Everything Poker

Bankroll management is often an overlooked skill. I found poker wasn’t fun when I got “in over my head” and saw my chip stack disappear. I stepped back and started playing for fun or for pocket change and the results improved my game and my psyche. I guess it didn’t help either that I had lost all of my money so I was forced to move down! They say hindsight is 20/20!

I did some research on what other people use for guidelines to manage their poker funds. What I’ve found is that in general having 50 buy ins for a tournament and 100 big blinds for a cash game, and be able to afford to lose it, are good rules of thumb. Now that I focus on this area I find that it’s no longer part of the equation. It’s now a given to myself when I sit in a game that it’s one I can afford, the only time I’m thinking about the money involved is when I am counting my clay chips at the cashiers cage!

Texas holdem poker games in which each clay poker chip represents instant cash value are a different animal. I find that these are much more difficult to prepare for because there is no set changing format going in. Also, there is no beginning and end. One can usually pick up their poker chips at any time and exit the game. I personally have found sometimes in these situations preparation can be even detrimental. Players come and go from the table.

Why specific preparation can be detrimental is that the mood of the game can sharply change at any time. For example, you’ve been preparing for a cash game with the intention of taking off the gloves and playing aggressive cards at the poker table for the evening. You have your world tour poker chips stacked nicely. You bring two buy in’s for the game and in the first hand you have a huge bad beat for your entire first buy in. Now you are in a position where if you lose your stack again you are done for the night. You’ve spent so much time preparing to take risks that your game prep now does not match the context of the game you are in.

To get more on how to prepare for a game check out the article poker the game of preparation.

Solid techniques will be useful in heads up No Limit Texas hold em poker games. In general, skill and observational techniques will have more implication as the number of opponents you are against goes down. Don’t fall into a trap of thinking that since there is only one opponent you can pay less attention to get the poker chips! This is a faulty point of view to fall into. A better point of view to adopt is that since you are against one opponent instead of a full table of eight opponents, there is actually now opportunity to try to gain eight times more info!!

Well, this could be unrealistic due to there may literally not be that much info. But the theory of gaining more information is relevant. Against one player it should even be an exercise to make sure you are looking for something to use as a reference point on every single hand. Things like paying attention to your opponent’s reactions to flops compound in importance. If you can get that one player figured out the effects to their clay chip stack will be devastating.

For more insights into the game of poker take a look at seating at the poker table.