Poker Strategy 101

by admin on March 5, 2010

Are you constantly losing at your home game and tired of your friends rubbing it in? Maybe you’re lacking some of the fundamental concepts of poker. This article will break down some of the basics that will help you in your path to become a winning player.

Play Tight

As a beginner, playing any two cards at any point in a game will most likely result in catastrophe. Just try it once – it won’t end well. This is because your understanding of hand strength is not yet developed and you’ll end up giving away chips when you don’t need to.

Therefore, you need to play tight. In No Limit Texas Hold’em, there are five hands that are considered “premium” and should always be played if nobody has raised in front of you:

AA
KK
QQ

JJ
AK

Learning to play with these big hands will help you become familiar with hand values and when you should betting, raising and folding. As you grow accustomed to playing with these hands, you’ll learn to open up your hand ranges and become comfortable playing with weaker hands in position.

Position

One aspect of poker that you must always remain conscious of is your position at the table. Many beginners disregard the importance of this concept and focus too closely on their hand, resulting in an advanced player eating them alive over the course of a ring game or tournament. Why is position so important? First, let’s take a look at the different positions at a poker table:

Early Position: The first players to act when the action starts. The very first person to act is immediately to the left of the big blind and is called the “Under The Gun” player. In a full game, the two players to the left of the under the gun player are also considered early position.

Middle Position: The players immediately to the left of the early position players. In a full game, these are usually the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th players to the left of the button.

Late Position: The last few players to act in the round. Late position has terms for the last three players to act: the hijack, who is the third to last person to act; the cut-off, who is the second to last person to act; and the button, who is the last person to act. The player on the button has position on everyone at the table during the entire course of a hand.

In most situations in poker, having early position puts you at a huge disadvantage. The reason is that you will always be the first to act, which means your opponents can make decisions based on your actions. Generally this results in early position players playing very tight and only raising premium hands preflop. If you’re just learning the game, taking this approach is the best way to go in order to avoid finding yourself in an uncomfortable spot with a lousy hand. A premium hand will most often lead to easier decisions at the table.

Players in late position will generally raise with weaker hands preflop. Most of the players at the table have already folded at this point, which gives the late position player an opportunity to “steal” the blinds. Even if the big blind calls the raise, for instance, the late position player still has the advantage on the flop as the big blind will be forced to act first. This gives the late position player another chance to steal the pot should he or she miss the flop after the big blind checks. Or, should the late position player flop a draw, they can call a bet and reevaluate their situation based on what the other player does on the turn. Having position on players during a hand will always play to your advantage.

Always keep position in mind when playing poker. It is just as important as the cards you and your opponents are holding.
Learn the Math

Whether you want to believe it or not, poker will always have mathematics attached to it in some way or form. Probability and calculating odds are part of the game, and while it may sound complicated, I can assure you it is one of the easier steps in becoming a winning player (as long as you completed grade school math).

Knowing where you stand in a hand is extremely important, and figuring your pot odds will help you get there. Pot odds determine the amount of money in the pot compared to the amount of money you need to call in order to stay in the hand. For example, if the pot contains $10 on the flop, and you need to call a $2 bet to stay in the hand, you’re receiving 10:2 (or 5:1) pot odds.

Should you have a drawing hand, such as a flush draw, pot odds are used to determine the expected value (or equity) of your hand against an opponent. Equity is calculated by comparing the pot odds to the odds of drawing a card that will win you the pot.

With a flush draw, you more than likely have nine outs to win the pot. To calculate your equity, take your total number of outs and multiply that number by four on the flop (or two on the turn).

In our example, since we are receiving 5:1 pot odds and our hand has 36% equity on the flop, we have enough odds to make the call. Figuring out the math in poker takes some time to fully grasp, but will ultimately lead to profitable plays in the long run.

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