The Poker Scheme a Global Research and Interview Based Poker Magazine

The Poker Scheme A global research and interview based poker magazine

How do I earn guaranteed What is the math behind income with poker? this game?

How do I read the Why do I lose? psychology of players?

Lets Unravel…

1. About Poker scheme

2. What is Poker

3. How to play poker

4. Poker Math

5. Poker Playing Styles

6. Poker Strategy

7. Additional Resources

The poker scheme is an attempt to unravel the mysteries around the game of Texas Holdem Poker wherein a lot of people either lose a great deal of money or are not able to win upto their potential.

This magazine along with the ever evolving blogs on pokerprof.net brings you the skill and mastery you need to propel in this game and win big by understanding the psychology and math of various situations and players in this intelligent game of Poker

Inception of pokerprof.net

We are a team that comprises of poker professionals across multiple countries who try to unravel the mysteries of poker.

You would see multiple blogs and channels online which mostly represent the views of only one person and that is where we lose. Poker is a mind game and you need to study different minds to be able to win over those different players. We at pokerprof research globally, interview players and platform/ casino owners and then curate this material for you on our website pokerprof.net

Hope you like it!!

How to get the most of this magazine

Poker is an ever evolving field with new research and player behavior being analyzed daily by our professionals. The best way to get most of this magazine is to:

1. Go chapter by chapter very slowly without skipping

2. Once you read through the chapters, follow the advanced

strategy blogs on pokerprof.net

3. It is very important that you stick to the bankroll guided in

this magazine and slowly build your castle of money.

4. Keep looking for new insights shared on our blog every week

Poker is a game of skill (majorly) and luck (a little) in which

you are dealt with cards and you place a bet. There are

variety of poker games that you will come across like Texas

Holdem, Omaha Hi Lo, Omaha etc. which you can explore on

pokerprof.net Texas hold’em is the most popular of all poker

variations. All of the marquee tournaments around the world

(WSOP, WPT, EPT, etc.) are played in a variation of this game.

This game is very easy to understand but hard to master. As

you move forward in this journey, you will have to understand

the nuances around poker math, psychology, table situation,

position etc.

In the game of Poker you are dealt with 2 cards at the

beginning which are known as hole cards. The game is played

on a poker table, where max 9 or 6 people play the game and

minimum two. Everyone is given 2 cards at the beginning.

In poker there are 4 rounds of betting. Once everyone has got

2 hole cards the game begins. Your objective is to look

forward to make the best hand. The hand represents the best

set of 5 cards using the 2 in your hand and the 5 cards that

open up on the table. These cards on the table are also called

community cards.

To understand how to play poker, it is very important that you

know some of the basic corollary first:

• Dealer/ Button: There is a button or sometimes a dice that denotes the dealer. This button rotates clockwise with the completion of each game. The dealers task is to distribute the cards • Small Blind (SB): Small Blind is immediate left to the dealer. At the start of the game the small blind has to place a mandatory bet say 1$ • Big Blind (BB): The big blind sits immediately left to the small blind. He/ She also has to put a mandatory bet, double the small blind, so here 2$ • Under the gun (UTG): The person sitting to the left of big blind is the UTG

Note: Always remember game is played in a clockwise fashion i.e. the dealer/ button goes to your left

Lets see if you remember what you just read.

Under the Gun (UTG)

Big Blind

Small Blind Dealer

Round 1: Pre-Flop Round

In round 1, the dealer deals the cards and the mandatory bets are placed by small and big blind. Now basis the two cards the UTG is the first one to place the bet (that’s why he is UTG) which moves in clockwise fashion (to the left) and hence Big Blind is the last one to bet.

Round 1: Pre-Flop Round

Actions for each player:

Call/ Match: Put the same amount of bet as placed by the person before you. So for UTG, put the same bet as big blind.

Raise: Increase the bet within the specific limits of the game

Fold: Throw one’s hand away. You don’t want to bet and hence wont proceed in the game. Keep your cards down.

