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Playing poker well involves more than knowing which cards beat what. It involves more than memorising the percentages and odds. It involves more than being able to detect tells from changes in someone’s posture, or in the way they glanced at their chips. Understanding the overriding principles of poker is far more important and valuable than being “a good bluffer”. The basic principles of poker override all correct strategies and playing styles.

Here are the principles:

Patience

Patience is the key to successful poker. Whether you are playing in a cash game, or a tournament, you will need this attribute to be a consistent winner. Most hands that you are dealt in poker are not worth playing, and if you start playing trash hands, then your results will usually be trash too.

Occasionally you will be dealt unplayable cards hand after hand. It will seem that you are never going to get any worthwhile cards again, and you will be tempted to play a rubbish hand just because you haven’t played any for a while. Don’t let it get to you. All good players go through stretches where they have bad cards and have to fold, over and over again. Patience is one of the main points that separate the good players from the bad. 

Bide your time, and only play hands when your cards and the situation are both right.

Aggression

Once you get the cards that you were waiting for, aggression becomes paramount. It is no good to get dealt AA, if all that happens is that you check and call on each round of betting.

If you have a hand that is likely to be the best, bet! If someone bets first, and you still think that your hand is better than their hand, raise. Get as much money into the pot as you can. Get it all in if your hand is strong enough and your opponent is inclined to play along with you.

When betting with a strong hand you either want to get more money into the pot when someone calls you with a worse hand, or you want to win the pot immediately (which stops a worse hand getting lucky and hitting a card that would beat you).  Sometimes your opponent will call with a worse hand, and then beat you with a lucky card anyway. Don’t let that bother you. As long as you get your money in as a favourite, you’ve played correctly.

Using aggression to get maximum value from good hands is one of the most important principles of poker.

Deception

The deception principle is this: all actions you take must contain at least an element of deception.

It is very important in poker that you don’t allow your opponents to learn exactly how you play. If you are playing Texas Hold ’em and raise to $20 when you have Aces, $18 when you have Kings, $16 when you have Queens, $14 when you have Jacks etc, it won’t take long for your opponents to work out what you are doing.

But if you raise with Aces 85% of the time, and 15% of the time just call or limp, then your opponents can’t ever be completely certain what you have.

Raising the same amount whenever you decide raise also makes it harder for your opponents to work out what you have. Let’s say you decide to raise to $10 about 85% of the times that you are dealt AA, KK, QQ, AK, or AQ, and just call the other 15% of the time. Now it becomes very hard for your opponents to work out what you have. Because you are usually raising with good hands (as you should) but occasionally just calling with exactly the same hands, you make yourself harder to read.

Let’s take the concept a step further. Let’s say you decide on a strategy that involves calling with pocket 2’s through to pocket 10s, and you decide 80% of the time is a good percentage to call. The remaining 20% of the time you raise.

Now even if you opponents knew your strategy exactly, they still wouldn’t know if your raise means that you have AA or just 22. They can’t tell what you have when you just call either, because you might have 44, or you might have AK.

You have made your moves much more difficult for your opponents to read, and anything that makes your opponents’ job harder, is to your advantage.

If you can master the three principles of poker, then you should be the one walking away with the money.

Texas Hold ‘em poker is the most popular form of poker today. It is a comparatively simple style of poker to learn, but still provides great depth in terms of enjoyment and strategy. The following is an introduction to the basic form of Texas Hold ‘em that is played most commonly today. It is not a strategy guide, but an explanation of how the game is played.

The Button

In Texas Hold ‘em poker, the button is any marker that keeps track of who is dealing. When you play online or at a casino, the dealer will be either a computer or a professional dealer respectively, but a “button” is still used to keep track of where the dealer would theoretically be, since all the poker action takes place in relation to the dealer. The button moves clockwise around the table after each hand, and the player with the button (also known as the player “on the button” or the “button player”) gets his cards last and also bets last in each round of betting other than the “pre-flop” round. 

The Blinds and Antes

To create an incentive to play hands, Texas Hold ‘em poker uses compulsory blind bets or “blinds”. The first 2 players to the left of the button are required to put in the blind bets. Usually the first player to the left of the button puts in the small blind, while the second player puts in the big blind. The size of the blinds will depend on the size of game that you are playing, however the small blind is ordinarily half the size of the big blind. For example in a game of $1/$2 limits, the small blind would be $1 and the big blind would be $2.

Texas Hold ’em cash games generally have no antes, but the late stages of a tournament often do. An ante is a compulsory bet that must be made by every player on the table before the cards are dealt. This ante is in addition to the small and big blind (so if you were in the big blind position, you would put in an ante as well as your big blind).

Dealing and Betting

Starting with the first player to the left of the dealer button, each player is dealt 2 cards face down. These cards are called “pocket cards” or “hole cards”. The first two players to the left of the button “post” the blinds (which means they pay the blinds), and then the first round of betting begins. The first action after the cards are dealt is taken by the person to the left of the big blind. He can choose either to call the big blinds compulsory bet, fold his hand, or raise. After he has made one of those three actions, the next player is allowed to act, using one of the same three actions: call, fold, or raise. In Texas Hold ‘em poker, both blinds are “live”, which means that in the first round of betting (know as “pre-flop”), they get a chance to call, check or raise when the action gets to them. In the pre-flop round of betting, the big blind is the last person to act.

The Flop

After the first round of betting is completed, the “flop” takes place. The flop consists of the dealer laying 3 cards face up in the middle of the table. These cards serve as common or community cards, meaning that all players are able to use those cards for purposes of making their best possible 5 card hand. Another round of betting occurs after the flop, with the action starting with the first player to the left of the button. Only players who have not folded in a previous betting round take part in the flop or subsequent betting rounds.  

The Turn

If there are still 2 or more players who have not folded, we move on to the “turn”. On the turn, a single card is laid face up, next to the cards laid on flop, for a total of 4 community cards. The “turn” betting round ensues, again starting with the first player remaining to the left of the button.

The River

If there are still 2 or more players left who have not folded, we move on to the “river”. The final community card is laid face up, which makes a total of 5 community cards face up on the table. One last round of betting takes place, the “river” betting round, and again it starts with the first player remaining to the left of the button.

Showing Down

If two or more players remain after the river round of betting is complete, a showdown occurs. The winner of the pot is the player who can make the highest ranking 5 card poker hand using any combination of their 2 pocket cards and the 5 community cards. It occasionally happens that the best 5 card hand that anyone can make comprises the 5 community cards on the board. In this situation the remaining players split the pot equally. If two or more players have the same winning hand (two people who both have Pocket Aces for example) the pot is split between those players.

After the showdown, the button moves one person to the left of the dealer, the cards are shuffled, and the next hand is dealt.

Whenever you play poker at an online poker site (or live), the site will usually take either a small percentage of each pot (for cash games) or a small registration fee (for tournaments).

In a cash game for example, the rake might be “5% of each pot, up to a maximum of $5”.

In tournaments the buy in might be listed as “$10 + $1”, where $10 goes towards the prize pool, and $1 is the fee that goes to the site itself.

