out your high card ace scaryas it is. Guess what? He ends up folding and you won with theweaker hand. That is why taking the charge is vital at the later
163
levels, because it turns info a mind game instead of a card game.Allhehastodoisthinkyouarestrongeristhatheistoowea kandyouvealreadywon.Itdoesntmatterwhatyouhold. Youllfindinthelowerbuy intourniesthatthesolid,tightplayersmake it to the later levels, but most of them will hesitate and foldtheir way into oblivion to the crazy better. You need to out aggressivethemaniacsatthispointinthetournament.Sure,when youreaggressiveandincharge,atsomepointsomeonewillmake a move against you, whether it be a raise, checkraise, trap ortheyre stealing back against you. Dont be overly aggressive andraiselikeamaniaconeverythingthatcomesyourway.Youca nnotsimplyraiseyourwayoutofeverysituation. Just remember that while tight players can make moves againstyou, as long as you can make more moves against them, you willwin. And when you are the aggressor, you WILL make moremovesagainsttightplayers.Thatsbecauseyoualwayshave moreinfothanyouropponent.Whentheyraiseintoyou,youkno wtheyhave something. When you bet into them, they arent sure whatyouhave. Eventually, even they will trap themselves when you DO havesomethingandtheybetaweakerkickerorpairintoyoursand youcancomerightbackatthem. Iknowsomeoneoutthereissaying:Yeah,thisisgreatandall,but what about when the tight player is on to you and just re raiseseverything you have? I can almost guarantee you that it does nothappen at the lower levels. Once it has become a mental game,poor/average players are no longer thinking very logically, butwithemotions.Theywillbescaredandinmostcasesdonotha vethe courage to stand up and challenge you with blanks in theirguns. If they do indeed just go on tilt and hit bet/raise for every
164
hand they have, you just need grit it and play right back at them.Reraise strong hands preflop, call with weak hands. Re raisepairsaggressively,callwithA/Khigh,foldlowhighcards. Make more money when you win. Lose less money
whenyoulose. InsiderTip Youneedtobeabletotakeofflikearocketandstoponadimeinte rmsofyourbetting.Betheaggressor.Bettheflopwhenitcomesdo wn if you raised preflop. Remember, its not about what youhave,butwhatyouropponentdoesnthave! Imaginethis:YouholdAQandtheflopcomesKT7.
Youre in last position, but the BB, who bet preflop, comes out and immediatelybetsout400ontheflop. Doyoucall? Its a very tough decision because you have to try to figure outwhat he has. If hes got Kings, youre all but dead as you have agutshot or overpair Ace draw. Even if he has nothing, is this
165
maniac going to bet 400 on the turn and then another 400 on the river?Areyouwillingtopay1200toseethisdown? You dont want to be in this position! You want to be the oneputting OTHERS to this decision! In the above scenario, you mayhave held A9o and raised the caller. When the flop came, you betout your high card ace scary as it is. Guess what? He ends upfoldingandyouwonwiththeweakerhand.Thatiswhytakingt hechargeisvitalatthelaterlevels,becauseitturnsinfoamindgam einsteadofacardgame.Allhehastodoisthinkyouarestrongeris thatheistooweakandyouvealreadywon.Itdoesntmatterwhat you hold. Youllfindinthelowerbuy intourniesthatthesolid,tightplayersmake it to the later levels, but most of them will hesitate and foldtheir way into oblivion to the crazy better. To give you an idea ofwhatyourgoalsshouldbeinthetournament,youshouldanalyz ethefollowing: Janehasbeenatightplayerforthefirsthalfanhour.Shehastaken a few pots and folded most of her hands. Now the that limits areup, the three other players have noticed Jane raise preflop nearlyhalf the hands shes in. Knowing shes a tight player, a fewhesitantly call her raises. It doesnt slow her down. Most of thetimeheropponentsfoldandJaneendsuptakingdownmostof thepots. Finally, Fred, another tight player, gets his pair of aces, andwhen Jane preflop raises, Fred reraises her immediately. Janefolds and Fred takes the pot. The next hand, Jane comes out andaggressively preflop raises. Fred, not believing any of it, comesbackandreraises.Janere raiseshimrightback.Fredhesitatesandthenfoldshishand. ThemoralofthestorythereisthatyouwanttobeJane.
166
Sure, when youre aggressive and in charge, at some pointsomeone will make a move against you, whether it be a raise,checkraise, or theyre stealing back against you. Dont be overlyaggressive and raise like a maniac on everything that comes yourway.Youcannotsimplyraiseyourwayoutofeverysituation. Justrememberthatwhiletightplayerscanmakemovesagainstyo u,aslong as you can make more moves against them, you will win.And when you are the aggressor, you WILL make more movesagainst tight players. Thats because you always have more infothan your opponent. When they raise into you, you know theyhave something. When you bet into them, they arent sure whatyou have. Eventually, even they will trap themselves when youDO have something and they bet a weaker kicker or pair intoyoursandyoucancomerightbackatthem. Iknowsomeoneoutthereissaying:Yeah,thisisgreatandall,but what about when the tight player is on to you and just re raiseseverything you have? I can almost guarantee you that it does nothappen at the lower levels. Once it has become a mental game,poor/average players are no longer thinking very logically, butwithemotions.Theywillbescaredandinmostcasesdonotha vethe courage to stand up and duke it with you on garbage. If theydoindeedjustgoontiltandhitbet/raiseforeveryhandtheyh ave,you just need to take a deep breath and play right back at them.Reraise strong hands preflop, call with weak hands. Re raisepairsaggressively,callwithA/Khigh,foldlowhighcards.
Make more money when you win. Lose less money when you lose.
167
PokerHandNumberofCombinationsProbability
168
HOW TO PICK AN ONLINE CASINO AND A BREIF HISTORY OF ONLINE POKER

