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Bodog Poker’s seCreTs To online Hold’em

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With so many good online poker players leaving for Las Vegas to play at this year’s WSOP, it’s the per-

fect time for the average poker player to take advantage of our softer tables, and start to make big money. In order to help our players maximize their profits, we have created this useful poker strategy guide that should help you take your game to the next level, and cash in at our tables.

Before you see even a single poker hand, arguably the most important factor in determining how successful you will be over the long term, is bankroll management. A bankroll is typically the total amount of money you have set aside to play poker with, and allows you to survive a potential run of cold cards while also giving you the flexibility to move up in limits quickly when you are running well. Addition-ally, playing at the proper limit in relation to your bankroll will keep you from playing with “scared money” or sitting down at a big game with a small amount of money. Re-member poker is a game of taking calculated risks; if you are hesitant to make the proper play because you are afraid of losing your whole bankroll in one session then you will ultimately hurt your long-term profit.

This leads to the question, how do you determine what is the size of a proper bankroll? The amount you need is de-termined by the type and limit of the game you are playing. If you are primarily a Limit player, then you would ideally want a minimum bankroll of 200 times the big bet amount for that game. For instance, if you normally play in a $1/$2 Limit game, then you would want to have a minimum bankroll of roughly $400 or 200 times the big bet amount. If, however, you are playing in a No Limit or Pot Limit game, then you would typically want a bankroll of at least 20 times the minimum buy-in. For instance, if you normally play in a $1/$2 No Limit game, then you would want to have a minimum bankroll of at least $800 (because the minimum buy-in for the game is $40). It is very important to note that these are minimum bankroll recommenda-tions, and that to ensure long-term success you may want to consider having a bigger bankroll of roughly double the minimum requirements set out here.

Note that your bankroll is not the same as the buy-in that is required to sit down for one session at a particular table. You can sit at any game if you have enough for the mini-mum buy-in and there is nothing wrong with this approach. For instance, if you want to play in a $2/$4 No-Limit game that has a minimum buy-in of $80, which also happens to be the amount of money in your account, then by all means go ahead. Simply understand that it’s impossible to win every time you sit down at the poker table and as such you may ultimately lose that buy-in that represented all your money.

This is not a problem as you can simply re-deposit into your account. However, if that $80 is the only money available to you, then it is definitely not a good idea to sit down in a game where you can bust out in one session! The cor-rect thinking in this situation would be to treat this $80 as your bankroll and as such you should be playing in a much smaller game, such as a $0.10/$0.25 game.

To fully understand the reason for having an appropriately sized bankroll a player must first understand the concept of “variance”. Variance is a measure of the money that natural-ly flows to and from a player over a period of time. Normal game conditions dictate that you will have both wins and losses, good cards and bad, and as such money will move in and out of your stack. Depending on the type of player you are and the type of table you are playing at, you may have a slightly higher or lower variance from session to session. If for instance you are sitting at a table where almost every round of betting is capped and the majority of the players are seeing almost every flop, then you will have big wins and big losses due to the amount of bets required to enter a pot. This in turn will lead you to have a high variance as your swings will be bigger with larger amounts of money flowing in and out of your stack. If, however, you are play-ing at a table where few players are seeing the flop and are rarely betting or raising aggressively, then both your wins and losses will be much smaller and so will your variance. Remember that when you see your stack fluctuating this does not mean you are winning or losing as your win rate is a completely separate matter altogether. This is simply the normal variance in the game you are playing.

When trying to decide what table to play at, you should first evaluate the game. Some games are tougher than others - even though the limits may be the same. So, what type of game should you be looking for?

Poker is ultimately a skill game, and that means skilled players will always win against unskilled players - over time. Therefore, the best way to increase your chances at beating the game is to ensure that you are playing against less skilled players.

Imagine sitting down at a table full of professional players. There is no possible way that you could win over the long run if you were not a professional player yourself. Even if you were a professional player, the best you could hope to do against a table full of other professionals is to break even over time!

That’s why it’s important to make sure that the table you choose to play at has at least two or three players that are slightly less skilled than yourself. That slight edge will pro-vide you with enough of an opportunity to turn a profit.

