Poker Playing Profits

By JAR

Transitioning to Mixed Games

The first exposure that the majority of people knew on poker was as a dealer's choice home game. This type of game was well known before 2002: a bunch of people get together, drink beer, and play all sorts of poker variants. During this time, the combination of wild cards, buying and passing cards, chip declares and whatever else comes to mind was pretty normal.

Nowadays, these dealer's choice games still happen, even in the hold'em era. These games are played at stakes low enough so that people can buy-in with their change jars, but I know that if you want to play some dealer's choice games you need to be armed with some (or several) Big Bens.

If you just glimpse these variants of poker, they may seem wildly different, but basically poker is poker, and when you are learning how to play there are basically tips and concepts that you can apply regardless of the variant: hold'em, blind man's bluff, Omaha 8/b, 7-card stud, razz, follow the queen, or whatever. A simple way to learn how to play poker is playing free online poker.

1) Reading Your Opponents

Poker is a game well known for the interaction between its players. In this game, the opponent's cards matter as much as yours, sometimes even more. Despite what variation of poker you are playing, you can pick up betting patterns and physical tells that allow you to put your opponents on hand and predict their action distributions.

2) The Numbers

It's important to consider the odds against you hitting various types of draws. If you know them you can know if the pot laying is a good price. This may be difficult if you are playing some poker variant for the first time, but with certain basic knowledge, you should be able to come up with some rough estimates that you should rigorously evaluate post-session.

3) Betting for Value

With a good hand it will be easier to know your opponents' calling ranges, but when you have 99% of your opponents' hands beaten, and your opponents only call you with that 1% that beats you, betting would be a bad move. Knowing this, you can look for opportunities to raise draws for value. Usually these situations will be in multi-way pots; in these, your raise will not shut any players out of the pot.

4) Opportunities Where the Cards Don't Matter

In many games there are standard plays that you can run, indifferently of your hand’s accuracy. You can see an example of this when you are playing razz. A king reels in. You are first to act, and the card that you're displaying is a 3. Everyone else exhibit face cards. You should complete no matter what your downcards are.

If you consider these concepts they should help you adapt to any poker variant. The ability to adapt brings a greater game selection, and greater game selection brings greater profit opportunities.

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