Poker Beginner Questions: Pros & Novices Welcome!

[josh0k 0]

Hey Forum,I've just started getting involved into poker and I have much to learn.I posted a thread few days ago about my big step into the poker world here, feel free to give it a read!Like I said previously, I'm pretty new to poker and as a learning player, several questions spring up while playing and studying poker.Not surprisingly, a good portion of the questions I have are basic/novice and the answer to those questions are rarely answered since they are at that level.I want this thread to be a place where beginners, such as myself, can freely ask questions and be answered by more experienced players.Note to the beginners: Feel free to ask questions even if you think they are very basic, I'm sure another person is wanting to know as well.Note to the experienced players: Work to help the beginners with constructive criticism without looking down on them or condescending.Alright with all that said, I'm going to start off with a few questions.Thanks for everyone's support and comments! Questions1.) What do I do when there is a guy who is constantly stealing my blinds? ( $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em)

• He raises me when I'm SB, BB, and because I don't have position or decent cards I have to fold every time
• I know I shouldn't tilt because of that, but I don't know what to do rather than fold.
• If I call him (which I've done :/) After the flop, I check, he raises and if don't hit, I have to fold.
• If I raise he folds sometimes, but I can't always raise and hope I have him beat.

2.) What should I do when there are people that are calling stations? (calls a lot of raises almost always down to the river)

• I know I should bluff less and play tighter, but by how much?
• I can't tell if this is an advantage to me to maximize profit or disadvantage cause I can't bluff him/her

3.) How do I access bet sizing? ( $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em)

• Is it based on player or current pot size?
• How do I evaluate an amount to dedicate into the pot for the strength of hand I have
• I understand bet sizes like 1/2 pot, 1/4 pot, but i don't know when it is appropriate to bet certain amounts

4.) What do I do when I come across a big stack "bully"

• He raises often, plays aggressive
• Over-bets to force me to fold
• Steal blinds and even steals out of position with big bets
• Do I just start playing ultra tight?

Alright that's a lot of the troubles I've been having recently, I'd love for a variety of help and comments!If you have some spare time, check out my blog, where I talk about how my poker journey is going so far.Thanks again everyone! Feel free to ask questions of your own.

[Jam-Fly 8]

Just note, with these answers (and nearly any answer to a general question in poker), they are not 100% correct 100% of the time. Always be thinking and using your own intuition, generally answers to questions like these are just good guidelines.1.) What do I do when there is a guy who is constantly stealing my blinds? ( $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em)

• He raises me when I'm SB, BB, and because I don't have position or decent cards I have to fold every time
• I know I shouldn't tilt because of that, but I don't know what to do rather than fold.
• If I call him (which I've done :/) After the flop, I check, he raises and if don't hit, I have to fold.
• If I raise he folds sometimes, but I can't always raise and hope I have him beat.

In cash games (I assume 50bb+ deep), I wouldn't worry THAT much about it. How good is the player post flop? If you feel you have an advantage over the player post flop, it's okay to take some flops out of position assuming you are deep enough. How wide your range becomes depend how big/small an advantage you feel you have post flop. Against some players, it can be profitable to play 86s oop against a 3x open 100BB deep. Against others, it is not profitable. How often does he fold to 3bets? Re-popping him occasionally can be a useful tool if he folds too often to 3bets. If he 4bets a lot or calls in position a lot, I wouldn't use this tactic much with thrash hands. It's very tough to play a bloated pot out of position. How often he folds to continuation bets is also a factor (ie, if you 3bet (planning to fold if he 4bets) and he calls, how often will he fold to one barrel on the flop?).If you decide to play with him post flop, there are sooo many factors to discuss. Bet sizing and board texture are generally the most important factors. Without going into too much detail, I'll just leave you with a few solid pieces of advice. Remember the hand/range you are representing and how that would hit the board. Remember what hand/rage the villain is representing...would he make a bet of $X with Y holdings etc.There's an awful lot that can be talked about here, but my recommendation would be simple enough, most of your money in poker is made by either playing pots in position or playing pots with bad players. If you're not in position, or not in a pot with a bad player, chances are, you're in a bad spot. 2.) What should I do when there are people that are calling stations? (calls a lot of raises almost always down to the river)

• I know I should bluff less and play tighter, but by how much?
• I can't tell if this is an advantage to me to maximize profit or disadvantage cause I can't bluff him/her

