Chapter Three – The fundamental theorem of Poker
The best way to play is the way they would play if they knew their opponent’s card. Good player should always try to play the best way and force opponents play differently.
Chapter Four – The Ante Structure
Size of ante determines the way to play, large ante indicates a loose play while small ante indicates a tight play.
Large – 15% or more of the average future bets
– loose play because of better pot odd, cost too much to wait for big, opponents are playing loose and they will give no action when you do have big hand. Play loose at beginning and later rounds because the weaker starter carries over.
– should try to steal ante, when you found somebody are tight.
– when have a good hand in large ante game, should raise instead of slowplay because it’d make opponents call expensive to the pot odd and sometime make them call with improper odds.
Small – 5% or less of the average future bets
– play tight, because opponents play tight which means average hand value is high.
– slowplay when have a good hand to draw people in, because pot odd is not good with low ante.
– when ante and initial bet are small, should play loose on initial round, then folds if your hand has not improved, because the price to develop is cheap in this case.
Chapter Five – Pot Odds
– Calling when all cards are out requires the ability to read player and hands, something only learned in fields.
– When there are more to come, consider:
- favor card:unseen card
- Notice the exposed card
- Position is also important in determining the pot odd, different position has different pot odds, need to experience this in field
- Extra outs increase the odds of making your hand quite good.
- The probability of you lose after you make your hand, it will decrease the pot odd.
Chapter Six – Effective Odds
– The real pot odds when you include possible future bets with more than one card to come
– Think about the money you need to bet to see your hand vs. The money you do win when you realize your hand.
– When the last card is almost free, say you and your opponent are all-in or almost all-in, no need to apply effective odds.
– Sometimes when the bet size on later round are increase a lot from current round, it makes sense to see the first card since it is cheap.
Ex: You have 4-flush after flop, chance to make it is 
However, if current pot size is 40. The game is 10-50, and your opponent bet 10 already. immediate pot odds is 5-to-1, effective odds is 5-to-3. Your odds is make the hand is 16-to-9, which makes it not worth it to see the hand. But your odds of making next card is actually slightly less than 5-to-1(38-to-9), therefore you should call the next bet, and fold if you dont hit with the suit you want.
Chapter Seven – Implied Odds and Reverse Implied Odds
– In the above example, second scenario, it is justify to call when the effective odds are low because the later beds increase a lot, which make the implied odds good enough to call. Implied odds in this case is 100-to-10, meaning your expected winning is 100, and you only need to spend 10 to keep it going. The best fold opportunity is when the next card does not hit.
– Implied odds is the total expected winning vs. the price you need to pay at present. Generally, when later bet size increase a lot, implied odds also high.
– elements to consider
- The size of future bets
- your hand needs to be hidden well(otherwise ppl wont call)
- the ability of your opponents(weaker opponents give you higher implied odds)
- you hand should be strong enough to hold after you make it.
– reversed implied odd is when you are not sure where you’re at and you have a small change of improvement to beat your opponent, if you call your opponent then he can back off anytime(if he does not improve). So if you lose, you lose maximum possible, if you win, you win minimum possible. (So you better have a accurate estimate of where you are and your chance of improving, more reading is needed.)
Chapter Eight – The Value of Deception
– You will definitely lose if your opponent can see your card, the goal of deception is to make your opponent make mistakes.
– Use more deceptions and you play with tough opponents(or hand readers) and play straightforward when you opponents are weak.
– Deception becomes less useful with a large pot, as the pot size becomes the major factor people decide to call, not the possibilities of their opponents card.
– The bigger the diff between early round and later round, the better for you to disguise a good hand in early rounds(good implied odd!).
– The more opponents you have, the less you gain by disguising your hand, because it’s less likely you can make everyone fold when you have a weak hand, and you may lose future bets if you dont raise with strong hand(not fully understood!), and you let other people in too cheaply, one of them might have a chance to beat you!
– summarize: use deception when play with tough ones(hand readers, or), when the pot is small, when future bets is large , when there are only 1 or 2 opponents left, when you have a monster hand.
Chapter Nine – Win the Big Pots Right Away
– When the pot is large enough, its correct to make your opponents fold even when you have best hand, because the pot-odds is large enough for him to call, therefore you has a chance to lose if he did get to increase his hand(you should make him feel its not worth to call in other words).
– If you dont bet with the best hand, you are giving your opponents free chance to increase!
– You should always try to win a large pot right away with best or second-best game, unless what you have is a monster hand.
