Ezarc's Donkey Hunting: December 2006

Here are my lesson plans. Use them, laugh at them, have fun.

Lesson 1)
Basic Intro to the game(And the traits that make some players great)

Hand rankings. What wins, royal straight flush, straight flush, quads….etc
Basic gameplay. How things happen.
Exercise-Find the winner. Deal flop, ask what the winning hand is. Deal turn, ask what the winning hand is. Deal River, ask what the winning hand is.
Traits of a great player(As told by the best. In this part, I will be using a good deal of quotes and information from these listed books Super Systems, Little Green Book, and Ace on the River, as well as Barry Greenstein's website, Mike Caro’s website as well.)
Ok, this is from a survey that Barry himself ran, Traits that separate the winners from the losers. This was in Ace on the River.
25) Good sense of humor
24) Prideful
23) Generous
22) Outgoing
21) Insensitive
20) Optimistic
19) Independent
1Cool Manipulative
17) Greedy
16) Persistent
15) Self-centered
14) Trustworthy
13) Aggressive
12) Competitive
11) Survivors
10) Empathetic
9) Fearless
Cool Able to think under pressure
7) Attentive to detail
6) Motivated
5) The ones with the best memories
4) In control of their emotions
3) Intelligent
2) Honest with themselves
1) Psychologically tough

Phil Gordon’s top Five List from the Little Green Book.
1) They are invariably aggressive.
2) They are patient
3) They are courageous.
4) They are observant.
5) They are always working on their game and want to be even better players.

Doyle’s own words on being great from the original Super System.
“I’ll be teaching you guidelines and concepts you’ll be able to use with great success, and you’ll quickly become a very good player. But, if your ambition is to become a great poker player, a top flight Pro, a superstar ... you'll need to really understand your poker opponents. You'll need to get inside your opponent's head and be able to estimate with a high degree of certainty what his check, bet or raise really means ... and what hand he's likely to be playing.

Being able to do that accurately isn't easy. But you can do it if you're alert, observant, disciplined and if you concentrate whenever you play (whether or not you're involved in the pot). Using our advice and the advice of our expert collaborators, you'll find that the task of unmasking your poker faced opponents will become easier and easier.

When you're able to put your opponent on exactly the hand he's playing (because you know him almost as well as he knows himself) you can select the best strategy possible for that particular situation. When you reach that level of skill, you'll be a complete player.

That's what poker all about. People...and the strategy you use against them. More than any other poker game, poker depends on your understanding your opponent. You've got to know what makes him tick. More importantly, you've got to know what makes him tick at the moment you're involved in a pot with him, otherwise, your bankroll will suffer. What's his mood ... his feeling? What's his apparent psychological frame of mind right now? Is he in the Mood to gamble ... or is he just sitting there waiting for the nuts? Is he a loser and on tilt (playing far below his normal poker capability) ... or has he screwed down (despite his being loser) and begun playing his best possible full tilt poker game? Is he a cocky winner who's now playing carelessly and throwing off most of his bonus winnings...or is he a winner who's started to play very tight so he can protect his gains?”

Lesson 2)
Objective of the game(I know this sounds weird but I think you need the emphasis up early that the goal is to be as profitable as possible. All this lesson will be about is emphasis on making the right decisions and the profitable ones even though the player doesn’t know them yet.)

