How To Play Tight-Aggressive

There are four main poker playing "styles":

1. Loose-Passive
2. Loose-Aggressive
3. Tight-Passive
4. Tight-Aggressive

The first part of each style refers to which HANDS are being
played. "Loose" describes someone who plays a wide variety
of hands. "Tight" describes someone who is more selective
and only plays good hands.

The second part of each style refers to the BETTING. Someone
who's "passive" often CALLS and doesn't raise the pot much.
An "aggressive" player makes frequent bets and raises.

In general, the most effective poker style is
TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE. I'll discuss the reasons WHY in a moment.
But first, let's take a look at each style and learn the
strategies for winning against them...


LOOSE-PASSIVE

Loose-passive is the most "amateur" style of play. These
fish like to play a wide-range of starting hands and rarely
fold before the flop.

They'll check-call after the flop (and on the turn and on
the river) with hands like middle pair, ace  high, or even
low pair. That's why they're often nicknamed "calling
stations".

When you spot this type of player, you want to wait for a
good hand and then bet into them consistently. But DON'T bet
too much unless you want to scare them out.

Usually, the best technique is to "milk" them for chips
before the flop, after the flop, after the turn, and after
the river.

If you're going to bluff a loose-passive player, do so
AGGRESSIVELY... otherwise they might call.

Also, be selective when you attack. The loose-passive player
might have top pair and STILL just check-call it. So be
careful.


LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE

This is the "maniac" or "manic" playing style.

A manic can empty your pockets quickly if you don't use the
proper strategy against him.

You must be PATIENT and understand how to "get under the
skin" of a manic player. Do NOT let him upset you.

For instance, a manic will often play bad starting hands...
or even RAISE with them. When he hits, no one knows what to
put him on, which is part of the reason why he's so
dangerous.

Let's say a manic calls a pre-flop raise with 2-4 offsuit
and the flop comes:

A-3-5

Jerry is holding A-K, and so he obviously thinks he has the
best hand. The turn card is a King and the river is a 10.

Jerry ends up losing a ton of chips to the manic's straight.

And THEN WHAT HAPPENS is Jerry goes on tilt and starts
calling the manic's raises and loses his composure. This is
how the manic can break you.

In order to beat a manic you must wait for a strong hand.
The manic's weakness is that he HATES being raised or
"bullied". Also, I've found that most manics feel
"pot-committed" much more easily.

When you get heads-up with a manic (and you have a strong
hand), raise him or make small bets that entice him to
bluff.

Let the manic come to you... let him make the wrong move at
the wrong time and you'll be able to take his chips. Often
all at once.


TIGHT-PASSIVE

Tight-passive players are fairly easy to beat. If they bet
or raise, get out of there. Otherwise, you can consistently
represent the flop and bluff them out of pots.

Tight-passive players will often "survive" for a long time
in a game because they never risk too many chips. But
eventually they'll get "blinded to death".

Use bluffs, semi-bluffs, and aggressive bets to take a
tight-passive player's chip stack.


TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE

OK, so now we're to the PREFERRED playing style for Texas
Holdem... and that's tight-aggressive.

Tight-aggressive players choose their starting hands wisely.
They rarely "limp-in". Instead, they usually either FOLD or
RAISE before the flop.

After the flop, they'll make aggressive bets if they've got
a hand or if they raised pre-flop.

The reason a tight-aggressive playing style is so effective
is because you only risk chips when you've got a good hand.
But when you DO risk chips, you risk a LOT of them... so it
only takes a couple wins to build a nice-sized stack.

This is the playing style used and recommended by just about
every professional card player.

It's often referred to as "aggressively smart" or "selective
aggression".

Now, the DOWNSIDE of a tight-aggressive style is that it's
often easy to read. This style can often build a tight table
image... and when that happens, your opponents won't give
you action for your big hands.

So how do you solve this problem?

The solution is to INTENTIONALLY establish a LOOSE table
image... by carefully choosing times in the game to play
like a "manic".

For example... once in awhile... show a bluff. Especially
near the beginning of the game. You'll want to do this when
you sense weakness and have good positioning-- just as you'd
do with any good bluff.

Let's say you pick up 8-7 clubs on the button and three
players limp-in. You raise 7x the big blind and everyone
folds.

That's when you flip over your suited-connectors and say,
"C'mon guys, I just KNOW someone had my eight high beat..."

A move like this is usually enough... depending on the
table... to get you action for your big hands later.

That way when you pick up K-K on the button a bit later...
and make the SAME pre-flop raise of 7x the big blind, you
get a caller or two.

A huge advantage of playing tight-aggressive is that many of
your opponents won't distinguish between LOOSE and
AGGRESSIVE.

As we discussed, "loose" is related to which hands you'll
play... and "aggressive" is related to betting.

If you raise aggressively with strong hands... and then mix
it up with the occasional well-timed bluff... you'll be able
to throw your opponents off and keep them guessing every
step of the way.

Of course, as you know, there are many "degrees" in between
these four main playing styles...

