How Not To Suck At Poker Part 2

How Not to Suck at Poker: Play in Position

By Sean Lind

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Part 2 in our 10-part beginner series on how not to suck at poker, this article will drive home the importance of playing in position.

Position is simply the single most important and valuable commodity to have at the poker table.

If you're unfamiliar with the term, position simply means you are the last to act in the hand (meaning you have the dealer button, or the players acting after you have folded).

The worst places, position-wise, are typically the blinds, as after the first round of betting the whole table acts after you for the rest of the hand.

Regardless of your skill level, the situation, or the hand you're playing, being in position will always give you more information in the hand than any of your opponents.

And in the world of poker, information is the most valuable commodity there is.

Four Biggest Reasons to Play in Position:

1. When it's your turn to act, you have more information than your opponents.
2. Position gives you "bluff equity," meaning simple, cheap and effective bluffing opportunities.
3. Acting last lets you make more accurate value bets.
4. Having last action gives you control over the final pot size.

To give you an idea of exactly how important position is:

Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Patrik Antonius are in the middle of a $1.5 million, 50,000-hand heads-up challenge online, with the winner getting the money from the game plus added money in a side bet.

Your hand always looks better in position.

These two players are arguably two of the best online poker players in the world. And if you look at the stats taken from all the hands they've played so far, you'll see an almost shocking theme.

If you compare money won or lost out of position to money won or lost in position, each player's results are a mirror image. Both are substantially down when out of position, and both are showing a substantial profit when in position.

Even though they're playing the same game, against the same player, simply having position is the difference between winning and losing millions.

For this reason, if one player was to give the other player position in every hand they play, there would be no contest; the player with position would dominate.

No matter what style of poker you plan on playing, if you want to make money you need to play as many of your big pots in position as possible.

Every large pot you play out of position is a potential disaster.

As Daniel Skolovy says "Playing out of position is like walking through a dark cave with no flashlight. You never know what might lurk behind that next corner."

Stay tuned for Part 3: Count Your Outs.

How not to suck at poker Part 1

How Not to Suck at Poker: Play Fewer Hands

By Sean Lind

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The fewer hands you play, the better you get at folding. It sucks to suck at things. And poker really is a tough game that can be frustrating for beginners.

You lose to your friends in your home games. You lose the first few bucks you deposit online. Worse, you may not even understand why.

Are you just unlucky? Are you making huge mistakes? Are you missing one simple concept that could change things?

The truth: You're really not that far behind 95% of the poker players in the world. And you don't need to be the foremost expert on the game to become a winning poker player.

In fact, a relatively small amount of basic poker principles can produce massive improvements in your results almost immediately.

And the true first step to becoming a good poker player: simply figuring out how to stop sucking at it.

This is the first in a 10-part series explaining exactly how to do that on the most basic level, starting with the most important tip of all: playing fewer hands.

How Not to Suck at Poker Tip 1: Play Fewer Hands.

In Texas Hold'em, there are 169 different possible starting hands you can be dealt (this is ignoring specific suits).

Out of all these possible hands, there are only five hands that are considered "premium."

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (Suited)
5. JJ

Regardless of your position at the table, a premium hand should always be played if there is no raise ahead of you. If there is a raise ahead of you - especially if there are callers or re-raises - sometimes it can even be a mistake to play anything below Aces or Kings.

When you think about Texas Hold'em starting hands in this light, you'll realize that you should be folding around 80% more hands than you should be playing at any given Hold'em table.

The stronger your starting hands are, the fewer difficult decisions you're forced to make.

Naturally, the hands you play, and how you play them, will change depending on thousands of different variables at the table.

But at the very core of the game, there are very few hands that are considered playable.

If there has been no player to open the pot (meaning no one has raised, or even limped ahead of you) you can play almost any hand with any sort of potential value.

Once someone has raised ahead of you, your hand selection should be narrowed down to only the hands that can give you the nuts, and help keep you out of any situation which has you dominated.

For example: you should never play KQ into a raise, as AA, KK, QQ, AK, and AQ all have you dominated.

Unless you have a very good reason to do so, as a beginner poker player you should stick to playing only the top 10 to 15 hands, period.

The more you play, and the better you become at the game, the more hands you can add to your playlist.

Until then, keep it simple, and always head to the flop with the best of it.

