The Poker Teacher

You Will Win Using This Online Poker Strategy

2009-11-22T12:06:00.000-08:00

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Welcome to The Poker Teacher blog - where I will show you how to turn a small amount of starting capital into over $1000 by playing Online Poker. I am a successful Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hi/Low player. I am currently playing Hold'em at up to the $5/$10 level, and I play Omaha H/L at the $5/$10 and $10/$20 levels. I also play games such as Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw, Razz, 5 Card Draw, and Badugi.

I began playing online poker 5 years ago and spent a long time playing at the tables, studying the game and buying and researching all the major poker books in order to work my way up. I am happy to report that I am now a winning player, making up to $200 per night, and on this blog I will be sharing my secrets and strategies with you.

In addition to being an accomplished full ring game and shorthanded Hold'em player, I have also had extensive experience of online tournaments, having played many thousands of Sit & Go games (1-table and 2-tables) and also a large number of multi table tournaments (MTTs).

I have written this blog in a friendly and easy to understand way so that you can learn from me and improve your game. It is important to me that you become a winning player too. I like to get results and I consider this blog to be a challenge that we are about to embark upon together.

Take your time with this material, and always make sure you fully understand every section before moving on to the next. The blog is divided into two sections - the first is for cash ring games, and the second is for tournaments. A lot of the material in the cash games section is also applicable to the tournaments section. You should therefore read this course as if it were a book and follow it through from page one, right to the end.

Many new concepts are gradually introduced throughout the material, and it is therefore essential, if you want to get the most from this blog, that you read it through from beginning to end, in a logical fashion.

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I believe you will make money from this following this plan, and I know you will enjoy it as much as I have liked writing it.

Easy To Understand Poker Terminology

2009-11-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the terminology we are going to be using in this blog.

The terminology is as follows:

s = suited. Example: 78c = seven and eight, both of the same suit.

o = offsuit. Example: A9o = ace and nine, both of different suits.

c = clubs, h = hearts, s = spades, d = diamonds. Example: 5h9d = five of hearts and nine of diamonds.

UTG = Under the gun (first to act before the flop).

EP = Early position (the first three seats to act after the big blind, before the flop.)

MP = Middle position (the middle two or three seats)

LP = Late position (The last two seats)

The Button = The player who has the dealer button in front of them. This player has the best position at the table.

Check-raising = Checking, with the intention of raising if someone else bets further down the table.

*Note that the symbol "s" is used for "suited" and also for "spades." You will know how to read it in the correct context when you see it. If both cards have letters after them then the letters denote the suit. If only the last card has a letter after it then that denotes suited or offsuit.

So in this example: Tc8s you know that the 's' is referring to "spades," and in this example: 98s you know that the 's' means "suited."

Where you will Play Poker to make $1000 easily

2009-11-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

We are going to take $20 of your money and turn it into $1,000, through a carefully laid out step by step plan designed to bring you the best chance of success. It is vitally important that you follow the program exactly and do not get tempted to place your own interpretation on things (*usually this means playing more hands than you should!)

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

The very first thing you need to do is to CLICK HERE to download Pokerstars.

If you already have a Pokerstars account, you can CLICK HERE to download Pacific Poker.

It's a small download and won't take too long. These sites are where we are going to make you $1,000. You must have these poker applications installed to do this course. Once you have downloaded the programs, install them and continue reading.

Now that you have installed Pokerstars and Pacific Poker, you have the tools required to make $1000 easily.

Ideally, I am aiming to turn your $20 into $1,000 in less than a month. I believe I can get you up to a sufficiently high standard of play *if you are willing to have fun whilst learning.*

Optimal Timescale - Assumes 5 big bets/hr avg. earn rate (which is very high but achievable in low limits on Pokerstars and Pacific Poker.)

This is how your bankroll should progress by following this course:

(The first number is the stakes you will be playing at, the next is the time spent at these stakes, and the final is how much money you should make at that level, before moving up.)

5c/10c - 20-40 hours - $20 > $40
10c/20c - 20-40 hours - $40 > $80
25c/50c - 20-50 hours - $80 > $200
50c/$1 - 20-40 hours - $200 > $400
$1/$2 - 20-50 hours - $400 > $1000

Our ideal goal is therefore to have your $1,000 successfully made within 100-220 playing hours.