Maximizing wins
Maximizing winnings against weak opponents. Mike Caro

Maximizing Profit Against Weak Opponents
The following lecture was the 22nd Tuesday Session, held February 16, 1999, and appeared in Card Player magazine
The Business of Poker Can Be Very Profitable If You Know What to Do.
Maximizing Profit against Weak Opponents
When I was much younger, I'd drive miles to play against the toughest players in the world. I'd leave easy games to seek challenging ones. I enjoyed the combat, and I told myself that I was improving my skills by challenging the best opponents.
Yes, I survived this long erratic period in my career. In fact, before I began to write, lecture, and research about poker, I had no other job. Poker was all there was for 14 years. And during those years, I spent a great deal of time bumping heads with some of the most skillful players the world has ever known.
I teased my mind into thinking I was honing my skills by making it hard on myself. But, in reality, I was doing too much honing and too little capitalizing on the skills I had mastered already. Well, I'm proud to report, I was able to survive these world-class tough opponents and make money. Make that: sort of make money. I say, "sort of make money," because you need to compare the money you actually won with the money you should have won. If it's less, then the difference is a loss in my mind.
And, clearly, I would have won even more money if I'd spent a greater share of my time facing weaker foes. So, lesson learned. We move on. Life gets better. This was the 22nd in my serious of Tuesday Session classroom lectures at Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy. It was delivered earlier this year and is specially enhanced for Card Player. The title was…
Maximizing Profit against Weak Opponents
1. Weak opponents supply all of your profit.
Just keeping this concept in your mind at all times will do wonders toward putting you on the path to poker profit. It's easy to forget this, because so much of your poker activity consists of making tough decisions against tough opponents. But that's not where the profit is. In the long run, the profit always comes from players who are weaker than you. Nothing else is possible. And the weaker your opponents are, the more money you can expect to earn.
Please don't confuse this concept with the reality that you also earn profit by making quality decisions against your strongest foes. This is irrefutable. Also, you may be able to outplay a few opponents who are winners overall. When this happens, these players are weak from your personal perspective, though not in general. For purposes of your personal profit, you should seek them out. Their special weakness relative to you supplies money.
To make the most money, you need to play as correctly as possible against both weak and strong opponents. But, overall, weak opponents are the ones who bring the profit to the poker table. If you're not playing against foes weaker than you are, you cannot expect to win money. Period.
2. What's so great about beating strong opponents?
Beating strong foes wins a lot of respect and a little money. Beating weak foes wins a little respect and a lot of money.
So, unless you're honing your skills on select occasions, you should seek out the weakest possible opponents. There is no excuse to do otherwise. The most successful poker players in the world are not the ones who show a profit against the strongest opponents.
The most successful players are those capable of extracting the most money from their weakest opponents. These most-successful players tend to play fewer hours against strong opposition than they do against weak opposition. Conversely, the strongest opponents often don't know how to extract maximum profit from weak foes. They are doomed to live pitiful lives of poker mediocrity simply because they know how to play well against rational opponents, but they never learned how to extract the most money from the providers of profit.
3. Never compliment weak opponents on good plays or discuss serious strategy with them.
When you compliment weak opponents on correct play, you make them proud. Thereafter, they may struggle to play better in an effort to please you.
Also, it's a very bad idea to discuss serious strategy with weak opponents - at the table or away from it. Doing so makes them self-conscious, and they recognize that there are levels of poker they don't understand. They are apt to play more cautiously - and, worse, they may even learn to play well!
4. Make weak opponents into "legends."
When you boast about the pots won by weak players with horrible hands, you feed their ego. They may try to live up to their legends - especially since you have praised them, rather than criticized them, for their weak play.
Learn to say, in Harvey's presence, "I wish I could play like Harvey! That guy can take 10-9 and win the biggest pots! He knows exactly when to do it. It's not what you play, it's how you play." Then look Harvey directly in the eyes, and say sincerely, "I really mean it. I've seen you do it so many times. It's a joy to watch." Say stuff like that and learn to mean it and your rewards will be much greater than if you make Harvey feel uncomfortable about occasionally winning with weak hands. You want to encourage his poor play, not discourage it
5. Say and do things to make opponents feel comfortable playing poorly.
Tell them you sometimes get lucky with those same hands. Show them an occasional played hand that is as weak as, or weaker than, those they play.
6. Weak opponents don't play equally weak against everyone.
Try to get more "gifts" than your opponents. You will if (1) weak players like you, (2) you're fun to play with, and (3) you don't seem to "hustle" opponents.
It's important to be liked. If you seem to be cheering for your weak opponents more than for yourself, you will be liked by them. You need to make your weakest opponents enjoy having you at the table, and you must never say anything that makes opponents think they're either being taken advantage of or scrutinized.
Some players think their weakest opponents give money away equally to everyone. That's incorrect. Everyone has borderline decisions to make, even weak poker players. Each player, no matter how loose or unskilled, must make decisions to play or not play, to call or not call, with hands that are right on the borderline from his perspective. These will be decided almost at whim. You will profit from more than your fair share of these weak hands and bad calls if your opponent enjoys playing against you and doesn't fear being criticized for poor choices.
Those who believe that encouraging these extra calls ruins your chances of being able to bluff miss the point. You aren't going to be able to bluff these weak players very often anyway. They call too much, so bluffing is almost always a poor choice against them. It's calling too often that is their greatest mistake, and that's what you should encourage.
7. Don't try to trap weak opponents.
Check-raising and tricky plays make them feel targeted and less willing to give you their chips later. Usually just play your best hands aggressively and use a straightforward strategy. You can be playful without seeming mean.
When you make a sophisticated trapping maneuver, you may very well make more money on that specific hand, but you've make your weak opponent uncomfortable and less likely to bestow "gifts" on you in the future.
8. Use diplomacy to stop others from belittling weak opponents.
You should do this away from the table. Take the offenders aside. Unfortunately, this belittling behavior is standard for even some pros. It makes the weak players reluctant to continue their extra-bad play for fear of criticism. And that costs you money. - MC

Minimizing loses
Handling losing. Mike Caro.
What to Do When You're Losing
1. When things go well. It's easy to keep your integrity when you have money. People who can afford to keep their word about paying back debts usually do. But the real test is when you can't easily afford to repay a debt. That's when character and integrity come into play. Well, a similar concept applies to whether you're winning or losing. It's much easier to stick to your game plan when the cards are running your way. Your true test as a player is how you handle losing. This is precisely when many otherwise skillful players fail the test and damage their bankrolls - or even go broke. Repeating, the main reason skillful players go broke is that they don't know what to do when they're losing.
2. Don't forget poker's most important secret. The secret is simply, "Play your best game all the time." It's a secret that's easy to acknowledge, but hard for players to follow, especially when they're losing. I believe that playing your best game all the time is so important that years ago, I created a whole audio cassette tape to drive the point home. Of course, it seems almost silly to make a big deal out of playing your best game. What kind of a secret is that? Everybody understands it already. Sure, but not everybody does it. In fact, almost nobody does it. That's what makes it important.
3. Two types of dangerous losses. There are two types of losses that put otherwise skillful poker players seriously off course: (1) losing sessions, and (2) losing streaks. Losing sessions make some players lose their will to play their best game hand after hand. Frustration takes over. Before long, they're playing as poorly as the opponents they came to conquer - and sometimes more poorly. It's sad, and it happens all the time. But, from now on, I want you to play as perfectly as you can, every hand, every decision. It's those decisions that matter. As I've taught for almost 30 years, your lifetime profit will be the sum of your good decisions minus the sum of your bad decisions, and that truth doesn't change whether those decisions are made while you're in the middle of a winning session or in the middle of a losing session. Perhaps more damaging are losing streaks. Every poker player experiences them. Losses after losses, day after day - I know the feeling. It's as though you expect things to go bad. One of the most destructive things players do during a losing streak is panic. They play worse because they need to win, but that's the wrong attitude. You don't need to think about winning. You need to think only about making good decisions, hand after hand, session after session. The wins will come when they're ready to come. Winning isn't your job. Making good decisions is your job. Winning is the eventual result of making good decisions consistently.
4. Let's not even think of it as a session. You can let a losing session destroy you if you think about it as a session to be won or lost. Whether you win or lose during a session, though, really has no bearing on your lifetime profit. A session is just something with an artificial beginning and ending. If you didn't know what they were, you'd simply weigh your bankroll once in a while to see how you were doing. Sessions don't really enter into the equation, so why even think about them as wins or losses? And remember during any "session" to be careful when you pass "Caro's Threshold of Misery." That's when you've lost so much that any additional damage doesn't feel any worse. But you can encounter this dangerous condition only if you think in terms of sessions. So, don't. The best psychological way to handle losses is to begin every hand fresh. You're neither ahead nor behind. You are where you are when the next deal begins. Your good decisions will give you the best chance of rising from that point. But if you lose that hand, forget it. It's on to the next one. Again, you're neither winning nor losing. You're starting fresh. You are where you are - again and again.
5. Don't think of it as a streak. Streaks - winning or losing - are always something seen in the rear-view mirror. There is never anything in the cards that will dictate that the streak either will or won't continue. So, you're always starting fresh. Just as every hand is a new start, every session is a new start. Never give a streak the importance of something that has influence over your future.
6. Strategic adjustments when you're losing. Here are things you should do when you're losing, not because there's any force causing the cards to be bad, but because your image is damaged and your opponents tend to play better: (1) Be more selective about your starting hands. (2) Don't bluff (at least not very often). (3) Don't raise as often. (4) Don't bet "for value" with the hands that you normally would.
7. Psychological tricks when losing. Try these: (1) Remind yourself that you are exactly even right now. (2) Remember that even though what you do now doesn't seem to matter, there will come a time when it will matter. Things you might try during a losing streak: (A) Take a small win and go home. (B) Play in a smaller game. (C) Look for reasons why you're losing. If you find reasons, adjust. But if you don't find any, stick to your game plan and keep the faith.

