It takes considerable skill to play effectively against such an opponent. However, when done well, it can be very profitable. I had just such an experience. I was playing an online no-limit hold’em game on a site that was recommended to me by lucky-7-bonus.ca and one player was such a maniac, often going all-in before the flop. The way he was playing, he may have been on tilt.

Those of you who have followed my column through the years will note that normally I much prefer playing limit hold’em in live games. I was playing online in this instance because I was still uncomfortable playing in live games since the coronavirus pandemic began. In this particular online game, we played for points –  not real money.

Over the long run you can expect fewer than 25 percent of your hole cards to be playable – worthy of investing your chips. But this “maniac” played every hand he was dealt. He won small pots – the blinds – when all of the other players folded to his big bets before the flop. On one occasion, an opponent called his all-in and beat him out when he connected on the flop. Maniac folded without revealing his hand. Then he promptly bought in again for another $1,000.

What would you do in this case?

Maniac was seated to my right, so he acted every hand just before me. He was in the cut-off position, and I was the button. A few players before him had limped in to see the flop. Then he pulled his all-in move. I studied my hole cards – pocket Aces. My hand was well ahead of his. As you may know, pocket aces become an underdog if more than three opponents stay in the pot. Fortunately, I was well ahead. So, I responded to the maniac by going all-in myself. All of the other players folded their hands, leaving us heads-up.  It was no surprise when I won the pot – a huge one!

READ ALSO: Poker Tips by George: Betting Patterns

That did not change the maniac’s ways. After a few hands, he was back to going all-in. This time, I was in the hijack position, again with the maniac to my right. Once again, maniac went all-in before the flop. This time I held A-Q off-suit. With only two limpers, I again went all-in, so it was heads-up again. Neither of us improved our hands and I was pleased to take a huge pot once again.

The next day, a loose player who seemed to be on tilt went all-in from a middle position. The players before me all folded so, with a strong starting hand and lots more chips, I again went all-in and took another huge pot with only a small improvement.

It is so much fun when you win big pots, especially against a maniac – or a player who plays like one when he is on tilt.

In tournaments, by contrast, you aren’t allowed to top up your stack once you’ve entered. If the tournament is a re-buy or re-entry affair, then you can do so after busting your stack, but while in the midst of tournament play you can’t just decide to add on any additional chips unless there’s a provision for that in the tournament rules.

When Do You Go All-In?

There are several different situations when you might go all-in:
(1) An opponent bets (or raises), and you decide to call but you don’t have sufficient chips. So you go all-in for your remaining chips in play.
(2) A player may go all-in as a bet (or raise) as a value bet to build the pot size.
(3) You might go all-in to force opponents out of the hand.
(4) And finally, there may be occasions when you go all-in by raising an opponent who has gone all-in before you – all-in vs. all-in.

The latter has become my favorite since I started playing no-limit Texas Hold’em on-line. So let’s explore this concept…

Image Credit: Poker Divas

You are playing in an aggressive game with several loose players. One of them is a maniac, open-betting and raising in almost every hand dealt. Sometimes, he goes all-in hand after hand. We can expect playable starting hands on average no more often that one out of four hands dealt in the long run. So, apparently, our maniac is shoving all-in with weak hands also – before the flop.

READ ALSO: Learn the Top 7 Poker Actions

In such a case, when the situation is “right,” my plan is to go all-in over the top, provided that no one has called his all-in bet before the action gets to me. I assume that any opponent who calls the maniac’s all-in bet must hold a powerful hand, possibly better than mine. Of course, an exception would be if I held the nuts; then I could move ahead with my own all-in bet. (Can you imagine the size of that pot?)

Most often, in this situation, after the maniac’s all-in bet, the opponents will fold to me. With a strong hand, my goal is to isolate him – expecting my hand to be significantly better than his. (At least, I hope so.) As indicated above, I should take that pot about one out of four times. That’s what we call a Positive Expectation for a huge pot. (That makes me feel so good!)

