However life isn’t like that in poker and the very best player in the world (if it is possible to identify such a player) would not be able to beat a novice all the time let alone someone who was fairly good. Backgammon is another game similar to poker where vastly inferior players can win quite often. When you play a game of backgammon then this is a bit like playing a pot in poker. If your opponent is throwing lucky dice then they will beat you irrespective of the skill level. Likewise in poker when your opponent is hitting flops or getting dealt big hands.

There is nothing that even the best poker players in the world can do if their opponents are running good! They just try to bunker down and ride out the storm losing the absolute minimum. When players start off down the road of playing poker then the ones who enjoy the game begin to start to study it by reading books and maybe joining coaching sites and so forth. The danger comes when these players skill and knowledge levels increases to such a level that they become super confident in their ability. They almost have a sense of superiority over everyone else but the dangerous part of all of this is that they are not far enough down the poker evolutionary road to realise that skill and ability is marginal in poker.

In fact it is so marginal that many people believe that games like poker and backgammon are entirely luck based. This isn’t true of course but the fact remains that knowledgeable players or players who have a lot of knowledge about the game still believe that their advantage is bigger than it really is in any one session. This goes to show that “understanding poker” goes far deeper than just being able to play poker hands well and goes into areas like accepting and truly understanding the variance within the game and being at one with it. Until you can accept that no matter how good you are that in any one hand or session that you are basically almost tossing a coin for whether or not you win or lose then you will never be at one with the game.

If we both entered a contest where we flipped coins for money and I paid you $1 every time I lost the coin toss and you paid me $1.50 every time you lost then I would make money tossing coins and if we did this often enough and you were stupid enough to continue then I could toss coins for a living. However despite this I would still lose 50% of the time and that is still a very high percentage of losses. In fact it is so high that I would go on many horrendous losing runs only having a win percentage of 50%. So despite the fact that I have a huge advantage in this coin flip example then I am still losing 50% of the time that I play and losing runs simply cannot be avoided. Poker is a lot like that, you may be good and you may know the game and be better than your opponents but you are still essentially flipping coins but doing so with +EV.

It can be but one thing that needs to be pointed out is that there are all different versions of tilt with many different levels. If you have failed to make your draw on three successive hands and you snap call with bad odds in a situation that is clearly well into –EV territory then you have suffered a very minor version of tilt. This may only last for one hand but you have tilted all the same. These days when players multi-table then they are more at risk from emotional instability! If you are playing live poker then tilt is more easily managed because other players can see you and there is always a level of embarrassment attached to it when your opponents can physically see you.

But online poker is a different matter and you have no one to stop you from screaming and shouting or as I have observed several times, actually committing damage to your computer equipment. I think that there is one very important reason why players tilt and it is because novice and even experienced players for that matter simply cannot accept or are aware of the level of variance within the game. This leads players to believe in their own mind that their skill advantage is more crushing than it actually is. So they simply expect too much from the game and when what they expect fails to happen then they struggle to accept it.

I often feel that keeping emotional control is perhaps the biggest weapon that a player can have in their arsenal in the modern online poker game. But tilt can be very destructive in online poker because hands come so thick and fast. If you are playing live and you tilt for thirty minutes then you may see ten hands in that time. If you are playing ten tables online and you tilt for that same thirty minutes then you may see as many as 400-500 hands in that time. This is why emotional control is so important online than it is live and because many players struggle with this side of the game then this is a huge reason why many players struggle with poker full stop when they play online. Too many players concentrate with their technical side when they should be concentrating on their mental side.

Actually even with these examples then there are no absolutes as you cannot know your opponents hand or see or know what they are going to do. But you can however use a combination of factors to base your decisions on. These are mainly the flop texture, actions of both you and your opponents and the number of opponents that you have in the pot.

Let us look at the first example and it has been folded around to you on the button and you open raise with T-T and the big blind calls so there are only two players in the pot. The flop comes T-6-2 rainbow and your opponent checks. This really weak betting sequence is indicative of a player who will either fold or call one barrel and then fold. So this is where checking the flop may get more value later in the hand.

Do not get me wrong here, betting the flop isn’t wrong as it is starting to build a big pot with a big hand but slowplaying is a viable option as you are trying to let your opponent catch up and make a second best hand. Now contrast this with the following example, three players limp and you limp on the button with Q-J and the small blind completes making a six way family pot. The flop comes 10-9-8 rainbow giving you the nut straight and all of your opponents check.

