Tilt Odds

Using implied tilt odds in poker

Let me tell you about a Phil Gordon strategy called implied tilt odds.

I just love it when i hear about a poker concept that is a little out of left field. I also consider this one a great on the spot excuse for playing a hand badly and getting lucky.

One of the best ‘unique poker plays’ I have come across is this Phil Gordon strategy (although I am not convinced he uses it often) that is designed to wrangle chips away from a tight rock of a player based on what he calls "Implied Tilt Odds"

Imagine a situation where you are playing against a really tight table, or a really tight player and you really want to loosen up the game and get their very well defended chips flowing.

Tight Tony enters the pot with a raise which lets you (and every other player at the table) know that he has Aces, Kings, Queens or Ace King at worst. You look down and see 69 of spades and make a loose call and the flop comes down 5 hearts, J spades, 2 diamonds.

You totally don't have good odds to play this hand. In fact you would need running spades, running 78, running 34, running 66, running 99 or running 69 to take the hand down. I wont even tell you how far away you are from being able to call any bet against a player with monster pocket pairs in this situation, because it is not worth considering- or is it?

With Implied Tilt Odds it is not the money you will win in this hand that make it worth calling, it is the result your beat will have on the playing style of Tight Tony throughout the rest of the session that will make it all worth it.

Tight Tony would have his faith in the logical order of the universe shattered by you hitting your winning hand on the turn and river here.

He would see red and probably have a hard time breathing for a while.

This will be followed by rage and a thirst for revenge that could not be satisfied by waiting around for the next monster hand. He will try to win with the sort of hands you just beat him with and BINGO, the game and his money are all yours for the taking.

A simple word of caution though.

Using implied tilt odds is designed for playing against tight or at least very solid players who don't part with their chips easily. It also helps if they have heaps of money at the table and plenty of time to hang around.

Finished reading implied tilt odds ?

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talking at the poker table

I am one of those players who likes talking at the poker table. I have tried to keep my mouth shut but the best I can do is to swear quietly under my breath for the first three hands after a bad beat, then it’s back to conversation and commentary.

Eventually, after weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to stop trying to be quiet and to put my weakness to the best use I could.

If my chat makes it easier for other players to read me, so then does other peoples reactions or responses to my talking.

You can get some great information from other players that will give you an idea about how to play against them. You can determine their level of experience, their moods, their financial status, if they are driven by winning or are just amusing themselves, the list goes on and on.

Here is an example of where talking at the poker table can be useful.

I am playing a tournament with a $300 buy in. I talk to all the players and learn that the guy sitting on my right is a student who got talked into playing this tournament by his ‘poker fanatic’ mate, even though he could barely afford it.

I might reasonably assume he doesn’t have a lot of money (student) or skills (he says his mate is the fanatic). He will probably call more than he should, but fold to bigger than normal bets because of the financial pressure to finish with some winnings.

I also like to put my talking at the poker table to good use with false tells. A simple way to do this is to remember the way you talked during a hand that you won (particularly on the river) and repeat that when you are making a bluff.

I recently hit a flush on the river and said to the guy I was up against (who just bet at me) “you just hit your straight didn’t you?” and then I said “nah, I don’t believe you hit it” and I raised, he called, I took the chips.

An hour later I had a hand that was clearly not the best hand when a third club hit the board on the river, which was no help to me. The same player bet, I repeated the sequence and my raise was met with a “yeah I seen that before, you just hit your flush” he folded.

These are just a couple of ways chatty players like me can turn this weakness into a strength, or perhaps just less of a weakness. Of course blogging every poker thought you have ever had is taking talking at the poker table to the extreme if your mates read your blog.

Finished with talking at the poker table ?

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Rules for poker games

Unwritten rules for poker games

There are some rules for poker games you have to know before you start playing live poker and you probably wont find them in a rule book. These are the unwritten rules of poker etiquette.

Obviously the home poker game is not played at a flashy Las Vegas casino and the stakes are not in the thousands of dollars but there are number of good poker manners that should be considered to ensure a good fair game is enjoyed by all.

Here are some unwritten rules for poker games to consider:

1. No Cheating or collusion

Most people would think this goes with out mention, but I have witnessed this occurring on many occasions in so called “friendly” games.

This goes to the heart of the unwritten rules for poker games.

Why would you want to cheat your mates? Why turn a friendly game unfriendly?

2. Playing extra slowly

This isn’t usually a problem in home poker games, but I have seen a player’s unusually long decision making result in a near fight (at a poker league match).

If you need some time for a decision then simply announce “time” and the other players will be more understanding.