Try it. You’ll like it…

No matter how good a player you become at poker, perhaps the best skill to continuously work on is decision-making, as making the wrong decisions can be costly to your bankroll. For instance, if you want to play casino games online and choose a reputable one like fruity king casino NZ, you’ll likely have a far better experience than at other online gaming establishments… but we digress.

In any event, from a deck of 52 cards, there are 169 different two-card combinations that can be dealt out. (That includes paired cards of the same rank and unpaired cards of different suits.) There are three different ways that can be used to select starting hands before the flop, and we’ll discuss them below.

Methods for Selecting Starting Hands

1) There are some players, perhaps new to the game, who are so anxious to get into action that they will play indiscriminately or with the “any two cards can win” philosophy. They are strictly gambling. They could get lucky and win some of those hands; but, of course, they are bound to be losers in the long run.

Image credit: Jayne Furman for PokerNews

2) Color-coded charts of playable starting hands are available in many books and other sources. These offer starting hands that have a reasonable chance of winning the pot at showdown. An excellent chart is shown on the inside back cover of Lou Krieger’s book, Hold’em Excellence – From Beginner to Winner. Actually there are two charts, one for pairs and suited hole cards, and a second chart for unsuited cards.

Starting hand selection depends on several key factors:

• Rank of your hole cards
• Are they suited or connectors?
• What is your betting position?
• Have there been any raises?
• How many opponents have already called?
• Playing traits of your opponents
• Texture of the game

Many players, as they gain experience, rely on their memory and rarely (if ever) use these charts. Have you ever seen anyone use them at the poker table? And, certainly, even a novice knows to play preflop made hands (A-A and K-K) and premium hands (including Q-Q, J-J, and A-K).

3) My preference, of course, is to use the Hold’em Algorithm as described in my book, Hold’em or Fold’em? – An Algorithm for Making the Key Decision. This avoids the need to peruse charts while the hand is in play. (Which takes precious time while the other players are anxiously waiting.) Basically, using the key factors listed above, the algorithm sets numerical starting hand point criteria for each position. These are the minimum scores for staying to see the flop. And they are easy to remember and use.

Read Also: Poker Tips by George: The Squeeze Play and The Esther Bluff

What Next?

Having decided to stay to see the flop, next in importance is how well the flop helped your starting hand. If you caught a made hand or lots of good outs, it would make sense to consider remaining in the hand; if not, fold your hole cards and save your chips for another opportunity. Combined with starting hand selection, we dub this the Two-Step Process.

Perhaps the next most important factor in going home a consistent winner is being aggressive in your betting, coupled with the Esther Bluff – acting with self-assurance and much confidence as you bet out or raise, along with a reverse tell, such as leaning forward in your chair. This includes opportunities to bluff and semi-bluff when appropriate…

Image source: Depositphotos.com

Playing online offers a number of interesting features. For one thing, you can play in the convenience of your own home – without having to drive to a brick-and-mortar casino. Imagine sitting in your den after breakfast, still clad in your pajamas, playing poker on your computer. Convenient! And you can play more than one game at the same time. The most significant feature of online poker is its speed. I have seen reports of players multi-tabling (something you really can’t do in a live poker setting) and getting in hundreds — or even thousands — of hands per hour. Contrast this with about thirty hands per hour for the same poker game played in a brick and mortar casino. But I have no personal experience playing poker online, and don’t intend to.

Why I Don’t Play Online

I am extremely cautious as to which poker game I play. After all, my hard-earned money is at risk. In deciding which game to play, the important considerations include the type of game, the stakes, and limit vs. no-limit. Low/middle limit Texas hold’em is my favorite game and the only one in which I am ready to invest my precious chips. But I will not play it online. I’d also recommend this conservative approach if you’re just starting out playing poker. Or if you’re going to play online, do so just for practice, not with real money at stake.

What is My Problem?

