One of the most common problems of small- and micro-stakes players is bet-sizing. They have a strong hand they want to go all-in with. So they bet or raise and somehow end up with 80BB at the river in a 50BB pot.

Other times they end up with such a small stack that bluffing the river becomes ineffective. Suppose the pot is 90BB and they have 40BB left. If they bluff all-in, Your Opponent will call much more often because of such great pot odds. The ideal stack size you should have by the time you commit yourself should be two-third to a full pot size. If you are a few big blinds over or under, that’s fine. Let’s see how we can employ bet-sizing in our favor in a few situations.

Hand #1
Everyone folds to the button and he raises to $6. You 3-bet to $24 with As Ad from the small blind, and he calls.
The pot is now $49. You Continuation Bet $20. Ks 10d 2d.
He calls. The turn is a 3c.
The pot is now $89. You have $56 left for roughly a 3/5-pot shove on the turn.

Hand #2
The button open-raises $4. You reraise to $14 from the small blind with Kh Qh and he calls.
The pot is $29 ($14 + $14 + $1). You Continuation Bet 3/4-pot ($21.75) on Kd 10s 6s and he calls.
The pot is now $72.50 ($21.75 + $21.75 + $29). You have $64.25 left for nearly a pot-sized shove. Perfect sizing.

Hand #3
You’re on the button with Jc 10c.
MP raises to $4 and you call from the BTN. The pot is $9.50 ($4 + $4 + $1.5).
The flop is Qc 8d 3c and he bets $8.
You raise to $20 and he calls. The pot is now $49.50 ($9.50 + $20 + $20). You have $76 left on the turn and the pot is roughly $50. It’s a pretty awkward spot because you have 1.5 times the pot size. Shoving isn’t bad, but it’s not as good as having a full pot-sized bet left. Had you raised to $24-28 on the flop, you would have had just the right size to shove on the turn.

An important note regarding bet sizing is to remember to cater to the fish. In other words, if you are playing against a bad player who is also a calling station, don’t use standard bet sizes. I have seen many people leave money on the table because they fail to extract maximum value from their hands.

Let’s say you open-raise to $3.50 from the Cut-Off with 5s 5h and the fish from the blind calls.
The flop is As 6d 5c.
The fish donk bets $6. What should you raise to?

You should raise really big in this spot. Fish don’t like to fold, so if he has an ace, he’s going to call no matter what. In this hand, you should make it at least $25 to go. You want to build the pot so that it’s tougher for Your Opponent to fold in later streets. A mistake I see all the time is to raise to $15 to keep the fish in. If he has anything he likes, he will call and you have a chance to stack him. If he has air, he’s not going to call a small raise. Of course, against a regular player, I would never make it $25 to go because it is so tough for me to balance this in future hands. I want to be able to bluff-raise this flop sometimes, so I will make a small raise with my strong hands.

Another common mistake people make involves incorrect bet sizes against fish who call too much on the flop and turn. Some bet a standard 2/3-pot on the flop and turn. This bet sizing bloats the pot so that a bad player will have a hard time folding a pair on the river. A more efficient betting pattern against bad players who like to call a lot on earlier streets is to bet 1/3-pot on the flop and turn and 2/3-pot on the river. There are two reasons for this. First, it keeps the pot small at the river so that players are less inclined to call your river bet because there’s less money out there. Second, they will get to the river with wide ranges and will often fold to a big bet.

Important Note: Knowing how to play well against a fish is probably the most important skill because at the end of the day, that’s where the majority of your winnings will come from. Being able to play well against regulars is good, but being able to play well against fish is even better.

To extract the most value when you check-raise with a strong hand, you should do it in situations where your perceived range is wide. For this reason, check-raising on a wet flop will get you more calls than on a dry flop.

For example:
The Cut-Off open-raises to $3.50 and you call with 8s 8d
from the SB. The flop is 9d 8c 5d.
You check. He bets 3/4-pot and you check-raise.

This is a great spot to check-raise for value because you can have a lot of draws in your check-raising range. Whether you check-raise with draws or not in this spot is irrelevant because your opponent doesn’t know. When he faces a check-raise on this board, he is trying to construct a range for you and he will put straight and flush draws in your range. Of course, he will also take into account two pair, sets and straights. But because there are draws in your range, his stack-off range is lighter than if the board was rainbow.

Another reason for check-raising this flop is that there are a lot of turn cards that can slow down the action and prevent you from stacking him. For example, Your Opponent will get it in on the flop with 98, 55, big diamonds, and QQ+. If the turn comes a diamond, a six, a seven, a ten, or a jack, both of you will slow down considerably.

It’s also good to check-raise for balance. This is a great spot to check-raise an opponent who Continuation Bets too much. So, having some nut hands in your range makes Your Opponent more willing to give you credit when you check-raise with a hand such as 77, QJ, and 87.