Online gambling is increasing at a staggering rate worldwide.Total revenues for online gambling worldwide in 2003 were anestimated$5Billion over4.3%ofallworldwideecommerce. The worlds first virtual online casino, Internet Casinos, Inc.commencedoperationonAugust18,1995with18differentcasi nogames and is now publicly traded on NASDAQ. Most of theseonlinegamblingcompaniesarelocatedoutsideoftheU.S.toa voidgovernment prosecution. ICI operates out of the Turks andCayucos Islands and WagerNet is based in Belize. Site users caneither send cash through one of the companies offering securepayment systems for the Internet or open an offshore account, arequirement for Americans to use ICIs site. A number of foreigngovernments have entered the business of online casinos holdingtheir sites out to people worldwide. For instance, the governmentof Liechtenstein is operating an online international lottery in sixdifferent languages, including Chinese. According to Rolling Good
169
Times Online gambling magazine, there are over 1300 gambling relatedsitesonthenetandmoreareupandrunningeveryday. The economics of the industry are amazing. While it may cost upto $300 million to build a new bricks and mortar resort casino,most virtual casinos can be developed for between $12 millionandwillemployonly10 20peopleasopposedtothousandsforatraditionalcasino.Theind ustryaveragesaboutatwenty five(25%)profitmargin,versusthetypicalU.S.casino,whichrange sbetweeneight percent (8%) to sixteen (16%) of each dollar wagered.Interactive Gaming & Communications International handled $48million dollars in its first year of operations and has made astaggeringprofiteversince. In sum, an estimated twenty million people are currently on linewith a projected 160 million online by the year 2020. The majoronlinecasinosregisterover7,000,000visitspermonth. According to surveys conducted by the US government, themajority of gamblers, 83%, play online, however, only a third ofthat group plays for real money. In other words, the majorattraction for online players are casinos that offer free games. Inall, 28% of those who gamble do so online for real money.Accordingtoarecentstudy73%percentofthosewhoplay forrealmoneybothonlineandofflinelostmoneyinthepastmonth ,while 80% of landbasedonly players lost money. Online gamblers,however, lose more money per game. Those who gamble for realmoney both online and offline lost in the past month more thandouble what those who gamble exclusively off line lost. Further,therearemorethanfour timesmorehighrollers(percentagewise)among the online players than there are among landbasedonlyplayers.
170
If youre wondering how safe your money is at an online casino,there are a number of things to consider. Over the past few yearsthere have been a number of cases of winners at online pokercasinos being denied payment. Remember, as online gambling isnot allowed in the U.S., you have no legal recourse to recoverfunds. Our advice is to stay with well established online casinoswith an extensive track record and a reputation for paying outwinners. We list ten of the largest, best known in this section. Allhave excellent track records, use wellestablished software todeliver the gaming experience and offer a wide range of tables toselectfrom. You will be tempted sometimes by very generous offers of largeplayer bonuses from online casinos youve never heard of. Thinkabout it if you started a new casino in a very crowded market,how would you get the attention of potential new players? Oursuggestionistoavoidthesecasinos.Whatgoodwoulditdoto win $10,000 and then find you can never claim the money? There arenumerous systems being promoted that suggest you can usethese bonuses to multiply your winnings even play for free.Thats nonsense. Bonuses, if they are based on the number ofhands, will be returned to the house through the rake. Pick yourcasino based on play quality and the volume of table options.Thatstherealkeytowinning. Ioftengetquestionsabouthowfaircertaincasinosare.Oneauthor has written a book claiming that there are dealing errors in onelarge casino that give players in the know a decided advantage.This writer does not understand the technology behind the carddealingprocessatreputableonlinecasinos.Electronicgameso falltypes use random numbergenerator(RNG)softwarealgorithmtodetermine card outcome, the RNG algorithm is called into play
171
hundreds of times per second. The RNG has approximately 16,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible outcomes and, depending ofcourse on the type of game, there will be billions and billions ofoutcomesthatmapintoanysetofcards.Thisensuresthatallga meoutcomes are completely random. There are no hiccups in theprocess you can use to beat the virtual dealer. The science ofrandom number generation is well established and impossible tobeat.
Hereareanumberoffactorsyoucanusetochoosethebestonline pokerroom.
SecurityandPrivacy You want as much reassurance that your credit info is safe, youridentity and contact info wont be sold and that game conditionsare as safe and as fair as possible(e.g. that the software isntvulnerable to manipulation; players arent colluding because asystem of checks is in place; etc.). Secure servers are a necessity.Sites should elaborate on the encryption system that they use. Allgoodsitesshouldaddresstheaboveissuestoyoursatisfaction. Dotheydiscussissuesliketheircard shufflingalgorithm?Also,whatkind of RNG(random number generator) do they use? The bestones increase the level of unpredictability in the cards beingplayed. What other safeguards do they have in place to preventgamerigging, collusion, hacker intrusions, etc.? You shouldalwaysreadasitesprivacypolicy,includingthesmallprint .
Action Howmanyplayerslogontothegames?Canyougetactioninthep oker game of your choice anytime, day or night? Do they havediverse offerings with enough players to keep tables full? Thelarger the pool, the more action youll see in both game play and
172
cashwinnings.Wevisitthesitesatdifferenttimestoseewhattheo verall action is like as well as the variety of players in all gamesoffered.
Gameplay If your money and personal info are secure but the ease of gameplay and visuals suck, then chances are youre not going to comeback. We look at the variety of poker games offered and keep aclose eye on how well a site creates a good poker environ ment.Howeasyisittoplay?Conversewithotherplayers(ormute them,ifyouwish)?Arethegraphicsandsoundsfun?Interesting? CanIplayevenifmysystemdoesntsupporttheabsolutelylatestg raphics, etc.?Is all the information needed to play easyto accessand clearly stated? Some sites definitely have more appealinggameplaythanothers.
Connectivity How often does the game crash due to server issues at the onlinepoker rooms end? How bad are the delays in transfer of info?What about disconnections? Are they repeated? Anything thatdisruptsgameplayonaregularbasisisgoingtobeanannoya nceandamajorproblem(attheworstifthestakesarehighandyo ureon a streak). We realize problems can occur at the players end (with their computer and their particular ISP) but theres nodenying some sites are more reliable and offer lessdowntimeandothersuchirritationsthanothers.
