Starting Hands

When you don’t have a lot of playing experience yet, tight is the way to go. With a proper starting hand strategy you will be on your way to becoming a decent, possibly break-even money player. Play very few hands, and only those type of hands where after the flop you will have to rely on your own judgment less. In short-handed tables: play big cards and wired pairs, and avoid hands like J8s or 76s. You want to get a set or a big hand or you can easily fold. I know you may lose some money but is safer for you because you don’t play big pots yet (and if you do, please stop it!).

Use this table and be disciplined. When you have a playable hand always raise it 3-4 times the BB. (6max tables).

This is your first step to became a TAG player.

Position

Position is the concept of where you are in relation to the button. In this regard there are three areas of position (in a shorthanded table): early position (small and big blind, UTG*), middle position (UTG+1*) and late position (CO* and BTN*). In a full ring the UTG+1 is early position and the middle position gets the other players seated. Late position is the same.

You always need to be constantly aware of your position when playing poker. This is a very easy concept to forget, but you’ll often be too concerned playing your hand that you will forget about how position is going to affect your current hand. Generally you want to play more hands in position and less hands out of position because it is easier to play your hand when you are last to act. You have more information and you can decide about the rest of the streets. You also can control the pot size by betting, or getting a free card.

Check the table again to picture what hands you are going to play (don’t forget to raise).

This is your second step to became a TAG player.

(*)
UTG      : Under The Gun (the first player after the blinds)
UTG+1 : The next player after the UTG
CO          : Cutoff (The player before the BTN)
BTN       :  Button (the last player to act, the dealer)

Aggressiveness

To improve your aggression levels, you can just set yourself a goal of never just calling a bet. If you’re going to play in a hand, you’ll always be making a bet or a raise. You’ll never check or call. This isn’t appropriate strategy for every hand, but it does develop a type of discipline regarding your aggression level. Think of it as training wheels for aggressive betting habits.

You have to understand and always remember that by calling you have only win with the best hand. By betting you can win with 2 ways. a) You have the best hand, b) You push your opponent to fold his best hand.

This is your third step to became a TAG player.

Odds

It doesn’t matter how experienced a player you are, the cards dealt in poker and your chances of winning are all a matter of odds. This makes mathematics (specifically probability) very relevant, yet you don’t need to be a math genius to understand them. The 3 simple steps listed below will teach you how to understand poker odds according to a basic knowledge of the game.

1. Define the Pot Odds
Pot Odds refer to how worthwhile it is financially to play a certain poker hand. Literally, the odds specify the amount of money you’ve paid to remain in the hand, compared to the amount of money in the pot. For example, if there is $20 in the pot and the player you’re up against has bet $10, then you are essentially being offered $30 from the pot by paying a $10 fee. As a ration, this would be written as “30:10”.

This can be simplified by either dividing the left side by the right (i.e.: 30/10 = 3) and putting the result alongside a 1 (i.e.: 3:1), or by making the right hand side a 1. To do this you must divide it by itself (i.e.: 10/10 = 1), and to get the left side you should just divide it by that same number (i.e.: 30/10 = 3). This means that your pot odds will be 3 to 1.

2. Calculate Equity
Equity refers to your chances of winning in comparison to other player’s chances of winning. To calculate this percentage, simply multiply your total amount of outs by 4 during the Flop, or by 2 during the Turn. For example, if you have a Flush Draw and 9 outs during the Flop, then you will multiply 9 by 4, which is 36%.

This 36% represents your chances at building a winning hand. To turn this into ratio form, you must try to make the right side a 1 in the same way you did for the pot odds. Since percentages are always out of 100, the left side of our ratio will be equal to 100 minus 36, which are 64.

64 divided by 36 is equal to 1.7, such that our final equity odds are 1.7:1. This means you will have 1.7 losing hands for every winning hand.

3. Compare between Pot and Equity Odds
To know if it is worth you pursuing the hand, simply compare between the left-hand numbers of your pot odds and equity odds. If the equity odds number is lower than the pot odds number, then it’s worth it. Otherwise, it isn’t – it’s that easy!

This is your first step to became a solid player!

I will tell you a shortcut to do all these calculations in 2 seconds. But not now… you have to train your brain on poker thinking!

Suggestions

Play a lot of hands. Play a lot of aggressive hands.  Don’t call. You have to bet or fold. Don’t Bluff! Players in micro stakes don’t understand what is going on. Don’t  slowplay your hand. You don’t have to be tricky because again, they don’t see what are you doing. Just wait for a good hand and  make them pay you!

Oh! Something else…. Start reading!

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