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Folding in cash games

Thursday, May 13th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker Cash Games series.

The thoughts behind folding in cash games are very different to folding in tournaments because of the missing element of the ever increasing blinds. In this article, Cory takes us through the basics thoughts behind folding in deep stack cash games.

Deep stacked cash games are all about post flop playing. You rarely need to play a huge pot pre-flop because your real money is made on the later betting rounds. Here’s an example of a hand that I played yesterday that illustrates what I mean.

I’m in middle position on a ten handed table on line. I open for a 3.5X raise with Jacks, the first hand I had picked up in over an hour, and the player immediately on my left who hadn’t 3 bet one time in the two-and-a-half hours that I was on the table with him reraises pot. Two players call before it gets back to me.

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My thinking is, the absolute worst I can expect the player who three bets on my left to have is AK, but then two other players, who each had to know that this player wasn’t three betting decided to cold call. This makes hands like Tens or Jacks look like pretty weak holdings.

With my logic, my Jacks could be beat in two spots and flipping with another. Even though the pot was large, I still wasn’t getting a good price to call with my Jacks and I folded them without hesitation. Our stacks were not quite deep enough for me to call hoping to flop a set and stack somebody. My read was proven correct when the board came with three rags and AA and QQ got it all in. So I in fact was beat in two spots.

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If you’re transitioning from tournaments, especially lower buy-in live tournaments, or the shorter stacked on line variety, folding a hand as strong as JJ pre-flop can seem a little crazy and when you’re 20 BBs deep, it is pretty crazy, but a hundred or more big blinds deep, it’s still not fun, but it’s relatively easy to let a hand like Jacks or Tens hit the muck before the flop. Not having to worry about escalating blinds really opens you up to patiently waiting for very big hands that can get paid off. Only gamble on your terms in cash games.

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Live poker cash game selection

Thursday, May 6th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games | 2 Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker Cash Games series.

Playing online poker makes certain things much easier than live poker.  Anything from hand history data bases to game selection.  To find good games on the internet, I just need to open my Full Tilt client and look at the tables for whatever stake I want to play, find the best average pot size with too many players going to the flop and get myself on the waiting list for that table.  Live it’s just not that easy.  Here are some things to help you improve your live cash game selection.

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First, find a live cash game that’s comfortable for your bankroll with a reasonable blind and rake structure.  If you’re playing low stakes, $1-$2 for example, this might be difficult to do, but it may be the single most important consideration.

About forty-five minutes from my house is a card room that spreads a $2-$2 game with a $100 max and drops $5 per hand.  So in this game, the small blind is equal to the big blind, costing me an extra dollar per orbit, $5 is coming out of every pot I win, plus a tip for the dealer, so it costs me $6 to win a pot and I’m only allowed to buy fifty big blinds at a time.  Also, the $4 from the blinds is dropped every hand, regardless of whether or not we see a flop.

About half an hour in the other direction from my house is a card room that spreads a $1-$2 game with a $200 max buy-in where $4 per hand is raked, but with a, “no flop no drop,” rule.  In this game, the small blind is indeed smaller than the big blind, I’m paying $1 less in rake for every pot I win and the house isn’t taking a cut of hands that don’t see a flop.  Which game do you suppose I can make more money in?

If I’m using good live cash game selection I’m obviously going to play in the second game, even if I enjoy the first poker room more.  Poker is about making money and making money is my business as a poker player, I need to play in the game that will give me the highest return on my investment.

Once I’m in the casino I sign up on the list for my $1-$2 no limit hold ‘em game, then I go scout the tables.  Just have a quick look around and see how many big stacks each $1-$2 game has, how many are taking a flop, are most players aggressive or passive etc.  If by chance, the first seat opens up at the only table with six tight, short stacked players and two tough players, I will sit down, buy in, play tight and immediately ask for a table change.  Asking for a table change is totally OK and not rude to the floor staff, or the players at the table you are wishing to leave.

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If I get seated at a pretty good table, but I’ve watched the $1-$2 game on table four and it’s way more fishy, I’ll ask the floor to give me a table change as soon as a seat opens on table four.

Game selecting might be a bit more difficult live than on line, but it is still one of the most important factors that go in to a winning session or a losing session.  Stop just accepting the first seat that opens up, unless it’s the seat you’ve already determined to be on your dream table.

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Goals in Poker; adjusting your expectations

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 | Poker and Life, Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Management, Poker Cash Games, Poker Strategy, Poker Tournament | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker and Life series.

