Casinos are fast-paced environments. They are loud and crowded. They’re also full of people who probably have a lot more experience playing poker than you do. Most beginning poker players are scared to death of playing in live games because they might make mistakes and embarrass themselves or upset others. Online poker, on the other hand, is a whole other story.

Anonymity And Safety:

There is a certain amount of anonymity that comes with playing poker on the Internet. So, even if you make mistakes, you won’t feel as badly about it. There won’t be the pressure of everyone staring at you or talking to you.

Also, though, playing poker online gives you a certain amount of safety. There are a lot less mistakes that you could make, since cards are automatically dealt and turns are automatically regulated. So, you can learn in a calmer and easier way and not be afraid of making errors as often.

Easy To Do:

Playing poker online is also easy to do. After all, you probably have a computer with an Internet connection in your house already. It’s much easier to go into the next room and play poker in your home than it is to drive to the casino. It also saves money and time.

In fact, you can find games of all types at all times online. Even if you did drive to a casino, you might find that the game that you want to play isn’t running at that time. It may not be scheduled at all. So, that’s another advantage of online play.

Free Games And Free Money:

Also, when you play online, you can often find free game rooms. Almost every poker website has them. At those free tables, you can learn the rules of individual types of poker, like Holdem or Omaha. You can also learn variations, like Omaha Hi/Lo.

Free money is another thing that draws people to online poker. Almost every major poker website offers sign up and deposit bonuses. Those bonuses are often viewed as free money and they sometimes are. However, sometimes there are things that you have to do to claim the bonus, such as spending a certain amount of money at the poker tables. So, although bonuses are good, they aren’t always as good as they seem.

Multi-Table Gaming:

Another fun thing about playing online is that you will have the ability to play on several tables at once, if you want to. While you’re learning, though, it’s best to either stick to one table or play only free games while you are multi-tabling. That way, you can figure out what your limits are, as far as the number of tables that you can comfortably play on.

Get with the Program

While every real-money player automatically earns loyalty points, some players earn more and can buy more than others. These players are members of the casino’s VIP club. Generally the club is open to everyone, but you have to take the time and make the effort to become a member. Whereas the use of your loyalty points as a regular casino member is pretty limited, VIP members are privy to special bonuses, promotions and added points events.

Know What You Want

Whether you’re hoping to earn cash back or an iPod, it’s good to familiarize yourself with your casino’s points program before you play. Pay special attention to their dollar-to-points ratio, bonus terms and playthrough requirements.

Work Your Way Up

Obviously the more you play, the more points you’ll earn, but playing frequently has other perks. Regular participation at your preferred online casino can move you up the VIP pyramid, earning you bigger and better rewards. Just be sure you know what it takes to stay at your current level or to move up to the next one, so you’re not missing out on any VIP benefits.

Plan Your Play Days

If you’ve got a schedule that allows you to be flexible about when you play online, then why not play on the days when you’ll get more for your money? Most online casinos offer double or even triple point days/hours and also have larger VIP reload bonuses on specific days. Check your online casino’s promotions page to find out when you’ll get the most bang for your buck.

The things these idiots do are so fundamental, that I wondered if I could write up a quick article with 5 tips that, if they actually followed, they would stop being such losers immediately. Well, the shortest list I could come up with is 7. And here they are:

1) Read, study, and learn. If you are trying to earn money playing poker, then you need to take it seriously. Consider it a job. If you were one of those schmucks who went to school to work in a field,  you probably read a lot too (and paid a lot to do so). Well now you have the advantage of websites like mine, and tons of books that are available. So read what they have to share, and learn how to play poker properly.

2) Find out who you are, and change your game to suit yourself. Okay, so you just stopped reading this post after point #1, and went out and bought Power Poker by Doyle Brunson. You skimmed through it, headed to Ultimate Bet, and lost a few hundred dollars. What went wrong? Well you may have learned something from the book, but you also need to apply it to yourself. You are not Doyle. You are not me (thank god). You are you. You have your own strengths (well, most people d0 at least) and weaknesses (probably more than you’d admit). Find out what they are, work on the strengths, and try to avoid the occasions where you lose a lot of money. Manage your swings by adjusting your strategies either way, but don’t get too carried away.

3) Don’t force things. If you’ve stuck with me so far, you already know which areas of poker you suck at, and which ones you are… better at. So you will also know what will put you on tilt or make you feel invincible. Don’t let the game change your style of play. You can easily see a bad streak turn into a really bad week, or more. If you have the technical part of poker down, then just worry about what goes on in your head. Maybe even work on tilting other players, so you can see how not to play. Because I can almost guarantee, you can be manipulated if you’re not careful. I’ve done it many times.

4) Know your opponents. You are not playing against bots, you are playing against people. And like I said before, most of the people you play against will be losers. Knowing that, you should easily be able to be a winner. This goes beyond just knowing who is loose or aggressive. You should use tracking software, or at least take notes of certain plays. Like how much does this guy raise pre-flop when he has this type of hand in this position? Or do you notice someone always checking the flop when he gets the set with no two sets on the board? This will help you know exactly what you’re up against, and after a while will become second nature to you. When that happens, you will start to win more, I promise.

5) Know your positions, and respect them. I wrote about this at length already, so be sure to read those articles if you haven’t.

6) Pick the right table. If you play at the same poker room most of the time, and it’s not absurdly huge, you will begin to recognize players. So eventually, you’ll know who the newbies are (but remember, just because someone is new to a room doesn’t mean they automatically suck!). But more importantly, you’ll know who the sharks are, and who sucks. Learn who the sharks are, and stay away from those tables. That way, you’ll have more fish to yourself! You should also be able to determine a table’s style of play after watching it for a while. Is it aggressive? Passive? Lose or tight? Find out, and go to the one that matches your playing style the best.

