Poker Odds

Number of Outs Available to Improve Your Hand
Outs	You Hold	Hope to Make
2 4 4 8 9 15	A Pair Two Pair Inside Straight Draw Open-Ended Straight Four to the Flush Open Straight Flush Draw	Three of a Kind Full House Straight Straight Flush Straight, Flush, Straight Flush

Poker Hand Odds Probability of Catching an Out
Outs	Turn (%)	River (%)	Turn or River
20	42.6	43.5	67.5%
19	40.4	41.3	65.0%
18	38.3	39.1	62.4%
17	36.2	37.0	59.8%
16	34.0	34.8	57.0%
15	31.9	32.6	54.1%
14	29.8	30.4	51.2%
13	27.7	28.3	48.1%
12	25.5	26.1	45.0%
11	23.4	23.9	41.7%
10	21.3	21.7	38.4%
9	19.1	19.6	35.0%
8	17.0	17.4	31.5%
7	14.9	15.2	27.8%
6	12.8	13.0	24.1%
5	10.6	10.9	20.4%
4	8.5	8.7	16.5%
3	6.4	6.5	12.5%
2	4.3	4.3	8.4%
1	2.1	2.2	4.3%

Should I Go Pro? (3 FINAL): The Big Picture

When you decide to make the jump to playing poker full time, you have to realize that you’re making a huge, huge decision.

Not only will you be putting your entire life into the hands of a variance-filled game, you’ll also be creating a large gap in your resume.
Is that really what you want? Do you want to be locked in to playing poker for the rest of your life?

Decide What You Need to Meet Your Life Goals

You need to take some time and really figure out what will make you happy in life.
Is it money? Is it stability? Do you want a family?
There’s more to life than money. Playing poker for a couple years might seem fun, but is it what you want to do when you’re 35? 40? 50?
It’s hard to know what you’ll want in the future.
It’s easy to get hooked on the “easy” money poker provides but a decision to play poker for a living should not be taken lightly and you might end up actually hurting your long term goals.

Education

If you’re going to college or university and are thinking of dropping out to play poker full time, don’t.
The answer is don’t no matter what. Education is the ultimate back-up plan.
Play poker on the side and finish school, even if that means taking fewer classes to play poker.
If you decide poker isn’t right for you after a few years, you’ll always have your education to fall back on.
You have a plan B -- and something other than a massive gap in your resume.

The Resume Gap

When you’re playing poker for a living, you’re earning money and getting by but you’re really not furthering yourself.
Chances are, unless you’re the .05% who can advance in stakes to the nosebleeds, you’re going to plateau.
You’re going to find a level that you beat and you just might not be able to make that next step.
It’s inevitable. Not everyone can beat the nosebleeds, and not everyone can even beat $5/$10.
Those years you spend grinding the stake level you can beat, making your living, the rest of your employable skills are diminishing and your resume gap grows.
If after a few years you realize that how much you’re making isn’t enough, or your decide to get a job for other reasons, you’re going to have to explain this large gap in your resume.

Poker Teaches You Skills, But Will An Employer See It The Same Way?

There’s no denying that poker teaches you some very valuable life skills.
It teaches you skills like money management, risk vs reward, fast decision making  and dealing with stress.
However, it’s entirely likely -- even probable -- that an employer won’t see it the same way.
More likely you’ll probably have to get an entry-level job making far less than you currently make in poker.
If you had just kept with your job or gotten a job instead of playing poker, you probably would have risen in the ranks of your current company and built employable job skills.

Poker Income Has a Ceiling

What most poker players don’t talk about is how their income has a ceiling.
Poker players depend on fish, and good games, and out playing their opponents.
When they hit that stake level they can’t beat, they’re stuck on the stake below it. There’s really not much room for growth.
Yes, you can spend time and study and get better, but your opponent is always doing the same thing.
Some stake jumps are just impossible and you will be stuck at that ceiling.
A good job, a good education and a serious work ethic gives you a much higher ceiling. You can always be promoted and you can get a new, better job.
Playing poker isn’t just something you do because you can make money at it.
The decision is far reaching and in the future you might not like the fact that you’re stuck playing $1/$2 online with little-to-no better options.

