Poker Strategies
I have written in the past about my online poker experiences and tried to provide a few tips here and there. I always felt, as I was writing them, that my poker lingo and theories were a little too advanced for those that were just starting to play poker. I’ve found a site called Poker on a Mac and the entire site is dedicated to playing poker. When I was playing I generally played cash games at the limit hold’em tables. So I went to the poker strategy area of the site to see if I could pick up some pointers and improve my game.
Firstly the poker strategy area was well laid out and earned my respect immediately. I went to the Poker Cash Games section and selected the Limit Holdem strategy article. Again I was impressed with the layout and the construction of the article. It clearly introduced limit hold’em and identified that limit hold’em is a far different game then no limit hold’em, which is a key point for new players. All key strategy aspects of the game were touched on, starting hands, table position, play on the flop, turn, and river, pot odds, and bank roll.
I can’t stress enough how well written the articles are for beginner poker players and the scope of the content is complete. I would suggest also looking at the Poker Math section in the strategy area especially if you are playing no limit hold’em. You’ve got to know your pot odds before you push all your chips in!
I’ll had a lot of fun navigating through this site…it makes me want to go play some poker this weekend!
And I thought you were first talking about “Poke” strategy for Facebook.
For some time now, I’ve been thinking about learning how to play poker…Sadly, I don’t know how to play any card games.
Pot odds are a very important element, as well as implied odds.
A good rule of thumb to remember is the rule of 2 and 4. On the flop (waiting for the turn), you can multiply your “outs” (card that will improve your hand to make a hand that will beat your opponent) by 4. On the turn (waiting for the river), you can multiply your “outs” by 2. The results of these equations will give you an approximately percentage for hitting that card. For example, if you need one more card to make a flush, then you have nine “outs” (the remaining nine cards of that suit). Thus, on the flop, you have approximately a 36% chance of hitting. If the turn comes and it doesn’t complete your flush, then you now have a 18% of hitting… give or take a few percentage points.
You can then use these numbers to figure out if it is “worth it” to call a bet from your opponent. Let’s say he bets $10 into a $40 pot (thus making it $50) on the flop and you need one more card to make a “good” flush. Thus, you are getting 5-to-1 on your money if you call the $10. You have (about) a 1 -in-3 chance of getting that flush (36% as computed above). Thus, the “pot odds” are there for you to call. If your opponent bet $100 (thus making the pot $140), it is not “worth it” for you to call, because you’d have to put in $100 to win $140 when you only have a 36% chance of winning. Does that make sense?
That makes total sense. Very well explained. I had never heard of the 2 and 4 rule, thanks for the tip!