7) Even if you are a winner like me, you have to keep in mind that you won’t win every single night. So keep in mind that your bankroll will swing here and there, and it is normal. Don’t get pissed off by losing streaks, and don’t get overly excited by winning streaks. They will all end eventually, and as long as you are winning overall, that is what matters most.

If you’re a loser (which you almost certainly are), you are probably playing shorthanded Holdem games wrong. Most losers will play the same way in shorthanded games as they do in full games. This doesn’t work, unless your full game strategy is wrong to begin with… Others go by the general advice of “be more aggressive” but end up being too aggressive, not taking into account their position, etc.

Here are some common mistakes made every day by losers like you. Keep these in mind the next time you find yourself at a shorthanded table. Warning: This is a really long, verbose article. If you are used to finding garbage poker sites with crap information, this might seem really long to you. Stick with it, even if you have the attention span of a goldfish, because you will learn how to play Poker better. And after that, sign up to our newsletter, add our RSS feed, and follow me on Twitter. You will become a better person for it, and your offspring will thank you for it later.

1) Playing too many hands in weak positions

Generally, you will want to play more hands when there are fewer players, as there is less of a chance of someone having a better hand than you. However, you can’t be too loose, especially when  you are in a weak position. If you haven’t yet, be sure to read my 3 part guide on positions in Texas holdem poker. If you don’t know what the terms “Under The Gun” and “Small Blind” mean, then you better go back and start from the basics.

Here are some examples of some marginal plays that on the surface might seem like good ideas:

a) Under The Gun with K♥ 10♣

You might be tempted to raise here, but from this position that would be a far too loose-aggressive type of play. Players that act after you will probably re-raise you with any Ace with high card, mid-high pairs, and high suited connectors. Your KTo wouldn’t do well against those re-raising hands. This type of hand can be raised if you are in a later position, since there will be a lesser chance of someone re-raising you.

b) Small Blind, calling a raise with J♦ 10♠

Again, too loose. I’ll talk more about calling raises in the SB position later in this article.

c) On The Button, calling a raise with A♠ 4♦

The first problem with this play is that it will be dominated by any other hand with an Ace (which will often explain why they open-raised to begin with). Secondly, even if nobody else has an Ace, you won’t get much action if an Ace comes on the Flop.

2) Throwing away too many hands in shorthanded games

Sometimes people will play the same way shorthanded as they do in full games, which means they are playing too tight in shorthanded games. Keep some of these examples in mind next time you are in a shorthanded game (these would be considered too loose in full games):

a) In the Big Blind, call a raise by an early position player with Q♥ 10♦

QTo would be often dominated by early raisers in a full game, but when there are 5 or fewer players, people are usually raising with more hands so this is a good play shorthanded.

b) On The Button, reraise an early position player with A♣ J♦

In full games, you will probably want to fold your AJo against an early position raise. In fact, even AQo should be folded if you’ve noticed that the raiser is particularly tight. But in shorthanded games, everyone is more aggressive and will open-raise with a wider variety of hands. AJo would do well against hands people are open-raising with in shorthanded games.

3) Being too predictable

In any poker game, you want to be unpredictable to your opponents, and you want them to be predictable to you. This is tough to manage in full games, because unpredictable play usually just means you suck at poker, especially in the early position. In shorthanded games, you have many more chances to be unpredictable and still play well. Here are two specific positions where you still have to play predictably pre-Flop:

a) Under The Gun in a game with 5 or fewer players. You should play predictably here, because there are still two more non-blind hands that act after you. This means there is still a good chance that one of them may have a good hand. This is similar to raising from an early position in full games – you can’t raise too often from here without quality cards. Being unpredictable in this situation will cost you too much, because you will often be playing poor hands from a bad position.

b) In the Small Blind. In this position, you should be folding unless you have a killer hand like AA or KK (in which case you should always raise). SB is a terrible position to play unpredictably from, as you will always have the worst position.

Here are the seats where you can gain the most by playing unpredictably:

a) In the Big Blind, you should call raises more than you would in full games. Being the last to act, you can look out for situations like when there is only one raise and everyone else folds to you. Feel free to call or re-raise with hands like AK, AQ, and pairs. This means you will be more unpredictable after the Flop.

b) On The Button can raise more often, because you will be folded to more often than you would in a full game. If the player to your left is not a complete moron, he will be folding a lot as the Small Blind. Also keep an eye on the player two places to your left; if he is too passive as the Big Blind, it will be very easy to steal the blinds with a pre-Flop raise On The Button.

You should also try to play unpredictable after the Flop as well. Here’s a situation for you to consider, including different examples of how you should play:

Situation: You are in Early Position. Hand varies (below)

The Flop: J♦ 7♣ 6♣

You should check raise with:

-Any hand with a J
-Any hand with a 7
-Any hand with a Straight draw, such as T8 or 98
-Any hand with a Flush draw, such as Q♣ 4♣

Check-raising with these hands will make you seem more unpredictable to your opponents; if someone had raised pre-Flop with a hand such as A♥ 5♦ or K♣ 10♠ he will have a tough time calling you, even though he may be ahead. If he does call on the Flop, he may fold on the Turn if his hand doesn’t improve.

Also, if you have a Flush or Straight draw, or top pair on the Flop and are in late position, always raise so that your opponent will not be able to predict your play as much.

