Tag: paul phua strategy

Here is a quick poker tip from me on a question I am often asked – how often you should fold, and how often should you stay on in the hand during a poker game?

Too many players play the same percentage of poker hands no matter what the situation of the game is.

That’s a mistake.

For example, if you are in the casino and you know you are playing against weaker players, you should play more hands, and fold less. That’s what I do. In terms of poker strategy, post flop is where skill comes in. Better poker players will always come out on top. So give yourself that chance. Against stronger players, be more conservative.

The number of players at the table on poker night is also important. For example, when there are 9 players, there are 9 sets of cards. It’s tough to have the winning hand in that situation. And you should be careful about spending too much money to see a flop when you might only have a small chance of winning the poker hand. A good hand in a 3 handed game is not the same as in a 9 handed game.

Amateur poker players don’t make this calculation often enough. Even between 4 and 6 players, there’s a lot of difference. Say a Texas Holdem game starts with just four players. But then after an hour another 2 sit down around the poker table and join in. Amateur players will often carry on playing the same way. They shouldn’t. The game has changed, and the difficulty of getting a winning poker hand has too.

Position around the poker table is important too of course. This is another poker tip to remember and to bear in mind.

Don’t keep playing the same percentage of hands every game. Assess the circumstances and the poker players in the casino first.

The Nuts Poker

In Texas Holdem if you have been dealt the Nuts, you shouldn’t be afraid!

It sounds very painful. But don’t worry. If you are holding the nuts in Texas Holdem, you should be celebrating not wincing. In poker games, a nut hand means that you have an unbeatable hand. And just as importantly one that you know to be unbeatable. This can refer to any point after the flop (it is impossible to know you have the best hand pre flop, as two players can have a pair of aces). So it can mean the best hand at a given moment in the round during a poker game, but also the best hand after the river has been dealt, so at its conclusion too.

Two examples.

The river has been dealt during a poker night, and the community cards are 5 of hearts, 3 of clubs, Ace of spades, Ace of hearts and 4 of diamonds. Any player who holds the other two aces cannot be beaten. However, you don’t have to hold both aces to know you can’t be beaten. If you only hold one of the aces, but also have one of the other 5s, you also know you can’t be beaten, because there is only one other Ace that could possibly be in circulation. You might be matched (with another player also having Ace 5), but you can’t be beaten. Two nuts, as it were.

Every poker player has their strengths and weaknesses.

Even myself; there are things in my poker game I would still like to improve on. But I’d say my biggest strength is my temperament during casino games. And that is never tested more than when you lose a big pot on poker night.
When that happens to me I say to myself, “OK Paul, this just happened, don’t worry too much about it”. I then switch as soon as I can to wanting to learn from the experience. I’ll ask myself if I played the hand badly. I’ll then ask someone else whose opinion I rate the same question – could I have done better? Or maybe I’ll just admit to myself, “you know what, you were just unlucky”.
It’s important to control your emotions in Texas Holdem, to stay calm. Because if you don’t it can affect your play and make you choose the wrong poker strategies. That’s my biggest strength over other players
I’ve seen lots of technically good players lose their cool in the casino. Many, many good players and poker stars can slip. These are players who were supposed to be able to beat me hands down on the poker table. But over the course of a 15 hour session, they maybe play well for 10 hours and they get unlucky in one hand, get angry, and so the next few hands they play badly and then lose all their chips.
It’s like being a goalkeeper at soccer. If you lose your cool, or your concentration for just a second, it can be a disaster if it happens at the wrong time. If the other players round the poker table aren’t as good as you, fine, sometimes you can get away with it. But if you are all at the same skill level, if you play one bad hand, then it’s very hard to recover. And your poker chips end up with in the hands of the other players.
Don’t lose your cool in poker games. It can cost you everything.