Week 2: Crushing Play Money Before Real Money

Not a lot of people like to go straight into real money poker and its a good decision that they don't. Without the proper knowledge and feel of the game, you can never make money playing even the lowest stakes of real money.

So you should always start at play money to develop the basic skills that are required.

Everyone gets 1000 play money when they make their account on Pokerstars.
So I believe the best way to start off is to take that 1000 and turn it into 10,000.
If you are incapable of achieving such a feat, then you are definitely incapable of making money at the real money stakes. So until this objective is completed, venturing forward is not advised.
Only once you hit 10,000 play money should you continue in your poker career.


So how do you hit 10,000 play money?

I'm going to keep this basic and simple, pouring too much information down someones throat is never a good idea. Experience is the best when it comes to developing skill but the information will boost you even higher and make you a formidable advisory of poker.


First of all, bankroll management.

Bankroll management basically looks at the amount of money you risk relative to your total money.
So with the play money, we have 1000 to start, if we were to play a play money table where the minimum is 1000 to sit in, this would be poor bankroll management because we are risking too much (100%)

With play money, the risk can be higher but not too high, I would say 10% is fine because you can reload 1000 3 times per hour for free anyway. So we should sit at a table with a maximum buyin of 100.

Assuming the table is not a deep table (more than 100 big blind buyin) than that would mean that its a standard 100 buyin table so to sit with 100, that would be a table with 1 big blind and 0.50 small blind

However, in play money this isnt possible because play money never deals with values less than 1 so the lowest table is 1/2, max buyin of 200. Sitting on this table with 100 is perfectly fine.

Before you start playing, you should make sure to setup your "auto rebuy" so that it always keeps your amount on the table you bought in for even if you fall under that amount (so it would always be at least 100 on the table when first starting out)
Its in settings>auto rebuy (cash games)>check the automatically rebuy at no limit>if i fall under my initial buyin>automatically add chips to my initial buyin

Fullring tables (9 max players) are not my speciality so we should focus on playing only 6 max tables (6 max players)


In texas poker, you get 2 cards in your hand and 5 are eventually shown on the board. This gives a total of 7 cards to make the best possible 5 card hand.
Before we go into the basic strategy, heres the list of the various hands you can make in poker:

The strongest hand is a straight flush.
This is 5 cards that are consecutive and of the same suit as well.
For example, you have 56 of spades in your hand. If the board shows 7,8 and 9 of spades then you have a straight flush.

Next is 4 of a kind. Pretty self-explanatory, its when you have 4 cards of the same value like 4 kings or 4 sevens. The 5th card is irrelevant in this situation.

Then we have a fullhouse, this is basically a pair PLUS trips so if you have 56 and the board shows 55896, you have trips with the 3 fives AND you have a pair with the 2 sixes. Therefore, you have a fullhouse.

Next up is a flush. 5 cards of the same suit. If you have A5 of spades and the board shows KJ239 with 3 of those being spades, then you have a flush.

After that is a straight, this is 5 consecutive cards that dont have to be the same suit (like they do with the straight flush). So if you have 5 of hearts and 6 of spades in your hand and the board shows 789KA then you have a straight.
One thing to note is that the ace can be used to make a A2345 straight and also a TJKQA straight.

Next is three of a kind or a set (both the same value)
Three of a kind if when you have a non-pair in your hand and you make trips like if you have AK and the flop is AA5, you have trip aces.
A set is when you have a pair in your hand and you make trips like if you have 55 and the flop is A56,
A set is much more powerful than three of a kind because it doesnt show that trips are available to the opponent (the flop of AA5 makes your opponent think of trips more than the flop of A56)

Next down the line is two pair. If you have 56 on 56K, you have two pair.

Then theres one pair. If you have 56 on 57K, you have one pair.

The weakest is a high card. If none of the above hands are applicable, then your left with a high card which is the highest possible card you can have using all 7 cards.