Plan B

It’s always a good idea to have a Plan B.
Poker is great and it allows you much more free time than a regular job. Use it.
Use your time to learn a skill. Learn to build websites, learn to write or volunteer somewhere.
Use your time to start a business. But do something that you can use should you ever re-enter the work force.
In short: Have a back-up plan.
Too many poker players just play poker and do nothing else. After a few years, they don’t enjoy poker anymore and want to do something else but their options are limited.
Don’t limit yourself. And keep working towards goals that are not poker related.
That way if you do decide poker isn’t for you, you’re not starting back at square one.

Take Your Time and Think About It

The one bit of advice that everyone should listen to when thinking about going pro:

• Take your time and think about it.

Think about your goals, your wants and your needs in life. Set yourself up for success and work hard towards it.
Poker can be a great sole source of income or a great second source of income.
Don’t limit yourself and make a rash decision that might affect the rest of your life.
Your number one goal in life is happiness and you need to find out what makes you happy.
Just know that what makes you happy now might not be what makes you happy in the future
Only you can truly answer these questions.
Think it through and you’ll know if you’re really ready to go pro.

Should I Go Pro? (2): Online vs. Live

One of the decisions you'll have to make if you decide to go pro is whether you’re going to play predominantly online or live.

They both have their pros and their cons.
But even if you think your decision is already made, you should weigh your options closely.

Playing Online: The Pros

Online poker has some great advantages over playing live.
Looking past the obvious, that you get to play in your own home and eat your own food, when you play online there’s always a game going.

You can also:

• Table select over dozens of tables across dozens of sites.
• Pick and choose the best games and really make your own hours.
• Jump up and down in stakes almost instantly. 

If the games at your current stakes are bad or you’re dealing with a downswing you can drop down in stakes in seconds and still play.

• The biggest advantage that online play has over live is the ability to multi-table.

Not only do you already get more hands per hour on a single table, you can play as many tables as you're comfortable with.
Why play one $5/$10 game live when you can play eight $2/$4 games online? The difference in hands per hour is astounding and you realize the long term advantages of solid play online much faster.

• Another huge plus online is online poker bonuses and rakeback.

For those who don’t know (I hope if you’re thinking of playing for a living you do know) rakeback is a percentage of total rake paid back to your account and it varies from 20%-30%.
It can make up a huge amount of your monthly profit and can’t be ignored. Sites like PokerStars don’t offer rakeback but their loyalty program basically does the same thing with bonuses.

Playing Online: The Cons

The pros are pretty good for online play but it’s not without its faults. And in fact some of online poker's cons are actually linked to the pros.
Even playing from home, when you start out it’s amazing but after a while you realize you haven’t left your house in weeks.

• It’s extremely hard to meet new people and maintain a life when you never leave the house.

If you have an established group of friends and a relationship it’s much easier to balance poker and life, but if you’re in a new city or have never been the type of person to have a lot of friends, it’s going to be extremely difficult to meet any new people.

• It’s also very important to have balance in your life as professional poker player.

Phil Galfond always talks about this. if you only have poker in your life, your only measurement in life is a game of poker that’s filled with variance.
If poker’s all you have, it’s all you measure your worth in and you feel the ups and the downs much more than if you have other things going on in your life.
Playing online and not leaving the house makes this difficult.

• It’s extremely hard to meet new people and maintain a life when you never leave the house.

If you have an established group of friends and a relationship it’s much easier to balance poker and life, but if you’re in a new city or have never been the type of person to have a lot of friends, it’s going to be extremely difficult to meet any new people.

• It’s also very important to have balance in your life as professional poker player.

Phil Galfond always talks about this. if you only have poker in your life, your only measurement in life is a game of poker that’s filled with variance.
If poker’s all you have, it’s all you measure your worth in and you feel the ups and the downs much more than if you have other things going on in your life.
Playing online and not leaving the house makes this difficult.

• Online poker has also gotten harder over the years and the level of play is much, much tougher than it used to be.

This is the main drawback. If you can beat $1/$2 online over a huge sample you can probably beat $10/$20 live at most casinos.
It’s just the nature of the game. Players that play online are that much more serious.
They study the game, they play the game, and they play the game to win.

