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Beat the Best Texas Holdem Players
You've seen them on television and marveled at their abilities. Dan Harrington, Mike Matusow, Phil Ivey. If you're really into poker, you've probably imagined what it might be like to play against these greats of the game. You also might imagine that you couldn't possibly get the better of one of these players. Well the fact is, today, the big tournaments are being won by amateurs all the time which means that all of these pros are getting busted by someone, and it's not always by other pros. How can you beat the best Texas Hold'em Players?
To beat the best Texas Hold'em Players, you have to get into a game with them. One way to do this is by finding a big cash game in Las Vegas and buying in. This is not recommended. While you probably know most of the famous poker players from tournaments, cash games are the professional’s bread and butter, and many are far better at cash games than at tournaments. They will also probably have much larger bankrolls than you, which means they are far better equipped to ride out the short term variations in luck than you are.
A better option is to find a pro in a tournament online. Many online sites feature tournaments with pros that are affiliated with the site. In fact, Doyle’s Room has a bounty tournament where if you knock out three famous players, you can win a large cash prize. Other sites feature matches with pros as awards for continued play on the site, or even scheduled tournaments where the pros affiliated with the site are committed to playing.
Finally, you can play against pros in live tournaments. Any event with a buy in of $10,000 or more is bound to be loaded with professional players. If you can't afford a buy in of that size, you can win your way in by playing in a much cheaper satellite tournament. Not all pros play exclusively high stakes events. Players like Amir Vahedi and Men "the Master" Nguyen have been known to play events with buy-ins as low as $200.
So now that you've found them, how do you beat them? Here's a secret. When playing against a pro, you have the advantage. That's because you've seen them play, but they haven't seen you play. Of course, televised coverage doesn't tell you the whole story about any player, but you can bet that all the pros go back over episodes of the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker, scrutinizing the players every movements and mannerisms for hints about their play. You can do this with almost any pro; none of them can do it with you.
If you find yourself at a table with a player who you really feel is far superior, conventional wisdom is to play big pots. You are probably better off getting all of your chips in against a top pro in a coin flip situation than you are trying to outplay them on every flop. The pros know this, so many will try to avoid gambling with amateurs early in the tournament, a fact that you can exploit.
If you are up against a top player, don't be intimidated. They are just as afraid of getting knocked out of a big tournament as you are, and you are the unknown quantity. Play your best game, and with a little luck, down the road amateurs will be trying to figure out how they can possibly beat you.
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Beat the Best Texas Holdem Players : Poker Player
