Everyday players are sitting down at the tables and consistently making fundamental mistakes because of lack of knowledge, misinformation or failing to maintain focus.
Let’s break it down: tactics are short-term oriented, while strategies are long-term oriented. That’s the most important difference between the two. The individual plays that you make during a round of poker are your tactics. The strategy is your overall game plan. Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images. Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players make is that they play far too many hands. When you're just starting out playing poker, you want to play poker, and that means staying in hands that aren't very good just to be part of the action.
Even just a small strategical adjustment in poker can potentially save you a huge amount in the long run.
In this article we will point out some of the best live and online poker tournament strategy tips you can use to improve your game as quickly as possible.
Tip 1: Play The Right Starting Hands
The mental game of poker is a whole beast of its own but basic mind game tactics can be segregated into three main categories: Offensive – This can refer to playing around the fact that you have a good hand or purposely tilting an opponent. The mental game of poker is a whole beast of its own but basic mind game tactics can be segregated into three main categories: Offensive – This can refer to playing around the fact that you have a good hand or purposely tilting an opponent. My recommended places to play online poker:1. Ignition- Betonline- https://automaticpoker.com/visit/betonl.
Whether it be lack of patience, or an unfamiliarity with opening ranges, many tournament poker players still open too wide. This is especially true when it comes to early and middle position opens, where there are still many opponents left to act behind who can be dealt a strong hand.
The problem is when called, wide openers are often at a range disadvantage. Often being dominated by their opponents, they are vulnerable to 3 bets since they frequently won't have a holding strong enough to continue under pressure.
Furthermore, although opening a hand like 7 ♠ 5♠ might at times not be a terrible strategy from early or middle position, speculative hands like suited connectors and gappers, as well as small pairs, work best with deep stacks behind.
These speculative hand types infrequently connect strongly with the flop, so those times they do you want to have deep stakes behind to have the potential to win a huge pot. Modern day tournament structures often only see deep stack play occur during the first few levels of play. This leads us into the next tournament poker tip, being stack size aware.
Learn which hands to open raise in MTT's - Watch lesson 6.1 from the Road to Success MTT Course. A power-packed 50 minute video below, just use one of the button options to unlock it and get instant access.
Tip 2: Be Stack Size Aware
Effective stack size plays a critical role in a tournament players success.
Having a deep stack, and therefore expanding an opening range to include a lot of speculative suited hands and small pairs is a tournament strategy that is going to be punished if a number of short stacks are yet to act behind. This most notably occurs in turbo tournaments where the average stack size is quite short.
Short stacks will be in push-or-fold mode. Being short, they don't have time to wait and will be looking to take any opportunity they can to move all-in. This high rate of all-ins will leave wide openers frequently being forced to relinquish their hands, without even having the opportunity to try to hit a nice flop. Problematic hands often include; J8s , KTo and weak Ax hands.
It's not just short-stacks that can cause a problem, aggressive players will be looking to attack wide-openers. This is especially true when a player opens with a vulnerable M8-M14 (20bb-35bb) stack. 3 bets get good leverage against this stack size, since continuing in the pot represents committing a significant portion of a players stack.
Wide openers would be wise not to commit a large percentage of their stack with marginal holdings, and so will be forced to fold, or face being in a high-risk situation. Staying aware of your own stacks utility, as well as anticipating how opponents will utilize their stacks, is an important tournament poker tip to keep in mind.
POKER TIP: If you are currently using BB to calculate stack size, here's a look at why using 'M' is a better MTT strategy.
Tip 3: Be Careful Overplaying In The Early Stages
As a stack gets deeper, the less willing a competent player will be to put their entire stack at risk since they have more to lose. It's rare to see good players all-in during the early stages of a tournament with hands like AKo or JJ preflop.
Smart players recognize that their counterparts aren't going to be risking their entire stack with weaker hands like AQo . Therefore, even a strong hand like AK could be at a significant equity disadvantage facing a deep stacked opponents all-in range. Could you fold QQ here?
Rather than putting in an extra raise, often times just calling with even very strong hands in the early stage of a poker tournament has great benefits.
- Allows your opponents to continue with hands they were folding to a re-raise that you have crushed.
- Disguises the strength of your hand and keeps you unpredictable.
- Prevents you from getting all-in facing a super strong range where often times you're crushed.
