Poker Strategy
Welcome to our Poker Strategy Articles section. Poker is a game of strategy. Anyone that tells you differently is ignorant or a losing poker player. If you study the game and the strategies, you will understand the tactics to becoming a winning player, improve your game, and ultimately win money. We at ITH have accumulated the most comprehensive collection of texas holdem articles to help you learn, gain confidence and most importantly WIN.
We incorporate strategiy discussions on everything from playing hands to winning the mental game. Peruse the sub-categories here or browse all our strategy articles below.
For more poker strategy content, visit our Poker Forum Strategy sections and join in the discussions!
Winning the PokerStars Nightly 100K
A mission to beat 900 players begins This article looks at some of the more interesting hands I played while winning the PokerStars Nightly Hundred Grand tournament.
Poker Table Chat
Table chat is a long-standing and accepted part of poker, both online and in live card rooms. When playing online, the amount of chatter varies greatly from table to table.
Tough Limit Holdem Strategy
We all have an idea of the archetypical bad limit hold’em player or ‘fish’ as they are often called. They are very loose, very passive, chase terrible draws, don’t value bet or protect their hand enough etc.
Moving Up Too Fast in Stakes
Staying within your bankroll - Note: This is an edited excerpt from Jeff’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
What do you do when you know you are beat?
Most people know that all of the great Hold'em players play their opponents and not their own hands. Most players believe this is just a matter of sensing weakness in their opponent and then exploiting this weakness by stealing a pot.
Hand-Strength Classifications
Categorizing starting hands by playability Editor's note: What follows are edited excerpts from Jeff Hwang's book Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy.
6 Reasons to Start Playing Omaha Hi Lo
When I first started to play internet poker, I headed for the texas holdem tables. One day, while distracted, I accidentally joined a single table Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo tournament.
Poker Luck and Skill : Variance or Bad Play?
“Your upswing was obviously pure luck (variance) and the downswing was obviously mostly caused by terrible play... at least that's the opinion I've been reading in other threads around here.
The World Series of Poker Bubbles
Take advantage of them I've been fortunate enough to cash in three of the last four main events at the World Series of Poker.
Why Pot-Limit Omaha Games Must Get Smaller
It’s crucial to the game’s growth “You can shear a sheep many times, but you can skin him only once.
Starting Hand Chart
Learn how professional poker player and best selling poker author Matthew Hilger plays his starting hands using our starting hand poker calculator!
The Reverse Float
Floating from out of position Editor's note: The following is from Jeff Hwang's upcoming book, Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: Advanced Play.
Basic Preflop Play in Pot Limit Omaha
Key Concepts - Last issue, I classified starting hands in pot-limit Omaha (PLO) by hand strength, breaking them down into premium, speculative, marginal, and trash (everything else) categories.
Heads Up Versus ‘TT’
The bluff-raise Here are two hands that I played in heads-up post-flop confrontations against my buddy "TT" in my weekly 50¢-$1 ($100 minimum/$200 maximum) pot-limit Omaha (PLO) game on the electronic tables in the poker room at Excalibur in Las Vegas.
Lose Weight while Playing Poker!
How do you lose weight and gain pounds at the same time? OK…maybe I have played a little with the word pounds (except for those in the UK) but read on a little further.
A Shorthanded Limit Hold’em Hand
Breaking it down I recently played an interesting hand online during a shorthanded six-max limit hold'em game.
The Paradox of Poker – Tournament vs Ring
Tournament versus cash-game strategy Very few players succeed in both tournaments and cash games.
Short Stack Strategy in Limit Holdem
Beware the Short Stack Much has been written on the impact of stack size in no-limit hold’em, including how to play both with and against a short stack.
Poker Tracker Tips : Tracking Your Progress as a Beginner
Terry Wynn, aka Darvon from the Forum, takes a look at how Poker Tracker can improve your play
Limit Holdem Bluffing : A Version of the Delayed Bluff
The check and delayed bluff can be a powerful poker weapon
Poker Pitfalls Resulting From a Faulty Mindset
Players need more than the technical skill set to achieve success There are dozens of poker books on the market that are designed to teach the technical aspects of the game.
