8/2/2008 - Common Mistakes

    Making money in poker is not an easy thing to do as it requires a lot of hard work and luck. If you are beginners then you are going to make some mistakes and if you want to be a professional in this then you got to overcome all the obstacles that cones in your way. Here is the list of some mistakes that you need to avoid.

 Mistake One:

Playing two-card draws from an early position.

Novices tend to think of certain hands as playable and others as unplayable. Position is not one of their considerations. For this reason, you frequently see a player in second position drawing two cards to a bicycle.

 Mistake Two:

Opening with a one-card draw to an eight in the first three seats. If you don’t have a. one-card try for a seven or better in an early seat, you should pass.

 Mistake Three:

Laying down jacks, queens and kings after the draw.

Unsophisticated players tend to throw these hands away too frequently. Mathematical analyzes suggests a call when you’ve caught a face card and the bettor has also drawn.

 Mistake Four:

Checking nines and tens in a draw-against-draw situation. When your opponent and you have both hit the deck, bet a nine or ten.

 Mistake Five:

In multiple blind games, playing too loose in the small blind. This is a recurring error for most beginners. In games that are open-blind, raise-blind, the small blind should not usually be defended against a raise.

 Mistake Six:

Breaking a ten to draw to the worst hand  in Online Poker. If your opponent has drawn cards, you should never break a ten if you figure he’s drawing better.

 Mistake Seven:

Assuming that 8-4-3-2 and 7-6-5-4 are about equal drawing hands. True, a pat eight-four and a straight seven are very nearly of the same value. But a one-card draw to a straight seven is vastly superior to a one-card try at an eight-four.

22/1/2008 - Aggressiveness vs. Conservatism

    The main thing that I have learned while playing poker that you neither be too aggressive nor conservative you got to mix up both this thing according to situation of the game. Do you know what has hold ‘em in common with baseball? You need a lot of balls to play the game. There is more than a grain of truth in that old (bad) joke. It is surprising how often aggressively representing a good hand wins a pot uncalled at hold ‘em.

     Perhaps the first and most important of all hold ‘em a concept is that hold ‘em is a very dynamic and swashbuckling game. It follows that the optimum strategies must also be dynamic in nature. Although there are many hold ‘em experts in this world and most have their own individual quirks and characteristics, all experts and professionals agree that hold ‘em, even more than most other poker games, is a game which generally should be played AGGRESSIVELY — although, as with all things, sometimes it is best to be conservative. And of course, the true wisdom is to know the difference.

 The 65-35 target

 Let us quote Guru Mike Caro on this subject:

    Aggressive means to bet when checking (or passing) seems like a reasonable alternative or to raise when calling seems like a reasonable alternative. Conservative means the opposite. This assumes you ‘ye taken the usual strategic things into consideration, such as position and the habits of opponents, and you still cannot decide how to play a handfor certain.

    The best approach, I believe, is to play aggressively about 65 percent of the time and conservatively 35 percent of the time. These are not frivolous figures; but they are hard to apply exactly since so much depends on your judgment and the situation at hand. It is apparent to me that players who opt for the aggressive choice less than half the time get far from maximum value out of limit hold ‘em. Players who play aggressively 80 percent or more in borderline situations lose effectiveness. When in doubt, try the aggressive approach just less than two out of three times. Keep in mind that you will play aggressively much more often in late positions, but conservatively before the flop more than most experts advise. Actual game conditions and the habits of your opponents also help you decide how often to play aggressively. But, in general..

 65% AGGRESSIVE-- 35% CONSERVATIVE-- Aim for it!

 A fundamental truth

    Another way of communicating the importance of aggressiveness at hold ‘em is to point out that aggressiveness is often an integral part of the percentages which determine whether a given action at hold ‘em is favorable or not. This concept is so important that it is sometimes referred to as The Fundamental Theorem of Hold ‘Em.

    There are many situations at hold ‘em where an aggressive bet or raise rates to show a profit in the long run in a given situation. Typically, the aggressive course of action wins either when you happen to end up with the best cards or when the opponents misjudge     and fold a hand(s) that would have beat your hand at showdown. Those two possibilities (your hand winning or the opponents’ folding) often total up to a positive expectation.

