Poker Strategy
It has been said that poker
is easy to learn but hard to master. Mastering any poker
game is a fun and challenging goal.
The basics of solid poker
strategy involve many concepts that players must combine
to become a consistent winner. The following concepts
are crucial to learning poker strategy:
- Tight play
- Aggressive play
- Random play
- Taking advantage of an opponents’ mistake
Keep these concepts in
mind as you develop as a poker player. These strategic
concepts are like the colors on an artist’s palette:
the basic colors are the same, but the artist’s
use of them is unique and stylistic.
Decisions for the New
Poker Player
Decide whether you want to play poker to win or for
fun. To play at a consistently winning level requires
time and effort. In other words, it takes alot of hard
work. There is nothing wrong with playing poker for
fun, but there is no reason to plan to lose, even when
you are playing for fun. However, deciding which type
of poker player you want to be before you start will
make your decisions and sessions easier. I would imagine
you are reading this page because you want to play poker
to win. The following will help you achieve that goal.
Make Good Decisions
– the Results Will Follow
Even the best poker players in the world have losing
sessions. Do not make the mistake of expecting to win
every time you play. Your goal must be to play to the
best of your ability in every session. If you do, the
cards and winnings will take care of themselves as you
improve, and over time, you will make the money you
are setting out to make.
Many players make the mistake of judging their poker
playing ability based on the results of each session.
Your goal should be to make the best possible play every
time. The closer you come to this, the better your results
will be in the long run.
The Mathematics of Poker
Poker is a mathematical game, and it’s a game of
incomplete information. That may sound complicated,
but it really isn't. On a very basic level, winning
poker starts with the selection of starting hands you
choose to play. If you enter the pot with the best hand
more often than your opponents do, you will win more
times than your opponents will.
Pot Odds
The relationship between pot odds and odds of winning
is one of the most important concepts in poker strategy.
Pot odds are the ratio of the size of the bet required
to stay in the pot to the size of the pot. For example,
if a player must call a $10 bet for a chance to win
a $40 pot (not including his $10 call), his pot odds
are 4-to-1 (20% probability). To have a positive expectation,
a player's odds of winning must be at least equal to
his pot odds. If the player's odds of winning are also
4-to-1, if he plays the pot five times, he puts in $10
five times, loses four times and wins $50 once (breaking
even).
Position
Position refers to the order in which players are seated
around the table and the strategic consequences of this.
Generally, players in earlier position (who have to
act first) need stronger hands to bet or raise than
players in later position. For example, if there are
5 opponents yet to act behind a player, there is a greater
chance one of the opponents will have a better hand
than if there was only 1 opponent yet to act. Being
in late position is an advantage because a player gets
to see how his opponents in earlier position acted (which
provides the player more information about their hands
than they have about his). The better your position,
the more information you can gather to make your decision
of whether you will bet, raise, or fold the hand.
Starting Hands and Beyond
Starting hand selection is fundamentally important,
but it’s only one piece of the poker strategy puzzle.
Once you have mastered solid starting hand guidelines
and understand how they change by your position at the
table, the next area you should work on is your play
for the rest of the hand. The area that separates professional
players from amateurs is that professional players tend
to play much better than their opponents during the
remainder of the hand, after the starting hand decisions
are made. This is especially true concerning the decisions
made at the very end of every hand. These skills involve
calculating pot odds, recognizing betting patterns,
bluffing, and using position. The years of practice
necessary to master the middle and end game play are
well worth the effort, because even small improvements
in a player’s abilities can have a tremendous effect
on that player’s lifetime winnings.
Avoiding Tilt
Another skill that should be part of a winning player’s
poker strategy is to avoid tilt. Tilting is when you
deviate your play based on your emotional status. Your
opponents will use your emotions against you, but only
if you let them. Emotional play results in poor decisions
and loss of money. Tilting and steaming can happen to
anyone, and sometimes the only cure is to take a break
from the game. That’s okay; the game will still
be there 15 minutes from now. In fact, it will still
be there tomorrow too.
Thanks
to PokerStars for this information