These fees are called the “rake”, and they are how the casino or poker site makes money.

Some sites allow you to get a refund of a certain percentage of the rake that you have paid. This refund is called rakeback, and it can add up to a very relevant sum of money.

How does Rakeback work?

To get rakeback, most sites require you to input a particular signup code when you first register on the site. If you are already playing on a particular site, you generally aren’t able to add rakeback to your account. If you didn’t sign up with a rakeback code when you originally registered, then you usually can’t get rakeback at all for that site.

Here is how it works:

Lets say a player named Rhys signs up at a poker site that offers 33% rakeback instead of Frequent Player Points. Rhys plays a fair bit of poker: he plays a $20 tournament after work two or three nights a week, plays a few $15 SNGs on the weekend, and usually plays cash games on a couple of tables Saturday night. Let’s say that at the end of the week Rhys has spent a total of $40 in rake.

At the end of the week, the poker site will give Rhys a refund of  33% of the rake he has paid.

33% of $40 = $13.20.

Simple as that. Rhys doesn’t have to do anything special to receive the $13.20. He doesn’t have to email anyone. He doesn’t have to keep track of how much rake he has paid. He doesn’t have to present a coupon. He doesn’t need to do anything other than play poker, and his rakeback gets put straight into his account at the end of the week.

Some sites have a slightly more complicated rakeback method however: You will often need to set up an account with a third party called a “rakeback affiliate”, and then the affiliate pays your rakeback, sometimes by deposit to your poker account, and sometimes by crediting an account that you set up on the affiliate’s site itself.

The amount of rakeback that you receive can add up significantly. It’s not unusual for a full time poker player to pay as much as $2,000 of rake every month. That’s a fair bit of money, and receiving about $660 per month in rakeback makes a big difference to a players’ overall profitability; it works out at almost $8,000 per year in extra poker income.

Rakeback is one of the best benefits of online poker. If you are a casual player, or even an online pro, you will find that rakeback is an excellent way to generate some additional profit.

A “bankroll” is an amount of money set aside specifically for the purpose of playing poker.

The management of your bankroll is a seemingly mundane, yet incredibly vital aspect of overall poker strategy and direction.  The importance of correct bankroll management is underestimated by good and bad players alike, but the simple truth is that a player who practices sound bankroll management is much more likely to be successful. In fact, without proper bankroll management, it is almost impossible to become a professional player.

Someone playing within proper bankroll limits is much less likely to “go bust” due to an unlucky run of cards. They will be able to make the correct plays, even if those plays are high variance, because they won’t be playing with “scared money”. Most importantly, they will be able to move up limits in a way that minimizes risk, but still allows for consistent growth.

There are many players that could make a significant income playing poker, if it wasn’t for the fact that they let themselves down by poor bankroll management. It doesn’t matter how good a player you are: sometimes your Aces are going to get cracked. If that happens a few times in succession, it’s your bankroll management that will determine if you can keep playing, or if you have to wait for your next paycheque to try again.

What a bankroll is not

A bankroll is not “all the money you have in the world”. It is not the money you should be using to pay rent. It is not your college fund. It is not the money you were putting aside to get the car fixed. It is not the deposit that you were saving for a house.

A bankroll is money that you have set aside SPECIFICALLY for playing poker. Think of it like investing money in a business: your business needs capital to run, but if your business performs well, and if you don’t spend your capital on risky things, then you can expect the amount that you have invested to grow. This growth can be reinvested into the business to grow still further, or you can take that profit and spend it however you like, as long as you leave enough for your business to keep running.

It might be $50 in an online poker account, or it might be $50,000 set aside for playing high stakes at a casino, but whatever the amount, the important thing is that it is money that can be used entirely for poker.

Who does not need a bankroll?

1. Losing players. Whatever money a losing player sets aside for a bankroll will eventually be gone, and then they will have to dip into their own pocket to keep playing poker. There is no bankroll strategy that can be of enduring benefit to a losing player unfortunately. Study combined practice at micro-stake levels should be their focus instead.

2. Casual players do not need a bankroll. If you only play poker every couple of months, then a bankroll is probably not required. As long as you only ever play with money that you don’t mind losing, it doesn’t really matter what that amount is, or whether or not it grows.

Who does need a bankroll?

1. Anyone who is playing poker for the purpose of making a profit. If your intention is just to have fun that’s A-ok, but if your intention is to make a profit over any reasonable period of time, then you need a bankroll.

2. Anyone who plays poker often, at stakes that are relevant to that player. If you’re playing poker every week, and buying in for amounts that are not negligible to you, then you are definitely at the stage where you need a bankroll.

3. Anyone who wants to derive some proportion of their income from playing poker. You don’t necessarily need to be a pro, but if you have come to rely on the extra money you usually make on Friday nights at a local home game, then you need a bankroll.

Bankroll Strategy

The bankroll strategy that I use is very straight forward. The exact numbers may vary, but most serious poker players will use a system reasonably similar. The strategy is this:

Cash games:

I always maintain a bankroll of at least 20 maximum buy-ins at any cash game level that I’m playing.

Once my bankroll builds up to 30 buy-ins at the next limit higher, I move up to that level.

So when I’m playing 50c/$1 blinds, I’m buying in for the maximum $100 per table and my bankroll is $3000. The next level up is the $1/$2 blind level, with $200 max buy-ins, so when my bankroll gets to $6000 ($200 X 30), I move up to that level.

If my bankroll drops below 20 buy-ins at my current level, then I step down to a lower level again until my bankroll builds back up to 30 buy-ins.

It is a very simple strategy that works well for me. If you are a bit more conservative, then perhaps you would move up limits when you have 50 buy-ins at the next level, and move down again if you fall below 30 buy-ins. Choose whatever amounts you feel comfortable with, but I wouldn’t recommend going any lower that 20 buy-ins. It’s not uncommon to lose a few buy-ins within an hour or two if the cards run against you, so make sure that you have a comfortable enough buffer to protect yourself.

Tournaments/Sit ‘n’ Goes:

For tournaments and SNGs I am extremely conservative in my bankroll management. I will only enter tournaments and SNGs for which my bankroll is 100 times the size of the entry.

If my bankroll is $1,000 then I can enter tournaments and SNGs with an entry price of no more than $10. Once my bankroll increases to $1,500 I can enter tournaments and SNGs with a $15 entry price.

I can recall instances where I have played 16 straight SNGs without cashing a single time. In those situations, I was very glad that I was not committing more than 1% of my bankroll to each entry. SNGs have a high variance, tournaments even higher, and so I give myself an adequate buffer by only committing 1% of my bankroll per entry.

If you are willing to accept greater risk, then perhaps committing no more than 2% of your bankroll per entry would suit you better. That’s 50 buy-ins. I would personally feel a bit uncomfortable with only 50 buy-ins at any tournament level that I was playing frequently, but I’m definitely more conservative with my bankroll than many players.

One last note on bankroll management: If there is a one-off tournament or cash game that you have your heart set on playing, then it’s OK to go a bit out of your bankroll to play in it. But just keep in mind that if you commit too much of you bankroll to a single game and lose, you might have to move down to a lower limit again until you can build your bankroll back up.