Play to make money and be profitable
Mike Caro Article.
Wrong And Right Things To Do In Poker
This article first appeared in Card Player magazine.
Today's "right and wrong" poker list is chosen from among thousands of items that could have been included. These four tips are quite profitable, but, remember, there are others equally profitable that we won't cover today. In other words, this isn't a top-four tip list. It's just a here's-four tips list. Anyway, let's get started.
Wrong attitude:
Entering a poker game hoping to get lucky and win your opponents' money.
Right attitude:
Entering a poker game and realizing that your opponents are holding your money, and they will need to be very lucky to keep it. If you're a skillful poker player, then you should enter a game expecting to win. All those chips and all that cash, all the money hidden in purses and wallets is yours. You want it. You deserve it. It is a crime against nature that those people are fondling your money. They have no right to it. It is yours, and you intend to play the best poker possible in an effort to bring justice to your bankroll.
Wrong image:
Making sure that opponents respect you as a player and that they know you're an analytical, winning competitor whose strategy they should fear.
Right image:
Making sure your opponents think you are error-prone, often on tilt, and unstable. One thing's for sure - people are going to give you their money a lot more willingly if they think you're incompetent than they will if they think you're trying to hustle them. My main goal image wise when I'm in a poker game is to convince opponents that I'm playing much, much worse than I really am. I can't always do this, because too many players know me. So, sometimes I'll try an opposite approach, using good-natured conversation to impress them, explaining what cards they're holding and what options they have. While doing this, I'll play a few hands in a bewildering and seemingly weak way. This is a compromise game plan. The image comes off (when done correctly) as that of a player who has incredible knowledge but who is having too much fun to use it.
If I were coming into a game as a stranger, I would try to act as clueless as possible. I would never try to impress anyone with what I know. I would want to be known as "that idiot who keeps winning." In poker, your hand is your secret. One of the worst things you can do is to inadvertently expose your hand. Well, another one of the worst things you can do is to inadvertently expose your skills.
Wrong tactic:
Check-raising loose, recreational players.
Right tactic:
Betting into or check-calling loose, recreational players. I've played in home games where check-raising (a.k.a., sandbagging) is forbidden. Even in casual games where it is not forbidden, it is often considered bad manners. You and I both know this attitude is pretty silly. Check-raising is a powerful strategy when used wisely. It is a tactic that affords a bit of compensation to a player suffering the positional disadvantage of acting first. But that's not the point.
We need to talk about why this bias against sandbagging survives. I think I know. The bias survives because casual players, especially ones playing loose (i.e., liberally and recklessly), hate the injection of tension to their game. And yes, my friends, "tension" is exactly the right word for it. When you choose to check-raise against a loose and friendly player destined to give you his money, you are increasing the tension. You are making your opponent uncomfortable.
What I'm about to tell you is very important. OK, I know - some of you are of the opinion that I'm an egomaniac who thinks that everything he says is very important. I assure you, nothing could be farther from the truth. It's just that I'm so consistently right about so many things, it gets scary after awhile. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah - that very important thing I was going to tell you about. My theory has always been that you never want to make opponents uncomfortable if they are currently comfortable about giving you their money. In that case, they are your most cherished customers, and you want to make their experience pleasant. When you check-raise, you are apt to make them less giddy about gambling. They will possibly begin to play better or more cautiously. They may begin to use sandbagging themselves in ways that will interfere with your strategy. Worst of all they may either quit or not seek you out again as a fun opponent.
Put it all together and it's clear that the small at-that-moment tactical advantage you may gain by sandbagging a loose, recreation opponent is overwhelmed by the long-term cost. Lean toward betting or check-calling most of the time, instead.
Wrong way to treat a bankroll:
Spending pieces of your wins so that you have something to "show for it" even if you go broke.
Right way to treat a bankroll:
Refusing to spend any part of your growing bankroll on your kids, your wife, your rent, your health, yourself, or your dog. The first thing you have to understand is that this advice only applies to skillful players who are capable of winning in the long term. Additionally, they must have not yet acquired a worry-free bankroll (or accessibility to funds).
If you're not yet a winning player, then this advice should be ignored. That's because, no matter how much losing players may wish to manage their money correctly and build a bankroll, they can't. When the odds are against you at anything, the best you can do is quit. In poker, though, you may not want to quit. You may want to improve, or you may be perfectly content to play recreationally forever. But, if you don't have that expectation of profit, managing a bankroll is not a concept that is meaningful to you.
If you are a winner, though, you can easily go broke by spending your bankroll. A middle-limit player (call him Player A) could start with, say, $2,000, win $20,000 over perhaps two months, spend $14,000, lose $8,000 and find himself broke and miserable. He is busted, failed. And you better believe his friends and family will see his poker escapades as a failure, even though he won. In the hypothetical case just described, the player won $12,000. But he is a bustout, a broke, a railbird, a wannabe. A less fortunate player of equal skill may have started with $2,000, won $15,000 over two months, refused to spent anything, lost the same $8,000 when the cards turned bad, and still had a $9,000 bankroll for recovery.
That second player (Player B) could have kept right on playing, building his bankroll. $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, $500,000 - never spending a dime (or spending only meagerly, if he had no other income source), moving up to more profitable games as his skill increased. So, there they are my friends, player A and Player B. Same skill. Potentially about the same luck in the long run. Player A, a failure, broke and battered. Player B, a big-name success. How much did spending that $14,000 actually cost Player A? Whatever he bought with it could easily cost him much more that $10 for every $1 he spent. In this case, much more. How can you afford needlessly to spend pieces of a building bankroll? You can't afford it. Yet the majority of potential pros fail for precisely that reason.
It's hard to convince girlfriends, boyfriends, brothers, and mothers that you shouldn't spend gambling money when you win. But winners need to stick to their convictions. If you owned an auto supply shop and were starting to expand the business, they wouldn't say, "Hey, you're doing really good. Let's sell the cash register and a bunch of the inventory so you'll have something to show for it if you go broke." And you wouldn't think of doing that yourself, either.
Well, a growing business and a growing poker bankroll are the same thing. The bankroll is the tool you need to run your business. Trifle with it, if you will. Abuse it, if you must. But don't say I didn't warn you.

