Poker Tips?

D

DrunkCajun

Banned
Poker Tips?

Well, I have a few hours left at the office before I head downtown to meet up with some buddies for a night of getting piss drunk and throwing my money away at the poker table. We usually buy in for $20, but all wind up buying in for more at some point during the night, and the general goal of the night is to have fun and get drunk. The winner is commonly dragged to the strip of bars down the street in Adams Morgan and forced to buy multiple rounds of drinks for anyone, so the only thing the winner really gets is to drink for "free" that night. We all wind up making it home pretty much with empty wallets.

That said, winning is fun. Anyone have any tips?

Keep in mind that we don't stick to a certain type of poker. The dealing goes around the table a hand at a time, and dealer chooses the rules, so we play anything from Hold 'Em to Stud to Follow the Queen with a Leer (2-eyed jacks) and wild 2s. All sorts of crazy crap gets played, but its a lot of fun.

At any rate, are there any tips that might help me out? I have a tendency to play really well at the beginning, win, then get cocky and start splashing too much on the table, get burned, and wind up rallying at the end to make my cash back. Last time we played, I was down to $2 of the $40 I'd bought in with, and in the last round of 6 hands, I went all in 5 times and won every single time (first time good hand, second time bluffing through my teeth, and after that people were wary about calling me--I wound up able to beat whoever did stay in to call my bluff each time), and went home with $45 in my pocket. I'm notorious for getting drunk and wagering insane amounts of my money, though, often with blatant disregard for what's in my hand. It worked a few times, but people are catching on that I'm just drunk and "chip-happy" and are calling me out.
 
D

DrunkCajun

Banned
Garbad_the_Weak said:
Always play by the numbers, ignore the bluffs.

Garbad
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Problem with doing that is with 6 people playing, and wild cards on the table, the chances of a better hand being out there are pretty damn good. I've lost games of Follow the Queen with 5 aces--someone whipped out 6 of a kind on me. And that wasn't an isolated incident. Then on the next hand a pair of 5s beat a high card for the pot.

I guess that's what I'm getting at. There really aren't "numbers" unless I'm a rocket scientist (and no, I'm not sure even Jonesy could follow the hands we play), and I've watched people "play it safe" like you're suggesting and go broke halfway through the night because they never got anyhting they thought was good enough to win.
 
AeroJonesy

AeroJonesy

Diabloii.Net Member
Drinking always leads to losing money. And 5 aces is the best hand. You only play a 5 card hand, right? So if you have 6 2's, you can only play 5 of 'em. In general poker anyway, I'm guessing you're playing with different house rules or something.

Anyhow, I don't have good tips. Home games with friends are a little tougher if you ask me. Because you're going to be there a set amount of time, unlike a casino or something where you can always walk away because you're not with friends. And you don't want to sit back and only play good hands, because it's just not as much fun.
 
D

DrunkCajun

Banned
Bugger, you're right on the 5 cards--maybe it was 5 aces beating out 4 kings or something similarly ridiculous. I swear the number 6 sticks in my mind, but you're right that it doesn't make sense.

Anyway, yeah, you've hit the nail on the head about the games. Unless I just take an extended trip to the bathroom, I'm stuck at the table until we're too drunk to continue/its too late to keep playing/people start getting ansy/more than two people have gone broke and want to go to bars.
 
N

nosoup4crr

Diabloii.Net Member
most people will only joke around if they aren't holding a good hand. After the flop(in holdem) or the draw in draw poker, try messing w/ someone to see if they joke around w/ you. If they joke back, chances are they aren't thinking about what to bet. It's a good sign that you can push them out w/ a bet.
 
Yaboosh

Yaboosh

Diabloii.Net Member
Somebody not sophisticated at poker will act strong when they are weak and act weak when they are strong. Look for tells and look at what cards they showdown whenever they do so.
 
D

DrunkCajun

Banned
Sweet, those last two sound helpful. Hopefully I can keep them in mind. Amazing what 3 beers will do to you after three weeks of not really drinking at all and not eating lunch.
 
F

Freemason

Banned
You rich guy you, buying in for $20. I play $5 buy in, nicked-dime-quarter games. Max quarter bet quarter raise. Minimum half rack if you're bringing community beer.

Try not to play drunk. Find where you get a good buzz and stay there. Do NOT allow chicken to be eaten at the table. It ruins the cards.

Make sure you have good music. The blues is the best poker music. It's cool, mellow music. Goes well with the smoke and booze.

Play smart.

Aces in the hole is a good way to lose your shirt.

Never fold a suited duece-three. The straight invariably shows up.

When you buy the pot, stick it all out and hope it doesn't get cut off.

Bluffing with a pair of 5's hurts when the guy with a pair of 6's calls the bet.

You need to make sure the rules for 5 of a kind are written down. I insist that the Royal Flush beats EVERYTHING no matter what.

Play conservatively. When it's time to bluff they're accustomed to you're conservative play.

Keep the loudmouth honest. Call his bluff.

Watch the tells and hope the other guy isn't bluffing you with his tells.

Develop you're own BS tells. Use them wisely young grasshopper.

And never, Never, NEVER spill your beer on the table. Alcohol abuse is a terrible thing.
 
I

iDust

Diabloii.Net Member
Freemason said:
You rich guy you, buying in for $20. I play $5 buy in, nicked-dime-quarter games. Max quarter bet quarter raise. Minimum half rack if you're bringing community beer.

Try not to play drunk. Find where you get a good buzz and stay there. Do NOT allow chicken to be eaten at the table. It ruins the cards.

Make sure you have good music. The blues is the best poker music. It's cool, mellow music. Goes well with the smoke and booze.

Play smart.

Aces in the hole is a good way to lose your shirt.

Never fold a suited duece-three. The straight invariably shows up.

