Poker Strategies - Part 2
Continuing the second part of our section
on poker startegies looking at which hands
you should play, when to play them, how to play them,
as well as when and when not to bluff. Remember
your main advantage will be that when you enter a pot you will
usually have a better starting hand than your opponent. And,
when you get an unfavorable flop you will have the discipline
to muck your hand and save those big turn and river bets.
Continued
From Poker Tactics & Strategies - Part 1
Hand 5 A Q (Pre-Flop)
Ace Queen plays very similar to AK you will want to raise this
hand whenever you enter the pot regardless of your position. If
you are in one of the blinds you should just call. I would not
recommend re-raising with the hand very often. You may re-raise
with it only when you have a good read on the raiser and you
have observed that he is a very aggressive player (or a maniac)
who raises with several holdings and you have good position,
the button or next to it. Otherwise you should just call and
have a look at the flop.
A Q (Post-Flop)
If you hit either your ace you will have top pair second best
kicker, if you hit you queen, and there is no over cards you
will have top pair top kicker. As such a flop like Qc 7s 2h is
a very good flop for you and you should play it fast. If you
are first to act bet, if someone else has bet, raise. Continue
to play the hand fast unless your opponents continue to play
back at indicating a lot of strength. If this happens slow down
and just call the hand down, they could have flopped a set, or
perhaps have an over pair (you should have an idea about this
as they likely would have been a lot of pre-flop action). If
you flop an ace again play the hand fast. If there was pre-flop
raising you must be careful if your opponents are showing a lot
of strength on the flop, you might be up against AK, so pay
attention and be careful if your opponents continue to play
back at you. Note that a flop of Kd 9h 2s is a terrible flop
for you. Any flop with a Kxx in it is a bad flop for you hand
and you should simply muck your hand if anyone bets the flop.
You should play the hand the same way you play AK if you miss
the flop and no king is on the board.
Hand 6 & 7 other Big Connectors AJ, KQ (Pre-Flop)
I am lumping these two hands together because you can play them
pretty much the same. If the game you are playing in isn’t very
aggressive (there isn’t to much raising before the flop) the
hand can be played from all positions. If you are entering the
pot from an early position with one of these hands you might
just want to limp in. There could be a great deal of action
behind you, and if the pot is capped by the time it gets back
to you, you can get away from the hand by mucking your cards.
They just are not worth four bets before the flop; if the hand
is raised behind you, call. It the pot is raised and re-raised
you can call if the pot is multi way, 4 players or more but you
will need to hit the flop perfectly in order to continue
playing the hand, so proceed with caution.
If you are entering the pot with one of
these hands from middle position or later and you have no more
than one caller already in the pot go ahead and bring it in for
a raise, under these circumstances there is a strong
probability you have the best hand.
AJ, KQ (Post-Flop)
The flop is going to have to help your hand in order for you to
continue playing a hand like this. If you hold KQ and an ace
hits the flop you are done playing the hand (unless you flop
two pair or better). If you hold AJ and an ace hits the flop,
you will lead at the pot, but you must proceed with caution. If
there was any pre-flop action, and there is a lot of action on
the flop you are probably better off to simply get away from
your AJ. This is where knowing your opponents will help you. If
you do decide to continue with the hand again, do so with
caution. Yeah you have a pair of aces but you only have one
pair and your kicker isn’t great so don’t bet this hand to the
moon like many of your opponents do. There is no need to loose
additional bets due to bravado. If you get a favorable flop to
a hand like this you will want to continue leading at the pot
unless one of your opponents shows a great deal of strength,
then just check and call the hand down.
Hand 8&9 other Big Connectors KJ, JQ (Pre-Flop)
These two hands are definitely part of the big card family, but
they are not raising hands. They should be discarded from very
early position. They can be played from mid position or better.
If the pot is raised you can protect your blinds with a hand
like this as you are already part way into the pot and likely
will be getting correct pot odds to continue. You want to try
and get into the pot as cheaply as possible with a hand like
this because if the flop doesn’t improve your hand you will be
mucking your hand for any bet on the flop.
KJ, JQ (Post-Flop)
You will need to improve your hand on the flop or you will not
continue playing the hand. You will either need to flop a pair
or an open ended straight draw or you will have to muck your
hand. If you flop a pair and there is no over cards on the flop
you will have top pair with a decent kicker. You will want to
bet or raise with a hand like this. If you get played back at,
at all (raised or re-raised), you must slow down, evaluate the
hand and decide if the hand is worth continuing with. Often you
will need to muck it right then and there. If you decide to
continue with the hand, check and call as long as no over cards
or scare cards hit the turn or river, if they do you likely
will have to muck your hand. You must play hands like these
very carefully or they will end up costing you a lot of
money.
Medium to Small Pairs, Pocket Jacks Through Pocket Twos
(Pre-Flop)
While a pocket pair of Jacks is vastly superior to a pocket
pair of twos you will actually play all of these pockets quite
similarly. The higher the pair the more strength it has. You
will absolutely need to hit any hand between 22-88 to have at
chance at winning the pot. Occasionally you can win with jacks,
tens, and nines without hitting them, but you will need a very
favorable flop for these hands to hold up (no over cards, no
suited connectors etc.). In early position these hands should
be thrown in the muck. With the exception of jacks and tens,
with either of these two pockets limp in from early position,
they are just a little too good to muck, even from up
front.
