texas hold'em poker

[Lithium381]

I seem to loose every time.....i rarely play for more than $5 or $10 a game with friends, but i never take it all home.....I'm a really tight player, generally only playing 'premium' hands. If i don't have my hand, i'll generally fold it....i always get royally screwed on bluffs...ALWAYS get called down and loose it. My friend always steals the blinds, which is annoying to say the least, and i never have a hand that can stop him. I don' tknow if he has it, but he bets heavy on the river, and i never follow....very frustrating.
I've looked for recorces online but they're all pay-sites or online poker trackers......i bought one book, and it helped me a little bit.....Am i too much of a weak playeR? Do i play too much by the numbers? I've heard the phrase, "play the player, not the cards" but seem to not execute that to it's potential.....advice?!??!?

 

[simms]

you play too conversative. it's one thing to fold on hands preflop, but if you have a decent hand, your friends are just leading you on knowing that you never follow through.
if i had a friend that would follow me to the river and give up, i would completely milk you.
stealing the blinds is a tactic, put them in their place when you have something decent. then bluff and put them in their place even when you don't have anything (eg: steal back).

poker is a ruthless game. take calculated risks and don't back down from a river that your friends may be bluffing, especially when you have something half decent.

 

[OdiN]

losing

 

[Connoisseur]

LOL I can't believe how many incredibly smart people I know play just like you. They play the odds and numbers. They don't even play pot odds either. Just the odds of someone having a better hand. They don't consider bluffing or the betting style of others. Word of advice: When the money goes into the game, don't play like you're afraid to lose it. It's only 5 or 10 bucks. If that's something you can't afford to piss away, then you're either a college student or you have a terrible job. Play more aggressive (and don't ever call through to the river unless you're 100% sure you have the better hand). Best case, you win big and have a lot of fun. Worst case, you have fun and you lose 10 bucks for a fun night.

 

[eldorado99]

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
LOL I can't believe how many incredibly smart people I know play just like you. They play the odds and numbers. They don't even play pot odds either. Just the odds of someone having a better hand. They don't consider bluffing or the betting style of others. Word of advice: When the money goes into the game, don't play like you're afraid to lose it. It's only 5 or 10 bucks. If that's something you can't afford to piss away, then you're either a college student or you have a terrible job. Play more aggressive (and don't ever call through to the river unless you're 100% sure you have the better hand). Best case, you win big and have a lot of fun. Worst case, you have fun and you lose 10 bucks for a fun night.

I agree, I have a similar friend who I consider to be very intelligent, but he sucks at poker and yet always comes to the games and loses. Sometimes poker has nothing to do with what cards you have in front of you.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: eldorado99

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
LOL I can't believe how many incredibly smart people I know play just like you. They play the odds and numbers. They don't even play pot odds either. Just the odds of someone having a better hand. They don't consider bluffing or the betting style of others. Word of advice: When the money goes into the game, don't play like you're afraid to lose it. It's only 5 or 10 bucks. If that's something you can't afford to piss away, then you're either a college student or you have a terrible job. Play more aggressive (and don't ever call through to the river unless you're 100% sure you have the better hand). Best case, you win big and have a lot of fun. Worst case, you have fun and you lose 10 bucks for a fun night.

I agree, I have a similar friend who I consider to be very intelligent, but he sucks at poker and yet always comes to the games and loses. Sometimes poker has nothing to do with what cards you have in front of you.

What's wrong with just playing the odds?

The idea of poker is to be better than others at the table, and many times, playing premium hands alone will get you where you want to. At pokerstars, at a 3-10 thousand player tournament, I can sit there playing the top 10 or 20 hand combinations and make it to the top 100-300 positions.

Part of that is because since you don't waste time with hands that aren't worth it, others are more likely to be out by the time you need to do anything, which could be accomplished by sitting out for a short while as well.

I'm still learning a lot and reading books on it, but playing premium hands alone is a good way to get started. I play around 20% of my hands on average at 9-10 player tables, after factoring in big/small blind positions.

My advice is to do a few things:
1. Start reading some books on the fundamentals of poker
2. Start trying to read people, this is a good start for a few things to look for: http://poker.about.com/od/stra...dvice/a/basictells.htm
2a. Mike Caro's Book of Poker Tells is a good addition
3. Play online and apply all these fundamentals
4. Practice

A lot of people talk crap about internet players, but the reality is that once you get good at the fundamentals, you can play well or at least decently in any situation.

