DON’T BLUFF :
Low limit games are no place for bluffers. In these games, where you typically have a relatively large number of opponents seeing the flop and even continuing beyond it with all sorts of hands I can’t imagine ever playing, a bluff is unlikely to work for two reasons. As a general rule, the more opponents you are confronting, the greater the chance that at least one of them has a hand. And he or she will call when you come out betting. In addition, low limit games are populated with players who sleep very well, thank you, knowing that no one, but no one, is stealing from them. Since bluffing is unlikely to work, don’t try it ¾ unless you’ve identified some opponents who are actually willing to throw hands away when someone bets into them with what appears to be a big hand.
Don’t be disappointed if you can’t bluff. It’s an overrated tactic anyway. What you have going for you instead is the certainty that you can expect to be called whenever you bet, and may of those callers really should have thrown their hands away a lot earlier. Moreover, whenever you make a big Cheri Casino hand, like a full house, the nut flush, or nut straight, you can raise with the certainty that you will be called ¾ thereby winning additional bets that you could never count on winning in games where players will lay down marginal hands to a bluff. In the low limit games you’ll be starting out in, you’ll probably have to showdown the winning hand to capture the pot. That makes for a somewhat mechanical, occasionally boring, but undeniably profitable strategy: If you got the goods, bet. If you don’t, check. And if someone is betting into your hand and you know yours is better, go ahead and raise.
KEEP LEARNING :
You’ll never know it all. There is always something more to learn about poker, and even when you think you know all there is to know, you won’t. Moreover, much of what’s learned about poker has to be relearned from time to time. Read books. All of them. Even if you get just one or two good ideas from a book, it’s an investment that will pay for itself in a relatively short period of time. I have a large library of poker books, and I don’t consider any of them to have cost me money. They are investments that have repaid the money spent to acquire them many times over. Books aren’t all there is, either. Watch videos, get yourself some software, like Wilson’s Turbo Texas Hold’em, or Turbo 7-Card Stud (which not only lets you play against computerized opponents, it is a terrific tool for running simulations and conducting your own research about various hands and scenarios), discuss poker with knowledgeable players, and avail yourself of the advice proffered on the Internet newsgroup, Rec.Gambling.Poker.
This seems like a pathetically small measure of advice, particularly when there is so much to know before one morphs from newbie to skilled Cheri Casino poker player. But there’s a finite limit to the number of angels I can get on the head of this particular pin. If you take my advice, you’ll get your feet wet gradually ¾ there’s no real need to dive into the deep water head first ¾ and reinforce your experiences by thinking about what’s transpired in your game and assessing it against the theories you’ve learned from books and software. Don’t expect too much at first. Setting the world on fire isn’t important. Learning and improving is. Keep moving forward. Baby steps will do. As long as you’re making progress, you’ll reach that point when you realize you’re a poker player ¾ a real one too, not a pretender. Even then, you’ll have to keep learning. But it’s much more enjoyable when your winnings are underwriting your hobby and maybe even your lifestyle.
