Poker Strategy Articles

Need help with your poker play? Below is a list of very useful poker strategy articles that we've written over many years of playing poker and that may help you go from playing for fun to playing for profit (which is even more fun).

Calculating Pot Odds For Sit & Go's

If you play a lot of sit & Go’s at places like Party Poker, like I do, you will realize that towards the end of a tournament most of the decision making occurs before the flop. However, poker players are notoriously bad at working out when to call their opponents all-in bets.

How To Play a Strong Hand on the Flop in no Limit

In hold’em, it is not difficult to make strong hands. Every player gets strong flops every now and again. The real trick, of course, is making money when you have the strong hands. In limit poker, you will invariably get paid off more often than not when you hold the best hand, even though a bit of ‘manipulation’ is required here and there. But in no limit, it isn’t that simple because you can bet any amount between one chip and your entire stack; and it’s difficult to know how much to bet to ensure that you make a tidy sum from a good hand.

Ace with a Small Kicker

For some time now, I have been debating whether to provide advice on this topic for two main reasons. First, I do not want to give you, the reader, the impression that playing an ace with a small kicker is a good thing to do routinely. On the contrary, playing this type of hand all the time is a sure-fire way of losing all your money. Second, it is a tricky topic to give precise advice about because so much depends on your opponents. However, I think that there is some profit in playing these hands when the situation is right and what I would like to do is throw some opinions and points-of-view at you to ponder.

Discipline

Successful poker players always list discipline as a key attribute to their success. In fact, if you read any auto biography of a successful person you will almost certainly find the word discipline somewhere in the text. But what does this word discipline really mean when it comes to poker?

Should You Bet The Flop with a Monster?

Probably the best ever episode of Seinfeld, in my humble opinion, is the one titled “The Opposite.” In this episode, George Castanza comes to the realization that every decision he has ever made in his life has been wrong and resulted in disaster. As a result, George believes that if every instinctive decision he makes is wrong, then the opposite must be right. And so it begins: George does the opposite of everything he normally would have done and ends up a big winner. He scores a new apartment, a new girlfriend and a front-office job with the New York Yankees. A classic piece of television history.

Playing Small Pocket Pairs in Limit Poker

I am often asked whether you should play these hands and, if so, under what circumstances. To consider this question we first need to determine if small pocket pairs can be played profitably at all (show positive expected value (EV).

Re-Evaluate Odds on the Flop if you will Fold the Turn

In determining the odds of making your hand on the flop, most players simply calculate the odds of the scenario and compare these odds to the pot odds. This indicates what the "mathematically" correct move is. If your pot odds are higher than odds of completing your draw, you call. If the drawing odds are higher than the pot odds, you fold.

The Book of Online Poker Tells

We have all seen poker professionals staring one another down looking for subtle tells in high stakes poker. This sort of player to player interaction has made live poker what it is today, an extremely popular spectator sport. The best players in the world claim that they can get hints on their opponent's hands by watching the pulse in their neck or the way their face reacts to certain circumstances or even the way they put their chips into the pot.

How To Handle A Maniac

A maniac is a player that bets first and looks at his cards later. Now, the definition I have used there may be a bit extreme. I may be getting a bit carried away. This is what tends to happen to players when they run into a maniac.

Playing trips after the flop and on forth street in limit poker

You would think that playing a very strong hand like 3-of-a-kind would be fairly easy right? Not so! I see lots of opponents muck up this hand by giving free cards at the wrong time or by acting strong when it is possible to slowplay and obtain extra bets on future betting rounds. I think there is an element of panic that creeps in when inexperienced players hit such a big hand. This short article should make playing trips a little easier.

Stop Routinely Semi-Bluffing

I find a common problem with many players who have read a few Sklansky poker books: they routinely semi-bluff the flop. Worse still, they frequently semi-bluff when it is completely the wrong strategy. By avoiding some common errors, you should be able to semi-bluff more successfully.

Your Opponents Read of your Hand

In poker, it is important to consider what your opponent has put you on. Your opponents read on your hand will ultimately influence their approach to the hand. Understanding what your opponent's put you on serves two purposes. First, it can save you money when you're behind. Second, it can help you gain bets when you're in front and your opponent puts you on the wrong hand.

Please Don’t Scare The Fish – PLEASE!

How do you make money playing poker? This is not a difficult question to answer. To make money you need to be better than the average player you are competing against. If all players were playing at exactly the same standard then everyone would lose over the long run due to the rake. Therefore, you need to be significantly better than your average opponent.

Folding in No Limit Hold'em Tournaments When you have Correct Pot Odds to Call

Here is the situation - you have a close decision in a no-limit Hold'em poker tournament. Pre-flop you have put your opponent on two over cards and you have a medium pocket pair. You are up against a wild opponent who has constantly been going all-in. This opponent has put in a raise and has your chip stack covered. You have studied the game a little bit and you know you are a slight favorite to win the pot at showdown (about 51 per cent). If you go all-in you know your opponent will call and if you lose you are out. The question is do you go all-in knowing you are slight favorite?

Over playing seemingly good poker hands in Holdem

One of the biggest mistakes I see in Holdem amongst armature poker players is over playing seemingly good hands when they are either marginal hands or should be mucked. Time and time again I see hands like AQ offsuit and KQ offsuit over played. Don't get me wrong these hands are very powerful starting hands when played in the right circumstances, but many players lose big time on these sorts of hands when they are clearly out gunned.

Do I Muck losing hands?

Most poker rooms have an option where you can tick a box to muck losing hands. Some internet poker sites have it displayed as muck losing/uncalled hands (or even muck losing uncalled hands). Once this boxed is ticked it is not possible to show your cards to your opponents other than in the event of a showdown.

To fire or not to fire with A,K in pot-limit or no-limit poker?

Recently I was reading the book by T.J Cloutier and Tom McEvoy on no-limit and pot-limit poker. T.J suggests that ace king is the biggest trap hand in pot-limit and no-limit poker. In some respects I agree with him on that point, but don't agree with his overall strategy on how to play the hand.

Selecting a profitable table

How many people think before they sit down at a table and play their favourite poker limit? For instance, how many people sit at the first table where there is an available seat and post the first round no matter where the button is? I would suspect many people do! Online poker offers you a tremendous opportunity to select an appropriate table because you have a vast number to choose from and there are helpful statistics to help you decide which will be the most profitable. Also, you can move freely between tables with minimum down time.

Texas Hold'em Starting Hands Revisited - Comparing Theory to Actual Playing Outcomes

Extensive research has been conducted to determine the correct order for starting hands, in terms of expected value, for limit Hold’em using computer simulation. The most accepted list of ordered starting hands was compiled by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth and published in their excellent book “Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players”. This list of starting hands, and instructions on when and how to play each hand, has become the bible for serious hold’em players. However, with the advent of online poker, huge databases of actual playing outcomes have been compiled from real live games. This paper re-examines the theoretical starting hands, as outlined by Sklansky and Malmuth, to determine how well they stack-up against actual playing outcomes.