Learn Texas Holdem

Question: hey there. posted a question on AQ in no limit a while back, saw your timely response on the site. thanks for following up on that. anyways ive always respected what you have to say in your posts and was wondering if you could give me a few thoughts on this...

well since, ive tried to take on poker almost full time (playing 4 days a week) but have had a horrible horrible streak of losses. ive lost my entire poker bankroll that ive built up over the months playing high stakes no limit. with this amount of losses, ive tried to analyze. and ive come up with a few questions that have been bugging me and i think need to be cleared up in my mind in order me to get back in the game. i also would like to share with you my thoughts about some issues as well and would love some feedback on what you thought about it.

firstly, one thing ive noticed that is really starting to annoy me is there seems to be more and more players who consistently either flat call preflop raises with AA or KK to try to trap players or who raise themselves only a minimal amount preflop to make it look like they have AK or AQ and then play it semi-weakly on purpose postflop in order to trap. i know in the long run, they will get themselves outdrawn, but for some reason, i keep running into these situations, and they are costing me a lot of money because i simply dont put them on these hands by the way they are purposely playing them. the worst part is when they laugh and comment after taking down a huge pot (multi way sometimes too), as if they think they played their AA or KK so well. (not knowing they just got lucky again that their AA held up in 4 way action)

is there benefit in actually doing this? i used to believe in always reraising big pairs like this to isolate,but now that this has happened to me so many times, i find myself giving away my hand too easily when i reraise or raise preflop so largely. everybody knows what i have, and if they dont outflop me right away on the flop, i get no action. and if i get action, i have already been outflopped.

secondly, another problem i seem to be having is the whole table viewing me as a rock. i personally dont like this because you cant get paid off when you finally make your hand. the problem is not me being the rock. the problem is when i cant catch a good preflop hand, and i muck hand after hand and players notice this. but i tell myself i am not going to start playing crap hands just because i am getting unplayable hands but at the same time, when i finally get a hand, every folds. when i do get a medicore hand i would like to play, i find myself eagerly playing it in early position a lot because i finally got a hand, only to find it raised and again, i have to muck. can u sense my frustration?

and finally, one of my biggest leaks ive noticed is going all in a on a draw. i find myself trying too hard often to win the pot either on the flop or on the turn when the pot is big enough to try to win. a bunch of times, ive gone completely broke because i went all in after there has been a bet and a call, with only a flush draw or open ended hoping both will fold but only to have a caller holding a set or two pair and missing my draw. because the player who has me beat purposely plays their hand so weakly, it is hard to imagine them on a set, and so i thought an all-in would push them out if they were only betting top pair or were on a draw themselves. but i was wrong. either way, i told myself never to go all in on a draw again. it even made me fear check raising any draws in the back for a long time just because of they hardly to seem to hit for me.

thanks for reading such a long one. i know at one point, you took on the game as a job - dont remember if you did it full time or not but i know you must have gone through many of the same issues and i was wondering how you battled them out.

i am not about to give up, but i can admit that my confidence has been greatly weakened and the last thing i want to do is sit down at the table playing poker scared to lose - i just dont feel like i am quite ready yet until i think these things through.

thanks,

Andy

Answer:

Playing for real (for a living): It isn't easy to play well day-after-day. You can't get a true appreciation for this until you try it. There will be a host of problems that you'll face that have more to do with you, than your poker. And what you'll find is that knowing how to play well and playing well aren't the same thing. Here are some things I learned:

- play when you are rested. Don't just say, "I have a few hours, let me take some hands online." Play when you have lots of time ahead of you and you are feeling good.

- spiraling out of control is the main risk if you are running badly, and you will run badly. After you have a couple bad sessions, you are primed for the big loss. You have to recognize this and do something to protect against it. I take a break of a couple days. I think what you'll find too is that after you have a losing session, all you can remember is how unlucky you got. Only the next day will you begin to come back to earth and realize how you messed up a number of hands.

- tilting is such that you won't be able to reason through it. It's best just to leave, not play, and cool off. It can be subtle, in ways that you don't realize, like not making bets. Typically you think of tilting as paying off other hands too much or playing too crazy. It can also be that you are missing bets and playing scared. You won't realize you're doing any of this until you take time off.

- bankroll management is huge. I would suggest that if you have a losing session, drop down a limit until you win twice. Keep doing this if you keep losing. You need to objectively prove to yourself that you are playing well. This also is a buffer against that huge loss scenario.

- no one ever mentions this, but wins don't come in neat incremental sizes. It's been my experience over the years that things come in bursts. You'll have small break even days for a while, losing a little, winning a little, then bam a huge win. It isn't that you win some each day and build it up in steps. This is comforting to know when you aren't having a good day. The goal that day is to not lose a lot. Everyone will have those good days, even bad players, what will set you apart is how much money you hold on to when the cards aren't going your way. You need to be content with having a day when you played as well as you could but didn't win. Minimize those losses. It is incorrect to think that you need to try to win each day. That pressure makes you play badly by lowering your standards. A hand's strength isn't relative to when you have to leave that night.

The slow players with AA and KK:

- one thing that is easy to do is assume everyone plays how you do, and to base your counter strategy on that. Obviously, that won't work.

- players are usually predictable. One of your main tasks as a winning player is to be able to make internal histories of each opponent's play, so that you can categorize them and make reads when you are in hands with them. (One of the first thing that goes when you play multiple tables online is that you aren't watching another players play.) A couple key points that can help you avoid situations like this is to watch for players who religiously slow play and are really tight. If you are betting the whole way into a Jack high flop with pocket queens and you get raised on the river, I really doubt your hand is good. Another key point is to watch for players who don't bluff. This is easiest thing to watch for, yet the most overlooked. If someone never bluffs, you shouldn't ever have to pay them off on their good hands. All they have to do is raise and suggest strength and you can give them the pot.

