Winning Consistently at Online Poker
Sense discovering online poker, I make enough money that I quit my job and play online
poker full time. I make on average $45,000 a month playing 40 hours a week. I have
read many books on poker and put together this fool proof system to winning online
poker.
In general, online poker needs to be attacked the same way as poker in a brick and mortar
casino.
In order to play well and win, one always has to adjust to the players and the
circumstances. There
are differences between the average online player compared to the average brick and
mortar player,
but those differences are small enough that some logical adjustments should do the trick.
In that
respect, this section on online poker is specifically aimed at the differences and
uniqueness that
online poker presents.
What Is Poker?
Poker is by far the most popular card game played in America today (if
not the world), in terms of both the amount of money that changes
hands every year, as well as in the number of players involved.
Though there are hundreds of variations of Poker being played today,
they can mostly be placed into three main classes:
•
Flop Games (Like Hold 'em and Omaha) in which each player
receives their own hole cards and 5 exposed community cards
(flop) that are available to all players. The hole cards are hidden
from the other players until the showdown (completion of the
hand).
•
Stud (like 7 and 5 Card Stud) Poker, in which some cards in each
player's hand are exposed to all the players as the betting
progresses, and all the active players' cards being exposed at
the showdown.
•
Closed games, like draw poker where you see no cards except
your own until the showdown.
The most popular form of poker played today is a (Flop Game) called
Texas Hold'em. For this reason it will be the form of Poker that
PokerSchool Online initially focuses on.
In all the variations of poker, two factors remain constant:
1. The value or rank of each poker hand.
2. At the showdown (when the round of play ends) the hand cannot
consist of more than five cards, even though more cards are
used in many poker variations.
Mention poker to someone and you're likely to hear of one of these
three poker stereotypes:
•
Wild Wild West: where Mississippi Riverboat gamblers with
striped shirts and thin moustaches have a derringer hidden up
their sleeve, or Dodge City residents like Doc Holliday or Wild Bill
Hickok sitting around a smoky table in a saloon.
•
The Sting: from the famous movie, comes the image of Chicago
mobsters sitting in a cigar filled room, a bottle of cheap scotch
on the table, and a husky football player standing ready at the
peep-hole.
•
The Kitchen Table: Uncle John and Aunt Bessie are sitting
around their kitchen table playing with their many visiting
relatives, with a penny ante. Somehow all their nieces and
nephews come away with penny-stuffed pockets.
Since the late 1980's, poker has undergone a revolution toward
respectability. Today's poker is clean, brightly lit, and decidedly middle
class. Like bowling and billiards beforehand, poker has moved from its
seedier roots into daylight and acceptance by the masses. No matter
where you live, it's likely that you are only a few hours away from a
public card room, or just blocks from a friendly game. Poker is all
around you.
Poker has achieved its outstanding popularity for the following
reasons:
1. It can be played by rich and poor alike. The stakes may vary
from no limit to penny ante, just as long as the minimum and
maximum betting limits are agreed upon before the game
begins.
2. It is easy to learn.
3. It may be played in a great many different ways.
4. Any number of players from two to eleven at one table may
play, although two to ten make the best game (Cash Games,
Side Action) but in the Tournaments you can see as many as
1,000 players starting out at 100 tables, which ends up with one
winner. Many of these larger tournaments are played over more
than one day.
5. It is strictly a gambling card game, whether it is Hold'em, Poker
penny-ante style or Seven-Card Stud table stakes. The gambling
can be replaced with other incentives to play well. Without the
gambling or incentive factors it would be one of America's least
played games. PokerSchool is showing the industry how to
replace the "gambling element" during the learning phase.
6. Each player, on his own, battles all the others. There is no
partnership play.
7. It combines both chance and skill and is the only game in which
a player can win only one hand all evening and still come out a
winner, or win any more than the average number of hands and
still lose to the game's action.
"If there is any more engrossing card game for a group of reasonable,
congenial friends of fairly equal playing ability than Poker, I have yet
to learn about it." -John Scarne
Quoted in part according to the Famous Card Authority John Scarne
from his book "Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling".
The Science of Poker
A great many players believe that Poker is primarily a game of chance
and that most consistent winners at Poker are simply lucky. Actually,
Poker contains a greater skill element than any other card game,
including Contract Bridge, Pinochle and Gin Rummy. Despite the fact
that Poker has so many variations and that the proper winning
strategy differs slightly in each one, the better player will nearly
always win money and the poorer player nearly always lose money in
a lone Poker session. I believe that there is more science and skill in
Poker than in Bridge for the reasons that follow:
My observations of Poker games over the past 40 years have
convinced me that if a Poker expert played three average players for
52 sessions, each lasting six hours, the expert player would emerge
the winner 51 times. The odds against any such result at Contract
Bridge under similar conditions are high.
Contract Bridge is a partnership game and as in all such games, one
partner is usually more skilled than the other. Their combined ability is
therefore less than that of the better player. In Poker, with each player
on his own, a skilled player is not handicapped by a less able partner.
That is, his skill potential is not reduced.
Contract Bridge is basically a game of strategy plus partnership signals
(bidding). Poker is a game of strategy, deception, mathematics and
psychology, with a considerable amount of courage thrown in.
Judgment of one's opponent's psychological traits or habits plays little
part in Bridge strategy, whereas a top Poker player must be a master
of Poker psychology in order to simultaneously analyze the playing
traits of as many as seven opponents. Deception is used much more in
Poker than Bridge and knowledge of the game's mathematics is much
more important in Poker than in Bridge. Also, money management is
important in Poker and not in Bridge.
In most forms of Poker, the game is pure chance only until the player
looks at the cards dealt him. From then on, unlike in Bridge and most
other card games, chance plays a lesser role because the players need
not play bad hands out to a finish. The player can throw a bad hand in
and take a small loss, or perhaps none, or he can continue to play a
bad hand and sometimes win by bluffing. In Stud and its variants, this
decision can be made by the player each time another card is dealt
until the showdown.
The skilled Poker player will play fewer bad hands than the unskilled
player and thus increase his winning chances in a way that an equally
skilled Bridge player cannot do.
The Origins of Poker
There seem to be differences of opinion on the origin of Poker.
Moreover, there seems to be no clear or direct early ancestor of the
game. It is more likely that Poker derived its present day form from
elements of many different games. The consensus is that because of
it's basic principal, its birth is a very old one.
Jonathan H. Green makes one of the earliest written references to
Poker in 1834. In his writing, Green mentions rules to what he called
the "cheating game," which was then being played on Mississippi
riverboats. He soon realized that his was the first such reference to the
game, and since it was not mentioned in the current American Hoyle,
he chose to call the game Poker.
The game he described was played with 20 cards, using only the aces,
kings, queens, jacks and tens. Two to four people could play, and each
was dealt five cards. By the time Green wrote about it, poker had
become the number one cheating game on the Mississippi boats,
receiving even more action than Three-Card Monte. Most people taken
by Three-Card Monte thought the 20-card poker seemed more a
legitimate game, and they came back time and time again. It would
certainly appear, then, that Poker was developed by the cardsharps.
The origin of the word Poker is also well debated. Most of the
dictionaries and game historians say that it comes from an eighteenth-
century French game, poque. However, there are other references to
pochspiel, which is a German game. In pochspiel, there is an element
of bluffing, where players would indicate whether they wanted to pass
or open by rapping on the table and saying, "Ich Poche!" Some say it
may even have derived come the Hindu word, pukka.
Yet another possible explanation for the word poker, is that it came
from a version of an underworld slang word, "poke," a term used by
pickpockets. Cardsharps who used the 20-card cheating game to
relieve a sucker from his poke may have used that word among
themselves, adding an r to make it "poker." The thought was that if
the sharps used the word "poker" in front of their victims, those wise
to the underworld slang would not surmise the change.
There are those who also believe that "poke" probably came from
"hocus-pocus", a term widely used by magicians. The game of Poker
later evolved to include 32 cards, and eventually the modern day deck
of 52, not counting the two Jokers.
The game of Poker has evolved through the years, through many
backroom games to the present day casinos around the world. Its
history is rich with famous places and characters. For example, during
the Wild West period of United States history, a saloon with a Poker
table could be found in just about every town from coast to coast.
Today, Poker is carefully regulated by gambling laws, and saloons
have given way to casinos and cardrooms, but Poker is played more
than any other card game in the world. It has grown into a sporting
event, with competitions and tournaments all around the world.
Tournaments take place almost every week of the year somewhere in
the world.
If you compare the prizes of major sporting events around the world,
you will find that the monetary outcome of any given event in Poker
would (pardon the pun) stack up. Poker today is one of the fastest
growing, but hardly recognized sporting events. The pinnacle of the
poker world, The World Series of Poker, attracts players from all over
the world every year to compete for money and titles as the world's
top Poker players.
Poker will always be around and will continue to grow and flourish like
so many other past times. There will always be a game to play, money
to be won, and crowns to be worn.
How to play No Limit Texas Hold'em
The following page will provide the rules and the structure of the
game. There will be graphics and text to walk you through terminology
and step by step play of a round of Texas Hold'em. Once you have
developed a feel for the game, the subsequent rounds will be much
easier.
The Dealer
When the table is full, there will be 9 or 10 players. When playing
online, these seats are randomly selected by the computer.
A person (or computer when online) does the physical dealing of the
cards and is not one of the players. On the table is a small round disc
called the button. This button is placed in front of the person who is
the theoretical "dealer" to indicate where the dealing should begin. The
button will say 'D' on it. See picture above.
After every hand, the button moves clockwise as if each player at the
table were getting a turn to deal.
The dealer's button is always placed in seat 10 at the start of a
game/tournament for the first hand. The small blind will be in seat 1
and the big blind will be in seat 2. Now the game begins.
The Blinds
Always moving clockwise, the player to the immediate left of the
dealer is called the small blind. This player places 1/2 of the structured
bet in front of him or her. To the small blind's left is the big blind. This
player places one full structured bet in front of him or her.
In our example of No Limit Texas Hold'em, the small blind will post $5.
That is 1/2 of the structured bet. The big blind will post $10. That $10
will constitute one full bet.
