In this part, we cover the basics of poker strategy and fundamentals as well as where the money comes from in poker. Part 3: Fundamentals of Advanced Poker Theory. The goal of part three is to start bridging the gap between the fundamentals of poker and how we use that information to formulate a. If you're on top form and think you have the edge over other players at the table, maximum buy-in is the way to go. Then when your opponents start making mistakes, you can go ahead and win their whole stack. Deep stacks are better for post-flop play too, when. Advanced Poker Moves. Now when we play a big pot / big hand we always want to limit the field to protect our hand, so we want the other players to fold and only play against the short stack. By playing against less opponents, the odds of us winning the hand increases significantly. The Fundamentals of Advanced Poker Theory. The fundamentals of advanced poker theory should only be tackled after you have a firm grasp of basic theory. In fact, learning the basic fundamentals will get you halfway there and allow you to win against opponents who do not understand those fundamentals. The ultimate goal of this article is to give.
Don't Play Every Hand/Do Fold More. Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players.
Learn Play Poker
I am really glad that you found my easy to follow complete Texas Hold'em strategy guide where we will cover the basics as well as advanced concepts on how to play poker. The four-part tutorial is designed to benefit beginners, intermediate players, and even advanced players. No matter what your background, this guide will help you sharpen your skills with the end goal of making you a big winner in your chosen game.
I have been playing and teaching poker for over 10 years and know how difficult it can be to find useful information that actually leads to winning money at the game. My strength has always been in breaking down the game into simplified and easy to understand elements that optimize the speed at which anyone improves at poker. It is my belief that anyone can become an elite poker player with a bit of knowledge and hard work.
First, we need to establish the entire reason we play poker.
What Is Poker and What Is the Object of the Game?
You may be wondering why I would even bother to define something that might seem really obvious to anyone reading this guide.
The reason is that the vast majority of people who sit down at a poker game really don't understand what they are trying to accomplish or what the object of the game truly is.
- They may think it's all about making a better hand than your opponent or winning some giant pot with their monster hand.
- Others may believe that the 'secret' to winning is to know when to orchestrate a well-timed bluff or figure out your opponents' tells so that you can spot when they are bluffing.
On all accounts, everything that thinks these things is completely off base. Let's establish the object of the game and what should be at the forefront of every decision you make at the poker table. That information will allow us to hone in on a formal definition for poker.
So, what is the object of the game in poker? The object of poker is to win more money or chips than your opponents over your lifetime by consistently making better decisions than them at every possible decision point.
That's it.
So here's the formal definition of poker: Poker is a family of card games where individual players compete to see who can win the most money or chips over the long term.
Ultimately, your goal as a player should be to figure out how to win more money. In this guide, we will focus on Texas Hold'em since it is the most popular game today. However, many of the concepts we will discuss will be relevant for any variant of poker you choose to play.
The Goal of This Guide
The mission of this guide (and website) is to expedite your journey toward mastering all the simple and complex concepts of poker so that you can become the best player you can be. Unlike other poker tutorials, I am not going to spend a bunch of time telling you what hands to raise, what to 3-bet, when to c-bet, etc. Each of those topics could fill an entire book. Besides, there are hundreds of articles, books, forum posts out there that go into the minutiae of that information in depth.
Instead, my objective is to provide a solid fundamental and theoretical foundation that allows you to comprehend poker strategy in a more efficient way. Basically, I want to teach you the proper mindset and give you the fundamental knowledge that allows you to maximize your potential. Once you understand the basics of how to win money in poker, building a strategy around that core goal becomes much easier. Put another way, if you don't understand the information in my guide, learning poker would be like playing golf with a blindfold.
Who This Guide Is For
I wrote this tutorial for everyone. Whether you are new to the game, are a struggling intermediate player, or even an advanced player this guide has something for you. Beginners will benefit from obtaining all of the basic knowledge that I wish I had when I started over 10 years ago. Intermediate players will likely find a few things that they might have missed along the way. Advanced players will sharpen their skills by getting back to basics as a refresher course.
Whatever your background, this guide will help you either build or rebuild a poker game that is firmly based on sound fundamentals and theory. Once you master all of the concepts I have laid out for you, the rest all comes down to adjusting to your opponents. Your ultimate level of success in Texas Hold'em, or any other poker variant, depends on how well you adjust your strategy based on what other players are doing at the table.
What Format Will I Learn to Play?