 

[sash1]

it truly is about playing the player and not the cards. i've been playing casual poker with my friends for well over 6 years now. they know how i play, i know how a lot of my friends play, and you have to take advantage of that.

one of my friends, we'll call him 'adam' plays with us a lot. he's a very aggressive player, plays a lot of hands, but typically has nothing, so just because he's betting a lot, doesn't mean he has a hand.

me, i'm a semi-tight player. my friends know this, but occaisonally i'll change it up a bit and bet big, this is where i win most of my money. they think i have a good hand, and back down, where in reality i have nothing.

don't be afraid to lose money. the way i see it is: i'm spending $10 (or whatever the buy-in may be) to have fun and play poker with my friends. if i win money, cool. if not, oh well.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: sash1
it truly is about playing the player and not the cards. i've been playing casual poker with my friends for well over 6 years now. they know how i play, i know how a lot of my friends play, and you have to take advantage of that.

one of my friends, we'll call him 'adam' plays with us a lot. he's a very aggressive player, plays a lot of hands, but typically has nothing, so just because he's betting a lot, doesn't mean he has a hand.

me, i'm a semi-tight player. my friends know this, but occaisonally i'll change it up a bit and bet big, this is where i win most of my money. they think i have a good hand, and back down, where in reality i have nothing.

don't be afraid to lose money. the way i see it is: i'm spending $10 (or whatever the buy-in may be) to have fun and play poker with my friends. if i win money, cool. if not, oh well.

That's good advice - I see a $5 or $10 game as something similar to the cost of a movie ticket, but lasts longer (hopefully a few hours), and I did some actual thinking during it. Each time I go, I try to think about what people have, and have a few tells on each person that I look for. During a showdown, I tell them to not show their cards after their final bets because I want to make guesses on what they have, and some times, I'm dead on with what they have, or what they were going for.

 

[Tiamat]

your friends have your poker face read like a book, you need to change it up in a big way.

 

[akshatp]

Play a little bit looser...

And btw, you are losing, not loosing, so I hope my statement above doesn't confuse you (lose != loose)

 

[Epic Fail]

learn when to play a big pot and when to play a small one.

pump the pot up when you have good drawing hand, you might even win when you reraise and bet heavy if you do hit.

fold your top pair with weak kicker, let your friend bluff the small pots.

 

[Firebot]

Originally posted by: Lithium381
I seem to loose every time.....i rarely play for more than $5 or $10 a game with friends, but i never take it all home.....I'm a really tight player, generally only playing 'premium' hands. If i don't have my hand, i'll generally fold it....i always get royally screwed on bluffs...ALWAYS get called down and loose it. My friend always steals the blinds, which is annoying to say the least, and i never have a hand that can stop him. I don' tknow if he has it, but he bets heavy on the river, and i never follow....very frustrating.
I've looked for recorces online but they're all pay-sites or online poker trackers......i bought one book, and it helped me a little bit.....Am i too much of a weak playeR? Do i play too much by the numbers? I've heard the phrase, "play the player, not the cards" but seem to not execute that to it's potential.....advice?!??!?

If I was playing you, and you were as you described, I would fold many times you raised preflop, while stealing whenever I have the chance, knowing you would never call a raise unless you had a premium hand. You seem to play like you don't want to lose, rather then playing to win the pot, and as such, if you are ever in a hand, and I know you only play premium cards, and no A or K hits the flop, I will pound you to the ground.

 

[xboxist]

Originally posted by: Lithium381
I'm a really tight player, generally only playing 'premium' hands. If i don't have my hand, i'll generally fold it....

That's why. When other people see you enter a hand, they know you have AA, KK, QQ, AK etc.

You have to Gus Hansen-it sometimes and preflop raise with 38.

 

[xboxist]

.

 

[PrinceofWands]

There's some good advice here, I'll add a bit of my own.

Never play exactly the same way for an entire game/tourney. People will learn your style and beat you. You don't have to personify chaos, but you need to switch it up a bit. The only way it works to be consistent is to be super tight until very late in the tournament then suddenly go aggressive. You'll end up grabbing a lot of pre-flops this way until someone gets the balls to call your bluff. Of course, you're playing with fire...someone could actually have gotten a great hand. Not to mention you need to manage to survive that long.

Learn psychology and tells...both to control your own and pick them out in your opponents. Playing the people is about one quarter learning their style and the rest reading them on a hand by hand basis.

Learn not only hand odds, but pot odds. I'd rather have bad hands with a great cost than good hands with horrible costs.

Learn to play position. Get to know when a hand that's playable in a blind or button is poison in first position.

Winning hands is useless...winning the tournament isn't always doable...win money instead. If you play to win money you'll do fine at the other two. This includes knowing how to extract the most from your opponents (this is the hardest thing for a tight player to do if his opponents know him to be tight).

