Local Poker Tour

Any top PokerStars player will tell you that knowing the fundamentals of poker is the most important part to learn if you want to progress. Usually the stronger your fundamentals are, the more success you have. Knowing what position to play is one of those fundamentals that you need to know if you want to progress any further.

Fixed Limit Holdem might seem similar to No Limit Texas Holdem at first sight; and you are probably not far wrong. However, the further you look into Fixed Limit Holdem the bigger the differences become. One of the things I will look at is Playing Position in Fixed Limit Holdem.

Compared to No Limit Holdem, players will usually play a much wider range of hands. For example, it is not unusual for a player in early position in Fixed Limit Holdem to open raise with J-10 suited, whereas players in No limit Holdem are less likely to limp in or raise with hands like J-10 suited in early position because in No Limit Holdem all this does is give a player in late position the opportunity to increase his raise to try and take the pot down there.

However, in Fixed Limit it is not possible for a player to put in a big raise to take the player off the hand, so a player in early position might just limp so that he restricts any further players from re-raising too much because the amount the player can re-raised is fixed. This also makes position on PokerStars.net important in Fixed Limit though. If you are in late position, you know exactly how much is in the pot, so you also have more information than the player who raised in early position. This is a big advantage as in life, and poker – information is power. By playing position in Fixed Limit Holdem, you can work out the value your hand has in comparison to the pot. It also means after every flop, turn and river you are acting after your opponent meaning you can get away from a pot cheaply or take control of the pot.

Position is key to making constant profit in Fixed Limit Holdem, because in Fixed Limit the pots are usually small to start and gradually, yet deliberately grow in size. The key to winning is to get the best possible value from your hands, as well as get away from your marginal hands cheaply. By doing this you will gradually see your profits increase. But as in most forms of poker, position is the key to success.

Kenny Rogers said it best, “You have to know when to hold em, know when to fold em” and he was not far off with that statement. Knowing when to fold is probably the most important aspect of your poker game and is often the difference between a profitable and unprofitable poker player. One of my favorite sayings is “I would rather make a bad fold, than a bad call”. This saying alone has helped me so much in tournaments. That is because I realized it is more important to win the war rather than the battle.

Folding is an art. In some instances, it is easy to know what hands to fold. 2-7 is a hand everyone knows to fold in any position. However, there are hands that are slightly harder to fold, such as suited connectors. Suited connectors are good cards early in a tournament, especially in late position – where you know you can see a flop cheaply. However, later in a tournament when blinds are much more expensive; you are better to fold suited connectors in most positions. Obviously, there are certain circumstances when you are playing on PokerStar where you might be getting the right odds to call or if it has been folded to you on the button. Nevertheless, as a rule, usually it is best to fold.

Another thing a lot of beginners make the mistake in doing is over-valuing their hand. For example, K-Q in early position is not a strong hand, as you are behind any Ace and dominated by A-K and A-Q. The same can be said about a weak Ace. When blinds increase later on in a tournament you have to remember its unlikely you will see cheap flops. So raising in early position with a weak Ace is usually a bad move, because if someone comes over the top you must fold. However, in late position where it has been folded to you, a weak Ace gains strength and can be worth a raise. However, if some one re-raises you still have to fold.

Strategy on which PokerStar.com cards to play changes for each blind level, as well as depending on which position you are in. To gain the best results you also have to look into how tight/loose your opponent is. How tight/loose your image is. As well as chip stacks and how many Big Blinds you have and how many your opponent has. If you stick to the general rule, you should have solid fundamentals, and then you can build from that. As I said before, I would rather make a bad fold, than make a bad call.

Any experienced poker player will tell you, it is easier to blow your bankroll than it is to increase it. It is imperative to have solid bankroll management skills. Even the very best players in the world can bust. In my experience I have found this strategy the best for cash table poker players when it comes to managing one’s bankroll.

Cash Players Bankroll Management

Being able to sustain through the bad streaks on even the best online poker sites is extremely important. Any experience cash table poker player will tell you, the swings in playing cash games are high. Players can go on monster losing streaks just as easy as they can go on winning streaks. To play when you hit your winning streaks, you need to be able to with stand the losing ones. This is where bankroll management comes  in. If you have solid bankroll management, you will have no problems when the losing streak comes.

Solid Bankroll Management Strategy

If you read some of the other bankroll strategy articles, they usually advise keeping 10 buy-ins. This would mean if you had $1k in your bankroll, taking $100 to the table. Although this strategy is not that bad it does have problems, cash players can easily go on a streak where they can lose several buy-ins quickly. Therefore, if you had a bad streak of losing five buy-ins in a row, your bankroll is now at $500, which means you are now forced to take half the money to the table. This also makes it harder to recover and get your bankroll back to where it was previously.

50 buy-ins bankroll strategy

Some players will disagree with this strategy, saying that you are being too reserved and limiting your profits. These players are usually good at poker but bust because of their poor bankroll management, believing they will never have that bad a run. The problem is most of them do. The 50 buy-ins bankroll strategy is simple. Always make sure you have 50 buy-ins. This way, if you have your bad run and lose five buy-ins, it barely affects your bankroll, and you can then go back to steadily increasing your bankroll with solid play.

The reason the 50 buy-ins bankroll management strategy works so well, is that a profitable poker player takes out any chance of going bust – as your bankroll is too deep to be impacted by a single bad session.

By sticking to this strategy, you take all chance out of playing meaning you can just focus on your poker, and not worry about how much you may lose.  I am of the opinion that the fifty buy-in bankroll strategy is far wiser of a bankroll management strategy than that of the ten buy-in guideline.