PokerStars strategy. Poker strategy and tactics

01.05.2022

What can you do if you constantly lose at online poker? The good thing is that you know about this situation and want to fix it. Many players are delusional about their results, refusing to admit that they are constantly losing.

Everyone has their own reasons for playing online poker, and making money is not necessarily the most important one. Poker is an exciting game: if you can afford to lose money while still enjoying the game, then it's okay. There are many pleasures in the world where we do not receive any financial return. But since you are reading this article, most likely you want to know how to win money in poker.

Want to stop losing?

Everything is simple. To do this, you must change! The only way to solve the problem is to change. There is a so-called “change formula” that illustrates all this well:

H x O x P > C,

where N is your dissatisfaction with the situation, O is the mental image of the desired results, P is the first steps towards the realization of this image, and C is your resistance.

Let's explain what this means. There are 4 elements here.

H is dissatisfaction. If you are not dissatisfied enough with the state of affairs, then nothing will happen.

O- mental image: you must clearly imagine what results in online poker you want to achieve in a specific period. Where do you want to be in six months? You can create an image related to the profitability of your poker game. For example, set the following goal: start playing with profit in 3 or 6 months.

P These are the first steps towards change, which we will discuss below.

But first of all, you need to overcome one obstacle: in this formula it is under the letter FROM. How strong is your resistance to change? Do you have deeply ingrained habits, or are you flexible by nature? This will make the process of change either easier or harder.

Poker wins or the first step to losing less.

The first steps towards where you want to be in six months depends on your specific circumstances. What are the most common reasons for losing in online poker? Here is a list of typical "suspects":

Alcohol: you are not playing sober.
Diffusion of attention: while playing you get distracted by something else.
Thirst for sensations: you play mainly for fun and for the thrill of the experience.
Emotions: you give yourself to the power of emotions.
Discipline: don't stick to the plan.
Wealth: you are not worried about losing money.

All items on this list are fixable except item 6. If you are wealthy, it will be very difficult for you to become a successful poker player, because losing money at a virtual table will not really affect you. Billionaire Guy Laliberte is rumored to have lost $18 million in 2008, but that won't hurt his lifestyle, right?

Points 1 and 2 refer to the environment in which you work. If you fall into these categories, be aware that playing under the influence of alcohol or being distracted by something like TV is always detrimental to your results.

If you are serious and want to stop losing, stay sober and focused while playing poker. When you feel like drinking or watching a masterful game by golfer Tiger Woods, just leave the tables. You can always come back later.

In general, points 3, 4 and 5 are the main problem for online poker players. If you want to have poker winnings, then you need to create a plan and strictly follow it.

So, for most people, the key element in the formula will be the P element: the first steps towards the goal. The first step towards a profitable game is the so-called ABC-poker. Keep your playing style simple and straightforward, without any fantasies. There are many articles teaching reliable poker techniques. Learn the basics first. With a solid ABC strategy, you won't be able to lose large sums of money at online poker at low limits.

Let's talk a little about that now. Much of what is written below you already know, but let's repeat the obvious things.

How to play poker: next steps.

ABC poker is primarily a tight-aggressive game. Tight style is the play of only a certain number of hands. Aggressive style means trying to bet and raise more often and call less frequently. All this is reflected in the so-called VPIP/PFR/AG statistics.

Use poker statistics tracking software like Holdem Manager. It allows you to monitor your statistics and identify potential weaknesses in the game. Learn the optimal strategy and adjust your playing style if necessary.

Take, for example, the most common factor leading to losses in online poker: calling bets too often. In no-limit hold'em long-handed cash games, the recommended VPIP (voluntarily put into the pot preflop percentage) is between 10% and 20%. If your VPIP is 50%, you cannot win. This is easy to deal with, as long as you stick to a much stricter starting hand chart.

Check out the most serious mistakes when playing poker - if you do not make any of them, you will take a huge step towards a profitable game. Along with ABC poker and fixing mistakes, there are other, less obvious reasons for losing.

Use proper bankroll management. - this is the money that you specifically and exclusively allocate for online poker. Bankroll management means playing at the limits that your bankroll allows. Usually in no-limit hold'em, the bankroll should be between 3000-5000 big blinds at your chosen limit. So if you have $5000 you can play $0.50/$1 NLHE, but playing $1/$2 puts your entire bankroll at risk.

