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I just read some playing advise regarding Texas- hold'em. The blog says (https://www.pokerlistings.com/strategy/how-not-to-suck-at-poker-play-fewer-hands) that to stand a better chance to win you should bluff very little times and only go ahead with hands in which you have a good starting combination such as:


If you follow this strategy, you would play very little hands, which may get a bit boring. However, the strategy can be extended to play more hands to the "top 15"


Has anyone tried an strategy of limiting the hands? How didi it go?

A little clarification: combo AK (Big Slick) is upper of QQ, because it beats QQ in more situation than otherwise.
And Super Big Slick (A-K suited) is even more better.

So the real table of how combos is strong will be like that:

Hi
Ofcourse this is what people do when they are playing poker, this is an extremely normal strategy that they use, it does not only provide the user with confidence but at the same time is fruitful in many instances. But that does not straight away remove the chances that people might be having a better hand than you because the probability of that happening is also not low.
But I do think that this would be much better than :
Random playing and bluffing.
More or so This would work ,this is not something new the blog just summaries what the players have been using for ages.  You can also look at poker hand rankings in which you can see where you stand at that particular point. I follow this at most instances instead of the combinations. Because what you use is a generalized set, you cannot just pick one and leave, one can also have better hand.
https://i.ibb.co/cChXPGr/vqq29wtl79541.jpg (https://ibb.co/8dg4JW7)
(Taken from google)

You will only get bored if you play poker live. If you play online, what people do is to multi-table, so you often get playable hands, both because you are playing at various tables and also because the speed is much faster than in a land-based casino. If you play zoom or snap tables it's even faster.

But yeah, that is the basic strategy that everyone who starts out and wants to learn how to make money with poker (or at least not lose) should internalize: play few hands. And I would add: play them aggressively.

Then as you move up in levels things change a bit, and although you keep selecting hands, you open up the range a bit, but that's another story.

There are many strategies in poker, what you are describing is what it is called a tight player, a player which does not play many hands and bluffs rarely, the problem with adopting a single strategy is that you are not playing against machines but against humans, other players will begin to make a read about the kind of player you are and if they understand that you are a conservative player then they will try to steal your blinds all the time and if you happen to raise only when you have a good hand then they will fold.

Funnily enough your bluffs will be very successful as your opponents believe you have a really good hand when in fact you do not, so while playing tight is not a bad strategy you still need to be able to loose up if the circumstances at the table dictate it.

While I honestly don't know much about poker games, I asked a question about the same to Yahoo and he said that I should follow:

TwoPlusTwo Forum (https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com) &
CardPlayer Magazines (https://www.cardplayer.com/cardplayer-poker-magazines)

in order to learn more about anything related to poker. Hope this may help. ;)

It will still depend on the 5 cards on the table. But I'm having my decision already from the first three cards and see if there's a chance to get an upper hand with my card. And I also do bluff if I think that it's easy to bluff the other folks on the table.

Even if I don't have those cards that you have said to have a better chance of winning, I still bluff. It's more of a psychological effect to the opponents that you're scaring them and if you have noticed that it works based on your observation, you can easily overcome them by doing bluffs even if you don't have a good combination in your hand.

As someone who's played and written about poker, I must say I agree with this strategy. I also mentioned in another post here that I've actually tested this strategy myself when playing with friends.

When I used this strategy to try and stay in the game as long as possible by playing strong hands only, I've managed to win the pot almost 80% of the time. When I've played for fun and not bother with being disciplined, I've always lost my cash among the first players. Sure, it goes beyond this as poker demands that you know the rules, know how to read your opponents (if you can see them that is), and even knowing what cards are left in the deck. Still, not wasting playing cash on bad hands is a smart way to go. Just beware because if other players understand you're doing this, they'll always know when you have a strong hand. In that case, they will fold when you raise probably and if someone stays in the game, they probably will have a strong hand too.