From mid position or better you may enter
the pot provided that it is not yet been raised and you have at
least one or two other limpers in the pot in front of you. If
you don’t have these circumstance you should not even bother
entering the pot, it is just not profitable. You want to play
these medium to small pairs the exact opposite way you play big
pairs. They play well against many players, and you would like
to enter the pot for one bet. You can call a raise only if you
are in very late position and there are at least three other
players already in the pot. Most flops will be unfavorable to
these types of hands and most often you will have to muck your
mid to small pocket hand on the flop. As such, you are not
willing to put in several bets before the flop. You want to
play against many players in case you are lucky enough to hit a
set on the flop. If this happens you will often win a large
pot. So remember the only time you want to play your little
pockets is when you can limp in from late position against
numerous players, if you are unable to enter the pot under
these circumstances simply muck the hand. If you play little
pockets under any other scenarios they will be big time chip
burners.
Medium to Small Pairs, Pocket Jacks Through
Pocket Twos (Post-Flop)
These hands will be very, easy to play after the flop. You will
only be able to continue playing if one of two things happens.
Firstly, if you hold one of the higher holdings, like tens, or
jacks, about 40%-50% of the time an over card will not hit the
flop. If this happens play your hand very strong on the flop,
bet or raise the hand in hopes of driving out player who hold
over cards. If an over card hits on the turn or the river and
there is any action you will have a tough decision, either
check and call, or muck your hand if you figure you are beat.
If there is a bet and a raise when an over card hits, trust me,
you are beat, muck your hand.
If you are lucky enough to flop a set then
your objective is usually to get as many chips into the pot as
possible, as you will be a big favorite to win the pot. This is
one of the only times you may want to slow play a hand.
Especially if a pre-flop raiser or just a very aggressive
player is sitting to your immediate left. You can check with
the intention of raising or re-raising. You may even elect to
wait until the turn to make your check raise, but only do this
if the flop is ragged (its not suited, or connected). When you
are lucky enough to catch a flop like this you stand to make a
lot of money.
Suited connectors and Ax Suited hands Pre-Flop
There are certain times that you may play these types of hands.
They require the same criteria as small pairs. Again, they play
well against many opponents, and you would like to enter the
pot for one bet from late position. You can call a raise only
if you are in very late position and there are at least three
other players already in the pot. If you can’t enter the pot
under these circumstances than you must pass on the hand. It is
these types of hands that cost beginners and intermediate
players tons of money. They continually enter pots out of
position, under a raise when they shouldn’t, in non-multi way
pots, these are all horrible plays and you will NEVER again
make them yourself.
Suited connectors and Ax Suited hands (Post-Flop)
Again, they play very similar to your little pairs. You need to
flop to these hands perfectly. You need either an open ended
straight draw, or a flush draw or better to continue playing
one of these hands. If you have a big draw like either of the
ones I just mentioned you usually should just check and call.
In limit holdem, if you have at least two other players in the
pot, you will always be correct in calling the hand all the way
to the river. You will be getting sufficient odds to continue
with your drawing hand.
If the board has three of a suit, you must
never continue with a straight draw. Someone may already have a
made flush, so how can you continue on a straight draw? You
can’t and you won’t. If you flopped a made straight, that’s a
horse of a different color. In this case you would continue to
play unless you experienced a lot of action indicating that you
are beat, in which case you will have to get away from this
hand. If the flop comes paired, you will never draw to either a
flush or a straight, as someone may already have a made full
house. The key rule is that if you are drawing, you don’t want
to make your hand and still lose, you don’t want to be drawing
dead. This is precisely what happens time and time again when
people draw to straights with paired or suited flops. If you
have good position and a lot of players you may want to raise
on the flop. Lets say it’s a large multi way pot with say five
or six players and you have a nut flush draw. You are on the
button and five players are in for a single bet. You might as
well go ahead and raise in a situation like this. You will hit
your hand one out of three times, and you are getting six to
one on your raise (likely all the players will call for a
single raise). If you hit the flush on the turn great bet your
hand, or raise it, hey are lucky enough to have caught the nuts
so bet your hand. If you miss, your raise on the flop may just
give you the opportunity to check the turn and give yourself a
free card. Never bet the turn in this situation if you can
check and get a free card, the odds are no longer with you with
only one card to go.
CONCLUSION
To be a winner at the higher limits patience
and discipline are still probably your most important weapons
in your arsenal, however they alone will not get the job done
at the higher limits. You will need to hone your poker skills
because doing just these two things won’t get the job done at
the higher limits, but I assure you it will get it done at the
low limits. You should be watching the game carefully, getting
a feel for the game, your opponents betting patterns, making
notes etc. Notes are an invaluable tool that will improve your
online Holdem win rate. They have enabled me to make many, many
thousands of dollars that I would otherwise not have made. With
a note on a player I am able to make a call that I otherwise
would not have been able to make if I had no information on
this player. Every session I play I always make notes on my
opponents.
I believe that making notes is so important to your online win
rate that I have included a few here as an example of how you
might do it. Please note that many of my notes will be
referring to 100 and 200 No limit sit and go tournaments but I
believe you will get the idea.
Example 1 Player A 100 NL called my raise at level 5 in SB with
K8, flop came 225, he bet 500, He goes all-in with any ace at
end of tourney, clueless at end of a tourney,
Example 2. Player B 100 NL called an all-in level 2 with AQ
pre-flop, only bets the goods
Example 3 Player C 50 limit, 4 bet me on flop with nothing,
made foolish bluff
Example 4 Player D 50 NL chasing fool, chased 2nd pair to river
board came A7878, HE WILL PAY ME OFF, PLAY FAST AGAINST HIM
Example 5 Player E100 NL, over better, chase top pair no kicker
at any cost, easy to trap, easy to check raise
Example 6 Player F Strong player, plays well, try to avoid
Notes will help you stay involved in the
game when you are not playing a hand. They will help you from
getting bored and entering the pot when you know you should. I
strongly encourage you to take notes on your opponents, the
dividends they will pay quite substantial.
You have now been equipped with enough information to be a
solid winning player a low limit holdem, so what are you
waiting for, go get em tiger!
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