In my first two weeks of online poker, I have become convinced that table selection is the most important factor in whether you win or lose. It is critically important that you play better poker than the average at the table, and because of the rake, you need to be better by a margin.
But the best outcome seems to be when there is at least one really bad player at the table. One bad player can dump chips in your direction much faster than a whole table full of mediocre players. The fish come in a few different varieties:
The calling station is the player that calls many bets with a bad hand. They will often draw to bad odds, for example calling with a small pair in the face of overcards hoping to hit trips or drawing to a gutshot straight. Making money out of the calling station is a simple matter of betting when you think you're in front - this can include second pair or even ace high depending on the situation.
The weak player is always afraid of losing to a better hand. If they have a pair of kings they will worry about a pair of aces. If they have top pair, they will fear two pair. The weak player will often fail to bet/raise with the best hand, allowing free cards to drawing players. A raise (from good position) on the flop may scare them away from betting out their winning hand on the turn and river. The weak player can also be persuaded to fold a good hand sometimes. Be careful of bluffing too much however, as you will look foolish if your bluffs are called down.
The obvious player only ever bets/raises with a good hand. This allows you to fold with confidence with mediocre hands and even decent hands that you might otherwise lose money with if they turn out to be second best. When the obvious player is also a calling station, you are onto a winner all around, as they will pay your winning hands and allow your losing hands out cheaply. The obvious player will never slow play a big hand.
The loose cannon is that crazy player who bets/raises at almost every opportunity. They love to bluff, and probably think they are a terribly tricky player. If you want to challenge the loose cannon you need a decent stack, as they will sometimes actually land a good hand which could cost you a lot. Sit to the right of the loose cannon if you can. This will allow you to reraise behind them, which will get you heads up against them as much as possible. You want play a bit tighter than the loose cannon, but still pretty loose - you will want to call them down with your second pair. I find that many players seem to tighten up against the loose cannon, playing only high cards and pairs - this is great for me, as I can get heads up against a pair of random cards with a decent hand. Just watch out for when those tight players hit their hands and be prepared to fold in multi-way pots. I have seen a loose cannon turn up at a table and dump 20 times the big bet in the space of about 15 minutes - this kind of play will increase your expected winnings considerably!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
cracked the $100
Cracked the $100 mark today with a completely crazy hand. Look down to see AA smiling at me. I contemplate whether to raise or just cold call, when suddenly it is raised twice to me. I call, and see the pot capped preflop, with all five players still in the pot!
This is my lucky day, I think. I checkraise the flop of 58J rainbow (I figure they are probably too busy looking at their own cards to notice my betting pattern), three callers. I bet the turn 6, two callers. The river is another 6, and someone bets into me. I'm not too worried about trip 6s in a capped preflop, so I raise - two callers again. One player has 99, the other has 89. I thought it was a loose table, but not that loose! I rake in an unbelievable (for these limits) $12 pot.
Edit:
So I popped up to 0.50/1 limits and promptly lost $20 in about half an hour. That stings a bit. I played a few hands badly, but also generally caught a few too many second-best hands (trips outdrawn by a flush, that sort of thing). The players were noticeably less bad than at 0.25/0.50. Back down in stakes for a while.. Balance AUD$82.63.
This is my lucky day, I think. I checkraise the flop of 58J rainbow (I figure they are probably too busy looking at their own cards to notice my betting pattern), three callers. I bet the turn 6, two callers. The river is another 6, and someone bets into me. I'm not too worried about trip 6s in a capped preflop, so I raise - two callers again. One player has 99, the other has 89. I thought it was a loose table, but not that loose! I rake in an unbelievable (for these limits) $12 pot.
Edit:
So I popped up to 0.50/1 limits and promptly lost $20 in about half an hour. That stings a bit. I played a few hands badly, but also generally caught a few too many second-best hands (trips outdrawn by a flush, that sort of thing). The players were noticeably less bad than at 0.25/0.50. Back down in stakes for a while.. Balance AUD$82.63.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
NLHE Tournaments
I played a couple of no-limit tournaments yesterday, aiming to get back a feel for playing no-limit, which is such a different game to limit. There are far fewer showdowns in no-limit - you really need to get a good feel for the strength and weakness of opponent's hands and be prepared to make a move with what might be only a mediocre hand.