Calling stations are great for you. The unfortunate thing about calling stations is the only way you can beat them is to value bet your hands. The trouble with that is, you have to have a hand to value bet. If you're running bad and not picking up hands, there's nothing you can do against a calling station. Getting maximum value is the most important thing to do against calling stations. Sometimes you will have to bet marginal hands aggressively to get maximum value from a calling station (hands that against other opponents you might not bet). Getting maximum value both in terms of number of bets (ie betting flop, turn and river) and size of bets (ie how much money you get in the pot with each bet) is important against calling stations. All that said, also remember that calling stations sometimes wake up with hands too. Don't just approach a hand with the idea of "this guy always has bottom pair, I'm gona value bet my queens every step of the way no matter what".Also note, generally calling stations are passive and CALL a lot. Be aware when they suddenly raise!3.) How do I access bet sizing? ( $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em)

• Is it based on player or current pot size?
• How do I evaluate an amount to dedicate into the pot for the strength of hand I have
• I understand bet sizes like 1/2 pot, 1/4 pot, but i don't know when it is appropriate to bet certain amounts

Unfortunately, there's no quick answer to this question. Generally speaking, bet sizing is made in relation to the pot size (pre-flop it's a multiple of the BB - usually the standard pf raise if between 2xBB and 3xBB) and different players have different tendencies.When deciding to bet, here are a few factors to consider:1) Why am I betting. Am I bluffing? Am I value betting? Do I want a call? Do I want a fold?2) If I want a call, what is the maximum he will call?3) If I want a fold, what is the minimum amount I can bet and get him to fold - (ie he will probably have to call if I bet 30% of pot, but will probably fold if I bet 50% of pot).4) Do I need to bet enough to make it -EV for him to call with a draw?*5) What is my plan if I get raised? How do I plan to proceed if I get flat called?6) What are the advantages to betting as opposed to checking? Do I want to bet or is it better to exercise pot control?*if you're not sure about this, it's important to do some research so you do understand it. Example: Player B is 20% to hit a flush, Player A must bet enough so that Player B is not getting the correct odds to draw to his flush. Look up pot odds/hand odds and also implied odds if you're unsure about what I'm talking about.4.) What do I do when I come across a big stack "bully"

• He raises often, plays aggressive
• Over-bets to force me to fold
• Steal blinds and even steals out of position with big bets
• Do I just start playing ultra tight?

Big stack bully is generally a term used in tournaments. It should not be relevant in cash games as you should all generally be playing deep (50BB stacks or more). If you are talking about cash games, then just play as normal. Remember, the relative stack size is that of the smaller stack (ie Player A has 100BBs, Player B has 500BBs, the relative stacks here are 100BBs deep). For some reason I get the impression that when you say 'big bets' and 'over-bets' you mean really big bets (e.g. bets more than double the size of the pot). If a player is doing this with some regularity, simply speaking, he is probably making -EV plays. You may have to wait for a big hand, or you may have to take a stand with a less than premium hand (ie a hand you wouldn't usually risk your stack with, but since you figure to be well ahead of villain's range, you decide you have to go with it).

[CobaltBlue 662]

josh, I really recommend asking questions like this in that NL strat thread that Bob pointed you to. They're not as likely to get the answers you're looking for here.1) Don't worry about it too much. Stealing blinds in NL cash isn't generally going to cost you a lot of money. As JF said, you want to concentrate on playing pots in position and against bad players. If you want to fight back, there are two general strategies...you can 3-bet wider (and follow it up with a c-bet on the flop) or you can call and then check-raise flops wider. Just because you don't have anything doesn't mean you can't bluff. If the player is stealing the blinds as often as you're implying, they're generally not going to have much either, so you're putting the onus on them to pick up a hand.2) Get a hand. Bet larger for value.3) Generally speaking, if you open raise 3-3.5x the size of the big blind pre-flop (plus another big blind for any limpers), that'll be a good basic strategy. Post-flop, a great approach is to just bet 65-80% of the pot size. It's good sizing in general. Obviously you'll refine this as you grow as a player, but simply speaking, you'll rarely go wrong sizing somewhere in that range. As JF said, you'll eventually start sizing based on what you want to accomplish.4) You can mostly play tight, yes. Use his over-aggression against him. Try to find a hand and then let him hang himself...though what qualifies as a hand might be something like a big draw even.