Get The Best Position.

This is perhaps the most basic of poker strategies out there, so basic that it’s not really considered to be a strategy either; but it sure works out strategically for you. Now, remember that being part of the EP (Early Position) seats is perhaps the worst position to have; but in case you’re part of it, playing your best cards is often a good idea. Alternatively, you can try the bluffing strategy in the EP. If you’re part of the MP (Middle Position) seats, you’re one step ahead of the EP guys. Just be cautious. One of the LP (Late Position) seats is what you should ideally be sitting on. It allows you to have see how the hand is going, and decide if you want to call, bet, raise or fold.

Avoid the Tilt.

The game might not be working to your favor, at times. Getting emotional or ‘tilted’ is likely to occur, but you have to avoid it. Otherwise, the bad situation is only going to get worse. Adrenaline will rush all through your bloodstream, but the sad part with adrenaline is it halts your thinking abilities. Instead, keep in mind that poker is a game that involves mathematics. If you play it smart (and not emotionally), you’re half way there. This is one thing that every Poker pro has mastered.

Fold it on time, every time.

That doesn’t mean that folding is your gateway to poker riches, as you might already know. However, when times are bad, folding your game is the ideal thing to do. Keep pride and ego at bay. Let’s consider this: You place a raise and called by a rock, plus the flop shows up A-7-2. Like it isn’t worse already, you go on to bet into the pot. Your opponent raises… You’re dead if you don’t fold right away. Folding is not a winning strategy, but with this exit strategy, you’ll save enough money to win another game later.

Keep tabs on and make your notes.

Perhaps the most important thing to practice while playing your game is to know what the other players are up to and make your notes. It’s free, just needs you to be attentive. However, since you need to be looking at the table’s game all the time, concoct your own abbreviations to make notes. It might as well work like your own Morse code.

To know more about poker pros and their scandalous behaviors that everyone snickers at, read the WSOP news, regularly.

Can poker bots successfully compete against real poker players at all?

Does current technology make that possible? The answer to that would have to be yes and no. Technology is certainly capable of creating a poker bot that can successfully take on the world’s best players: it has been proven and it can be done. The same way I can’t replicate NASA’s space shuttle in my back yard though, I can’t possibly create a poker bot that could achieve anything close to what it’s supposed to. The poker bot which proved its capabilities against some of the top professionals was developed in a university lab, with no efforts and costs spared. It was also programmed with help from some of the world’s top professionals, so yes, if you can pull all those resources together, you will definitely be able to create a viable poker bot. Also, you probably won’t go around selling it for $20 on some website that screams “scam” from a mile away – I can pretty much guarantee that.
“a poker bot needs to be able to think, so a layer of AI was added on top of the odds-calculus capabilities” it sounds so simple, doesn’t it? As a person who’s worked with AI, I can tell you it’s anything but that, and a statement like that is not just an insult to reasonably smart readers but it’s also a gross underestimation of the intricacy of the game of poker.

Does this mean there are no poker bots playing online?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Some of the experts seem to think that the very entities which use poker botting the most are the online poker sites themselves. They allegedly do it to secure critical player liquidity (the same reason for which they offer rake rebate deals and poker propping), without which they would never survive, so the logical argument is certainly there. Most of the mainstream poker rooms make a clear case of not wanting to see any such attempts made at their tables though.

Poker rooms have a number of ways to detect poker botting, an offense which is considered of the highest degree and which is usually punished by the ceasing of all funds and by the closure of the suspected players’ accounts. One of the ways poker rooms can detect botting is through a software hook which is installed onto the client’s computer together with the client side of the software. This hook has the ability to detect programs running in the background, and it can identify poker bots too.
The solution can be tricked relatively easily though. Botters almost always use a second computer (possibly a laptop hooked up to a PC) to mimic human interaction perfectly and to keep the computer on which the software runs clean. While this move may be a strike scored by the botters, it doesn’t mean botting is anywhere as close to required minimal efficiency as some would like to believe. The poker industry has the resources to raise hell against bots and botters, and therefore I believe that commercially available poker bots are absolutely useless in today’s advanced online poker environment.

If you want to give botting a go, I’ll have to advise against it. Your bot will probably start by losing money, and it’ll continue with having your account suspended and your bankroll confiscated.

