Along with the dramatic increase in popularity of poker in general, and Texas Holdem in particular, comes a tidal wave of new players who may not be newbies to poker itself, but definitely are beginners in comparison to experienced players. These beginning players have been influenced significantly by what they have seen on television. While this is cool and all, from a practical standpoint it has some disastrous implications for the beginners wanting to learn how to play Texas Hold'em. (Total novices can start with Texas Holdem Rules.)
To be blunt, if you watch Tiger Woods hook a three iron around a dogleg, over a sand trap, and then stop it on a dime on the green, don't try this at home, kids. That's not to say that all poker shown on television is Tiger Woods-like. Far from it. Some of the TV play is hopelessly bad -- if only because even the best players sometimes make terrible plays.
The thing newbies need to remember is that the poker hands we see on TV do not well represent what makes a great poker player. First and foremost, the truly great players in all game disciplines master the fundamentals. Ted Williams, Earl Anthony, Magic Johnson, Cheryl Miller, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova... all these folks spent hours and hours on fundamentals even AFTER they were superstars. In fact, great players devote much of their time to improving at those fundamentals they aren't particularly good at.
Like any other game, Texas Hold'em has fundamental/basics that aren't very flashy or readily apparent, but must be mastered (and continually mastered) before excellence can be achieved.
Discipline. No skills matter if you don't have the wherewithal to follow through. If you know you shouldn't tilt, but tilt anyway, you suck at discipline. And, you suck as a poker player compared to the poker player you could be. You may still be better than average, but you are a shadow of what you should be. It is almost impossible to work too hard on your discipline.
Bets. The bet is the atom of poker. Chips are electrons and protons, but the bet is the building block of everything good and bad that takes place in poker -- if you play for money, that is. If you play to satisfy ego urges, rather than to win money, then you have different priorities, and you've blundered onto the wrong website. All ring game poker concepts revolve around the bet. (Tournaments are different. Surviving and being the lone winner are tournament concepts that don't transfer to ring games.) You are not trying to win pots. You are trying to get the best of it on bets. You are trying to wager money, make bets, with a mathematically favorable expectation. This involves having as a coincidental goal the winning of pots, but that is not the main goal, and certainly not the focus of our efforts. We simply want to get our money in with the best of it. Win or lose, good luck or bad luck, that really is not the point. Let the bad players fixate on the results. You should fixate on doing the right thing.
Having the discipline to do the right thing all the time (more or less) is the basic of the basics.
The blinds. Poker is a thinking person's game. When bets are made without thinking, either by bad players or when "forced" via the game rules (as blinds or antes are), this is the fundamental money at stake in the contest. Thoughtful play must significantly focus on the bets that are made thoughtlessly! Attack the bad players, and attack the blinds. Thoughtful players have an edge over semi-thoughtful players, but thoughtful players have enormous edges over bets made without thought (again, either by thoughtless/bad players or by any player because they are forced by the rules to make the bet).
Limit versus No Limit. Most of the Holdem on television is No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament poker. This is about as different from Limit Texas Holdem ring game poker as two things of the same species can get. Many of the winning tactics used in No Limit tournaments are either useless or counterproductive in Limit Texas Hold'em ring games. Chainsaws may cut most things better, but butter knifes are more appropriate for some tasks. Just because you saw a skilled lumberjack cut down an oak tree with one doesn't mean you should use a chainsaw to cut butter.
Starting hands. One of the most poorly considered basics of Texas Hold'em is the fixation novices have on starting hands, with a corresponding focus on starting hand charts and groups. Texas Hold'em is much more of a post-flop game than a pre-flop one, but novices and mediocre players fixate on following guidelines on starting hands. Without learning to understand why you are playing a certain hand, and how you intend to play it after a variety of different types of flops, you are fully missing the point of the game. Learn why and how to play hands, not the simplistic what to play. Learning how to play Texas Hold'em means learning to understand the reasons you are doing the "what" you are doing.