Whether you play hold’em live or online, the rules and skills are basically the same, but online games are just too fast for me – less than one minute to deal and play a full hand. How can you possibly study your hole cards and the board as the game progresses? What’s more, your online opponents are not visible to you. How can you observe them and try to read their hands as the playing progresses? Looking for their tells is impossible; they are invisible to you. And, even if they were sitting there at the same table, you would not have enough time to look for their eye and body motions while pondering your best actions.

READ ALSO: Poker Tips by George: The History of Texas Hold’Em 

Contrast this with Texas Hold’em as played in a casino. Those games run about two minutes and are almost too fast for us recreational players who play for the enjoyment, social interaction, and mental exercise. It gets worse when you age and play poker during your retirement years, as your reflexes and mental acuteness wane. Skilled players learn to cope with the speed of games in card rooms – less than half that of online casino games. In fact, that can encourage us to be alert and focus more on the game, without being diverted by people and activities unrelated to the game in play.

These days, it’s far easier to learn how to play poker, Texas Hold’em in particular, at sites online like casinotipspro and other places around the internet. The fact is that far more knowledge is readily available in the modern world at people’s fingertips versus back in the old days when you had to find a poker book or have someone teach you the game.

In 1967, a group of Texas card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim, were visiting in Las Vegas and enjoyed the game. Compared to draw poker, in which betting occurred twice during a hand, in Hold’em you bet four times. And strategy played a bigger role in Hold ‘em. This they liked.

The World Series of Poker

Poker pro Tom Moore established a “Gambling Fraternity Convention” in Las Vegas in the late 1960s. Originally, a San Antonio, Texas businessman, Moore was part owner of the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno. At the group’s second convention in 1969, a tournament was held with Hold’em as one of the games played. The following year, Benny and Jack Binion purchased the rights to the convention and renamed the tournament the World Series of Poker (WSOP), with no-limit Hold’em as the main event. The WSOP started with only a handful of players, but by 1982 there were over 100 entrants. The WSOP has obviously continued to grow from there.

Hold ‘Em in Books, TV and Movies

As the WSOP grew, featuring Hold’em as the main event, a number of poker books became available for players looking to learn more about the game. Doyle Brunson’s Super/System was published in 1978. In 1983, Al Alvarez’ The Biggest Game in Town focused on the WSOP and stimulated the publication of other poker books and widely read magazines, introducing Hold’em to a growing audience.

READ MORE: Five Books to Help You Learn TheHistory of Poker

U.S. interest in Texas Hold’ em beyond Texas and Nevada also began to grow in the 1980s. California card rooms offered draw games, but Hold ’em was prohibited under a statute that made illegal the poker game of “stud-horse” (no longer being played). In 1988, Hold ’em was declared legally distinct from stud-horse in Tibbetts vs. Van de Kamp. This decision regarded Hold ’em as a game of skill. Almost immediately, card rooms across the state began to offer Texas Hold ’em.

After a visit to Las Vegas, bookmakers Terry Rogers and Liam Flood introduced Texas Hold ‘em to European card players in the early 1980s. This nicely completed the cycle that started centuries earlier when poker was first introduced into the U.S. by European colonists.

A number of movies were produced prominently featuring Texas Hold ‘em, starting in 1998 with Rounders, starring Edward Norton and Matt Damon. Several other poker movies followed.

Hold’em tournaments were televised starting in the late 1970s, but became really popular starting in 1999 when hidden lipstick cameras were introduced to show players’ hole cards on the Late Night Poker TV show, and in 2003 when the World Poker Tour introduced lipstick cameras.

Chris Moneymaker and Greg “Fossilman” Raymer

Also in 2003, the WSOP experienced the unexpected victory of Chris Moneymaker, a recreational player who earned his buy-in to the tournament by winning an online tournament. This win by a non-professional player resulted in an outpouring of interest in the game of Hold ’em – and in online poker. Imagine, even a rank novice could become a world champion! And then, a year later, adding to the excitement, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, another recreational player, took the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

Today, millions enjoy Texas Hold’em, and its future looks bright.

You start with a good starting hand and stay to see the flop. The flop improves your hand, enough so that –  with lots of good outs – you decide to stay to see the turn. Of course, you have no control over the cards. Nor can you control luck. The chance that a particular card will be dealt out that gives an opponent the winning hand is not under your control.

