First of all the term slowplay means to not bet like you have a crap hand, when you have a monster hand. The idea is to lure your opponent into thinking they have you beat, in order to secure a larger pot later, rather than scaring them away and making no extra money after the flop.
Slowplaying definitely has it's place, but is used far too much in lower limits, and is actually quite damaging, here are a couple of classic example. I would advise against slowplaying except against the right opponents, like very aggressive betters who always cbet and then call after that too usually.
Scenrio 1.
Last night I finally got AA as my hole cards. I rarely bet very small or very big preflop, so in this case I bet 4BB. The flop comes out AQQ with a possible flush draw, which couldn't be better for me. That draw doesn't matter at all, I have flush beaten. I also have 3 Queens beaten, two aces, basically it would be a freak of great proportions to lose this hand. One guy bets 1BB. What do you do?
In this case I called. Next card comes up nothing, he bets 1BB again, I call. Last card completes the flush draw if he had it, so I bet 10BB, hoping he raises me after hitting a flush, he calls. I was lucky to even get that call, he had 3 Queens.
So lets reverse that a little. He originally bets 1BB. If I raise that 5BB right there, what does he do? He had 3 queens already, so he probably puts me on an Ace or maybe the flush draw, so he has me beat so far in his mind, he'd call if not raise. Next card comes up nothing, he would probably start betting bigger or at least call any decent sized bet I make. If I'm lucky he goes all in with his 3 queens, I make over 100BB in this case. As it was I made about 16BB, and was lucky to get him calling after the flush had completed.
Scenario 2.
I played with KK as my hole cards, and yes I always get great hole cards :) I hit a 3rd king on the flop and bet medium sized to pretend like I have a pair of kings or maybe the flush draw. The flush completes next card (neither of my cards is that suit), and I bet bigger to see what he has. He calls. Basically I'm beaten by a flush already, and lose the hand (though no more money fortunately). It's purely guesswork whether he would have called a big bet on the flop hoping for a flush, but by giving him a smaller bet, he was always going to call and then make more money as the flush hit.
Scenario 3.
And just to show the opposite of slowplays. I played a hand KT of hearts. The flop came up 3 hearts, I'm only beaten by someone playing Ax of hearts. The other player bet 5BB, I raised to 20BB, he called. He checked, I bet 40BB, he called. He checked again, I went all in with another 30BB, he called. He was chasing a straight, which wouldn't have beaten the flush anyway. In this case slowplaying wouldn't have made much, because he was after a lucky card and might have happily checked/called a low amount to get it, but it didn't eventuate. As it was he chased a large amount to get it and I win all the more money.
Basically I would advise slowplaying very rarely to catch out your opponents when they least expect it. It is a weapon, but betting is usually a far more effective weapon for winning pots or making really big money.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Poker Novice - Bankroll Management
OK, so you deposited real money on an online site and decide you want to play some ring/cash games. The most important thing to think about before entering a game is can you afford to play it. This is where bankroll management comes in. Bankroll is the amount of money you have to play poker with. After a $25 deposit, your bankroll is $25. In very basic terms bankroll management helps you not only protect yourself from a few losses, but also gives you goals to work towards.
Firstly, I'd suggest any bankroll should start at the lowest game, just to make sure you are capable at that level. Even if you start with a $10,000 deposit, you need to build up the skills, so don't always go just by bankroll management.
So lets start with a number: 1250. That's how many big blinds (BB) you want before starting a new limit. So if you deposited $25, you are spot on for 2c big blinds, which is the 1c/2c game. If you put $65 in you are above the limit for the 5c big blinds or 2c/5c games.
Why 1250? Lets start by explaining a stack. A stack (also known as a buy in) is the money you enter a table with, which by default might be $3 for a no limit 1c/2c table. You want to be able to freely win or lose with that stack without worrying about affecting your overall bankroll too much. The less fear of losing, the more confidence you play with. However, it's important not to underfund a buy in, like taking $1 to a 1c/2c game. For example you hit a big flop that can't be beat and a player with a $3 stack bets 50c. Now you have spent half your stack, and can only bet another 50c, limiting the total pot to $2, as opposed to $6 if you took $3 with you.
