Win Poker Strategy

We have all been on the table when someone constantly raises on every hand and continues to take down pot after pot in a Texas Holdem Poker cash game. They look for weakness and when they see it or suspect it, they go for blood on every hand. The only way to beat this type of a player is to play the same game that they do and earn your half of the table.

The first way to do this is by taking the lead in a hand. If you raise a pot, stick with the betting and show them that you are not afraid to fire chips into the pot. If you are playing tight, this should be enough to get them to back off of the hands that you are in. Make the continuation bet, but also fire on the turn as though you have a hand. Even the most aggressive of players will step back when a tight player continues to fire on the turn of a hand that they have raised on.

Another move that you can make against an aggressive opponent is by calling down the pre flop raise and the flop bet and then fire away on the turn. The board is really of no consequence when playing against an aggressive player as they will play just about any two cards. This is more of a feel move that you have to make based on when you think they are truly weak. If nothing more than a value bet was placed on the flop, it could be a green light to make your move.

This is something that you are going to have to be committed to from the very start and regardless of what the turn brings, you fire away like you just made a set. If the board was on a flush or straight draw and you are isolated, it actually works in your favor as tight players will usually only bet when they have it and firing right away gives the impression that you have made your hand and could care less what they are holding.

An aggressive player can be a nightmare unless you can tame them. You are going to be out of position against them half the time and if you show them that you can be walked over, they will do it every chance that they get. In order to keep your stack, you are going to have to fight fire with fire and get them to back off when you are in hands or you are doing nothing more than making a donation to their kid’s college fund.

The toughest thing in poker is  to have when you are short stacked is discipline. If you have been card dead and find yourself on the brink of elimination, you know you have to make a move, the question is when. A lot of players will look for any pocket pair and shove, but you have to be a bit more selective than that. Avoiding certain hands and certain situations is the key to giving yourself the best shot of making it through your all in hand.

When you are on full table with a lot of big stacks around you, you must avoid pushing with a small pocket pair. First off, there is a very good chance that someone else will have your 66 covered with a higher pocket pair in later position. The other thing you are probably going to be looking at is multiple callers. The more people call, the more odds the next person is getting to throw in their chips. Everyone likes to be in on a big pot, so you are just asking for trouble here.

The only time you should really consider shoving with a baby pocket pair is when you are in the cutoff or button position. You only have to get through 2 or three players at that point and it is worth the risk. If you have to try and beat anymore than that, you are giving yourself a very slim chance of survival.

The other reason that you do not want to push with this type of hand is because the possibilities of losing is endless. You are going in with baby cards and you are in danger as just about anyone calling you is not only going to have two live cards, but you are also in risk when the board pairs as you can get counterfeited. If we had a buck every time a small stack got booted out of a tournament because of this we would be rich.

Another hand that is deadly to go in with is A-rag. Again, you are in fear of the big stacks here and anyone with chips and an A is going to make this call. You are also going to get called with just about any pocket pair as well. If you go into the flop with only one live card, the rail is more than likely your next destination. No, you are much better off shoving with a hand like QJ than you are A2. You probably have two live cards there and are also opening yourself up to a straight draw.

The one thing that you have to remember when you are short stacked and shoving for your life is that even if you are behind going in, you want to have live drawing cards that can get you back ahead in the hand. A rag and small pocket pairs are just not worth the trouble. Take a second to think about what you can hit before you shove those chips in there.

You are sitting in the middle of the deal and you look down at AJ and you think you have a monster. You need to think again before you throw those chips into the middle of the poker table. You are sitting on a hand that has you set up for nothing but heartache. When you are sitting on AJ in middle position, let it go.

One of the biggest mistakes a lot of beginner players make is flat calling an early raise with AJ. The only time you really should do this in this spot is if you are suited. If you don’t hit your flush or are on a flush draw, you are in pretty bad shape even if the A hits. Now you are in a position where you may raise or call the hand down and still end up with a loser.

You are really going to have to know your table mates and be very careful if you are in after a raise. You have to look at the position because it dictates what kind of hands people are going to raise with. You have to know the player to decide if they are capable of playing any two cards or they are playing ABC poker. If they are a steady player and fire at the flop and turn, you are looking at a loser.

You are in an even worse scenario when the high card on the board is a J. You are pretty much obligated to play out the hand and once again, you could be starting down the barrel of a shotgun. Again, you are facing an early raise and other than the AK that may have made the raise, but you very well may be looking at AA, KK or QQ.

