Texas Holdem Poker

Poker games, not basketball or football, are the oldest, largest and most widely followed gaming competition in the world. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) began in 1970 as an exclusive match between the six legendary players of that time. Since then, its following has grown to massive numbers of people, amounting to thousands while its cash prize has grown to millions. Last 2006 its main event alone reached a record high of 8773 participants with a first place cash prize of $12,000,000.

The WSOP gaming season is made up of 55 televised poker competitions. It culminates with its main event, a $10,000 no-limit Texas Holdem poker competition between the best players in the world. Recently, Europe followed suit in 2004, coming out with its own European Poker Tour (EPT), also a series of televised poker competitions.

While only four years old, the value of EPT buy-ins have quickly caught up to the current standard. One difference however is that its final table is composed of eight players instead of the usual six.

This intense game of wits, luck and deceit has easily become a favorite among viewers. While many people are not able to participate in the WSOP or the EPT, amateur but passionate players can hone their skills through online poker tournaments. Avid fans are also able to satiate their hunger for the latest poker updates and commentaries through Littlewoods poker blog. If you’re interested in hearing more about the high rolling world of poker, you can go to Littlewoods poker for the latest poker action.

Tournament Texas Holdem is a battle of attrition. Deep field tournaments are a grind that will test your mental game as well as your physical stamina. Most people don’t realize what a grind it is to play a full day of Texas Holdem Poker. It will drain you, and you will never know what it is like unless you sit at a table and play for 10 plus hours.

Recently the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event lasted 22 hours, almost an entire day of No Limit Holdem. Every hand could be your last, and one little mistake can cost you a lot of money. To survive in big tournaments you need to stay on point for long periods of time, you need to remain focused on the task at hand. You never know when you are going to get the hand that will either bust you, or propel you further into the event. I am going to try and set up a few things for you that will help you survive and make some money in deep fields.

Research - Before you put a large sum of money down to play in a big tournament you need to know what you are getting in to. Check out the blind structures, sometimes overlooked structures have a major impact on tournaments. Depends on what kind of Poker player you are, but for the most part the slower the blinds increase the better chance the best players will emerge in the end. Quicker blind structures will force you to gamble earlier in tournaments and might not allow you to play your game. With slower structures (ex. 1 hour blinds), you can take your time, get your reads and play the game that best fits you.

Another thing to research is the payout structures, how many players and how much money will be awarded. Once again it depends on what kind of player you are, some people like when the winner takes a large portion of the money, while others like a safer structure where more people will make a smaller amounts of money. You need to know yourself and pick the payout structures that will best fit your game. If you are a win or bust player, feel free go for the payout structure that will pay the winners 40% or more.

Patience - There is no need to gamble early on in Texas Holdem tournaments, especially when there are a lot of players. Take your time when you get started, feel out your table and set up a game plan that you think will help you win. I am not saying sit there and don’t play, I am saying you need to manage your risk and pick and choose your spots. As an example if you start a tournament with starting stakes of 20 000 and the blinds starting at 25 – 50, there is no reason for you to go broke early in the event. The only reason you should go broke in the first few blind levels is if you take a horrible beat (ex Royal vs Quads).

Once you feel comfortable with the game and you have a good plan it is time to exploit what you have learned. There will become a time when you need to gamble and the better reads and information you have the better chances that you make the right decision.

Stay Ahead of the Binds - The worst thing you can do in a Texas Holdem Tournament is get blinded out. No one wants to go down without a fight, and if the blinds are high in comparison to your stack, its time to gamble. A good rule of thumb is if you have 10 big blinds or less left in your stack, its time to find a hand a go with it. Even if you don’t get any action when shoving your stack in, stealing blinds can buy you some time to find the hand you truly want to get your money in with. If you are low on chips you need to force people to lay down decent hands and take your chances of coming up against a monster. Take advantage of position, if you have a chance to pick up loose pots do it.

Get Lucky - Can’t really control this, but to win big Holdem tournaments you will have to get lucky. Luck is a big part of poker tournaments, and you don’t get any it will be tough to come away with the title. In addition to that you need to stay composed when you get unlucky, and it will happen. Control your emotions, stay focused on your goals and do your best to avoid tilt.

It’s a Team Game? – There will be a point in all tournaments where eliminating players is the most important thing. You need to move yourself up the pay scale and this might mean that you need to give up some value in individual hands in order to bust another player. This might mean you need to check down, slow play and play some hands you usually wouldn’t. I have seen it many times, when a player doesn’t check down, and the all in player survives and busts that same player later in the tournament. Its not a team game, but sometimes helping others, in order to improve your chances to win is the best thing to do.

The draw of the big cash, the glory and respect is why people play big field tournaments. These events can be time consuming, and very frustrating, anyone who has ever finished “on the bubble” knows what I mean. If you do your research, be patient, stay ahead of the blinds and get lucky you might be the next big winner. Tournaments with big fields will test every aspect of your game, mental and physical. Don’t get discouraged you cannot expect to win every tournament you play in, play your best and give yourself a chance.

Texas Holdem and poker in general is all about making good decisions, money is just a way of keeping score. That is a good thought, but if you don’t have money, you can’t play. A problem that I see time and again with poker players, both online and live is playing games that are above their bankroll.

What does it mean to play above your bankroll? To play above your bankroll means that the limits you are playing do not allow for normal swings that you see in all poker games. For example, a person that decides to go to a casino with a $500 bankroll and play in $5-$10 Limit Texas Holdem, is playing way above his bankroll.

This fault isn’t exclusive to amateur poker players. I have a friend that I worked with this past summer at the World Series of Poker that decided that he was going to turn professional with a $10,000 bankroll. He started out playing levels that were reasonable to his bankroll, but then decided that he would sit in on games as high as $50-$100. He mostly hung around the $30-$60 range. Sadly, his bankroll was not big enough to take any losing streaks, and as a result, when the streak came, his bankroll was eliminated. This player is not an amateur player, but he made a poor decision with his bankroll and ended up paying the price for it.