The small and big blinds are compulsory bets. These two players are in
actuality betting their first bet "in the blind." The motive for forcing
these players to bet in the blind is to create action. Creating action
gets money in the pot. This way no one can play for free (without
folding) during the first round of betting.
When the next new hand is played the small blind then moves around
to the player who was the big blind in the last hand, and the big blind
moves to the player to his left. This movement of the small and big
blinds continues throughout the game.
Pocket or Hole Cards
No Limit Texas Hold'em uses all 52 cards in the deck. The dealer
begins the deal with the small blind. There will be 2 unique cards
called Pocket or Hole cards dealt face down to each player. The hole or
pocket cards are exclusive to each player. Each player will view these
cards and no other player will see the other players 2 cards.
Round One Betting
After the pocket or hole cards are dealt, the first round of betting
begins. There are several actions a player who is involved in the hand
can take.
The player may CALL the bet by matching the amount of the first bet
(the amount of the big blind.) In the example, that would be $10.
The player may RAISE the bet by matching the amount of the first bet
and adding an equal amount to it thereby making it 2 bets, or bet his
entire stack in no limit hold'em. He may RAISE the bet any amount in
between the original bet and all the chips he has.
Finally, the player may FOLD. When a player folds, the action taken is
one of passing and the player will not enter the hand by placing any
money in the pot. This player will place his cards face down in front of
him and the dealer will take them and place them in the discard pile.
When online, the player will click on the fold button and his cards will
automatically go into the discards.
The first person to start the betting in the first round of Texas Hold'em
is the player to the left of the big blind. As stated before, the big blind
has already made one complete bet.
The first round of betting is complete after every player at the table
has acted and placed the same amount in the pot or folded.
The small blind must add the other half of the structured blind in order
to call the big blind bet or must call what raises have been made to
stay in the hand. The small blind has the option to raise during this
time. Otherwise, the small blind must fold.
The big blind will have to call any raises made and has the option at
this time to make a raise.
In our example, seat 3 and 4 fold. Seat 5 calls $10. Seat 6 folds. Seat
7 raises $25. Seat 8,9, and 10 fold. The small blind folds. The big blind
calls the raise of $25 and uses his option to re-raise $25. Seat 5 calls
the $50 in raises and seat 7 calls the $25 raise.
During the first round of betting, the big blind will have the OPTION to
raise. As the action moves around the table and comes back to the big
blind, the dealer will ask if they would like to exercise their option to
raise. If they do, they may raise. If they do not, they will just check.
In a way, they are raising themselves. This OPTION only happens
during the first round.
The betting will continue until everyone in the pot has bet the same
amount. That means that whenever there is a raise all the players still
in the pot must call it, raise it or fold their hand. For example, if seat 5
raises then all the players behind him that want to stay in the pot will
have to call the new amount or fold or re-raise.
The Flop
The first round of betting is now complete. The dealer will burn the top
card and place it in the discard pile. When playing online, the
computer will place three cards in the middle of the table. In live play,
the dealer will do it. After every player at the table has acted and
placed the same amount in the pot or folded.
These 3 cards are known as the flop. These are the first 3 of 5
community cards (cards accessible to all players to use with their hole
cards) to be dealt face up in the middle of the table. These 3 cards
may be used by all the players in the game by combining them with
the two unique cards held in their own hand to form the best possible
hand.
The second round of betting begins with the player to the left of the
dealer (the person with button.) This player may CHECK, which is
deferring the first action to the next player or choose to bet. This
player may bet the minimum amount of the big blind ($10) or he may
choose to bet his entire stack or any amount in between.
The second round of betting is complete after every player at the table
has acted and placed the same amount in the pot or folded.
In the example, the big blind bets $25. Seat 5 calls $25 and raises
$75. Seat 7 calls $100 and re-raises $100. The big blind calls $175.
Once the betting is complete, each player will have placed $200 in the
pot. See picture above.
The Turn
The second round of betting is now complete.
The dealer will now place a 4th card in the middle of the table next to
the flop. This card is known as the turn or 4th street. This round of
betting will begin again with the player to the left of the dealer. If this
player decides to bet, he may bet the minimum of the big blind ($10)
or he may choose to bet his entire stack or any amount in between.
Just as with the flop, the turn card may be used by all the players in
the game by combining them with the two unique cards held in their
own hand, to make the best hand out of 5 cards only.
The third round of betting is complete after every player at the table
has acted. They will all have either, checked, placed the same amount
in the pot, or folded.
In the example, the big blind checks. Seat 5 checks and seat 7 bets
$200. The big blind and seat 5 call the $200. Once the betting is
complete, each player will have placed $200 in the pot. See picture
above.
The River
The third round of betting is now complete.
The dealer will now place a 5th card in the middle of the table next to
the flop and turn card. This card is known as the river or 5th street.
This round of betting will begin again with the player to the left of the
dealer. If this player decides to bet, he may bet the minimum of the
big blind ($10) or he may choose to bet his entire stack or any amount
in between. Just as with the flop and the turn, the river card may be
used by all the players in the game by combining them with the two
unique cards held in their own hand.
A player may use 5 of the 7 cards to make the best hand possible. It
may be the 2 unique cards in his or her hand combined with 3 from
the board (table where community cards are located) or 1 unique card
combined with 4 from the board or the 5 cards on the board. This is
called playing the board.
The fourth round of betting is complete after every player at the table
has acted. They will all have either, checked, placed the same amount
in the pot, or folded.
In the example, the big blind checks. Seat 5 checks. Seat 7 bets 200.
The big blind raises $300 by moving the remainder of his check stack
in. This is called moving all-in. Seat 5 folds and seat 7 calls $300. All
the remaining players (big blind and seat 7) have placed $500 in the
pot. See picture above.
Completion of Hand
The first person left in the hand to reveal his or her cards will be the
one that made the last bet during the 4th round of the hand. If no bet
was made and all the players checked, then, in order from the left of
the dealer to the last player will show his or her hand.
When a player has a better hand, it must be revealed in order to win.
If the player elects to throw the cards away because of it being of less
value than any other revealed hand, he or she may muck the cards. To
muck is to place the cards where they will be discarded.
When a player is sure that he or she is beaten, he or she may or may
not elect to show his or her hand. This is because it gives information
about what hand he or she held. The dealer will identify who has the
best hand and the pot will be given to this player.
Because the hand went to a showdown, the winning player has the
right to request to see the losing hand even if the losing player mucks
his hand.
In the example, the big blind reveals his hole cards to be the Ace and
King of Diamonds giving him the nut straight (sometimes called
'broadway'). Seat 7 turns over a pair of tens giving him a set of tens.
The dealer shoves the pot to the big blind because he won. See picture
above.
Interesting to note that when a player holds a pair in his hand and
makes three of a kind, it is called a set. When a player holds one card
and two of the same are on the board, the player has trips. Seat 7 had
the option to muck his cards as he had a losing hand (prevent others
from seeing his cards).
End of Hand and on to the Next
All cards are returned to the dealer. The cards are shuffled and/or
scrambled in preparation for the next hand. The dealer button is
moved one position clockwise, indicating the new dealers position. The
blinds are also moved one position clockwise and the blind bets are
posted and a new hand begins.
Poker Odds and Probabilities
The relative values of Poker hands were not just conjured up by some
rule maker or arbitrarily assigned by the first Poker players. They were
discovered through the use of permutation and combination formulas.
The exact number of possible five-card Poker hands in a 52-card deck
is 2,598,960.
These hands were divided into group (ranks) of : no pair, pair, three of
a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and
royal flush. The ranks were then arranged in relative value according
to the frequency of their occurrence. The hands which can be expected
to appear most often have the lower rank; those which appear least
often the highest rank.
A good poker player must have a fair idea of Poker odds and
probabilities. Without such knowledge, he has no good way of deciding
on his course of action in the various situations which arise. That is, he
has no way of making a mathematical analysis on which to base a
decision. The tables that follow provide the information that will help a
poker player make an analysis.
These same tables can also be used to prove the relative value of
Poker hands and to settle disputes that arise regarding the chances of
drawing certain valuable hands in Five-Card Draw Poker or in the first
five cards dealt in any other form of Poker.
It would be simple if all one had to do to become a winning player was
to memorize the following Poker tables. Knowing the exact strength of
your hand or the exact chances of bettering your hand on the draw will
not always help you. Thats because the playing habits of your
opponents will often throw a monkey wrench into your best-laid
mathematical plans. Example: A big raise from a habitually tight
player means quite a different thing from the same big raise from a
drunk who has already been caught trying to steal (bluff) the last half-
dozen pots.
Although Poker is a game of skill, the judgments and decisions to be
made by even the average Poker player involve a general knowledge
of the game's probabilities.
The chances of being dealt any certain pat hand are the same,
regardless of the number of players in the game. The same hold true
in drawing cards to try to improve a hand. There are 2,598,960
different possible poker hands in a 52-card deck.
The following table lists the name of each different possible hand in
order of their rank. It also lists the possible number of ways each can
be made and the chances of being dealt such a hand in the first five
cards dealt. An example would be the original five cards dealt in Five-
Card Draw Poker before you draw.
Rank of
Hands
Number of Possible Ways
Hand can be Made
Chance of Being Dealt in
Original 5 Cards
Royal Flush 4
1 in 649,740.00
Straight
Flush
36
1 in 72,193.33
Four of a
Kind
624
1 in 4,165.00
Full House 3,744
1 in 694.16
Flush
5,108
1 in 508.80
Straight
10,200
1 in 254.80
Three of a
Kind
54,912
1 in 47.32
Two Pairs
123,552
1 in 21.03
One Pair
1,098,240
1 in 2.36
No Pair
Hand
1,302,504
1 in 1.99
TOTAL 2,598,960
In the chance column above, fractional figures have been carried out
to only two decimal places, since further extension would mean little.
The probability of being dealt a pair or better in the first five cards
dealt is almost even—to be exact, 0.499--- and the probability of being
dealt a no pair hand is practically the same — 0.501. So it's almost a 3
to 1 chance, when playing against two opponents, that one of them
will hold a pair or better in the first five dealt cards. The probabilities
vary slightly depending upon what you hold.
