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Advanced Strategy of Texas Hold em
31 March 2009
Advanced Strategy of Texas Hold em
In this chapter some advanced moves and ways of playing will be covered to deceive your opponents and help you to control the game. Learning these moves can help you generate a profit even when you have a run of poor cards which otherwise would be difficult.
Blind-stealing
When no other player has placed a bet you can place one to make other players think your hand is so good you don’t even need to see the flop. The other players fold and you win the blinds that are set out before the pocket cards are dealt. This is a good way to raise your balance up a bit but shouldn’t be relied upon; other players will get wise to this after a while.
The Steal-raise
If you are the last player to go and all players have checked you can make a bet high enough to make all other players fold. Again this shouldn’t be used regularly as players will become wise to your strategy.
The Check-raise
This is when you do have a good hand and would normally bet, but you check to let other players think you don’t have anything that special. They are lured into a false sense of security and end up trying to bet you out, you end up raising them after their bet. If you had betted rather than checked they may fold.
The Opener
This is when the first player to act raises, in effect letting all other players know that this player has a strong hand. It causes most players to fold and informs the ‘raiser’ about the other players and whether they are ‘foldable’ or not.
Calling Station
This tactic is almost like a kind a player style you have to adapt; where you call everything. It may lose you a few hands although other players will think you have nothing and most of the time you don’t, but, the time you do, you call to everything as normal (with no raises) and before or on the last round of betting you raise big or all-in. The remaining players will call you, thinking you just don’t like folding and lose, with you taking the pot and being up overall.
Bluffing
You can be lucky enough to have good hands in one game of poker now and then but not all the time and in such games it is necessary to bluff your way to a win. Bluffing itself can be very technical and it all depends on the type of player you want to be, or at least let other players think you are. Do you want to come across as a safe player who only goes in on strong hands where you would perhaps only sneak a few bluffs in now or then, or do you want to come across as somebody who always bluffs but then change your play so that when other players think your bluffing you actually are not…
Bluffing Example Situations:
- When there are only a few players left in…
It is easier to trick on a couple of players than a whole table full. The chances are less that the remaining players in will have a good hand compared to a table full. Some will call you just to see whether you are bluffing or not. (If they are a calling station you may not want to bluff to keep the fact that you do bluff secret).
- When you are left with fairly tight players…
Players that don’t like to bet are easily foldable through a bluff. Although if they do call your bluff bet then again you might want to think twice before going all the way and revealing the fact you had nothing. It may be wiser to keep the fact you bluff a secret.
- Bluffing on the river card…
Most players will fold to bets if they have nothing, if nobody has bet and your on the river card then chances are nobody has anything worth putting a bet in and they just want to see if they can win what pot is there. If you put in a bet now you can usually fold all the remaining players off, however, if you bluff bet too big they will know you are putting in a bluff bet due to the fact you didn’t bet before. If people do call you for some reason and you have nothing, they won’t necessarily think you are a ‘bluffer’ because ‘you may as well have tried your luck…nobody else did’, a kind of try your luck mentality.
- Your one of the last to act and everybody else checked…
As mentioned before the ‘steal-raise’; you put in a bluff bet due to everybody else checking. Most players will fold but occasionally players will call, especially if your bluff bet isn’t that high to see if you are bluffing or not, also, they could be check-raising you!
- You placed a pre-flop bet and it didn’t work out for you…
Most players are aware that a pre-flop raise generally means you have something which makes all the players that don’t fold and rules them out getting lucky on lower cards, however, if you don’t follow through with a bet after the flop it tells players your pre-flop bet didn’t pay off and now they think you have nothing. If you put in a bet again even though you don’t have anything it makes the other players think it did work out for you and after this second bet the remaining players will often fold. Some players will always call a pre-flop bet just to see the flop.
- You’re a lucky player or a bluffer…either way I’m afraid…
If you keep winning either by good hands or bluffed hands players will be afraid of you, especially if the times you reveal your hand it is good, then they think you’ve got the skills and the luck. Being perceived as a strong player makes your bluffs even easier to win off.
