In most competitive games including sports, position is critical to success. In baseball for example, the home team gets to bat last and this is seen as a big advantage. By batting last, the home team knows exactly how many runs that they need in order to win the game when they are in the final inning. There is no uncertainty because all of the information is already available. If they are tied then they only need one run in order to win or if they are down by one then they need at least two to win. For the visitors, however, they do not know what will happen when the home team bats so they lack that knowledge and are at an inherent disadvantage because they are not in the best position. The value of position is true for other sports and games as well from golf – being the last person to play giving you knowledge of the scores of everyone else who has played – to games like Texas Hold’em.

In Texas Hold’em, the value of position at the table should be obvious to the vast majority of players. As a game of information, you want as much information as possible so having your opponents make their decisions before you are required to will give you the option to make a decision last with the most information available. It is also true of Texas Hold’em that often, there is not much in play in terms of quality hands which means players are feeling each other out and playing the players more than they are playing the cards in the hole which makes having position even more important. Having a good position in poker does not mean that you are always going to win the pot but it gives you the opportunity to make better informed decisions on whether to bet or fold which will give you more opportunity to win and easier opportunities to get away from hands cheaply.

When playing Texas Hold’em the basic thought behind position is pretty easy to understand. Essentially, the later you are to act the better off you are and the fewer the number of people in the pot the more important your position is. For example, if you are last to act in a pot of 5 that is very good but if you are last to act with just one other opponent that is phenomenal. Other positions can be advantageous depending on how players around you play. Overall, however, the later that you get to act the better off you are going to be. In fact, being last to act is such an advantage that you can play much more hands as last to act than you would in any other position at the table because of the benefit you gain from having all the knowledge of the actions taken by the other players sitting in front of you.

In other poker variations like Seven Card Stud and Stud Hi-Lo, the value of position is quite different than in Texas Hold’em. In Hold’em, the later your position the better off you are but in Stud varieties, this is not always the case. The value of position is much more variable. In these games, the player with the highest showing acts first from fourth street on meaning that the person who acts first will change depending on who is showing the best hand. Typically you will have an advantage over the person who is sitting to your right but determining your positional advantages in Stud games is significantly more difficult than in games like Texas Hold’em. Some hands are better when you are not the high hand and representing certain hands is more important when you are the first person to act. You can play some hands more aggressively when an opponent is showing a high card because it means they will be more likely to act first throughout the hand giving you a probable late action advantage.

The game with the most complex position based advantages when compared to Texas Hold’em is definitely Omaha Hi-Lo. Omaha already has extremely confusing position-based advantages but in the game of Hi-Lo, the added complexities make it even more difficult. Late position has advantages in Hi-Lo but instead of being all advantage there are also some disadvantages to late position. Bluffing from a late position is almost impossible if you are playing against players with any skill and attempts to do so can cost you dearly. When compared to Hold’em where being in a middle position offers nothing in terms of an advantage, a middle position in Omaha is the perfect spot to make a bluff.

That is not to say, however, that middle position in Omaha Hi-Lo is purely advantageous as it has a number of disadvantages as well due to the fact that the pot is shared. For example, if you have the nut low – opposite of nut high – and you are in a middle position and a player in front of you bets the nuts your hand becomes much more difficult to play. Typically, the best choice in this scenario is to smooth call and hope other players behind will call in order to sweeten the pot so you are not splitting with the opposite nut hand. With that said, there are situations where you can bet and get the pot even bigger like when you expect a later player to have a nut hand as well and you can get them to reraise and have two of the other nut hands when compared to your one.

Because positional advantages are very fluid in Omaha, the conceptual last-is-best approach in Hold’em does not hold a lot of water. In general, if you have a low hand in Hi-Lo, betting first is advantageous but if you are sitting on the nut high, you would want to be in last position instead. For example, if you have the nut flush in a game of Hi-Lo betting first could kill any action that you might receive and will result in – at best – a call. If you are last to act though, you might get someone to bet in front of you or someone thinking you are using late position to bluff and get a checkraise. Betting the low hand, however, from an early position can result in opponents in later positions trying to push out other high-hand players.

When moving from Texas Hold’em to other poker variations, positional consideration becomes much different and, in most cases, much more complex. In Hold’em the later your position the better it is; whereas, in games like Omaha and Stud the value of position can vary depending on what sort of hand you are holding. Regardless, position is always important and knowing how it is important, what you can do in each position, and when you are at an advantage will help to improve your poker performance whether you are playing Texas Hold’em or Omaha Hi-Lo.

When playing Texas Hold’em, there are a nearly infinite number of hands that you can be dealt and some of those are better than others. Most of the time, it is fairly easy to decide what you want to do with your hand but for others, it is not quite so easy. One such set of hands that is extremely difficult and dangerous to play are weak aces. A weak ace is a hand that has an ace and a weak kicker which is usually considered a kicker below a nine or ten. The problem with weak aces is that they can really get you into trouble with many different flops. Being able to play weak aces properly and knowing when you should actually be playing a weak ace and when you should be folding one is an extremely important skill for any Texas Hold’em play to know. Without knowing how to play a weak ace properly, it is often the type of hand that does the most damage to a player’s stack and it can be the difference between winning money and losing money. Alternatively, you can research casino game websites or blogs like pokerblog.com, which will give you tips and advice, helping you improve your technique and strategy.