4) Calling instead of Folding or Raising

If you are in the habit of limping into the pre-Flop round, even during Shorthanded games, you are incredibly easy to pick out as a loser. If you’re UTG in a 5-handed game and are deciding what to do, there are only two choices: fold or raise. There aren’t too many hands that are worth limping in with in a Full-handed game, and there are even less when playing Short-handed. Most losers have problems in this situation with hands like JTo or 87s. Losers will constantly lose their money to people like me with these hands, so they know they are winning hands. But then they start thinking to themselves that they really need to hit the flop to keep playing with them.. But then they are winning cards so what do they do? They just limp in.

Taking a look at T9s, it might be justifiable to limp in early position with this hand, if you expect others to call as well – this gives you a multiple-player pot to win. Call during shorthanded games though, and there will usually be someone raising behind you, or they’ll all fold to the blinds. In either case, there are no longer enough players for this hand to be worth playing on, so you should fold it. Calling is a mistake, because it will most likely be just you and the BB.

Say you drew ATo. It’s not a great hand, as it is dominated by AK, AQ, and AJ. However, in a shorthanded game with 6 or less players, it is strong enough to play. And in this case, you want to play it with as few players as possible, since draws will lessen your chance of winning. That means raising is better than calling with this kind of hand.

5) Folding too many hands

As I have mentioned before on this site, I definitely favour tight play early on in full-handed games. It can be useful in shorthanded games as well, but not under the same circumstances. The key is to know when and how to adjust your playing style; you should never throw away medium to high pocket pairs without good reason. And an overcard (or even two) on the board is not a good enough reason in itself.

a) In the Big Blind in a 4-handed game with 10♠ 8♦

The button decides to open-raise, causing the SB to fold. You might consider this to be an auto-fold, as it often is in full-handed games. But if you play well post-Flop, you are at least getting good enough odds to see the Flop. If the other guy has something like Q7, your odds are decent enough to make the call.

b) In Early Position with J♥ J♣ in a 5-handed game.

You raised pre-flop, and the Button (an average player) and BB (someone who reads this awesome site and knows WTF they’re doing) both call.

Flop: A♠ 10♣ 7♦

The big blind checks, and you bet. Button folds, and BB calls:

Turn: 3♦

BB checks, and you bet. Then suddenly he check raises you. I already know what you’re thinking (you’re so predictable!): That he definitely has an Ace, so you better fold. In fact, he could very well be holding something like J♦ 10♦, and picked up a flush draw along with his pair of 10′s. Keeping in mind that players like this, who are comfortable playing in Short-handed games, are way more aggressive and tricky than usual, you must adjust your play accordingly. In this case, calling his bet is a good decision, while it may not be such a great idea in a full-handed game.

6) Being too passive at the wrong time

Since Short-handed games call for more aggressive play, the average hand is not as strong as an average hand in a Full-handed game. Some hands become more valuable than others, and can be played more aggressively shorthanded. Here are some cases for more aggressive play:

1) If you have a good hand, you want to get more money into the pot, so you can win more. Since everyone else should be looser and more aggressive, they will be calling bets and raises with lesser hands. So don’t be afraid of betting or raising when you think you have the best hand, since the others will be more likely to stick around longer.

2) If you have a good hand that may be vulnerable to draws. In this case, you want the others to fold. IE: If you have top-pair when the board is 10-7-4, you may have the best hand now, but your hand is susceptible to overcards.

3) If you need to instill fear into other players, so you have credibility when you bluff or semi-bluff. This is important because you will have way more chances to bluff in short-handed games. You need to make sure your opponents can’t tell whether you made a hand; if they can’t tell, they can easily make mistakes.

a) You hold A♠ 3♣ in a 4-handed game. You open-raise and both blinds call

Flop: A♣ 7♦ 6♠

They both check, and you bet. They both call.

Turn: 8♥

They both check again – but don’t be afraid if one of them check-raises – keep on betting. If they have a 5 or 9, they’ll want to see if they can make a Straight on the River for free. Don’t let them! Although you wouldn’t want to go up against a hand like 98, you still don’t want to give him a free chance to win the pot.

Usually, you might want to check here, with the intention of calling a bluff on the River. However, the best time to bluff is when your opponent has few outs, and will likely fold if you bet on the Turn. In this case, most aggressive players will call for a straight draw (and some might even call with an inside straight draw). So you want to bet on the Turn, since you are going to get called anyway.

7) Being too aggressive at the wrong time

Semi-Bluffing can be a powerful strategy when used at the right time, against the right opponent. What makes an opponent the right one for bluffing? He has to be willing to fold at least once with a made hand when you raise. You want to break out a semi-bluff when the board looks scary for your him. But if there is no way he’ll fold, a semi-bluff is a bad idea. As I have said many times now, players in shorthanded games will be more aggressive than usual, and some of them will rarely lay down a hand, no matter how bad it is. You’ll see people calling with A-high or bottom-pair, seemingly with no regard for what’s on the board. Against these morons, semi-bluffing or bluffing is useless, since they won’t fold anyway. You should still be aggressive against them, but only when you think you are ahead, and you should bet for value. This obviously relates to full-handed games as well, but I put it here because people tend to semi-bluff more often in short-handed games, which increases your chances of trying it on a “calling station”.

8) Not Checking

As I mentioned earlier, Shorthanded poker decisions usually come down to folding or raising. But sometimes, checking can be useful too, especially when your opponents are playing too aggressively. There are times when you don’t want to fold, because you may have the best hand – but a raise can be a bad idea when you end up driving out other players who would otherwise limp in and bet against you in the next round. Here’s an example:

a) Your hand: K♠ J♣

Flop: A♦ K♣ 4♥

Both blinds check to you, and you bet. The SB folds, and the BB calls. Since BB called, you can guess that he has an A with a mediocre kicker, or K with a worse kicker than you, or possibly is going for an inside straight draw.

