Do's & Dont's: Insight in your Pokergame

[The Stranger]

How do you play poker?

I never give something away. But always roll the dice (ball).

[seireikhaan]

Poker eh?

Do: Drink- it makes things a heck of a lot more fun.

Don't: Drink- you'll lose a heck of a lot more often.

[Yoyoma1910]

Watch your twitches.

[Megas Methuselah]

Don't sweat, and don't wink. Don't swallow air when your mouth is cotton-dry.

And don't lose to a blonde girl. You'll never hear the end of it.

[Beefy187]

This is Texas Hold'em

Do:

-At least look at all the card before you fold
-Lets not bet too much when you got bad hands unless you decided to bluff
-When you got good hand, dont bet ridiculously high. They will all fold
-Loose a few, make them rich, make them generous then bash the hell out of them
-When your winning, quit

Dont's

-Dont bet all your money and fold. Have a go if you did bet.
-Dont keep playing if you starts to lose on late game

[Jolt]

Normally something I do (Worked 75% of the time), when you're the last to bet, and every other guy has passed, raise your game high enough (Makes you look like you have a high pair). Some may follow, while other potential winners will fold. After more cards are dealt, raise ludicrously and most of the times (at least for me), all of them will fold (I even managed to fold Straights with my High Cards).

[Thermal]

i play poker, but not 4 money lolz


(or anything )

[Ashen]

Dont: Only bet when you have a good hand and fold on poor ones (a lá my housemate)

[The Stranger]

don't play 7&3
do play 9&10 when same colour

when bluffing going all in is a good move, but be wary of the cards, if there is a high chance someone can beat you and he has the cards, ur screwed.

if everybody checks, and you raise, the rest will likely fold, unless one player has very good cards and calls you (his check was a decoy for the next round), so dont raise too high when you do it.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Do: play cautious at first and don't bet too many chips. Then after you've played for 45 minutes or so and a couple people have been already knocked out, start going all in on weak hands. Do this until you go bust then go do something that's more entertaining.

Don't: Go out before everyone else because then you just have to sit around. Also, don't bet big against someone you don't like when you're trying to bust out.

edit: Beware, sometimes you'll get really lucky going all in and will be stuck playing poker for HOURS.

[Yoyoma1910]

Anyone here ever play Bourré?


It was very popular here when I was a kid. It gets some crazy giant pots.

[Dutch_guy]

Don't check raise rivers and don't bluff bad players ever.

[drone]

Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.

Wise words.

[Ramses II CP]

Most importantly, rule 0: Don't tell a bunch of people how you play poker...

(This is mostly Texas Hold'em and similar styles, Omaha high/low, stud games, and etc. take a different mindset IMHO)

1. Fold most of your hands. Everyone wants to get in the game and take risks, but it takes more skill to make the 'grinder' style of player, where you're in almost every hand, pay off than to establish yourself and play one in every five to seven hands. When to break this rule: Personally I play the first hand I'm dealt every single time I sit down at a table. This is generally a sucker move, especially if you put over 10% of your stake in, but it will get you plenty of action from the people at the table who are paying attention. I find it helps me identify who is serious and maybe draw in some of the big fish around the table if I can get a good hand in the next few rounds.

2. If you're going to be checking your hole cards in big hands, check them in little hands too. In fact if you can't remember for sure what suit your cards are just get in the habit of checking them after every round of betting, otherwise you're going to check them when there's a possible flush on the table and surrender an obvious tell.

3. Don't think about your cards. You know what your cards are. Thinking about them is just going to make you give up tells. Think about your opponent's cards and your opponent's strategy. Think about the last hand you saw him in and the last hand he won. Remember what the biggest bet he's made so far is, in terms of a percentage of his stake. If you're going to make a move make it bigger than that number, and if he's already pushed in more than that, fold before you're pot committed.

