3 Important Skills

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Poker Strategy

Thinking Like a Poker Player is important. Poker pros are often described as tight and aggressive and those poker pro's tend not play too many hands however when they play them then they play them strong.

That, for the most part is a general description but it doesn't really say too much. This isn't totally correct when talking about no limit hold em as many loose or hand aggressive players will raise high or go all in in order to attempt to the the pot available on the table.

So often when you hear a player is a tight player it is usually do to one of three skills they have developed in the game of poker.

Skill 1 - Math and knowing it well.

A solid and good poker player will understand and know basic percentages. That player will understand that they will have roughly a 10% chance of hitting a set if they are holding pocket pairs and they will also know by the law of averages that a 33% chance applies to hitting a flush on the flop. The player who understands how to apply mathematics to poker will understand and know the importance of having "outs" - By "outs" I mean the number of cards available to assist you in improving your hand. If you are able to take your outs and then multiply them by 2 and adding one to your total then that is about the odds you have of hitting the hand you are looking for. This, of course can change depending on the number of players sitting at the table.

So remeber that skills in poker that apply mathematics is one of the most basic skills you can aquire to help you on improving your game and making educated choices on each hand.

Skill 2 - Discipline (a big one folks)

A good poker player will always apply a strong level of discipline when playing poker. What helps a player who practises this over a player who doesn't is the disciplined player bets and wins on the hand he has versus the hand he hopes to get whereas a un disciplined player will always bet on what they hope to get and that is not a safe bet nor a good practise to employ.

However, this can change if your playing at say a limit table or game as the risk is less to see the next card and the risk of a lose player going all in is not part of the element. Now when playing a limit game is it benificial to play tight pre flop thus not risking too much to see your hands that are so so and reserving chips for your better hands.

Remember always that a disciplined player always understands when to stop playing and walk away. They know when to play a hand and they always know when to just fold and walk away. It is always better to fold a hand than loose that hand on a chase as a folded hand is not a lost hand but only a hand not playeed.

Skill 3 - The Psychological Aspect of Poker

A skilled poker player truly understands and grasps the importance of the psychological factor of the game. That player is usually not one to be centered only themselfes. You must always try to think about what the other player is doing and thinking and learning to understand why other players do what they do will help in deveolping this skill.

There are some key questions to ask yourself during the game. You want to think about what the other players may have in thier hole cards, you need to consider your actions to aviod tipping off the other player as to what you may have or may NOT have and you need to always consider what you may be telling the other players at the table.

Lets us imagine you have a pr of aces and another player at the table is holding pocket kings. If you both believe what the other has then the thought of just checking the hand through comes to mind but a player that is able to apply slow playing techniques or raising to make another believe he has the better hand or a stronger set can make the difference of winning if you may be the one with the weaker pair or set.

Psychology is truly an important part of winning in poker and applying some solid techniques will help you develope your skills.

Posts: 647 · Posted: 28.03.2006, 20:50

I have to say that this is the best advice on poker I think I've read yet - all of it. Lots of value in every word of it.

Too much math in it tho - for me! lol

So now I know why everyone is taking so long on their turn! They're busy doing arithmetic!

Which you make sound so easy in this post, DrCrush, and it probably is all basic, fairly simple math that you're talking about - but even basic math is often too much math for me! Never was my strong suit...

Some of it I actually do not know how to do, and then even if I do really know it, too often, I just can't be bothered with it (in real life in general, as well as in poker), 'cause I've just never liked much of anything about any math.

but if I were to get serious about this....

even I might be able to handle the math you refer to in your post -- and I can see how it would give you an advantage in your game. it makes sense...

Thanks for a great post - I expect I'll refer back to it often in the future!

sunspun

Posts: 505 · Posted: 27.04.2006, 16:13

Wow Doc..that was very insightful!!!

Posts: 654 · Posted: 28.04.2006, 06:46

LOL Doc ~

I can see you did your research well. That was a great explanation of that particular philosophy.

I have long considered it since it was introduced and I do agree with more than half of it. However, every time I have decided to stick to it this time, I usually don't go home very happy.

