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Key Skills and Important Attributes of Winning Players

Poker is a complex game and no two players have the same skill set.  Expert players understand many concepts ranging from those that are very important, to others that add only slightly to their overall earn.  There are, however, some concepts that are so important, that they are universally understood by all expert players.  This is by no means all that you need to know to be a winning player, but understanding theses ideas will lay a strong foundation for winning play.  Without a thorough understanding of these ideas it will be almost impossible to play the game at a high level.

Style of Play

Most winning players utilize a tight but aggressive approach to the game of poker.  This is not the only winning style, but if you are new to the game it is how you should go about learning how to play.  As you progress in ability, you will be able to add more hands into the mix of those you play.

Most Limit Hold ‘em players tend to stick to a tight-aggressive style.  World class players will generally play a few more hands than other winning players but less hands than the average novice or amateur player.  This can not be taken to extremes in a limit game.   Successful No Limit Hold ‘em players however, may play in a variety of styles.  The best players “change gears”, and are capable of playing in a variety of styles depending on the game conditions.  What style you develop will depend on what skills you excel at.  If you find yourself to be an excellent hand reader with a very good feel for when to bluff then you may find a looser style works well for you.  If you prefer to avoid difficult decisions and fluctuations in your bankroll, you may find a tighter more solid style a better fit.

Whatever style you adopt the one attribute that all expert players have is aggressiveness.  You can not play poker well if you play passively.  Passive play will lead to being outdrawn as well as not getting full value for your hands.  A tight and aggressive style is the one that works the best for the majority of players.  If you are just starting out that is the style you should adopt.

Pre-flop Concepts

Expert Limit Hold ‘em players play many fewer hands that their amateur counterparts.  This is enough, coupled with just a basic understanding of post-flop play to beat the lowest limit games.  As you progress through the limits you will have to rely on your post-flop skills if you plan on being a consistent winner but you still can not neglect the pre-flop aspect of the game.

Pre-flop is the one part of Hold ‘em where a chart can be memorized to provide you with the basis of correct play.  You will have to use your judgment and observation of your opponents to excel, but a memorized chart will give a good foundation to your game.  There are many good charts available, and I would suggest the ones in any of the Two plus Two published books.

All good players understand how important position is in Hold ‘em.  Understanding what position you are in is crucial to solid pre-flop play.  You should play very tight in early position and gradually loosen your opening requirements as you get closer to the button.  When you get to middle position, if no one else has entered the pot, you should almost always either raise or fold.  The chance of winning the blinds, coupled with the chance of winning with a bet on the flop or making the best hand, makes this a far superior play than merely calling.  In fact, there are few situations in any position where it is correct to call if everyone in front of you has folded.  In loose games it may be right to limp in with some small to medium pairs, and strictly drawing type hands like Ten, Jack suited (TJs) but other than these exceptions you want to either raise or fold if you are the first person to voluntarily enter the pot.

Pre-flop play is a part of the game that is fairly easy to become proficient at.  Mistakes are very costly though, not because of the magnitude of each error, but because there is an opportunity to make a mistake on every deal.  In a full ring game a very mechanical strategy with little deviation will be satisfactory.  Short handed you will need to take your opponents play into account more.  One of the first things any new player should do is to obtain and memorize a chart of starting hand requirements.  This is a very important component of winning play.

Understanding the Check-Raise

The check raise is an important tool in any players arsenal.  It has very different uses in limit and no limit play.  Many players use it regularly without a full understanding and make costly mistakes.

In limit play the check-raise is used as often as a way to thin the field than to extract extra value.  If you are in the blinds and call a raise from a late position player in a multi way pot you can often check-raise with hands that you need to protect.  For instance, if you were to flop top pair in such a situation, and you have reason to believe (based on the pre-flop action) that a bet will come from the last player to act, then a check-raise will face the remaining players with two bets rather than one if you were to simply bet out.  There are many hands that they will not be able to call two bets with but would gladly call a singly bet.  If they do call with an inside straight or other weak draw then you have succeeded in offering them incorrect odds and that also works in your favor.

There are other times when you will flop a hand so strong that you will welcome action and not want to eliminate players.  You will be faced with a dilemma about whether to check-raise or not.  If the bettor is likely to be on your immediate left then it may be worthwhile to check-raise.  Ideally everyone will call the bet and then call again when you raise.  They are much more likely to call two bets one at a time than if you face them with calling two bets at once.  Basically, if you want to eliminate players you should check-raise if you think the bet will come from your right.  If you want to build a big pot and allow players to stay in then you should check-raise if you think the bet will come from your left.

In No Limit Hold ‘em check-raising is not as important a play.  This does not mean that it is not a part of a winning players strategy, just that it is not as crucial to their success.  Check-raising is generally over used in no limit play.  Players do so in spots that cause them to face difficult decisions on later betting rounds.

The size of your stack is a very important consideration when it comes to determining if a check-raise is correct or not.  This is especially true if you are doing so as a semi-bluff with a drawing hand.  You want to avoid the scenario of check-raising close to half your chips on the flop and then being faced with a very uncomfortable turn decision if your draw does not hit.  It would be much better if your stack size allowed for your flop check-raise to be all in.  This puts maximum pressure on your opponent and if he calls you still have two cards to make your draw.  This is much better than missing your draw and then having to either abandon your hand with a lot of money in the pot or to call off the rest of your chips as a significant underdog.

When you check-raise in No Limit Hold ‘em you should know if you will fold or not if an opponent re-raises you.  It is fine to check-raise as a bluff and then to fold if your opponent plays back at you.  It is also obviously a good situation if you check-raise with a very strong hand and your opponent then moves you all in.  What is not good is if your check-raise leaves you with a genuine quandary of what to do.  Try to avoid these situations.

