Better poker players

At this level of play the players are substantially better than they are at NL50 and this comes across with an awful lot of things and thus online poker strategy differs sometimes. In this hand one of the early players had limped in as they had done quite often. It was folded around to me and I had the 10c-8c. Now with these types of hands in these types of situations I like to raise in online hold’em. My stack was around $240 and my opponent had about $190 on the table.

So I had 120BB while they had 95BB, I was in the cut-off but the big blind also called the raise as did the original limper. The big blind had around $180 (90BB) and my pot sized raise to $9 now made the pot around $28 before the flop. In this situation then it is instructive to see what my goals were in the hand.

Using position as a weapon

I was looking to pressure the limper and use my position coupled with the deceptive value of my hand to give me an advantage. In situations like these then another player calling the raise interferes somewhat with my plan. This means that bluffing has less value as the chances of me getting away with it are reduced. But this is offset by the fact that my chances of a big potential payoff are increased because there is more than one player to potentially pay me off.

But there is absolutely no way that I will be bullish after the flop and look to force a laydown here against two players. I have position and the betting lead and now is the time to make that work in my favour. The flop came Jh-7c-6d giving me a gutshot straight draw and both opponents checked to me.

Betting out here does have some value but so does checking. The big blind had shown some aggressive moves and I didn’t want to semi-bluff this and face a check-raise from one of the other players. I was confident now that the limper didn’t have a premium pair because they surely would have re-raised pre-flop after a raiser and a caller had entered the fray.

Other poker factors

There are other factors at work as well and this is that my raise (depending on my table image) could be with high cards and this is what it represents.

So I decide to check and take the free card and the turn card is a useless 2s and now the big blind leads out with a two thirds pot size bet. The limper folded and now the action is on me. There is no way that I am getting pot odds or implied odds to continue but I have a feeling that this player is smart enough to know that I have slowed down due to being up against two opponents.

He suspects that I didn’t connect with the flop and was reticent to bet against two players on a somewhat connected board. The turn card didn’t really change the situation and I felt that my opponent was smart enough to know that. So in this instance he either had a flopped monster, a mediocre hand or fresh air. I made the percentage play and knew that only a very tiny percentage of his range could stand a raise……I raised the pot…..he tanked and then folded.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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The big blind checked and as it turned out had the 10c-9c. So we have a four way pot and the flop comes Jc-6h-2c giving our hero a flush draw. He checks being first to speak and so do the first two limpers, the final limper bets and our hero calls which is fairly straight forward as does one other player.

This is purely a pot odds call as it seems likely that one of his opponents has made a decent pair. The turn card is the 3d and the big blind and the other limper check again. The flop bettor bets again on the turn and once again our hero is getting a decent price to call. The other limper folds and the river card brings a ten to give our hero a pair.

He checks and his opponent bets again, this time he check-raises and his opponent thinks for a few seconds and calls. The result is that his opponent wins with J-9. Now here our hero did everything perfectly until the river where he went a little crazy and lost an extra big bet. Folding was really not an option and he had to pay off.

Too many players who are at the intermediate level or beyond try to make great laydowns all the time but this just doesn’t get the job done in limit hold’em. Most of the time in situations like these then the simplest play is usually the best.

Limit hold’em is simply about making a series of correct decisions over a very long period of time, quite often poker software can help make many of these decisions for you. If you can make many small correct decisions in limit play then you should do very well. In this example then it was perfectly obvious that his opponent had a hand that could beat a pair of tens and even if their hand was marginal then because of the pot odds that they were getting then they were always going to shrug their shoulders and stick their money in.

I simply do not know that this guy was doing, if he was raising a bluff then why did he raise when all he had to do was check-call? Also if he thought that his opponent had a stronger hand then he must surely have suspected that they wouldn’t have laid it down at this form of online poker with the pot odds that they were getting.

Maybe our hero just lost focus or discipline or whatever but he certainly threw a big bet away here. This just proves that with online poker you really have to keep on top of your game all the time. This requires focus and discipline and hard work unfortunately. It is this gradual bleeding of small and big bets in limit play that literally blows the vast majority of players out of the water in the long run.

This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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PRIMARY POKER SKILLS

But yet one of the primary skills in any form of hold’em poker is in how you handle post flop play. In no-limit hold’em, most of the time you will not go beyond the flop so post flop skills are not required as often. But in games where big bets cannot win the pot immediately like with pot limit and especially limit play then you have to be able to play very well after the flop.

While you cannot lose your buy-in in one foul swoop in limit play, your level of skill will be under constant bombardment by having to see flop after flop after flop. This will be even more pronounced in six handed play. Let us look at an example to show what I mean here.