If you don’t know how to construct a check-raising range, start off with only the nuts in your range and see how your opponent reacts to your check-raise. If you are getting a lot of folds, start adding draws with eight or more outs. If you still get a lot of folds, add some gutshots to your range. If you find that your opponent is calling you light or playing back more often, you can drop draws from your check-raising range and add more value hands such as top pair, good kicker or overpairs that you flatted with pre-flop. The key is to be conscious of what your check-raise means to your opponent and adjust your range accordingly.

A quick example:
An unknown player open-raises to $3 on the Button and you call from the Big Blind with 10s 9s.
The flop is 8s 7s 3c. He Continuation Bets $4 into $6.50, and you check-raise.

Check-raise here with your open-ended, straight-flush draw with overcards 100 percent of the time to maximize your fold equity against a hand like 99. If he calls or shoves, you still have tons of outs. Against aces, you have 54-percent equity. Let’s say you have the same hand but the flop is Ks 8s 3d.

Then a check-call is much better because your equity goes way down against top pair. Now, if Your Opponent is a NIT and folds to check-raises all the time, then go ahead and check-raise. Although it sucks if he ends up 3-betting the flop, you will get him to fold hands such as QQ-99 and sometimes a hand as strong as K9. However, as a default, I would check-call on this flop.

Important Note: No matter how much information I give you, you have to go out and try it for yourself. By actively thinking about your range in any situation, you will be more aware of your opponent’s range and his tendency. Ultimately, it is up to you as poker player to determine how to fit those pieces together. That comes with practice and observation.

Several years ago, a play called “stack-a-donk” was very popular. This is where you raise pre-flop, bets the flop, check the turn to induce a bet, and then raise all in (usually with an overpair). It was extremely effective back then because players kept betting with their top- and mid-pair when checked to on the turn. They also couldn’t fold them to a check-raise. Once pot control became the new mantra, it became less effective because players started checking behind more often with marginal holdings.

In micro- and small-stakes games where your opponents aren’t as observant, you can have an unbalanced turn check-raise range with only the nuts and monster draws and get away with it. However, as you move up in stakes, you will realize that constructing a balanced turn check-raising range is very difficult. It makes it very difficult to two-barrel effectively if your opponents know that you have a tendency to check-raise the turn with the nuts. Even if you don’t check-raise the nuts often, your opponent may misread your frequency and call your two barrel lighter. Of course, the way you adjust is to stop betting the turn with air. However, I want to make my life easier by having a simpler overall game plan. I would bet the majority of my nut hands to balance the times I’m betting with air. For borderline situations where my hands are marginal, I can bet, check-call or check-fold, depending on my opponents.

If my opponent floats a lot, I will check-call the turn more often than folding. I will also check-call the turn with the nuts instead of check-raising, and will check-call or check-raise the river, depending on whether I still have a strong hand by the river. If my opponent has a tendency to pot-control, I will check-call the turn as well because that means his betting turn range is polarized to floats, draws, and nut hands. If I check-call and don’t improve on the river, unless I have a specific read, I will check-fold to a river bet.

Having said that, there are spots where a turn check-raise is applicable as you move up. They usually involve deep stacks.

For example:
You Continuation Bet with 9s 8s on 7h 6c 5d. The turn is a Js
You should highly consider check-raising here to get more money in so you have about a pot-sized river bet.

Opponents rarely float on such a flop. If they will call your turn bet, they will bet if checked to with the majority of made hands such as two pair, sets, straights, and sometimes overpairs. Of course, there are times when opponents will check back with hands such as 88-TT and 87, and you can get value from those hands with a river bet. Usually, if you check the turn with a strong hand and it gets checked through, you should check the river as well. Betting the river after checking the turn seems like an obvious value-bet. However, this flop hits a decent part of Your Opponent’s range, so he almost always have a hand that will call a river bet but would check behind a lot.

Slow-play on dry boards; play fast on wet boards.

Check-raising is a profitable move that should be in every good player’s arsenal. However, we don’t want to blindly check-raise the flop and hope it works. There are a few factors we should consider before check-raising.

1. The strength of your hand
2. Board texture
3. Your Opponent’s perception of your range and check-raising tendencies
4. Your Opponent’s c-betting frequency
5. The range of hands that Your Opponent will go broke with

A good Loose Aggressive player open raises to $3 on the button. You call from Small Blind with 5c 5h.
The flop is Jh 5d 3s.
You check and he bets $5 into $7. You raise to $21.