The first and largest problem with weak aces is that even if you manage to hit an ace on the flop, you will often be a massive dog. It is not uncommon for you to run into a stronger ace and flopping top pair can be a tough hand to get away from. Unfortunately, when you have a weak ace and another player flops top pair as well, they are not going to let you off free of charge and it will often cost you a bunch of chips before you can get away from the hand. You can also walk into a trap if you are not careful or if you are out of position.
Being out of position with a weak ace can present a certain dilemma when deciding what to do. The options that are available are extremely limited and it can often get you into trouble. If, for example, you decide to raise with your weak ace and there is a better ace behind you, you will often get a call which can set yourself up for another bet on the turn which, also, might be smooth called which can lead to you losing even more chips. If, however, you decide to check, you are giving the players that follow the opportunity to hit their outs if they do not happen to have the ace or the option for them to bet and force to you make another decision on whether to call or fold.
With all the dangers that are associated with playing a weak ace, you might think that it is not worth it to play the hands and just fold them outright. For the extremely new Texas Hold’em player, I would completely agree and say that folding weak aces is a very good idea. For other players, however, being able to play the weak ace will add a great deal of variety to your range and it can create opportunities to bust out your opponent. When you are playing with a weak ace, the hand that you should not be looking for is top pair but, rather, hands like flushes, two pair, straights if you have something like an ace four, and other hands of that variety. Many of these hands can be real sleepers and you can end up getting all of your opponents chips if you hit a full-house or other hand that is hard to place.

Another great thing about weak aces is the fact that they have at least 25% equity if you are all-in pre flop against any other hand without aces. This makes it a good choice for making a stand when you are extremely short stacked and looking for a double up. Even with a call you are still looking fairly good against most hands that aren’t holding an ace. Even against a weaker pair you are looking at a coin flip and for most other hands you are looking at, at least, 25%. It is important to remember, however, that you approach playing weak aces with caution as it can be an extremely dangerous hand to find yourself holding. There are many times where you can cost you massive amounts of chips if you over play them or if you get too committed to a hand that is not very good. It is always important to remember that it is just an ace and you should never be afraid to fold it.

For those of you who are not familiar with some of the more intense poker formats, the Super Turbo Sit-and-Go formant is one of the craziest. The Super Turbo SNG is a 9-player single table tournament with extremely short stacks and blinds that go up after only a few minutes. If you happen to play on Full Tilt Poker, the blind levels are three minutes with stacks of 10 big blinds. As you can tell, you do not really have too much room to breathe in terms of playability. The vast majority of players will push all-in with almost any moderately playable hand.

Despite the fact that you are playing for chances to double up, you do have a relatively short amount of time where you can get away waiting for a bit of a hand. You are not forced to push with any ace that you look down at. Chances are good that you should be able to get at least one round of blinds before you have to start thinking about pushing with any decent hand. Hands worth waiting for are, in my opinion, are pocket tens or better or an A-J on the low end for unpaired cards. Depending on the feeling at the table, you may feel comfortable with playing them or you may not. In super turbos, however, you are looking to be a favorite to win. With that said, you can get through two rounds of blinds with being a bit more selective. Chances are good that after that, you are not going to be able to count on 2:1 odds to carry you to too many more pots. Because your stack only starts at 10 big blinds, any hand where you commit chips you are going to have to go all in.

Super turbos really amount to nothing more than short stacked sit-and-go bubble play. If you can make it past the bubble as a short stack in standard sit-and-go tournaments, you can play super turbo tournaments pretty well. With that said, on the first two or so big blinds you should not be pushing with any coin-flip and should have a slightly higher selection in order to push. Despite the fact that you have plenty of fold equity, many players will be extremely likely to call because many people in super turbo SNGs are gamblers.

In a standard sit-and-go, you are typically playing the early game trying to take pots that will keep you ahead of the blinds and building your stack conservatively. The stacks are large enough that there is not a rush to push your stack. In super turbos, you need to be doubling up. As such, you really do not have the luxury of waiting around and trying to steal blinds to keep you in the game. In a super turbo, unless you are planning on pushing all-in on a flop or calling an all in, you cannot be limping into pots. Because you are only starting with 10 big blinds, every chip you commit to the pot is precious. You do not have the luxury of spewing any chips away.

Of course, because the action is so quick, by the time you get through one or rounds of blinds there should be at least a couple people who have already busted out of the tournament. At this point, you are looking to find a hand where you can have some sort of advantage and push with it. If you happen to have a big stack, you can start using your stack to bully short stacks into committing to the pot with less than optimal hands and pushing to win. Growing your stack early is great but unless you use it to win it is not going to do you any good.

