Category Archives: General Tips

Factors You Should Consider Before Making a Decision about Your Hand

There are a range of factors that you should consider before automatically making a play with a starting hand in Texas Hold ’em. These can differ between whether you are playing cash games, multi table tournaments or short handed sit n go’s. Try to commit these to memory and before long these considerations will become second nature to you.

Cash Game Starting Hand Factors to Consider

There are 5 main considerations when deciding what to do with your hand when you are playing in a cash game.

Table position

This is arguably as important as the cards you have been dealt in many instances. Considering your position in relation to the other players is critical because if you are in late position it can give you the opportunity to view what the other players do before you make any commitment to the pot. Position is important both pre and post flop and you will need to alter your hand ranges depending on what position you are dealt on the table. For example, if you are in early position you will want to play hands with a higher range than you would if you were in late position when you have information on what the other players plan to do on the hand pre-flop.

Cards dealt

This is probably the first consideration that will pop into your head. The cards you play will depend on the factors listed here and the hand ranges you are prepared to play.

Number of players

The number of players on the table is a factor that should be considered in conjunction with your table position and consequently what cards you are prepared to play. A very simple fact to remember is that the more people playing around a table, the more chance there is of a player having stronger cards than you so bear this in mind when playing on full tables.

Playing style

This can both relate to yourself and your opponents. It is important that you do become predictable to the other players so it is your interests to mix up your play a little so that your opponents have to second guess you. This could be a conscious decision you make in terms of playing in a certain style when you are in late position or you are playing against a particular opponent. If you study the playing style of your opponents it is sometimes possible to pick up a “tell”. Clearly this is more difficult playing online than in a real cash poker table in a casino but if you are able to spot a weakness in an opponent it will increase the chances of you being able to bluff the player out of chips or lay a trap that will maximise your chances of being paid off in a hand.

Pot odds

Finally when all other factors have been taken into account you should consider the pot odds in playing a given hand. You need to work out whether the number of “outs” you have in terms of making your desired hand is favourable when compared with the size of the pot and the amount of chips you will need to add to see a showdown, etc.

Multi Table Tournament Starting Hand Factors to Consider

Certainly take into account the cash game starting hand principles mentioned above when you are playing in an MTT (multi table tournament) but also consider the following 3 factors.

Prize money offered

When playing in an MTT the prize money will be split down the field to a varying degree based on what type of MTT you are playing. A rule of thumb can be that the top 10% to 20% of the field will receive a payout. You need to consider the prize structure continuously because players’ styles will invariably alter depending on what stage they are at in the tournament. If you simply want to get in the money first and take it from there, you will likely want to play a quite tight game and loosen up once the “bubble” has passed and you are guaranteed a paid place in the tournament. However, take into account that more experienced players will take advantage of tight players in these circumstances and will attempt to steal blinds where they can.

Monitor the blinds

The blinds (and antes) will increase over set periods of time during an MTT so you need to consider the size of your stack of chip relative to the size of the blinds. You don’t want to become short stacked because this will lessen your options when in a pot and will reduce any fold equity.

Your chip stack size

Your decision making process will be informed by number of chips you hold in relation to others around the table, their positions and to some extent the average number of chips held by all the other players in the whole tournament. For example, if you are entering a pot against multiple players who all have chip stacks larger than yours you should be aware that any one of them could potentially knock you out of the tournament if you are playing no limit hold ’em and one of them decides to go all in against you. Try to only enter pots with players with equivalent or small stacks compared to yours unless you hold premium hands. On the other hand if you hold a chip lead over others on your table you will be able to bully them by making large raises and stealing blinds against tight players. If the number of chips you hold is ten times the size of the big blind (or less) you will be short stacked in most tournament schedules. Try not to allow your chips to become reduced to this level if at all possible.

Common Poker Hand Odds

In order to help you to calculate pot odds and the probability of you making particular poker hands pre-flop and after the flop you should carefully study the following percentage odds of you making your desired hand.

Probability of being dealt
Pocket aces – 0.45%
Any pocket pair – 5.9%
Any two suited cards to the river to make a flush – 6.4%

Probability of hitting on the flop
Turning a pocket pair into trips – 10.8%
Hitting a flush from two suited cards – 0.84%

Probability of hitting on the turn card
Making a straight from a gutshot draw – 9%
Making a straight from an open ended straight draw – 17%
A flush when you have 4 suited cards already – 19%
Making a full house from trips – 15%
Making a full house from two pair – 9%

Probability of hitting on the turn or river
Making a straight from a gutshot draw – 17%
Making a straight from an open ended straight draw – 32%
Making a full house from two pair – 17%
A flush when you have 4 suited cards already – 35%
A flush when you have 3 suited cards already – 4%

Probability of making on the river from the turn card
Making a straight from a gutshot draw – 9%
Making a straight from an open ended straight draw – 17%
Making a full house from trips – 22%
Making a full house from two pair – 9%

Make Notes on Other Poker Players

When playing poker online it is important to gain as much of an advantage over your opponents as possible. Due to the nature of online poker you obviously can’t rely on a physical tell such as a twitch or a rub of the face. However, due to the privacy of playing online you can take notes on your opposition – not something that would go down well in a bricks and mortar casino!