In all forms of poker, if you are a winning player, and you stick to your bankroll strategy, then you will be able to continue moving up the limits as your bankroll grows. You will be insulated from the swings that occur in any game where luck/probability plays a part, while still being able to benefit from your development as a poker player. . . and you won’t ever need to wait for your next paycheque to play again.

The Continuation Bet, or “C-bet” as it is also called, is among the most well known, and most commonly used moves in Texas Hold ‘em. The move attained significant notoriety when it became the subject of an entire chapter in Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie’s excellent book Harrington on Hold ’em Vol I. Although the focus of that book was tournament poker strategy, the C-bet can be used just as effectively in cash games.

A continuation bet defines a situation when a player has raised preflop, is called by one or more players, and then bets again on the flop, in effect “continuing” the action that they begun with their pre-flop raise. A continuation bet can be made with the nuts, or as a complete bluff, or with anything in between. The remainder of this article will specifically discuss the use of a C-bet as a bluff.

The strength of the C-bet bluff is two-fold:

1. It tells a consistent story, and is therefore easily believable. “I raised preflop because my hand was strong. My hand is still strong on the flop, and may even have improved, therefore I am betting again”

2. A C-bet that is made as a bluff is usually indiscernible from a C-Bet that is being made as a value bet with a strong hand, or a bet being made as a semi-bluff.

A typical C-bet is between 50-70% of the pot, however the trend in recent years has been towards making C-bets closer to 2/3^rd of the pot, rather than a half pot sized bet. There are several reasons for this: because bets of 50% of the pot are considered “standard”, they are more likely to be interpreted as a C-bet bluff, and are therefore defended against with more vigour. Also, bets of 2/3^rd of the pot are generally more effective value bets, in that they give less profitable odds to drawing hands like straight and flush draws.

Additionally, the advent of multi-tabling online players has necessitated the creation of a “one bet fits all” sized C-bet that can be made by the aggressor close to 100% of the time, almost regardless of the flop. Betting only 50% of the pot would give a better risk/reward ratio when the aggressor is bluffing, but any play which incorporates bluffs, semi-bluffs, and also value bets must lean more towards what is optimal sizing for the value bets, because that is what the move is representing after all.

The profitability of a C-bet is easy to show. I will use the classic example by assuming a “standard” sized C-bet of 50% of the pot. If you only win 1 time out of 3, you will at least break even:

Bet 50% 2 times and lose = -100%

Bet 50% 1 time and win =  +100%

Betting the more common amount of 2/3^rd of the pot means that you need to win 2 times out of 5 to break even, which is slightly more often than when you bet half the pot (40% compared to 33.3%).

These figures are conservative however, as they assume that you will never win when your C-bet is called. In reality, you may hit a lucky card on the turn, or you might connect with a backdoor flush, or you might be able to bluff your opponent out on the turn or river. When the C-bet is used correctly, results significantly above break even should be attainable with most bet sizes.

When to C-bet

Against one player

I will usually C-bet against a single opponent as much as 80% of the time. I will C-bet with top set, bottom pair, the nut flush, a gutshot, overcards, underpairs, top-top or as an absolute bluff. Because I C-bet so often, I rarely slow-play my big hands. I will fire a C-bet with a straight just the same way as I would with 7-high. Semi bluffs are the same: If I’m heads up with a flush draw, I would usually bet. The fact that I might NOT be bluffing, is what makes the C-bet bluff so effective. I’ve raised preflop and shown strength, and now I’m betting again on the flop. If a player simply assumes that I’m bluffing every time I’ve raised pre-flop and then bet again on the flop, then they are going to lose money very swiftly to my made hands. Against a single player, my default play is to fire out some chips. It’s fun, and it’s effective, so why wouldn’t I do it? :-) 

When you have position

Being In Position (IP) confers extra power to a player. When you C-bet in position, you stop your opponent from using a whole range of counter-moves against you. They can’t Call-Bluff when they are Out Of Position (OOP). They will be more inclined to fold marginal hands like middle pair when OOP, and even drawing hands will suffer from reduced implied odds when OOP, so those hands will be more likely to fold as well. If you fire a C-bet when you have position, you have a much greater chance of winning the pot than when you are OOP.

When the board is unlikely to have hit your opponent

If you raise from the button, and a very tight player in the big blind calls, you need to give some though to what sort of hand that tight player is likely to have. If the board comes J-5-2, then C-betting makes a lot of sense. A tight player will usually only call a raise out of position with big cards, or perhaps a pair. A Jack high flop is unlikely to have connected with the cards that a tight player is likely to play, so go ahead and fire again. Here are some other examples of worthwhile C-betting flops:

8-5-3 rainbow: Go ahead and fire a C-bet. A tight player is unlikely to have hit this low board.

Q-6-4 rainbow: Another good flop for a C-bet. Flops containing 1 high card (but not an Ace) and a couple of low cards are generally excellent for C-betting. If your opponent has AQ or KQ, expect to get called, if not, expect to take the pot down.

T-7-7: Paired flops are unlikely to have hit anybody, therefore the first person to bet at paired flop usually wins. I would C-bet a flop like this about 80% of the time. Be aware that good players will realise that this flop is unlikely to have hit you though, and may call the flop bet with a weaker hand than they normally would (like a pair of 9’s perhaps). If you are up against such a player and they call your C-bet, you might consider firing a second barrel on the turn.

K-9-7 all of one suit: This is a flop where I would usually make a C-bet only when I have position. A C-bet on a flop like this puts a huge amount of pressure on your opponent. They would usually need at least a high card of that suit or a made hand such as top pair to continue. If your opponent is the one with position however, then they may be inclined to call with any card of that suit as part of a call-bluff. They may reason that they might hit a weak flush on the turn, or you might check the turn to them and then fold to their bet (which will probably be true in this case since you are C-bet bluffing).

When not to C-bet

Against multiple players

Against more than one player C-betting gets a lot more situational. It’s definitely not an automatic play any more. Firstly because you have multiplied the opponents, you have multiplied that chance that one of them has hit a hand that they like, and that’s a bad thing when you’re trying to bluff. Secondly, because you have multiple opponents, the pot is bigger than it would have been heads up, so those opponents are more inclined to hang around with weaker hands than they would have otherwise. That’s also a bad thing when you’re trying to bluff. Thirdly, because you have multiplied the opponents, you have multiplied the chance that one of them is willing to make a move on YOU if they think the situation looks good enough. All of which makes it very difficult when you’re trying to bluff. You will still fire a C-Bet bluff into 2 players on occasion, but you would usually need to have a very good understanding of your opponents playing styles, and a good grasp of whether or not the board would have hit them.

When you have draw, in position, against an aggressive opponent

Those are a lot of qualifications, so let me elaborate: If you flop a draw against an opponent who is particularly aggressive, you may be better off just checking in position, rather than making a C-bet semi-bluff. If you C-bet, your opponent gets the chance to check-raise an amount that you may not be getting the right odds to call. Usually when heads up I will bet all sorts of draws, but if I know that my opponent is the type who would check-raise on the flop, then I tend to C-bet less often with my draws. Keep in mind that this is only for the very aggressive players who check-raise often however. Against most players, betting your draws is the right way to play heads up.

