Calling station is the worst type of player in the game. Calling station is sometimes called a “fish”. Calling station, as the name says, is an individual who always “calls”. He will call at the time of flop, and continue with the same until the river. Calling station, players will always be calling, and they will be participating in every situation, even though their presence is not required. You should watch for such a player, because he is the one you should target. You will become a “calling station” if you don’t fold a loosing hand.

Loose Aggressive Player is a person who plays more hands, just like calling station, but those hands are inclined to “raise”. You can easily identify a player as a loose aggressive player or a tight aggressive player. Playing, loose aggressive players can cost you more. You should be careful with them, because they will be raising bets more often. You can isolate them by re-raising their bet, provided you have a good hand. You should be able to make those players pay.

Rock is a super tight player who plays with premium cards. When these people rise, you will know exactly what they have. You will come to know that they have KK, AK, AA, etc. Generally, these players won’t be playing with many hands, but if they are doing so, then it means they have a good hand.
This are the most important ground for Texas Holdem!

Let’s take a look at what this looks like. You are playing Holdem. The game is $1 and a max bet of $2. Six players and you are the last better. No surprise, $6 in the pot. Your hand shows a ♣A-Q and the flop is a ♣K-♣Q-♣6. So you know you are sitting on a pair of ladies and an ace high flush is still possible. The next round of bets go $1. Two call and two fold. So do you raise, call or fold? If one player is sitting on a king your hand is in trouble. What do the unseen cards, outs, hold? The cards in the hands of the other players are cards you will not get. When you start to figure out what cards are out there you need to include the unseen cards. So the math is simple. How many cards can improve your hand? Two ladies could help, three aces could help, any club will do it. That is 2+3+9, the two queens, the three aces and the nine remaining clubs. So 14 outs can help you. There are 47 cards you have not seen or 14 out 47 cards can help you on the turn and 33 will not help you. So you are looking at 2.4 to 1. This comes from dividing 14 in to 33. The exact numbers are not important to know your next step. For the pot to be worth the risk there needs to be more than 2.4 times the amount you need to risk (the call). You need a reward of $2.40 or more to make it worth while. The risk is $1 and the pot has $9 in it. The odds are paying 9 to 1 which is significantly better than the 2.4 to 1 you you need so call. As you play the odds will start to come as second nature. You can practice by dealing some hands with no players and calculating the odds and then looking to see how it goes.

The World Series of Poker has four no limit hold’em contests and the number of people showing up to watch and participate has increased dramatically. This is no surprise to people who follow or play. For people who have not been following poker are surprised but should not be as poker has become far more reachable to everyone through television broadcasts and Internet access.

People love to watch the high end tourney play. Anyone who has played poker has had thoughts of playing in a major league tournament some day. Everyone has thought “I could do that and be good at it.”
You would think that with the shear number of no limit hold’em games that there would be plenty of opportunities for people to play at the side games, that is not the case.

Until recently, people have shyed away from no limit games being intimidated that it could get out of control or out of their reach quickly. People need to keep their fears in check. There is no reason not to take a shot at no limit games. There are plenty of self-help books, poker tools and websites. Author T.J. Cloutier has written one that hits the mark, No Limit & Pot Limit Hold’em. The book focuses on strategies for addressing the no limit games. The book has helped countless get over their fears of playing in a no limit tourney.

There are some things that have been bothering my mind for some time now. Hope you can help me out.

1. Say in a $3/5 limit game, small blind puts in $1 and big blind puts in $3. Then the next to act is the person to the left of the big blind. What do you think, does he need to bet or check? By the way, the person being talked about here is in the “under the gun” position.
2. How about if the person bets $3 and there are calls all the way around. Do you think the small blind has to call $3? Or else just have to call $2 for getting a credit for his $1 small blind ante? How about for the big blind? I guess it will be the same thing.

Thanks!

Michael James

Michael,

1. The blinds are forced bets and therefore each player at the table must at least call the $3 big blind in order to stay in the pot. The under the gun player’s only options are to call or raise. They cannot check.
2. The small blind only has to complete the big blind bet of $3. If the pot is not raised by the time action is back on the big blind, the big blind can either check or raise.

Well, right now, I’m wondering if not showing your cards when you know you lost is actually an act of mucking a hand.

Any idea?

Thanks!

Bill

Bill,

Anytime you fold your hand and do not show the hand, this is considered mucking. It doesn’t matter whether you fold because you know that you are beat, or if you are folding preflop.

I don’t know how blinds actually work in a head to head game. Can you explain it to me please?
How about the non-dealer, will it be just the small blind? Then the dealer the big blind?

Thank you!

Ross

Ross,

Heads up poker is a little different than normal poker games. The button is actually the small blind. Heads-up, the button is the first to act preflop. The rest of the hand, the button is last to act.

Thanks!

Antoine

Antoine,

If player 2 folds, they forfeit their rights to the main pot. A side pot is a continuation of the original hand. It is only considered a separate set of betting.

Your site has been a great help. Thanks!

I am a regular visitor of your site actually, but still, I have some questions in mind that up to now were not yet answered.

Can you explain to me the betting side of the game? What are the important things I need to know about it? It seems quite confusing to me.

Alexzander

Alexzander,

Before each hand, the two players to the left of the button put up forced bets known as blinds. The first player puts up a small blind, and the second player puts up a big blind. The small blind is half the size of the big blind. In a $1-$2 blind No Limit Holdem game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind $2.

The first player after the big blind is the under the gun position and has the option to either call, raise, or fold. If they raise, they must raise at least the size of the big blind. The same decision is faced by each person until the action returns around to the blind. If nobody has raised the pot, the small blind may either call the big blind, raise, or fold. If the small blind does not raise, the big blind then has the option to either raise or check.

When choosing to raise the pot, a standard raise is considered to be 3 and one half times the big blind. You do have the option of raising up to the total amount in your stack.

For an instance, in a no limit, anti game, player 1 has $10.00 and bets $5.00. Eventually, player 2 sees the $5.00. Same thing with player 3, sees the $5.00, but unlike player 2 he raises $30.00.

What do you think, will this situation force player 1 to fold? Or else will just cause him to go all in with the $5.00 remaining and a side pot created? Any idea?

Thanks!

Rohanne

Rohanne,

Player one will not be forced to fold. They can go all-in for the $5 and a side pot is created.

I’m wondering, in heads up play, does the big blind shift to the person without the button? In online events, I noticed that when it comes down to heads up, the dealer suddenly doesn’t post the big blind, but just the little or small blind instead.

I’m troubled and clueless.

Theodore

Theodore,

In heads-up poker, the button posts the small blind. Preflop, the button is the first to act. The button is then last to act on all streets.