Texas Holdem Poker

When playing in a poker game, looking for a player’s tells is a skill that every poker player should possess.  This is just one part of reading your opponent.  Another skill that is very helpful for players to develop is the art of giving off false tells.  Using false tells gives off misinformation to your opponents and allows you to take advantage of their weaknesses or even hide your own.

A good false tell that I like to give off involves looking at my chip stack.  One tell that many poker players are taught early on is when a player glances at their chips, they are planning to bet.  This usually means they either have a really strong hand in the hole, or they have hit the flop, turn, or river very hard.  I like to use this to my advantage if I am on a draw or are especially weak.  I will quickly glance at my chips as I want to place a bet in the pot.

This works better for me if I am in position.  If an Online Poker player is planning on being especially aggressive, sometimes they will back off if they pick up on this tell.  Sometimes, I will lean in to look at the flop to make myself a little more visible to my opponent.   Then I will look back at my stack and then at them.  Many times, they will pick up on this and check to me.  I will either then either fire a bluff at the pot or check behind them.  At this point they don’t know if I am slow playing a monster, on a draw, or just a bad player.

A variation of this tell involves checking out how much an opponent has left in their stack.  For instance, let’s take the above scenario, but instead of me looking back at my chips, I take a look at their stack like I am trying to figure out how much they have or how much I can bet.  Sometimes I will do a slight head movement or a little eye movement that makes me look like I am calculating.  Sometimes I will open my mouth a little or even quietly mumble to myself.  This tends to throw my opponent off a bit if they do not have a hand.  They may even look down at their stack or even ask you what you are looking at.  Some will even lean back to let you look at their stack.

This type of false tell has a couple of drawbacks.  First, if your opponent has a strong hand that is in the lead, they are going to openly bet out or even slow play you.  In the example above, if I was to bluff out at the pot and then faced a raise, I would be hard pressed to make a call.  Next, you may be against an opponent experienced in reading false tells.  This sort of tell may not work.   However, at lower limit games and in a lot of tournaments, this will work.   I have found that this works better in games where I have a tight, rocky image established.

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If you are having success playing online poker there is no doubt you will eventually want to give a live action game a try. Beyond the obvious there are a lot of subtle differences between the games. You need to look beyond just betting patterns and look for physical tells your opponents are giving you. As a live poker player you also need be aware of tells that you may be giving your playing competitors to use. Things are not given to you easily in live games as they are online, you will have to calculate your own pots and bet amounts. There is specific amount of time for which you have to make your decision, and there are  rules that you have to follow. I am going to explain a few things that will help you in your transition from online games to live action poker.

The biggest difference in playing live poker versus online poker is that you have physical chips in front of you. Before you start to play you to make yourself comfortable with amounts that each chip represents. The chip amounts/colours will vary from home game to home game and casino to casino. When playing in live action it is important to remember that verbal bets are always binding. By this I mean if you say that you $5, but only put $4 in the pot, you owe another $1. The verbal declaration of $5 is the bet that will count.

Pet Peeve – Your in a pot and you make a bet of $10, your opponent announces that he “calls your $10 and raises you $20″. You cannot call and raise at the same time you have to do one or the other. You should say, “raise to $30″ or “raise $20″.

String betting is another rule you will not run across when playing on an online table. When playing live poker its important to note that you can only make one motion at the pot with your chips unless a verbal declaration is made. An example is if you want to bet $100, you cannot place $50 into the pot and then go back to your stack and put in $50 more, the original $50 would be binding. There are multiple ways to avoid this problem, one is to always count your bet amount out before you motion at the pot, if are going to bet $100 count it out behind the line and then place it into the pot in one motion. I would also suggest making verbal bets, by saying the amount you wish to bet out loud it becomes binding and you can’t make a string bet. By making verbal bets you will also eliminate the chances of you making a mistake adding up your chips because the dealer will insure the fact you put the right amount in the pot. The over sized chip rule is one that a lot of players don’t know. If you place one over sized chip into a pot, it is a call, if you want to raise with an over sized chip you have to announce raise. An example is if your opponent bets $1 and you put a $5 chip into the pot without saying anything, you are only calling.

Control your emotions, when playing in front of your opponents they will see the emotions you let them see. When playing online you can kind of hide the fact that you may be on tilt, but when playing live games you may have your emotions on your sleeve. If you feel the onset of tilt, I suggest get up and take a walk, go to the washroom, get a drink whatever just get away from the table and collect your thoughts. Drinking alcohol while playing poker is also not suggested, just like anything else drinking impairs your judgment. Unless your just in for fun and the money doesn’t matter, getting drunk will not turn you into a winner.