Gambler or Gamer : What Attracts People to Poker
What is the appeal of poker?
Luck in Poker : Four Hands
I am a big advocate of reviewing hands in order to improve your poker game. In fact, as internet players, it is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Poker Tips for Beginners : Three Decisions that are Never Wrong
Some decisions, both game and non-game, are relatively easy to make while others are more difficult. Everyone makes bad decisions from time to time, but the key to being successful is to make as few as possible.
Quiz: Wrap, Bare Nut Straight Heads Up
Wrap, bare nut straight heads up It's a 50¢-$1 pot-limit Omaha (PLO) game on the electronic poker tables at Excalibur in Las Vegas, and you are playing heads up.
Positional Advantage in Pot-Limit Omaha
The ambiguity of the bet - This is an edited excerpt from Jeff’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
Am I Delusional?
Am I delusional?
Poker Bankroll Strategy
Zoom in Zoom out....I recently tried out that Google earth thing.
Dominating Draws in PLO
A game of draws - The truth about pot-limit Omaha (PLO) is that about 99 percent of the game is played on the draw.
One Year as a Professional Poker Player
On the 5th of May 2006 I left my cosy office job for the last time, in order to throw my hat into the ring as a professional poker player. Long-time members of the ITH forums may remember my plea for last minute advice before I finally took the plunge.
Is Poker Gambling or Skill?
For some reason, poker players love to debate the question of whether or not playing winning poker counts as gambling. Intuitively the answer is yes, but winning poker players often don’t see it that way.
Poker Tilt Tips : Your Guilty Conscience
Back in the late 90’s, before he became sidetracked with writing songs about Michael Jackson, George Bush and vomit, Eminem released a catchy song entitled ‘Guilty Conscience’. It was a song about the two voices that talk to you, one ‘bad voice’ (played by Eminem) representing temptation to commit crime or do what is wrong and one ‘good voice’ (played by Dr Dre) representing logic, reason and morality.
Pot-Limit Omaha Hand Quiz 3
Big-blind-versus-small-blind play, small ball, floating, and the bluff-raise - What follows is a special preview from Jeff’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II: LAG Play.
A Proposal for the World Series of Poker
There has been a lot of talk within the poker community about the future of the World Series of Poker. The central debate has focused on whether or not the main event is too big in terms of the number of entrants.
Bluffing in the WSOP Main Event Part 2
My last column looked at a couple of bluffs that I made during the World Series of Poker main event. One of them was successful and one of them cost me some chips.
Misapplying Expected Value Calculations
A questionable play - There is a long-standing argument in the poker world between the math guys and the instinct guys.
Beginner Poker Mistakes : Misunderstood Concepts
As I sift through the ITH forums, it seems there is a recurring theme, whereby beginning to intermediate players make play errors due to misunderstanding certain concepts. After a long time noticing this, I thought it was time to compile an explanation for some of the most commonly misunderstood concepts in poker.
Reflections on My Results at the 2008 World Series of Poker
A disappointing tournament The 2008 World Series of Poker was extremely disappointing for me.
PLO Practice-Hand Quiz No. 1
An interesting, complex hand What follows is the first of what likely will be a series of pot-limit Omaha (PLO) practice-hand quizzes, similar to those found in my book, Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy.
Omaha Hi-Lo Hands : Close in Value
Sometimes players say that Omaha hands “run close together in value”. Others disagree with that statement and claim that they do not.
Three-Betting Preflop
Marginal Hands - This is the fourth column in a series that highlights some of the hands discussed in the new book Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time, Volume II, by Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, and Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet.
Limit Hold’em Tips : The Secrets of Success
Before talking about the merits of single tabling, I should give you a brief history of my playing career. I started playing internet poker three years ago after watching it on TV.
The Journey : Stages of Poker Development
We begin the journey the first time we play poker.
Beating Fish in Limit Holdem
Now, onto some thoughts about the best ways to profit from these subpar players. What are the best ways to accomplish this?