Even though you should use TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE as your main
style, you must be able "shift gears" and mix up your
approach throughout the game... that way you don't become
predictable.

More importantly, you must learn WHEN to shift gears... HOW
to vary your playing style... and special "tricks" you can
use to FOOL your opponents without risking too many chips.

When you learn skills like these, you'll be able to
CONSISTENTLY win at Texas Holdem poker-- at virtually any
level-- and immediately raise your "poker profits".

Poker Jokes

You'll really get a kick out of this...

Awhile back I attended the *Card Player Of The Year* awards
show and saw a stand-up performance by Brad Garrett.

Brad Garrett is the guy from "Everybody Loves Raymond"... he
plays Ray's brother (the big tall one with the deep voice).

Anyway, he is FREAKING HILARIOUS. I honestly don't know if
I've ever laughed so hard in my entire LIFE!

He completely busted on all the professional poker players
in the audience. It was ruthless. Below are some of the
jokes I remember.

GET READY TO LAUGH!

(Disclaimer: Please don't read on if you have sensitive
ears. Remember that these aren't MY jokes... I'm just
recounting what I heard at the awards show!)


*** JOKES TOLD BY BRAD GARRETT ***

Right away Garrett started ripping on Phil Hellmuth:

"We've got Phil Hellmuth in the house tonight... No one told
me that, I just know because I heard WHINING as I came in."

"Next year we're actually gonna have the award show OUTSIDE,
that way Phil can bring his ego..."

LOL.

Then it was on to Mike "The Mouth" Matusow...

"Mike Matusow is also here tonight. Hey Mike, where you at?
Oh wow... I'm surprised you can raise your hand with those
cuffs on!"

"Mike Matusow is nominated for an award tonight, which
proves Darwin didn't know s**t!"

Later, Matusow presented the award for "Best Poker
Ambassador". Here's what Brad Garrett had to say about that:

"Having Mike Matusow present the award for Best Poker
Ambassador is like having Dick Cheney present an award for
marksmanship."

Then it REALLY got bad...

"Jennifer Tilly is shacking up with Phil Laak, the
Unabomber. Jennifer told me backstage that "Unabomber" is
code for one testicle-- and apparently she's having a ball."

"I love watching Jennifer Tilly on that celebrity poker TV
show... people, those aren't nipples. Those are triples!"

"Jennifer has the best rack in all of poker-- Wait, I take
that back. She has the second best rack in all of poker. The
best belongs to GREG RAYMER!"

(OUCH)

"When Greg Raymer says "all-in", it's at the buffet table."

"Greg, you seem like a really nice guy, and you won a couple
million dollars last year... now try eating a f***in salad!"

Garrett had plenty of one-liners for others in the audience
too:

"Amir Vahedi, I haven't seen him since flight school..."

After the break:

"Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. The theater wants me to
remind everyone that there's no smoking inside. Amir, please
put out your shoe."

To Doyle Brunson and his son Todd:

"Hey Doyle, the Civil War called, they found your journals."

"Todd Brunson skipped the clan meeting to be here."

When speaking to Daniel Negreanu:

"Don't worry Daniel, I'm sure your nuts will drop soon."

To Scotty Nguyen:

"Please Scotty, have a sandwich. You look like my X-ray."

And last but not least, Garrett cracked on Barry "Robin
Hood" Greenstein. Here's what he said:

"Barry Greenstein gives all his winnings to charity...  of
course, Charity happens to be a STRIPPER who works the late
shift at Spearmint Rhino. If you hurry Barry, you can catch
her after the show!"

***


OH LORD it was damn funny! Even as I write this I'm cracking
up again.

Whew, what a night.

If you ever get a chance to attend something like this, I
HIGHLY recommend it.

Often times the casinos will give away tickets and full-paid
packages to major poker events like this... as prizes in
their tournaments.

Next time I come across something I'll be sure to email you
about it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Brad Garrett jokes as much as I
did!

HOW TO CALCULATE "BETTING PERCENTAGE"

So now we need to learn how to calculate "betting
percentage". Luckily, this is very simple.

The two numbers you need to compare are:

1. Bet size
2. Pot size

The FORMULA is this:

Bet Size / (Pot Size + Bet Size)

For example, let's say there's $90 in the pot and the bet is
$10. The betting percentage would be $10 divided by $100
($90 + $10)... or 10%.

If you were looking at it strictly in terms of odds, you'd
say your chances were 90:10.

90:10 means you'd miss 90 times and hit 10 times. That's a
total of making it 10 times out of 100 times, which equals
10%.

Now... the FINAL part to all of this is to compare your HAND
ODDS to your BETTING ODDS.

If you have a higher percentage chance of MAKING your hand
than the betting percentage, you should call...

Let's look at some examples to make sense of all this
madness...

Example:

You've got A-2 of diamonds and the flop hits:

5d-Qd-Ks

That means there are two diamonds on the board and two in
your hand... so you've got the nut flush draw.

You're on the button. There's $40 in the pot from before the
flop. Don bets $20 after the flop and three players call.
The action is to you.

So the pot size equals $120, and you need to decide whether
to call or not.

