Poker Strategy Guides

Lambert180

There has been a distinct lack of poker/strategy discussion on the forum for a really long time imo so thought I'd try to open it up for debate.

We all have areas of our game which need improvement, so if you could have a strategy guide on any format or aspect of the game, what would it be?

Feel free to be a bit more specific in your replies for instance if you specifically struggle around the bubble of an MTT/DYM. If you are fine with cash but struggle when it becomes 4 handed etc.

I know for me, satellites are definitely one of my weaker games.

BorinLoner

For some reason the polls on here haven't been showing up for me lately so I can't see the options you've highlighted.

I would say, though, that more fundamental strategy guides would seem to be a necessary addition to the poker school section. If someone were to write something on position, pot odds or even something more basic like starting hand selection, I think that would be good.

I was thinking of writing things like that in collaboration with some of the regular clinic posters. Not sure if there would be an appetite for that or not (or if I could be bothered to do it). Obviously Sky would have to approve and post it in their Poker School section as they have with DOHHHHHHH and JOHNCONNOR's thingymabobs to make it worthwhile.

The Poker School should probably have it's own blue tab, too... but I may be going off on a tangent there.

Lambert180

Nah I definitely agree The Poker School should definitely have it's own tab and I'm pretty sure it used to.

Good point, I think it's definitely a good idea to some of them foundations down in a guide, maybe including some stuff like which boards are good to c-bet, which aren't, how we should adjust our bet sizing to the board texture etc.

EDIT: I just put down the following, but it by no means covers everything, was just really a few to get us started, but hopefully more will come up just through discussion on the thread

What guide would you prefer? Regular SnGs MTTs Timed Tournaments Bankroll Management Satellites HU SnGs

beaneh

winning when all in

Lambert180

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

winning when all in
Posted by beaneh

I was gonna ask IDONK to write that one but he's left the forum now

craigcu12

the early stages of MMTs especially BHs

Lambert180

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

the early stages of MMTs especially BHs
Posted by craigcu12

Anything in particular you struggle with?

Do you find yourself just sitting round waiting for big hands and when you do no1 gives you any action (unlikely in a BH lol)?

Do you play too many hands and find yourself in awkward spots with an average pair, average kicker, not really knowing where you are?

Given a 2k starting stack, are you the kinda guy who is likely to be bust or be on 4k (for example) within 30 mins, or are you likely to have just sat there and find yourself on 1750, not really having played many pots and now getting shortish on number of BBs??

Sky_Dave

I'd definitely get behind anyone who wanted to write a good primer on any of those subjects. How about we up the stakes on this thread a little...

COMPETITION - FIVE SKY SPORTS BOUNTY HUNTER SEATS TO BE WON

The Community should decide on this poll/thread which FIVE subjects people want explaining the most in the form of a poker article. I'll put up a competition where the best entries in each of the subjects wins a Sky Sports Bounty Hunter seat. And they CAN stack - so if DOHHHHHHHH comes on and writes five incredibly good subjects, he'll win five seats. Articles don't need to be a fixed length/minimum length, etc. Sometimes you can say things better in a shorter amount of words.

How to enter: I'll open up a thread for entries to be posted on to. There'll be one thread per topic.

Topics will be decided according to the most mentions of a subject made on this thread come the evening of Thursday 28th March.

Closing date for entries: 15th April. 

The disclaimer from our side - the content will be going up for our customers to read, so has to be pretty well thought out and structured. I am more than happy to do some editing though, so no worried about spelling - it's the quality of the content we're after. If we don't get sufficiently good content on one of the five topics decided by the Community, we don't have to 'pay out' just because one was written, if that makes sense.

Who's in?

Lambert180

I'm in obv, kinda the reason I started this (to write a guide I mean, not to get a free seat lol)

unknown_username

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

winning when all in
Posted by beaneh

"Winning when all in"............This is deffo an area I need help with lol.

I think there should be a link from the "forum" to the "Poker School"


I think a "Poker Strategy" section on the forum is a great idea - We have the "Poker Clinic" but that is essentially for advice on particular hands we may have been dealt so doesn't extend itself to other types of poker strategy.

I have seen some very good Poker Strategy sections on other poker forums and I think the biggest problem we will face is consistancy - What I mean is....what some players opinions are as to the best way to play certain aspects of the game, may not be to others.

