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POKER PLAYERS OF TODAY

Poker players of today has changed drastically over the past 10 years. All brought about by televised World Series of Poker, high limit poker games and all the new poker clubs on television. These games has brought tournament play to live games, mostly because this is what players see on television. Most new players would never have played poker if they had not watched it on television. An guess what, what they see on TV they bring to the table. These players see a pro playing 7/2 off-suit and winning a huge pot with 2 pair. You better believe I can do the same thing. What these players didn’t see was the 10 to 15 hours of poker play that was edited out for the TV program. So now this is the new players that are showing up in the poker rooms and casinos. These players [over 50%] really have no ideal of what poker really is.

In today’s games of No limit hold-em, its not unusual for a player with nothing, to go ALL-IN out of the blue. He knows if called, he can muck his cards on the river (never show) and say GOOD HAND. This hand was bet only to win the pot right now and everyone should fold and go on to the next hand. This has all been brought about by television poker play. Televised shows, show what sells and bluffs by big named players surely fits the bill. The internet players coming into the poker rooms and casinos today, had been playing tournament’s with thousand of players and for a small amount of money they could wind thousands of $$$$$. In order to get to the final table this takes many hours and being very lucky. A lot of ALL-IN hands lucky won. Now they bring this stupid tournament play into cash games. This type of play is going to last for a few years. I have seen more and more internet players loosing their aggression, as now more cash players are starting to play more tighter and with a quality hand it takes these players to the river. But, internet tournament re buys were cheap and now in live games the re buys cost a lot more . This cash game is not over, just because you just lost all of your bankroll. Not like on the internet, This is where a lot of these players go on TILT and loose a hell of a lot more. No I am not jumping on the internet players, just stating the facts and hope they come around and enjoy this wonderful game that we call POKER.

Why did I start with the above statement, well the longer you play this game you will soon notice, there is absolutely too much money in todays game called POKER!!!!! With out all this availability of money, Poker today would still be very small. But Television has gave the average player the hope that someday I will be playing on the big stage. “”Players””, never think or consider who and how many players are playing for the ONE BIG SPOT.

Television, as it does not fit into the pattern of MONEY availability. What you will see in the next coming seasons are ‘CASH’ games with $1,000,000. buy-ins televised on prime time. This is only going to raise the cost of your local poker games. You know, I guess that if you look at the number of chips in front of a player, (not knowing the cash value) then ever thing is equal. Stupid isn’t it.

Ten years ago people went to Vegas with $100/$200 in their pockets trying to make it big. Today its hard to sit at any table, no matter what the blinds, with that kind of money. Prior to televised POKER Tournament’s there was less than 100 players in the world series of poker, last year there was over 6000 players, it took 2 days to get every one thru day one. An a total of 7 days to get to the final table, which was held later in the year.

I can take a small amount of money into a 2/3 blinds game and at least have a chance to play mostly on equal grounds with the ALL-IN players. You just have to pick your battles and only play good quality hands. When a few players start playing only quality hands the whole table changes to good poker, this usually last until a couple of other players set down and here we go again.

Most, Probably all Card Rooms and Casinos have poker sharks that roam the tables looking for a table that is a easy going group. This person sit in and starts raising big, wins a couple of Hundred dollars real fast (1/2 blinds & 2/3 blinds) and then leaves table, looking for another easy run. These players only stay at a table 30/45 minutes at the most. Mostly hit and run type, be very careful if a new player immediately starts raising the pot. My suggestion, only stay in hand with a top quality hand, If this shark can’t get any takers real fast, then they leave as fast as the arrived, be attentive to all new comers to the table. Watch all betting patterns of new players.

