There are basically four reasons or goals in making a donk bet. The two most recognized are to either entice opponents to fold their cards or to get them to make a call with a marginal or worse hand. But due to the small size of a donk bet, neither of these goals tends to be realized. The bet is usually too small to induce a fold and also does not garner maximum value. That leads us to the other two goals of donk betting, which are to encourage your aggressive opponent to raise your small bet when you’re holding a strong hand or to prevent your table rival from betting so much that he keeps you from calling and seeing the next card. The latter is often referred to as a blocking bet.

Let’s use an example to illustrate how to react to a donk bet. You are holding on the button and fire a pre-flop raise into the pot of 800 in chips with the blinds at 100/200. The only caller is the big blind and the pot now totals 1,700. A flop of : 2c hits the board and you are surprised to see the big blind make a donk bet of 400–less than 1/4 of the pot. At this point, you should be asking yourself, why did he make this donk bet? Does the big blind want you to fold, call or raise? If you can better understand his reasoning, you will be in better position to react properly.

Players will sometimes make a stab at the pot in such circumstances in hopes that you failed to connect on the flop and they can win the pot on the cheap. In such situations, a raise on your part can often get them to fold. However, other times the donk bet is made knowing that you will not believe that your opponent’s hand is strong and will come back with a raise. A donk bet that entices the aggressor to raise actually brings in more value than not making a donk bet and check-raising. So how can you be sure which of these goals the donk bet is aiming to accomplish?

Your skills at knowing the tendencies of your opponents as well as determining how your play is perceived by others will come into play. If your image is that of a loose player, the donk bet may be made in an effort to get a raise out of you. If your opponent has you pegged as a tight and solid player, it’s possible that he may have a hand. When deciding how to react to the donk bet, it helps to get inside the head of your opponent and evaluate exactly what he is trying to achieve with his donk bet. If you’re not sure whether your table rival is holding a strong or weak hand, raising will go a long way in answering that question.

If the donk bet is used as a blocking bet so the bettor can look at the next card with minimal chips risked or because he is holding a marginal hand that may possibly be a winner, you then must evaluate the strength of your hand. If you’re holding a possible draw or marginal hand, you can use the donk bet to your advantage by just calling and seeing how the hand materializes when the turn or river is revealed. If your hand happens to be strong, its advisable to not let the blocking bet accomplish the bettor’s goal of seeing the next card cheaply. You must raise and show the donk bettor that you’re serious.

Donk bets are made in an attempt to control or manipulate the hand and allow the bettor to set the tone. After careful evaluation of what your opponent is attempting to do, your reaction should be focused on foiling the ploy or attempt at manipulation. More times than not, your reaction should lean toward aggression and raising the donk bet. However, before doing so, determine whether that is what your table rival expects you to do so that he can come over the top with a re-raise. Donk bets can be combatted when you realize the mindset or thinking behind such a small bet out of position.

There are certain ways to combat such play and to maximize your effectiveness against those calling stations who seem to have deleted “fold” from their vocabulary and playing style. Your goal will often be to make them pay for the opportunity to outdraw you. When involved in a heads-up situation with a calling station where you are sure your hand is best but can be beaten depending on either the turn or river, the size of your bet should be large enough to give your opponent incorrect pot odds. He will invariably call you anyway as calling stations are known to do. But in so doing, he is making a statistical mistake. As log as you are able to achieve this mathematical consistency or edge of giving him incorrect pot odds to continue playing the hand, over the long run you will be profitable and successful despite the occasions that he will get lucky and outdraw you.

When confronted with calling stations, you will generally be the player who takes control of the hand, dictating the action and bet sizes. Calling stations will leave the wagering up to you, content to call bets and see how things may pan out without giving any thought to pot odds and the probability of winning. A calling station generally knows he has some sort of hand and will want to see if what he is holding is better than what you may be holding. This is a double-edged sword to you because your value bets while ahead in the hand can pay off quite handsomely versus a player who continues throwing money into the pot right along with your bet. But if he does happen to hit an out to win the hand when logic and incorrect pot odds would have forced a better player to muck his cards long ago, all your betting while having the best of it will go for naught. But remember that you actually want a calling station at your table who plays that badly because you will profit nicely over time.

