Texas Hold'em

TheHatter

This thread originally started out with a question asking what I should do about my avatar, but I decided I would best keep with the default rather than risk getting singled out. 

I want keep talking about poker, but don't feel like starting a whole new thread about basically the same thing. lol

 

Do you play Texas Hold'em? Are you any good? Do you have any strategies you want to share? Want to brag?

 

Personally, I've been playing Texas Hold'em for just 3 or 4 years now. But, I've been a poker junkie since I was little. In my teens, all I did was play 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud and a couple other variations of those all day long at friend's houses.

I'm still learning quite a bit, because the games I grew up with rely alot more on the odds of the hand, than what the other players are doing. I've been playing for 3 or 4yrs, but I haven't really gotten into the game except for the past year or two, mainly because I didn't understand the game. I had read a few things about the strategy of the game a while back, but never really got big into it. Then one day it was like someone turned on a light switch and I started being able to win game after game after game. 

I love it, I've been addicted for awhile. I still play MMOs and do other stuff, because if I play too many poker games in a day I will start to bet wrong, get bold, and just generally start screwing up left and right. 

The only tips I really have for anyone is that once you learn the basic modes of play, the basic styles, and start to get a grasp on the hundreds of tiny little quarks that go into each hand........ give up playing with play money, if you have the intention of every playing for real cash. People do not play right on play money tables, because most couldn't care less if they win or lose. Even on extremely low cash games, the players play much much differently than they do on play money. Honestly, from what I've seen, there isn't a very big difference in the way people play  from a $1 Tournament game and a $50 Tournament game. 

Unknown

Hmmm. I don't think you'll find any picture as forgettable as the default circle you're talking about; it just can't be done, it's the default setting and so generic it's the most common thing around. Avoid any famous characters. In fact, avoid anything with a face, no matter how detatched faces form connections in people's minds. No bright colors, as you said. My best guess would be a tree or a landscape, a bland landscape. Perhaps a geological feature of no importance like a big rock.

And make sure the screen name and picture have nothing to do with one another. If they're similar the mind is likely to lump them together and register them. That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. Hopefully someone else has some ideas.

GTwander

First off, I had a hard time telling whether you meant in-person poker or the online kind.... mainly it was the part about trying to read a bluff on someone's avatar - which is impossible. Now, if only poker let you submit a range of pictures that allow you to change your avatar on the fly, in order to pose a bluff, then I could see it. Like if I took pictures of my "crappy cards" face as well as my "oh face" and could put them out there based on what I get. You can bet your ass that I'd go with the exact opposite of what is really going on in my hand though, so in a sense, reading the bluff would be too easy. The only time you'd miss a read is when someone honestly submits what they are thinking at that moment, and when you start taking that guy seriously he might just switch it up again. There is just no way to do that right imo, it's best in person.

For instance, the few times I have played poker with friends there is always the one guy who wipes the floor with us all. I ended up being the only person to last to the end once, and namely because I bullshit with the best of them, but this guy is naturally "gumpy", in a sense, so it's impossible to read anything on his face. It's very much to his advanatage.

Roulette is my personal game of choice. There's only you and the house, and paying attention to anyone else's methods is just going to screw you up as much as it does them. Most people don't even have a science to it, and just randomly place things. I will never do anything other than a corner, line, odd/even or red/black bet because those are odds that are very easy to read... minus the dreaded zeros (which account for the majority of my losses). I win 2 out of 3 times on average, and slowly build up my winnings over the course of the night. It's whenever I choose to ride my haul on a single bet that I end up on that remaining 1/3rd.

*kicks self in the ass*

TheHatter

Yeah, I think you're right Sawtooth. I'm just going to have to stick with the default circle, because I started paying attention to what I wasn't paying attention to (yeah sounds weird, but when you're in a poker game you're mind is else where, lol) but I noticed that no matter what the Avatar is, I pay attention to it. There were a couple I've come across that I didn't pay attention to as much as I did others and they were exactly what you described. Arbitrary meaningless pictures. 

One was a row of candles. Another was a towel crumpled up, and I can't remember what the other 2 I've came across that really just blended in were. But, they were equally as random like you said. BUT, I still payed attention to them much more than I did the people who were using the default dull circle. 

----

GT, yeah I figured the "Avatar" would give it away as to me talking about being online.

I'm much better IRL than I am online, because I am naturally very sensitive to people's emotions. I guess it's a talent or something, I can pick up on very minor changes that are so minor, that I can't pin down what exactly they are. I've even been known to figure out something is wrong with people I know just going by the texts they send me, even though they didn't send anything out of the ordinary.

I usually play tournaments both online and in person. Usually if I lose in person, it's because I got the bad luck of the draw. Stuff like AAA losing to a 23456, lol.

I'm a little worse online, but not too much. I'm actually doing an experiment right now to see if I might be able to turn it into an actual side income. I deposited $10 about a week and a half ago and I've been playing Hold'em SNG Double or Nothing tables. They are pretty boring, but still fun. Double or Nothing is a bit of a change in play style though, because the players on the table play much differently than on regular tournament tables. DoN, is a 10 player game and the top 5 win double their money. So, even if you come in 5th place, you still win the same amount as first place. I've won mostly, but I've lost a few because of the changes in play style. I'm not doing bad, I've only played about 2 games a day or so + the few I've lost and I'm up to $25ish. 

Playing online really increases your skill for live games, because you learn how to read people's bluffs and just generally learn to read people based strictly around the way they have been playing the match. In person, once someone plays 2 hands to the turn, I know exactly what they are holding after the flop. Online, it doesn't really work as well, but you can still do it. 

The games I play in person, are usually pretty fairly matched. Everyone knows the game, knows the strategy of the game, and knows how to play fairly well. Out of the 10 or 12 regulars, there are 3 of us that usually end up winning though. 

If you know the game, like the game and want to know how to wipe the floor with that guy. Start researching playstyles. Pretty much every player can be thrown into 1 of the 4 groups for the majority of their hands.

Tight Agressive

Loose Agressive

Tight Passive

Loose Passive

Pros play a little bit of each, but heavy ended on the Tight Agressive. Most of the better players you will meet will play mostly on the Tight Agressive Side, but dabble over into the Loose Agressive a little. If you play too Tight, then you will blind out, if you play too loose, then you're just giving your chips away. The bad players are the ones who play alot of Loose Agressive, but there are actually a few pros who are heavy ended on the Loose Agressive.... I can't think of any names. I don't follow pro that heavily. It's like Golf, I love the game, but FFS I hate watching it. lol

Once you get to the point where you can quickly and accurately put players into one of those play styles, then you will become a much better player. Just remember that Texas Hold'em isn't really a card game, it's a PVP game and the cards are just the weapons you use. It's called, "Playing the Player". 

Pynda

I'm sitting here playing in an online tournie right now! And you're right, if you want to talk about meaningful PvP - this is it. Anyway, I'll give a couple of random thoughts.

- I wouldn't count on "always" winning. That doesn't sound right to me. Maybe you are just on an extended streak of good cards. Wait until you play T'holdem and don't run into a single openable hand (at least according to most theory) for two hours or more.

- Books: I like Dan Harrington's books for tournament poker, Skalansky's 'Theory of Poker' for general reference, and found Doyle Brunson's writings to be not helpful at all. Unless you're interested in 'loose' play, I suppose. I've read a number of others too, but...

- There are a couple of really good pieces of software for gathering player stats in online play (including a 'heads up displays' which can superimpose customizable data over players right on the table display). But personally, I haven't been using these lately. However most of them are perfectly legal.

- That's it. Gotta go. GL.