Posts tagged Holdem
How to Win at No Limit Texas Hold’Em – 5 Tips For Successful Texas Hold’em Strategy
Jun 15th
Becoming a winning online Texas Hold’em player requires a combination of skill, luck and plenty of practice. Here are 5 tips for successful Texas Hold’em strategy that will improve your chances of cashing in any poker game you play.
Successful Texas Hold’em Strategy Tip #1
1. Spend the necessary time needed to learn as much as you can about the basics to include pot odds, implied odds and winning strategies. There are plenty of tips that can be found online with the many poker related resources available on the Internet.
Successful Texas Hold’em Strategy Tip #2
2. Understand that no matter how many poker strategy books you read you must be able to focus on winning the psychological aspect of no limit Texas Hold’em. You will need to harness the power of a correct mindset in order to win and beat all of your opponents.
Successful Texas Hold’em Strategy Tip #3
3. Obtain the practice you need to develop your skills into a better poker player by starting with low limit games first. As your card playing skills improve and you begin to develop a strong poker playing strategy you can then progress to playing in higher limit games.
Successful Texas Hold’em Strategy Tip #4
4. Having the right mental attitude can significantly increase your chances of winning and cashing in your poker games. When you know you have the strongest hand or the opportunity to bluff as if you have the best hand then show the heart and courage to play for the pot.
Successful Texas Hold’em Strategy Tip #5
5. Never be in a rush to develop your poker skills. Even the best poker players world wide know that without plenty of practice their own poker playing skills would diminish. You must practice in live games that actually cost money in order to fully develop your skills and take your game to a higher level.
Never forget that in order to win in no limit Texas Hold’em you need lots of practice and must survive some losses as your skill progresses. bad beats happen to everyone, it is your ability to learn from them and grow as an established poker player that will help you score the big wins.
It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and a plenty of live card playing to truly become a successful player. You can do it but always make sure you are fully prepared to work hard for your poker goals.
Are you tired of reloading your poker account night after night? Are you tired of always finishing out of the money? Are you tired looking at your deposit/cashout history and just seeing all deposits? Well, it’s time to change all that and learn how to become a winning online poker player by understanding the fundamentals to winning at Texas Hold ‘Em
No Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament Strategy – Poker Tournament Betting Basics For the Winning Player
Jun 4th
Making your bets properly is crucial to tournament success. Many newbies make mistakes in this area and ends up costing them the game. Your bet amounts and your betting strategy both make a big difference.
Bet the Same Amount No Matter What Hand You Have
If you raise 5x BB on a good hand, 3x BB (to slowplay) on AA and KK and 6x BB when you’re bluffing, an astute player will be able to read you very quickly.
Don’t make this mistake. Establish an amount that you’ll normally raise and stick with that amount no matter what kind of hand you have.
Bet the Value of Your Hand
Most people try to get far too clever when they’re betting. They’ll try and figure out if the opponent has a weak hand so they can bluff. Or they’ll check in hopes that their opponent will bet so they can check raise.
In reality, “clever” plays should be used only every once in a while. It shouldn’t be the norm. In general, bet the value of your hand. If you have trips, bet out. If you have nothing and your opponent bets, fold.
Don’t Bluff in Early and Mid Game
In the early and middle game, play tight and aggressive. Bluffing is a surefire way to lose your shirt. Even if you only get called 30% of the time, getting called when you don’t have a hand will cost you a lot of chips.
In the late game, you have no choice but to bet subpar hands. The blinds won’t allow you to sit and wait for good hands. In the late game, it becomes more about picking the right hands to go aggressive on.
Understand the M Concept
Your “M” is the multiple of how much it costs to play one round. So if the SB is 500 chips and the BB is 1000 chips and you have 15,000 chips, then your M is 10.
When your M is above 20, you can play very conservatively. Play only premium hands and avoid playing in early and mid positions.
When your M gets to 15, it’s time to loosen up and get a little more aggressive. Steal blinds as much as you can. When your M gets to 10, play very loose and very aggressive. In mid position, raise with hands like A7o. Basically, you’re now in the “danger zone.”
