Poker Basics, how do you play?

I have never been good with reading books and that include poker books. I therefore thought it a good idea to share my opinion and strategy when playing poker. Before I do that it will be good to know the following. I am a tight but aggressive player so what I say here should summarize this style of play.



Playing Tight but Aggressive



If there is one very important quality I have when playing it is discipline. With discipline I mean I only play hands that are really worthwhile, and when I do play I go for it! I also understand the odds of each hand I am dealt and I do the math quickly before betting. This means that I actually play very little hands but when I look at my stats, I win about 75% of the hands I do play. So what is the best hand that you can get? I love a suited AK, my best hand next to that AA. The reason I like the suited AK is the fact that I often lost an AA, KK, QQ to a flush and Psychologically do not believe as strong in them as I should. However, statistically AA, KK, QQ is much stronger and offers the best chance of a winning hand.



I also have this habit of playing a hand regardless of what it is if I post blind. I have won a pot at more than one occasion with a 7;2 the worst hand in poker because of this bad habit. I am just not willing to let go of my blind money! However, this is not right and this is one thing I need to resolve still. :lol:



If there is one thing I love doing it is reading the game. Often with super tight players I would have some fun, this I will only do if I have been playing at the table for a while. If there is a hint that there might be a flush or a straight out there I would start re-raising even if I have nothing in my hand. It doesn’t happen very often that I actually run into a real flush or straight and if I do I just fold ASAP. Most of the time players will just fold before the river is dealt convinced that I have a flush or straight. I always think about what my opponent has and what he thinks I have. I am a strong believer in that.



How do you play, I bet it is different from me! Would you like to play against someone like me?

Whenever I play (not very much), I always try and fake the other person out and have them think I have a good hand when I have a horrible hand.

Yea i'm not really into poker yet. I play with my friends about once every other week or so. But it's never with money. Though when i do play i usually always play my hand

I don't play online much, but I do play often with friends for money. I always go for big bucks seeing as there's not much point in winning a few pence here and there. We all pretty much use that strategy.

good luck keeping it that way. LOL. Ive found that poker is one of those games that it's hard to stay "not really into." Most people become semi-obsessed or quit altogether. Of coarse, I have to include myself in the former.

lol well im an exception. I spend to much time on the computer to be obessed with poker but i love it

Drunken Master

Well, I have tried a few different strategies for myself as well. Mostly the tight aggressive works for me, but that said, one of my most profitable nights was online after a couple of beers, not drunk, but on the road - i was gunning it for my opposition every time i had a sniff of a winning hand, and well, to my surprise i ended up cleanng out 8 out of the 10 players at the table.

I will not be in too much of a hurry to do it again, but it was an awesome feeling, knowing that if you raise, you are going to get at least four or five folders in the back.... and having the cards fall your way on top of it - i think i could have kicked butt almost anywhere that night.

Good Luck, Good Poker and may the flop be with you

cazino said:

good luck keeping it that way. LOL. Ive found that poker is one of those games that it's hard to stay "not really into." Most people become semi-obsessed or quit altogether. Of coarse, I have to include myself in the former.

Click to expand...

I agree with you it is pretty addictive, me and Toby often spend hours on spend brushing up our skills on holdempoker.com (the graphics are great so it keeps you hooked )

Nick said:

I don't play online much, but I do play often with friends for money. I always go for big bucks seeing as there's not much point in winning a few pence here and there. We all pretty much use that strategy.

Click to expand...

Nick, how much money do you play for when you play with your friends? If you dont mind me asking.

Not really much, £20 buyin then like £20 refill £20 topups

Chatmaster said:

Playing Tight but Aggressive



If there is one very important quality I have when playing it is discipline. With discipline I mean I only play hands that are really worthwhile, and when I do play I go for it! I also understand the odds of each hand I am dealt and I do the math quickly before betting. This means that I actually play very little hands but when I look at my stats, I win about 75% of the hands I do play.

Click to expand...

This is the biggest improvement I made in my game. I generally end up playing only when I am in late position and then only if I have a high-ranked hand (AK, AA, etc). Out of 169 possible hands, I play only about the top 42 (TT is ranked at 42), and the closer to 42 that hand is, the better my position and feeling about the other players needs to be. But I have yet to understand odds charts... I need help there. I suk at math.

Chatmaster said:

So what is the best hand that you can get? I love a suited AK, my best hand next to that AA. The reason I like the suited AK is the fact that I often lost an AA, KK, QQ to a flush and Psychologically do not believe as strong in them as I should. However, statistically AA, KK, QQ is much stronger and offers the best chance of a winning hand.

