More complex plays for intermediates

March 18th, 2011

Once you have mastered the basics of Texas Hold’em poker games you will want to begin to work some more strategy into your game in order to improve performance.

There is no point in cashing in your Party Poker discount codes simply to go on playing the same entry level game as this will not bring in the returns in the long run – it is necessary for the poker player to constantly strive to improve their knowledge and their game if they are ever to progress beyond a casual sit and play poker gamer.
For example, while the beginner may start playing only the top ten starting hands – the intermediate player would be best advised to up their playing repertoire to include at least an additional ten starting hands on which they fell comfortable betting in order to up their game.

Recommended progression in terms of starting hands that a player should automatically call on include a suited King Jack hand, a suited Ace Ten hand, Ace King and Ace Queen hands, and pairs of sevens, sixes, fives, fours, three and deuces. Players should continue to raise automatically on the top ten hands of Pocket Rockets (pair of Aces), cowboys (Pair of Kings), ladies (Pair of Queens), pairs of Jacks, Tens, Nines and Eights, suited Big Slicks (Ace King) and suited King Queen.
As a general rule intermediates should raise on the top ten hands and call on the next best ten hands – reassessing their hand after each delivery of community cards and acting accordingly.

A good way for intermediate players to decide what to do after the flop, turn and river is to begin to use pot odds as a standard for assessing whether to call a bet.
Pot odds are a simple system that pits the likelihood of making a good finishing hand against the value of the pot in order to help players choose what action to take.
To work out pot odds players have to first understand outs. Outs are the cards remaining in the pack that could help them achieve a good hand. Looking at the cards they have been dealt, the player should then calculate how many cards in the pack would be able to help them complete a valuable hand. Once they know the number of outs they should double this number and add one to it to get a rough idea of their pot odds (expressed as a percentage) For example if you need a Jack and a King to complete a flush and none are showing then there are eight “outs” possibly remaining in the pack. Doubling eight and adding one gives pot odds of 17% - a general rule for intermediate players is that they should make the bet if the pot odds on their hand exceed the percentage of the total of the pot plus the bet of the current amount needed to call. (For example if the pot is at $90 and the bet is $10 then the bet equals 10% of the pot and with pot odds of 17% the player should continue in the game.)

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Advanced Poker Tips