A look at aggression as a force at the table(Winning the money with not only the best hand) A review on Super System and Doyle Bronson.
“But the real gem is Brunson's own chapter on no limit Hold'em. It’s extremely interesting and given the greater freedom no limit gives the change in the game structure matters less. No limit is not a war of fine percentages like limit, it is a game of great psychological violence. Brunson's system is VERY aggressive. I think very few people would feel so comfortable playing so many connectors out of position in no limit games so they can stage all-in bluffs. You would need to be up against a very timid rock garden to play just as Brunson says. But it remains, undisputedly, the best guide to no limit cash games.”
Introduction into Table Image(Basics of labeling of players)

Slush420’s intro.
Here are the "names" for the people you are classifying:

Tight - Passive: These people are known as "rocks". Easy to steal pots from but if they raise you, BE CAREFUL!

Tight - Aggressive: These people are known as "sharks". Usually the best thing you can do against these guys is give them a raise somewhere after the flop when they bet if you have top pair or better. This will usually give them enough of a red flag for you to take down the pot.

Loose - Passive: These people are known as "fish". They will continue getting in flops and calling you down. The best thing you can do with these characters is to bet when YOU have the draw hand. Usually they will keep calling so whether you hit your hand or not, you have great odds to either hit your draw or get them to fold on the river.

Loose - Aggressive: These people are known as "maniacs". They will continue looking at flops more often than folding and will bet and raise you until you go mad. The best way to defeat these folks is to let them beat themselves when you flop nuts or run into a good drawing hand. Once you have trapped them, they'll either leave the table because you got a big pot off of them or they will start folding to your own aggressiveness.

I find that the easiest way to identify a player's skill level involves two things: the way they vary between these four styles of play and the way they use their position on the table to their advantage. You'll find that if you can identify who is good and who isn't, you can start putting people on hands that, even if you know theirs is better, you can still get them to fold or know when to fold yourself. Good luck on your poker teachings and hopefully you don't teach him to suck my bankroll dry!

My work here.
Ok, basics. Loose, tight, passive, aggressive, and what the heck it all means. Those are some of the labels you will see and read about. What do they really mean to you? They are just different ways of looking at how someone goes about their way of play, hand selection, willingness to call, raise or fold. Now with these labels that we slap on the other players at our table, they do the same with us. Now, say we have raised the last 3 out of 6 hands with AK, QQ, and 1010, one went to the flop and you caught your set of 10s and bet someone out of the pot. To us it is our usual tight play but our table image at the moment must look like some sort of raising maniac.

Lesson 3)
Position and Starting Hand Selection

Position Description

Position (poker)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Position in poker refers the order in which players are seated around the table and the related poker strategy implications. Players who act first are in "early position"; players who act later are in "late position". A player "has position" on opponents acting before him and is "out of position" to opponents acting after him. Because players act in clockwise order, a player "has position" on opponents seated to his right, except when the opponent has the button and certain cases in the first betting round of games with blinds.
The primary advantage held by a player in late position is that he will have more information with which to make his decisions than players in early position, who will have to act first. Also, as earlier opponents fold, the probability of a hand being the best goes up as the number of opponents goes down.