Using the guidelines from before:
1. Your hand is very strong.
2. The board is so dry that you don’t have to worry about getting outdrawn.
3. You are able to check-raise this flop with KQ and 67. However, he likely doesn’t know that. So when you check-raise, he’ll think you have sets or AJ.
4. On this flop texture, Your Opponent is probably c-betting with a high frequency.
5. Your Opponent will probably go broke with AJ+.

Based on the above analysis, calling is the most optimal play here. The main reason is because he doesn’t know you are capable of check-raising light on this flop. Thus, it is unlikely that he’s calling your check-raise with a weak holding or playing back with air. If you have been caught check-raising this flop with hands such as KQ, 67, or A2s, then check-raising with a strong hand such as 55 is a better line because he is less likely to believe you.

Check-calling Your Opponent’s Continuation Bet is also profitable because Your Opponent will continue bluffing on a broadway turn and will continue value-betting with Jx or better. In both situations you are getting one more street of value.

Let’s look at some less obvious examples.
A good Loose Aggressive player open-raises to $4 from the Button and you call with As Kd from the Big Blind for deception.
The flop is Ah 3c 3d.
You check and he bets 2/3-pot. You should?

Raise. He’s going put you on a bluff a large percentage of the time because your value range is very narrow. AA, 33, and A3s wouldn’t check-raise the flop. 3x suited (besides A3s) is unlikely as well because you would have folded those hands to a pre-flop praise. He could put you exactly on AK or AQ, but that’s being optimistic since people rarely call pre-flop raises with AK from the blinds. More often than not, Your Opponent will put you on a bluff and call you down light or bluff-raise you. You also want to build the pot in case he has Ax or a stubborn TT-KK hand.

On to the next hand:
A decent Tight Aggressive player open-raises to $3 from BTN. You have some history with him and he doesn’t respect your plays.
You pick up Ad Ah and decide to just call. The flop is 4d 2c 2s and you check-raise his c-bet.

With your history, he will have a hard time folding and may even go broke with mid-pocket pairs. The check-raise looks very bluffy (although you know better than to check-raise bluff on these types of boards against stubborn opponents). There are not many hands that you can check-raise for value with.

If he calls, then bet the turn. If he 3-bets the flop, then raise and get it in. You don’t want a scare card to come on the turn and have him fold a hand like TT. An argument can be made that by 4-betting the flop, we are giving Your Opponent a chance to fold and thus, play correctly. However, the times that he will stack off light on this flop with a pair far outweigh instances when he has air and folds to our 4-bet

One last hand:
The Cut-Off open-raises to $4 and you call from the Big Blind with Qd Jd.
The flop is 9s 8d 2c and you check-raise him.

While you currently have only Q-high and a gutshot, you also have a backdoor flush draw, backdoor straight draw and overcards. Many turn cards will improve your equity or give you the winning hand. You can continue your aggression with any diamond. I will likely follow through on a turn ace as well since Your Opponent is likely to have a straight draw or a small pair that will fold on the turn. If the turn is a ten, jack, queen, or king I will continue betting.

An argument can be made for check-calling when the turn is a ten, jack, queen, or king and that is if our opponent floats the flop a lot. In such a situation we want to give our opponent a chance to bluff on the turn so that we can extract more value from our hand. We aren’t afraid of getting outdrawn that often because if Your Opponent has a straight draw, his outs will likely improve our hand as well.

In this example you will often need to fire the second barrel to win. That’s fine. You will fold out a lot of 8x hands and some 9x hands on the turn, taking down the dead money along the way. Being able to check-raise on the flop with a wide range helps you to gain more value on your strong hands and makes you tougher to play against.

Important Note: Don’t go crazy and start check-raising all dry boards when you have some equity. Target the right opponents. Players who Continuation Bet more than 75 percent of the time are good targets to start with. Players who call too loosely are not. Similar to 3-betting pre-flop, you’ll want to keep putting the pressure on a player until he gives you a reason not to. If he keeps folding to your check-raises, then don’t stop. When he does fight back (by 3-betting your check-raise or calling you down lighter), simply decrease your check-raising frequency and have more strong hands in your range. Poker is about making adjustments, and it’s easier to adjust when you are the original aggressor.

You raise from Middle Position and the Button 3-bets you for the 3rd time. It can get frustrating over time to play someone who constantly applies pressure to you. How do we deal with that? Let’s try looking at this situation from a defensive point of view.

Tight strategy

You generally want to be calling 3-bets in position. If at all possible, avoid doing it OOP. If you’re Out Of Position against a good, aggressive player, the best strategy is to simply fold against his 3-bets and tighten up your opening range. Folding is a neutral EV play; it is not a losing play. Unless you want to get into a variance war with the good player, you can tighten up your opening range and wait for a good hand. If you keep folding to his 3-bets, then he’s going to expect you to fight back and stack off lightly. However, you will fight back, when you have JJ+. Your Opponent is going to level himself into calling off with AQs/99-type hands. Just remember that when out of position, it’s a smaller mistake to call 3-bets too tight than too loose.