Fundamentals win ball games and poker games and games of every sort. Let the suckers try to buy lunch with their egos. You should focus on the basics of making thoughtful bets when you have the best of it, and then you can focus on buying lunch with your profits -- profits courtesy of the bad players, the ego players, and the players who simply don't work on the fundamentals enough.
There is no reason answer, or chart, or diagram you can refer that teaches you how to play Texas Holdem, if you want to win that is. But following the various links here will lead you through the web of related concepts you need to master.
Sportsbook Play Poker
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
TEXAS HOLS'em BASICS
Texas Hold'em Basics
Along with the dramatic increase in popularity of poker in general, and Texas Holdem in particular, comes a tidal wave of new players who may not be newbies to poker itself, but definitely are beginners in comparison to experienced players. These beginning players have been influenced significantly by what they have seen on television. While this is cool and all, from a practical standpoint it has some disastrous implications for the beginners wanting to learn how to play Texas Hold'em. (Total novices can start with Texas Holdem Rules.)
To be blunt, if you watch Tiger Woods hook a three iron around a dogleg, over a sand trap, and then stop it on a dime on the green, don't try this at home, kids. That's not to say that all poker shown on television is Tiger Woods-like. Far from it. Some of the TV play is hopelessly bad -- if only because even the best players sometimes make terrible plays.
The thing newbies need to remember is that the poker hands we see on TV do not well represent what makes a great poker player. First and foremost, the truly great players in all game disciplines master the fundamentals. Ted Williams, Earl Anthony, Magic Johnson, Cheryl Miller, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova... all these folks spent hours and hours on fundamentals even AFTER they were superstars. In fact, great players devote much of their time to improving at those fundamentals they aren't particularly good at.
Like any other game, Texas Hold'em has fundamental/basics that aren't very flashy or readily apparent, but must be mastered (and continually mastered) before excellence can be achieved.
Discipline. No skills matter if you don't have the wherewithal to follow through. If you know you shouldn't tilt, but tilt anyway, you suck at discipline. And, you suck as a poker player compared to the poker player you could be. You may still be better than average, but you are a shadow of what you should be. It is almost impossible to work too hard on your discipline.
Bets. The bet is the atom of poker. Chips are electrons and protons, but the bet is the building block of everything good and bad that takes place in poker -- if you play for money, that is. If you play to satisfy ego urges, rather than to win money, then you have different priorities, and you've blundered onto the wrong website. All ring game poker concepts revolve around the bet. (Tournaments are different. Surviving and being the lone winner are tournament concepts that don't transfer to ring games.) You are not trying to win pots. You are trying to get the best of it on bets. You are trying to wager money, make bets, with a mathematically favorable expectation. This involves having as a coincidental goal the winning of pots, but that is not the main goal, and certainly not the focus of our efforts. We simply want to get our money in with the best of it. Win or lose, good luck or bad luck, that really is not the point. Let the bad players fixate on the results. You should fixate on doing the right thing.
Having the discipline to do the right thing all the time (more or less) is the basic of the basics.
The blinds. Poker is a thinking person's game. When bets are made without thinking, either by bad players or when "forced" via the game rules (as blinds or antes are), this is the fundamental money at stake in the contest. Thoughtful play must significantly focus on the bets that are made thoughtlessly! Attack the bad players, and attack the blinds. Thoughtful players have an edge over semi-thoughtful players, but thoughtful players have enormous edges over bets made without thought (again, either by thoughtless/bad players or by any player because they are forced by the rules to make the bet).
Limit versus No Limit. Most of the Holdem on television is No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament poker. This is about as different from Limit Texas Holdem ring game poker as two things of the same species can get. Many of the winning tactics used in No Limit tournaments are either useless or counterproductive in Limit Texas Hold'em ring games. Chainsaws may cut most things better, but butter knifes are more appropriate for some tasks. Just because you saw a skilled lumberjack cut down an oak tree with one doesn't mean you should use a chainsaw to cut butter.