Cashouts How much money have players won at their poker games? Howeasy is it to cash out your winnings?Do they credit your creditcard? What charges are applied? How long does it take to receive
173
winnings?Youshouldnthavetobearocketscientisttofigureout how to cash out what youve won and whether extra charges,delays, etc. are worth it. Or have the patience of a saint. And welike features such as email confirmations of the withdrawaltransactionsverifyingrequest,dates,andamounts.
FreePlay Testing out poker game play, environment, percentage, etc. helpsto familiarize yourself with what to do in the event of servercrashes, how well youve understood the written rules of play atthe particular online poker room, and the mixed quality of otherplayersyoumayencounter. This is an important feature of any good poker site playingfirst for free although we recognize that people play verydifferentlywhentheyvegotrealmoneyontheline. Some sites make it easier than others to identify how to get in onthe free play action without submitting heaps of personalinformationinadvance.
OtherFeatures Some sites will let you choose a character image which becomesidentifiedwithyou.Otherswilltrackyourgameplaystati sticsforyou.Someprovidenochargesforcertainkindsofcashout s.Sometrack the top players. Some allow you to betatest new games orpoker tournaments in development. Others offer good pokerresources in terms of celebrity columns, advice, links, etc. We likeboth access to quality information thats useful to us in playingpokeraswellasconvenience.
174
Onlinecasinosofferplayersbonusincentivestocomeplayattheirc asinos.Theseareknowascasinobonuses,casinopromotion,freec hip offers, and although there are several other terms used todescribethefreemoneygiventoplayersbythecasinosthebotto mline is that its free money. Outlined below are a few descriptionsofthedifferenttypesofbonusesofferedbyonlinecasi nos.
NoDepositCasinoBonuses This type of bonus is offered to players just for trying anddownloading and trying the casinos software out. In general thistypeofcasinobonusisintherangeof$10and$22.
OnlineCasinoMatchBonuses Withacasinomatchbonusthecasinogivesplayersadditionalcash to play at the casino upon making a first deposit. If a playerdeposits$50ina100%matchbonussituationtheplayerwo uldgetanadditional$50toplaywithatthecasino.
AlternativeBankingBonuses Since online gambling transactions made by players mayencounter some rejections by credit card companies many casinoshave resorted to alternative payment solutions. These includeNETeller, FirePay, PrePaidATM and others. Some casinos offerplayers additional bonuses on top of their existing no depositbonuses and match bonuses for deposits made through thesealternativebankingmethods.
PokiBotPoker
There are no money games at this site, only free Texas Holdem Poker. Theres no download, just sign in and play. Youll play
175
Holdem poker with artificially intelligent programs robots thatlearn. The robots are tough players. Your icon will be a fish. Youoweittoyourselftospendsometimeplayingthesebots.Itsa veryinterestinggameofTexasHoldemPoker.Youcanlearnalotf romabot. The websites listed here invite players to try their poker gamesabsolutely free. If you want to play poker online for money, youshouldbesureitislegaltodosofromyourlocation.
Takeadvantageofthefreepokeratthesesitesandpractice, practice,practice!
TheBettingRulesforPotLimitTexasHoldem Minimum eligible raise: The raise amount must be at least asmuch as the previous bet or raise in the same round. As anexample, if the first player to act bets $100 then the second playermustraiseaminimumof$100(totalbetof$200). Maximumeligibleraise:Thesizeofthepot:Thesizeofthepotisd efinedasthetotaloftheactivePot(whichcanbeeitherthemainpo t or the side pot depending on whether anyone has gone all in) plus all bets on the table plus the amount the active playermustfirstcallbeforeraising. Asanexample,iftheactivepotis$200andthefirstplayertoactin theroundbets$150andthenextplayercalls$150,thethirdplayer hasamaximumeligibletotalbetof$800.The$800totalismadeup ofthe$150calland$650raise.
The $650 max raise portion is equal to the pot of $200 + first players$150+secondplayers$150+hisowncallof$150.
176
PotLimit and NoLimit Games will be raked according to the chartbelow:
WHICHCASINODOYOUTRUST? You cant go wrong if you select a poker site that has been inbusinessforseveralyears,usesestablishedandaccreditedgami ngsoftware interfaces and has a record of paying big winners in atimely manner. We are not affiliated with any casino or group ofcasinosbutbeingobjectivecanbedifficult.Therearethousands ofcasinoswithmewonesopeningeveryday.Greatplayerinterfac esarearealattractionforplayersbutintheend,ifthecasinodoes ntoffer a multitude of tables and traffic and doesnt pay off betsquickly,whatsthepoint? Here is a list of casinos that have been in business for several yearsandarerecognizedwidelyasbeingfairandprofessional.
PartyPoker PartyPokerisnowtheworldslargestonlinepokerroom.Wehave seenover40,000playersonlineplayingrecentlyandthenumberis growing every day. The daily average of real money players isaround10,000.Partyispresentedbythesamepeoplethatbrough tyou CardPlayer Cruises, including Mike Sexton. They have a bigmulti tabletournamenteveryyearcalledthePartyPokerMillion. Therakeatthissiteisstockstandard 5percentcappedat$3formediumlimitgames.Forlowerlimitga mes,amaxof$1for$1/$2games and 50 cents for $0.5/$1 games is taken out of the pot. Onhigh limit games Party Poker offers good value with significantlylessthan5percenttakenoutofeachpot.Onefeature missingthatwe would like to see is the % preflop. The site does present the
177
averagepotforthelast20hands.TheCustomerServiceatthissite isfirstclassandveryprofessional.Clickhereforwww.partypoker.com
ParadisePoker Billed accurately as the Worlds Premier Online Card room,Paradise offers the standard variety of games, including severaltournaments.Thesitefeatureslotsofactioneverydayofth eweek.Paradise has an excellent game interface with little extras thatmake things interesting. If you are concerned about securityandcredibility,Paradise posts cardshuffling reviews by Price waterhouse Coopers (the worlds largest professional servicesfirm)ontheirsite. Click here for www.paradisepoker.com
UltimateBet UltimateBetfeaturesupto7500playersplayingduringpeaktimes, about 4000 structured games. Percentage preflops can be foundabove45%onregularoccasions,whichleadstogoodaverag epots.The games at Ultimate Bet can be quite profitable to the skilledplayer,particularlyingameswith$2/$5and$1/$3limits.Ult imateBet has the backing of a number of big players including: PhilHellmuth,AnnieDuke,andRussHamilton.
PlanetPoker
Planet Poker is one of the oldest online poker establishments (1998) and is endorsed by Mike Caro, a leading pokerauthority.PlanetPokerisamediumtolargepokersiteinter msoftraffic (he site can have up to 500 people online at peak times).ThereisnevertroublegettingagameinyourlimitinHolde m.Therakeis5%cappedat$3,buttheactualraketakenforvariou slimitsand pots sizes varies due to rounding but is quite fair. Recent
178
software upgrades have made Planet Poker software much faster, morereliableandmorepleasanttotheeyethanitusetobe.