    If you do not take the aggressive course of action, the more conservative or passive actions (such as calling or folding) only wins when you end up with the best hand. Thus, the more conservative action often has a lesser and perhaps minus expectation in the long run. So if you are not aggressive at hold ‘em, in the long run you will either win less or you will be a loser.

26/12/2007 - HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED

HOW POKER IS PLAYED?

When one is used to it, bridge seems an easy game to play—just to play, that is, not to play well. Yet, writing for beginners and making no assumptions, there is quite a lot to explain. When you have read this account of basic procedure, watch a game in progress and you will soon pick up the idea.

1. Meet the Pack

If you have decided to take up bridge, the odds are that you are already familiar with the standard pack, or deck, of 52 cards. You will know, then, that there are 13 cards in each suit. The suits are:

Spades, designated by the symbol

Hearts, designated by the symbol

Diamonds, designated by the symbol

Clubs, designated by the symbol

There are two stages in bridge, BIDDING and Play” During the bidding the suits have a ranking order, as shown above: spades (the highest) and  hearts (called the MAJOR suits), diamonds and clubs (the MINOR suits).

During the play the 13 cards in a suit rank as follows:

Ace, the highest card

King, next best

Queen

Jack

Ten

These cards are called HONORS. They are followed in rank by the low cards in numerical order: 98765432

Bridge is a game for four players, with two partners on each side. The partnerships may be prearranged, but if not, there is a DRAW or CUT for partners. For this purpose, the pack is spread face downwards and each player withdraws a card. The players who draw the two highest cards are partners against the other two. When two cards of the same rank are drawn, the rank of suit decides.

2. Beginning the Game

The player who has drawn the highest card has choice of seats and cards. He may, for politeness, con- suit his partner, saying, “Shall we sit this way and take the blue cards?” (It is usual, though not essential, to play with two packs of different colors, which are used for alternate deals.)

For literary convenience (these terms are not used at the table except in tournaments) the players are described by the points of the compass:

Let us say that the player who has drawn the highest card has elected to sit South and take the blue cards. West will SHUFFLE (or MAKE) the pack. South will then pass it to his right for East to cut. East divides the pack into two portions, placing the top portion nearer South. South completes the cut and then deals clockwise, giving the first card to West, the second to North, and so forth. If the deal is correct, the last card will fail to South himself. Otherwise, there has been a misdeal and the same player must deal again after the cards have been shuffled and cut.

While South is dealing, his partner, North, shuffles the other (red) pack and places it on his right, next to West. When the first hand is over, West passes the red pack to South, who cuts for West to deal. Meanwhile East takes charge of the blue cards and shuffles them.

The position of the cards is always an indication of who is the dealer on the current hand. If the cards are on North’s right, South is the dealer.

19/12/2007 - THE POKER PLAYER WITHOUT AN ALLY

        It is the general belief that it takes two to obtain any advantage in a card game with knowing players—the dealer and the man who cuts. That this is generally true cannot be denied, but it is by no means always so. There are many ways of beating the game alone, and though the percentage in favor of the single player may be less in any given instance, it is pretty constant and quite sufficient to insure a very comfortable living to many clever people, though the card table is their sole source of revenue.

      The greatest obstacle in the path of the lone player is the cut. It is the bête noire of his existence. Were it not for this formality his deal would mean the money. Though he may run up a hand however cleverly, the cut sends him to sea again. “Put your faith in Providence, but always cut the cards,” is a wise injunction. Sometimes the cut is not made, and the adept dearly loves to sit on the left of a player who is careless enough to occasionally say, “Run them”—i. e., he waives the cut. Professional players always calculate on such a possibility, and will continue to stock on every deal to some extent with that chance in view.

      Dealing Without the Cut. — When the dealer has desired cards on the bottom and the cut is made without replacing the two packets, he will pick up the packet that was under and immediately proceed to deal from that alone. In this way he can get the under cards by bottom dealing. The cut is usually made in this way, and the dealer aids the play by being ready to seize the under packet as the top is lifted off. However, if the company will not stand for this, and some one says, “Carry the cut,” he will, of course, do so in future and turn his attention to other maneuvers.

