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.
No comments:
Post a Comment