Yakuman's Suggestions

[Yakuman]

1. Rarely call big bets – raise or fold. If in doubt, probably fold.
2. Rarely call all-in without KK or AA preflop or a set or better postflop.
3. Play as if your opponent is not bluffing and rarely bluff on a microlimit table.
4. If there are at least five people at a table and at least three of them see the flop, then one or more probably hold an ace in the hole.
5. Do not draw to an outside straight without excellent pot odds.
6. Position and suitedness usually matter.
7. The small blind is no bargain.
8. Do not overplay top pair.
9. Virtually every full-ring poker table contains one or more multitabling rocks. Identify them and be ready for them.
10. AK is a drawing hand.

Obligatory starting hand chart:

Supertight:
Poker pairs 77 and better, AK, AQ

Tight:
All pocket pairs.
Unsuited: AK, AQ, AJ
Suited: AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, JT

Loose:
Optional unsuited: AT, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, JT
Optional suited aces: all except A2
Optional suited K&Q: K9, K8, K6, Q9
Optional suited connectors: T9, 98, 76
Optional suited gappers: T8, 97

Maniac:
All pocket pairs.
Any A, K, Q, or T
Unsuited 9s and 8s above 7
Suited 9s and 8s above 6
Suited 6s and 7s above 5
Suited 5s above 4

[Yakuman]

Bonus suggestion:

BE VERY CAREFUL when facing a raise on the turn or _any_ bet on the river. Your opponent is more likely to be trapping you than bluffing.

[Yakuman]

Still reading? OK. Want to avoid most bad beats? Just remember two things.

1. Don't slowplay aces.
2. Don't go all-in with top pair, TPTK, two pair or trips postflop. The bare minimum is a flopped set, when you have a pair in the hole and one on the flop.

You might be giving up a big pot or two, but one bad beat can wreck your whole night. The reverse implied odds of tilt outweigh any potential gains from winning the hand.

[Yakuman]

One more:

Poker Stars is the best poker site that ever was, probably the best poker site that ever will be. But it is very tight. I guess you have to pay for quality.

[aokrongly]

...

[raydel]

Not sure if I should add to this, being barely a beginner myself, but I'm finding one of the most important things I keep forgetting to do is:

Take your time and think before acting.

[freechus9]

This is so incomplete. Starting hands and implied odds are not talked about at all, and they are the most important things to understand about playing poker successfully.

[Wooderson]

Starting hands... are not talked about at all

Really?

Obligatory starting hand chart:

Supertight:
Poker pairs 77 and better, AK, AQ

Tight:
All pocket pairs.
Unsuited: AK, AQ, AJ
Suited: AK, AQ, AJ, AT, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, JT

Loose:
Optional unsuited: AT, KQ, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, JT
Optional suited aces: all except A2
Optional suited K&Q: K9, K8, K6, Q9
Optional suited connectors: T9, 98, 76
Optional suited gappers: T8, 97

Maniac:
All pocket pairs.
Any A, K, Q, or T
Unsuited 9s and 8s above 7
Suited 9s and 8s above 6
Suited 6s and 7s above 5
Suited 5s above 4

[Halv]

Want to avoid most bad beats?

No, I really don't. A bad beat is when I get my chips in with the best of it but get beaten anyway. Learn to love 'em.

You might be giving up a big pot or two, but one bad beat can wreck your whole night. The reverse implied odds of tilt outweigh any potential gains from winning the hand.

I think this is very bad advice. If you step away from situations that could end in bad beats because you're worried about tilt, then you're not strong enough psychologically to be a good poker player.

Rather than leaving a lot of money on the table by stepping back from potential bad beats you should learn to control your emotions. This is of course easier said than done, and every poker player loses control sometimes, but the more you play and the more you work with your mind the more control you are in.

Also, "reverse implied odds" is a specific term and should be used as such, especially in the Beginners Circle.

[Yakuman]

What separates skill from luck in poker is the ability to maximize return with the minimum of risk. I see your point about leaving money on table, but, face it, downswings suck.

There is a quote attributed to Amarillo Slim: "If you can't put down the best hand, what can you put down?" (I've heard it several times, but a Web search comes up empty.)

In tournament poker, yes, push with that top pair. The blinds aren't going to get any friendlier.

In cash games, value bet that sucker, but try not to go all-in post-flop. Worse, don't call the other guy's all-in. The guy who will fold to all-in will probably fold to a pot-sized bet.

I wish I could show you how often I bust people who go all-in with me holding TP and I've got him drawing dead. Happens all the time.

Just today. I have a pair of 2s and the flop is K 2 T. Two guys go all in on me and I call. One guy flips over AK and the other AA. Guess who won. Wanna bet the losers think they got a bad beat?

BTW, this is not intended to be a complete system on poker, just suggestions.

[knoedel]

I agree in principle, but if you don't push with two pair sometimes you are losing a lot of value. Occasionally I lose against a set, but that doesn't outweigh what I make with two pair in the long run. Especially since a lot of players can't fold top pair

[Halv]

What separates skill from luck in poker is the ability to maximize return with the minimum of risk. I see your point about leaving money on table, but, face it, downswings suck.

No, what seperates "the men from the boys" is the ability to push small edges to the max. Downswings DO suck, but if you're going to be weak-tight to avoid them you're in for a surprise - they'll still happen, but you will make less money in between them. If you don't have the bankroll to survive downswings then move down a level.

I don't disagree that it is important to be able to lay down hands, but as everything else in poker, it is very situational.