     Replacing the Cut as Before. — A daring and yet oftentimes successful ruse of overcoming the cut difficulty is to pick up the under packet with the right hand, and instead of placing it on the other packet it is slid across the table into the left hand, and then the second packet placed on top in the same way. The packets may be picked up by the right hand instead of sliding them. The move is made quite openly, carelessly and without haste, and is surprisingly regular in appearance. It will not pass in fast company, but the beauty of it is that if noticed it can be attributed to thoughtlessness.

    Holding Out for the Cut. —To hold out in a card game is the riskiest and most dangerous form of taking advantage that a player may attempt, but it can be, and is, successfully practiced when cleverly performed and the player is not suspected. But the only hold out that we consider really safe is made by the dealer, and but for the moment of cutting. After a blind shuffle, with the desired cards on the bottom, the dealer palms in the left and passes the deck with the right to be cut. After the cut he picks up the deck with the right hand and replaces the palmed cards when squaring up for the deal. Of course, this necessitates a perfect knowledge of palming and replacing, but both actions then become possible in any kind of company, if the player is not suspected. Holding out for the cut is incomparably less risky than holding out on another’s deal; as the deck is never subject to being handled or counted, and the palmed cards remain in the dealer’s possession but for the moment.

    When there are but two or three players in a game where the cards are dealt one at a time, a top stock of four or six cards may be run up and palmed in the right hand as the deck is passed for the cut. The top palm is replaced when picking up the deck, and usually by a sliding motion. This palming and replacing of the top stock is easier and perhaps less noticeable, and does not require the bottom work in the deal; but when there are five or six players, or when the cards are dealt two or more at a time, the quantity to be palmed would be too bulky.

    Shifting the Cut. —There is a current supposition that the expert player employs what is commonly known as the two-handed shift to reverse the action of the cut, but there has never been a shift invented that can be executed during a card game by movements that appear quite regular. If the professional player could always sit in with neophytes, who would stand for actions that are foreign to the usual procedure, he would have little need of special ability to get the money. In the average game where the players keep their hands and arms also, on the table there is little opportunity to shift the cut. Still there is an opportune moment in some games when the shift may be made with probabilities of being unnoticed. It is immediately after the first deal. The dealer holds the location of the cut until the hands are dealt, and makes the shift as he lays down the deck. Then the desired cards can be dealt from the bottom during the next deal. This moment, after the first deal, is the most favorable, as the players are occupied with their hands, the cut has been made

5/12/2007 - Ducking Play

As for an army, communications are everything in the play at no trump. Hold-up play, which we have just been looking at, is a way of spoiling the communications of the defending side. Ducking play is used by the declarer to maintain communications between his own hand and the dummy.

South, with 21 points, opens two no trump and North raises to three no trump. His hand is balanced and he should be happy to let his partner play for 9 tricks in no trump rather than look for 10 in spades.

West leads the 6 of clubs and east plays the 10. This is not the moment for a hold-up, for to play low would expose the declarer to a lead through his A 0. He wins the first trick with the queen of clubs, cashes the king of spades, and follows with a low spade, on which West plays the jack.

It would be a bad mistake now to play the ace of spades from dummy. To insure his communications, South DUCKS, playing low from the table. East will probably overtake the jack with the queen to play a second club, returning his partner’s suit. South may hold up on this trick. West wins and clears the suit for himself by leading a third club to declarer’s ace.

Game is safe now. South has a third spade to play to dummy’s A 9 7 and is assured of four spade tricks, one heart, two diamonds and two clubs. He runs off the spades from dummy, and if West discards a club at any point it will be safe to finesse the jack of diamonds for an overtrick. The finesse will lose, but the defense will make only four tricks.

In this last example it was essential to duck one round of spades because one trick had to be lost in any case and there was no quick side entry to the table. When declarer can afford it he will often duck for complete safety. Observe the following combinations:

Assume that with (a) South needs precisely four tricks and has no side entry to the dummy. It is not safe to begin with the king, followed by a finesse of the jack: the second round must be ducked, even if West is so artful as to play the queen. With (b) declarer’s objective is to make, not four tricks, but three. In this case he must duck twice, so that eventually he will make a trick with dummy’s fifth card.

