This section of the workbook delves deep into advanced hand analysis for flop, turn and river cards. This skill will become increasingly essential as you advance in stakes games against more experienced and skilled opponents.
This section also provides advice for improving your non-showdown winnings, known as your “red line”, which are the cornerstone of poker players’ earning potential.
Blind bets
If you want to hone your poker game and increase your winnings, blind bets can help. Blind bets add value to the starting pot while incentivizing players to participate. They may also help re-enforce equity when stolen against an opponent who’s likely to call.
Tournament poker requires blinds to increase regularly so as to maintain the average stack size in line with the overall pot, so having a sound strategy for managing blinds will give you the best chance at success and ensure greater chances of victory.
There are various methods for learning advanced poker strategies, including by watching videos. Unfortunately, this approach takes more time and may not produce optimal results. Another approach is enrolling in an online course which will teach advanced techniques and strategies; however, these courses tend to be pricey and usually require access to an expensive computer or cloud machine for optimal learning results.
Three-bet pots
A three-bet pot is an effective strategy when playing against opponents with loose opening ranges. Reraising with strong value hands allows you to extract additional value from them; just be careful not to overvalue by raising too frequently!
Light 3-bets can also be extremely helpful against players with tight and aggressive styles of play. By making their opponent hesitate before calling preflop, light 3-bets allow you to win some quick pots before the flop has even arrived!
Utilizing a merged three-betting range allows you to take advantage of loose players in late position. Reraising an early position opener with various hands in order to cause him to fold post-flop is known as a squeeze bet and may prove more profitable than all-in. Your size of reraise should depend upon their PFR and post-flop tendencies.
Check-raises
Checkraising can be one of the most crucial strategies in poker if you want to become successful at it. It allows you to gain value from strong hands without scaring off opponents with strong bluffs; and helps balance betting lines. In general, check raising should only be employed against 2p+ hands, though you could add in weak flops such as overpairs or TP if confident your opponent may call them.
Check-raising requires making sure your hand is unbeatable, avoiding minimum re-raises when the board allows an opponent to have hands that could outdraw yours, and not bluffing too frequently, which may damage table image and lower winrate. Learning Raise Check strategy will pay dividends in terms of increased winrate. Invest in mastering it as soon as possible as it will significantly expand your game!
Limits
Poker is a game of strategy, and there are numerous tactics you can employ to help your win the pot. Some strategies may be advanced while others more simple; to learn these tactics it is best to watch other players and read up on them; however this will only get you so far; ultimately you must study the game and implement your own strategies in practice sessions.
One of the key skills for poker success is developing the ability to calculate odds. Knowing when and why to call with draws or fold is essential in making smart decisions about when and whether to call in games that involve draws. Furthermore, understanding approximate equities vs pot odds allows you to make informed decisions that help maximize results.
Bluffing is another essential skill to learn and master, and often more profitable against strong opponents due to less commitment needed in calling with strong hands. Bluffing often results in smaller losses overall when used effectively against strong opposition.