The 1,302,540 possible five-card no-pair hands are divided as follows:
POSSIBLE POKER HANDS OF LESS VALUE THAN ONE PAIR
Ace Counting
High
King Counting High,
Ace Low
Number of Possible No-
Pair Hands
Ace hgh
King high
502,860
King high
Queen high
335,580
Queen high
Jack high
213,180
Jack high
Ten high
127,500
Ten high
Nine high
70,380
Nine high
Eight high
34,680
Eight high
Seven high
14,280
Seven high
Six high
4,080
TOTAL 1,302,540
The lowest-ranking regular five-card Poker hand is comprised of
7,5,4,3,2 in mixed suits. The above table is particularly helpful to
players who play high-low variants of Poker. In the short run each
additional active player in the game increases the odds against you on
any particular hand. In the long run, since all players have to put an
equal sum into the pot, thus increasing the size of the pot in direct
ratio to the increased odds, it doesn't make much difference as far as
odds are concerned if you are bucking one or seven players. In High-
Low Poker, where aces count both high and low, the perfect low hand
is 6,4,3,2, and ace.
To simplify matters, the figures in the following two tables have been
rounded out when necessary to the nearest 1/2 or whole number.
Note that your chances of making four of a kind are three times as
great when drawing a pair minus a kicker than when holding a kicker.
Odds Against Improving the Hand in Draw Poker When
Drawing Three Cards to One Pair
Odds against any improvement
2.5 to 1
Odds against making two pairs
5 to 1
Odds against making three of a kind 8 to 1
Odds against making a full house
97 to 1
Odds against making four of a kind 359 to 1
ODDS AGAINST IMPROVING THE HAND IN DRAW POKER WHEN
DRAWING TWO CARDS TO A PAIR AND A KICKER
Odds against any improvement
3 to 1
Odds against making two pairs
5 to 1
Odds against making three of a kind 12 to 1
Odds against making a full house
119 to 1
Odds against making four of a kind 1,080 to 1
In fact, you have a better chance of improving your hand when
drawing three cards to a pair than when drawing two cards to a pair
plus a kicker. The tables above give ample proof of that. However,
good Poker playing demands that a player occasionally hold a kicker
with a pair so as to keep your opponents in doubt as to your playing
habits.
The odds against making a full house by drawing one card to two pairs
are about 11 to 1.
ODDS AGAINST CHANCES OF IMPROVING THE HAND IN DRAW POKER
WHEN DRAWING TWO CARDS TO THREE OF A KIND
Odds against any improvement
8.5 to 1
Odds against making a full house
15.5 to 1
Odds against making four of a kind 22.5 to 1
CHANCES OF IMPROVING THE HAND IN DRAW POKER WHEN
DRAWING ONE CARD TO THREE OF A KIND PLUS A KICKER
Odds against any improvement
11 to 1
Odds against making a full house 15 to 1
Odds against making four of a kind 46 to 1
These two tables above show that the best chance for improvement
with three of a kind is to draw two cards and not hold a kicker. Holding
a kicker increases the odds against the player for any improvement.
CHANCES OF ODDS AGAINST FILLING IN A FOUR-CARD STRAIGHT IN
DRAW POKER
Odds against making a straight open at one end
11 to 1
Odds against making a straight open in the middle 11 to 1
Odds against making a straight open at both ends 5 to 1
ODDS AGAINST FILLING IN A FOUR-CARD FLUSH IN DRAW POKER
The odds against making a flush by drawing one card of the same suit
are about 4.5 to 1. If you insist on drawing to a three-card flush, the
odds against your catching two cards of the same suit are
approximately 23 to 1.
ODDS AGAINST MAKING A STRAIGHT FLUSH IN DRAW POKER
When drawing one card to a four-card straight flush, which may be
open in the middle, at one end, or both ends.
Odds against making a straight flush open at one end 46 to 1
Odds against making a straight flush open in the middle 46 to 1
Odds against making a straight flush open at both ends 22 to 1
The odds against making a royal flush are the same as a straight flush
in similar conditions.
CHANCES OF HOLDING VARIOUS POKER HANDS IN THE FIRST FIVE
CARDS DEALT WHEN THE JOKER IS WILD MAKING A 53-CARD PACK
Rank of
Hands
Number of Possible Ways
Hand can be Made
Chance of Being Dealt in
Original 5 Cards
Five of a
Kind
13
1 in 220,745.0
Royal Flush 24
1 in 119,570.2
Straight
Flush
216
1 in 13,285.5
Four of a
Kind
3,120
1 in 919.7
Full House 6,552
1 in 437.9
Flush
7,768
1 in 369.3
Straight
20,532
1 in 139.7
Three of a
Kind
137,280
1 in 20.9
Two Pairs
123,552
1 in 23.2
One Pair
1,268,088
1 in 2.26
No-Pair
Hand
1,302,540
1 in 2.20
TOTAL 2,869,685
A very unusual mathematical situation arises in Joker Wild regarding
the relative value of three of a kind and two pairs. As you see above,
the chances of drawing three of a kind are one in 20.9 and the chances
of drawing tow pairs are one in 23.2. Since there is a better chance of
drawing three of a kind than two pairs the latter should be of a higher
rank and beat three of a kind.
This peculiar situation is caused by the fact that there are 82,368
possible five-card Poker hands that contain a pair plus the joker. When
a player holds one of these 82,368 hands he values his hand at three
of a kind, making the joker count the same denomination as the pair
he is holding. But if we should permit the two pairs to rank as a higher
hand than three of a kind, we would accomplish nothing; the playing
holding one of the 82,368 possible Poker hands containing a pair plus
the joker would use the joker or form another pair with the highest-
ranking odd card and would value his hand at tow pairs. This would
bring the total number of two pairs in a pack of 53 cards to 205,920
and the possible number of three of a kinds to 54,912. Under these
conditions, considering the relative value of both hands, three of a
kind must remain of higher value than two pairs.
There are two solutions to this. I give them here in case there are a
few players who may want to play a completely sound mathematical
game. If the following two rules are used they will mathematically
permit three of a kind to retain its higher value in relation to two pairs.
I did not incorporate either rule in my laws of Joker Wild in Scarne on
Cards because I have learned that you cannot change playing habits
that easily.
1. If a player has a hand containing a pair plus the joker, the joker
cannot be considered wild, and therefore carries no value
whatever; and the joker must be considered an odd card; or,
2. If a player has paired aces, kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines, or
eights plus the joker, he is permitted to rank his hand as three
of a kind. If he has a pair ranking lower than eights plus the
joker, he cannot value his hand at more than two pairs.
Legality
It is clear that the United States government will go after any entity that tries to start an
online
casino or poker room if the entity is located in United States territory. However it is not
clear what
the legal status is on players playing online games in the United States on computer
servers in
foreign countries. This is the case with all the popular online poker sites. Some
government
officials have stated that there is nothing they can do about it because there are simply too
many
players and they cannot arrest a million people (or more) for gambling in their own
homes (this
includes sports betting and other casino games as well). However, whether or not the
government
will take any action on players, does not say anything about the actual legality of online
poker.
As of yet, there is no definitive answer whether or not online poker is legal. It is possible
that in
the future the legality will be defined more clearly, and it is useful to keep up-to-date
when any
news breaks.
Although this section is about online poker, in no way am I claiming it as a legal activity
nor am
I suggesting that anyone go out and play online poker. That is up to the individual to
make the
decision for themselves.
Ranking of Hands
Pictured below are the hands of poker, listed in order from highest to
lowest.
Royal Flush
The five highest cards, the 10 through the Ace, all five of
the same suit. A royal flush is actually an ace-high
straight flush. The suit doesn't matter in poker. Two
people with royal flushes would tie.
Straight Flush
Any five cards of the same suit in consecutive numerical
order. Our example shows a five-high straight flush.
Four of a Kind
Four cards of the same denomination. Our example
shows four jacks with a deuce kicker.
Full House
Any three cards of the same denomination, plus any pair
of a different denomination. Ties are broken first by the
three of a kind, then the pair. Our example shows sevens
full of threes.
Flush
Any five non-consecutive cards of the same suit. Our
example shows a queen-high diamond flush.
Straight
Any five consecutive cards of mixed suits. Ace can be
high or low. Our example shows a six-to-ten straight.
Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same denomination.Our example
displays three of a kind, fours.
Two Pair
Any two cards of the same denomination, plus any other
two cards of the same denomination. If both hands have
the same high pair, the second pair wins. If both pairs
tie, the high card wins. Our example shows two pair,
eights and fives.
Pair
Any two cards of the same denomination. Our example
displays a pair of nines. In a tie, the high card wins.
High Card
If no other hand is achieved, the highest card held wins.
In our example, the king of hearts is the high card.
Top Rated Pre Flop Hands
Level 1- The top starting hands
• Ace-Ace
• King-King
• Ace-King suited
• Queen-Queen
• Jack-Jack
Level 2- Very strong starting hands
• Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack, Ace-10 all suited
• Ace-King
• King-Queen suited
• 10-10
• Ace-10, King-Jack, Queen-Jack, Jack-10 all suited
• Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack
• 9-9
• King-Queen
• King-10, Queen-10 suited
Level 3- Playable in most positions in a looser game
• 8-8
• Jack-9 10-9 both suited
• 7-7
• 9-8,8-7 both suited
• Ace with any other suited card
• King-Jack, Queen-Jack, Jack-10
Level 4- Decent hands best played sparingly and in a late position in a loose game if your
playing 'personality' will allow it
•Any low pair (e.g. pairs below 7)
•Connected suited cards, ie 8-7,5-4,4-3
•Ace-10, King-10, Queen-10
•King-9, Jack-8 suited
Hands not on the list are or for the most part, should be folded and only played where you have
an advantage over the other players.
For example: You are in the late position with no callers on the blinds or against known weak
players.
Starting Hand Selections
Reasons to Play Poker on the Internet
There are many reasons for playing poker on the internet.
1. You do not live close to a poker room
Legal poker rooms are now all over America, but many people still live far from a poker
room.
Online poker is a nice solution for the people that do not have a chance to play poker on a
regular
basis in brick and mortar card rooms.
