Real Poker Training

Winning at heads-up, no-limit poker: Basic strategies Part 1 of 3

Sunday, October 26, 2008, Brent Steven White

Competition is a complex enterprise. And those complexities are magnified significantly when we are playing on a team, competing together to beat an opponent. Baseball, football, hockey and other games require us to formulate strategies wit...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Competition is a complex enterprise. And those complexities are magnified significantly when we are playing on a team, competing together to beat an opponent. Baseball, football, hockey and other games require us to formulate strategies with our teammates in order to win. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. In these games, it's rare we get to face off against an opponent one on one, mono y mono.</p> <p>There are, though, exceptions—situations (such as penalty shots) when it's just us against one other person; a brief, intense face-off that often determines the outcome of the game. It's instances like these where we either push ourselves to excel, or falter, intimidated lacking confidence. But if we push ourselves to both play our best and manipulate our opponent, forcing them to play the way want them to, any opponent—even if they are "better" than us—can be beaten.</p> <p> </p> <p>Heads-up, no-limit poker follows the same principle. Any opponent can be beaten, as long as you employ standard strategies, develop an understanding of your opponent's game and know when to switch gears so that you can exploit both his or her weaknesses and strengths. In this three-part article, I'm going to give you some basic heads-up, no-limit poker strategies, advanced strategies and show you how any style of player, when manipulated, can be beaten.</p> <p><strong>Aggression and playing with position</strong></p> <p>In short-handed and max no-limit games, position often determines how we play our starting hands, and how we react to situations on the flop and post-flop. Therefore, a small pocket pair is usually a bad raising hand under the gun in ring games. Heads-up is different. Aggression in heads-up, no-limit poker is one the most important components in winning. In other words, leave your tight image at the door when playing heads-up.</p> <p>Early in the game, when you have the button and the small blind, and when you're getting a feel for your opponent's style, you should be raising with almost any two cards. (I usually fold 9/3, 8/3, 10/2/, J/2, and the like unless, however, they are suited.) Against tight players, any two cards should designate a raise. Never limp in on the button. You want to punish your opponent's tight image, and force them to play marginal hands. If they miss the flop, chances are they'll check. If you too have missed the flop entirely, chances are he or she will fold to a pot-sized bet. And if they actually have a hand, chances are they'll re-raise you pre-flop. Let's take a look at an example of this situation.</p> <p>Say the blinds are $1/2. You have the button and you raise to $6 with 4/5 of hearts. Your opponent, who has played the last 15 hands tight, re-raises to $18. He or she probably has A/K, A/Q or a pocket pair bigger than fives. A call would be the best move here. You have position and if the right flop comes, you're going to win a lot of money.</p> <p>Say the flop is A 10 7, with two hearts. If your opponent leads out, he or she probably has an ace with a good kicker, or maybe KK or QQ, in which case a lead-out bet would be a tester bet, them trying to get an idea to where you are at. If you call and they do have a pocket pair below the Ace, he or she will likely check the turn, fearing you have an ace. Either way, you're drawing. If your heart comes on the turn, you should have the best hand. If he or she bets again, here is where you raise big and take either take it down or take their money. Aggression will pay off when you play mediocre starting hands and call large pre-flop raises.