JackpotPalaceCasino Jackpot Palace Casino uses software designed by Boss Media, theleading Internet casino software developer and provider. BossMedia started in spring 1997, since then the company has grownconsiderably,andbytheendof2003,theGrouphadjustov er120employees. The companys head office is in Vxj, in southernSweden.
InterCasinoPoker InterCasinohasbeenoperatingsince1996andhasbeenvotedBest OnlineCasino2001and2002byTop20CasinosandBestCasino2003.b y Gambling Online Magazine. InterCasino has some of the highestlimitsonthenet.Playerscanplayrealmoneygamesfor$10 0/$200inanyofthecurrencies.Forthesmallerlimitplayers$1/$2g amesarethesmallestthatcustomerscanplay. Rakepercentagesaretoughtodiscern about25centsonevery$5until the pot reaches $60, which is not particularly attractive. Thesitegenerallyhasfrombetween100to500playersplayingand thisnumber is likely to grow as the site becomes better known. Gameplayisexcellentandthegraphicsaretop notch.Thissiteisoneofthe few sites that has voice options. Note: probably the fastestgamesonthenet.Click here for www.intercasinopoker.com
OmniCasino
Oneofthebestcasinosonthenet.LicensedsinceNovember,1997 in Curacao and audited by Pricewaterhouse. Gambling Online
179
magazinevotedOmniCasinoasTopCasino2003HonorableMention andBestRewardsandQuickestPayoutsthreeyearsinarowfrom 200123. They also won Casino Player MagazinesBest Payout /E CashProgrambyreadersthemselves.OneofthebestfeaturesofO mniCasinoistheirCOMPProgram undeniablythebestCOMPPrograminthebusiness.Itwasvoted BestRewardsProgramfor 2003bythereadersofGamblingOnlineMagazine.
PokerRoom PokerRoom.comisoneofthefewsitesthatdoesntrequireyouto download their software. They use JAVA technology so you cangetplayingrightaway.Thesoftwarerunsverysmoothlyaltho ughJAVA style software does not have the gloss of its downloadablecounterpart.ExtrafeaturesthatPokerRoomofferin cludeexpectedvalue statistics, whereby you can type in a starting hand and thesoftwarecalculatesthehistoricalexpectedvalueofthathandov er6 million real time playing hands. The top 50 all time winnersaregivenatthewebsitesoyoucanavoidgettinginagam ewiththeseplayers. Percentage preflop games of above 40% are easy to find.The site can have upwards 100 to 800 real money players online.Tendstohavemanyloosegames. Click here for www.pokerroom.com
EmpirePoker Another feature that is missing from this site is the % pre flop.However, the site does present the average pot for the last 20hands, which is useful. Typically the games are first class here,withjuicyaveragepotsforalllimits.Forexampleitiscommo ntosee average pots for $3/$6 games over $40 and for $5/10 gamesover$70.TheCustomerServiceatthissiteisfirstclassandv ery
180
POCKETCARDWINNINGODDS
181
182
How To Think Like A Winning Poker Player
S
ocrates once said that the unexamined life is not worthliving. So lets give some thought and examination to howwe as card players process information and respond to decisionmaking pressures. These are important areas to considerasweworktoimproveourpokersuccess andbemoresuccessfulinlifegenerally. There is a science around the study of body language and humancommunicationcalledNeuro LingusiticProgramming(NLP).NLPis both an interesting and valuable area of study to understand.WhatNLPhasshownisthatifwecanmirroranother personwhohas achieved success in a certain area, we can dramatically speedup our ability to learn the same skills. In a nutshell, if we actexactlylikeasuccessfulpokerplayer,move,sit,walk,talk,lear ntoadoptthesamethinkingstyles wecanleapaheadinlearning.Apro may have spent 20 years learning the secrets of the game but
183
bymirroringtheirbehaviorandthought,wecanlearntobecome aproinamuchshorterperiodoftime. NowyoureprobablyprettyskepticalofthiswholeapproachandI dont blame you. Youve been taught in school that you need tostudy for years and slowly work your way towards expertise togain what we would call expert knowledge. But if you saw theexamples of this process at work, as I have over the years, youwould have a whole new understanding of how to propel yourabilitiestoanamazingnewlevelinamatterofdays. For the sake of this chapter, I am goingtokeepthissimple.Thereare dozens of books written on NLP and we are not going to beabletocoverallofthatgroundhere.Letsjusttakeaquicklook athow great poker players think and try to understand how to bemorelikethem. Pros step into the poker game with confidence. They have such awealth of playing experience that they can make tough bettingdecisions in a very timely manner. That means that they give theodds proper consideration, keep appraised of the other players,and make their play. This is the persona you need to adopt whenyouplay. Tobeasharkyouneedtoactthepart. Sit up straight like a professional. Clean the area around yourcomputerdeskandstayorganized.Prepare.Haveanynoteta kingmaterialhandy.Planyourgameplayonatightschedule.Start ataprecise time; review the casinos and tables for a pre determinedperiodoftimebeforeyouplay.Beobservant.Startplay whenyouare certain you have the right table in your sites. Watch the otherplayers carefully and make notes. Never be sloppy about yourplayingtime.
184
Remember, you are a shark, play at the pace of a shark. Youscullthrough the water, your eyes alert. You make thoughtful andpurposeful moves. You appraise your environment. Occasionally,when the time is right and your prey is unprepared, you strikeaggressively and purposefully. You raise and reraise. You pushoutweakerplayers.Yougainrespectfromallofthosearound you.Youropponentsknowonlyonethingaboutyou thatyouhaveasignificantstackinfrontofyouandyouseemtok noweveryonescardsbeforetheyareshown. You are never rattled even by a string of bad beats. They meannothing in the big picture to you. You play to win over the longhaul. Small bad breaks have no consequence for you. If youbecome tired or youre just not happy with the table, you leave.And then after exactly one hour, you finish playing regardless ofyourstatusandtakeabreak.Youthencarefullypolishyournote sregarding how you played and what you have learned andrecordyourwinsandlosses.Thatsoneofyoursecretweapons . You must keep detailed financial records. A business cannot besuccessful without detailed financials and neither can you. Youmust know exactly how much you have won or loss every timeyou play. Be precise. If you won $102.50, then make that youranswer if anyone asks. Or maybe you lost $45.75. Get in the habitofbeingexacting.Thatsthekeytotightplay. I started playing weekly Poker games with a group of friendsabout 10 years ago. I always enjoyed poker but never had theopportunity to play more than a few times a year. I enjoyed thegroup we played with, the food was good and it was greatentertainment for the price. When I lost I always justified themoneyaspartoftheentertainmentcost.
185
