Poker

A Return to Reverse Implied Odds

Okay, if you already got through our guide on implied odds, then it’s time to go through reverse implied odds. If you’ve mastered pot odds and implied odds, then it’s time to go through reverse implied odds.

Poker theory might be dense in some places, but it’s very important to take the time to learn this stuff anyway. Far too often, people think that they can gloss over these topics, only to find that they really can’t afford to do that. It’s going to be up to you to make sure that you really are doing everything that you possibly can to learn this stuff and apply to all of your poker games.

People often write to us and ask how they can actually win serious money in poker. The reality is that everyone has the chance to win good money in poker, but they’re too busy cashing chance and emotion. Real poker players that make this as their living realized that it’s more about logic and theory than anything else. So while it’s not sexy to talk about things like reverse implied odds, it’s incredibly important.

So, let’s get into explaining what reverse implied odds right now, shall we? In a nutshell, this is the amount of money that you can lose even after you make your hand.

This is something that trips up new players. They see a flush and then they bet heavy, thinking that they’re going to scare players out. Some players may leave the hand, but you have to think about the chance that you could get beaten. It actually happens a lot more often than you think.

For example, if you have a flush, a player could have a higher flush than you. They may even have a full house, which could make you lose money. So even if you catch the right cards, you can still get beaten. As long as you’re willing to allow for this possibility, you can still profit in poker.

Reverse implied odds matter because you can avoid making a costly mistake on the next drawing hand. How many times have you played poker and wished that you could honestly take back something that otherwise ruined your bankroll? Exactly. Preserving chips is the name of the game, especially in tournament circles.

Hands that have reverse implied odds would definitely have to be low flushes, medium flushes, and low ends of straights. You have to make sure that you have all of your options covered to avoid being beaten. There are no direct calculations that need to be made.

Again, it has to be said — never be afraid to fold. There’s always another hand that you can play. If you honestly have no confidence in your hand, folding is better than charging forward like a bull in a china shop. Keep that in mind, and you’ll be good to go!

A Return to Implied Odds

By Martin

We like to cover some basic poker fundamentals just to keep you on your toes and refreshed. A lot of advanced poker players think that they are above this type of stuff, but it affects every single hand that they play. For the beginner, these topics represent even more information that is useful for growing even better in poker. You don’t have to feel like you need to be a poker rockstar overnight. You can always study theses and feel them out on your own time. Many super players like Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey have been playing for years and years and years. If it’s taken them to become downright masterful with poker, then it’s obvious that you need to make sure that you give yourself enough time to learn poker.

So let’s dig in and talk about implied odds. A lot of people start with implied odds but they need to actually understand pot odds.

Where do pot odds come into play? With every hand, of course. Let’s say that you are on the flop with a great flush draw. You’ve got two spades in hand, and lucky you, there’s another two on the table now. Yet somebody else has spotted the same bit of good luck, and they’ve decided to bet. Now, they could be betting for the sake of sake, or they could have a real monster on their hands — and that kills your dream of putting more money in your bankroll at the end of the day.

So if you’re going to figure it out, you need to turn to pot odds, which can help you decide if you want to call, fold, or even raise.

It’s all about profitability based on the cards that you have as well as what’s on the table and even what other people are doing.

Pot odds can be used to make you money, because you will start looking at your options. In all honesty, this is the difference between a newbie who just plays by chance, and a skilled pro. You can bet that any of the WSOP darlings that are making headlines have a firm understanding of pot odds. Make sure that you do the same. It doesn’t really take very long to figure things out anyway.

To work out pot odds with a flush or straight draw, you basically want to look at how likely it is that you will make the flush or straight — or anything else you want to score. From there, you have to compare the size of the bet that you are facing with the size of the pot. It’s simple math from then on out.

OK, so it’s back to math time, right? Right. You need to look at how many cards you haven’t seen, and then figure out how many of those mysterious cards could make the draw (or straight) and which ones can’t do it at all. You put those numbers together and get a good and useful ratio.