</p> <p>Let's look at another example against an opponent who has an aggressive image like yours. Say the blinds are $1/2. You have the button and, this time, you have AA, a monster starting hand. You've been raising your opponent nearly every hand and you can tell he or she is growing frustrated. You raise to $6, like you have been the last 15 hands while you've had position and, this time, they re-raise to $18. A re-raise would be the incorrect move here, as you would essentially be telling your opponent that, this time, you have a monster. You smooth call. The flop comes J 7 2 rainbow, a perfect flop for you. Your tired and frustrated opponent, probably holding a worse pocket pair (maybe KK, QQ, or 10s) is going to lose a lot of money. Why? Because you've been aggressive, and he or she has grown frustrated. This is the perfect opportunity to sit back and watch them self-implode by letting them do all the betting.</p> <p>Now, this type of aggression will aggravate your opponent, especially if he or she keeps missing flops. Therefore, a check-raise to your flop bet should usually raise a red flag that you're probably behind in the hand. However, if you have a big hand, say, an over pair to his or her top pair, you're probably going to get all their chips with a re-raise or a smooth call followed by an all-in. This is where previous aggression pays off.</p> <p>When you're aggressive, you control the action; you determine the direction of the hands; you decide if you're ahead or behind; and you, with a little luck, decide who wins.</p> <p>Daniel Negreanu once observed that the key to Stu Ungar's success (Ungar was the winner of the Main Event in 1980, '81 and '97) was that he controlled the pots he was in. In other words, the action was determined by Ungar. To become a winning heads-up, no limit poker player, you want the same edge.</p> <p><strong>Playing out of position<br /></strong><br />Playing out of position in heads-up, no limit is tricky. Tight players will limp-in on nearly every hand. The benefit of this is that when they raise, it's obvious they have a hand. Thus, a Q/4 suited is probably not a good hand to call with. However, if your tight-playing opponent limps, a raise with that Q/4 suited might be a good move.</p> <p>Now, the key to gaining an edge over aggressive players when you have the big blind is to re-raise often. Make them believe that you're catching good cards and, more importantly, send a message that you refuse to be bullied. Re-raise even if you have marginal hands, such as Q/J, K/10 or A/x. If you hit a pair on the board, even if it's bottom pair, lead out with a large bet. Your opponent will think you have a big hand.</p> <p>This strategy will also force your opponent to rethink his or her strategy against you. It will get them folding a lot more, limping in with poor hands and calling bad re-raises. Whenever your opponent isn't playing the game he or she is used to, it's inevitable they'll make mistakes. And these mistakes will likely lead to profit for you.</p> <p>Let's look at an example of playing out of position against an aggressive player. Say you're dealt Q/J suited and your opponent raises three times the big blind, like he or she has the past eight times. You re-raise and he calls. The flop comes A 10 2. You pick up an inside straight draw, but you've missed. A lead-out bet here would be the appropriate move. You represent you have the ace. If he calls, he doesn't believe you (maybe he has a pocket pair like KK or 9s. If he raises, you have a tough decision to make. But if he folds, then you've shown him you refuse to be bullied. (I might even show my bluff here. This would prove that you're capable of bluffing him. And this bluff would pay dividends in the future when you do the exact same thing but with a big hand, such as top pair/top kicker.)</p> <p>Now, let's look at an example against a tight player. Say your opponent limps in. You have 2/4 suited, and you raise to 3 times the big blind. Your tight-playing opponent calls. The flop comes A 2 4. You have two pair. You check. He bets the pot. It's obvious he has an ace here. A check raise will net you a lot of chips.</p> <p>Aggression is essential in heads-up, no-limit poker. As I stated earlier, this allows you to create the action and determine where it goes. All bets lead to you. However, there are always times in a match when it's necessary to switch gears. Becoming a defensive player, and utilizing other advanced strategies, will be the subject of my next article on winning at heads-up, no-limit poker.</p>

