Learn Pro Poker For Beginners: Part 2

“The best defense is a good offense.”

This old catchphrase couldn’t ring truer than when talking about No Limit Texas Hold Em’. Poker is a game that rewards the players who are not afraid to lose. Let me repeat that: Poker rewards the players that are not afraid to lose.

If you plan on playing online poker for real money, then you must be prepared to lose it (See Part 1). You have to understand that the nature of this game is one that combines skill and luck. In the short term, anyone could beat anyone else on a given night. An absolute “newbie” could sit down and bust out Doyle Brunson on a single night – but you’d have to chalk that up to sheer luck. In the long run, however, Doyle is going to take that newbie for every dime he has, because he is clearly the more talented player. If the game were entirely made up of luck, there would be no winners, there would only be a bunch of losers, or at best break even players, trading their money back and forth. You would not have heard of any professional players, because quite simply – there wouldn’t be any!

Fortunately, skill is the overriding factor in the long run, which is something that good poker players bank on. I know that if I am playing well, I have a very good shot at beating any table I sit at, especially at the lower limit tables that are usually inhabited by the so called “donkeys” and “fish”. If I go on a losing streak, it is critical that I take a look at my decisions in order to analyze just how good or bad I am playing. If I conclude that I am playing well, but getting more than my fair share of bad luck, then I will remind myself that the only thing I can do at the poker table is make the best decisions I can, and let the cards fall as they may.

So, how do you judge how well you are playing? Well, I would strongly encourage you to join some sort of poker forum, or discussion group where you can talk about poker, and specifically different hands and how to play them. Talk to people about some hands that you are having trouble with, people are usually more than glad to help. If you don’t know how to play a small pair in early position, ask somebody for help. There are plenty of books, and articles like this that will talk about in depth strategies. When you are thinking about poker strategy, and surrounding yourself with positive reinforcement, you are on the right track to becoming a consistent winner.

Okay, so why is aggression the name of the game? Well, it’s actually very simple. When you force people to react to your actions, you almost always gain a psychological advantage over them. You are forcing them to make the tough decisions. You are forcing them to react to you, and to what you want to do. If you raise the pot, everyone else behind you must react to that raise. Whether that reaction is to call, fold, or re-raise – they are all reactions. You always want to put your opponents on their heels, and make them make the tough decisions. Let’s use a specific example.

You are on the button with 1800 in chips. The blinds are 25/50, and you hold Kc Tc. Everyone has folded to you. What should you do?

Since no one has showed any sort of aggression (everyone has folded to you), and since you only have to face a maximum of two hands in the blinds, raising is probably your best option here. You have the best position in Hold Em’ (the button), meaning that if you decide to enter the hand, you have the luxury of acting last on all of the subsequent rounds or “streets” as they are commonly known. When you are able to act last, you can find out more clearly the strength of your opponents hands.

Let’s say you decide to raise to 150 chips (or more commonly referred to as a three times the big blind raise.) The small blind folds, and the big blind calls. The flop comes out 4d 8h 2s. You completely missed the flop, right? Well, here is a perfect example of why ‘having the lead’ in the hand (being the one who raised the pot before the flop) is so beneficial.

You will find that most often, when you raise before the flop, the person who has called you will almost automatically check the flop to you. This is a very normal occurrence if we think about it rationally. You showed the most strength before the flop by raising the pot. Your opponent showed that he wants to play the hand by calling your bet, but is playing the role of the passive player in the hand. You have taken the lead in the hand, and are now the aggressor.

So let’s assume that your opponent checks to you. You now have two options – bet or check. I would strongly advise you to bet out in this situation, probably about 85-90% of the time. There are several reasons why you should bet out here, even with nothing. This is called ‘Continuation Betting’.

Your opponent will miss the flop about two thirds of the time. If your opponent misses the flop completely, he will most likely just fold to any kind of bet you make. The pot is small, and it’s not really worth it for him to call your bet, especially if he doesn’t have anything. You have shown strength before the flop by betting/raising, and you’ve followed it up after the flop by betting again.

Your opponent may fold a better hand than yours. If your opponent called before the flop with a hand like Ac Ts – he has missed the flop, but has the better hand. It is at this point that you want to bet out to find out whether or not your opponent has something. If he calls you, you should take that as a sign that you should probably slow down, and probably let the hand go if he puts any kind of pressure on you either on the Turn or the River. In this situation, you both have nothing (he has better nothing!) but your bet will probably make your opponent fold his hand.

You need to find out if your opponent has a hand. If he has a hand, he will most likely call your bet, or re-raise you right there. There is no shame in making a bet, and folding to a raise. If he check raises you, then you can be 99% sure he has a better hand than your King high. Making these continuation bets will win you a lot of small pots, which add up in the long run. You can pad your stack by stealing the pots where nobody flops anything, simply by being the aggressor before the flop, and following it up with another bet on the flop regardless as to whether your hand has improved on the flop or not.

You are probably asking, “how big of a bet should I make on the flop?” This is a tough question to answer, but the majority of the time, a bet of 50-75% of the pot will be enough. In our example above, I would say a bet of about $200 chips into the $325 pot would be a good bet to try to take it down.

When you are constantly making continuation bets on the flop, it is going to be very tough for your opponents to put you on any kind of hand, because you are basically making the same plays all the time.

Try it out the next time you play. You will literally be shocked at how often you can take down the pot with absolute junk!

May all of your continuation bets work to perfection