When your M gets to 5, that’s your all in zone. Pick the best hand you think you’ll have of the round and go all in. If you’re UTG, go all in no matter what you have. Do not take the blinds without going all in.
These are some of the basic betting strategies of Hold’em tournaments. Follow these strategies and you’re sure to set yourself ahead of most other players.
Are you tired of reloading your poker account night after night? Are you tired of always finishing out of the money? Are you tired looking at your deposit/cashout history and just seeing all deposits? Well, it’s time to change all that and learn how to become a winning online poker player by understanding the fundamentals to winning at Texas Hold ‘Em.
Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy – Poker Tournament Fundamentals
May 31st
This is the second in the Texas Holdem Strategy Series, focusing on no limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament play and associated strategies. In the first installment, we examined a real-world tournament scenario and how to handle a particular class of difficult players – the “maniacs”, aggressive, wild players that are commonly encountered in today’s poker tournament venues.
In this article, we’ll examine the techniques that were used more closely to best these players, along with stitching a Texas Hold’em tournament poker strategy together with some good poker tournament fundamentals.
Let’s begin with some foundational elements of any winning tournament poker strategy – clearly understanding our priorities. In poker tournaments, each player’s primary objectives are:
1. Survival – first and foremost, surviving to play at the final table, and ideally to be the last surviving player (the winner!) is of paramount importance.
2. Building and Protecting that Chip Arsenal – to survive increasingly large blinds and tougher competition at the latter and final tables, a player must build up and sustain a “chip arsenal” – a substantially large stack of chips – early enough in the competition to be capable of surviving and taking various necessary, calculated risks from time to time.
This must be accomplished without risking the entire tournament and building that chip arsenal in the process. Failure to build an early chip lead is a sure ticket to being eroded away once the blinds and antes increase, chewing away at your stack until you’re cornered or dead.
3. Sustained Focus – concentrating on your game plan, attacking when the right cards and situations present themselves and converting those opportunities into “profits”, while avoiding killer momentary lapses of reason (i.e., making occasional mistakes by not paying close enough attention). Focusing like this over an extended period of time is much more difficult than it seems, requiring a constant vigil, self-awareness and self-discipline.
4. Adaptability – as the tournament progresses, it’s critical to recognize when the game dynamics change and quickly adapt to new conditions such as:
o Number of players at the table
o Style of the players
o Size of your chip stack vs. opponents’
o Odds the pot is giving you, especially as blinds and antes increase
o New players arriving that are initially unknown quantities
o New table you’ve been moved to and avoiding mistakes.
Since Texas Holdem tournament events are specifically designed to progressively eliminate players, your foremost objective must be to survive and protect your stack of chips. Taking unnecessary risks is a formula for disaster and an early trip home…someone can always get lucky against you.
Demonstrating the patience to hold back and attack at the most opportune moments, when the odds favor your success, and with a proper battle plan in mind is critical. While others are visiting and socializing, daydreaming, watching the waitresses, and otherwise taking their eyes off the ball, when you’re at a tournament table, it’s time for your focused attention on the game at hand. This kind of extended attention span becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, so rest up before playing in a tournament – do not play when tired if you can avoid it.
I also recommend against alcohol while playing, as it leads to impaired judgment and fatigue.
Here are some basic guidelines to use when playing in poker tournaments or at any table where there are many players that you don’t know well:
1. Prepare and Refine your Battle Plan – when you enter a tournament, you’re going to be fighting a “battle” for survival – against the blinds, the antes, fatigue, as well as against the other players. Would any good military commander go into battle without having first surveyed the battle field, understood the enemy and its tactics, and without having a well-conceived battle plan which takes these facts into account and ensures success? Of course not! If they did, they probably wouldn’t live to tell about it.
You shouldn’t go into a poker tournament without having completed some pre-planning for the battle ahead either. Think about your plan and several things you’ll do in each typical situation ahead of time. Refine this once you’re at the table as your battlefield unfolds before you.