Here you need to bet for numerous reasons. Firstly you have five opponents and a board that figures to have connected with limpers rather than raisers so a bet will get some calls here in all likelihood. Secondly it looks like you are trying to steal from the button when you bet like this. But there is also a third reason as well and it is to do with a scare card coming on the turn to kill your action. If you check this and the turn card is a Q,J,7 or 6 then the board will look too scary for all non straight hands to call and so you will have missed the chance to get some money on the hand.

Just because your opponents have checked then this does not mean that they are check folding to a bet. At least one player if not two of them will check call a bet on this board. So slowplaying poker hands is right some of the time but not right in others and hopefully this article will have identified some situations where it is right and wrong to do that.

For instance I have often heard it mentioned that 300 big bets are sufficient to play Limit Holdem. Once again this is a generalised statement and statements of this nature do not sit very well with me. There are so many variables that are attached to this topic that one could write an entire encyclopaedia and still not totally cover it. It is often said that to play professionally one needs some sort of poker bankroll. But what exactly is a poker bankroll?

For instance if you have other sources of income that places you into a situation where you can continually replenish your existing bankroll then suddenly the entire dynamic has changed for you personally. Do not be so quick to attempt to copy other peoples advice on bankrolls as much of what is said is generic and not of much use to certain individuals depending on their own individual situation.

Now before we go any further I feel it is only correct to point out that in no way am I suggesting that poker bankrolls or what is called money-management are not important. But I feel that money-management is far more important than having a poker bankroll as bad money-management will almost certainly leave you in a situation where you have no future as a successful poker player. But yet many professional poker players exist without having conventional bankrolls behind them.

Many tournament players survive and even thrive by doing deals with other people who either bankroll them financially or they buy pieces of them in such a way as to massively offset the amount of money that is needed personally by the player. There is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever in playing poker at a level that is beyond your current bankroll. This statement needs some clarification because doing this blindly and without any kind of planning is now starting to stray into the area of bad money management and that will ultimately lead to your demise.

What I mean by this is that it is not a bad thing to take shots at higher levels if the moment you lose your buy-in or buy-ins, you drop back down to where you were previously playing. Many players do this and it is a viable way to play, moving up and down through the levels based on your current bankroll size can sometimes be the best way to optimise your earn rate and winnings over the space of a year.

I think that some of the best advice with regards the subject of poker bankrolls was given to me some years ago by a long time professional player. He told me to basically protect myself from variance whilst being flexible enough to operate in a way that suited me personally.

There is little point in having good money management skills and a sound poker bankroll if the process of doing so leaves you with disciplinary problems because you simply do not like the thought of grinding by playing poker in a disciplined way.

It may appear that this article has not answered any questions and doubts and presented you with more questions and doubts than it has answered. In effect the purpose of this article was to merely highlight the fact that on the subject of bankrolls, there are really no definite guidelines that apply to all situations and if you can keep that in mind then you may just find the best way forward for you personally.

Sports persons often look to emulate their peak performance which is often obtained under conditions known as “the zone”. This is where they perform well under conditions where they feel the most alert and able to completely control any technique or skill that their sport requires of them. Sports psychologists use visualisation and other mental conditioning exercises to try and reach a position with their subject where their “zone” can be entered like the flicking of a light switch. Poker players can use these techniques to ensure when they have a big decision to make they are lucid and alert ready to perform at the top of their game at a moments notice.

Some of the questions a sports psychologist will ask a sports person are, Does losing affect you? What motivates you? Are you afraid of failure or success? For a poker player it is particularly important to explore the answers to these questions as any internal fears or insecurities may cause snap decisions at critical moments that are not optimal for success. For example if you are facing an all-in bet and are insecure whether you can win the tournament you may decide to just “go for it” when folding is correct in this spot. This decision is affected by your own self asteem as a poker player issues her than optimal poker strategy.

Online Hold em poker players have reported excellent results working with sports psychologists. For online player developing their mental toughness is very important. Some players will naturally have a psyche able to cope with swings and losses but others will need to work on this part of poker. A sports psychologist will build levels of self assurance similar to what top sales people must have to be able to take the rejection they must endure on their route to success. As luck plays such a role in poker the sports psychologist will work to develop an equilibrium and calmness in the player so they understand that taking a bad beat is not the universe punishing them for trying to make a living from cards.

