Team BAR official No Limit Holdem strategies

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Moderator: mt2
Read about no limit holdem strategies from team BAR members and how to improve your game.

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I understand some people are having trouble getting started, and I too once struggled with even these games. Here are a few huge mistakes and small pointers that i think might give some of you guys an extra edge.

A Few Common Mistakes:

1. Not value betting the river. this i bad, especially when in position against an opponent who is very unlikely to be drawing. this (VERY) often happens on J and T high boards where it's almost given that someone has hit with KT or AJ and the other guy hit his connector. Players always seem to dog this; remember that river value bets are the best money in holdem, because the loser is always drawing dead. Don't leave this money on the table.

2. Not allowing a probable drawer to bluff the river. very often when the flop comes Ace etc. people will call to the river to try and spike their flush. sometimes they have as little as $5 left by the river and only a busted draw to show for it. most players holding a strong ace at 25NL will shove it in and inevitably fold out the drawer; if you're out of position check it to him and let him try a desperation bluff; you want him to pay his whole stack for his draw, not just most of it.

3. Not river bluffing when it's hopeless and you've been betting. say you've been betting a flush and gutshot draw and its the river with 30 bucks in the pot and the probable drawer checks to you. almost all 25NL players check behind here and i can't say how many times two draws were shown down in these types of pots. the bluff doesnt and shouldnt be big, you just want them to lay down a higher nopair than you have. remember that this only has to work a small amount of time if you're betting 1/3 pot, and the times I try it i'd guess it works about 50% of the time, so take that EV.

4. Raising when you're either waaay ahead or waaay behind. In a hand I had AQs on button and bumped it. 3 callers. flop came A73 rainbow and someone led into me. either i'm crushed or i'm killing them, and i probably won't be able to get away from this given the 25NL players and the short stacks, so instead of raising when bet into, i just call. this looks weak and induces further bluffs. make your decision right there how to play it and go with your read, if you call there you call down the rest of the hand, even if a 7 or 2 peels off. if you're MAKING them bluff then you MUST call. in the hand the run came an ace and the guy bet again, i called. river blanked and he pushed, i called and he showed KQo. If i'd have raised the flop i'd have made a little. by taking a small risk, i made a lot. note this does not apply to draw heavy boards, so raise those likely semibluffs, but not the pure bluffs.

5. slowplaying the wrong kinds of hands. people ALWAYS slowplayed sets. one hand a guy had JJ on a J98 flop and pushed in on the river with a board of 389JQ. slowplaying should depend not on the strength of hand but on the likelyhood of it being outdrawn. one hand an habitual lag be into my A7s on a board of A33r in an unraised pot. i'f i'm ahead, he has few outs, if im behind he'll probably get paid as he was such a terrible lag. I called and put a blocker out on the turn and river and took a nice pot against his 88.

6. open limping in agressive games. there's a reason it pays to bet in poker; namely because the other guy might fold and you win without having to make a hand. if you're holding a hand that doesnt want a raise, either raise it yourself or fold it. getting in the habit of limp/fold with many hands is suicide, espcially with a positonal lag on the table, and there will be many as you move up.

7. overall, draws were played horribly by all. remember, headup, draws are not +EV if you check/call. the bets are too big to give good pot odds and the stacks too short to give enough implied odds. if you have a great draw, like a straight/gutshot+lush draw, get super aggro. make him lay down or take a coinflip. if you have a good draw, like a flush draw with a possibly clean overcard, either play it passively multiway or aggro headup. if you flop a crap draw, like a low flush draw on a high paired board, FOLD. you DON'T need to play every draw you flop.

8. adjust your starters by stack depth. if you and two other guys at the table have 150BB's (as was very common in this game) you can play 64o from LP. if you have 20BB's, you can play KTo, but stay away from that hand when deep unless you're playing it just for broadway straight value. look at what you can win and make hands that can win that sized pots: <40BB's make TPTK, megadraws (like AKs on a twoflush board) and overpairs; 40<x<100 go for two pair, sets and straights; after that go for anything he can't see.

Good luck out there guys. remember to think about what you WANT to happen and bet your money such that it does. use your stack to control the other guy and eventually break him. even at these levels, players can be coached to think what you want them to; so do it.