2. Even if there is a poker room in your vicinity, you do not have to commute.
Many players do live closer to a poker room but find that it usually takes a bit of a
commute to get
there. Even if you live fairly close to the casino, it may still take half an hour or more to
get to the
poker room, and even then, you may have to wait a bit before getting into a game. On the
internet,
there is no need to commute and the wait for a seat is typically much shorter than in a
brick and
mortar casino. Also, for those that are physically challenged and find it difficult to
commute or go
to a casino, playing poker online is an ideal solution. They will be able to play
comfortably at
home, whereas they may not be comfortable in a casino environment.
3. There is no second hand smoke
A few years ago, the state of California banned smoking in certain establishments.
Casinos and
poker rooms were affected by the new law and now there is no smoking in California
poker rooms.
Several other poker rooms across the country have also made this adjustment to non-
smoking
poker rooms, such as the Bellagio in Las Vegas and Foxwoods in Connecticut. This is all
great for
the player. However, even if the poker room itself is a non-smoking room, many of the
non-Californian casinos still allow smoking in other parts of their casinos. The smoke can
often
creep around in the air and find their way to the poker room. Since players are sitting
down for
long periods of time, they may be susceptible to the harmful effects of second hand
smoking. Even
worse are the poker rooms that do allow smoking. For those who are worried about
second hand
smoke, playing poker online is a healthy alternative.
4. The rake may be lower online
Many of the online poker rooms offer a lower rate per hand than brick and mortar
casinos. They
may still collect a higher rake per hour because typically they deal more hands per hour
in an
online poker room. This is a benefit to players as they get to keep a bigger portion of the
pots that
they win. The only situation where it may not be a benefit to players is in a situation like
heads-up
poker where the rake is usually negotiable between the players and the poker room
management
but would not be online.
5. There is no tipping online
Tipping is a somewhat controversial topic. In brick and mortar casinos, a major part of
the dealers’
income comes from tips. However tips do eat up on potential profits from the winning
players, and
it increases the losses for the losing players. Online poker requires no tipping, you cannot
tip even
if you wanted to. This means the winning players will make more money and the losing
players
can play longer, or at least play more hands.
6. You can play any time of day
Online poker rooms are 24 hours a day operations. If there are players, there are games.
Once an
online poker room reaches a certain critical mass, they will likely have games at all times
of day
at all limits. Not every site has this feature as they are not all that successful, but there are
a few
sites that have achieved this critical mass. This means players can play any time of day
they feel
like. This is great for many people, including morning people, people who work at night
and can
only play during the day and people who are nightowls that play in the wee hours of the
morning
7. You can play for a very short time if you prefer
If you make the effort to go to the local poker room, you probably feel you should stay
there for a
while. Nobody likes to drive half an hour just to play a couple of minutes and then drive
another
half an hour to get home. This is different with online poker. You could play one round
which
may take as little as one minute, you could play for five minutes and decide to leave. This
is a
great option for all players, although it does make for a relatively high turnover of players
at the
online game compared to the brick and mortar game.
8. There are easier ways to analyze your own play online
Most of the online poker sites have an option where you can see your hand histories. This
makes
for analyzing your own play much easier than in a brick and mortar casino, where the
only way to
track your own play is to actually write every single hand down, this is simply not
practical for
most people, not to mention the tremendous effort it would take. Recently several people
have
developed software to help players analyze their game. It may be worthwhile to find out
about
these software programs to see if they can help you analyze your own game.
9. There are easy ways to analyze the play of other players
Many sites have a function where you can write notes on each player, and these notes are
accessible the next time you are at the same table as those players. This is a nice feature
that is
unique to online poker. There are also software programs that allow for the analysis of
other
players’ games. These software programs can only look at the hands that your opponents
played
when you were in the game with them and not every game that they have played, but this
could still
be useful.
10. More hands are dealt per hour online
When players are paying attention, more hands are usually dealt per hour online
compared to brick
and mortar games. There is no need to wait for the dealer to shuffle, take in the mucked
cards,
collect the chips, make change, take the rake or time, get a rack fill, call for empty seats,
settle
player disputes and all sorts of other issues. For the player who plays with a positive
expectancy,
more hands per hour means a higher expected profit.
11. Shorthanded games are easy to find online
It is difficult to find a shorthanded game in a brick and mortar casino and when it exists,
it may not
last for long. Often these games will break up as most players do not usually prefer to
play short,
or they fill up to a full table when other players come in. Many online poker rooms have
specific
tables specially designed for those that like to play short, they may have heads-up tables
and/or
tables where a maximum of six players can be seated. Shorthanded games mean even
more hands
per hour as fewer players have to make decisions. This could mean even greater
profitability for
the skilled shorthanded player compared to a full game.
12. Players can play at more than one table simultaneously
One of the great advantages of playing online is the ability to play more than one game at
the same
time. In a full game often there is some dead time as you watch the other players play out
their
hands. If you do not know the players, this is a useful time to gather information about
how they
play and use it in the future. However, if you are well versed in their abilities and styles,
it can be
boring just sitting at the table. In a brick and mortar casino, many people will take this
time to chit
chat with other players near them, get to know each other, discuss current events or eat a
meal. For
some players, their primary reason to play poker is for the social aspects, so they rather
enjoy this
time to talk with friends while playing the game, but online is a different story. Many
players
know each other online, and can hold interesting conversations, but it is different from a
brick and
mortar casino. Once you get done with all that stuff, sometimes it can get boring
especially if you
are dealt junk hand after junk hand and are constantly folding. This is why people like to
play
more than one table, to deal with the boredom. Instead of getting distracted by non-poker
issues,
they choose to play two or more games and keep all of their attention on poker. There are
the
obvious advantages, but also some not so obvious disadvantages. Playing multiple tables
simultaneously is further discussed later in this chapter.
Getting Paid and Bonus Hunting
Since it is your own money at stake, it is your duty to make sure the poker site that you
play at is
trustworthy. You want to be able to expect to get your withdrawal check when you ask
for it. With
the huge increase in the popularity of poker in the last few years, and especially the huge
increase
in the popularity of online poker, many entrepreneurs have and will try to capitalize on
this
relatively new market. It is possible some of these new sites may actually go under, in
which case
it would be almost impossible for players to get their money out. How would you go
about trying
to get a few thousand dollars from an entity in one of the Carribean Islands whom you
don’t even
know the actual owners? That is one of the dangers of online poker, and it can be scary
and very
frustrating when the unthinkable happen.
Poker players should take a lesson from their sports bettor brethern. The offshore sports
betting
industry has been around a bit longer than the online poker industry. The sports bettors
have seen
several very big sports books go under due to mismanagement, insufficient capital and
outright
fraud. All sportsbooks need clients in order to make money, in the effort to find and
retain players,
new sportsbooks need to give players an incentive to give them a try. They establish
themselves
and entice players to join by offering deposit bonuses. This can often lead to a business
that seems
to be built like a ponzi scheme. An example would be an offer of a 25% cash bonus on a
deposit,
but with some restrictions such as a five times rollover and a one month minimum period
before
making a withdrawal. A five times rollover in sports means that the player must bet their
balance
five times over before they are eligible to take a withdrawal. On the surface, this makes
sense from
the sportsbook point of view, because it is guaranteeing that they get some minimum
action from
the player. On the player’s side, he is thrilled to get 25% of his deposit as a bonus for just
signing
up and depositing. Their rationale is that since they are going to play anyway, why not
get a bonus
as an extra kick.
As the sportsbook signs up more players, they start to get a reputation through the sports
gambling
forums and word of mouth. With deposits from new players, the sportsbooks have a
steady stream
of incoming cash flow, which means they will have plenty of funds to pay anyone that
requests a
withdrawal. This leads to even more confidence by players, especially those that take a
withdrawal, because they will now feel more confident about leaving the rest of their
money in that
book since they already got paid once. It is logical to think if someone paid you once that
they are
likely to pay you again in the future. However, if the book does not do a good job
managing the
lines, they may start to lose to the sharp bettors. If the new deposits start to dry up
concurrently,
then it could lead to the collapse of the ponzi scheme. Now the book no longer has funds
to pay
everybody and sooner or later the customers will suffer. Yet players still think it is ok to
give new
sportsbooks a shot, because they believe in the “greater fool” theory. They believe they
will be
deft enough to get in and get out before the impending doom happens. This is a
dangerous game
which requires a lot of attention and calculation which most people cannot afford to take
the time
to do. Of course, poker rooms operate differently than sportsbooks, in that sportsbooks
are playing
against the customers directly whereas poker rooms are not. But these issues are still
useful to
keep in mind.
Other than the vague legality issues, this is the biggest danger in the offshore sports
betting
industry, and all the experienced sports bettors have an understanding of these issues by
now since
most of them were affected by past collapses. The greed of the bonus hunting leads to the
players
losing their own deposits. This is a lesson to be learned for the upcoming years as more
and more
outfits try to take advantage of the online poker boom.
Of course, there are still many reputable offshore sportsbooks, and many of the new
poker sites
may also be financially fit and well managed. However, from a player’s point of view, it
is often
difficult to identify which site one can trust with one’s funds, and which sites one cannot
trust.
Researching as much as possible is always recommended, but research alone may not
always help.
Often the sports sites will be backed with confidence from other people that you may
think you
trust. However it may be that those people are in on the scheme along with the book, or
are paid
by the book to promote them without doing the due diligence themselves. Planet Poker is
a
positive example of an online poker room that has the faces of two prominent and
trustworthy
people in the poker industry, Mike Caro and Roy Cooke. Similarly, Ultimate Bet with
Phil
Hellmuth and Annie Duke gives the players a sense of financial comfort. However, there
has been
at least one online poker room that went bust, even though it was promoted by one of the
most
famous names in poker.
Be more weary of new startups unless you have a good reason to be comfortable. For
example,
several high quality sportsbooks that have been in business for many years and have
impeccable
reputations have recently created their own online poker rooms. These poker rooms will
be safer
than other brand new startups who are not attached to any other known entity. If you are
comfortable with the financial status of the online sportsbook, and they are providing
online poker
as part of their business, then that is may be a safer place for your money than a startup
online
poker site with no link to an entity you trust.