Ducking play is very common even when there is no anxiety about communications. Playing a suit such as A K x x opposite x x x x it is normal to duck the first round since one trick must be lost anyway. This is better than playing off ace and king and possibly setting up two winners for the defense.

Suppose that with (c) the declarer has one side entry to the dummy, which cannot be immediately removed. To develop the long suit, he ducks the first round, and it makes no difference whether he leads from dummy or from his own hand. In (d) South can make four tricks if he can find West with K x x. On the first round he may lead low from dummy.

12/10/2007 - The Strategy And Tactics

THE STRATEGY AND TACTICS

 To Bluff or Semi-Bluff

There are some pretty good players in this game despite the fact that there seems to be so many bad players. There are times when a raise or reraise from you just screams "Ah. Ad." and some players will throw their hand away right there or they'll call to see the flop and then fold it if they don't hit it  perfectly. This gives you an opportunity to represent Aces in the pocket when you don't have them and it definitely puts your opponents on the defensive.

A lot of players would rather fold than pay to playa guessing game. Betting with a hand that cannot possibly win if called, is a bluff. Betting with a hand that probably won't win if called, but has a chance to improve, is semi-bluffing.

 To Get a Free Card

 It's very common for everyone to say, "Check to the raiser," on the flop. While you should resist this temptation to check to the raiser, you should train other players to check to you when possible. The advantage in having everyone check to you is that you can also check and see the turn card for free. Often, everyone will assume that you are now going to bet and they'll check to you again. If you want, you can check again and see the river card for free. See how one little pre-flop raise can enable you to see the entire hand for free?

If you're known to raise only with the best premium hands, then you're setting yourself up to have pots stolen from you. Players will always know what you have (or more importantly, what you don't have) and they will always know how to play against you, based on the flop. That is why it is important that you occasionally vary your play and raise with different hands. Just make sure you raise with cards that still have a reasonable chance to make a good hand.

Raising with many different hands has the benefit of disguising your hand and getting calls from players who are misreading your hands. This works especially well when you raise pre-flop with two big flush cards and you make the flush. Most of your opponents will figure that you raised with a pair and couldn't possibly have the flush.

It's also nice when you raise with something like Jh. Tc. and you get a flop like 9s. 8h. 7d. or Qd. 9h. 2c. and you make the straight. Anyone who can beat Ad. As. or Kc. Ks. in the pocket will call you all the way down, just "knowing" he has you beat.

If there is a conservative player in your game, you will notice that he often does not even call the other $1 in the small blind to see the flop, even though there may not be a threat of a raise from the big blind. Keep an eye on this player. If he does call in the small blind, he probably has what you would consider to be a very good hand. He won't be loud about it or call attention to the fact that he's calling, but you should be aware of it. It's worth money to you. Play him a little tighter and more carefully than you would most other players. Also, a player like this is usually a very good player and you should give him credit for a hand when he's in the pot.

One important note about pre-flop raises: you should pay attention and remember who did the pre-flop raising. No one at the table, including the dealer, is allowed to tell you who did the pre-flop raising after the flop hits the board.

19/9/2007 - The Many Faces Of Poker - Know Your Man

Each player has his own style, his own strength, his own weakness. Most players react in their own private way in particular situations. Sit down some balmy fall afternoon and record the style, characteristics, strength and weakness of each player in your crowd as an exercise. How do they play when they are winning? When they are losing in the last round? Can they be bluffed? How do they each play an 8? And so forth. You may be amazed at the knowledge stored between your ears that you haven't bothered to use.

Take this situation. In pass the garbage you get some real old fashioned bluffing problems. The reason is that a player shows as a high man at an early point where only a small investment has been made and a large investment is required to play it down to the end. In a four-player ending Freddie turned a 9. You have a busted full house, kings and queens and a 10. You turn a king. The other two players each turn a 4. Should you try to bluff the big full house? Not against Freddie. He knows that he has a full house and you are not going to push him out. There is a bridge expression that fits this situation: "You can't psyche a palooka." In poker it is hard to bluff an inept player. Try AI with the same problem. You can bluff him. He'll fold a full house against some guys. Against this type of player he might add a comment, "I was going to run one." No need to let the solid citizen know that he folded a full house. But he may also fold in pass the garbage against a player who bluffs occasionally.