As you might imagine, super turbos do have a larger element of luck than other forms of poker. Regardless of how good a player you may be, there are going to be many instances where you simply do not have the luxury of waiting for a hand where you can really make a move. You are often forced into having to settle for slightly weighted coin flips. Of course, the fact that the duration of the super turbos is around ten to fifteen minutes means that you can play a great deal of tournaments in a short amount of time. Take into account the fact that there doesn’t have to be

Many of you may have heard the term fold equity being bandied about by experienced players and poker commentators but most people are unaware of what the concept actually is. You may be thinking that you would need a degree in finance to understand the term but it is actually quite understandable by most poker players. It is also an extremely important concept to understand if you are looking to take your poker play to a new level. Fold equity is, in its most basic form, the chance that your opponent will fold his or her hand.
As is probably obvious to most poker players, there are only two different ways that you can win a hand. You can get all of the other players to fold which makes you the winner by default or you can hold the best hand when it is time for the showdown. While winning at the showdown requires you to be holding the best hand, you do not need to be holding the best hand in order to force everyone to fold. In fact, you only need to make the rest of your opponents think that your hand is better than theirs is and that it is a mistake to continue to play. This may sound easy but it can actually be quite challenging.
In order to make use of fold equity, you are required to be able to do a number of different things. The first and most important requirement for proper usage of fold equity is that you need to be able to read your opponents. If you cannot put your opponent on a range of hands, it is impossible to make decisions based on what they are holding as you do not know what that actually is. With that said, you do not need to be a psychic and name the two cards they are holding but you do need to be able to have a reasonable idea of the strength of what they are likely holding. This knowledge allows you to determine how likely it is your opponent will fold which is vital in knowing what sort of fold equity you have.
Fold equity should not be used as the sole reason to stay in a hand. Using fold equity as a justification for making a bluff without any outs is dangerous and has an extremely negative expected value. With that said, fold equity can be an extremely important factor when you are considering making a semi-bluff. Taking fold equity into account can make your semi-bluffs much more successful over the course of your play and help to improve your EV.
For example, let us assume that you raise pre-flop with AQ of spades on the button and you get a call from someone in an early position who limped in. You have been playing at the table for a while and know that the person who called is not the tightest player in the world so there is a large range of hands that he might be playing. The flop comes Ks, 9c, 4s. Your opponent makes a bet that is about half the size of the pot. In this scenario, making the call would be a mistake but it would be a good decision to raise. There are a number of reasons why raising in this scenario is good. The first is the fact that your opponent is weak and you can probably push him off a middling pair or a draw without too much trouble. Even if your opponent does call your raise, you still have a bunch of outs that can make your hand.
One of the downsides to using fold equity is that it is much more predictable with better players. For example, you cannot factor fold equity into account when you are playing against a call station because he is going to call regardless of what you end up doing so trying to get him to fold is a fool’s errand. If your opponent is not going to fold, you do not have any fold equity. If you can apply the concept of fold equity to your poker play, you will be able to improve your return at the table and you will be able to get away with playing more marginal hands as it gives you an additional advantage over your opponents. Being able to calculate and use fold equity will result in taking down pots that, under normal circumstances, you would not be able to take down.

One thing that seems to happen with far too much regularity is players willing to throw away their entire stack of chips on an overpair. Many players from novices to moderately successful players will overplay an overpair and will often end up with nothing but a short stack and tilting rage. What they do not realize, however, is that most of these situations can be easily avoided with a little bit of observation and understanding of what is going on.

In order to illustrate the point, let’s look at a perfect example of how getting rid of an overpair can be the right decision. I am playing in a full-ring $1/$2 game and I am sitting on an average sized stack, let’s say $200. I am dealt pocket queens while sitting in the small blind. Always a nice hand and a particular good hand when there are only two people limping in in front of me. Naturally, I am looking to raise here and hopefully get into a heads up pot with one other person. In a heads up situation, a large pocket pair is much better than in a multi-way pot where it has an easier chance of being beaten. As such, I make a big raise, $12, and hope to get one person to call. Unfortunately for me, however, I get both people calling and I am not out of position with my pair.

The flop comes 7♠ – 8♠ – 4♣.

Obviously, this is not the greatest flop for a hand like mine. Sure, I happen to have an overpair but there are a lot of drawing hands that could be looking pretty good right here. There are numerous straight draws and a flush draw sitting on the table as well making things more difficult. The chances that the players who called might be holding suited connectors or a small or medium pocket pair are pretty good as those are hands that would be played in that sort of situation.

Despite the fact that there are a good number of drawing hands that they could be holding there is still a possibility that my pair of queens is best. There is no doubt that I am not playing against pocket kings or pocket aces as they would almost certainly have reraised pre flop to push out any marginal hands that might get a flop like this. I make a bet of $16 which is a decent sized bet – a little under half the size of the pot – which is a small enough bet but not so small as to make the other two players want to get their money in the middle to see the turn. Unless, of course, they are holding something with some possible action. Of course, both players call the bet.

Unfortunately, the fact that both players call reveals very little information about what they might be holding. They could both be on drawing hands or it is also quite possible that either one of them could be holding a set and slow playing the set in hopes to trap an overpair or get a hand like ace king to hit on something.