So why 1250? Assume, in the above case you actually had $3 but read the hand wrong, he's actually hit 4 of a kind, and takes your stack. You refill, and your bankroll loses $3 instantly. It happens again later that day, and you lose another $3. It's not so much bad betting (or maybe it is), but you've just lost $6 in one night. If your starting bankroll was only $10 or 500BB, you are now up against it and really can't afford another loss. However, if you started with $25, you still have $19, and have ample room to make a couple more $3 losses before getting back on a winning streak (hopefully).
So when do you move up a level? When you have 1250BB for the next limit, in this case $62.50 for the 5c game, it's time to move up. You've proven to be too good for the 2c players by more than doubling your money, so go for it. Again you have plenty of breathing space to lose the higher $6 stack a few times before getting yourself up to speed. If you continue to dominate that, get to $125 before entering the 10c game and so on. It's very simple, as it makes sure you are beating a level consistantly before moving up.
And when do I move down? You've made it to the 10c game with $125 bankroll, but are now losing a lot of times. Before you know it you've fallen back to $60 at this level. You are now back to the bankroll figure for 5c games. You aren't winning for whatever reason, it's time to drop back. This way, even if you go further down with a bad downturn, you'll effectively still be at a decent bankroll level for the game you are playing, and won't easily blow the rest of your money.
This is obviously flexible. I'd probably suggest dropping back a little earlier if you are just overwhelmed by the higher level, and perhaps moving up quicker if you think you stand a good chance to dominate there. But keeping that 1250 figure in your head gives you a good idea of whether or not you are up to a certain level yet.
Firstly, I'd suggest any bankroll should start at the lowest game, just to make sure you are capable at that level. Even if you start with a $10,000 deposit, you need to build up the skills, so don't always go just by bankroll management.
So lets start with a number: 1250. That's how many big blinds (BB) you want before starting a new limit. So if you deposited $25, you are spot on for 2c big blinds, which is the 1c/2c game. If you put $65 in you are above the limit for the 5c big blinds or 2c/5c games.
Why 1250? Lets start by explaining a stack. A stack (also known as a buy in) is the money you enter a table with, which by default might be $3 for a no limit 1c/2c table. You want to be able to freely win or lose with that stack without worrying about affecting your overall bankroll too much. The less fear of losing, the more confidence you play with. However, it's important not to underfund a buy in, like taking $1 to a 1c/2c game. For example you hit a big flop that can't be beat and a player with a $3 stack bets 50c. Now you have spent half your stack, and can only bet another 50c, limiting the total pot to $2, as opposed to $6 if you took $3 with you.
So why 1250? Assume, in the above case you actually had $3 but read the hand wrong, he's actually hit 4 of a kind, and takes your stack. You refill, and your bankroll loses $3 instantly. It happens again later that day, and you lose another $3. It's not so much bad betting (or maybe it is), but you've just lost $6 in one night. If your starting bankroll was only $10 or 500BB, you are now up against it and really can't afford another loss. However, if you started with $25, you still have $19, and have ample room to make a couple more $3 losses before getting back on a winning streak (hopefully).
So when do you move up a level? When you have 1250BB for the next limit, in this case $62.50 for the 5c game, it's time to move up. You've proven to be too good for the 2c players by more than doubling your money, so go for it. Again you have plenty of breathing space to lose the higher $6 stack a few times before getting yourself up to speed. If you continue to dominate that, get to $125 before entering the 10c game and so on. It's very simple, as it makes sure you are beating a level consistantly before moving up.
And when do I move down? You've made it to the 10c game with $125 bankroll, but are now losing a lot of times. Before you know it you've fallen back to $60 at this level. You are now back to the bankroll figure for 5c games. You aren't winning for whatever reason, it's time to drop back. This way, even if you go further down with a bad downturn, you'll effectively still be at a decent bankroll level for the game you are playing, and won't easily blow the rest of your money.
This is obviously flexible. I'd probably suggest dropping back a little earlier if you are just overwhelmed by the higher level, and perhaps moving up quicker if you think you stand a good chance to dominate there. But keeping that 1250 figure in your head gives you a good idea of whether or not you are up to a certain level yet.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Poker novice - which game do I play?
This article gives a few simple things to kick you off when joining an online site for the first time. Even if you've played live tournaments some of this is worth noting, but especially if you are completely new to poker there is important stuff here.