Not everyone will see the need to go out and spend top dollar on consulting a sports psychologist in private therapy sessions. But the mental aspect of poker is such an important part of the game you should read some books on the subject at least and work out the brain just like you would condition your body for a race or fitness event. Using proper psychological techniques you can become the poker playing machine that is primed for optimal performance each time you play a session. You can control the affects of tilt, absorb losses with the assurance of a winning professional and see a real improvement in your approach to poker. There is a wide variety of reading material online on this subject and I really recommend you check some of it out and see how studying sports psychology can help your game.

By Malcolm Clarke

All Bots not the same

All poker bots are not the same. Some of them are extremely well programmed while others remain as beatable as any other player at the table. You have to keep in mind that bots are only as efficient as the skill of the programmer. So the more highly skilled the programmer the better the bot is going to perform. Conversely, a bot in the hands of a not so skilled programmer will not perform nearly as well and can even be vulnerable at the poker table.

The nature of poker is the interaction between humans. This includes the online poker game. Even though you cannot physically see your opponent we all have tendencies. In most cases we are measuring betting patterns and making calculated decisions based on past history with players at our table. You also have the variables of player chat the bots cannot take into account too. For as much as poker bots can influence the game I would much rather bet on a skilled human player capable of processing all pieces of information from hand to hand.

Penalties

So what happens if you get caught with a poker bot? Well, that depends on what online poker room you are playing in. For sure you can bet you will be in big trouble if you get caught. Most poker rooms are very clear in their rules against cheating and scamming the poker room. You can believe if you are determined to be a cheater that your online poker account will immediately be frozen at the very least. You can also plan on losing whatever winnings you may have in your account as well as it will likely be assumed you won them illegally. Lastly, depending on where in the world you live, you may be turned over to the authorities and face serious jail time. Those do not sound like options that make cheating anywhere near worth the time and effort. Poker rooms are constantly scanning for bots and sniffers that are capable of telling what hole cards other players are holding.

In the long term you may have to pay back restitution to the poker room and any players they found that you have cheated. In some cases that could be millions of dollars for a high roller. Thinking back to the Ultimate Bet poker scandal a few years ago there were several high stakes games that were taking place and one player lost millions of dollars at that time. Since then they have gone out of their way to change their management, brand and offer more transparency to players that remain on their site.
The bottom line is that as long as there is money involved you will have an element of player that thinks they can beat the system. As long as a poker room quickly admits to and addresses any possible cheating scenario there is no reason to believe that playing online poker is not a safe venture to undertake.

Well firstly all poker sites have bonuses and rake deals and other such incentives that many players fail to take advantage of. For instance let us say that you play online poker regularly and you play without rakeback. Let us also say that your best friend who plays at exactly the same site as you and at the same levels with a similar game has a 33% rake deal. Both players break even on the actual tables themselves but one player breaks even over all their play while the other is getting $1000 in rakeback per month.

Suddenly we have a situation where one player is making $12,000 per year while the other is breaking even. Or how about the player who never moves from site to site and so never takes advantage of sign up bonuses which at some sites can be $1000 or more. While you have to play so many hands to get the bonus, a regular player who plays often will clear the bonus in no time at all.

It is exactly the same with reward points or player points. These are points awarded to players for giving a certain level of action based on the stakes that they play and the time that they put in. These points can be converted for prizes, free entries into tournaments or even cash. But free entries into poker tournaments or satellites have a theoretical value because sooner or later you are going to cash in these events. A full-time or semi-professional player could make thousands of dollars a month in bonuses, rakeback and other rewards and they can literally make the difference between being a winning and a losing poker player.

Most poker players fit into the category of not being anywhere near good enough to throw this kind of money away and it is always the case that the players who do throw this money away are the players who need it the most in order to make the game pay long term. In poker then it is often a combination of lethargy and wastefulness that leads to players being lifetime losers. If you are a regular player and play 20 hours a week and you are also a decent poker player and you have lost $2k in the last year then you have basically engineered your own downfall if you failed to take advantage of sign up bonuses, rakeback and other such financial incentives.

I know it isn’t the prettiest topic to discuss in the world but it is one that needs to be addressed nonetheless. Running bad and getting cold decked are two of the worst situations a poker player can find themselves in. How well you play the game has nothing to do with it. When variance hits you the wrong way and the cards do not fall in your favor it can set a number of bad things in motion if you are not careful. I am going to talk about how to cope with a bad run and recognize it before you begin to develop bad habits that make it worse.