I was a typical weekend poker player. I had a few drinks, neverreally studied the rules in too much detail and was never tooworriedaboutthelosses.Whatwas$50or$100amongfriends? Of course I never knew exactly how well I did although I had asensethatIwaslosingmorethanmostoftheotherplayers.Iwrot ethisofftothesuperiorplayingabilityofafewoftheotherguys. Then I read an articleonedayaboutgamblers.Thestudyshowedthat weekend players always remembered and talked about theirwinnings butrarelyfocusedordiscussedwhentheylost. Ialwayshadasensethatwastrue.Butwhy? Its called selective reasoning. Your brain is focusing on a fewpositive experiences, which reinforces continued playing. Andblanks out on the negatives. Not a very reasonable approach toreallearning. Thats why they say that people who keep track, stay on the track. People who track their expenses in detail typically spend less moneyandsavemore. Peoplewhotracktheirwinningsandlossesonthestockmarketin detail on a daily basis make more intelligent decisions and endtheirtradingdaysandmonthswithbiggerwins. Peoplewhotrackcaloriesandfatwhileonadietlosemoreweight. Themoredetailedthetracking,thegreaterthesuccessofthediet. How successful do you want to be at cards? If you want to make moneythenstarttrackingyourefforts,yourwins,yourlosses.
186
Prosknowexactlyhowmuchtheywonatagiventableandthey knowexactlyhowmuchtheylost. Asignofapro?HowmuchdidyouwinonWednesdaynight,you ask?$128.Notoverahundred.Oraboutahundred.Theyknowto thepenny.Sameiftheylose.Theywilltellyoutheywereup$545b utfinishedupthenightdown$62. YouneedtosoundlikeaProtobeapro. WhatdoesaProlooklike,soundlike,talklike,playlike? A Pro plays the game with intention. They focus. They dont playPoker online while watching TV or eating or having aconversation. A Pro talks about the game with clarity. Knows exactly what youwon or lost or says nothing at all. Lack of clarity is a very badhabit for success in anything. Sloppy language means a sloppyapproach. Its not cool to be sloppy about technique or practice inanyfieldofendeavour. AProtakesnotesduringplayandspendstimefollowingthegame to evaluate mistakes, to understand the game better, the reviewwhattheyhavelearned.Takeclearandconciseanduseable notes. A Pro studies the game, knows all the odds and the rules. Theypractice using Poker software simulations. They play the gamewith intention. And the review their play following the game bykeeping detailed notes on wins, losses, and the things theyvelearned. Whats the secret to being a great golfer? Study, practice, play, evaluate.
187
Whats the secret to being a great musician? Study, practice, and play.Evaluate. Whatsthesecrettobeingasuccessfuldaytrader?Study,practice, playthemarket,evaluate. Seeapatternhere? Whydoesthisprocesswork? I met a Sales person years ago that was one of the best in the business.Ispentthedaywithhertoseehowsheworked. First,shespenthalfanhourpreparingtomeetthecustomer.Mosts ales people no, all the sale people I had ever known justgrabbed their sales kit and charged in. Then she practiced herpresentation on one of her staff. Most people thought she was alittleunbalanced.Practiceyourpresentationbeforehand? Thenshewentinandmetwiththecustomer. Finally, when we got back in the car, instead of driving off tolunch, she thought about the meeting and made notes regardingwhatshecouldhavedonebetter. Shewascoachingherself.Thinkaboutit.Shewasdoingwhatyou wouldhireacoachtodo. Why do most people need executive coaches, mentors, managersand trainers? Because it increases their productivity. Its a proventechnique.Wehavehundredsofyearsofdataonthissubjec t. SoCoachYourself.
188
Ifyouwanttodosomethingwell,thenbeyourowncoach. Do you see the value of this kind of thinking? It puts you in thezone. Poker is a game of mental toughness. There are a hundredfactors that can come into play to rattle you, make you mad, takeaway your confidence, push you to tilt. Pros dont tilt. They areabove the concerns of each hand. Focusing on how you want toplay the game for a few minutes before each game can help toimprove your game significantly. Athletes use this process everyday to visualize their event, their performance and the endresult.They are not wishing their way to a great performance, they aresimply preparing their body and their mind to perform at peakefficiencyinexactlythewaytheyhaveseenthebestresults. Beforeagamecloseyoureyesforafewminutesandrelax.Breathe deeply andslowlythreetimes.Visualizeyourstackandthetable.See yourself acting calmly, intentionally. See the cards in front ofyou.Seeyourselfdealtanuthand.Staycalm.Breathedeepagain .Play at the same pace you would if the cards were garbage. Keepanevenpaceofplay. A great example of the opposite of positive visualization is thekind of thinking we often see in players at bricks and mortargambling casinos. I spoke to one manager in a casino who saidmost players said the same thing about their plans for playing. Ibrought$100tolose,andthatswhenIllquit.Hesaidherarel yheard,Ivebrought$100dollarsandImgoingtowin. You are casino fodder before you ever get started with thatlosing approach. If you surrender to the card gods even beforeyoustarttoplay,yourplayingstylewillbeaffectedandy ouwillhavetheoutcomeyoupreparedyourbrainfor.Tolose.
189
Prepare yourself to win. Visualize your success at the table. Thismeansmorethanjustwinningbecausesometimesthecardsw ontcooperate. Thats not important though because you are seeingthe big picture. Youre improving everyday. Your game is gettingbetter by the hour and you are winning more often. You aredefinitelyfeelingmoreconfidentatthetableaswell. And you thought playing online Texas Holdem poker was fun before?ToquoteAlJolsenYouaintseennothinyet.
A.J.Mills2005 Bestofluckatthevirtualpokertables.
190
TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER DICTIONARY
3BetThefirstreraise(putting3betsin).
AbsoluteNutsThebestpossiblehand,basedontheboardcards. Sometimessimplycalledthenuts.
Actiontheamountofmoneywageredbyaplayerduringaplaying session.Inpoker,theplacingofmoneyintothepot.
Activeonewhoisstillinthepot.
AllBlue(orAllPink)Aflush.
AllInTopushallofyourremainingchipsintothepot. Anchor theplayersittinginthelastpositionatapokertablebeforethedealer.Thi sisthepersonwhomakesthefinaldecision,therebyanchoringthegame. Ante atermusuallyusedinpokertorefertothefirstmoneywageredonahan d,ortheminimumamountthateachplayerisrequiredtoputintothepot beforeanewhandcanbegin.
AmericanAirlinesApairofAces. Angling Takingactionortalkingwhenitisnotyourturninordertomisleadyour opponent.Someconsiderthistobecheating,othersconsiderthesetacticst obeapartofthegame. AnimalNicknameforaplayerthatisloose aggressive.Animalsareinvolvedintoomanyhandsandwillalmostal waysbetandraisewhengiventheopportunity,oftenwithgarbagehan ds.Alsoknownasamaniac.
191
BabyAlowrankedcard(usually2through5).
BackIntoTomakeahandthatisdifferentthanthehandyouwere originallytryingfor.
BackdoorAnunfinishedhandthatrequireshelpfromboththeturnand riverinordertowin.Alsoknownasarunnerrunnerhand.
BackdoorFlushes:Evenworsethenthegutshotisthebackdoorflush. Thisiswhenyouneedtwoperfectcardsofthesamesuittocomplete yourhand. BadBeat Tohaveahandthatistheclearmathematicalfavouritelosetoaheavyu nderdog(especiallyifthathandshouldnothavebeeninvolvedinthepot ).
Bankrollthetotalamountofmoneyaplayerhasforagamingsession.
BBAnabbreviationforBigBlind.
BellyBusterAdrawtofillaninsidestraight,akaagutshot.
Betawagerorgamble
BettingLimitstheminimumandmaximumthatcanbewageredonone bet.
BigBlindThepositiontwototheleftofthebutton,whoisforcedtopay afullsmallbetpriortotheholecardsbeingdealtinHoldem.
BigChickInTexasHoldem,anAceandaQueen(suitedorunsuited)as yourholecards.
BigSlickAnopenerofAKsuited
192
BlindBetabetthatcertainpokerplayersarerequiredtomakeasaresult oftheirbettingposition.