Which games to choose?
This is a vitally important decision to make in the first week. You'll probably play round in a few different games, so it's best not to bust your deposit in a week. In general stick to free or the cheapest games early on, to learn the site or your playing style. Generally, you shouldn't step up a level until you are comfortable that you are consistantly beating your current limit. The best way to tell this is to check your bankroll, if it's increasing steadily then you are doing well, if it's not wait until it is before moving up.
While the rules are the same each game is played differently as there are different requirements. For example blinds go up in tournaments, so stealing the pot becomes more important than cash games where every hand has the same blinds. Generally speaking a good player at one is a good player at another, but you will most likely be stronger in one than another.
Here are some of the No Limit Holdem games available at most sites:
9 max ring/cash game - If full these tables are full you are playing 8 other players, with a known blind limit
6 max ring/cash games - Same as above with up to 6 players
Tourney - A tourney has unlimited players, and can blow out to over 10,000 people in certain cases.
Sit N Go (SNG) - Has a limited number of players commonly between 2 and 180
Turbo - Just means a tournament or SNG where the blinds go up quicker
9 max ring game
This can be the tightest of online games. Because there are a lot of starting players, it can be difficult to know if you hold the only ace, or the best cards, so you have to choose your starting hands well. A good rule of thumb for a newbie is to only play hands where you have 2 high cards like Ace/Queen (AQ) or King/Jack (KJ) or most pairs above 88. This is a good place to start in my opinion, because the blinds don't come around too often, you can play very patiently to make your money. Just remember that at really low limits it's not really worth it trying to steal blinds, so play down your bluffing early on in a hand.
6 max ring game (or 9 max with some seats open)
Because the blinds come around more often these games tend to be a little looser. It can also atract bigger betters. It's still a profitable ploy to wait patiently, although betting with slightly worse cards than normal doesn't hurt here.
General ring game information
A good poker site will show some stats on each ring game before you enter. Pokerstars for example shows these:
Average Pot: This is how big each pot gets. It indicates more aggressive players when it's bigger
Flop %: How many players saw the flop each time. If this is high the players are playing loose. If pot is also big therefore it's loose/aggressive. If the Av Pot is small and Flop % is small it's tight/weak, and so on.
Hand/Hr: The amount of hands the table has played per hour. A big number might indicate there were fewer players playing a while ago, so the stat is not all that useful sometimes (unless I'm missing something)
Note that a table noted as "fast" is not something to avoid, unless you plan to take long times making each decision, or have a very slow connection to the online site. It actually helps very tight players as you don't have to wait as long to fold your next hand :)
Tourney
So far I'm loving tourneys. For $1.10 or even free entry, you can get hours of playing in (or minutes depending on how you go), and get a good amount of tournament and general poker experience with each one. It's usually a lot looser game, but a very tight game early on can still get you a long way. One very important key to remember with tournaments is value every chip. If you have just lost a big bet and are down to $200 early on, still don't throw it away on the next hand, play it all in with a big starting hand or where a lot of people are betting into a pot, you can get 3 or 4 times your money if you get lucky.
Sit N Go
SNG's obviously vary a lot depending on how many people are involved. A 180 person SNG is just like a tournament and can take hours, whereas a 6 person SNG can be over quickly with loose aggressive betting the whole way through. A good mix is a 45 person SNG, where you can get a couple of hours play if you play well, but also gets to an interesting point much quicker than a bigger tourney.
Turbo
A tight aggressive game plan won't work long here. As the blinds go up you have to loosen your game and start trying to steal pots. Don't do it too early though.
Play or Real money
When you first start, you'll want to play for play money, even if it's just to get used to the site and the buttons. But as most will tell you it's a huge difference between the play tables and the 1c/2c tables. Because it's not real money people tend to go all in with just about anything at the smaller limit tables, so you'll find it far different once you sit at the 1c/2c table. That said, you should still spend a little time here.
Good online sites have a good mix of free games including SNG's, tournaments and ring games. Some sites offer freeroll tournaments, which means you pay nothing to enter, and yet have a chance to win money, either at that point, or in another tournament if you finsih highly enough. For example PokerStars offers a freeroll which ends up with over 10000 people in it sometimes, where the top 27 are entered into a real money tournament. Other sites off freerolls with cash prizes also.