Turn: 6♥

BB checks. If he is going for a straight draw, then he only has 4 outs. If you bet here and he calls, you would know that he would be making a bad call (since he does not have pot odds). Some people will automatically call with an inside straight draw in this scenario (usually without even knowing whether they have pot odds or not). Against those losers, you should bet again to sucker him in some more. However, those who are aware of their odds will be willing to dump their straight draw on the Turn. Against this type of player, Checking is the correct move after his Check. Give him some time to think about winning the hand, even if he doesn’t hit his straight on the River. By showing some weakness in this case, you are letting him think that you do not have a strong hand either, and you might fold on the River if he bets. If you were to raise instead, he would just fold. So if he doesn’t have an A, and hasn’t hit a straight yet, you could induce him to bluff on the River and win a bet that you otherwise would have missed out on.

But what if he has an A with a good kicker? Maybe he has A6, and made two pair on the Turn. Maybe the Flop gave him two pair, or a pair of A’s with a good kicker. In any of those cases, he knows there is a good chance that you’ll bet on the Turn, since you raised pre-Flop and bet on the Flop. If he’s any good, he’ll set  you up for a check-raise on the Turn. If he does have one of those hands, you do not want to bet and get check-raised, because you’ll be forced to fold your own hand (which is the correct play at that point). Instead, you would much rather check, and just hope that you give him a bad beat on the River with triple K’s.

So be sure to keep Checking in mind, considering it a ‘stealth weapon’ against better players who will try to steal if they see any weakness. Do not use it against mindless callers, as you’ll just be preventing them from calling when you have the best hand (against those losers, you want to bet on the Turn, and then check on the River). If you are too aggressive, betting constantly until someone raises, you’ll just miss out on great opportunity in hands like this.

9) Calling all the way to the River with A-high

If you have just an A with a crap kicker, you will usually want to just keep calling, but sometimes it isn’t the right play. Losers like you will play an A all the way to the River, without considering anything else. They’ll see so many crap hands win, and see some A-high hands win, so they’ll automatically think they should keep calling down to the River with an A, regardless of whatever else is going on with the other players. Sometimes this IS the right strategy, sometimes it isn’t. What I am trying to explain is that you can’t do it indiscriminately.

Here are some examples of when calling down with an A-high is NOT the right thing to do:

a) Your hand: A♥ 6♣

Board: K♦ Q♣ 9♥
Turn: 8♠
River: 3♦

In this case, there is really no reason to assume the other player is bluffing. Trying to call him down on a bluff with board like this is just plain stupid. In fact, you shouldn’t have even called on the Flop. Loser.

b) You are in the BB with 2 other players
Your hand: A♥ 6♣

Board: 3♠ 4♦ 5♥
Turn: K♠
River: J♣

SB checks to  you on the River, and you check as well. The Button bets, and SB calls. In this case, you fold. The only way you could hope to win this hand is if the Button bluffed AND the SB called with a hand that can’t beat your A6. What do you think the odds are of that happening? You might beat the bluffer, but you probably wouldn’t beat the SB’s call.

And here are some examples of when you DO want to call with your A-high:

a) Your hand: A♥ 6♣

Board: 3♠ 4♦ 5♥
Turn: 10♠
River: 8♣

There are 4 other players. Your opponent is on the cutoff, and has raised pre-Flop. In this case, it is less likely that he has a pair here, with no high cards on board. Since you had a straight draw and an Ace, it was the right move to stick around on the Flop and Turn, although raising might be smart as well. What you really need to figure out is whether your opponent would try to make a value bet with AK or AQ on the River. If he has something like K9 or QJ, he might keep betting, hoping you would fold an A. Calling here would be a wise choice against more aggressive players.

b) Your hand: A♣ 6♣

Board: 9♣ 9♠ 5♣
Turn: 10♥
River: 10♦

Someone in the late position raised pre-Flop, and you called in with your A6s. This is an easy call to make – the only way someone will beat you is if they have a 9, 10, or a high pair – you’ll beat any hand with a pair lower than 9′s. In other words, it is totally worthwhile to call here. You’ll probably end up either splitting the pot, or winning it outright.

10) Calling too often

In an aggressive shorthanded game, you will find yourself getting raised, semi-bluffed, check-raised, and bluffed. A lot. Sometimes it is right to call them down; a) When you have the best hand, and b) when you want to show strength, making your opponents aware that you will not fold easily, and will call their semi-bluffs. But sometimes it is better to fold, because there may be a good chance that you do not have the best hand, or could possibly fall behind at some point. Here are some examples:

a) Someone in the late position raises you:

You raised pre-Flop from the cutoff in a 5-handed game, with A♣ 6♣. An average player calls you on the Button, as does the BB.

Your hand: A♣ 6♣
Flop: K♠ Q♥ 4♦

BB checks, and you bet, trying to steal the pot. The Button raises, and BB calls. In this case, you will want to fold. Even an idiot like you should be able to see the possibilities by now: Either one of them could have a pair of K’s or a pair of Q’s, or a straight draw. Since they raised and called, it is unlikely that they are both hoping for a draw. Even if that were the case, you would have to hit an Ace on the Turn. But if one of them is holding JT, your Ace also completes their straight. So when two players are in on the Flop, fold.

b) Someone bets on the Flop, after re-raising you pre-Flop

You are the Button, and tried to steal the blinds against a couple weak players by open raising. A decent player in the SB re-raises. BB folds, and you call:

Your hand: J♣ 9♣
Flop: A♠ 3♥ 3♣

SB bets, and what do you do? You fold, moron! Even with decent odds, and only have 6 outs to win. Definitely not enough in this case.

c) Someone bets on the Flop when you raised pre-Flop

You are in the cutoff position, and open-raise. Both blinds call:

Your hand: K♣ J♦
Flop: A♠ 9♥ 9♠

SB bets, and BB calls. And you fold. The only thing you could hope for here is that they are both going for a Spade flush draw – not very likely. If you are not beaten already,  you can easily be outdrawn at this point. If there was only one opponent, you might consider calling if he is prone bluffing or going for a flush draw, but since there are two players, get out of this hand.

