Mar 10 Guru POKER LESSON

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 10.03.2009, 18:15

Hello. my dear PCers!

My nap was a long one, eh? LOL!

I thank you for your patience.

My darn blood pressure has put me so far behind that I don't know where to start with you.

So I decided: First, a lesson, second, a contest, third, tonight's chat! At least, that is my plan. These darn pills are keeping me feeling tired. Doc said it would wear off in a few days. I sure hope so! By the way, thank you all so much for your concern and well wishes!

Now for a lesson, which is really a review for 4th year scholars.

Remember, I have told you that my first choice of ring tables to play at any online casino is a table for 10 players, if available. I also recommended that you follow my example since it seems to be a winning one most of the time.

There are several reasons I choose a 10-player table. One of them is because you don't have to put up an ante nearly as often, since only 2 players ante per hand; one contributes the big blind to the pot, the other the small blind. At tables with fewer players, your chip stack can go down pretty quickly with nothing but antes. Nobody but the house benefits from this.

Once you have decided on the table size, you should not keep switching table sizes either, because the play will be slightly different at each. That slight difference in play can make a big difference in your winnings. So stick to one table size, at least until you have mastered the strategies of that table's playing. It is important to follow that rule,even if you choose a table with fewer than 10 players.

When you arrive in the site's lobby and start looking for the right size tables and find them, then you have to decide which one would be best for you! Being a winner, you see, consists of much more than how you play the cards. There are many decisions you have to make before you even sit down to play....and they are extremely important ones for your success.

Therefore..... let's aassume here that we are considering ONLY the 10-player tables. When you have found them, the next step is to choose your preferred limits by the sizes of the blinds (antes). Let's decide on only the tables with blinds of $0.50 - $1.00. This is a range I recommend once you have had just a little experience playing. It will be the easiest to win at, in my opinion. The big-money players are at much higher limit tables and the players too scared to put hardly any money into the game for you to win are at the lower limit tables. Therefore, $0.50 - $1.00 will let you win easier, at the point most of you are now, according to how I have come to know you.

The next strategy step is to look at all the tables in that range and the average size of the pots. These figures will be up in the lobby where you pick the table to go to. And all the figures on the board there are called the table statistics. You look for the largest pot size THAT ALSO MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS OF 10 players, $0.50-$1.00 blinds, and Pot Limit (PL) Texas Hold'em. You waste too much time playing Fixed Limit (FL) games and the betting can get way too wild and out of reasonable sight on the No Limit (NL) tables.

The reason you look for the largest average pot size is because that tells you the players are playing very loosely. In my opinion, that means betting or calling too often for their own good.....but good news for YOU.

There is one more step and then you will have found the perfect table for YOU. This step is looking at the flop percentages. Flop percentages tell you how many players are usually staying in the game at least until the flop is dealt. The highest percentage in your selected group of tables is what you are looking for. Again, the higher the flop average, the looser those seated are playing, which is good for you.

Okay. Now you have made 6 very important decisions after entering the chosen site BEFORE you even sit down at a table. How well you do will depend, to a large extent, on these decisions.

To help you remember them, I will now list them in the order you should find them.

1. Texas Holdem Pot Limit (PL) table.

2. 10-player table (9-player if that is the highest they have)

3. Do NOT switch table sizes.

4. $0.50-$1.00 blinds (or much smaller!) (no higher at this time)

5. Largest pot size meeting the above requirements

6. Highest Flop percentage average meeting the above requirements

Now you have YOUR PERFECT TABLE! If 10 players are already sitting at every one of these tables, you can make one of two equal choices: List your name as "Waiting" to be called when someone leaves

or

Choose the table that has the fewest empty chairs out of 10.

BUT WAIT. Now that you are at the table, don't play the very next hand dealt! Instead, look at the players' chip stacks.

This part should be just a review for a lot of you because we have already discussed it. If one player has a much higher amount of money in his stack than all the others......sorry, Get up and move on to another table. He is probably a shark and maybe a pro. If 2 players have amounts extremely higher than the others, but close to each other's amount, you walk then, too. These two could be in collusion. That is, on the phone with each other, revealing what they hold, which allows them an advantage over you as far as knowing which cards will NOT be dealt on the flop, turn or river!

So your important decisions before playing a hand now equals 6 + 2.

When you go thru the process again to find the winning table for you, don't forget the names of the tables you might have already left, so you won't waste time going back to them again. Not this night and hour!

Okay. Once again, you have gone thru the 6 steps and have YOUR table again. If there is only one chair left, take it! If more than one chair is empty, take the one most far to the player with the most money's left. That will give you a chance to see what he is doing each hand before it is your turn! That also now makes your decisions before a single hand 6 + 2 + 1.

You are ready to play. What's more, you are ready to WIN because chances are not a single other player at the table has the education you now have from a pro for being at that table. So you are starting out with THE ADVANTAGE!

Posts: 2787 · Posted: 11.03.2009, 00:29

great lesson guru, I will be posting this one on my wall!!!!!!!!

Posts: 1704 · Posted: 11.03.2009, 08:02

ty for the great lesson...when i do play poker i usually followed most of your above points but i always went to nl tables and stayed away from pl tables....guess ill try the pl tables from now on like you said

Posts: 1825 · Posted: 11.03.2009, 09:29

Me too. Just as broxi said I favor no limit. Guess I better play moe Pot Limit for awhile!

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 11.03.2009, 13:12

Thanks for your responses, poker players!

I should have told you that pot limits are hard to find. That is because you can make a lot of money without risking it all, so casinos don't like that. Therefore, they don't put many pot limits out there.

The main advantage of pot limit is that it protects you from the all-in crazies! They cannot go all in! Only as much as in the pot. I know those people are a headache to you all. That is the main reason I said Pot Limit.

Now if you cannot find one that also meets all the other criteria, then by all means, go to No Limit!

Limit Holdem is a waste of time in my opinion and can become as boring as an extra-long tourney for a small pot.

Posts: 3854 · Posted: 11.03.2009, 17:02

Now, don't I feel an urgently-needed "Ahhhhhh" I am still SO 1st-yearish, and am sooooooooooooooooooooo thankful for this post, I am close to tears!!

BLESS YOU GURU!! BLESS YOU!! BLESS YOU!! and again..a more slow-comfy 1 this time..."ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" THANK YOU!!!!!!!! xxxx oooo

Your Eager To Learn, patiently-challenged, lol 1st-year ~Patti