When you are out of position, then you lose your option of getting a free card by checking, as your opponent will still be able to bet if you check. C-betting a draw in this situation is certainly better than checking and calling, as you may win the pot right away. You will still have a decision to make if your C-bet is raised, but you lose nothing by betting first.

When your opponent is likely to have hit

A flop like A-K-J is not a good flop for making a C-bet, regardless of whether your opponent is tight or loose. A flop like this is likely to have hit many of the hands that your opponents would call a raise with. Just let this one go. If your opponent checks to you again on the turn, you can consider making a move then.

When you are against a calling station or Recreational Player.

If your opponent is someone who will call a bet with any pair, any draw, or any high card, then bluffing is usually a bad idea. These types of players love to call, and by C-betting into them, you are playing right into their only strength: They can’t be bluffed. Recognize when you are up against such a player, and be willing to just check and fold when you miss a flop entirely. Adapting to you opponents tendencies is one of the most important skills a poker player can have. When you actually hit a strong hand, you will be able to bet for value on every street, and will probably get all their money. 

There are many times when you will C-bet as a bluff and win the hand immediately. When you are called however, you don’t need to give up on the pot straight away. You might hit a lucky card on the turn, or you may pick up a draw of some kind, or you could even get the chance to win an even bigger pot by making another bluff on the turn.

”Firing a second barrel” is a term for a very specific poker situation: you have raised pre-flop and then bet the flop (called a Continuation Bet or C-Bet), and your opponent has called you. On the turn a card comes that doesn’t help you, and you bet again as a bluff. This is called “Firing a Second Barrel” because you have fired one bluff on the flop, and another bluff on the turn. 

The incentive to fire a second barrel is quite obvious: There is good money in it. Lets assume you have raised to 3BB from the button pre-flop, and get called by the Big Blind. That’s 6.5BB. On the flop you make a continuation bet of another 4bb and get called. That’s 14.5BB in the pot. Now your opponent checks to you on the turn; should you bluff again?

Well, there are certain situations where firing a second barrel is effective, and other situations where firing a second barrel is just throwing money away. If you can correctly identify the effective situations, then you will be able to take down many medium sized pots that you would have been unlikely to win otherwise.

Lets look at it from your opponent’s point of view: You have raised pre-flop, bet the flop, and fired another barrel on the turn. You opponent knows that you could be doing this with a complete bluff, a semi-bluff, or a very strong hand, and this puts a huge amount of pressure on them. If they call the turn bet, they know that there might even be another bet on the river, potentially all in. It’s a difficult situation to be in, and whenever you put your opponent in a difficult situation, there is a good chance that they will make a mistake.

A player will usually just call a flop bet, rather than fold or raise, for a logical (or semi-logical) reason. The main reasons are these:

1.      They have a strong hand and are trapping.

2.      They have a mediocre hand, and don’t want to build a big pot.

3.      They have a straight draw, flush draw, or some other draw.

4.      They are intending to bluff.

5.      Some combination of the above (like bottom pair and a gutshot)

In most of those situations, the player is likely to fold to a second barrel fired on the turn. (Draws that hit, and strong hands that are trapping are the obvious exceptions)

Here is an example to illustrate the power of the 2^nd barrel. 

Imagine you are in the BB with A8s. I raise to 3BB from the button, which I’m likely to do with a wide range of hands, and you call. The flop is A 9 4 rainbow. You check to me, as is usual. I make a continuation bet of 4BB. You can call or raise. You decide that if I have an Ace, you are just as likely to be ahead or behind. Your hand is possibly not strong enough to raise, since any worse hand like KQ will just fold, and any better hands will call. However if a K or a Q comes on the turn or river, you might get 1 more bet out of me. Also if I raised with a pocket pair like JJ or TT, I wont call a check raise now with the Ace on the board, but I might call a small bet on the river. There are no draws to be concerned about.

All in all, you decide that your hand isn’t big enough to build a large pot, and you could just as easily be behind as ahead, and that you therefore maximize your Expected Value (EV) by just calling.

The pot is 14.5BB. The turn comes J. You check, and I fire out another bet for 12BB. That’s about 80% of the pot. You realise that if you call, the pot will be 14.5 +12 +12 = 38.5BB. That’s a pretty big pot. If you call this one, you might get hit with another bet on the river, which might be as much as 40BB. That would be about 65BB you’ve put into this pot, just to see a showdown with your top pair, mediocre kicker. Now your A8 isn’t looking so good. You start thinking that your opponent isn’t likely to have bet the turn with a weaker Ace than you. Maybe your opponent has two pair with AJ, A9 or even A4? Maybe he just has a big kicker like AK or AQ? You’re losing to those ones too. Perhaps he flopped a set, and is trying to get you pot committed? Heck, maybe he raised with J9 offsuit, and got lucky on the turn?

You don’t really want to call a big bet now if you can’t call another one on the river, which is probably what you would have to do if you opponent decides to bet again.

Perhaps you decide to call and perhaps you decide to fold, either of which could be a huge mistake depending on what cards your opponent actually has. I know that I would have trouble calling a big bet like that on the turn with only top pair and an 8 as a kicker. It’s scary. The button player can’t believe that I have less than an Ace at that point, so the chance that I’m beaten rises dramatically with each additional bet. 

Let’s change the scenario slightly. Let’s say that you called in the BB with 9Ts. You hit middle pair on the flop. You’ve seen me raise from the button with some real rubbish hands, and that I make a C-Bet almost 100% of the time. You think that there is a solid chance you are ahead with your middle pair on this flop. Again you decide not to raise, because most better hands (like any Ace) will call, and all worse hands will fold. You might be able to get a hand like JJ or QQ to fold if you check raise, but you think those are reasonably unlikely, so you aren’t overly concerned about those pairs. You consider raising to protect your hand against random overcards, but you still don’t want to build a big pot out of position with only middle pair, so you just call the flop bet and see what happens on the turn.

Again the turn is the J and you check to the aggressor. Again he fires a second barrel of 12BB. Now you really can’t call. You are still out of position, with what is now third pair, AND your opponent is firing again. You hand just doesn’t seem good enough, so you fold.

There are 2 more common situations where firing a 2^nd barrel should be successful:

Your opponent raises on the button, and again you call in the BB with T9s. This time the flop is A 5 4 with 2 of your suit. Your opponent bets 4BB and you call with your flush draw. Strictly speaking you aren’t getting enough pot odds for your draw, but its possible that your opponent missed as well. If that is the case he will likely check the turn, giving you another chance to make your draw. Also you think that in the situations where your opponent actually did hit the Ace, your implied odds are enough to justify calling.

The turn comes an offsuit J and you check again. Your opponent bets 12BB. You are getting slightly better than 2-1 to call, and are only about 4-1 to hit your draw with only 1 card to come. You don’t think that the implied odds are there anymore, as your opponent would need to call a large river bet with an obvious 3 flush on the board. You decide to fold.