This guide will focus on teaching you to win at Texas Hold'em cash games. Even so, the knowledge you will gain here will have relevance for any game format you choose. After all, cash games are the purest form of poker since there are no prize pools or ICM concerns to worry about. Mastering the information here will make you a beast in whatever game you choose to play. There is a reason cash game specialists are the best players in the world.
Why Should I Trust You to Teach Me Poker?
Because I actually win big at poker. I am not some famous 'poker star' or someone who travels to the World Series of Poker every year. I am just one of many poker professionals who you have never heard of that plays poker as a side hobby instead of as a career.
The best thing is that I have been grinding the stakes that everyday players, like you and me, play right now in the real world. I know how the games run from 2NL all the way up to 600NL. I can teach you how to crush those games because that's what I have been doing for years. I also am a winner in MTTs, SNGs, and even have won over 100 local live pub poker events. No matter the format, I can help you play better.
If you want a brief history of how I got started in poker, check out the about page. Or, if you prefer to see it with your own eyes, I have a ton of content on YouTube that shows me playing and talking through hands. In 2017 I completed something called the Spare Change Challenge, where I took some loose change from around the house and ran it up to $4,000 in about 70,000 hands. During that span, I also took first place in a small stakes MTT for $1,800 and had an ROI of 150%. By the way, the picture at the top of this page is one of my graphs.
What You Will Learn
For ease of navigation, I have split up the guide into 4 parts:
- Part 1: Basic Rules of Texas Hold'em Gameplay
This part is for people who are either complete beginners or need a refresher on how exactly the game is played. If you an intermediate player and already have a firm grasp of how to play Texas Hold'em, you may skip to part #2. - Part 2: Basic Poker Fundamentals & Theory
In this part, we cover the basics of poker strategy and fundamentals as well as where the money comes from in poker. - Part 3: Fundamentals of Advanced Poker Theory
The goal of part three is to start bridging the gap between the fundamentals of poker and how we use that information to formulate a winning strategy. - Part 4: Building Your Poker Strategy
Once you understand the basic fundamentals and theory, it's time to create a core 'vacuum' strategy that will serve as the foundation for all of your play. We will also discuss the mental side of poker and how to study and improve your game going forward.
Resources
We all acknowledge that poker is a game of skill, but because of the uniqueness of each situation, we can often miscalculate our own skill when self assessing. I'm sure you have seen a bad player turn his hand into a bluff with no real idea why he's betting, have it work out, then pat himself on the back for his great play because it worked out in his favor. When the circumstances are right, turning a marginal hand into a bluff can be a very effective, high-level play. However, it can also be done randomly in spots by a bad player who doesn't know what to do. Without knowing what to do, he then bets or raises as a default.
So what is the difference between the skilled player that turns his hand into a bluff and gets his opponent to make the tough laydown and the bad player that accidentally wins the pot? If you guessed 'intention,' then you are correct.
If you want a brief history of how I got started in poker, check out the about page. Or, if you prefer to see it with your own eyes, I have a ton of content on YouTube that shows me playing and talking through hands. In 2017 I completed something called the Spare Change Challenge, where I took some loose change from around the house and ran it up to $4,000 in about 70,000 hands. During that span, I also took first place in a small stakes MTT for $1,800 and had an ROI of 150%. By the way, the picture at the top of this page is one of my graphs.
What You Will Learn
For ease of navigation, I have split up the guide into 4 parts:
- Part 1: Basic Rules of Texas Hold'em Gameplay
This part is for people who are either complete beginners or need a refresher on how exactly the game is played. If you an intermediate player and already have a firm grasp of how to play Texas Hold'em, you may skip to part #2. - Part 2: Basic Poker Fundamentals & Theory
In this part, we cover the basics of poker strategy and fundamentals as well as where the money comes from in poker. - Part 3: Fundamentals of Advanced Poker Theory
The goal of part three is to start bridging the gap between the fundamentals of poker and how we use that information to formulate a winning strategy. - Part 4: Building Your Poker Strategy
Once you understand the basic fundamentals and theory, it's time to create a core 'vacuum' strategy that will serve as the foundation for all of your play. We will also discuss the mental side of poker and how to study and improve your game going forward.
