6 Card Poker

Irrespective of what type of poker you happen to be playing, different players will be at various levels of understanding. When a player first comes into the game then they are at the most basic of levels. In fact merely calling poker players novices, intermediates and advanced does not come close to identifying the various types of player. This is because there are all different levels within levels and so merely breaking that down into three broad levels never does it justice.

When a player first comes into the game then they come with almost no knowledge whatsoever. This process doesn’t just apply to poker but all games and sports. A player at the very first level is in this category and we can refer to them as “level one players”. These players are novices but the most unskilled of novice. They make horrible blunders that cost a high number of big blinds and they do this frequently through a chronic lack of knowledge.

It is through a process of experience and education that many players (not all) pass through this level into what I call level two. At this level then some lessons have been learned either through painful experience or reading and learning about the game. At this level then many of the huge blunders are corrected and players begin to learn about position and hand strength. It is also at level two where players begin to tighten up and play far fewer hands. At this level then they are no longer making the same massive errors as before and many players at these levels start becoming tight players and this is especially the case if playing tight fits their personality.

At level three then players tend to become more aware of how rakeback and Sign up bonuses are crucial to making money from the game although some players realise this as early as level one and two. Play becomes far more orthodox at level three although it does often lack creativity and fluidity that players at higher levels have. Good level three players can be long term winning players but they don’t win much because they don’t open their games up enough. However these level three players are solid and difficult to extract money from because they do not make big errors very often.

The coaching sites and information on the internet has led to more and more players reaching this level than ever before. At most half decent levels these days then it is difficult to find players at level one and two in any great frequency. Players at level three are what are known as weak-tight and they have become the new “fish” so to speak. Often though players at this level can be weak-tight but get their overall strategy all wrong and back to front. I know some level three players who go the exact opposite of weak-tight and are what I call weak-aggressive. These are players who understand about the importance of aggression but get it all wrong and bluffing is elevated more than it should be in their overall strategy. The real winners though are at level four and beyond and are players who understand the weaknesses of the players at the lower levels.

Why do I play cash games online? Lots of my peers have asked me that. Many of the tournament professionals I know ask the question most often. There is a complicated answer to a simple question.
I specialize in Real Money Poker cash games online because I’m good at them. That’s the simple answer. The complicated answer involves why I picked real money games online as the way to make my living in the first place. There are many forms of poker to learn, there are many ways to make a profit in the game, and there are many ways to lose money in poker.

For all the talk about the fact that poker online and poker live are the same games with minimal differences at the highest levels I disagree. There are a variety of skill sets that each requires and some of them conflict. Live tournaments and multi-tabling online poker tournaments are two entirely different states of mind and while you can be successful in both, success in one doesn’t guarantee success in the other. I’d argue sometimes it undermines it.

Cash games online vary with real money poker live cash games in similar fashion as the tournaments conflict with one another. If you want to be truly successful in online real money poker games multi-tabling has to become a part of your game, while if you want to be successful playing live poker you have to milk the game for every cent you can while you are there. You have the opportunity for hands so much less often that you can’t afford to not be zoned in.

When I started playing I quickly learned that I processed multiple tables quickly, and my decision making wasn’t hindered that much by shorter times to process information, nor having twenty things going on at once. I grew up excelling at video games, playing strategy games that required keeping track of multiple data at the same time, and sensing vulnerability. When I sit at a live real money poker table there simply aren’t enough stimuli to keep me engaged. I don’t mean that as an insult to live players but it’s simply a realization about me. Cash games online offered all the stimuli I needed, and if they didn’t I added more tables until they did.

So pretty quickly, I learned that casinos were dour places where people slowly played one hand at a time, and live players struggled with decisions online players make in their sleep. Of course, boredom also made me vulnerable and people picked up on information I was displaying without me catching on.
I would feel nervous when running a bluff that I wouldn’t be thinking about online because I’d already be making plays two tables away. The outcome didn’t bother me because the play was correct. So why would I worry it about. Live, you got nothing else to do but self-assess.