It’s every poker players goal and dream to drag the million dollar pots in the biggest cash games or to be sitting at the final table of the World Series with the TV lights shining.  While this is a cool goal and the dream is possible, you can’t expect to go from novice player to big time winner all in one night, one year, or probably your entire lifetime.  It is important to set goals for yourself in poker, but you want to set goals that, though challenging, are also likely to be accomplished with some work.

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Many players will never develop their abilities beyond the level of occasional hobbyist, which is fine, especially if they realize where their skill level lies.  If you can admit that you’re playing for fun, then a $200 losing session doesn’t hurt that bad.  It’s the price of a night out and the fun you got to have making jokes with your table mates was worth the price.  However, if you only have the ability of a novice and expect to win like a pro, you’re in for a lifetime of frustration.

If you develop your skills to the point where you’re a winning player and can supplement your day job with some poker earnings, it is probably not the time to quit the day job because you may have made a big score or two.  Rather, you might want to see how things go over the next year before you even entertain the idea of going “pro.”

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If you keep your expectations in step with your talent level you will always be getting better, but you won’t be nearly as frustrated with the game.  It’s important to have a healthy relationship with poker and an honest assessment of where you stand is the basis for this relationship.

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Poker betting strategy in cash games

Saturday, May 1st, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker Cash Games series.

In small stakes games where I’m not bluffing a very large percentage of the time, I have three primary principles that determine whether and how much I should bet.  Am I betting for value, to protect my hand, or am I controlling the size of the pot?

Most beginning players might hear something about protecting top pair on a flush draw flop and end up betting pot and a half to price out the flush draw.  So they end up betting to protect their hand at the exclusion of getting value or controlling the size of the pot.  These three principles need to work together.  If there is no value in top pair then why not just fold Ace King pre-flop since I’m most likely to make a top pair top kicker type hand when I hit?

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Truth is, I want the flush draw to call, I just want the flush draw to call for a bad price.  I also don’t really want to over bet in hopes of protecting a top pair hand because now if I get called, I’ve created an oversized pot with a vulnerable hand.  Chances are, if someone wants to play a pot this big; my top pair is probably in trouble.

The trick is to bet an amount that extracts the maximum value from hands I am beating, while charging a heavy price from draws that might catch me, while simultaneously keeping the pot at a manageable size against hands that might already be ahead of me.  I don’t want to leave money on the table by not betting enough, while laying a flush draw profitable odds to chase me down, but I also don’t want to bet so much that I’m forced to call off the rest of my stack if a better hand goes all in.

These three principles are required in different proportion based on my hand strength as well as my opponent’s hand strength.  If I have the nuts, I’m obviously not worried about the pot getting too big, but I want to make sure I don’t chase all of the worse hands away by making over large bets that my opponents can’t call.  If I have a vulnerable hand like top pair, I need to make sure that I’m getting value, but that I’m not building a giant pot where I can’t choose to lay it down on the flop or on a later street.

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I have to develop an ability to judge my hand and my opponents hand, then weigh which of these three principles is most important and structure my betting accordingly.  This will help me win the most when I have the best hand, build large pots with the nuts while still leaving myself the ability to get away from a hand if my opponent pulls ahead.  Don’t just learn one of these principles and use it at the exclusion of the other two.  All three must work together every time it’s your turn to bet.

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Poker emotions in cash games

Saturday, May 1st, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker Cash Games series.

Poker is a very emotionally challenging game.  Perhaps more difficult than any other skill required to master on your way to becoming a winning player is control over your emotions.  This could be because a winning player always has to keep two opposite emotions juxtaposed at the forefront of his or her mind.  At any moment you have to be ready to unleash unbridled aggression while in the very next moment after taking a horrible beat, you’ll need to exhibit something like placid serenity.

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It no longer seems a mystery why tilt is such a huge part of poker.  The most competitive people are usually the once who want to play and since we know that it is a psychological game of skill we tend to try outwitting people on every street.  When we fail at this the immediate reaction is to try even harder to assert our mental superiority over the table.  Without this competitive killer instinct it is near impossible to become a big winner.

However, alongside that grit and determination has to be an equally strong ability to surrender when you know you’re beat, to let a hand where someone caught a one outer for your whole stack just roll off your back and to continue to be nice to that guy who keeps questioning every play you make on a losing night.