Starting hands. One of the most poorly considered basics of Texas Hold'em is the fixation novices have on starting hands, with a corresponding focus on starting hand charts and groups. Texas Hold'em is much more of a post-flop game than a pre-flop one, but novices and mediocre players fixate on following guidelines on starting hands. Without learning to understand why you are playing a certain hand, and how you intend to play it after a variety of different types of flops, you are fully missing the point of the game. Learn why and how to play hands, not the simplistic what to play. Learning how to play Texas Hold'em means learning to understand the reasons you are doing the "what" you are doing.
Fundamentals win ball games and poker games and games of every sort. Let the suckers try to buy lunch with their egos. You should focus on the basics of making thoughtful bets when you have the best of it, and then you can focus on buying lunch with your profits -- profits courtesy of the bad players, the ego players, and the players who simply don't work on the fundamentals enough.
There is no reason answer, or chart, or diagram you can refer that teaches you how to play Texas Holdem, if you want to win that is. But following the various links here will lead you through the web of related concepts you need to master.
Sportsbook Play Poker
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Playing Two (or More) Games
Playing Two (or More) Games
One enormous difference between casino poker and online is the ability to play two (or more) games simultaneously online. Many players choose this option. And that is very, very, very good for us. No matter how good a player is, it is inevitable that when playing two games, a player's ability will diminish a little or a lot. A player making $20 an hour playing one game is simply not going to make $40 an hour playing two games. It's a certainty that sometimes hands will overlap, small opportunities will be missed, decisions rushed. This player may do better overall by playing two games, say making $34 an hour combined from the two games, but as opponents, they will do less well in any particular game they play in. This means, instead of facing a player who has an expectation to take $20 an hour out of our game, we face one who will only take out maybe $17. And, a player who expects to lose $30 an hour will now lose $37 an hour (or whatever) in our game.
When a player’s expectation goes form $20 an hour to $17 an hour, he is missing out on $3 an hour. Where does this money go? Quite simply, it is split up and added to the expectation of the other players in the game, based upon each individual’s playing ability. Good players can expect to receive more benefit than bad ones. Remember, expectation is a zero sum game. If one player’s expectation suddenly decreases, it is offset by increases in the expectation of his opponents (or additional rake to the cardroom).
You can anticipate that your expectation in each game will drop as you add games. This does not mean that you shouldn’t play in multiple games, on the contrary. You should play in the number of games that yields the highest combined expectation. Obviously, playing two games at a $17/hr win rate each is better than playing one game at a $20/hr win rate. In fact, most players do multi-table. Multi-tabling is not for everybody, however. If you notice that your expectation dropping sharply as you add games, or if you find managing multiple confusing or difficult, stick to one table at a time.
You should also understand that multi-tabling is in itself a skill. Many players can handle three or four games at a time. A few high volume players report that they can handle fifteen games at a time or more. But they didn’t start out playing fifteen games at once. They worked their way up to it, adding an additional game to the mix as their efficiency improved. In other words, they practiced multi-tabling and got better at it. If you want to start multi-tabling, add additional tables slowly and one at a time, to be sure that you can handle it. Remember, if you overload, not only will your expectation drop, but your action will slow way down and you will upset the other players in the game.
It is easy to see if your opponents are multi-tabling. You can see the names of all the players in each game in the lobby. Also, many sites have a “find user” search box. If you type in a name, it will display all of the games that the player is in. Simply knowing that your opponent is multi-tabling can provide you with an advantage. The first thing that you should know about multi-tablers is that they don’t handle nuance well. They often miss small details which may impact the correct play of the hand. They also don’t have time to think deeply about their actions and so they are prone to quick, rushed decisions. This is very useful knowledge to have and applies to many situations. I will discuss a few here.
One common mistake for a multi-tabler to make is to stall before making a continuation bet, or to miss it all together. They do this because they momentarily lose track of the action in that specific room. If they suddenly hesitate or check in a spot where you would expect a continuation bet, it often indicates weakness, and quite often a bet or a raise will take the pot. Be aware that this is a specific situation where hesitation indicates weakness. In general, a long pause or hesitation is often an attempt to feign weakness, by a player with a strong hand. In this case you would not want to attempt a bluff.