For a while, it felt like any competent live player could tell what I was up to and I didn’t like it. So, I hit the online cash games where I don’t lose that edge or more accurately somebody else doesn’t have that edge on me. Next was deciding between real money poker tournaments online and cash games online.
I won’t say that my decision was made when I whiffed in every tournament I had open one day and watched all those buy-ins leave my bankroll without anything returning. I won’t say it because there wasn’t one moment like that; there were a few of them.

When I play real money online cash games, even if I’m running bad at every table, I can always reload.
The finality of a tournament isn’t an issue. I wasn’t discarded to the knocked out list of a tournament with a number corresponding to my spot on the bubble, I was simply opting to start another hand. A player that got lucky on me and sucked out was still going to be around to make the same bad play and not suck out.

Online cash games are not for everyone but they are for me. If you share my viewpoint and aren’t a regular online cash player you should be. If you are good at the game of poker you should start thinking about it devoting all your time to one discipline. Your bankroll will thank you for it—mine has.

I play poker at safe and high traffic sites such as: https://www.bwin.com/texas-holdem-poker. See you there!

When I play no limit Texas Holdem cash games then I often see players get all in pre flop with at least one hundred big blinds with hands that are very shaky to say the least. I think that there are a combination of factors behind this and the first is that many players come from a tournament poker background. In this form of poker then you are often forced to play with small to medium sized stacks. Only during the early stages of a tournament do you play deep stacked but that is usually over by the end of the opening three levels or so.

So most players and in fact all tournament players are constantly playing in the short to medium stack category. So players who are used to playing tournament poker often then come into cash games without the necessary experience of playing deep stacked. Another factor is that players are simply not that far down their development road and are exhibiting less skill. There is an evolutionary road that you travel down in poker and taking coaching and education is a great way to improve your game.

Another huge factor in why players play hands badly in full ring is that they may be experienced at playing shorter handed games like six max for example. Here the average hand values are substantially different and this can be a huge factor into why players do the things that they do. It is still a fact that many players take their advice and education from what they see on televised tournaments. Everybody is aware of how these programs are highly edited and even when they are not then they still depict final table tournament action.

Even if the action is from a cash game then they are often huge cash games with big named players and huge deep stacks. Let me quote a couple of examples that happened to me recently to show what I mean. It had been folded around to the cut-off who opened for $3 in a NL100 game and the small blind three bet to $12. I was sitting in the big blind with A-A and decided not to slow play and four bet to $46. The original raiser folded and the small blind shoved all in for his remaining stack and I called. I was expecting to see kings or possibly queens but I was shocked to see nothing but an AKs.

This is once again another case of a player overplaying decent second best hands. I actually lost this pot but had a massive 88% equity in the situation. Another situation arrived where I once again had aces and this time I was in a 300 big blind pot pre-flop with two other players’ one of which had QQ while the other amazingly had J9s. I don’t know what the guy with the J9s was doing in the hand but it looked like he started trying to steal and just ended up gambling.

Poker is such a complex game that one of the biggest obstacles to a player making money isn’t the game itself or a bad technical game but the actual player themselves. There are so many factors to the game of poker that test an individual and there is one saying in the game and it is a saying that I first heard years ago and have never forgotten. That saying was “don’t become the leader of the gang that is out to get you”. The meaning behind that statement is obvious when you think about it. What it essentially means is that it is the player themselves who are the biggest enemy and your biggest enemy in the game is not your opponents around the table but the person that you see in the mirror.

Not many people realise this but winning a lot of money very quickly can end up having a negative effect. Novice players and even intermediate level players are the most vulnerable to this effect because they often do not see poker for what it really is. It is often said that experience is the true education when it comes to poker and not studying. I believe this to be largely true as there are so many factors that you absolutely need to be experienced in to really master the playing side of the game. But not really seeing poker for what it really is can be a huge reason as to why players tilt.