If you based your decision strictly on odds, here's how it
would look:

You have nine OUTS... since there are thirteen diamonds in
the deck and you already see four of them (13 minus 4 = 9).

So we plug NINE into our handy formula...

9 x 2 = 18

Add 1 = 19% chance of making the flush

Now... if we look at the chart (we don't need to), we see
that the real percentage is 19.15%.

Presto. Works like a charm.

Now we just need to compare the bet size and pot size to
find our "betting percentage".

The bet size is $20 and there's $120 in the pot.

So we divide $20 by $140 ($120 + $20).

We don't even need to do the math. We just need to figure
out if it's BIGGER or SMALLER than 19% (which can be rounded
to 20%).

Obviously, 20/140 is smaller than 20%.

The conclusion?

Well that means our odds of GETTING another diamond and
completing our hand are HIGHER than the betting percentage.

This means our pot odds are GOOD. We should call or raise...
but not fold.

OK, now for another quick example:

Let's say we've got K-J of spades and the flop hits:

Ah-10d-4c

No spades... but we have an inside straight draw. All we
need is the Queen.

Let's use the same numbers from the last example:

Pot Size = $120
Bet Size = $20

Should we fold or call?

20/140 equals 1/7. We need to figure out if our odds of
hitting our inside straight are higher or lower.

Well, since the only card that can really help us is a
Queen, we have FOUR outs (the four Queens).

So we double the four and add one...

(4 x 2) + 1 = 9% of getting our Queen on the turn.

The REAL percentage is 8.51%. Pretty close.

So what's bigger... 1/7 or 9%?

The answer is 1/7.

I always just round numbers to keep it simple. In my mind,
9% is about 10%, which would be 1/10. Obviously 1/7 is
higher than 1/10.

So that means our betting percentage is higher than our hand
odds... which is bad.

So we fold.

In order to call, the betting percentage would have needed
to be LOWER than 9%. And as you know, that's VERY RARE.

So... that's it. That's the "quick and dirty" way to
calculate pot odds. Here's the 3-step review:

1. Double your outs and add 1. This equals your approximate
percentage of "hitting".

2. Divide the bet size by the pot size added to the bet
size. (Bet Size / [Pot Size + Bet Size])

3. Compare the "hand odds" to the "bet odds". If the hand
odds are higher, you should stay in the hand. If the hand
odds are smaller, get out.

That's it.

At first some of this may seem like an awful lot of work and
effort... and requires extra THINKING.

But if you're serious about poker, you've got to try these
types of things. What you'll discover is that after using
this stuff for a little while, it all becomes NATURAL in no
time.

And soon you'll never have to actually do ANY of this.

For example... after figuring it out a couple times, you'll
quickly learn that you should NOT chase inside straights.
It's not worth it.

Also, you shouldn't stay in a hand with just an Ace high
hoping to hit top pair (unless it's a heads-up match or
something).

And so on.

But the BAD NEWS is that calculating odds doesn't always
give you clear cut "answers". Odds are just another piece of
the puzzle... to be added to your poker "weapons".

In the first example I shared with you, we were on the nut
flush draw with multiple players in the hand. This is a
situation where the IMPLIED ODDS are so enormous that the
"real" odds don't matter.

Because think about it: If you hit your flush, someone ELSE
probably hit it too... except you'll have the NUTS. This
means you're very likely to get someone's ENTIRE chip stack.

Also... odds don't tell you whether to CALL or RAISE. As you
know, raising is a key part of the game, and can often buy
you a "free card" while on a draw.

And in the same way, it's not even really "possible" to
calculate the exact number of OUTS or the exact POT SIZE.

For instance... if there are three opponents in a hand and
two diamonds on the board, you'd better believe SOMEONE ELSE
is holding two diamonds. So you don't REALLY have nine
outs... since more than four diamonds are being used.

If you aren't last to act, the exact pot size is unknown
because you DON'T KNOW what the player(s) behind you will
do. They may fold, they may call, or they may RAISE.

These are the EXACT reasons why the game of Texas Holdem is
so complex and unpredictable... and exciting.

How To Calculate Pot Odds

You DON'T need to be a "math genius" to understand poker
odds...

Not at all.

In fact, you can be TERRIBLE at math (like me) and still be
able to use "odds" to your advantage at the no limit Holdem
tables.

There are TWO main things you need to learn right away:

1. The concept of OUTS
2. The concept of POT SIZE

These are easy. Let's start with the first.

"Outs" refers to the number of cards in the deck that will
complete (or "make") your hand.

For instance... if you have Ace-King and the board reads
Q-J-4, you need a ten to make your straight.

Since there are four tens in the deck, you have FOUR OUTS.

Or... let's say you're holding Q-J and the board reads
K-10-5. That means you have an open-ended straight draw--
either the Ace or the nine will complete your straight.

Since there are four nines and four Aces in the deck, you
have EIGHT OUTS.

Let's do one more. Let's say you've got 8-7 of clubs and the
board reads 2c-Ad-Kc-3s. That means there are two clubs on
the board and two in your hand. If one more club hits on the
river, you'll have a flush.