Recognition

If you are new to the game of poker this will be the most difficult task for you to understand. Knowing when you are running bad is essential for a number of reasons such as:

1. Bankroll management
2. Emotional control
3. Stave off developing bad habits

Those are just a few of the reasons you need to be capable of recognizing when things are not going your way.

In order to understand what a bad run is you can simply examine what it looks and feels like when you are running good. You are hitting all of your outs and even doing it when you are not a favorite. You seem to pick up better hands and more of them when you are in a session. Your mindset is balanced and you “know” you are going to make a profit. The tempo and rhythm of the game seem to fit perfectly with how you are playing. Conversely, the polar opposite takes place when you are running bad. No matter how well you play you always seem to lose the one outer or miss the draw even when you are 50/50in the hand. Things seem to be going against you at every turn. You begin to lose confidence in your game. Second guessing your play also begins to set it. Nothing you do seems to be enough to win a pot.

Control

As I stated earlier, running bad has nothing to do with your skill as a poker player. However, understanding what to do when you hit a bad run of cards separates the good players from the broke ones. You need to have a great deal of emotional and self-control to even play the game of poker let alone win a tournament or have consistent session that are profitable. That means when things are not going your way you do not begin to force the action. Many players will start to play more hands when they run bad. Others will begin making moves in the wrong spots opening themselves up to easily be picked off in Texas Holdem poker tournaments or giving up maximum profit in cash games. This is why controlling your emotional state is important when you are running bad and in most cases keep you from losing more than you should.

What to Do?

So now that we have defined what to look for and what can happen when you are dealing with a bad run we can discuss what you need to do. I realize that everyone is different. Personalities, styles of play and approaches to the game all make up who we are as poker players. One solutions doesn’t necessarily fit everyone so we will discuss a few that may help you get your game back on track.

1. Understand Variance – over and over again I hear poker players talk about how there is no way they should lose with Aces heads-up. What they do not seem to understand is that being a favorite does not mean you are an automatic winner. This is where understanding variance comes into play. All we can do is get our chips in the middle with the best hand and hope it works out. By studying how variance works and some of the math behind it things become clearer for us to understand when our favorite doesn’t work out.
2. Take a Break – taking a break from the game always helps when things are not going quite right for you. Sometimes a bad run will last a couple of days and other times it can last for weeks, months or even a year. Only you know how much time you need to recalibrate your thinking.
3. Cards come in waves – cards tend to come in waves both good and bad. Knowing this can help you adjust your game. When you are running good you play more. The same rules apply when you are running bad only in the opposite direction. When things are not going your way slow down for a while until the tide turns.
4. Don’t second guess – second guessing is not your friend in the game of poker. If you feel you are not making the correct decisions then by all means step away from the game. However, if you know you are making the correct decisions but continue to get poor outcomes you cannot allow it to change your game. Remember, making the correct decisions will benefit you MOST of the time sans variance striking at the most in-opportune time.

Great poker players and good play are measured over the long term. Don’t allow a bad run of cards to destroy your confidence. Use it as an opportunity to learn and improve when you have some down time. I prefer to read strategy when I am running bad and re-think my approach as I analyze what has happened. Use that down time constructively and not only will you survive but you will thrive!

Curtis Mayfield III

Poker has always been a game about knowledge and self-improvement. It used to be that you could literally play thousands of hands over a number of hours and eventually you would gain the requisite experience necessary to have a solid grasp of the game. Today, in the computer age of instant access and online poker, just about anyone with an internet connection can gain years of knowledge and experience with the click of a button. All of that knowledge can be picked up in a relatively short period of time.

True, there is no substitute for experience but the learning curve is a lot shorter than it used to be and if you are not on top of your game and working to constantly evolve your game you will find yourself left behind. Players today simply are hungry for knowledge. They are talking, reading, writing and even watching video in order to gain any and every edge they can to compete in both low and high stakes poker tournaments and cash games. Poker strategy from pros and internet poker pros is readily available if one seeks it out.

So how do you improve your game?
I believe the first thing that anyone that plays live or online poker needs to do is to be brutally honest with yourself.  This is not always an easy thing to do but it is certainly a necessary thing to do if you intend to keep up. Poker is a lot like many other sports in that the game has evolved. For instance: As little as six years ago almost no one even knew the game existed other than hard core poker players that grew up with the game in their homes playing with family and eventually continued to play as adults. The game also had many middle aged and older players that simply sat and socialized as they earned a few bucks over a beer. Yes, tournaments were being played and you definitely had your regular gamblers and pros that played the game as well.