In order to reduce the hurt if one of these poker sites collapses financially, you need to be
preparing ahead of time. You should constantly withdraw funds as your funds increase.
Keep in
mind a maximum dollar amount that you would be comfortable keeping at the site, and if
your
balance ever goes past that number, consider making a withdrawal request.
Free Games Online are not very useful as a learning tool
Online poker rooms and other internet sites will often offer games with fake or ‘play’
money.
These games are completely free, no risk no reward. It may be tempting as a new player
to think
of these games as a nice practice field. Unfortunately, they would not serve that purpose
well at
all. When playing in these games, it is human nature to play differently when it is free
compared
to when there is real money at stake. Players will not be afraid to call any bets, they will
have no
fear of calling raises and they are happy to bluff often. This is not what poker is about at
all. The
players in a free game do not have anything to lose, and most people will play
accordingly. Poker
is only poker when there is something at stake, where losing means losing something that
has
value to the player. Playing in the free games to get an idea of the mechanics of the game
is useful,
but not as practice for the real money play. It may actually do more harm than good, as
you may
get the wrong impression of how other players actually play when there is something real
at stake.
Pitfalls of playing online
There are more pitfalls to playing online. There are many possible distractions you could
have
playing online poker that you would not have in a brick and mortar poker room. These
distractions
include surfing online, writing or reading emails, watching TV or even reading a book
(hey, if you
are playing online poker right now as you read this, STOP. Either play the game, or read
the book,
don’t do both!). If you know the other players well and are confident you know how they
play, you
may not lose much by focusing your attention elsewhere. However, even if you do know
the
players well, they may be playing a bit differently in this particular session than they
normally do.
Maybe one of them is slightly on tilt, having lost a few bad beats in a row. This may
mean they
are playing more aggressively on hands that they may normally not play at all. If you
know the
players well, it is still economically beneficial to pay as much attention as possible to the
game.
These distractions are all-internal functions. It is your own discipline or lack thereof that
will
determine if you allow distractions to cause you to lose your focus. It is not something
that anyone
can tell anyone else to do. It is all up to each player individually.
Many brick and mortar poker rooms will allow players to read magazines or newspapers
while
sitting at the table. It may seem like one is just as likely to get distracted when playing
poker
online as playing poker in a brick and mortar casino if you are allowed to read at the table
in both
places. There is a big difference between the two however, in that when a major
occurrence
happens in a brick and mortar casino, you will often hear the players talking about it.
Even if you
are reading, you can hear the commotion and you will lift your head up to see what is
going on.
The online poker rooms do not have this system. The noise level will be the same
whether or not
there is a major bad beat or any other interesting issue going on.
Advantages and Disadvantages of playing multiple games simultaneously
Some players like to play more than one game at a time. On one hand, playing multiple
games
simultaneously may be good in that it forces players to focus completely on poker. On the
other
hand, one game can be a distraction to the player over the other game. If you are involved
in a
hand in one game, you will not have the chance to examine the play of the hand in the
other game,
and that may mean you could miss some important details about how the other players
play. In
playing multiple games online, you need to weigh the benefit of getting expectation from
two
games at once versus the negative of possibly losing some expectation from each
individual game.
The advantages of playing multiple games simultaneously are obvious for winning
players.
Although you may reduce your win rate at each table, your overall win rate could
increase. If your
win rate at each of these tables is at least half of your normal amount at only one table,
then you
are actually making more money playing two tables simultaneously. If you are playing at
three
tables at the same time, then your win rate at each table would have to be at least 1/3 of
the win rate
at one table. This seems like a good deal to most players, and it is a good deal for those
that can
keep their win rate above those levels. Spend the same amount of time playing poker and
make
more money, who wouldn’t want that? However, for losing players, they will just lose
their
money at a faster rate. Another way to view multiple tables is to play at a lower limit at
each table,
whereby the total expectation may be the same as playing at just one table with higher
limits. The
reason this may be useful is that a player may be able to get the same expectation out of
multiple
lower limit tables, but gain the advantage of reducing variance. In other words, they get
the same
reward for less risk through diversification.
In full games, good players will not be involved in as many hands as the average player.
This
means you will not often find yourself involved in two hands at the same time and so you
can
devote most of your concentration on the table where you are involved in a hand. For
some players,
it would seem that they would not lose that much edge playing two full games. Since
their win rate
would have to slip to less than half of the win rate at one table, it would benefit them to
play two
full games at once. The poker rooms prefer this because it means they can collect more
rake. The
poker rooms will have several players playing two games at once, and that may mean
spreading
one or two or even more tables than they would if players could only play one game at a
time. This
is a big advantage that online poker rooms have over their brick and mortar counterparts.
Playing
two tables may alleviate the boredom, and actually steer you away from doing other
things that are
harmful to your concentration, such as checking out internet sites, listening to the radio,
or writing
a book (that’s a joke folks). So playing multiple tables may actually cause you to
concentrate more
on each individual table than you would if you were only playing one table at a time and
fooling
around on the side. The bottom line though, is that if you are a winning player, and do not
lose too
much edge from your normal win rate, playing more than one table is a nice boost to your
profitability and/or a nice reduction of risk..
However, there are disadvantages also. It is harder to concentrate on each table, and you
may miss
some juicy pieces of information. When playing poker online, the players flit in and out
of the
table at an incredibly fast rate compared to brick and mortar casinos. It is all too easy to
miss the
fact that the table composition has changed drastically, and instead of a loose table, now
the table
is made up of a few more tight players or vice versa. This may lead you to act
inappropriately with
some hands.
Playing two or more shorthanded tables makes it even tougher. You need to concentrate
more on
shorthanded games since it is even more important to have a good handle on how each
player plays.
Also, if a bad, loose player leaves the table and is replaced by a solid, tight player, that
changes the
characteristic and the composition of the whole table since one player in a shorthanded
game
makes up a much higher percentage of the table than one player does in a full game. It is
too easy
to be caught in the situation where a solid player has replaced a loose aggressive poor
player and
you do not notice it until after you have acted. In shorthanded games, you will be
involved in
hands more often than at a full table, this means if you are playing two shorthanded
games at the
same time, you will have a higher chance of being in a situation where you are involved
in hands
at both tables simultaneously. This is not nearly as much of a concern in the full table
games as in
the shorthanded games. Another problem is playing one shorthanded game and one full
game
simultaneously. You may find yourself to be too aggressive in the full game and not
aggressive
enough in the shorthanded game.
Playing multiple games online will seem like playing a video game at times. For many
younger
players who grew up in the video game age, this will enhance the experience of the game
and make
it more fun, although not necessarily more profitable for everyone. These players do not
have a
problem with the fast changing screens or the action as they are used to it from their
experience in
video games. For older players who are not used to video games, it may be tougher for
them to
adjust.
Overall the advantages of playing two full games will outweigh that of playing one full
game for
most winning players. As for losing players, unfortunately, playing multiple games will
only
allow them to lose their money at a faster rate. If you have a good handle on some of the
players
at each table already, it would add a lot to your advantage. However, in shorthanded
games, it is
prudent to stick to one game at a time, because you will need more concentration and you
will be
more likely to be involved in hands at both tables.
Stack Size and Pot Size Online
In online poker, you can easily see how big the pot is and how many bets the other
players have left
in their stack, whereas in a brick and mortar poker room, sometimes this is difficult to do.
People
often have both of their hands and arms on the table, as well as water bottles and all sorts
of other
foreign objects. The player may not be actively trying to hide their stack size, but it may
just be
circumstantial that you did not realize how many chips he actually had. This can
sometimes affect
how you play the hand. For example, if you knew your opponent had been losing and was
down
to just a couple of bets left, you may feel that he will play looser and more aggressive just
to get
all-in and get the pain over with. This happens fairly frequently and these situations are
very easy
to identify online but a bit more difficult to notice in the brick and mortar casinos. If you
do not
notice he is close to going all-in, you may miss the fact that he may be playing more
aggressively
than normal. Also a player could have a large denomination chip along with the other
chips. So
it may look like he is short stacked when in fact he is not.
Another situation where seeing the stack size is helpful is when you expect a player is
going to go
all-in and you want to use him by manipulating his bet for your own purposes. For
example, you
are first to act in a three player pot. You have a hand you think is strong, but is vulnerable
to draws.
You would be happy to have a player going all-in to your right. If you are first to act, you
can
check, hoping the second player also checks. When the short-stacked player bets and
goes all-in,
you can raise and make it more expensive for the second player to draw out. If the short-
stacked
player acts first and bets out while going all-in, you can now raise even if you are not
sure if you
have the all-in player beat, since the portion of your raise will be in the side pot. In an
online poker
room, you will have no problem seeing that the player has gone all-in, while in a brick
and mortar
casino, you may not realize it until after you have acted.
Seeing the pot size in exact dollar amounts is helpful in case you were not counting the
pot size as
this book recommends, but do not use it as a crutch if you also play in real casinos as
well. This is
because the counting of the pot as the bets go into it is extremely useful to your play in a
full brick
and mortar game. You can make better and faster decisions if you do not have to stop and
take
time to count the pot. While playing poker online you can allow the software to add up
the pot size
for you and make decisions from that information. However, if you are going to be
playing poker
both online and in a brick and mortar casino, your mind will get lazy and stop the good
habit of
counting the pot as each hand is played. So you may not find yourself at a disadvantage
while
playing poker online, but then see that you are at a disadvantage when playing in a real
casino.
One benefit of seeing the pot size online is when you are playing multiple games
simultaneously.
It will be difficult to count the bets going into the pot when you have to concentrate on
two
different games, so having the ability to see the exact pot size at any time becomes very
useful.
Players play more aggressively online
From my experience, it seems that the average player plays a bit differently than the
average player
in a brick and mortar casino. The main differences are:
1. Players will raise more often
2. Players will bluff more often
3. Players will semi-bluff more often
4. Players will bet for value more often
5. Players will call more often
In general, it seems that the average player online plays much more aggressively and
expects other
players to play much more aggressively as well. Why is this? What is it about online play
that
makes the average player play differently?