3. No string-betting

This is when you bet a couple of poker chips at a time.

A common mistake by poker players and usually forgivable, but it has been used intentionally by the odd tricky player to unfairly gain information.

If you are going to raise, then announce “raise” and either state the amount or place the chips out in one hand movement.

4. Deliberately acting out of turn

A sin we are all accidentally guilty of from time to time.

If you do act out of turn apologize and accept the penalty without question. Doing this deliberately to show another player your intentions is a form of cheating….see rule number 1.

5. Inducing an “act out of turn”

This is attempting to make a player act out of turn by hiding your cards or faking betting movements.
I have witnessed a player reach out their arm to bet then pull their hand away just before the chip are to touch the felt resulting in then next player betting out of turn….. Not good form.

6. Making comments during a hand you are not in

These are often known rules for poker games in casinos, but not usually enforced at home games due to the friendly atmosphere

As a general rule, do not talk about a person’s potential holdings if you are not in the hand.

If you think someone is bluffing keep it to yourself. Wait until then hand is over before discussing a player’s cards out loud.

7. Showing your cards to another player that is not in the hand and getting advice

This is a common occurrence in home games but is not fair on the other players in the hand.

You should make your own decisions in a poker game. I have been on the receiving end of cheating between two players when showing each other their hands for “advice”. If I wanted to play two vs one I would play piggy in the middle and not poker.

8. The dealer must not look at “mucked cards”

If you are dealing, never look at any cards mucked face down, it is none of your business. Having a look is giving you information about players that the others aren’t getting.

You are simply dealing the cards, no exceptions!

I see this happening too much at home games. Even if the dealer is not playing in the game they should still respect the mucked cards.

9. Splashing the pot

I am probably guilty of this a little too often. But don’t follow my bad example, place your chips neatly.

10. Agreeing to check a hand out when a third player is all-in.

It is sometimes considered bad etiquette to bet in this situation, but you can’t discuss this kind of thing in the middle of a hand- See rule number 1. No collusion!

11. Hiding your big chips

Another of the rules for poker games that might be written in some casinos. Make sure you bigger denomination chips are in clear view of all players as not to conceal the size of your stack.

You are allowed to ask for a rough chip count of any player if you feel you can’t see their chips.

12. If you folded and your cards would have made a great hand on the flop, don't react

This is not fair to the remaining players in the hand. I have even seen the pros do this on occasion (Shaun Shakan at the 2005 WSOP while Mike Mattasow was in a hand).

Tell the story afterwards.

13. Show one show all

If you feel the need to show a player your cards after the hand, then show the rest of the table too.

14. Don’t remove chips from the table: “going south”

This is a form of cheating, see rule number 1. Every player must have the chance to win back money he or she has lost.

If you want to protect your winnings, then technically you have to leave the game.

See rule 15 for more rules for poker games on this subject.

15. Leaving early when you are up

Particularly in home poker games, don’t go home early on purpose because you are winning, it is polite to stay until the end of the game if you are a big winner.

I recommend you let people know when you are likely to leave early on in the night e.g. telling your buddies at eight PM that you will be leaving around midnight.

If you are going to cut that short for some reason, give fair warning, like “I’m heading off in 45 minutes guys”

16. Paying attention

Do not fall into the trap of being that annoying player than needs to be told it is their turn to act every hand. If you have better things to do than play poker, then go do them.

17. Don’t be excessively rude or mean to other players.

If you do slip up and say something nasty to another player because of a bad beat or similar, make sure you apologize when you have cooled down.

18. Excessive bad language

In some official poker tournaments they have rules for poker games that get you “time on the bench” for this.

Avoid it in home games, especially when you are in someone else’s home and women and children are present.

19. “Shutting-up-shop”

This is when a player is a big winner and then decides to not play another hand so he can keep his winnings.

Definitely in the category of unwritten rules for poker games, some may even disagree with me on this one, but a player that has reloaded in a cash game does it on the idea that he can win some of his money back.

If you are going to do this then leave the game….. see rule number 15.

20. Be a good loser

We can’t win every session. Congratulate the winners and don’t complain…. There is all ways next time.

Knowing these rules for poker games is not about being a winning player, it is about being the kind of player that others don’t mind losing to.

the original version of this post was writen by "the Doc" who, unfortunately, is AWOL from the poker world at present.

Are you up to speed on rules for poker games now?

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Perth Poker Games

In my Cityof Perth Western Australia, apart from the poker leagues and casino, Perth poker games can be found fairly regularly in homes and garages around the city.