Tip 4: Continuation Bet Aggressively But Not Always
Players have learnt the value of c-betting, but it's a strategy that is often misapplied. Being the preflop aggressor shouldn't lead to a mandatory c-bet and double barrels.
This is especially true in multi-way pots yet players continue to make fruitless c-bets with weak holdings into multiple opponents.
Even in heads-up situations, key factors to consider include;
- How does the flop texture interact with players ranges?
- Who has the strongest range?
- Who has nut advantage (the biggest share of super strong hands)?
- How passive or aggressive is the opponent we're facing?
- How does the stack size/SPR allow us to operate on the flop and future streets?
The following hand illustrates the effect nut advantage can have on profitable continuation betting and how it applies to this tournament poker tip:
Tip 5: Be ICM Aware
The Independent Chip Model or ICM, is a great model players use to make more profitable decisions when deep in a tournament and especially at a final table.
Unlike in cash games, chip values fluctuate depending on the stage of the tournament and the competing opponents stack sizes. At it's most extreme, ICM strategy can make A♠A♣: an easy fold preflop.
Imagine a situation in a satellite where 9 players get a World Series of Poker entry and there's 10 remaining. The action folds around to a player with 100,000 in tournament chips who moves all in from the small blind. You're sitting in the big blind with A♠A♣: and also 100,000 in chips. You look around and see a few opponents with only 1000 chips left, which is the size of the current big blind. Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon.
Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon. Moreover the chance that they collectively out survive your 100,000 stack is extremely remote. You'd likely be a 99% chance to get a WSOP entry, so why would you call with your A♠A♣ and risk busting next around 20% of the time?
Aside from calling too wide in spots when the most profitable strategy is to proceed tightly, the opposite can also be true when it comes to pressuring your opponents. ICM allows players when they have the opportunity to assert pressure on there opponents stacks, to go ahead and do so liberally, since thinking opponents counter-strategy is to play a tight range of hands.
Here's an example of how drastically a hand range can change when the opportunity to assert pressure at a final table exists. 5 of the 6 remaining players at the Pokerstars Sunday Millions have 15bb's, whilst the UTG player has a short 2bb stack. Since the 15bb stacks wants to avoid busting out next and missing out on a large pay jump before the immanent bust out of the 2bb stack, the small blind can adjust their all-in range. Instead of the profitably 57% all-in range in normal play, they can move all-in with 100% of hands to apply pressure on the big blind.
Whilst the big blind should adjust their calling range from the regular 36% to just 10% of hands to account for the ICM effect in play.
The PokerNerve Road to Success course teaches players how to master ICM situations, which is key to tournament poker success since ICM comes into play as the prizes become significant. If there was only one tournament poker tip that you take away from this article, it's that you need to know ICM!
Tip 6: Bet The Appropriate Size
Strong players are capitalizing on their opponents tendencies to bet too big or too small in a number of different situations. With some similar considerations to that of continuation betting, when selecting a bet size important aspects include;
- Which player's range does the board texture favor?
- Who has the greatest nut saturation?
- How does SPR influence our betting strategy
There are many great articles online about bet sizing. You should be sure to check out ThePokerBank's and the Pokerology's to learn more about this tournament tip.
Free MTT Poker Training:
The Underused MTT Skills Essential For Success
- 5 Day Email MTT Poker Training Course By Poker Pro Kelvin 'Acesup' Beattie
- 3 Key Skills That Will Take Your MTT Poker Game To A New Level
- 1.5 Hours Of Professional Poker Training
Tip 7: Take Equity Realization Into Account
Possibly due to the popularity growth of Twitch, many poker players approach to big blind play has evolved. The current trend is to defend the big blind with virtually any 2 cards, as some top pros elect to do, and the justification for this is taking advantage of the excellent pot odds being offered.
While the inclusion of antes combined with commonly seeing a small open raise size does offer the big blind generous pot odds, this has led to a fundamental flaw in the way many players approach big blind play in poker tournaments. The key concept overlooked, is equity realization.
Equity realization reflects a players ability to take a certain hand, and win their share of the pot, frequently enough, to make it profitable in the long-term. Although some top pros have the ability to win their equity share of the pot even out of position, less skilled players rarely do. This leads to a large chip loss in the long run.