An Example of a Second Best Hand

Suppose you are playing $4/$8 limit hold’em and start with Ad-Qd from a late position. This is a great starting hand from any position. With four opponents paying to see the flop, you decide to just flat call and wait to see what the flop brings.

The flop is Kd-10d-9s. That gives you four to the nut flush and a chance to catch the Ace-high straight flush. What more could you hope for?

Ad-Qd –  Kd-10d-9s

An early-position player opens the betting. There are three callers to see the turn. You decide to just call along ($4), hoping one of your outs is dealt. You have two shots at it – the turn and the river. Then, with the bets doubled and so many opponents still in the hand, you can build a huge pot. That’s your thinking at this point.

The turn is the Jh, giving you the Ace-high straight. That’s not the big flush you were looking for, but it sure looks like the best hand. You may also improve it further on the river. The early position again opens the betting at $8 and gets two callers, no raises. You are so confident in the strength of your hand that you decide to raise it up to $16. Your two remaining opponents call your raise. Hopefully, your straight will be good enough to win the pot; better yet if you catch your flush on the river.

READ ALSO: Poker Tips by George: The Education of a Poker Player

Your eyes focus on the dealer’s hands as he burns the top card and then deals out the river card. It’s the 10h, putting a pair of 10s on the board. The early position again opens the betting and is called by a middle position. Now, it is your turn to act. You are still confident with your big straight, so you raise it up. Surprise, the early position reraises you. Oh my! What could he have? You know he is a fairly tight-aggressive player. Perhaps he too has a straight – hopefully, lower than your Ace-high straight; or, perhaps he caught trip 10s, both of which you can beat. But there is still some doubt. So, you just call his bet.

He turns up his hole cards – pocket 9s, giving him a full house, 9s full of 10s. You shake your head from side to side: “How could this happen to me?” But it did. Ah, second-best is for the birds…

Your Move

Could you have avoided this disaster? Had you raised early in the hand, it is not likely that would have forced any of your opponents to fold their hands after the flop. Perhaps looking for tells may have given you a hint. What do you think?

Skilled players relish having a fish or two at the table. They are always welcome because they are bound to “donate” their chips to the better players. The fish are “the live ones” at the table.

How to Use the Fish

Let’s illustrate a situation where you are in a hand with a fish in a $4-$8 limit game. The player might be an avid sports bettor, specializing in NFL picks against the spread, but in poker he’s not too highly skilled.

Suppose, from a late position you are dealt As-10h. There is a raise before you from an early position, which is called by your fish from the middle position. After considering a re-raise, you decide to just call along and see what the flop brings.

The flop is 10d-3s-10c, giving you trip 10s – a monster hand! You know you are a big favorite to take this hand. This is an opportunity to build the pot that you expect to win.

Both opponents check to you. And you decide to check along. Had you bet out, very likely one or both of your opponents would have folded, leaving you with a very small pot. (What a waste!)

The turn is the 10s. With three 10s on the board and the 10h in your hole cards, you have quad 10s –  4 of a kind! Wow! Of course, your two opponents have no idea as to the strength of your hand. It’s sure to be the nuts.

On the turn, the early position checks to our fish in a middle position. Fish studies the board, glances at his hole cards, and decides to open bet; it’s now $8. You suspect he is bluffing, hoping to steal the pot. Holding four-of-a-kind, most players would likely raise his bet – betting for value. Being skilled, you decide instead to just call his bet on the turn. This way, he is more likely to bet out on the river. If you had raised his bet on the turn, even a fish would probably have folded his hand – and you would have lost your fish.

The river card is a blank – not likely to help anyone. Even if it does improve the fish’s hand, there is no way he can beat your quad 10s. Because you did not raise his bet on the turn, the fish decides to bet out again on the river. Thus, you have gained an extra big bet from him, and a chance that he will call your raise on the river. That extra bet or two can make a big difference over the course of a poker session, helping you to go home a winner – and with a big smile.

