NL Holdem in a nutshell

ok so it's been a while since i posted anything long, so here goes...

Back about 3-4 months ago, i was regarded by my friends as one of the best online tournament players in NLH out of our crew, that's not to put any of them down, because either of them could put me in my place in their respected games, Eric in PLO, and Johhny in the old timers games of stud/razz...i played a great game, weather it was tight aggressive, loose aggressive, super tight, etc...i based all of that on how my opponents played the game. Anyways, i hit a standstill in my tournament game where i would make the money, but never finish very high to feed the hunger for a take-down of the tourney and a HUGE bankroll...like my 5.50 buy in to a 3500 guarantee last month, i get sucked out on ITM, and only take back 25 bucks, BIG WHOOP...i'd rather have taken that pot down and the tourney and won well over a cool thousand. Anyways, so i decided to switch my game to almost exclusively cash tables. I started out with 25$ complements of this AMAZING WEBSITE, NODEPOSITNEEDED.COM. I blogged for about a month and saved my chips, and cashed out 4k in chips for 25 bucks on Carbonpoker. And in about 2 weeks i slowly worked my way upto 50...then upto 80, now im back around 75...and i'm rambling...lol

the point i'm trying to get to is, NLH is my game, it's taken me years to play as well as i am on a regular basis right now, and i want to give some newer players some help with strategies and tips...so here goes.

1.Know your hand strength...a hand like J9 suited is NOT strong enough to call a decent sized raise with unless you have pot odds to hit your draw...obviously, my new rule in nlh is, if theres a raise in early position and 4-5 smooth calls, i'm calling with my 25suited in position to hit a monster/draw on the flop...im more comfortable playing a 25suited than a AT, because 25-suited is a hit or miss hand and alot easier to get away from.

2.Know your opponents...I can't stress this enough, watching everything that happens at your table is such a great advantage that you give yourself...here's why...watching two players in action, you see the flop Jc 8h 2h...the first player to act bets out the whole pot size...second player snap calls, turn 4h...first player to act checks, second player value bets...call, river 5c...first player to act checks, second player to act bets half the pot, call...caller shows AA, and the player who had position has a flush...to me, this is very valuable information because...

a. I know the second player likes his draws, and whats the point of betting pot with top pair or better if you know this person will call with a flush draw, why commit chips when you can value bet the whole way and take down the pot on the river or turn with a decent bet, OR you could bet pot with a pair and the nut flush draw hoping he hits his flush...

b.The first player who did have a monster preflop, will pay you off if you hit a made hand on him and hes got a decent piece of the flop...VERY VERY valuable information as i see it as money to add to your stack...

*please take this as just a broad example, this is in no way a hand history or anything of the essence, and we wont spend any time analyzing it.*

-Another part of number two "Know your opponents", know their tendencies, do they bluff alot, are they crafty, do they ram and jam a pot regardless of how strong their hand is, are they very tight, are they a good player that you want to avoid unless you have a strong hand?...these are all questions you need to ask yourself while playing any poker game...WATCH LIKE A HAWK what cards they are flipping over, you will begin to see a pattern, just be careful when you see someone changing gears...

3.Know the Board...another VERY important fundamental alot of beginners forget is that board compared to their aces...u bet out on a flop like 8 9 T, and that board hits a J, after 2 people call you, you can be damn well sure that your aces are cracked!

4.Play your role...if you've been cold decked for the last three times around the table, raising with aces isn't a great idea unless you wanna rake in the blinds...think about it...u haven't played a hand in so long and now you raise, only people with strong hands are going to call you, and thats not what you want, i like to limp with a hand like this after a dormant session, for three reasons...
a.it doesn't set off warning flags to your opponents
b.it sets up a great opportunity to reraise if the pot gets raised
c.showdown value...i cannot stress this enough in a cash game, showdown value is what its all about, people see u raise and you show down a big hand like qq, kk, or aa...they take your raises seriously, which sets up...

5.Bluffing properly...if you normally bet pot with top pair, and you feel your opponent is weak, dont value bet the flop, bet pot...if you normally value bet your good hands, don't bet pot, value bet when you want to bluff...it's simple, when bluffing, you should bet and play the hand exactly how you would play it when you actually have the goods, if they call you...they aren't paying attention and it will set up opportunities in the near future to take advantage of these players...

6.Table Image...i can not stress this aspect of poker enough, your table image is what defines you, not many people can see through it...unless you show them something different...one of my main goals if i'm playing a long cash session is to build a table image and play off it.

-E.G. im sitting there not playing alot of hands, finally i get 55 under the gun, im going to play my 55 like i have AA and min raise or raise it 2.5x the blinds and take advantage, and you can bet your bottom dollar if an ace flops, i'm coming out betting. or another example, i'f im hitting a rush and im playing alot looser than when i began, and i pick up AA, im gonna bet it like i have nothing and i'm trying to steal, it's a great way to trap people...don't get all wet in your pants if you just won three pots in a row, showing down some awful cards, and now you've picked up aces, get that dang money in there, and raise it even more...try to get someon to commit their whole stack with KK or less...its a great play.

7.Position doesn't mean EVERYTHING, but it means a whole heck of a lot in poker...if i have position on someone, i am more likely to play a little looser and possibly more aggressive if i smell weakness on them.

tip number 8 is the real deal, it is what has made me the player i am today and i can't really teach anyone how to do it, but it comes with experience and logging a crapload of hands...
8.THINK ONE STEP AHEAD OF YOUR OPPONENT...this last tip forces you to be a GREAT player, instead of worry about how you might get paid off if you hit your flush, think about what your going to bet if your flush does hit, BEFORE IT DOES...OR, think about a bunch of different cards that will come to provide an excellent opportunity to bluff at the pot if you miss your flush draw. calculating odds, crunching numbers and the poker FEEL is what its all about...ALWAYS KNOW YOUR NEXT MOVE BEFORE YOU DO IT...

anyways, it's getting late, im heading to bed and i hope the poker gods are good to me tomorrow, i'm finally moving up in limits after crushing .05/.10 the last two weeks, making the hop to .10/.25 and tryin to make some bill money...goodluck to everyone, i hope this helps, please feel free to add anything to this post you want, just dont analyze any hands, bc they are rough examples for show only, and i can go on and on for eons analyzing hands...i just dont wanna, lol goodnight everyone.

goodluck on the felt,
and may the four's be with you!
Mike Heydt

"dedication, it's when a player has stared down miles and miles of felt, and flipped over thousands of cards. dedication"
-FTP academy

One of the best online tournament players out of who? ?

my few friends from school who i play live poker with...jeez, so defensive eej
i posted this and it was up for about 45 seconds, and you instantly reply with the best out of who...do me a fav, dont read my posts anymore, i dont need your input, i spent the last 20 minutes of my time writing this, and u read it for 10 seconds and not even past the first paragraph and you got stuff to say...SAVE IT

Was just checking, Eric might have meant Lindgren, in which case i was gonna say "wow".

Question - If you are "one of the best online tourney players" why are you now playing cash games? The whole point of tourneys is to cash consistently with some large wins dotted about. Noone wins alot of huge tourneys consistently, its impossible. Ive won 4 in 3 years, and i suck at cash games, i can analyze hands but thats about it. I dont have the patience for it.

Just wondering why you didnt stick with it?

Been trying to find your usernames too but i cant

allinbaby68
allinbaby2k8
kingsnthahole
mdh08

Lol, what sites are they fr?