Playing at the correct limit means that if you lose money, you need to move to a lower limit. In the previous example, if you lose half of your bankroll, i.e. $2500, you should go down $0.50/$1. Otherwise, you will make a serious mistake that will lead to periodic losses.

If you can win at the lower limits, you can move up the limit. The secret to minimizing losses lies in moving up and down the limits, depending on whether your bankroll is growing or shrinking.

Finally, I would like to remind you of the biggest culprit of online poker losses: tilt. Tilt is your most dangerous enemy in poker because it can lead to serious losses. Make controlling tilt a top priority and you'll lose less online poker.

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Online poker has recently become very widespread. Millions of people around the world play poker every day. But according to statistics, only five percent of them win, the rest play in the red. What is it sect of successful online poker? Why do only a few make money playing poker while everyone else pays for their hobby? In our opinion, poker secrets consist in a combination of certain personal qualities of a person and his approach to the game, the expected result. The most important components of success are knowledge, distance, concentration and purposefulness. The secret is that only a combination of all these qualities will allow you to win at poker. But let's look at all the little secrets of poker one by one.

Knowledge

As in any business, in order to play poker successfully, you need to have a certain set of knowledge. Those who do not want or cannot learn will inevitably lose. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that you will have to spend part of your time “on textbooks” - reading articles on poker strategy, learning the secrets of skill, discussing controversial situations with colleagues on various forums, and so on. Don't think that perfecting your game is for beginners. It's not like that at all. All professional online poker players devote a lot of time to analyzing their game. This is the first secret of poker: always learning, never resting on your laurels, always striving for the perfect game.

Distance

Continues our rubric "secrets of playing poker" section Distance. Don't be surprised, but so many players expect instant returns from poker. Unfortunately, this does not happen. Playing just a couple of hands and putting everything on the line, as is usually shown in feature films, you will not win anything, except for a penny, which you will definitely lose after a few hands. The pros know that the secret to playing hold'em poker is to play it mathematically over the long haul, over thousands of hands. The whole secret is to play every hand with a positive expectation of winning. Even if it seems to you that winning is impossible, and the probability theory gives you 52% for success, you need to continue playing the hand. Then, having played ten thousand hands in this way, you will receive a net income of 4% * 10,000 * X, where X is the average income from the change won. Let's say that on average you get $5 of income for winning the draw. The above formula yields $2,000 in net profit. This is one of the main secrets of poker: less drama, more pragmatism. No need to put everything on the map and rely on chance. It would be more correct to play mathematically correctly and be sure to take your money in the long run.

Concentration and discipline

As you understand, everything described above is not so easy to do. Sometimes you just want to make a beautiful gesture, bet more or try your luck. Therefore, in the third place of our list of poker secrets, we put concentration and discipline. When playing to win, you need to play every hand the right way. If you made a mistake or decided to try your luck, this is a minus to your future state. Even if, by a lucky chance, this time you are lucky, the next time the accident will take much more than it gave. The secret of poker is that the game is most profitable when all your decisions are made in plus in the probability of winning. This is what all professional players strive for. Therefore, when playing poker, you must not lose concentration. It is necessary to constantly control yourself, your feelings, emotional and physical state and brush aside everything that can lead to a mistake. Remember, you are gambling, and every mistake is your loss.

purposefulness

Undoubtedly, it is possible to realize everything described above only if there is an appropriate goal. Think about what you want to achieve by playing and winning poker. Set yourself a tempting goal that will give you strength and patience, which will help you stay focused and always play correctly. Perhaps this is the main secret of playing poker - the determination that allows you to win. Someone aspires to a new car of a prestigious model, someone considers Thailand a good place to build a cottage. The choice is yours. Find your motivator, your little secret, and move towards your goal.

Players who do not know how to play strategy yet would like to learn the secrets of Hold'em poker that would help them win money. Indeed, there are some secrets that beginners need to know in order to play successfully. Of course, each of them represents one of the complex aspects of the strategy of the game, which must be thoroughly studied in order to be put into practice. Let's take a look at some of the secrets of playing Texas Hold'em poker, which will open the eyes of many beginners to what it is impossible to play with a stable profit without.

You can determine the probability of your winning in each situation

Many have seen films where the heroes counted the cards in the Blackjack game and won huge sums in the casino. It would seem that these are just movies, but in reality there is such a strategy for playing Blackjack that allows you to play profitably. It is not based on cheating, but on the use of probability theory. So here it is This theory applies to Texas Hold'em as well. ! It can be used to increase the profit from the game!

