THE BASICS OF POKER
The Basic Principles of Poker
*Refer to chart with the top 50 starting hands
You might think that starting hand strategy in poker is all about getting big cards and winning with them, but that's only half the story. The other half of the story is avoiding getting yourself into situations where you call down hands with weak cards.
In Poker the very first decision you need to make is whether or not you should play your starting hand that has been dealt to you and if so whether you should bet, call, raise or fold. Out of a possible 169 starting hands at least half of them are considered to be unplayable. In order to master Texas Holdem you need to learn which starting hands are the most playable and in what position. Your starting hand is what is going to set you up either for a win or a loss and the strength of your starting hand will determine which one it will be. Having a good grasp of which starting hands you should play with and which hands should be folded will make the world of difference to your overall win/loss ratio.
Another important aspect to starting hands is your kicker and if you've played poker already, you will know the importance of a good kicker. For example if you are in the big blind and you get A9 and you catch your ace on the flop. Now the other player in the hand bets both the turn and the river and you call, maybe reluctantly, but when you turn your cards over, you find to your dismay that your opponent also has an ace but a much better kicker than you and wins the pot. You have just been out kicked.
This is something that once you have grasped the importance of a good starting hand should only happen to you very rarely.
Recommended starting hands:
1. Premium Group:
AA - KK - QQ – JJ - AKs
All these hands should be raised with but use your judgment as these big pairs lose there value in large multi-way pots. Any good player will tell you of a time when they had to lay down AA when they knew they were beat.
2. Great Start:
AQs – TT – AJs - AK - KQs
These hands should be raised with but use your discretion especially with the TT and AJs. These can be very strong hands in late position and for advanced players. The AQs, AJs and KQs do play well in large multi-way pots.
3. A Good Look:
99 – ATs – AQ - KJs – 88 - QJs - KTs
These hands are all strong hands in their own right and can be very deadly. Use your position to your advantage with these hands. Do not over commit with any of them.
4. A Decent Chance:
88 – KQ – JTs - 98s – J9s – AT – A8s - A9s – AJ – QTs - T9s - 77
These hands are mainly drawing hands and must be played with caution and are not recommended from early position. The KQ and AJ can be strong hands in late position but use your judgment when deciding on how to play these hands.
5. The Advanced player:
Q9s – KJ – QJ – JT – T9s - K9s - A7s – A6s – A5s – A4s – A3s – A2s
The advanced player can delve into these hands and use their superior poker skills to catch up in the hand, use them to semi bluff or actually make a great hand.
These hands can be played from early position but it is recommended to play them from medium to late position.
6. Poker Pro’s Play list:
66 – 55 – KT – QT – 54s - J8s –T8s – 98s – A9 – A8 – K7s – K6s – K5s
These hands are not recommended unless you know exactly what you are doing.
These hands should be used for button steals and in late position if you have a good read on the table. On the flop you need to hit an outside straight draw, flush draw or two pair, and if you miss then you need decide whether to bluff or fold with the latter usually being the better option. These hands don’t hold their value unless you know how to use them.
Position:
What is table position?
Table Position is where you are in relation to the button. There are three areas of position: early position, middle position and late position.
Playing position is generally thought to be the most important factor in selecting your starting hands in Hold’em as a decent hand in early position is not as good as the same hand in late position. This is due to the fact that in late position you can see how everyone else acts first before you make your decision, and therefore allows you to gauge how strong your starting hand really is. And conversely, being in early position can put you in situations where you make bets into a player with a stronger hand and also open up the possibility to being slow played. It is worth noting however that in a short handed game if you are first to act you can attempt to steal the pot by betting first and with a sizeable amount of chips. The same works for players in a late position, for example if everyone has checked it to you, you can then make a sizeable bet in an attempt to steal the pot and this move is actually called a button steal.
Your position in relation to the dealer is an important strategical factor in Texas hold’em and must be used accordingly to choose you starting hands and to make strategical bets, bluffs and calls.
Vary your starting hand selection based on your playing position, which is fundamental to the playing strategies in poker.
Many Texas Hold'em experts say that if you observe a game, that money tends to flow toward the direction of the Button.