You always know what you have to do with your 7,2o: you fold it. As such, you tend not to lose any money on it, unless you’re in one of the blinds and you’re forced to give your compulsory bet up on it. Every now and then, when in the blinds and when no one is willing to up the stakes, you get a free ride with your beer-hand and hit a monster like trips or a two pair. Then you can proceed to cash in on it. At the end of the day, if you run a serious statistical observation on your 7,2o, you may realize you’re in the black on the hand in the long run – it certainly wouldn’t be surprising.

The truly worst hand is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

It shapes up as a relatively decent starting hand, but it turns right around and bites you in the rear end as soon as the flop is dealt. Take the J,J for instance. Sure, it’s a nice hand, one that will probably end up winning you loads of pots, but you are guaranteed to get the cold sweats whenever a Q,K or A hits the board after you commit a nice stack of dough on it. Another excellent worst hand candidate would be the K,Q. Some people hate the J,T and ask Mike Matusow what he thinks of the K,9 (woof).
All these hands are excellent possible worst starting hands, but every player has his own poison, which means that the worst possible starting hand for you is the one that you find the most difficult to play.

Finding out what your nemesis is and staying out of its way is imperative as far as your overall strategy is concerned. How do you know which hand taxes your stack the hardest? Look for unpaired high cards, one or even two gappers like T,K, or J,K. The problem with a hand like K,10 is that it makes your post flop decisions extremely difficult. Such hands do give you something, but that something may not be up to the task ahead. If you hit a pair of Ks on your K,T, you’re in trouble. Your hand may well be the best hand at the table, but it may just as easily be beaten, even by another K. Your 10 may have you in kicker-trouble, and there are few things worse than losing on account of a smaller kicker. Your K,T will also be behind any Ace-rag if the board brings nothing but bricks.

Hands like 8,7o or 4,6s are much less sneakier. They’re a lot easier to play than the above named ones, because they tend to have you faced with simple decisions after the flop. You either hit or you miss. If you miss, you muck: simple as that.
Any starting hand that you play without a rakeback deal backing you up is a bad one though. You need to get rakeback, or you have to secure some sort of a poker prop deal to make the most of the time you spend playing online. Check out rakemeback.com for the best rakeback and poker prop deals, or take a look at a poker forum where people usually openly discuss the value of such deals.

Moving up in Stakes

When to move up in stakes is one of the most common questions that poker players have. Whether you are a beginning player or have been playing at the same cash games for a while it is always something that isn’t far from your thoughts. Everyone player is different in when they believe they are ready to move up in stakes. There is no magic formula to tell you when you are ready. For some poker players they are perfectly OK risking their entire bankroll while on a rush at the next level in stakes. However, this is not the way you want to approach building your bankroll. Moving up in stakes is about good bankroll management in addition to being capable of playing well and beating the stakes you are moving up to. Being impatient can not only bruise your bankroll but it can also lead to a lack of confidence when you move back down.

Here are a few things to consider before moving up in stakes:

1. Can I consistently beat the stakes I am currently playing now?
2. Do I have enough discipline to move back down if things do not work out?
3. Am I smart enough to recognize when I have been out played?

If you can answer each of these questions with a resounding “YES” then you should sit down and give it a shot at the next level. I would highly recommend that you do not risk more than 15% of your bankroll in your endeavor. That way if things don’t work out you can always build back quickly and try it again until you can “stick.”

Being Consistent

The one thing that any poker player loves to talk about in their game is that they are consistent winners. True, anyone can make that statement but when your numbers and bankroll back it up it is quite impressive. The fact of the matter is that good, solid, fundamental, consistent poker will build your bankroll faster than just about anything else. There will always be players that can shine for a day, a week, or even a few months. But the real test is how consistent a player you can be over long periods of time. When you can run deep in poker tournaments and cash out in the black from your ring games regularly then you are well on your way.

“How do I gauge consistency?”
You gauge consistency by taking accurate records of your cash games showing your wins and losses. The same goes for poker tournaments. You need to document how well you played whether you cashed or busted out early. Over time these kinds of records will show you what and where you need to improve your game. For online poker players it is all done for you in your hand history. You can even download a hand history converter and see where your mistakes were made or how well you played a particular hand. The bottom line is that all of the tools are at your disposal. It’s up to you to use them to your advantage.

Be Prepared

I know this may sound simple but the truth is that players come to the table all the time not being prepared to play. Being prepared means that you are getting enough rest to make good decisions. When your mind is tired and you lack sleep your poker game suffers because of it. It also means that you do your homework on your opponents when possible. How many times have you played in the same casino against the same players and then seen them elsewhere playing at the same tournament table with you? It happens all the time. Poker players love to play poker and that means the mental and even written notes you may have on a player can come in handy any time and any place.