We have a post on poker strategy on GoodLuckMate. You can read it here - https://goodluckmate.com/game/strategy/poker. It offers some basic tips you can consider next time you play.  :)

I'd say this strategy must be effective. But I never played very serious poker so I've never been technical in playing. However, I almost always risk even the worst of my hole cards at least up to the flop. Sometimes, what seems to be the worst hole cards end up making the best hand. But, again, this must be a poor approach as far as serious poker games are concerned.

But I guess strictly sticking to this strategy is really boring and creates a predictable pattern. So a shift of strategy every now and then is both fun and effective.

I mean, it's literally the strategy of playing to what you have, it's kind of expected that you'd earn more. It's like choosing a choice that has a higher chance of winning compared to other choices (still has risks ofc). It's effective and boring, yes, but it also severely limits the plays you make. It also cements you as that type of player that goes aggressive with a good hand and falls back with a bad hand. There's kind of two types of luck in Poker, one for your hand, one for the table. You rely on the luck your hand gives you, and not the one on the table kind of thing. It's a "winning half of the battle" type of strategy imo.

But as a poker player, I'd really suggest experiencing the thrill of bluffing and danger with it. If you're in for the profit, then follow this, it's safer as OP says, but if you're in it for the game, then I suggest that you just play to your heart's desire.

It's the small bluffs that makes players who play the conservative way still successful doesn't it? If another player had a pair of six for example and he saw that I raised early, he'll most likely fold even if I had 2-3 because he knows I usually have high cards on hand when I do that.

Don't bluff every time and don't reveal your strategy about when you are about to bluff because in poker you actually need to make your opponents Believe that you are having high cards than others. Bluff should be random and even people who won by doing it when they have no combination of cards just because their opponents gave up.

That's okay if you're bluffing and you have a certain strategy. Just don't do make yourself obvious when you're about to bluff. Don't make any sign even if you do it from time to time.

Just make sure that you're not too obvious when you do it. Because when you do, they will not be scared of going against you when you and a few are remaining in the table. You can do it from time to time or any random time, just combine it and for sure the other players on the table will be confused.

If you rely solely on bluffing then it is easy for your opponents to read and you should also rely on good cards to bluff or stop until the time runs out as if your opponent is judging your doubts to raise your bet.
Bluffing in playing poker is indeed something that is easy to read but must be precise and supported by the right cards and timing.

Bluffing is not for everyone, and if you do it a lot during a lengthy game with the same participants, they will notice and thus your bluffs will stop making sense. At the same time, your hand will often be pretty bad to play without bluffing, so it seems reasonable to just fold when this happens since the initial stake you're losing this way is pretty low. Nevertheless, if you always fold when you have a bad hand and play only with a good one, people will also notice, and you won't be able to profit from it. So I guess it must be a subtle combination of both.

Bluffing is a great strategy but as a poker player it is important to not over do it and no change of expression when doing it, if you watched the casino royale movie then you might noticed it but the opponent used it as advantage against bond in a particular bet.

Of course you shouldn't bluff every game lol. The less bluffs you do, the harder it would be for your opponents to understand/call/predict your bluffs. And sure, if you have a good hole cards such as pocket pairs, you should give the round a try. But don't forget, lower pocket pairs will likely cause you to lose.
But then you become very predictable. If always play hands where you have good hole cards, your opponent will start to notice that and would be able to call all your plays. Don't forget about the small/big blinds that you have to place even if you would fold.

If you were to play this strategy then you better know who your opponents are because frequent early fold will mean that they will see that you are following a pattern and the moment that you play until the reveal of cards, they will know why you are playing in that pattern, I don't suggest this kind of thing in a high-stakes tournament, especially at a casual play at gambling houses because there pros that are hiding in the midst and they can easily detect this kind of thing. Practice your poker face and learn how to pressure your opponents is a good way to make a profit in poker.

the game is more of psychology it's better to play with humans on the table to learn the kind of players you are playing with. it's better to establish a pattern actually so you are going to be unpredictable whenever you wanted to bluff. it's satisfying to see you get to win big with just one bluff you made and only then they will realize you are not the kind of player that they thought so.