It is quite difficult to realize of your equity when out of position, with no initiative and a weak range. This means them glorious odds you are being offered aren't quite as good as you think!
The following article explains this crucial tournament poker tip in more detail; Equity Realization.
Tip 8: Don't Miss Double And Triple Barrel Opportunities
'One and done' is the plight of many aspiring tournament poker players. Everyday at the tables I see players missing profitable opportunities to double, or even triple barrel. Understanding what turn and river cards are advantageous to a players range, along with opponent tendencies, are crucial parts of a winning barreling formula.
The most common scenario at the table, is a heads-up pot where the big blind calls an open-raise. And this happens to be a great spot to barrel. Big blind defenders have a wide range, and it's important to pressure this wide range, especially on only partially connected board textures with one or multiple high cards.
RedChipPoker has a great article on spotting profitable double barrel opportunities which you can read here: THE +EV DOUBLE BARREL GUIDE
Tip 9: Check-Raise More Flops
The biggest difference between the current tournament population, and the future generation, will likely be their approach to check-raising the flop. This opportunity typically occurs in a heads-up pot, after defending the big blind verse an opponents raise.
Currently, MTT players only check-raise the flop in this situation around 7-8% of the time, when closer to 20% is a more optimal strategy. On certain flop textures, check-raising close to 25% of the time is an extremely profitable strategy. And if players are getting out of line with their c-bets, then check-raising at an even higher frequency could be a profitable exploit.
By giving up too easily on a wide range of board textures, or taking a more passive approach and simply calling, c-betting can be done with reckless abandon. However, by selecting a nice mix of check-raising hands, combining some strong hands with some good semi-bluffing candidates, a check-raiser can become tricky to play against and exploit the average players tendency to over c-bet.
POKER TIP: Applied correctly and check-raising becomes a super powerful weapon in your arsenal leading to more profitable poker results. But also think beyond the flop, there's plenty of check-raising opportunities you may be missing. This video demonstrates an interesting turn check-raise situation.
We discuss check raising strategy in more detail in our post over on unfeltedpoker.com.
Tip 10: Develop A Good 3betting Strategy
Whilst 3 betting aggressively is a strategy many players employ, especially in online poker circles, failure to apply optimal 3 betting strategies has certainly led to a lot of spewy poker. Simply attacking opponents who are suspected of opening wide doesn't cut it in the modern poker world.
Players have learnt to deal with 3 bets more profitably, by mixing in some calls with timely 4 bets. Moreover, the role stack size plays when it comes to 3 betting it still largely misunderstood by much of the poker community.
Sure there are certain stack sizes where 3 bets gain a lot of leverage, but how about the role blockers play? And when is 9♦7♦ a better 3 bet candidate than K♦T♠ ? These are just some of the considerations when it comes to a profitable 3 betting strategy. See how to design strong 3betting ranges in this article by Donkr.
Bonus Poker Strategy Tip: Avoid and Deal with Downswings
As a poker player you want to earn your money as easily and as stress-free as possible right? Well, understanding ROI, variance and bankroll management can help (see TopPokerValue's article on bankroll management).
All poker players at some point experience downswings. In some cases, this can affect their play, volume or state of mind.
You'll be miserable, hating poker, playing less and earning less per tournament as your play will suffer.
Along with finding ways that work for you to keep a positive mindset, taking pro-active steps can help keep you confident by knowing you are dealing with the situation like a professional whilst at the same time taking positive action to get back on track and winning.
What is ROI and variance?
Every tournament you enter has an EV associated with it. So if you enter a $10 tourney, as a good player maybe you have a 30% ROI, so you make $3. So it doesn't matter whether you brick that tourney or win it for $5000, you make $3 in the long run.
Now, of course, you don't make $3 each time. 80-85% of the time you lose that $10, some percentage of the time you win a little bit, and some very small percentage of the time you win a lot. How small those ‘small percentages’ are primarily depends on not only your skill edge, but also the field size which is an extremely important concept that is often ignored.
Variance is a factor of two things:
1) Your edge
2) The field size
Example 1)
You play the Hot $55 which has $30K guaranteed, every day for a year on Pokerstars. It has 1600 runners and you have a 5% ROI, because turbo ROIs are small. Your average yearly profit is $605 however you will lose money on the year 55% of the time.