Keep in mind that you should avoid bluff attempts against calling stations. They tend to call you down with any sort of pair–even low pair. That is fabulous in the majority of hands in which you will be playing them, as chances are good that if you are in the hand that you can beat a low pair. However, if you cannot beat it and try bluffing, your bankroll will suffer as a result. Bluffs will typically not work due to the tendency of calling stations to play the hand through. You can’t bluff a player who won’t fold.

After sitting down at a poker table and playing a few hands, it is usually quite simple to spot a calling station. They tend to be involved in too many hands and will play them through to showdown often without acting first and waiting for other players to bet and set the pace of the hand. Go ahead and take control if you have the hand to do so. If not, checking and getting a free card is the advisable play when heads-up versus a calling station because a bet on your part will not likely scare him away. Your play should be aggressive with good sized bets only if you have the best hand.

Don’t allow a calling station’s inability to fold frustrate you. Of course it’s annoying when they continue to call your bets and eventually catch a card to pull off a bad beat. But the majority of the time, you will be scooping pots after a calling station has happily donated money into the pot incorrectly playing a draw or some other bad hand that he can’t seem to muck. So take the occasional bad beat in stride and realize that over the course of time you will profit nicely from players who call and call without proper pot odds or any strategic method of attack in their arsenal. You want calling stations at your table. Remember to make value bets when ahead in the hand and don’t bluff or bet without a good hand. That is the correct way to deal with calling stations.

Tony G can be a bit of a maniac at the table.

You may be curious why anyone would play in such a fashion and disregard a basic tenet of poker, which is to play only the hands that have a good chance of winning. There may be deep-seated psychological reasons for such behavior, such as the need to control the action at the table and have all eyes focused on what he does next. Or the maniac may simply enjoy gambling and is fortunate to be blessed with enough cash to throw around. Without delving too deep into the psyche of such a player, its important to realize that the maniac’s style of play can be advantageous in certain situations, such as heads-up competition against an opponent who tends to play passively or even short-handed tables with reluctant bettors.

So let’s examine the best ways to combat the maniac at your table. First of all, it will be crucial to tighten up your game and play only the best starting hands. This is problematic if you happen to run into a string of bad cards. But its important to restrain yourself when you see all the chips and money flying around the table and the maniac sometimes taking down pots with garbage hands. Stick to a game plan of playing only premium hands because if you widen your range you are playing into the intent of the maniac, which is to get you in on the action with weak or marginal hands. The maniac would love nothing more than a wild game with many players competing for very huge pots.

Your position at the table is vital to being successful versus a maniac. You want very much to sit to his left and have the advantage of always acting after him. If you are seated to his right, you will find yourself at a huge disadvantage and frustrated at having the maniac constantly betting and raising right behind you. If its possible to change seats to get in a better position, do so.

Whether playing online or in live action, it often seems that other players seated at the table cannot stop themselves from commenting on the maniac’s playing style. The remarks made are overwhelmingly of a disparaging nature and this is detrimental to the game as the maniac may take his reckless and free-wheeling play elsewhere. Despite the maniac’s style and ability to influence the actions of the entire table, you don’t want him to leave. If you play correctly against a maniac, your profit potential can be enormous. Comments are best left unsaid. Its best to let the maniac think that he can completely dominate the game. Let him believe that he can manipulate and run all over you, quietly biding your time to counter his aggressiveness with proper strategies. A cardinal sin of poker is underestimating your opponent. If the maniac feels that he can control you, he is committing a fatal error in not being cognizant of your skills in fending off his reckless style.

The maniac tends to meet his demise when other players become more disciplined and play poker in a technically correct fashion. When facing only one or two other opponents in a hand due to most players catching on and shortening their range of playable hands, its very likely that at least one of those two players will have a better hand. So your best defense is usually a tight-aggressive playing style that cashes in on the maniac’s multitude of bets and raises. If you wait patiently for the best hand and are confronted by excessive betting and raising by the maniac, you should hold your ground instead of being intimidated into folding.

Most maniacs come out on the losing end over the long haul. Regardless of experience and talent, playing too many hands and tossing way too much money into pots with the worst hand in hopes of inducing a fold or catching a miracle card on the river is not a winning strategy over the test of time. When confronted with a maniac at your table, remember to play tight-aggressive, seat yourself to the left of the maniac if possible, induce bluffs by checking to the maniac and raise after he bets when you know you have the best of it, don’t attempt bluffs as they won’t work, and let the maniac think that he’s the greatest player on the planet.