However once you are comfortable enough, you should move to the real money games as soon as possible. All play money games I've played are a little crazy and won't teach you much at all about real poker betting.
Which games to choose?
This is a vitally important decision to make in the first week. You'll probably play round in a few different games, so it's best not to bust your deposit in a week. In general stick to free or the cheapest games early on, to learn the site or your playing style. Generally, you shouldn't step up a level until you are comfortable that you are consistantly beating your current limit. The best way to tell this is to check your bankroll, if it's increasing steadily then you are doing well, if it's not wait until it is before moving up.
While the rules are the same each game is played differently as there are different requirements. For example blinds go up in tournaments, so stealing the pot becomes more important than cash games where every hand has the same blinds. Generally speaking a good player at one is a good player at another, but you will most likely be stronger in one than another.
Here are some of the No Limit Holdem games available at most sites:
9 max ring/cash game - If full these tables are full you are playing 8 other players, with a known blind limit
6 max ring/cash games - Same as above with up to 6 players
Tourney - A tourney has unlimited players, and can blow out to over 10,000 people in certain cases.
Sit N Go (SNG) - Has a limited number of players commonly between 2 and 180
Turbo - Just means a tournament or SNG where the blinds go up quicker
9 max ring game
This can be the tightest of online games. Because there are a lot of starting players, it can be difficult to know if you hold the only ace, or the best cards, so you have to choose your starting hands well. A good rule of thumb for a newbie is to only play hands where you have 2 high cards like Ace/Queen (AQ) or King/Jack (KJ) or most pairs above 88. This is a good place to start in my opinion, because the blinds don't come around too often, you can play very patiently to make your money. Just remember that at really low limits it's not really worth it trying to steal blinds, so play down your bluffing early on in a hand.
6 max ring game (or 9 max with some seats open)
Because the blinds come around more often these games tend to be a little looser. It can also atract bigger betters. It's still a profitable ploy to wait patiently, although betting with slightly worse cards than normal doesn't hurt here.
General ring game information
A good poker site will show some stats on each ring game before you enter. Pokerstars for example shows these:
Average Pot: This is how big each pot gets. It indicates more aggressive players when it's bigger
Flop %: How many players saw the flop each time. If this is high the players are playing loose. If pot is also big therefore it's loose/aggressive. If the Av Pot is small and Flop % is small it's tight/weak, and so on.
Hand/Hr: The amount of hands the table has played per hour. A big number might indicate there were fewer players playing a while ago, so the stat is not all that useful sometimes (unless I'm missing something)
Note that a table noted as "fast" is not something to avoid, unless you plan to take long times making each decision, or have a very slow connection to the online site. It actually helps very tight players as you don't have to wait as long to fold your next hand :)
Tourney
So far I'm loving tourneys. For $1.10 or even free entry, you can get hours of playing in (or minutes depending on how you go), and get a good amount of tournament and general poker experience with each one. It's usually a lot looser game, but a very tight game early on can still get you a long way. One very important key to remember with tournaments is value every chip. If you have just lost a big bet and are down to $200 early on, still don't throw it away on the next hand, play it all in with a big starting hand or where a lot of people are betting into a pot, you can get 3 or 4 times your money if you get lucky.
Sit N Go
SNG's obviously vary a lot depending on how many people are involved. A 180 person SNG is just like a tournament and can take hours, whereas a 6 person SNG can be over quickly with loose aggressive betting the whole way through. A good mix is a 45 person SNG, where you can get a couple of hours play if you play well, but also gets to an interesting point much quicker than a bigger tourney.
Turbo
A tight aggressive game plan won't work long here. As the blinds go up you have to loosen your game and start trying to steal pots. Don't do it too early though.
Play or Real money
When you first start, you'll want to play for play money, even if it's just to get used to the site and the buttons. But as most will tell you it's a huge difference between the play tables and the 1c/2c tables. Because it's not real money people tend to go all in with just about anything at the smaller limit tables, so you'll find it far different once you sit at the 1c/2c table. That said, you should still spend a little time here.
Good online sites have a good mix of free games including SNG's, tournaments and ring games. Some sites offer freeroll tournaments, which means you pay nothing to enter, and yet have a chance to win money, either at that point, or in another tournament if you finsih highly enough. For example PokerStars offers a freeroll which ends up with over 10000 people in it sometimes, where the top 27 are entered into a real money tournament. Other sites off freerolls with cash prizes also.