2. Start out slowly. Be patient. Use the early tournament period, while the blinds are still low, to study everyone at your table, identifying the most likely prey, understanding their habits and play styles. Use this time to mentally prepare and refine your “battle plan” for transferring their chips into your stack. It’s best to formulate several strategies during your pre-tournament planning, and then refine each one as you see how the game is actually shaping up, the types of players at your table and how you’ll approach each situation.
3. Set the Stage – play a few “ugly” hands early, limping in occasionally and feeling your way around the table with the other players while the blinds are still low, playing a few hands you wouldn’t normally even consider. This prevents you from starting out with a table image as a solid or tight player; otherwise, you may not get the action you’ll need when you do get those pocket rockets (AA) and great opportunities later.
4. Know Your Own Table Image – Everyone develops a “table image”. Be aware of your own table image, and be careful to mix your game up along the way so that you can’t easily be “typed”. Once others can predict your behavior and your likely reaction to a given situation, they’ll definitely use it against you. For example, if you play mostly premium hands and fold at the first sign of trouble, other players will quickly type you as “weak” and will steal you blind, taking advantage of that knowledge by representing hands they don’t actually have so you’ll fold. If you project that image, know it, so you can trap them with a good hand – make the most of it, since that will definitely destroy your weak table image…
In the first article, I let several aggressive players push me around a little early on, then limped in and dropped out on a few draws, so they all thought I was a tight, weak player and a good target for their aggressive style of play. Letting them push me around some, while not losing much to them, conditioned these aggressive players to push me even harder when they absolutely shouldn’t have – a huge error on their part that I converted into a chip leadership position.
5. Be Careful, Protect Your Stack – You must protect your stack and survive until you get some good hands you can use, so be careful to expend that chip depot deliberately and judiciously – always with purpose. When a player raises you significantly, you must think: 1) how much of my stack can I afford to invest in this one hand, 2) can I win this hand if I play it fully, and 3) what kind of play will yield me the most chips and give me the best overall odds to win against this particular player.
6. Get a Real Hand and Extract Its Value – don’t go up against maniacs and aggressive raisers without a real hand – and definitely, do not challenge them while you’re chasing a draw! Their strength is their bravado and wild, aggressive betting style – it’s also their biggest weakness. When you do get a real hand that you believe is a winner, you must get the most value for it by extracting as many chips as possible from the other players:
o Hit aggressive players head-on, triggering their aggressive response systems, and be willing to stick it out with them, re-raising them all-in if necessary since you know you’re likely in top position, or
o Trap them with a check-raise play. You can often just let aggressive bettors take the initial lead, betting into you and thereby become pot-committed, leading them to putting many or all of their chips at risk. That’s another reason you’d better have a real hand whenever you challenge the aggressive players – they typically just will not fold or back down, and
o Bet enough to extract a significant chip “profit” from the opponents, without forcing them to fold, if you’re sure you have the winning hand.
7. Pay Attention and Focus Outwardly – watch everyone and everything that’s going on at your table. Don’t daydream, and for Pete’s sake – do not focus on your own hand! As a general rule of thumb, spend 3 times as much energy and time trying to determine what other players are holding (especially when you’re not in a hand), gauging their play and betting styles, and refining your battle plan – than you do thinking about your own hands and play. You won’t be playing that many hands if you’re a good poker player, so use this available time wisely.
8. Play the Pot Odds – most people think too much about their own hand and what they might draw next. That’s because calculating and playing the pot odds isn’t yet second nature to them. If that’s you, then you definitely need to get the poker odds ingrained into your subconscious mind, so they’re second nature and you don’t even need to think about them while you’re playing. Find yourself a good Texas Holdem poker odds calculator, practice with it, and you’ll learn the odds of drawing each type of hand and find that you don’t need to think about them.
9. Bluff for the Pot from Good Positions – as the blinds and antes increase, the size of each hand’s pot becomes substantial. Bluffing for these pots from proper positions (e.g., acting late with a big bet, acting first with a semi-bluff hand and bigger bet) is a good way to hold your own while everyone else struggles against the blinds.