Photo credit: andyarthur

Perhaps you’re wondering why someone would employ such a playing style that seems somewhat boring and only enters pots with the very best of hands. The nature of such weak-tight play tends to avoid huge losses due to not playing hands that have a slim chance of winning. The strategy can be successful if a rock happens to get action from other players on the hands he chooses to play. By minimizing his participation in weak hands, the rock does away with getting involved in hands in which he may not have the best of it.

There are a number of strategies to employ when facing a rock on the felt in order to maximize your profitability. The first would be to open up your range of starting hands somewhat that would include hands that may hit the flop in a big way such as suited connectors and small or mid-level pocket pairs. If you happen to flop trips versus a rock and make the proper sized bets, you can be paid off handsomely in some instances. Especially if your weak-tight opponent has an overpair to the community cards on the board.

Your range of playable hands should also be extended because aggressive betting on your part can often times push a rock off his hand and take down pots even though your hand may not be legitimate. As opposed to a tight-aggressive player, a tight-passive player has a tendency to look for reasons to fold instead of seeking ways in which to win. When the board shows a possible straight or flush or pairs up to allow for the chance of a full house, rocks often falsely believe that their opponent made their hand and hit the straight or flush. For this reason, your bluff attempts versus a rock should be quite liberal, taking advantage of his tendency to fold at the sight of danger on the board. You can always fold if your bluffs are met with a raise. But more times than not, you’ll be pushing a tight-passive player off of the pot unless his hand is very strong.

The ideal positioning at the table against a rock is to be seated to his immediate right. You want to be acting first not only to push him off pots that he has entered but may be reluctant to continue, but also to steal his blinds that he will tend to not defend. Should he choose to call your raise and defend his blind, you can always rely on outplaying him post-flop knowing that his range is extremely narrow.

Rocks can sometimes be frustrating to encounter as they may check and call all the way to fifth street with strong hands. This situation is difficult because they may not raise even with a premium hand–choosing instead to call–which doesn’t let you know the full strength of their hand. The calling station passivity is not the best way to maximize value. However, if your hand is weak and your intent is to push a rock off the pot by betting but a fold is not forthcoming, you must re-evaluate the situation and assume that your weak-tight rival may have you beat or he would have folded.

Weak-tight players only play the best starting hands and often won’t play them strongly, preferring instead to check and call than raise. A rock will rarely ever bluff and if he bets, you can generally be sure that his hand is a strong one. The ways to take advantage of a rock include widening your range of starting hands, bluffing even without legitimate hands as rocks tend to fold at the sign of danger, and try to seat yourself in front of the rock to act first and be aggressive. Remember to muck your cards if a rock won’t seem to fold and your hand is weak. Using these tactics, rocks are profitable to play against in the long run. However, count on winning small and frequent pots instead of a massive score. Being involved in a huge pot with a rock could spell trouble, because the weak-tight approach won’t allow them to enter such a pot without being sure of winning, so be forewarned.

Photo credit: Philip Taylor PT

To maximum your profits on winning hands, you have to get other players to toss money into the pot. If this does not happen, then you will fail to gain value on your hand. And how do you get your opponents to put money in the pot? By betting and raising, of course. A common mistake made by rookies is to not bet a strong hand, checking and calling in hopes of luring other players into thinking they may be ahead in the hand and setting those players up for a fall in later betting rounds. But what is actually occuring in such instances is that the novice player is missing chances to get more cash and chips into the pot to win. Slow-playing does have its place in the bag of tricks of a successful poker player. But it should be relegated to only the situations in which you are so far ahead and cannot be outdrawn and are sure that a bet will cause your opponent to fold. Otherwise, in the vast majority of situations, you should be betting for value when you have the best hand.

You don’t want to reduce the amount you can win by slow-playing and missing opportunities to bet. Your hand has value and the best way to maximize that value is by betting. Let’s look at an example. Say you are seated in late position and are dealt and call the pre-flop raise of a middle position player. The flop arrives as . A great flop for you as you now have trip 4′s. Your opponent makes a good-sized bet, roughly 3/4 of the pot. A tendency of beginners would be to call the bet and slowly reel in the middle position bettor. However, you have an awesome opportunity to raise and increase the amount wagered throughout the duration of the hand. If your opponent is holding an Ace, he likely would not fold and you’d be passing up an opportunity to increase the stakes. Being tricky in such situations by not raising is often counter-productive. Your hand has value now and you should capitalize on that.