Playing Live: The Pros

Live play is not without some inherent advantages as well.
Live poker for many people is a sociable activity. People enjoy going out for the day or night to the casino, playing poker and shooting the shit.
These people know how to play the game and probably beat their friends in home games, but they’re not poker stars by any definition.
In short:

• The social aspect of live poker will always make the games softer than online counterparts at the same stake level.

There are a higher percentage of players that play poker for fun at the casino. It’s unavoidable.
Whereas online games are extremely aggressive, live games tend to play much more passive and straight forward.
They’re just much easier to play for a profit.
The social atmosphere that draws the weaker players also benefits you in another way:

• With a good group of regulars, it seems like you’re not going in to work at all.

You get to play poker, chat about sports and hear hilarious stories in a "clubhouse" atmosphere.

Playing Live: The Cons

Live poker has some very apparent disadvantages.
First and foremost:

• You’re getting far less hands per hour than you would online even just one tabling.

The game is slower, there’s a dealer who can make mistakes and people are talking and not always paying attention to the action.
It all eats up hands per hour, which is inextricably linked to your hourly wage.
Waiting around for a game is time you have to spend at the casino as well. It’s all technically your hourly wage.
You aren’t making anything waiting for a game or you’re making less if you’re playing a smaller game waiting for a bigger game to start up.
This happens regularly in a casino poker room.
Add to that:

• You’re spending so much time in an unhealthy environment.

Casinos are loud places, the air conditioning is always pumping, the chairs are terrible and your healthy eating options are severely limited.
It’s easy to get into a routine of getting up grinding, eating horrible food, having horrible posture and leading an extremely unhealthy life when you play live at a casino.

It’s All Really On You

The decision ultimately comes down to you, where you’re comfortable and where you play your most profitable poker.
Both online and live have their pros and cons. You have to decide what’s important to you and what’s best for you to meet your goals.
Having a balanced life is the most important factor when you play poker for a living.
It’s easy to get caught up in the grind and have everything else fall to the wayside. You have to be able to balance that with staying healthy, maintaining relationships and making yourself happy.
Whichever option allows you to do that best is the option best for you.

Should I Go Pro?: The Bankroll

A question any serious poker player asks themselves at one time or another is, “Why am I working my crappy job when I make money from poker?”
Deciding to play poker for a living is a big decision. What kinds of things should you think about? Is it even a valid option for you? In this three part series we’re going to take a look at these questions and more. Before You Even Think About Thinking About Going Pro First and foremost, you’d better be a winning poker player over a significant sample size. Note: A significant sample - not a three-week heater or a couple of winning months. You need a very large sample size to know whether you’re a winning player and what your win rate is.

If poker's your living, downswings take their toll.
Think 200,000 hands online minimum or at least a year’s worth of serious live play. Swings are Inevitable Poker is a swingy, variance-filled game. You can win for months without actually being a winning player. Conversely you can be an awesome player yet still lose for a month or more. It’s just part of the game. These swings are inevitable. You might think that you can handle downswings well, but when poker is your only source of income downswings can take an especially hard mental toll. You need to have the bankroll to be able to pay your bills even when you’re losing money at poker. This isn’t the kind of decision you make instantly They Call it a Grind for a Reason Think about it. The game is fun and can be an excellent source of income. But sometimes poker is best left as a side income. They call it a grind for a reason. Be honest with yourself. You need to have the results first before anything.

Don’t ever leave a good job to play poker for a living.
Make it a serious part-time job first. If after a year or two you’re making more from your poker job than your “real” job, then start thinking about going pro. Don’t ever leave a good job to play poker for a living. Remember that if you ever stop playing for a living you’re to have to explain that massive gap in your resume. It might be fun for a few years, but is it really what you want long term? Poker will always be there. You can always play seriously on the side. Really stop and think about it. A Hard Way to Make an Easy Living “A hard way to make an easy living” might be the best quote ever made on playing poker for a living. It has its advantages, for sure. You make your own hours. You have free time. You’re your own boss. But playing poker for a living has it’s downsides. Most prominently, sometimes you go to “work” and lose a whole shit ton of money. To succeed as a poker player you have to have an excellent work ethic. You’re not going to get fired for coming in late and you’re not going to get fired for leaving early. You play when you want. But you have to treat it as a job and take it seriously. Make daily hand goals, or hours-played goals, or tournament-volume goals for the day, week, month and stick to them.