Playing Fit-Or-Fold

If you want to call with marginal hands, then you have to “play poker” on the flop. You can’t just fold to a Continuation Bet if you miss. Say you have 77. It’s a decent hand pre-flop, but it would be a mistake to call a 3-bet and fold when you don’t hit your set every time. You will not flop it nearly often enough to make it a profitable call pre-flop. Even when you do, you’ll still have to try to stack him off (which is easier said than done since his range is wide and he won’t have a strong enough hand post-flop to stack off). You must be willing to float and make plays if you want to play those pairs and suited connectors profitably.

Let me demonstrate.

You raise from the Cut-Off with Js 9s.
The Big Blind 3-bets and you call.
The flop is Qs 7d 3d.
He Continuation Bets and you call.
The turn is an 8c.
He checks and you check.
The river is a 6d.
He checks. What’s your play?

You should highly consider betting the river since he doesn’t have a strong hand very often. The board on the turn is drawy enough that he would bet any hand that is better than QJ. As for your range, you can reasonably have a flush. If he had a flush, then he would’ve bet the river. You can also have a pair of queens that went for pot control on the turn and is now betting for thin value. You could also rep a rivered two pair. He might end up calling with AQ+ but that’s rarely going to happen. Once he checks the river on this board, he’s going to check-fold most of the time. And since we can beat ace-high, we should bet.

Calling 3-bets with Pocket Pairs

Even with position, you should fold pocket pairs worse than 99 when stacks are less than 150BB. However, if you know your opponent well and know that he’s straightforward enough to Continuation Bet on a J52r and give up on the turn and river, you can call 3-bets with 55+. If you are out of position, unless the opponent is really passive, you should fold these pocket pairs out of position to 3-bets.

CO vs. Button

You can actually call with a wider range of hands here versus a button 3-bet because he will have hands like ATs, KTs, and QTs. For this reason, you can call with AQ, AJ, KQ, KJs, and QJs hands and play post-flop. Generally, against an aggressive opponent who has been active, I’m not going to fold if I flop a pair. Barring a disastrous turn and river that put 4 to a straight or 4 to a flush on the board, I’m going to check-call it off. You will lose sometimes when Your Opponent shows up with a real hand, but you will pick off some bluffs as well. Of course, if you see the nuts every time you go into check-call mode against a player who has been 3-betting you a lot, then maybe he doesn’t 3-bet you that often or maybe he does 3-bet you that often but he doesn’t fire multiple barrels as bluffs that often.

Late position vs. 3-bet from blinds
If Your Opponent has a very narrow 3-betting range, then I want to 4-bet to give him a chance to stack off with a range of JJ+/AK, which AA/KK dominates. By calling his 3-bet, he may slow down if the flop is bad for his hand and we fail to stack him.

If an opponent is 3-betting with a wide range, then I will call with my premium hands because I want to balance the times when I have marginal holdings. Against someone who is really aggressive, I will slow-play and then call down all three streets, even if the board gets scarier and scarier, because aggressive players’ bluffing frequencies increase as the board gets scarier. I almost never fold KK+ against them.

I would shove over Your Opponent’s bet on wet flops like T83s because that’s what I would do with my semi-bluffs on this board. If Your Opponent 3-bets a lot and Continuation Bets at a high percentage, then semi-bluffing the flop is insanely profitable since he will bet-fold very often.

On dry boards like Q73 rainbow, I would raise small or flat Your Opponent’s Continuation Bet if he’s the type to pounce on weakness and capable of firing multiple barrels with AK or random hands. This causes him to overplay his marginal hands. A small raise works well against opponents who aren’t very aggressive on the turn or the river. Additionally, there will be times where I will raise small on a flop as a bluff, so I want to do it with a weak hand as well. An argument can be made that if no one is paying attention, then balancing is overrated since your opponents are only playing their cards. Nevertheless, it’s important to develop a sense of how important balance is to your game so you can be aware of it as you move up.

Don’t jam the flop

Don’t always just get it in on the flop against a 3-better’s c-bet. Almost always call more with sets and two pairs. You probably already do that with medium pairs, so why not do it with the nuts? You don’t want to have an unbalanced range for calling and shoving. Calling the flop with strong hands some of the time will also prevent aggressive opponents from putting you on a weak hand and double-barrel bluffing you in the future.

