Poker Title up for Grabs


August 19, 2005

There were 4 tables at the place I went to play some texas holdum this weekend. Looking at the 2-4 and 3-6 limits, most cases will need the tight/aggressive strategy to be best. There are some people who are playing very tight at this limit so try to put notes on that player and bet out against them if an ace hits the flop or you sense that he/she is weak. Betting out vs weak players also works well because it doesn't matter if they have 2nd pair or a draw. They will usually call. If they re-raise you, check to see if you have notes on the player and if you're not sure, put in another raise and see how fast the player acts. Some people re-raise instantly with aces all the way down, check to see if the players have instant act button checked off. It will be a great bonus to have that knowledge in your notes.

Looking at the .50-1 limits, you would play online texas holdum it the same as the 1-2. This is where you need to use that tight/passive strategy in most cases because there will be many players seeing the flops. The trick is to just wait for the hands which weak players can't get away from and you're going to have them dominated and win some large pots. Don't forget that all people that play texas holdum can't always have a winning session if they played right, in the long run you will see profits and that is what to strive for. I suggest to stay at .50-1 limits until you can become a consistent winner at that level. The reason I say this is because you can learn from your mistakes without going broke, and if you played right, you can still gain some good money at this limit.

The key is to always know where your hand stands compared to the other poker players in the pot with you. To find this information you can re-raise bets on flop to see how players react to it. From the information and the notes you have on that player, try to put him on a hand. People will usually call on draws and call on 2nd pair, so on the turn when the board pairs kings and you have a pair of aces and he check/raises you, lay down your hand unless you have notes on that player, proving that he is the type of texas holdum player that will re-raise you if he thinks you will lay down the best hand. Also, don't waste money advertising weak hands because there are so many new players sitting down at the table, that it won't affect anyone but yourself.

Now that you're concentrating on your game and only your game, I'm going to talk about the aspect of saving bets and the beginning of how to play limit correctly. Now to start off, the best strategy for limit play is somewhere between tight/aggressive and tight/passive. I say that because different texas holdum tables require different strategies. You want to be tight and aggressive at the tighter tables and more passive at the more lose tables.

Why Play at texas holdum?

I hope I don't need to tell you what hands tight play consists of but a few examples would be folding low pocket pairs early position preflop, mid position to a raise and also not playing any bad aces. Bad aces meaning nothing less then A-J unless it's suited and only A-J if you're in late position. Now on these low limits and quite frankly all low limits, it's all about saving bets and gaining bets. By this, I mean that if you're in the pot with A-A and have 4 callers preflop, flop comes down Kd-Jd-Qh, you need to be able to lay down you're A-A because you're giving your chips away.

The last thing I'm going to talk about for concentration is playing multi-tables at once. There are many texas holdum players doing this for the same reason as playing with music in the background. You need to realize that this is just hurting your play and if you take it down to one table and just concentrate on that poker table, you will find that you will have enough to do to keep yourself from getting bored. I suggest if you NEED something else to do while playing at the limit table, buy a stress ball and squeeze it in your hand to keep yourself from going to another table or listening to music.

Say you take a bad online texas holdum beat and it affects you, that music in the background could affect you without you noticing it. The music might push you to go on tilt which would be devastating towards your bankroll and your concentration would be no more. I suggest that if you are in the habit of listening to music, try without the music, and see how you play texas holdem. Just make sure you're concentrating and paying attention to all the things at the table and this should help to keep you from getting distracted. Taking notes on players will keep you busy and is also very profitable as you learn how that player plays.

The way people tend to lose concentration in the first place is usually because they are surfing the web, chatting on instant messengers, on the phone, and possibly eating. There are many other ways to lose concentration and you must be careful that you stay away from these. If you feel you're on a run and don't want to take a break and the phone rings, just click "sit out" and wait until your conversation is done before resuming your limit play. Also I know many people who think listening to music helps their limit play, well. I'm sorry to tell you this DOES NOT work. The reason you are listening to music is because you are bored at the table or tables you're playing at and need something to do to try to keep yourself focussed; Sorry, but you're making your play worse, keep the music off. You might not find yourself making many mistakes but those mistakes might come over time.

If you're not concentrating at the World texas holdum poker tournament, you will be throwing bets away, and not even noticing until later on in the session, this, then may make you angry or depressed. If you realize yourself losing concentration on the online texas holdum table you're playing, leave IMMEDIATELY. Don't wait for the blinds to come around again, or just a few more hands, click the x button and leave the game before you lose your money and feel worse. What happens to lots of people is that they lose concentration then start giving away their money on some foolish bets, then they realize this and try to make back those bets they lost.


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