Dave Carter’s Ramblings here.
Ok, what is position other then some semipornagraphic punchline to joke? Well, when it comes down to poker, position can be a lot of things. Early position, first few after the blind, you want to be folding almost everything that you feel comfortable seeing a reraise on. Middle position, might be able to play a few more speculative hands depending on the action in front of you. Later position, want to push any advantage you have here. This is where you want to play the majority of your hands. This will most of the time be your most profitable area of play.
Why is there such a premium on playing later in the order? First thing that comes to this mind is it allows you a chance to observe what has happened before. That might sound good and fine but what does it mean in terms of how it helps? Simple example for preflop. You are in early position, you look down at pocket nines. That is a solid starting hand, right? You sitting on the button, there has been a raise by a tight player, a reraise by a loose but intelligent player and a call by yet another player, how good do you feel about your nines now?
Intimidation factor is another great reason to love later playing position. This is where everyone looks over to you wondering why you are in the pot and what you are holding. You are the biggest mystery at the table. You can see what people are doing in front of you and exert your will and power here. You see a loose player raise from early position and a few tentative calls, here is where any two cards played with force can be a tremendous play(Do not try this against novice opponents, they rarely are able to see beyond the idea that their two cards look pretty together). Another thing about the above example, even if you call, after the flop you can again ramp up the pressure depending on the action in front of you.

The Power of Position
More Dave Carter’s Ramblings

Power, pure and simple. Position gives you that. It gives you additional knowledge. Knowledge allows you to make better decisions. You are more informed so your decisions are more likely to be correct(remember how much I stressed making the right move and decision all before in lesson two?). It is extremely hard to be trapped in position. More knowledge aids in keeping you out of trouble unless you make a grave mistake.
Why is position so important in poker?
Author: Nick Kisberg
Last updated: Dec 2005
Copyright © 2006 Nick Kisberg
The official and up-to-date version of this answer is here.
Often you hear people preaching about the importance of position, and the reason behind this are lost on many people. Position (definable quite simply as the position you must act in in relation to the rest of your table) is crucial for several reasons.
Firstly, if you are "on the button" (last to act after the flop and last to act apart from the blinds preflop) or in late position (one or two places before the button at a full table), you will have more of an idea if your hand is good in relation to other player's hands preflop. If, for example, you are playing No-Limit Hold’em and hold Ace-Jack suited and everyone has folded to you on the button, you can be reasonably confident that your Ace-Jack suited is the best hand out, as you are only up against two random hands. Contrastingly, if you are in late position with the same hand, and the pot has already been raised and reraised, you can fold without a second thought, as the bettor and/or the raiser will almost always have a better starting hand than you. When you are in early position, you do not have this information available, and the likelihood that you will either folding the best starting hand dealt to the table or raise into someone with a premium hand is greatly increased. From early position, a hand like 22 or 33 is often unplayable, but in late position with a lot of people limping into the pot (calling the big blind but not raising), small pairs can be played for the huge value you will get if you hit a set. Poker is a game of information, and the more information you have before you are forced to make a decision, the more likely you are to make the right decision.
Position is also crucial when it comes to preflop blind stealing, for much the same reason. If you are raising into two players, the likelihood of one of these players having a hand which they can or will call or raise you with is much lower than if you are raising into eight players.
After the flop, position doesn't become any less important. When you are in position, you have the advantage of acting after your opponent and thus being able to see whether he checks or bets (and how much he bets) before you have to act. If a passive player bets into you and you just have middle pair, you invariably have an easy fold, whereas if you were acting first you may well be tempted to bet, and would ultimately lose more chips on the hand - either by getting slowplayed or by being raised on the flop and not being able to call. In heads-up Hold’em you will see many good players raising on the button with almost any two starting cards, primarily because they want to contest larger pots when they have the advantage of position on their opponent.
When considering where to sit at a poker table, position is important too. You want tighter and weaker players to your left, so blind stealing is as easy as possible. Strong, aggressive players are better seated on your right, so you almost always have position on them and can use this to your advantage more often, as they will be involved in more pots.
Position is more important in No-Limit Hold’em than Limit Hold’em, for the simple reason that a far wider range of plays are possible in No Limit. In more mechanical games like Omaha, position is less important, but should never be totally ignored.

Starting hand selection and how it relates to a hand.

Now these charts are confusing as heck, I will talk about these to help you out.

Group 0: AA KK
Group 1: QQ JJ AKs
Group 2: TT AK AQs AJs KQs
Group 3: AQ 99 ATs KJs QJs KTs
Group 4: 88 AJ KQ QTs A9s JTs AT A8s
Group 5: KJ 77 QJ KT QT JT A7s K9s Q9s T9s J9s
Group 6: 66 55 44 33 22 A5s A6s A4s A3s A2s
Group 7: A9 K9 98s 87s 76s Kxs(?) T8s(?) 97s(?) 86s(?) 54s(?)

Total EV stats ordered by value
Cards EV Count
AA 2.32 521,324
KK 1.67 522,652
QQ 1.22 520,663
JJ 0.86 521,866
AK s 0.78 348,364
AQ s 0.59 348,759
TT 0.58 520,705
AK 0.51 1,048,008
AJ s 0.44 348,126
KQ s 0.39 346,772
99 0.38 522,454
AT s 0.32 348,013
AQ 0.31 1,042,962
KJ s 0.29 346,582
88 0.25 521,972
QJ s 0.23 348,870
KT s 0.20 348,774
A9 s 0.19 348,992
AJ 0.19 1,045,857
QT s 0.17 346,115
KQ 0.16 1,045,069
77 0.16 524,345
JT s 0.15 348,235
A8 s 0.10 349,431
K9 s 0.09 348,286
AT 0.08 1,047,289
A5 s 0.08 348,544
A7s 0.08 349,949
KJ 0.08 1,047,098
66 0.07 520,946
T9 s 0.05 348,264
A4 s 0.05 347,862
Q9 s 0.05 348,760
J9 s 0.04 349,965
QJ 0.03 1,044,338
A6 s 0.03 347,677
55 0.02 521,945
A3 s 0.02 347,895
K8 s 0.01 350,401
KT 0.01 1,045,392
98 s 0.00 348,759
T8 s -0.00 347,443
K7 s -0.00 348,341
A2 s 0.00 347,318
87 s -0.02 348,348
QT -0.02 1,047,827
Q8 s -0.02 348,381
44 -0.03 523,398
A9 -0.03 1,047,672
J8 s -0.03 348,046
76 s -0.03 347,540
JT -0.03 1,043,812
97 s -0.04 350,158
K6 s -0.04 347,029
K5 s -0.05 349,320
K4 s -0.05 348,681
T7 s -0.05 347,638