The player initially knows how many cards are in the deck of each denomination and suit, as well as the total number of cards. During the game, some of the cards become known to him - his hole cards and common ones from the board. Using this information, the poker player can calculate how many cards (outs) are left in the deck, which allow you to make a winning combination. Knowing the number of outs and the total number of remaining cards in the deck, you can calculate the probability of whether a given card will fall out or not. Knowing the percentage of the probability of making a winning hand, the player can decide whether it is profitable to invest in the pot to see the next card or the decision will be risky and unprofitable.

Learn to count outs and probabilities, and you can stay in the hand when it's profitable and fold if the situation is not in your favor. You will be able to play profitably by learning the rest of the Texas Hold'em poker secrets as well!

Long-term perspective

The secrets of Texas Hold'em are closely related to the Blackjack strategy mentioned above. Regarding Blackjack, the player cannot know exactly which card the dealer will open next. After all, the probability is never 100%. Therefore, he loses some hands. Despite this, having played a large number of hands, the player leaves the table in the black - with a win.

The fact is that the theory of probability allows the player to increase the number of hands that he wins. For example - he loses 40% of hands, but wins 60%. It turns out that he manages to win back all the losses and make a profit. But for this you need to make a large number of bets. Let's look at his strategy with an example:

The player played 10 hands and won only 3 of them, he ran out of chips and left the game in the red. The other player, who has more chips, won back 10 bets and won only 3 of them, continued to play and realized his mathematical expectation. By increasing the number of hands, he reduced the variance - equalized the winning percentage calculated according to probability theory with the real one. The more hands he plays, the more the result will match the calculations.

The same rule applies to Hold'em! The secrets of Texas Hold'em are that you need to play more and more often to make a profit . For example, you may enter a hand with a high probability that the desired card will come up. But in a particular hand, the card still may not come. But this should not be considered a loss, because by playing hundreds of such hands in the same way, you will receive your percentage of probability, which will bring profit. The overall result for all hands will be positive!

Don't expect poker to win every hand. Unfortunately, the secrets of Hold'em poker do not allow this. However, if you learn how to implement the mathematical expectation, you will make a profit in the long run!

Sufficient investment

Let's think about the blackjack player who failed to realize the mathematical expectation because he did not have enough chips. He went bankrupt and therefore did not receive the expected profit, since he had nothing to play on further. It turns out that the secrets of Texas Hold'em affect not only probability and long-term prospects, but also poker accounting!

Those the money you invest in the game should be considered as an investment . In order for them to work, you must have a sufficient supply of them. By analogy with a Blackjack player, you must calculate that your poker capital is not enough for 10 hands, but for example - for three hundred.

It is important that your poker capital does not run out before you can realize your mathematical expectation! Learn bankroll management to learn how to manage your poker capital wisely, as well as select tables to play according to the size of the bets.

Table selection

No matter how well you play poker, there may be an opponent who will be stronger than you. Moreover, there may be several strong opponents at the same table. If you did not immediately understand this and did not have time to leave, the game may turn out to be unprofitable for you. Wrong table selection can lead to big losses! For example, all in one hand, you can lose your entire stack.

Do not be lazy or spare the time to choose a table. Some pros even use paid software that allows them to select the optimal tables for the game. However, table selection can be made without auxiliary programs, by observing the game of those who are already playing at it. Notes about players that need to be constantly compiled also allow you to choose the best tables (popular poker rooms allow this - there is a special functionality). Thanks to them, you will immediately see that there is a strong opponent or a loose player at the table, whose money can be easily taken!

Rakeback

Poker rooms allow not only to play poker, but also to receive various bonuses. Of course, players receive these promotions not from the pocket of the owners of the poker room, but from their own. We are talking about a loyalty program that allows you to increase in VIP levels and return part of the rake - the institution's commission. It turns out that a small part of your winnings constantly goes to the income of the poker room, but with a thousand pots played, this amount can be impressive. So, you can return part of it in the form of bonuses that are paid to players. The higher your VIP level, the more commission you will get back.

Rakeback - the return of the commission, also forms part of the player's profit. When calculating your profit, also take into account the money that you can return as bonuses. Perhaps you played the session in the red, but still remained in the black, thanks to bonus points.

Education

If you want to earn money playing in a poker room, you will need to not only learn the secrets of playing Texas Hold'em poker, but also learn how to use them in practice. Starting to study them, you will learn many other secrets, the knowledge of which will help you make the right decisions in the game more often, which will bring profit. Take the time to learn - read theory, listen to audiobooks, watch instructional videos, train at low rates and with the help of special programs!

