Texas hold 'em. Any tips?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Thanks for the tip, Sherlock

No need to be rude. It's a pretty common question in the A/C forum, so there's no reason to assume everyone knows it.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
You can't actually search the archives. You have to look through it manually.

The KH advice in a previous thread was pretty recent-- it shouldn't be that hard to find

Edit- and I see it was found

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


No need to be rude. It's a pretty common question in the A/C forum, so there's no reason to assume everyone knows it.

Kuci, sweetheart, if you thought that was rude then you've got another thing coming.

[Pekka]

yeah kuci, stop being such a baby!!!

[Brundlefly]

For those of you who play real money online poker, would you ever play an online casino game like craps or blackjack for real money? Meaning, games where its just you against the dealer (or in this case, the websites casino program).

[Pekka]

No.

Because you will lose in the long run, and in the short run as well more likely than not.

THose games are rigged in favour of the house. I mean, the odds are for the house to win, of course. Thus, the longer you play, the more you lose. You can make quick buck, but that's just unlikely.

So.. that's stupid. If I had lots of money, then for fun, sure, but for winning, never.

[Pekka]

ahh you said online. Even less excited to play those games. For that, I wouldn't do for the kicks. I could do that in a real casino to have fun, but not expect to win anything. For poker, and more importantly Texas Hold'em, that's a different story. You're not playing against the house. Unless you're being fooled. You play against others. And that's where the most skilled ones have great edge, and take the pot home more than not. Odds favour them. In the longer run, they should win while the ones with less skills or no skills will run out the luck factor at some point and lose it all. Or at least more than they won.

With good players, the fortune side is needed less, but still needed for sure. With bad players, they need a whole lot of luck to win the good ones. The longer they go, the less chance they got.

[Ming]

As "Jesus" himself said... at any given time, poker is 90% luck. However, in the long run, Poker is 99% skill

[Pekka]

That's what the odds mean.. first, if you're like 80/20 to win it, that means you're likely to win it. But still it's VERY possible something else will come out and you lose. BUT in the longer run, knowing the odds and playing for them, the chances of winning increases and the chances of losing playing against and running out of luck dramatically increases as well.

TO people who don't get what the odds are the time played means. One shot, could go one way or the other. 1000 shots... don't think so.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Ming
As "Jesus" himself said... at any given time, poker is 90% luck. However, in the long run, Poker is 99% skill

aka "the law of large numbers"

[Sparrowhawk]

Can anyone explain the recent increase in popularity of Texas Hold'em?

It seems like in the last 6 months - 1 year I have heard about it everywhere I go, in RL, Online, and on TV. Before that I had not heard of the game, was it my ignorance or has the game really taken off that much.

Perhaps it is Poker and Gambling in general, but particularly Texas Hold'em seems to be popular recently.

/me who regularly loses in a "friendly" game among friends

*Friendly = $10-$20 each

[Pekka]

Don't know but I think the online casinos made all the difference. now you can play loads of hands when ever you want. Easy, lots of money to be made.

You can see it in WSOP too.. it's like too big now

[Pekka]

Well well, I read the first page of your thread KH, and found it interesting. Some of it I have discovered on my own though, but there were thigns I definitely picked up.

Now, I'll give my own thoughts on some plays, and people remember I'm newbie to this game, played less than 1000 hands online (real life, 0 hands), with play money. I just transferred some money to one casino, to play for money though. Time to test the waters.

Anyway here's my thoughts on things to look out when you're playing for first few times. Any experienced player can correct me any time, because I'm just talking about what I think when I play, and feel that the very first timers might not think. I also didn't yet read the whole thread so some of this might be covered already or trashed!

First off, don't fall for the weak aces. A2 to A9, even A10 are usually pretty weak. Rarely win with these, so unless you are out of ammunition or want to go to sleep soon, then go out with these babies.

First thing you need to do is evaluate your two cards. But after that, if you decide to go with them, don't stare at them too much. You need to figure out what can beat you. The cards in the flop and after, you need to be updated on what different combos will beat you.