What I am trying to say is that your pattern will become predictable and you can't simply bluff in a predicted pattern because the trained eye will notice even your bet and they know that you are up to something when you suddenly go off the pattern or try to follow the pattern. Yes it might work for awhile but once they get ahold of how you do it, they will know it.

I don't think it's going to work just playing the absolute premium hands in today's world. This sounds more like a strategy from the 90s and poker came a long way since then. The problem with such a strategy is that becomes to easy to exploit. Once other players understand you only top hands they will just fold to your raise. In my opinion you are going to pay too much in blinds while waiting for your cards. Also postponing is so important in poker these days.

That was my first thought too, playing fewer hands will slowly chip away your chips because there are times that you are going to be placing a bet even though there are no cards dealt yet. The best way to play poker in my opinion is to always get in the game and try to play some mind games with other players, be the unpredictable one at the very least or make it look like you are predictable and then pull a fast one.

That is what happens if we face a pro poker player in the poker game as they have more experience than us and they will know if we just bluff or have a good card. They can know how to anticipate our moves, and maybe they can block our move and win the game. Maybe changing the pattern can be a solution but once again, if we meet the pro poker player, we need more than that because they really hard to get tricks from us.

It's no secret that the odds of winning with these card combinations in hand are very high. In my opinion, it's much more interesting to learn how to bluff and make your opponents doubt your cards when you don't have any of these combinations in your hand. Getting your opponents to fold when you're holding J and 10 is a real bluffing skill.

You can do it as much as you can. And changing of expression can also help to scare the other guys on the table which will make them hesitant to think if you are bluffing or not.

Movies are movies and it is different in real life. I have seen guys do that in tournaments and real life table plays.

Yes bluffing and trapping your opponent are the best ways to get money being a tight player, if people realize you are a tight player then every time you raise most likely they will fold thinking you have a super hand, this is especially true if the flop is dangerous and you could have the nuts over them, however where this strategy really shines is when you bluff as your opponent will believe that you have something when in fact you do not.

The other way to get more profits out of this style is by playing your hands slowly, if you have a very good hand instead of raising you become a calling machine and just call their bets and then after the river comes you either make a bet or raise the pot significantly and you beat them by revealing you always had something better than what they have.

I don't get that you must need to lessen your bluffs whenever you are playing poker, I've been playing poker for almost 6 years and I can say that I am already veteran when it comes to this game and I've met so many players that are very good on bluffing in which they can bluff all the game and no one can ever noticed it and when you call them they has a good cards. What I want to say is that you just need to be careful whenever you are bluffing because some of the gamblers knows how to do that too so if you will do these things then you must be really good at it.

With all due respect, playing for 6 years doesnt mean that you are good / veteran or whatever you want to call. What matter the most in poker to determine you are good or not is your live winning session. I've known with someone that start like less than 2 years in poker and already has over 30k winning in ggpoker ( probably more if you combine it with other sites ). Thats a decent number for playing less than 2 years


Bluff means you are trying to win the pot with a bad hands probably just some low pair or probably high cards or nothing. If your hands connect with the board, that means you are not bluffing


It depends on the board and your action. For example if you open from early position and the board was A 4 5 9 10 rainbow. What are your bluff in this board in case you are holding KQs? You need a logical bluff in this spot because the villain that opens next to you might have A ( probably ) if you dont hold an A. The only nuts in this would be 2 3 which makes it a straight but it is almost not possible for the early position to open with 23.

Anyway if you are playing poker, you might want to join bitcointalk weekend game. We'll be waiting for you in case if you are interested  :)

Strategy game depends from how the gambler understand the risk, like what you have mentioned for past 6 years of playing you encounter those experienced players like you.

Opponents around the table who gathered good understnading of the game, they easily applies all those skills that they' got finding advantages from each rounds that you've play.