I think firstly we need to come up with some strategy section "Topics" then decide who would be the most experienced & willing volunteers to write up an initial strategy for each of those sections.

For instance.......

POKER STRATEGY SECTION

Topic - Sit & Go Strategies
DYM's (Double Your Money)
Sub Section - Early Levels - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Mid Levels - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Playing The Bubble - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Playing a Shortstack - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Playing a Bigstack - Summary by - John Conner

Heads-Up
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Playing the Flop - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - John Conner
Heads-Up (Hypers)
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Playing the Flop - Summary by - John Conner
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - John Conner

Topic - Cash Strategies
Cash - 4NL - 10NL
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - Lambert180
Sub Section - Position - Summary by - Lambert180
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - Lambert180
Sub Section - Playing the Streets - Summary by - Lambert180

Cash  - 20NL - 50NL
Sub Section - Starting Hands -Summary by - Beaneh
Sub Section - Position -Summary by - Beaneh
Sub Section - Bet Sizing -Summary by - Beaneh
Sub Section - Playing the Streets -Summary by - Beaneh

Cash  - 50NL +
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - Redmond Lee
Sub Section - Position - Summary by - Redmond Lee
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - Redmond Lee
Sub Section - Playing the Streets - Summary by - Redmond Lee


Topic - MTT's (Multi-Table Tournaments)
Bounty Hunters
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - Joe Bloggs
Sub Section - Position - Summary by - Joe Blogs
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - Joe Blogs
Sub Section - Playing the Streets - Summary by - Joe Blogs

Regular Mtt's
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - Scotty77
Sub Section - Position - Summary by - Tony Kendall
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - Rich Orford
Sub Section - Playing the Streets - Summary by - Jen Mason

Speed Mtt's
Sub Section - Starting Hands - Summary by - Joe Bloggs
Sub Section - Position - Summary by - Joe Blogs
Sub Section - Bet Sizing - Summary by - Joe Blogs
Sub Section - Playing the Streets - Summary by - Joe Blogs

Rebuys & Add Ons
Sub Section - Pros  Cons - Summary by - Joe Bloggs
Sub Section - When Should I Use Them - Summary by - Joe Blogs

Each section can also have a players comments/replies sub sections etc - like I say not every strategy works for every kind of player or level so there also needs to be an open section. 

There are Many Many other sections which will need to be added and this is just a small example, but there really is a lot of work to do if we are to get it right - So how do we decide who will write a strategy on each section/sub section?

Do we want it to be very much a community based section (written for the players by the players) or information given to us from the pros & analysts at Sky Poker or a mix of both? etc

Plenty to discuss to get this up and running, but i'm all for it.   

jdsallstar

Just a few ideas for you to consider migh not be kind of thing you're looking for but anyway.

MTT's

BH Specific one i.e. when to make calls you normally wouldnt make in a normal format but that become good value in a BH.

a simple one that could be put on there in beside the Poker Hand Rankings is preflop holding cards rankings/analysis. i.e. something like http://www.holdemsecrets.com/startinghands.htm
or something similar to http://www.suntzupoker.com/poker-odds.aspx

other articles that i think would help a lot of people would be - pot odds & implied odds articles. Useful link to outs percentages would be useful to i.e. http://www.thepokerbank.com/tools/odds-charts/percentage/

ROI articles might be good. i.e. what ROI you can expect from each type of game etc dont know how difficult or easy it would be to get good stats on this but maybe from sharkscope or sky themselves might be able to do something. This one might be too subjective to put in.

YOUNG_GUN

Anything not written by Lamby..

PS- I went for satelites too although i prob just run bad in them..

Lambert180

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

Anything not written by Lamby.. PS- I went for satelites too although i prob just run bad in them..
Posted by YOUNG_GUN

That's what I keep telling myself I dunno, maybe it's true, not like I've ever played more than about 50 in my life

Lambert180

Can we have a guide from Maxally about how to win all-in sats too please.

craigcu12

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides : Anything in particular you struggle with? Do you find yourself just sitting round waiting for big hands and when you do no1 gives you any action (unlikely in a BH lol)? Do you play too many hands and find yourself in awkward spots with an average pair, average kicker, not really knowing where you are? Given a 2k starting stack, are you the kinda guy who is likely to be bust or be on 4k (for example) within 30 mins, or are you likely to have just sat there and find yourself on 1750, not really having played many pots and now getting shortish on number of BBs??
Posted by Lambert180

how much aggression should be done if i only have top pair and over pair post flop OOP when the table is playing loose.

