Dear Poker Guide, please can you tell me what makes a truly great poker player?  What are the attributes that separate the good players from the great ones?

There are many things that make a good poker player, but I think the one aspect that stands out for me is the ability of knowing “when to do what”.  Or, in other words… of reading a situation, reading the play and reading players at a table and then knowing what to do in each situation.

It is also, not about keeping to one style of play, but adjusting all the time to the situation – Flexibility.  Aggressive play works sometimes, but it also pays off  to sit tight sometimes.  No-one can teach you that, it is an ability either someone has or develops.

That’s the poker guide’s words of wisdom for today…

Reading about Matt Hawrilenko in CardPlayer magazine, the Capture the Flag interview.  I was quite impressed by the young fella and his rise in the world of poker.

What I really liked about what he had to say was.. the stuff about learning to read your own hand first before you try and read your opponents.  Look at the hands you play and how you played them, go back and analyse them over and over until you find flaws in your decision making.  Then fix the flaws, be conscious of what your tendencies are and don’t keep doing them.

He seems like a sensible hard working guy, that although he is bright he has put in the hours to develop his game.

Also, what he had to say about balancing your life outside of poker and not getting caught in the grind.  Having goals that are separate from his poker life, running the Chicag marathon and working out to keep himself fit.

Its a good read, with some wise words from the young man.

I got distracted the other evening playing in an online poker tournament and ended up losing some money.  Damn I got angry with myself.

It was all because I got a call from some friends who were asking what our plans were for the weekend – a pretty straight forward question, right?  This then led to a discussion with my partner about what our plans were and in the mean time play was continuing at the poker table…

I was trying to keep it all going, and then messed it all up.  Then got angry with myself, so my game got even worse!  Lesson learnt… when playing in a poker tourney, switch off the phone and close the door.  Follow a good guide to playing in a poker tournament, shut off outside influence and distractions so that you can concentrate on your game and focus!

In the July edition of Card Player, Evan Roberts writes an article about Ace high often being the best hand.  I’m not so sure that I would agree with him on this one.  For the particular flop that he was demonstrating, he was right to follow through with the betting and realize that Ace high would win.

But I personally have never had a lot of luck with Ace high, so when I am holding an Ace in my starting hand and  no other Ace comes out on the flop to give me my pair, I get nervous and I am never really confident about betting out.

I know the point that Roberts is trying to make, players get stuck on the fact that pairs are only good enough to bet on, when actually a lot of the time Ace high is good enough to win the pot.  And, this is a good point, players do play more confidently when they hold a pair.  But actually in some cases, Ace high, has just as good a chance of winning.

What do you think, is Ace high your friend?

This was one of the first bits of advice that I was given when I first started playing poker.  “You can’t win at poker if you keep folding”.

At the time I thought yeah, yeah… but actually it is very simple but yet very good advice.  You shouldn’t play weak opening hands and you should be cautious when you are in a weak position – but that doesn’t mean that you should keep folding.

If you keep folding, you will use up all your chips paying your taxes on the blinds… and the other players will think that you are extra cautious and they will know that you only play very good hands… they will read you like a book.

Come on… mix it up a bit… take a chance once in a while, nothing wrong with a strong semi-bluff to make them sit up and say ok this guy or girl can play poker!

If you get a strong hand that you know can beat them hands down, then back your hand, raise the betting and make them play and pay! And don’t let others bully you if you think that you have a good hand.  Only if you know you don’t have a chance of winning then get out and fold, the earlier the better because it will cost you less.

Freeroll poker games are a good way to learn how to play online poker without it costing you a lot.  Freeroll poker games are free poker games that you play online, where you don’t use real money.  If you are a beginner, playing poker with your own money can be an expensive past-time!  And, losing all your cash doesn’t go down so well with your wife or family…

Most of the top online poker sites will offer freeroll games.  Some sites even offer freeroll poker tournaments, where you can get a feel of what it is like to play in a poker tournament and compare your poker skills against many different players.

Once you have a feel for the game then you can deposit some “real” money on the online poker site and play micro-level poker games for less than $1, so when you lose it doesn’t hurt so much.  If you feel you are ready then progress to the higher level poker tables, but be careful some players lurk like sharks at the lower tables, waiting to pick-off the weaker players.

The pots aren’t big but I suppose they just get a kick out of winning at poker!  Don’t we all get a kick from winning???

Betting takes a lifetime to get right and even then you still get it wrong sometimes… but I will try to give you a little more on betting…

The best way to learn about betting is to actually do it.  You can read every poker guide there is and study all the poker strategy, but when you are faced with the real situation then you have to make a quick decision and that only comes with experience.  So the best way to learn betting is to just do it!