Many poker players get it in their head that just because they have a few winning sessions at one level that they can move up and stay at a higher level. If your bankroll cannot support this, then you are committing professional suicide. A healthy bankroll for any level in Limit Poker is 200 to 300 big bets. If you are playing $5-$10 Limit Holdem, then you need $2,000 to $3,000 to be able to successfully handle swings in most cases.

I am not saying not to play at a higher limit if you do not have 200 to 300 big bets. Sometimes, a game is so good that it is worth taking a shot. About a year ago, there was a $5-$10 Limit Holdem game where I play. I knew several of the players at the table. The only decent players were rocks. I technically did not have the bankroll at the time to play $5-$10, but I decided that I would take the equivalent of a couple buy-ins at a lower level and take a shot. The game only lasted a couple of hours after I sat down, but I finished up $150. That’s about 7 ½ big bets an hour.

Another mistake I see made quite often are folks that take a shot at the next level and refuse to move back down. Some players will take the proper approach to build up their bankroll to play at the next level and when they don’t do well at that level, refuse to move back down. Sometimes it is a lack of overall skill, while at other times they have ran into a bad run of luck.

Managing a bankroll is a key ingredient in being able to play poker long term. Those that fail to do so risk being stuck on the rail or having to find other sources to fund their poker career.

Many new No-Limit Texas Holdem players get caught in a trap over overvaluing certain hands and not folding their hands when they know they are beat. Being able to get away from hands is a skill that can be difficult to develop, but is a necessary skill, especially in tournament play. Let’s take a look at some situations where a fold may very well save you chips and even your tournament life.

Players will agree that hands such as ace-king suited, ace-queen suited, and ace jack suited can be strong holdings. There are some players that will make extravagant raises and call large raises with this type of hand. I am not saying not to raise at all with this hand, but remember that this hand is still a drawing hand at best. Yes, you can win on the strength of the cards alone in some situations, but do you really want to put yourself at risk with Ace high?

Next, let’s discuss top pair. Many players will make massive moves with top pair. While top pair or top pair with top kicker is a good hand, there are many situations where overplaying the hand can lead to disaster. For example, you hold A-K suited on a flop of K-Q-10. This is a situation where a poker player with A-J can bust you if you are not careful. Another situation that can arise is you hold A-Q suited and the flop comes Q-6-4. You bet out and your opponent raises or even puts you all in. What is the range of hand they could have? Did they raise preflop and you called? Were you the aggressor, and if so, what position did they call your bet from? This is a situation where you might be facing a set. Pocket sixes might call a late position raise. Pocket fours might call, even if the player is loose. Both hands may call a raise from late position hoping to hit a flop. Also, when you are holding A-K, A-Q, or A-J, you kicker is susceptible to over pairs, especially if you were in late position and you called a raise.

Another mistake that is frequently made is players calling all in bets with only a draw and insufficient odds. For example, you hold Ks-Qs and the flop fell 9d-10h-4c. The pot at present sits at 2000. Your opponent moves all in for 6,000. You must call a 6,000 chip bet, which represents 43% of the pot. Assuming that you have 10 outs, you only have a 40% chance to hit your hand. You do not have the odds to make this call.

Many players will call large raises and bets with a big pair and an over card on the board. For example, you have Kc-Ks and you make a big raise from middle position. Late position makes the call as well. The flop falls Ad-4h-8s. Some beginning players will make a continuation bet here. When those players make the bet, many times the late position player will re-raise or put their opponent all in. The inexperienced poker player will then call with their Kings and be left with two outs when their opponent shows an ace. Whenever you have a large pair other than aces, you need to pay attention to the board to watch for an over card. If you raised with a large pair and were called, you need to be aware that you may be facing another pair or someone with an ace.

Loose players are usually of the mentality that their loose play will beat most rocks at the table since rocks play tight. While this may sometimes occur, one common mistake that I see loose players make is bluffing a rock. A rock is a rock for a reason. Their play is solid. If they raised pre-flop, then they have a good starting hand. Sometimes, the flop will hit in such a way where a bluff will win the pot from a rock. When you bet into a rock, and the rock raises, it is time to fold unless you had a miracle flop. Also, if a rock bets into you on a flop, do not try a bluff raise against them unless you have infallible information that the bluff will work. There are two types of players you cannot bluff, a calling station and a rock when they have a good hand.

One final mistake I will discuss today is when players try to make too many fancy plays without understand what they are doing. There are a lot of nuisances of playing No-limit holdem that take years to master. Many beginners will sit down and try a bluff reraise at random to see whether it will work. They don’t take into account that the person that they just bluff reraised only bets out when they have nearly the nuts. Other players will automatically fire a bet to any check. When their opponent checks dark and their bet is reraised, they become confused as to why they were raised. David Williams made a great example of how to turn someone’s hyper-aggression against them in the 2003 World Series of Poker. Williams checked dark to Josh Arieh and he moved all in on the flop. Williams flopped a set and made a well timed double up.

Aggression for the sake of aggression can be a very dangerous thing. Many players will use the quote, “aggressive poker is winning poker.” Another adage that is very appropriate at times in poker is, “Speed kills.” Well timed aggression is a major key to winning at no-limit holdem. Blind aggression puts money in other player’s pockets.
If you cannot come up with a logical reason to make a move beyond just wanting to make the play, do not make the play.

All beginning no-limit holdem players will make mistakes in how they play. That is part of improving your game. By recognizing some common mistakes and taking proactive measures to correct them, you will be well ahead of the learning curve.