Early Position (EP for short)
In a full game, being in early position means that you are the first to get the action going. Being in early position is often a disadvantage in the majority of situations in poker. The reason is that your opponents will always be able to react to what you do, after you act. Good opponents can usually disrupt your play or perform tricky moves or steal the pot if necessary.
This means that you want to tighten up your starting hand selection in the game and drop questionable hands like KT, QT, JT, T9 - and possibly even KJ or QJ – in early position.
Middle Position (MP for short)
The players to the left of the early position players (usually starting at the 4th player to the left of the button) are called the middle position players.
Being in MP has few advantages. When in MP, you are one leg up on players in EP, but you still have players in late position acting behind you. You are open to getting trapped in a situation, when you are trying to call a bet by a player in EP, but are getting raised by another opponent in late position. This is dangerous because you could be forced to commit more chips to the pot than you would like to, with what could be a losing hand.
This situation can be referred to as “the squeeze”.
Late Position (LP for short)
Being in late position is a big advantage in poker and especially Texas Hold'em.
When in late position you are in a great position to get a good read of the tables play and make good decisions based on the strength of your hand or the strength of play being displayed before you. You can also relax your starting hand selection in late position and
you can also begin playing pocket pairs a bit more liberally in late position.
This is also a great time to steal the buttons and make bluffs.
The blind steal/bluff steal is very difficult for anyone in early or mid position. When you are in LP and everyone checks to you, this does give a good indication that your opponents are likely holding nothing of value and makes the bluff a much safer play.
The semi-bluff is raising a player who bet in early or mid position.
The semi bluff works in two different ways:
- By raising, you are putting pressure on your opponent to possibly make them fold, especially if they only had a marginal hand to begin with.
- By raising you can make your opponent slow his own action down by you showing strength and possibly making him check to you on the turn if he calls your raise from the flop.
If your opponent does check to you on the turn, then you have the option to try another semi–bluff or simply check as well and gain a free card on the river.
Making you opponent back up his decisions is a good way to play poker but this attitude must only be employed when you have a good read on the table. Never let players at your table smell weakness, as a good player will take you to pieces, and this is done through the size of your bets and your timing.
Use these options wisely; they should be used sparingly and with a good read of the table.
Using this as a strategy:
Most beginners use a starting hand chart to see whether they should play their hand or not. But in effect you need to combine your starting hand knowledge along with table position. Not knowing position is an easy way to lose lots of money in poker, so pay attention and take notes. As a very general rule of thumb; in early position you need to play stronger hands, while you can play more drawing hands from a late position.A hand like 9 10s is typically a drawing hand and would not be wise to play from an early position and should be folded as players in a late position could raise you forcing you to either commit more chips to the pot with what is a marginal hand or make you fold, which waists your initial bet. This same hand can be called from a late position when you have seen what the action is like. If the table is not showing strength you could actually raise, but the beauty of LP is that you still have the option of folding your hand.
The following is just a guideline that must be used with your judgment:
In early position you should play:
- High Pairs: AA - JJ
- High Suited Cards: AKs – AQs – KQs – AJs - KJs - QJs - TJs
- High Unsuited Cards: AK – AQ - KQ
In middle position you can add to the list:
- High Suited Cards: ATs – KTs - QTs
- High Unsuited Cards: AJ - AT - KJ
- Middle Pairs: TT - 77
In late position you can add to the list:
- Suited connectors: T9s- 67s.
- Small pairs
- Ace-rags suited: but use your discretion for these hands
Odds – knowing your odds & calling the right bets.
Learning how to properly count your outs and calculate poker odds is a fundamental requirement of Texas Hold'em and really isn't as hard as it looks, you only need to know basic math to figure out your odds.
Knowing your poker odds gives you an idea when you are in a good or bad situation.
Outs: The number of cards left in the deck that will improve your hand.
1. Pot Odds: This is probably the most important of all the different types of odds. It is the odds you get when analyzing the current size of the pot vs. your next call.
Know your pot odds to make good decisions and do not chase hands that are not worth it – know the difference between gambling and playing poker for value.
The 2-4 rule is a very rough estimate of how to work out your hand odds in order to see if you are getting good pot odds.
