Lately, we have been writing a few articles explicitly for new players. The reason is pretty simple: as a popular online poker room, Juicy Stakes Poker gets a lot of new players all the time. Some of these new players are completely new to the online poker milieu which is very different than the atmosphere at a friendly poker game on a Friday night.
Still, in the interest of “fair play” this article will explore a few areas for advanced players. Beginners will benefit from the discussion, of course, but the intended audience is the large group of advanced players who are self-aware enough to know that they still have much to learn about playing poker.
All poker players want to get better. So, we wish to look at advanced areas of poker strategy and play that can help players who have already reached an elevated level in poker to rise even further.
Reading Opponents Who You Cannot See Is an Art Form
In poker, players need to observe others as much as they observe themselves. When we observe ourselves, we often worry about how people will see us. Do we look okay? Prospective employees at an interview may be obsessed with how they appear to others.
What Can Opponents See if I am Too Self-absorbed?
In poker, if you concentrate on yourself too much, players will start to detect patterns in your play. There are ways we play that can be a tell in online poker that are not necessarily tells in land-based poker. Our opponents in advanced poker will look at how we bet in every position.
Early Position Patterns are Just a Start
Most new poker players think about how they play and how others play in early position. For an advanced player, this level of observation is not enough. They look at an opponent’s actions in every position.
Really good players can make these observations as naturally as they observe other cars and pedestrians when they drive. For them, close observation has become second nature.
You have to get out of yourself and concentrate on observing the other players.
Most Players Have Observable Betting Patterns
We all know that you should fold at least 70% of all hands in early position. That means that some of the 30% of hands a first bettor bets are a bluff while a certain percentage represents a reasonably good hand.
As you get higher and higher in poker, you will notice that some players will open with suited and connected cards even if they are low cards. You never know when a flush or a straight flush will come.
Even great players have tells that are easy to read. As great as Phil Helmuth is, there are times when his hand is practically exposed for all to see. When he says on a YouTube video, “this is so sick”, you know that he has a borderline calling hand. This statement is not a bluff. He really means that the hand is “sick” in that he really doesn’t know what to do.
Poker is Risk
As a risky endeavor, poker requires excellent risk management. We are all aware of how a business may have succeeded or failed based in its ability at risk management. Kmart overtook Sears as the top retailer in the US and created a giant retailing company when the two merged. But poor risk management led to Kmart’s demise and it was overtaken by Walmart.
Sam Walton made a prescient risk management decision when he started Walmart. He had lost a lease on his previous retail store so he decided that he would never rent a storefront again!
What is Risk Management Like in Poker?
You need discipline in making decisions. You need to evaluate so many factors before calling, raising, or folding. Discipline is something that people rebel against as kids. Rebellion against discipline is engrained in our psyches. But discipline in decision-making in poker reigns supreme.
Risk management also requires playing at the right stakes level for your skill and bankroll. You may have the skill to move up to a higher stakes level but if you don’t have the bankroll for that move, risk management demands that you stay put at lower stakes.
Risk management also requires that you learn poker math. The first element in poker math that you need to learn in order to be able to manage risk correctly is pot odds. This is not so very difficult to learn. Pot odds are a mathematical description of risk in a hand so they are an intrinsic part of good risk management.
Patience is the Greatest Virtue in Poker
We spoke about discipline. Patience is a first cousin to discipline. An impatient player will bet at times even if he or she knows that it is an undisciplined decision.
We might say that patience is at the top of the pyramid of disciplined actions. In poker, patience wanes when a player gets poor hand after poor hand. When you get poor hand after poor hand ─ this is not an if question; it is a when question ─ you need to draw upon all the patience you can muster to stay the course.
Play Positionally
This is really a ho-hum point since it is one of the first lessons a new poker player is taught. But even experienced players will succumb to the temptation to bet a hand that he or she should fold. Positional play is one of the many aspects of patience and discipline and it may very well be the most important.
Poker Players Need Great Personal Skills to Become Great Players
Here we are mainly talking about emotional stability. Everything we have said earlier stems from good emotional stability. Discipline, patience, and sound positional play are all factors of mature emotional stability.
To a certain degree, emotional stability in poker is the ability to shrug your shoulders at bad luck, especially at bad beats. This usually boils down to: to tilt or not to tilt, that is the question. Staying calm in the face of very bad luck is a sign of poker maturity, even poker prowess. Very few players can be as good as Phil Helmuth and still tilt a whirl as he does so often.
Juicy Stakes Offers Poker for Every Player
We have poker at many stakes levels. We also run several different types of poker so everyone can play a game that suits them.
