Best Advanced Poker Tips

Best Advanced Poker Tips: You Win In Rewind, Lose In Fast Forward. If you want to win in the game of poker, slow down! Prior to getting to these poker tips, I’m going to share with you what’s happening right now. I have written and deleted this paragraph (yes, this one!) four times.

Why? Because the internet went out and there is no music in the background. When there is no music in the background, my brain freezes and I don’t know what to write … unless I’m writing about not having anything to write because the internet went out and there is no music. Do you see what I’m saying???

Poker Tips: Don’t Blow Up!

I might be a professional writer, but I go on Writer Tilt! I wasn’t even aware I was capable of this until today. And it means I’m not really a professional writer. So humbling. From a parallel standpoint, you can only be a professional poker player if you don’t go on tilt, and most people go on tilt.

I have played against all kinds of poker players, including some of the best poker players in the world. I have realized that most of them are only known for being the best poker players in the world. Only a few of them truly are some of the best poker players in the world.

Both of these groups of players know the game in and out. They know the odds in every situation, they have mastered poker position, they can read the betting patterns and mannerisms of their opponents, and they can play marginal poker hands like their AA and get away with it.

The difference between the two groups is incredibly simple, and it relates to one of the most important poker tips for Texas Hold’em poker that you will ever read. You can apply this one simple poker strategy and increase your odds of winning.

Blowing Up

The majority of these poker players blow up. This is a well-kept secret of mine (until now). When my mind is clear and I’m playing well, I tell myself the following: He might know more about the game than me, and he’s making all the right plays, but it’s only a matter of time before he blows up. Sure enough, that player would blow up. Also known as going on tilt.
poker tilt

Here’s what I’m trying to tell you. Let’s say you’re at the poker table and you’re intimidated by someone else. This dude is controlling the table and steamrolling everyone. He’s also making some tough calls. If your knowledge of the game is inferior, don’t panic. You must use a different weapon. Finding different avenues to success is definitely possible in poker, which relates to our poker rules for winning.

If you remain patient and calm, that player will pick up on it, whether it’s consciously or subconsciously. I would estimate that at least 80% of professional poker players blow up. That is a very high number. If you sit back and wait for it to happen, those chips will be given away. When those chips go to you, great. If they go to someone else, that’s fine as well.

Now a different kind of player has those chips. If it’s a tight-passive player, attack at every good opportunity. Against an aggressive player, use that aggression against them. If it’s another professional player, wait for them to blow up.

Pro Poker Player = Ego

You might be wondering about that last part and how it makes sense as a poker strategy. You need to look at this person as a human being, not a poker player. If someone is known as a professional poker player, they’re likely to have a bit of an Ego. That Ego might be shown, and that Ego might not be shown, but it very likely exists.

Based on this knowledge, we know that he is going to feel superior to the other players at the table. When everything is clicking, he will accumulate chips. On the other hand, when something goes wrong, that player is very likely to blame the ‘idiocy’ of his opponent. Now this player will begin thinking how stupid his opponents are and how it’s not fair to him.

Since he’s human, he will press. It might be a little press, but it will happen (most of the time/there are exceptions). When he begins pressing with marginal hands and in marginal spots, another bad result occurs. From there, he’s toast. He will blow up. Simply waiting for opponents to blow up is an effective poker strategy for tournaments, but a lot will depend on your table draw.

What I’m trying to tell you is that you want this guy at your table. Simple instructions for you here in regards to poker strategy: If you see a professional poker player at your table, don’t go after him. Wait for him to blow up, THEN go after him. He is more likely to blow up than other player because he has a reputation to uphold. At least that’s the way he views it.

Always Exceptions

Like I said, there are exceptions. There are a few Circuit players that you don’t want to see at your table. There is one amazing player I personally do want at my table, but only because I know he won’t hesitate to call and double me up, but generally speaking, there are 4-5 players you definitely don’t want to see at your table. The difference between them and everyone else is that they know the game inside and out AND they never blow up. EVER!

That was a pretty long introduction, but I always go where the universe takes me. Now let’s get to those poker tips related to winning in rewind and losing in fast forward. The following information only pertains to Texas Hold’em Poker, not PLO. I’m writing about poker tournaments, but this information can also be applied to traditional poker games.