Also, the game was more of a small pot game that was played to the River. Today, the game is much younger with players like Peter Eastgate, Annette Obrestad and many others that have had major successes in live poker tournaments translating their games from the internet to brick and mortar poker rooms. The play also has become increasingly more aggressive pre-flop as the years have passed by. No one is afraid to get their chips in the middle on a flush draw early in a poker tournament anymore where as back in the day that was something that was a major no no.

I believe video has also been a major tool in helping new players to learn the game so quickly. Obviously, if you are multi-tabling you are going to see a lot more hands a lot faster than if you are playing live. The more experience the better the player, if you have the talent that is. Also, I noticed that the number of poker strategy books available is completely off the charts today whereas only a few years ago you had to dig and beg the clerk to find anything outside of Super System. As the public has become more aware of Texas Hold’em the curiosity and banter about the game has leaked into the work place where hands are being discussed constantly among co-workers and friends alike. Simply put there are so many more avenues to obtain knowledge about the game. So, there are no excuses for anyone that really wants to work at it and become a good poker player. If you prefer learning via reading – it’s there for you. If you prefer videos – it’s there for you too. Talking about the game with poker players that you respect will always be a tool utilized by those players in the know. I do it almost each and every day. So don’t be afraid to reach out and grab the information that is available to you. It doesn’t cost you much more than a little bit of your time. Trust me, it’s time well spent.

Curtis Mayfield III

]]> http://www.holdempokertips.info/2010/04/improve-your-game/feed/ 0 http://www.holdempokertips.info/2010/03/poker-situations-to-avoid/ http://www.holdempokertips.info/2010/03/poker-situations-to-avoid/#comments Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:20:56 +0000 admin http://www.holdempokertips.info/?p=41 We spend a lot time writing and talking about what should be done at a poker table. I talk about poker strategy, poker tournaments and even cash games when detailing what makes us the best players that we can be. However, not all situations in a poker room require you to understand pot odds or calculate them. Some situations just require good ole common sense and the ability to recognize negative EV (expected value) when you see it. Once you can see it you can avoid it like the plague!

Arguments are Bad
For as much as I would love to say that every poker room is the friendliest place in the world that would not be an accurate assessment. How many times have you sat at a poker table and watched two players whine and scowl at each other thinking that one is intimidating the other. The reality of the situation is that being angry at another player for slow rolling, slow play, talking on the phone or any other infraction can be detrimental to your own game. Some things in life are simply not worth the energy to get angry over. However, there are situations that do pop up in the heat of battle that need to be addressed. I have always recommended that when a player is out of line you have the dealer and / or the poker room manager deal with it. Poker players are a microcosm of society and that means you are going to be around a whole lot of really good people mixed in with a few idiots. You don’t have to let the idiots take over your table with bad behavior. Let the dealers deal with the stupidity and if they refuse to step up get the poker room manager to restore order if necessary.

Lose your Ego
Having a lot of confidence is a pre-requisite to becoming a successful poker player. However, when that confidence develops into ego you begin to make poor decisions which will ultimately lead to your own demise if you allow it to. Yes, all competitive ventures require the participants to walk that fine line. How do you find a happy medium?

For me I refuse to make the game a one on one competition until I am heads-up for all the money. I realize how simple that sounds but consider how many times we have all sat around the poker table and watched 2 players get into it with each other hand after hand, bluff after bluff until one of us that was watching the action picks up a hand and busts one of the two that were hammering at each other?

It happens believe it or not.
There are some poker players that take it very personal when they lose a pot. This bodes well for you but can prove to be extremely frustrating for the player that can’t handle small setbacks. Even in cash games you cannot allow your ego to control your bets and overall assessment of the game. By doing so you give up every bit of the edge you worked so hard for by reading about, playing and understanding poker strategy. That doesn’t quite sound like anything a good poker player would have any interest in. The fact of the matter is that you are going to lose pots. Even when you are running good and dominating the table you will still lose pots along the way. However, how you deal with those losses says a whole lot about how successful you may become.

You must learn to let the small pots go as well as bad beats on the larger pots too. Dwelling on the negative experiences breeds negative thinking. Negative thinking yields negative results. That is not the place you want to be. Think about the long term outcome and view the small loses and bad beats for what they are. By doing that you will fair a lot better over the long run and save yourself a lot of heartache.

Curtis Mayfield III