It is possible that the secrets of Texas Hold'em did not impress you, since they require the study and use of complex tools - psychology, mathematics, the use of which, again, is associated with lengthy theoretical training. However, you will not be able to succeed in the game if you rely only on practice and luck.

The study of any area of activity begins with basic concepts, the basics, but true professionalism in any sense comes only after a long study of the subject empirically.

After all the steps, the true secrets of mastery are revealed, with which a person makes a name for himself in the field that he has chosen.

Gambling is subject to the presence of tricks and secrets to a much greater extent than other areas, since the stakes are high here. The secrets of poker, collected in this material, will allow the player to stay with a positive deposit longer, and with sufficient demands on himself, and solidly increase it.

Knowledge in any field is an investment that can pay dividends in the future., poker tricks can pay off in net money today.

What do the gurus say?

Gambling industry gurus offer training and share the secrets of their success from the pages of a book and at relatively rare open seminars. Conventionally, all players can be divided into three camps according to their professed style of play:

. Representatives of this group firmly stand on the use of subtle calculations and making the game more mechanical, less risky and profitable in principle;
. The key role is played by the internal state of the player, the ability to hide thoughts and read the situation on the faces of opponents;
Mixed style. Both directions, when combined, make success more profitable and less risky, although it makes you work much more on yourself than either separately.

Literature covering the secrets of poker is devoid of general statements and analyzes specific game situations, as well as the tactics of their acting out in the general theme of the book. Don't take every piece of advice literally. For players who have become successful, the secrets they describe seem simple, since they have a different degree of training than most. They studied, for example, mixed gambling initially, and did not switch between them. As a result, the proposed secrets turn out to be difficult for many or seem useless, due to a banal misunderstanding.

Before learning the secrets of poker, you need to get enough basic training.. Moreover, it should be not only practical, but also practical, especially with a game for money.

Poker secrets

Making a compressed extract from the popular ones, we get three main secrets of poker:

Analytical thinking . Evaluate each hand globally, imagine combinations of opponents based on the cards that open on the table. Memorize and use the tables of chances of falling out of certain combinations, depending on and cards and. The tables also indicate the betting behavior with different cards, it can also be used to determine the potential of opponents' cards;
Psychological stability . , and other tactics are designed to throw opponents off balance and make reckless bets. On the other hand, by such behavior it is often possible to calculate those players who use false tactics without serious combinations, often put everything in the hope of taking a modest pot, which leads to the loss of a deposit;
Verification of each move and bet . For many, this seems to be taken for granted when it is not at the gambling table. When playing a hand, everything happens on emotions and common sense often fails even experienced players who know the secrets of poker. Make up a game strategy before you sit down at the table and follow what is written without emotion.

Tricks of playing poker online

In a multiplayer game, there is no way to evaluate the behavior of opponents visually, it remains only to calculate the behavior and not make mistakes yourself. However, the secrets of playing online poker are also present. More about them:

Training . For an online game or tournament, it comes down to more than just turning on the computer and loading up the poker room. The first step is to protect yourself from household or office distractions, turn off your phone, notifications on your laptop, and everything else that is used during the day. After that, take a break from all the daily hustle and bustle for at least 15 minutes and sit in silence, gathering your thoughts about the upcoming game;
Automatic buttons . They allow you to take action automatically as soon as your turn comes. The modern technical base allows you to program the action for a full circle of distribution and for all scenarios. Their use will facilitate the game at several terminals at the same time and will allow you to mislead opponents and gradually piss you off with instant answers, then long, on the verge of a foul decision-making;
Muck - hand reset button . The secrets of playing poker are not limited to a specific hand game or tournament. The player acquires a certain reputation that accompanies him for a long time and often helps in victory. So here is the button to discard weak cards at any stage is an important aspect involved in answering the question of how to win at poker. The essence of the secret is to hide the cards before. Periodic demonstration of weak starting hands when exiting the hand in the final stages is an indicator of an active bluff, in which players can catch with high stakes. Many deliberately sin by demonstrating to mislead opponents and force them to finish hands more often, but the system is not tactically justified.

Finally

The material contains the general secrets of the game of poker, lying on the surface. Understanding the deep variations and applying them to your own style of play will come with experience and constant analysis of each hand and the game as a whole. Study the works of poker gurus and use their secrets - it's worth it.