When you buy the pot, stick it all out and hope it doesn't get cut off.

Bluffing with a pair of 5's hurts when the guy with a pair of 6's calls the bet.

You need to make sure the rules for 5 of a kind are written down. I insist that the Royal Flush beats EVERYTHING no matter what.

Play conservatively. When it's time to bluff they're accustomed to you're conservative play.

Keep the loudmouth honest. Call his bluff.

Watch the tells and hope the other guy isn't bluffing you with his tells.

Develop you're own BS tells. Use them wisely young grasshopper.

And never, Never, NEVER spill your beer on the table. Alcohol abuse is a terrible thing.
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you forgot the most important rule..
drink more beers than your friends and you win no matter what. :D
and from my experiences.. it is very hard to bluff a drunk man, normally he wont think that much about it too much and just call(beating you)

drink a cold one for me :drink:
 
[exile]

[exile]

Diabloii.Net Member
>_O sorry for hijacking the thread a bit DC but...

Would someone be so kind as to list for me the complete sequence of incremental value in poker hands? Starting from a simple pair to whatever is highest... which I assume to be a Royal Flush?

And a Royal Flush is what i assume to be 10-J-Q-K-A of the same suit? Or is suit not necessary?

Please help the gambling newb! I need to know how to properly play Poker (in as many different styles as possible... Stud and Hold 'Em I'm familiar with) before a drunken Prom night and subsequent camping trip with friends scurry along. :D

Again, sorry for the random questions. But starting a new thread seemed wrong.
 
Yaboosh

Yaboosh

Diabloii.Net Member
High Card
Pair
Two Pair
Three of a Kind
Straight
Flush
Full House
Four of a Kind
Straight Flush (the highest being the Royal Flush)

Edit: Just to rant, I was playing Omaha today and I had my quad 7's beaten by a king hi straight flush. Extremely frustrating.
 
D

DrunkCajun

Banned
Alright, a little recap of the night--keep in mind I've never played a night where my $20 buy-in didn't turn into a $40 buy-in as I lost my chips, or more.

So I'm buzzing when we sit down, but not drunk, and I'm nursing beers to keep it that way--in part because I have stuff to do today and I know these guys. If I get drunk, I'll wind up at bars until 3 am, and seriously hurting today.

At any rate, we play a few hands, and I don't really stick my neck out, but cough up a few bucks to see the flop (we wound up playing primarily Hold Em) a few times, so while I wasn't short stacked, being the only guy at the table not to win any hands meant I was shorter stacked than anyone else.

We decide to play a game of Follow the Queen to spice things up. I get an ace and an 8 down, so I raise the first round of betting a dollar. Everyone calls (the beauty of follow the queen--that A-3 in your hand could turn into a pair of pocket aces at any time), and the cards come out. Showing I wind up with some random and a Q. I raise another dollar, and while people are figuring I have something down, no one's folding out yet. There's one other queen on the table, and 9s or something are wild, which only one person is showing. Next two cards come out--I get an A up top, so with my Q I'm sitting on 3 aces. A good hand, but not convincing enough for the win. I decide to bluff a little anyway--its a solid hand, and if I can buy some people off the table, I might stand a decent chance. Besides, I have one more card coming down. I go in $4, and scare two people off. My pair of aces showing is enough for them, but two guys stay in, either figuring I'm bluffing and have two pair, or thinking they can beat whatever I have. The last card comes, and its another Q. I immediately go all-in. Perhaps a little too much, but it works. One guy folds, the other sees my bet, so I'm looking at a $30 pot unless he has 5 of a kind.

He was calling me with 3 kings. Either he was figuring I was bluffing, or was getting drunk.

From there, I play conservative, until a few hands later in Texas a get another good hand. Can't remember offhand what it was, but I was looking at 3 Qs or something similar. I start betting aggressively, and when its down to just one guy, I go all in again. He calls me, and I win.

Suddenly, I'm sitting on $60. Two of my friends are buying back in, and I'm sitting behind a wall of chips.

As the night progresses, a few more friends stop in and join the table after a few leave, and I'm still protecting my chips. Betting conservatively, knowing when to buy it (at that point, betting $2 wasn't much for me, but for someone sitting on $12 total, that was a lot of cash to throw away to call my bluff), and folding when I didn't get decent cards. We also started playing with blinds, which helped me protect my cash.

At one point towards the end of the night, I'm up $140. I start selling my chips back to people around the table who need more, so that I have less on the table for me to piss away, and keep playing. I take a few more hands, lose a few big ones at the end, and wind up walking out of there with $120 in my pocket after entering the house with $20.

Wow! That was amazing.
 
Raistlin Majere

Raistlin Majere

Diabloii.Net Member
Johnny6 said:
It's all fun and games 'till somebody loses an eye.
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Then its a Heart on the table.

I perfer not to play with Wilds, or if I do, a Natural Royal Flush is the top hand. Of course by the time that happens, someone has crashed onto the table or are obviously counting.
 
R

Riegn

Diabloii.Net Member
Well im a hold em addict. Been playing it for a while now. Just one sugestions, one is know when to get in or get out. look at the cards on the table and figure out how many ways you can be beat (can beard when drunk) is there a chan you oppenent can have a staight? a better flush? When the odds are on your side call it. if they are not then decide if the pot is worth the risk. In hold em just say i got 2 spades on the deal next 2 are a heart and a spade. If the pot is high then it may be worth calling and hope for the spade if its a junk pot then get out.

Anyway im tired hope that made sence :)
 
N

Newman

Diabloii.Net Member
When I play with my buddies, it's obvious when they're bluffing. I always play with the same guys so it's easy to spot when to go all in or stay out all together. I just keep to myself, and not crack any expressions on my face.

You should watch the movie 'Rounders'. It's about poker.
 
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