10. Play the Player – the key to winning in poker is to get other players to make the wrong play, which you then profit from. To do this, knowing your opponents, understanding what kinds of hands they play, whether they’ll fold when bluffed, and knowing when it’s time to lay down your hand to simply survive and play another is crucial.
The alternative is to do what many players do – just leave most everything to chance and play the game in a random, unpredictable fashion with whatever hands you’re dealt; a.k.a. “gambling”.
They say “those who fail to plan, plan to fail”, and that “hope is not a strategy” – a couple of my favorite sayings that come to mind…have a plan, and execute it.
You must be prepared to mix up your play enough that players aren’t sure what to expect from you. It’s helpful to “shift gears” from one mode of operation to another from time to time. It’s also recommended to play the opposite from everyone at the table; e.g., if most everyone is playing tight overall, then loosen up your play and take advantage of them by overplaying some hands, going on some draws, and a few semi-bluffs. If the table becomes loose, tighten up and attack with a good hand or trap them.
Remember, aggressive players’ egos usually can’t handle being overtly raised or publicly challenged. They expect to be the preeminent raisers and dominate the game, so they’ll often re-raise or go all-in in order to leverage their aggressive position against you. Be ready! You can just about count on it. When they push you at the wrong time, sock it to ‘em! You can use these types of players to build up your chip arsenal and possibly earn yourself a seat at the final table.
There aren’t any absolutes in no-limit Texas Holdem tournament strategy, which is one of the things that make it so entertaining and challenging. These are just a few good tips and techniques that will help you get started and do reasonably well against some good players and some aggressive ones.
Finally, it’s been said “if you can’t spot the sucker at your table, it’s probably you!” I love this saying, because it’s so true. If you do your pre-planning and have confidence in your game plan, along with an ability to observe the opponents and apply the proper techniques against different kinds of players, you’ll go far in Texas Holdem poker tournaments.
So, there’s your first set of Texas Holdem poker tournament strategies. I sure wish someone had condensed things down like this for me when I first started playing. It would’ve saved me years of learning it the hard way. Enjoy.
Good luck!
Rick
Rick Braddy is an avid writer, Texas Holdem player and professional software developer and marketer for over 25 years. His websites and Texas Holdem poker software specialize in helping people become better Texas Holdem poker players. If you’re a poker player, be sure to visit his BetterHoldem.com Texas Holdem poker website today and learn how you can play better Texas Holdem, too.
Texas Hold’em Strategy – 3 Easy Poker Strategies That Will Double Your Money
May 30th
When you “sit down” at an on-line Texas Holdem poker table, you are already the underdog. All things being equal, at a 10 person table you only have a 30% chance of ending up in one of the three paying positions and third place usually only covers the buy-in. However, some on-line poker sites have added a new twist to the average sit-n-go.
New “double or nothing” games have changed the payout at a single table sit-n-go. If the buy-in is, say, $104, five players will be paid $200 when the first five are eliminated. Your odds just went from 10% to 50% before the game even starts. You don’t have to come in first, you just have to stay in the game and I’ll show you how.
This first tip will sound completely opposite to every poker strategy you’ve ever learned, but there is a reason behind it. Contrary to what the greats like Doyle Brunson say, you want to play very, very tight in a double or nothing game. At least, you want to appear tight. At the start of the game, you don’t want to play many hands. Blinds are small and there’s no ante. Unless you have killer hole cards, throw them away. Even if the other players aren’t paying attention (and they usually aren’t) they will, unconsciously, peg you as a squeaky tight player.
As the game progresses you are going to see a lot of hole cards. Eventually, you will get A-A, A-K or suited connectors. Don’t go crazy with a killer hand. The idea here is to stay alive, not take down a lot of big pots to get in first place. If you are first to bet, bet 3 times the big blind. If this is the first hand you’ve played the chances are very good that everyone will fold to the tight player who finally got a hand. Remember, you just want to stay ahead of the blinds and antes until 5 players have busted out.