Example time? Absolutely.

Say that your hand is actually As 4s, and the flop comes down Ks 9s 5d. You’re probably getting rather excited, since this gives you two chances to get what you want.

As everyone knows, there’s 52 cards in a pack, with 13 spades total. There’s 2 in the hand, and 2 on the flop. Don’t try to assume who has the other spades for hole cards. Simple math tells us that there are 9s’s remaining in the deck.

So there are 47 cards that we absolutely don’t know about. You take the total # of cards and subtract out the cards that you know about (your 2 cards and the 3 on the flop). [Read more…] about A Return to Implied Odds

What Poker Reference Really Brings to the Table

By Martin

Hand rankings. Expected value. Low stakes. High stakes. These are all terms that you’ll hear in the world of poker. For the old pro, this is child’s play, Poker 101 for lack of a better term. However, the newcomer is suddenly in a state of shock and confusion. Can they really get through this new world without getting eaten alive by the sharks? Sure they can. It just takes a good poker reference, determination and yes, a bit of luck too.

There’s nothing wrong with being a newbie in the poker world. Even if some people talk endlessly about fish, the reality is that they were once newcomers as well. They didn’t have all of the answers, because nobody has all of the answers within the world of poker at the very beginning. Even the legendary players that do high stakes poker on the TV don’t have all of the answers. They had to learn along the way and make plenty of mistakes. There isn’t a single poker player that hasn’t lost money. If they tell you that they have a perfect record, it’s time to run in the other direction. There’s no way on earth that they have a perfect record, because everyone has a bad beat from time to time.

By the way, a bad beat is just one term that you’ll find in a poker reference. If you want to get the inside angle on poker, you need to have a reference guide that shows you not only the vocabulary, but it also shows you basic strategy that you can alter to meet your needs. That part is actually very important. You don’t just want to rush in with a strategy that isn’t customized to what’s going on at the actual table. That’s going to hurt you more than anything else. However, if you step back and look at the action on the table you’ll have a better idea of how to proceed. If someone has a bigger stack than you and they’re acting aggressive, shoving back might not be the wisest move to make. Even when you feel like you have the right cards, it’s all about how you time your actions.

A good poker reference is just the beginning, however. The right community will extend what you’re learning from the poker reference and then some. Make sure that you keep playing practice games to get more comfortable. Theory is one thing, but things change when you have to go head to head against live players!

Online Poker May Be a Reality in California Eventually

By Martin

The New Year might bring a lot of changes to the online poker world. The legal issues that online poker has had in the United States is definitely not new whatsoever. You’ll find that there are definitely some who feel that online poker isn’t what the USA needs, but we humbly disagree. If anything, US poker players would only add to the country’s economy, not take away from it.

California State Senator Roderick Wright has introduced another bill to allow online poker in the state of California. It’s Senate Bill 51, which was introduced in late December.

This isn’t the first time Senator Wright has tried to push the issue. The previous effort, SB 1463, was pulled before the first major hearing.

That effort was introduced in February by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Wright, D-Inglewood.

Tribal gaming in California currently holds the exclusive right to offer gaming on video devices — which raises interesting questions. However, technology today has progressed to the point where you have a desktop computer and even a smartphone. The opportunities and possibilities truly are endless.

Online poker has a lot of chances to take off in the United States. If you’re interested in serious gambling, you definitely want to make sure that you’re thinking about investing some time into learning the ins and outs of poker itself. Some people don’t really think about this, but you’ll actually find that there is plenty of opportunity for people that really want to learn poker on a different level. Just because real money online poker isn’t here yet doesn’t mean that you can’t polish your game.

Read up on what it really takes to go into poker, and then practice plenty before you think about playing any high stakes poker offline or anywhere else (like on vacation out of the country). Good luck!

Texas Hold’em Poker Tips

By Martin

Most of us love a good game of poker. The levels of suspense, anticipation and excitement are unfound in other sports and due to the stakes usually involved, the joy of winning is multiplied. Due to the birth, rise and development of the internet and subsequently the availability of online poker, the sport has grown significantly in recent years.