11) Calling raises in the Small Blind

I discussed how to play in the Small Blind position before, and it is worth going over here, in terms of shorthanded play. Calling raises while in SB is a stupid mistake when there are no other callers to a raise before your turn. If there is just one raise, then your decision is to either re-raise, or fold, and that’s it. If you call, you are giving the Big Blind great pot odds to call as well. this means that the BB is going to call with just about any decent hand. And by calling, you will be in a shitty position for the rest of the hand, with 2 players behind you. So you will have to get used to folding hands like J9s, A2s, and KTo. If you do have a playable hand, you will want to take the pot-odds away from the Big Blind by re-raising. This will also make you look strong going into the Flop, against pot-stealers.

If there is only one raiser, and nobody else called, you should not call. If you’re a loser (face it, loser), you are probably used to automatically calling in spots like this, only giving the edge to the Big Blind beside you. I love sitting to the left of players like this, it’s a great spot to be. Keep an eye out for these habitual callers sitting in the Small Blind.

12) Not adjusting to the game properly

Not all Shorthanded games play the same. Some will feel no different from a full game. This will happen when people are trying to take it easy, playing very tight, or are just not used to shorthanded play. Other times, games will go very fast, with plenty of raises and re-raises. In these games, you’ll often see pre-Flop rounds get 3 bets or more. This means huge pots even before the Flop, so raising and semi-bluffing in later rounds becomes even more important. If anyone folds, everyone else benefits from greater equity. In slower, more passive games, semi-bluffs will need to work more often than not for them to be worthwhile, since the pots will be smaller.

When the game is going fast, and the mood is more aggressive, semi-bluffing and raising are more useful strategies, because the pots will be bigger. When the game is slower and more passive, you will want to adjust accordingly, and play more conservatively, stealing on occasion. Better players will have the ability to control games to play how they want. For example if you want a more aggressive game, you can start trash talking and tilting players. Sure enough, the game opens up eventually, if the opponents are the type who are susceptible to tilting (and this is more common than you’d expect).

13) Playing 3-handed games like you would play 6-handed games

By now, you hopefully have realized that games and positional strategies change depending on how many players are involved. 6-handed games play different from 3-handed games (in fact, 6-handed games are more like full tables than they are 3-handed games). In a 3-handed game, every player is essentially involved in every hand. This means that any weaknesses become magnified. If you are skilled enough, you will learn your opponents’ weaknesses, and take advantages of them more and more as tables get shorter. Another thing is greatly magnified in very shorthanded games: Luck.

One of Doyles tips that stood out to me is how he plays small suited connectors. In short, he loves to play them, especially at full tables.  Pay attention to his strategy  and that could very well win you some hands at PartyPoker.com, Full Tilt Poker, or any other online poker room you like to play on. According to Doyle, his favorite hand is 8-7 Suited. He almost always plays tha thand, and will often raise with it. What do you normally do when you have 87s? You probably fold it, 9 times out of 10. That’s why Doyle is Doyle, and you are a loser.

The reason 87s is so great is that it’s tough for people to put you on it, and it’s easy to get away from. When someone raises pre-Flop, you usually put them on something like Ax, Kx, or a high pair.

So let’s put together a situation for Doyle:

His hand: 8♥ 7♥

Situation: He raises the minimum, and two players call.

The Flop: J♠ 9♥ 5♥

So because of the raise, most people will assume Doyle has nothing, with the possible exception of a Flush draw. In reality, he has 17 outs, with Flush and Inside Straight draws. Doyle bets, anyone with an Ax or Kx is likely to proceed, possibly with a low pair high kicker:

The Turn: 6♣

Doyle has hit the gut-shot straight, and can continue to bet.

The River: A♥

This is where everything works out for Doyle (as they often tend to do). The guy with A9 or AQ or whatever is likely to go all in, only to run nose-first into Doyle’s straight. Ouch!

If Doyle had not his his straight, he didn’t invest much money at all, and can easily get out of the hand.

If the Turn was: K♥ A♠ 10♦

Someone has almost inevitably made a pair or two, and with no chance at a Flush his hand is pretty much worthless and still easy to get away from at little loss.

So if you want to be like Doyle, and not the loser that you are, learn to play more aggressively, and play those suited connectors properly!

You may know about this strategy, but knowing when to slow play and when not to slow play can be the difference between using a good strategy properly, and screwing it all up and winning less money than  you could have.

The idea behind slow playing, where you play a strong hand in a manner that indicates that it is not so strong, is a useful strategy, but one that is often abused and misused by losers like you. The key is to know when you have a hand that is so strong that other players will attempt to improve their hand by calling, only to lose out in the end. It is only to be used when you have a hand that will almost never be beaten. It is also not very useful when  your opponents are already willing to call your bets or raises regardless.

Here are some example hands that you can consider, so you will have a better idea on when to slow play, and when to be more aggressive.