Selecting Good Poker Tables : Finding the Best Fish
If you want to really excel at the poker tables, then the "need for action" that a lot of us have must be contained while you patiently look for a group that appears to have as many loose/poor players as possible. This reminds me of something that I read in a Doyle Brunson book (the man is such a great poker player....
Who is the Most Confident?
Poker on the internet is in very many ways similar to live poker. It’s still poker after all and the rules, probabilities and everything else that really matters is the same.
Are you prepared? A look at poker tournament training
Play different-structured tournaments Last fall I wrote a column titled "Improving Your Game.
Automated Poker
Is the future here?
Multiway Pots in Limit Holdem
Test Your Skills
Heads-up Limit Hold’em : A Complete Guide
I play a lot of heads-up limit hold’em. In fact, it probably accounts for about 30% of the hands that I play on a day-to-day basis.
Playing Poker Online
by: Kathy Watterson and Lou Krieger©
Playing With the Initiative After the Flop in PLO
To continuation-bet or not to continuation-bet - Editor’s note: What follows is an edited excerpt from Jeff Hwang’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
Applying ‘Douts’
Hand examples of applying odds and 'douts' when making drawing decisions A column I wrote a couple of months ago, titled "Outs vs Douts," generated a lot of discussion, as I received more e-mail than usual about the topic.
Working in Your Underwear: The Pitfalls of Comfort
Troy Headrick, aka BernardDogs in the Forum, gives some tips in how to avoid online habits that are not conducive to live play When I ran Cross-Country in High School, our coach would video tape us as we ran so that we could then view the tape and critique our form.
The Many Faces of Poker Tilt
While many players will tell you that they never go on tilt, this is rarely (if ever) true. What they probably mean is they never notice they are going on tilt and/or they don’t tilt very badly.
Limit Hold’em Quiz
Playing the Nuts Most players love to discuss hands when the value of a hand is not very clear.
PLO Quiz 3
A low SPR situation - Excerpt from Jeff’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II: LAG Play and The Short-Handed Workbook.
The Mississippi Straddle
To straddle or not to straddle on the button Editor's note: The following is from Jeff Hwang's book, Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: Advanced Play Vol.
PLO Quiz 4
Playing from the Mississippi straddle, bottom set, value-betting the river - Preflop: It’s a $5-$5-$10 game with a Mississippi straddle.
Online Poker Tips for Beginners
Matthew gives beginning poker players a few online poker tips - I receive lots of questions by email and in the Poker Forum from beginners asking for poker tips on getting started with with online poker.
One Week as a Professional Poker Player
The possibility of becoming a professional poker player is an alluring one for most players. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to sit at home playing poker all day?
Misapplying Expected Value Calculations Part II
Eric “Rizen” Lynch provides a hand analysis - A few months ago, I wrote an article about how some players are misapplying expected value calculations.
PLO Practice-Hand Quiz No. 2
Raising preflop, the combo float, and value-betting the river It's a $1-$2 blinds game, $5 to bring in.
River Bluffs in Limit Hold’em
'The River Rule' I have a rule on the river that I follow religiously, which I appropriately call "The River Rule": Never try to make a good laydown on the river in limit hold'em.
Beginning Poker Tips : Little Things to Succeed in Poker
At the time of this writing, England has just beaten Ecuador 1-0 in the soccer World Cup to progress to the quarterfinals. It was a scrappy game, in which England was on the better side but was unable to really put the game away.
Is he bluffing? A hand from the WSOP
A hand from the World Series of Poker Event No.
C-Bet Frequency in PLO
It depends largely on your opponent - What follows is an excerpt from Jeff’s books, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha Volume II: LAG Play and The Short-Handed Workbook.
Improving Your Poker Game : New Year’s Resolutions
Improving your game - People write to me all the time, telling me their poker history, which inevitably ends up with the same question: “What can I do to improve my game?
Some Mistakes Down Under
The Aussie Millions If there is one poker trip that every poker player should make, it is to the Aussie Millions, held in the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia.Let’s Play Poker!