After the round one is over, all the money collected goes to what we call a Pot. Pot represents the money you are playing for. Also, after the pre-flop round three community cards are opened on the table.

Round 2

From now observe two critical changes compared to round 1: The betting would start from the person immediate to the left of Dealer. Usually it will be the small blind (SB) but if the SB has folded in round one then the betting will start form the person sitting to the left of SB which could be Big Blind, UTG …..

Round 2 Actions for each player:

Bet: Place a bet within limits as per the game. (How much to bet is an art, science, psychology. You will learn about it in the advanced learning blog)

Check: Do not place a bet. Then the turn will go to the next player (to your left again)

Call: Match the bet amount that the person to your left has placed

Fold: Cards down. I am out folks

Now after the betting is completed in 2nd round only 1 card will be opened on the table which is called the Turn card. Now you have 2 cards with you and 4 on the table.

Round 3

Subsequent betting rounds are exactly similar to the round 2 wherein betting starts from the person sitting left to the dealer and on completion of betting only one card is opened which is called the River card. The actions that one can take are the same as in round 2

Round 4 (Final Round)

Now all the cards are opened on the table. Now out of these 7 cards (5 on table and 2 with you) you have to analyse if you got the best hand as per the poker hand table and accordingly you place a bet for the final time. Again the betting sequence and actions remain the same as in round 2 and 3. Showdown: Whosoever plays till the end has to show their cards now and the one with the better hand wins the pot money.

Poker Hand Rankings

Note that you need to memorize the poker hand rankings. This is the fundamental concept of this game without which you cannot proceed forward.

If you want to ace this game then this part is very essential. Poker math is a huge subject in itself and various institutions provide coaching for the same like MIT, Harvard, IIMs and many more. Before we begin with this part let me tell you that Poker math doesn’t require you to be a math geek and be exceptionally well with probabilities. To understand this part of Poker Math i.e. Odds and Outs you just need to know that there is something known as chances of winning, which I am sure you would know.

Below is what all we are going to discuss:

• What are outs and how to calculate them? • What are odds and how to calculate them? • Why is it significant to understand odds & outs? • How to implement the concept & decide how to play the hand?

Poker Outs In layman terms outs represent the number of cards that will help you win the hand. Lets understand it little deeper

Here, you have 2 hearts & 1 club opened on flop. Now to calculate outs, first think what is the best hand that you would like to play for, which in this case is a flush. So for that to happen you need one more hearts. Out of 13 hearts in the deck we can see 4 so remaining 9 (13-4) is your # outs. So if any of those 9 cards come, you strike a flush hence 9 is your number of outs

Example of outs:

Poker Odds

Odds simply represent the chances that you will win the hand. Usually odds are shown in ratio format which can be for or against (in your favor and out of your favor). You can also see the poker odds or chances or probability in fraction form or percentage form as well. Below is a detailed description of this funda:

Suppose you have A♠10♠ and after the turn, the table looks like K♠2♠8♣4♦

In this case your odds are will be 4 to 1 against hitting a flush. This simply means that you can expect to hit your flush 1 out of every 5 times (4+1). If we convert it to winning % it will be (1/5)*100=20% Here are some examples: 2-to-1 against = 1 out of every 3 times = 33.3% 3-to-1 against = 1 out of every 4 times = 25%

I hope you have got an essence of what to decipher when you

see or hear x outs against y. Further we will explore how do

we calculate the odds using 3 methods as below. I hope you

now know how to calculate # outs which would be required to

understand calculation of odds.

A)Visual Method B) Cheat Chart C) Hardcore math &

probability D) Short Cut (my favorite)

I would personally recommend the D and may be A option

because if you consider option B, holding a chart while

playing will make you a noob and people will get to know

your strategy. Option C is very hard to implement unless you

are a math geek (which I am not). D option is not bang on

accurate but is close enough to help you take decisions.