Freddie is prepared to raise on K, Q, 8 up in seven-card. You are on an intermediate hand and don't want the raise. He probably has two high pair. Bill, to your right, has bet first with a pair of 6s; Freddie is at your left. As you toss in your chips you glance about. "Where the hell are the other two 6s?" Freddie just calls. Bill wanted a raise and would have laid on another one, for he is playing low. You stopped Fred from raising and caught Bill by surprise because it happened fast. Otherwise Bill would surely have let Freddie know by some means that a 6 was turned earlier. Bill gives you daggers, but says nothing because he pulls the same stunt. It is all over Fred's head. He doesn't know a 6 was turned. He doesn't see Bill's glance at you. He may not even know why he didn't raise; he just changed his mind.

Should you try this little maneuver on AI? He might burst out laughing. For Al you use a scalpel. For Freddie a mallet. Fred won't see the beauty of a subtle play. Against Al you don't exactly deceive. He knows what you are capable of doing. You create a problem for him and hope that he'll go wrong. It is a play that sometimes needs preparation and timing. 

4/9/2007 - Statutory Warning - Don’t Drink N Play

My advice to the all the poker enthusiasts is - Don't Drink Alcohol When You Play, Not Even One Drink  If you play in a casino you'll see that all the alcohol you can drink is served to you free of charge right at the poker table. Since you play poker against other players and not against the house, they are not providing these drinks in an attempt to get you drunk and then take advantage of your drunken state by making you play badly.

The real purpose of serving you free drinks in a casino is to make you want to stay and play longer. This exposes you to the house edge in whatever game you're playing and it affects your decisions. This is why a blackjack player who is ahead $600 will stay and play until it's all gone or why the slot player who hits a $300 jackpot will put it all back in the machine trying to hit an even bigger jackpot.

In a way, the slot player who is drinking has an advantage over you. His decisions don't matter. There is only one way to pull the lever on a slot machine but there are a hundred different ways to playa poker hand and they all require that you be able to make good decisions. Let the other players drink; you'll get their money that much faster.

27/8/2007 - Think Calmly But Play Aggressively

One of the key traits I have seen in successful players is – ‘You cannot be too careful to be a winner’. There’s a term that describes a weak, passive poker player -  Calling Station. So many more good things can happen to you when you bet instead of check. If you are a calling station then you can win only by having the best hand at the showdown. You will never be able to take advantage of strategic moves like check-raising, semi-bluffing, bluffing and using deception in playing your hand.

You have a dozen ways to win a hand if you're a complete poker player, and having the best hand, when your bet is called at the end, is only one of them. You're giving up a lot of money and opportunities if the only thing you know how to do is to wait for the nuts.

21/8/2007 - Let Your Opponent Make All The Mistakes

One of my friend in poker told me once that the profit of this game comes from the mistakes your opponents make. With time I myself have realized that if the quality of decision-making is equal among all the players then there won't be many mistakes made and anyone player's profit or loss will not be that much more or less than any other's.

It's when one player (preferably you) has the ability to make decisions that are superior to the opposition that you will make a lot of money in this game. You don't have to be an expert to be in this position. If you are a good player in a game full of poor players you should be able to clean up in the long run.

16/8/2007 - Poker Racquetball

The health club I belong to has a few racquetball courts. I have played the game quite a few times and so have some understanding of the poker strategy and moves. A new young man came to the club one day and was a novice racquetball poker player. A few weeks went by, and I noticed that  one of my friend "Ted" had moved up from the novice list to the "B" list. Then I saw him just a couple of months later, Ted had moved up again. This time to the "N' list. When I saw him in the locker room, I asked him about his quick progress. He had a simple explanation: "All I did was to learn to wait for the ball to come to me. When I first started, I rushed the ball. Now I wait and I catch the moment. It works for me."