The other situation where a player would call a flop bet and fold to a turn bet is where they don’t have anything themselves, but they believe that its unlikely that you hit the board either. If you check the turn to them, they intend to bet and take the pot away from you. This is called a “Call Bluff” or “Floating”. It plays out like this:

Your opponent raises in mid position, and you call on the button with 45s. The flop comes J 8 2, with none of your suit. Your opponent makes a C-Bet of 4BB. You think that because your opponent is a moderately tight player, he will C-Bet often, but will rarely fire a second barrel unless he hits the flop strongly. Since this is a flop that is likely to have missed a player who plays mainly high cards, you call the flop bet. If your opponent checks the turn, you will bet yourself, with a high chance of taking down the pot.

The turn card is irrelevant, because you will fold to any bet, and bet if your opponent checks. In this case the turn comes a 9, and your opponent bets 12BB, and you muck as intended.

When should you fire a second barrel?

The best situations to look at firing a second barrel are:

1.      Boards with lots of draws on the flop, none of which hit on the turn

2.      Paired boards

3.      Boards where the turn card could have helped you i.e. a Scare Card

4.      Boards that your opponent thinks would have missed you, so they are likely to call bluff.

Boards with lots of draws on the flop, none of which hit on the turn

If a flop comes K 7 2 rainbow, and your opponent calls your C-Bet, it’s safe to assume that they are NOT calling with a draw. Therefore your opponent’s hand range is proportionately more likely to be a monster, a weak hand, or a call bluff if they are in position. If the board comes 9 T J, with 2 of a suit however, there could be all sorts of drawing hands mixed in with the possible marginal hands and monsters. If the turn comes an offsuit 2 or some other irrelevant card, firing a second barrel may be enough to get the drawing hands to fold.

Paired Boards

Paired boards are generally considered to be good bluffing flops. This is due to basic mathematics. If the board comes with cards of 3 different ranks, then there are 9 cards in the deck that could make a pair or better. A flop of A J 8 for example means that there are three Aces, three Jacks, and three 8’s left in the deck that could have paired with this flop.

On a paired board, lets say JJ8, there are only 5 cards that could have connected i.e.: the two remaining jacks, and the three remaining 8’s. The fact that paired boards are less likely to hit anyone, combined with the fact that if you DID hit the flops, you could have a big hand like trips, means that more often than not, the first to bet at a paired board will win.

The flow on effect to this however, is that good players will more often expect a bluff on a paired board, and may therefore call a C-Bet more liberally on such a flop. In position they are more likely to call as a Call Bluff, and out of position they are more likely to call with a weak pocket pair that they think might still be best. On this board I would fire a second barrel about 80% of the time against a single opponent, regardless of my position.

Boards where the turn card could have helped you i.e. a Scare Card

A Scare Card is any card that your opponent thinks could have given you a better hand. The most effective Scare Cards are usually ones that could have connected with AK. Whenever you raise, your opponents usually weight your range towards high cards, and AK is top of the list in their head. The board comes JT4 and they call a C bet, then the turn comes a Q, and you fire again, some players will fold hands as good as good as 2 pair, because they will be “certain” that you have AK and have just hit your straight.

If you make a continuation bet on a Q 6 2 board and your opponent has hit the Queen (by holding KQ or QJ for example), then you will certainly be called. If an A comes on the turn, your opponent may think that this A hit your hand. This would count as a Scare Card, and you may win the pot by firing a second barrel.

A Scare Card can also be a card that seems to fill a flush or a straight, although because your opponents will often be the ones drawing, firing a 2^nd barrel when a Scare Card like that hit can be a bit more dangerous.

Boards that your opponent thinks would have missed you, so they are likely to call bluff.

This would be when you have raised pre-flop from early position, and someone has called from the button. The flop comes 2 5 8 rainbow. You C-Bet, and the button calls. The button might have a set, or an overpair, an underpair, overcards, or absolutely nothing, but he has every reason to believe that YOU also have nothing. You raised from early position, which usually means either high cards, or a big pair. The flop was extremely low, so it’s unlikely to hit you. Many players would call a C-Bet in this situation, with the intention of betting if you check, and folding if you bet. They don’t need to have much, even KQ, as overcards would usually be enough. They might hit a K or a Q, you might check the turn and they can bluff you out, or they might even have the best hand with K high. All these factors combined make a Call Bluff likely.

The turn comes another 2. If you fire a second barrel on this board, an opponent who was Call Bluffing will likely fold, as would an opponent with underpairs, overcards, and possibly some of the weak overpairs. Opponents with sets and strong overpairs will either call or raise.

If you are in position on a low flop, then there shouldn’t be anyone calling your C-Bet just with the intention of Call Bluffing, as most players will only Call Bluff in position. Therefore, if there is anyone still in the hand after you C-Bet in position, their range is more likely to be pocket pairs, other marginal to strong made hand, very strong high card hands that they think might still be best (like AK or AQ) or an obscure draw with something like 67 or 34. These hands may still fold to a 2^nd barrel, but it’s less likely than when their range includes Call Bluffs.

When you should not fire a second barrel

Other boards

Firing a 2^nd barrel on boards other than the ones listed above is more risky, and generally requires specific knowledge of your opponent to be effective.

Multiple opponents

The situations described above all assume that you are only facing one opponent. If you have multiple opponents, the chance that your bluff will get called multiplies. I would rarely fire a 2^nd barrel into multiple opponents unless it was an extremely exceptional situation.

Firing a 2^nd barrel too often  

Firing a 2^nd barrel is a powerful move, but one that should be used sparingly. If you fire a 2^nd barrel every time your C-bet gets call, you will find your opponents catching on rather swiftly. They will be more willing to call you down with weak hands, and will also set traps for you more often. If you limit yourself to only firing a 2^nd barrel in profitable situations, and mix in a solid amount of turn bets with your made or drawing hands, the move should show good results.

Multi-tabling simply means playing poker on multiple tables simultaneously. It is an exclusively online phenomenon, since playing several tables live would obviously be somewhat difficult.

Almost all online professionals play multiple tables. 8 to 24 is the most common range, but some exceptional players go as far as playing 50+ SNGs at a time.

Why would you want to multi-table?

1. More money

The most common reason to multi-table is to win more money over the same timeframe. Theoretically if you are making $10 an hour on one table, then playing 2 tables should make you $20 an hour, and 4 tables should make you $40 per hour, and 12 tables $120 per hour. In actuality the $ per table would reduce as you add more tables, because your concentration would be divided. At a certain point your overall return would “peak”, and adding more tables beyond that would reduce your average hourly profit (if you were playing 80 tables at a time for example, it would be extremely difficult to show a profit on any of them). The goal is to find the number of tables that optimizes your return:

If you make $10 per hour on 1 table, $50 per hour on 6 tables, and $40 per hour on 12 tables, your optimal number of tables is 6. As you gain more experience this number may change, so you should be willing to re-assess from time to time.