Rewind for The W

Let’s forget about the professional poker players for now. Let’s assume you’re playing against the average poker player. And let’s say you’re playing your first bullet in the first of five poker tournaments in a series in Tunica. I’m only using Tunica because I’m about to go there. And I like the venue (Horseshoe). You’re on Level 3 and an aggressive player (also an average player) has put you all-in on the river. He has you covered. You hold AsQs on this board: Ah Kh 9h 4c 2c.
Board: AhKh9h4c2c

If you’re like most poker players, you would evaluate your hand compared to the board. That’s important information, but that’s not how it works if you want to move to the next level. That would be playing fast. It’s almost like you subconsciously want to know the result quickly so you can move on to the next hand.

I see this all the time. A lot of players want to get it over with so they can know the result and move on either way. This is bad poker strategy. Instead, let’s take a look at what really happened here. We are missing a ton of information.

Rewind

You began the tournament with 20k in chips. Currently you have 22k in chips and the blinds are 100/200/200. You were dealt As Qs on the button. Villain is an aggressive player who has 24.5k in chips and open-raised to 1,200 from middle position.

This already gives us a lot of information. We know he doesn’t have a top-five hand because he open-raised 6x the BB from middle position. A raise like that from an aggressive player tells us he wants to isolate or doesn’t want a call. The latter makes no sense since the blinds are low, but I never said he was a smart aggressive player. A smart aggressive player understands situations and changes speeds.

This player doesn’t realize that he’s wasting an opportunity by raising that much. He must have a good hand (not great) because he was confident enough to raise with it, but he won’t be getting much in return if everyone folds.

Nevertheless, the action was on you on the button and you decided to flat because you thought you might be behind.

Flop: AhKh9h

Villain bets out (c-bets). This is excepted from an aggressive player regardless of what hits the flop. It’s standard poker strategy and you see it in poker tournaments and traditional poker games all the time. But look closer. Looking closer definitely fits into our poker rules for winning.

Watch the speed of the bet. If your opponent is first to act and bets out without any hesitation, it means one of two things. Either he’s trying to protect a marginal hand or he has air.

Rewind – Analyze

Once again, look at this from a psychological standpoint. Look at your opponent as a human being, not a poker player. This rule holds true at least 90% of the time, but not every time. Those rare exceptions are people who know what we know and send reverse tells, but most of the time, when someone bets out fast like that after raising pre-flop, it’s due to weakness, not strength.

If they have a marginal hand, they’re betting out fast because they don’t want you drawing out/sucking out on them and they want the hand to end right there. From a psychological standpoint, they don’t like the situation they have found themselves in and they want to get out of it without any further risk.

If they have air, they bet out fast for the same reason: they want it to be over with either way. It’s like when you don’t want to get a shot at the doctor and want to get it over with. This is why people c-bet fast after they raised pre-flop. It could be top pair, but it’s almost never a smashed flop.

Play a bunch of poker hands you remember in your head. Rewind those poker hands and think about the actions of yourself and your opponents. If you really think about it, when someone smashed the flop, they didn’t bet out immediately. If you can’t recall these instances, then think about yourself.

Analyzing Your Actions

When you flop the nuts after a pre-flop raise, do you immediately c-bet without hesitation? Unless you’re unique, the answer is no. You don’t do this for two reasons. One, you don’t want to scare away your opponents. Two, you need at least one full second (usually more) to calculate how you can maximize your opportunity.

Those Villains of yours? They’re not much different than you. Not at all. Think how you think and apply it to their actions.

Now you might be thinking how it’s possible to gain an edge if everyone is thinking the same. Easy answer. If you know this information, then don’t just read your opponents, read how they’re reading you and play off of that. This is what will put you in the minority and make you confusing to play against. This is one of the best poker tips I can give you for Texas Hold’em Poker.

Example Poker Hand

Speaking of which, let’s get back to that Texas Hold’em Poker hand. He bet out quickly, but you didn’t know what that meant, and the flush and straight potential concerned you. So, you called. The correct move here is a raise. It will give you the answer immediately. But that’s not the point here. This is an example.

The turn is a dud and he checked. This is a tricky one. You must base your decision on the profiling of your opponent. In most instances, this is a sign of weakness. But once in a while, a tricky player will flop a monster and go bet, check, bet (value, deception, more value). If you’re not sure, go with the odds, which is that it’s not a tricky player.

Hint: If it’s a face you see often on the Circuit and/or at other events, it’s more likely to be a tricky player. If it’s a face you don’t recognize, that check on the turn more likely indicates weakness. But no guarantees.