Cards EV Count
Q7 s -0.06 348,073
K9 -0.07 1,045,630
65 s -0.07 348,590
T9 -0.07 1,045,306
86 s -0.07 348,374
A8 -0.07 1,042,209
J7 s -0.07 345,009
33 -0.07 522,632
54 s -0.08 348,260
Q6 s -0.08 349,068
K3 s -0.08 348,865
Q9 -0.08 1,049,468
75 s -0.09 349,781
22 -0.09 524,131
J9 -0.09 1,044,150
64 s -0.09 349,689
Q5 s -0.09 350,110
K2 s -0.09 349,276
96 s -0.09 349,514
Q3 s -0.10 348,009
J8 -0.10 1,046,506
98 -0.10 1,044,759
T8 -0.10 1,048,779
97 -0.10 1,046,152
A7 -0.10 1,046,587
T7 -0.10 1,044,950
Q4 s -0.10 348,979
Q8 -0.11 1,048,251
J5 s -0.11 348,923
T6 -0.11 1,043,014
75 -0.11 1,047,447
J4 s -0.11 347,508
74 s -0.11 350,325
K8 -0.11 1,048,167
86 -0.11 1,047,524
53 s -0.11 346,930
K7 -0.11 1,043,698
63 s -0.11 346,449
J6 s -0.11 347,570
85 -0.11 1,048,159
T6 s -0.11 348,875
76 -0.11 1,046,722
A6 -0.12 1,046,762
T2 -0.12 1,047,032
95 s -0.12 348,477
84 -0.12 1,046,266
62 -0.12 1,049,495
T5 s -0.12 348,928
95 -0.12 1,044,601
A5 - 0.12 1,046,285
Q7 -0.12 1,046,099
T5 -0.12 1,048,428
87 -0.12 1,044,635
83 -0.12 1,048,550
65 -0.12 1,045,971
Q2 s -0.12 348,912
94 -0.12 1,047,422

Cards EV Count
74 -0.12 1,043,278
54 -0.12 1,046,435
A4 -0.12 1,046,931
T4 -0.12 1,047,976
82 -0.12 1,043,638
64 -0.12 1,043,079
42 -0.12 1,043,357
J7 -0.12 1,046,565
93 -0.12 1,045,989
85 s -0.12 347,928
73 -0.12 1,047,020
53 -0.12 1,047,022
T3 -0.12 1,043,908
63 -0.12 1,044,818
K6 -0.12 1,045,039
J6 -0.12 1,045,991
96 -0.12 1,047,156
92 -0.12 1,049,342
72 -0.12 1,046,167
52 -0.12 1,049,213
Q4 -0.13 1,045,087
K5 -0.13 1,047,359
J5 -0.13 1,047,697
43 s -0.13 348,802
Q3 -0.13 1,047,649
43 -0.13 1,047,900
K4 -0.13 1,046,562
J4 -0.13 1,048,129
T4 s -0.13 350,639
Q6 -0.13 1,046,958
Q2 -0.13 1,046,353
J3 s -0.13 349,254
J3 -0.13 1,046,204
T3 s -0.13 349,673
A3 -0.13 1,046,970
Q5 -0.13 1,047,946
J2 -0.13 1,045,715
84 s -0.13 349,390
82 s -0.14 348,622
42 s -0.14 350,591
93 s -0.14 348,835
73 s -0.14 349,007
K3 -0.14 1,045,968
J2 s -0.14 348,259
92 s -0.14 347,868
52 s -0.14 348,401
K2 -0.14 1,048,521
T2 s -0.14 349,612
62 s -0.14 348,033
32 -0.14 1,044,956
A2 -0.15 1,047,979
83 s -0.15 349,355
94 s -0.15 348,259
72 s -0.15 348,368
32 s -0.15 349,794

The statistics are based on 115,591,080 pair of pocket cards dealt at the real money tables. The unit for EV is average profit in big bets.

Lesson 4)
Introduction to Preflop Betting

Standard conventions
Limping vs Raising
Revisit into the power of position as it applies to preflop betting
Aggression as a tool.

By MajinGohan

Ok, this is what I have for a lesson. If you use it, don't change the tone of it please.

-------------------------------------
Lesson Four

Hello, my next prospective student. I go by the name MajinGohan on your friend’s forum, but you can just call me Maj. You’ve had the lessons up to now, and we are going to build on those lessons today. I’ve been told to instruct you in the method of TAG preflop play. Buckle your seatbelt and prepare for takeoff. This is the arena where even your teacher says that I have him out-TAGged. So make sure your chairs are in the upright and locked position, and all baggage has been stored adequately. You’re in my world now. Who knows, you may even learn something.

A quick re-cap: TAG is the style in which you have a selective range of hands which you play preflop, which in the long run stands to be of a higher winning percentage than the range of hands your looser, gung-ho opponents will tend to play. These “overcoming” hands are to be played in an aggressive matter, not only to force players out, but to increase the profitability of your hands, and to add additional money into the pot when you stand to be a favorite. Most of the hands in lesson 3, up to group 4, are “heads up hands”, or hands whose strength in showdown value increases with the fewer amount of players in the hand. So let’s get into the first of many essences of TAG: the preflop arena.

You’re dealt AA. What do you do? Think you have an answer?