Since we are dealing with random statistical variances, there is naturally no sure-fire way of achieving this with 100% certainty. You are perpetually at the mercy of the poker gods, and your bankroll will swing mercilessly all over the place!

This is something you should get used to very early on, as it will happen constantly throughout your poker career. Being a professional gambler is about exploiting mathematical edges, but you will always be at the mercy of random chance in the short term. If you suffer a run of big losses we will drop back down to a lower tier and work our way back up.

I will show you how to consistently make money.

The Concepts of Position and Starting Hands

2009-11-19T15:56:00.000-08:00

Position:

Position means the seat you are sitting in at the table, in relation to the dealer button "The Button." Look closely at any table and you will see that the button moves round in a clockwise direction one seat every hand.

Before the flop the player after the big blind acts first, and the big blind will act last.

After the flop, the small blind acts first, and the player on the dealer button acts last.

The dealer button therefore determines who acts first in any particular round of betting. The further away from the button you are, the better position you are in. The best position to be in is to have the button.

In other words, it is always beneficial to act last because you get to see what everyone else did before making your decision. This is the concept of "position."

In most card rooms, and on Pokerstars and Pacific Poker, where we are going to be playing, there are 9 or 10 players at each Holdem table. From here onwards, when I talk about position I am referring to where you are before the flop.

Early Position (EP): The first 3 seats after the big blind.

Middle Position (MP): The middle 2 or 3 seats.

Late Position (LP): The last 2 seats. (The button is therefore the very last seat in late position.)

The Blinds: For the purposes of this course you should consider the blinds to be Late Position before the flop.

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Starting Hands:

This refers to which hands you should play and which you should fold before the flop. There is an optimal strategy for starting hands, which I am going to teach you in this module.

Your position at the table also has an effect on the hands you can play. As an example, let's say you are dealt A6s (Ace Six Suited) and are acting UTG (under the gun = first to act before the flop). This hand should be folded.

However, if you are dealt the same hand in LP (late position) and nobody else has entered the pot then it is a hand to raise with. Your position at the table has changed a hand from being unplayable to being one that should be raised.

This emphasises the importance of information. The more you know about your opponents' actions, the more hands you can play. The only way you can know about your opponents' actions is if they act before you.

In early position you do not want to play A6s and then have someone raise further down the table. Their raise probably means they have a better hand than you and you now have the dilemma of either calling and getting dragged into a betting war or folding and losing your original bet. By folding your A6s in EP (Early Position) you won't encounter this problem.

Early Position Holdem Strategy

2009-11-18T17:37:00.000-08:00

These are the top 10 hands in Holdem: AA, KK, QQ, AK, JJ, TT, 99, 88, AQ and 77.

What to play in Early Position:

In the first 3 seats there are not many hands you should play. You need a strong hand to enter the pot from an early position. The reason for this is that someone may raise further down the table, and you want a hand strong enough to call a raise with. So, here is the list of hands you can play in Early Position:

If nobody has raised before me:

I should RAISE with AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs.

I should just CALL with: JJ, TT, 99, AJo, ATs, A9s, KQs.

If one other person has already called in EP then I can CALL with these hands too: 88, 77, A8s, A7s, KJs, QJs.

If someone has raised before me:

I should RAISE with AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo.

I should just call with: JJ, AQs, AQo, AJs.

As you can see, this means that if someone raises before you, there are not many hands you can call with. This is to ensure that you are not going to be spending a lot of money with an inferior hand that may be dominated. If you hold A9s, for example, calling a raise would be a mistake as your opponent could easily have AT, AJ, AQ or AK.

As a beginner, once you play one of these hands you should call any number of raises from further down the table, before the flop. These are strong hands and you don't mind paying more, if necessary. So if you call and then someone raises, you should go ahead and call the raise.

*Some judgement is obviously required here:* If I called with A9s in EP and it got raised and then re-raised further down the table, I would probably throw my hand away - as the evidence would be quite strong that my hand was beaten.