So like any thinking and reasonable person should, I take from it what works for me and discard the rest.

I wish I could agree with ALL of it, but the truth is I just simply have not ever been able to.

I know you don't mind if I remind our beginning players that what you presented --and presented extremely well -- is a relatively new poker philosophy that is still in the clinical trial stage, having bypassed the pilot stage, and has not yet passed the test of time or complete acceptance.

In other words, beginning players need not be confused by it or think they need to accept it as a guide book to playing to win.

I do not, in any way, mean to critisize your post, Doc. In fact, I applaud it and am glad to see you getting into the philosophical studies.

I just don't want it to scare away any beginners that are making such good progress so far. They really need to know, I think, that it accepted by a rather small sector of consistent money-making poker players. Those who do accept it, swear by it as a system. But they really are few in number. Simply because it has not stood the test of time.

But you really deserve a gold star for such a great job there in presentation! And I am happy as a lark to see my good buddy delving in and keeping up with the times in your own studies!!!

So to you -- Congratulations!
To new players -- If you didn't get the meaning of every bit of it, don't worry and don't think you have to play exactly that way or even come close to memorizing it.

I sure hope this post is okay with you, DrCrush. No banter intended or wanted for sure.

It's just that in a public forum that I have been following very closely, I cannot live with myself if I don't speak up and say SOMETHING when even a tiny little thing keeps nagging at me.

I hope all who read this, accept it in the spirit with which it was written and intended.

Luv to all my sitemates and ESPECIALLY to you, Doc. Good work!

royalblush

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 28.04.2006, 09:53

One of my star poker scholars and very enthusiastic, I just found saying this:
I have to say that this is the best advice on poker I think I've read yet - all of it. Lots of value in every word of it.

Too much math in it tho - for me! lol

So now I know why everyone is taking so long on their turn! They're busy doing arithmetic!

Which you make sound so easy in this post, DrCrush, and it probably is all basic, fairly simple math that you're talking about - but even basic math is often too much math for me! Never was my strong suit...

Some of it I actually do not know how to do, and then even if I do really know it, too often, I just can't be bothered with it (in real life in general, as well as in poker), 'cause I've just never liked much of anything about any math.

but if I were to get serious about this....

Dearest sunpun!

Honey, you have been and you ARE serious about your poker, and what's more, you have made incredible progress in learning and improving your game! You have completed Session One of our studies and are ready to start Session Two today or tomorrow.

You are improving every day and I am quite serious when I ask you not to let the "math" that DrCrush refers to bother you in any way. You do NOT need to know that in order to be a very good and a winning poker player.

I can only ask you not to be discouraged, to stick with me and our lessons, and it will be proven to you.

You have far too much potential to be discouraged by ANYTHING! There are many systems in playing poker and you do NOT have to know all of them!

For what it is worth to you, that is my opinion.

Your

PokerGuru

Posts: 647 · Posted: 01.05.2006, 01:01

Wow! Thank you so much PokerGuru!
I just now saw this post of yours - and was really surprised and pleased to hear (read) what you said!
Thank you! (Did I already say that?)

I guess this is as good a place as any to tell you this then:

I won my first sit-n-go yesterday! It was only a dollar buy-in and only 6 people, but it was great! It just all went so perfectly, from start to finish... everything went my way for once, and all of a sudden, everybody was out and I was the only one left! Pretty neat.

I won $4 on that, and then right after that, I won my second PitBull freeroll for another $15 - their freerolls are still only averaging 200 or MAYBE 300 people at the most, so these are the only freerolls I've been playing lately. I don't feel like I have a chance at the ones with 1000+ players. Actually, I don't feel like ANYBODY has a chance at winning those, but someone wins every time - so no, I guess the way to put it is that I feel like everyone has as much chance as everyone else (almost) at winning one of those big megamegaplayer freerolls, but that chance is pretty slim. So if I ever play one of them, it's just for fun (and practice!)
Especially since they always last FOREVER (if you do any good anyway). It's a lot of work for such little reward... except it's fun too, so there is that.

Thanks very much again for the encouraging words - it means a lot to me to hear them from you!

sunspun