Poker is in fact a game board, beginner strategies

Ok so i don't think i covered very much poker strategies in first installment , i will try to stay on pace this time.

Position, ok you would not try to play chess without at least understanding what a chess board looks like, poker is not much different as in there is a board , table and position, imagine monopoly, chess, checkers, etc blown up to real life board meeting size, and now you have a poker table. A business meeting done with cards and stories.

Texas holdem whether limit or no limit, has same board. imagine if you will, a mini war.

Dealer, he is at home fighting in his back yard, he will see all the other players make their moves before he has to even decide whether to continue in hand, optimal position, Dealer Dealer Dealer, best spot in house, and for every trip around the table you will have this sweet land once, as will everyone else. examples how this works for your benefit,

1. You have AA and 1 person calls your 30 cent raise, microstakes remember, your the dealer , now with flop of King 5 2, you can almost say for certain he doesn't have 2 5, never 100 percent sure but for the sake of this demonstration we should know that they don't, king 5 , king 2 are not real likely good, and since he only called a raise kk is out of question , so we know we still have the best hand 95 percent of time right now, and he has to make his bet or check in front of us, now with pot of 60 cents he may bet out 15 - 20 cents with nothing, 15 -50 cents if he hit his king, which the smaller raise we may just call for 1 more card to trap him, the bigger raise has the pot over 1 buck and nice place to reraise, which is making his bet 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 times his original bet, or All in if he has not many chips or sure he will put em all in anyways, but with us acting after him we get all this info for free, he gives away his hand at least a good idea of it from his check or his bet, and even his bet size..

2. If the role is reversed, we have Aa and flop comes king 5 2 , now we have to act first , still 60 cents in pot as he called our 30 cent bet, but if we bet and he has nothing most times he folds and we only win 60 cents in there now, if we slow play and check and he checks too, now we gave him a free card to hit his hand, which now we have no idea what he has, unlikely a king, as he didn't bet, but not impossible say he has 10 10, pair of tens, we won't know this of course, now the turn comes 10, so board reads , A 5 2 10 , now with him checking we feel we have to get money in pot so we bet, say 40 cents or 2/3rd size of pot, now with his last 3 bucks he pushes all in, now with 4 bucks in pot, we have to call another 2.70 with aces and hope were still good, we don' know maybe he had hand like king 10 2 pair now, Ace 10, and we still have the best of it, he could actually have 10 10. etc. so now we make the call and he shows us a set of 10's, for the win, now this is unlikely hand and him hitting 2 outer shouldn't happen too often, but it does and this is how big pots are won and lost every minute of everyday, all across the world, by playing out of position , and not knowing where your opponent is at in the hand. ok moving on.

A lot has been writtin about the blinds, 1st spot small blind after dealer
2nd spot big blind 2 people after the dealer,

now pre flop before anyone see the cards in middle in texas holdem, each player is dealt 2 hole cards that are hidden from any other players, just based on these 2 cards players will bet, check, call , or raise,

Dealer deals out cards to players in clockwise manner, next to dealer puts in half bet, if stakes are 5 and 10 cent blinds, then player left of dealer puts in nickle whether he likes to play his cards or not, a forced bet, now the big blind 2 spots after dealer, puts in dime, same case forced bet, they can indeed play these hands if they choose too, or fold but the bet is made no matter what, now 1 person on left of bb is called, 1 hole, 1st position, under the gun or utg, all same person just different names people call this player, he has to act as first person to either call the dime bet, fold his hand, or raise the dime bet , and whole table will see his actions, and be able to make a better decision of what cards they should play you against, or fold, utg i call it, is not a position you should play but 1/10 hands from this spot, most of time its an automatic fold, king jack, queen 10, jack 8, ace 10, are all hands that get folded in this spot, AA , Kk , QQ, JJ 10 10, Ak AQ suited you can play from here but be careful to raise, unless you got AA KK , you can call any raise size, or even reraise any raise with these 2 pairs, I only fold KK if someone actually showed me they had 2 Aces preflop, and since this should never happen, i will never fold kings preflop.

Next 2 spots behind utg are almost same, big pairs or big Ace king ace queen are only hands you should play from any of these spots,

next 2 spots after these or about 4 -5 spots after big blind are middle position they are called, and now a few more hands can be played King queen , 99 pair down to 55, ace jack and king jack suited, if no one has raised bet from utg or next 2 spots that is, if a raise comes out of these spots auto fold unless you got a big pair or Ace king / ace queen. now i will limp with above hands with 2 or more players in it that have limped, ( means only calling the dime bet), and willing to call a raise that comes from behind me as long as it is not huge compared to my stack.

Note some players will limp in with AA KK QQ utg or 1 spot behind big blind to sneak in and wait for any one else to bet the pot, so they in fact can reraise and pick up a lot of limpers chips, or even to get a lesser hand all in pre flop if they suspect the bettor will indeed go to war with them.

slow playing a monster from utg and springing in for the kill after some unsuspecting tool raises, very common now a days for this to happen it is in every poker book written in last few years.

2 spots to dealer right and dealer. all are in late position, they already know if any raises or reraises or how many people want to limp in and see a cheap flop, all info is laying out in front of them so far, excetp what the blinds will do or dealer if they are 1 or 2 spots off , but they have a good idea if this is going to be a huge pot preflop or if many people just want the flop dealt out cheap, lots of info being late position, and more hands in right situation can be played, you would not ever play jack 8 both diamonds in first or middle positon, but if 4 or 5 players have all limped in and now the pot is 50 cents and your the dealer, or on the button they call it as well, you may pay a dime and hope the small blind or big blind don't raise, and see if you can't hit a magic flop suck as 2 pair, or straight or flush in diamonds, etc. see later you are to act in any given hand gives you an edge over the rest of table, and poker is all about small edges cutting big chunks out of your opponents wallets.

now small blind and big blind preflop have position cause they in fact are the last 2 to act before the flop is dealt, ( 3 of 5 total cards that are community or board cards as there known) so if you have small pair maybe and your in blind you can see the flop in unraised pot for a nickle or for free if your the big blind, or and hope to hit a another card to match your pair , known as a set in poker, 3 of kind, for the older crowd, now this is usually going to be a winning hand, be careful about really coordinated boards, 3 spades or Ace Queen 10 , where a king jack already flopped the winning straight, etc, but if you hold 66 and flop is A K 6 , simply wait for the Ace or King paired player to do all your betting for you hold on as you scoop a big pot when all the dust settles, especially if he holds Ace kIng you will get every penny he has table.

Now once the flop is out, small blind is terrible position as it has to act first before all other players not knowing how strong they will play their hands, if you flop a set in this position i would check rather than bet, and give away the strength of my hand, and wait for someone else or someones' else hopefully a few will be in hand when the action gets back to you and you can reraise them for many reasons to get the flush draws to fold if any, or 2 simply add more money in the pot, when you should be a huge favorite at this point to win hand, but if you flop 1 pair or less you are in guessing game what to do before all these poeple act, and basically should check and see what action develops behind before you make any more decisions, optical way for playing small and big blind, check and see what develops, if the betting is too scary you just fold your 1 pair, and know your likely doing the right thing.

now after flop the dealer has all the say so, he will be last person to act the remainder of hand, and what a sweet piece of realestate that is, to know how much people are willing to risk with their hands, gives you invaluable info, as how to play your own, hand,

anyways this is all from position at tables for now, hope im not confusing too many of you, but for any poker player position is 1 of the winnningest ingredients to a winners pie..

until next time,

hold up hand hold up!!!