1) Your Hand: Q♥ J♥

Situation: 5 players see the Flop for 1 raise

Flop: Q♣ J♣ J♠

This is a great flop for you obviously, giving you a Full House. More importantly, it’s just the type of flop that people will be drawing to. They might be holding two clubs, so will go for the Flush draw. Or they might have a Straight draw with something like AK, K9, T9, T8, etc. They might even have the fourth J, and will go for a triple. This is a best case scenario for you – many draws will give someone a good hand, but not good enough to beat your straight (since you know nobody can get quad Q’s or J’s, and hitting quads on the Turn and River, well someone just got really lucky and deserves to win the pot). If you raise here or wait until the Turn, your opponents will be wary of your hand, thinking you might have a Q with a high kicker. So in this case Slow Playing is a great idea, because it will allow someone else to draw a good-but-not-good-enough hand, and they may even be the one raising you at that point.

2) Your Hand: Q♥ J♥

Situation: You raise in middle position, only Big Blind calls

Flop: Q♣ J♣ J♠

Here you have the same monster Flop, giving you a Full House. This time you are going Heads Up with the BB. So do you slow play him, hoping to allow him to catch up? In this case though, not betting may set off some flags in the BB’s mind. He will be very wary of being slow played by a monster hand, and will likely just re-check you unless they happened to get a good draw. So this is where knowing your opponents comes in handy. If the opponent is not a very observant player, a check may get some bets from them if they go looking for something on the Turn or River.

3) Your Hand: J♣ 10♣

Situation: You are in the Big Blind, and call an open-raise

Flop: 9♠ 8♥ 7♣

Now you have the nut straight, and will need to determine the style of the player who raised pre-Flop. If he’s willing to call all the way to the River with a hand like A-K, you may want to check-raise on the Flop. If he is the type who will play hard witha  hand like A-10, then you should bet and raise each time. If he’s a tighter player who would fold to aggressive play, then you might want to check and call his bets instead. If an A or K shows up, a check-raise will get more money out of him if he has a pair. This is why it is very important to know the style of player you are going up against. I’ll be talking more about that later on, so be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed or my newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.

4) Your Hand: 5♥ 5♣

Situation: You limp in and the Blinds check and call

Flop: A♣ 5♦ 5♠

You have drawn quads, which has almost no chance of losing. With the Ace out there, you will find quite a few people willing to call or even raise. In this case, slow playing will more likely reduce the amount you win. Because if you bet, and everyone folds, they likely didn’t find anything on the Flop anyway, and you won’t find much action from anyone with anything other than an Ace here.

5) Your Hand: 5♥ 5♣

Situation: You limp in and the Blinds check and call

Flop: J♣ 5♦ 5♠

If a J drops in this situation however, slow playing is a good strategy to use. If a player has that Ace, he will not likely call a bet with that J out there, since he will likely assume you have a pair of J’s. But if you show weakness and check to him, he might just fall for it and play on.

6) Your Hand: A♠ A♣

Flop: A♦ 2♠ 3♥

With Pocket Rockets, you most likely will have raised before the Flop, so it would be pretty awkward not to call on the Flop here. In this case, it would be a better idea to bet, hoping that someone else has the last Ace or is going for a Straight draw with a 4 or 5. For Slow Playing to work here, one of your opponents would need to catch a high pair on the Turn. But any reasonably aware player will be cautious of that Ace on the board.

7) Your Hand: A♣ K♠

Situation: You are in early position, and raise pre-Flop, and get called by a couple good players

Flop: A♠ 8♥ 4♣

Situation: You bet here, and get called by one player

Turn: 4♦

With that Turn, you might want to change gears, and start slow playing with your well-kicked Top Pair. Since your opponent did not re-raise your bet on the Flop, they are likely holding a decent but beatable hand like A-9 or A-J. If you check, he might be convinced that you have a big pocket pair, but were afraid of the A. Now would be a good time to check, and then check-raise on the River. This is the right time to Slow Play, because you know you’re up against a good player who will respect your play, but will be willing to try to get the upper hand if they can. You do not want to do this against a loose player who will have called your pre-Flop raise with a shitty hand, because they will most likely not bet against your check. It also won’t work against a super tight player who will not bet with his weaker pair of A’s, even after being checked to.

As you can see, it’s extremely important to not only be aware of your hand, but you must have an idea of the type of player you are up against. Slow play strategy works, but it depends severely on the situation, and that situation itself will change depending on your opponents. So be sure to observe  your opponents, and know who the tight players are, who the loose ones are, and keep an eye on their passiveness and aggressiveness. I’ll talk more about that later, so be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed or my newsletter, or follow me on Twitter. Or just keep coming back if you like, I don’t mind :)

Purple is the Late Position, Orange is Early, and Blue is the Middle Position. This is a screenshot from PKR, the best looking real money poker game out there. Use code JERK1000 when you make a big deposit, and they will match you 100% up to $1000. If you are making a smaller deposit, use JERK100 instead to get 100% bonus up to $600. The middle position is tricky in that it has some of the disadvantages of the early positions, and some of the advantages of the later positions. Middle players get to see the actions of the early players, but there are still a few players acting behind them. In the pre-Flop round, middle position players have a few more hands they can open raise with, since there is a smaller chance someone in a later position will have a better hand (for instance in my position in the picture above, if the first 3 people before me fold, there are still 6 more players that may have a better hand than I do). Overall though, the list of raisable hands is not much longer than that of early position players. After the flop, the relative position is most prone to change for the middle players. As an example, using the same example as above: if the first 3 players fold, I call, and nobody but the blinds call, I am now in the Late Position, and have advantage over the other players (because they have to act before me for the Flop, Turn, and River).