Top 15 Hold'em Starting Hands

1. AA
2. KK
3. QQ
4. AK (suited)
5. JJ
6. 1010
7. AQ (suited)
8. AJ (suited)
9. AK (off suit)
10. KQ (suited)
11. A10 (suited)
12. KJ (suited)
13. AQ (off suit)
14. 99
15. JQ (suited)

Stay tuned for the next installment: How Not to Suck at Poker: Play in Position.

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110

Playing a Short Stack in Multi-Table Tournaments

Erica Schoenberg

July 13th, 2007

The key to succeeding in tournament play is being able to handle the ups and downs, because it's not always going to go perfectly. Your chip stack is not always going to shoot upwards, which means you'll often need to make good decisions when you don't have a lot of chips.

Many players get frustrated when they have a short stack. They look down and see Ace-rag, King-Queen, King-Jack or some similar hand and they just focus on their own cards instead of seeing the whole picture. That kind of short-sightedness can quickly make a short stack even smaller and put the player on the rail.

Successfully playing a short stack takes a lot of determination. I believe it's like a mental war when you have the short stack because it isn't fun when you look around and everyone has all those chips. They're getting to play fun hands like 9-10 suited and Jack-10 suited and you don't have enough chips to play those hands, so you're just sitting there watching while everyone else is playing poker.

I was playing in a $1,500 No-Limit tournament at the World Series of Poker* when I raised under the gun with pocket Kings. It was Day Two of the tournament and it was the first hand I'd played after about 90 minutes of folding. Another player went all-in behind me and it was one of those situations where she didn't take her time to properly evaluate what had transpired so far. After not playing a single hand, I had raised with 40% of my stack in the earliest pre-flop position, which usually signals a monster. She pushed anyway with KJ and I think if she'd taken her time, she might have made a different decision.

You need to have patience when you're short stacked. You can't let poor results from previous hands affect you. Instead, I think it's really good to tighten up after losing a pot so that you can regroup. To recover from being short stacked, you really have to take your time and evaluate every situation. Who cares if you're taking longer than anyone else at the table?

Before the words "all-in" escape your mouth, take a couple of deep breaths, take 20 seconds and take a look at where the raise is coming from, how much it is for, and how much the person has behind. So many times I see people coming over the top of other players and not realizing their opponent is already committed and that their chips are going in the pot. Before you push all of your chips into the middle on a call with a short stack, look at the person you're playing, re-evaluate your hand, the raise, and what position it's coming from at the table. You have to remember that as long as you have chips you have a chance to climb from the bottom of the ladder to the chip lead.

That brings up another key point: I don't care what anyone else has in the tournament because when I start worrying about how many chips other people have, I'm not focused on the task at hand, which is increasing my chip stack. Short stacked or not, I own my chips until I push them into the middle; it's up to my best judgment to determine the best time to commit them to a pot.

Being on the short stack demands that you make the right decision every time you play a pot because making the wrong one will bust you. Don't be in such a hurry to shove those chips in. Find the right spot. Don't get frustrated by a string of poor starting hands. At some point, you might have to take a gamble and push if you can open the pot, but until that time, you control your own destiny. Effectively reading the table and the situation before you act will help you survive and, quite possibly, even win.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrahs"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with Full Tilt Poker or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

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Loosening up your game can help you thrive in the later stages of tournaments. In this week's tip, Andy Bloch advises on how to fine-tune your pre-flop hand selection, particularly as the blinds get bigger and antes come into play.

143

Loosening Up Before the Flop – Part 1

Andy Bloch

March 20th, 2008

Knowing what to do and when to do it is what separates those who just play in tournaments from those who make final tables. This is especially true in No-Limit Hold ‘em, where the first decisions you’re faced with are what hands you should play and when you should play them. As the blinds get bigger and antes come in to play, these decisions become even more crucial. In these situations, one of the most critical errors that people make is not varying their pre-flop strategy enough.

While many pros advocate playing a tight, aggressive game and the importance of choosing “premium” starting hands, I find that there are many newer players who take this advice too far and simply don’t play enough hands. I recently talked with a newer pro who told me he was playing less than 10 percent of his hands pre-flop. This just isn’t enough – I don’t even play this tight under the gun. If you’re playing this tight, you’ve got to loosen up considerably, especially in late position and in the later stages of a tournament.

