Poker strategy

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The poker strategy is a fundamental part of the game of poker that is not just a game of chance. This article explains general, basic strategies that are largely valid regardless of the poker variant you choose.

Basics

In general, the aim of a poker player is to maximize the expected value of his action, i.e. to choose in every situation the one of the options in which he will make the most profit in the long term or on average.

When this is the case, the basic theorem of the game of poker by David Sklansky , which he sets out in his book The Theory of Poker, describes : A player makes profit in the long run if he plays the way he would play if he had the cards his opponent would know. Conversely, a player loses if his style of play deviates from the one he would choose if he knew the cards of his opponents.

So it is in the interest of every player to find out what kind of cards his opponents might think in order to orientate his actions accordingly. Conversely, it is often profitable to use deception maneuvers such as bluff or slowplay to trick opponents into actions that they would not take if they knew the opponent's cards.

The concept of the hand range

Since a poker player rarely has enough information to reduce the opponent's likely hand to a single combination of cards, the concept of hand range , the distribution of possible combinations of cards that a player holds in a given situation, is of central importance. While the opponent's range at the beginning of a poker hand contains all possible card combinations, it can be narrowed down further during the course of a poker hand due to the opponent's way of playing. It is therefore the task of a player to assess the chances of success of his own cards against the range of possible opponent's hands in order to be able to align his actions accordingly. The "pot odds" must be taken into account.

Pot odds

Main article: Pot odds

The "pot odds" describe the comparison of the size of the pot with the probabilities (odds), a made hand ( handmade ) to get. The use of pot odds decides at many points in the game whether a player should call or fold, especially in draws where the current hand is worthless but can become a strong hand with a matching additional card. In a pure draw, if the ratio of the stake to the size of the pot is less than the odds of holding a good hand after the next card, you can call, and vice versa you should fold. In order to make a profit in the long run, it is important to consider the "pot odds".

In some situations it makes sense to call despite the lack of pot odds because you can expect to win additional bets if you hit your card as the poker hand progresses. This is called Implied odds ( implied odds ). Conversely, reverse implied odds mean that in the actually favorable case that you hit your desired hand, you can still lose larger bets in the further course if an opponent holds an even stronger made hand.

position

Main article: Position (poker)

The position is the place where a player sits (relative to the dealer ). There is a distinct advantage in being in late position as it gives you information about the players who come first. A player in an early position therefore needs, on average, better hands than a player in a later position, since the early player has the information deficit that he does not know how his opponents will play the hand.

The position is particularly important in late betting rounds, where larger amounts are involved. Therefore, it is advisable to play tight in the blinds , which only have the advantage of last position in the first betting round, despite initially favorable pot odds .

illusion

With a deception, a player tries to get his opponent to play differently than if he knew the deceiver's cards. According to the basic theorem, it is necessary to integrate elements of deception into one's own game. There are two ways to play deceit:

When a player with a weak hand tries to drive his opponent out of the pot, it is called a bluff .

From slow play is when a player has a strong hand full alludes not, or not, so rather calls and checks , rather than raise or put to the enemy to give the impression of being able to win with a medium-strong hand, and take him as to to mislead later betting rounds into mistakes. Thus, slow play the exact mirror image of a bluff.

Reasons to raise or to bet

There are several reasonable reasons for raising (raising).

  • To increase the pot when you think you have the best hand ( raise for value )
  • To drive away the players with the even weaker hand (especially with draws )
  • To get players with a stronger hand to give up.
  • To bluff or semi-bluff
  • To get a free card in a later betting round (if a player raises he represents a good hand. A raise can now lead to an opposing player playing more cautiously and calling instead of betting. If the player now has a draw, a raise gives him a free card on the turn or river , especially in late position)
  • To get information (When a player raises, his opponent is forced to pay or fold. This action gives him additional information)

Reasons to go

There are also different motives for a call .

  • To see another card as cheaply as possible (especially with draws)
  • If a raise instead of a call resulted in the opponent putting away all the weaker hands in his range and only playing the superior hands.
  • To prevent a re-raise (especially with aggressive players)
  • To deceive your opponent by feigning relative weakness ( slow play )
  • To prepare for a later bluff ( floating )

Gaming behavior

Poker players can be assigned different attributes based on their general playing behavior across multiple poker hands: Loose players play more hands than tight players. This creates an image for the other players that can be decisive for the game in later situations. Aggressive players raise and bet, while passive players are more likely to call and check . Aggressive play is considered more effective because a passive player is easier to see through.

The image is the impression that a player makes on his opponent. A player can build up a certain image and take advantage of it by changing the way he plays while his opponents do not notice it. This makes it easier for a player considered tight to bluff. With increasing skill levels, both your own and your opponent, building up and using your image becomes increasingly important. The targeted building of an image is part of deception, the masking of one's own style of play in order to tempt one's opponents to make incorrect moves.

Bankroll management

The poker strategy also includes minimizing the risk of losing the amount of money (the bankroll) available for playing poker (see also: ruin of the player ). In variance-affected games with a negative (e.g. roulette ) or neutral (e.g. fair coin toss ) expected value, the risk of ruin for repeated games is always 100%, only the average duration until ruin depends on the starting bankroll and the Bet per game.

Many aspects of portfolio theory can be transferred to the poker bankroll (for example the Sharpe quotient ), and conversely, concepts derived from game theory such as the Kelly formula can be transferred to financial markets.

Due to the variance of the game and the finite sample sizes, no poker player knows his real expected value, i. H. its win rate. But even with a player with a positive win rate, the risk of ruin can be close to 100% due to the variance inherent in the game.

This risk can only be reduced by a smaller choice of stakes. The general guideline in no-limit cash game is to have at least 20-30 full buyins (i.e. 30 × 100 big blinds) for the limit you are playing at any time. If this is no longer the case, correct bankroll management requires you to play smaller bets. The fewer opponents there are at the table, the more buyins you need, as this increases the variance. For tournaments , 200 buyins (entry fee) are often given as a guideline (all information for No Limit Texas Hold'em ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see: Chen, Ankenman: The Mathematics of Poker , Chapter 4
  2. ^ Dan Carter - Bankroll Management , gambling.co.uk, accessed June 7, 2020.