Resources
We all acknowledge that poker is a game of skill, but because of the uniqueness of each situation, we can often miscalculate our own skill when self assessing. I'm sure you have seen a bad player turn his hand into a bluff with no real idea why he's betting, have it work out, then pat himself on the back for his great play because it worked out in his favor. When the circumstances are right, turning a marginal hand into a bluff can be a very effective, high-level play. However, it can also be done randomly in spots by a bad player who doesn't know what to do. Without knowing what to do, he then bets or raises as a default.
So what is the difference between the skilled player that turns his hand into a bluff and gets his opponent to make the tough laydown and the bad player that accidentally wins the pot? If you guessed 'intention,' then you are correct.
The skilled player made an assessment of his opponent's range, analyzed how he would react to aggression, and then acted in a manner to get the desired result. The bad player acted on his emotions. He wanted a certain result to be achieved, didn't know how to achieve it, and reacted according to his feelings, which can result in any number of ways.
Let's look at an example so you can see what I'm talking about:
Hero opens to $30 at a $5/$10 table with an effective stack of $1,000 holding pocket sixes in middle position. Villain calls in the cutoff. The flop is . Hero continuation bets $40, and Villain calls. The turn is a . Hero checks, and Villain checks behind. The river is a , and Hero decides to turn his hand into a bluff and bet three-quarters of the pot. In this example, Hero is putting his opponent on some type of one-pair hand no better than tens. Hero realizes it is easier to represent a broadway combo that improved than it is for Villain to do the same. So, Hero took the opportunity to bet in order to get those one-pair hands — the ones that beat his pair of sixes — to fold.
On the flipside, a bad player could actually play his hand the exact same way, but his thought process would look something like this in his head: 'I have pocket sixes. That's a pair, so I raise.' The flop is . 'I don't think he caught any of that. I'll bet $40.' The opponent calls. The turn is a . 'That's another overcard. There are so many hands that beat me now. I'll check.' The opponent checks. The river is a . 'He checked, so I can win if I bet. I'll bet $110.' The opponent folds. 'I did it!'
How To Play Poker For Beginners Pdf
As you see in this example, there were a few flaws in the bad player's thought processes, but it did not hurt him in this hand. The over card queen on the turn was not a scare card because it hits very little of his opponent's range. He also did not think through what his opponent's range on the river was. He just simply reacted to his opponent checking back on the turn. Had the opponent bet the queen against the bad player, he would've been able to win the pot (especially if he was willing to follow up his aggression with another bet on the river) even though his line represents only a small range in reality.
Now, let's take a look at an example that shows how these leaks could cost money.
Hero opens to $30 at $5/$10 with an effective stack of $1,000 holding pocket threes from middle position. Villain calls from the cutoff. The flop comes . Hero continuation bets $40. Villain calls. The turn is an . Hero checks, and Villain checks. The river is a . Hero checks, and Villain checks. Villain shows pocket fives and beats us.
For the bad player, his thought process is as follows: 'I have pocket threes. That's a pair. I raise.' The flop comes is . 'I don't think he caught any of that. I'll bet $40.' The opponent calls. The turn is an . Now stop the tape.
From here, I have seen this play out two different ways. Either the bad player bets the turn because they think, 'I still don't think he has any of that, and I want to find out where I'm at.' And then the bad player will check the river when they realize they're probably beat. Or instead, the bad player will check the turn, and if the opponent checks behind, the bad player will bet the river. The reasoning for this river bet will be similar to the reasoning in the first example. The bad player is unable to see the differences in board textures, which affects the opponent's range in this situation. As you can see, either way the bad player is going to lose an extra street of value because of these flawed thought processes being exposed.
Everyone has tendencies similar to the 'bad player' I've talked about, and I made these examples extreme to highlight my point. Sometimes you can get away with flawed thought processes, but over time, it will cost you money. Make sure that when you are self assessing, you do not place too much stock in the end result. Remember, poker is a game for the long run, and making the correct decisions over time will turn you into a profitable player. Being results oriented in the short term will do the opposite.
David Randall is an instructor for Pocket Fives Training and has shot over 100 hours of instructional video and coached over 120 students privately. His most recent project is called 3D Poker Training, which is centered around hosting poker camps in Europe alongside, Sorel Mizzi. The next camp begins October 1st in London. The 3D Poker Training method teaches players to develop adaptive thinking using interactive questions and examples from actual hands students have played. If you are interested in learning from Randall, you can contact him via 3D Poker Training's Facebook page or at the 3D Poker Training website.
Tags
david randallPoker StrategyRelated Players
David Randall