There are a total of thirteen clubs in the deck (thirteen of
each suit times four suits equals fifty-two cards).

But that DOESN'T mean you have thirteen outs, because you're
already using four of the clubs.

Instead, you have NINE OUTS (thirteen minus four). If any of
those nine cards hits on the river, you'll have a flush.

OK... so that's how you calculate OUTS. We'll do some more
in-depth examples in a minute, but first let's talk about
POT SIZE.

Pot size is how much money is in the pot. Pretty simple,
right?

There are three main parts to pot size:

1. How much money is already in the middle
2. How much is bet in the current round of betting
3. How much WILL be bet in the current round

Let me explain.

Let's say four players call the big blind of $4 in a game.
That means there's $16 in the middle.

The flop comes out. You're on the button, which means you're
LAST to act. Player 1 bets $10 into the pot. Player 2 calls,
and Player 3 folds. Now it's your turn. What's the current
pot size?

The answer is $36. There's the $16 that was in the middle
first, then $20 more from Players 1 and 2.

The $16 is the first part, the $20 is the second part, and
there is no third part since you were last to act.

Let's take another look. Let's say you were SECOND TO ACT,
instead of on the button.

Four players call the big blind of $4, which means there's
$16 in the pot. Player 1 bets $10, and now you must make a
decision. What's the pot size?

Well, it's $16 + $10 + UNKNOWN.

Why "unknown"?

The reason is you DON'T KNOW if the two players BEHIND you
are going to call, raise, or fold. So you really don't KNOW
the exact pot size.

This is a fundamental reason why math doesn't solve all your
problems in poker. You must use your INSTINCTS to "guess" or
"infer".

In this case, you would try to guess whether or not the
other two players would call or fold (or raise) and make
your decision then. This is also another reason why
POSITIONING in a hand is so important.

One more thing about pot size before we move on...

A lot of players don't know whether to count THEIR OWN MONEY
in the actual pot size.

The answer is you count your own money that's ALREADY THERE
from before. In the example, your big blind of $4 is already
in the pot... so you DO use it to calculate the pot size.

Once your money is in the middle, it isn't yours any more.
Period.

But you would NOT include your $10 in the pot size, because
you haven't put it in yet. You're THINKING about putting it
in.

Make sense?

Let's say you called the $10 bet from Player 1 and the other
players all folded. The turn card comes and Player 1 bets
$20. What's the pot size?

Well, it's $16 from pre-flop, $20 after the flop, and now
$20 after the turn.

You DO count your $10 after the flop because now it IS
already in the middle.

OK... so what does OUTS and POT SIZE have to do with ODDS?

The answer is EVERYTHING.

Now that you know these two basics, you're ready to start
calculating "complicated" poker odds.

To calculate odds, you need four pieces of information:

1. Number of outs
2. Number of "unknown" cards in the deck
3. Pot size
4. Current bet amount

We talked about the outs and pot size. The other two are
very straightforward.

The number of "unknown" cards in the deck simply means how
many cards you DON'T KNOW. Before the flop, there are 50
cards you don't know. You only know the two in your hand.

After the flop, there are 47 cards you don't know. You know
the two in your hand and the three on the board and that's
it.

After the turn there are 46 cards you don't know.

Like I said, this is simple stuff.

And the CURRENT BET AMOUNT is just... well, the current bet
amount. It's how much you must put in the pot to "call".

OK, let's review.

Let's say you get dealt J-10 offsuit. You call the big blind
of $6 and so does one other player. The small blind folds.
The player in the big blind checks. That means the POT SIZE
is $21 ($6 + $6 + $6 + $3).

The flop comes out Q-2-9. You've got an open-ended straight
draw. Either a King or an eight will make your straight.
Since there are four Kings and four eights in the deck,
you've got EIGHT OUTS.

There are 47 unknown CARDS in the deck (52 cards minus the
five that you see).

You're second to act. The first player bets $12. That means
$12 is the CURRENT BET AMOUNT.

The POT SIZE is $21 + $12 + UNKNOWN. The unknown is what the
player after you does...

So there you have it... those are the four pieces of
information you need. The only thing you don't know for SURE
is the pot size in this example.

Sometimes you'll know the pot size exactly (like when you
have good positioning). Other times you'll just have to
estimate.

OK, let's do some odds.

THE WAY TO CALCULATE ODDS IS TO COMPARE THE ODDS OF MAKING
YOUR HAND TO THE ODDS OF THE POT.

Here's the exact "formula":

(Unknown Cards - Outs) : Outs

VERSUS

Pot Size : Current Bet Amount

If the first comparison is smaller than the second one,
that's good. It means that "pot odds justify a call" (or
raise).

For instance, if you have 12 outs and there are 47 unknown
cards, that means you have ABOUT a 25% chance of "making"
your hand.

The odds against you are 35:12, or about 3:1.

Remember... when you see two numbers like X:X, the first
number is the chance of one thing happening against the
chance of the second thing happening. You'll miss your hand
three times and make it once. That's 1/4 or 25% or 3:1.