Click to expand...

I will play these type of hands if I can see the flop for cheap. Because getting them and then getting a flop full of low value rainbow cards don't mean much when that fish you're playing against chases all the way to the river (which they are notorious for doing, at least online!) and GETS his miracle card! grrrrrrr!!

Chatmaster said:

I also have this habit of playing a hand regardless of what it is if I post blind. I have won a pot at more than one occasion with a 7;2 the worst hand in poker because of this bad habit. I am just not willing to let go of my blind money! However, this is not right and this is one thing I need to resolve still. :lol:

Click to expand...

Actually, if I'm big blind I will go ahead and check, 'cuz then I get to see the flop for free. Yeah, I had to pay the blind, but I would have had to do that anyway. So that's not my money anyway... it belongs to the pot (to my way of thinking). But with crap cards, that's the ONLY time I will do that. Then if something turns up on the flop, I'm likely to gamble on it.

Chatmaster said:

If there is one thing I love doing it is reading the game. Often with super tight players I would have some fun, this I will only do if I have been playing at the table for a while. If there is a hint that there might be a flush or a straight out there I would start re-raising even if I have nothing in my hand. It doesn’t happen very often that I actually run into a real flush or straight and if I do I just fold ASAP. Most of the time players will just fold before the river is dealt convinced that I have a flush or straight. I always think about what my opponent has and what he thinks I have. I am a strong believer in that.

Click to expand...

I think I've played you! lol! This kind of philosophy is why I end up playing these hands ONLY when I know I've got the nuts. I will have watched (you) play, and figured this out after awhile... but it doesn't always work, 'cuz sometimes (you) actually DO have a better hand when I think (you're) bluffing. Now you know why my stats indicate I win only 40% of the time!!! Its driving me crazy trying to figure out how to improve on this. And by the way, are you rich? 'Cuz I hate losing money, and throwing money into a pot I know I'm gonna lose would put me on tilt! LOL!

Chatmaster said:

How do you play, I bet it is different from me! Would you like to play against someone like me?

Click to expand...

Sounds like we have some things in common...

To consistantly win, every poker book tells you to play tight/agressive. This is almost always the case (except for some situations in N/L tournament). Expecailly ring games, keep your starting conditions to the premium hands and bet them hard when you make something on the flop.

heshkak said:

To consistantly win, every poker book tells you to play tight/agressive. This is almost always the case (except for some situations in N/L tournament). Expecailly ring games, keep your starting conditions to the premium hands and bet them hard when you make something on the flop.

Click to expand...

And this is the fella to listen to, our first tourny winner!!!

I'm a bit of a tricky player. I'm mostly about mind games, which is why I hardly play online.

For example, yesterday I was playing a game with some friends. Pretty small, really, 30$ buy-in, winner takes all. So here I am on big blind and get Q4o. All 5 people left limped in, I checked. Flop comes QQ4. I say "People, I've got Qs4d in hand. I have a full house on the flop, but I want you to keep your chips. I'm going to bet 10 so you'll fold" and bet 10 chips (we start with 35 each). Everyone thought I was bluffing and called except the small blind who folded a T6o.

Turn comes 7, and I say "Since I don't have a 7, I'm going to check". Dealer goes "Right, check a full house?" and bets 15 chips. I reraise him to 20 and under the gun calls it. He looks at his hand, thinks and calls my 20.

River comes 4. I bet their respective all-ins, keeping 5 chips back. They call. Dealer had Ac4c, utg had QhKh, I won a 170-odd chips pot.

A few hands later there flop came 6J3. I was on the button and said "I got J6. I'm going to raise 15. If you people got JJ in hand, call. Else, just fold". I raised 15, everyone folded, I showed 24 in hand, smiled and said "I did have J6, and so did you. They are on the table, after all".

That sort of deal. Other than that, I'm extremely tight, so when I go in it's somewhat intimidating.

I'd watch out there Ice. Playing like that is gonna make you some poker enemies. The next time you get together they'll all likely be gunning for ya (Unless that's your goal, because it's difficult to win when people are either trying to bully you or setting traps like crazy).

Yeah, I'm aware of that. The very next game I lost an early hand of JJ vs QQ on QQJ94 board and went down to 19 chips, everyone was like "Quick, we gotta cut him out while he's short". It was kinda funny, but I tried playing normally until they settled down. Heh.