Poker is not a controlled game but a game that you can partly control. It is a bit like being the parent of a child. You can control their behaviour to a certain extent and what they do and how they behave in certain situations but you cannot be behind them all the time and so as a parent then you cannot control how your children behave at all times. Poker is like this and is a partly controlled game where you can control certain things but not others. However there are huge elements of poker that are chaotic and wildly chaotic at that.

It is this part of the game that tilts players but this gets back to what I was saying about the player themselves being their biggest enemy because it is how you react to bad events that is the real issue here. Another huge factor in why some players lose is a temporary loss of focus. This has nothing whatsoever to do with tilt but simply not concentrating. With every lapse of concentration then there is a loss of EV somewhere even though it is impossible to quantify. If it is just a simple one off then the damage is probably nothing to worry about.

However some players have huge issues with concentration and this is especially the case with regards to online poker. It is the mere act of playing poker on a screen instead of playing in a three dimensional live setting that causes this problem.

In six handed limit Texas Hold em then there are three main factors that you need to consider when you think about betting the flop. These are your hand strength, the flop texture and also how many opponents you have. Let us look at a few examples here to highlight what I mean. You have raised with A-Q from the button and both blinds call you. The flop comes 9c-8c-7d and both of your opponents check. With two opponents and a connected board like that and I would certainly not bet this flop! I would check the flop and look to take the free card.

A flop like that has hit the range of hands that call raises. Any ten or inside straight draw will call you and your equity is quite low in this situation. Let us look at another example and you raise from the cut-off with K-9s and only the big blind calls you. The flop comes Ad-8c-4s and the big blind checks. Here a bet is fairly automatic as you raised pre-flop and so you can represent the ace that arrived on the flop. Also if your opponent calls you on the flop then you can check the turn and take the free card and get to see the river for only one small bet.

The combination of only one opponent and the board texture means that a bet is automatic here. Now let us look at a rather more complex example. Here you raise from the cut-off seat with the Jc-10c and the button and both blinds call you making a four way pot. The flop comes Q-Q-10 and now both blinds check to you. Here you are still correct to bet although if you get check raised then you have somewhat of a problem. If your opponent has a draw then they have at least eight outs against you. If they have a ten with a bigger kicker then you are also in trouble.

If they have a queen then your equity is even less. Despite the fact that you have three opponents and a vulnerable hand then it is still correct to bet this flop. Let us look at another example and you raise from the button with As-2s and both blinds call you. The flop comes K-7-3 rainbow and both opponents check. Here the board is dry but you do have two opponents. This is marginal but I would lean towards betting instead of checking. This is where you are betting through the small blind. When you bet then they have to worry about the big blind after them who could raise.

So if the small blind folds and the big blind also has nothing then they could fold. But here is where you can make a better hand fold because let us say that the big blind has a hand like A-4 and they see you bet. This is going to look difficult for them and they know that if you have paired with a king or a seven or a higher pocket pair then they could be drawing to only three outs to their ace as pairing their four may be no good.

If you play online poker at all you know that there are a number of different single and multi-table tournaments and cash games available. One of the most popular multi-table formats is six-handed poker. The rules are no different than any other single or multi-table poker game or tournament. However, the style of play changes significantly. If you weren’t sure about why your game needs to be adjusted based on the number of players at your table you will be after reading this.