A 5♦ falls on the turn. Despite the fact that it adds another card to the straight possibility, it is not as big an issue as one might assume right off the bat. First, it means that if either of them are flush draws they have gotten a dead card and it would require that they had been holding an inside straight draw at the very least in order to have made their hand. Regardless, it does not bode well for my hand because if my queens aren’t good, I am looking at 2 outs which may or may not even win the hand for me if I am currently beat.

As I am out of position and do not really have any strong information about what my opponents are holding. I really do not have much of a choice except to check. There are many hands that beat mine and making a bet here could end up being costly and since I am not committed to the pot I can get away if I put on the brakes. So I decide to check and the player behind me bets $32 into the pot and the player behind him calls.

My decision to check is starting to look pretty good right here and I have to weigh my options on whether I want to fold or not. There are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration when you are thinking about whether or not to fold an overpair.

Since I am playing a cash game and not a tournament, there is no need to play a more risky game of poker since I am not in any danger of falling behind the curve due to the constantly increasing blinds. I have the option to play conservatively and wait for the best opportunities to build my stack instead of making moves in questionable positions.

I also look at the information that I am getting from my opponent. In this case, the bet of $32 is not a bet that was made as an overbet in an attempt to push a superior hand out of the pot and take it down right then and there but a bet that was just big enough to try and push the odds in favor of a call. Additionally, he is betting into the original aggressor – me – and I have shown signs of willingness to raise. Chances are, he probably has a pretty good hand and considering my hand, the chances of his hand being worse than mine, him holding a hand like pocket jacks, is very slim.

I also look at the fact that a player behind him has also called. One player raising could mean that he is trying to push the other two players out of the hand but the fact that the guy behind him calls as well means that, at the very least, one of them has a hand and if either of them have a hand, chances are good that my hand isn’t. Another thing that is important to look at is whether or not I am pot committed. Thankfully, because I decided to check the turn I am not pot committed and can get away from the hand while following sound statistics. In addition to all of these problems, I am still out of position like I have been from the start which is still a big disadvantage especially if I call and have to act first on the river.

Taking all of that into consideration, there is really no other choice but to fold my hand. The river comes and is a 2♣ and the raiser on the turn shows a set of sevens with the caller behind him flipping over an ace-high straight draw. If you were following my reasoning throughout the hand that this makes perfect sense and my analysis of the hand and what they were holding was pretty good. I wasn’t blinded by my overpair and was able to walk through the hand and fold my hand when it was no longer the probable winner. I got out of the hand and saved myself a good bit of money in addition to feeling good about my decision. Had I stayed in the hand hoping my overpair was good, I would have ended up looking at a much shorter stack and probably feeling really unintelligent to boot.

Whether you are a beginner or pro at playing poker you will quickly learn the better you are at math and by learning new tricks along the way the better your chances are of winning more often. Having the ability to quickly calculate pot odds and the pot equity can be imperative to how you play out a hand. Many poker players firmly believe that they win or lose by how well they know poker and can read other opponents and while there is some truth to this it’s not makes the pros the best. There are very few hands that you will play that will require no odd calculations such as calling an all in if you obviously have the best hand or if you are playing with someone that you are able to tell when they are bluffing. Other than plays made strictly by a read on another player all poker making decisions are made through some type of evaluation of the odds.

For a player who only plays by their gut and never makes a calculation while at the table is still playing specific odds. They just are not aware of the numbers that makes a decision feel right or wrong. To correctly use the numbers in order to determine the quality of your choices you will need to calculate the pot odds and your equity and then compare the two of them. If the odds are less than your equity you are more than likely losing money versus if your odds are higher than your equity, you will make money.

Regardless of which number you start with including the hand equity or pot odds they are separate numbers from one another and will remain useless until you have evaluated both.

Pot Odds

Counting the pot is imperative to evaluation your odds which can become difficult as the pot grows so keeping track of it as new chips are added is the smartest move. Keeping track of the pot if there are a variety of chip amounts in the stack will be difficult so practice counting and familiarize yourself with the different chip amounts which will make counting in real games easier.
As you will learn when playing poker games that the blinds will vary from one type of poker to another. Let’s go with a $2/$5 game…Player A raises to $15, folded to the next player who calls, and was also called by the player on the button and small blind while the big blind folds.

What would the pot currently be at if each of these players called? Trying to count the current amount in the pot by this point could be a bit confusing so again this is why keeping a total as you go would be the best option. If you start with the first player who raised $15, the next player calls $30, the button calls $45, and the small blind will call $60, while the big blind will fold $65.

Creating a Ratio

In the same scenario that was just described the first player raises to $50. What will the pot odds be for the next player?

You will need to add this bet to the total pot amount which would equal $115. The next player will have to call $50 for a pot of equal to $115. This will allow you to post your first ratio for your calculations. The ratio will be $115-$50. To make things easier to calculate you will make the right side of the ratio a 1.

115-50: Since you will need to turn the right side of the ration into 1 it should be divided by itself at (50/50=1). Always remember anything you do to one side of the ratio should also be done to the other side of the ratio as well. With that being said you will need to divide 115/50 = 2.3 giving you your new ratio which is 2.3-1. This will be considered the ratio for the first person to call the preflop raise.