Bluffing the Flop

Players who 3-bet too often also tend to Continuation Bet the flop frequently. Good boards for you to bluff-raise on are connected boards, and sometimes even Kxx or Qxx. Bluff-raising ace-high boards works on some opponents, but it’s better to call the flop Continuation Bet to represent more Ax-type hands. You probably wouldn’t raise a Continuation Bet with AT on A73 rainbow versus someone who 3-bets you pre-flop. You would call instead, and you’d do the same with your other strong holdings since he will bet his pair of aces on the turn anyway. When he checks the turn, check behind. Again, you do that with all your weak aces or smaller pairs. On the river, if he bets, you can fold since he isn’t bluffing often. If he checks, then you can bet 1/2- to 3/5-pot to take it down.

Inducing a Bluff

Some players never believe you when you raise a fairly dry flop. By raising, you represent such a narrow range of hands for value that a thinking Your Opponent will not give you credit for it. This is probably true because we would slow-play QQ on Q72 suited almost always. We will just call the flop with a weak top pair or medium pair. If Your Opponent is smart enough to recognize when your value range is really narrow, and if he is capable of 3-bet bluffing or floating out of position and betting the river if the turn goes check-check, then a dry board is a great spot to min-raise a Continuation Bet to induce a bluff.

The following example is a hand I played several years back against a tough aggressive player at 5/10.
He was sitting on several of my tables and I noticed that he would shove all-in on the flop with overcards if you min-raised his Continuation Bet in a 3-bet pot.
I picked up Ad Qs on the button and raised preflop.
He 3-bet from the Small Blind and I called.
The flop was Qd 7d 2s and he c-bet.
Normally I’d just raise big or shove it in, but after seeing his bluffy tendencies, I decided to min-raise.
He immediately shoved with KJo.

Most players at the micro-limits and small stakes are not capable of Your Opponent’s move. The purpose of this example is to show you how you can manipulate your opponent if you pick up on some of his tendencies. If you face a player who is capable of doing it, then you now know how to exploit him.

As you move up in stakes, you will realize that there’s more value to fast-playing your hands than slow-playing. As players get better, it’s more difficult to trap them. However, a lot of players want to make hero calls so if you’re playing your strong hands aggressively, you will get called more often than you think.

Here’s another example:

You raise pre-flop with As 6s in the Cut-Off and the Big Blind calls. He’s a good aggressive player.
The flop is 6h 6d 10c.
Your Opponent checks. You Continuation Bet and he check-raises. What do you do?

Almost everyone calls in this spot. You want to let him continue bluffing his hand. However, if he is smart, he will shut down on the turn, since you will have a hand stronger than Tx way more often than a float. So, if he is aggressive enough, you should 3-bet Your Opponent’s check-raise more often than call. He has been in this spot many times and every time someone calls a check-raise, they have a strong hand. By 3-betting, you are taking a different line and he may go crazy and try to bluff you or float out of position to take it down on a future street.

Lets say you missed the turn check-raise because your opponent checked behind. What should your line be on a “scary” river? Go for the check-raise again.

Let’s go over the following example.
The Cut-Off open-raises to $4 and you call with 9s 8s from the SB.
The flop is Jh 8c 3c and you check-call a pot-sized bet.
The turn is a 9h. You check, and he checks behind.
The river is a Ks.
What is your action? Check or bet?

Check. Look at your line from his perspective. After your check-call the flop, your range is mostly Jx, 8x, straight draws and flush draws. You are probably check-raising the flop with AJ+ and strong combo draws to get more money in. The river is the perfect card for him to try to take down the pot against your range. Betting the river prevents him from bluffing with his air and missed draws. You are going to get value from AK/KQ by betting or checking. For these reasons, checking is infinitely better than betting. One argument for betting is that it protects the time you show up on the river with a missed draw and want to bluff at the pot. While this is true, considering that Your Opponent didn’t bet on the turn, he likely has ace-high and will fold to a river bet. As exploitable as that sounds, that’s how players play.

It has truly been a roller coaster ride for Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. Mizrachi had been toiling in relative obscurity before he exploded onto the world stage in 2005 with a record breaking World Series of Poker. Since that time, things have gone from good to better to big problems and back to success in what is sure to be one of the bumpiest rides for any poker professional.

Just months ago, Mizrachi had received a lien for $339,711 from the IRS for unpaid taxes. Additionally, a condo in Hollywood owned by Mizrachi and his brother was foreclosed on and sold at an auction. Another home of his located in Miramar was also foreclosed on. With total career winnings of almost $7 million dollars, many might wonder how he managed to get himself into such dire straits.

After his WPT win in 2005 worth $1.85 million and his record of seven in the money finishes at the world series of poker, Mizrachi was running hot. Following his successful 2005, Mizrachi won another WPT tournament in 2006 and took home a cool $1.1 million and was successful enough that he was named CardPlayer Magazine’s 2006 player of the year. Following his immense success in 2005 and 2006, the next few years were relatively slow with The Grinder only pulling in $325,000 in tournaments in 2009.