Hand Reading

To move past low limit games you must become proficient at hand reading.  Hand reading is simply trying to figure out what your opponents likely hand is.  This is rarely done precisely but rather you put your opponent on a range of hands.  As the hand progresses you can narrow that range down depending on his actions.

To become good at reading your opponents hands you must focus on how they play their hands.  When you are not involved in a hand still watch what the active players are doing and what cards they have at the showdown.  This takes practice and is not a skill that is developed overnight.  Think about what position the player is in and what hands their actions are consistent with.  Every deal, whether you fold or not, try to put every active player on a hand.  This will not only familiarize you with the intricacies of their play but will develop your hand reading skills.

Value betting

A value bet is a bet when the decision between betting and checking is close.  When you make a value bet you are targeting every last dollar of value to be won with a hand.  Good players value bet unmercifully and do not live in fear of a raise, constantly fearing running into the nuts.

On the river many otherwise skilled opponents miss a number of profitable value bets.  They figure that the pot is big enough and  that they have done all that they can do to protect their hand, so they check and see if their hand is good.  This is faulty thinking because no pot is ever big enough.  Either a bet has a positive expectation or it does not.  If a bet should show a positive expectation over the long run then it should be made.  Do not be short sighted and willing to settle for winning the pot when you could have won an extra bet or two.

In no limit poker you still should value bet much more than most people do but you do have to be more cautious than you do when playing limit. When faced with a close decision in a no limit game you have to ask yourself if your bet is likely to put you in the spot where you can make a mistake.  If you have a medium strength hand that will have to fold to a raise and there is a chance that your opponent may raise as a bluff then you should be cautious about betting.  You do not want to take this idea to extremes but you should make sure that a thin value bet will not put you at risk for losing a pot that you are entitled to.  In limit poker this is unlikely to happen as you will almost always call one more bet due to the pot size with a hand that has any reasonable chance of winning.

When deciding if a value bet is correct or not keep in mind that you not only need to be a favorite to have the best hand but you must be the favorite to still have the best hand when you get called.  You do not need to be a big favorite but there does have to be some reasonable hands that your opponent can call you with that you beat.  In a situation where your opponent was likely to have been on a draw it often is a better play to check and let him bluff if he missed.  There is no value to be had because he will simply fold if he missed and raise if he hit.

A good limit player hopes to win around two big bets for every hour that he plays.  This illustrates how important it is to make sure to make good value bets when they are called for.  No pot is ever “big enough”, a bet is either profitable or it is not.

Understanding Position

Understanding position is so important that an entire article has been devoted to it.  It is strongly suggested that you go over that article for some of the intricacies of position play.  That said, I will cover some of the basics of position play.

Pre-flop you can play many more hands if you act in a late position.  Players that routinely enter the pot with inadequate values from an early position are perennial losers.  The more information you have the better decisions you can make.  Knowing what the players who acted in front of you have done is a huge advantage, as is having fewer players left to act behind you.  Hands like suited connectors become profitable when many players limp in and hands with high card strength become candidates for a blind steal when everyone folds.  Your position should be considered before every decision is made pre-flop.

Post-flop position is even more important.  Your opponent’s check or bet will reveal much about his holding.  Having position opens up the opportunity for you to take a free card when you are drawing or launch a bluff when your opponent checks.

This only scratches the surface of the impact of position on a game like Texas Hold ‘em.  It is among the most important concepts to understand.  You are urged to read the article on position for a fuller treatment of this very important topic.

Varying your Play

At the lower limits there is little need to vary your play as your opponents are unlikely to be paying enough attention to notice anyways.  As you progress through the mid limits and above the opponents become much tougher and it becomes imperative that they have some uncertainty about your holding.  If they know you only bet with strong hands you will stop getting action when you want it and if they know a check represents genuine weakness then you will find yourself getting bluffed more than your fair share.

When you vary your play you will usually be playing a hand sub-optimally.  You give up a little on the present hand but you anticipate getting it back in later hands.  It is crucial that you do not give up too much if you are to recoup these losses.  While a wild play like re-raising with 9-3o is likely to confuse your opponents and make them unsure in future hands it is very expensive.  Raising from the big blind after 6 people limp in with a hand like a suited connector is likely to stick out just as much and will cost only a small fraction of a bet.

There are a number of other plays that will equally confuse your opponents.  Your play must have balance.  If you like to play drawing hands very aggressively then you should balance that with playing your strong hands equally fast.  Do not let your opponents pigeonhole your likely holdings.  Always keep in mind how your opponents have seen you play various hands.  If they know you like to check-raise bluff with draws then this might be an excellent time to do it with a concealed set.  They may mistakenly conclude that you are on a draw and give you excess action allowing you to win a large pot.

It all comes down to getting inside their heads and acting in a way that will confuse them.  They will remember a strange play for a long time so you do not need to make them very often.  If you overdo this sort of deception you will not be able to recoup the losses.  While your opponents will be confused they will also be stacking your chips.

Conclusion

While this article should give new players a lot to think about, it in no way covers all of the skills that a winning player is likely to possess.  There are so many attributes that separate winners from losers, and world class players from other good players, that you could never hope to cover them all.  These skills are however, among the most important.  They give you a good starting point to work from.  Poker is such a complex game that it is impossible to learn everything.  If you think about the game away from the table then you should be able to be constantly improving your game.  If you couple this deep thought with lots of time at the table then you will be on the track of becoming a great player.