Learn Texas Holdem

Question: I've played poker on a "unserious" level for about 2-3 years with short and longbreaks during this time, and decided for about 1week ago to try to make it a valiable income. Read alot of info, and I already got the average hang of the game.

I started with merly 50 euro in chips and after 15 mins I've build that to 75 with no problems in a 0.25/0.50 fixed game, most people playing relied on luck and my hands just seem to outpreform theirs all the time, which for some reason maked me feel like I had to make it a challenge for myself..by playing worse hands, total +20 euro before I decided to quit.(this is my first problem, not that big, but it always happends when I finally(very rarely) gets to start building chips.) How do you do to keep it on a constant + going spiral, any tips?

After that It have been a really rocky ride for my poor chips, it seems like people call everything and anything down, and in many cases they win.

If you combine that with the fact that I have to pay for blinds and that my good cards can seem to be dry for 30minutes+ you run shorter and shorter on money, something like maybe 20-25 when you started with 30, then you finally win a hand and you're back at around 30 euro.

This is really starting to annoy me, and I can't really find out what's in my play that is so bad, I am trying to only play good hands and often fold on the flop even with KK etc. if I notice how someone raises directly when a Ace says hi, so I still don't belive I am a callingstation or give away to much money, I can often justfy my laydowns and rarely uses words like luck or gets too frustrated about it. So, do you have any tips on how to try to maximize my preformance to instead of staying around the money I started with, instead start building some chips for real. I get good action in the hands I decide to really play, but it still only means I'll win back about the same amount I started with.

Should I start play more average joe hands, like everyone else and sometimes get + for alot, and sometimes - for alot, becuse of not that it really feels like I am just standing at the same amount.

Would really appreciate an answer.

Johan from Sweden.

Answer:

There is no way to guarantee yourself an upward only direction when you are playing poker. Most of the time, a session is made up of losing some money until you hit a few hands, then you go up some. Then you your stack goes down a little and back and forth until you string a few winning hands together. Now, what I just mentioned is consistent for good play. Since you are learning, there may be a number of situations where you are losing money -- you may miss out on some opportunities that you could have won, or won more money, and you could also be paying off other player's good hands too much.

The best advice I can give you is at the end of each session, look back at your hands and try to pinpoint where you made your money and where you lost. Using this technique you will be on your way to making sense of poker. Becareful though to not couple winning and playing well together too closely. You can play a hand badly and get lucky. Be honest with yourself. Long term results won't lie.

As for your question about whether to play average hands, I'm not sure if I can give you a simple yes or no answer. I'm not sure what an average hand is? If you are talking about AJ, AT, KQ, KJ, KT, JT, and middle suited connectors and pocket pairs, then yes I would play those. To play too tightly in a very loose game with beginning players is a mistake.

At the same time though, I don't want to tell you to open up your game when you aren't experienced enough to avoid tricky situations. Generally speaking, the approach I would take against really weak players is to try and limp in more preflop and then hit a flop and get paid off. I would only raise preflop if I wanted to get more money in the pot on my good hands -- this is called raising for value. Also, one tip that helps when playing against weak players is to be able to play a smaller pot against them versus a big pot. For example, in your fixed game you limp in with JToffsuit and someone raises. You call and the flop is Jack high: J - 9 - 2.

Instead of check raising the opponent, just call him down. This way you minimize your risk some if he already has you beat and he may keep betting a worse hand. Another tip is that middle pair is just as good as top pair against a preflop raiser if the board is really ugly. For example, you have K7s and the flop is 9-7-4. Against a preflop raiser, your 7 is just as good as the 9 is. Either he has you beat or he doesn't, the 9 being there doesn't change anything (most of the time).

On the other hand, if someone didn't raise preflop, then it is likely that the person firing off a bet could have the top pair of 9's. Something else that helps a lot in loose games is to see the turn card if you can. For example, let's say the flop is A-9-5 and you have 54. If it only costs you one more bet to see the turn, I would. If you catch either a 4 or 5, you have a pretty strong hand. It doesn't take many of these to make the play worthwhile. One last tip is that a lot of newer players relish slow playing. Try your best to watch other player's play and pick up on people who like to do this so you can avoid it.