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Initial thought -
Socrates once wrote, I think therefore I am. The same can't be said for the poker players that you'll face at this level. You will have the leg up simply because you will be thinking, and they will not. I'll explain. Poker players at this level are just gambling, playing a game. They're here for enjoyment to blow some money. They act upon instinct. Call, fold or raise are decided on a spontaneous whim. They have favorite hands, they follow their folded cards to every flop and the have a ball of a time doing it. Correct poker is different. It's thinking instead of acting, it's focusing on the means, and completely disregarding the ends. I've had sessions where I've lost $100 and felt great about only losing that much about myself and sessions where I've won $300 and felt awful because my cards were so good I should've won $500. To me, the thinking player, it's not whether or not I win or lose, or how much for that matter, but it's how I played the game. Think about that the next time you play and focus on playing each hand as well as you can. Don't be affected by whether or not you won the hand playing that way. If you played it your best and correctly, that's all you can ask for. You will constantly be changing your play, but you will never, ever do this because of the results of a previous hand. As I close, I want you to think about and explain why this statement is true.

Bad beats are good.

Alright, onto preflop play. I'm assuming you're playing 6 person tables, which is what I know how to play, and these tables are much more profitable than the ten person tables. If you're not playing the 6 person tables, you should be.
Open preflop play is going to be pretty automatic and mechanical. When I say open I mean that everyone has folded to you, or you are first to act. There are three options for each hand, raise (r), call (c), and fold (f). I will break this down into two positions, early and late position, early position will be the first two spots to the right of the big blind, and late will be the next two seats after that. Ok, here are your open pf standards.

Early position -

These cards you will play this way suited or unsuited

AA,KK,QQ,JJ,1010 - R
99,88,77,66,55,44,33,22 - C
AK,AQ,AJ - R
KQ - R

Play these cards only if they are suited

A10 - R
A2,A3,A4,A5,A6,A7,A8,A9 - C
QJ,10J,109 - C


Late position

These cards you will play this way suited or unsuited

AA,KK,QQ,JJ,1010,99,88,77,66,55,44,33,22 - R
AK,AQ,AJ,A10 - R
KQ,JQ - R


Play these cards only if they are suited

A2,A3,A4,A5,A6,A7,A8,A9 - R
10J,109,98,10Q,KJ,K10 - R

FOLD EVERYTHING ELSE.

Size of Raise - The size of the open raise should be 4xBB's. This is standard and should be used in 99% of situations.
When raising after others have entered the pot, you should use the guidelines of 5xBB + 1BB per limper, or person who has just called before the flop. For making re-raises, these should be pot-sized. To calculate how much a pot-size-raise is, you need to determine the size of the pot when you just call his bet, and add that amount onto the call. Example: Opponent 1 raises to 2, Opponent 2 calls, You make pot size raise. The pot size raise is (.75 (blinds) + 4 (raise + call) + 2 (your call) = 6.75. So add that to your call (2) and that comes to 8.75.

A little special advice for the few times that it's folded to you when you are in the small blind. Play this situation as the exact same as you would in late position except if you have QQ,KK,AA and AK. If you are dealt one of those hands you should simply call the small blind. If the big blind raises, you go all in.

Ok, so that's how you play open preflop poker at this level. It's going to be a lot of folding, but you need to play tight at these tables, because no one ever folds. The situation is a little different if someone has acted in front of you. This does take a little bit of judgement on your part. You need to decide whether or not this player is tight. If they are, you need to respect their raises. Be careful if someone raises from first position, as this is usually a good hand. You also need to be aware of stack sizes at this point and follow the 5-10 rule. What is the 5-10 rule? Glad you asked. The 5-10 rule means that you should call a raise with a speculative hand (suited aces and small pairs) if you're investing less than 5% of your stack (or his, whoever's is the smallest), and should fold if you're investing more than 10%. If it's somewhere inbetween you need to use your best judgement. Here's your standards.

A tight player has raised in front of you -

pairs below tens or suited aces, JQ suited, J10 suited, KQ suited, - Follow the 5-10 rule

AA,KK,QQ,JJ - Re-raise
1010 - Call
AK,AQ,AJ - Call

A loose player has raised in front of you

pairs below eights or suited aces, JQ suited, J10 suited, - Follow the 5-10 rule

AA,KK,QQ,JJ,1010,99,88 - Reraise
AK,AQ,AJ -Reraise
KQ - Reraise

A little special advice with AA or KK - Alot of people have trouble folding AA or KK after the flop, especially beginners. The truth is, you will sometimes get outdrawn. The key is to not put money in after you've been outdrawn. If you raise two dollars with AA and got called by a tight player holding 22 and the 22 made trips and won all your money, it's not a bad beat, you got outplayed. Here's how we're going to avoid this. If there is a raise and a reraise before it gets to you, simply go all in. You'll get called enough to make this worhtwhile. The thing with this play is if it happens four times and you get called once, then it's pretty close to playing perfectly, and you won't ever make the mistake of putting money in when you're beat on the flop. If there is only a raise before the flop and you have AA or KK I want you to raise to 1/3 of your stack (or your opponents, whichever is smallest). So if you have 30 and someone with more money raises it 2 to you, raise it to 10. Then whatever the flop comes, go all in. The pot at this point will be the size of your stack. Be careful doing this play with KK when an ace flops, you may fold if a tight player goes all in, or if there are several players in the pot.