4. Many, many people end up beating themselves. They win a decent pot, or lose a chunk, and start charging in like luck has suddenly come to their side. Don't be that guy. Play a nice, even game and make your moves on your cards or your reads, not on what happened in the last hand. None of that money is yours until you've left the table, so don't start jumping up and down or betting crazy just because you're up.

5. Keep your head clear. Don't drink, not even too much coffee or soda, don't let yourself get too tired, and every once in awhile stand up and walk around. Your brain needs more than just poker to stay active unless you're one of the truly great players. When you're done playing be gracious whether you're up or down and shake hands with everyone, you never know what the situation will be the next time you play them.

Some of the basics, all just IMHO of course.

[The Stranger]

good advice ramses :)

[naut]

Shuffle the cards, and start playing a man's game. Like Three Card Brag.

[The Stranger]

thank you guys, I just won 210 euros in the casino with poker :D

[CountArach]

And don't lose to a blonde girl. You'll never hear the end of it.

Been there, done that. Worse yet she hadn't played poker before...

[KukriKhan]

Don't - try to fill an inside straight.

Do - fold aces and eights.

[Strike For The South]

Drink whiskey

[The Stranger]

Don't - try to fill an inside straight.

Do - fold aces and eights.

aces and tens were my lucky combo tonight, it got me 2 full houses which won me 200 bucks.

[Jolt]

thank you guys, I just won 210 euros in the casino with poker :D

Where's my cut?? D:

[The Stranger]

meh your tactic wouldnt have worked, i was playing with some really agressive players, they would almost never fold. besides it was texas hold em limit. so ludicrously high raises werent possible. you needed some really good cards, i might only have one 6 hands in the entire evening (3 hours of poker) but I won some big hands. 2 full houses and a flush. some guy went in for lots of money, thinking his street would be enough, he had a high street. but I had full house 10's and aces.

[Jolt]

meh your tactic wouldnt have worked, i was playing with some really agressive players, they would almost never fold. besides it was texas hold em limit. so ludicrously high raises werent possible. you needed some really good cards, i might only have one 6 hands in the entire evening (3 hours of poker) but I won some big hands. 2 full houses and a flush. some guy went in for lots of money, thinking his street would be enough, he had a high street. but I had full house 10's and aces.

Meh, your just jealous of my obvious superior poker skills! Not.

[KukriKhan]

aces and tens were my lucky combo tonight, it got me 2 full houses which won me 200 bucks.

Aces and tens is always a keeper. Congrats, man. Aces and Eights, tho' statistically a fine hand, has some superstition attached.

[Dutch_guy]

By the way, now that we're on the subject of poker. Does anyone here play online ?

[The Stranger]

im thinking about it... but it takes too much time and downloading and all that stuff..

[The Stranger]

Aces and tens is always a keeper. Congrats, man. Aces and Eights, tho' statistically a fine hand, has some superstition attached.

thanx :)

[Ramses II CP]

I'm always wary of playing with strangers online. It's very hard to find a nice, even game online. If the game has no stakes then it's pointless and people play crazy, which will teach you bad habits even if you try very hard to play with discipline. If the stakes are low then you'll have trouble weeding out the crazy players, to whom the money means nothing, from the tactically aggressive players, and some people will be so super cautious that you just can't get a read on them at all (Which, for me, usually forces me to muck mid-range hands more than I like).

If the game has high stakes you can never be sure that the betting patterns are honest. No matter how good the validation system anyone with enough time can game it and put themselves in more than one position at the table. I'm sure I don't need to point out the advantages of that. Give me two, or even better three, positions at a table and I'll pull far more of the marginal pots for myself just by keeping an extra man in past the flop. Give me two positions at a table where the players don't change for 30 minutes or more and... they can just give me their money and go.

In short, IMHO, you need to be really careful who you play with online and what you're willing to risk. If you really want to play online I strongly recommend a tournament style game, with set stakes and distributed payouts at the top rather than a free/sit-in style of game where someone can catch lucky once and just walk away.



P.S. I'm really not a very good poker player, but I've played with some good poker players and I like to think I've learned enough from them not to lose my shirt immediately.