Generally, it is easier to bluff players who multi-table. This is because they are often involved in multiple hands at the same time, and they tend to give priority to their higher value hands. If they have a marginal hand, they will often let it go without much thought. They simply don’t have the time to analyze a bet as a bluff and consider the merits of re-bluffing.
Most players who multi-table know that they are giving up some of their edge, and they will try to compensate for this by tightening their preflop hand selection. This means that players who multi-table tend to play slightly fewer hands preflop than those who don’t. They also tend to defend their blinds less. This doesn’t mean that players who multi-table are weak-tight. Multi-tablers tend to have more online experience than average, and they certainly recognize the value of bluffing or betting into a checked pot.
So we know that multi-tablers tend to be experienced online players, who are susceptible to missing bets and being bluffed. They tend to give high priority to their good hands, acting quickly, and low priority to their marginal hands, acting more slowly. Our play should reflect what we know. We should be more inclined to value bet or bluff against a multi-tabling opponent. We should attempt to steal their blinds more frequently. We should look for and evaluate hesitation tells in this context. We can even use the “find a player” search box to look for players playing more games than they can handle effectively.
Finally, if you are a losing player, here is the number one lesson for you: play only one game at a time. You will lose less money.
BetUS Poker Room Accepts US Players
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Online sports betting: Payment processing explained
Poker bankroll definitions: 1) Sum total of money a player has in the world with which to play poker.
Several formulas exist for how to calculate a proper poker bankroll for a person playing limit poker games. While these take into consideration variance and a projected win rate, when considering bankroll requirements for a certain person to play a certain game, calculations also must consider:
1) A player's specific abilities and style. A winning player can be a winning player in many, many different ways. Two people can earn the exact same amount of money over a five year span, while earning it with hugely different playing styles and different fluctuations -- and thus needing different size bankrolls.
2) The nature of the game in question. A 10/20 Holdem game in Atlantic City is different than one in San Jose and both are different than one in Los Angeles. In fact, a 10/20 game at Hollywood Park could be very different than 10/20 games at the Commerce Casino. To think one calculation can cover all these is incorrect. Each universe requires a different bankroll level. Thinking one number can be used generically for any sort of 10/20 game is naive at best..
3) The question of bankroll requirements will always depend on a player's life circumstances. Does the player have a job that does no more than cover expenses? Does the player have a job that enables them to bank 100 big bets a month after expenses? Fifteen big bets? How easily will a player be able to re-establish the bankroll? This consideration matters because if a player can't reestablish a bankroll, then this player should move down in limit after losing some percentage of it.
While a player may have been initially bankrolled adequately, if they take heavy losses, they should expect to start doing better, but just like in roulette, what happened in the previous roll does not have an effect on what happens next. If a player with a $4500 10/20 bankroll loses $3700, they sure shouldn't be thinking they still are adequately bankrolled for 10/20! In other words, only a portion of a players bankroll should be considered a bankroll for the intended game. For example, if a fairly typical 10/20 player with a $10,000 bankroll loses $5000, they should start playing 6/12, and if they lose another couple thousand, they should start playing 3/6.
4) If a player doesn't have a job, and is playing professionally, they need either a bankroll plus other assets set aside for living expenses, or to understand that their bankroll has to pay living expenses even while losing. This sort of player, depending on life circumstances again, should have roughly twice the bankroll of a player with a job or other assets.
Solid, winning players with a $10,000 bankroll playing 10/20 should likely never fluctuate below $5000. That is in the ballpark of the $4500 number many folks suggest for a theoretical 10/20 bankroll, but in the real world different concepts need to be considered. Essentially, a 10/20 bankroll should be on top of 6/12 one, which is on top of a 3/6 one, which is on top of a 2/4 one. If you step down in limit after your entire 10/20 roll is gone, you still should have a full 6/12 bankroll.
The worst thing a positive expectation player can do is be out of action. A sensible approach to bankroll is absolutely critical. The question isn't of a steadier ride -- the issue is whether you will be along for the ride at all.
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