At the first moment I start feeling frustrated at the table I run through a little script with myself.  I ask myself how I’m playing and answer honestly.  If I’m not trying to push too hard, if I’m being as aggressive as I should be in the right spots I’ll continue playing and can feel better knowing that I’ve just taken a time out to evaluate my game.  If I’m doing one of these things sub optimally I’ll ask myself if I can change it during this session.

If my answer is no I get up and leave.  If my answer is yes I stay, but if I notice after I said I’d stop trying to force the action when I shouldn’t be and I still am, I get up and leave.

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I have to always be aware of when my level of calm verses aggression is out of balance and immediately fix it or come back tomorrow.  If I’m feeling gun shy and not playing as aggressive as I should, I’m letting my opponents off easy and leaving money on the table which is the same as losing it.  If I’m not being relaxed enough, I’m giving away money in spots I should be folding.  Either way it’s losing money and I need to adjust my frame of mind or leave and wait till my emotions are back in balance.

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Poker river betting in cash games

Saturday, May 1st, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Cash Games | No Comments

Submitted by Cory, this article belongs to the Poker Cash Games series.

Nearly every poker book has a wealth of information regarding solid pre-flop strategy.  They have starting hand charts showing which hands to play and which to fold from each position and whole chapters on how to play each of these, when to call, raise, reraise etcetera.  However, these same books often devote just a paragraph or two to how to bet the river.  The problem is, in a hundred big blind cash game, the river bet is much more important.  If I’m betting in proportion to the size of the pot, most times, the biggest bet I can expect to make in a hand will be when the pot is the largest, which will be on the river.

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The big problem with teaching river betting strategy is that you need to already bring a pretty strong skill set to the table before you have a shot at playing the river anything close to properly.  First let’s think of when you should bet the river and when you shouldn’t.

I have two primary reasons for betting on fifth street.  First I have the best hand and I want a worse hand to call, or second, I know I have the worst hand, but I might be able to get a better hand to fold.  However, even when asked the most basic question, when should I bet, I already have to have strong hand reading skills.  How can I decide if I have the best or worst hand if I’m not paying attention to my opponents and correctly reading their strength?

This is one of the major reasons why novice players have such a difficult time with top pair type hands.  Often times a hand stronger than top pair isn’t folding to a final bet, but many times a hand weaker than top pair can’t justify calling that same bet.  This leads the beginning player to much frustration as it seems like they’re never getting paid off when they spike an Ace with that Ace King, or they’re losing the maximum with it.

First let’s talk about value betting.  A value bet is the amount of money I think my opponent can call with a worse hand.  Here’s where it gets tricky.  If I put my opponent on a set when I have a straight, I can make a larger bet because my opponent figures his hand to be best a large percentage of the time.  However if I have that same straight, but I correctly put my opponent on second pair, I’m going to have to bet significantly less in order to induce a call.

Not only do I need to have a consistently accurate read on my opponent’s hand strength to properly bet the river, I also need to have an idea of their tendencies.  Do they over value top pair?  Are they able to fold sets when a flush card gets there?  With this information I can deduce what percentage of the pot my opponent thinks he can call profitably.  If I think he has a weak hand, but thinks I’m capable of bluffing so he might be good 30% of the time, I can bet about 1/3 of the pot and get a call enough times to make it very profitable for me.  If my opponent is very strong and thinks he’ll show up with the best hand 80% of the time, I can bet ¾ of the pot up to the size of the pot and get him to call enough times to make even more money.

The flip side is when I’m sure I have the worst hand I need to gage how strong my opponent’s hand is compared to the texture of the board and assess if my opponent is capable of folding reasonably strong hands on scary boards.  If I’ve seen this player fold big hands before, I’m much more likely to bet a scare card on the river with nothing.  If I’ve seen another player call a river bet with top pair weak kicker when the straight and flush card hits, I’m going to be much less likely to try and bet the river with the worst hand as this type of player is not folding near enough to make this bluff profitable.

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The bottom line is to really be a winning poker player, you need to play the river properly, but the only way to do this is master hand reading skills and opponent reading skills that will help you choose when to bet, when to check and how much to bet.  Too many people think that just betting half pot or 1/3 pot on the river when they think they have the best of it is value betting.  Betting half pot in to a hand that can only call 1/3 pot is a huge mistake and betting 1/3 pot in to a hand that would have gladly called a pot sized bet is an even bigger mistake.

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