Here are some possible reasons:
1. There are more younger players online
It is a fact that younger people are more apt to use the internet than older people. It is also
probably
true that younger people on average are more aggressive and take more chances in life, as
well as
in poker. Since you are likely to see a higher percentage of younger people (and by
younger
people, I mean those in their 20s or 30s) playing poker online rather than in brick and
mortar
casinos, thus you are likely to see a lower percentage of older people playing poker
online. That
could explain why online games are more aggressive in general.
2. Ambiguity can lead to increased aggression and suspicion.
When players do not see each other face to face, it makes it easier for them to play
aggressively
against each other. It also makes it easier to be more suspicious of other players. In a
brick and
mortar casino, you can see all the players, and for some reason, that face to face
interaction makes
some players less apt to bluff. Maybe they feel bluffing is like stealing and is not socially
acceptable. Ambiguity also leads to suspicion. If players do not know or see their
opponent,
players may become more suspicious that their opponent is doing something
underhanded, which
may mean bluffing. Thus players are more apt to call in an online game.
3. The money feels less real when it is online.
In a brick and mortar casino, players have to buy their chips with cash. They hand the
cashier or
the dealer cash in exchange for casino chips. There is a belief that it is easier for players
to take
more chances with chips than they would with actual cash, as it feels less like real money.
Extending this thought further, it is also easier for players to take more chances with
cyber-cash
than chips or cash. However way the player funded their online account, the cash in their
accounts
will feel a bit less tangible. Because of this, players are willing to take more chances
when playing
poker online. This leads to more aggressive play.
Fluctuations will be a lot higher than in a brick and mortar poker room
Online poker players will see much higher profit and loss fluctuations than they would if
they
played in a brick and mortar poker room. Here are some reasons why:
1. The average online poker player plays more aggressively than the average brick and
mortar
poker player, as discussed in the previous section.
2. There are also more shorthanded games online than in brick and mortar poker rooms.
Naturally,
shorthanded games have a higher fluctuation than full table games because all the players
are
involved in more hands.
3. More hands are dealt in the same time period online.
There are more hands played per hour online, so the results will look much more
extreme.
For the purposes of evaluating fluctuations, you want to compare full table games
between online
and brick and mortar. The correct way to compare the results is to measure them in terms
of the
number of hands played. It does not make much sense to use an hourly rate because
online players
may get twice as many hands as brick and mortar players. That means you can fit roughly
two
hours of equivalent brick and mortar play into one hour of online play.
If you want to compare a shorthanded online game to a full table brick and mortar game,
then you
have to adjust for two new factors. The first is that shorthanded online games get dealt
even more
hands per hour than full online games. The second is that players naturally play more
aggressively
and loosely in shorthanded games. Both factors will increase the fluctuations of all
players.
When the extreme fluctuations are on the upside, meaning that player are winning, no one
complains. The sky is sunny, everyone is having a good time, life is as it should be. It is
when the
extreme fluctuations are on the downside that players start to complain, wondering why
they have
such bad luck, cursing the computer and then wondering if there is a conspiracy against
them.
They start to wonder maybe the other players are colluding, maybe someone has hacked
into the
software and the opponent can see all the cards or the future board, maybe the site is
rigged to
make the poor players win and the good players lose, maybe, maybe, maybe. In times
like these,
it is important to be strong and not give into the urge to put all the blame on everything
and
everyone else. It could be that you were playing poorly that day or you just had a string
of bad luck,
or a combination of the two. These fluctuations will happen in poker and they will
happen with
greater extremes in online poker. It is at this point that some players enter the internet
poker
forums claiming they were cheated at certain sites. The phrase to remember in your head
for times
like these is “If the suckers don’t win once in a while, they would never come back.” So
go take
a break from poker for a few minutes, hours or days, as long as you need. Get your head
cleared,
and come back when you are ready to play without anger or any negative emotions. Just
because
the computer is there does not mean you have to play every day.
Deception is less useful in online poker
In online poker rooms where many people play, the turnover rate at each table will be
pretty high,
in fact, this may include you as well. This does not happen in brick and mortar casinos
since it is
tougher to get into another game, and players are there physically with not much else to
do except
play poker. This difference in the turnover rate means players should use deception less
when
playing online.
In brick and mortar poker, sometimes it is useful to use a bit of deception with starting
hands in
order to throw off some of the observant players, players you may encounter on a daily
basis. In
most games, even brick and mortar games, players will not be that observant, but in tough
games,
it may be worthwhile to use this strategy occasionally. This strategy translates even less
to online
poker and should be used even less frequently. When the turnover rate is so high, as it
usually is
online, it means your opponents will not be as observant. Since they are less observant,
on average,
this means that deception has less value.
Automatic Buttons and Online Tells
The automatic buttons can be useful as you may not want to wait until the action gets to
you to tell
the computer what you want to do. If an automatic button is clicked on, your action of
folding,
checking, calling, betting or raising will appear to be instantaneous after the player in
front of you
acts. This can be a nice feature if you are playing in more than one game. A good time in
particular to use it is if you have a starting hand that you know you will fold no matter
what the
action is in front of you. Thus, clicking on the Check/Fold button will tell the site to fold
your hand
once the action gets to you. This may allow you to concentrate more on another game and
the
computer screen will not flitter back and forth between the two games when it is your
turn to act.
In this instance, there is no advantage or disadvantage in the play of the hand, since you
have
decided to fold regardless of the action by the other players.
The automatic buttons online can sometimes be used to your advantage but be aware that
other
players may be watching for clues about your hand based on how you quickly you bet.
Sometimes
players can determine how strong another player’s hand is by how fast they act. Players
with
strong hands will often have the “Raise” button clicked on where they are telling the site
to raise
no matter what happens. Sharp players can pick up on this, so when they see someone
raising
immediately when it is their turn to act, sharp players may consider it as an indication
that the
raiser indeed has a strong hand. This would be an online tell. Each player is an individual
and will
have his own patterns. Be on the lookout for these patterns as it may become useful in a
pot down
the line.
Technology is a wonderful thing, but you still have to watch your back
I was sitting alone in a 10/20 table at one of the online poker rooms that did not have
much high
limit action. Normally, the highest limit game was only 5/10 at this site and it was rare
for a 10/20
game to get started. However since this poker room was attached to an online sportsbook,
there
was always the chance that someone would show up using his funds from the sportsbook
account.
Usually these players were not experienced playing poker and were just checking out the
poker
room to gamble. I had the table up on the computer while watching an NCAA College
basketball
tournament game and did not think about it as I watched game.
As luck would have it, a player sat down at the table and I was alerted by a beeping noise
on the
computer. I went to the computer and started playing heads-up with the player.
Unfortunately for
me, I actually knew the player from previous games. I knew he was a solid player and not
one of
the possible pushovers that I was hoping for. After a few hands, it was quite clear that
neither of
us had much of an advantage over the other and it was probably not worth playing any
more since
the rake is relatively high in heads-up games. In this heads-up game, the button had to put
up the
small blind while the other player put up the big blind. He was the first to quit, and after
his hand
on the button, he sat out of the game. Then an interesting thing happened. He quickly sat
back in.
I had expected he would post the big blind this time and I would get the button and post
the small
blind. But instead, the button moved back to his seat, and he posted the small blind
instead. Since
I had the “Auto Blind” button clicked on, the computer posted my big blind
automatically. Boy,
was I mad! I had put up the big blind two hands in a row against the same opponent, and
I did not
have the button on either hand. I was about to leave the table, when I thought maybe I
could try the
same thing, and get the button in consecutive hands. I played the next hand with the
button and the
small blind, and in the hand after that, I sat out and came back in. To my delight, it
worked! The
button came right back to me and the site prompted me to post the small blind.
Apparently the
other player did not realize what had happened because I kept up the same routine and
took the
button for at least 20 straight hands. Finally, he sat out and it became clear to him what
was going
on. What was shocking to me was that this sharp player did not realize it earlier. Maybe
he was
also playing another game and did not realize what was going on. I was laughing my
head off at
the situation since I was getting the advantage over him on every hand.
After thinking about it for a night, my conscience got the better of me and I felt a little
ashamed of
my actions. I decided I would try to make it up to him if I ever saw him again. The next
day, I saw
the same player at another online poker site. He had the same screen name and it was
obvious it
was the same player. I told him who I was and offered to give him the chunk of my
winnings in
that session. He was clearly upset and he refused my offer. He threatened to go to the site
and
notify them about my transgressions. After that, there was nothing more I could do as he
was
declining me the chance to make it up to him. Oh well. The moral of this story is that you
should
always be alert and know the rules and the quirks of each individual site. You need to
make sure
you are aware of everything so you are not taken advantage of, like this poor fellow was.
Using 4-Color Decks
If there is an option to use a 4-color deck in the online site you are playing on, I
recommend that
you do so. These decks have different colors for each suit, typically blue for diamonds
and green
for clubs. If you are playing more than one game at once, it may help avoid confusion in
seeing a
flush that may not actually be there. It will also help in seeing possible flush draws on the
board.
The different colors make recognizing the cards just a bit easier.
Different results at different sites
As mentioned in a previous section, fluctuations in online poker can be higher than in
brick and
mortar casinos. If you play at a few different online sites, this may cause some interesting
results.
It could look like you are killing the players at one site, but are getting killed by the
players at
another site. You may start to think that generally players at one site are much better than
players
at another site. Although it is likely there is some difference in skill among the population
of
players at different sites, the difference in general skill is probably not very large. For the
most
part, the fallback opinion should be that the difference in profits and loss is a result of
randomness
and luck, good luck at one site, bad luck at another. Due to the large fluctuations at online
poker,
this can easily happen. If you ask those that bet sports you will find a similar situation.
Some
sports bettors seem to make money hand over fist at one online sportsbook but cannot
beat another
online sportsbook. They are constantly trying to transfer money out of one account and
into the
other. Often they will think that the book they are losing to is extremely sharp, and maybe
they
should not bet there anymore, but typically the true reasons are fluctuation and luck.
With that said, there still may be some logical reasons for these differences in winnings
other than
plain luck, here’s a list of these possible reasons.