If you are not the first to bet, just call. If it’s more than 3 times the big blind, fold. However, once you’re in the hand turn the pressure on. After establishing a reputation as someone that will cling on to his stack as if his life depended on it, aggressive betting will stop the other players in their tracks. Even if the other player flops a decent hand, I have been able to scare him off with Jack Squat by making him think twice about the tightest player at the table betting big time. Yes, this can backfire, but it will work 9 out of 10 times, especially if the other player is in a lot of hands and is fairly loose and aggressive.
This brings me to my third tip. Change it up. After the game has gone on for a while and you’ve established a tight reputation, start playing more hands and taking more chances. Again, remember that you want to stay in the game by keeping ahead of the blinds and antes, so aggressive pre-flop bets will usually get everyone to fold even if you have 7-2 off suit (although I don’t recommend taking THAT kind of chance). You still want to play tight. This is not the place to show off your poker skills, but pushing harder in the later stages of the game will insure that you stay in the top five.
The double or nothing tables are a lot of fun, but the Texas Holdem strategy you want to use here is a lot different from a standard cash game or tournament. It’s also a great place to discipline yourself on how to lay down a good or marginal hand that could cost you your life savings at a bigger table.
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Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy – Winning vs. Aggressive Players
May 24th
The Texas Hold’em poker phenomenon has taken the country by storm. There are reportedly over 100 million active poker players worldwide. Poker’s popularity is largely the byproduct of technology and several recent trends: 1) online gaming, where players engage and socialize in real-time over the Internet, and 2) the broad publicity created by high profile TV shows like the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour.
With all the poker-mania, there’s an amazing shortage of quality information to help people learn how to play properly and become great players quickly. This is the first in a series of Texas Holdem strategy articles aimed at helping players learn how to win at Texas Hold’em poker. Tournament play is a popular, fun sport. These articles will help players understand how to approach tournaments, which differ greatly from regular “ring game” play.
This installment deals with the most-asked question: “How do I deal effectively with aggressive players?” Many players struggle against “maniacs”, the aggressive, wild players who play most every hand, somehow seem to pull cards out of thin air, and often manage to dominate the table.
Here’s what actually happened in a recent poker tournament. I entered a tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, about 20 minutes from my home in South Florida. This weekly $300 entry-fee tournament fills the poker room with 220 players every Monday night.
The blinds start at 50/100 and go up every 15 minutes. I spent the first 30 minutes just hanging out and occasionally limping in to see a flop. The reason for “treading water” was to study my opponents and their playing patterns very closely. There were a number of solid poker players, but right away I spotted the aggressive ones.
I was sitting in the middle, directly across from the dealer. There were two “wild men” to my right. These two participated in most every hand, and agonized with themselves whenever they had to throw a hand away. This was hilarious to me, and it was also very telling. I knew these dudes were doomed from the onset, yet they were extremely dangerous if they caught something with one of their trash hands. These types are great targets, but only when you know how to play them correctly. If you do, you’ll end up with most or all of their chips in your stack. The key is to get to their chips before someone else does.
There were some squeaky-tight and solid players, as usual. Finally, there were two other players to my left who knew one another very well and spoke what sounded like Russian. These two played very aggressively. They rarely called or checked. They would bet or raise the pot significantly, so if they played a hand, you knew they were going to bet it big and you’d better be prepared to push a bunch of your chips into the middle. As a result, the table became tight overall, except for these four players who controlled the early action and dictated the table tempo for the first hour or so. They gambled with wanton abandon, trading chips with each other as the rest of us just observed and wished for a real hand to materialize.
It became apparent that our maniacs were playing mostly garbage hands, and using assertive chatter in an attempt to intimidate everyone. They were enjoying pushing everyone around with their aggressive betting and raising style. Humorously, they got into a number of showdowns, causing all of their trash hands to become openly exposed; e.g., 69 off-suit, Q3 suited, etc. I definitely had these guys pegged now – if only I could get a strong hand…
Later, one of my Russian “friends” came in over the top of a bet I’d placed with a huge raise, then smiled at me as he leaned his head back as if to say “Go ahead. I dare you”. My middle pair just wasn’t strong enough to engage with him, but I remembered this little “lesson” and my mistake. He’d used this tactic many times against the others and I should’ve expected it. I also realized that we had not seen any of his supposed “big hands”, as he always mucked them. Whenever you see an aggressive player dominating, and then mucking all those supposed “great hands”, you know you’ve spotted a target.