Faster Game
The first thing you will notice about a 6 player poker tournament is the speed of the game. By nature poker is usually played at tables of 8 or 9 players. This is considered the normal makeup of the game and the speed of the game is reflected in this configuration. However, when the table has only six players the dynamics of the game change considerably. With only 6 players at the poker table you immediately feel a sense of urgency due to the blinds crashing down on you even faster. What used to be one orbit is not two-thirds of an orbit before the blinds hit you again. Depending on how many chips you start with this can affect your approach considerably. Also, when you are sitting with skilled players you will see more attempts at stealing the blinds for the same reasons. Taking a survival approach will end in an untimely and fast poker death.
The Aggression Factor
If you are going to play six-handed you must adopt a more aggressive approach to the game for your own good. The fact of the matter is that you cannot sit around folding hand after hand and expect to prosper at a six handed table. You will be eaten alive by both the players and the blinds. Any show of weakness in the face of raises or flat out blind stealing will be duly noted by your opponents. This means your hand selection has to be broader than normal. The [K][Q] that you would have folded in early position in a full ring is now a playable hand. The [J][T] you would likely fold to a raise is not as bad a hand as it may seem and may be playable depending on the situation and number of players involved in the pot pre-flop. All of these kinds of things are more reason to take a more aggressive approach with those speculative hands. They are also more likely to pay off when the flop hits you too. Remember, everyone is in the same boat in a six-handed game as the sense of urgency exists for everyone.

Countering Aggression
Just as you must increase your aggression when playing at short-handed tables you also must be capable of countering that same aggression. Don’t think that you are the only player at the table that knows they have to become more aggressive. On the contrary, these days’ players have access to the same knowledge both online and in print and video. That means you need to know how to deal with that knowledge when it is applied against you. For me counter aggression means re-raising when you are confident a person is on a blind steal. It also means re-raising with hands like [A][9], [A][T] and [A][J]. You may not win every single hand or pot. However, you will be sending a clear message to your opponents that you are not afraid to mix it up when the situation dictates.
Short-handed play makes you a better player overall. We all need to continue improving our short-handed play. Remember, every final table you make will eventually play out as a short-handed table. Will you be ready?

Three Card Poker is an extremely popular casino game. Typically it is played on a modified Blackjack table and the players play against the dealer and dealer only. Play begins with the player placing an Ante bet and, if he chooses to do so, a wager on a Pair Plus. The dealer will then deal each player three cards face down and them himself three cards face down. If the player made the Ante bet he must either Fold or Raise his hand. If the player decides his hand is not good enough and folds he will lose his Ante. If the player decides to stay in the hand he must make a bet equivalent to his Ante bet to play out the hand.

At this stage of the play the dealer will reveal his cards. In order to qualify the dealer must have Queen high or better. Much like Caribbean Stud if the dealer does not qualify the player is paid even money for his wager and the hand is now completed. However, if the dealer does qualify the players hand is compared to the dealers and the highest hand wins and is paid off accordingly. This results in being paid for both the initial Ante as well as the players bet. If the player and dealer tie the hand then the hand is considered a “push” and the bet and Ante are returned to the player with no loss.

Should the dealer have a higher hand the player loses both the Ante and his wager accordingly. If the player made an Ante bet and reveals a Straight or higher that player is paid an Ante bonus no matter what hand the dealer holds. Pair Plus bets will be paid out based entirely on the value of the player’s poker hand.

Some casinos have a bonus for what is called a “Mini-Royal Flush.” This hand is [A][K[Q] suited. You will have to see the respective pay table at your casino to determine exactly what the payout is at that location.

So what is the optimum Three Card poker strategy?

Well, considering the dealer has to qualify with at least a queen you would need to play at least [Q][6][4] and raise with queen high each time. I know to the average poker player this might not make too much sense. However, by mimicking the dealer strategy you lower the house edge to around 3.45 percent which is considerably better than the 7.65% edge the casino would have should you choose to not play dealer strategy.

Ultimately you do not need to be a rocket scientist in order to play and do well at Three Card poker. However, you do need to put the time in to understand where your optimal play is and what the rules are in the casino you happen to be playing in. Remember, all casinos are not alike and some have rules that others don’t. It’s up to you to know these rules before you sit down to play so that you can avoid and take advantage of them accordingly.

One of the biggest mistakes casino patrons make is not reading the rule book or asking the dealer or floor manager what the house rules are so that they know exactly how to go about playing the game optimally. By assuming you may already be putting yourself at a considerable disadvantage. Usually there will be a booklet available or even practice sessions for each of the table games on the floor for newer players that want to experience the game. It doesn’t cost you anything to take advantage of these practice sessions and it is well worth your time and effort. By learning the game play and casino rules this way you can avoid making the wrong play when it really counts against your bankroll.