Bluffing most of the time relies with timing, and most part are luck behind. ::) ;D

In theory this doesn't look like a really good idea as less cards means less bluffs which means less chances of your enemy making a wrong call. But then again this utterly compels me and I might just try it in a game or something and see how this goes. I'm thinking this is not a foolproof strategy so there's still a margin of loss that I should take into account but a few tweaks from this strat could make you a poker god at your local pub, if this strat indeed works.

In general, this is works in tables with more than 4 players. I tested it by myself few times.
But I used it with some improvements like to combine good hands with bluff (i will not tell about ratio, don't want to share my strategy :0 ) 

Definitely.

In general, beginners tend to play way too many hands especially when they're the small blind or big blind at their table. They also tend to bluff a lot more than what is required, which results in suboptimal gameplay.

Staying consistent with a mathematically optimal strategy is just as important as getting lucky hands, imho.

That you have written is garbage and you know it.


I mostly agree but lucky hands are only important in the short-term, if you are thinkin of short-term wins. Over the long-term we all get the same "lucky" hands, it's how you play them that matters.

But still, if we talk about a pro poker player, they will have more experience than us, and they can trace the possibility of the card that we might have. They can detect the card because I think this poker game also needs a strong feeling plus experience to know the opponent cards. I agree that we need to change our strategy or whatever the name to trick the other player, whether they are a pro poker player or not. But maybe, the more practice that we do, the more skills and experience we can get.

Those are good resources that you shared there. I want to share these resources to my friends who wants to learn to play the game. I mean they know the basics of the game and at the same time we don't play money games (at my request). Just fun game with play money or the tokens. I was a poker player before at a gambling joint and receiving "salary" from them for the sole purpose of playing at the tables. It was a bit stressful to play when thinking of losing your "salary" but it was an interesting experience.

This is correct, poker is classified as a game of skill, luck plays a part of course but over the long term the best player should always beat the less skilled player, so if a newbie is really interested in learning how to play the game I think it is better that he starts up as tighter than usual as most low stake games you can find on the Internet are filled with calling machines.

No matter what they have they want to go to the showdown so it is almost impossible to bluff them and this is even worse if you are playing limit games, later once you improve you can add bluffing and other more advanced tactics to your arsenal.

I agree that limiting your bluffing to a minimum generally leads to a better outcome, at least I find it to be true for myself. Some people can bluff professionally, but for me bluffing almost always ended badly. And this strategy you're talking about, I guess many people play like that, it's just what naturally comes to mind - keep with good cards. But there are many downsides to this method, which is why I think only newbies use it. By limiting hands you can miss out on many good opportunities, like straights or flush. On the other hand, I've had situations when my starting combinations were awesome and I increased bets or even went all-in (with something like AA) and the other player had a very bad hand, but he got lucky and ended up with a straight, while I was left with my pair AA  :(
So I think the best was is to play as long as you can and try to figure out other's cards by analyzing their moves and general behavior.

Well this thread had stayed tight and it just now had action ...

The cards of your opponents are not guessed, a rank is used, there is a table of ranks by the type of player + by the position of the villain.
______________//

It's not really about limiting the hands, or playing few hands, someone a while ago put out a post with a range of hands, but it like this is only part of the whole, to be a winner in the long term.

There is something called range of hands in position, it is something that combined "maybe" with the suggestions of the premium hands, for those who start playing poker it can be a good strategy.

Poker is not just about receiving "AA" and getting excited, you have to analyze the position at the table, the chip stacks of your opponents, who is aggressive, who is tight, how they are playing, who has been active, tight, how they enter in the "limp" hands, how much this players raise (1.5B, 2B, 3B)  etc.

And that analysis that you do with your opponents, you must do it with yourself, after that, comes the strategy applied to the type of game to apply to the tournament, not all are played the same, if it is an MTT, sit & go, or is a simple table of cash, also if it is short or long table, usually short table is 6max and long 9max but this varies.

To that add the levels or structure if it is 30 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes and there are up to a minute, etc...

Many other things escape me, but basically taking that into account you can then decide if you play certain hands and remember that you only have 15 seconds.

I like to play 73s from the cutoff.