We played on, with the two maniacs to my right getting busted out by the Russian contingent. It’s been an hour and fifteen minutes – and I still haven’t seen even one decent hand yet! This is, unfortunately, typical poker.
After about an hour-and 45 minutes, I finally pick up a pair of wired 9’s (99). Now I was hoping the flop would yield a set (trips). Sure enough, it came: 9, K, 5. I was elated and jumping up and down (inside). I was finally in a position to make my move, and hoped it would be against one of my aggressive Russian friends with their big stacks.
To prepare my trap, I delayed and muddled around for about ten seconds, and then casually “checked” verbally and using my hand in a chopping motion, with a slightly disgusted look. Next, the younger Russian moves in with a big bet of 3,000 chips. I was sure I had him now. As expected, everyone else quickly folded and got out of his way – except me. This fellow had pushed everyone around and I was finally properly armed and ready to do battle on my own terms. Note that this had been my “battle plan” all along. I was deliberately targeting these aggressive characters, knowing that when the time was right, their ill-gotten stacks would become mine!
The action came back around to me, so now it was just the two of us heads-up. The two Russians said something to each other that the rest of us couldn’t decipher. I delayed and bobbed my head around as if to be struggling with my decision. Then, I motioned with both hands and uttered “I’m all-in”. I knew this series of actions would likely trigger an aggressive reaction, since my “check-raise” made it appear as if I was trying to steal this pot! A check-raise almost always triggers a full-tilt response from an aggressive player.
He immediately called me – he was so aggressive (and pot-committed) that it was like a fish taking the bait and running for deep waters – hook line and sinker! I threw my pair of 9’s over, revealing the trip 9’s. There was a low murmur around the table from the other players. My young Russian friend reluctantly flipped his five/trash hand over – he had a pair of fives (with a King over-card showing on the board!). He was definitely angling to drive me out of this pot with his ascertive play – one too many times…
You see, no one actually gets that many great hands in poker – nobody. If someone plays 30% to 40% or more of the time, they’re just “gambling” and bluffing. This guy thinks he has a “good” hand, because he actually had a real pair – something he doesn’t often have when pushing everyone around with mostly aggressive betting as his only real weapon.
The turn came and it wasn’t a five – then someone pipes up and says “he’s drawing dead”. Believe me, you never want to hear that when you’re in a showdown! I looked over as he said something in Russian to his buddy – another violation of tournament rules, as everyone is compelled to speak English at the tournament table. It wouldn’t matter, as he stood up, grabbed his jacket and left after receiving some consolation from his friend.
His older friend glared over at me and uttered something derogatory in Russian. I had no clue what he said, but I knew from his tone that I didn’t like it. I also knew I’d gotten under his skin by taking down his buddy and raking in all of his chips. I responded with “what’s that, I don’t understand what you’re saying since you’re not speaking English?” loudly so everyone at the table could hear me.
He mumbled something about his friend…I smiled and said politely with a smile “I deliberately laid that trap for your friend and he fell right into it!”, pushing the knife in deeper, knowing he’d be gunning for me anyway – might as well make sure my next trap was fully set. This also signaled to everyone else at the table that whenever I checked or limped, it could be extremely dangerous if assumed to be a sign of weakness – something I’d leverage later as the blinds and antes rose and the proper time to bluff and steal blinds actually arrived.
After a slight pause, my Russian friend noticed that everyone was now looking at him. He looked down at his chips and said “nice play” with a reluctantly polite tone.
Boy, I was elated! My battle plan was definitely becoming field-proven here – and my next target was clearly sighted. It had taken careful observation, planning and a lot of patience to wait for the right hand, and then play it correctly to take this highly-skilled, aggressive player out and rake in all of his chips.