For future reference a good way to do the calculation quickly inside your head is to take out the largest portion that the divisor goes into with a fraction and divide it by two. You know that 100 divided by 50 is 2 and that 150 divided by 50 is 3. You know that your first number will be 2 and that leaves you with 1 which gives you (115-100).

So think about how many times you can equally divide 15 into 50. The answer is 3 so another way to view it is 15×3 which = 45. Now you may not always get the exact amount that is in the pot but by being as close as possible that will work just as well. Now that we have the total 45 we are as closest to 50 as possible since 60 is farther way. This gives us our second number which is 3. When you place the two numbers together you will get 2.3.

For example if the second player calls. What are the pot odds for the player on the button? You can try to do the calculations in your head before reading the example below. For those who are just learning here is a run through for you;

Pot = One hundred fifteen + fifty ($115+$50)
Total Pot = One hundred sixty five ($165)
Odds = One hundred sixty five/Fifty ($165/$50)
50 x 3 = 150 (The 1st number is 3)
165 minus 150 = 15
50/15 = relatively close to 3
Final Odds = 3.3:1

Once the calculations for the second player was established and he calls the odds butt will be specifically higher by one so 2.3 + 1 = 3.3. There will be no need for you to attempt to recalculate if another player calls because you can simply just add one. You will only need to recalculate if at any time during the hand a player chooses to reraise.

This gives you a better understanding of how the odds work and how to calculate them but where does equity come into play? As stated earlier that calculating the pot odds is only a portion of where you need to be. Once you have calculated your pot odds you will now need to calculate the equity in the pot in order to compare the two and get your ending results. We have discussed how to calculate the pot odds during table play quickly by using simple math and keeping up with the total as the pot grows but now you need to learn and understand the next concept in the piece of the puzzle that is just as important. However, understanding how equity works is much simpler for most people allowing them to catch on much quicker.

Hand Equity

You will need to first count your odds for winning the pot. You will need to calculate the equity for the hand meaning you need to tally up how many outs you have in order to make the hand you are seeking. After just a bit of practice you will catch on and memorizing things will become much easier.

Something to always remember is there are four cards that hold the same value and that there are 13 of each poker suit including spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs. While most poker players know this by heart beginners have a bit of learning to do before knowing all of the suits and terms.
For example if you are currently in a hand and have what’s known as an open ended straight draw, there will be 2 different values of cards that will give you the hand you need: 2×4 = 8 outs for you. If you are hoping for a flush draw there are 13 cards of each suit. If you are holding two of the 13 and there are currently 2 on the board; 13 – 2 -2 which will give you 9 outs.

Always remember to always remove the outs of the cards that you know and never to count duplicates for example if you are hoping for an open ended straight flush draw that you will have a total of 15 outs. When you count your outs you will need to keep in mind anti-outs and possibly blockers. If once you make your straight your opponent gets the flush they were hoping for those straight cards are not considered outs to your hand and cannot be counted. The possibility of having a flush draw on the table can turn your profitable 8 out straight draw into a 6 out straight draw which will render the odds insufficient.

If for some reason you can not accurately assume the value of the other player’s hands then think the worst which would assume they have the better hand. Play as though their hand may crush yours and be cautious. If there is a straight draw then assume they have exactly that. If there is a flush draw then again assume they are on a draw. If the board is paired assume they have trips or possibly a full house. By keeping this logical thinking it will be less expensive for you in the long run. It’s better to fold a possible winning hand versus making a bad call and losing most of your stack.

Equity Shortcut

The simplest way to get your equity is to memorize the following rules:

On the flop always multiply your outs by 4. If on the turn, make sure to multiply your outs by 2.
This means if you have an open ended straight draw and 8 outs you will then have a 32% chance of getting the straight with 2 cards left to come. For hands on the board that have a higher amount of outs (higher than the earlier shortcut may give an incorrect answer. The following example will give you a more accurate figure for higher odds.

Amount of outs x 4 – Amount of outs – 8 = Your Equity

This would mean that your equity of an open ended straight flush draw (Fifteen outs) would be the following;

15×5 – 15-8 = Gives you 53%
If you were not using this formula your percentage may be higher by 7 points giving a false higher result. If the equity calculations are incorrect you be incapable to make correct decisions.

Putting your Pot Odds & Equity Together

Now that you are able to calculate your odds and know your equity you will have to determine if the call is good or not. The odds as a ratio ended for the second player at 2.3-1 odds and the player after that having the odds of 3.3-1.

You cannot compare water to oil so you will need to convert your equity percentage from a % into a determined ratio. By doing this you will be required to use some of the similar techniques as earlier.

For example 32% is also simply referred to as having 32 out of 100 which would give you 100 – 32 which equals 68. With that being said and the fact that you are looking at the odds you will need your pot odd ratios to be higher than this ratio. If you are currently sitting with a open ended straight draw (2.1-1 or 32%) the odds example from earlier gave the second player the odds of 2.3-1 which means the second players pot odds would be just enough in order for them to make the call.
If you are on the button with the same hand and the player who is now in the same seat that you were previously in your odds will change to 3.3-1. You will only need odds of 2.1-1 in order to earn money so the call will be profitable in the long run.