- When the flop isn’t good for any player…
Some players will fold when they see a poor flop, other will check and continue. Even if they think you have nothing (which you don’t) a bluff bet could mean you have a strong pocket pair which is good enough to make them fold and just wait for the next round.
- A pair is out in the flop…
Usually best when the pair is low around a 7 or less, a bluff bet will tell players you have the third card of the pair that’s out. If a player calls you however they may actually have it and a fold at this stage will let all other players know you are bluffing. A risky one but usually if the pair out is low the players who might have had it may have folded.
Bluffing is sometimes necessary because sometimes ‘you just don’t have the cards!’, the best advice is to know your players and try to read them best you can. Try and figure out their style of play, are they very tight and cautious or loose and ballsy with aggressive large bets. Some players will adapts styles and change them throughout the game so it’s hard to tell. With practice and experience you will learn when to place a bluff and when the risk is too great.
Player Styles
Obviously if you are playing online poker you cannot read an opponent visually and look at their body language or facial expressions so whether you’re playing online or for real around a table the best thing you can pay attention to is a player’s style. Players will adopt different approaches to how they play, which is often based on their personality and behavior in a competitive environment.
Some players will play very ‘tight’, which is cautious, meaning they will only play or bet when they have something very good. The opposite is a ‘loose’ player who will typically call a lot more bets and try their luck a lot more with weaker hands.
Players may also play very aggressively, where they would bet and raise often and high, to in effect separate opponents and give them a quick ultimatum, call or fold. The opposite of this type of play would be conservative; where a player may be more cunning and just bet when necessary however may throw in a big bet before the showdown.
Sometimes a combination of these types of play may be used and may just come out as a player’s natural style, however getting used to playing different styles throughout a game will keep your opponents guessing and you will then be harder to read.
For example adopting a tight and conservative play at the start on a table with some very loose aggressive players will possibly get your chip stack quite high with minimal risk. If you were playing in a tournament you could stay with this style until most of the other players have lost. You could then change you style to loose aggressive; this would make the other players scared of you as they still think you are playing very tight (as before), they are more likely to fold because of this and you can then build your chip stack even higher and maybe with some luck take the win.
Similarly playing on a table with a lot of tight conservative players you might want to adopt a more aggressive type a play to steal blinds and scare other players off. You will not necessarily knock any players out but will hopefully build your chip stack high enough to then sit back later on so when the blinds increase the tight conservative players will be forced to bet a little more and become a little looser. These players will then fight each other off and you can remain in a strong position with enough chips to then adopt a tight style of play and only go in on the best cards. Again with a bit of luck you can take the win, although some near the end wins may be needed.
Tells
A ‘Tell’ is a sign which can tell you how a playing plays and can let you know whether they have something or not, whether they are bluffing or not, etc. Some things to look for in online poker are as follows:
Instantly Checking – This can often mean the player has nothing worth betting and has selected the ‘check/fold’ option before it’s their turn.
Instantly Betting/Raising – This can often mean the opposite as before; that the player has something strong and was always going to bet or raise regardless of what any of the others players before would have done.
Pausing or hesitating before Checking – This is often a sign of weakness but can mean a player is trying to make you think they have something but aren’t sure how to play it. They will be hoping others check also.
Pausing or hesitating before Betting/Raising – Again the opposite as before, often a sign or strength, the pause is trying to make other players think you don’t have anything that good but are trying your luck, hoping you will call or raise.
Betting after the Flop – This is when no bets have been made previously and is an attempt to make other players think they are trying to steal the pot late, in actual fact the player has something strong but will hope other will call or raise.
Instantly Calling/Raising after a bet – This player will most probably have a strong hand because they aren’t concerned about losing. They don’t need any time to think about what other players might have.
You can also observe table chat which can reveal some tells also, if a player who is very chatty suddenly stops talking they might be concentrating more and have something.
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