Now let's say the pot size is $50 and the current bet amount
is $10. That means the odds would be $50:$10, or 5:1.

It's easiest to look at in the X:X format and not use
percentages.

OK, so here's what you've got for this example:

Outs = 12
Unknown Cards = 47
Current Bet Amount = 10
Pot Size = 50

There are 35 cards that WON'T HELP YOU (47 - 12).

So the odds are 35:12 for the cards.

And for the pot it's 50:10. You don't add your $10 to the
first number. Just use the current pot size.

35:12 is about 3:1.
50:10 equals 5:1.

The entire point of calculating odds is to make a good
decision. To make a decision of whether or not to call a $10
bet here, you would compare the 3:1 versus 5:1.

The odds here are IN YOUR FAVOR.

If this scenario played out four times, here's how it would
look STATISTICALLY:

- You lose $10.
- You lose $10.
- You win $50.
- You lose $10.

You lose three times and win once (3:1). When you add your
losses it equals $30 but your wins are $50, giving you a $20
profit.

If the scenario happened eight times you'd win twice and
lose six times. That means you'd lose $60 and win $100...
for a $40 profit.

For real life poker situations, the key is to calculate
whether or not you can "justify" staying in the hand.

Let's say you have A-8 and the flop comes out:

K-10-4

Someone bets $10 and the pot size is $20. What should you
do?

Well, you don't have anything but an Ace high. If the Ace
comes on the turn, you'd have top pair. So let's ASSUME that
your top pair would be the winning hand.

That means there are three cards in the deck that can help
you (the other three Aces). And there areexactly 47 unknown
cards in the deck.

So we have our numbers:

Outs = 3
Unknown Cards = 47
Current Bet Amount = 10
Pot Size = 20

Using our formula...

(47 - 3) : 3

VERSUS...

20 : 10

So the numbers come out 44:3 (about 15:1) versus 2:1. Should
you call?

Of course not.

You're only getting 2:1 for your money but your chances of
winning the hand are very slim.

If the hand played out 16 times you would win ONCE. So you'd
lose $150 (15 X $10) and win $20, for a total loss of $130.

You're always striving for good odds on your money and good
odds on your hand.

Good odds on your hand means the X:X number is as SMALL AS
POSSIBLE... because you want lots of outs. You don't want
there to be only one or two cards in the deck that can help
you. You want fractions like 47:12, 46:10, 46:8, and so on.

Good odds on your money means the X:X number is BIG. You
want 10:1, 5:1, 12:1, and so on.

OK, I'm going to give one more example. See if you're smart
enough to figure this out on your own (you may need to use a
scratch piece of paper)...

You're second to act pre-flop and look down to see Kc-Jc.
You limp-in by calling the $4 big blind.

Three other players call. The small blind (who put in $2)
folds.

The player in the big blind decides to RAISE the pot to $8.
You call. Two of the other three players call... but one
folds.

So now there are four players total in the hand... the guy
in the big blind, you, and the two other callers. (Still
with me here?)

The flop comes out:

Ac-4s-8c

What a great flop for you. You've got the nut flush draw.

The player in the big blind is first to act. He checks. You
check also (which I would NOT recommend doing here, by the
way).

The next player bets $16. The next one calls. The guy who
made the original pre-flop raise folds.

So now the action is on to you.

What is the...

Number of outs?
Number of unknown cards?
Current bet amount?
Pot size?

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...

Should you call?

See if you can figure it out before I give you the answer.

...

...

...

...

OK, so the answer is this:

Yes, you should call.

The pot size is $70. The current bet amount is $16. The
number of outs is 9. And the number of unknown cards is 47.

The pot size was the hardest thing to figure out.
Remember... the small blind folded his $2. Another player
folded their $4. So there was $6 in the middle, plus $32
with the four callers. So $38 before the flop.

Then there were two players in for $16 after the flop, which
equals $32. $38 + $32 = $70. Luckily, there weren't any
other players left to act after you in this exact round of
betting.

The number of outs is simple. Thirteen clubs in the deck
minus the four you already see equals nine. And the number
of unknown cards is 52 minus the five you see... which
equals 47.

Plugging those numbers into our handy "formula" gives us:

(47-9):9 Versus 70:16

That's equal to 38:9 versus 70:16

Now you might be wondering, "How the hell am I supposed to
know what 70 divided by 16 is or 38 divided by 9? It's not
like I'll have a calculator handy at the table!"

True.

But you don't have to know the EXACT numbers. All you need
to know is if the second one is bigger than the first. And
that's pretty easy.

When I do it, here's what goes on in my head:

"38 over 9 is about the same as 36 over 9, which equals 4.
That means 38 over 9 is 4 and 2/9ths.

70 over 16 is closest to 64 over 16, which also equals 4.
That means 70 over 16 is 4 and 6/16ths.

Now I just have to compare 2/9 to 6/16. 2/9 is like 2/10,
which equals .2. 6/16 is kind of like 6/18, which is .33. So
the second one is bigger."

And that means the call IS justified.

