Poker Dynamic

If you watch poker on TV a lot or read poker blogs of bigger players, you may here experienced players state that certain hands shouldn’t have been played and that certain hands are hard to fold. But how, exactly, do these players know which hands are good and which aren’t? The obvious answer is that certain hands have a higher probability to win after the river than others do. If you have problems distinguishing one good hand from another, here is a brief look at how each good hand ranks. There is a more detailed account of hand rankings here for those interested.

To start out with, the best starting hands in Texas Hold ‘Em are pocket aces, kings, and queens. In this game of poker, many hands are won by single or two-pair. Because of this, holding a high pair in your hand gives you a distinct advantage. Naturally, the higher the cards, the better the probability you have to win. Don’t think, however, that any of these pocket hands, even rockets, will win every hand. They won’t.

After the three pocket pairs, the fourth best hand is ace-king suited. Not only does this hand offer the two highest cards for a possible pairing, it also leaves straight and flush possibilities open. In fact, many players might prefer holding ace-king suited over pocket queens. Not surprisingly, ace-queen suited ranks just below this hand…as it also offers the same possibilities as ace-king, albeit with a lower kicker card.

Pocket jacks, though not nearly as strong as the first three hands, is also a very good hand. The main problem with pocket jacks is that it can easily be beaten by anyone who pairs an ace, king, or queen. Add in the fact that most players will play hands that hold aces and kings with high kickers, and it becomes harder to win with jacks. That being said, the only time pocket jacks should be folded preflop is if there is high suspicion that someone else holds a higher pocket pair.

The next three hands, respectively, are king-queen suited, ace-jack suited, and ace-king offsuit. Obviously all five hands offer good straight, flush, and pairing possibilities. They rank below the hands above for obvious reasons. While they are certainly all good hands, one would prefer an ace-king suited to king-queen suited.

Finally, ranking tenth on this list, are pocket tens. Pocket tens, while a good hand, can be beaten fairly easy as any painted pair beats tens. Most players, again, will only be playing high cards, such as aces or kings, so seeing one of those on the flop can mean a fold is the smartest move to make.

All ten of these hands, if dealt to you, constitute an immediate play. Push in your blinds and try your luck. Obviously that does not mean that each will win every hand. Nor does it mean that your hand selection should be cut into just these ten hands…you will be pressed to be dealt a good hand more than once a hour or so. But if you have one of these hands, know that you have a good chance to win the pot and play your best poker. Good luck!

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The term World Series is one that has been placed on many big sporting events. The biggest, of course, is the Fall classic featured by Major League Baseball. Over the course of the past few years, however, the rise in poker popularity has caused the World Series of Poker Main Event to undertake a drastic transformation.

The first WSOP was won by Johnny Moss. Moss bested six other players for the inaugural championship. Since then, the number of entrants has slowly, but reasonably, grown. Although 80s and mid 90s WSOP winners had to overcome more than six other people, they still only played with a few hundred others…mostly professional. Then, in 2003, an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the bracelet on ESPN as an amateur playing in his first big game.

Since Moneymaker’s win, the WSOP title has been won by an amateur every year. Every year, a person who has no prior experience playing poker has taken home the big money and the bracelet so coveted by professionals. And that’s not all. The entrant level has increased exponentially, as amateurs all over the country and world throw in their $10,000 in hopes of glory and riches.

But is this really a good thing for poker? Imagine any other game or sport; would they allow pure amateurs to compete for their finest prize? In my opinion, the World Series Main Event bracelet has turned into a joke. Luck has become more of a factor in the game than skill has. A World Series title, which a Main Event win basically is, should be competed for by deserving candidates, not by every yahoo who has $10,000 to burn. A World Series title should mean that you’re the best at poker, not the best at outlasting thousands of others in a six to seven day race to the finish.

Why not allow only those with prior World Series of Poker bracelets in any event (each year there are 40-50) enter? That will cut down the entrant level to the hundreds, where it should be, and ensure that the event is only played by professionals. And all the amateurs can try their luck in other events. That would make the Main Event a real World Series-worthy event.

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In a perfect poker world, no one would lost big hands on the river and those who foolishly make bad calls would always lose hands they deserve to. In reality, however, many have experienced bad beats in which an unlucky turn or river has defeated a previously superior hand. In many cases, these hands can drive the losing player to anger and irrationality…two factors that negatively affect a poker game.

The good news is that avoiding tilt from bad beats is not impossible. Plenty of professionals do it every day. You always have to remember that just about anyone who plays poker for a good amount of time will be in the same situation you were in at some point. You didn’t lose because of a lack of skill, but because of a lack of luck. If you still have chips to play with, don’t give those away for free too.