Example 2)
You play a $20 tourney with $3K guaranteed on a softer site every day for a year. It has 200 runners and you have a 30% ROI, because it's a normal speed tourney and you’re against an easier field. Your average yearly profit is $2400 and in this case you lose money only 12% of the time.
A lot of people would look at those two tournaments and make a decision based on the buy-in and 1st place prize money as to which was better to play, and it would be grossly wrong. Once you accept all the above, you realise that the 'up top' number is largely meaningless.
Yes, on the same site bigger fields may mean a lot of fish have registered to play, but you'll find a lot of small field, soft, non-peak hour tournaments have a great pro-to-fish ratio and hence are great value. Of course once you consider other sites that have smaller fields, you'll often find they are a better choice than what might be running on Pokerstars.
So what can you do?
When players start losing money and along with that, confidence, not only does their game deteriorate but they often compound that problem by failing to make rational decisions. Often losing players, or players on a downswing, go 'bink chasing' and decide to take a shot to win all their money back in one tourney. Or load up some quick $82 hyper-turbos to try to turn it all around quickly.
People get overly fixated on what's 'up top' and wanting to score big in one tournament. That’s a sure-fire strategy to fuel a down swing. If your house got knocked down would you try to slap it back up in a week? Take that opportunity to rebuild a better, stronger house.
Make sure you're adding in some study and keep focused (see Sky's Matsuhashi How To Study Poker series), and stay fresh and positive as you approach each session. Be smart and get back into profit quicker instead of enduring a 6-12 month variance rollercoaster!
Closing Words On Tournament Poker Tips
Poker is a multi-faceted game which makes it fun but challenging. Challenge yourself to factor in the relevant concepts, and make more profitable decisions. Tighten up from the big blind, and in general around the table. This tip often quickly improves a new players results, or those that have a got a little sloppy with their play.
Calculate stack size using 'M'. Always be aware of your own, and your opponents stack sizes so you don't get yourself caught in awkward situations. One awkward situation that often comes up is when you hold an overpair to the board and an opponent puts the heat on you. Don't be afraid to make big lay downs to preserve your stack, especially in the early levels.
Be aware of your cbetting frequency. There's no need to waste tournament poker chips cbetting every time, especially when the pot is multi-way. Pick your spots to make profitable plays. Remember when it comes to the final table, regularly profitable playing ranges might alter due to the payouts. ICM is the key when it comes to those final big decisions.
Another key to success is knowing when to fire multiple bullets at your opponents. Barreling, especially against a wide big blind range can really help increase your non-showdown winnings. Finding ways to accumulate chips without always having the best hand is what top players do. This is why check-raising and having a good 3 betting strategy is so important. Correct use of these strategical concepts and the other tips outlines will get you winning more at the tables.
Now that you've acquired some great holdem tournament strategy tips to help you achieve MTT success, go out there an implement them!
One of the quickest way to improve your poker game is to take on a poker coaching, a course or join a poker training site; if that is something that interests you be sure to check out the PokerNerve road to Success Course for some advanced poker tournament strategy or you can check out HowToPlayPokerInfo's guide on poker training & poker courses to find the right option for you.
Any other poker tournament strategy tips? Leave them below in the comments, we would love to hear them!
Poker Tactic Crossword
Expected Value
If you comb through poker strategy books or articles written on this website, you will repeatedly find assertions that poor poker players may win money in the short run but will lose money in the long run. The converse is true for professional and very good players. They may lose money in the short run but will generally win in the long run.
Why is this exactly? It is because of a concept known as expected value (EV). Expected value is your expected return on a wager. For example, suppose you made a bet with me on a coin flip. If it is heads, I give you $100. If it is tails, you give me $1. Should you theoretically take this bet (assuming that the coin is fair and has a fifty-fifty chance of landing on heads or tails)?
Definitely! There is a 50% chance of it landing on heads, meaning you win $100. Thus, your expected win is $50 (0.50 * $100). If it lands on tails, you lose $1. Thus, your expcted loss is $0.50 (0.50 * $1). Your expected profit is the expected win minus the expected loss. Thus, your expected profit is $49.50.
