Most players have thought about poker as a possibility to earn money. Big money tournaments like the World Series of Poker or the Aussie Millions are aired on ESPN day and night, where top prizes are similar to winning the lottery. People see high stakes cash games – most notably High Stakes Poker on GSN – in which aggressive players like Tom Dwan (a.k.a. „durrrr”) bet three streets heads up with air, and make their opponents fold. To a non-competent viewer, it just seems incredibly easy to win big money by playing poker. All durrr did was bet-bet-bet, and he won a 6 digit pot. Most people are lazy, and want to get rich the easy way. People believe in miracles. And exploiting this attitude is all we are about.
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A key importance in poker is to choose the right starting hands. Your poker strategy starts with the preflop hand selection. A bad strategy can lead to huge losses. You definitely do not want to lose, so better think twice before you call or bet preflop. Of course position is important as always but even if you have a good position it does not mean you have to play trash hands! In the following example I am playing in a full ring game which was reduced to 6 players in the previous couple of hands. The game is $0.5/$1 no limit hold’em with all players having at least $80 stack.
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A critical situation in no limit texas hold’em is when you have top pair top kicker. This can result in a big win or loss. The important part is on which side you are. Hopefully you are among the winners and not the losers. I show you a typical no limit texas hold’em example on low stakes to show how it works in practice. The game is a full ring $0.5/1 game. I am seated UTG with ♦Q♥A. I do not like overplaying hands, especially not from UTG. ♦Q♥A is also not a premium hand so I decide to only limp. Two other players also limp, the small blind calls and big blind checks. Five players see the flop. I am sitting with $91 at the table; I give more info about the players only when it becomes relevant.
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In this article I am going to introduce an increasingly popular poker game. A game you can play profitably with minimum bankroll. A game that will force you to make tough decisions often. A game heavily dependent on player reading. A game that will greatly help you evolve as a poker player. Let me introduce you the Heads Up Sit & Go (HUSNG). HUSNG can be defined as a two-player Sit and Go (SNG) game. As in any regular SNG game, players are given an equal amount (the standard is 1500 in case of regular SNG) of chips. Blinds are increasing just like in any tournament, and the winner is the last man standing.
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This kind of poker is not a well known type; however it can be very interesting and entertaining. Especially since many players just play it for fun and if you have a good strategy then you can take advantage (and money) of the many players who just would like to get to know the game a bit and play for fun. Just some basics about the game in case you have never played it. The goal of the game is to have the lowest possible hand in seven cards. The ace counts as the lowest card. So the complete nut is: A2345.
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A great advantage in poker is that you get the chance of playing against the best players of the world (in football or basketball it is a lot more complicated). Sometimes when you have luck, it is even possible to play some of the well know players on small stakes poker. The other day I got the chance to play against Phil Laak. I really have to admit I do not have at all a bankroll of playing at a $3/6 Omaha high table but I thought I can sit in with a short stack and play with him a couple of hands. It did not take too long until we got all-in against each other!
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Why is short stack play so effective and profitable for so many weaker players? I have to admit right in the beginning: I do not like short stack players at all; however the strategy can be extremely effective and profitable. If you are a beginner, you can go ahead and try this strategy right away and make money with it! Short stack play reduces the poker skills and narrows the field to play out the weaker players
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In Part1 we have seen the basic differences in tournament and cash game play. Now we cover more specific issues regarding all-ins, bankroll issues, your opponents and shifting gears. Let’s see what you have to pay attention to in cash- and in tournament games. Assuming that you would like to be a winning player and want to know how to learn poker, you have to be aware of all the following concepts.
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Many beginners fail in poker, because their lack of realizing the difference between tournament poker and cash game. It is crucial to recognize how you have to adjust your play in different situations based on the type of the game. I decided to collect the advantages and disadvantages for both tournaments and cash games. Just to make it clear, in tournament play I do not include Sit&Go’s. The under mentioned issues are true if you play texas hold’em poker online, in casino or any other form of poker.
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This time I show three different hands where you can see how you can use bluffing as a powerful tool in your arsenal. All the hands take place on full ring tables with blinds of 0.50$/1$. This session is important because bluffing will not only win you the current hand and money but will also show the other players: they should respect you more and not try to steal your blinds all the time. Many internet poker players overvalue the importance of the blinds in full ring games and lose a lot of money because of making a bad preflop call.
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