You aren’t even close. There are more details to the hand then simply the cards that you are dealt. The TAG style is dependent on playing a certain range of hands, true, but there are a lot more factors in playing a hand than just the cards. The questions that you should ask when you hear that first question should look like:

“How many chips do I have?”
“How many opponents are on the table with me?”
“What position am I in on the table?”
“How many opponents have voluntarily committed money to the pot ahead of me?”
“How many in chips do each of those opponents have?”
“What are the tendencies of the people who have committed money to the pot? Do they call raises liberally, fold to pressure, check raise?”
“What are the tendencies of the people yet to act, do they raise a lot, call a lot?”

If you got two of these questions without having your teacher helping you, then you have true potential. If you didn’t get any, then he hasn’t been doing his job like I’ve been telling him. Some of the finer details to these questions will be dealt with in later lessons, but for the purpose of this lesson, we’ll go through some of the simple decisions that you need to go through in this hand.

The first, and most important phrase in the TAG strategy is the word “aggression”. This relates to the entire way that you play the hand. It is very important to remember that in poker, there are always two ways to win a hand. The first comes from showing down the winning hand on the river. If your hand is better than your opponents on the end of the hand, then you win the pot and all of its yummy, yummy contents. But there is a more devious, deceitful, and fun way to win in poker. This is by making all of your opponents fold their cards into the muck (discard pile) and taking all of those yummy chips without showing anything. In order to do this, you have to put your opponents to a decision, where they have the option of folding.

You can not make your opponents fold by limping in. To limp in is to call the minimum size of the bet that is currently out in the pot. Preflop, this is the size of the big blind in the hand. When you limp in, all of the bets made by your opponents does not increase, and if something doesn’t happen fast, your opponents will see a flop, and you will have lost the first chance to make them all fold out of the hand. Therefore, raising is a wiser choice of action to take when facing a hand that you would like to play. Not only just raising though, but raising an amount larger enough to want your opponents to question whether or not they should bother to play. Also, this raise that you would make should be sized to the amount of chips that you have in your stack as well. Here’s a simple route of thumb to think about when thinking about raising Preflop:

Small Stack (all of these are in relation to the other stacks on the table): Be more willing to raise all or most of your chips into the pot. This is both to make your opponents fold, to tell them that you are committing to the hand, and to make the following decisions of the hand easier to make. Less chips = less decisions.

Medium Stack: Raise the normal amount that you would do, adding in for the presence of limpers. I like a raise somewhere around 4 times the BB, plus 1 BB for every limper in the pot. Remember that with every person who decides to commit money to the pot, the larger the pot becomes and the harder it is to force people out of the pot.

Large Stack: Same as the medium stack, but return to raising slightly larger with the presence of other large stacks in the hand. A larger stack in the hand means that the more decisions you will have to make in the hand. You would prefer in general to play against the medium and shorter stacks in the hand, especially with AA.

Also, you should be more willing to play hands in position than out of position. There are many reasons for this. But before that, a quick summary of position. Position is you’re relation on the table in seats in relation to where the blinds for that hand are dealt. The way position is counted is from the left of the blinds. IE, if the big blind is in the 2nd seat of a nine-handed table, and you are in the fourth seat, then you are in 3rd position, because you are the third seat away from the big blind on that hand.

Also, certain seats on the position chart of the table have nicknames. Ask your coach for questions if you don’t understand some of them. These will go from the small blind (worst position) to the best position on the table.

SB – small blind
BB – big blind
Under the Gun (UtG) – this is the position to the immediate left of the big blind. Known as being poor position due to having no actions from the other players to go on, it is recommended that most players should be more willing to fold marginal hands from this seat. Playing the top 3 sections of hands should be the wisest, plus all pairs 66 and up. Fold most other hands until you get more experience in the game.
Highjack Seat (HJ) – this is the seat to the right of the cutoff seat. It’s called the highjack seat because many experienced players like to change up their games by raising out of this seat often.
Cutoff (CO) – this is the seat to the right of the button. Second best position on the table post-flop.
Button (B) – this is affectionately known as the “office” for most poker players. Most of the hands you are dealt in your range you can play from here, depending on the action ahead of course. Many times however, the button raises position because the other players know that you can be playing more hands from this position, but that is for a later lesson.

At a 9 handed you get AA in 6th position at the table. What seat is that called?(1) You’re Stack is $160 which is a fairly medium stack seeing that most stacks at the table range between $75 and $400. A player that you peg as being solid (good and straightforward) limps in ahead of you for $2, as the blinds for the table are 1 and 2. Afterwards, another 2 players who are somewhat loose limp in behind him. The first player is the short stack with about $75, and the other two have $150and the big stack at $400 respectively. What size do you raise to?(2) After making the raise, it folds to the SB, with a stack of $100, who calls. All the other players fold.

Success! They all folded! Wait, why is the flop being dealt? Oh, we have one caller. What do we do? For the continuation of this lesson, ask your coach to tell me to write up my next essay on flop play.

See, that wasn’t too bad, was it? It was actually a little fun, right? Yea right, since when is learning fun. Anyways, remember to ask plenty of questions and as always, “may your cards be live and your pots be monsters!”

(1) – Cutoff seat
(2) – With three limpers in the hand, you should make a standard raise to about 4x the BB, plus 3 BBs for the limps, so about to $14 to go is a solid raise.

More work from Slush420

ok to add to your teachings, I will give my own personal input about position betting and raising:

In order to put people on a certain class of pre-flop hands, you not only have to analyze the player placing the bet or call out on the table, but also the general state of the table and whether raises come frequently or you have a lot of people calling for a cheap flop.