Practice your math. You should have no problem calculating odds on the fly and adjusting for number of players, any revealed cards, etc. You should be able to do it so quickly and accurately that you don't need to think much about it and can devote your concentration to reading your opponents and offering false tells for traps.

Change your style based on your position in the tournament. You should be MUCH more aggressive (at least to see the flop) when you have 3 times the next highest chip stack (or against the individuals who you have that much of a lead over), and when you're really short stacked you've got nothing to lose by borderline stupid aggressiveness.

 

[jandrews]

I play very loose often playing 70% or more of hands. Dont only play when you have AA or top pair there are many combos that work such as sequential cards, suited cards, even go with 9/10 and sometimes I even pay the ante with 2/7 just to see what the future holds. You play way too tight and people can predict that when you play a hand you almost always have something good. Keep them guessing, I get told by many people that they hate playing with me because they never know if I have a good hand or if I just went in for the hell of it.

edit: of course I play with the general same group of 5-15 players but after playing with a group of people for an hour or two they can see your betting style.

 

[us3rnotfound]

LOOSeY GOOSEY

 

[txrandom]

You're too conservative and predictable. You are relying on odds while your friends are relying on odds and on playing you. I use to be the same way and would win every once in a while. I actually have won more often playing conservative, but I still need to improve my aggressive style of play. I show very little emotion, which benefits me a lot. People have a hard time reading me.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

your friends know you always play conservative you are an easy target.

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: Lithium381
I seem to loose every time.....i rarely play for more than $5 or $10 a game with friends, but i never take it all home.....I'm a really tight player, generally only playing 'premium' hands. If i don't have my hand, i'll generally fold it....i always get royally screwed on bluffs...ALWAYS get called down and loose it. My friend always steals the blinds, which is annoying to say the least, and i never have a hand that can stop him. I don' tknow if he has it, but he bets heavy on the river, and i never follow....very frustrating.
I've looked for recorces online but they're all pay-sites or online poker trackers......i bought one book, and it helped me a little bit.....Am i too much of a weak playeR? Do i play too much by the numbers? I've heard the phrase, "play the player, not the cards" but seem to not execute that to it's potential.....advice?!??!?

Are you playing with the same people every time. Well, perhaps they read you well enough, so they take your money every time.

 

[Lithium381]

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
LOL I can't believe how many incredibly smart people I know play just like you. They play the odds and numbers. They don't even play pot odds either. Just the odds of someone having a better hand. They don't consider bluffing or the betting style of others. Word of advice: When the money goes into the game, don't play like you're afraid to lose it. It's only 5 or 10 bucks. If that's something you can't afford to piss away, then you're either a college student or you have a terrible job. Play more aggressive (and don't ever call through to the river unless you're 100% sure you have the better hand). Best case, you win big and have a lot of fun. Worst case, you have fun and you lose 10 bucks for a fun night.

Hah, both! It's not that i can't afford it, it's just frustrating to lose 90% of the time! Lots of good advice here...I'll loosen up a bit. We normally play short handed, normally only 4 people, so that opens my options up a bit...after reading, most advice is geared towards a 8 - 10 player game. Thanks for all the advice up until now, and keep more comming!

 

[alien42]

since your friends know you play tight, take advantage of that and actually bluff them (and do not show them the bluff)

 

[skace]

The point of Texas Holdem is to make everyone else at the table pay to see their next card.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: jandrews
I play very loose often playing 70% or more of hands. Dont only play when you have AA or top pair there are many combos that work such as sequential cards, suited cards, even go with 9/10 and sometimes I even pay the ante with 2/7 just to see what the future holds. You play way too tight and people can predict that when you play a hand you almost always have something good. Keep them guessing, I get told by many people that they hate playing with me because they never know if I have a good hand or if I just went in for the hell of it.

edit: of course I play with the general same group of 5-15 players but after playing with a group of people for an hour or two they can see your betting style.

this is terrible advice. any strategy that involves playing 70% of your hands is doomed to lose.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Yossarian

Originally posted by: jandrews
I play very loose often playing 70% or more of hands. Dont only play when you have AA or top pair there are many combos that work such as sequential cards, suited cards, even go with 9/10 and sometimes I even pay the ante with 2/7 just to see what the future holds. You play way too tight and people can predict that when you play a hand you almost always have something good. Keep them guessing, I get told by many people that they hate playing with me because they never know if I have a good hand or if I just went in for the hell of it.

edit: of course I play with the general same group of 5-15 players but after playing with a group of people for an hour or two they can see your betting style.

this is terrible advice. any strategy that involves playing 70% of your hands is doomed to lose.

Perhaps he is playing heads-up. But yea, no one playing 3-handed or more and 70% of their hands should be offering poker advice.