Chapter Ten – The Free Card
– Giving a free card is to give your oppo a free chance to beat you.
– You should only consider giving free card when you have a monster card and the pot is small
-You can try to get a free card by raising on early round or by tricks and ploys
– Being at the last-to-act position can help you to get a free chance. While being at first-to-act, you should avoid giving free card
– With marginal hands, below facts contribute to the decision to bet/raise:
- Your improving chances are relative good
- Pot is large
- Your oppo chance of improving is good
- The odds that you will beat your oppo after you complete your hand is not good.
– Overall, fail to bet/giving free card will possibly cost you the pot while get called after betting will only cost you the money you bet/raise.
Chapter Eleven – The Semi-Bluff
– A semi-bluff is a bet with a hand, if called, that may not be the best hand at the moment, but still has a reasonable chance to outdraw others on future cards.
– If you have a hand that you think you would call, it is better to bet/raise yourself, it adds probability your oppo will fold incorrectly and therefore increase the expected income.
– In stud, where you dont share the common cards, if you know your oppo will not fold, it’s still good to bet as it representing higher hands, if your hand does improve in next round, he might fold. Obviously it does not work with Hold’em.
– Why semi-bluff
- chance that oppo folds incorrectly increases
- not giving a free card to your oppo(even when you have the best hand)
- adds deceptiveness, disguise the hand you are expecting, make a moderate card looks dangerous and a real good card insignificant
- Often gives you free card in next round as your oppo might fold
– semi-bluff, betting with marginal hand, dont give a worse hand a free card are cases of one general principle: it is better to be betting than just calling. Even if you get caught in semi-bluff, it can be value of future deception.
– When the pot is larger, it becomes justify to bet and you are less depending on the chance of your oppo folds incorrectly. Game theory suggests otherwise, but in practice, semi-bluff and bluff will work out better when the pot is larger.
– You should semi-bluff less when you are sure to be called, that makes the combination of oppo folds + hand increase disappear, you are only left with one way: hand improvement.
– Last position is not a good position to semi-bluff as well, you can get a free card and somebody might raise after you.
Chapter Twelve – Defense against semi-bluff
– semi-bluff is powerful and defense against it is hard and therefore very important
– Frequently you should fold when you think someone is semi-bluffing, and when the pot is small. You should only consider other response when 1. the pot is not small; 2. your hand is in good favor of beating him.
– It is not correct to call when you have a fair hand, and you think your oppo is semi-bluffing, he has too many ways to beat you
- He could have you beaten already with a best hand
- He may outdraw you in later cards
- A scary card in later round make you have to fold
– Curious case arises when you and your oppo both appear to have a promising(good improvable) hand, and you think your oppo is semi-bluffing.
– A correct play would be raising his bet. You are giving him pressure to fold if he does not have a good hand; and if he did, remember you are raising when you have a promising hand yourself, the chances are still not bad when he calls.
– Extra advantage is it might deter your oppo in making semi-bluff in the future.
– In most cases you still have to fold(no promising hand), but when you do have a good hand, raise instead of call.
– Consider below items to decide when to fold and when to raise, when you have a medium-value hand
- The chances your oppo is semi-bluffing or bluffing
- The chances of your oppo outdraw you, suppose he has the worst hand at present
- The chances of you outdraw your oppo, suppose he has the best hand at present
– The larger chance item 1 and 3 are, the more you should raise. And The larger item 2 is, the less you should consider raise.
– There are times when calling the the best play though
- The the pot is large, you might want to call a semi-bluff when you have a reasonable hand because you dont want to give away a large pot, but raise wont benefit you because your oppo will most likely call your raise given the large pot.
- When your oppo is expecting on the come to make a good hand, you would call and try to bet right out in later rounds if his expected card didnt come. If you raise, he is mostly like to call when he is expecting a straight of a flush. When the card he is expecting does come, you should then check or fold(unless the pot is large enough for you to stay!).
- A delayed semi-bluff raise is useful when playing against tough player. You call first and raise in later rounds will confuse your oppo that you have make a good hand, they will usually fold or check, and you can get yourself free cards in later rounds to beat them(More to be understood).
– Decide fold/raise/call and bet/call and fold/etc against a semi-bluff or bluff is the trickiest thing in poker.
Chapter Thirteen – Raising
– Raising to get more money in the pot. The better you hand is, the more you should not raise in early round. In later rounds however, it is usually OK to give your hand out by raising as the pot is usually large to make oppo call, if they fold, you win for sure; if they do, with a good hand you are raising, you are still in favor to beat them.