Let me give you an idea of what I’m talking about. As a general strategy, I want to play about 40 percent to 45 percent of my hands from the button before antes come into play. Under the gun with eight players left to act behind me, I’ll play about 14% of my hands. This percentage goes up gradually as my position advances around the table until I’m playing about 31 percent of my hands from the cut-off.

When antes come into play, I’ll raise about 59% of the time I’m on the button. On the other hand, I’m only going to raise about 18% of the time when I’m under the gun. With or without antes, it’s important to note that I’m raising about three times as often from the button as I do from under the gun. That may seem like a lot, but that’s how much you need to vary your play before the flop.

To give a specific example, let’s say you’re at the 100/200 level, and you raise three big blinds from the button. You’re risking 600 to win 300, which isn’t ideal. But if you’re making the same raise when there’s a 25 ante per person, then the same pot’s up to 500, which means you stand to pickup another 200. Those extra chips make it worthwhile for you to loosen up and raise more often with a wider range of hands, especially when you’re in the cut-off or on the button. If you’re successful with this play even a little over half the time, you’ve got an edge raising with almost anything.

You may have noticed that I’m giving some very specific percentages in this article. These are based on thousands of hands that I’ve played and tracked over the years, and a ranking system that I’ve been able to create that helps me determine which hands I should play and raise from different positions. You can create a similar chart for yourself or find a copy of mine in the Full Tilt Poker Tournament Strategy Guide. Use this information to help fine-tune your pre-flop hand selection and see how loosening up your game can help you thrive in the later stages of a tournament.

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Play More Hands in Small Pots in Tournaments

Play More Hands in Small Pots in Tournaments

There are a couple of methods to amass a big stack in tournament poker. One way is to try pushing small edges before the flop by playing coin flip situations, like a pair versus two overcards, or vice versa. The problem is that this approach is far too inconsistent. You’ll need lots of luck to get your side of the coin to repeatedly flip in your favor.

A better approach to build a sizable chip stack is to play more hands in smaller pots. This method is based on mathematical theory, not just random luck or pure aggression. Here’s an extreme example to illustrate my point.

The blinds are 400-800 with a 100 ante. With nine players at the table, 2,100 chips are in the pot before the cards are dealt.

Now, let’s assume that you and one other opponent play wildly; one of you will raise to 2,000 before the flop on every single hand. The other players are very tight and will enter the pot about 10% of the time. The only time you or the other maniac will fold pre-flop is when one of the tight players also raises before the flop.

Furthermore, assume that when only you and the other crazy player are in the pot, neither of you will bet after the flop, turn, or river. Theoretically, each of you should win 50% of the pots. However, when any tight player enters the pot, you would each play your normal game, playing hands that have value, and betting as you normally would.

This situation isn’t actually that far fetched and commonly plays out in some of the bigger buy-in events on the professional tour. Just watch when Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey are seated at the same table. You’ll notice that most of the hands played are contested between these two poker greats. They won’t necessarily play big pots but they’ll definitely get involved in most of the smaller ones -- unless a tight player shows aggression before the flop.

Let’s get back to the example.

Say you put in 2,000 chips ten times during a session, or 20,000 chips in total. Before factoring in the tight players at the table, you’ll win about half of these pots against the other loose player and earn about 20,500 chips. Of course, you’ll lose the other five pots for a total of 10,000 chips but will still net 10,500 in profit overall. That’s not bad but it’s not the whole story, either.

Every so often, a tight player will find a hand that he wants to play. He might reraise before the flop causing you to fold, and that’s okay. Hey, you might pick up a premium hand like pocket aces or kings and get some unexpected action from one of the tight players, too!

There are two keys to making this strategy work. First, avoid traps being set by tight players. Second, show respect to aggressive players by trying to keep the pots small. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, maybe easy in theory but it’s a bit tougher when you’re sitting at the table.

Playing more hands in smaller pots is how many top professionals consistently build large stacks in tournament poker. They just won’t gamble for large sums before the flop. Instead, they’ll simply enter more pots than the average player, and play more carefully when they do.

In tournament poker, don’t be afraid to gamble a little bit; there’s nothing wrong about being an active player. But make certain to maintain discipline and only play bigger pots on your own terms.

© 2009 Card Shark Media. All rights reserved.

124

Establishing a Tight Table Image

Allen Cunningham

November 1st 2007

In poker, image matters.