Take some time to breath and think. Don’t be eager to jump right into the next hand to make up your losses. Many players often find themselves in trouble fast because of a tendency to play bad hands once a bad beat has been finished. Stick to your gameplan and have a bad memory.

If you can’t do that, get up and take a walk. Casino games, outside of tournaments, do not require players to stay at the table forever. If you cannot concentrate properly because of a bad beat, just get up and switch games or get a drink. You may not feel so angry after thirty minutes.

Above all else, remember that you are playing a game against people who feed off of bad trips like this. The table may feel sorry for your loss, but they certainly will not hesitate to take all of your remaining money if they feel you are playing to get revenge. Take some time to think and only play a hand again when it fits your playing style. Don’t overreact to something that has happened to everyone else at the table.

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Its almost inevitable; a new player plops down at a table of a poker game he has never taken part of before and immediately begins to anger the table with his erratic and unacceptable behavior. You have probably seen someone make a fool of themselves on television in a poker game. You may sit at home and laugh, but if you’re not careful the table troll could end up being you.

Having proper manners is an important part of every game and poker is no exception. There are unspoken, and spoken, rules which must be followed at all costs. If you don’t think you can follow these rules, you would be better off not playing poker in casinos and sticking to home games. Big venues take poker seriously and will escort you outside if you show signs of causing trouble.

For starters, you must never act out of turn. If you look at your hand and decide immediately it is fold-worthy, DO NOT throw the cards into the muck unless it is your turn to act. How people play hands is an important part of strategy in the game, and folding out of turn can cause a player who would have folded to stay in a hand. This rule applies to betting and checking as well. Wait until the dealer looks at you or until the person ahead of you acts. It is not a very complicated rule.

Another guideline to always follow is to avoid talking about your hand. Say you fold a seven and a king. Don’t announce to the table what your hand was and why you folded it before the hand is over. A player still in the hand may be looking for a seven or a king, and the knowledge you give him may change his game plan. Keep your mouth shut about folded hands, it is never good to give free information like what hands you fold anyways, and you’ll do fine.

As a final recommendation, try not to insult or personally attack any fellow poker player. You’ve seen how big of fools the arrogant players look on television. Don’t be that guy. Play the game like a gentlemen, or a gentlewomen.

Follow these simple standards and you should be fine on most poker tables. We’ll go into advanced table manners in the future at some point.

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Now that we have had a little time to allow the aforementioned Golden Rule of Omaha poker sink in, its time to get into some simple strategic moves. Before we begun, I should warn any who try this game that he or she should not expect to win using Texas Hold ‘Em strategies. Texas Hold ‘Em is a game that has hands often won by high cards or single pair. Omaha Hi rarely, if ever, will have hands won by bad poker hands. Every player has four cards which, effectively, increases their chances to make a hand exponentially.

This means you have to be even more careful about which hands to play, especially at a large table. In Texas Hold ‘Em, its easy to separate good hands from the bad. But in Omaha, a good hand is one that keeps multiple hand possibilities open. Just having Ace-King unsuited is no longer a suitable reason for playing a hand. You should have flush possibilities, straight possibilities, three-of-a-kind possibilities, and so on. The best Omaha hand is Ace-Ace-King-King double-suited. This site will go over the more advanced hand rankings.

Remember, above all else, that your opponents have as good hands as you do. Flushes can easily lose out to higher flushes. Straights are not nearly as useful as they are in Texas Hold ‘Em. And uncommon hands such as Straight Flushes are not nearly as rare to see. Make sure that the majority of the hands you play out of the blind have high cards, suited cards (double-suited is always best), connected cards, and/or pairs.

And on a final note, never, and I mean never, play hands that have three or more of the same card in them. A hand of King-King-King-Jack will lose just about every time for the sole reason that you have less hand-making possibilities than other players.

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Most people who play poker have heard the factoid, mostly based on opinion, that poker is eighty percent luck and twenty percent skill. The luck, of course, delves from needing the right hands, flops, rivers, and so on to win hands. There are nights when even the best poker player in the world can lose to someone who has never played before because of a bad beat (watch the World Series of Poker if you don’t believe it.)

But does skill really take a backseat to luck? And for that matter, how exactly is skill in poker defined? Does skill refer to knowing which hands to play and which hands not to? Probably not. Any person who can read and research can find and memorize which hands are good enough to play past blinds no matter what. It isn’t exactly rocket science to know that ace-king is a good hand and two-seven is not.

The truth is that skill refers to a number of small things that only experienced poker players can do. Watching other players for tells and other small signals is an important part of being successful at poker, but one that can only be learned through many matches. Knowing how and when to bet is also a big part of poker. The beginning player may think that betting is done in a simple formulaic matter, but in reality professionals use bluffs, set traps, and even occasionally throw chips in the blind to confuse opponents.