While the ending result is accurate again it’s only a percentage of the odds spectrum and will want to take other factors into consideration when playing since you have not determined your implied odds.

While playing poker seems just like any other game there are many things to consider and understand in order to profit long term. You have just learned how to quickly determine your pot odds and equity which can change the overall game for you.

Getting a large draw and short stacking somebody is a very exhilarating angle of poker. However the difficulty alot of players have playing draws properly is over valuing your implied odds. In No Limit Hold`em, you’re regularly playing draws and you should be knowledgeable of both kinds of odds, implied and immediate if you want to play a draw efficiently.

The immediate odds will be simple to determine. If what you are getting is greater than 3.5 to 1, it is in all likelihood safe to call the bet. It is when you’re not getting the needed odds that it gets complex. You’ve got to do some research with implied odds to get them figured out. Sadly they aren’t very simple to determine. Implied odds are what odds you get with the potential betting of subsequent rounds. So lets say you call a ten dollar bet on the turn in a thirty dollar pot, your total odds are the immediate odds of 3 to 1 added to the implied odds of the bet on the river.

The complex part pertaining to implied odds is that you never really know how the river betting will go. You may make your draw and try for a crafty check-raise then get a check and another check. You could also make a draw and place a large bet in hopes of getting paid off if your opponent folds. To more precisely calculate the implied odds there are a few things to consider. Who’s the opponent and is he a tight-aggresive player playing multiple tables? Is he a major calling station or a solid-thinking player?

You should also take note of the hands that you’ve watched him play before on the river. You might find some decent players that will call big bets on spooky rivers because they are frightened of being bluffed away from the pot. You will also find some players that become super tight on the river if a scare card appears. In either situation, to draw you have to know how the opponent will act if you hit or miss your draw.

Once you figure out how an opponent typically plays on the river you’ll be able to frequently make more from your draws. If you have the ability to learn that they are willing to call higher bets on the river, in all likelihood you are safe calling a turn bet even if only getting 1.5 to 1 or 2 to 1 immediate odds. If the opponent a kind of player that tightens up if a scare card shows, than you may be in better shape if you muck the draw and trying to bluff into him in a hand a bit later where you’ve just been calling and on the river card there is an obvious draw.

A rule that is wise to follow is the more masked the draw, the simpler it is to get your opponents to pay you off. If you check-call the flop and the turn, then a flush card appears on the river and you check-raise or bet large, it is usually very apparent what you’ve got. Now lets say you’ve got flush and straight draws. You miss your flush but end up hitting your straight, your hand is nearly hidden. Lots of times your opponents will put you on a bluff when you bet a missed flush draw.

Lots of players don’t dedicate enough time to calculating their implied odds. They may know the workings of implied odds, but they just don’t think about them when playing. They tend to think in this manner, “If I make my gutshot straight draw I’d have the nuts & rake in a huge pot”. To play a gutshot straight draw you need to be offered a huge chance of winning in order to make the call worthwhile.

The relationship between the cost of calling a bet and the amount of cash in the pot is known as Pot Odds. Many limit poker players have no working knowledge of pot odds or how they can affect their earnings. They tend to look at the two cards in their hand to see if there may be a chance that they will win. They don’t comprehend the reasoning for playing drawing hands against a bunch of opponents. Some hands that would be profitable against alot of players would be a hand you can break even on at best when there are fewer opponents playing.

A bet from a player in late position doesn’t always mean he’s got a hand able to call large bets. He may be betting lots of different kinds of hands, many of which wouldn’t be calling any kind of big bets afterwards. To play similar hands efficiently you have to be capable of putting the opponent on a range. When it is comprised of mostly larger hands, then you can assume that he will be more apt to call big bets on the turn and river.

Playing draws correctly is a very important angle when playing poker. The money you save yourself not chasing draws which have very small chances of being paid off on, the more profits you will earn in the long haul.

