Archive for the No-Limit Strategy category.
February 02, 2008
Nobody has a good hand all the time. Anybody who does is probably getting the cards from up their sleeve. So when the player to your right seems to always be stealing the pot when you’re in the big blind, you can either assume he gets the best hand in the world whenever he is in that particular position or he is bluffing most of the time.
If the aforementioned player continues to try to steal the blinds when you’re sitting in the big blind position, this means that they have picked up on something about you that indicates to them that you’re likely to give in when they get aggressive. Continuing to fold until really good hole cards just happen to show up when you’re sitting in the big blind position will do nothing to discourage this behavior. It will just validate that they can push you around with their bets. To stop this behavior, you need to stand up to this player.
We have all been told that to beat a bully you must stand up to them. In the real world this is a good way to get a free ride to the hospital: bullies are usually bullies because they are bigger and stronger than most people in their peer group. At the table a bully is only fueled by your weakness. Because they can’t have the nuts every time you are in the big blind, you can logically conclude they are mostly bluffing. In this case you can feel good about playing with a lower quality hand, because you can bet that the chances are pretty good that they are lying about the strength of their hand. So when they try to steal the pot, match their aggression - bet and raise with impunity. This is the best defense to this situation.
January 26, 2008
When you play at tournament, and the blinds are high. For example you are sitting before button, or on button (small blind, big blind) and you habe hand like 9T or Q7 suited, and some players before you just call big blind. You may robe the pot, with good raise. As rool when blinds are high, and player just call, its like he say - Give a raise and i fold. I have check it a lot of times, and it is work. Just remamber one rule, if you have really bad hand, batter fold. Cause rarely, but you could receive a reraise, so you should be ready fold or call.
Sometimes it is good show that you are bluffing, cause next time players will not belive in your hand, and will check you (and when they will check you should have a monstra for sure 
) If you have monstra and few persons all time call your raise, on the river give not too big, but not too small raise. You should show with your raise that you wanna robe pot, and make player with bad hand ( middle pair or etc.) call your raise or even re-raise you. If you will give small raise - mostly you show that you have a hand, and you want receive a call. Too big raise - maybe everyone will think that you are bluffing, but players with middle hand will affraid to loose to many chips, in case when u have hand.
P.S sorry for not good english
November 14, 2007
In poker, image matters.
Throughout a tournament, your table image will help determine how much action you’ll get and, ultimately, how you can manipulate your opponents into making big calls or big laydowns at the wrong times.
While establishing a loose, aggressive image early on can help build your initial chip stack, I believe it’s important to develop a tight table image in the later stages of a tournament because it gives you the ability to maneuver at the times when the chips matter most.
When the action is folded around, some players will always raise from the cutoff and the button. The problem with this play is that’s its predictable and can be easily exploited. If you always raise from the button, the players in the blinds catch on sooner or later and will put in a big re-raise with any two cards. You will also find players just calling you with a much wider range of hands from the blinds before putting in a big check-raise on the flop. Read the rest of this entry »
November 04, 2007
To bluff or not to bluff, that is the question. What is bluffing? When should I bluff? When should I not bluff? What are the different types of bluffs? When is bluffing most effective? These are all good questions pertaining to the art of bluffing. So go pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the lesson.
What Is Bluffing?
Bluffing is when you are making it seem like you have a big hand but, in reality, you don’t. Also, you can bluff with a big hand and make it seem as though you have a weaker hand.
Different Types Of Bluffs
Semi-bluff � Which basically means that you are betting on a hand that still has a chance to win, such as a draw.
Stone cold bluff � Is when you are betting or raising when you have nothing.
Opposite SCB � I call this the opposite SCB bluff because it’s the opposite of the stone cold bluff. You are bluffing and representing a weak hand when you actually have a big one.
Reasons To Bluff
Read the rest of this entry »
October 08, 2007
By Peter Wessel
Anyone who has played more than a few hands of No-Limit Hold’em has undoubtedly heard the mantra “Position is critical.”
But few truly understand why it’s so important - or more specifically, in what situations and in what ways position most impacts a No-Limit Hold’em game.
You’ll find several situations in No-Limit where the relative position of the players in the hand has a significant impact - both on the way the hand is played and on the outcome. In particular when:
- Flopping a set
- Playing drawing hands
- Playing difficult or trap hands (controlling the size of the pot)
- Looking for bluffing opportunities
- Playing the turn
If you want to be a successful No-Limit Hold’em player, understanding position is absolutely essential. So with that in mind, it seems appropriate to devote a series of articles to some of the subtleties of positional play. This is the first in a five-part series.
Part I: The Impact of Position When You Flop a Set
For the sake of simplicity, we’ll restrict our analysis to heads-up pots and discuss some of the differences in the play of the hand depending on whether you are in or out of position. Read the rest of this entry »
October 08, 2007
By Peter Wessel
In No-Limit Hold’em, playing drawing hands well is critical to your overall profitability.
Most of the time, playing aggressively is best. But knowing exactly when to jam the pot and when to call is tricky and usually depends on whether the pot is heads-up or multi-way.
Playing drawing hands aggressively does three important things:
- Forces your opponent(s) to lay down marginal hands
- Creates doubt about the true strength of your hand (and helps disguise strong hands)
- Gets you bigger pots when your draw hits
In this article, we’ll discuss how position affects drawing hands in a heads-up pot.
General Rule:
When you’re heads-up, drawing hands should be played aggressively - independently of your position. Because you only have one opponent to beat, taking an aggressive approach will often win you the pot without going to a showdown.
In Position
When you’re in position heads-up, you simply have more options. Typically, if I’m in position and flop any reasonable draw (flush, straight or even a gut-shot straight draw with two overcards), I’m going to play the hand fast. Read the rest of this entry »
