Low Bet Poker Strategy!

Sitting with a few poker buddies and drinking cocktails one night at my apartment, a discussion came up on the proper ways for how to apply low ball or low bet poker strategy. First of all, let me give you the definition of low bet poker strategy: essentially, low ball poker involves playing a wider range of starting hands more aggressively, but only using small bets and raises to save you from losing too much money when certain plays do not work out. And of course, when you play low ball poker correctly, in the long run the amount you win from opponents when they call you down with sub standard hands should outweigh the amount you lose from making consistent raises and bets without a strong hand. This is a reason why it is important to make small raises and bets instead of large, stronger bets, giving you good bet ratio-odds later in the hand.

There were many different versions or opinions that came out of the discussion that were interesting. First I explained; this type of style would create a loose table image that you in turn could use to exploit extra chips from players that you usually would not be able to win. With this table image, you have created two things, your opponents are now guessing hand strengths and they are calling more often with weaker sub standard hands than they normally do. Now for the big kicker or big daddy of them all, when you do hold a large or big hand, it’s time to get paid off. Players have now made a big crucial mistake and put you in a category of being an over aggressive loose player and you can collect big time. They now call you down with mediocre hands because they do not give you credit for holding a strong hand. Sounds like gravy does it not! HAHA!

When applying this strategy you have to keep bets to minimum, raising bet should be about 2 to 2-1/2 times the big blind. This gives you mobility and option to escape from a hand very easy when your competition is making a play back at you (re-raising or moving all-in). Position in this strategy is also a strong potential factor as it usually is anyways; it is not going to be an effective style of playing if you are raising 2.5BB from any early position on a regular basis. The chances are that you are going to get multi-callers and be out of position in a pot with a hand that is probably marginal. Save yourself some grief and make those bets closer to the button and against a small field of players.

The turning point for making this work is playing good post flop poker as you are entering twice as many pots that you would normally do and also letting opponents in at a cheap rate on top it. It is going to be far easier to outplay your opponents if there are less of them in the hand and if you have position, so keep this in mind. Although we are raising with less than premium hands, it does not necessarily mean that we’re trying to take down the blinds alone on every hand. There is a high chance that we are going to get a caller because our raises are relatively small, and so we are going to need a hand that we can work with after the flop. This means to play hands for example: 5-7suited, 8-10, A-7 and so on, so many of them to mention. But the opportunity to flop potential hands as top pair, a pair of aces, straight or flush makes it a much more valuable play.

(Image courtesy of Bayne’s Poker Blog)

Low bet poker strategy is going to be most effective in situations where the blinds are small relative to the size of the stacks. So early tournament play is a perfect time to go for it. Toward the end of tournaments the blinds will usually be too large in relation to the size of players stack to play low bet poker strategy. Do not over do it, the last thing you want to be doing in a tournament is committing a 20% or more of your stack into a pot with a marginal hand before the flop.

Remember a few good tips from this discussion, play as many hands in position as you can, play a good post-flop game, use good starting hand selection and when playing weaker starting hands, play hands that have drawing potential. I have found that low bet poker strategy is one of the coolest strategies I have used under specific circumstances.

Beating Poker Table Bullies

You've known bullies your entire life, right up from childhood. Bullies are highly eccentric individuals with very peculiar interests like flushing your head down the toilet or flicking paper balls drenched with saliva. Bullies are fascinated with the concept of wet willies and harass innocent victims as a hobby, and as much as they are a part of your everyday society, it is probably best to avoid them.

A bully on a poker table though, is another story.

Remember that boxer avatar on FTP? I have seen most bullies pick that avatar on that card room. Poker bullies thrive by displaying aggression and harvesting everyone's pot money. They are not your typical player and everything about them is obnoxious and appalling. With poker bullies on a poker table, winning will not be your top priority. Being able to grab your poker chips and fling them at their faces like a spinning shuriken is enough to make you feel incredibly triumphant. Unfortunately, not all people are born cowards, so if you are one of those fearless people then listen up. Here are several tips to beating poker table bullies by using what these obnoxious personalities do not use most of the times: their brains.

A poker bully's mission is to make you fold. His entire being revolves around making you give up, that he likes to call all-in all the time even if he holds a hideous hand of cards. Poker table bullies love fighting weak players who aren't gutsy enough to fight and put some money into the pot. They also enjoy playing poker with tight-aggressive poker players who won't fight without having the perfect set of cards.

