New here..... looking to hear from players with simillar stradegy

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RobertB

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hi all,

just wanted to introduce myself and share my playing style. maybe talk to others about it because my style is different and i dont see much online about it.

i call my playing style "zen like"

i inly been playing a month. ive done well. im ranked in the top 18% on replaypoker.com

i studied black jack for a long time. i even studied card counting untill i realised its ineffective in casinos in the northeast. but what i learned in black jack has been KEY in playing poker.

i read in a black jack book by avery cardoza years ago, that what is one of the most inportant things to black jack is totally diconnect your emotions from the money you are playing with. if u r uncomfortable at all with the money youvare betting walk away. worry is a distraction. also limit your playing sessions intervals and take breaks. keep your mind clear. once u feel like uve "melted into the game" walk away. never let feelings inter fere with play. play the cards the way they are supposed to be played according to the odds "basic stradegy". never deviate.

so playing black jack i just focused on my cards and the dealers not other players. ive adapted this stradegy to texas holdem too.

i dont bluff. i dont even think about other people bluffing. i dont think to much about other people rasing.

i just play my cards the way i see them. i never bet heavy pre flop. 2 cards alone are only worth so much. anything can happen on the flop turn and river.

when people raise i just look at what i have for cards and what can beat me. and calculate the odds of improving my hand accordingly. i never even think about if the person is bluffing. i just decide if im in a good position and either play or fold with no emotion.

i fold a lot of hands. 76% on replaypoker.com folding is cheap. im patient. i dont hold out for long shots inless everyone checks. BUT the silver bullet isidentifying when you habe the table beat 100% or pretty close. my key technique is analyzing and seeing where my hand stands. seeing what hands can beat me and the odds of someone having it. then i bet heavy with confidence. not much guess work.

so thats why i say zen like playing. no emotion, not paying much attention to pther players, and analyzing just the cards, no bluffs, no heavy betting without confidence. i focus on the bet that comes to me vs the value of my hand. im quick to fold junk and long shots. patiently waiting for the right moment and maximizing the moment.

i d like to talk to other players with similar concepts. i also have some statistic questions that i cant fond answers to. but ill wait for feed back first. i welcome any and all opinions.

thank u for reading
 
F

feliksinthemix

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Hi nice introduction...
I played blackjack before poker too but never at a casino, just at home with friends..

I would describe my style as being very close to the way you have described yours... I prefer to to play the cards and not bluff, but I also think not knowing how to bluff will put you at a disadvantage... Either way you have to know the odds, whether your bluffing or not.
 
Izissant

Izissant

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I can not argue with you, just I think I should try your strategy but also beyond the casino... Thanks)) I add this post to my bookmarks and then we will look with my friends one more time. I`m not strong in playing Black Jack, so I think for the first time I`ll use your srategy as the foundation...
 
ribaric

ribaric

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Thats your strategy and its ok but you need to focus on other players at the table.
You dont bluff but the bluff is very important for playing late stages on MTT. You dnt need to bluff often but sometimes thats a good play. Youre playing tight, but in some situations you need to change your table image.
 
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RobertB

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Hi nice introduction...
I played blackjack before poker too but never at a casino, just at home with friends..

I would describe my style as being very close to the way you have described yours... I prefer to to play the cards and not bluff, but I also think not knowing how to bluff will put you at a disadvantage... Either way you have to know the odds, whether your bluffing or not.

thanks for all the replies.

@ felicks

why am i at a disadvantage for not bluffing?

when do u feel is the right time to bluff? will u bluff with pocket pairs? connectors that didnt make a straight or set? missed flush?

how do u pick the timing and set the bluff amount?

thanks again
 
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feliksinthemix

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thanks for all the replies.

@ felicks

why am i at a disadvantage for not bluffing?

when do u feel is the right time to bluff? will u bluff with pocket pairs? connectors that didnt make a straight or set? missed flush?

how do u pick the timing and set the bluff amount?

thanks again
Depends on the situation.

Generally, the less chips you have, the harder it is to bluff.
 
P

ph_il

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hi all,

just wanted to introduce myself and share my playing style. maybe talk to others about it because my style is different and i dont see much online about it.

i call my playing style "zen like"

i inly been playing a month. ive done well. im ranked in the top 18% on replaypoker.com
...Hello. Welcome to the forum. It's great that you're doing well, but only playing a month doesn't really mean when it comes to poker. It's possible you're just on a heater.

i studied black jack for a long time. i even studied card counting untill i realised its ineffective in casinos in the northeast. but what i learned in black jack has been KEY in playing poker.

i read in a black jack book by avery cardoza years ago, that what is one of the most inportant things to black jack is totally diconnect your emotions from the money you are playing with. if u r uncomfortable at all with the money youvare betting walk away. worry is a distraction. also limit your playing sessions intervals and take breaks. keep your mind clear. once u feel like uve "melted into the game" walk away. never let feelings inter fere with play. play the cards the way they are supposed to be played according to the odds "basic stradegy". never deviate.
...This advice applies to poker very well. As soon as your money becomes chips on the table, you shouldn't think of it as money anymore. If losing the money on the table is a problem for you, then you're either a) playing out of your BR or b) playing too high stakes you're comfortable for. The same goes for emotion in poker. While, I doubt a bad beat in Blackjack [dealer running a 7 card 21 on you or something] isn't as hard on the feel as a bad beat in poker, one needs to learn how to handle the losses in stride. It can be a little bit harder in poker because in BJ, you only lose one bet. In NLHE, it could be your whole stack. So, the money swings and be a roller coaster, as can the emotional swings. Learning and understand that these beats are a part of the game become easier the more you play.

so playing black jack i just focused on my cards and the dealers not other players. ive adapted this stradegy to texas holdem too.
...Well, this is easy in BJ because you aren't playing the other players, you're playing the dealer. So, your strategy is very minimal, unless you're card counting. I don't know a great deal about BJ, so I wont go too deep into it.

i dont bluff. i dont even think about other people bluffing. i dont think to much about other people rasing.
...Well, since you are new to this game, I think you are playing a very straight-forward, ABC type of game. This is fine for beginners and as you learn more and improve, you can incorporate other strategies into your play. Poker isn't just a one-sided game and I feel like this is where you're at, but it's not just about you and what you have. There are so many levels of thinking that you must consider while playing. I think the 2 worst words in poker is 'never' and 'always' and while you didn't say it outright, that's what I'm getting from you.