However once you are comfortable enough, you should move to the real money games as soon as possible. All play money games I've played are a little crazy and won't teach you much at all about real poker betting.
Which online poker site?
I've joined PokerStars, due to a friend telling me they are pretty good, but there is a multitude of choices out there. There are seemingly some amazing startup deals, but beware, they come at a price.
Here are some things that will help make a decision:
Shop around
First of all, if you think you are good enough to get bonuses or rakebacks, shop around. There is a lot of different startup deals from different linking sites (sites that advertise special startup deals for other sites), and once you've joined, you can't go back to another deal. In fact for some of these sites, once you've visited their homepage you can't join up with a better deal, so be careful when searching for the best startup deal.
Startup Bonus
OK, the big easy, you deposit some real money into a site and you get extra money put in your account. These vary a lot, but sufficed to say, if you are a brand new poker player, most of these bonuses will cost you more than one deposit. For example PokerStars offers to match your deposit up to $50 (in one of their deals). I deposited $25, so to get the $25 bonus I need 250 FPPs (frequent player point). To get 1FPP, you need to pay tournament fees of up to $0.20, so a $1.10 tournament or a $1.20 Sit N Go (SNG), will get you 1FPP. You can also get them playing in cash games where a pot goes above $10, which is easy on higher limit cash games, but very hard on low limit cash games, so the new player should not see many FPP's from cash games. So let's say with $1.20 SNG, you will need to play 250 of these.
With $25 deposited, there is a fair chance you'll be broke well before reaching 250FPP's, and either add more cash to your account to keep playing or give up and never get the bonus.
For that reason I'd suggest not choosing a site based on the best startup bonus. One reason is you may not get any bonus, the other is that site might be good to join for the bonus once your playing level is higher.
Ongoing Bonus
Some sites offer an ongoing bonus for playing. For example if you get a certain amount of FPP's in a month you get a cash amount. Again this is usually aimed at players that are a long way better than new players, so don't pay too much attention.
RakeBack
Rakeback gives you a certain amount of the sites rake for hands you played in. The rake is the amount the online site makes from a hand which might be up to 10%, so if you get rakeback of 25%, it works out to be 25% of 10% of the pot, which in a $10 pot is 25c. It's not much, but can work out very well for people playing high level cash games. For example if one player plays in $10,000 worth of pots in a day and breaks even for the day, they have still won $250 from the rakeback, which is not too bad.
Again it's mainly aimed at higher level players, so don't take it into account too much.
Software
I would almost skip all the above if you are new to poker, and look straight to this point. This is more important, as you don't want a crappy interface to use for hours on end. Most software is pretty similar, but little things make each site unique. I joined PokerStars after hearing the software was good, and I agree now that it is.
You generally want to look for software that works well on your machine (ie do you have a really slow computer, or a Linux machine), has a good level of statistics available, both live and later as an export and something that works well with your screen. For example in PokerStars the game window can be stretched to full screen, which is nice.
If you don't have a windows machine, think about the java software such as PartyPoker.
Network
This is really important. A large network usually offers a good range of players and therefore games. There is little point joining a site and then realising nobody plays the level you want to play. It's quite simple the more players the better. I'm not sure of statistics but PokerStars, Party Poker and Full Tilt are definitely bigger networks worth playing.
Game availability
Again very important. While Full Tilt offers a lot for the experienced player it hasn't got the very low limits that PokerStars has for it's cash games. This is a vital thing that again drew me towrds PokerStars, because I didn't want to be broke within 3 days of starting.
Anti cheating software
There are a couple of ways of cheating and the bigger networks avoid this as well as possible. For example if you heard there are a lot of cheats on Site A, you would avoid it. Therefore no site can be named as a site people cheat on, as their goodwill is worth way too much, so sites actively hunt out people cheating and ban them, stripping them of all their winnings. You'd think the bigger sites already do this well, and I can't say I've noticed any people definitely cheating yet.
