Poker Strategy - Poker Game

HOW LONG HAS YOUR OPPONENT BEEN PLAYING TODAY

Finding out how long a person has been playing that day can tell you many things about their luck, their experience, their ability to continue playing, and their table knowledge. Consider the following: (most of these tips are for offline poker but some of them can and should be applied for your online game as well)

POKER STRATEGY – Are they tired or alert?

There is nothing easier than playing against a tired poker player. The number one reason to go play late at night or very early in the morning is because you’ll get the person whom has been playing all night long. As you may know, when a person is tired they are off their game. It is difficult for them to even read the cards let alone read the player and the player’s cards. I have often seen players think they have a straight, a flush, or two pair when in fact they did not. Often a person will brag about how long they have been playing so do not hesitate to ask them.

POKER STRATEGY – What are your poker opponents drinking? Water, coffee, or alcohol?

It has to be one of the three or a combination thereof. Anyway, as you may have figured, the person drinking the alcohol is most likely to over bet their cards in an attempt to bluff. They will also usually play more hands in an attempt to catch cards as their primary goal is often shifted from winning to entertainment. It may all come down to luck for them at this point. The alcohol drinkers tend to watch the players and their reactions a little less as the waitresses start looking better and better and the drinks become more and more important them. However, some drink casually to just to ease the tensions. Watch what people are consuming and how much.

Sometimes a drunken player is very easy to read as they become less and less aware of themselves and their reactions. Example, I once saw the flop come up King of clubs, 8 of clubs, and 7 of clubs. The player in the #8 spot rose to his feet looked at the cards and yell out loud, “Finally”. It wasn’t too difficult for me to determine that he flopped the nut flush.

Getting more strategic in the world of poker isn’t something that’s just nice to do — it’s actually part of your survival blueprint. We hate to break it to you, but if you’re not willing to polish your poker game as time passes, you won’t be able to make big wins. There’s just no getting around it. The time is now to return back to creatively developing your poker strategy. There’s nothing more important when it comes to maintaining your bankroll. The broken road of failure is paved not with poker players that took too many calculated risks, but ones that never broke out of their comfort zone. Do you really want to be one of those poker players?

Of course not. So if you’re really thinking about trying to become a better poker player, here are some tips to refine your strategy.

First and foremost, if you’re not reviewing past games, then you’re definitely doing yourself a disservice. Even if you have to play poker with a notepad right next to the computer, then that’s what you need to do. Being able to go back and look at past games turn by turn can help you become a better player because you will be able to spot patterns. Now, we’re not just talking about the patterns that you are engaging in. You will also be able to see some of the patterns that people use in order to overcome you. Are they bluffing more than you? Are they engaging in loose play while you’re trying to be tight all the time? You might be telegraphing your strategy without even thinking about it. There’s nothing wrong with having a favorite strategy, but learning to mix it up will help you do a lot better.

Second, if you’re really going to make a better name for yourself in the world of poker, you’re going to have to increase your knowledge base. If you don’t fully grasp the fundamentals of poker, then you will need to make sure that you check out some books and read them. Even if you’re playing poker on a budget, you can’t say that the local library doesn’t have a few poker books to look at. Just as you have a budget for gambling, you should have a budget for education too — this can lead to bigger gains just because you understand more about the theory of poker and not just the practice of poker.

Are we saying that theory is more important than actually going out and playing poker? Absolutely not — you need both in order to not only become a successful poker player but you will also need them both in order to stay a successful poker player.

The long term game is really where you want to be, and you need to make sure that you’re thinking about short term poker goals as well as long term ones. We know that it sucks trying to go out there and get all of these poker resources to study, but it’s all worth it in the end.

The final point that we want to bring up here is that if you’re going to work on your raw strategy at the poker tables, you can’t ignore the psychological element. If you’re not where you need to be in other areas of your life, it’s going to bleed over into your poker game. You might think that you can separate it all out, but every mistake you make on the tables will be magnified if there are other problems that you’re facing. It’s not possible to leave the stresses of everyday life aside when you’re really trying to make real money at the poker tables. If you have support in your real life, and you mess up a poker game, you tend to take it a lot more personally than someone that already has a strong support group. Is the answer to shun the outside world just to make sure that you can play your best poker game ever?

Definitely not! The real answer is that you need to make sure that you’re really open to getting help from other people. Even if they haven’t been playing poker as long as you, you never know what type of advice that people will have in order to help you become the best poker player that you can be.

Overall, all of these tips lead you to being able to make sure that you can actually develop your poker game for the long haul, which is exactly what you want for success. Why not get started today?

Chilled Poker

Tag: Poker Strategy

Poker Strategy – Tips for online and offline poker

A Return To Creatively Developing Your Poker Strategy