Improving my Poker play?

Question

I posted a while back stating how I found it difficult to beat my mates as they always seemed to call any hand they got and get lucky on the flop/turn/river. My strategy is pretty basic, I raise with hands your supposed too most of the time, know when to fold and play my position accordingly. However, I found I've been winning more and more cause I've started mixing my play up...sometimes raising with nothing hands from any position...slow playing AA or KK etc. I reckon it's best to do this in moderation though. Any other tips?

Answer 1

Keep a short list in your head of situational responses, like;
Don't bet against a pair on the board.
Any pair in your pocket is better than an A/K.
Bet to a flush, but not a straight.
With 2 suited cards in your pocket, and two more on the flop, there is almost a 50/50 chance of getting your flush on the turn/river.

Answer 2

The problem here is that you are playing a low stakes friendly game of poker, your friends are on the other hand are playing bingo.

The kind of game you describe can be tough to beat because it seems like you get called with any kind of junk hand, it doesn't matter how much you bet or how bad the pot odds are, your friends still call and hit on the river, which convinces them that their 'strategy' is great and they can play just like the pros on TV.

With these kind of players you have to tighten up, when you get into a pot you need an excellent hand. Keep the pots small if you are drawing, when you hit, don't bother to disguise your hand, over bet it like you are bluffing. Be very careful about slow playing monster hands. AA is not a great hand against four other players. You want to go heads up with it. The more players in the hand, the greater the odds of a suck out.

Just to keep your friends guessing, I do like the random bluff raises you do from time to time, that's a good idea too. Just be careful if you get more than one caller. If they call a continuation bet and you have completely missed the flop, it's probably not a good sign. Try and make your random bluffs a little less random, look for weakness and try to exploit it. Beware of fake weakness.

Answer 3

It sounds like the old saying ''if i can't beat em, then join em''. You said you play a good tight aggresive style and that is what you should stick with, i find a lot of the time if you play a,b,c poker you do the best. It's when you try and get all fancey, you get caught up and go broke. I never advise in basic terms to slow play big pairs in any tourement at all, now a cash game i will sometimes slow play a big pair, but 95% of the time, if i have the hand i bet, if don't i fold, and if i think im getting bluffed i raise. A,B,C my friend.

Answer 4

You have to play different depending on who you sit down with, what kind of player they are, position, etc.

ALWAYS doing anything in poker will provide a weakness for people to feast on.

1. Always change how you play each hand.
2. Don't just raise randomly -- raise when people show weakness (checking, any tell you may have picked up, etc). BUT don't raise so much that you're committed to the pot, because if you get called or raised you need to fold (otherwise, you're just giving your chips away to avoid folding).
3. Keep them on their toes by playing some hands in the dark (without looking at your cards)... Even if they fold, you're more likely to win the next hand because they'll be distracted by your move in the previous hand.

Answer 5

The people that are saying that calling stations are hard to beat are wrong. You just have to properly adjust to them. If they call too much, just wait for a big hand and bet really hard. They will pay you off.

You won't beat them every hand. That isn't the nature of poker. You just need to make sure that when you win, it's huge pots, and when you lose, it's smaller pots. It's really not hard if you are patient.

Remember: big pots are for big hands. Top pair, or an overpair is not usually a big hand. Play for straights and full houses and flopped sets. And bury them.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

There are two schools of thought in a loose game like that. One is that you play tight, since you'll get paid off when you hit. Unfortunately, that is usually the less profitable of the schools of thought. It seems like you stumbled onto the other one.

If you can see a lot of flops for cheap, then get in there with a lot of marginal or even bad hands. If you hit the flop hard, you will get great action because no one will expect that you played J9s on the 78T board, for instance. So, the key is to play loose preflop as long as its cheap and then play tighter post-flop. Good luck.

Answer 8

You pretty much understand the concept. A lot of players stick to their form of poker and their style of poker. That's wrong! You need to practice and try different approach of the situations you are facing if you want to improve your game. What I would suggest you is not to repeat to much your moves, don't give pattern to your action. Maybe your friend my not catch that (they seems to be beginners going for luck without any concept of skill) But you won't always play with them. I also suggest you to play with better players. To improve you need to play against several type of players.

Take care

Answer 9

dont play with your mates, there fish. its annoying when you raise with ace king, and a few people call, coz unless u hit the flop ure probly losing, and have to fold, i think your doin the right thing mixing up ure play. slow playing big hands can be very dangerous, and cost u lots of chips, raising with nothing is ok but if ure reraised u can fold, and u might hit the flop and noone can expect it. i like playing suited connecters early in a game, when blinds are small, do u play on internet? the more the buy in costs the less fish/donkeys are playing in that game. but the internet are full of fish, and the game becomes very frustrating. good luck.

Answer 10

Most of the above comments are useful in certain situations. I would recommend buying and reading one of the many poker books. I play alot of poker and when i was starting it improved my game vastly.