Here are some things that will help make a decision:
Shop around
First of all, if you think you are good enough to get bonuses or rakebacks, shop around. There is a lot of different startup deals from different linking sites (sites that advertise special startup deals for other sites), and once you've joined, you can't go back to another deal. In fact for some of these sites, once you've visited their homepage you can't join up with a better deal, so be careful when searching for the best startup deal.
Startup Bonus
OK, the big easy, you deposit some real money into a site and you get extra money put in your account. These vary a lot, but sufficed to say, if you are a brand new poker player, most of these bonuses will cost you more than one deposit. For example PokerStars offers to match your deposit up to $50 (in one of their deals). I deposited $25, so to get the $25 bonus I need 250 FPPs (frequent player point). To get 1FPP, you need to pay tournament fees of up to $0.20, so a $1.10 tournament or a $1.20 Sit N Go (SNG), will get you 1FPP. You can also get them playing in cash games where a pot goes above $10, which is easy on higher limit cash games, but very hard on low limit cash games, so the new player should not see many FPP's from cash games. So let's say with $1.20 SNG, you will need to play 250 of these.
With $25 deposited, there is a fair chance you'll be broke well before reaching 250FPP's, and either add more cash to your account to keep playing or give up and never get the bonus.
For that reason I'd suggest not choosing a site based on the best startup bonus. One reason is you may not get any bonus, the other is that site might be good to join for the bonus once your playing level is higher.
Ongoing Bonus
Some sites offer an ongoing bonus for playing. For example if you get a certain amount of FPP's in a month you get a cash amount. Again this is usually aimed at players that are a long way better than new players, so don't pay too much attention.
RakeBack
Rakeback gives you a certain amount of the sites rake for hands you played in. The rake is the amount the online site makes from a hand which might be up to 10%, so if you get rakeback of 25%, it works out to be 25% of 10% of the pot, which in a $10 pot is 25c. It's not much, but can work out very well for people playing high level cash games. For example if one player plays in $10,000 worth of pots in a day and breaks even for the day, they have still won $250 from the rakeback, which is not too bad.
Again it's mainly aimed at higher level players, so don't take it into account too much.
Software
I would almost skip all the above if you are new to poker, and look straight to this point. This is more important, as you don't want a crappy interface to use for hours on end. Most software is pretty similar, but little things make each site unique. I joined PokerStars after hearing the software was good, and I agree now that it is.
You generally want to look for software that works well on your machine (ie do you have a really slow computer, or a Linux machine), has a good level of statistics available, both live and later as an export and something that works well with your screen. For example in PokerStars the game window can be stretched to full screen, which is nice.
If you don't have a windows machine, think about the java software such as PartyPoker.
Network
This is really important. A large network usually offers a good range of players and therefore games. There is little point joining a site and then realising nobody plays the level you want to play. It's quite simple the more players the better. I'm not sure of statistics but PokerStars, Party Poker and Full Tilt are definitely bigger networks worth playing.
Game availability
Again very important. While Full Tilt offers a lot for the experienced player it hasn't got the very low limits that PokerStars has for it's cash games. This is a vital thing that again drew me towrds PokerStars, because I didn't want to be broke within 3 days of starting.
Anti cheating software
There are a couple of ways of cheating and the bigger networks avoid this as well as possible. For example if you heard there are a lot of cheats on Site A, you would avoid it. Therefore no site can be named as a site people cheat on, as their goodwill is worth way too much, so sites actively hunt out people cheating and ban them, stripping them of all their winnings. You'd think the bigger sites already do this well, and I can't say I've noticed any people definitely cheating yet.
Basic Poker Terminology Holdem
OK, this is really basic stuff mainly, and I'll probably add to this later on, but there are some poker terms I've had to learn, so why not share them here?
Firstly, you have 5 stages of play.
1. Pre Flop (PF) - This is before you see any cards, each player holds 2 cards (hole cards or starting cards)
2. Flop - 3 cards are laid on the table (board cards)
3. Turn - An extra card is laid
4. River - The final card is laid meaning there are now 5 board cards
5. Showdown - If a player is called, or everybody checks at the river, then the hands are shown (or mucked, which means you hide a losing hand) and the winner takes the pot
The actions a player can take:
Fold - quit the current hand, usually when you are required to bet
Check - you don't bet, but you aren't required to
Call - you bet the amount others have bet before you
Raise - You bet more than what others have bet before you
All in - You raise or call with all your remaining chips
Hand Position terms (position is a good thing to learn early on):
Big Blind (BB) - The player two positions to the left of the dealer must contribute one big bet to the pot before a hand starts.
