Movies, television shows and blogs may tell you that the difference between a good poker player and a great poker player is confidence. Many would have us believe that bravado is all you need to win hands, that Chris Moneymaker just imposed his will on Sammy Farha in that epic WSOP final.
Whilst elements of that may ring true, it doesn’t tell the full story. The best poker players – the ones that win more than they lose – beat their opponents through strategy, mental arithmetic and practice.
Chris Moneymaker may well have beaten Sammy Farha in that famous hand because of confidence, but he had laid the foundations for that bluff way before the final hand. He had identified a strategy to suit his game, implemented it rigorously and then reaped the rewards.
If you ever want to be considered a successful player, you need to find your favourite poker and put it to use.
Chris Moneymaker’s win in this clip wasn’t a result of luck or chance, rather it was the culmination of a painstakingly long strategy
Strategy One: Basic Maths
Probability is a theory that often confuses people, and if you’re one of those people you should not be playing poker until you understand basic probability. Probability confuses people because it is often spoken of incorrectly either colloquially or in the media.
Probability is a theory that often confuses people, and if you’re one of those people you should not be playing poker until you understand basic probability. Probability confuses people because it is often spoken of incorrectly either colloquially or in the media.
The best way to approach probabilities in poker is to work in fractions, rather than multiplying odds to end up with percentages. For example, there is a 4 in 52 probability of you being dealt a King from a full deck of cards.
That number significantly decreases as more and more cards are dealt to you and your opponents. Keeping these fractional chances in mind as you play is a fundamental tactic in ensuring you make an informed decision when it comes to your turn.
It also makes it easier for you to identify whether or not you have been dealt a good hand. For instance if you were dealt a pocket pair of Kings, you would probably recognise that as a good hand, but if you did a simple bit of maths you would KNOW it was a great hand.
Probability tells us that on average you should expect to be dealt that exact hand once in every 221 hands. Probability also allows you to calculate your chances of victory or defeat once the first hand has been dealt.
Once you have been dealt your hand, work out how many possible cards could give you a strong hand of the remaining cards to be dealt. Then work out the cards that could ‘kill’ your hand and with a simple bit of mental arithmetic you can calculate your percentage chances of winning.
It may sound confusing or difficult, but it really isn’t. Practice it the next time you play or even play a no-cash game with your friends until you get to grips with it.
Watch this video to better understand the probability of a deck of cards
Strategy Two: Bluff Consistently
The biggest mistake that new poker players make is bluffing emotionally or sporadically. For many, bluffing is ultimately the last resort or a way to spice up a game that they long lost interest in.
For experienced poker players, these plays are easy to spot and represent a golden opportunity to make easy money. Remember, if you’re bluffing, you’re doing it for a reason and you’re thinking of the long-term.
The best way to pull-off successful bluffs is to play conservatively, only raising or playing until the end when you know that you have a good chance of winning. Relatively quickly, the other players around the table will identify you as someone who only goes after a safe bet.
When you raise the stakes they will instinctively question their own hand, assuming that you must have something better. Once this impression has been cultivated you can use it to your benefit, raising on weak hands and bullying your opponents into folding great hands.
Only do this however when you know there’s an element of doubt to your opponent’s hand, when there are at least one or two different hands that they could lose to. Don’t try and bully a player that has an unbeatable hand, you’ll lose and your bluffing game will be exposed.
Strategy Three: Know Your Position
Positioning is key in poker and is often underestimated by new players. The dealer, or ‘button’ is normally the last player to act in a betting round, a move that was originally designed to stop players tactically folding and sitting at a table to the bitter end without ever really playing.
An added bonus of this rule is that when it’s your turn to bet last as dealer/button, you will have had extra time to analyse the cards and can make your bets or actions based on those of the other players who have gone before you.
When you are one of the last players to bet it is usually a good idea to play more hands, as you can be reactive to the actions of other players. You will also be the last to fold as well, meaning if other players lose their nerve you can effectively win the hand by technical knockout.
It’s not a glamorous strategy but it’s essential to keeping your bankroll within your reach for longer and outlasting other, inexperienced players.