Through the first half of 2010, things were looking even grimmer for The Grinder with a paltry $7,465 through May in winnings, the tax lien, and the foreclosures on his properties. With all of the problems that have been facing Mizrachi, many people were writing him off.
As is the case with poker, all it takes is a little bit of good fortune to turn everything around and Mizrachi’s turnaround over the past few months has been absolutely spectacular. Less than a month after he was losing both of his homes, Mizrachi came roaring back to the top with an amazing victory in the Player’s Championship and walked home with $1.5 million. Of course, the grinder was not satisfied with winning his first bracelet.

Earlier this month, Mizrachi managed to navigate an extremely large and skilled field for the WSOP Main Event to make it to the final table. He made his way into the November nine by surviving an arduous 18 hour poker marathon that did not end until 6 in the morning with just the nine players standing. Mizrachi goes into the final table in 7th place with a chip stack of about 14.5 million. With the chip leader, Jonathan Duhamel, sitting on 66 million in chips, Mizrachi has a long way to go to make it to the top spot. Of course, as he has shown in the past, you can never count The Grinder out.

For a professional poker player, one flip of the cards can make a world of difference and in less than two months, Michael Mizrachi has gone from down and out to riding high with his sights set on taking home the crown jewel of poker this November. And, of course, over $8.9 million.

Every time that you sit down at the poker table, you are suiting up for battle. Poker is a war that is fought on the felt where your chips are your soldiers and you are the general that makes all of the decisions. As any good general will know, there are times when you have to use one enemy against another in order to get the outcome that you want and the same is true when playing poker. Having the ability to play your opponents off one another is a difficult maneuver but one that can pay off quite handsomely when accomplished. Playing your opponents off one another is as much an art as it is a science. In order to be able to accomplish such a feat, one must have the skill, patience, experience, and a little bit of luck.

The first step to being able to play your opponents off one another is being able to read your opponents. If you are not able to interpret what they are doing and the cards that they are holding in their hands, chances are you will not be able to leverage that information to make them do what you want them to do. Your ability to read your opponents and the quality of your reading will have a direct relationship with how well you can make them do your dirty work for you.

In addition to being able to read your opponents, you need to be able to understand their psychological profile. Poker, especially at the higher skill levels, is more a game of the mind than it is a game of cards. Each player has certain things that they will respond to and buttons that can be pushed. Knowing what buttons to push and how to push them is a key component of being able to get your opponent to do what you want them to do. Over the course of play, try to push the buttons of your opponents to get a feel for what they are, how they react to certain actions, and determine whether you can use this information against them.
Playing a mind game with more than one opponent and getting them to do something specific requires a great deal of maneuvering and specific situations that can be acted upon. Not every situation is ripe for treachery but for those that are, nothing else will do the job quite like it. Because these situations do not come along very often, patience needs to be exercised in order to wait for the right moment.

Methods that work to make an opponent take out another opponent will vary depending on the situation and the player. At times, an off-hand comment is enough to get an opponent to make a raise which prices out another competitor. At other times, perhaps a small bet is all that is required to get an opponent to push all-in against a stronger hand. Because your opponents are not machines, manipulation may not always achieve the desired result. As with all elements of poker, luck can and will have an effect on whether or not you can get one bird to kill another with your stone.

Mistake #1: Missing Value Bets

Being able to value bet is one of the determining factors that separates a good poker player from a great poker player. It is easy to know how to bet when you are holding the buts but it is another thing entirely to get the maximum value out of the rest of your hands. Being able to squeeze each and every dollar out of your mediocre hands is part of what makes great players great.
Making decisions on value bettering depends greatly on what the situation is and what game you are playing. For example, when you are playing a game like limit Hold’em, you should approach betting very aggressively because there is a limit to the amount you can raise and the size of the bet relative to the size of the pot is quite small. As such, other players will often call your bet with extremely marginal hands.
When you are playing no-limit Hold’em, however, making a value you bet takes on a completely new level of complexity. Getting a good read on what kind of hand your opponent is holding is the first step. If you cannot peg your opponent to a hand you will have difficulty in determining whether or not you have him beaten. Additionally, knowing what your opponent is holding helps to give you a good idea of how much to bet. In addition to being able to read your opponent, you should take into consideration the play style of your opponent. When you are playing against a less skilled and more casual player, that player will make calls based on how strong he thinks his hand is. As such, you should not bet too aggressively if you are much stronger as you are trying to make your opponent call.
If your opponent is a more serious player, however, you know that your opponent is also taking into consideration what you may be holding as well. Because your opponent is a more serious player, he probably has a read on you as well. This will force you to make a bet based on both what you think your opponent is holding but what your opponent thinks you are holding. If you think that the only hand your opponent can beat is a bluff, your bet should appear to be a bluff by either over-betting or under-betting.
Because so much of value betting depends on who is sitting at the table, it cannot be taught really be taught through mathematical concepts. Instead, the only way to learn about value betting is to play the game and develop a feel for reading players and situations.
Mistake #2: Tilting for a long period of time

