Sept What Did You Learn CONTEST - WINNER ANNOUNCED!

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 05:29

Hello Crushers!

I think it's about time to get another contest out there!

I want you to be very honest in this one!

I just posted a new poker lesson, titled "POKER LESSON: Strategy 402".

Did anything about it leave an impression on you (or with you)? If so, what? If not, say so. This will help me decide the direction in which to go with my next lessons.

The winner will receive a $30 prize and will be chosen by random drawing of the names of EVERYBODY who posts here, no matter what they say in their posts.

Same rules as every other contest. If you are not sure what they are, please PM me!

Your Guru

Posts: 379 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 05:43

Well to be honest, I had that already pretty much implanted in my game strategy.

For all members that are new to nl holdem

This lesson is most important for setting up a game plan that will give you every chance of being competitive against all players in any game you play in.

Great thinking Guru

Posts: 846 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 06:40

Your "small ball" approach to poker is especially useful against skilled players at the table. Good players are good cause they know how to hold on to their chips! Weaker opponents are easier to get bigger pots off from. It's why it is so important to play your opponent as much as your cards. And, as you've mentioned in other lessons, to take notes on players and use them! Thanks, Guru, for anther great lesson.

Posts: 1740 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 07:43

Well what I learned in your lesson Guru is so far so good as I will not play a aggressive all in nut preflop unless as you said if it is a decent pair and I watch VERY careful at the community cards.I am told by Dale with the nicer hands that I bet smaller with that, its to small but I sure do seem to slowly widdle the aggresive fishes hand eventally and all because they will call my smaller bets.If I have a whole table calling and know I have it with even a 4 of a kind I still bet smaller so they will all want to see it instead of real big to where they all fold and I get no chips for their fold.I sure hope I explained this right lol.Again thank you for another great lesson.....

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 08:17

Very good, Char!

It is great when we can have a discussion like this following a lesson, even if it is in a contest thread! Especially now that some of you are in your fourth year of studies and have things worthwhile to say in the discussions! Then the beginners can learn a lot just by reading our conversations! So it all works out great for everybody!

And I can straighten out any fine points for the advanced students if they are not sure about something or have forgotten a point or two.

Char, you have reminded me to bring this up and add it to the lesson we are discussing.

If you have a hand that you are pretty sure is the nuts hand, you DO NOT want to make everybody fold so you can take the pot. No! You want to string them along with small bets so they will think you have less than you do and therefore they will keep calling and adding to "your" pot!

On the other hand, if your hand is pretty good but you know it could be beaten, THEN you want to make them all fold by scaring them with big bets! You want them to fold before they are dealt any more cards that just might make a better hand for them than your hand is!

So, in summary of this point, the better your hand, the smaller you bet! Just the opposite of what you might think if you don't have the benefit of a good poker education!

Very good, Char, that you seem to have that concept hung on a FRONT peg in your brain closet!!!!!

Your Guru

Posts: 379 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 09:03

btw

I have only been playing for about a year......thats.... trying to learn the game

when i first started about 16 months ago, I didnt try to learn, i just tried to play

its been the last 6 months that i have really tried to expand my knowledge of the game that is n/l holdem

Reading all the tips and guides from Guru and the knowledge offered from other fellow pcers.I have improved re markedly

I suggest if you do come across some named "good players"

watch for half an hour and see the way he plays the hands

or better still

do what i do and sit in on big money games and try to gain any bit of info one can

It can only help

mirrors

Posts: 2787 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 13:01

It may seem a strange analogy.........but then my mind works strange...lol

Do NOT chase the big pots....they are not an ambulance to your ER doctor. They will come to you. Do NOT be afraid to fold or check, that is what they are there for. Like all good doctors, they rely upon triage, so look over the playing field BEFORE jumping in with both feet. Use the check, for just that, check out your opponents and their cards. you are not a fish, don't bite at that big pre-flop bet.....you will only get hooked!!!!!!