There are more poker players now than at any other point in history and the number of players is growing rapidly. With more and more beginners being introduced to the sport, tutorials on how to play the game are invaluable. Here are a few Texas Hold’em tips.

Patience

The first tip is patience. When you’re playing in a home game or an online casino such as Golden Palace Jouer Poker there will usually be nine or ten players playing on the table. You therefore need to be really selective about the hands that you play, especially when you’re first or second to act.

If you happen to be playing a heads up or 6-max tournament then you can play more hands. Usually however, patience tends to win the day, especially when you’re one of the first players to act.

Bet Sizing

Bet sizing is both a skill and an art in Texas Hold’em. Before the flop, we like to think about our bet sizes in relation to the big line. So if the big line is 100, a good bet size would be three times the big line, so 300 chips.

Now after the flop, we ought to think of our bet sizes in relation to how many chips are in the pot. A good general framework is to think about betting somewhere between half pot and full pot. Think about your plan for the hand as you bet. Are you trying to get all the money in? Or are you planning to fold to a raise?

Position

Professional poker players are obsessed with position or acting last. If you’re acting last, you always have position on the hand. Similarly, if you’re raising from early or middle position and players in the blinds call, you’ll also have position on the hand.

So what’s so great about position?

Your opponents are always going to be betting throughout the hand first. Therefore you’re always going be having a little extra information to decide whether you want to call, raise or fold. This is really important when you’re trying to decide whether to slow play your monsters or block when you have nothing.

So pre-flop, if you’re deciding whether or not to call, raise or fold in a marginal situation, think about whether or not you’ll have position after the flop.

Always Adjust

Poker’s fun but it’s also an intellectual game. You might think that you have your table figured out but there’s always something new to think about and new plays stepping into the game, blinds going up or players getting eliminated.

You should therefore always have your thinking cap on and keep those wheels turning in order to bring home the money.

Are You Too Pushy In Poker?

By Martin

Poker is a pretty aggressive card game but that doesn’t mean that you need to always be pushy. It just means that you need to focus on the things that really matter and push away the things that don’t. Far too often poker players think that if they’re just pushy enough, everything else is going to fall into place. That’s something you’re going to have to avoid because if you aren’t careful, you’re going to end up doing something that you can’t take back, just because you think that you’re the aggressor.

This is actually considered a weakness, as some of the best players in the world know when they can be dominant and when they will have to give the illusion of being weaker than the other player. Remember that poker is all about psychological warfare more than anything else. So if you think that you’re going go make most of your wins just by being the pushiest player, you’re actually in for a shock.

It all goes back to knowing what type of hand to keep and which one to give up. You always have to look at your board before you try to commit to any type of pot, no matter how sweet it might look. In fact, you might end up getting pulled into a big pot on purpose, when the other person knows full well that you have a good hand. That’s something that trips even seasoned players.

There are ways to break through it. You might feel that you’re doing the best for your own strategy by always being the bully. However, what you’re really doing is marking yourself. If you’re always the attacker, then people are going to be on the defense. The better approach is to make sure that you are always adjusting your strategy on the table. If you want to be a wolf, be a wolf — but learn how to hide. That’s really going to be the best way to ensure that you aren’t going to have to worry about the type of players that are constantly tracking your moves. You will be able to change your persona so much on the table that they aren’t going to really know what to honestly do with you.

Be sure that you are reviewing your card games, if at all possible. If you can look for patterns where you’re making the same mistakes over and over, that’s only going to make it more likely that you really do get what you want to get in the long run.

What you ultimately want are more in the money finishes when it comes to poker tournaments of all kinds. It would be hard to get so close to winning the money and then avoid it, right? This means that you need to look at your strategy. In the world of poker, people are actively looking for bullies. Therefore you will be in plain sight when the “hunters” come, and that’s not where you want to be.

Good luck with your poker strategy!

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