Some players might be afraid to raise in this scenario in order to not scare the other player away. However, if your opponent won’t call a raise on the flop and folds, its likely that you wouldn’t be able to extract any money out of him on the turn and river anyway. This fact should be remembered whenever the thought occurs to you to slow-play and set a trap for your table rivals. There will be times that setting a trap is the correct play–particularly against overly aggressive players acting behind you who are counting on fold equity to win a bunch of pots. But many more times than not, you should get as much money into the pot as you can when you feel your opponent has a somewhat strong hand, as you probably won’t get more from him on fourth and fifth street if he does not have a decent hand. Don’t fear a fold by your opponent. You win large pots by betting and raising, so do it when your hand is valuable.

When attempting to maximize the value of your hands, realize that to get the most value, you need to bet and raise. Slow-playing a winning hand does not maximize the hand’s value. It tends to decrease the value you receive on a strong hand by missing opportunities to get more money into the pot and raising the stakes. Even if your bet or raise causes your opponent to fold, its not detrimental to winning as much as you can because your opponent more than likely would not have coughed up more cash on the turn and river if he was not willing to call your bet or raise on the flop. When you are presented with opportunities to get more cash or chips into the pot when you have a strong hand, take advantage of the opportunity and maximize the value of those winning hands.

You should never play poker with scared money. Photo credit: Capture Queen

Part of the reason that some players fall into the bad habit of playing scared is because one wrong move at no-limit Texas Hold’em could cause you to lose every dollar or chip in front of you. Nobody wants to get knocked out of a tournament or go broke at a cash table. Unfortunately, playing scared is not the solution and will cause players to make huge mistakes that end up losing more money over the long haul. The purpose of this article is to help you to identify players who are playing scared and take advantage of the situation in order to pile chip stacks or dollars in front of you. Scared money should be targeted and exploited at every possible opportunity.

You have probably seen players playing scared if you have spent any time at all playing poker, but let’s go over some of the tell-tale signs to look for. First of all, players who play much too tight are often scared to select starting hands that are not the absolute best. We all know that proper starting hand selection is key to success at the poker table. However, when you spot an opponent who constantly mucks his hole cards unless they happen to look like this or this , it may be an indication that he is scared to get involved in hands in which he is not a huge favorite pre-flop. Of course it’s good to play premium hands, but a player who waits for a big pocket pair and plays nothing else can be discovered easily and will tend to never get any action from other players when he does happen to get involved in a hand. Pre-flop raises will knock a scared player out of contention unless he has a hand that’s incredibly solid.

Another indicator of scared play is when players fail to protect their hand. This doesn’t necessarily mean players who give up their blind easily, although you should be stealing blinds from scared players because they will normally let you have their posted blinds unless their holding is of premium quality. Failing to protect a hand means that scared players won’t bet their good hands like top pair with a good kicker on the flop. They tend to play passively out of fear of losing and allow other players the opportunity to catch a draw and beat them. In a situation that calls for making a value bet to build the pot with the winning hand at that stage of the hand, a scared player will not bet or will offer a bet that is too small and affords other players the proper odds to continue. Betting for value is one of the necessary skills of profitable poker players. Not doing so is a huge mistake. The way to take advantage in this scenario is to go along with the lack of betting and take a free card if you are sure you’re behind and hope to outdraw the scared money. On the other hand, if you know a good-sized bet will cause your scared-playing opponent to fold, then that is also a consideration. Remember that fear of losing will keep scared players from entering pots in which they are unsure of winning. Exploit that in the situation that confronts you by either inducing the scared player to fold or continuing to draw cheaply to make your hand on the turn or river.

Scared players are afraid to call bets – especially big ones. Along with passivity in making proper sized bets when acting first, they also don’t want to risk money versus a player who shows aggression and may have a good hand. Since their thinking is on not losing as opposed to winning, the first thought that comes to mind when another player bets is that their hand is beat. For this reason, it pays to be very aggressive against scared players even if you may be holding a weak hand. Scared players are looking for reasons to fold instead of concentrating on ways to win. You will be more successful in the long run playing aggressively versus scared money regardless of the hand you are holding. If you should run up against a call or raise from a player scared to lose, you can rest assured that he will undoubtedly have a good hand. Which leads us to our final tip on identifying a player scared to lose.