2. More rakeback

If you are playing on a site that allows rakeback then the more tables you play, the more rakeback you receive. It’s quite possible to be a break-even or slightly negative player, but be earning such substantial rakeback that you still show a profit overall.

3. More Frequent Player Rewards

Some sites like PokerStars offer Frequent Player Points (FPPs) in lieu of rakeback, and some sites offer both rakeback and FPPs. These points can usually be exchanged for tournament entries, merchandise, or sometimes cash bonuses. Playing multiple tables obviously multiplies the rate at which you would accumulate points, and therefore multiplies the rewards you receive.

How to Multi-table

The main difference between playing poker on a single table and playing multiple tables is that the amount of time that you have to act is reduced. That’s it. That one restriction is of overriding importance when determining how many tables you can play profitably.

On most online tables you have between 12-15 seconds to act when it’s your turn. If you are playing 2 tables, you theoretically have 6 seconds to act on each of them. On 4 tables you would have 3 seconds to act. 12 tables you would have 1 second to act. 24 tables, half a second.

In practice, you usually have more time than the above examples would indicate. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. It’s uncommon to have to act on each table at exactly the same time.
2. You can often make use of advance action buttons (such as the Check/Fold or Call Any buttons)
3. Most hands are unplayable in most formats. It doesn’t take very long to click the “Fold” button when you are dealt 72o UTG, and that frees up more time for your other tables.

It is true that the ability to pay attention to the other players’ styles is something you sacrifice by multi-tabling, but there are poker tracking programs that can monitor this for you, largely counteracting the need to pay attention to each player yourself. The speed of your decision making is much more important when decising how many tables to play.

How to make poker decisions swiftly

There are two types of experience will increase your efficiency: Poker experience, which can only be gained by playing poker, and multi-tabling experience, which can only be gained by practicing on multiple tables. A professional who has been playing poker for 20 years will obviously be more adept at making quick decisions than a first time player. Likewise, someone who has extensive multi-tabling experience will be significantly faster than someone playing a dozen tables for the very first time.

The other requirement of swift decision making is a well defined strategy, which helps make your decision making less complex. Let’s take an extreme example: If you are playing a strategy where you move all in with any pair, and fold any other hand, then your decision making would just involve looking at your cards, and either going all in or folding. Pretty simple and pretty swift.

Let’s make it a little more complicated: Now you go all in with any pair TT and higher, and you go all in with any pair 99 and lower ONLY if nobody has raised yet. This is still pretty simple, and still pretty swift.  It’s also a similar strategy to the one used by many Short Stackers.

Now let’s say that you are raising or re-raising with AA-QQ and AK in any position, raising any limpers with pairs between JJ and 88, limping or calling raises with any other pair, raising from the cutoff seat with suited connectors if nobody has entered the pot yet, raising from the button with suited one-gappers, any Ace, any 2 Royal cards and any 2 suited cards 8 or higher. Let’s also assume that you are raising 3BB as the first to enter the pot, 3BB+1 for each limper when there are limpers, and raising to 4 times the previous raise when you are re-raising, or 6 times the first raise when there is a raise and a caller. . . .

. . . and so on and so forth. You can see how a strategy such as this can start to take more time than the earlier strategies, and we are just dealing with the simple pre-flop decisions.

The easiest strategies to use for multiple tables are the ones that are straight forward pre-flop, and that make post-flop decisions easier. Set Mining and Short Stacking are two strategies that are use commonly online by cash game multi-tablers, primarily because of their simplicity (That is not meant to imply that those are optimal poker strategies however).

A common multi-tabling strategy for SNGs might be to play very tight early in the tournament, and then revert to a more active “all in or fold” strategy once the blinds get high. This means that post flop play (which can be quite complicated and time intensive) only occurs when you have a strong hand early in the tournament, and doesn’t occur at all later in the tournament, both situations which simplify the decision making process immensely.

The strategy you decide upon will depend on whether you are multi-tabling SNG’s, tournaments, or cash games, and also on the number of tables you intend to play. Some loose/aggressive styles might work well playing 3-4 tables, but would be difficult or impossible to play on 16 tables.

The more practice you have with the strategy, the quicker your decision making will be. Even seemingly complicated situations become straightforward once you have experienced similar situations hundreds or thousands of times.

Starting out

When you first decide to try multi-tabling, just start with 2 tables. Once you feel comfortable playing on 2, try playing 3 or 4. When you can play them comfortably, you can consider increasing the number by 1 or 2.

The important thing is to increase the number gradually. Remember that muilti-tabling is a skill in and of itself. It doesn’t matter if you are an amazing poker player; if you jump onto 16 tables when you have never multi-tabled before, you are going to find it very difficult. Add tables gradually and you will be fine.

Logistics

There are two main methods of multi-tabling for more than 4 tables: A single screen with overlayed tables, or multiple screens.

For myself, I use 4 x 22” flat-screens, and I run either 4 or 6 tables on each screen, depending on what format I’m playing and how energetic I feel. I don’t have any tables overlayed on top of any other. Where my computer is set up I have plenty of space, so using multiple screens works well for me, but if you have less space, or you want to play on a laptop while travelling, then you may need to overlay.

You should be able to fit at least 4 tables on a single screen before overlaying becomes necessary. Once you start playing 5 or more tables you can get a bit creative with the layout. There are no hard and fast rules, but here are a few suggestions:

5 tables: 1 in each corner, and 1 overlayed in the centre of the screen.

6 tables: 1 in each corner, 1 middle left, 1 middle right

8 tables: There are two common layouts; 1 table in each corner, 1 centre top, bottom, left and right, or the other layout of 4 tables on each side staggered down the screen. If you are playing on a site that causes the active screen to automatically pop to the front (as you require when you are overlaying tables) having the tables directly on top of each other can cause problems; if you are trying to fold or bet a hand on one table, and the table beneath suddenly pops to the front, you may end up folding or betting on the wrong table. To avoid this situation it’s usually best to stagger the tables at least slightly, just so that the bet/fold buttons aren’t on top of each other.

Once you start playing more than 8 tables on a single screen, it’s just a matter of cramming them all in a way that feels as comfortable as possible.

I hope this serves as a useful introduction to multi-tabling. The potential to increase your hourly win rate by playing extra tables is immense; just make sure that you don’t try to do too much too fast. With practice you will find that multi-tabling is a skill that can be developed like any other.

Recreational players (also known “Recreational gamblers”, Weak Players, or less charitably as Muppets, Donkeys, Bananas, or even simply “Bad Players”) are the main reason professional poker players make money. They are by far the most lucrative opponents for you to play against, and you should do your utmost to seek them out whenever possible. These are the players who aren’t really playing to make money, they just enjoy the game, or they love to gamble. They like the excitement of seeing what each flop will bring, they like being able to surprise someone with a hand that their opponents never expected, and they like the adrenaline rush they get when they see the big pots come towards them (or even go away from them).

While there are often differences between one recreational gambler and the next, they all tend to have similar weaknesses in their game.