When you are in this spot and either raise or bet after a check, the move from the other player is going to be come back over the top of you. Now you are faced with a decision for your chips and you have to decide if you are going to put your faith in nothing more than JJ.

One thing a lot of players fail to register at this very moment is that they were coming in against a raise and then you were check raised. Before making a knee jerk bet, consider what just happened. You made a bet that basically told the other player that you had hit our jack. They have to figure you for AJ or KJs in your hand from the position that you made the original call from. They know what you have, it is a matter of you realizing what they have.

If they make a strong move over top of you, you can be all but assured that their original raise was with an over pair and they are playing against your emotions that you will automatically push back on their bet. It is the perfect trap and the only way that you can avoid it is by NOT playing AJ in the first place.

Playing more than one table at a time is something that a lot of beginning players may find intimidating, but it is something that you are going to have to do if you want to be a successful online poker player. If you keep popping from table to table, you are hurting your chances more than helping them. A lot of this also comes down to bankroll management and actually playing at tables that your bankroll can handle.

To get started, let’s assume that you are starting out with $100 in your account. If I asked a group of beginning players what level they would all play with this amount of money, most of them would probably say the $.50/$1.00 No Limit or the $1/$2 Limit tables. This is where the problem lies. Realistically, you should never be buying into a table with more than 5% of your total bankroll and to be playing at those levels, you are committing at least 50% of your bankroll to one table.

It may be a little painful to hear, but you really should be playing at the $.05/$.10 level with this kind of a bankroll. At this level, you are not only protecting your bankroll from being lost in one bad session, you are also able to multi-table and give yourself a realistic shot of making a profit in online poker.

With so many tables going and so many different players, the chances of you being able to pick one table out of all the ones that are available and win at it are slim to none. However, if you are playing on at least 4 tables at the same time, you can counter the variance and actually make a profit. If you don’t believe it, give it a try at the very lowest levels until you can get used to playing on multiple tables at the same time. Start with two tables, then keep adding one until you can do anywhere from 4-6 tables at the same time.

In addition to offsetting the variance, you are also more likely to play steady poker instead of trying to get cute. You learn to play the numbers and stop trying to make the moves that you see on television that just never seem to work for you. You may not make a huge profit at each session, but you will at least be making a profit instead of flushing your roll down the drain by playing at a limit you should not be at and putting it all on the line on one table.

Give it a try and see if it works. You are going to be pleasantly surprised at the results and can gradually work your way up in limits as both your bankroll and ability to play multiple tables improves. Remember, ABC poker goes a long way when you have 6 tables rocking at the same time.

Getting to any final table is a great accomplishment in poker. When you get down to the final three or four, the play can get difficult and the swing from first to third is still pretty dramatic. Regardless of the chip lead that you have, there are times that you have to start thinking about doing a chop and taking the safe way out to ensure that you don’t lose too much money with one mistake.

One situation where you may want to start to discuss a chop with the table is when you know you are overmatched. Let’s face it, some people just don’t have what it takes when it gets down to this amount of  poker players to make the moves that are necessary to take down the tournament. When you look around the table, even if you have the chip lead, and see that each of these players have been outplaying you all night long it is time to start talking.

As the chip leader, you are actually in the strongest position to discuss a chop. For those that are short stacked, the added income will usually be welcome and you are locking up a second place finish for the most part. In most cases, you will want to recommend a weighted chop that will allow you to get more money from the prize pool since you have the most chips. Make it reasonable and you will often find that the rest of the table will be receptive regardless of how good they are.

Another situation to consider chopping is when the blinds have started to dominate the stacks. You never want to be in a position where you are forced to be all in or close to it when the blinds start coming around. If the stacks are even, everyone else is probably thinking the same thing. Take the prize pool and divide it up evenly by the remaining player and let everyone walk with second place money. The swing is too great from first to third to take the chance that you will look down at 72 when the blinds hit your stack.

Some people will consider the thought of even thinking about chopping to be a sign of weakness. However, they have probably never walked away from a tournament after having a chip lead with a bad beat that sent them out in third place. If you have that happen once, your opinion of a chop changes.

Something else to consider if the table seems a little reluctant, but the chip counts are fairly even is to divide up the chips and leave a little extra for the winner. For instance, there are four people left and the prize pool has $11,000 in it. Everyone is even, but people still want that big payday. You can suggest to chop the pot to a four way split of $2,500 with an additional $1,000 going to the overall winner. Everyone agrees, play will loosen up because that fear of getting knocked out with the bottom pay is now gone. The winner still walks away with more money than everyone else and everyone is a winner. Sometimes chopping is not such a bad idea.