Most players know that poker is a game of information. Or, rather, a game about incomplete information. Each player has a limited amount of information available to them and it is up to them to fill in the gaps of information in order to make the best decision possible on how to play. The only information that you are actually given are the cards in your hand, the cards on the table, how many chips each player has, and what they choose to bet on any given turn. Because information plays such an important role in poker, players are always trying to acquire more information to help them make better and more informed decisions. The more complete the picture you can have of the situation, the better a decision you will be able to make. One important ability that helps to fill in the incomplete picture that is presented to each poker player is the ability to read other players tells. Every poker player reveals information subconsciously and it is up to you to be able to recognize and understand the tells that your opponents give you. Being able to read players’ tells is one of the best ways to get information that would otherwise be unavailable to you and it can be the difference between making a good fold or a bad call or vice versa. Whether online or off, there are tells that can be uncovered by the observant poker player.
The most important rule to remember when trying to read other players and discover their tells is that each player is different. Not every player has the same tell and some players may have the same tells that mean two completely different things. For example, one player may rub at his nose when he has a bad hand but a different player could do that exact same gesture when he is holding the nuts. Because each player is different, it is important that you spend time playing with a person and observing their play in order to help determine what his or her tells are. The longer you are playing with a person and watching what they do, the more information they will reveal. Both online and off, it is important to take notes on what you see when you are watching other players play. Most online card rooms allow you to make notes on players and keeping information on how they play and possible tells is the best use of this space. In real life, you need to memorize this information as you go.
Because you cannot see your opponents when playing poker online, the number of tells that you can use are limited. You cannot watch a player and see any physical tics, shaking hands, heavy breathing, or any other auditory or visible clues that they give for what they may be holding in their hand. With that said, there are a number of things that you can look at to get an idea of whether or not they are bluffing. One of the most common ways to get information is to watch a player’s betting patterns. For example, most poker websites offer an option that will allow you to call the current bet or call any bet. This results in an instant call from the person. Instant calling is usually a sign of strength and can reveal information on the strength of that person’s hand.
There are also verbal cues that can hint at what your opponents are holding. Table talk is one of the most tried and true ways for getting information out of opponents both online and off. When watching poker, you will often see the pros talking teach each other or trying to get an opponent to answer questions on a big hand. “Do you have it?” “Do you have the nuts?” “Why such a big raise?” Questions like these are meant to elicit a response from the opponent. Even if the players do not respond, you can watch how they react physically to these questions to try to glean information from them. Obviously, online you are not able to get these visual cues but paying attention and participating in table talk can give you information that might be useful in making your decision.
Reading opponents and understanding tells is much more important in real life poker as opposed to online. Everything an opponent does has meaning. Maybe his hands are shaking as he makes the raise because he has the nuts. Perhaps he is taking another peak at his cards because he did not hit any of his outs and you have him beat. He might be rearranging his chips because he is counting his chips to see how much he wants to raise if you bet. All of these things could mean one thing for one player or something else entirely for another. In order to determine what a player’s tell is, you need to know the outcome of the hand. For example, you will never know if he is touching his nose because his hand is weak if you do not get to see his hand or get him to fold. Sometimes, pros will make plays that do not make sense mathematically just to gain information about a possible tell of an opponent.
Reading the tells of your opponents is an art form and not a science. There is no magic, fool-proof rule about making reads and understanding the tells. The only way that you can determine what they are is to be observant and to spend time practicing. Also, it is important to remember that you have tells as well. Managing your own tells and leaving false trails for opponents an often be quite helpful. A great example of this happens in the new version of Casino Royale where Le Chiffre tricks Bond into thinking he is weak by using a tell that he used earlier intentionally to get Bond to call. By sprinkling false trails, you can often manipulate good opponents into making mistakes based on what they think they know.
Poker is a game of information and the man with the most information is typically the one who wins. By learning how to read other peoples tells, you gain valuable information on the hand. By that same token, you can also spread misinformation to your opponents by dropping false tells but it is always important to remember that whatever you are doing, your opponents may be doing as well. Recognizing your opponent’s poker tells is critical. Below are five of the most common poker tells and what they usually mean.

1.) Strong is Usually Weak

When I player seems to be acting like they have a big hand they usually are bluffing. For example if a player increases the level of his or her voice when raising a pot and or are trying to look intimidating or acting overly decisive with a quick action they are usually bluffing.

2.) Watch Your Opponent’s Eyes

Blocking this tell is why many poker pros where sunglasses. Most players will look harder and longer at big hold cards. Other factors such as pupil dilation and direction a player is looking at the table are common reads poker pros use. For example if a player quickly glances at the chips in the pot he likely has a good hand and is planning to bet.
3.) Trembling Hands

Trembling hands almost always means your opponent has a big hand.

4.) Betting patterns

This is one of the easiest tells to read. Most players will play with a pattern in any given session. For example if a player always checks when he has a monster this can be used in subsequent hands. Also many players raise a specific amount for certain cards. Such as a mid amount for mid pairs a specific amount on Kings vs AK etc. Some players will also bet the amount of the pair they have. $7 for a pair of sevens or $80 for 8s etc.

5.) Chip Stacking

Generally speaking tight conservative players have well organized neat chip stacks while loose aggressive players maintain unorganized or sloppy chip stacks.

————————————————————————————————————————-

Most Common Online Poker Tell

The most common online poker tell is recognizing when a play has set auto check which could be an auto check / fold to any bet set. When you recognize this a min bet could get an auto fold.

Bankroll management is one of the most important concepts required to be a successful poker player. Without proper bankroll management, it is almost certain that you will, at some point, go lose all of your money. There is nothing worse than completely busting out and the whole purpose of bankroll management is to prevent this very event from occurring. Bankroll management is just as important when playing poker online as it is when playing in real life. The game of poker is about risk, reward, and balancing the two so that you put yourself in a position to get a greater reward for the risk that you are taking. Without proper bankroll management, it is extremely easy to end up falling too far toward the risk end of the spectrum and lose all of your money. Success over the long term is impossible if you cannot properly manage your bankroll and the only success that matters in poker is long-term.