It has been folded around to the button who raises, the small blind folds and you are in the big blind with the hand Qh-5c. Now if this was a no-limit situation then you can clearly fold and wait for a better opportunity as Qh-5c isn’t exactly one of the better poker hands. In fact even if your opponent on the button is a very loose and aggressive player then folding would still be correct here. Even though you would be looking to open your range, it wouldn’t be opened wide enough to incorporate a hand like Q-5.

LIMIT PLAY IS DIFFERENT

But in limit play then you really must play this hand. Your pot odds and implied odds coupled with your opponents likely range gives you a straight forward call here. In fact to balance your play somewhat then you can even consider throwing in a small percentage of re-raises although that percentage cannot be very high with a hand like Q-5.

Your opponent could have something like K-9 but yet pot odds of 3.5/1 dictate that you simply cannot fold this hand. Then you can decide how to proceed on certain types of flop. For example if the flop came J-7-2 rainbow then you may get the opportunity to take the lead here on a ragged rainbow board that has likely missed your opponent.

You could try leading out or maybe check-raising for balance. You have reached this situation purely because you were playing a form of poker where you were receiving good pot odds to get involved before the flop.

Poor post flop play at limit hold’em is like a slow bleeding of money and this is why having a rakeback deal is critical these days to your hourly rate. The overall level of skill in limit play has led to variance becoming more and more of an issue.

This is precisely why I stopped playing the game and switched to no-limit play via a brief fling with SNG’s. But do not let anyone tell you that limit hold’em is a far less skilful game than no-limit because anyone who says that simply does not understand limit hold’em.

This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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To start off, I’m a very inexperienced player though I’ve been playing all kinds of poker games for almost all my life. I started when I was a kid, but mostly nickel and dime fun games and whatnot.

Just lately, I’ve been playing more often online and weekly, with 6-9 players. I’m exerting efforts now to learn more about Texas Holdem but I don’t know why but things seem to be unusual. The more I learn and study, the more I tend to over-analyze certain things. I believe this attitude is hindering me from doing some moves like calling out some bluffs and evaluating opponent betting as well playing strategies. Any advise? Is there something wrong in me?

Keep up the good work by the way. Thanks again!

Aleck
Aleck,

Nothing is wrong with you, but you should start to work on your bluffing and reading your opponents. What you have read and studied is theory. You need to learn to balance theory with practical application. Experience is the best teacher, so keep strategies in mind, but work on application of your strategies and try not to over-analyze.

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Just minutes ago, I tried to search the web for sites that could help me play poker better and surprisingly it’s your site I have found. Great site!

Well, as for my question, are there some physical tells that could eventually tell me if the person is just bluffing or has a strong hand? Also, if you don’t mind, can you tell me something about your poker experiences? Are you some kind of a pro or just an average player?

Thanks!
Drew
Drew,

I consider myself an above average player overall. I have played semi-professionally but the games I like to play do not make becoming a full fledged professional easy. I am a mixed games player and the majority of money is in Holdem. I have numerous professional cashes including cashes at the World Series of Poker.

Physical tells that can tell you if a person is bluffing include someone that bets and gives off a slight almost unnoticeable smirk. Someone that puts in their chips with a lot of bravado or very forcefully may be bluffing. As Mike Caro states, “Sometime Weak is strong and strong is weak”.

Someone with a very strong hand may have a little shake to their hand as they are putting in chips. Someone that glances at their chips as soon as the flop comes out in many cases has a strong hand. If they are trying to size up your stack, then they usually are going to bet. If they ease their chips in like they don’t want to put them in, chances are they have a monster. Someone who is very chatty that all of a sudden is the quietest person in the room usually has a big hand or a big draw.

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For about a month now, I’ve been playing No Limit Holdem in tournaments online. To get some tips and added strategies, I tried to looked for some books and websites that could help me out. Well, they can potentially help me, but I noticed that most of the sources I found talk about evaluating opponent’s style of play; which in a way is intriguing.

I tried to use some of the pointers I got like for example I caught somebody bluffing for a good pot, or the like.

On the other hand, when I’m playing online games, I noticed that most of the pots are won without any of the hole cards being turned, but I don’t exactly get the hang of it. Same case when keeping a written record during games of the number of flops that other players see, pre-flop raises, etc. I’m not sure if they’ve been a help.

Any advice on what kind of moves by an opponent should I be watching of? What kind of attitude, strategy of opponents, etc. should I really consider to eventually classify various playing style?

Thanks!
Donald G.
Donald,

You need to watch the betting patterns of your opponents and the cards that they show down to get an idea of how they play when you play online. Watch how much they raise, reraise, limp in, etc to try and get an idea of the hand ranges they play and how they play hands when they have strong hands and when they are bluffing. Pay attention to their moves depending on their position as well. These are the best ways to classify your opponent online.

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