Now let me clarify something...

In this example the two numbers are VERY close (4.22 versus
4.375). Usually they WON'T be that close. Usually they'll be
something like 3.3 versus 8.2 or 2.5 versus 4.1.

That means in MOST cases you won't have to do all that
fraction stuff. OR, even if you DO have those fractions, you
won't need to calculate it. You'll probably just consider it
"about even" and make your decision based on other factors.

All right... so that's basically how you calculate pot odds.
Of course, there's more.

You also want to know IMPLIED ODDS. Implied odds aren't as
math-related. Implied odds basically pertain to hands where
you can "bust" or "surprise" your opponents.

In the last example, you were on the nut flush draw, because
you had the King of clubs and the Ace of clubs was on the
board.

If your opponent was ALSO on the flush draw and he had the
QUEEN of clubs, this would be very good for you...

Because if another club hit on the turn, you and your
opponent would both have flushes. But yours would be higher.

In this case, your opponent would likely go "all-in" and you
would win a TON of chips.

So even though the "odds" on your money are 4.375:1, they're
actually higher because of the "implied odds" of your NUT
flush draw.

Besides implied odds, you'll also have to think about the
"unknown" pot size, as we discussed. Many times you just
won't KNOW the exact pot size, and will be forced to guess.

Also... you must be careful to consider what your OPPONENTS
are holding...

Let's say you're holding As-5h and the board reads:

8h-Qh-2h

You have the flush draw. And the odds of "making" it are
good. But that doesn't mean you want to calculate the nine
other hearts in the deck as your "outs".

Why?

Because all your opponents need to BEAT you is a heart
higher than a FIVE. And someone most likely has it.

The point is, when you calculate OUTS, you want to calculate
outs based on making the WINNING HAND.

And obviously there's no way to know for sure what the
winning hand will be... unless you've got the nuts.

So as you can see... there are a LOT of different factors to
take into consideration.

Calculating pot odds is a useful technique for the right
situations. Over the long term, it can become very handy and
will help you make sound, logical decisions at the poker
table.

And fortunately, after practicing pot odds for a few games,
most of the numbers will become "instinctual" very quickly.

That's why I recommend you download and use an "odds
calculator" when you play online poker. Calculators will
AUTOMATICALLY show you the odds of every situation you're
in... no effort or manual work required.

In the same way that you can't build a house with just a
HAMMER, you can't base your entire game on ODDS or math.

My innovative No Limit Holdem Secrets course will give you
the "picks and shovels" you need to start building your
poker game... brick by brick.

We'll build a solid foundation of skills and strategies, and
then go through step-by-step examples so that it becomes
"second nature" for you.

You'll get the "fast track" to successfully building your
bankroll, playing in higher stakes games, and making your
living in the poker world.

Winning Poker Lessons From Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is one smart dude. And RICH.

He's the second richest man in the WORLD... right behind
Bill Gates. Forbes estimates that his net worth is $40
BILLION.

(How's THAT for a bankroll?)

What's interesting about Buffett is that he made his fortune
over a LONGGG period of time... by consistently beating the
stock market year after year after year.

He wasn't one of those "overnight" dot-com billionaires.

He wasn't "lucky" to be in the right place at the right
time.

He didn't "invent" some new technology that changed the
world.

Nope... all he did was invest and "pick winners" over and
over. Since taking control of Berkshire 40 years ago,
Buffett has delivered a compound annual return of 22%.

AND JUST BY DOING THAT, he became the 2nd richest man alive.

OK-- so why am I rambling on about 75-year old man who's
good at investing?

The reason is because I've realized that there are DOZENS of
important parallels between the STOCK MARKET and POKER.

Here are just a few:

* The stock market is often considered "gambling", due to
its unpredictable nature... just as POKER is often
considered gambling, even though it's a SKILL game.

* The stock market has a heavy emphasis on odds and
mathematics... just like poker.

* The stock market is predominately a male-driven
industry... just like poker.

* The stock market has PLENTY of up's and down's, and
"streaks"... just like poker.

* And so on.

Of course, these are "surface" similarities.

Now think about the PSYCHOLOGY of poker and the stock
market... and how they're often EXACTLY THE SAME:

* In the stock market, everyone dreams of buying that one
MIRACLE STOCK that will go from $2 to $200 and make them
rich...

In poker, everyone has their "pipe dream" of winning a huge
million-dollar tournament on ESPN.

* When a stock tanks, most investors FREAK OUT and
immediately make several bad investment decisions in a row.
It's usually THESE decisions that hurt them the most.

In poker, this is known as "tilt". Bad beats cause some
damage... but it's usually the decisions you make AFTER the
bad beats that cause you to lose the game.

* Believe it or not, most stock investors come out on the
LOSING END over time... even though the market has
historically gone UP year after year.

Most poker players end up losing over time also, despite all
the "fish" out there to prey on.

* And so on.

OK, so you get the idea.

Lately I've been reading a lot of books about the stock
market... and especially about Warren Buffett. (Hell, I need
somewhere to invest all these poker winnings!)