Caribbean Stud poker is played on a modified blackjack table. Just as in the game of Blackjack you are competing against the dealer and the dealer only. The other players at the table have no influence in how you decide to play your hand whatsoever. The table has clearly marked areas for Ante and Bet in front of each of the players.

Before play begins each player must Ante-up. It is at this time the player must decide whether to pay an additional $1 to qualify for the Progressive Jackpot should they hit a Royal Flush. Once the Antes are collected the players are each dealt five cards each. The dealer is then dealt five cards with one being visible to all players. Play then begins clockwise around the table with the players reviewing their cards and deciding whether they will remain in the hand.

If you choose to play your hand you will need to Call your Ante bet accordingly. The dealer will then acknowledge your bet and your cards will remain in play. In Caribbean Stud the Dealer must Qualify in order for the players to be paid off for their hand. In order to qualify the dealer must hold [A][K] or better. If not, the player wins even money for his made hand. If the Dealer does qualify then the player is paid out based on the assigned payout for that hand. If there is a tie between the dealer and the player the player is paid even money.

The game of Caribbean Stud is relatively easy to learn in just a few hands. It is a fast fun way to play poker and lends itself to being a very social game due to the fact that the players are not competing against each other. In Caribbean Stud there are usually bonus payouts for Flush or better hands with a Progressive payout for a Royal Flush.

The object of Caribbean Stud is to beat the dealer but in order to do so you have to be smart about how you play the game. Some would suggest that you simply need to be lucky in order to win at Caribbean Stud. I would suggest that you need to be both lucky and take a solid strategic approach to the game. For instance: If you are dealt a hand like [A][8][T][4][3] it may appear that this is not much of a hand at all. However, the dealer must get at least [A][K] to qualify which means if the dealer does not turn up an Ace you are likely holding the best hand if he does not have a pair. Conversely, if the dealer is showing [A][X][X][X][X] it is likely that you do not have the best hand and should relinquish your bet accordingly.

Feel for the game is key to being successful when playing Caribbean Stud poker as well as understanding the percentages of what possible hands can and cannot beat your own. Obviously you want to hold on to made hands like [A][A][X][X][X], [T][T][X][X][X] and the like because it is likely that you have the best hand regardless of what the dealer shows. Clearly we want the dealer to qualify when we have good hands with the potential for a big payoff. When this doesn’t happen for you don’t be discouraged. It’s part of the game and we all have to deal with it. When you do hit that big payout it more than makes up for the previous disappointments you may have had. So play smart and have some fun when you do. You will be glad you did and so will your bankroll.

It is important in no-limit holdem cash games or any other form of poker for that matter for your opponents not to be able to correctly identify what your play actually means with any degree of certainty. Let us look at a full-ring game here to highlight what I mean. If you only raise with AA-JJ and AK in early position then your opponents are going to know exactly what your raises mean. Because they will likely have position on you after the flop then they will know exactly where they are in the hand whereas you will be playing in the dark.

Let us say that you raise with AA in early position and you get a caller on the button who has pocket fours. You both have deep stacks but the player with the pocket fours has one huge advantage over you (two if you count position) and this is that they will know exactly where they are on the flop. They are basically playing a hit or fold poker strategy and while this is a very simple strategy, it can also be very deadly for a player who overplays their pocket aces.

Let us say that the game is NL200 and you have raised to $7 and the player with the pocket fours calls and both blinds fold making a $17 pot. Both of you have 150 big blind stacks and have $300 each. If the player with the fours misses the flop then they fold and lose the $7 which is barely more than 2% of their stack. But if they hit the flop then they will know if they have the best hand or not while you will only be able to suspect that you “probably have the best hand”.