Of course, the same applies to no-limit and high-stakes games; and your profit will be so much bigger..

Let’s focus on a draw to the flush…

With four cards of the same suit, there are 9 more cards of that suit unseen (presumably remaining in the deck). You have 9 outs, any one of which will complete your flush. Based on the number of outs, you can readily determine your card odds – the probability of making your hand with two cards to come.

Using the 4-2 Rule

You can do the math to estimate the card odds by using the 4-2 Rule. Multiplying your 9 outs by 4 gives you the approximately 36 percent chance (probability) of filling your flush on the turn or on the river. Then your card odds are (100 – 36) ÷ 36 which is equal to approximately 2-to-1 against you. After the flop, an early position opens the betting and is called by two other players. Now, you must decide your action. Let’s say it’s a $4-$8 limit game. That amounts to $12 you need to call after the flop in addition to the $15 already in the pot, for a total of $27. By calling that $4 bet, the pot odds are $27 ÷ 4 which is approximately 7-to-1. The rule with a drawing hand is that the pot odds must be higher than your card odds to make it a profitable “investment” – as is the case here.

If you miss your flush on the turn, then multiply your outs by 2. This gets you a reasonable estimate of the odds of making your hand on the river. Once again, compare your card odds to the pot odds.

There are handy charts available in many poker books, but the 4-2 rule is probably the easiest way to do this math. Or you can memorize it: With 9 outs on the flop, your card odds are 1.86-to-1 against connecting either to the turn or the river, and 4.33-to-1 on the turn to the river.

What if Your Outs Are Overcards?

In addition to your 4 cards to a flush, let’s take the case when both of your hole cards are higher in value than any of the cards on the board – they are overcards. Each gives you an additional 3 outs to pair up – 6 outs in all. Instead of just 9 outs to the flush, you would have 15 (9 + 6) outs; and the card odds against you would be only 0.85-to-1– favoring you to connect to take that pot. That may seem great, but don’t get carried away. There is a mean sharp hook here: Catching top pair is much less likely to win the pot compared to filling the flush. For example, one of your opponents may have been calling or betting with two-pair, leaving you second-best.

But you do have the option to protect against this. Since those overcards are less valuable, you should reduce their “effective outs” by a factor of three. Now you would add only 2 outs to your 9 outs for the flush draw. And now your card odds are back up to 3.18-to-1 against you. That could make a big difference since the bets on the turn are doubled for this limit pot ($8 instead of $4) and the pot odds may be lower as some opponents decide to muck their hands.

For the greatest advantage, combine all your information sources. First, decide what to look for regarding your opponents’ betting patterns. Then, consider other supplementary information about your opponents. Finally, examine your own betting patterns – with which you are in full control.

Of course, if you’re playing online instead of a brick and mortar establishment, it’s also important that the online casino or poker site you play at offer a wide variety of Texas Hold’em games and tables so that you can game select and find the right one to plat at. You can test your skills at Texas Hold’em here for free.

Know Your Enemy

The more information you have about the hands each player chooses to play and how he plays them, the better chance you have to win.

After a round or two of play with a new opponent, you should be aware of their playing traits (tight, loose, aggressive, passive, etc.). Make note of this and combine it with their betting patterns and look for tells. That will help you to win more often.

Going one step further, there is much supplementary information that can help you beat your opponents. Here are questions you might ask yourself. In all cases, try to see the showdown when a hand goes all the way to the end.

READ ALSO: Poker Tips by George: Skills are the Key

Questions to ask yourself

To the best of your ability, try to determine:

• What kind of starting hands does he play? Staying to see the flop more than 25 percent of the time brands him as too loose – most likely to go home a loser in the long run.
• What kind of hands does he raise with?
• How often does he slow-play (to build the pot)?
• How often does he bluff or semi-bluff?
• Does he use the Esther Bluff?
• Does he understand the Hold’em Algorithm and the Hold’em Caveat? That is a good measure of his skills. (Play more cautiously against highly skilled opponents.)
• With drawing hands, does he use his card outs in making playing decisions? A well-skilled player knows how to calculate a Positive Expectation. (pot odds higher than his card odds)

Review your own betting patterns

In the aforementioned previous column, we listed some of the more common betting patterns. Do you often use some of these or others?