To succeed as a poker player, you have to have a work ethic.
You can take time off if something fun is happening but you have to make up that time somewhere. If you can’t put in the volume you’re never going to have success. With all that said, people do play poker for a living and it’s completely possible that you’re ready to do it. But make sure you take the time, weigh all the options, and really think the decision out. What Size Bankroll Do I Need? IF you're going to make the leap to professional poker player, this is the main question and it depends on a variety of factors. What game are you going to play? Tournaments? Cash? What stakes? What’s your monthly nut? The Monthly Nut Your monthly nut is your total monthly expenses. That’s the roof over your head, food, car payments, electricity, water, spending money. It’s everything. How much do you need to live comfortably every month? Calculate this and then add 15 to 20% and you get a good idea of how much you’re going to need to make every month. Now compare that to your win rate. You want to live comfortably, and scraping by while playing for a living is not anyone’s idea of fun. If you’re playing cash games you’ll want at least 100 buy-ins for your stake level. That’s the minimum.

Make sure you're comfortably rolled.
You want to be comfortably rolled. You don’t want to go on a 25BI downer and have to dip into your reserve fund to keep playing. This is your playing bankroll. Don’t touch it for anything but poker. Be Prepared On top of your playing roll you need to have at least three months living expenses saved up just in case. Who knows what can happen? You could get in a car accident. You could get sick. You could go on a really sick downswing. So be prepared. This is your reserve fund, and you shouldn't don’t touch it for anything. If you’re playing poker full time, then have this reserve fund at all times. This isn’t money you’ve saved that you can go spend on shoes or a vacation. This is the reserve fund in case of emergencies. If you end up making more money than your monthly nut and you have your reserve squirrelled away, then sure. Spend it. But the reserve fund and your bankroll are not for spending; they are the tools of your trade and must be treated as such. It’s Your Business Poker is now your business so treat it as such. Playing poker allows for a ton of freedom but you have to remember this is your job. You can’t half ass it. You have to put in your volume and you have to be nitty about bankroll management and your reserve management.

If poker's your business, treat it as such.
If you spend money as quick as you make it, you’re never going to have enough for when that inevitable downswing comes. You really can’t be too careful. If you plan correctly and are a good enough player, playing poker can be an awesome and very lucrative job. But it’s just that -- a job. And if you don’t treat it like a job you’re doomed to fail before you even start.

Rapture In Folding

Many players know they should only play good cards. However, few players actually possess the patience to do it.

When you only play good cards you are giving yourself the best opportunity to win. It will not ensure victory on any given hand, since poker is a long-term game, but it will ensure long-term success. Remember, long-term means anything can happen on any given hand but, over the course of many hands things will work out the way they should. If you are a 4 to 1 favorite in a hand in the long-term you will win four out of five times, in the short-term you could lose three, sometimes four or more times in a row.

Think of it this way, continually playing weaker hands is like bringing a knife to a gunfight; even if you get lucky and take out a person or two, eventually you’re a dead man!
In terms of playing starting hands patience means one thing, you must be willing to fold, and fold A LOT! Folding is not an option in poker, it is an absolute necessity. By folding you are winning. That sounds strange doesn’t it? By folding you are winning? As strange as this concept may sound it is dead on.

Folding in poker is what is known in military circles as the feigned retreat: The feigned retreat has been a battlefield staple since it was first employed by Genghis Kahn; you’ve probably heard the name.
The feigned retreat is when you let your enemy think they are beating you, or in poker terms ‘pushing you around’. However, all you are doing is waiting until you have the advantage before you engage them. You pretend to retreat, falling back while your enemy pursues you.

What you are really doing is pulling your enemy into a more favorable situation for you. The key point being; you are not losing! You are simply picking the right time to fight, when you have the advantage. With your enemy in pursuit you can choose the perfect time to turn and strike.

