http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/interface/feed.png http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php Copyright 2008, Walter F. Cavanagh Walter F. Cavanagh en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.6.1 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060403-175336 videos on Texas Holdem Poker.

Is there a science to luck? Professional gamblers and stock market mavens have tried to chase it and there have been some spectacular wins in cracking the code to lady luck, like the guys behind Breaking Vegas. Discovery's own Daily Planet took a week-long peek behind the scenes in the gambling capital of the world during Casino Week, check out the clips.]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry060403-175336 Walter F. Cavanagh Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:53:35 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=06&m=04&entry=entry060403-175336 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060108-111406 Holdem Strategy Charts

]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry060108-111406 Walter F. Cavanagh Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:14:06 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=06&m=01&entry=entry060108-111406 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051223-122921 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051223-122921 Walter F. Cavanagh Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:29:21 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051223-122921 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051215-120541 strategy card which you are going to learn to use has a strategy that is based on you being a T/A player at a normal table. However, table variation may warrant slight changes to this strategy. BEWARE!! Adjusting strategy away from this card can come at quite a risk. Do not adjust your strategy lightly.

After having said this, there are some situations where you may want to make slight adjustments.

PLAYERS STRATEGY ADJUSTMENT
Loose: Tighten up and play slightly better pocket cards than usual.
Tight: Loosen up and play some marginally decent pocket cards
Passive: Raise more on the pre-flop and on the flop when the bet size is smaller in order to have more potential opponents fold.
Aggressive: Play only premium cards and play them aggressively. Be a calling station unless you are 90% certain you are beat and your opponent is not likely to fold.

These suggestions are consistent with what you should do when the table is also loose, tight, passive or aggressive. ]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051215-120541 Walter F. Cavanagh Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:05:41 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051215-120541 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051212-182646
After you have selected your table, whether loose or tight, then you should consider your seating choice. My suggestion is to first look at the sizes of the table stakes in front of each player. Since money tends to flow to the left, (this concept will be discussed later) sitting on the left of a big stake is often helpful. I believe you should sit to the close left of maniacs and T/A players. This allows you to make decisions after they have bet. I do not like to make bets in front of them, since I may be trapped with an average holding when they raise.

You can improve your sitting by simply informing the casino dealer that you wish a particular seat, when it becomes available. They have no problem with this request and you will then have preference over new players entering the game. The casino dealer will, also, offer any open seat when a player leaves first to the existing players. But, if you have not asked for it in advance, you might not speak up in time before another existing player grabs it.

If you notice that there are two or three excellent players at the table, this does not mean you are necessarily at a disadvantage. What you need to offset this are two or three bad players. Simply confront the bad players more often than the good players. ]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051212-182646 Walter F. Cavanagh Tue, 13 Dec 2005 01:26:46 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051212-182646 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051204-064022
]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051204-064022 Walter F. Cavanagh Sun, 04 Dec 2005 13:40:22 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051204-064022 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051203-084607 Loose vs. Tight

In my book "10 Steps to Winning Texas Hold'em", I consider a player to be loose when he seldom folds before the flop and a tight player to be one who seldom participates pre-flop unless he has a premium holding.
Passive vs. Aggressive

My book considers a player to be passive when they seem to muck fairly frequently when faced with aggressive betting or do not seem to raise when raising would seem to be warranted. An aggressive player would be one who raises a lot whenever he decides to participate in a hand, almost regardless of his hand quality.
Player Typing

For our purposes, we are going to group players into one of five categories.

Loose/passive (L/P): This category would be where a player regularly pays to see the flop in the hopes of improving, even with mediocre pocket cards. Thus, given this term because they are “loose” with their pre-flop betting. However, when faced with a raise or raises on any subsequent betting round, they seem to fold too often, given the quality of their hand. The suggested strategy here would be to aggressively bet against him both on the pre-flop and on the flop when bets are small in an attempt to have him fold. If he does not fold, you may be wise to be worried.