When I was young boy there were two influences I had that helped me learn about betting.  I used to spend some time with my grandparents, they enjoyed their horse racing and playing bridge.  At first I used to think these hobbies of theirs were boring, but then I started to take more interest in them.

My grandparents taught me how to bet on the horses.  I took more of an interest and learnt about odds and the different bets you could make.  It was fun, we didn’t take it seriously, it was always small amounts of money that they put on the horses.  Sometimes they won, sometimes they lost but a lot of fun was had backing the horses.

The other thing I learnt was how to play bridge.  It took a while to master the bidding – which is really like betting to see how many hands you will win.  My grandmother told me it was all about signals that you gave to your bridge partner.  So if you said “two hearts” that meant you had a medium strength hand with hearts and you thought you could win a total of eight hands out of the thirteen etc etc…

Well betting in poker is the same – whatever you do, whether it is raising, calling, checking, folding… you are giving a signal to the other players.  And, importantly the other players are giving you signals or information.

The amount that you raise is a key signal – and it takes a while to master how much you should raise by.  Too much, and you scare people off, or they think you are bluffing.  Too little, and they think you have a weak hand or trying a bit of slow play to lure them in…

My best poker guide is remember that betting is an art form, not a science!!   An art form is practiced over and over to become a master, a science is learnt!

We visited my sister and her family on Saturday.  She has two teenage sons that interrogate me every time I am there.  I get asked so many poker related questions that I come away wondering if these two will ever do any school work or will they become poker professionals… my sister and her husband would never forgive me!

As much as I told them to go to my poker blog and find out for themselves, they were not interested, they wanted answers now!

“So, uncle Jason… can you give us a brief guide on betting?”…

“Well guys, this is a long subject and I am not sure we have time for it all…” I reply, nervously looking at my sister.  Who by now is starting to get the “irritated look”, which I know only too well!

The problem is they have seen poker tournaments on TV, they follow poker games online and they have seen how much money can be won… so they think it is easy and this is the life for them.

How do you get it across to teenagers that it is not as easy as it looks, without breaking their spirit?  So I think up something fast that will be short and to the point.

Here’s a beginner’s guide to poker betting – “You have to be sure when to bet – either fold early or decide to bet and raise often – don’t get caught in between”.  Now let’s go get some food…

“Is that all?”, they cried…

I thought it was a good, concise guide to poker betting, don’t you?

The question that is asked the most often by poker players is,”When should I bluff?”

Books have been written on this topic.  So if you want to know exactly when to bluff, then go find a good book on bluffing and study it.  There is no way I can explain the finer details of bluffing in one blog post.  I will however… let out a few of the bluffing tips that I do know…

I don’t have the exact answer for you because it depends on so many factors.  A general guide to bluffing is that you have to learn when to bluff and that only comes with experience.

My best advice is to start with semi-bluffing – which means that you don’t really have anything to start off with but your hand could turn into something, when the community cards come into play.

Bluffing also depends on what kind of character you are, some people take to it naturally, whilst others are uncomfortable with it.

Take a look at this entertaining film clip showing the poker pros bluffing, Phil Ivey vs Paul Jackson, who can out-bluff who?  $1Million in the pot… nerves of steel!

And if you want entertainment read all the comments on YouTube… oh boy.. everyone has to have their say…

Here’s another clip… nice bluff… but once again its the player with the stronger nerve that pulls through.

Ok here’s another big tip… if you are going to bluff, then act strongly and decisively… don’t dither around too much… but then again if you are acting strong… then that may be a tell that you are bluffing.  Now do you see what I mean, its tough to give advice… you gotta learn it!

Here’s an example of how to get poker bluffing wrong.

I hope you learn something about bluffing in poker, if not, then I hope you at least find the film clips entertaining!

Glad you enjoyed the clips of the Poker Brat doing his thing.  To give Phil Helmuth credit he doesn’t always behave like this and I have chosen particular video clips to show how someone can lose it whilst playing poker.

By the way have you ever seen anyone lose it whilst playing poker online?  That’s also entertaining, in fact some software includes animation of various actions you can take whilst playing online poker have you found them yet?

You can use these animations to irritate people and get them to go on tilt or you can use them to express your own frustration – it brings a whole new dimension to the poker table.

Sometimes when playing online poker the game really slows up.  Sure you can play multiple hands and computer games on the side, but if you want a bit of entertainment, a good ‘poker guide’ is to watch how people react to what you make your online character do.

Some players will just ignore you because they know what you are up to, others get really irritated and can go on tilt.  Its a good way to get your opponents distracted and playing bad poker, so that you can take advantage of the situation.  And now for ‘poker guide’ number 2 – As long as you remain in control of your emotions it is fine.

Try it, you may enjoy being the Poker Brat of the online poker world – only thing is that you may have to change your online name afterwards…