Taking notes by hand is fine, but all poker sites now have a feature whereby you can take notes on particular players of your choosing and the record will be stored for you. Whenever that player pops up on a table you will be able to review all your prior notes. It is clear that taking notes can be an extremely useful mechanism for attempting to gain an advantage over your fellow players, but you must plan how you record your notes otherwise they will be all but useful.

First of all you need to ensure that you date any entry you make. Over time it is highly possible that a player’s style may change or they might improve dramatically so it is important that you have a chronological record. When you take notes, try to do it objectively. To write down that pokerboy4433 is a “lucky little sh*t” won’t be of much use to you in the future. However, to write that pokerboy4433 “Frequently goes for gutshots. Seems to lack patience.” is something that can be a valuable piece of information that can be utilised in the future.

The more entries that you make for a given player, the more detailed a picture you will start to get about his general Texas Hold ’em style. Of course if a player attempts to hide his identity by regularly changing his screen identity (which is no bad idea), your notes will become useless. But typically players will either use the same poker moniker at all the poker rooms they frequent or they will just stick to their favourite online poker site. If your player notes help you to bag a monster pot or two you will soon start to see that the massive benefits of taking detailed notes will outweigh the minor inconvenience.

When to Slow Play a Poker Hand

Slow playing a monster hand can be a hugely satisfying play. It can make you heaps of chips if done right and give you the satisfaction that you have managed to get one over one of your opponents. You’ll feel like a master bluffer and your opponent will feel like a plank. The bad news is that the slow playing of poker hands as a strategy is a losing one.

You will often see headlines and articles about how smart it is to slow play pocket aces. Don’t get me wrong, before the flop you will inevitably be favourite with pocket aces – the only time you won’t be an outright favourite is if someone else on the table also has pocket rockets. To slow play when you know you are a favourite before the flop is to almost take away your advantage. Yes, it may help to get the stragglers on the table to throw some chips in, but it is also giving them the opportunity to hit a hand on the flop. To check or call with AA pre-flop is a very weak play in my opinion as you are opening yourself up to straight draws, flush draws and trips on the flop. To intentionally slow play AA to only get hit with trip 5’s on the flop would be a crime.

My advice is if you have the temptation to slow play a hand, don’t do it. By definition if you are considering slow playing a hand it must mean that you have a pretty decent starting hand in the first place. If this is the case, get your chips into the pot with a raise. By doing so you will likely eliminate players with weak starting hands pre-flop (who won’t then have the chance to luckily make a hand post-flop) and the fewer players there are in the pot, the greater your chance of taking the hand. The only time when I would advocate slow playing a hand is if you are up against a single player who you believe you have strong information on. If you are confident that they have an obvious read, then slow playing against them might be an option. In all other circumstances, slow playing a hand might eke out a few more chips from loose players but in the long run it is highly likely that a slow play strategy will lose you more chips than you gain.

Don’t Play Poker in a Bad Mood!

Playing Texas Hold’em can be a highly emotional business, so to play in a bad mood can only heighten your sensitivity to certain situations.

A negative emotional state can really affect your game and your judgement. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there, done that. If you start a game in a stinking bad mood, the moment you play a nice starting hand, bet correctly, lead all the way to the river and your opponent gets a one-out outrageously lucky card to make their hand you can feel like the entire world is against you and you want personal retribution against that lucky sh*t that beat you on the river. Of course, the correct reaction is to shrug, be safe in the knowledge that you played the hand correctly and that statistically you should win more than you lose in that situation given the loose play of your opponent.

Ultimately luck does play a part and bad beats will happen. Once emotion takes hold of your poker you start to lose objectivity and you can begin to form online vendettas where you are hell-bent on knocking out particular players rather than focusing on building up your own bankroll.

If you feel yourself in this type of mood whilst playing it is best to allow your blinds to be posted automatically and take 5 minutes away from the game to calm down and reflect on your real aims for the game. Hopefully, you are able to refocus and get your game back on a controlled, calm and confident footing. To succeed at Texas Hold’em you need to be able to control your emotions and remain disciplined, waiting for that monster hand to appear.