The flop comes K-9-4 rainbow and you lead out for $12 for value. The button player now strongly suspects that you could have AA or AK and have connected strongly with that flop. If you have QQ or JJ then even a call could send you into pot control mode but they have a chance here to stack you and they know it. So they raise to $48 and now you have a problem. It is simply too early for you to fold aces at this stage otherwise many players are simply going to be pushing you around.

The pot is now $77 and it costs you $36 to call so you are getting more than 2/1. Your opponent could have a strong king like K-Q or K-J and be overplaying it so you call making the pot $113. Now your opponent knows that you have either AA,KK or AK and the only hand that they fear is KK but that is now a small part of your range. The turn card is the 2d and you check to induce another bet and for pot control but you still don’t know that you have the best hand.

Your opponent bets $68 which makes the pot $181 and you are getting nearly 3/1 expressed odds and you call making the pot $249. You also do not know if there will be any action on the river but this is another advantage that your opponent has over you because they do know this. The river card is the 8c and you check and they milk you for another $120 bet which once again gives you 3/1 expressed odds and you call and lose a $489 pot.

Early on in my development as a poker player I was pretty much like everyone else. The game was new to me and I was still learning about what would and would not work for me based on my style as a poker player. The game was no limit Texas Hold’em. Yes, it does take a lifetime to master but you can still make a nice profit along the way. Eventually my game grew enough for me to compete and win both live and online poker tournaments. The rest is kinda history from there. However, along the way I noticed that there were other poker games that allowed me to improve my hold’em game by providing a different perspective.


Omaha Hi/Lo
Omaha Hi/Lo has been around for some time and used to be popular primarily on the West Coast and Europe. Now, with the internet, the game is one of the most popular forms of poker and is played in just about every card room around. Omaha is also played in tournament format as well. The cash game action is also very good in Omaha as well. I think of all the forms of poker available to play Omaha probably has the weakest group of players because people are still trying to catch up to the game and it’s variations. There are more misreads and bad plays in Omaha because it requires quite a bit of thought and analysis to understand the game thoroughly. Those that put the time in will reap the yhas to change in order to take advantage of as well as avoid that fact.


RAZZ
Razz took me a while to understand too. The most common mistake made in Razz is misreading hands. In Razz you must read your hand from back to front which is contrary to the other forms of poker and not very natural to those that have never played the game. The most common form of Razz is 2-7 Lowball. The bottom line is that you are attempting to make the worst hand possible. No pairs, flushes, straights or anything of that nature.


7 Card Stud
Stud is a more popular game on the East Coast than anywhere else. The game is pretty much dead tournament wise but still a great game to play and can still be found in poker rooms spread as a cash game. Many of us grew up on some variant of stud playing five card draw or whatever the game of choice was at the time. Stud requires an understanding of your opponent more so than your own hand as your ability to put them on a hand is extremely important. Stud has several variations from Limit to Pot Limit and the like. It is an easy game to learn as there are no community cards as in no limit Hold’em but you do get 2 hole cards and 1 door card which is dealt face up.


Stud 8 OB
Stud eight or better is a variation of the same 7 cards stud game. As with any split pot game it can be a little frustrating to win a pot and then realize that you are only going to see half of it. However, a good 8OB player understands this as the nature of the game and is prepared to continue grinding it out towards the goal at hand. You will rarely see this form of poker in tournament format but it does happen from time to time. Again, stud is more of a East Coast game. So don’t expect it to be spread in your local card room if you are not in that area.


The Benefits
We just talked about all of the games aside from Hold’em that poker players play on a regular basis. The idea in presenting these games and urging that you learn them is to make you a well rounded poker player. By becoming a well rounded player you open your mind to new possibilities and thinking. That in turn allows you to be even more creative as your continue growing as a No Limit player. As much as we all enjoy the thrill of playing No Limit we can improve our game considerably by learning other forms of poker and thus different ways of thinking through a hand or scenario that No Limit does not present. So don’t be afraid to jump in and give another game a shot. It is well worth your time and effort to do so.