BorinLoner

Well, this quickly went from being a quiet conversation about what's lacking in the poker school to a grandiose competition and mission to redefine how poker is played. lol

I'm not sure a competition is the best way of going about this. As I said, I had thought a more collaborative effort would have been better. With the greatest of respect to the forum, I don't think any of us can write a complete and flawless guide to any aspect of the game on our lonesome.

I doubt I'll be getting involved now. The tone doesn't seem quite right to me.

Does anyone know why I can't see the polls on here anymore?

Lambert180

I kinda know what you mean BL, there is something to be said for a collaborative approach, but I think it shouldn't be too much leg work anyway if they get 5 different guides all for Sats to say 'we'll take this bit from guide A and this bit from guide B'.

The only ones with votes so far btw are...

MTT - 7 votes
Sats - 4 votes
Timed Tournies - 2 votes
HU SnGs - 2 votes

FWIW, I already wrote a guide on 1 of the above topics (no1 has voted for it yet lol) a while ago. And I'm already part way through writing a guide on 1 of the other topics.

FlashFlush

I think you need to add cash as 1 of the options

Lambert180

Sigh, I agree Flash, I didn't expect this to turn into what it did with people having to vote for which ones they wanted and new threads to be opened on that basis. It was more just to give a few options and hopefully the debate would just spark from people's replies.

Plus, imo it'd be very hard to write a cash guide (at least for micro stakes) without stealing 90% of what Doh wrote in his guide.

Annoyingly I can't now add extra options to the poll.

beaneh

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

Sigh, I agree Flash, I didn't expect this to turn into what it did with people having to vote for which ones they wanted and new threads to be opened on that basis. It was more just to give a few options and hopefully the debate would just spark from people's replies. Plus, imo it'd be very hard to write a cash guide (at least for micro stakes) without stealing 90% of what Doh wrote in his guide. Annoyingly I can't now add extra options to the poll.
Posted by Lambert180

Find that very hard to believe. it's doh afterall.....

beaneh

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

Sigh, I agree Flash, I didn't expect this to turn into what it did with people having to vote for which ones they wanted and new threads to be opened on that basis. It was more just to give a few options and hopefully the debate would just spark from people's replies. Plus, imo it'd be very hard to write a cash guide (at least for micro stakes) without stealing 90% of what Doh wrote in his guide. Annoyingly I can't now add extra options to the poll.
Posted by Lambert180

I find that very hard to believe. it's doohhhh afterall..

you guys have to remember that if playerA is better than playerB what is there in it other than the warm fuzzy feeling for player a to go through with player b why this is the case. 

it's not like there aren't already a heap of avaialable resources if you put more than 1 second into looking for them.

BorinLoner

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides : I find that very hard to believe. it's doohhhh afterall.. you guys have to remember that if playerA is better than playerB what is there in it other than the warm fuzzy feeling for player a to go through with player b why this is the case.  it's not like there aren't already a heap of avaialable resources if you put more than 1 second into looking for them.
Posted by beaneh

True... but most of those weren't written by me, so they're not very good.

Lambert180

Sorry, maybe I've misunderstood, are you basically saying what is the point of a better player giving advice to a weaker player to improve?

beaneh

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

Sorry, maybe I've misunderstood, are you basically saying what is the point of a better player giving advice to a weaker player to improve?
Posted by Lambert180

no i'm saying why should they? if there is no financial incentive.

if you and I play nl100 together every day, and I feel like you are really bad because 1 in 10 hands you open raise 99% of your stack and always fold. I could tell you this is a leak and to not do it, but it would cost me rather alot.

Anyone who truly wants to get better isn't just going to read one article on here and suddenly be good, it takes alot of work and will to improve. tis all im saying.

MattBates

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

winning when all in
Posted by beaneh

I seem to have a fair bit of experience doing this (regularly called one of the biggest luckboxes on the site....and thats to my face!). Everyone has their own methods but for me the key is to know your outs and then shout for these cards as loudly as possible.

DAIBOOT

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides : I seem to have a fair bit of experience doing this (regularly called one of the shortest luckboxes on the site....and thats to my face!). Everyone has their own methods but for me the key is to know your outs and then shout for these cards as loudly as possible.
Posted by MattBates

FYP

Dai

MattBates

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides : FYP Dai
Posted by DAIBOOT

Too good sir!