Sorry, did not mean to write a book...lol

nana

Posts: 2913 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 14:41

Dearest Nana,

It is an excellent analogy! By George, you've got it!

AND......As long as you can keep writing with that much logic, write a novel and a half if you desire!

Your Guru

Posts: 3276 · Posted: 12.09.2008, 22:02

Knowledge is the foundation of all successful poker players.Studying brings more knowledge and noone has a monopoly on that or ever has enough.The small percent of luck in poker has knocked out the best of players,knowledge has taken many more of them to the top.Nobody can win all the time but we can certainly be very successful by using the many lessons we have learned from Guru.
We all stray from them occasionally but he has lessons on correcting that to.Keep going back to his lessons and reread them,eventually every play you make will be automatic.
I can honestly say that this lesson could have been written by a few of us but how many of us practice it in every game?My guess would be zero.Recall the games where you didn't?Bet you lost.We all need reminding and refreshing because it's human nature to stray.
We aren't fishermen,donkeys or schoolyard bullies.WE ARE POKER PLAYERS!!!!!!STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY!!!!!!THEN PLAY POKER!!!!!!

Posts: 2787 · Posted: 13.09.2008, 02:50

well said, bower!!!!!!!!!

Posts: 3854 · Posted: 13.09.2008, 12:55

A "QUOTE" FROM THE BEST! OUR GURU!

""If you have a hand that you are pretty sure is the nuts hand, you DO NOT want to make everybody fold so you can take the pot. No! You want to string them along with small bets so they will think you have less than you do and therefore they will keep calling and adding to "your" pot!
On the other hand, if your hand is pretty good but you know it could be beaten, THEN you want to make them all fold by scaring them with big bets! You want them to fold before they are dealt any more cards that just might make a better hand for them than your hand is!""

THIS IS SOMETHING I DID NOT KNOW & HAVE ONLY USED "SORTA"++ I ADDED MY COMMON SENSE.

Thanks Guru Soooooooooo Much!! With EVERY lesson from YOU, my play undoubtedly improves Very Happy

Posts: 231 · Posted: 15.09.2008, 13:33

I wan't to thank you GURU I tend to bet on what card I might catch instead of what I'm allready holding,I needed to read that again,I tend to feel like "oh yea your not going to fool me!" Guess that's why I lose most time's. If I could only remeber your lesson while playing I'd do alot better.Thank you GURU

Posts: 3854 · Posted: 15.09.2008, 14:44

I learned a ton of stuff!! Most impressionable for me was the bet low with good hand theory.

It is completely what you'd think was the opposite! AND I'M FINDING IT WORKS!!! "Salute"

Posts: 1192 · Posted: 16.09.2008, 07:00

msfilly wrote: ›

Quote: › NEVER bet on cards you are hoping to get. Bet ONLY on cards you already have for sure!

This was it Guru This statement rang so true the minute I read it. I do that exact thing bet on what might be and this is just so enlightening I know I sound really dumb right now because it seems so simple, but this really makes absolute sense to me now and it helps me to look at my poker skills differently as far as what I play and bet on thanks Guru again

This post fits here as well as in lesson 402 it is my response to thr revelation I had just reading Guru's words about betting cards you you have not what you might get on the flop etc...

This is what I learned

Posts: 1825 · Posted: 16.09.2008, 11:19

I never undertood why some players go crazy with high bets so everyone folds and they loose out on a lot of pot money. I string people along making small bets and if someone raises I cal but don't re-raise till I am sure I have the hand. Then I will make a big raise right before the river and hope they call ;P

I have had trouble with the one point. I could have a pair of Aces or Kings or whatever and have seen people bet real big on the turn and I get conflicted feelings. I KNOW they don't want any more cards on the table to help fill a nice hand but I have difficulty in doing it myself and have lost because of it. I have yet to get down that "point" to make sure no one fills in a straight, flush etc. I need work there but I am slowly succeeding.