Typically, an advanced poker player is going to be able to avoid going on tilt or mitigate the damages that result from going on tilt pretty well. With that said, there are times that even very good players will start to tilt like crazy as a result of a big string of bad beats or a long session of poor play and bad luck. After losing confidence in their abilities at the table, these periods of tilt can go on for days or weeks and they have been known to knock out a player’s entire bankroll. Sometimes these periods of tilt last for so long that the player will lose all the good habits that they built over time. A natural continuation is for these players to move to higher stakes games in an attempt to get back their winnings. Noticing when these periods start to happen is imperative in order to preserve your bankroll. If you think you are going on tilt or you are starting to fall into bad habits, you should step down a level in the stakes and go back to basics. Going back to basic, tight, and conservative poker will help to reestablish a winning record and rebuild that much-needed self-confidence.

Mistake #3: Lack of focus

This is not something that most people would think is an issue for advanced poker players but it is much more common than you think. It is especially common with players who think they have completely mastered the stakes at which they are playing and that they no longer need to play attention to what is going on at the table. As an experience player, they have played tens of thousands of hands of poker and have a good understanding of what to do in a given situation. This nonchalant approach to the table can be very costly.
Much of the time, this person will still win because they have a great deal of poker experience. With that said, failing to pay attention to your table will result in a lower expected value and can quickly become a bad habit. Your awareness falls considerably and you have much more difficulty in reading what your opponents are holding and making good decisions because you are not paying enough attention to get good information. One reason that players will lose focus is that they are playing more tables than they can handle or they feel overly confident and start to do things like drink while playing or watch tv or play video games at the same time. If you are playing poker to win you should play to win and focus on not only making as much money as possible but improving at every opportunity.

Mistake #4: Making poor game selection

Choosing the right game is one of the most important aspects of being successful at poker. This can be a problem for players from novice all the way up to advanced and making a bad game selection can end up being a very expensive mistake. Being overconfident and thinking that you can beat any game is a surefire way to lose a lot of chips. You should never sit down at a table that you cannot handle both as a player and from the standpoint of your bankroll. There is nothing wrong with not being able to play in a certain game and knowing where your limit is will help to prevent losing your bankroll. It is always better to play at a game that is less difficult where you will make more money than to move to a higher stakes game where you are unable to compete and will lose both money and self confidence.

Mistake #5: Playing high stakes at different games

Dabbling in other game variations is a great way to spice things up and familiarize yourself with other forms of poker. It gives you a new perspective on the game and can help with your strategy and other aspects of the game. With that said, many advanced players will jump into a different game at a level similar to the one at which they normally play. This can be a very dangerous trap to fall into. Instead of moving to stakes similar to your primary game, when going to a new game it is important to start at or near the bottom and work your way up. Each poker variation is different and come with a whole host of different rules, statistics, and play styles. While your progression from the start to higher stakes will probably take less time considering you have already mastered one form of poker, it does not mean you should jump right into a $2/$4 PLO game just because you have the $2/$4 NL game down pat.
Jumping right into a different game where your understanding of the rules and strategies involved is weak will almost always result in a major loss of cash. As such, it is important if you are going to try a new variation of poker to take your time learning the same way you learned your first poker game and work your way up.

Mistake #6: Poor free card play recognition

Making good free card plays is an important part of advanced poker strategy. Getting the most out of your hand even when it is bad can be the difference between winning a hand and losing a hand. Making sure that you position yourself to have the option of getting a free card when you might need it is quite handy. For example, if you are last to act and flop a flush draw, you should make a bet with the hope that your opponent will call. Typically, your opponent will probably check the turn which gives you the option to check behind if you do not hit your flush and get to see the next card without having to put any money into the middle. Being able to get free cards when you need them will help to improve your average return and it can take hands that would be folded and turn them into possible winners.

Players will make many mistakes whether they are new to the game of poker or advanced. Some mistakes are easier to correct than others are and some mistakes can have a drastic effect on how well you perform when you are at the table. It is important to understand that no one plays perfectly all the time but limiting your mistakes and correcting them when you recognize what they are is the most important thing a player can do to improve their game. As such, below are a number of common mistakes that can be easily corrected which will have an immense impact on your performance at the table.