You will win money by playing this strategy on Pokerstars or Pacific Poker.

Middle Position Holdem Strategy

2009-11-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

In the middle two or three seats you are allowed to play some more hands than in early position. Here's the list:

**If nobody has raised before me:**

I should RAISE with AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs.

If everyone has folded before me, I should RAISE: JJ, TT, AJo, ATs, ATo. *otherwise, just call with these hands.

I should always just CALL with: 99, A9s, A8s, A7s, KQs, KQo, KJs.

If one other person has already called, then I can CALL with these hands too: 88, 77, Axs, KTs, QJs, QTs

If two other people have already called, then I can CALL with these hands too: 66, 55, JTs

If three other people have already called, then I can CALL with these hands too: 44, 33, 22, J9s, T9s, 98s.

**If someone has raised before me:**

I should RAISE with AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo.

I should just call with: JJ, AQs, AQo, AJs.

So we can see that in middle position, you can start to add some more hands into the mix. Suited cards are important and are much more valuable than unsuited. Typically, suitedness adds around 3% to your probability of winning a hand. This is why you see lots of suited cards in our lists for early position and middle position. They are stronger hands.

As before, once you have paid to play one of these hands, go ahead and call any number of raises preflop, unless you are sure that your opponents are holding much stronger cards.

Late Position Holdem Strategy

2009-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

In the last three seats you are allowed to play many more hands. This is quite a big list. Take your time with it.

**If nobody has raised before me:**

I should RAISE with AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs.

If nobody has called before me, I should RAISE: 99, 88, 77, ATo, Axs, A9o, KQo, KJs, KJo, KTs, QJs, QJo, QTs, JTs.

If only 1 person has called before me, I should RAISE: JJ, 1010, AJo, ATs, KQs. *otherwise, just call with these hands.

If two other people have already called, then I can CALL with these hands too: 66, 55, KTo, K9s, QTo, Q9s, J9s, T9s.

If three other people have already called, then I can CALL with these hands too: 44, 33, 22, K8s, K7s, JTs, 108s, 98s.

If four other people have already called, then I can CALL with these hands too: Kxs, Q8s, J8s, 87s, 76s.

**If someone has raised before me:**

I should RAISE with AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AKo.

I should just call with: JJ, AQs, AQo, AJs, KQs.

If three players have called a raised pot then I can call too with 99, 88 and 77.

If four players have called a raised pot then I can also call with 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, QJs, and JTs.

If five players have called a raised pot then I can call with T9s and 98s.

As before, once you have paid to play one of these hands, go ahead and call any number of raises preflop, unless you are sure that your opponents are holding much stronger cards. So, in late position, your list of playable hands is massive. It's worth investing the time to absorb this information.

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Playing in the Small & Big Blinds

2009-11-14T00:13:00.000-08:00

For the purposes of this course you should consider the blinds as Late Position before the flop. As you advance and improve at the game you will begin to play many more hands when in the small blind, than those listed on the LP chart.

Much of the time when in the big blind you will be able to see the flop for free and should follow the guidelines on playing the flop, turn and river later in this course for how to play.

If you are in the blinds, and it is raised before you then simply refer to the LP-Raised section of your chart to see if you can play your hand. So for now, just consider the small blind and big blind to be LP hands and follow those guidelines.

Your Path to Riches Awaits You

2009-11-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

**ACTION TIME**

It's time to open up Pokerstars or Pacific Poker and make your first deposit with them.

If you were unable to download the software at the beginning of this module then please CLICK HERE to download Pacific or CLICK HERE to download Pokerstars.

Once you have set your account up, you need to decide how much you want to deposit. The minimum deposit is $20 and we will be turning that $20 into $1000. However, Pokerstars offers a 100% bonus on your first deposit, up to $600 extra. This being the case, it is logical to deposit more than $20 to take advantage of the extra free money.

It's your choice. Deposit however much you can afford and you feel is appropriate. You will get an extra 100% on Pokerstars and XXX% on Pacific. We will only be using $20 of whatever you deposit. I deposited $400 when I opened my account with Pacific so I could get the maximum bonus of $100.

Return to this page once you have made your deposit.