General Hold'em Help

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Posted this on the tech forum (didn't see this one after 3 years on PL :o )

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Hi All First a bit of background... I've played Holdem for about 3 years now and just about hold my own when playing online (small stakes). Over the last few months it has taken off locally with a bunch on mates who play 2-3 times a week. The losses are limited as we buy 1500 chips (normally £20) and winner takes all. My problem is that I seem to regularly get down to the last 3 or 4 (out of 12 or 13) and no further. What I am after are some simple mathmatic rules that I can follow to play a better games. I know that a good approximation for improving your hand is (out cards * 2)% but I know there are other equations you can follow ie pot odds? I know there a web sites out there that try to explain it but I was hoping that someone could go through a worked example with thoughts about what each player should be calculating. I'm sure that this question is a little vague but the mates play with are so 'loose' that I can't understand why I can't win. An example of this is busting out last time around with 2 pair (Aces+Jacks) to 3 fives. I had AJ and the flop came AJ5. He had 56 (unsuited) and stayed to the river and caught a 5 to bust me out. Maybe my staking is wrong to allow for these guys who stay in hoping to catch a card. Any thought appreciated.

Got a couple of quality replies thanks. Follow up questions though as having thought about it I think my problem lies in my stakes. We start with 1500 chips and blinds are 5/10 to start and double every half an hour up to 200/400. We have 10-12 players and 6-7 of them are very loose canons. An example problem: I draw AQ suited in an early position and there will be 3-4 callers who's hands I know will be low pair / unsuited low connectors / K4 etc... ie hands I would fold. I would simply call hoping to see a cheap flop but these guys will raise 50 or even 100 only to fold after the flop/turn. This forces me to fold before seeing the flop as there are too many callers but I wonder wether I should be and wether there is an equation that I can use to help me decide? Thanks in advance. Mike

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Re: General Hold'em Help Oh Joy .... Oh Joy.... Bought the book by Mike Caro (Poker Tells). Spent a couple of hours reading it yesterday and went into the Tuesday night game fully armed. It was like a revelation. took out 4 players on my table in first 1/2 hour as they were all displaying bluffing tells EXACTLY as described in the book. Got down to the last 4 (out of 18) and just in the money and bombed out with pocket Queens against 8,7 suited. Three 8's on the flop blew me away as I called his all in. I think that I played 2 or 3 bad hands and should have sat tight for a little longer to get to last 2 but next time I'll definitely drink less. A couple of players were hard to read as they sat the same way after every deal / flop so I just stayed clear of action when they were in. Thanks for the advise again chaps. Mike :clap