The first tourney was a short-handed single table Sit 'n Go for miniscule stakes. Being short handed, being prepared to steal blinds and small pots is essential, especially as the blinds get bigger. I felt like I played pretty well despite a pretty poor run of cards. I got myself heads-up as 2-1 chip leader, but lost a big chunk of stack with K6 against K9, going all-in when the king appeared on the flop. I busted out after going all-in preflop with QQ vs A3, and the turn killed me when the ace showed up.
The second tourney was a satellite for some other event. Again, I felt like I read the play reasonably well, moving at the right time to pick up some decent pots without actually hitting any great hands. In my final hand, with 6 left at the table I called a raise of 600 from the big blind (200) with K9 of diamonds. I was pretty happy when the flop came down KQ7 rainbow and bet 1000. The villain raised all-in (about 1500) - and obviously I was a bit worried about AK or KQ. The table was short though, and I figured that I probably still had the best of it I called, and the villain showed a pair of threes! Well wouldn't you know it, the turn has it in for me as a three popped up and shot my kings dead. Still, I felt happy enough with 11th place and a better feel for no-limit holdem - which I suspect will be my game in the long run.
The first tourney was a short-handed single table Sit 'n Go for miniscule stakes. Being short handed, being prepared to steal blinds and small pots is essential, especially as the blinds get bigger. I felt like I played pretty well despite a pretty poor run of cards. I got myself heads-up as 2-1 chip leader, but lost a big chunk of stack with K6 against K9, going all-in when the king appeared on the flop. I busted out after going all-in preflop with QQ vs A3, and the turn killed me when the ace showed up.
The second tourney was a satellite for some other event. Again, I felt like I read the play reasonably well, moving at the right time to pick up some decent pots without actually hitting any great hands. In my final hand, with 6 left at the table I called a raise of 600 from the big blind (200) with K9 of diamonds. I was pretty happy when the flop came down KQ7 rainbow and bet 1000. The villain raised all-in (about 1500) - and obviously I was a bit worried about AK or KQ. The table was short though, and I figured that I probably still had the best of it I called, and the villain showed a pair of threes! Well wouldn't you know it, the turn has it in for me as a three popped up and shot my kings dead. Still, I felt happy enough with 11th place and a better feel for no-limit holdem - which I suspect will be my game in the long run.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Week One results
Week one has been a a pretty solid success. The initial balance of $10 is now up around $70, including a further $10 in bonus dollars earned through play.
The first couple of days were spent treading water, and smarting from some nasty bad beats. It's never fun when your flopped trips are beaten by a runner-runner straight despite betting all the way. You just have to suck it up, and congratulate your opponent, while hanging a sign that says "FISH" around his neck.
When there was a shortage of limit tables, I played a few no-limit tables with small buyins. This was a mistake, not because of my play, but because the swings were too large for my miniscule bankroll. I switched back to 0.10/0.20, and had several solid wins on day four.
With my bankroll improved to around $30, I switched to playing 0.25/0.5 for the first time and had a monster session - turning $7 into $20 in about an half an hour. This was the result of a combination of some good fortune, and a table full of chasers who just couldn't let go
of strong preflop hands that missed, or flopped middle or bottom pair. Example: I raise with QQ on the button, SB calls with 89s; flop comes down K96 and SB check-calls all the way to showdown.
Since then, I have stayed at 0.25/0.50 and had a mix of modest to substantial wins and a couple of modest losses. I plan to move up to 0.5/1 when my bankroll reaches $100.
A note on bonuses: from what I can gather, VCpoker bonuses cash out faster than most others around the place (and certainly much faster than many other iPoker sites). Everyone at the table earns roughly 1 "action point" per 0.20 in rake, and the bonuses cash out at 60 points per dollar in bonus. At the 0.25/0.50 tables, this works out at roughly one big bet per hour which seems like a pretty decent rate.
The first couple of days were spent treading water, and smarting from some nasty bad beats. It's never fun when your flopped trips are beaten by a runner-runner straight despite betting all the way. You just have to suck it up, and congratulate your opponent, while hanging a sign that says "FISH" around his neck.
When there was a shortage of limit tables, I played a few no-limit tables with small buyins. This was a mistake, not because of my play, but because the swings were too large for my miniscule bankroll. I switched back to 0.10/0.20, and had several solid wins on day four.
With my bankroll improved to around $30, I switched to playing 0.25/0.5 for the first time and had a monster session - turning $7 into $20 in about an half an hour. This was the result of a combination of some good fortune, and a table full of chasers who just couldn't let go
of strong preflop hands that missed, or flopped middle or bottom pair. Example: I raise with QQ on the button, SB calls with 89s; flop comes down K96 and SB check-calls all the way to showdown.