For example of you have a weak pair and decide to go with them, like 77, and flop gives 3 hearts (you have none), be on a lookout. Don't stress too much, odds for fourth heart are slim. But someone might already hold 2 hearts in their hand, but unlikely. But now you have to worry about the flush also, see how people raise and play after this more carefully. With fourth heart in the table, if it's the turn card, or the river card, you're most likely ****ed if you have more than few players in the game still. Also, if you have small heart, like 3, you might want to consider that this isn't still the greatest hand since if lots of players in game still, someone can have bigger heart than you, and if there's more than one aggressive raiser, who otherwise plays tight, it's more than likely you're getting raped. Judgement call on your part.

Other thing you want to be looking at is possible three of kinds. It's very strong and usually beats everything at the table on the moment. So when you get 2 pairs after the flop, don't get too excited. It's pretty common hand, so you want to be looking out for the 3 of kinds at moments as well. Also, if there's draw going, like 3-4-5, you again want to be looking out for this one, someone might make it. But 3-5-6 isn't that strong anymore. IF fourth card comes in a row, turn or river, to 3-4-5-6 then the same thing as with flush. Be careful and if you have something and put your money on the pot a long time, time to make a judgement call. Again, you should now know the styles of different players to call this.

Another tip. If there are tight players in the table, these are the only times I would consider bluffing. With possible flushes and draws. More likely with flushes.

Realize, that you have to see how much it costs you to do things. DO I really want to see the flop? Or the turn card, or the river. If you're not sure, then flop. Don't call when you're not sure. You don't want to give your money away, if the next thing you do is flop. Good players will call you on this very quickly, if you are a loose caller and get some extra lootings.

Try to see if someone is trying to buy the pot. This means, that they don't have anything, and they've played reasonably conservatively the whole hand, checking and checking, everyone is just checking after the flop, and after the river card, everyone checks except the last guy. That dude raises and more likely than not he's trying to buy the pot. OR he's trying to slow play, but if there has been nothing but checking all the time, then he shouldn't have a monster at least.

I wouldn't recommend trying to buy pots online, or as a newbie. I do n't do it. But I do call people trying to do that if I have something more than a weak pair. I usually win them, more than not.

These are my newbie observations.

Feel free to trash me for being such a dumbass and giving horrible advices. I try to read some books and learn more. Play more.

[Pekka]

Also the GOLDEN RULE IS, for me, read it somewhere, that if you can't find the fish, then YOU ARE IT! If you can't find any weak players, you're the weak one and everyone is gunning at you. Leave the table. Find a new table.

Also, remember this. What your odds are, roughly, are about how you should bet. You need to have some kind of logic as to how you raise, check or call. At first, it's kind of difficult, but slowly I'm getting some kind of hang of it.

Also remember to evaluate the worth of seeing flop/turn/river considering what you have. You're paying to see it. Are the odds worth paying the money? Even more so if it's the flop or turn, and remember, if you paid a lot already, and you have nothing and you're sure the other ones have, definitely have, why pay for the river card? Or why pay AFTER the river card? Just flop. And remember how much you paid just to flop, so maybe next time you are more careful with it. You need a system. Don't just wing it. Have a system and FOLLOW IT. The moment you realize you've played two hours straight and won just about nothing, and get frustrated, it's better to just quit and do something else for hte rest of the night, than start playing loosely. That's how it happens, that's how you fast lose what you gained so slow. That's when you leave the system and basically leave the odds. That's why you can never start doign anything else, because the odds work for you in the long run. Don't be a fool and quit it, and mess it all up. UNLESS the system sucks to begin with .

[Pekka]

Who wants to talk about tournament strategies?

I'm still trying to learn my strategy as to what kind of stack I want to be holding at any point of the game, in relation to average stack and the blinds.

What are your thoughts on this one? YOu can't always wait for the good hole cards, you need ammunition at some point you're gone.