Posts Tagged ‘poker’
Winning Concept 5: Understand The Importance Of Playing Position
Your position at the poker table is an important determinant in strategy decisions. Always consider how many players will act after your calls, bets, or raises, and how they might respond to your plays.
Players acting under the gun, that is, first, are in the weakest position. They not only have the least amount of information about how the opposing players are playing their hands, but they are also most vulnerable to raises and reraises. The result is that early position players must play a more conservative and cautious game. On the other hand, the player who acts last is in the best position. He gets a read of the entire table before acting on his hand, knows the action he is facing, and can adjust his strategy accordingly.
Players in the last position have leverage and flexibility. They can play a more aggressive game than early and middle position players. With the appropriate hands, last position players are in an excellent position to raise or bluff opponents out of the pot. Using their favorable positions, they can steal more antes than any other spot at the table. If the action is light, they have the luxury of watching all the preceding action and coming in cheaply without fear of a reraise, since their wagers will cap the betting for that round. If a bet and raise precedes the turn and they are facing a double bet with a marginal hand, it is easy to fold without cost.
The deeper the player's position is, the more playable a marginal hand is.
On the other hand, a player holding a marginal hand in an early or middle position has no such choice. Perhaps he feels his hand is worth a bet, but certainly not two bets or more. The problem is that he cannot wait to see what happens. If a blind or bet precedes his position, forcing him to call or fold, and several or more opponents follow his position, he's in a vulnerable spot with a marginal hand. This position is susceptible to any of the succeeding players raising that bet, and even reraising.
If a marginal hand is worth just one bet, a player cannot take the chance of getting raised behind his position, and being whipsawed between several forces betting and raising each other. Thus, due to this vulnerable position, the correct play is to fold the marginal hand. Marginal hands are worth a play only at a marginal cost. The deeper the player's position is, the more playable a marginal hand is. As a general rule in borderline situations, go out with bad positioning and stay in with good positioning.
HELPFUL HINT
In dealer's choice games, the most advantageous games for the dealer to play are hold 'em, Omaha, and draw poker because of the special positional advantages the dealer holds in these games.
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Tags: aggressive game, poker, strategy decisions
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Winning Concept 4: The Goal Is To Win Money, Not Pots
There is a misconception among many players that winning more pots equates to being a bigger winner at the tables. In fact, the opposite is true! Weaker players tend to win more pots than stronger players because they're playing too many hands. Naturally, the more hands you play to the end, the more hands you will win, but that doesn't make for more profits. Every pot contested comes at a cost. When you contest many and lose many, it leads to a mighty bad day.
As the pros say, life is one long poker game. The goal is to win money, not pots. There is a significant difference between the two. After all, at the end of a poker session, you're not going to measure your results by how many pots you won. You probably won't even know the number. Neither will anyone else in the game. Nobody ever asks you how many pots you won, just simply, "Did you win?" Winning money is what counts in poker—the final result. And winning money should be your goal.
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Tags: poker, poker game, winning money