They play too many hands:

By far the most common error that recreational players make is playing too many hands. A typical tight player might play no more than 15% of the hands that they are dealt. They will usually play pairs, big AK/AQ/KQ type hands, and sometimes suited connectors or cards with a gap. Most recreational players will play 30% of their hands or more. It’s not uncommon to see a player playing over 60% of the hands that they are dealt. These players are playing any Ace, any King, any 2 big cards, any 2 suited cards, any 2 cards that are remotely connected, and any hand where they “just feel lucky”. Folding is boring, so they rarely do it.

They put too much money in with weak hands:

Once a recreational player hits any piece of the flop, they are usually reluctant to fold. They hate the thought of being bluffed out of a pot, so they will tend to call right to the river with hands like top pair no kicker, middle pair, or sometimes even bottom pair or ace high. They watch poker on TV, and they see people making big bluffs all day long, and they decide that they aren’t going to let anyone push them around. Their thinking goes like this:

“I called a raise with Q8s, and now the flop has come A 8 4 and that guy is betting into me. If he doesn’t have an Ace I’m probably ahead, and even if he does have an Ace I might hit a Q or an 8. . . So I will call.”

On the turn a 7 comes, and the aggressor bets again, and the recreational player thinks: “Hmm, I know that 7 didn’t help him, and I’ve already called once, so I should probably call this bet too. I might be ahead, or if I’m behind I can still hit a Q or an 8 and win a big pot.”

The river is a K and the aggressor bets again “Well there is already so much money in the pot that I can’t fold now. If he has me beat then I was just unlucky”.

So he calls the river bet and his Q8 loses to the raisers AK.

The recreational player sees this and congratulates himself on his good read: “Yeah I thought he probably had the Ace, but he could easily have been bluffing, so I made the right call. That’s just the way poker goes sometimes. . .”

It sounds silly, but this is the way many recreational players think a hand through.

They pay too much to draw:

Recreational players don’t usually know odds, and if they do know them they don’t act upon that knowledge. If they have a flush draw they will happily call a pot sized bet on the flop and then another one on the turn. Why? Because they might hit a flush! That’s all the reason they need. The fact that they are getting incorrect odds doesn’t bother them at all. We have all seen players who will call pot sized bets with draws as weak as a gutshot, and then display their hand proudly when their card comes in. Against players like this, just making large bets with strong hands is the way to succeed. If they don’t mind paying too much to draw, they you should be charging them the maximum every step of the way. Sure they may make their draw and win the pot, but don’t let that worry you. As long as you make sure that they are getting bad odds on their draw, then you’ve done your job properly.

They don’t choose bet sizes relevant to the pot size:

Recreational players are often quite passive, but when they do bet they choose bet sizes based on some logic that makes sense in their head, but is rarely related to the pot size. They might make a 1BB bet into a 20BB pot. They might shove all in for 70BB into a 6BB pot. They will often bet too little to charge draws, or too much to get callers. If they have called pot sized bets on the flop and turn to try and hit a flush draw, they may lead out with a tiny bet on the river when the flush actually hits. They would rather bet 2BB and get called every time than bet 40BB and only get called half the time, even though the 40BB bet will make 10 times more on average.

They have no regard for position:

A9o is a reasonable hand on the button if nobody has entered the pot. It’s almost certainly too weak to play profitably from UTG however. That usually applies for Q9s, JTo, or K8s as well.

A recreational player doesn’t make such differentiations however. If K8s is good on the button, it’s also good in middle position or UTG. If they get dealt a hand they like, they will play it no matter where they are.

They ignore the relevance of raises:

If a recreational player decides a hand is good enough to play, he will play it whether the pot is limped, or raised, or often even if the pot is re-raised. If he believes K9s is a good hand, he will limp UTG with it and then call any raises as long as the raise is “reasonable” in his mind. This might be 4BB or it might be 10BB. If you can find out the upper limit that the recreational player will call, always raise to that amount when you have a strong hand and the recreational player has already entered the pot. If you are dealt AA and the recreational player has limped, just go ahead and raise to whatever amount you have seen that player call before, even if it’s 10 or 12BB. Don’t worry about scaring the player off; if he has a hand he wants to play, he will play regardless of the price.

They disregard stack sizes:

Recreational players are more likely to buy in for stack sizes somewhere between the minimum and the maximum; most of the time they have no practical reason for this. They might buy in for 20BB because that’s the buy in at their home games, or 55bb because their street number is number 55, or 75BB because they “don’t want to risk any more than that”, or 48BB because they were born on the 4^th of August. The size of their buy in won’t have any affect on the types of hands they play. They might call for 25% of their stack with pocket 2’s hoping to flop a set, or they might call with T7s for a 20% of their stack, just because that’s their favourite hand. The fact that their stack is too small to get a relevant payout on their long-shot hands doesn’t concern them.

The optimal strategy when playing against recreational players is this:

“Play good hands, bet them strongly when you hit, and don’t bother bluffing”

Pretty simple.

If you have a big pair or an AK/AQ/KQ type hand, just go ahead and raise a large amount. No need to diversify you play by occasionally limping behind or min-raising these players. They aren’t paying enough attention to notice that you only raise with strong hands, so you don’t need to bother trying to trap them.

If you hit top pair/good kicker, or any other reasonably strong hand, go ahead and bet bet bet! Sometimes they will hit 2 pair and you will be unhappy, but more often than not you to will win money from a player who has A4o, hit their Ace on the flop, and called to the river with top pair no kicker.

Go ahead and play your usual mix of small pairs and suited connectors in position, but generally don’t loosen your starting requirements too much. While its true that a recreational player is playing a wide mix of hands, don’t use that as justification for playing rubbish yourself. Calling raises with hands like A6o and K9s, just because “Well he could be playing hands even worse that that, and I can just outplay him later on anyway” is not optimal strategy. The recreational player gets dealt just as many AK’s and big pairs as you do, and you don’t want to be the one stuck in a dominated position. To outplay this type of weak player you simply play solid hands and bet them strongly when you hit. That’s it. Don’t outplay yourself by getting too tricky.

There are very few situations where bluffing a recreational player works. They like to call, even with weak hands, and they won’t understand what hand you are representing with your bet. If you raise and the flop comes A K 9, a recreational player will quite happily call your C-bet with 89. One of the cards in their hand matches one of the cards on the board, so how can they fold? If you bet again on the turn and river, make sure you have something solid to show down. Don’t help the recreational player to make “really great calls” with their bottom pair. If you miss the flop, and your C-bet gets called, just check and fold unless you improve. Bluffing just plays into the recreational players only strength: “Nobody can bluff me!”.

The only situation where a bluff may be profitable, is in a hand where you have C-bet into a drawy board, and then the draws miss on the turn and river. It may be worth making a tiny bet in this situation, even if you only have air. Because recreational players like to draw, and also don’t care much about pot odds, you can sometimes take the pot away on the river with a bet of as little as 10% of the pot, or even a single BB. If they were on a draw that missed, they will fold, even for an itsy-bitsy bet like that.  If they hit any piece of the board they will call, but you don’t have to win many of these to show a profit. If you have a reasonable hand like Ace high however, you may be better off just checking it down or even calling a small river bet.

