28 Oct 2024 Beginner This material is for beginner players moving up stakes position pot odds river Today, we're going to talk about six easy ways to know if you are good at poker or not. So without any further ado, let's jump into it. Counting down from six to one, here we go! #6: Don’t Overplay Middle Pair Guys, this is one of the easiest ways for me to spot beginners or amateurs as they consistently overplay hands like middle pair. And by the way, I'm going to give you example hands for every single one of the tips in today’s article. All elite poker players know how to pot control with a hand like a middle pair. And basically what that means is to manage the size of the pot, not let it get out of control so that you wind up losing a massive pot with a mediocre hand. So let's jump into the first example here: You've got 10 nine of hearts and the flop comes down with the ace of hearts, nine of spades, and seven of diamonds. So not a bad spot. We have hit the middle pair on this board. We also have a backdoor flush draw. If it comes with a heart on the turn and another heart on the river, we would make a flush. We also have a sort of hidden backdoor straight draw. If it comes with an eight and a six, for example, on the turn and river, we would make a straight. And of course, we have a middle pair with an okay kicker. However, guys, this is not the spot where you want to be playing a massive pot. And that is why I will often just make the call here on the flop. I will often check it to them to induce a bluff. And then I will just make the call. I do not want to let the size of the pot start inflating in a situation like this. So I'm never going to be check raising here, for example, or if I'm in position, I'm not going to be raising their bet on the flop. That would be the definition of overplaying your hand guys. And the reason why is because when you choose to start inflating the pot, when you choose to raise here instead of just managing the size of the pot, you're only going to get action from all of the hands that have you crushed. For example, ace-king, ace-queen, ace-jack, pocket nines, pocket sevens, and so on. And the other thing is you're just going to fold out all of their bluffs. For example, if they've just got some junk like pocket fives on this board, or they're just screwing around with king-jack. When you raise, you're just going to make those hands fold. So there's literally no benefit for us to be raising in a spot like this. Always manage the size of the pot when you have a middle pair. This is definitely a hand to be calling with. You do not want to allow the pot to get out of control. #5: Don’t Make Bad River Calls Let's move on to the next way to tell if you're good at poker. And that is you don't make bad river calls. Guys, this is another classic mistake of all amateur and beginner level poker players. Let me give you an example: Once again, you've got ace-king, ace of spades, and king of diamonds. And you're versus a nit (tight player) on the river. And a knit is also called a rock. This is the tightest player at the table. And the river reads a king-eight-seven-jack-three with no possible flush on this board. You should always be folding versus a check-raise on this river versus the tightest player at the table. For the simple reason that this player type in particular will only check-raise you with a monster hand like pocket kings, king-jack, pocket-eights, pocket-sevens, pocket-jacks, or ten-nine here. All of these hands have you absolutely crushed. Bottom line is, guys, you need to understand player type in particular at the poker tables. Every play that you make at the poker table always needs to be custom-made with the specific player type in mind. And nits, who are the tightest player at the table and also the most passive player at the table, they simply don't check-raise rivers with hands that are worse than your one-pair hand. You absolutely need to be folding your hand in this situation. #4: Don’t Give Them Cheap Odds The fourth way to tell if you are good at poker is you don't give them a cheap price. Guys, all poker experts understand basic pot odds. Let me give you an example once again: You've got ace-queen offsuit versus a fish. Now, this is a recreational player who's playing all sorts of trashy hands. They call you down with anything, the exact opposite of the player type we just talked about. And on the flop, the board reads the queen of hearts, eight of spades, and seven of diamonds. Pretty harmless flop, although there are some draws in a situation like this. Guys, you should be betting around 80% of the pot here. Sometimes, I'll just even bet 100% of the pot. So, for example, there's $10 in the pot. You should be betting $8 or $10. Why do you want to bet so much? Isn't it better just to bet a small amount and not scare them off? Guys, once again, this is all about player type. As we just talked about with the fish, the recreational players, they're playing so many different hands. They will call you down with anything. And if they have any draw here, like a 6-5, for example, for a straight draw, they're going to call literally any amount. So, you want to deny them proper odds at chasing all of their long shot draws on a board like this. And the way to do that is to bet big. Bet 80%, 90%, 100% of the pot. Sometimes, I'll even overbet versus these players. #3: Don’t Ignore Positions Alright, guys, tip number three to tell if you're good at poker or not is that you don't ignore positions at the poker table. You need to know that not all seats at the poker table were created equal, not even close. Most of your profit is going to come from the button or the cutoff. And as I always say, you don't have to take my word for it. You can simply use a poker tracking program like PokerTracker or our additional poker software. You can literally go into the program yourself and you can see where your winnings are coming from at each seat at the poker table. The reason this is so important, guys, is because you get to see what they do first. Meaning that you can get more bets in, more raises, or you can even fold your hand and save yourself money if you believe them. The bottom line is that information is power in poker. When you get to see what they do first, you're always going to win way more in poker. And that is why you want to be heavily biased in the hands that you decide to play. You want to play more hands from the button and the cutoff. #2: Don’t Miss Value The second way to find out if you're good at poker or not is you don't miss thin value, specifically on the river. So guys, you need to always remember that pot sizes on the river are on average the biggest. It only makes sense because that is the final betting round in poker. So it is very important that you don't make mistakes on this street because they are magnified more than on any other betting round in poker. And specifically when you have a strong value hand, as we're going to discuss in a second here, you must make them pay every single time. So you've got the ace of spades and queen of diamonds versus a fish. Once again, a recreational player on the river where the board reads the king, queen, seven, four, three with a possible diamond flush. Guys, you need to be value betting in this spot around half the pot. So for example, the pot's $100, you should bet $50. Why is this an amount you should be betting? Well, let's consider betting $80. Often that will be too much. Often that will allow them to simply take a hand like a pair of fours, for example, and make them throw their hand away because it's too much for them. And on the flip side, if you only bet 20% of the pot $20, you've probably bet too little and they're going to call you with anything. So I've often found the sweet spot when you're trying to bet for value, which we absolutely are on this board as we have a pair of queens with the best kicker possible. In a situation like this, I've found betting around 50% of the pot is kind of the sweet spot to make sure you get the maximum calls from all of the hands in this player's range. Guys, bottom line, do not miss these key value bets in situations like this, especially on the river, because it is so vital for your long term winnings in this game. #1: Don’t Get Frustrated All right, guys, the number one way to tell if you're good at poker or not is you don't get upset over every single bad beat. This is the number one thing that holds back so many people in poker. This is the number one thing I talk about with my students on a day in and day out basis is not getting frustrated when the inevitable bad beats come in this game. A bad beat is just when you have the statistical advantage going into the hands and they catch a lucky card to beat you. All good players understand the math. They know that this is an inevitable part of the game. In fact, I call it the fish tax that we all must pay sometimes in order to keep the bad players coming back again and again. Let me give you an example: You’ve got two red kings, the king of hearts and the king of diamonds. Guys, if you just go all in preflop and some fish blindly calls you with pocket fives, they're going to win the pot close to 20% of the time, which is by no means a trivial amount through blind luck. You have the best hand in this situation. You've done every single thing right. And yet around one out of five times you are going to lose this hand. Guys, this is a simple and beautiful math that is built into the game of poker that once again allows the bad players to get lucky sometimes that they keep coming back for more and fueling your profits at the poker table. When you get a bad beat like this or even several of them in a row, it doesn't mean that the poker sites are rigged. It doesn't mean you're the most cursed poker player ever. It's actually just poker math and nothing more! Wish you all the best at the poker tables and less.