Obviously, you will not win $49.50. You will win $100 or lose $1. However, you should view the bet as 'winning' $49.50. Outcomes in gambling are influenced by chance in the short run. However, in the long run, your outcomes will very closely reflect your expected value. If we did the coin flip example a million times, your final profit would be extremely close to $49.5 million.
So how does expected value play out in a poker game? The most clear manifestation of expected value is pot odds theory (pot odds, as well as implied odds, reverse implied odds, etc.). The whole idea of pot odds theory is that you should only draw to a hand when you have a positive expected value.
Other examples of expected value are demonstrated in the advanced moves below.
There are 8 players in the pot and you are the small blind (first person to bet). You check, and the player in the big blind position bets. Three players call. Should you call?
No, you should raise! Why? There is a 35% chance you will hit a flush on the turn or the river. If you hit this flush, you will more than likely scoop the pot. If you raise, 4 players will call, meaning you will only be putting in an additional 20% of the pot. Thus, if this was a $1-$2 game, you would have an expected value profit of $0.75 (0.35 x $5 - $1).
Please realize that this is an imperfect example. The expected win only considers the flush draw. You also have overcards, which means you could easily win if a ten or an Ace falls as well. However, there is also the chance that someone may hit a full house, so you'd have to decrease it by that. Someone could also reraise behind you and knock others out, which may decrease your expected value. Nonetheless, hopefully this example shows why some fancy plays are used.
Tips For Playing Poker
Bluffing and calling bluffs depend on expected value. When you make a bluff, you should have some estimate in your head about the bluff's chance of success. This chance of success should meet with a positive expectation. For example, if the pot is $100 and I make a bluff of $50, I need at least a 33% of the bluff's working (assuming I have 0% chance of winning if I am called). This is because I need to win 1 out of 3 times in order to break even.
Expected value also helps clarify the differences between big mistakes and small mistakes. Big mistakes occur when a player makes a decision that has a very high negative expected value whereas a small mistake is when one gives up a small amount of expected value.
If you plan on playing poker a lot, you should eventually be able to know your expected value of an hour of play. In order to do this, you need to keep accurate records. You should record the amount of time you spend playing, the type of game, and the place where you played. After a while, you will be able to reasonably estimate your expected win or loss per hour of play (you need to log at least 200 hours at a given location and limit to have a decent estimate).
Expected value is another reason why you should never play in a poker game that you cannot afford. If you play with scared money, you will be reluctant to play when you have a small edge. You will give up a lot of expected value on some hands, which will probably turn you into an overall loser.
Dumping the Second-Best Hand
In blackjack, everyone grimaces at being dealt a sixteen. It's the worst possible hand and odds are you are going to lose your money. The hold'em equivalent to a sixteen is a 7 2, which is considered the worst possible hand. However, with a 7 2, odds are you will lose nothing (because you will fold preflop) or just your blind. In fact, I don't even mind being dealt 7 2 because I know what it's worth. I'm much more afraid of being dealt A A because that hand has the potential of costing me a lot of money. The paradox that a good hand is to be feared much more so than a bad one centers on the most important concept of poker: Relative Hand Value.
Everyone knows that to win at poker, you must maximize your wins and minimize your losses. Maximizing your wins is fairly easy. Slowplaying and trapping help accentuate these wins, but the reality is that any fool can win a decent amount when he has a good hand. What generally separates a winning poker player from a losing one is how the two players lose their hands. The winning poker player knows how to dump his second-best hand while the loser will call it down and lose at the showdown.
To me, the psychological difference is generally that the losing player must satisfy his need to know what the other guy had. The desire to be a policeman and make sure his opponent isn't bluffing and to make sure he didn't lose what he could have won causes him to call when he shouldn't. The winning poker player has overcome this innate desire and forces him/herself to play well.
Now that I have brought your attention to what the second-best hand is, how do you play them? It really depends on Limit vs. No-Limit poker.
Limit Poker
When you play a fixed-limit game, calling with the second-best hand won't kill you quickly. You will notice your negative bank balance only in the long run because you will win sometimes in the short run. Generally, the best way to minimize your losses from second-best hands is through preflop play. Don't go in with hands without a decent kicker (i.e dump K8, A7) because those are often dominated hands. Having a dominated hand means that you're up against an opponent with a similar hand but one will almost always beat the other. Some examples are AA vs. AQ or AK vs. A9. The hand that is dominated has 3 outs or less (AQ must catch two queens without an ace hitting or a straight to win). Thus, correct preflop play can minimize second-best hands because you call less with dominated hands due to kicker.