Bodog Poker seCreTs To online Hold’em

Bankroll managemenT

inTrodUCTion

evalUaTing THe game

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When trying to quantify a game and its players, it is useful to think about them in terms of both the frequency and strength of their actions. The standard descriptors used for this purpose are “tight” or “loose”, and “passive” or “aggressive.” These terms provide a framework in which any game or player can be described, which will in turn provide you with an insight into the nature of the table or of a specific player. Use these parameters along with all the information available in the software when evaluating the game to determine the best possible return on your invest-ment! Note that these descriptions can be used to describe both players and games.

Tight or loose describes how many hands a player will typically play and how they will in turn continue to play throughout the rest of the hand. A tight player will tend to play fewer hands than average and will generally be very conservative in their choices and decisions. A loose player will tend to play more hands than average and be very lib-eral in their choices and decisions.Passive or aggressive describes the nature of a player’s actions when they are involved in a hand. A passive player does not tend to bet very often, preferring to check and call instead. An aggressive player usually chooses to bet and raise instead of checking or calling and prefers to take the lead in most situations

Ideally, the most profitable games and types of players to play against are those that are described as loose/passive. The reasons for this are simple. Loose players tend to play too many hands and many of the hands that they play are not quality hands. As such, most of the time that a good player is in the pot with a loose player, the good player invariably has the best hand. Loose players will also call too many bets and raise with weak hands that do not figure to be winners. Although on occasion they may get lucky and make their hands, often they will call bets when they are behind and show down a losing hand. Further, loose/pas-sive players will not raise enough when they do have a good hand and as such they allow better players to play straight or flush draws for cheap which is a critical mistake. In sum-mary, loose/passive players play too many poor hands and go too far with them. When they do have good hands, they do not play them hard enough and allow players to get the proper odds to make their draws. In essence, loose/passive players are the perfect and most profitable opponent!

These games can also be very profitable to a good player but they do come with a significantly increased risk factor. Although loose/aggressive players are playing too many hands and calling too many bets when they shouldn’t, they are also betting and raising frequently. This is a major and crucial difference between loose/passive and loose/ag-

gressive players. As loose/passive players do not bet and raise enough, it allows good players to play draws and see showdowns for cheap instead of getting pushed out of hands or not getting the proper odds to make their draws. If, however, a player is raising and betting constantly, it then becomes much more difficult for a good player to get odds to make draws or see showdowns cheaply. Now the cost of each hand is greatly increased and will often result in the better player having to fold more hands and tighten up as the action is simply too intense to risk playing specula-tive hands. These games can be very profitable as players are still making many of the same mistakes but the price to play is vastly increased. Some players are not comfortable playing in reckless and aggressive games. If this describes you, simply avoid the game. Additionally, a player will need a robust bankroll to play in a loose/aggressive game as the normal swings and variation will be much larger than in most other games.

The predictability of these games can make them profitable. For instance, whenever a tight player enters a hand, you can be assured that they typically have a strong starting hand as they do not tend to play weak hands. It then makes it very easy to get out of their way when they do play and you do not have a premium hand yourself. Additionally, a tight/passive player does not tend to bet or raise strongly enough when they do have a good hand. This will allow you to play draws profitably against them. The downside to play-ing with tight/passive players, versus playing with loose players, is that they play fewer and better quality hands. As such, they are much more apt to fold if they do not hit their hand, unlike a loose player who will not fold often enough. A tight/passive player or game will not be as profitable as a loose/passive player or game and should not be your first choice.

Tight/aggressive games should be avoided on almost every occasion as the combination of both tight and aggressive is the style best suited to the game of poker. If you find yourself at a table where players play only premium hands and bet and raise extremely aggressively then you are at a table of strong players who are playing extremely well and you should get up and move! There is almost no remedy for winning at this type of game other than playing extremely tight/aggressive yourself and hoping that the cards hit run you over. In short, this is the type of player you should try to become but always avoid playing against.It is important to characterize both players and games in this way as it will give you a very good idea of what the action is going to be like and what you can expect as a general result from playing. There may be a time and place where you play in every one of these games with every one of these players, but as a rule you should always seek out a game in which you have the largest edge possible, while at the same time being comfortable with the pace and intensity of the action.

