The Big Picture
If winning a single hand in online poker is like a battle, beating the game in the long-run is like a war with all its complexities and intricate strategic conflicts.
A successful general is one that can see beyond the battle he's momentarily engaged in, and reach decisions with the big picture in mind. In order to be successful at what he does, he needs to see the many scattered little pieces as parts of a whole, he needs to have a clear vision on how the war he's fighting, will eventually end, or at least how he would like it to end…
All the above goes for poker players too. The internet is loaded with poker strategy articles. There's not a decent poker site out there that doesn't feature a strategy section, yet all the otherwise useful information these websites feature, is no good for a rookie.
Truly relevant examples in this sense, are starting hand charts.
It is every rookie's first reaction to study these charts and to generally treat them as valuable sources of information. Little do they know, that starting hand selection is worth almost nothing if the person using it has no knowledge of the nature of online Texas Holdem, and of a series of other, more or less important poker concepts.
If you do not understand WHY the chart recommends a certain starting hand, and HOW you're supposed to play that hand, you're looking at the whole thing through the barrel of a gun.
You simply cannot reach useful conclusions while not looking at the big picture. How can you possibly determine that your starting hand will withstand the pre-flop onslaught good poker players will unleash, if you have no idea why these guys are doing what they're doing? Do you assume that they all just hate your guts and want to see you gone? Why is this pre-flop action killing you anyway?
In order to be able to successfully confront pre-flop raisers you need to see the reasons behind their actions. First of all, they may be attacking the blinds. You know, that small amount of money that you posted before you got your pocket cards. Money that you considered an inevitable tax you have to pay in order to play at the table and money that you disregarded as something that won't really impact your game in the long run.
Well, guess what…you were wrong. The blinds are the catalyst of poker, the source of all the action that takes place in a hand. Without blinds, there is no poker, so basically you can affirm that the blinds are where online poker begins. Unfortunately for you and for other rookies like you, if you're in a fixed limit game, the blinds are where poker ends, too. How can you possibly belittle the impact the blinds have on the game? Texas Holdem is a game of small edges, and adopting a solid blinds-play is one of the best ways of securing a pretty good edge. The pre-flop action is the way solid players attack your blinds or try to defend theirs. A solid defense is imperative, just because it'll help you lose $5 where everyone else loses $7. Successfully attacking the blinds, is where most of the value comes from in FL Texas Holdem games.
This is just one reason why some players seem to like pre-flop action so much, but as I said before, this is merely a minute part of a bigger picture. A pre-flop raiser will always make some players fold without them seeing the flop. That means, by the time the flop hits the board, there will be fewer people in the hand, and that will mean added positive EV for all those who are still in it. In online poker, you can't be passive if you intend to be a winner. You need EV+ situations, but whatever chance supplies you with, is just not enough. You have to go out there and create EV+ for yourself. By making players fold pre-flop, this is exactly what good players are doing.
Solid pre-flop betting is also meant to capitalize on a weakness (some call it an anti-skill) that most rookies learn early on: they want to see the flop. They find nothing peculiar about repeatedly calling a raiser just to take a peek at the flop. When the flop comes and misses them, most of these guys simply fold without a trace of remorse.
Heck, they're even glad they didn't go further into the hand on what turned out as mere rags, and congratulate themselves for it.
All these guys leave dead money in the pot (dead as in unclaimed). What does that do? It further increases the odds for the skillful pre-flop raiser. You see, that raiser knew exactly how he had to play his starting hand and why. He was aware of the big bicture.
With all that said, you have to be aware that poker is mainly a post-flop betting game. The action that truly matters and that really calls upon your skills is the post-flop betting. All that pre-flop deal we just discussed, is done in order to set the stage for the real action.
If you think you're beginning to see at least a part of the big picture now, then I'll consider the scope of this article fulfilled.
Written by Steve Larson.
Printed with permission from
Rake Me Back -
www.rakemeback.com.
The Big Picture : Poker Player
