how to improve my game (poker - hold em)

I played for the first time in ages on Friday, did ok at the beginning, but out of the whole game (lasted about 3 hours) i got 3 decent hands, 2 of which i won with.

I think it comes down to practice really, how used you are to the people you are playing with and whether you think you can bluff your way out.

9/10 times i go for the bluff, unfortunately there is at least 1 person that actually has something, lol, so either have to fold or just show the bluff.

Wouldnt mind playing a bit more but it comes down to time and whether i can get enough people together really.
 
I think something that's quite important is value betting.

I've watched several mates online play recently, and many of them don't value bet, because they're scared.

Value betting is basically making a roughly half pot-sized bet to find out where you are regarding your hand. You may be holding second pair with a decent kicker, when it's been checked down to the river. You're fairly certain your opponent doesn't have top pair, so you should take the pot with this bet.

I ended up heads-up in a pot against a mate on Full Tilt yesterday;

Board comes A-3-5, I'm holding J9. He checks to me, I check also. Turn comes a 10, so I represent the 10, by betting 150 into a 400 pot. He calls. River comes another 5. I think for a while and bet 450. This looks like I want him to call to pay me. He folds, and tells me he folded A-2.

Make notes on your opponents. If you play often, you may well run into them again, so if you spot something, make a virtual note in game, and refer to it later.

I know the feeling Hilly. I swear I haven't won a coin-flip situation for ages. Every time my hand dominates theirs, I lose.
 
I found a good way to not lose too much money when i started was to join a cash table then when I had doubled the max you could join the table with, i would leave the table (unless i was really creaming someone), then join another at same limit.
It helped me build a nice bank balance to be able to slowly move up the tables.
 
reflex said:
My Aces got cracked by 5's. :(

*All in pre-flop
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I came 2nd in a poker tournament at my last job (out of 64 :D) and in the final, the first hand was dealt, someone goes all in on AA before the flop. Someone with KK calls him and he ended up losing to three of a pair kings. It was hilarious!!
 
Well, I'd never have put him on this, but look at the outcome :D

Full Tilt Poker Game #7076726356: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (53796535), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:16:30 ET - 2008/07/03
Seat 1: MC_NE2 (5,025)
Seat 3: el_dazza (3,975)
MC_NE2 posts the small blind of 50
el_dazza posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to el_dazza [10d Kc]
MC_NE2 raises to 200
el_dazza calls 100
*** FLOP *** [2s 10h Kh]
el_dazza checks
MC_NE2 checks
*** TURN *** [2s 10h Kh] [10c]
el_dazza checks
MC_NE2 bets 400
el_dazza calls 400
*** RIVER *** [2s 10h Kh 10c] [10s]
el_dazza checks
MC_NE2 bets 1,200
el_dazza raises to 2,400
MC_NE2 raises to 4,425, and is all in
el_dazza calls 975, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 1,050 returned to MC_NE2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MC_NE2 shows [2h 2d] a full house, Tens full of Twos
el_dazza shows [Td Kc] four of a kind, Tens
el_dazza wins the pot (7,950) with four of a kind, Tens

Don't think I could've played that better - poor move from him on the river though.
Not really sure where to post, this seemed the closest appropriate thread :p
 
slow playing 2 pair on flop with 2 hearts down is a risky manoeuvre

him putting the 3rd raise on the river in was absolutely crap though
 
weringo said:
He shouldn't have bet the river either really unless he thought daz had a realy small pair and he was trying to move him off it, no idea what he was doing going all in :D.
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very true, was only going to get called/raised by a better hand

maybe he did it to fend a bluff off but that doesn't explain his re raise
 
I'm no expert on hold-em, but from watching lots of pros on the tv and from playing myself I find it useful to identify who is tight, who is loose, who is aggressive, and who is passive. Tight players dont play many hands so when they do, and if they are out of position, you know they've got something. Passive players dont raise enough - they tend to 'limp in' a lot and just call and check, these type of players will fear your large raises and all-ins. Of course you wont identify who is playing with which style early on, which is why I like to play very tight initially (not play many hands) to get a feel for the other players.
 
Rotty said:
slow playing 2 pair on flop with 2 hearts down is a risky manoeuvre

him putting the 3rd raise on the river in was absolutely crap though
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Indeed, but he generally was quite hard to extract chips from. Heads-up, if he was flushing, I'm sure he would've bet it. Could say the same for him checking his trips though.

Just playing some .10/.25PL on Full Tilt, flop is 9-3-4, I hit top pair with King kicker, so bet 70% of the pot, some donk RAISES 2.5x my bet, so I call (was sure of no overpair). Turn comes an ace, river a 6, and it's checked down.

He had A-7os, not even a flush chance :confused::confused:

Good god, and another. Pot raise to 1.25 with AK, he re-raises, I put him all in for $8 and he shows A3. Runner-runner straights, doesn't he. Such a sick game.
 
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Thanks mate, I'm playing so badly today, people keep making these studpidly low value bets when I have ace high and I feel compelled to call them, also this idiot bluffed me with AK when I had top pair, even after he called my raise on the flop :o :mad:
 
I think I've played fairly well lately. As well as I could, given the opponents. Tend to end up with a lot of terrible players in my sit and go tournaments, they're so easy to mug. But of course, they'll get you on a horrible suck out. :)
 
Nvm, just won all my money back + more, flopped top two pair and let them same idiot who bluffed me last time do it again. Checked every street to him :D

Love those moments :p
 
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