Because Genghis Kahn’s forces were all mounted their enemies would never catch them. Of course they lost a few men here and there, but that is the price you pay to win the battle. With the cost of playing a round of poker so low you can also afford a few small losses until the time is right and you win the battle.

Folding in poker is the feigned retreat, you lull your opponent into a false confidence by folding and folding, letting them believe they are pushing you around at their will, and then when the time is right you turn and strike with all your fury.

When your opponent has the advantage you simply avoid conflict altogether. As I said, you will lose a few blind, and a small pot here and there, but you will avoid big losses from playing marginal hands.  
The beauty of this strategy is, your opponents genuinely believe they want you to fold! After all, you can’t beat them if you fold? The truth is you want to fold. If your opponents were schooled in poker theory they would want you to always fight, especially when you have weak cards.

A patient poker player not only folds a lot but they actually love to fold! Every time they fold a bad hand they know they are winning. It also gives them the opportunity to focus on other things going on in the game.

Learn How To Keep Learning

To become a better player, you’ll not only have to study, but you’ll have to be willing to change. You’ve come this far, all you have to do now is learn how to keep learning. Here are some tips:

Player Notes:
We’ve already talked about how to learn to start reading players, but it’s such a great too, we just have to repeat ourselves. Though you don’t have to keep detailed notes on all the online players you come across, try to at least determine player types and typical betting habits of each. For instance, if you are at a table with an aggressive player who always over-bets the pot when they have a weak hand, it’s valuable to write notes about that player. Why? Because though you may not ever play against that particular player again, you will play against people who play in that same style, and knowing how that kind of player acts is extremely valuable.

Statistics:
A good player not only knows how to quickly calculate outs and pot odds, they also know how well they are doing. When playing online, there are a lot of tools you can use to keep track of your statistics. Though it’s easy to get lost in all the numbers, you should start by keeping track of the following;
The tournaments you enter, their buy-ins and your winnings and losses.
Your total winnings and losses.
How often you see a flop. (as a percentage.)
Some players use spreadsheets and in-depths statistics on all the games they play, but don’t feel you have to hire someone from NASA to keep track of the numbers. Even writing down the kinds of games you play in and how well you did is valuable. For instance, if you play both no-limit and limit hold ‘em, your statistics may show that you are significantly better at one than the other. If you want to make more money, sticking to the game(s) you are the best at will be the best way to go, but you’ll only get there if you record that basic data.

Your Poker Journal:
You should also keep track of your own plays and what patterns you may be unaware of. People in general tend to fall into habits, and if you get into a bad poker habit, you may not realize you are doing it until you’ve lost a lot of money. Keep a poker journal on yourself. Write down the hands where you got beat, how they progressed, who did what, and all the information you can remember about each of them. Write down how you were playing when you finished high in a tournament and try to learn how to do it again. By learning your own strengths and weaknesses, you’ll be much better able to learn how to change your behavior and improve your game.

Find an idol:
With the explosion of poker’s popularity, the amount of poker research available to you has become enormous. Use it. Find a professional poker player, writer or website that you find helpful and learn what they have to teach you. Read books, watch poker on TV and immerse yourself in the details and technicalities. The more you learn, the better your game will be.

How to Calculate Pot Odds

If you’re intent on becoming a better poker player, one of the quickest ways to do this is learn how to calculate pot odds. I know, the idea of figuring out a bunch of mathematical calculations is something that gives you cold shivers. But fear not. We’ll show you a quick and simple method you can use.

Pot odds are a ratio. Once you determine the correct ratio, you can use that to determine what amount you can bet to stay in the hand. If you have to call an amount in excess of the pot-odds, you are usually better off folding. If it’s less, you can safely call or raise.

Step 1: Figure the Outs:
To determine the number of outs, you first need to determine what will make your hand. For example, if you are dealt 9-10 suited, and the flop comes 8-7-A rainbow, you have 8 outs to make the straight. Why? There are 2 cards that can make the straight; 6 and J of any suit. Since none of these cards are exposed, that means there are 8 cards in the deck that can give you your hand.