Since then, I have stayed at 0.25/0.50 and had a mix of modest to substantial wins and a couple of modest losses. I plan to move up to 0.5/1 when my bankroll reaches $100.
A note on bonuses: from what I can gather, VCpoker bonuses cash out faster than most others around the place (and certainly much faster than many other iPoker sites). Everyone at the table earns roughly 1 "action point" per 0.20 in rake, and the bonuses cash out at 60 points per dollar in bonus. At the 0.25/0.50 tables, this works out at roughly one big bet per hour which seems like a pretty decent rate.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Loose or Tight?
Many poker books and websites will advise very tight play, especially before the flop.
Tight play may well be profitable, however it isn't very fun. And while I do plan to be a winning poker player, I also want to have some fun along the way. Fold, fold, fold, fold, check, fold, fold raise, fold just isn't my idea of a good time.
How tight I play will depend to some degree on the temperament of the table. My aim is to play slightly tighter than the table, but I also look for loose tables (where a high percentage of players see the flop and the pots tend to be large). Table selection is pretty easy on the iPoker network, as the lobby gives statistics on players to the flop, pot size and hands per hour. You can also see who is on each tables, and how many chips they have. Loose/weak tables with many players calling preflop tend to be lucrative.
I have gained a liking for short-handed tables (maximum six players). This is partly because you are naturally in the action more often with fewer players, but also it is easier to monitor and understand the other players. With only five opponents, you can quickly work out who are the rocks, and who are the calling stations waiting to give you their money. It is also easier to maneouvre yourself into heads-up situations against the weak players that you read well.
Tight play may well be profitable, however it isn't very fun. And while I do plan to be a winning poker player, I also want to have some fun along the way. Fold, fold, fold, fold, check, fold, fold raise, fold just isn't my idea of a good time.
How tight I play will depend to some degree on the temperament of the table. My aim is to play slightly tighter than the table, but I also look for loose tables (where a high percentage of players see the flop and the pots tend to be large). Table selection is pretty easy on the iPoker network, as the lobby gives statistics on players to the flop, pot size and hands per hour. You can also see who is on each tables, and how many chips they have. Loose/weak tables with many players calling preflop tend to be lucrative.
I have gained a liking for short-handed tables (maximum six players). This is partly because you are naturally in the action more often with fewer players, but also it is easier to monitor and understand the other players. With only five opponents, you can quickly work out who are the rocks, and who are the calling stations waiting to give you their money. It is also easier to maneouvre yourself into heads-up situations against the weak players that you read well.
Welcome
Hi, and welcome to my blog. Last week, I began playing poker online for the first time (the first time for money, at least). I want to find out if I can build a substantial bankroll in online poker without risking any of my own money. In this blog, I will chart my progress and freely discuss the strategies I employ in trying to be a winning poker player.
I am a 32 year old University academic. I have a background in mathematics, and have a pretty good understanding of probability and statistics. I have played other intellectual games such as bridge and chess with modest success. I have played small stakes home poker games before, but never in a casino or online.
My journey began at Victor Chandler Poker http://www.vcpoker.com/, where I registered and used the "FreeMoney" bonus code to obtain a free starting stake of $10, along with 25 'bonus dollars' which can be converted into real money through play. VC poker is part of the ipoker network, and is pretty active with around 5000-20000 players online at any time. Finding a table at most stakes is no problem, and the interface is pretty comfortable and easy to use.
My game (for now) is Limit Holdem. I am also attracted to no-limit and pot-limit, but the swings in those games tend to be too large for such a small starting stake. I began playing at the stakes of 0.10/0.20.
I am a 32 year old University academic. I have a background in mathematics, and have a pretty good understanding of probability and statistics. I have played other intellectual games such as bridge and chess with modest success. I have played small stakes home poker games before, but never in a casino or online.
My journey began at Victor Chandler Poker http://www.vcpoker.com/, where I registered and used the "FreeMoney" bonus code to obtain a free starting stake of $10, along with 25 'bonus dollars' which can be converted into real money through play. VC poker is part of the ipoker network, and is pretty active with around 5000-20000 players online at any time. Finding a table at most stakes is no problem, and the interface is pretty comfortable and easy to use.
My game (for now) is Limit Holdem. I am also attracted to no-limit and pot-limit, but the swings in those games tend to be too large for such a small starting stake. I began playing at the stakes of 0.10/0.20.
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