Loose/aggressive (L/A): These, also, are players who regularly pay to see the flop in the hopes of improving even with the lower success pocket cards. Upon even the mildest of improvement they will bet aggressively hoping to reduce the player field so that they can steal the pot. They often may bet/bluff on the turn and river continuing to hope for others to fold. The strategic plan against these players is to play premium hands against them and to not be intimidated. Later, we define a “calling station” and if you become one of these, it will slow down L/A players from taking you on.

Tight/passive (T/P): These players prefer to enter pre-flop betting only when they have top pocket cards. Thus given the name of being “tight” with their entry betting. When they do enter, they seem to back off in the face of aggressive betting during any subsequent betting rounds. A tight player is to be treated with respect for his pocket cards. You may wish to bet aggressively against a T/P on the flop to see if they muck (when they have not improved their hand by very much) or stay in (they don’t raise a lot) meaning they have good confidence in their holding – a sign that you may want to consider mucking. A T/P player betting aggressively is a fearsome thing and should be treated with a lot of respect.

Tight-aggressive: These players also only enter pre-flop play, to see the flop, whenever they have a very good pocket holding. When they do decide to enter, they bet aggressively. First, to clear the field of those who have weak cards and may have liked to stay in and get a lucky draw and secondly, to maximize the pot size, since they have a good chance of winning. T/A players are probably the most successful of all types. Think about it! – They wait for good hands before entering and create large pots to win. You would do well to be a T/A player. In any case, all other things being equal give the T/A player a lot of respect and make sure you also have a premium holding to take them on.

Maniac: This is a player who seems to be in every hand (loose) and bets extremely aggressively. He is very intimidating and seems to have the cards whenever you do call him later in the betting. If you raise, he raises back at you. A maniac is a formidable and unpredictable foe. Take him on when you have a premium hand and don’t be intimidated. Raise right back at him. If he feels you are serious, he will usually back off. A check/raise (see glossary) will often cool his heels against you in future hands. (You should want to be on the left of the maniac. If you are on the left you can pick and choose when you want to take him on. If you are on the right, he gets to decide when to harass you with his betting.) ]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051203-084607 Walter F. Cavanagh Sat, 03 Dec 2005 15:46:07 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051203-084607 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051202-123813 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051202-123813 Walter F. Cavanagh Fri, 02 Dec 2005 19:38:12 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051202-123813 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051201-114719
It is customary to tip the dealer when you win a pot. By watching the other players you can figure out the tipping etiquette. In limit games of $1/$2 or lower a usual tip would be 50 cents and for larger limit games one dollar is reasonable. In very large pots or very large limit games the expectation might be a couple of dollars.]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051201-114719 Walter F. Cavanagh Thu, 01 Dec 2005 18:47:19 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=12&entry=entry051201-114719 http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry051129-150006
The next player to the left must then choose his options. If the first bettor has checked, then he may check. If there was a bet of $1, he must match it (“call”) or he can raise it two bets to $2 or he can fold his cards. This continues until all participating players stop raising and have all called the bets. The 4 bet cap continues to apply throughout the hand.

After the flop betting is completed, the casino dealer places a fourth card, face up with the flop cards. This is called the “turn” card or “fourth street”. Then another round of betting starts with the first active player to the left of the button. It is the same routine as the betting in the other rounds except that the bets are now doubled to $2 (twice the size of the BB.) The four bet “cap” is still the maximum allowable.

After the betting is completed a fifth card is placed face up with the other four. This is called the “river” card or “fifth street.”

The river betting is the same routine as the others, with $2 bets. Players may check, call, fold or raise. Upon betting completion, the cards are shown. The highest hand wins and all ten players plus the casino dealer may help identify the best hand even if it wasn’t called by the player. In other words, the cards “speak for themselves.”

The last raiser shows his pocket cards first. The next player to his left then shows his cards or mucks them so that he loses but doesn’t have to show anyone what he was holding. If there is only one bettor on the river and all others drop out, this person wins and does not have to expose his pocket cards.

*If the SB folded, pre-flop, the betting begins with the first player to the left of the button who is still active in the game.]]> http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/?entry=entry051129-150006 Walter F. Cavanagh Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:00:06 GMT http://www.holdemstrategycharts.com/blog/comments.php?y=05&m=11&entry=entry051129-150006