Learning how to recognize outs is your first step in calculating pot odds. You need to be sure of these numbers or everything else is meaningless. Don’t try to figure out what other people may have in their own hands for now, just learn what the possibilities are.

Step 2: Determine Your Chances:
To quickly determine the chance you have at hitting your hand, multiply your outs by either 4 (after the flop) or 2 (after the turn) to determine your percentage. For example, in the hand above you have 8 outs after the flop. To determine the rough percentage of making your hand, just multiply by 4. (8 x 4 = 32%) This means you have a 32% chance of making your hand by the river.

Step 3: Find the Pot Odds:
To determine what you can or can’t bet on a hand, you need to divide the bet amount by the would-be pot amount. So, you are trying to decide whether to cal a $200 bet when the pot is $1,200. That makes the would-be pot amount $1,400. To determine the pot-odds, take the amount you need to call ($200) and divide it by the would-be pot. This is: $200/$1,400 = .14 = 14%.

Step 4: Compare the 2 Percentages:
Now that you have the pot odds and percentage to hit your hand, you can figure out what is a worthwhile bet. For our example, the chance of making your hand is 32%, and your pot-odds are 14%. If the pot odds are less than the chance of making your hand—as they are in this case—you can make the call. However, if the pot odds are greater than the chance to win, you’re probably better off folding.

Now, it takes time to get used to making these calculations. Try to get into the habit of thinking in terms of odds ratios or percentages. You should know how to convert back and forth between the two. Once you get some practice and can calculate these numbers with ease, your game will improve dramatically.

DO NOTS of Texas Holdem Tournaments

If you wish to win a Texas Holdem tournament you need to accumulate big amount of chips. At the same time it is very important to learn how to protect your stake. Therefore I am going to tell you what you SHOULD NOT do if you wish to save your chips.

1. Do not call raises before the flop too often

Texas Holdem tournament consists of hundreds of hands. And you will definitely have to make difficult decisions related to bets. Mistakes with continuation bets are very painful. Therefore you should use two rules to avoid such mistakes:

•  Do not place continuation bets all the time

•  do not place very expensive continuation bets

I advice to use continuation bets only in cases when you are sure that your opponent is going to fold or when you have a perfect draw with a big value. Looses induced by continuation bets can be extremely huge. Many Texas Holdem players are not afraid of placing big bets. They prefer aggressive style. The size of the bet can be 2/3 of the pot or even bigger. And this is a dangerous game . You should understand it . Placing expensive continuation bets can be punished really hard if one of your opponents has collected good cards. Therefore I advice to place small bets. In such cases you can win at least something. Let’s have a look at the example.

Your hand: A♥ K♥
The flop: 7♥ 2♥ J♦

And there is only one opponent.

So, as you can see, the flop brought you good cards. At the same time you do not have a completed combination yet. Now you have a drawing hand with a potential value. Therefore if you raise you will have good chances to complete your drawing hand and win the big pot. Therefore continuation bet is suitable in this situation

Your hand: K♥ Q♣
The flop: Q♠ 8♠ 8♣

There are three opponents

Use of continuation bets is a mistake in this case. First of all, you play against three opponents and it is very possible that at least one of them has got ace, or even pocket pair. Possibility of folding by all the opponents is extremely small. Therefore you should try to save your chips and avoid continuation bets.

2. Do not hope too much on strong pocket cards

You have got final word at the hand with pocket AK. Your opponent with a big stake raise by the size of four blinds. After several minutes of thinking you decide to be all-in. Your opponent calls your bet and shows QQ. And after several seconds you have to leave the table. Such situations are very common in Texas Holdem poker especially at the earliest stages of different tournaments. Experienced Texas Holdem players prefer to have a look at the flop before putting all the chips on the centre of the table if they have high card ace.

Instead of being all-in with such cards it would be wiser to call big bet or even re-raise. If your opponent bets $100 just re-raise it to $400. Maybe your opponent will fold cards and you will get the money. Anyway if you use this Texas Holdem strategy you will be able to check the flop and if it hasn’t brought you any useful cards you can just fold. In the worst case you will still have some chips.