Anyway, here's what's REALLY interesting:

Warren Buffett's INVESTMENT APPROACH is almost identical to
the POKER STRATEGY I use every day.

And it's the SAME approach used by top poker pros to
consistently win tournaments and ring games...

Interesting, huh?

Of course, it makes sense when you think about it.

If poker and investing are similar, then the guys who beat
the STOCK MARKET probably use the same techniques as the
guys who win at POKER.

And who better to learn poker from than the "KING" of the
stock market... and the 2nd richest man in the world?


  *** WARREN BUFFETT'S WINNING APPROACH ***


Warren Buffett operates on PRINCIPLES. He doesn't get caught
up in "hype" or emotion.

Below are the five MOST IMPORTANT principles that he
follows... and how they relate to your poker game.


PRINCIPLE 1: PATIENCE IS KEY.


Patience, patience, patience!

It's the number one mistake that causes most poker players
to lose... and it's one of the "secrets" to Buffett's 22%
annual returns.

Warren Buffett does not make an investment unless he is
absolutely 100% confident that it will make him money.

That means he PASSES UP a lot of great investment
opportunities.

Warren Buffett has said "no" to stocks that ended up
increasing by 10,000%!

But more importantly... he's passed up all those other
stocks that LOOKED GOOD, but PLUMMETED later.

The problem is, us human beings are addicted to ACTION and
MOVEMENT and EXCITEMENT. We don't want to just sit around
and WAIT.

But that's EXACTLY what Buffett does...

He waits.

And waits.

And waits.

He KNOWS that sooner or later, a GREAT opportunity will come
up... and then he'll jump on it.

It's the same way with poker.

You've GOT to be patient. We all want to "get in there" and
make strong bets... bluff out opponents... and take down
lots of pots. We want ACTION.

BUT THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT.

You've got to sit back... be patient... and WAIT.

Wait for good cards.

Wait for the PERFECT time to bust the manic at the table.

Wait for the PERFECT time to steal the blinds.

Wait for the PERFECT time to bluff out an opponent.

Wait for the PERFECT time to go all-in.

And then when you DO make a move...


PRINCIPLE 2: MAINTAIN A "LOW TURNOVER" PORTFOLIO OF JUST A
FEW STOCKS.


Buffett insists on keeping 10-20% turnover with his
portfolio. This means he generally holds onto a stock for
5-10 years... AT LEAST.

This is obviously OPPOSITE of how most investors do it. Most
investors are checking the tickers every HOUR-- watching for
the slightest indication of movement or news.

More importantly... Buffett only invests in a FEW STOCKS AT
A TIME.

Now THIS is crucial, because it goes against everything
you've ever learned.

Growing up, you probably heard this advice a lot:

"Never put all your eggs in one basket."

Right?

Well, Warren Buffett does the OPPOSITE.

He puts all his eggs in one basket... but... he chooses that
basket VERY CAREFULLY!

You see, Buffett believes that if you've done your homework
and you're confident in your decision, there's NO NEED to
"diversify".

In fact, he believes this is the ONLY REAL WAY to get rich
in the stock market. Because if you buy LOTS of stocks, some
are doomed to go down... and that will hurt your gains.

Now think how this relates to poker.

In poker, most players risk money on LOTS of pots, and try
to get the best odds for each one... maybe 55%, 60%, and the
OCCASIONAL 70% or higher.

What PROFESSIONAL poker players do is only play those
OCCASIONAL pots with the best odds.

BUT, they risk more chips when they do it...

So instead of risking 20% of your chip stack five times...
you want to risk 90% of your chip stack ONE time. But you
choose that time VERY CAREFULLY!

For instance, let's say the "average" poker player enters
three pots where he feels the odds are in his favor.

The three pots go like this:

1.) He risks 1000 in chips with 60% odds.
2.) He risks 1000 in chips with 50% odds.
3.) He risks 1000 in chips with 60% odds.

Now... MATHEMATICALLY speaking... there are EIGHT different
ways these scenarios can go. They are as follows (a win is
designated with "W" and a loss with "L"):

1.) W-W-W
2.) W-W-L
3.) W-L-W
4.) W-L-L
5.) L-W-W
6.) L-W-L
7.) L-L-W
8.) L-L-L

If he wins all three, he ends up with 3000 chips in profit.

If he wins two but loses one, he ends up with just 1000
chips in profit.

If he LOSES two but wins one, he ends up with 1000 chips in
losses.

And he if loses all three, he loses 3000 chips total.

Get it?

Now let me share with you the PERCENTAGES of the above
scenarios.

Watch out, this may surprise you.

If you were to play three pots as described above and risk
1000 chips for each one, and do this exercise 100 times,
here's what would happen:

18% of the time you'd win 3,000 chips total.
42% of the time you'd win 1,000 chips total.
32% of the time you'd lose 1,000 chips total.
8% of the time you'd lose 3,000 chips total.

Your "net average" would be to PROFIT 400 CHIPS.

OK... that's the "normal" approach.

Now let's look at the WARREN BUFFETT approach.

