Most Important move in Poker

I post this mainly for the newer members, who came here looking to plug a leak in their game which they consider to be seemingly insurmountable.

The most important move in poker and one you must learn is the fold.

2nd most important move?

You tell me!

Yeah you have to have the patience and discipline to wait for a good hand and preferably good position. Especially in ring games.

I would say the most important move in poker is to play hands in good position.

1st is fold
2nd is keep folding

1st Fold
2nd Keep folding
3rd Betting/raising yourself hands that warrant a call

i think i fold too often. what would your advice to me be? the same? or different?

There's really no way you can fold too often (at least pre-flop). Post us your PT numbers and we can try to help you.

adjust

I am a FRW, and so I get ample opportunity to see newbies playing the tables. Often called Action Junkies, they never are able to find the fold button. They get lucky once or twice or thrice early, and think they found the key to the heavenly poker grounds. I know that they are for the most part doomed, and all I have to do is fold till it happens, I will be in the right seat at the right time, with the right cards and will do serious damage to them.

I only consider it a bad session when, on those really rather rare occasions, no cards come. I know that on those occasions I can not outplay someone who doesn't know how to play. It is known as variance, and is controlled by the poker gods, whose names and motives we can only guess at.

What PT numbers would that be?
There so many reports in PT.
I would be interested in posting mine.
I have close to 4000 hands would that be significant?

1st dont lose
2nd win
3rd have fun
4th win wsop

My biggest problem is knowing how much to bet and when...

I would say an important one is to have a cosistant betting pattern, i.e. If raising preflop raise 3XBB weather raising with AA or 72, or betting the flop the same way when you hit a monster (hidden set maybe) or just top pair. Making it harder for an opponent to put you on a hand because of differing betting patterns.

Yea I agree, betting patterns are the biggest tell that people have. Unless we are talking about the home game you play every week so you KNOW what people have. The best way to fix your betting is to watch other peoples betting.....not while you are playing, just observe. And you will quickly learn how much betting patterns give away a hand. You can then fix your betting problem

I believe the 2nd most important move is c-bet when warranted

sorry to hijack the thread, but:

is pokertracker something worth getting? or just a luxury? I mean, can it help my poker play?

I believe that is the case in cash games ..... tourny however you have to make some moves if you wait for good cards 9 times out of ten your going to be blinded out. Its calculaated aggression in tourny play

I think in a tournie, you must have the power of stealing blinds in the later rounds. So learning to fold alot in the early rounds is a good start, the dont be afraid to steal blinds later on.
its more important to steal blinds, then to protect your own...
thats my take,,,

Yes, it's worth getting, and yes, it will help your play.

The numbers we would want to see from PT would be the VP$IP and PFR.

Also worth mentioning is that Doyle Brunson himself said that No Limit Holdem is a game of position!

I agree the fold is an underestimated play in holem, with that said money saved from not losing a large pot is the same as money won from a large pot. Additionally I think the second tip should be if a hand is good enough to play, it is good enough to raise.

Yup, to draw from Little Green Book(I'm reading it at my desk right now, hah)--
A check/call only has one way to win; when you showdown
A bet/raise has two ways to win; showdown and if they fold
the "Value of Aggression"

folding more is a bit general... how bout this

fold a lot more in EP, raise a lot more in LP

Also don't do drugs.

most important rule:

realizing that there is no standard play

Hi everyone I hope my opinion counts, even though I'm a newbie here...my opinion is that...there are no standards in playing poker. all you need is guts, confidence and a good initiative to move


Popularity of Poker

Yeah you definitely do have to have confidence in your game and have the courage to make moves and to put a lot of money in the middle.

Bankroll management

Right now I have been trying to raise/fold a lot more frequently than checking/calling...

I will just check/call if I'm on a draw(so when calling is giving me good odds), or if I'm trying to slowplay a monster hand. I'm also doing this preflop--I will rarely limp. Is that advisable?

when you go up against the better players late in tournaments they will start to read you easily if you do that

Understanding that you need to adjust everything you do to the variables of the current situation.