Poker Tips by Philthy

True. online i only play with play money. For the most part these Tips ive written are for live games (casinos/house games) since thats where i use real money.

Philthy, I read through your whole thread, and while I admire your willingness to help others (which after all is why were here) I do think that some of your advice was less than stellar. I have nothing negative to say regarding your personal limits or style of play, that is all subjective and relative to your situation. What I would challenge are the statements you made that may discourage new players from buying and reading poker literature from different authors. While you, yourself, admit to reading several books and planning on buying more, saying that they all basically say the same things. This ascertation simply isn't true. It is a huge advantage to anyone that wants to really learn the game of poker to read as much material as they possibly can in order to pick through these professional players' years of experience and take mountains of information with them back to the felt.

Like I said, I commend you for taking the time to help new players, but I think it is dangerous to imply that the poker guides and books that are out there are all filled with the same information. These books are dramatically different from author to author and are slammed full of information on everything from calculating pot-odds, to value bets, to different ways of playing specific hands in different games. They are a virtual treasure-trove of information on the game and are well worth the time and price. My .02 cents.

Hey, thanks for the repsonse. I dont think i ever said "Dont Read Poker Books." I might have someting along the lines of that and if i did its my mistake. When it comes to poker books, i feel (IMO) that they teach the basics basically the same, but the thing that differs is how each poker player would play in a certain situation. Though, after re-reading my poker books im starting to take back that comment. u_u' And its true i have read many poker books, i think it was just bad wording on my part, but what i basically was trying to say is: Read/use poker books basically as a guildeline to how you should play, but dont rely on them to heavily to improve your game. That will come from personal experience. Meaning: Dont think that just because you read super/system 1 and 2 and studied every single holdem example, section, paragraph, etc...you will be able to go to a casino and be the best player there. ...hope i cleared that up...

ok, not really a tip...something pretty basic: if you're gonna hold a game at your house (especially a tournament) make sure everyone is aware and agrees on the rules before you start, that way if something ever comes up it wont drag the game along. Basic stuff, but ive been to a number of tournies where the game dragged on and blinds went up cuz of a misunderstanding...so yeah.

I just wanted to clarify that the books are a good source of info, however I agree with you that simply reading some books will make you a WSOP champion. Only table time can do that. Good thread, keep it going.

thanks Philthy. I am a searcher off poker and i never seen a guide poker so good.
Keep the good work

Good guide philthy. Need to reach 15 posts to enter the noble freeroll so this will go towards !!

"None of us are Pros"

So true. That's what I'll keep in mind when the table coaches start up at the small stakes tables,lol. Good stuff.

new stuff...

I have realized that i know a lot more about poker then the people i play with. They know how to play and they know terms like "pot odds" and such, but they dont understand the concept of it. They dont understand the math thats involved and how it plays a crucial part in the game. Luck Draws is how most of them play and they wonder why they lose so bad most of the time against me. even when they had "hella outs". I've tried explaining it to them; pot odds: how much the pot is being laid out to them if they call vs if the % chance of their hand hitting/winnging, but its hard to explain when people are so into winning on luck alone. So till then ill simply have to keep on taking money from them. Sure ive lost big pots when my KK didnt hold up to someone calling my PFR with Q2 (because it was suited and they chased) but its ok, because for every pot they've taken from me on luck alone, ive always come back and hit them 3x as hard when luck didnt play for them. True ive gotten lucky a number of times myself, but in all those times luck alone has never been my reason for playing in that hand at that moment. so in the end keep in mind that skill > luck in the long run. a chain of unlucky beats will only last for so long before skill play comes over the top.

</rant>

Its easy to discuss strategies now but in the heat of a flop you've gotta make a quick decision and go with your instinct.

nice tips and wow @ laydowns , i never could layed down the kings

This is my first time on this forum but I have to say I did enjoy your thread. You covered the areas you need to cover and I think I may like it here

great advice, esspecially on the lay downs, i have done this as well and i am beginning to think kings should always be thrown away lol just kidding, i think my problem with kings is that i slow play them too much. anyways great advice keep up the good work.

My friends and family play a game called "Cosmic Encounters" - basically the goal is to dominate the universe. Each player is given an alien identity and each alien has some "power" that will let him/her bend the rules of the game.

What I find with this game is that no two sessions of this game are the same. The personalities of the other players and the cards and powers they have dictate the flow and the outcomes of the game.

I appreciate what philthy is saying and I think that Poker reflects that same reality. Each player brings something unique to the table. There are ways to achieve what you want to do using the tools you bring to the table, but you will probably never do it exactly the same as anyone else.

It is important to understand your opponent, your resources (chip stack, cards, etc), and to understand yourself.

What a cool game (reflects life in a lot of ways)

thanks for the tips, im gunna use them next time i play

nice posts philly!
A friend of mine went totally broke on online poker rooms,
he know moved back to his parents and his life is a total mess!

think twice before you start betting on big tables

tip: when you're new to the network, play freerolls to gain money for the money tables, that way you don't need to deposit any money

Those are some really great tips philthy. Made me think twice about how Iwas walking and playin in a casino. I am by no means even close to what u would call a decent player but maybe i act like it sometimes. Thanks for that post!!!

Wow theres a ton of great information here. Thanks philthly.