– When all are out, you may not want to raise if you are sure all players after you have worse hands than you, but they might call the original bet. Raising, instead, will make them fold which you dont want. But if you are not sure(especially if they will fold), raise instead of going for overall.
– Raise is also a way to cut down the pot odds for player after you. You can make them fold or call against odds. With what you think is the best hand, you should raise to cut down his odds to justify a call, so you may drive him out to win for sure, or best if he calls agianst the odds.
– Raise can be used as bluff and seme-bluff, and defense against semi-bluff. As noted in previous chapters, you can win by A) oppo folds; B) outdraw them in later rounds; C) getting free card in later rounds; D) worst case you inceased pot size which you are in favoraite to win.
– Raise can get you free card if you are in right position; and will also tell you some information about your oppo(if they call/re-raise). But in general, you shouldnt raise just for the purpose of getting a free card next round or get information, there should be other factors to justify a raise(cut the pot odds;semi-bluff;at least get more in pot if you think it is small).
– Raise can drive out worse hands when you think you have the second best, and therefore increase you chance to win(you are still second best, but with a proper pot odds). Raise can even drive other better hands out, when you and a player to your right show very strong. Your chance is increased. You have to be sure they will fold though, otherwise you should just fold. Call is worst play in this case.
– In many cases, calling the a worst choice, you are purely rely on beating your oppo by outdrawing them, while with raising, you give yourself more ways to win. And if your hand does not look like promising at all, especially when there are many players, just fold. Check the last section of previous chapter to see when to call.
Chapter Fourteen – Check-Raising
– Check-Raising is check a hand with intenstion to raise it in the same round. Check-raising can drive oppo out or even win it from there.
– Two conditions are required:
- You are pretty sure you have the best hand, but not strong enough to slow play
- Someone behind you will bet! This is a must, otherwise you are losing a bet you could’ve win and giving a free card away.
– Position determines how it is played:
- With a reasonable good hand, you want your probable bettor to you right, so that you will raise on his bet and make other people fold
- With a much stronger hand, you want you propbable better to your left so that other people call his bet, then you raise again, collecting the money people call.
- People usually fold a double bet and call a single bet twice, that makes the different plays above important.
– You can check-raise with a second best hand, so to drive other oppo out and increase your chance of winning. In this case, you want the best hand to your right.
– Strong hand, there will be a bettor, and position.
Chapter Fifteen – Slowplaying
– With a very strong hand.
– Use it only when the pot is small and your strength is not out. Either case does not meet, you lose the deceptive value of slowplaying. Whats more, with large pot, you dont need to slow play to get more in pot and your oppo will call with a large pot anyways.
– Ideally, a slow play will allow your oppo to make the hand they are expecting and still lose the game.
– Watch out for the possibility that somebody can outdraw you! If there is a possible outdraw, quit slowplaying and stop giving them free/cheap card.
Chapter Sixteen – Loose and Tight play
– Good players adjust between loose and tight accordiong to games/individual opponents.
– In a tight game/against tight player
- loose on bluff/semi-bluff, they will more likely to fold when a bluff/semi-bluff, or a scary card comes later
- tight on legimitate hands, their requirement is high.
- play less draw hand because the pot odd is usually not good, and you wont get much even you make your hand
– In a loose game/against loose player
- tight on bluff/semi-bluff, as oppo will not like to fold, making outdraw them the only way to win
- loose on legimitate hands, as oppo requirement to play is low, their average hands cannot be good
- play more draw hand because of usually good pot-odd.
Chapter Seventeen – Position
– position is a underrated important factor in poker
– You want to be in the last postion to act because
- you will simply have more information to make a decision
- with a fair-to-good hand you would like to call, being in the last position you would have no fear that someone behind you raises
- With a big hand, if you are early or middle, you have to decide whether to check-raise, bet, raise with driving out some players or just call to keep people in game; while in the last position, you just need to raise or call if nobody does that yet
- With mediocre hand, in last position, you can call without fearing a raise, and sometimes player with better hands before you will check, giving you a free card
- With only 2 players are left, it is more advantagous to be the last, you can call or raise; while being the first you have to decide check-raise or bet, both have potential lose.
- Only threat is someone is playing check-raising.
– Advantages of the first position, check-raising; bet-reraising; drive out players
– When in last position, you can play loosely because there will not be raises, try to grow marginal hands; in first position, you need to tighten up, fold almost all marginal/mediocre hands because it is very likely there are some raises, and you would cost yourself unneccessary bets.