Throughout a tournament, your table image will help determine how much action you'll get and, ultimately, how you can manipulate your opponents into making big calls or big laydowns at the wrong times.

While establishing a loose, aggressive image early on can help build your initial chip stack, I believe it's important to develop a tight table image in the later stages of a tournament because it gives you the ability to maneuver at the times when the chips matter most.

When the action is folded around, some players will always raise from the cutoff and the button. The problem with this play is that's its predictable and can be easily exploited. If you always raise from the button, the players in the blinds catch on sooner or later and will put in a big re-raise with any two cards. You will also find players just calling you with a much wider range of hands from the blinds before putting in a big check-raise on the flop.

Why do they do this? Because you have been presenting a loose table image by raising any time the action is passed to you. During late-stage play, this image hampers your ability to maneuver because any time you try to make a move, it's likely that someone will play back at you.

It doesn't take long before your loose table image will make you a target for the experienced players at the table (or even the inexperienced players who get tired of being pushed around). The amount of chips you risk by being loose in these situations is usually not worth the reward of just picking up the blinds. Be careful, though, because when you play too tight you end up missing many opportunities to slowly accumulate chips or even just stay afloat. Ideally, you want to project a very tight image while actually being somewhere in between the standard perceptions of "loose" and "tight."

I have one very simple piece of advice to help you with this part of your game. It may sound so simple you would wonder why I bother mentioning it but, in fact, this is one of my most important rules: Always fold junk.

By always folding junk hands, you accomplish a number of goals:

• You resist the temptation to attempt a blind-steal just because action was passed to you. With the level of aggressiveness that characterizes today's play, it's better to pass on bad hands even in position.
• You avoid pot-committing yourself with a hand that will usually be dominated in a race with a short-stack. For example, if you raise from the cutoff for 3x the big blind with J-3 attempting to steal the blinds and a stack with 8x the big blind moves in behind you, you are in a bad spot. It's better to just avoid these situations altogether.
• Most importantly, you further cement your image as a tight player. Now when you raise with a hand like A-8, you can feel confident that your tight image will allow you to steal the blinds although you're actually playing a bit looser.

Another temptation players face is to pick on someone's blind just because they view that player as "weak." I rarely pick on someone's blinds without a decent opening hand. Opening from the cut-off with a hand like K-9 suited is about as low as I'm willing to go in attempt to just pick up the blinds.

Using my tight table image enabled me to maneuver through a very tough field in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold 'em event at the 2007 WSOP*. After I doubled up early in Day 2, I used my table image in the late stages to steal blinds and to pick up a number of pots in key situations. I was able to carry this momentum to the final table, where I was fortunate enough to win the bracelet.

Remember, it takes more than good cards to be a winning player. By creating a solid table image in the late stages of a tournament, you may actually be able to play a wider variety of hands than your opponents expect and take down key pots at critical times.

The Rules of Eight

Never underestimate the importance of preparation for any single poker session or tournament. Similarly, never dismiss certain scientific facts regarding the human brain’s ability to function optimally. I’ve learned plenty of valuable lessons as a 15-year professional poker veteran and none is more critical than the importance of preparation. It’s a lesson I call The Rules of Eight.

Get eight hours of sleep. It’s essential. In the world of poker, it’s not heroic to try to function on a couple hours of sleep. Scientific studies suggest that the human body, and more important, the human brain, requires a full eight hours of sleep to function at peak performance. A good night’s sleep improves memory function and physical heath. Missing even one night of shuteye will impact your ability to concentrate the next day. And it only gets worse if you deprive yourself of sleep night after night.

You see, to play your best and make solid decisions at the poker table, you need to focus on everything that is going on around you. If you didn’t get a good night of uninterrupted sleep, you simply can’t play your best. Keep this in mind too: Fatigue increases a player’s propensity to gamble more recklessly, and that is not a good thing.

Try to limit your time at the tables to no more than eight hours. In some tournaments, that just won’t be possible. If that is the case, it’s especially important to stockpile plenty of sleep. In a cash game, however, make sure you keep your sessions on the shorter side.

We’ve all heard stories about poker players grinding it out for two days straight. Believe me; I’ve got stories like that of my own. But the bottom line is that these stories usually don’t have great endings. That’s because the mind starts playing tricks after a marathon poker session, especially after a losing session. The evil voice in your head tells you, “This game is full of suckers. You’re playing great. Don’t quit as a loser. Focus and you’ll turn it around.”