Thanks for the nice tps i'll be sure to use them wisely

"1. You dont have to justify your style of play/the hand you played."

Not to the other player you don't. But to yourself.

"That's poker." Something you hear all the time when someone has a brutal beat put on them, or they put the aforementioned beat on an opponent. You will get lucky at times. But it's important to learn from your mistakes. When the angry opponent asks, "How could you call a raise with that garbage?", don't feel pressured to answer him, but you should have an answer for yourself. "Well, I played the hand because I had position, I knew my outs were clean, and he would pay me off with a marginal hand should I connect." is an acceptable answer- "Sometimes I just get a feeling about that 6-4 suited" is not.

Phillthy, excellent post. I hope everyone got alot of of it. I just hope they don't take rule 1 the wrong way- learning from your mistakes is the best way to improve.

[QUOTE=EnlightenUp "Sometimes I just get a feeling about that 6-4 suited" is not.

Im sorry but this answer is acceptable to some people i think. i have made a call many times with my gut feeling / instinct and a lot of times i have gotten my card.
Dont take shots at me and a few others because we are a bit psychic and you are not.

Very very very helpful information, a lot I already knew, but just to sharpen up on things it was a great piece of "literature". Thanks again

hey sorry i havent posted in hella long. im currently going through military training...as soon as i finish and get to tech school, you'll be hearing a lot more from me. oh.. and no poker for me for almost 3 months..lol.

take care all and keep playing.

Glad to hear from you philthy! Hope you're having fun with your military training!

"philthy" vey nice post with very good advise. Thank you. Good Luck.

Yes , Cheers

I avoid king , queen little kicker unless suited. I actually prefer a connected mid or low suited cards like 56spades or 89hearts then k2off or similar.

like philthy said if its a blind and not alot of players then maybe

hey yo!

im back...

...i just havent played any poker in a while so, no real strats. i will be answer questions and comments and what not.

uh..im currently in fort meade, MD and going to school for Video Production Documentary. (combat camera, interviews, training vids, etc.)

had a great time in basic, have a blast here, good to be back.

and im glad people are still reading this thread...lol...

Hey

First time poster - long time player

I've been reading your thoughts on strategy, and I think it's mostly sound advice for beginners.

One thing I have to comment on is the "tough lay-downs"

If your objective is to play - and get better at - winning poker, it just doesn't make sense to lay down 8s over 7s boat with 88 in the hole. The way that hand played out, there was any number of likely hands she could be holding - a middle pair, K, 8 or an ace high, which would still make you the winner. Even a stone cold bluff is likely heads-up in a tourney, depending on your read on her. The most UNlikely, based on the play, were 7 or KK.

Now you laid down, you were beaten, good for you. But in poker strategy terms I think you made a very bad decision.

What it boils down to is that you made a decision on "gut feeling" - not sound poker analysis. Gut feeling is the enemy of a winning poker player. It's what makes fish fish and chasers chase.

If your hand is 99% sure to win the pot, make the call! You may get one bad beat from the quads, but you'll win the next 99 hands. That's what winning poker is all about.

In general, I don't understand what's so great about "tough lay-down-on-gut-feeling" stories. They didn't make you any money. They certainly didn't teach you any poker strategy. And they seem to overshadow the other 99 times you folded the near-nuts to a cold bluff or a smaller boat.

If you'd gotten a bad beat, you could say "I made the right play and got outdrawn". With "tough lay-down-on-gut-feeling" stories, you can say "I made the wrong play and got lucky"

Sorry if my $.02 sounds a little tough. It's one of my pet peeves. As mentioned, I like most of the advice.

Hi Luske,

Glad you took the time to register and post, your comments are very good indeed and I've given you some positive reputation for making them. I'm sure philthy will reply to this thread very soon but he's been in military training so he hasn't been around that much. In the mean time feel free to contribute in other areas of the forum.

thanks for the post. most of the things u mentioned here are true. i`m not really positive about one or two things u wrote here, but as i dont have such a large experience, i dont want to argue. i will have to learn them the hard way, most likely loosing some money )
i wish u the best of luck.

This is the right thread for me :P thanks for the tips

Thanks for the very solid write-up.

While we all had our share of good and bad luck, it is exactly as you say...
Consistency will win in the long run

Bluff_Not

Good thoughts, I also believe that you could add only play online when you can be focused, never play online when you are doing other things or play live when you are drunk, ect

People ask that question all the time:

"How should I play?"

I always say the same thing... Get a good poker book by a respected author (a player) whose style you admire and whose personality/style fits how you play. Read the book/follow the book/don't deviate until you're good enough to do so. You might be playing tight and not be making huge profits, but you'll probably be ahead more often than not.

[quote=woodsy44][quote=EnlightenUp "Sometimes I just get a feeling about that 6-4 suited" is not.

Im sorry but this answer is acceptable to some people i think. i have made a call many times with my gut feeling / instinct and a lot of times i have gotten my card.
Dont take shots at me and a few others because we are a bit psychic and you are not.[/QUOTE]

64suited plays in some situations... pros like to see flops with that hand.. a good time to play it is when multiple callers are coming in to see the flop. Try to limp in and catch a straight or flush.. I won't play that hand with one other guy but I'll definitely limp with four or five.