I wish to advice the same if you have got pocket jacks. Most poker players are ready to be all-in with such cards. They expect most of their opponents to fold before the flop. But if somebody calls, the flop can change everything. And don’t forget that your jacks can be outclassed by pocket queens, kings or aces. So, your chances are not as good as you might think. So, once again, first of all check the flop and build your strategy then. This is Texas Holdem poker, not a Russian roulette. Therefore don’t rely only on luck. Always use advantage of your skills!

3. Do not use the same strategy when blinds go up

In the very beginning of a tournament you can easily call $80 bet having pocket 6♣ 7♣. And such call is reasonable because it is possible to catch needed cards on the flop. But when blinds go up such tactic becomes too expensive. And I can say the same about weak pocket pairs like 44, 33 etc. Of course, you hope to collect three of a kind and expect to get third 4 from the flop. But the possibility to get needed card in this case is only 1 to 8. Let’s evaluate your chances in such cases. If you have to call $2400 8 times you will lose 7 times. So, it will mean that you will have to give away 16 800 chips. And if you want to keep your stake in Texas Holdem tournament you will have to win at least 16 900 chips when you get three of a kind from the flop. So, as you can see it is reasonable to avoid such situations and keep 16 800 chips instead of hoping on the good luck.

4. Do not underestimate to win blinds of your opponents

The further you go at a Texas Holdem tournament, the more aggressive you should play. Tight play is very useful, but only on first stages. But as soon as your stake becomes not reliable enough you should start using aggressive strategy.

Your hand: K♠ 10♥

Position: cut-off

Blinds: $300/$600

Stake: $10 000

All players before you have folded. You have got average cards, they can bring you win but you need strengthening. Definitely, such cards are suitable for attempts of stealing blinds. Raise to 1 500 and watch your opponents. If a person sitting on a dealer-button folds and big blind calls you will have at least better position. And if you are lucky simple continuation bet can earn you 1 800 chips (your opponents fold).

Such aggressive strategy is worthwhile. You should remember that waiting for monster cards is very expensive in Texas Holdem tournaments. In our case you will lose 900 chips after every round. And of course such expenses are not good for your stake.

5. Do not chase a draw without reliable oods

This situation is very common. A player collects drawing hand at the flop and needs just a one card to complete the draw. Excitement and desire to win big pot force the player to risk. He continues the hand and adds chips to the pot and finally looses everything.

Your hand: A♥ J♥

The flop: 5♥ 9♥ Q♦

Your stake: $11 000

Pot: $2 500

Opponent (stake = 5 000) places $1900 bet. Is it reasonable to call? No, because the odds to win the hand are not big enough. In this example the chance to get a needed card is 35 %. But experts say that odds should not be lower than 43 %. Only in such cases you should continue Texas Holdem game.

Moreover, your opponent is tied to the pot and it is very unlikely that he will fold. Let’s say he will be all-in. Then you call and the river and the turn do not give you needed card. So, you will lose 5 000 chips and it will be very painful. Basically, the game is not worth the candle.

You should fold and wait for suitable moment. When I say suitable I mean affordable. Do not invest too much money on risky hands. Many Texas Holdem players make this mistake and realize it when it is too late.

The goal of this article was to tell you how to maximize chances to win a tournament. Of course, as you know, there is no guaranteed winning Texas Holdem strategy and the luck plays an important role. But the luck should not be crucial. Therefore I advice you not to be all-in too often. You cannot win every single coin-flip and you will definitely loose at least once. But this defeat can be decisive. That’s why you should not let the luck to define winner.

Source: Ronald Norris, RoomReview.

 

Key Texas Holdem Skills

Texas Holdem sharks are usually described as tight and aggressive players: “Texas Holdem pros never play many hands, but when they do play a hand, they play it like they have the nuts.�? Though this is a rather nice and precise description of a skilled Texas Holdem player, it doesn’t say much about their skills and playing style. A winning player is one, who has mastered the four key skills of Texas Holdem poker.

• Mathematics

A winning player should perfectly know the general probabilities of Texas Holdem poker. He must know what are his actual chances of hitting a winning hand in any particular situation. For example he must know that he has about 1 in 8,5 chance of hitting a good set, when holding a pocket pair and roughly 1 in 3 chance to complete a flopped flush draw by the river.