– With a strong hand, being last will win you a large pot, just wait and raise and collect bets from those who fold and double bets fronm those who call; while being first/early, you either raise to lose some bets from those who fold or call to give your oppo a cheap price to grow their hand.
– Notice: being next to first with a marginal hand, it’s usually not worth a call because even if you make the big hand, your implied odds are small because others would fold when you raise. So stop a marginal hand if you are next to first, in most cases.
– You usually want tight players after you and loose player before you. (why? less surprises from the loose one as they are before you, and you can trap(semi-bluff/bluff) them)
Chapter Eighteen – Bluffing
– bluffing is no more important than playing a legimatate hand correctly.
– in theory, the frequency you bluff should be close to the pot odd you are getting.
– in early rounds, semi-bluff is prefered. But if you did it anyway, fold when somebody raises.
– in early rounds, your bluff is usually called, so you need to calculate the effective pod odd, other than the immediate one.The chance your oppo fold should be close to the effective pod odd you are getting.
– takes exp to know when to pursue and when to give up. if your oppo calls your first bet, he maybe has something. quit bluffing if the next card seems to improve his hand. Otherwise you may continue bluffing.
– bluffing when all cards are out can only be learned from exp. You need to learn to read hands and read players.
– first position is better than second as if you are in second, your oppo checks, it means he has a small something, otherwise he will bet(value or bluff), so when you bluff, he might think you are bluffing on the weakness he just showed.
– when you didnt make your hand, and you suspect your oppo didnt make it either, you should bet with a AJ or something, because if he really didnt make it, he will fold, so your chance increases. Also, if you make a small hand, and you suspect your oppo is small too, just check and call, other than bet. Betting will either make him call with a good hand or fold with a weak hand. But check and call can make him bet with his weak hand, which your hand will beat.
– bluffing when there are more than one oppo is usually not good, as the chance both will fold is rare. The middle one is fairly easier to fold though.
– The choice of bluff or betting for value usually come in the last round, when you either make your hand or dont. It is usually incorrect to do neither. When you failed to make your hand, bluff; when you did make your hand, bet for value.
– even if you get caught with a bluff, it will help you to get a lot more calls later; similarly, if you played a bad call in early rounds, if will help you to get successful bluffs laters.
Chapter Nineteen – Game Theory and Bluffing
– An optimum bluffing strategy(it is actually a semi-bluff) can be described as this:
- Randomize your bluff by making your decision on your coming hands.
- Pick your bluffing cards so that bluffing:hand-making is same as the pod odds your oppo is getting, this makes sure a mathematical maximum expectation regardless the strategy of your oppo
– The strategy is best to play against expert players, for more “average” players, consider shifting the bluffing:hand-making odds according to the play style of your oppo.
– You can use game theory to determine whether to call a possible bluff, especially when your hand can only beat a bluff:
- figure out the pod odds your oppo is getting
- randomize your call so that random cards to fold:cards makes your hand = invest of your oppo:pot he wins if you fold there
– Above strategy can only reduce your lose to minimum, there is no profitable response to a optimum bluffing strategy.
– Your should only apply game theory bluffing/calling when
- You are against better players than you, or you simply dont know the players
- Only when the better(you or oppo) is clearly either bluffing or having the best hand(like flush draws). If he is betting a legitimate hand, possibly not the best, apply “heads-ip on the end” from chapter 21.
Chapter Twenty – Inducing and Stopping bluffs
– when you inducing a bluff, you must always call when your oppo bets
– when you stopping a bluff, you must always fold when your oppo bets, because you must have tried to stop a bluff with a bad hand, stopping people from bluffing when you have good hands is not good.
– need to be re-visitied
Chapter Twenty one – Heads up on the end
– bluffing on the end is same as anytime, you need to evaluate the pot odds and your belief of the probability that your oppo will fold. bluff-raising the more difficult as most people will call you with a not-too-bad hand except really tough ones. Maybe you can use bluff raise when you have a pretty good hand though, to lure more money.
– last position when your oppo has checked: you should only bet on your chance of winning when your bet is called/raised(he made his hand or he is bluffing). Because your bet only works when it is called/raised, when it caused a fold, it adds no value at all.
– last position when you oppo has bet: you should fold or bet based on your chance of winning(prob of your oppo makes his hand and chance of you beating his hand and chance of him bluffing) versus the pot odds you are getting. For average players, they will almost certainly call if you raise, you should raise when you are a lot favorite to win. With very, very good players tough, you may raise less, and raise with mid hand hoping him will make a tough fold.