The bottom line is that we all want improve our game no matter how much or little success we have. The difference between those of us that do improve our games is that we are always conscious of that fact when others may not be as diligent about it as you and I. Be good to the game and the game will be good to you.

Three Tips To Assist You In Winning The Big “Game”

So, how do you practice and get ready to play poker at the WSOP? Consider using these three kinds of games to help you out.

Tip #1

Consider playing in a brick and mortar casino. You don’t have to play in a tournament or no-limit game either. The goal is to get used to actually using real chips and holding your poker face. If you have no brick and mortar casinos nearby, consider having your friends come over for a friendly home game.

The thing you’re looking for is to familiarize yourself in a live poker setting that way this setting will not rattle you when you’re at the WSOP. You don’t need to worry yourself too much about it. Bear in mind that Chris Moneymaker was able to win in the first televised World Series of Poker tournament in 2003. You could do one or two live poker sessions to help you get familiar with playing poker live.

Tip #2

You need to practice in a setting that consists of large, multi-tables tournaments. It’s highly possible to play these kinds of games at actual casinos but it would be better to play in online tournaments.
Keep in mind that over 5,000 competitors will be at the WSOP with the winner being lucky enough to steamroll over these players. You have to be aggressive and gamble to give yourself a chance to win this tournament. Luck is huge factor when it comes to winning the WSOP.
Keep in mind that the usual brick and mortar 100-player tournament will not be similar to what you see at the WSOP… instead it’ll look more like an online tournament that has more than 1,000 players at any one time. With a large, online tournament, you can place yourself in instances you’ll see at the big Las Vegas tournament. It’ll be able to teach you the technical skills you’ll need to win the championship.

Tip #3

Don’t forget to play in some one-table tournaments. If, for some reason, you’re able to beat everyone to get to the final table, it’ll help you be ready for situations in which you’re trying for millions upon millions of dollars. Keep in mind that these are not near as important as the bigger, multi-table tournaments.

Automatic Shuffler

It may sound real simple but an automatic shuffler is a god send to any home game. The reasons are pretty obvious. The more hands you get in the better your of picking up chips and making a profit. The same goes for cash games. The bottom line is that no matter what format of poker you are playing you are going to want to see as many hands as possible. Automatic shufflers come in varying price ranges but the average cost is around $300 for a good one that will fit flush into your poker table. Others that are above table units run from $150 - $300.

Play Tournaments

Poker tournaments are wildly popular in home games and lend themselves to an atmosphere of competition by their very nature. You can easily determine the payout structure with a number of online applications that will calculate the payouts for you. Many of the poker tournament software applications have built in customizable tournament setups that will keep track of the blinds, antes, number of players as well as the prize payouts. If you happen to run a smaller home game and have a crew of 10 players or less you can do a “winner take all” format. That really gets the action moving and makes for some extremely entertaining situations as the field narrows and comes closer to the money.

Satellite Format

Yes, you and your friends can setup your own home game to send a player to a larger local tournament. You can do this by putting aside a fixed amount of every buy-in from each poker player. That number builds up over the course of a year. As your weekly tournament continues to occur each of the players is ranked based on how they finished and given a number of points for First, Second, Third and so on. Once the designated season is over the top one or two people get the buy-in to the larger tournament. Believe me this format is a whole lot of fun and makes for a very competitive environment because everyone wants to play in the big tournament. You can make the prize a local poker tournament or even a World Poker Tour event if you have large enough buy-ins and enough poker players. That is the beauty of having your home game act as a satellite. You can customize your home game any way you like.

As you can see home games do not have to be routine by any means. They should be fun to play in and if you have enough poker players you can certainly provide some additional incentive for players to compete. Some home games are played twice a week with one session held during the week and one on the weekends. I know that is certainly a lot of poker but if it works for you and your group of poker players then it is all the better.

Strategies that work at a full poker table will not always be the best play when you are facing just one other opponent. So what should you do in this situation? There are 5 tips and strategies that will greatly improve you odds of winning while in heads up.

Tip 1: Play Off Of Your Opponent

What this means is if you are in the final stage of a tournament, you should know what sort of player the person is. Are they tight or loose? Passive or aggressive? If they are a tight player, then you want to play loose, widening your hand range, and raising far more often, even with mediocre cards. If they are a loose player, then tighten up some, but you do not want to go too tight, since you will be posting blinds, and more than likely antes, every turn.