The easiest way to find a game, or players, for your own game, is to visit the perth poker games website I frequent. It's called Perth Poker Meet Up.

In the hope that explaining his own views about home games might encourage a few more people to actually go to one, fellow Perth poker blogger Steve, discusses below his reasons for playing 'in home' perth poker games regularly...

I think early on in a poker playing 'career', every game is played with these views:

a) increase the bank roll
b) prove your proficiency to everyone
c) be a winner on the night
d) never, ever be bluffed

That was certainly how I felt for the first few years since I started playing, and probably do now sometimes too.
Certainly a) and c) should always be present in any game. I think it is a discourtesy to the other players if you don't at least try to bring your 'A' game to the table.
b) and d) are somewhat more dubious values. A novice may be out to prove something, but I am quite happy to acknowledge there are often better players at the table than me. It's an important thing to recognize for two reasons. First, you don't want to tangle in lots of pots with people that can out play you, and acknowledging that has saved me money over the years. Second, I watch what those players do and how they play, and try and learn how to adapt the things I think they do better than me to my game.
As far as never being bluffed goes - well, I am sure we have all seen calling stations that would rather donk off all their chips than admit even the remote possibility they are being bluffed. If someone has the guts to pull the trigger three times and take the pot from me on a good bluff - assuming they show it - good on them. That too will improve my own play over time, through careful observation to spot any tells they may let out.
Anyway, I am slowly getting to my point about home games.
For me at least, a regular home game is not about beating my mates out of huge pots (nice as it is :)). Rather, it is to be able to get practice, feed back, try new plays, and above all practice, for bigger professionally run cash games or tournaments.
For sure, I could go the the casino and blow three or four buy ins trying out a new strategy. Good luck to me getting feedback from the table its effectiveness or on any tells I might be dropping.
Much better to have a regular, friendly, yet competitive home game, with stakes that make the game interesting, but aren't going to deplete anyones bankroll. I also find discussing pro's and con's of a play, as well as helping out novice players, helps improve the game of everyone involved.
So in a home game, I am quite happy to let a) and c) slide a little, for the greater benefit of the knowledge I can gain, at a lower cost/risk. That's not to say I wouldn't be trying to win any pot I am in, but the experimentation factor would be much higher.
If you look at every single poker pro and majorly successful amateur, the one thing they all have in common is they all mention the value their 'regular game' had on their success. Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington had the Mayfair club, Doyle Brunson had his rounder mates from his days on the road in Texas, Jennifer Harman had Johnny Chan and other big game players that let her watch and talked to about the game and Phil Gordon had his 'tilt boys'. Even Phil Helmuth will admit that his discussions with Joe Navarro has helped his game.


So that is what Steve is looking for in a regular home game and that is what you can find for yourself at the Perth poker games website.

read how i get my online poker advantage

My pain as a poker blogger

Turns out this isn't going to be as easy as i thought it would be.

I have all the old articles from Texas Holdem Australia (almost 200 of them). I thought I would just go on a 'cut and paste' rampage, add an article a day then, 'hey presto' a new blog!

I've run into two problems with my plan for world domination

• "Did I write that?" syndrome, and
  

• Keyword Usage 101

The first problem, "did I write that?" syndrome, is what happens when I re-read my old poker articles that I wrote at the start of my time as a player.

Not only is there poor grammar and spelling (no promises I can fix all that), there is some fairly poor advice here and there.

The result is that I am spending about as much time on polishing old material as it took to write in the first place.

The second problem is keyword Usage 101. Having been around the web a fair bit over the last couple of years, I now know much more about the use of keywords to help people find my blog.

For example, my article on "texas holdem blinds" used to be called "beer and blinds". That wasn't a problem for people who were already reading my blog, but when some guy in South Africa wants simple advice on setting up a blind structure for a home poker tourney, he wouldn't likely be putting "beer and blinds" into google would he?

So the article itself remains mostly unchanged from the original, but the title is changed and the likely search term has been added in the correct quantities to help google, myself and the web-surfers all get what we want- a good article on poker blinds.

With both of these challenges ahead of me, this blog project is going to take a little longer to build up than i expected.

read how i get my online poker advantage and where I play home poker games

Texas Holdem Blinds

Texas Holdem Blinds for a home tournament

I get a lot of queries about Texas Holdem blinds and how to set them up. I can understand why because most people find out that it is not as easy as it looks.

The BBQ is fired up and the esky (chilli bin, cooler) is full of beer and ice. Your mates are all here and the cards are all shuffled. Out comes the chip set and a blank expression comes over everyones face- "how many chips do we get and what are the blinds going to be?"

