Basic Online Poker Skills

Poker Strategy - The 4 key skills you have to learn

Poker professionals are usually described as tight and aggressive.  A more accurate description though is of a person who has mastered the critical theories of the game. There are 4 key skills that a poker player must possess:

1.    Math skills

A good poker player will know - 

- percentages: A player has a 1:8 chance of hitting a set when holding a pocket pair, and a 1:3 chance of completing a flush draw at the flop.  

- the importance of 'outs: 'Outs' are the number of cards that will complete a hand. A player will count his 'outs' and then multiply them by 2 for every card still to come.  This will equal the percentage shot he will have of hitting the hand he is drawing to.

- the 'pot odds.': Calculating 'outs' is useless unless it can be translated into a calculated bet. If a player has a 20% chance of hitting, what must he do? - Once he determines the chance of hitting or winning, he divides the size of the pot at the river (i.e. the current pot + amount to be added through future bets) by the amount he must put in.  Should he have a 20% chance of hitting, and the bet to him is 50;  if the pot at the river is to be greater than 250, he must call. If is will be less, he must fold. 

- Math skills are the most basic knowledge required of a player.

2.     Discipline

What separates a strong poker player from the mediocre player is that the average player does not expect to win while a good player does. The average gambler is happy playing craps, roulette, the slots;  he hopes to get lucky at one. A solid poker player does not hope to get lucky;  he just hopes others don't get lucky. Good poker players demand the advantage. 

A good poker player understands that different poker games require different disciplines. A disciplined no-limit player can be a foolish-limit player and vice versa, if he misses the opportunities presented in a game. A disciplined-limit player is always very tight preflop. They will not play many hands, and will play only the ones that have a very good chance at winning.

But a disciplined no-limit player is a different kettle of fish! This player is not concerned with paying too many blinds; instead, they don't want to get trapped. The key difference between a disciplined limit and no-limit player is that the limit player avoids losing his stack bit by bit, while a disciplined no-limit player avoids losing his whole stack in 1 hand. Therefore, the disciplined no-limit player is able to play many hands. Preflop, they can be extremely loose, and bet with odd hands such as 35 offsuit. But the strong no-limit player will also know when to muck hands that will get them into trouble and into a losing spiral!

- The disciplined player will know when to play and when to quit. They recognize when they are on a tilt and are aware when a game is too juicy.

- The disciplined player keeps track of their poker statistics (wins/losses at various games) as they try to focus on the poker games they excel at.   

- Disciplined players are not perfect and learn from mistakes, without blaming others or crying.  Learning and moving on.  

3.     Psychological Skills

- Good players may be self-centred, the biggest yaks you know, who steal from the poor and pick their noses.  But ...when a poker professional enters that poker room, he empathizes with his opponents, always. He will always try to think what they think, understand the decisions they make and why they make them. He will then set his mind to getting answers to 3 questions:
    1.    What does my oponent have?
    2.    What does my opponent think I have?
    3.    What does my opponent think I think he has?

- The first step to the game is knowing the answer to these questions.  Knowing how to manipulate them is the 2nd and most vital step! If the player has a pair of kings and his foe has a pair of aces, and both know what the other has and both know that the other knows what the other knows...why play?? The professional is able to manipulate the questions and answers 2 and 3 above by slowplaying, fastplaying, and bluffing, and thereby throws his opponent off.

- A good poker player knows that understanding human psychology is one of his most powerful tools, and that it can benefit him more...much more, in a no-limit game that in a limit game.  The reasoning here is that limit games often become mathematical games.

4.   Clarity of Risk-vs-Reward

- A poker player will be quite prepared to take a long shot - a high risk gamble, but only if the expected return is worth it. Pot odds and demanding an advantage are part of understanding this aspect of poker. 

- The risk-vs-reward nature of the game must be accepted and understood outside of the actual poker room as well, in terms of the amount of bankroll needed to play, and how much is needed in reserve to cover other expense of day-to-day life!

- Good poker players are in actual fact a tad risk-averse! Economics will define a person as risk-neutral, risk-averse, or risk-loving. This will depend on what level of risk that person will reward a $ they stand to gain or lose. A risk lover will bet his whole $ to win a whole $ - even odds, risk averse will never risk that whole $ and a risk neutral person would not care either way.   A good poker player is therefore slightly risk averse - he demands and advantage that is big enough to be considered risk neutral - even though he values each $ on the table equally.  A player that is worried about losing all the money he brings to the table should not be playing with that much money - never mind playing poker!!!