Ten Commandments of Poker
(from Cardoza, publishers of many great poker books)

1. Play the right hands
2. Handle your aggression
3. Play draws
4. Dropping Hands
5. Protecting Hands
6. Playing the River
7. Being Heads Up
8. Bluffing and Semi Bluffing
9. Variation
10. Reading Opponents

First Commandment: Play the right hands

Some hands in Texas Hold'em seem alluringly good, although they actually may not be. Of course, one problem is that other players around the table may hold better cards and, therefore, may have a better chance of winning.

If the only problem with Texas Hold'em was whether you had better hands than your opponents, you could just sit and wait for pocket rockets, knowing that you had good odds. However, the problem with doing this is:

• the blinds will cost you
• the opponent will soon know that you hold AA when you play and will not pay you off suitably. Another issue is your position at the table. If you are playing out of position, your cards decrease in value. The First Commandment of Poker says that you should only play hands with sufficient value for your position.

Some hands have the potential to directly make a good hand, such as AK (or AA of course!) which tend to make a top pair. Other hands can also make strong hands, but are rarer. As these hands frequently have to be thrown away on the flop, you need to have a big enough pot when you make a hand or else pick up a draw to pay off.

These speculative hands include pocket pairs and suited connectors, which share the same characteristics. To be profitable, you need to have people in the pot. The only way you can be sure of this is to only play these hands after a number of callers are already in.

No Limit

Preflop play no limit is different from preflop play limit. In limit poker, you play to get money in the pot and to prepare for taking the betting lead on the flop and beyond. In no limit poker, preflop is more about concealing your hand. There is a small paradox in the game of poker which becomes apparent in preflop play. When you have a good chance of winning, you want to get as much money in the pot as possible; when you don't have a good chance of winning, you want to put as little money in the pot as possible. The problem is that, if you do this consistently, your opponents will soon realize this and fold to your bets.

If you are differentiating your bets excessively, you will give too much information away. When trying to conceal this, it is better to bet too much with lesser hands than too little with good hands.

While in no limit it is still the case that you should avoid playing too many hands, here the rules are somewhat different. As the implied odds are so good in no limit (compared to fixed), you can use this fact to play more hands. However, as you try to conceal your cards, it is important to ensure that you

Second Commandment: Handle aggression

A lot of money is won or lost in the second and third bet during a betting round. Just calling a single bet can allow your opponent to make a too easy decision. For this reason, it is very important to understand the mechanics of the raises.

A very common mistake is to call a raise too frequently. If you do this, you will loose money. On the other hand, if other players do this, you can exploit it for yourself. If a player before you raises, you can interpret the move in one of two ways:

Either you think they have a good hand, in which case you probably should fold

You think that you have a better hand, in which case you should probably raise to isolate them.

When you do have a strong hand, such as an over pair on the flop, it is very important to play aggressively to get money in the pot and to avoid getting drawn out. It is, however, important to understand the value of draws. Against several opponents, you will not bet for profit but, rather, to scare them off. There may be many drawing hands involved and, in these situations, the draws will profit the most.

Another related issue is your own raises. The key to fixed limit play is aggression and dominance. You should rather raise than call, but there are of course limitations. Sometimes you just don't get the respect you deserve and in these cases you must not compensate by raising more frequently but rather less. Second commandment also states that you should only raise when you think you have an above average chance to win.

Playing Large Bets in No Limit

Making large bets is a key factor in distinguishing between no limit and fixed limit poker. It is important to master both placing bets and deciding when to call them.

When calling a big bet, you can view the situation by considering three possible hands at play:

1. What your opponent may have. This hand must be worth betting or raising according to how they have acted in the hand. Actions in previous rounds, as well as information on player behaviour, should be considered.
2. What other hand your opponent can see at the table that is beaten by their hand, but is still strong enough for you to bet on. If the player cannot possibly believe you hold a hand less than the one you have, he/she would not have bet against it unless he/she has you beat.
3. What hand you actually do have.

If you cannot locate all three of the hands outlined above, you could be in trouble if you call.

Here is an example:

You make the flush on the river, but there is a pair on the board. You place a medium sized bet which is raised. What your opponent suspects you have is now pretty obvious, and there is a good chance that their hand actually beats it with a full house. As the three hands are not there, you should fold unless you suspect that they are bluffing.

If, on the other hand, you hold the full house, you can call (or re-raise) as it is possible that your opponent thinks that they can beat a flush.

It is important to master the skill of placing large bets, as you don't want to place yourself in a situation where you can only be called by a stronger hand.

Third Commandment: Play draws

In a loose game, playing a draw is often a good strategy as, with a lot of players in the hand, the implicit odds generally make it profitable. However, it is important to note that the draws are of different strengths.

A flush draw is a strong draw. You need approximately 1:2 to call the draw on the flop, providing you get odds to pick a new card on turn and will not run into a higher flush or an even stronger hand.

A straight draw is not as strong as a flush draw. There are fewer outs and there is a possibility that you will run into a flush. You need approximately 1:3 to call the draw on the flop, providing you get odds to pick a new card on turn and you will not run into a higher straight or an even stronger hand.

A gut-shot straight draw can provide very weak outs. First of all, there are only four cards to help you. Secondly, even if you make your straight, there is still the chance that someone else will make a higher straight, flush or possibly a full house, which can be costly.

The situation gets worse when two cards of the same suite on the flop gives another player a potential flush draw. This reduces the number of outs to 3.

However, it is not correct to say that you should never play a gut-shot straight draw; it just demands higher odds. It is called a Gut-shot for a reason, as it is somewhat concealed and you'll get action when you hit the straight. There are three main reasons to play the gut-shot straight draw:

• the odds admit it. You need approximately 1:9 in odds to call one card. You need to be aware that you will not normally get odds to call on the turn, meaning that you only have one card to make the straight.
• You have more outs. Two over cards potentially makes another 6 outs, although be aware of the possibility that someone else may make a straight when you hit a pair on turn.
• The potential odds from bets in later betting rounds will compensate.