Tip 2: Always Raise With Certain Hands

There are some hands that you will ALWAYS raise with. Any A, K, Q, or J, suited or non, you should raise. Even if you have a bottom of the barrel kicker, you should raise, for these hands heads up are almost gold. Many times, depending on your opponent, you can win the pot then and there, but if not, hold strong showdown value.

Tip 3: Any Pair Is Good

When there are several players to face, hands like 2/2, and 3/3 are not very strong, even if you hit a set on the flop. There are plenty of ways for your opponents to out draw you with such a low set. However, when heads up, you are more than likely far ahead of your opponents holdings when holding even bottom pair, be it pocket pair or on the flop. This is where you can get your money in with a reasonable chance of making a profit.

Tip 4: Do Not Put Stock In Suited Connectors

Suited connectors are great with multiple players, and still hold some value heads up, but they are not nearly as strong. Just because they are suited, do not fall in love with them, which is a tip that not only applies in heads up play, but for all stages of poker, be it tournament or cash game.

Tip 5: Vary Your Play

Again, this also applies to all levels of poker, but in heads up, is crucial. You do not want to fall into a pit of playing automaton, for you a strong opponent will recognize that, and change their style accordingly to win the tournament. So there are times where you should raise with hands such as 7/3, and simply limp with hands such as A/K to throw your opponent off balance, keeping you in control.

Through persistence, patience, and these guidelines for heads up, you stand a strong chance of winning heads up battles frequently, giving you a stronger ROI, and making you more profit in the long run. Good luck on the felts!

In reality though your stack can get seriously eroded during these stages and especially during SNG’s where with only four players remaining the blinds and ante’s are coming thick and fast. Often at this delicate and crucial stage of the game, it is often correct to fold some big hands. This is done for strategic reasons of which I will go into shortly.

Let us look at an example to show exactly what I mean. You are in the big blind with a 5500 stack and have Ah-Kh. The UTG player who also has a 5500 stack shoves all-in when the blinds are 300-600. The other two players only have stacks of 1000 each and are almost all-in.

This isn’t just a situation where folding is correct but I would also fold with hands like J-J and even Q-Q as well. This may stagger many players but it is certainly the correct decision. The reason behind this lies in the amount of equity that you have in the prize pool before this hand and after it. Winning the all-in confrontation and losing will obviously reduce your total equity in the prize pool to zero as you will be eliminated from the competition.

But if you won this hand then the entire total of your opponent’s equity is not passed to you but divided between you and the other two players. This is because no matter how many chips you win, you cannot get more than 50% of the prize pool. At this moment in time neither of the two short stacks is guaranteed to make the money but they will be guaranteed if one of the two big stacks gets knocked out.

So the extra equity that they gain comes from the losing player. What this means is that someone in your position stands to lose far more than they gain by getting involved here with a strong hand and losing. You must be capable of strategic thinking in poker tournaments because it is often a mistake to play your hand strength and nothing else. It is always better to have two ways to win a pot in poker, either by getting your opponent to fold or by winning the pot in a showdown.

Being aggressive gives you that extra option but in this instance, you have no fold equity as you are the caller and not the aggressor so you are forced into winning the hand at showdown and that is the big difference.

The 1st skill: Mathematics

It is the basic of any card game. The poker players must know the statistics and game probabilities. To know how to calculate at any point of the game the odds of winning and is the risk worth the money at stake. To be able to calculate in face of your cards and the other players’ as well as the dealer’s cards what are the chances of making a Poker from a pair. When to fold and when to hit based on card counting and the statistical probabilities of the player to win. Without that basic knowledge playing with real money is a sure way to lose more then win, unless lady luck is at the player’s side. Engaging in the game without that skill means bad odds of winning.

The 2nd skill: Discipline

Disciple is the character that differentiates the professional player from the luck stalker, the fish player. A well-disciplined poker player looks forward to win where as the fish just hopes for that. The poker player plans his tactics in a fashion that help him win the game. He calculates the odds of win and lose at every step of the way and hits or runs based on his chances to win and the size of the pot ahead of him.
Discipline means to be at check at any point in the game. To know when to get up and leave the game’s table. To master a preflop strategy that helps him play any good hand to a success. With discipline a player can keep his tells at bay and even if he made a bad judgment call he will not lose control over his emotions. He will learn from that mistake so it will never repeat itself.

The 3rd skill: Psychology.