Flop play is a bit different. Suppose:
You definitely have second-best hand potential, but how do you tell? Well, generally the best way is to bet or raise at flop and see what happens. If you encounter a lot of resistance, you're done for. Also, if there is a large multi-way pot, go ahead and fold. Someone is bound to have the Ace.
No-Limit Poker
When you play no-limit hold'em, it's a totally different ball game. In a fixed-limit game, you won't lose too much on one second-best hand, but you can easily lose your whole stack at no-limit. That's why, in a no-limit game, it's best to play the nut-like hands more. In other words, pocket pairs go up in value because of their ability to hit a set and so do connecting cards because of their ability to hit straights. Ace-suited goes up in value too because of the nut flush, but people are generally very aware of the flush potential and will shut you out at the flop when you hit a flush draw.
Since these hands go up in value, what goes down? AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, etc. These hands are the ones that can get destroyed at no-limit poker. These hands will win small pots with top pair, but will lose large ones when someone else hits a set or a straight.
The key to no-limit poker is not necessarily dumping these second-best hands preflop. It's sniffing out what other people have on the flop. Do not simply call bets with the second-best hand; you must raise to see where you are. When someone bets at you, they are threatening your whole stack (if the bet is a signicant one). You must reciprocate by threatening theirs.
In this example, you could be in a lot of trouble. Someone betting at you could have JT or TT. It's important to figure out their relative strength by raising them at the flop.
Now, many will ask, 'Well, couldn't they just bluff reraise me?' Of course they could, but that will cost them a lot when you finally get the nut hand. Simply call the reraise and then zap them out of the rest of their stack on the turn and river.
Dynamic Hand Value
I have received a lot of questions regarding this topic, so I am going to dedicate an entire article to it. Most advanced players know that Sklansky hand rankings (or my hand rankings for that matter) are not set in stone, but are rather general guidelines for ranking hands. This is because hand value fluctuates greatly depending on the number of people in the pot. Many people are not quite sure how to treat their starting hands when the game's dynamic fluctuates between loose and tight, thus affecting the number of people in the pot. The answer to this dilemma lies with what type of hand you hold, and how many players this type of hand is suitable against.
I am going to divide the types of hands into three categories:
Most of this is written assuming the game is longhand limit.
Large Pairs (JJ or higher)
These are 'premium' hands that people hope to receive. They have a lot of value in of themselves and are not board-dependent to win. People generally raise preflop with these hands for value, but often a major reason to raise preflop is just to knock people out. For example, consider KK. Unless an Ace hits the board, KK will probably be the best hand at the flop. However, consider this situation:
Both opponents will be tempted to draw to see another card. Someone with two hearts will be drawing as well. All of a sudden, you face a situation where there are seventeen outs against you. Now, while you still have the highest chance out of anyone to win the pot, it is more likely that someone else will win the pot instead of you!
This is a common situation with large pairs, where they are the best hand at the flop but there is enough runners out there that one of them is bound to beat you at the river. Thus, the way to alleviate this situation is to knock these people out of the flop by making raises aimed at limiting the size of the pot. Reraise people after they raised you to make it expensive to see the flop and raise at the flop to knock people out.
For example, in the above situation, suppose you were in early position and there were 5 people at the flop. You should consider checking the flop hoping for a check-raise to knock the people between you and the original better out. This way, people with 5 outs or less won't be in the pot against you, and you have to worry less about longshot draws beating you.
Big Cards
Big cards like AK, AQ, KQ are great for shorthanded games, but often a curse in longhanded games. While big cards can at least become an overpair and win money from someone whose hand won't likely improve (such as top pair plus top kicker), these hands are the ones that make top pair + top kicker. Thus, when you hit the board with these hands, unless you are outkicking your opponent or your opponent is an idiot, he or she will generally be on a draw against you. Thus, you generally want to go ahead and take the pot down at the flop, or at least make it very expensive for your opponent to see the turn.