Mistake #1: Playing your hand without consideration of your opponents’ holdings

When you are playing poker, you do not need to have an amazing hand but merely the best hand relative to the hands of your opponents are holding. You can win a pot with a ten high if your opponents are not holding anything better. One major mistake that players get into is that they only look at the strength of what they are holding and they never factor in what their opponents might have in their hand. It is important to remember that poker is not played in a vacuum but it is played at a table with other players. Thinking about what your opponents are holding, looking at how they are playing and trying to understand what they might have, and acting according to the information they give you will take you a long way toward improving your play and going from playing a game with yourself to playing a game with your opponents.
Mistake #2: Being Predictable

Being predictable is a bigger problem for players who choose to play no-limit or pot-limit than it is for players who play limit. In limit, most actions are mathematically based since there is no variation in your ability to bet. In no-limit, however, falling into a pattern can be deadly. Even for players playing at a lower stakes table, there will be decent players that are sitting across from you. If you do not mix up your play, it will be quite simple for these players to recognize your playing patterns and be able to use this knowledge to their advantage. By switching up how you play your hands, this will keep your opponents on their toes and they will not be able to pinpoint what you are doing and they will have more trouble determining what you are holding in your hand.
Mistake #3: Playing at higher stakes to overcome bad beats

So many players fall into the trap of player at higher stakes because they get irritated with bad beats that happen to them when they are playing at a lower limit. They think that because they are playing at a higher limit with better players, there will be less people playing erratically and poorly. While, this is true that there will be less erratic behavior, the problem is that the erratic behavior that sometimes results in a bad beat also results in a much higher expected value over the long term because mathematically, statistics is on the side of correct play. Sure, the guy might have kept seven deuce off suit when you raised big pre-flop with pocket kings and he flops a full house but even though he got lucky, that doesn’t mean it was good or that that will happen with regularity.
You should look at those mistakes and realize that because your opponents are that bad, it is going to mean more money going into your stack over the long term which is the only approach to take when playing poker to win. It doesn’t matter if you win one big hand on any given night but whether, over 1,000 hands or 100,000 hands you are winning regularly because that one hand just won’t matter. If you cannot regularly beat the players you are playing with because of “bad luck” then playing with better players is only going to make it worse. The fact is that the bad luck may be most noticeable to you, but if you are not winning over the long term, you aren’t losing because of bad luck you are losing because you are not good enough. Instead of complaining about luck and bad beats, focus on your mistakes and improving your play.

Mistake #4: Playing too many tables

Playing too many tables can be a problem that many people will run into when they first start moving to add additional tables. Playing at multiple tables can be great because it will increase the amount of hands and the amount of money that you can make at any given time without having to increase the stakes. Typically when playing online poker, people start with one table and then when they can beat one table consistently they will add more tables at the same stakes until they can beat a bunch and then increase the stakes. For many, they will go from one table and then start trying to play five or six or seven tables and they will lose their edge on the game. For this reason it is important to slowly add tables to your play as you feel comfortable. I recommend never adding more than one table and playing at least a few thousand hands at each table before you add another one. It is better to make money at two tables than to be over-stretched and lose money at six tables.
As long as you have enough time to make good decisions at each table, you should be able to manage that number of tables. If things start to get a little overwhelming, you should play one less table and then work your way back up. It is also usually better to start with one table at the beginning of the session and build up to more tables over a half an hour or so to build up your comfort and to familiarize yourself with the tables.

Mistake #5: Not tracking statistics

Information is power when you are playing poker and one of the most important statistics that you should be tracking is how you are playing. If you can only guess at how you are playing and what your returns are, then you are going to have a hard time pinpointing where you need to improve and what you need to change in your play in order to get there. Each player has a game and stakes that they play best at and being able to look at empirical data to understand where they play best is vital to making the most money when playing poker. In fact, even what poker room you are playing at can have an effect on how your performance is.
Being able to keep accurate hand statistics will help you to focus on games where you are performing the best and thus make the most money possible. For example, if you are making $11 per hour per table playing $1/$2 limit hold’em but you are making $15 an hour playing at a $.50/$1 no-limit table, obviously it is more profitable to play at the no-limit table than it is to play at the limit table. The only way that you can know which game is going to make you the most money is having accurate play history statistics and P&L information. There are a number of different websites that can track your play statistics some of which are free and some are not but a popular free choice is Check Your Bets.

Mistake #6: Playing too many different types of games

Many players who are starting to play more poker also start to play a larger variety of games. This can be great to add some flavor to your sessions and it is good to familiarize yourself with more games. With that said, many players start to play too many different games and do not spend enough time focusing on one. This results in mediocrity in many games instead of being very good in one. Focusing on just one game and excelling in that game before spending time playing other games will result in better performance. The majority of the money that you make when playing poker only starts to come when you are very skillful so sticking to the one you like best and play best will result in the most money.
Addressing each of these problems in your game will help to take your play to the next level and improve your returns as well.