One last note on betting the river: You are in position. You hit Top Top on the flop. You have bet the flop and turn on a board with straight and flush draws. If the river fills either a flush or straight and the recreational player checks to you, checking behind is usually better than continuing to value bet. Recreational players LOVE to slow play, even on the river. If you have bet every street, and the recreational player makes his flush or straight, he will almost certainly check to you on the river, hoping for a check-raise.

Even the recreational players who play better than described above will almost certainly make some of the errors listed. Maybe they don’t call raises with K4s, but they will call with K9s. Perhaps they won’t call pot sized bets with gutshot draws, but they will call with open-ended straight draws. Maybe they won’t call 3 bets with middle pair, but they will call one bet on the flop and another one on the river. The sooner you find out how much these players are willing to pay, the faster you will win money from them.

These players are found at every level, and in every type of game. Unsurprisingly however, they are more common at the lower buy-in levels than at the higher ones. You will also encounter more recreational players at a casino than you will at the small-medium stakes online games. Keep an eye out for them wherever you play; they will be the easiest money at the table, and your overall results will be heavily skewed by how effectively you maximize against these players.

Set miners are big online. Very big. They play only pairs and AK. They may make button steals with other, slightly weaker hands (like AJ or KQ), but generally, they only play the best. AK and pairs account for just over 7% of hands that are dealt. If you have a large number for hands in your history for this person, and they have a VP (VP means percentage of time that they voluntarily put money into the pot) around 7-8% then chances are you are playing against a set miner, particularly if their steal percentage seems to be low.

Set Miners traditionally buy in for the maximum 100BB, so that they can stack another deep player when they hit their set.

The set mining strategy is rather simple: when first to enter the pot, limp with all low-mid pairs in early or middle position.  With AK, some players will raise in early position, some will just limp. Raise with all pairs and AK in late position. Always raise or re-raise with AA-QQ, and some players also re-raise with AK. Call any reasonable raise (up to about 5bb) with any pair, hoping to flop a set. If they miss, set miners will usually fold to the aggressors C-Bet, unless they have flopped an overpair, like TT on a 9 5 2 flop.

If they flop a set, they will try to get all in as efficiently as possible. As the Non-Aggressor, sometimes they will just call a C-Bet in position, and then raise on the turn or river, as long as they can comfortably get all in by the river without over betting the pot. On a board with either flush or straight draws, they will be more likely to raise on the flop, fearing a cooler. On a dry board, they are more likely to merely flat call on the flop. Set miners will often Check/raise the aggressor a small amount when out of position if they feel this is the best way to get their opponent pot committed.

As the Aggressor flopping a set, they will often C-bet, then fire again on the turn, and then attempt to get all (or almost all) of their chips in on the river.

With AK as the Aggressor, they may C-bet when they miss the flop, then give up on the hand if they meet resistance and don’t improve. Some set miners will even check/fold when they miss the flop with AK. Make a note of these players, because a flop bet will often take the pot away from them, and this situation occurs often.

If they hit Top-Top or flop an overpair they will usually C-bet, but then they will try to keep the pot small. They may make another bet on the turn or river, but rarely both. They are not trying to get pot committed with Top-Top.

Strengths of the style:

Simple to play

Since you are playing a very limited number of hands, this strategy is reasonably easy to learn. As long as you are disciplined enough to stick to pairs and AK, its hard to go too far wrong; You will either flop a set, Top-Top, top two pair, or absolutely nothing, so there are very few tough decisions to be made. You can C-bet when you miss flops, but other than that there really isn’t any bluffing or tricky plays involved with this style. If you hit the flop hard, try to get as much money in as you can. If you miss, you can fold (or C-bet, then fold if you meet resistance). The tight starting requirements mean that it’s very unlikely that any given hand will present you with tough decisions, and the less tough decisions the less chance that you will make a mistake. A very easy strategy to learn, and one which is probably the most conservative and safe of all the mainstream strategies.

Easy to multi-table

If you are trying to collect a large amount of Frequent Player Points on Pokerstars, or farming rakeback on another site, trying to clear a deposit bonus, or just trying to increase your hourly profit, multi-tabling is often an effective way to do it. Because you play very few hands with this style, and the decisions you face are usually quite straight forward, Set Mining is quite a popular strategy with multi-tablers. Since you play only 7% of hands with this style, even people who play 10-12 tables simultaneously are still involved in no more than one or two relevant hands at a time.

Set miners can make money

They do. A set miner of at least moderate skill should be able to apply this strategy effectively enough to make money. I regularly encounter solid, multi-tabling Set Miners, and my Pokertracker stats usually show them doing well. This is not to say that Set Mining is the best strategy; it isn’t. A good player who adapts effectively to his opponents’ playing styles will always perform better than someone using a semi-mechanical strategy like Set Mining. But, when properly applied, this style is at least as legitimate as any other. If you’re on a table full of professionals, its likely that you will lose money, because they will be able to adapt to your style effectively. . . but I wouldn’t want to hang around on a table full of pro’s anyway.

Weaknesses of the style:

Rarely bluff

Stereotypical set miners rarely bluff, which allows a wily opponent to get away from hands which may be second best. For example: You raise in middle position with QQ and a set miner calls on the button. The flop comes J 7 2. You C-Bet, and the set miner raises a solid amount. If I had seen this player regularly fold to C-bets in the past (as a set miner generally will) then you may be able to let this hand go easily. Against a different style of player, you might call or you might re-raise, but against a set miner, you are very likely behind here. If he only plays pairs and AK, then he is either bluffing, or has you crushed. Discretion is the better part of valour in a situation like this. If he lets you win most hands with your C-Bet, then folding a mere overpair hand when he makes a significant raise is more than warranted.

Missing out on opportunities

Set miners usually don’t bother to play suited connectors, suited Ace-rag, or 1 gapper type hands, even in situations where it would often be profitable to do so. If a set miner is on the button, and there are 3 limpers in from of him, he will usually just fold hands like 56o or 79s. This is almost certainly a situation where playing a speculative hands would be profitable, and set miners often forgo that opportunity.

Perceptive players will attack your limps

Because an early limp by a set miner is almost always a pair or AK, its often possible to raise the button with any 2 cards, then take the pot down with a C-Bet on the flop (provided no one else has entered the pot). Since they will miss the flop most of the time, you should show a significant profit with this line of play. Also, since you are often raising with rubbish, you are unlikely to get stacked when the set miner actually flops a strong hand, as you will be able to easily throw you hand away if you meet resistance. Even if you raise and hit a moderately strong hand like top pair mid kicker, it’s easy to let the hand go when you know that your opponent is playing such a specific range.

For example: A Set Miner limps in 3^rdposition, and you button raise to 4BB with KTo. The flop comes K 9 4 rainbow. The Set Miner checks to you, and you C-Bet. If the Set Miner check-raises you, I would let the hand go almost 100% of the time. He has a set, or he has AK, or he is making an extremely out-of –character bluff. The only one of those that you are beating is by far the least likely. Unless you have a specific reason to believe that the Set Miner is making a move, your KT should go straight into the muck.