Modern Times

Friday, April 11, 2008, David Williams

The game of poker is constantly changing. The evolution of the way no limit holdem was played in the 70's 80's and 90's up through today is completely different. The game has seen its most dramatic changes in the past couple of years. T...Read more...

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*Text		<p>The game of poker is constantly changing. The evolution of the way no limit holdem was played in the 70's 80's and 90's up through today is completely different. The game has seen its most dramatic changes in the past couple of years. <br /><br /> The "Moneymaker effect" as some call it, began the influx of new players coming into the game. The increase in popularity of online poker, changed the game again sometime between 2004 and 2006, and in the past year or so, I would think you could heavily credit sites like Real Poker Training and online schools for making the next move into modern poker. <br /><br /> If you took a look at a solid poker players game 5 to 10 years ago, the player's minus a few who really "got it" like Doyle, Chip, Hellmuth, etc., the player's games were virtually all the same. Wait for the nuts, or close to it, and go up against someone else with the nuts, or close to it and the winner was the one who caught their card, or bluffed like they had it, and then the pot was decided. <br /><br /> Now, there are many moves, most of which derives from what live players call "the internet player" that all evolve from old moves, with a more aggressive approach. <br /><br /> Some of these moves are mentioned in training videos, or done without explanation, so I thought I'd go over a few in no particular order, and discuss how to use them effectively:<br /><br /><strong>Re-Steal counter moves: (Inducing the Squeeze play, Early Position: Convey Strength)</strong><br /><br /> One of the main moves that the aggressive online player has perfected has been the re-steal from the blinds. This move derives from knowing that a more experienced player will often try to win the blinds and ante's when he finds himself in late position in an un-opened pot. The blinds then pick up and this tendency and attempt to exploit it by re-raising from the blinds, and showing strength, while putting the original late position raiser to the test.<br /><br /> Two ways to counter this now widely popular move would be to:<br /><br /> A: Raise in early position with suited connectors or marginal hands more, to convey strength to your opponents, and follow though on the flop if you're called.<br /> B. Flat call in late position with a monster if the pot HAS been opened before you, to try and induce a blind to make the squeeze play at you. You can then trap the squeezer into a pot they might be committed to, and they likely have air. <br /><br /> Using these two variations of playing hands to an aggressive table likely to attempt re-steals can counter a modern move with a more modern move. <br /><br /> I will open light from early position now, just to change gears and vary my play, and I use the old thought process that early position raises equal strength to my advantage.<br /><br /><strong>Betting to be raised:</strong><br /><br /> Online, since you have the luxury of playing so many different stakes, you can get a feel for what the low-limit players will do, and in the same day, or even at the same time if you're into multi-tabling, play at a mid to high stakes table and get a feel for how they are playing as well. <br /><br /> I have found that what allot of low to mid limit players like to do when they are learning the finer points of how to properly be aggressive, is be recklessly aggressive. They are the players you often run into that try and take pots away from you at all times, whether it is via a three-barrel, or a seemingly well-timed check raise, etc., they love to put on the pressure, because they are incorrectly reading articles and advice on "be aggressive and you win at poker." I love when these types of articles and tips get filtered through, because for every person that reads them and gets out of them what they truly mean, there are five to ten others that assume that means to basically fire at will! That's how we make our money at the tables!<br /><br /> So, with this reckless aggression comes the need to try and fight for every pot, cash game or tournament. So my counter move to this is bet to induce a raise. <br /><br /> If I opened late with 99 and the flop comes 9-Q-4, chances are, if I bet strong, as I often do like to bet sets on the flop nowadays, then someone with a Q or a straight draw is going to call me, and everyone else will likely bow out. But in modern poker, If I bet 1/3 or the pot, instead of 75% to 80%, now all of a sudden Ace-high and pocket 7's feel the need to play sheriff and try and take this weak looking bet and make me pay for attempting to bluff them with it. Am I bluffing? Obviously not, but that is what the bet makes aggressive players think I guess. <br /><br /><strong>Overbetting the River:</strong><br /><br /> Similar to the under bet is the over bet. If you make an pot size or bigger bet on the river with a made hand, the players that are at the intermediate stage of their poker-learning often think to themselves "good players always talk about value betting the river with a good hand," or "wouldn't he want to bet an amount I could call if he held better than me?" Then you get the HERO call from the guy with Ace high or middle pair, who claims he wouldn't have folded if I bet less! If I bet less! This is the beauty of players that have just begun thinking about the game, because they haven't graduated to that higher level of thinking yet. <br /><br /> There is always a move for every move, and a counter for every counter move. That is what makes poker a game that you can truly never master. The game today might be different by tomorrow, so always try and think ahead so that your game doesn't get left behind.<br /><br /> Please visit <a href="http://www.realpokertraining.com" target="_blank"> Real Poker Training </a> for more articles.<br /><br /><br /><br /></p>

Changing Gears

Sunday, December 2, 2007, Real Poker Training

It's Not About Style - It's about changing gears. From a couple of guys sitting at a bar, to some of the best players in the world, I hear the same discussion - What is the best style? Is it Hyper-Aggressive? LAG? Tight? TAG? Quick ge...Read more...