Take a short break from the game and ponder your own patterns. Do you think that some of your opponents are on to you? Would a few changes improve your results?

For example, I once used what I regard as the most common betting pattern: call (pre-flop); bet on the flop when my hand improved – usually to top pair with a strong kicker; and then bet again on the turn; but checked the river when my hand did not further improve. I realized my mistake: Using that betting pattern, on the river, I was offering a free card to opponents with weak hands who would otherwise probably have mucked their hands. So now, rather than checking on the river, I often play that hand more aggressively and open bet on the river. Small changes can make big differences.

Summing it up

As the game progresses, gather all the info you can about your opponents’ playing traits – how they play their hands. Add their betting patterns. Meanwhile, adjust your own betting patterns whenever appropriate. Put it all together, and win more hands than ever, and bigger pots to boot!

Caution: After your bluff is called, do not try to bluff again for at least 20 minutes – so a player who saw that hand is less likely to remember it.

Bluffs can be categorized based on position. Using position when bluffing is essential to success. I thus recommend bluffing largely from late position.

The Late Position Bluff offers special advantages over bluffs from early and middle positions, as the late position player sees what the other positions do before he must act. For example, if a tight player has raised from an early position, and his raise is called by a middle position, don’t even consider trying to pull off a bluff. These players are likely committed to their hands.

Other Bluffing Tips From Late Position

• Observe how many opponents have called. It is much easier to bluff out one or two players than three or more.
• Note which opponents have bet or raised before you and what type of player he/she is. (Don’t try to bluff out a calling station.)
• Look at how many chips each opponent has. You cannot bluff out a player who has only a few chips in front of him.

Bluffing can also be evaluated by when you bluff in the course of the hand. Here are some thoughts on bluffing at each street.

Bluffing Before the Flop

• If the early and middle positions have all folded before you, consider making a late-position raise as a bluff. Steal the blinds.
• If an opponent who is particularly deceptive often raises, consider reraising him with a marginal hand or better. Chances are he is bluffing – and you have position over him. Very likely he will fold to your re-raise, or fold when you bet on the flop if he doesn’t catch a strong hand.
• If you bluff by raising from the hijack position after one or two limpers, the opponents behind you likely will fold; it’s a double-bet for them. Then, you become the “virtual button” for the rest of that hand, giving you a positional edge over the other players.
• If one of the blinds calls your bluff raise, he probably has a very good starting hand. Look for any tells he might display. Consider his playing traits before you decide whether to try another bluff on the turn.

READ ALSO: Top 3 Tips for Bluffing in No-Limit Hold’Em

After the Flop

• If everyone checks to you, your Late Position Bluff may very well induce them to fold. That’s especially the case if the flop brings small and medium cards to the board (no face cards with which opponents usually stay to see the flop) or a small pair with a small/medium third card. It is likely that the flop missed everyone. In that case, if the betting is checked to you, then your Late Position Bluff is very likely to force out the remaining players – leaving the pot for you. You win by default.
• If the flop is dangerous, stop and think. Examples: three cards in sequence, two or more of the same suit, two or more honor cards. With such “scare cards” falling on the flop, it is possible that an opponent has flopped a big hand or a big draw. In that case, your Late Position Bluff bet would force out only the weaker hands while a player with a strong hand remains in the pot. In fact, that player may raise if you bluff bet again on the turn. That could be costly. Be cautious; use your position to see what your opponents do before acting – and look for tells.

On the River

• If your bluff fails to connect by the river, all is not necessarily lost. Try to “read” your opponent for a reasonable guess of his range of hands. Your bluff on the river might be enough to force him out – leaving the pot to you. After all, he has no idea of the strength of your hand. And the pot odds are bound to be favorable at this point.