– first position with a good hand, you should consider check-raising if you think the chance your oppo bet with your check and call your raise is more than half of the chance he called if you bet. It works better with relatively good players. With weak players, they often wont bet when you check. Same as tough players(they are following the rule of the second item.)
– if you have a good hand, and check-raising might not work, try betting.
– if you have a favorable hand, not strong enough to check-raise
- bet if your oppo will call with more hand than he will bet on your check, most players are like this
- check and call if your oppo will bet with more hands than he will call, these are people who are more likely bluffing.
– if you have a underdog hand
- bet if your oppo will call more hands than he will bet.
- check and call if your oppo will bet with more hands than call
- check and fold if your oppo never bet with hands lower than you
– the key when you play in first position is to recognize the style of your oppo, is he more likely to call, to bet on a check, to call a check-raise? and consider your favorability of your hands, make the expected return maximized.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Reading Hands
– Analyze the meaning of check/bet/raise, and combine them with the exposed cards throughout the hand, that is how a hand is read.
– Start with guesses of what your oppo might have, and then eliminate them by the way they played. Would he have played like this if he has a mid hand/good/great hand, is this more like a bluff?
– A complementary way is t o work backward.
– After the elimination, try use math to find out the probability distribution of the possible type of hands your oppo might have.
– With multiple player in game, you should tighten up when someone before you called a initial bet, it is highly unlikely both players are bluffing, assess your hand with more caution, their value decreased. If a bet is raised, you should consider fold, unless you have a great hand and was playing slowplaying or check-raising(not likely though, you are not in early positions).
Chapter Twenty-Three – The Psychology of Poker
– Think about what your oppo is thinking of what you have.
- If you think he thinks you have a calling hand, yet he still bets, he is very likely betting for value. You should consider fold with avg-to-good hand.
- If you think he thinks you have a weak hand, and he bets, he might be bluffing, you should consider calling.
- If you think he thinks you have a good hand, you may try bluffing with a low hand.
- If you think he thinks you have weak hand, you should not try bluff because you’d get caught, you should bet for value.
– Against expert level players, applying game theory is required. And be aware of the level of your oppo, you cannot get too far away from them.
Chapter Twenty-Four Analysis at the Table
– must be quick at the table, thinking too long will give out information if your hand. Sometimes you want to pause when there is no need though.
– In theory:
- figure out possible hands of your oppo
- what are the chances of each hand
- determine your best play against each hand
- pick the play that will most often be correct
- sometimes the best play based on chances are not the best…you need to consider the pot(that is the cost of mistake), and how much a play will cost you if it turned out to be a bad play
Chapter Twenty-Five Evaluating the Game
– two questions should be asked: is the game worth playing; and how to play it.
– Forced bets, key question: what is the relation to the betting limits? Find a game suits your style first, then try different ones and adjust to them.
– Betting Limits, does it increase drastically? Play tight if it does not(limit holdem), and avoid hands require luck; play loose if it does(pot-limit or no-limit holdem), as it means high implied odds in the earlier rounds.
– Know the rules, do not make stupid mistakes. And adjust: if check-raise is not allowed, later position is more powerful, do more semi-bluffs and bet more when you are in later positions.
– Adjust to players is more important than structures. Make sure you are not the sucker, and find mistakes the bad players make in the game, and take advantage of it.
– Loose players: play tight, enter with better hands and try less bluff required by game theory(maybe in the early stage of the game).
– Tight players:
- Tight on early rounds: steal antes, raise the force bet more than game theory demands, 2/3 maybe
- Tight early, loose up later: Thus type is common, they play tight so they hate to give up with a good hand, quit bluffing because they wont fold. Only bet out when you think you have a good chance to have the best hand.
- Tight all the time, bluff more then GT and semi-bluff always
– Mistakes and strategies:
- Bluff too much – induce more, then call
- bluff too little – stop, and fold according to your strength
- Never fold any fair hand at end – never bluff, but bet more with a good hand
- Rarely folds a fair on any round – dont slowplay, bet for value with decent hands
- fold too often on the end – bluff more but dont bet your fair for value
- tight on the first round, loose later – steal ante from them if they have not call, quit bluffing if they did. And bet for value with fair hand.
- never check-raises – bet more hands behind him(and more semi-bluff), as his checking tells he has only a fair hand
- never bluff raises – fold fair-to-good hands when they raise. Bet weaker hands, as his response will tell you more infor
Think to Write, Write to Think. 