Real quick before I close, I'd like to talk about the overbet. The overbet is such a big moneymaker in small stakes nl hold em. You should never feel that bad about putting in a big bet (probably all in) with a good hand. Players will make the mistake at this level of calling too much. Don't focus on 'milking hands' for the most part. Play your hands strongly and don't be afraid to throw it all in if you feel like your hand is best and you feel confident you'll get called. Play this way, and watch the money pour in.

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6 Max Starting Hand requirements.


UTG = Come in for a raise with: AA-22, AJo+, KQo+, 56s+.

UTG+1 = Come in for a raise with: 22+, AJo+, KQo+, 56s+
Call a raise with: JJ+, AQo+,

CO = Come in for a raise with 22+, AJo+, KQo+, 56s+, 75s+ (single gap suited)
= Call a raise with JJ+, AQo+, 56s – TJs

BT = Come in for a raise with 22+, AJo+, KQo+, 56s+, 75s+ (single gap suited)
= Call an EP raise with JJ+, AQo+, 56s – TJs
= Call a CO raise with 22+, AJo+, KQo+, 56s+, 75s+ (single gap suited)

Blinds = Call an EP raise with JJ+, AQo+, 56s – TJs
= Call a CO raise with 22+, AJo+, KQo+, 56s+, 75s+ (single gap suited)

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1. Playing more hands from LP.
2. Raising more hands from LP.

The concept is called "positional awareness," and it's a fundamental building-block of good poker strategy. My general rule-of-thumb on positional play is that if I look at my VPIP from each position, it should be decreasing as I move farther from the button (blinds are a whole separate category -- ignore them for now). I'd love to see my "VPIP from Button" at double my "VPIP from UTG" in a full-ring game, but if your Button VPIP isn't at LEAST 50% larger than your UTG VPIP, you're not playing a sufficiently positionally aware game.

My preflop aggression rule-of-thumb is that I want my PFR% to be at least half of my VPIP. If I'm not raising it up with at LEAST half the hands I pay to see, I'm either too passive or too loose preflop.

So; how can we implement this "positionally aware" strategy? Here are some suggestions:

1. From EP, play tighter-than-tight. I play any pocket pair, AK, AQ, maybe AJ and KQ (depending on the table and my image); that's it. I'm raising with AA-TT and AK, AQ, AJ, and KQ (if I play them). Sometimes I'll raise 99 and 88 as well.
2. From MP, I don't open-limp. If the hand is good enough to play, it's good enough to raise as the first player in. I'll add suited connectors down to T9s into my lineup, and unsuited QJ or JT. I'll also consider open-raising any two if my table image is tight and the players behind me are tight preflop and/or horrible (or even just weak-tight) postflop.
3. From LP, if it's folded to me, I'm open-raising with any pair, any ace, any king, any two honors, any suited connectors down to 54s, any unsuited connectors down to 87o. I make steal attempts a bit over 1/3 of the time, and it's wildly profitable. I also follow up ANY steal attempt with a continuation bet, regardless of the board or my hand. I will, however, quickly release a garbage hand if I'm reraised preflop or bet into on the flop; there's no reason to stick around if you get caught stealing.
4. From LP after limpers, I tighten up a bit on my raising standards but still play very loose: I'll raise any suited ace, any pair AA-TT, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, and QJ; I'll add in any other pair and suited or unsuited connectors if I'm feeling frisky and my image is tight. I'll at least limp with suited connectors and any pair regardless.

Position is a powerful advantage in no-limit hold'em; if you don't use it, you're costing yourself money. The best way to use it is to play reasonably loose from LP (barring a preflop raise in front of you) and reasonably tight from EP. Just make sure you stay aggressive -- you've got to raise at least half of these hands preflop. That means there are plenty of hands that you wouldn't even play from EP that are worth a raise in LP, even after limpers.