For details on option A,B,C you can visit pokerprof.net. Here

we will only discuss option D which is pretty handy and makes

life easy for us.

D) Short Cut- Rule of 2 & 4

It’s a quick and dirty technique to figure out the odds. Remember, this method will not give you the exact odds but will be close enough for you to take decisions wisely. The rule says that to calculate the odds from flop to turn or turn to river (i.e. when one card to come) multiply the outs by 2. And if 2 cards are yet to come i.e. after the flop till river, multiply your outs by 4

For example: Your Hand: 2♣5♥ | Flop: 2♦8♠9♣ | Target Hand: Three of a Kind | Outs: 2

% Winning chances: 2×4=8% Odds: 11 to 1 (multiply with 4 because 2 cards are yet to come)

Implementation

After understanding odds and outs we need to realize how to use it to decide whether to call the bet or not. Lets learn the decision making through the below examples:

Your hand: Q♥9♥ After Flop & Turn: A♥K♥7♣4♣

Case: Let’s say there was $90 in the pot and your opponent bets $10. That makes a total of $100 in the middle of the table just waiting to be won (Pot Size for you). You need to match your opponent’s bet of $10 to see the river card, so it’s going to cost you $10 to see if that last card is going to be one of the nine you need to win.

Now we define pot odds as (Pot Size):(Playing bet)

Pot size is what money has been stashed in the pot for which you are going to play

Playing bet is the bet that you have to match to play further. In this case Pot odds come out to be 100:10 or 10:1 or simply 10%. This means that in a bet if you win you get $10 and if you lose you lose $1

Poker Odds: Suppose the hand that we are targeting is flush so the outs that we will have are 9 and hence using the shortcut method the poker odds at river will be 9*2=18%

In this example by betting $10 your opponent has effectively given you odds of 10% (10:1), when your actual chance of winning is 18% (4:1). So this effectively means that if you play 5 such instances according to your winning % you will win once which will get you $100 and you will lose 4 times which will cost you 4x$10=$40. Net you have a profit of $60. So you should definitely call the bet.

The general rule is that if the Poker odds are higher (4:1)/ ~18-20% than pot odds (10 to 1)/ 10% then you should definitely call/ raise the bet.

If you ask someone what is poker, you’ll hear that its a game of cards that involves betting. But I term poker in a tad different way. Its a game of people that involves betting on ones interpretation of the players. The more you play the more you will agree to this definition of poker. Every player has certain tendencies and psychological behavior that gets reflected in poker. And that is precisely what we will discuss in this article.

Poker is a game of observation. Every player can be attributed to a particular playing style. There always is a pattern to which player calls/ raises at which position and in what manner. You will find various playing styles of people on internet but I have listed the ones that are mostly used in the poker community and are easy to understand as well. poker playing style

Before we move on to studying different poker styles of players, we need to first understand the parameters or dimensions on which the styles are classified. The two dimensions are: • Tight vs Loose • Passive vs Aggressive

Tight vs Loose Tight players are the ones who are extremely selective on what all hands to play for. These are the people who will play just 10%-20% of the hands when they’ll have some great pairs, AQ, AK,AA etc. (basically wet cards in hand).

On the other hand, loose players are more keen towards seeing the flop. So even if they have a limp/ weak hand they’ll call the preflop bet and will see the flop. There are the people who like to play atleast 60-70% of the hands and play a wide variety of hands

Passive vs Aggressive: Playing Style The passive or aggressive style denotes the risk appetite of the player and subsequently the bet size. Passive players will generally call or raise small bets even if they have wet/ strong hands. Aggressive poker players raise more than call and are not afraid to put chips at risk.