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*Text		It's Not About Style - It's about changing gears. <br /> <br /> From a couple of guys sitting at a bar, to some of the best players in the world, I hear the same discussion - What is the best style? Is it Hyper-Aggressive? LAG? Tight? TAG? Quick gear changes? A "chip accumulating" style or a more conservative style based on survival? Well I am just conceited enough to think I have an answer to the question that so many people have trouble with. And the answer is...<br /> <br /> It doesn't matter and the question is unnecessary. In fact it is ridiculous.<br /> <br /> There is not a "style" that wins, only skills. If you play well, then rocks will think you are a LAG and LAG's will think that you are tight. Calling stations will think that you are aggressive and so will the weak tight players, but overaggressive players will label you a passive calling station and wonder why they have such terrible luck trying to bluff you. Everyone will be baffled except the other great players and even they will know enough to stay the hell out of your way. <br /> <br /> I hear tight-aggressive players talk about how they end up at the bottom of the money so often and I hear they want to switch to a LAG style. I hear LAG's say they keep getting busted early and want to learn how to tighten up without getting blinded off. No matter what style you pick if you can not change gears up you will be mediocre at best. Daniel Negraenu is not a LAG all the time, Phil Ivey does occasionally check and call, and I even watched T.J. Cloutier raise from under the gun with a pair of deuces once. No matter what style you like, as you become a better and better player you'll find your "style" changes according to your opponents and that you are often playing the same way as the other highly skilled players are. <br /> <br /> If you consider yourself a tight-aggressive tournament player and you are having trouble making it deep into tournaments, then find ways to improve your game. If you find ways to make more when you are winning and lose less on the pots you lose you'll have more chips to survive that bad beat that would knock you out of the tournament otherwise, and it's much better to add to your game than to try to shake it up with a whole new approach. <br /> <br /> If you are a looser player and getting busted early a little too often, just keep working on your game. You'll find that you tighten up a little, and start to play smarter, and soon you will be lasting long enough to hit a little run of cards and get that big stack you were always hoping for. And once you get it, you'll know exactly what to do with it. <br /> <br /> When I first got serious about poker, I talked to my buddy Hatfield every day on the phone and we played $30 multi-table tournaments on Party Poker every day. He started out loose and aggressive and I was a bit of a rock. As we learned more about the game together by reading books and discussing hands, our games became very similar. We evolved together toward a point where our understanding of the game allowed us to leave styles behind. <br /> <br /> He's still just a little more aggressive than I am, but you'd never recognize that rock in me now. And he has tightened up enough that people hardly ever call him a maniac at the tables these days. Neither of us is perfect, but we both moved in that direction enough to end up as very similar players, with no style at all, We both adapt to our surroundings now, playing whatever game is best suited for the opponents we are facing. <br /> <br /> To me style is just a starting point. It's the direction that you approach perfection from. Once you stop thinking of yourself as a certain style player, and just try to play perfect poker, you'll be able to adjust to your opponents and play whatever game gets the money. Then you'll never be the LAG who is emailing me asking how to beat a table full of calling stations and you'll never be the rock wondering how to beat maniacs who keep stealing pots from them. <br /> <br /> The only thing you should be worried about is the play that makes the most money in a given situation. Once you get to that point style doesn't matter and the question will fade from your mind. Not long after that someone will ask you what style they should play and you'll realize how silly the question really is. <br />

Making the Right Game Choice

Monday, October 1, 2007, Real Poker Training

OK, you've seen the game on television, maybe even played a few hands or more yourself and you like what you see. You may even have decided which game of poker you would like to play, say possibly no limit holdem. So now it's time to get se...Read more...

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*Text		OK, you've seen the game on television, maybe even played a few hands or more yourself and you like what you see. You may even have decided which game of poker you would like to play, say possibly no limit holdem. So now it's time to get serious and start playing. There is still at least one more important decision you need to make. What version of my chosen game is best for me?<br /> <br /> There are basically three different ways you can play any poker game. There are cash games where the chips in play correspond exactly to real money all the time. A one dollar chip is cashable for one dollar and a five dollar bet represents five of your hard-earned dollars. There are also two varieties of tournament games. In a tournament game, you pay an entrance fee in cash and for that fee you receive tournament chips that have no cash value. Cash prizes are awarded on a sliding scale for finishing highly in the tournament. You can either play a tournament with lots and lots of players, called a multi table tournament, or MTT, or you can play with only one table (usually nine or ten handed) called a single table tournament, or SNG.<br /> <br /> A cash game is always going on. There are no set start times and rarely does the game break up. As players go broke or leave the game they are usually quickly replaced by new players waiting to get in. You may enter or leave a cash game as you wish. You may also sit out for a round or two with no penalty to your chip stack. You are free to cash out when you want or buy more chips as well.<br /> <br /> An MTT has a set starting time and a SNG starts when they get a full table. When a player loses all their chips, or busts out, they are out of the tournament. Some MTTs allow a player to pay another buy in and get a new stack of chips equal to what they started with. These special games are called rebuy tournaments. In a tournament you must play until the end or sit out. If you sit out, they will collect your blinds and antes and fold your hands until you are out of chips or you return. The total amount of all the buy ins, or prize pool, is divided up among the top percentage of finishers with the most going to the winner.<br /> <br /> So which way is best for you? There are a few things you should consider when making this decision. Let's consider them one at a time. Speaking of time, let's start with that one. How much time can you usually devote to a poker session? MTTs can sometimes run for five hours or more and sometimes even a SNG can last an hour or so. Unless you have that much uninterrupted time to play, there is no point to even starting one of these tournaments. On the other hand, tournaments with low buy ins can often provide hours of game play with very low risk.<br /> <br /> The next question is about your money goals. Cash games can often provide slower but more steady streams of income for top players. Even top tournament players can go through extended dry spells without even a small cash. On the other hand, one lucky session in a cash game may net you a few extra dollars, but one lucky tournament can bring the winner a huge payday.<br /> <br /> Although many players will play more than one variation of poker, tournament play and cash game play require slightly different skills to master. It's not as if you cannot play the occasional SNG or MTT if you are primarily a cash game player, but it does help to specialize. So one good place to start is by trying out each version and seeing which one you like best. Like anything else, poker is played best by those who enjoy playing it. Do not neglect the power that comes from loving what you do.<br /> <br /> There are also some hybrid tournament games that are becoming popular lately. Instead of all SNGs being one table games, there are now SNGs that start with anywhere between two and twenty tables. This is a good way to get the MTT experience without having to set aside five or more hours of your time to play.<br /> <br /> So ask yourself some questions and try out a few games and you can find your own spot in our ever expanding poker universe. Then, when you know what it is you would like to do, you can start working on those poker skills that will most help you in your chosen game.