Small Blind (SB) - The player one position to the left of the dealer must contribute a small bet to the pot before a hand starts. In a 2c/5c game 2c is the small
blind, 5c is the big blind
Dealer/Button - The last player to bet. Considered the easiest position to win from, as you see everyone elses bet before decided what to do.
Under the gun (UTG) - The first player to bet, considered a bad position as everyone can see your bets.
Out of position (OOP) - a bad position to bet from like UTG or UTG+1 (next player after UTG)
In Position - A good position to be from like the button or player before the button
A few nicknames for players:
Sharks - good players
Fish - bad players, generally assumed to be food for the sharks
Donkeys - again bad players, sometimes called this after winning a pot after a lot of luck
A few names for hand results:
Rivered - one player had the best hand until the last card was shown
Donkeyed/Bad beat - one player made a stupid bet or call, only to get the one or two cards that could have helped after the flop
Big beat - when you spent a lot of money on a hand and lost it
Tilt - technically not a result, but a player can go "on tilt" when losing a couple of hands, which starts making them play differently, usually worse
And a few money terms:
Bankroll - the amount of money you've set aside to play poker with (usually your amount left online)
Chips/Stack - the amount of money you have left at a table
Pot - the total money that's been bet so far in a hand
Blinds - The starting amount that two players have to contribute. This is a crucial amount in a game or tournament, as it sets a standard for the betting amounts.
You'll hear/read "they bet 4BB" which means they bet 8c in a 1c/2c game (4BB = 4 x 2c)
Ante - A small amount that everybody must pay before a hand starts, usually much smaller than even the small blind
Expected Value (EV) - The long term expectancy of a bet given the current game type, opponent type, cards dealt and board cards. Some people mention EV+, which means a player will win long term making that same bet/call/raise/fold regardless of how the hand turned out this time. EV- means the same bet will lose money in the long term.
Return on Investment (ROI) - The amount of money you've won or lost as a percentage. So if you deposited $25 and now have $50 you have a 100% ROI, if you now have $12.5 it's -50% ROI
Styles of playing:
Tight/Aggressive - doesn't play in many hands, but bets a lot when they do play. This is the most popular style
Loose/Aggressive - plays a lot of hands, but bets a lot when they do play. Popular style
Tight/Weak - Doesn't play a lot of hands, but also doesn't bet much or folds a lot when they do
Loose/Weak - Plays a lot of hands, but also doesn't bet much or folds a lot when they do. Considered a very bad player
Push - Usually a tournament play which means to attack strongly with looser cards when your chips are getting too low in comparison with the blinds/ante
Shove - Shove all in
Tighten up - Start playing less starting cards than you normally would
Loosen up - Start playing more starting cards than you normally would
Firstly, you have 5 stages of play.
1. Pre Flop (PF) - This is before you see any cards, each player holds 2 cards (hole cards or starting cards)
2. Flop - 3 cards are laid on the table (board cards)
3. Turn - An extra card is laid
4. River - The final card is laid meaning there are now 5 board cards
5. Showdown - If a player is called, or everybody checks at the river, then the hands are shown (or mucked, which means you hide a losing hand) and the winner takes the pot
The actions a player can take:
Fold - quit the current hand, usually when you are required to bet
Check - you don't bet, but you aren't required to
Call - you bet the amount others have bet before you
Raise - You bet more than what others have bet before you
All in - You raise or call with all your remaining chips
Hand Position terms (position is a good thing to learn early on):
Big Blind (BB) - The player two positions to the left of the dealer must contribute one big bet to the pot before a hand starts.
Small Blind (SB) - The player one position to the left of the dealer must contribute a small bet to the pot before a hand starts. In a 2c/5c game 2c is the small
blind, 5c is the big blind
Dealer/Button - The last player to bet. Considered the easiest position to win from, as you see everyone elses bet before decided what to do.
Under the gun (UTG) - The first player to bet, considered a bad position as everyone can see your bets.