No Limit

Draws must be played differently in no limit to fixed limit poker.

• In no limit play, the implied odds are much greater. When you make your hand, you could potentially win the entire bankroll of your opponent. However, as no limit is more complex than fixed limit, trapping your opponent is more improbable. This is because in no limit, your opponent is less likely to bet on the possibility that you didn't make a flush or straight, compared to fixed limit. Hence, you may not be paid off as much as you would hope.
• You can never be sure that you will be provided a fifth card when drawing on the flop. In no limit poker, one method is to bet in a way that ensures it is unprofitable to continue calling. When calculating your odds on the flop, you must be prepared for a situation where the turn bet is big enough to scare you off.

Fourth Commandment: Dropping Hands

This is a very simple commandment yet costly for a lot of players. The general rule of thumb is of course; if you don't have a hand, don't put any more money in. Having outs to draw to a hand is of course different, but sometimes the drawing possibilities are not very good either.

Of course it is true that a lot of the time, no one actually hit the flop, but you should here be careful. Position becomes very valuable, as for the player last to act, he/she can wait and see how the action turns out and fold for zero bets on turn or raise for two big bets if he/she actually spikes the hand.

Here we must make a big difference between calling and betting too. A player betting out has a chance of winning the pot right there, but simply calling has lost that element. Without a plan on how to actually win, you should fold.

Fifth Commandment: Protecting your hand

One important lesson to remember in fixed limit is that because of the limitation in betting and the fact that a bet on the flop is half the cost of a bet on the turn, a lot of time you do have odds for calling long shots. This is especially true in playing loose low stakes tables.

Failing to understand and adapt to this will make you curse the table being drawn out time after time. Remember, in loose fixed limit games, draws are the most profitable hands on the flop because with the many players, the draws will pay each other, not the best hand on the flop.

The correct counter measure is to protect your hand with a raise. By raising a bet on the flop with players left to act, you give them a much more difficult proposition. For all weak draws like low pairs with a high kicker or gut shot straight draw the reduced odds for calling and the risk of a re-raise will either having them doing a weak call or actually lay down their hand.

However, do not confuse this with a value bet. A player that already has put money in the pot will call your raise and this money will go to the draws. Protecting is about facing your opponent with calling a two bet, not calling another bet.

In No Limit we get a new tool at our disposal. As we here can decide exactly how much to bet, we also can decide the odds a player will get, calling. The idea is to never give the opponent a draw to out-draw you.

Sixth Commandment: Playing the River

On the river all cards are out on the table and it is time to see who actually delivers. It is however not as easy as just show down the cards. The betting round at the river still provides a lot of possibilities for profit and loss.

On the river, as opposed to the earlier betting rounds the most common mistake perhaps is to fold too much. For just one last bet, you might have the stab on a large pot. You don't have to win that often to be profitable.

An important concept on the river is inducing bluffs. If you sit with a hand and bet out on the river but don't get called, you make no money. You had (in this case) been better off checking, as here the opponent may feel inclined to make a bluff bet which you can call or raise. A rule of thumb is that if you hold a low made hand (e.g. top pair lower kicker) you will only be called by a higher hand which is a typical situation to just check down the hand or induce a bluff.

Seventh Commandment: Being Heads up

Being heads up in a pot is a completely different game. Most of the time we got here by isolating or being isolated.

One of the big issues with heads up is to re-evaluate the strength of your hand. You need to be aggressive.

Make sure that in the situations you do isolate a player, you are holding a premium hand. A pait or an Ace with a high kicker can actually win unimproved.

Eighth Commandment: Bluffing and Semi-bluffing

Bluffing is an integral part of poker, but maybe not as common as one might think. The eighth commandment stipulates that you should be careful when you do it to make it profitable.

In fixed limit we have the problem that as the bets are regulated, it can be very difficult to make a bet that will deter the opponents. On the other hand, the cost is not as big for a bluff which means they don't have to win as frequent as in no limit.

A typical mistake is to bluff against too many opponents. With more than one opponent, the probability of being called increases dramatically.

Ninth Commandment: Variation

As equal as being able to read the opponents is to avoid letting them read you. Online you do not expose emotions the same way as in live play, but there are still a number of things that you could figure out from watching others. Or get figured out.

The ninth commandment says that you shall play aggressive and varied to make it more difficult to put you on a hand.
Typical rules are:

• When you check on the flop, and someone after you bets, what do you normally do? It should not be possible to pick up a strong trend from your behaviour.
• When you call a raise on the flop, will you fold or call again on the turn. It should not be possible to pick up a strong trend here either.
• Is there a strong correlation between you actually having a hand and you betting out

Tenth Commandment: Reading Opponents

Reading opponents are of course a very complex subject. The tenth commandment of poker says that you should adapt your play according to the other players around the table.

Exactly how much or in which way is the tricky part. Tools to store statistics about opponents can help you, but the problem here is that for statistics to be accurate you need a lot of data, so building up a profile on this will be time consuming and expensive.

A more accurate way of doing this is to analyse which cards a player shows (when he/she actually does show them). This way you can much quicker get an idea about the behaviour of the player.

Here are a few examples:

• Analyse how often a player defends blinds. If a player shows T6o after calling a raise in big blind, we can deduct that he will call us with almost anything.
• If a player repeatedly flat calls a raise from early position, we can deduct he will call us pretty often and we must immediately stop stealing with speculative cards.
• If a player calls a lot on the flop, we must adapt to that, especially from early positions, where we cannot steal without a hand, but on the other side we can bet out and get paid off when we actually do.