You bet 3/4 of the pot to end the nonsense right there, but he surprisingly called. No need to panic. Why would an aggressive player only call there? If he had a flush draw or a straight draw, he would bet out. And if he flopped a monster, he likely would have checked. He was scared by open-raising the BB from middle position pre-flop, he knows you don’t love your hand, and he just check-called. Keep all that in mind.

Down The River

The river is also a dud, but now he puts you all-in. Think of how he’s viewing you and your actions here. You flatted pre-flop and again on the flop. You didn’t raise the turn. And there are some big-time scare cards out there and he’s an aggressive player. Remember, I never said a good aggressive player. Why would he put you all-in there?

He sure as hell isn’t doing that with a flush or straight. There is an outside chance of A9 or K9 for two pair, but it’s more likely not the case. Even if it’s an aggressive player, he would have raised fewer BBs pre-flop with those hands. If we rewind and go back to pre-flop action and match it with the rest of the story, it’s most likely a middle pair: 88, 77, 66.

He called your bet on the turn because he had you on top pair and wanted to see if he could hit his set, hoping you would pay him off if you did. Since he missed, and since he views it as a big pot (average player), he put you all-in. There is another important psychological aspect to this. Since he’s an average aggressive player, he likely wants to show a bluff to the table.

A lot of people are like this. It really shows weakness, but that’s a story for another time. I’ll just include the following in a list of poker tips in this article: Never give away information unless necessary.

If you play this hand in rewind and look at all the clues, it’s a call.

Side Note

I love these articles because I write them with a clear head. Don’t get me wrong, when I’m on the road and playing poker, I don’t mind the attention, but that along with so many projects going on at once, I don’t have a clear head when actually playing poker at this time. Distractions are at an extremely high level. It’s okay. It’s brand-building stuff. When I’m writing these articles, there are no distractions and I can fall in love with the game of Texas Hold’em Poker again.

Play Fewer Poker Hands

I’m going to be as blunt as possible here. This also relates to slowing down to win and speeding up to lose. If you’re an amazing player, you can play more hands, but very few people are amazing players. If you’re a good player, play fewer hands and you will see better results. You can really simplify this.

Think about the following. We’ll go to an extreme example. Let’s say you’re viewed as a NIT. This means you only play premium poker hands, never bluff, and really only get those min-cashes in poker tournaments because you don’t take enough chances for 1st place.

This is not viewed as a cool thing, but have you ever seen a NIT get crushed? Have you noticed that a NIT rarely fires a second bullet, which saves them money and keeps them in the game? And have you ever realized that even if you’re seen as a NIT and your opponent has second-best, they’re still going to call most of the time?

This is an extreme case, but the point is that even if you don’t know shit about poker, if you decrease the number of hands you play, you have a shot! If you run good, you will still get called by most players, you can wait for the stronger players to blow up (this will happen), and you can pull off the bluff of your life late in a tourney because your reputation will protect you. You’re basically Dan Harrington.

This is actually a good strategy for poker tournaments. You won’t win many of these tournaments, but if you apply this poker strategy for tournaments, you will cash more than you think.

My Realization

I have gone way over the word count here, but I can’t leave without telling you something. When I was playing well, someone sent me a DM: “What are you doing to make all these final tables? You’re doing something nobody else is doing.”

That seems like an eternity ago. I don’t even know what a final table looks like right now. Is it green? But writing this article made me think of my response to that inquiry. I wrote one word: “Fold.”

That might not sound cool to you, but it means that I was maximizing my potential as a poker player. I can see through people and their true intentions as human beings. That is my strength as a poker player. But I’m not a master in other aspects of the game. So, whenever I had a marginal spot, I would fold and simply wait for a better spot.

This might mean a made hand or a bluff. I’m viewed as a tight player, which allows me to get away with bluffs at the right times and in the right spots. I’m very rarely called on a bluff, and I don’t like it when I’m called (obviously) because it gives away information about what I’m really doing.

Anyway, these days, I have so much on my mind that I’m playing too fast and calling/jamming in marginal spots. I know the solution, but I’m not applying it. There is a big difference between writing about something and applying it in real life. However, by thinking about that inquiry and my reply, I do realize what was working at that time: Folding. It ain’t sexy, but true beauty is often found beyond the surface. See you at the WSOP!

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