If you are in early position (UTG or within 2 spots to the left of the UTG player) on a table that likes to see a lot of flops, that doesn't entitle you to put your chips out on any kind of suited connector or weak ace. instead, this is a great time to wait on a quality hand (Ace w/a face or pocket x's) and place a small raise out on the table. On tables that like to see flops, you may get a few callers and if you get raised, just evaluate the tightness/looseness of the player raising you. You will not always hit the flop like you want to, but by putting out this small raise, you give your hittable hand some value in the pot in case you want to bluff at the pot or you do hit the flop. depending on who you are playing, you pretty much know when you're being called by a monster or being raised by someone scared to lose the value of their top pair on the turn card by the position of their call to your pre-flop raise and also their willingness to chase a flush or open-ender. these aren't things you can always figure out right away at a table.. it may take 40+ deals to give someone a particular image. but if you have the willingness, you can force the action on people yourself to see how much they are willing to push and which cards they may have when they do push. This strategy ONLY works in a cash game in which you are bought in for the maximum and you know that your opponent you're trying to get a read on has enough of a chip stack to make the "feeler" hand worth playing against him.
However, this all changes when the table you are on makes frequent raises and certain players are willing to test your limits of hand strengths per dollar needed for a showdown. On these tables, you better only play those quality hands UTG. (AA, KK, QQ, AK, JJ, 10, AQs). And the only two I suggest raising UTG are them pocket rockets and kings. The other hands listed are only suggested as safe calls UTG. The good thing about the UTG position and a tight-aggressive table is the fact that if you have one of these hands and it is raised pre-flop, you are more often than not the last to act on these raises. You either get a value flop with a quality hand to crack your aggressive opponent or you've minimized how much you could possibly lose by playing these quality hands. Remember, to a tight-aggressive opponent, the only raise worth making is the one that evens the pot odds in the favor of the raiser (betting the pot). So the one way to tilt your aggressive foe is to help him believe he is beating you the whole way. Hitting sets on rainbow flops make for great trap hands in your favor (esp. with only 1 face out there). When a good check-call is in order, use it! If you know your opponent, then you know he isn't willing to play that fabled 5 7 for the open ender. However, if your opponent plays weak hands and still maniacs them out to no end, GET HIM IN WITH YOUR BEST HAND. I can't emphasize that enough how good players are cracked when they try to cute play those rockets into the aggressor. The aggressor is your friend when you make a nut flop or 98% unbeatable hand.
The most important thing is to use your analytical skills AT ALL TIMES. No matter how much someone varies their play, if they know you are weak in one aspect and exploit it once, they will use that against you until you are sick of getting nickeled and dimed on hands you believe are better. But if you know they have found a weak point in your game once, let them find it again.. give them that false sense of hope when they believe their money is favored to take yours. After all, cash games are like no other.. you can make 100 great moves and tilt on one move all because you thought someone was weak. Never underestimate, always analyze!

And if what I am saying is considered babbling, I understand, trust me.

Lesson 5)
Flop Study

Flop texture.
What do I mean by flop texture? Well, let us look at the word texture. It means the feel of something. Now, what does that have to do with poker? Well, the feel of the moment can mean a lot more then the reality. Are the cards all random on the board or are some paired? Three different suits, two to a suit and one of another, or all one suit? Are the cards close together in rank or spread very far apart? All that is part of the texture. Now the hard part is using what the flop texture is to your advantage.

Analyzing how this flop helped me?

Ok, how did that flop and the flop texture help me? Well, do you remember what your cards are? Do I have a flush? A Straight? Four of a kind? Three of a kind? Two pairs? A pair? Do I have a draw to a straight of a flush?

Analyzing how this flop may have helped the villain?

What do I think he is holding? How do the likely holdings of him plug into the flop?

What I most likely need to improve?

If I have a pair, what do I need for a three of a kind or two pair? If I am drawing to a flush or a straight, what cards get me there? If I have two of a kind, what cards hit my full house? If I have trips, how do I hit a full or quads?

What the villain needs to improve?

????? Betting will help find out the answers for you.

Basic mentioning to odds and outs.
The number of cards that hit to improve your hand is called an out. These cards can be combined to do a general calculation to figure out some basic odds. The yellow portion of your mousepad lists the odds and equations for some common draws and situations.

Lessons 6-10 will involve a great deal of Laying out cards and showing how things progress with different situations.

Lesson 6)
Post Flop Betting

Aim at making your opponents make mistakes. Your choices of betting, calling, checking, raising, and reraising are all aimed at two things. Finding out information about your opponents hand or hands with multiple opponents or to make them make mistakes. Every action you do at the table needs to have a reason. Don't just do, have a reason to do.

Again, did I hit the flop hard? Am I just trying to build the pot when I have a big hand? Did I get a good piece of it and am trying to keep the pot sized controlled until I complete?(hit a monster draw) Did the flop cripple the betting and you are just making a play at it?(Very good chance the flop didn't help anyone.)

Working with pressure
Fun fact (only 35% of flops hit anybody)*Important when you get heads up or have position*
Using your position to your advantage

Lesson 7)
Turn Study

The make or break card.
What does the board tell you about your opponents hand?
Where do you think you stand right now?

Lesson Cool
Betting the Turn

Why to turn up the pressure?
Where you are heading from now?
Most common mistakes made on the turn.

Lesson 9)
THE FREAKING RIVER!!!!

What sort of mess am I in?(Why you are still playing this hand.)
How do I win this with no cards to come?
What did the board do to help the villain?

Lesson 10)
Betting the River

Where are you at?
Can I win this in a showdown?
Would the villain lay the hand down to a bet and if so, how big?
What do I need to do to get paid? Size is important.
Big river betting mistakes.(Why bet when a reraise will make you puke? Not betting for value from position. Trying to bet for value out of position.)

These are all the classes that I have taught up until this point. I do use a lot of play with the deck and chips from lesson three on. This course is aimed at live play.

Ezarc's Donkey Hunting

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Cardplayer League TOC

Friday, December 15, 2006

Lesson Plans

Blog Archive

About Me