Out of position (OOP) - a bad position to bet from like UTG or UTG+1 (next player after UTG)
In Position - A good position to be from like the button or player before the button
A few nicknames for players:
Sharks - good players
Fish - bad players, generally assumed to be food for the sharks
Donkeys - again bad players, sometimes called this after winning a pot after a lot of luck
A few names for hand results:
Rivered - one player had the best hand until the last card was shown
Donkeyed/Bad beat - one player made a stupid bet or call, only to get the one or two cards that could have helped after the flop
Big beat - when you spent a lot of money on a hand and lost it
Tilt - technically not a result, but a player can go "on tilt" when losing a couple of hands, which starts making them play differently, usually worse
And a few money terms:
Bankroll - the amount of money you've set aside to play poker with (usually your amount left online)
Chips/Stack - the amount of money you have left at a table
Pot - the total money that's been bet so far in a hand
Blinds - The starting amount that two players have to contribute. This is a crucial amount in a game or tournament, as it sets a standard for the betting amounts.
You'll hear/read "they bet 4BB" which means they bet 8c in a 1c/2c game (4BB = 4 x 2c)
Ante - A small amount that everybody must pay before a hand starts, usually much smaller than even the small blind
Expected Value (EV) - The long term expectancy of a bet given the current game type, opponent type, cards dealt and board cards. Some people mention EV+, which means a player will win long term making that same bet/call/raise/fold regardless of how the hand turned out this time. EV- means the same bet will lose money in the long term.
Return on Investment (ROI) - The amount of money you've won or lost as a percentage. So if you deposited $25 and now have $50 you have a 100% ROI, if you now have $12.5 it's -50% ROI
Styles of playing:
Tight/Aggressive - doesn't play in many hands, but bets a lot when they do play. This is the most popular style
Loose/Aggressive - plays a lot of hands, but bets a lot when they do play. Popular style
Tight/Weak - Doesn't play a lot of hands, but also doesn't bet much or folds a lot when they do
Loose/Weak - Plays a lot of hands, but also doesn't bet much or folds a lot when they do. Considered a very bad player
Push - Usually a tournament play which means to attack strongly with looser cards when your chips are getting too low in comparison with the blinds/ante
Shove - Shove all in
Tighten up - Start playing less starting cards than you normally would
Loosen up - Start playing more starting cards than you normally would
A poker baby is born
It's really hard to say when I first ever played poker, but sufficed to say I hadn't play much at all before this year. I watched no limit hold em on TV for the first time and scratched my head, trying to work out what was going on. After watching it again next week I understood how hold em is actually played (oh they all get the board cards), and was into it. I bought a hold em game, and played for a few weeks before working out the game is hard and stopped playing. Again some events came up on TV and I watched with interest. So when Vista Ultimate came with a hold em game, I stared playing that and actually started beating the computer consistantly. At that point I wanted real poker interaction.
Without really taking it in I was interested that someone at work in my department, I work in IT, was playing free live tournaments and had won one. Live tournaments sounded great and free meant there was no harm, but he instead pointed me towards online poker at PokerStars to sharpen my skills against real players. I joined up on July 2nd and worked up my play money to the point where I decided I needed to play real money. On July 7th I deposited $25 on PokerStars.
Up until that point Poker was an easy game with a lot of luck. But at that point, I just started to learn that it's a mixture of luck, but more importantly skill. Once realising this, I've spent a fair few hours playing and learning those skills and can safely say I've improved a lot, and still have a long way to go. So why not write about the things I learn along the way.
I'll start by reviewing a bit of what's happened in that interesting month, and from there look at writing about future learnings and hopefully some handy tips and valuable advice.
Without really taking it in I was interested that someone at work in my department, I work in IT, was playing free live tournaments and had won one. Live tournaments sounded great and free meant there was no harm, but he instead pointed me towards online poker at PokerStars to sharpen my skills against real players. I joined up on July 2nd and worked up my play money to the point where I decided I needed to play real money. On July 7th I deposited $25 on PokerStars.
Up until that point Poker was an easy game with a lot of luck. But at that point, I just started to learn that it's a mixture of luck, but more importantly skill. Once realising this, I've spent a fair few hours playing and learning those skills and can safely say I've improved a lot, and still have a long way to go. So why not write about the things I learn along the way.
I'll start by reviewing a bit of what's happened in that interesting month, and from there look at writing about future learnings and hopefully some handy tips and valuable advice.
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