Bluffing will normally not be in the game plan of a scared player. The fear of getting called and being exposed with an inferior hand will keep scared money from attempting such maneuvers. Bluffing is an integral part of poker. It may be a bit overrated and stone cold bluffs don’t happen as often as you think or in the way that movies or televised poker tournaments tend to glamorize them. However, the bluffing aspect of poker should not be overlooked and a scared player will tend to do just that. Players who don’t bluff or fail to do so enough become highly predictable and easy to read. Such is the case with a scared player, who tends to wait until his hand is a solid winner before risking throwing money into the pot. A player scared to lose won’t be bluffing and is highly susceptible to being bluffed out of many a pot. Remember this and make your bets accordingly.

Its plain to see that the fear of being beaten causes scared players to play poorly and make mistakes that will cause them to lose over the test of time. There are any number of ways in which the passive play of players scared to lose can be taken advantage of. The main way is through aggressive play of your own that will force scared players to fold. If they happen not to fold, then you can re-evaluate the situation with the likelihood that your hand may be beaten. A big part of poker is scaring or making players believe that you have a strong hand. Since players who play scared are the easiest to scare, their passivity should be exploited and capitalized on. Once you have identified a scared player at your table, do your best to continue scaring him right out of pots that he may otherwise have won if not for being afraid to lose.

Photo credit: larrykang

If holding a marginal hand or mediocre hand, it is usually incorrect to bet on the river. If you’re unsure of the strength of your hand at the showdown stage and make a bet anyway, your opponent has two choices. He can call or raise your bet with a better hand and beat you, or he can fold his inferior hand. Your bet actually accomplishes nothing and will cause you to lose money if your hand is not the winner. Also, your bet is keeping your opponent from trying to buy the pot with a bluff with a weaker hand. Therefore, when you’re uncertain where you stand with a marginal hand, checking or calling would be the most prudent play to make.

However, if you’re quite sure that you are holding the best hand, you would be well-advised to bet for value on the river with a large bet. Many players mistakenly believe that a small bet would be more profitable in this situation so as not to scare your opponent away. But a big bet – at or near the pot size – has been proven to be the best moneymaker over the long haul. Large bets will be called less often. That is undoubtedly true. But the instances in which your large bet is called will make up for the times that you miss a call by making a bet that can be categorized as being small. It may seem as though you win more by scooping more small river bets with your winning hand. In reality, though, it’s the big bets that make the big pots that translate into a larger bankroll in front of you. So don’t be shy about making a decent sized bet on the river when you know that your hand is a winner.

A huge mistake seen countless times on the river is when players try to take a stab at winning the pot by making a reckless bluff. This is often attempted by inexperienced players who miss their draw but don’t want to miss out on taking the pot. These wild bluffs seemingly come out of nowhere and are often out of place in regards to the progression of the hand up to the river card. A bet from a player who up to that point in the hand had been non-aggressive in checking and calling looks like a bluff and commonly has the result of fooling no one. So remember that before you try bluffing on the river or if you are confronted with a possible bluff from an opposing player. Examine the betting patterns in previous rounds. If a player betting on the river has been consistently betting throughout the hand, then his bet on the river should generally garner more respect than an out of the blue bet from a passive player on the flop and turn. Don’t bet on the river with an inferior hand just hoping for a fold from your opponent. That’s not a successful strategy.

It is not incorrect to check on the river when you’re unsure as to who has a stronger hand. The goal is to maximize profits while minimizing losses and that cannot be achieved if you are betting with a weak or losing hand and happen to get called. Checking is not a weak play in the right situations and sometimes playing the river with a marginal hand would be one of those situations. As is the case with the other betting rounds leading up to the river, the more knowledge you have about your opponents and what they might do in response to your play -whether you check or bet – the more successful you will be. So if you are quite certain that an opponent will call your bet on the river and you have a mediocre hand, then checking would be a better choice or option.