Late Position Strategy: Cut-Off and The Button

With the exception of the pre-flop round, the Button is the last player to act on all rounds. Therefore, he has the greatest positional advantage of all, since he can see how everyone has acted before he has to act. The player to the right of the Button is the Cut-Off, and as you can imagine this is a good place to be as well, especially when the Button folds. Late Position players with a drawing hand will have more chances to raise for free cards, since they are able to check on the Turn when acting last. If an Early Position player attempted that strategy, it wouldn’t work since they have to act first on the next round. Another strategy Late Position players have access to is being able to get a free showdown by doing a semi-bluff. To do this, they would raise on the Turn with the intention of checking on the River for free if their hand didn’t improve, or betting if it did. I’ll be talking more about particular strategies every day, so be sure to check back often. To stay up to date, be sure to subscribe to my RSS, or to my Newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.

Here is an example of raising for a free card on the Flop, going for a Flush draw:

Your hand is 4♥ 3♥
Your opponent has 10♦ 9♦

The Flop: K♥ 9♥ 5♠

Since there are only two players left on the Flop and your opponent acts first, he is likely to bet with his pair of 9′s. You raise, and he will likely call.

Then comes the Turn: 8♣

Your opponent will likely check, because he will be cautious of your raise at the Flop which may have him thinking you have a K. Still, you have nothing yet and still need to catch the flush to have the winning hand.

If you have been observing your opponents throughout the game, and think he is weak enough to fold the middle pair, you should bet again as a semi-bluff. Otherwise, check and try for to complete your Flush on the River. That is why this is called a Free Card - you did not have to bet to see the River! And if you catch it on the Turn, you can bet after he checks.

This is especailly effective against passive players, but be sure to watch out for counter strategies used by aggressive players! I’ll be talking about such strategies in the next few days. So be sure to subscribe to my feed, newsletter, or Twitter!

That article covered the basics, but eventually you will have to learn how positional advantage can change throughout a hand. Today I’ll be talking about what you can do in the early position. This includes the Small Blind, Big Blind, and Under The Gun.

First I’ll repost the PKR screenshot I used in that article. I’m assuming that you are a little on the slow side, and still don’t get what I mean when I say “UTG” and stuff like that, so refer to this picture again. And yes, that is a real money poker room in full 3D with avatars, emotes, and the works. If you’d rather be playing in a room that looks like this, then join PKR.

Purple = Late Position
Blue = Middle Position
Orange = Early Position

The orange players have a positional disadvantage in No Limit Holdem, and are likely to remain that way during the entire hand. They have to be much more selective with their starting hands than the players in the later positions. For example, a K♥ 10♠ on the button might look like a good hand to raise with if everyone before you has folded. But in the early position, there is a good chance someone will call or raise it, leaving you to have to either fold and lose your raise, or commit to it and potentially lose even more.

I know you hate reading these poker advice columns and books that use a lot of math, but bear with me. I’ll go through it as simply and plainly as possible, so you can comprehend just how risky it is to play shitty hands in an early position:

• Using A♥ 10♠ as an example
• 91% of all hands are worse than this example
• If you’re on the button, there is an 82.8% chance that that it beats what the BB and SB are holding
• Not only that, the Button player has positional advantage over those two in the Turn and River
• If you have the same hand Under The Gun in a 10 handed game, there are 9 other players who could have a better hand.
• That means there is only a 42.8% chance that you have the best hand here.
• And again, UTG is at a positional disadvantage at the Flop, Turn, and River.

I hope that was simple enough for your puny little brain to comprehend! If not, there’s no helping you. You will always lose at poker. I hope I see you in PKR some time!

The blinds do have one benefit, and that’s being able to see everyone act before they do before the flop. However, they have the disadvantage of having to act first in the later rounds, and of course having to put money into the pot before cards are even dealt. Many new players will call a min-raise from the blind with a semi decent hand, because they feel that they are already invested in the pot. This is STUPID and if you are doing it, STOP NOW! The chips you already put in should be thought of as nothing more than part of the pot! As always, you should make your decisions based on the chips going from your stack into the pot, not the chips that are already there.

The Small Blind has the worst position of all, because he’s always at a disadvantage to someone else. If everyone folds to the blinds, the SB is still at a disadvantage to the Big Blind. There are often times when the BB can call a raise with mediocre cards, but the SB can’t because they will have to put in more money than the BB, and the BB is getting better odds.

Get ready for some math again, stupid. When I talk about betting odds here, I’m referring to how much money you can potentially win in comparison to your bet. In other words, if you need to bet $100 to win a $1000 pot, then the odds are 10:1. Higher odds are better, of course. Read more about pot odds here.

Since the BB is already in for a small bet, when there is a min-raise he will get at least 3.5:1 odds to call (1 small bet being the blind, 2 small bets from the call-raiser, and a minimum half-bet from the small blind even if he folds). If others call the raise, then the BB has even greater odds to call.

The SB, on the other hand, has to act before the BB. He would have to put in 1.5 small bets to see a min-raise, and would have to do so without knowing what the BB will do. If the BB folds, the odds end up being 3.5:1.5 (or 2.33:1), worse than the BB. If the BB does call, the SB’s betting odds end up being 3:1, which is still worse than the BB’s odds. And if the SB calls, then the BB’s odds just shot up to 5:1 to call and see the flop. This scenario applies when there are few raises; if more people raise, the SB and BB get closer to even. However this is something to keep in mind, especially in a shorthanded game (I’ll be talking more about shorthanded strategy later on, so again I’ll remind you to subscribe to my RSS or Newsletter).