Wanna bet the losers think they got a bad beat?

Wether they think they did or not, they didn't.

BTW, this is not intended to be a complete system on poker, just suggestions.

Of course, and just for the record I'm not being hostile here. Discussion is always good.

[TLR]

1. Rarely call big bets – raise or fold. If in doubt, probably fold.
2. Rarely call all-in without KK or AA preflop or a set or better postflop.
3. Play as if your opponent is not bluffing and rarely bluff on a microlimit table.
4. If there are at least five people at a table and at least three of them see the flop, then one or more probably hold an ace in the hole.
5. Do not draw to an outside straight without excellent pot odds.
6. Position and suitedness usually matter.
7. The small blind is no bargain.
8. Do not overplay top pair.
9. Virtually every full-ring poker table contains one or more multitabling rocks. Identify them and be ready for them.
10. AK is a drawing hand.

1. Partly true, in tournament espcially there are point of calling big bets on the river if you think but not sure your oppoent is bluffing, and dont want to risk your entire stack
2. That may be true in a full table at ring, but not in short tables or late in tournaments
3. In micro, you are correct, otherwise you will be losing a lot of value. In HoH harrington mentions to assume opponent bluffs about 10% of the times
4. Addition to this - if 3 or more people see the flop at least one of them improves on the flop
5. True
6. Position much more then suiteness

[Yakuman]

Performance Poker would have TPTK bet 1/2 to 2/3 the pot on the flop and turn then 1/2 the pot on the river -- and fold to any raise.

I'd be matching the pot and reraising, at least initially. I have no problem with putting the _other guy_ all-in, if he's short stacked.

(boring parenthetical follows)

I guess I have to borrow from mahjong, from which the name Yakuman derives, to further my explanation. There's an Asian slang term, "chicken hand," to mean a low-ranking hand that may win the pot, but isn't very impressive. It shows neither skill nor luck. Often, it is considered bad form to push with a hand like this.

Curiously, at the other end of the spectrum from the chicken hand, at least in Japan, is the Yakuman, which is a monster hand. I find it ironic that I chose it as a screen name, considering this conversation.

[Yakuman]

More thoughts:

1 Try to avoid TV poker. Most of it is heavily edited all-in fests that boggle the mind. With a few exceptions, it teaches the wrong lessons.

2. Try not to be influenced by most big-name tournament players. Most of them have carefully crafted images that hide their personalities. Many of them would get slaughtered on a TAGgy online cash table. Some are just fish who got lucky.

3. Avoid all the new glossy magazines that cater to WPT-watching fish. They stink. If you can get them comped, they are passable bathroom reading.

[Renton]

worst thread ever

[Renton]

worse than New 19 hand play chart

[ItDepends]

Great chart! Good learning guide for all new fish.

[pgil]

number 7 isnt exactly true. the SB with a T2 is not a bargain. the SB with a 75 is.

lately i have been less likely to complete if the entire table has limped, but more likely to if it has folded to the button, who limps. it is much easier to take it away from a button open-limper and someone who checks from the BB than from a table full of limpers. i will still play the suited connectors with a table full of limpers, but i tend to tighten up my standards in that scenario.

[Yakuman]

"worse than New 19 hand play chart"

Aren't you the guy who launched a tirade elsewhere about how I'm a "hater?"

[Renton]

i didn't mention names

[Yakuman]

I wrote this thing two years ago. It seems to hold up pretty well.

[a500lbgorilla]

haha awesome

[Yakuman]

I wrote this in response to the "Performance Poker" 15-hand strategy that was being promoted here. Is that still going on? Do people still play that system?

[Yakuman]

Bonus suggestion:

BE VERY CAREFUL when facing a raise on the turn or _any_ bet on the river. Your opponent is more likely to be trapping you than bluffing.

The truth of this seems clearer now than back then. Don't call your opponent''s value bets on the river. Raise, push or fold. This is true even with the donkiest opponents.

Trust me here.

[Fnord]

While this sort of play does show a profit, it doesn't exploit bad players for the max and it's not much fun either.

I played some live poker today. Played $300 max $3/$5 and made over a buy-in. Most of that was without showdown because most people don't like to call off lots of money without a hand. Yet, they play lots of speculative hands and make very optimistic calls until the money gets big. A couple times people folded the best hand face up.

Oh, and the one guy I stacked was when I had top pair second kicker and he called me down with 99 unimproved. So much for not over-playing it, lolz.

[bigslikk]

For anyone who plays PS's microstakes (like I do), this advice is pretty good. Gold for a beginner.

[bigred]

pretty cool bump

[badgers]

1. Rarely call big bets – raise or fold. If in doubt, probably fold.
2. Rarely call all-in without KK or AA preflop or a set or better postflop.
3. Play as if your opponent is not bluffing and rarely bluff on a microlimit table.
4. If there are at least five people at a table and at least three of them see the flop, then one or more probably hold an ace in the hole.
5. Do not draw to an outside straight without excellent pot odds.
6. Position and suitedness usually matter.
7. The small blind is no bargain.
8. Do not overplay top pair.
9. Virtually every full-ring poker table contains one or more multitabling rocks. Identify them and be ready for them.
10. AK is a drawing hand.

1. lol epic fail
2. a) meh b) epic fail
3. lol
4. possibly close to being true
5. outside straight? you mean gutshot or open ended?
6. lol excellent
7. YES agree if the BB is aggro/good
8. well yeah
9. yep
10. lol