Elemental Poker Concepts
Although each individual form of poker has specific strategies that apply primarily to that game, certain basic themes and ideas are universal to all of poker. Consequently, a good understanding of the concepts that follow will be helpful, no matter what form of poker you choose to play.
Play in loose games whenever possible.
Regardless of how well you play poker, to be a consistent winner, you must play in good games. And good games are usually those games with many players in most pots. The reason a loose game is considered “good” is that some players frequently will enter the pot with hands they should have thrown away. Incidentally, the majority of low-stakes games are fairly loose.
Be selective of the hands you play.
With a full table of players, there is an excellent chance that someone will make a good hand. As a result, if you play most of the hands you are dealt, you can’t expect to be a winner in the long run.
Play aggressively.
Poker is not a game for weak, passive players. If you neglect to bet, an opponent who might have thrown his cards away may get lucky and receive a card that beats you. On the other hand, if you bet only when you have a strong hand, your opponents will know you have a good hand and won’t call unless they also have a strong holding.Bluff some, but not too much.
This is actually a continuation of the concept just mentioned. If you never bluff — that is, never bet a hand that has virtually no chance of winning in a showdown — many of your opponents will learn that you bet only your better hands. Again, they will call you only when they also happen to be holding a strong hand.
But, you shouldn’t bluff too much. There are two reasons for this. First, bluffing typical opponents just a small percentage of the time gains the desired effect. Second, some of your opponents will call too much, especially at the lower stakes. Bluffing this type of player can be suicide for your bankroll.
Position is important.
Acting last is an advantage in virtually all forms of poker, as you will have gained information about your opponents’ hands, but they will not have gained that same information about your hand. Good position allows you to play more hands, bet more hands, escape traps — for example, you may throw away a marginal hand when someone else bets or raises — and even bluff more.
Adjust your play, depending on your opponents.
Poker is a people game. Who you are against and how they play can make a critical difference. For instance, against someone who bluffs a lot, you should be willing to call with weak hands; against someone who generally never bluffs, you should call only with strong hands. In addition, an opponent’s mood may change, depending on how he’s doing in the game. When this occurs, it’s as though you are against an entirely different person, and you should adjust your play accordingly.
In limit poker, the larger the pot, the more you should call.
Just because it’s unlikely that you have the best hand doesn’t always mean that you should discard it. As an example, suppose that after all the cards are out, your opponent bets $4, which increases the pot to a total of $36. Since it will cost you only $4 to call, your hand needs to be the best just one out of ten times for your call to be correct. In other words, you are getting 36-to-4 or 9-to-1 pot odds. Even if you have just a small chance of winning, you frequently should make this call.However, in no-limit, this idea is not true. That’s because your opponent can choose to make a large bet relative to the size of the pot. Thus the pot odds you will receive can still be fairly small. As an example, suppose in a $32 pot your opponent bets $32 (known as betting the pot). Now your pot odds will be $64-to-$32 or 2-to-1, and you should be much more selective in your calls compared to the limit example.
Observe the action.
When not involved in a hand, spend your time wisely. Observe those opponents involved in the hand in order to ascertain their playing habits.By the way, on the Internet, this can be done by using computer programs that gather information on your opponents as you play against them, Discussion of these programs will not be addressed in this text, but they are addressed in some of the recommended reading which appears at the end of this book.