The Big Blind can call raises more often than the Small Blind can. As I mentioned, if there is only one raise, the BB will at worst have 3.5:1 odds to see the flop, and usually it’s better than that. This means you can play suited connectors for instance, that you may not bother with in other positions. Of course, as soon as the Flop comes, you will have the worst position of the table, having to act first.

Early Position Strategies (finally)

Being in the early position allows some strategies that other positions can’t use. One of those strategies is to use the Check-Raise; if an early position player holds a premium hand, he can check-raise to get more money into the pot, or try to knock out late position players who made a bet on the Flop. Since this is one of the few advantages you have in the early position, you should use it often when you think you have the best hand, and there it looks like a player in the late position will bet when it is checked to them.

Another strategy when you’re the first player to act is the fact that you have the first chance to bluff. If there is a hand where all the other players have shown weakness, you have the first chance to bluff in later rounds.

For example, say you’re the Big Blind and have 10♣ 3♦ :

• Two players limp-in and the Small Blind folds
• You get your “free” check
• Flop is Q♥ 2♠ 7♥
• Everyone checks on the Flop
• Turn: 5♠

You now have the first chance to bluff into the pot. Unless someone was slow playing you on the pre-Flop and Flop, this is a very easy pot to steal with a bluff. If you were to check it, I can almost guarantee that someone after you will take advantage of your gutless play and bluff you, taking your blind and everyone else’s weak ass calls.

Later I’ll be talking about the Middle Position, and what kind of strategy you can use in that position. You know the drill by now. Either come back, subscribe to my RSS, or subscribe to my newsletter.

If you just started playing Texas Holdem online, and just continue to lose hand after hand, and tournament after tournament, that is fine by me. But if you don’t want to keep giving me all your money, you better learn something fast!

The first thing that you need to wrap your head around that might seem confusing at first is your position at the table, and how it affects how you should play. If you’ve been making your plays based solely on your draw, then it’s no wonder you lose all the time, you shmuck!

So let’s go over positions, using PKR’s awesome 3D interface. If you are new to real poker tables, this should help you too. PKR is my favorite place to play, just because it has the most interesting look for a real money poker game. It’s also great fun to use the animation and voices to put players on tilt when you win their money :) (use deposit code JERK1000 if you deposit at least $1000, to get a 100% bonus on that, or use JERK100 to get a good 100% on up to $600).

So this is what a table looks like. Me, and 9 losers ready to lose all their money to me. I am sitting out here, so I can take screenshots.

To make things simple, I named that geek who keeps checking his hole cards Loser 1, since he is on the button. He and the two losers to his right have late positions. He has the latest position, which means he is the last one to decide if he wants to take action. The guy on his right has what’s known as the cut-off position.

The two “girls” (yeah right) in this screenshot are the blinds. Those two, along with Loser 4, have the early positions. This means that they are the first ones to take action at the beginning of a round. This is a major disadvantage, because they have no idea of the players who act after them are going to call, raise, or fold.

Here’s a good example; let’s say Loser 4 above has Q♥ 10♠ . Automatic call, right? Not so fast. There is a high chance that at least one of the other players will have a better hand. And even if nobody does, seven of them will have position on him in the later rounds.

Now let’s say that Loser 9 has that same hand, and everyone folds before him. That means that there are only three players left who may have a dominating hand. In this case, he will probably want to raise, so Loser 1 (the only player who acts after him) folds. If they call, he still has great position in the next betting rounds.

That is why, if you are in the early position (either one of the Blinds, or Under The Gun) then you should be playing fewer hands overall. As a new player, you must keep your position in mind at all times. This is the one thing that new Texas Holdem players can learn that will significantly improve their play.

Finally, we have the middle positions. Middle position players have some of the same disadvantages of the early positions – they can see what the early position players do, but still have to keep in mind the late position players. Generally, they can open raise with a few more hands than earlier players, because there is less of a chance of someone in the later positions having a better hand.

Here’s another screenshot, to make things simple for you. I have a feeling that’s the only way you’re ever going to learn anything. Remember: Purple have the Late Positions, Orange have the Early Positions, and Blue have the Middle Positions. I should note now that late position before the cut-off (Loser 8 in this picture) can sometimes be considered a middle position, depending on how aggressive and loose the next two players are. Same goes for Loser 7 – that can sometimes work like a late position seat.

By now, I hope you have a basic understanding of positions. That basic info should help you at least with your pre-flop plays. I have taken much money from losers like you in the Small Blind, thinking that posting half a blind is worth it for your J♥ 3♠ and other similar cards.

It gets much more complicated after the flop though, as positional advantage can change from round to round. Let’s say there are three players left after the Flop, and you are the first person to act on the Turn. You have a mediocre hand, so you check. The next player bets, and the third guy calls. This means that you now have good position, and knowledge about the other players as there can’t be a raise after your call. At least, it’s better than the third player’s position, who must act without knowing what the fourth player (or you, when the action comes back) will do. Of course, you’ll end up being the first to act again on the next round, but you can play the same way, with a better idea of where everyone is at.

Also keep in mind that position is always relative to the other players. For instance, if you raised Under The Gun and everyone except the Big Blind folded, you are now in last position after the Flop. You would now have the same positional advantage as though you were on the Button. If you raised in Middle Position, and two players in late position called your raise while everyone else folded, you would suddenly find yourself in early position, with everyone else getting to act after you in the coming rounds.

That’s it for now. In my next strategy article, I am going to go into more advanced strategies which you can use with positional advantage in mind. Be sure to sign up to my RSS feed, or subscribe to my newsletter (to the right of this page) to stay up to date! It’ll surely be the smartest thing you do all day.