In order to bring this bully back to the bully-jungle where he belongs, you should be using a different tack than his to beat him at his own game. It would be too tempting to give him a taste of his own medicine but instead, do what he is NOT doing. Beating poker table bullies require slowplaying. The bully will be counting on you to raise the stakes so you could beat him. He will constantly taunt you to bet so that he can win and make things worse for you. Haven’t all of us had that idiotic chat aggression and slights?

This bully will take advantage of you by tricking you, intimidating you, confusing you and check-raising you. His ultimate goal in life is to abuse your blinds so that you are left with nothing, and he is left with everything. Poker bullies are foreseeable elements that you shouldn't trifle with. They are formidable opponents despite their seemingly mindless nature. Remember, even airhead players may occasionally have a good hand, and they may not be bluffing. Try your hardest to learn the language of the bully species. Analyze his body movements and try to see if he's bluffing or not. Be aware, that some bullies are actually gifted with an intellect. Players who are bullies as part of their own game plans are the players you should watch out for. Intellectual poker bullies are demi-gods who are born to make mortal players suffer. Idiot bullies, on the other hand, are just simple minded annoying guys. You can analyze their game and you can be perfectly fine. Try it.
  
I think beating poker table bullies is easier if you sit on their left side. This way, you can play your hand first and save yourself from maximum bully exposure. It is incredibly difficult to concentrate on your hand, but try to do so. The bully wants you to waste all your focus on HIM and not your cards. Psychologically trick this nitwit by always doing opposite of what he expects you to do. The bully wants you to lose your concentration and make bad calls. Stun the poker bully by showing intense focus and determination. You can win just by focusing on yourself. Never be afraid of poker bullies, and if you are, it’s better not to show it. Poker table bullies are counting on your fear to take you down. This is part of their strategy and the last that you should do is to help them implement it.

Trample over these poker bullies by showing them how much of a bully you are too. A poker table is too small for two bullies. Unfortunately for them there's only one space left - and that space is for you. TAKE IT!

Bubble Play In Poker Tournaments

Girls night out was a ball, all four of us decided to meet in a small Cantonese restaurant down the street from my apartment, which we do every alternate week at the least when I am in Hong Kong. The food there is outrageously delicious and the service is to die for. The tables are well spaced out with an elegant look, and the service is unreal, your glasses are filled to the brim without you even ordering or noticing, just the way I like it – these are manic Friday nights :D !!

After the food was consumed, and fortified with a few large glasses of wine, we decided that we would call for a cab to take us to the nearest poker room. The girls were ready for some competition, as being all poker players we decided to make a last longer bet between each other. For those who do not know what that is, it is a single bet between each of us in who would get knocked out first in a tournament and so on.

The tournament was a small buy-in tournament but had a good structure where you started with a good amount of chips and the blinds went up quite slowly. I thought I would have an advantage at this point :) I could wait around for the right time before making a move and time was money to us as we had these small side bets.

After a few hours of play there were three of us left in the tournament, so I already made one side bet from the player knocked out (Mai Ling). It was getting close to the bubble (one spot away from the money) and then I changed my strategy. As the first money places start approaching, players tend to tighten up their play considerably; desperate to get some return for the numerous hours they have already invested in a tournament. Although this feels the right strategy at the time, the fact that so much of the prize pool is given to the top five places means that this is the time you should actually be playing a much looser game, desperately trying to accumulate chips to enable you to make the final five.

My strategy was completely different than one of the other girls (Jane) with the same amount of chips stack as me; the bubble play is a general psychological one. Although usually the bubble makes players tighten up, this is not always the case. Her table did not notice the bubble was there and their play did not change. It is critical that you try and identify not only the psychological state of the players around you, but also the general mood of the table.

The third girl (Roxanne), had a very short stack, she basically had three bullets left (3 times the BB amount). Her strategy was totally different than Jane or mine. She wanted to get in to the cash by waiting for a good hand in position to do so. She posted her BB and found she had a Q-3 off suite and the pot was double raised so she folded, With this play she gained time to live another day (or round) and with doing this, she made the money also.

At the end of the day, three out of four of us made money one-way or the other. All of us had different situations to deal with and we made adjustments as play went on. THIS is good play on a wild Friday night out with the girls.