The poker room that I now play in has a player that comes into a 2/3 [$100/300] game with $300. He usually doesn’t play the first few hands, and then he will raise pre flop to $30 and usually gets a couple of callers. Then on the flop he either raises or bets $60. If the other 2 players don’t have a exceptional hand they must fold, exactly what the player wanted. He just picked up almost $100 and only saw the flop. This player will not play every hand as he is smart. But he will only stay at the table about one hour the most. What I have started to do is ask to see all cards if it goes to the river hoping to expose his trash hand type of play and it works. Don’t get me wrong this guy is good for the table if you catch a few good hands you can usually make good money. Just be aware of these type of players and play with caution as they too sometime catch good hands.

Another type of players to be aware of is a couple or friends at the same table. A lot of these players have signals as to what type of hand they have, usually by the way they bet or how they make a raise. Generally these players will make a raise and then fold if their partner calls or re-raises. It is hard to prove their cheating ways, but best to change tables if it looks funny. Usually these players try to raise all players out of the hand after the flop. By winning a lot of these type of small pots, makes a large bankroll pretty fast. Again when a couple of very aggressive players comes to your table, be prepared to change tables right now.

In one poker room there were three players that always came in about the same time, They changed tables until they were all playing together. So now when another player raised the bet or just made a large bet one of the three would re-raise and then another would re-raise him and run all others out of the hand. Soon almost all players recognized these players and when the three got to same table everybody at the table would get up and leave until poker manager forced players back. The players would play one hand and do the same again and then when forced back everybody picked up chips and quite for a while. An no other players would join that game. True story I watched this happen. But could not prove cheating.

House players are another group of players not to play with. House players are players hired by casino/card room to keep games going and starting a new game. When a game becomes short handed and looks like it might break, then the casino sends in house players to keep it going. Problem with house players is they play thousands of hands each year [about 50,000] and many are with other house players, so a pattern of how they play is known to each other, this makes betting when they are in a hand is difficult. These players are not cheats, but understand each others ways. My thoughts of playing with a house player is go for it as long as it is just one, But if two or more then I just don’t play at ALL, I’M finished at this table. You will hardly ever see 2 house players going to the river against each other, unless they both have a jackpot hand working.

Today’s’ players are aggressive and like to play fast and steady. A strong pre-flop bet and a larger flop bet or raise usually identifies this aggressive player/players. I think these type of players are good for the table, as most are young and have a large amount of money to give up. Now it’s up to you to figure out how to aquire some of it. The best advise is to adjust your play even more into a QUALITY hand status. When you catch a quality hand, call or make a pre-flop bet, when the flop comes, your hand is now playable or it goes to the muck. If you had pocket 99s and flop is KQ9 you are in pretty good shape, but don’t get stupid and go crazy. First think about the pre-flop start, what hand do you put the aggressive player and 2 other players on. Someone could just as easily as you, also have flopped a set Ks or Qs. the odds are against it, but you must proceed with caution. If first to bet, I would bet the last bet again. If last and no one has made a large bet/raise, then I would bet/raise at least 1/2 the pot, just to see where I was. But the main thing to do is to figure out what each player is playing with, your hand is no good if you cannot put each player on some type of hand. This is where experience come in and and pots are won or lost.

You might think I am rambling on with info like the above, No, I believe that making a strong point out of the blue opens the mind and will be remembered longer. To continue, learning how to read your opponent’s hand is where money is made, this can only be accomplished by paying attention to ever hand. As the bet moves around the table, mentality put players on hands, regardless of whether you stay in the hand or not. When the hand is finished how close was you with your predictions. If you put seat 4 on pockets JJs and he/she had pocket TTs, QQs, 99s then you did good, seat 7 you thought had AJ because of odd raise, small and skeptical, and he/she actually had KJ, AT, QT or suited 78. Don’t get discouraged because 78 suited is about equal to KJ, QT it all depends on the FLOP. Continue this action ever hand and you will become a better player and be able to discard pocket QQs when you know they are beat because of the flop. SOLID POKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In todays’ poker rooms/casinos, most games are nine handed. As this seems to suit both the casino and the players. Most tournaments start ten handed.