1. The site you are winning at has worse players in general and the one you are losing at
has better
players. As I mentioned before, I do not think the difference in skill level is large, but it
can still
exist.
2. You are playing in shorthanded games at one site and in full games at another. Your
game fits
one better than the other.
3. You are being cheated at the site you are losing on.
4. There is a software glitch or quirk at the site that you are losing on and someone else
has figured
it out
We can control reasons #1 and #2. It should not take too much effort and concentration to
determine if either of these issues is the case. If you are indeed a good player, you should
be able
to identify the weaknesses of other players, and your opinion of the quality of the players
at the
different sites should be valid. If you notice that you are playing in shorthanded games at
one site
and in full games at another, then you may want to think about whether your game is
more suited
for one than the other. Maybe the aggressiveness and the fast play of the shorthanded
games do
not fit your style. Maybe the patience that is needed at a full table is something that you
lack.
These issues we can control and make adjustments for.
It is reasons #3 and #4 that we would have problems with and have little control over, and
that is
discussed in the next section.
Cheating, Collusion and Software glitches
It would be nice if there was a world where everyone is honest and all games are on the
up and up.
Unfortunately, where there is money, there are people trying to scam it. This is something
that
everyone should be aware of.
Cheating
I would not be concerned with outright cheating online, either by players or by the site
operators.
In a brick and mortar casino, this may be a concern. Maybe a dealer is in cahoots with
some of the
players. Maybe a player has marked some of the cards in the deck. Of course these issues
are not
concerns in the online atmosphere.
Collusion
Collusion is something that many of us worry about. We worry about other players
seeing their
friend’s cards and using that information to take advantage of us. This may take the form
of two
players playing side by side, exchanging the information on their hands through the
telephone or
through an instant messenger. The best way to be protected from collusion is by playing
at a fair
online site. Online sites have access to the hand histories of every player. If there is a
good
management team, they can review the hand histories of players when there are
complaints. This
means they can catch those that collude if the play is obvious given the hands that are
shown. But
it is probably not possible to catch everyone, so we all need to watch out for this
possibility.
Software glitches
Is it possible that a site has a software glitch where some smart computer programmer
can
re-engineer their system to the point where he may have some inside information? Maybe
these
smart programmers can know with some precision what the Flop will bring. Maybe they
have a
way around the software to be able to figure out some of their opponents’ hole cards.
These are
scary thoughts, and although they may not be probable, it would not be outside the realm
of
possibilities. There is no proof that a person or a group is doing this, but that does not
mean it is
not being done. Of course this is a conspiracy theorists’ dream, or nightmare, depending
on how
they are looking at it. The truth is that there are many players making money steadily in
online
poker, playing the cards, the odds and the opponents. This fact alone should comfort most
except
the most ardent conspiracy theorists. Coincidentally, these conspiracy theorists usually
are not
good poker players. I leave it up to the individual reader to determine if this is an issue
they think
is important for themselves.
Disconnections
Players can get disconnected from their internet connection sometimes. It can happen
because of
a real disconnection or it could happen when a player tries to take advantage of the
system. Most
sites have an all-in rule where the disconnected player is considered all-in even when
they still
have chips on the table. Players who try to take advantage of the system will purposely
disconnect
their internet connction in the hopes that they get to see a free showdown. They do not
want to
invest any more money into the pot so they do not want to call any bets or raises.
However they
still think there is a chance they can win so they purposely disconnect themselves so the
system
can put them all-in and they still have a chance to win the main pot. Oftentimes you can
tell when
a player is messing around or not. For example, if the board is K-9-A-T-7 with no flush
possibility
on the Turn, and a player who got disconnected on the Turn shows 43 on the River, it
would be
obvious that the disconnection was a genuine one. However if the board shows K-9-A-T-
Q, and
the disconnected players’ hand is J9, then maybe he tried to take advantage of the system
because
he did not want to have to call on the Turn with an inside straight draw. Players who try
this are
a real pain to all the other players. Not only is it a form of cheating, but it also really
slows down
the game as the system will wait the requisite time for the player to act and he is not even
there
anymore.
Compared to brick and mortar poker rooms
Internet poker opens up some new forms of cheating but it also reduces some other
possible ways
of cheating that can exist in brick and mortar poker rooms. I believe that cheating in the
modern
day poker rooms is quite rare, but I would not completely discount it as an impossible
feat. The
forms of cheating that may be possible in a brick and mortar poker room but would not
be possible
online include marking cards, crooked dealers in cahoots with other players, switching
cards,
holding out cards, front loading (seeing other players’ cards as the dealer deals them), and
sneaking a peek at another player’s cards. Everyone likes to talk about the possibilities of
getting
cheated online, but it seems no one discusses the other forms of cheating that are
completely
eliminated when playing poker online.
Taking Notes Online
Many poker sites have a method where you can keep notes on your opponents. This is a
very
useful tool that every player should take advantage of. Taking notes in live play is useful
too, but
it is not as necessary because the mind has an easier time with forming opinions about
players
when there is facial recognition. If you have not played with a particular opponent for
several
months in a brick and mortar casino, you still stand a good chance of remembering
roughly how
the player plays. This is more difficult to pick up while playing poker online because
there is no
facial recognition. It is harder to associate a name with the qualities of the person than it
is to
associate a face with the qualities of the person. So using the notes tool that is provided
by many
poker sites should help.
Here are some of the types of notes that you should be taking on your opponents:
How loose or tight do they play pre-Flop?
How loose or tight do they play after the Flop?
How aggressive or passive are they?
Will they bet when it seems like their edge is small or will they check?
Do they check raise often?
Do they semi-bluff raise often or do their raises need to be given a lot of respect to?
Do they often cold call raises in shorthanded games?
Do they three bet from the small blind situation when a late position player open raises or
do they
just call?
How often do they defend their blinds with hands that do not warrant it?
The answers to these questions are useful to know. If you have taken notes on a player,
the next
time you encounter the player at the table, you would immediately be able to take a look
at your
previous notes and have a better idea of how he plays.
Starting Hands by Position
Some starting hands are so strong they can be played in any position.
You don't get these hands very often, but when you do, you are
generally a favorite from the get-go to win that pot.
Playable Hands in Early Position
The following table shows that we recommend playing any pair of 7's
or higher in early position, as well as the twelve suited and six
unsuited card combinations.
Pairs
•
7's through Aces
Suited
•
Aces with a king, queen, jack, or 10
•
King with a queen, jack, or 10
•
Queen with a jack or 10
•
Jack with a 10 or 9
•
10 with a 9
Unsuited
•
Aces with a king, queen, jack, or 10
•
King with a queen or jack
Playable Hands in Middle Position
When you are the fifth, sixth or seventh player to act, then you are in
middle position and can safely play smaller pairs like 6's and 5's. You
can also add ten additional suited hands and four more unsuited
combinations to your playable repertoire if the pot has not been
raised.
Cards added to the early position's playable hands are italicized:
Pairs
•
5's and 6's through Aces
Suited
•
Aces with a king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, or 6
•
King with a queen, jack, 10, or 9
•
Queen with a jack, 10, 9, or 8
•
Jack with a 10, 9, or 8
•
10 with a 9, or 8
Unsuited
•
Aces with a king, queen, jack, or 10
•
King with a queen, jack, or 10
•
Queen with a jack or 10
•
Jack with a 10
Playable Hands in late Position
In late position you have the advantage of acting last or next-to-last.
As a result, you can add a variety of hands to your arsenal. Most are
bargain basement specials; however, they should be played only if the
pot has not been raised. Moreover, you should be disciplined enough
to release them if the flop brings anything less than an abundant
harvest of friendly cards.
Cards added to the middle position's playable hands are italicized:
Pairs
•
2's , 3's and 4's through Aces
Suited
•
Aces with a king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,3,or 2
•
King with a queen, jack, 10, 9, 8 ,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, or 2
•
Queen with a jack, 10, 9, 8
•
Jack with a 10, 9, 8, or 7
•
10 with a 9, 8, or 7
•
9 with a 7 or 6
•
8 with a 7 or 6
•
7 with a 6 or 5
•
6 with a 5
•
5 with a 4
Unsuited
•
Aces with a king, queen, jack, or 10
•
King with a queen, jack, 10, or 9
•
Queen with a jack, 10, or 9
•
Jack with a 10, 9 or 8
•
10 with a 9 or 8
•
9 with a 8 or 7
•
8 with a 7
If you are new to the game, have been playing indiscriminately, or
have an any-two-cards-can-win philosophy, you may believe these
recommendations are too tight. They're not. In fact, they are
somewhat loose.
A hand like K 2 while playable in late position is a pretty sorry
excuse for a Hold'em hand. If you flop a king and there's any
appreciable action, it's fairly apparent that someone else has a king
with a bigger kicker than yours. If you flop a 2, you've guaranteed
yourself the lowest pair on board. Even if you are incredibly lucky and
flop a flush, there's no assurance that it is the best flush. Probably the
very best flop you could hope for is something like A 2 2 , which
gives you three deuces with a strong kicker. You also have three cards
to a flush, and while the odds against catching two more hearts are
long indeed, it is an additional way to win. Players call this a backdoor
draw. More importantly, an ace on the board guarantees a call or two
from any opponents holding an ace in their hand.
Still, K 2 and a lot of the other playable hands in late position are
vulnerable from any number of directions, and it takes some degree o
skill to navigate your way through the murky waters of a Hold'em pot
in a rickety canoe like this one.
General Texas Hold’em Tips
Hold 'em Danger on the Flop
When you're check-raised on the flop, be prepared to surrender often
unless your hand has promise. It's tempting to bet aggressively when
checked into and you hold a fairly weak hand. Betting is okay, because
you might win the pot now, or you might win the pot against other
opponents with similarly weak hands, even if they call. But a check-
raise can mean trouble. It's tempting to call, because the price is
cheap considering the amount of money already in the pot. But figure
it's going to cost a lot more money to chase your opponent to the
showdown. Unless you're against a tricky and sophisticated opponent
who often check-raises as a bluff, pass. You'll save money.