LARSON7

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides : "Winning when all in"............This is deffo an area I need help with lol. I think there should be a link from the "forum" to the "Poker School" I think a "Poker Strategy" section on the forum is a great idea - We have the "Poker Clinic" but that is essentially for advice on particular hands we may have been dealt so doesn't extend itself to other types of poker strategy. I have seen some very good Poker Strategy sections on other poker forums and I think the biggest problem we will face is consistancy - What I mean is....what some players opinions are as to the best way to play certain aspects of the game, may not be to others. I think firstly we need to come up with some strategy section "Topics" then decide who would be the most experienced & willing volunteers to write up an initial strategy for each of those sections. For instance....... POKER STRATEGY SECTION Topic - Sit & Go Strategies DYM's (Double Your Money) Sub Section - Early Levels - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section -  Mid Levels - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section -  Playing The Bubble  - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section - Playing a Shortstack - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section - Playing a Bigstack - Summary by - John Conner Heads-Up Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section -  Playing the Flop  - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - John Conner Heads-Up (Hypers) Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section -  Playing the Flop  - Summary by - John Conner Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - John Conner Topic - Cash Strategies Cash - 4NL - 10NL Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - Lambert180 Sub Section -  Position  - Summary by - Lambert180 Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - Lambert180 Sub Section -  Playing the Streets  - Summary by - Lambert180 Cash  - 20NL - 50NL Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - Beaneh Sub Section -  Position  - Summary by - Beaneh Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - Beaneh Sub Section -  Playing the Streets  - Summary by - Beaneh Cash  - 50NL + Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - Redmond Lee Sub Section -  Position  - Summary by - Redmond Lee Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - Redmond Lee Sub Section -  Playing the Streets  - Summary by - Redmond Lee Topic - MTT's (Multi-Table Tournaments) Bounty Hunters Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - Joe Bloggs Sub Section -  Position  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Sub Section -  Playing the Streets  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Regular Mtt's Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - Scotty77 Sub Section -  Position  - Summary by - Tony Kendall Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - Rich Orford Sub Section -  Playing the Streets  - Summary by - Jen Mason Speed Mtt's Sub Section -  Starting Hands  - Summary by - Joe Bloggs Sub Section -  Position  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Sub Section -  Bet Sizing  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Sub Section -  Playing the Streets  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Rebuys & Add Ons Sub Section -  Pros  Cons  - Summary by - Joe Bloggs Sub Section -  When Should I Use Them  - Summary by - Joe Blogs Each section can also have a players comments/replies sub sections etc - like I say not every strategy works for every kind of player or level so there also needs to be an open section.  There are Many Many other sections which will need to be added and this is just a small example, but there really is a lot of work to do if we are to get it right - So how do we decide who will write a strategy on each section/sub section? Do we want it to be very much a community based section (written for the players by the players) or information given to us from the pros & analysts at Sky Poker or a mix of both? etc Plenty to discuss to get this up and running, but i'm all for it.   
Posted by POKERTREV

lol i just spent 10 minutes trying to find these articles and was wondering why I couldnt find em!

Lambert180

Didn't want this to get forgotten

Get your votes in!

DoyleBrun

I would like to know how people seem to chip up early in Tournaments do they take more of a risk to get there stacks or are they doing something I am not, then when you have a big stack how do you use it as I don't seem to know what to do with it.

GREGHOGG

In Response to Re: Poker Strategy Guides:

I would like to know how people seem to chip up early in Tournaments do they take more of a risk to get there stacks or are they doing something I am not, then when you have a big stack how do you use it as I don't seem to know what to do with it.
Posted by DoyleBrun[/QUOTE

Good points these. I used to struggle with both of these too in mtts, but something clicked... 

Chipping up early can be done by seeing lots of flops with a wider range of hands against weaker players and capitalising on players who cannot fold 1 pair hands, when you have better. No real need to take huge risks/flips early- in fact if we are deep this is a bad thing to do. But in a turbo it is fine. 

As for what to do with a stack once you get it. This takes practice, but essentially it about knowing who you can bully and who you can't, based on relative stack sizes and their playing style. You need to know when to sit back and snooze and when to go into play nearly every hand mode! 

Hope this helps Mr Texas Dolly