Small to Medium pairs and Suited Connectors
These hands change drastically in value depending on the situation. Assuming a non heads up situation (where small pairs do well simply due to the chance of your opponent not hitting anything), these are hands you want to play in a multi-way pot. You generally won't hit much with these hands, or you will hit a very nice hand like a three-of-a-kind, flush, or straight. The overreaching goal with these hands is to have pot odds in your favor. (Note: Ax suited plays a lot like a suited connector.)
If you have a suited connector, you are hoping there are enough callers and dead money in the pot to justify drawing to the straight or flush. Pot odds is why these hands will show a profit with four or more people in the pot, but will generally be poor against two or three opponents. In a multiway pot with a suited connector, you may have a flush or straight draw (that will win if you hit) but only must put in 1/10 of the pot to see the next card, which is very good odds.
If you have a small pair, you are hoping for the 13% chance of hitting a set on the flop. So if 7 people are in the pot, you have the exact pot odds for a set. However, for small pairs, not only are the pot odds good for a set, the implied odds once you hit your set are great. If you hit your set, chances are good that someone will have a second-best hand that has a slim-to-none chance of beating you.
There's a good chance that someone will pay you off with a King or maybe even a Jack. Small pairs really begin showing their profit potential with around 5 or more people in the pot.
A common question about the small pair strategy is 'How should I evaluate the set potential of large pairs?' After all, I talk about how the implied odds once you hit a set are generally great. Unfortunately, this does not apply to large pairs.
If you hit a set with a large pair, there's a good chance it will be top set (meaning there's no cards on the board that are higher than that), so you won't get much action from anything besides draws. In this example, there's only so much action you can get from a hand like K J.
Advanced Drawing and Pot Odds Theory
When playing poker, you will often find yourself on a draw after the flop. To decide how to play your draw, you should consider the pot odds, implied odds, reverse implied odds, and the chance of a redraw.
Pot odds means the odds you need to need to justify a call, just based on the money in the pot and assuming you will win if you hit a draw. For example, if you have a flush draw on the flop, you have 9 outs. This means you have a 19.1% chance of hitting a flush on the turn. To justify a call just based on pot odds, you assume you will win if you hit the flush, but will lose otherwise. Therefore, amount you call must be lower than 19.1% of the pot to justify a call.
Think of pot odds in this manner: Suppose you are at a raffle. The raffle is giving away $100 in cash to a lucky winner. You have a 20% chance of winning. How much would you spend to have a 20% chance to win $100? The correct answer is up to $20. Your 'expected' win is $20 (.20 * $100 = $20).
A poker pot is very similar to this raffle. However, your 'ticket' is a bet, and it also becomes part of the prize. If the pot is $100 and you must call $20, you will in fact be winning $120 if you win (the pot plus your bet). Thus, you need at least a 20 out of 120 chance to win (16.7%).
However, the problem with basing your decision solely on pot odds is that it neglects bets in future rounds. It also neglects the chance that you may already have the best hand, and it assumes that the opponent won't draw out against on you. It also does not take into account that you could be drawing dead, meaning that the hand you are trying to hit will still not beat the hand an opponent currently holds.
Implied odds are the odds that take into account future bets. For example, if you have a 19.1% chance of hitting a flush on a turn, you can theoretically afford to call up to 19.1% of the amount of money you would expect to win at the showdown. There is no way to always know exactly how much you will be able to win on future betting rounds; this is something you have to guess on your own.
Reverse implied odds and redraws involve the chance you hit your hand and lose anyway.
You have a 19.1% chance of hitting a flush, but not necessarily that high of a chance of winning. Someone may have or hit a full house. Thus, you have to consider how much you could lose if you hit your flush, but still lose the hand. Another example is if you have a straight draw, but there are two cards of the same suit on the board. Someone else might be on a flush draw. Even if you hit a straight, you may not win because that other player might hit a flush. So just because you have a 31.5% chance of hitting a straight on the turn or the river, it does not mean you have a 31.5% chance of winning. Basically, the idea behind reverse implied odds and redraws is that you do not automatically win once you hit your draw. You must consider the chance that you will lose even if you hit your draw and must guess the amount of money you will lose on future bets if that happens.
Calculating pot odds is a powerfool tool. However, don't just use the calculations to make all of your decisions. It is a helpful tool, but you should also consider implied odds and reverse implied odds. You should also factor in the chance that you may already hold the best hand, and the possibility that you face a raise from behind you.