Playing the river is different than the flop or turn because no more cards will be revealed that can improve your hand. Keep in mind that betting on the river with an unsure hand is many times counter-productive because your opponent will fold with a worse hand and will call or raise you with a better one. If you’re reasonably sure that you have the best of it, make a large bet on the river to maximize your winnings over the long run. Don’t make wild and crazy bluff attempts that good players can easily pick up on. And remember that checking is not a weak or incorrect river play when your hand is marginal and its hard to determine where you stand in comparison to your table rival.

A good starting point would be to ask yourself a few questions about the turn card. What are your opponent’s thoughts regarding the turn? Did the turn card help him based on his betting both pre and post-flop? Will he think that the turn helped your hand? For which player is the turn card scarier? Contemplating these questions prior to making a decision can go a long way in successful turn card playing strategy. The best players are able to get in the heads of their opponents and have some idea of the manner in which they may be thinking.

Let’s look at some tips to follow in turn card strategy. If you are first to act and are confident that your hand is best, you should be betting. Your goal is to increase the pot and give your table rival bad odds if he is playing to a draw. Your bet should be large enough to accomplish this. If you’re acting first and believe that your hand is a loser, you should be checking and folding to a bet made by your opponent. If you happened to make a continuation bet following the flop and think you have the losing hand, it will be tempting to bet the turn as well, hoping to entice your opponent to fold. However, unless you know the tendencies of your opponent very well and are extremely confident that such a maneuver will be successful, checking is much more advisable.

If you’re first to act and have draw possibilities and already bet first on the flop, then betting again is the best option more times than not. But you should do so with an eye toward believing that your opponent may fold to your bet or, if he calls, that you can get more money from him on the river when your flush materializes. If you have a drawing hand and are first to act but weren’t the first bettor on the flop, betting on the turn generally looks a bit suspicious. The correct move in such a scenario is to check and call the bet of your opponent if pot odds are favorable to do so. If you’re first to act and are unsure where you stand in the hand after the turn is revealed, a check is normally the way to go. It is dangerous to be betting in such a circumstance and seeing the river for free would be best, if possible. Getting involved in pots that you are not sure of winning is a losing proposition over the long haul.

Let’s look now at the best plays to make on the turn if you are last to act. If you’re confident that you are holding the winner, its pretty straightforward. You should bet if the other player checks, and if he bets, you should be raising. Your aim is to bet for value with the winning hand and make your opponent pay if he is playing to a draw. If he calls your bet or raise and doesn’t catch his winning card on the river, you will not get any more money from him on fifth street. So its better to make him pay on the turn. If you’re acting last and know your hand is a loser, the best advice is to play passively. If your opponent bets, muck your cards. If he checks, seeing a free card would not be the worst scenario. If you know your opponent well and have a table image as being solid–betting only with premium cards–then you could occasionally pull off a bluff here if you are confident that your table rival will fold. But if there is a strong chance that he will call your bet, then you don’t want to build the pot for him by betting with a losing hand.

If you’re last to act and have drawing options, your poker skills will be put to the test. Generally, if you did not bet the flop, its probably best to check the turn more times than not. However, knowledge of the playing styles of your opponents will be a factor because a bet with a strong drawing hand could win the pot right here without going to the river. But if you did bet after the flop, a bet after the turn is advisable. Give your opponent the opportunity to fold if you’ve shown all along that your hand is strong. If you’re unsure about the hand with draw possibilities, checking and receiving a free card is not a bad play–especially if your opponent likes to play to showdown.

As always, there are a multitude of factors that go into making decisions at the poker table, and playing the turn card is no exception. A basic rule of thumb is to play aggressively when you feel you have the winning hand, evaluate pot odds on possible draws and continue playing if the odds are in your favor, and dump the bad hands that you feel will come up short. Bluffs or semi-bluffs should only be attempted when you are familiar with your opponent and are reasonably certain that you can anticipate what he will do (fold) when you bluff. Following the flip of the turn card, evaluate the situation carefully and follow the above guidelines to increase your chances of success at the poker table.

One of the key elements of successful no-limit Texas Hold’em players is to think ahead what might be done or accomplished on the turn and the river. That will naturally be dependent on the cards that are to follow, but its wise to be thinking ahead to plays that may be made in future betting rounds. Its not advisable to make certain plays on the flop assuming all will be good when fourth and fifth street are flipped over. Successful flop strategy includes thinking beyond the flop.