While playing poker there is one skill that can bring about the success of the game and that is psychology. Every professional poker player plays the game with some questions on his mind when his guessed answer is the leader of his play. What cards do the other players have? What are they thinking I have? And what are the others thinking that I think they have. It might sound somewhat confusing, and it is in a way. If everybody knew the answers to those questions there was no point in playing the game. Any good poker player will try to shift what the other players think of his cards, to bluff, so that he can manipulate them to make steps that would be in his favor. Creating a false tell that throws your opponents off when you have a really good hand is an important trick. Psychology is a great tool that can bring about the big bucks in a no limit game.

The 4th skill: Understanding Risk vs. Reward

It is not less important for a good poker player to understand and analyze at any point the risk-reward factors. It is not enough to win a game. The games won must bring enough cash to cover for the lost hands. The one’s lost with an intentions and one’s lost because of an error. Taking into account not only the money at hand at a game but also with respect to the overall bankroll. No point in dwelling for each buck lost but each wager made must be with a careful calculation of risk and reward. No point in wagering big sums of money over a small pot with a low chance winning hand. At any point the percent of winning losing needs to be taken into account. Good poker players play their hands in a manner that leaves them enough money to pay for their livelihood as well as for the next gaming day.

No matter how high the blinds are you always want to be sure that you are bankrolled properly. In this case 20 buy-ins will suffice. That means you will need a bankroll of $1000 in order to play comfortably. Playing with scared money is a very bad idea and will not allow you to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves as the play at your table proceeds. Assuming that we are playing cash games and not tournament poker you will need to tighten up a bit. Hands like suited connectors and small pocket pairs from early position are hands that you should muck in early position.

Why?

Because you are playing at extremely low stakes and there will be a number of factors that make folding speculative hands in early position the correct play. One of the main reasons is because players at this level will sometimes play a draw for their entire buy-in especially if the buy-in is capped. Second, pre-flop all in raises and re-raises still take place in these kind of tournaments and you, being the intelligent player that you are, are not going to call these kinds of raises with middle pairs even if you do know the raiser is holding Ace King. Lastly, cash games are about patience. There are no blinds crashing down on you like they are in poker tournaments.

The bottom line is that playing in cash games is about being the best player you can be over the long run. Giving up small pot after small pot setting up the play for a big pot is what cash game poker is all about. Online poker play tends to be hyper-aggressive and players will push all their chips in the middle in attempts to protect their hands. You need to make note of these kinds of players because they are the ones that will pay off your Set of Threes when the board has a flush draw on it and they are holding a high pocket pair.

By now you should be getting an idea of where your mindset should be. Playing cash games is all about maximizing the value of your hand versus tournament poker where you are constantly trying to protect your hands to the death to avoid being knocked out of the tournament.

Let’s take a look at a couple of online situations I found myself in recently in a $2 / $1 tournament:

Hero has $175 [A][A] on the button
Villain has $100 [Ks][Qs] in the small blind

The action folds around to the button and our hero make it $8 to go and the SB calls.

The Flop comes down [2s][6c][Kd]

SB bets $10 and the Hero smooth calls. The Turn is the [9s]

SB makes it $25 to go.

(At this point I am confident that I am not up against a Set or Two Pair. However, I am and should be concerned about a flush draw hitting the board and I act accordingly)

Hero makes it $100 and puts the SB All-In. The Small Blind calls and has a number of outs. The River is a [Qd] and the SB scoops the pot.

Should I have played the hand differently? Absolutely not! You played the hand for value and after the turn there was no way to protect your hand as your opponent was pot committed. However, this is exactly what you wanted in that you got all the chips in the middle with the best hand. However, when the Queen hit the board on the Turn it gave him additional outs and made you just a little more than a 3 to 2 favorite in the hand. Although we would love to have better numbers than that going into the River we are still ahead in the hand. Obviously, the River was an extremely bad card for the Hero and we lost the pot. It happens and you have to be prepared for these kinds of things.

The fact that our Hero was on the button didn’t help matters as King Queen was certainly a strong enough hand to call with and it is likely he put you on a steal. On the other hand you are much more likely to win this hand the majority of the time simply because of the strength of your hand and the likeliness of your opponent folding. You could also make an argument for minimum raising in that spot as well but you have to ask yourself this question, “Am I good enough to fold if I face a large raise from either of the blinds?”

Yes, even at the micro-stakes you are going to be faced with difficult decisions that will severely affect your bankroll one way or the other. For a new player to lose one or two-hundred dollars can be devastating but if played well and the cards break even you can dominate and win consistently while earning your stripes and building your bankroll. That is what micro-stakes poker is all about, building your bankroll to play higher stakes.

Curtis Mayfield III