Bluffinpoker,playersbluffwhenraisingaweakhandinthehopeof drivingoutplayerswithastrongerhand.
Bumptoraise
BurnCardanycardplacedinthediscardrackwithoutbeingentered intoplay.Afterthedeckisshuffledandcut,onecardisburned.
B&MBrickandMortar;areallifecasino(asopposedtoanonline casino).
BigSlickInTexasHoldem,anAceandaKing(suitedorunsuited)as yourholecards.
BlankAcardthatappearsuseless.Alsoknownasarag.
BoardThecommunitycards.
BoatFullhouse. BonusWhoring Belongingtoseveralonlinepokersitesandalwaystakingadvantage ofeachdepositbonusoffered.Seewww.BonusWhores.comforupda tedinfo. Bounty Arewardgiveninatournamenttosomeonewhomeetscertaincriteria. SomeexamplesofthesecriteriafromZootournamentsare:knockingace rtainpersonoutofthetournament,winningwithacertainhand,andfini shingthetournamentisacertainposition.
BRAnabbreviationforbankroll.
BroadwayAnacehighstraight.
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 193 Bubble Finishingatournamentinthespotnearestthemoney.Example:Ina60 persontournament,ifthetop8spotspay,finishing9thwouldbefinishin gonthebubble.
BulletsApairofAces.
BumpItToraise.
BustOutToloseyourbuyin.
ButtonThediskthatrepresentsthedealerinagivenhand.
BuyInTheamountofmoneythatisnecessarytoplayaparticulargame, ortheamountofmoneythatyoutoplayagame. BuytheButton Bettingorraisinginordertomakeanyplayersbetweenyouandthebutt onfold.Ifsuccessful,youarenowlasttoactonanysubsequentroundsof betting.
BuythePotTobluffbetorraiseinordertowinthepot.
Chipstokensusedatgamingtablesinlieuofcash.
ChopToreturntheblindstotheplayerswhopostedthemandmoveon tothenexthandifnobodycallstheblind. ChoppingtheBlinds When2playersagreetotakebacktheirblindbetsifthereisnoactionah eadofthem.Notethatonceyouagreetochoptheblindswithyourneigh bour,youareexpectedtoalwayschoptheblindswiththem. Chumbaitthatisusedtoattracthungrysharksandsendthemintoa feedingfrenzy.Dontbechum.
Coldaplayeronalosingstreak.
194
ColdCallTocallmorethanonebetatatime.Notethatthisisnotthe sameascallingabet,thencallingasubsequentraisesinceyouarecalling 2singlebets.
CompleteHandapokerhandthatisdefinedbyallfivecards.Thatisa straight,flush,straightflush,orafullhouse.
Cutthedealerdividesthedeckofcardsintotwopartsandtheninverts themaftertheyhavebeenshuffled.
ColorDownExchangingchipsforthoseofalowerdenomination.
ColorUpExchangingchipsforthoseofahigherdenomination.
ComeHandAdrawinghand.Example:Anopenendedstraightisa comehand.
CompletetheBetWhenthesmallblindchoosestocallbyputtinginthe chipsnecessary
ConnectorsConsecutivesuitedorunsuitedcardsthatassistinmakinga straight.. Counterfeit Whenyourhandlosesvaluebecauseaboardcardduplicatesitoraboar dcardgivesothersasimilarhand.Example:YouholdA 4andtheboardisA74.Youhave2pair,whichisnowaheadofA K.Theturnisa7.Yourhandhasjustbeencounterfeited,sinceyour2 pairisnolongerasvaluableasitwaspriortotheturn.
CowboysApairofKings.
Cripple(anopponentTowinacriticalhandinatournament,leaving youropponentveryshortstacked.
195
CrippletheDeckYourhandcontainsmostorallofthebeneficialcards thatcouldbeusedinconjunctionwiththeboard.
CryingCallTocallwithnocardstocome,whileexpectingtolose.
CutoffThepersontotherightofthebutton. Dark Takingaction,suchascheckingorbetting,withoutseeingyourholec ards.Thisisalsousedwhenthepersonwhoisfirsttoacttakesaction priortothenextboardcardbeingrevealed.
DeadMoneyMoneythathasbeenputinthepotbypeoplewhoareno longerincontentiontowinthepot.
Dealeracasinoemployeewhodealsthevariousgames.
DropBoxonagamingtable,theboxthatservesasarepositoryforcash, markers,andchips. DominatedHand Ahandthatcontains3orfeweroutsagainstanotherhand.Example:AKd ominatesAQ,sinceAQneedsoneoftheremaining3Queensinthedeckin ordertobeatAK.IbelievethistermiscreditedtoAbdulJalib.
DoubleUpInnolimit,winningaheadsuppotwhenyouhavegoneall in(thus,doublingyourchiptotal).
DucksApairofTwos.
DumpTofoldahand.
Edgethecasinosadvantageovertheplayerinanygame.Alsoknownas houseedge.
EMPAnabbreviationforEarlyMiddlePosition.
196
EPAnabbreviationforEarlyPosition.
EPcoldCalledUTGsraise.
FaceCardstheking,queenorjackofeachsuite.
FamilyPotApotinwhichmanyplayersareinvolvedinthehand.
FastUsedtodescribeplayingahandaggressively
FishApoorpokerplayer,relativetotheircompetition.
FlashToshowoneormoreofyourcards,usuallywhenitisnot required.
FlatCallTocalloneormorebetswithoutraising,whenyouarequite surethatyouhavethebesthand.Seealsosmoothcall.
FloorShortenedformofFloorPerson;acasinoemployeewhohelpsto seatplayersandmakesrulesdecisionswhenadisputearises.
Flushahandconsistingoffivecardsofonesuit.
Foldwhenaplayerdeclinesabetanddropsoutofthehand.
FourOfAKindfourcardsofthesamerank.Alsoknownasquads.
FullHouseahandconsistingofathreeofakindandapair
ForcedBetAmandatorybet. FPS FancyPlaySyndrome.Playingtrickywhenyouprobablyshouldhave playedstraight forward.[personalnote:IthinkthisshouldalsostandforF#ckingPoor Strategy]
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 197 FreeCardPlay Bettingorraisinginlatepositionontheflopinthehopesthattheotherpl ayerswillchecktoyouontheturn,giveyoutheoptionofseeingtheriver cardforfree.
FreeRideAroundinwhichnoonebets. FreeRoll Havingalockonhalfthepot,butalsohavingachancetowinthewhole pot.Example:PlayerXholdsKsQc,andplayerYholdsKd QdandtheflopcomesKc7d 4d.Bothplayersaretiedforthehighhand,butPlayerYisfreerollingbec ausehecouldwintheentirepotifadiamondcomes.
FreezeOuttournamentthatonlyendswhenonepersonhaswonallof thetournamentchips.
GrannyMaenicknameforhavingQs5sasyourholecards.Thisis creditedtolongtime2+2forumposterGrannyMae.
Gutshots:Agutshotisastraightdrawwhereonlyonecardmakesyour hand.
GutshotStraightAstraightthatrequiresaninsidecardtocomplete. AlsoknownasaBellyBuster.
HandHistoryRecordsofgamesplayedatonlinesitesthatshowallof
HitWhentheflopcardsarehelpfultoyourhand.
HLAnabbreviationforHighlimit.
HoldUpWhenahandthatisleadingmanagestowinthepotat showdown.
HoleYouruniquecardsthatarehiddenfromeveryoneelse.Alsoknown aspocket.
198
HooksApairofJacks.
ImageTheperceptionthatotherpeoplehaveofyourplayingstyle. InsideStraight Astraightthatrequiresaninsidecardtocomplete,asopposedtoano penendedstraight.Alsoknownasabellybusterorgutshot.
JamLotsofaction,especiallyraising. KickerAcardusedasatie breakerwhen2handarenearlyidentical.Forexample,if2handscontaina pairofTens,thehandthathasthehighestcardinadditiontothepairofT enswouldwin.Thiscardiscalledthekicker.Thus,apairofTenswithan AcekickerbeatsapairofTenswithaQueenkicker.
Kill(orKillGame)Ahandthatisplayedfordoublestakesbasedonthe previoushandmeetingcertaincriteria.
KillButtonAbuttonthatisplacedinfrontoftheplayerwhois responsibleforakillgame.
KnuckleTocheck(asinknockingonthetable).
KojakHavingaKingandaJackasyourholecards.
LAGAnabbreviationforLooseAggressive.
LayDownTofoldahand.
LimpInToentertheroundbycallingabet,ratherthanraising.
LongOddsAlowprobabilityofacertainthinghappening.
MaverickstartinghandofQJ.
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 199 ManiacNicknameforaplayerthatisloose aggressive.Maniacsareinvolvedintoomanyhandsandwillalmostal waysbetandraisewhengiventheopportunity,oftenwithgarbagehan ds.Alsoknownasananimal.
MarryTobecometooattachedtoahand,usuallyseeingashowdown whenitwasclearthatyoushouldhavefoldedearlier.
MLAnabbreviationforMiddlelimit.
MonsterAsuperiorhandthatisunlikelytolose.
NLAnabbreviationforNolimit.
NutThebestpossibletypeofhand,suchasnutflushornutstraight; thisisnotnecessarilytheabsolutenuts.