Upon reviewing the flop, it helps to classify your hand strength as being either weak, mediocre or strong. A weak hand would contain no pairs and limited or no drawing possibilities. Your play in such a scenario is rather simple. You typically won’t be betting, raising or calling the bets of other players. You will most likely be folding unless there are no bets and you can see the turn card at no cost. Holding a weak hand that falls short of having potential is really not a hand in which you should continue tossing money into the pot. Letting the bad hands go and minimizing losses is equally as important as maximizing profits.

For instance, say you are dealt a somewhat strong, yet unmade, hand pre-flop such as or . A flop of would be no help as you have no pairs or straight and flush options. You may have the strongest hand if other players in the hand are without a pocket pair or are not holding a 7 or 10, but you would seriously have to evaluate the merits of continuing in a hand that has limited drawing possibilities. You have six outs to catch one of your overcards to hopefully make top pair, but if your opponents are betting and raising on this flop, a decision to continue and not catch one of your outs could end up costing a bundle. When the flop doesn’t materialize as you had hoped, your skills at evaluating the situation to include what your opponents may be holding is crucial. Sometimes you have to toss hands that looked promising pre-flop and save your money for the instances where the flop actually improved your hand.

In categorizing mediocre hands, its sometimes helpful to distinguish between low end and high end mediocrity. A low mediocre or marginal hand on the flop would consist of a mid-level pair, low straight or flush draws, and a top pair with a weak kicker such as . These are the most difficult hands to play. In a sense, they are worse than bad hands because you generally know where you stand with weak hands and its easier to muck them. Mediocre hands are urging you to play on with their winning possibilities, but the money you toss into the pot won’t be for value because you are quite possibly behind in the hand and dependent upon favorable draws to scoop the pot. Exercise extreme caution with marginal hands on the low end of the spectrum. Its nice that the flop hit you in some fashion, but its advisable to tend to play these hands as being weak. Don’t get tied or married to your hand. Seeing the turn card on the cheap is recommended. Don’t be afraid to fold if the betting patterns of your table rivals indicate that you may be way behind.

The high end of marginal hands would be top pair with a good kicker such as , high flush or straight possibilities, and a low two pair. Once the flop hits and you fall into this category, your thinking should immediately be to consider such factors as your position on the table, how your opponents may have been helped by the flop, and what the stack sizes are around the table. If you have eight outs for a possible high straight or nine outs for a flush and players have bet before you, its vital to calculate your pot odds when deciding whether to continue playing the hand. Position is critical in high end marginal hands. If you have a favorable late position and strong drawing possibilities, semi-bluffs are often times effective if the action in front of you is passive. Keep in mind, however, that you’re still in mediocre hand territory. Many players out of position tend to play high end mediocrity as strong hands, which can be a bankroll buster against sharp players.

A strong flopped hand would be top two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, or full house. Granted, the latter three don’t happen too frequently on the flop and often require the turn and river cards to be revealed. But hitting a big flop can be great fun and extremely profitable. Many players tend to feel that they don’t need advice in playing such hands. Just remember that big pots are not accumulated by checking and calling and trying to be tricky. Your job is to extract as much money as possible from your opponents. There will be times when slow-playing a strong flopped hand is the correct play–such as against only one other opponent in the hand who has position on you and is known to never let a round go by without betting. But for the most part, you have bean dealt a strong hand and should be betting and raising and getting the most value from your excellent hand. Don’t be worried that you might scare your opponents away by betting. Generally speaking, if your table rivals are not willing to put money into the pot on the flop, then they will also be reluctant to do so on fourth and fifth street. Don’t go overboard with your bets, but play solid poker with a good-sized bet.

Playing the flop correctly is vital to being a winning poker player. Remember to evaluate the situation and to categorize your hand once the flop is revealed. If your decision is to continue playing the hand, think ahead to how you may also play the turn and river cards as they arrive. Don’t be afraid to toss the weak and mediocre hands that tend to drain your bankroll. Your ultimate goal is to be involved in hands that give you the best chance of winning. Look for favorable position with high end mediocre hands. Bet your strong hands for value and get your opponents’ money into the pot when you have the best of it. Keep these tips in mind when playing the flop to improve your success at the poker table.