Let's say you entered just ONE pot and risked 3000 chips
(instead of 1000) with 70% odds in your favor.

Now watch what happens:

70% of the time you'd win 3,000 chips total.
30% of the time you'd lose 3,000 chips total.

Your "net average" would be to PROFIT 1200 CHIPS.

That's TRIPLE the results over time!

The key is to get BETTER ODDS and RISK MORE.

I better interject here that I do NOT recommend being one of
those players who just sits back, waits for the "nuts", and
then goes all-in.

Not even close.

In fact, if you've read my newsletters you know that I'm a
very aggressive player who loves to push action.

The KEY is that I BUILD THIS IMAGE through techniques based
on feeler bets, positioning, and sensing weakness.

AND WHEN THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY COMES ALONG, I RISK AS MANY
CHIPS AS I CAN!

I know that when the odds are heavily in my favor, it's time
to put my eggs in one basket and go for it...


PRINCIPLE 3: THE STOCK MARKET IS NOT ALWAYS RATIONAL OR
"EFFICIENT".


There's a popular stock market concept called, "Efficient
Market Theory" (EMT).

Most of the world's leading business schools teach this
widely-accepted concept.

However...

Warren Buffett says that the EMT is a bunch of hogwash!

He's actually gone on record saying that part of him LOVES
the fact that business schools teach this theory: It makes
things easier on him because his competition doesn't know
what they're doing!

Now... I'm not going to argue whether the theory is right or
wrong. It doesn't matter for our discussion here.

What I find intriguing is what Buffett believes IS true
about the stock market...

You see, the EMT basically says that the stock market is
"efficient" in its pricing... and that most buy/sell
behavior is "rational".

Buffett disagrees. He is CONSTANTLY scouting for
opportunities where he thinks the market is acting in an
IRRATIONAL manner... and then he jumps on the chance to buy
an under-priced stock.

In other words, a core part of his investment philosophy is
that the stock market is NOT efficient... and that there's
always room to grow your "bankroll" when others act
irrationally.

It's the same with poker.

When you're playing Texas Holdem, you want to spot the
"sucker" at the table... the guy who is making IRRATIONAL
decisions.

This doesn't only apply to amateurs, either. Even PROS have
"irrational" habits, tells, and "tilt" behavior.

Your OPPONENTS will open up millions of "profit
opportunities" for you... if you just watch closely.

And that brings us to the next principle:


PRINCIPLE 4: FOCUS ON THE VALUE OF THE BUSINESS, NOT THE
PRICE OF THE STOCK.


This one has almost a direct translation to poker:

FOCUS ON THE PLAYERS, NOT THE CARDS.

You're not playing poker against the house... you're playing
against your opponents.

With the stock market, everyone is always looking at the
PRICE of a stock to determine if it's worth buying or
selling.

Buffett actually doesn't even look at the price until LAST.
What he looks at is the VALUE OF THE BUSINESS.

He only invests in top-notch businesses that meet specific
conditions. He wants a business with strong growth prospects
LONG TERM, good management, and stable numbers.

Once he finds a business that meets these criteria, THEN he
looks at the price.

When the cards come out, what's the first thing you're
thinking about? What are you looking at?

You should be thinking about your OPPONENTS... the
POSITIONING at the table... the BETTING HABITS you've picked
up in the last few hands... and your opponents' FACES as
they look at their cards.

THEN when the action comes to you and it's YOUR TURN, you
should peek to see what you're holding.

Opponents first, cards second.


PRINCIPLE 5: DEMAND A MARGIN OF SAFETY FOR EVERY PURCHASE.


Warren Buffett is actually a very "conservative" investor,
as are most poker professionals. He'll only buy stocks that
he feels are practically "guaranteed" to go up.

You should demand a "margin of safety" on every hand you
play. This is actually much easier than it sounds.

Some of your tactics should include:

* Avoiding heads-up situations with players who have more
chips, and instead favoring those with fewer chips. (That
way if you go all-in and lose, you can still be in the
game.)

* Buying pots and bluffing when you have good positioning.
(That way you can get a read on your opponent and escape if
things go bad.)

* Only "chasing" draws when the pot odds are CONSIDERABLY in
your favor. (That way you end up way ahead over time.)

* And so on.


  *** PLAY POKER LIKE WARREN BUFFETT ***


Perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT lesson I've learned from Warren
Buffett is to NEVER FEAR doing the "unpopular" thing.

His career PROVES that "going against the grain" is often
the BEST choice.

He doesn't live by what others do... he operates on GUIDING
PRINCIPLES that "win" over time.

Whether it's ways to leverage table positioning, tactics for
defeating common opponent styles, techniques for "stealing
the button", or figuring out the right times to bluff...

...You've got to first learn the POKER PRINCIPLES. And then
you need the GUTS and DISCIPLINE to stick to them.

So where do you learn these principles? And where do you get
the discipline required for long-term success?

The best place to start is with an ODDS CALCULATOR like
Holdem Genius. If Warren Buffet were a Holdem player, my
guess is he'd use an odds calculator ALL THE TIME.