NutsThebestpossiblehand,basedontheboardcards.Sometimescalled theabsolutenuts.
OffsuitCardsthatarenotofthesamesuit.
OpenRaiseRaisingasthefirstoneinthepotpreflop(ratherthansimply callingthebet).
OptionThechoicegiventotheplayerinthebigblind,allowingthemto callorraise.
OrbitOnecompleterotationaroundthetable.
OutkickedTolosetoanotherhandwithabetterkickerthanyours.
OutrunTobeatahandthatyouwerelosingtoonanearlierstreet.
OutsCardsremaininginthedeckthatwillhelpyourhandwinapot.
200
OvercallCallingabetafteratleastoneotherpersonhasalreadycalled.
OvercardApocketcardthatishigherthanthehighestboardcard.
OverpairApocketpairthatishigherthanthehighestboardcard.
PaintAnothertermforafacecard.
Passtonotbet,tofold.
PayOffTocallariverbetwhentheprioractionleadsyoutobelievethat youarebeat,butthepotisbigenoughtomakethecallreasonable.
PeelOneOffDecidingtoseetheturnorriverwhentheoddsdontquite justifyacall.
PFAnabbreviationforpreflop.
PocketYouruniquecardsthatarehiddenfromeveryoneelse.Also knownashole.
PocketRocketsAnothertermfor2acesasyourholecards.
PopTobetorraise. Post Topaytheblind(s)whennotinthebigblindposition,oftendonewhen firstsittingatatableorwhenyousatoutandmissedyourturntopayth eblinds.
PosterSomeonewhopostedduringthecurrenthand.
Pottheamountofmoneythataccumulatesinthemiddleofthetableas eachplayerantes,bets,andraises.Thepotgoestothewinnerofthehand.
PrestoHoldingapairof5sasyourholecardsinTexasHoldem.
201
Puckbutton.
Push(ahand)Toplayahandaggressively.
PutTosuspectthatsomeonehasacertainhand.
QuadsFourofakind.
RagAcardthatappearsuseless.Alsoknownasablank.
RaggedAboardcontainingcardsthatdontappearhelpful.
RailbirdGameobservers.Railbirdsshouldnotcommentongameplay.
RainbowAboardthatcontainsalldifferentsuits,makingitimpossible foraflushonthenextcard.
Raiseaplayerraisesbymatchingthepreviousbetandthenbetting more,toincreasethestakeforremainingplayers. Rake themoneythatthecasinochargesforeachhandofpoker.Itisusually apercentage(5 10%)orflatfeethatistakenfromthepotaftereachroundofbetting.
RainbowThreeoffourcardsofdifferentsuits
Ranktheworthofasetofcards.
RingGameAgamethatisplayedforactualstakes,asopposedtoa tournamentgame.Alsoknownasalivegame. Rivered Losingahandontheriver,whileyouwereaheadandtheclearfavoriteo ntheturn.Canalsobeusedtodescribeahandbeingmadeusingtherive rcard.
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 202 Rock Atightplayerwhoisnormallyonlyinvolvedinhandsinwhichhe/sheis theheavyfavoritetowin.Arockwillgenerallyonlybetorraisewithtop notchhands.
RockGardenAgamecomprisedofmanyrocks.
RocketsAnothertermfor2acesasyourholecards.
ROIAnabbreviationforReturnonInvestment.
RounderAprofessionalpokerplayer.
RoundersAmoviereleasedin1998thatportraysMattDamonand EdwardNortonaspokerplayers.
RoyalFlushanacehighstraightflush;thebestpossiblehand.
RunnerRunnerAcomehandthatrequireshelpfromboththeturnand riverinordertowin.Alsoknownasabackdoorhand.
RunningBadLosingforaperiodoftime.
SandbagAnothertermforslowplaying.
SBAnabbreviationforsmallblind. ScareCard Aboardcardthatcaneasilyturnawinninghandintoalosinghand. TheclassicscarecardexampleiswhenyouholdKKandboardflopsa nAce.
ScoopWinninganentirepot,usually(butnotnecessarily)byhavinga handthatisboththehighandlowhandinasplitgame.
ScootingGivingsomeoneasmallamountofchipswhenyouwinapot. Alsocalledhorsing.
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 203 SellaHand Playingaverystronghandweaklyinordertodisguiseyourstrengthand keepotherplayersfromfolding.Alsoknownasslowplaying. SemiBluff AtermcoinedbyDavidSklansky.Tobetorraisewithmorecardstocom ewhenyoubelieveyourhandiscurrentlybeaten,buthasafairchanceof improvingintothebesthand.
SessionAperiodoftimespentplayinginapokergame,normally measuredinhours.
SetThreeofakindwhenyouholdapairinyourhandandathirdshows ontheboard.
ShortStackArelativelysmallamountofchips(ascomparedtotheother playersatthetable).Alsousedtoidentifytheplayerwho SidePotTheextrapotthatiscreatedwhensomeonegoesall in.Thepersonwhowentall inisonlyeligibleforthemainpot,notthesidepot(s).
Singletonacardthatistheonlyoneofitsrank.
SlowDownTostopplayingahandasaggressivelyasitwasplayedon earlierstreets. SlowPlay Playingaverystronghandweaklyinordertodisguiseyourstrengthan dkeepotherplayersfromfolding.Alsoknownassandbagging. SmallBet Inalimitgame,thesmallerofthetwobetsinthebettingstructure.Ther efore,ina10/20game,each$10betisconsideredasmallbet.
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 204 SmallBlind Thepositiononetotheleftofthebutton,whoisforcedtopayafraction (usually1/2or2/3)ofasmallbetpriortotheholecardsbeingdealtinH oldem.
SmoothCallTocalloneormorebetswithoutraising,whenyouare quitesurethatyouhavethebesthand.Seealsoflatcall.
SNGAnabbreviationforaSitandGotournament,asopposedtoa scheduledtournament.
SpikeForthenextboardcardtobeaspecificrankthatyouneedtohelp yourhand.
SplashTossingyourchipsintothepot,ratherthanplacingthemonthe tableinfrontofyourcards.Splashingthepotisfrownedupon.
SpreadForacasinoorpokerroomtoofferacertainpokergame.
StackTheamountofmoneyyoucurrentlyhaveatthetable.
Stealtowinthepotbybluffing.
StealtheBlindsPreflopopenbettingfromthecutofforbuttoninthe hopesthateveryonefollowingyouwillfold.
SteamingPlayingrecklessly,usuallyasaresultofabadbeat(realor perceived).Alsoknownastiltortilting.
Straightinpoker,ahandconsistingoffivecardsofconsecutiveranks.
StraightFlushahandconsistingoffivecardsofconsecutiveranksofthe samesuit. Straddle Anoptionalraisebythepersontotheimmediateleftofthebigblind,decl aredbeforethecardsaredealt.Alsoknownasalivestraddle,becauseth atsamepersonthenhastheoptiontoreraise.
Playing Texas Holdem Online - The Professionals Guide 205 StringBet Araisethatisnotdoneinonesinglemotion(thisisnotallowedinanyca sino,tomyknowledge).Thepurposeofstringbettingistocallabet,quic klygaugeyouropponentsreactions,thendecidethatyoudliketoraisei nstead
StuckLosing,ofteninregardstoacertainamountofchips. SuckOut Towinahandwithahandthatwasaheavyunderdog.Thisimpliestha tthewinnershouldnothavebeeninthehand,andwasveryluckytowi nthepot.
SweatObservingallorpartofasessionthatoneplayerisinvolvedin, withtheirconsent.
TAAnabbreviationforTightAggressive.
TableCoachThetableknowitallwholikestotelleveryonehowheor sheshouldbeplayingtheircards.
TapOutLosingallofyourmoney. Tells Atellinpokeriswhenyoupickuponthebehaviourofanotherplayer thatgivesyouastrongsenseofthestrengthorweaknessoftheirhand.
ThreeBetThefirstreraise(putting3betsin).
ThreeOfAKindthreecardsofthesamerank.
ThripsThreeofakind.
ThrowingaPartyWhenseverallooseoramateurplayersaremaking significantmonetarycontributionstothepot.
TiltPlayingrecklessly,usuallyasaresultofabadbeat(realor perceived).Alsoknownassteaming.
206
TrapWhenoneplayeriscaughtbetween2(ormore)bettors/raisers, andisunlikelytowinthepot.
TwoPairahandconsistingoftwosetsofpairsandasingleton.
UndertheGunThefirstplayertoactinagivenroundofbetting.
UnderdogAhandthatisunlikelytowinthepot.
UnderpairApocketpairthatislowerthanthelowestboardcard. ValueBet Abetinwhichyouwishforyouropponent(s)tocall.Thiscouldbebeca useyouhavethebestorhandorbecauseyouhaveenoughoutsinorder makethisbetprofitableinthelongrun.
WalkingSticksApairofsevens.
WheelA5highstraight,alsoknownasabicycle.
WiredPairHoldingapairinthehole.
Whaleahighroller.
WPTAnabbreviationfortheWorldPokerTour.

