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Positional Isolation
The key element for those wanting
to improve their poker skills in a No Limit or Pot Limit Online
Texas Hold’em Poker game lies in the concept of Positional
Isolation. A successful Isolation play will force the original
bettor between you and the button. If you have ever watched
a professional player in action you will note that they use
their position on the table flawlessly. Oh well … that’s
online texas holdem for you. Yes a great poker player with
a positional advantage will likely steal a pot or fold to
an all in bet. Believe it or not most of your opponents (both
online and in a poker room) have no idea how to achieve positional
advantage in a pot. They should be dead money at a table against
you. It is an important part of the game for those wanting
to improve their skills and essential for those wanting to
become good enough to play in the World Series Of Poker. If
you see a player isolating with position you should be careful
against this player. Either he/she just did that by fluke
or you know you have a player at your table that you want
to avoid until you catch the nut on the flop.
Kindergarden poker is all you
learn in the books published today. If you want to become
a threat at the tables and to achieve a respected level of
play then you better start considering “positional isolation”
as part of your online weapons system.
Some of the thought provoking
ideas I am putting forth may seem new to you. If that is the
case then now you know. If not, then you are exactly the type
of player that should be in a big tournament! These thoughts
are not the “Dolly Brunson” brainstorms that are
repeated in every one of the commercial Texas Hold’em
books that you purchase at your local book store.
The most important element of
Isolation with Position is betting. Ask any good online texas
holdem player about betting with position? Betting is strategy.
In No Limit Texas Hold’em a good offense is always preferred
to a good defense. There is no defense to a player betting,
other than calling and busting him/her out! Reading your opposition
is secondary. I am not implying that reading your opponents
has no importance. We all know it is important. Only that
in order to become a better player at this game you have to
be ready to bet in position and you have to be able to read
and peg your opponents (at the same time). You will notice
that the good players always bet into the blinds from the
button if nobody has limped into the pot before them and they
even raise significantly with one or two limpers. This is
the positional bet that makes them so good.
One of the stupidest plays any
player can make is limping into a pot with a great starting
hand. I don’t care if you have four lucky charms and
that you just lost your QQ to 22, you never limp into a pot
with a hand! Never! If you are at a weak table most people
will limp in with small pocket pairs or suited connectors
and someone catches something and away they go betting and
we say that is Online Texas Holdem. I say that the players
there were so weak they did not have the common sense to raise
enough to reduce the number of callers preflop to two people.
So if you see many players limping into a pot for one or two
or three or four hands in a row you better say: I am Gus Hansen
now and bet 5 X BB preflop when you come into a pot. When
you are at a table where there is a lot of limping going on
you are really seated at a game of NO FOLD’EM HOLD’EM.
This type of table is where you are likely to see large fluctuations
in people’s stacks since too many players start playing
all these multi-way pots. If you find yourself playing like
this you will note that you are not accumulating chips, then
you should change your tactics immediately. Limping into a
pot is not an acceptable way to approach any poker game! You
raise or you fold. In No Limit or Pot Limit you must open
with a raise. A raise is essential for three reasons:
1
- to gather information on your opponents and how they react
to that raise. The information you gather will help you with
the play of the hand later on when it is time to make an important
decision.
2
- if you let the blinds get a look at a flop for free then
you are playing with fire since you know that by limping in
you have just allowed the blinds to enter into a pot for nothing
and if they make any kind of hand you just gave a pot away
as a result of your weak play. What a terrible waste!
3
- you have the ability to get a free card more often than
not. The reasoning here is that as the big raiser into the
pot it is almost expected that whoever is left in the hand
check to you since they expect you to pound after the flop.
So now if you have four to a flush you can check and take
a free shot at your flush draw. This is where all the great
players isolate a player with position and force them to make
a tough call with the tournament on the line.
It cannot be stressed enough
- In No Limit or Pot Limit Hold’em you must open with
a raise. The amount of that raise will vary depending on your
assessment of the variables before you. These include your
position, the size of your stack, and the opposition behind
you, the time left before the blind change or the break, whether
you won the last hand or not, and how the table reacts to
your normal (4 X BB) bets preflop.
So to recap, one important key
to playing Online Texas Holdem is to isolate one player and
raise into him with position. Now if he re-raises back you
consider folding. If not you win the hand. Simple right? Let’s
all give it a try! If you think you are going to read anything
about positional isolation theory in a book purchased at a
book store think twice … none of the books in that store
will help you become a better poker player. If you can make
money playing Texas Holdem why would you want to share that
with the world in a book? The theoretical books of today are
there for equalization. They help players lose their cash
a little bit at a time, making a larger rake for the house,
and even a nice bit of profit for the good players. If you
want to become good enough for the WSOP then you must learn
Isolation with Position. Many of you are watching poker on
TV. How many multi-way pots do you see? Very few right! A
tell on the World Poker Tour or on ESPN! I knew watching TV
was good for something.
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