Skilled players also understand the importance of outs. Outs are the actual number of cards that can improve your hand. An easy way to quickly calculate the percentage shot you have at hitting is count your outs, multiply the result by two and add one.

Winning Texas Holdem players can easily figure out their pot odds, because even knowing your outs appears to be useless, unless the result is translated into rationally calculated betting. Try to figure out your actions, knowing that you have a 20% of hitting? Not sure? Check out the Pot Odds articles in internet.

The described math skills are essential for a good Texas Holdem player. Avoid getting involved in tight and aggressive games, before you master these concepts.

• Discipline

Good Texas Holdem players demand an advantage. What severs winning Texas Holdem players from fish (major auditory of poker rooms) is that fish doesn’t expect to win, while a skilled Texas Holdem player does. The fish is always happy playing any gambling games, including craps, roulette, slots, etc. because fish hopes to get lucky. A skilled Texas Holdem player never relies on luck – he just hopes his opponents don’t get too lucky.

Wise Texas Holdem players clearly realize that different games require different tactics and approach. You must remember that a winning No-Limit Texas Holdem player can be a fool in Limit Texas Holdem and vice versa. For instance, a disciplined Limit Texas Holdem player has impressive preflop skills. When there isn’t much action preflop, such player would play just the best starting hands and when lots of players limp in, he would make a loose call holding a suited connector or other questionable hand.

A disciplined Texas Holdem player is always able to quit, when he feels that it’s time to quit. He clearly understands when he gets on tilt and knows when the game is juicy enough to keep on playing.

A disciplined Texas Holdem player always realizes that he is far from perfect. When he makes a mistake, he learns and when he succeeds he learns too. He won’t blame others and he never cries. He learns from each and every hand he plays and never stops learning something new.

• Psychology

Winning Texas Holdem players are less self-centered than fish, although they may be the biggest sobs, who enjoy watching children cry. They leave their egocentricity and empathize with their opponents as soon as they enter a poker room. This is essential, when you want to think how your opponents think and in order to understand what reasons force them to make the decisions they make. A skilled Texas Holdem player always tries to answer the following questions regarding each of his opponents:

• What does my opponent has?

• What does my opponent think and/or know about my cards?

• What does my opponent thinks I think he has?

If you can clearly answer these questions regarding each of your opponents, then you can use these answers to do your best at the poker table. Imagine, for example, that you have a pair of Kings, while one of your opponents has a pair of Aces. If both of you know what the other has as well as both of you know that his opponent knows what he has, then why play Texas Holdem? A skilled Texas Holdem pro tries to answer these three questions and prevent his opponents from answering the same questions about himself.

Texas Holdem pros know that psychological skills are way more important in No-Limit Texas Holdem than in a Limit Texas Holdem game. Limit Holdem games often turn into math battles, while No-Limit Holdem carries a very strong psychological component, which means that poker tells are way more important in No-Limit Holdem games.

• Risks versus Reward

Both demanding an advantage and pot odds fall into this category. Skilled Texas Holdem players are ready to face a long-shot risk if the reward is high enough, considering the fact that the expected return is significantly higher than the risk.

The risk-and-reward concept of Texas Holdem game is also significant outside a particular poker room. Holdem pros know what bankroll they need to play and how much money should be kept for life. This concept is frequently referred to as “money management�?.

Wise Holdem players understand that they should be more risk-averse with their overall bankroll than their stack at the poker table.

Playing an individual game, you must value each and every chip equally at the table. They only thing you should really care is to make correct decisions and plays. Buying in for $10 you should be OK with having a 52% chance of doubling your stack up to $20, if this means that you have a 48% chance of losing your $10 stack.

However, regardless of any particular situation, you should always be risk-averse with your overall bankroll. You should keep enough money to handle even an extremely long bad run (which is very, very rare, but possible) and money you need for life. Even the richest players worry about each dollar they invest in Texas Holdem, because those players, who don’t care about losing money make too much mistakes at the table. You should seriously think about leaving yourself a chance to fight and win another day.

Source: Ronald Norris, RoomReview.