Poker concepts

Probability and Odds

Applying odds at the poker table is essential to making good poker decisions. Some experienced players can do this simply by their excellent feel and judgment for the game, but most of us need to rely on mathematics to help guide us with close decisions. Players who understand how to apply odds in a poker game will have a significant advantage over most of their opponents....next

Deceptive Tactics

Deception is an important part of every successful player's strategy. If your bets and raises always mean your hand is strong and your cheeks always mean you have a weak hand, observant opponents will have a tremendous advantage since they will always know the strength of your hand. We have already discussed some ways to add deception to your game with bluffs, semi-bluffs, and check-raises. Other deceptive tactics include free cards, slowplaying, and inducing blurts or calls...next

Starting Hands

One of the main differences between the players who win and the players who lose is the quality of starling hands played. In general, most players should only be playing about 15% to 25% of their hands. This varies depending if the game is loose or tight, but in either case, playing fewer hands than your opponents is a big advantage...next

Beginning/Intermediate Players

Many players lose a lot of money playing too many hands in early position. There are three distinct disadvantages when playing from early position; Yon do not know how many players will be playing the hand, You are unsure of how much it will cost to play the hand since the pot could be raised or even reraised behind yon...next

Starting Hands Advanced Concepts

We discuss situations where you might add a little deception to your game. Most of these plays are borderline decisions that have an expected value of close to break even or are just slightly profitable for advanced players. Beginning players will probably lose money playing these additional bands; therefore. I recommend that beginning players skip this chapter until they have gained more experience and feel confident in all other aspects of the game...next

The Flop

The flop is a defining moment in Texas Hold'em. It is important to determine right away if your hand has value before you start committing chips to the pot. Many players consider the turn to be a more important round of betting since it is more expensive, but it is often the mistakes you make on the flop that create further mistakes on the turn and river. For example, if you make a weak draw on the flop and hit it on the turn only to lose to a better hand, it was probably a mistake on the flop that led you to lose several bets.
Lets look at the most important considerations you should evaluate on every flop...next

Betting Strategies

Poker concepts

After evaluating the relative strength of your hand given the type of flop and possible hands of your opponents, you then need to determine the best betting strategy on how to play your hand. These possibilities include all the basic poker concepts we discussed in the beginning of the book: bluffing, semi-bluffing, raising, check-raising, calling, slowplaying, buying a free card, betting, and finally folding...next

Nut Hands

Nut hands on the flop include four of a kind, full houses, flushes, and straights. Nut hands are always strong hands, hut some are still vulnerable to getting beat on the turn or river...next

Sets and Trips

A set is three of a kind when you hold a pocket pair that matches one of the board cards. The odds of flopping a set are 7.5 to 1. Trips are three of a kind when one of your pocket cards matches a pair on the board. You will only flop trips about 1.4% of the time. Sets generally win larger pots than trips. Any time there is a pair on the board, especially when it is a high pair; it is difficult to get a lot of action since your opponents generally will play cautiously. ..next

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Poker Concepts