Again, you're new and all of this will come with time as you play more and learn more.


i just play my cards the way i see them. i never bet heavy pre flop. 2 cards alone are only worth so much. anything can happen on the flop turn and river.
...Do you know why AA is the best starting hand in the game? It's because it is a huge favorite to win against every other hand. It's 80% against other pairs and under cards and a huge, almost 90% favorite against any weaker A/x or K/x hand. So, yes, 2 cards alone are worth so much, but the better the hand, the more value it has. Thats why you'll read or hear players say to raise and bet big with their strong hands because you will win with them more often and you want to extract as much value from them as you can.

And you're right, a lot can happen on the flop, turn, and river. Let's look at AA again: AA vs 55 is an a 80/20 situation in an all-in PF (AIPF) situation, which is huge. However, 20% of the time, 55 is going to win the hand. It's just mathematics, nothing to do with luck or anything like that. However, even though 55 is winning 20%, we are still crushing it with our AA and we still want maximum value for our hand which is why we want to get in as much money as we can preflop, especially against those who are willing to call of big raises with small pairs. The same goes for the opposite. The weaker the cards, the more often you'll lose.

So, to give all 2 cards preflop the same value is bad.


when people raise i just look at what i have for cards and what can beat me. and calculate the odds of improving my hand accordingly. i never even think about if the person is bluffing. i just decide if im in a good position and either play or fold with no emotion.
...When you say you think about what can beat you, are you considering every possible hand in the deck or are you saying you are considering what your opponent might have they're raising with? These are 2 different things and I just want to clarify. And how exactly are you calculating your odds here and what type of hands are you folding/calling a raise with preflop?

i fold a lot of hands. 76% on replaypoker.com folding is cheap. im patient. i dont hold out for long shots inless everyone checks. BUT the silver bullet isidentifying when you habe the table beat 100% or pretty close. my key technique is analyzing and seeing where my hand stands. seeing what hands can beat me and the odds of someone having it. then i bet heavy with confidence. not much guess work.
..So, you play a TAG style. That's pretty good for a beginner. I wouldn't look at folding as being 'cheap' but more as a better investment in the long run.

Yes, having the nuts or close to it-maybe 2nd nuts is great and it's really easy to bet out confidently when there are no or very view hands that can beat you. However, if you're only betting the nuts for value and just check/calling everything else, your strategy becomes very transparent. As soon as good players pick up on to you that you only play for value with nut/2nd nut hands, they're going to start paying you off less. A lot of the time, it's not the nut hand that's going to be taking down most pots. You'll usually find pair vs pair, pair vs 2 pair/ set, 2 pair vs 2 pair/set, and sometimes set vs set situations as you play and this is where you're going to make a lot of your money. Getting the nuts is great because you can't get beat, but you're also not getting paid unless your opponent is holding something very strong as well.

How do you figure out where your hand 'stands' against other players and how do you calculate the odds of someone holding a hand that beats you?


so thats why i say zen like playing. no emotion, not paying much attention to pther players, and analyzing just the cards, no bluffs, no heavy betting without confidence. i focus on the bet that comes to me vs the value of my hand. im quick to fold junk and long shots. patiently waiting for the right moment and maximizing the moment.
...Again, I'm sticking with the idea that you're just on a heater. I think it's great you have a strategy that is currently working for you but, I have to be honest, it's not going to work very well in the long run. Especially if your thinking is very one-sided and your play style is easily exploitable.

To not pay attention to other players, in itself, is really bad because you miss out on such valuable information. You replied to a post and asked when is it a good time to bluff and the best answer to that is it depends on your opponent. However, if you aren't play attention to your opponents and how they play, then you wouldn't know that. Yes, there is much more than just your opponent tendencies are when it comes to bluffing, but whether your hand is a straight bluff or semi-bluff, it depends on who you are playing.


i d like to talk to other players with similar concepts. i also have some statistic questions that i cant fond answers to. but ill wait for feed back first. i welcome any and all opinions.
...I want to make it clear that I'm not bashing on your strategy. In fact, I think it's great that you have one because it means you're a thinking player. I also think you are making solid choices like folding a lot of hands and playing tight, calculating odds, betting big with the nuts, etc. Those are great things for a beginning player to do. At the same time, I think you're also making a lot of very beginner player mistakes that I don't think you realize you're making. And there is no problem with that because you can always improve and get better as you play.

As for your statistical questions, I'll be glad to answer them to you to the best of my ability.


thank u for reading
above
 
W

WiZZiM

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wanna play some HU? let's see how your zen strategy works then :)
 
A

Akwind

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LOL
good start
my advice
learno about VPIP PFR - normal stat for 6max and fullring
get HoldemManager or Pokertracker programme
read articles at poker sites, pay attention to your adducation outside of poker table.
always look through your hands after session,
post hands at forums

and ZEN be with you
good luck
 
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