To work out your percentage of hitting your hand, take the number of true outs that you have after the flop and multiply this number by 2; this will give you a rough estimate of the percentage you have of you making your hand on the turn. Take the same number and multiply this number by 4 and this will give you the overall percentage you have of making your hand on the turn and river combined.
This scenario refers to hands being played after the flop. To apply this to the poker table you need to work out the chance you have of hitting your hand and then work out what percentage the bet is in relation to the pot.
Example: if you have a 20% chance of hitting your hand and the bet is $20 in a $100 pot then you should call and any bet higher than that, within reason you should fold as you are not getting the value you need to make the call. Use this to make the right calls and make bets that don’t give your opponents good pot odds if you know they are drawing.
2. Hand Odds:
Hand odds are your chances of completing a hand in Poker.
The following hand odds are for Texas hold’em only! Players need this information to know whether they should continue playing in relation to a bet made by another player. This is directly linked to pot odds (it is the first half of the equation)
Open ended straight draws: If you are holding TJ and the flop is 9Q3 then the following applies:
You have 8 outs. The chance of hitting one of them on the turn is 8 over 47 and that works out to around 17%. The chance of hitting one of them on the river is 8 over 46 and that works out to around 17.4%
The chance of you hitting one of them on the turn and river combined is around 31.4%
(Using the 2-4 rule you would have got 16% on the turn or river and 32% combined)
Flopped Flush Draws:
If you are holding A7 of spades and the flop is 2d Ts QS then the following applies:
You have 9 outs. The chance of hitting one of them on the turn is 9 over 47 and that works out to around 19.1%. The chance of hitting one of them on the river is 9 over 46 and that works out to around 19.5%.
The chance of you hitting one of them on the turn and river combined is around 34.9%
(Using the 2-4 rule you would have got 18% on the turn or river and 36% combined)
Top two pair to Full house:
If you are holding KJ and the flop is J9K then the following applies:
You have 4 outs. The chance of you hitting one of them on the turn is 4 over 47 which works out to around 8.5%. The chance of you hitting one of them hitting on the river is 4 over 46 which works out to around 8.7%.
The chance of you hitting one of them on the turn and river combined is 16.5%
(Using the 2-4 rule you would have got 8% on the turn or river and 16% combined)
3. Bet Odds:
If you know that most of the players are going to call your bet, your bet odds are good.
4. Implied Odds:
This is calculated on the assumed result of betting for the remainder of the hand. If most the players are going to call on the turn and river your implied odds are good.
Other tips to improve your game
Start by playing only premium hands and then start to experiment with other hands.
Try to be a bettor and not a caller and try not to give any player free cards unless you have the absolute nuts and are trying to get some action. Make bets to find out where you are in the hand and make those bets that make your opponent have to make that big decision.
If you think your opponent is bluffing try a reraise and put your opponent to the test you will be surprised at how often this will make your opponent fold.
Try fluctuating your game between the different styles that are being displayed on the table: For example if the table is very tight then become more aggressive and if the table is very loose then be super tight. Either way you will make more money.
Always observe your opponents play and take notes this will ultimately help you understand how your opponents play and what cards they play with. Make notes like what cards they play with and are they tight or are they loose. Remember tight players are easier to take money from and loose players will go all the way till the end which can be dangerous if they don’t fold and you are trying to protect a hand.
Try and have a structure to your game play. There are four types of players:
Tight – Aggressive, Tight – passive, Loose – Aggressive, Loose – Passive
The first part refers to your starting hands and the second part refers to your betting style. For beginners I recommend being strictly Tight – Aggressive as this will help you gain both money and the right image at the table. For the more advanced player I would recommend being a combination of Tight - Aggressive and Loose - Aggressive as ultimately you want to create a Loose image at the table while actually being a tight player.
Ask yourself these three questions when playing:
-What does my opponent have?
-What does my opponent think I have?
-What does my opponent think I think he has?
Use these questions to help you decide what your next move will be.
Always remember this fundamental principle to poker: "A bet saved is a bet earned!"
And always remember that when you start to get constant bad beats or go on a losing streak you must discipline yourself especially if you want to make money, and stop playing in order to leave yourself a bank roll to fight another day…
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CRAZY POKER ACADEMY 
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