You want to be the hunter, the shark at the table, focussing your attention on the fish around, not the other sharks. Photo credit: Trodel

Players don’t wear signs that indicate their fishy playing styles, but are easily labeled due to their horrendous play on the felt. Playing a much too wide range of starting hands, chasing pots with less than favorable odds all the way until showdown, and incorrectly betting and raising are mistakes often seen from poker players who are not very good. The minute you spot such losing behavior, it is highly advisable to take note of the poor play and brand that player with the tag of fish. Most online sites provide software that allows you to make notes of individual players as well as to create a buddy list. Your buddy list should become a roster of fishy players because anyone who will be a regular contributor to your bankroll is indeed a friend or buddy.

Once you have populated such lists on your favorite online poker sites, it is in your best interest to search for the fish when logging on. Doing so will enable you to take advantage of fishy players in cash games to the fullest extent possible. Join the table and play against your fish buddies whenever possible. Also, when a player with inferior skills is losing on a particular table, it is not uncommon for him to switch tables and try his fishy tactics there. There is no law that says you can’t follow him to his new table choice provided that seats are open. If no vacant seating exists, put your name on the table waiting list and sit down there when an opening becomes available. Your goal should definitely be to play against terrible players whenever possible.

After finding tables with fishy players, there are several basic strategies to concentrate on while playing. Inferior players tend to make mistakes and your job is to exploit their foibles and separate them from their bankroll, placing their chips or dollars into your stack. The main mistake that poorly-skilled players are guilty of is playing too many hands. Most have failed to grasp the idea that winning typically entails holding a quality starting hand. Their play is very loose and the most effective way to combat loose play is to play tightly, entering pots with only premium hands. A good fraction of skilled players actually cringe when competing against bad players due to the fact that bluffs and outplaying maneuvers are rendered ineffective because fishy players seldom fold and are looking to catch a card on the turn or river to make their hand. They are known to pull off a few bad beats now and then when logical poker sense should have told them to fold long ago. Bad beats will occur against bad players from time to time. However, over an extended period of time, you will profit handsomely versus fish when relying on a tight game plan and getting your money into the pot with premium hands while the fish refuse to fold and continue to chase with slim odds of winning.

Another common mistake of fishy players is to think that their playing ability is superior to that of other players at the table. Typically, they have seen some poker pros outplay and bluff other players on TV and feel that it would pose no problem in making the same plays themselves. Often, the fish will possess inflated egos and superiority complexes which causes them to overestimate their ability, making them believe that they will be invincible on the poker table. As such, they may attempt to bully their opponents and try to buy or bluff their way to winning every pot. When confronted with such an egotistical fish, several well-timed check-raises and a few instances of slow-playing the nuts in order to re-raise when he tries to buy the pot can do wonders for your bankroll. When you’re absolutely certain that you have the winning hand, letting a bullying fish think he is dominating the hand can pay off in a big way.

If you’re seated at a table with a mix of fish and some skillful players, its imperative to eliminate the better players from the hand and isolate the action to be between you and a fishy player. Your goal is to be in a heads-up scenario while holding the best hand against a player who doesn’t like to fold his cards. This isolation will lessen your risk by knocking out players with knowledge of poker strategies and put you in prime position to exploit a losing player.

Keep in mind that fish will occasionally beat you. They may chase a hand with extremely low odds of winning but will happen to get lucky and catch a card on fourth or fifth street that gives them the winning hand. Luck is a part of poker and its vital that you not allow a bad beat to get the better of you and put you on tilt. Your mindset should be on results over the  long term and not just on one individual hand. Don’t get angry at possibly losing a hand or two to a fish with obviously terrible poker skills. Accept the bad beats now and then and thank your lucky stars that you are fortunate enough to be playing against bad players who know nothing about pot odds or playing quality starting hands. Remember that your bankroll will increase over the long run when facing such players.

The strategy of a typical fish is not a winning one. It invariably consists of seeing way too many flops, playing hands through to showdown with unfavorable odds of winning, and making incorrect bets in so doing. The most profitable way to take advantage of such fishy play is to find where the fish are seated and join the action. Once you know you are in the midst of inferior players, playing tight and solid poker is highly recommended. The greatest profits at a poker table are achieved versus bad players. You can exploit those bad players by finding them and using your poker knowledge and skills to profit against their weakneses.