Everything Poker

I was recently lured to a home game poker tournament by a friend. The low buy-in game offered a $100 first place prize and a free clay chip set for all who finished in the top three. Just what I needed, another clay poker chip set!

Prizes aside, what I enjoy the most about these events is the opportunity to socialize and hone my skills at cards. In this particular event I had an interesting conversation with a fellow player regarding table position. His confident statement to me was that position at the table was irrelevant and overrated. He proceeded to play every hand and was thoroughly perplexed as his poker chips dwindled.

I don’t recall what the outcome of the game was that night. Even a fancy Las Vegas chip stack will dwindle in front of players who cannot command this concept. I do recall that it slammed home the huge importance of knowing how to bet pre flop with these players in the game. This is because they are always in the game!

There are many factors to consider in enhancing this skill at the poker table. Table position, regardless of my associate’s previously mentioned opinion, is very important. It is also one of the easiest concepts to grasp in order to instantly improve because it is easily quantifiable in terms of what hands one is willing to play before even entering the pot pre flop.

A little trickier to master pre flop once deciding what these cards are, is how aggressive to bet them. This skill can only be perfected over time by playing the hands out. The opinion of this author is to defer to aggression when in doubt. Use those casino poker chips as the warriors they are! If you get your hand bit three times in an almost exact same context then you have just programmed your instincts and the fourth time you can make a nice confident icy cool accurate decision!

How one bets a hand pre flop can also be useful for deriving information that will be vital later in the hand. It occasionally may be the right decision to veer from our normal pre flop course if doing so results in gaining an informational strategic edge over a tough opponent. How do we recognize these situations when they arise? I am sorry I wish it was simpler, but the answer is instinct. In the short run, if you play tournaments like the one mentioned earlier, maybe you will even win some chip sets you can sell for profit!

Whether you are playing Omaha or Texas Holdem poker chip accumulation is key. Learning to bet pre flop at the poker table is imperative to achieving this. It is the rocket fuel that ignites your chances of winning each individual hand.