Boiled down to its most basic concepts, bankroll management is about risk management and mitigating the effect that luck is going to have on the long-term health of your poker play. With the proper application of bankroll management, you can avoid losing a large enough portion of your bankroll that it has a negative impact on your ability to play and, in the most extreme cases, prevent you from losing your entire bankroll. Bankroll management has both macro and micro elements to it. For example, on the micro level you are looking at not making poor risk-reward hand decisions. Calling a massive raise with a hand that has two outs is a bad decision in terms of risk versus reward because in the long run you are going to have a massive expected value.

The macro level, on the other hand, is the most common and important aspect of bankroll management and the thing that will prevent bad decisions and poor luck on the micro level from destroying your ability to play the game properly. The most important concept on the macro level is to avoid overleveraging your bankroll. What I mean by this is that you should never be playing at games that are too large for your bankroll. You should view your bankroll as an investment account. When you are making an investment, you want to be diversified and not invested all in one stock. This makes it so that if one of those stocks takes a hit, your whole investment account is not decimated. The idea is the same with managing your bankroll. You do not want one downturn in your luck at the table to wipe out all of your money. As a general rule of thumb, I will not sit down at a table with less than 100 big blinds worth of chips. So, if I were playing at a $1/$2 no-limit table I would sit down with at least $200 in chips.

Not everyone has the same risk profile, that is not likes to play as conservatively as others, but I do not like to have more than 10% of my bankroll at risk at any given time when I sit down at the table. So, to continue with the example of a player who is willing to play at a $1/$2 table that would mean I would want to have a bankroll of $2,000. This is considered rather conservative but I am a conservative person when I sit at the table. I would not recommend having more than 20% of your bankroll at risk when you buy-in.
The reason that bankroll management is so important is that it allows you to weather the periods of bad luck and poor play that inevitably strike all of us when we are playing poker. If you only have 10% of your bankroll at risk when you buy-in, you can bust out 10 times before you are out of money. If you happen to risk 30% of your bankroll, you only have the luxury of busting out three times before you can no longer buy-in at the levels at which you were buying in. By only risking 10%, you can bust out five times and you still have half of your bankroll to play with to weather the scorn of lady luck.

Proper bankroll management is a concept that is vitally important to anyone who wishes to be successful playing poker. What constitutes proper bankroll management varies depending on your risk profile as a player but it is important to evaluate and decide for yourself how much risk you wish to take every time you sit at the table. Regardless of what your risk profile is, knowledge of what your profile is and deciding how you wish to manage that risk will be one of the primary factors that will determine your long-term success or failure as a poker player.

One of the best things about starting to play Texas Hold’em online is the fact that you can start playing at very low stakes. There are a huge number of players at all hours of the day playing at the low stakes tables at almost every online poker room. As such, it isn’t difficult to find a low stakes game in whatever format you wish to play. Thanks to the fact that the cost to play at these tables is so low and the extensive number of players that are populating the tables, it is not difficult to get a seat and start playing. This is especially important if you do not have a large bankroll as being able to comfortably play at higher stakes can often require deposits of four figures or higher depending on the size of the game.

The stakes that are considered low stakes online usually range from $0.25/$0.50 on the low end of the spectrum up to games of $2/$4 though this can vary depending on whether you are playing limit, pot limit, or no limit and what poker room in which you are playing. These games are filled at all hours of the day and finding a game at any of these stakes is extremely easy. One of the greatest things about low stakes online hold’em is the fact that you can sit down at your computer and find dozens of tables that are potential worthwhile.

In addition to the ease of finding a game, the amount of money that is at stake in these games is, by definition, fairly low. On the low end of the spectrum, you are looking at a buy-in of $50 with pots that range from a few dollars up to a few dozen dollars. This gives you a lot of opportunity to practice without risking too much money while learning the ropes or practicing a different play style or playing around with strategy. Even if you end up having a truly catastrophic session, chances are good that you will be down – at worst – between one or two hundred dollars. In the grand scheme of things, this is a paltry sum of money.

Another wonderful thing about low stakes hold’em is the fact that the caliber of player at these tables is usually low. Most of the players sitting at the low stakes players are people who are either playing poker to gamble or players who are new to the game. There are some players, however, from poorer countries that may be decent at poker but do not have the bankroll to support higher stakes. Running into these players can actually be problematic and if you find them it is often better to just move to another table where you can monopolize the winnings as much as possible. With a moderate level of skill and practice, you should have no trouble parting these people with their money. I have found that playing at low stakes is perfect even for experienced players who are looking to learn how to multi-table. In fact, some players would get a better hourly return if they were to drop down a couple blind levels but increase the number of tables at which they are playing.

Sitting down at low stakes tables is a great choice for many people. Naturally, the new player should start out at the low stakes and learn how to beat the game before moving up to a higher level but it also offers opportunities for better players to refine and toy with strategies and play styles in an environment that does not present a massive downside risk. It is also great for people who are looking to break into multi-tabling or someone who has been having some trouble at higher stakes. There is no bigger confidence builder than winning and winning at a low stakes game feels much better than losing at a high stakes one.