Playing Texas Hold'Em Online - The Professional's Guide (A.j. Mills) .Unlocked

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Playing Texas Hold'Em Online - The Professional's Guide (A.j. Mills) .Unlocked

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Click this link to download and install Full Tilt Poker.

PLAYING TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE

THE PROFESSIONALS GUIDE

CopyrightandDistributionNotice AllrightsreservedunderInternationalCopyrightConventions. Thisdocumentisforpersonaluseonly.BookcopyrightofA.J.Mills,2005. ForcopyrightordistributionenquiriesemailA.J.Mills@1stcasinos.co.uk

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

AN INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE POKER THINKING AND INSIDERS SECRETS

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

WHY IS ONLINE TEXAS HOLDEM POKER SO DIFFERENT?

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Firstyouneedtounderstandwhyreadingabouttheconventional brickandmortargameofTexasHoldem(thekindyouplayinar ealcasino)certainlywonthurt butitwilldefinitelynotprepareyoufortheuniqueexperienceofp layingthegameonline.

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

general. Watching playersforfreeisoneofthegreatadvantages ofonlinepoker.

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO JUST WANT TO GET STARTED NOW!

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

ThekeydecisionanyHoldemplayermakesiswhetherornotto playthestarting2 cardhandtheyaredealtwith.Andiftheydoplay,howdothey playsmartthroughthehand.

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

PLAYING THE PROGRAM STEP-BY-STEP

Playing Texas Holdem Online

The Professionals Guide

TotalCosttoPlay=100hands$5tocall=$500 PotValue=$15+$5bet+$5call=$25 OddstoWin=1.9:1or35%(Fromtheflop) TotalHandsWon=100OddstoWin(35%)=35wins NetProfit=NetCosttoPlay+(TotalTimesWon*PotValue)