Mind Over Emotion

Monday, October 1, 2007, Real Poker Training

Many times in poker we do the best we can, play perfectly, and still lose. It is the nature of the game that there will be times when nothing we can do will make us win. These times it is easy to lose your cool and let yourself get out of c...Read more...

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*Text		Many times in poker we do the best we can, play perfectly, and still lose. It is the nature of the game that there will be times when nothing we can do will make us win. These times it is easy to lose your cool and let yourself get out of control, or go on tilt. How you deal with these bad times is one thing that separates the winners from the losers. <br /> <br /> There is no denying that poker is an emotional game. We all see the players on television weekly demonstrating this emotion. From the screams and fist pumps of the winners to the slumps and tears of the losers it seems the days of the stoic gambler are long gone. Yet there was certainly something to be said for that old time stoicism. To help achieve a certain level of stoicism, or at least some detachment from our emotions, let's look at everything that happens when you lose. <br /> <br /> First of all there is the matter of lost money. Nobody likes to lose money. But here's a secret that many winning players share - it's easier to win money when you don't care if you lose it. Most top poker players have what I like to call a healthy disregard for money. It's much harder to risk something you really care about, and poker is all about risk. So, if you can find it in you to care less about the money, it is easier for you to risk it. As an experiment, try playing in a poker game with stakes so low that even if you lose ten times your buy in it wouldn't mean anything to you. You should find that you are able to play with a level of abandon that you normally would find scary. But this frame of mind is just what is needed to be able to play effective poker. If you let the money control your emotions you will tilt much too easily. <br /> <br /> Next there is the matter of ego. Who would you rather be, the hero who hits the game winning homerun, or the loser who drops the last out and lets the other team win? We all want to win. From an early age we are taught that winning is good and losing is bad. This is not something we can just turn on and off, it is ingrained in our psyche. So how can we deal with losing without blowing our cool? <br /> <br /> One of the most effective ways of dealing with losing is to simply change our internal definition of what it means to win. Most of us are stuck in a rut of some kind. You can be stuck anywhere but it's really just in your own mind. Many people say, "I'd be happy if only I won this or that." The funny thing is that those who have already won this or that are no happier than they are. A wise man once said that success is getting what you want, but happiness is wanting what you have. Given a choice between the two, I think I will take happiness. <br /> <br /> I take the approach that every time I make the right move I have gained something. I know that I cannot affect the short term so I look to the long term. I tell myself that it is a good thing that I just lost to that one outer as those things are truly rare and very unlikely to happen even twice in a row. And each time I take a bad beat I think of it as karma in the bank saved up for the next time. I take joy in my good play and I know that most every time I get my opponent in a similar situation I will win. In this way I walk away happy. <br /> <br /> In conclusion I'd just like to say that we are all human. There are times when circumstances get the better of me just like anyone else. There are times when I need to let off a little steam so I don't explode. At these times I have learned that there are good ways to do this and bad ways. <br /> <br /> Bad ways include punching or kicking something hard or breakable, throwing anything, getting immediately into another gambling situation for big stakes, etc. I'm sure we can all think of a few more bad things to do when we get upset. <br /> <br /> I take comfort in the fact that I have learned to exercise some control at these times. If I need to react in a physical way, I will punch a soft, cushy pillow if one is near (keep one by your computer). If I need to steam a bit in another gambling situation, I will play the smallest limit game that I can find, especially a play money game. If I have to deal with something right away, I will take a few moments to myself first before I have to get back to reality. In these ways I can release my frustration with a minimum of damage.

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