Texas Hold'em - strategies, bad beats, tournies won, etc

[drift925]

I wanted to see if this would be a successful thread in discussing texas holdem. You can talk about anything related to the game, strategies you used in winning that 10k tournament, strats you use in cash games, bad beats you've had, anything.

Personally I think holdem is a very old and very popular game and maybe we can help eachother out by shinning some light on some strats that other people (you) maybe never thought about using. Plus I find hold'em to be a very intellectually demanding game just like chess, and there's nothing better than owning someone with mind games!

One of the oldest tricks in the book is of course to cloak yourself as much as possible when playing. Put on as much as you think you need, glasses, hat, fake beard, ninja mask, etc because obviously you want to hide as many tells as possible. So lets share!

[azndoc]

I found out the hard way.

Just because a guy looks like a retard doesn't mean he is.

This is the way how I look at the game. I've read lots of books and all that gave me was a foundation of how the game is played.

But its through playing countless hours that I learned the ways that I play the game and what works for me.

Its all about experience.

It's a very expensive experience sometimes. lol

[drift925]

Playing $100 buy-in tournies will help your game a lot. One major thing about hold'em that a lot of people dont realize is that cash games are WAY different than tournament play. Personally I think cash games are way more aggressive and harder to play in. In cash games you need to be really good at reading people while tournament play is more civilized and you can use strategies like reading bets, using your position in betting, and taking chip stacks into consideration.

In cash games, there's really no consequences other than losing more money, and what if the guy your playing agaisnt makes 4x your salary? This is why I find cash games to be more brutual and unfair.

[azndoc]

Yeah I know.

Trust me. I play poker.

Usually at Commerce or HG.

$100 NL table is where you'll find me.

or $40 NL if I'm just playing to avoid traffic for the time being.

[Tops*]

the biggest pot i've won to date was $300.

i had pocket k's and i was small blind.

guy before me raised with pocket j's and i just called to slow play.

big blind had pocket j's as well and he went all in (had both of us covered).

the guy that first raised called and flipped over his cards 'cause he's a dumb ass and completely forgot about me.

i see the first pair of pocket j's.

everyone's like what the fuck.

i'm like what the fuck.

even the dealer was like what the fuck.

so, the casino boss was called to the table and the guy that flipped over his cards was disqualified, but still had to call (free money).

of course, i have to call with pocket k's.

big blind flips over the second pair of pocket j's.

flop.

nothing.

done!

monies!

[drift925]

^^ LOL that must have sucked!! Talk about a gut shot straight draw....... Were his jacks at least suited? lol...... nice come up!

[WERDdabuilder]

i like to chase and i been lucky as of late. came up 170 couple weeks back at a home game.

[Kaizen.]

Some donkey called a $20 dollar raise preflop with Q6 off, floped flush draw, runner runner straight, gut shot straight too. I bet all the way with my pocket 9's, beat everything out there on board. BS! that costed me over 100 alone. But its koo came up the day before. Up 6 ended up cashin out at 3 because of stupid jacks I should of layed down.

I noticed when I play home games with the homies, I always win. When I play at casinos I always lose. Not until I started to realize I must play like I do at homegames. Not be afraid to stab or call certain hands. Im getting more and more comfortable at casinos, which is pretty scary.

[aNskY]

^^ LOL that must have sucked!! Talk about a gut shot straight draw....... Were his jacks at least suited? lol...... nice come up!



suited jacks.. thats a new one :aw:






i usually get up lots of money playin my game, then lose it all bein a jackass with the big stack :fawkd: like the other day i called down an all in bet of about $100 with ak flop was like k 10 2 rainbow. the guy limped into the pot before i raised preflop, i shoulda put him on 10's or 2's (guy had 10's)... oh well

[stiizy]

I usually like to play the punk ass kid at 10 seat with the shades on...

it's annoys the hell outta people when you play cocky or act that way it throws off their game...

I play 1-2 NL stack some funds and then go buy in for a thousand at the 10-25 table i usually do pretty good at that and turn my 1 or 2 hundred into about 6k before i leave, patience is how i play and i play super tight......Virgin even :keke:

[RurouniMidnight]

ahhh poker, i used to play a lot but not anymore. I used to play about 5 nights a week at underground places here in town or travel to Lousiana on the weekends to play at Casinos because there is no legal gambling in texas. I visited Vegas once and played in a smaller wsop tourney they had in Missisippi, Poker was cool at first I made some money and lost some money, there were just to many up and down swings for me because i didn't really have a sufficient bankroll to accomidate it also once you play a lot and get around people that all they talk about it is poker it feels like its sucking away your life force, id rather have my car take over my life haha.

[Sil-Abc]

i wouldnt say theres really techniques or strats that u should follow because everyone is different in their playing styles. I read some parts of dan harringtons books and some of doyle brunsons books and honestly, i think theyre useless. After reading like a quarter of each book i just tossed them in my closet and just played online. After many hours of play i got used to it and begin to pick up stuff as u play. Its like working on a car, u can read this shit or "creep" around here for years without a 240 but when u actually get to the car and start working on it, u dont kno exactly what to do and go at it with past experience and some suggestions. Here is one suggestion:
-Online play is completely different than real life.
-Cash games are more aggressive but can be quick money.
-Tournaments are long and generally if u dont place top 10 its not worth the profit/hr.

One time i played a tournament online for 3-4 hours and won around 350? A few months later i went to vegas and won ~550 in one hand and that took 5-10 mins. There are the benefits and consequences but honestly, just keep playing at low stakes and get used to it and then move up. O yea, glasses and shit they may help u or ACTUALLY HURT YOU. when I see glasses, i assume ur weak because ur telling me that u think ur weak so u have to wear glasses to hide ur emotions from me. If u do things like quickly see ur cards when u get them, to me u seem eager to find a good hand and quickly make some cash cuz ur falling behind. another is like i watch ur skin or shirt and see how fast ur heartrate is, some people when their heartrate is up the skin kindas beats and the person fidgits or the shirt will beat with the heart meaning he could be bluffing or anxious to see if he won or if his hand is good enough.

[azndoc]

I've caught a one outer on the river to make quads once.

The most I've ever won was $600 at the $40 NL on one buy in.

Stacked.... in dollar chips.

I have a pic.