TigHT/aggressive

TigHT/Passive

loose/Passive

loose/aggressive

PlaY sTYles

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If there was only one consideration that you made before playing a hand it would be possible to make an argument that your position in relation to the button would be as important as the cards you hold. This is due to the fact that the later you are to act in a hand means that you are going to have more information about how to correctly play your cards throughout the rest of the hand. Poker is a game of incomplete information, and the more information you are able to gather gives you a serious edge over your opposition. If you are on the button and last to act in the hand, you are able to see every player’s actions before you act. If after the flop there is a bet, a raise and re-raise before it is your turn, then you can safely muck anything but the most premium of hands. When you are first to act in a hand you have no idea of what actions players behind you may take, and as such you are in a potentially precarious situation even with very strong hands. In poker, knowledge is power and under-standing and utilizing position properly is absolutely key to determining whether or not you will ultimately be a winning player.

“Early position” is usually defined as the first three play-ers to act after the blinds, assuming a full table. These are the weakest positions because they will be among the first players to act each round. This means that should you be in early position, you will have to act on minimal information. For this reason, you should only play strong to very strong hands in the first three seats because you will need to be able to have a hand to lead out with, or withstand potential bets and raises from players behind you. A lot of a player’s success in poker comes from employing a solid hand selec-tion strategy, which considers position in relation to the but-ton. By limiting your play to these starting hands you can mitigate some of the risk of playing from early position by assuring your hands can survive a raise from a player who acts after you. In fact, you should almost always raise these hands in early position to take the lead at the table and use your strong play to, in turn, get further information from your opponents when they act.

Assuming you are in a fairly typical game, which is a blend of different player types, you should often limit your start-ing hands to the following:

“Middle position” is usually defined as the next three players after the three early position players. In middle position, players can typically play more hands than in early position, as they have seen the actions of some of the players at the table and have much more informa-tion. However, there are still players to act after you and a certain amount of caution must be exercised through a solid hand selection strategy. If you are the first to enter the pot or only one or two players in front of you call, then consider raising with any of the stronger hands from the middle position hand group and calling with the rest. If there is a bet in front of you, re-raise only with early position hands and simply call with any middle position hands.

“Late position” is usually defined as the last two or three players before the blinds. In late position, a player has much more information through the observation of other play-ers’ actions and, therefore, a greater latitude in the range of hands that can be played. For example, if five players call in front of you then there are a number of drawing hands that become very playable, as opposed to early or even middle position where those very same hands may still not be worth the trouble and expense of seeing the flop. If you are first to enter the pot then certainly raise with any hand listed in the hand groups.

The power of acting last does not give you a license to play every hand no matter how tempting and you should still employ a solid hand selection strategy. Acting last, or near to last, does allow you to play hands much more creatively and in certain situations bluff with great effectiveness.

earlY PosiTion

middle PosiTion

laTe PosiTion

TaBle PosiTion and sTarTing Hands

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The blinds have the advantage of playing a diverse number of hands as they have already contributed either a partial or full bet to the pot and as such may see more flops due to the discounted price. This does not mean, however, that any two cards are playable from the blinds, particularly if there is a raise. The reason that you have to be careful about what you choose to play from the blinds is simple: After the flop the two blind positions will always be first to act and as such will be in early position and therefore vulnerable. It is best to think about your blinds as early position hands that allow you to see the flop at a reduced price. The best way to judge what hands to play in the blinds is to play any of the hand groups if there is no raise, and re-raise with the strongest hands in the early position hand group. If there is one bet, then call with any of the hand groups and re-raise with the strongest hands from the early position group. If the action is two or more bets to you in the big blind then seriously consider playing only A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K while folding everything else. If you do play these hands to two bets then also consider re-raising them as well. In sum-mary, playing too many hands from the blinds is a recipe for disaster and one that is relatively common among players. Make sure you are not one of those players at your table!Understanding and paying attention to your position relative to the button while also employing a solid hand selection strategy will go a long way toward making you a profitable player. By understanding the value and power of position you will be able to save bets by not playing marginal hands out of position early, and by playing more hands creatively when in the late position. Every hand in poker is different and you need to adapt to each situation. Doing so is the mark of a successful player.

Bluffing is an important part of poker and is a valuable tool for players who are looking to have a complete range of skills. Bluffing enables you to mix up your game, as it allows you to act deceptively and create uncertainty in the minds of your opponents. In the right circumstances, bluffing can help you win pots that you would not have otherwise. Although bluffing is a must-have skill in poker, it is often overused by most players and ends up costing them bets as opposed to making them money. There are two ma-jor types of bluffs, the stone cold bluff and the semi-bluff, and knowing which one of them to employ and when will be critical to your success as a poker player.

