Song365 – In No-Limit Texas Hold’em there are two Queens and two Jacks. As with all the high cards, these cards are gold. royalties will go a long way inaying any return on your investment. However, in low limit games you won’t be able to see these cards too often, and when you do, you will usually only be up against a small pocket pair. When you’re playing online No-Limit Hold’em you need to be very careful when you play against pocket Queens and Jacks. Your ability to read your opponents is very limited, and hitting these cards becomes that much more vital.
So many players are arm-deep into learning how to play the pocket Queens and Jacks. On low limit tables, you won’t see too many of these cards, and when you do, you often can’t get away from them. When you hit a Queen or a Jack, suddenly everyone expect you to carry on throwing money around. It can be a lot of fun to be in position and watch people’s reaction to your cards. Sometimes they will hit the flop hard, and that’s when you can sure up your hand.
Your ability to read your opponents’ cards is not necessarily cut and dry. That’s why it’s so important to adjust the way you play. If you’re sitting in early position with no one behind you, you should pick your spots more carefully. If you have a curious flop, you may want to check-raise rather than just calling to try and build a pot.
Your biggest advantage as a remipoker player is your relative position to the other players. If you can see what types of hands your opponents play, and what their tendencies are, you can therein play your hands accordingly. If you act very confidently when you are in your early position, you will have a much better indication of what cards the other players have. Sitting in late position, you will be at a great disadvantage. You must adapt your play and thinking quickly to take advantage of your situation.
If you’re playing for no money, or a small amount of money, you should not play speculative hands. speculative hands are best played in late position. You can get into a habit of playing these hands without any restriction, as loose players will call you readily when you’re in the right spot, but if you’re playing for cold hard cash, you should be Playing QQ/KK, or playing very cautiously.
It’s also important to note that many of these hands can brick your chip stack. If you play QQ and there’s a raise, you can be in serious trouble. Many players seem to realize this, and it’s important to play these hands only when you have a very high pocket pair like KK or AA. Anything else, you can get in trouble and someone behind you will hit a better card.
These points are also incurred in Limit rooms. The principle difference is that players know the tight rules of thumb, so they don’t adapt their game as much. One of the things to realize is that the more loose a player is, the tighter the stakes will be. When someone is calling you frequently, and everything seems fine, then you can factor this into your pre-flop decision process. If you want to play a hand, you need a better hand than the one you have. Likewise, if your chip stack is low, you will play your cards tighter, and you will be safer.
If you can understand these two aspects of the game, you should be able to play Perfect Poker. If you can’t, then you can do one or the other, or both. You need to be able to understand positions, and you need to be able to recognize the opportunities when they come around. Sometimes the only thing you need to do is figure out what position you are in, and stay in that position. As the chips fall into your table, you will be able to figure out what to do.
The problems that you will run into, will be in forcing these situations to your advantage. You can’t sit there with a AA and a high pair, expecting to draw out. If you make a pair, even deuces, you will have someone with an AK who is going to call you. It’s rare, but some people will call you all the way to the river when they hit a pair of aces. This isn’t because they like your cards, or that they like your hand, it’s because they like their hand a lot more than yours does.
Making these adjustments, in no time at all, will lead to the sort of quick correct decision that will have you leaving your poker game a much better winner than you were before you went on vacation. If you are a losing player, you will do a lot worse than you did before you went on vacation.