Running a tournament is not as simple as just giving each player a pile of red green and blue chips and getting started- but I have tried to make it as simple for you here as it can be.

CHIP STACKS

There are many combinations and denominations possible but my tip is that you hold a $5000 chip tournament with a nice sized stack of chips in front of each player.

Everyone likes having a big stack of chips to start with, you can use them to intimidate players with, play with them between hands and arrange into stacks and piles just the way you want them.

I recommend the simplest way to start this is to give each player 8 chips of three different colors and determine one color to be $25 chips, the second color to be $100 chips and the third color to be $500 chips.

This adds up to $5000 in chips.

TEXAS HOLDEM BLIND STRUCTURE

The Big Blind starts at $50 and the small blind should always be half of the big blind. Every half an hour you should increase the big blind to the following amounts- $100, $150, $200, $300, $400, $500, $600, $800, $1000, $1500, $2000, $3000, $4000, $5000.

Try to take a 15 min break every hour or two so you can stretch your legs, top up the snacks and tell your tales about the great hands you played in the last level.

The tournament should last about as long as it takes for the big blind to reach the original buy in of $5000 (give or take an hour), so you can add or remove blind levels to suit your needs.

COLOURING UP

This is the term used to describe the process of changing the smaller denomination chips for the larger denomination chips.

This happens when there are too many chips on the table due to players being knocked out, or if the Texas holdem blinds set up you have no longer requires a certain color..

Make sure that for each player you have 2 of the $100 chips and 2 of the $500 chips remaining in the case for when you need to "color up" or change the $25 or $100 chips to larger denominations later in the game.

If you want to play longer you can always add 5 chips of a fourth color, make them $1000 chips and adjust your texas holdem blinds structure to allow another level or two.

This would be a “deep stack” $10,000 chip tournament.

figured out what texas holdem blinds you'll use ?

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Winning Poker Hands

Sticking to the winning poker hands

You have to know the winning poker hands if you are just starting out in no-limit hold'em poker, or if you have been playing a little while but just can't seem to get your bankroll moving.

You are in the same boat that every poker player in the world has been in before. The big question is whether or not you can get out of that boat and onto the ship of success.

The easiest first step you can take is to limit your starting hands to a shorter more specific list and have a clear strategy for how to play them. There is a range of winning poker hands, but for now you would do better to concentrate on playing just a few.

I am always dumbfounded to see new players trying to win hands with any two cards. It takes learned players thousands of hands before they can play a wide range of hands from all table positions and they still often opt to fold.

Premium Pairs- AA KK QQ

Always play these hands, they are all big favorites to win pre-flop. I am assuming you already knew that, so I will move on to how I suggest you play them if just starting out.

RAISE or RE-RAISE and make sure when you do so that you make your bet the size of the pot i.e. you add up all the chips already on the table and make that your bet (throw in a couple of extra big blinds if there's no one in the hand yet). You should not ever “slow play” these hands if you are a new or developing player.

Small/Medium Pocket Pairs- 22 through to JJ

Play these hands also, they are already a “made hand” and will have about a 50% chance of beating two over-cards like KQ or AK. (by the way, I offer different advice for limit hold em)

The important thing to remember about these hands is that unless you flop a third card to match your pocket cards the hand may become pretty useless quite quickly.

Raise about 3 big blinds or call a raise up to 5 big blinds. You will be paid out very nicely if you flop a set and if you just call (limp) with your small pairs and raise with your premium pairs, you become very predictable.

You might also flop three under-cards like 379 if you hold a hand like JJ or TT so you could still be in front there, even if you don't catch a set (three of a kind). Otherwise, be ready to throw your hand away to any strong betting.

Big Cards- AK AQ KQ

Play these hands but play them cautiously. Many players are prepared to go broke with these hands, but like I mentioned above, you are at best 50% against a hand as small as 22.

You'll notice I haven't included AJ, KJ and AT, these hands are trickier to play then they look and you can introduce them once your winning poker hands start paying off.

Raise if first to bet, or flat call if there is action before you. These are not made hands yet, you need to catch cards on the flop for a draw or a pair. The good news is that if you do flop a pair it's likely to be a strong pair, and if you do flop a draw it's possibly the best draw.

Believe it or not that’s it!

I know this sounds simple and there are plenty of other ways to play these winning poker hands and other hands too, but if you are just starting out and struggling a bit, you will find adopting this approach will improve your win percentage and give you a solid base for varying and developing your skills further.

You gotta walk before you can run.

all done with winning poker hands ?

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