About ten minutes later, it was tournament break time, after two hours of play. I counted my chips, which totaled 14,900 (we started with 5,000 each), then grabbed a quick bite to eat, reflecting on what had just taken place.
Within ten minutes of returning from break, I finally picked up a serious starting hand: Cowboys (KK). I knew it was time for my new Russian friend and me to tango, so I fired out a bet of 3 times the big blind: 3,000 chips, bait that I was sure he couldn’t turn down. Sure enough, he bit – big time. His all-in raise came almost instantaneously, before I could even get my bet onto the table. He was totally ready to engage, and had been laying in wait for me – just like I had planned. I had set him up by taking out his friend and then challenging his poker ego in front of everyone. He just had to retaliate against me – it was a totally predictable “full-tilt” response from this kind of player.
This is what the game of poker is really all about – having a well-defined strategy, the patience to wait for the right hand, and then executing properly. It’s what makes poker a game of strategy instead of a game of chance (for some of us).
He raised by going all-in with around 8,000 chips to my roughly 14,000. I quickly called his all-in bet. Everyone else quickly folded and got out of our way.
I flipped my pocket kings over, then looked him straight in the eye and just smiled. Then someone says “Yeah! Now we’ve got some action!” He sighed and flipped over QQ – he actually had a real hand for a change. That’s one of the problems with these kinds of “semi-solid, aggressive” players, like my Russian friend here, and other poker greats like Gus Hansen. You never really know exactly what to expect from them. Of course, my opponent could’ve held pocket rockets (AA), but I’ll play those KK cowboys strong each and every time I get them, since there’s only one hand that can beat them heads-up. I also knew this aggressive player on tilt was likely to be overplaying his hand, improving my odds significantly.
The flop, turn and river came and went without another Queen and it was done – my cowboys stood up and I had all of both Russian’s stacks, which included most of the other two poor maniac’s chips (who lost to the Russians earlier). This instantly made me by far the chip leader at our table with well over 22,000 chips!
I went from having an average chip stack to being the table chip leader, against tough, aggressive opponents, within less than half an hour by:
a) Playing solid, reasonable tournament poker,
b) Not taking big, undue risks with weak or “drawing” hands,
c) Studying my aggressive prey and where the chips were sitting,
d) Formulating and refining a battle plan while observing the game progress,
e) Remaining patient while waiting for the right hand to make my move, and
f) Executing this plan with precision against a predetermined opponent, and on terms of my choosing – not the opponent’s.
There was no luck involved at all – except that my opponent didn’t hold AA or pull some lucky cards with a trash hand – which was simply playing the odds in my favor.
I started out with a high-level strategy to target aggressive chip leaders, and go after them with strong hands from the right position. I planned this before I ever arrived at the casino that day, or knew who these players would be. Then, I refined my plan once I knew for certain whom the evening’s targets would be and how I’d provoke them. It certainly helped that I caught two decent hands during those first hours of play.
Unfortunately, I later lost to a legitimate full house, but made it into the top 40 – it happens…
The key to playing against aggressive and maniac players is having a viable Texas Holdem strategy you can profit from when you get some good hands. If you have a good plan, you can convert it into a formidable stockpile of chips – a stack that you’ll definitely need as the blinds and antes increase and the tournament field narrows in the latter stages.
This is how I approach Texas Holdem strategy for tournaments now – at least when the tables are full with 8 or more players, some of them aggressive and maniacs. So, the next time you encounter wild and aggressive players at your poker table, get ready to have some fun! It’s like Tae Kwon Do – using the opponent’s own energy and momentum against them.
In the next installment, we’ll detail this Texas Holdem strategy more formally, along with exploring some other tournament tips for playing better Texas Holdem poker.
Until then – good luck!
Rick
Rick Braddy is an avid writer, Texas Holdem player and professional software developer and marketer for over 25 years. His websites and Texas Holdem poker software specialize in helping people become better players. If you’re a poker player, be sure to visit his BetterHoldem.com Poker Tournament Strategy website today and learn how you can play better Texas Holdem, too.