Strategy, Not Tragedy

Tragedy at the poker table can feel worse than the stock market crash of 1929 or seem more humiliating than having no date for the high school dance. Rejection, loss, and betrayal hit you hard, so let's see what we can do to avoid it this time around!

Stacked™ with Daniel Negreanu seems simple enough on the surface. It's one game: Texas Hold'em. Don't let appearances fool you, though. The experienced poker player immediately recognizes that strategy changes depending on certain game factors. The mode you choose affects your strategy, for example, as does your choice of a cash game versus tournament play.

There are winners, and there
are losers. Losing sucks.

It gets even more complex when you factor in the position of your seat relative to the Dealer and the number of players still in the game. Luck factors hardly at all in a professional card game. If you want to compete with the best, you better start thinking about the different strategies of play.

They can't wait to eat you alive.

Know the Terminology
I've put together a list of the most important terminology used in Texas Hold'em games. If you want to uphold the appearance that you know what you're doing, then you need to not only use these terms, but know what they mean as well.

• All-in: When the bet comes around to you, but you don't have enough to cover it, you can put everything you have in the pot. Your winnings, if you win, will be proportionate to the amount you bid.
• Dealer Button: At the beginning of the game, one person is chosen (by high card) to be the dealer. This person gets the dealer button (a chip with a D on it). This person does not actually deal the cards, since the casino has an employee do that for you. The dealer button, however, rotates one to the left with each new hand. The person to the left of the dealer bets first, and so this position rotates as well.
• Round: A new round starts when the dealer deals a new hand and ends when someone wins the current hand.
• Pot: The pile of chips that accumulates as people bet. The money they bet goes into the pot. Winners take their winnings from the pot.
• Small Blind: The person to the left of the player with the dealer button is required to pay the first bet, at a set rate. The small blind amounts to one half the regular minimum bid. The person to the left of the dealer cannot do anything but pay the small blind. This creates the ante for the hand. The small blind rotates as the dealer button rotates around the table.
• Big Blind: The person to the left of the small blind is required to pay the first bet, at a set rate, just like the small blind. The big blind equals the regular minimum bid. The small blind and big blind together create an ante that is equal to 1.5 times the regular minimum bid. Thus, every hand starts out with at least that much in the pot. The big blind rotates as the dealer button rotates around the table.
• Fold: You toss in your cards, removing yourself from play. You give up on your hand and drop out of the round.
• Raise: You match any previous bets made this round, and you bet more money in addition to what's already been bet.
• Call: You pay enough to match all bets and raises this round without raising it any higher.
• Check: If no one else has yet placed a bet this round, you can check. This means you pass without placing a bet yourself. If someone else bets, you can only call, fold, or raise.
• Pocket cards: The two cards the dealer gives you face-down.
• Community Hand: The five cards the dealer deals face-up (in three installments) and that all players share in an attempt to make the best poker hand possible.
• Flop: First, the dealer deals three cards to the community hand. These three cards are called the flop.
• Turn Card: The fourth card dealt to the community hand is the turn card.
• River Card: The fifth (last) card dealt to the community hand is the river card. The dealer deals no more cards this hand.
• Muck: If you have lost the round, but do not want to show your hand to the table, you don't have to reveal them. You muck your cards. The word "muck" appears under your character's name. You muck automatically in Stacked when you lose a hand.
• Split Pot: If two players have the same winning hand, they split the pot evenly.
• Showdown: After the dealer has dealt the last card and the betting has come to a conclusion, the players show, in order, their cards to determine who has won. If you see that someone else has a better hand than you, you can muck your cards without showing them to anyone else.
• Kicker: If your winning combination of cards doesn't use all 5 cards, the extras are kickers. For example, if you have a pair in your hand, that's your highest poker hand. You have three extra cards or kickers. If you have four of a kind, then you have one kicker. If your winning combo ties with another player, whoever of you has the highest kicker wins.

He's a carnivore, and you're on his menu.

Different Game Types
As I've mentioned already, your strategy changes depending on the type of game you're playing. While the Texas Hold'em rules themselves aren't complicated, the interactions between the cards are. Consider these strategies before you sit down at the table of your choice.

Play more aggressively in a cash game, take greater risks, and attempt to suck more calls and raises out of your opponents. Those long shots can really pay off in a cash game. Think longer-term in a career game and don't take risks that are too great. It's better to lose a little by folding earlier than to lose a lot by betting on a long-shot.

Whether you're playing in Quick Play or Career mode, you have one goal with the Cash Game: rack up the chips. Your entire focus will center on ways to avoid losing your shirt and take others' whole wardrobes. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, but keep an eye on your bottom line.

In a Single Table Tournament you have eight opponents who want nothing more than to get you away from the table. You want to see your opponents lose all their money while you keep your own. This doesn't necessarily mean that you are the one who takes their money. Look for ways that you can bid people up without risking your own stash. You can give up winning the hand to sucker another player into betting much more than you and, thus, losing much more.

With 28 opponents in a Multiple Table Tournament, your challenge increases geometrically. You have to have staying power. With this many opponents, the game will undoubtedly last a long while. Because of this, you'll find you're more susceptible to the ebb and flow of the game. Play conservatively. Avoid risk. Fold on hands you might pursue if you were playing a Cash Game or even an Single Table Tournament.

In this game, it's those with the greatest stamina that manage to stick around. The pots get so high eventually that thousands are won and lost in single hands. Take the ones you're confident you can take, and let the others go. In the beginning, take your time and really get to know your fellow players. Near the end of the game, when the stakes are really high, get merciless.

It's a dog-eat-dog world.

Keep a Poker Face
The best way to bluff is with your bets and your style of play. Your fellow players are watching you, looking for patterns in how you play. If you always raise as much as possible when you have a pair in your pocket hand, your opponents may pick up on that and know to fold when you do that. If, one time, you vary your betting response to a pair, then you mislead/bluff them. Stay alert to your own betting patterns.

Pay close attention to the potential in the community hand. Look at them with an eye toward what kinds of hands they might make. Are you missing a straight or a flush? What would it take for someone else to make a hand that beats yours? If you have a pair in your pocket and there's a matching third in the community, what is the chance that one of your opponents can make a flush out of the cards?

A flush beats three of a kind. This kind of hand can sneak up on you. Excitement over the three of a kind can make you miss the fact that there are four diamonds in the community, and the chance that someone else will have a diamond in his pocket is very high.

"Chasing" Hands
Don't be afraid to fold—winners don't let their egos get in the way of their play. Folding isn't the same as losing. If your cards won't make it, cut them loose and try again next time. Once the flop hits the table, you have five of the seven cards in front of you. You can make an educated guess, at this point, what kind of hand you will have. If you would only have a good hand if one particular card showed up, and nothing otherwise, it's probably a safe bet to fold. Do it. Unless you've got money to burn, don't waste it on long-shots.

In Stacked, Daniel Negreanu gives many more tips for your game in both the poker tutorial and the in-game tips. By the time he's done with you, you'll have all the tools and knowledge you need to play a killer game of Texas Hold'em.

There are winners, and there are losers. Losing sucks. If you'll pardon the cliché, the best advice of all comes from the man himself, Kenny Rogers, who sang, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. You gotta know when to walk away, know when to run." And here I go, until next time.

Article by Angel Leigh McCoy

• Daniel Negreanu's Poker Journal.
• About Daniel Negreanu.
• Publisher: Myelin Media.