- no limit holdem allows you to play hands in various ways. There is nothing that states that you need to play a big pot in every hand. If you think you may be getting sand bagged, you can always just check or bet less and see what happens. Play a smaller pot when you can.

- remember that a good player occasionally folds a winning hand. When is the last time you folded a winner?

Should you slow play with the AA and KK:

- yes, you should sometimes. In multi-way pots I wouldn't, but in heads up situations, I would. Say you are in the BB and a tight player raises from middle position and everyone folds. There is no reason to reraise now with your AA. This is the perfect time for a trap. Don't fear getting outdrawn by calling the preflop bet and flop bet. The chance of him outdrawing you isn't great enough to prevent you from trying to make a big pot with your hand. What you want to do is to play in such a way that he misreads your hand and you break him. Say the flop comes back Jack high and he has QQ. If you check raise the turn, you may get his whole stack. On the other hand if you reraised immediately preflop, he would have a pretty good idea of what you have.

- part of your problem above is that your opponents are able to play well against you because they have an idea of where you are at in each hand. Deception is key in no limit. You need to work on this more. If every time you raise someone knows you have either AK, KK or AA, it is hard to get action. If every time you call a raise preflop, you don't have KK or AA, it is easy to play against you. You need to throw some other raises in and calls with various hands. Your goal with these "mixers" isn't to win chips on their own strength, but to create action in the future for your big hands. Part of the process of winning in no limit is to understand how the opponents are feeling and how they view your play, so you can manipulate it. An example might be if you haven't had a hand in hours and you get 98s. Throw in a raise. Now if you don't win, big deal, not a huge loss. But many good things can come of this. First, you might connect with the flop and nail someone who misread your hand -- possibly one of the tight players above with their AA. What if the flop came back 885 and he has AA? On top of this you might be able to show the hand down, which is a good thing. From that point forward, the opponents can't put you on a hand. (A little goes a long ways.) Secondly, you may win the pot anyway if it comes back and you bet once.

Being seen as a rock:

- obviously, you don't want to digress into playing hands just for the sake of playing them. Being seen as a rock when you aren't getting any playable hands is a common problem. You have a couple options at this point. First, you can just call it a day and try again later. Second, you can pull some tricks like I said above to mix up your play. I would suggest the second option, since it will teach you a lot and make you a better player. There are hands and situations where you can put in a bet and it won't be as risky. Say you are in middle position with 55. You can raise here to mix it up. If you get called in a number of spots, you can just check the flop. If you have one opponent, try a bet on the flop. You aren't giving up too much here and you aren't being seen as such a rock. Another time you can raise is in the back with any hand you would have normally just called with, after a number of players have just limped in. Say you have a hand like 55 or a suited connector and there are three or more limpers. Just raise it some and build a pot. You do this occasionally to keep your opponents offguard and accustomed to them calling your preflop raises. They won't notice when you play post flop differently, when you have a real hand. And again, who knows, you might connect with the flop and make a huge pot.

- also, part of these mixer upper plays are made to build pots. Building a pot is something you need to know how to do to play successful no limit. Your preflop raise isn't necessarily made just because you think you have the winning hand. With a hand like 55 against a lot of opponents, the raise may be there just to build a pot so that if you do hit, they are likely to misread your hand and call too much because the pot is so large. Another thing to understand is that a preflop raise isn't a committal to the river.

The draws:

- it has been my experience that online players rarely ever fold when they have something. Say you have a flush draw and the opponent has top pair with an ok kicker. There is no way you'll get him to fold. In addition to this, the online players seem to be very defensive if they assume you may be drawing.

- players rarely ever raise with middle pair or top pair good kicker on the flop, but they do with draws.

- remember too, that a draw isn't going to get there more often than not.

- raising with a draw is a semi-bluff. The semi-bluff has value for a number of reasons; it can win by improving to best hand; getting the opponent to fold; it gets action for future hands. If you know someone will call, a semi-bluff isn't correct. This is why you shouldn't play draws too strongly against weak calling station type players. You know he'll call, so why raise when you don't have anything yet? I would suggest that you don't play draws so aggressively. Many times in no limit you call with position with the draw, miss it on the turn and are forced out of the hand. That's a much better outcome than going all-in and getting picked off by a pair.

- the flip side of this is that you should be playing your real hands more strongly. Online players assume you'll wait to raise with your strong hands because if you raise too early you may push them out, but you'll raise your draws on the flop. Do the opposite. If you have AJ and the flop is Jack high, push it strongly.

Final thoughts:

- the heart of any strategy is why and how you'll beat the game. I would suggest thinking about this. Why do you think you'll get the money at the end of the night? The key to winning at poker is to get paid off on your good hands, while avoiding paying off opponents hands. Avoiding paying off your opponents hands means you'll be able to lay down your own hands now and then. It also means you'll take a stand other times with hands that might not be that great, but you have a feeling are good. Getting paid off on your own hands becomes more of a problem the higher stakes you play. Much of the game surrounds trying to advertise enough with marginal hands to get paid off on big hands. Deception is key. You need to learn how to mix up your game some while not taking on too much additional risk. (Obviously, if you get paid off on your good hands by bad players, there is no reason to mix up your play.) One style that served me well was to vary my betting and raising amounts. Most books suggest a standard bet and raise. I don't like that. My goal in no limit is to intentionally trip up my opponents reasoning and get him to misplay his hand. Varying betting amounts does wonders for this since you can feign weakness by overbetting or underbetting, get free cards, route out big hands, etc.