The Tight-Passive Playing Style

A typical tight-passive player generally doesn’t play many pots and will often just call pre-flop when they find a hand they like. They will play so tight that when they do play, everyone else folds. So, when they have a good hand they can’t make any money. This type of player is sometimes labelled as a ‘rock’ or a ‘nit’ and the general style of play can also be referred to as ‘weak-passive’. They are easy to bluff and will frequently fold to scary board cards, such as an Ace. The really timid players can also be paralyzed with fear and won’t take shots. This is because they tend to play with a fear of losing. Observant players who have identified a weak, predictable player will always be on the lookout for situations that can be exploited simply because the tight-passive player folds too frequently to aggression.

The Loose Passive Playing Style

Loose-passive players like to limp into lots of pots. They will call raises “just to see a flop” and will remain in the hand whenever they hit any of it, however marginal. They seldom take chances or become aggressive in their plays and they tend to be “calling stations” when they do. Their whole approach to playing poker is to watch and let others do the risking. Many beginners or even players who’ve played for a long time can fall into the trap of just calling, calling and calling. This is especially true in low buy-in games. They are very obvious to spot and are easy targets. Unlike the tight- passive players, you’re not going to be able to bluff them – you never want to bluff a calling station! But when you do pick up a hand that is fairly strong, you should bet for value and milk as much out of them as you possibly can

The Tight Aggressive (TAG)

The tight-aggressive player generally doesn’t play many pots. They are selective and generally only play the best starting hands. Unlike the tight-passive players, a tight-aggressive player will play their cards strongly. They are patient and wait for the best opportunities to strike but they are not afraid of betting. The best tight-aggressive players are often labelled as ‘sharks’ because a tight-aggressive style is frequently effective, regardless of the game variation or betting structure. Most observant opponents will avoid clashing with a tight-aggressive player since they’ll assume that they have the best hand and will fold under the pressure.

The Tight Aggressive (TAG)

Below are some of the advantages of playing Tight Aggressive:

1. TAG style puts pressure onto opponents which forces them to either fold at a stage (which helps you steal the pot) or make bad decisions which eventually helps you steal money from them. 2. If you are playing the TAG way, your tightness will allow you to observe more and since you will be involved in fewer hands your opponents will have a little to guess about you. Most of the times in TAG either you will have great hands which will help you win or the other person will fold or will have to put more money to see your cards. Other benefits: • Your opponents having weaker hands will fold early and hence your chances to win increase • Higher average pot size: Whenever you play you win big as the pot size is increased and you lead the game.

The Loose Aggressive (LAG)

The loose-aggressive player tends to raise or re-raise a wide variety of hands pre-flop and will often bet on most flops. They can be extremely difficult to read because they play such a wide range of hands. In no-limit hold’em there are some very skilled players who employ a loose-aggressive style of play to great effect. They use their chips as weapons and are constantly applying pressure on their opponents. They will bluff a high percentage of the time and are hard to play against. However, at the extreme end of the loose-aggressive scale is the ‘maniac’ who seemingly raises without rhyme or reason. The maniac’s tendency to overplay his hands means you will almost surely show a profit in the long run against this type of player.

Poker strategy simply means what action should you take given a particular situation. This largely depends on

• Position are you at (Dealer, SB, BB, OTG, others) • Cards that you have (Hole Cards) • Cards on the table (Community cards) • Texture of the table • Number of players on the table • Playing style of the opponents • Pot Size • Bet Size

Poker strategy is the key part in the game that separates sharks from fishes. Now if you want to be a shark of the game then I insist that you read about the strategies in detail and start implementing them.

It will surely take some time for you to master the strategies but take one step at a time to climb that mountain.

To read the details around advanced poker strategies, please visit our site Pokerprof.net- Advanced Poker Strategies wherein we have shared the best curated approach that will ensure that you build your bankroll regularly.

Kudos to you if you have read through the poker knowledge shared in this magazine. But do not get complacent and let the hunger in you grow more.

As a next step, we would advise you to:

• Continue to visit our site – Pokerprof.net for the latest content • Poker Tool: We have combined all the knowledge into a first ever poker strategy tool that guides you about your actions using its intelligent math cum psychological built in algorithms. Click to buy at a discounted price:

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