The fact is after eight hours of play your ability to focus deteriorates. Unfortunately, too many players are simply unaware that it’s happening to them. So decide how long you plan to play before you’re even dealt the very first hand. Remember, your best decisions are made with a fresh mind.

Eight consecutive losing sessions is rarely the result of bad luck alone. In fact, the same can be said of even five losers in a row (but I’d have to change the title of this column!)

Some players will blame anything but themselves for their extended losing streaks. It’s the dealer, or a string of bad beats, or that the cards weren’t properly shuffled -- whatever. The truth is that consecutive losses at the poker table will eat away at your confidence and affect your play for the worse. If you’ve put together a string of losses, don’t pin it on bad luck. Instead, take an extended break from the game and examine your play. When you do return, you’ll feel refreshed and will play with renewed confidence.

Look, I know that poker players aren’t athletes and poker isn’t a sport. Although you may not have to hit the gym like real athletes, there is one “muscle” that you’ll still need to exercise on a regular basis – your brain. Make sure you give it ample time to relax and don’t push it past its breaking point.

© 2009 Card Shark Media. All rights reserved.

184

Hand Coordination

Brandon Adams

6th April 2009

Hand coordination is the relative strength of your hand compared to your opponents’ hand, and it’s probably the single biggest factor determining whether you have a good or bad session playing poker. If it’s working in your favor, whenever you flop a monster, one of your opponents will also make a big hand, just not quite as big as yours. In this situation, playing your hand as fast as possible usually gives you the best chance to make the most money.

Say you’re playing Hold ‘em and you’re in a four-way pot, the board comes 9-9-4, and you have pocket fours. You want to play this hand fast for two reasons. The first is that you’re hoping one of your opponents has a 9. If so, he might raise you, allowing you to reraise him. Ideally, he’ll call, then call you again on the turn and the river, and you’ll make a lot of money.

The other reason you want to play this hand fast is that, if you check, it’s quite possible your opponents will also check. Then, if the turn brings a 6 and one of your opponents has pocket sixes and makes a bigger full house, you’re going to lose a huge amount of money. Giving a free card and losing an enormous pot when you could have won a small pot (if only you’d bet) is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in poker.

Now let’s say the flop comes K-J-J, and you have pocket kings. You’re not as likely to cost yourself your entire stack by slowplaying in this situation. It’s extremely unlikely that your opponent is going to be behind on the flop and yet make a hand on the turn that beats you, but I still think you should play it fast. You’ll win more money by betting the whole way because any player holding a jack is, at the very least, going to call you down, and he might even raise you. On the flop you just have to put out the line and hope that one of your opponents has a jack, or better yet, K-J.

If you play it slow in this situation, you’re giving away the strength of your hand. If you check on the flop with the idea of check-raising, then when you do put in the raise you’re telling your opponent you’ve made a huge hand and are giving him the opportunity to lay down a jack. You’ll make far more money by simply betting the whole way.

However, slowplaying a monster is occasionally the better play. Suppose you raise from middle position with A-Q of hearts, the button and the big blind both call, and the flop comes 6-7-2, all hearts. If the big blind checks, you should check too. If the button bets, you can then raise because he’s either buffing, in which case you’re not going to win any more money from him, or he’s also flopped a flush, in which case you want to get your money into the pot as quickly as possible in hopes of winning his entire stack, or he’s flopped a set, in which case he’ll call your check-raise on the flop and he’ll call a big bet on the turn and he might even call a big bet on the river.

If the board pairs on the turn, you should still bet. It’s such a draw heavy board that your opponent might think you only have the ace of hearts in your hand, or the ace of hearts and a pair, or the ace of hearts and another ace. There are a lot of hands he could put you on in this spot besides the nut flush so, even if the board pairs, you should keep betting for value, hoping to get called by a worse hand.

If you bet the turn and your opponent puts in a stiff raise, then you should reevaluate. If you bet the turn and he calls and you bet the river and he raises, then you should fold because you can credibly put him on a full house.

Because hand coordination plays such an important role in determining your long-term success, you need to make as much money as you possibly can when it’s working in your favor, and one of the best ways of doing that is playing fast after you flop a big hand.