A stone cold bluff is when you have completely missed with your hand and have no probable way of winning at showdown based on the strength of your holdings. In these situations, bluffing is probably your only way to win the hand, which makes it worth attempting in the right circum-stances. There are, however, a number of situations where bluffing is often unprofitable and should be avoided because

the probability of its success is too low to even consider wasting another bet.

One such classic bluffing error is when a player tries to bluff at a pot where there are three or more players. Often what will occur is that one or two players will fold and the remaining players will call or even raise. You will be much more successful at bluffing when you do so against fewer opponents, as bluffing will often not succeed against a larg-er number of opponents. It is much easier to convince one person to fold than it is to convince three or four to fold. You should also avoid trying to bluff players that will not fold! Some players, often named “calling stations,” are not interested in playing tight poker and will often call bettors down even with the most marginal of holdings. There is virtually no point in bluffing these players, because it will take the best hand at showdown to win the pot. The good news about calling stations is that they will rarely ever bluff you out of a pot.

Another common situation in which a stone cold bluff will not succeed is when a player has shown down some unsuc-cessful bluffs. It is important not to bluff too much as other players will catch on to the fact that you are betting and raising with absolutely nothing and start to punish you by either not releasing weak made hands, or aggressively play-ing back at you with stronger made hands. The fewer bluffs you make the more likely they are to succeed!

A semi-bluff is when you bet a hand that needs to improve to win, such as a draw or two overcards, as your hand has a very good chance of being the best hand should you make it. The semi-bluff is an extremely powerful concept to add to your poker toolbox, because it accomplishes a number of different things at the same time.

The semi-bluff can succeed in two different ways. When you bet on a semi-bluff you may get another player to fold a better hand and take down the pot right away. If you are called then you still have outs that may allow you to end up with the winning hand.

The most common mistake players make when using the semi-bluff is not properly weighing the strengths of their outs. In these cases, the hand the semi-bluff player is hoping to make might not even be the eventual best hand at the table. When this occurs players not only lose bets when they miss, but lose even more bets when they hit their draw but find out that it is still not the best hand. It is an impor-tant consideration to make sure that your hand will be the nuts, or near nuts, should your semi-bluff work.

It is critical to your success as a poker player to observe your opponents and their actions even when you are not involved in a hand. Analyzing your opponents’ play will allow you to gain insight into what your competitors may

Blinds

BlUffing

THe sTone Cold BlUff

THe semi-BlUff

oBserving YoUr oPPonenTs

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hold. This will allow you to make better decisions, win more pots and lose fewer chips.

The best way to do this is by observing hands that are shown down to the river and seeing what your opponents will typically bet and call with. This can be valuable later in a game, especially when you are involved in a similar hand, trying to decide what is your best course of action. If you know an opponent tends to bluff in a certain situation, you can be a little more confident calling them this time around. This can make a difference in earnings - instead of folding, you can use this knowledge to call your opponent and win a large pot.

Bodog Poker provides an easy and innovative tool that keeps these types of notes on opposing players. This note-taking feature allows you to keep and access notes on any player whom you may come across. It’s a clever function - one that allows you to store and access information anytime you are involved in a hand with a particular player. To use, simply right-click on the player plaque and select “Edit Player Notes” from the drop down menu. Then proceed to type in any notes or hints about your opponents’ play into the “Notes Box.” Additionally, you can access any notes by clicking on the “Notes” tab at the bottom right side of the Bodog Poker Interface.

Remember, more notes are better notes!

One final thing about observing opponents - your opponents may be observing you! It is important to remember that just like your opponents, you are also prone to repetitive be-havior - and this information can be stored and used to the advantage of others. This is why it is important to mix up your plays from time to time, so as to avoid giving your op-ponents too much insight into your game. For instance, you may wish to limp and then re-raise pre-flop with big pairs from time to time, instead of always raising with them. This way your opponents will be unsure the next time you limp in a hand as to whether you have a big pair or, say, suited connectors. Mixing up your play in this situation will not only allow you to limp with more drawing hands, but will keep your opponents guessing as to the cards you hold.

A few quick tips in closing…

Bankroll management is very important to long • term successEvaluate tables before sitting down, and play • where you think you have an edgeLook for certain player types or games, in particu-• lar loose/passive, and loose/aggressivePlay your starting hands based on your table posi-• tion and the action preceding youBluffing is an important tool when used correctly • You can never take too many notes•

ConClUsion