Hold 'em Starting Hand Rankings
In order to determine the rankings of hold 'em starting hands (from
best to worst); you must consider the number of opponents. A pair of
eights will do better against fewer opponents, but speculative hands,
such as JC 10C, do better against many opponents.
Exploiting No-Limit Weakness
Suppose you're playing heads-up, no-limit freeze-out. If you're playing
perfectly, expect to win more consistently against an opponent who
plays too tight than against an opponent who plays too loose.
Hold 'em Suits
Many players underestimate the value of same-suit starting cards in
hold 'em. While it's true that flushes will only comprise a small portion
of the hands you finish with, they comprise a large portion of the
hands you win with. Here are two powerful rules for measuring the
power of suited cards: (1) The larger the ranks, the less important it is
that your starting hand is suited, because high ranks often win in other
ways; (2) The fewer the number of opponents, the less important it is
that your starting hand is suited, because it doesn't usually require
great strength to beat a few opponents.
Small Pairs from Early Position in Hold'em
My computer simulations and other analysis suggest that most hold
'em players will not make a profit with pairs of deuces, threes, and
fours for their lifetimes. There is an argument that these hands are
worth playing in very loose games, but I'm not sure. You need to be
very selective. When you have one of these small-pair hands in an
early position, it's tough to anticipate how many players will come into
the pot if you just-call the big blind. Will you be raised? There's lots to
think about. I believe it's often OK to call after many players have
called already, but it's more risky to gamble from an early position in
anticipation of a lot of callers. And you often need many callers to
justify the odds of playing a small pair and hoping to make at least
three of a kind.
Remember, in addition to not knowing what your opponents will do,
you'll be in an inferior position -- having to act first -- on all future
betting rounds. You have to think about what's wrong with a pair of
deuces. One bad thing is that occasionally you can catch a third deuce
while someone with a pair of, say, sixes catches a third six. Obviously,
you'd rather have these hands reversed. And if a big pair hits the
board and two pair beats two pair, it's not going to be your two pair
that wins. Also, these small pair often end up having absolutely no
value! That happens when two bigger pair hit the board. If the board
contains two kings and two fives, then an opponent with two sixes has
kings and sixes, while you -- holding a pair of deuces -- have a
worthless hand and must play what's on the board.
All things considered, I advise most hold 'em players to usually fold
small pairs in early positions.
The Terrible Truth about Deuces in Hold 'em
Even if you play all the way to a showdown in hold 'em, if you start
with a pair of deuces, the odds against you catching at least one more
deuce among the five board cards is 4.2 to 1. You'll only succeed 19
percent of the time. When you consider that you're unlikely to win
without seeing a third deuce, that you might lose -- often at some
expense -- even when you do see one, and that it will probably cost
you considerably more money to get to that last river card, you can
understand why a pair of deuces is usually unprofitable to play in hold
'em
More Bad News for Hold'em Small Pairs in Early Seats
As you may know, I teach that it's usually wrong to call the big blind
early with small pairs, such as 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4. Many things work
against these hold 'em hands, such as (1) you can make three of a
kind and lose to a larger three-of-a-kind, (2) if you get lucky enough
that your pair might matter, a bigger pair (or bigger two-pair when
there's a major pair on board and your second pair isn't large enough)
might beat you, and (3) two bigger pairs might show up on the board,
leaving you with essentially no hand at all.
But if this argument -- and the simulation of millions of hands which
I've done by computer -- doesn't convince you, here's some more bad
news: You usually can afford to call a single raise after you call the
blind with a small pair, but not a double raise. So, if you call, and
there's a raise, and then there's a re-raise, you should usually fold.
But in folding, you're surrendering a first bet without any shot at the
pot whatsoever.
When I talk to people who are trying to analyze whether these small
pairs are profitable in an early position, they seldom mention the fact
that you might have to throw the hand away without seeing the flop.
So, even if you can argue that the small pair is a close decision
without the forced-to-fold factor, it is not a close decision when that
factor is correctly considered. Once again: Seldom play small pairs
from an early position, unless you're in a very loose game with very
timid opponents who don't raise aggressively AND you can outplay
those opponents on later betting rounds.
If you never play these small pairs at all from early seats, you won't
be sacrificing much.
In Hold'em, It's Usually Better Not To Raise From the Big Blind
When many opponents just call my big blind, I'll seldom raise unless I
have a powerful hand. Intermediate strength is seldom enough to
justify my option to raise from the big blind position. That's because
I'll need to act early on all future rounds of betting, giving all or most
of my opponents a positional advantage. Unless I have real strength, I
will usually accept a free look at the flop. You should, too.
Beware Of Bunched Aces in Hold'em
I call this the "bunching factor." It has nothing to do with poor dealing,
though. If you're playing 10-handed hold 'em and the first seven
players have folded before the flop, there's a better-than-usual chance
that the few remaining players hold aces. Why? It's because when
opponents fold, it's more likely that they folded something other than
aces. This means that statistically there are more aces left that could
appear in the few remaining hands. While this isn't an overwhelming
statistical factor, it is significant enough that you should be more
selective about the hands you raise the blinds with from the button
(dealer position) when everyone else has folded than you would be if
the deal began three-handed! This "bunching factor" applies to other
games, too -- especially draw poker.
Seldom Re-raise As the Big Blind in Hold'em
First, you need to know that I frequently re-raise as the big blind when
an aggressive, blind-stealing-type opponent raises in the small blind
after everyone else folds. I don't need a very strong hand to justify
that re-raise, because even if I'm beat by a mediocre hand, the re-
raise gives me psychological leverage to add to my positional
advantage. Remember, I'll get to act last on all betting rounds. But in
all other circumstances, while you should vary your play, and you can
certainly sometimes justify re-raising when you're in the big blind
position, usually you'll make more money by waiting to see the flop.
Among the many reasons for this, these important ones come to mind:
1. If the small blind isn't involved in the pot, you will have the
disadvantage of acting first on all future betting rounds.
2. With all but aces and, perhaps, kings, the strength of your hand
is not usually defined until after you see the flop. You really don't
know if it is strong or weak. Unlike stud games where your
strength often changes slowly, one card at a time, the three-card
flop strongly defines your hand in hold 'em. Although your cards
may be strong enough for you to believe that you have a
likelihood of having the best hand, that edge is usually not
enough to justify a re-raise and risk facing yet another raise
from a rare hand that might truly dominate you. This is
especially true because of your poor position.
3. Why announce that you have a fairly strong hand if you don't
have to? The very tiny edge of pushing a hand you think might
be slightly better than your opponents' hands is often
overwhelmed by the fact that you are giving away information
unnecessarily. Of course, this show of strength can sometimes
work in your favor (and you CAN use it deceptively with weak
hands), but it is more likely to work against you by chasing away
weak callers and the long-range profit they might supply on
future betting rounds. If you just call, opponents will think you
might have anything, from very weak hands to moderately
strong ones or better. You keep your options open on future
betting rounds, and you can fold more easily, having invested
less, if the flop disappoints you.
For these reasons and others, I recommend usually not re-raising in
the big blind with moderately strong hands, except when isolated with
only the small blind.
How Good is King-Jack Offsuit in Hold'em?
It depends on the type of game.
Much of the modern literature ridicules the play of king-jack offsuit and
similar hands that might be dominated. The truth is that in very
conservative games, these hands are unprofitable from early positions
and when calling an early position raise.
Still, king-jack ranks high on the list of hands you might be dealt at
random and even average players in loose games frequently make
money with it overall. I know that statement is shocking to most
advocates of tight entrance requirements, but it's the truth.
Why is king-jack a winner, when many books say that it will usually be
dominated by ace-king, king-queen, ace-jack? It's because real-life
players are out there indiscriminately playing hands like king-7, jack-
5, and who knows what else. The net effect is that king-jack often
dominates more than it is dominated, and under command of a skillful
player it definitely earns a profit. I'm not taking rakes into
consideration by making this claim. But it's definitely true that, in a
seat-rental game, king-jack offsuit at a loose table has a long-range
profit expectation in many situations, even though players are
traditionally ridiculed for playing it.
I do agree that inexperienced players are safer not playing the hand,
because they're likely to end up not knowing what to do after the flop.
Beyond that, I believe the value of king-jack in loose games is widely
underestimated.
The Difference Between Aces and Kings in Hold'em
In hold 'em, you hear a lot of talk about aces and kings being the
ultimate hands. That's true, but don't be too quick to put them in the
same category, as many players do. A pair of aces before the flop
logically belongs in a category all to itself.
Here's how often each hand wins against nine opponents holding
random hands when everyone stays to the river...
A-A = 31% (21 percentage points higher than a fair share)
K-K = 26% (16 percentage points higher than a fair share)
what really makes the difference is that, when you consider actual
betting strategy, A-A is much more likely to gain extra bets and to
stay out of trouble. For this reason, in the hands of a professional, A-A
can be almost twice as profitable as K-K overall in a full-handed game.
That's something to keep in mind
Hold'em: Chasing a Flush with a Pair On Board
When you begin with two suited cards and flop two more -- meaning
you need to catch one more of that suit on the 4th (turn) or 5th (river)
cards, it's often correct to continue to pursue the pot. So, if you start
with Kh-Jh in a fixed-limit game and the flop is 7 -A -4 , you
probably should call (and sometimes even bet, partially for deceptive
purposes).
But if there's a pair on that flop, such as 10 -10 -7 , you should often
fold. Why? It's because the flush attempt is usually only marginally
profitably (on average) without the pair present. The increased
chances of you making a flush only to have it beat by a full house
when a pair is present often makes the pursuit unprofitable.
That's why, if you think the pursuit of the flush would only show a
small profit without the pair, you should almost always fold with the
pair present. Rare exceptions might involve times when you can use
the presence of the pair to bluff or to posture
Review of Online Poker Sites and Poker Informational Sites
Online poker is a new industry and that means changes occur very quickly. There are new
online
poker sites all the time and informational sites. Instead of listing these sites in this book, I
will
have a page on HoldemBrain.com with information on online poker sites and poker
informational
sites. If one is going to play poker or look up informational sites online, one will have to
go online
anyway, so make a pitstop at HoldemBrain.com to check out current reviews.
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