poker tips Archives - Page 3 of 3

One of the world’s best poker players, Tom Dwan, met up with Paul recently to play a few hands and talk about the game.

It’s part of our “In Conversation” series where Paul chats to some of the best Texas Holdem players in the world. In this video, Tom and Paul discuss the art of “trapping” in poker.

One of the things you hear discussed most in the poker world is bluffing. When to do it, how often, with how many chips, which player does it the most? All sorts of questions commonly asked on this site by players starting out in poker. But what about its opposite counterpart, trapping? You never really hear it discussed much at all.
With bluffing, you are trying to convince your opponent that you have good cards when in fact you don’t. The means — making big or emphatic bets to give the impression you are confident in your hand. The end game – to scare them away from the hand so you can take the pot for yourself. Trapping an opponent in Texas Holdem poker is the opposite. Here, the aim is to persuade your opponent that they aren’t in fact very good, that you are only barely staying on in the hand more out of hope than expectation. The reality, though, is you have a hand that is very strong. So the aim is to get as many opponents to stay in the poker hand so you can win money from a player who has a habit of betting aggressively. There are lots of ways to do it. Perhaps you might come across as uncertain, or you play slowly and cautiously, perhaps you only play with small bets at the beginning of the hand. Paul Phua doesn’t always recommend this though because keeping lots of players in the hand can sometimes blow up in your face after the flop when your opponents’ bad hands can turn into good ones.

Here Tom Dwan and Paul Phua talk about whether Trapping is a good idea for amateurs or not.

The American poker mega star Tom Dwan met up with Paul Phua in a casino in the Philippines recently to play at a tournament in aid of a cancer charity in the country.

They managed to find some time though to have a chat for the Paul Phua poker website. Watch their conversation on “trapping” here, where Tom Dwan poses the question about whether beginners trap enough, or too much. But in the second video in our “In Conversation” series, Paul and Tom talk about the role of players’ nationalities in Texas Holdem poker. Can you make generalisations about an opponent’s style of poker play based on the country they come from, or on other factors like age and profession? Does a player from Germany for example play in one way, and a player from China navigate their way around the poker table in another? Do old players bluff more or less than young ones? Does a banker have a specific tell? Although generalisations are never the whole truth, even so, Paul and Tom thought, yes, they are often accurate! Watch the video – it’s a lot of fun.

In a game of Texas Holdem, how often will you be dealt a Royal Flush (10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace all in the same suit)

We’ve all done it. We’re in the casino, sitting at the poker table, and we have a reasonable hand but it’s just one card short of a great hand. And you keep putting in chips so you can stay in the hand, hoping that card WILL come along and you will have the winning hand, and that you will walk away from the casino with the pot. The trouble is, the odds of getting that perfect poker hand is often a lot lower than you might think.
Paul Phua says that to start with, you will have to play 30,940 poker hands before you get dealt a Royal Flush. But, there are few people who will ever play 30,490 poker hands in their life, so this mythical poker hand which beats all others will stay just that – a myth – for the vast majority of poker players. Even getting a start at that hand – being dealt Ace King suited – only happens one time in 331 hands of poker.
OK, so you’ve rolled back your ambitions for poker night. All that would make you happy is just to be dealt a pair of Aces. Not going to be that unusual huh? Hmm. You’ll have to wait for on average 221 hands to be dealt that little bundle of joy. In fact, in a casino you’re actually much more likely to get a start on a straight in your hole cards. You’ll only have to wait between five and six hands on average to be dealt connectors – two cards in any suit of consecutive rank.
Here’s a statistic to make your mind hurt. In a casino game of Texas Holdem with six players, there are more than a quadrillion different hand combinations dealt at the start of the poker game. That’s 15 zeros. It shows you how skilled those poker stars are that have a sixth sense of what cards their opponents are holding. And it’s always worth remembering that in Texas Holdem, the more players are at the poker table, the less likely you are to win, and the better the set of cards you have need to be in order for you to walk away from the casino with the pot. Unless you bluff successfully of course!

When you are in the casino at the beginning of a poker game, and you have lots of chips, the blinds are something you hardly notice. Towards the end of a poker night, especially if things aren’t going so well and your chip pile is lower than you’d like it to be, or the blind bets are increasing in size, then the blind can really eat into your stack.

Some poker games have antes – forced bets. But Texas Holdem doesn’t, meaning you can fold your cards without betting. Texas Holdem poker does have something called blinds though. They are another type of forced bet, but this time before you have been dealt your cards. Like antes, they exist so that there is a cost to playing, so the poker games don’t go on and on with players just waiting to be dealt a great hand. Paul Phua thinks that the blind keeps the momentum up, and ensures the game of poker finishes within a reasonable time frame – especially since the blinds often increase in value during a game of Texas Holdem to speed things up even further.

There are mainly two blinds in Texas Holdem – the big and small blind, but there can sometimes be three players who have to make them.

The name comes from the fact that players are being asked to bet without seeing their hands. They are betting blind, with no knowledge of the hand’s worth. So in the casino, whether you hold a 2 and a 3 unsuited, or a pair of aces – before you see your hand it’s all the same.
Paul Phua says the blind also marks potential poker strategy. Depending on your position around the poker table in a casino, or a social poker night where the dealer changes as the “button” moves from player to player, you will have to give certain blinds. Being in the small blind spot on a poker table is a disadvantage because you will be the first to act in every round after the flop. But Paul Phua’s poker tip is to remember never feel committed to a pot simply because you have paid your blind, especially in Texas Holdem, and not be afraid to enter a pot if you have a strong enough hand.

Yes, and I’ll tell you why.

For the first few years that I played poker, I often showed my set of cards at the end of the poker hand when I was bluffing (which wasn’t often).

I wanted to get the impression in people’s heads that I was a bit of a repeat bluffer. Maybe I would even throw in a few “tells” to sell the story!

This is a complete poker star strategy – make them think you are a repeat bluffer so that sometimes they would call, when, in reality, you have a good hand.

In another phase of my life in casino games, especially Texas Holdem, I then switched to doing the opposite.

For the last few years, I have begun bluffing a lot more in poker games to get more equity. However, other players around the poker table don’t know that. Because now I show my “real” hands, and not my fake ones at the end. This is to give the impression that I am a solid player, who doesn’t bluff so much.

Perception and reality!

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.