Pet Peeve – Your playing in a casino, you get into a heads up pot with a guy who is loud and obviously drunk. You raise pre flop with pocket aces and the “Drunk Guy” calls quick as if the cards didn’t matter. The flop comes with Ace – 4 – 10, you bet he calls and the turn comes Jack, there is no flush draw and you make a big bet. The “Drunk Guy” without thought says, “GAMBLE” and shoves all he’s chips in the pot. You call and you have him where you want him and he flips up 2 – 3, guess what the river comes a 5, he made a wheel. The “Drunk Guy” wins, and lets you know about it with a lot of happy yells and maybe a little dance.

The Clock is when players think another is taking to long to make a decision and ask the director/dealer to put a clock on the player. Unlike online there is no specific amount of time you have to make a decision and you will find some players who take along period of time to make easy decisions. Calling the clock on someone will no doubt upset your opponent and I don’t suggest doing it. If an opponent takes way to much time and you feel its been to long (it happens), just call for the clock and depending on where you are playing your opponent will have to make a decision.

If you have learned how to play the game online, you already know how to play, but knowing these simple rules can make you transition to the live casino easier. I suggest that when playing home games you follow these rules as well, it will make it easier to remember them when you play in more structured games at casinos. I hope you enjoy playing live poker, it is a different game and you will have lots of fun. Have fun and good luck at the tables.

How are you viewed when you are sitting at the table? What are your opponents thinking about you? Answering these questions can help you understand how to win playing Texas Holdem. Whether you play online or in live games you need to create a table image or have a specific way you want to play. You can create an image that is crazy / loose or you can go the other way and create a solid / tight image. You need to realize what your competitors think of you and use it to your advantage. I am going to show you a few simple ways to create a table image and how to take advantage of it.

The main goal when you play poker is to win, and you win by exploiting your opponents weakness’. Forcing your opponents to make mistakes and exploiting them is a major perk to creating a table image. Figure out what your competitors think about you and wait for them to fall into your trap.

Aggressive / Crazy Image – Well if you are a bluffer, if you like to raise a lot of pots pre flop, its safe to say that your image is probably that of an aggressive or loose player. To get this image is easy, if you get caught bluffing often at a table of experienced players they will assume you are a crazy player. When you play this way there area few ups and downs, you will find your raises will start getting less respect and people will start calling you with weaker hands. Ironically by bluffing a lot it makes it extremely more difficult to bluff. On the other side of the coin, when you have a big hand people won’t respect it and you can get action that a tighter player will not get. Playing aggressive for an extended period of time makes it harder to pick up loose pots, but will make it easier to get into big pots and make a lot of money.

Example – You’ve been playing at an online poker room for three hours, you have been playing well over 40% of hands and raising most of them pre flop. You start to notice that people aren’t respecting your raises and playing back at you. It’s official you have the table right where you want them, a couple hands later you pick up pocket aces, what should you do? Raise just as you have been all day, and you get two people to call you. The flop come with a ace high rainbow (no suited cards), you have made top set. It will be hard for your opponents to think you spiked a set, you bet out and get raised. The big pot you have been waiting for has arrived and you have the goods, keep the pressure on as if you were bluffing and you will take this pot down.

Experienced poker players hate being run over by aggressive players and you can force them to play back at you. Try to get them on tilt and they will start to make mistakes for you to take advantage of.

Tight / Solid Image – The exact opposite of the aggressive image, if you don’t play a lot of hands your image will be that of a tight player. If you are sitting back and waiting for huge hands and not getting into a lot of pots, it will surely be noticed by good players. If this is the way you play it will start to become difficult to get action with those big hands, but can open up opportunities to steal pots with weaker hands. Your competitors will start to respect the fact that you have big hands every time you are in a pot. Beware if you are getting action as a solid player there is a strong chance your opponent has a big hand, or else they would have folded to you. An experienced poker player may also see you as weak and try to run over you with weaker hands, they may feel like they can bluff you out of most pots.

Example #1 – You have been at a table for a couple of hours and have been extremely card dead, you have only showed down monster hands. Your playing competitors should have noticed, and you pick up pocket queens and limp in. Everybody folds except the big blind and you hit your queen on the flop for three of a kind and the blind an aggressive player bets out at you. Now if you play back at him he will have no choice, but to assume you have a big hand, so feel free to just call and see if the blind player will continue to fire bets at you.

Example #2 – Your on the button with a mediocre hand and everyone folds to you. It’s time to exploit your tight image raise a good amount and the blinds fold quickly without thought. Since you raise they have to assume you have a big hand and you won money with little or no effort.

As a solid player you will find it hard to get action and play big pots. You will be forced to slow play hands to get into big pots and risk being sucked out on. A tight player has to have faith that they will pick up a big hand and be able to exploit there opponents to make money.

It’s important to understand table imaging not just to understand what your opponents think of you, but understand what image your competitors are creating themselves. Your image doesn’t have to be the same every time you play, feel free to play tight one day and be the aggressor the next. This will confuse your opponents and can be a lot of fun. Play the way that you are most successful at, and exploit the image you worked hard to create. Force your opponents to make mistakes and take advantage of them.

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