And that’s not all. Players use table position to play bad hands that would usually be folded right away. Some players use sunglasses and hats to hide their faces and expressions as much as possible. Poker is a complexly played game where small advantages such as knowing how much to bet and how to use big blind can be the difference between winning and losing. In the future, we will cover all of the mentioned strategies in full detail. For now, just realize that skill in this card game is a much more valuable asset than luck ever will be in the long run. And it certainly holds more value than a simple twenty percent.

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In the 1998 movie Rounders, the main character picks up a tell on the antagonist in a heart-pounding, “for all the marbles” poker game. The tell, as most poker fans know, is that KGB, the opposing poker player, enjoys an Oreo cookie in a different way than usual when he holds a good hand. This revelation allows the main hero, Matt Damon, to prevail and win all the money.

Real life tells, however, are not nearly as easy to pick up. In the movie Rounders, KGB’s tell was easy to see because the camera focused in on what he was doing when he held a good hand and basically screamed at viewers, “THIS is his tell!!!” In a casino poker game, professionals usually have an idea what their tells are from studying video and do their best to conceal them. And on most occasions, tells are subtle movements or actions which only a trained eye can see.

Tells, for the most part, require hours of play to pick-up. One person has to watch another player play similar hands and try to pick up patterns in his movement during the hand. Does he stop fiddling with chips when he has a monster hand or when he is trying to bluff? Does the amount of time he spends talking to his opponent matter at all? If one gets lucky, a tell will reveal itself. But finding this advantage takes more time and careful analysis than most novices thinks it will.

If you tend to play poker against the same couple of drinking buddies every week, chances are there are tells to be found. But if your plan is to go to a casino and make money by reading other people, you better have time to spare and experience to back you up. Look for patterns that are broken and what hands they relate to and maybe you’ll get lucky. But don’t depend on tells to win at poker, at least not at first.

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One of the most frustrating parts about Texas Hold ‘Em poker is waiting for a good hand. New players often find it hard to sit at one table for hours upon hours before getting a big hand like they see on TV. Texas Hold ‘Em requires lots of patience and most players won’t get hands like pocket aces or kings once during a given night of play. Those looking for a more active game should try out Omaha Hi Poker.

The same basic rules apply from Texas Hold ‘Em to Omaha Hi with a couple of tweaks. Instead of two cards each, every player gets four cards in his or her hand. There are also five community cards that are dealt the same way as in Texas.

Unlike Texas Hold ‘Em, however, each player must use exactly two cards in his hand and three cards from the community. For instance, say the community cards are five, five, ten, ten, ace. You have ten, nine, eight, seven in your hand. Now with Texas Hold ‘Em rules, you would have a full house tens over fives. But in Omaha rules, since you have to use exactly two cards in your hand, you would have three of a kind tens.

Most novice Omaha players make the mistake of forgetting the above rule at least once or twice in their first couple of rounds. Do your best to avoid it. Thinking you have a better hand than you have will almost always end up costing you money/chips at the table.

In fact, before you even consider going to a casino, make sure you understand the rule fully. I’ve had friends who have read this rule, understood it, and still made the cardinal error. Play a couple of friendly games with friends experienced in the game or try out free online programs that allow you to play against other people across the internet. After all, its better to be prepared than out of money.

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Just a couple of years ago, poker was more of a relaxing game people played with friends and family on weekends. Buy-in amounts were minimal and winning, while always nice, was not nearly as important as having a good time. As the World Series of Poker, and other poker events, grew in popularity on television, however, more and more people turn to poker to win big amounts of money fast. Beginning players often reason that playing Texas Hold ‘Em is as easy as knowing which hands to play and which not to.

The truth is that winning at poker consistently requires more than just a simple formula of playing the best hands. There are nights when no good hands will be dealt to you. Do you just fold everything and lose blinds? And there are nights when good hands will lose to better ones. In either case, players who solely look for top-ten hands to play are going to come out most nights as losers, whether small or big.

Professionals know that winning Texas Hold ‘Em requires bluffing, playing hands based on position, and luck. There are times when it is smart to play a bad hand and make a stab at the pot. Just make sure no one else is betting a big hand and there are minimal players with cards left first.

After all, Doyle Brunson won not one, but two, World Series of Poker bracelets with the hand of ten-two. And countless other professionals know that widening hand selection is the best way to maintain chip stacks. Learn to know when its right to play a weak hand, and yes there are times when it is, and you will be a better poker player because of it.

If you don’t know how to pick these hands just yet, that is fine. It’s not an easy thing to learn when first starting with poker. Just keep visiting this blog and we’ll get through all the basics of knowing which hands to play soon enough.

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