One thing to note is that when two people have the same hand, the higher card will always win.
Ace is the highest card, so if two players have a flush then the person who has closest to the highest card, the ace, will win. For ex. if you have KQ of hearts and the opponent has A2 of hearts and three other hearts show up on the board, the opponent will win because he has the ace high flush while your only left with a king high flush.
This applies to all hands as well. The higher straight will win. The better two pair will win (Ace is always higher in two pair value so two pair of aces and threes is better than two pair kings and queens)

Also with one pair, the second card in your hand is crucial. It is the "kicker". It will determine who wins if more than one player has the same pair. That is why playing A4 is not as profitable as playing AJ because if that ace hits on the flop like A72, the A4 is looking to lose money because of its 4 kicker compared to the Jack kicker of the AJ



So onto the basic strategy
You will see alot of people simply calling preflop (before any cards are shown on the table)
This is a weak strategy and too passive. Its better to be aggressive preflop and get initiative

So when you want to play a hand then most of the time you will be raising it and not just calling like everyone else
What determines if you play a hand is your position on the table
Heres the position table for a 6max game

The yellow D is the dealer button which makes it easier to tell who the button is
The green 1 is the $1 small blind and the green 2 is the $2 big blind which is a easy to tell who is the small and big blind are (note that the small and big blind are not always $1 and $2 depending on what stakes you are playing but it is the lowest play money amounts available so it is where you still start)

Heres some some positional awareness examples:
- If you right before the person with the dealer button in front of them, you are CO (cutoff)
- If you are the person sitting after the $2 big blind, your position is UTG (Under the gun)
- If you are paying $2 this round, you are the big blind



Heres a general guide for what hands to play and in what positions:

UTG - This is the tightest position where you will play the least hands. This is because you have too many players ahead of you still left to act and so the chances of them having a good hand is higher.
Hands to raise: AA-99, AJ-AK
Hands to call: 22-88 (we are only looking to hit a set ((3 of a kind with a pair in ur hand) on the flop (the first 3 hands shown))) Without a set or overpair, you can fold this hand after preflop

HJ/MP - Another position to be fairly tight at
Hands to raise: Same as UTG+AT-A9, KT-KQ
Hands to call: Same as UTG

CO - Time to loosen up
Hands to raise: Same as HJ/MP+Any suited ace
Hands to call: same as UTG

BTN - Loosest position that you can be in, you open the most hands in this spot
Hands to raise: Same as CO+Any suited king+Any suited connector (Suited connector is any two cards that are beside each other and of the same suit like 76 of hearts or 89 or clubs or 23 of spades)
Hands to call: same as utg

Small blind - Always acts first after the preflop action (UTG acts first preflop) so its a bad position to be in. You always want to act as last as possible, thats why the button (always acts last after preflop) is the best position.
Hands to raise: same as utg
Hands to call: same as utg

Big blind - Also a bad position as we r always first or second to act postflop (after preflop action)
Hands to raise: same as utg
Hands to check: all other hands
Note about checking - In the big blind, if everyone calls the big blind amount, you can just check and see a free flop with a vast majority of cards. 
This is dangerous. 
Always be careful and for the most part going all in with one pair in this situation is incorrect because too many players have seen the flop and its unlikely for one pair to be the best hand.

When you make a strong hand, bet a high % of the pot and never check.

For example, you have 33 in the big blind. UTG/MP/CO/BTN/SB all CALL the $2 so you can either check and see the flop or raise. Raising is bad here because 33 is useless with it making a set so we should check.
If the flop comes 3xx (x is ANY card, regardless of suit) then it is time for us to start betting 75-85% of the pot and never check because we have a set (3 of a kind with a pocket pair) and its too strong to check with. The only time checking is ok is if the flop was all one suit (all hearts, all spades, etc) and then the next card is ALSO the same suit so now theres 4 of the same suit on the board. You can check here and we are looking for the board to pair to hit a fullhouse which beats a flush.
This is the SAME strat with ANY pocket pair when setmining (looking for a set on flop) from 22-88

When it comes to 99-AA, we arent really looking for a set as much and more will bet with a overpair
Overpair being for example QQ on J82, highest pair on this flop is a pair of jacks but we have a pair of queens in our hand so we should bet as its unlikely we are beat at this point

So we know the first 3 cards are the flop
The next card (4th card shown) is the turn
The last card (5th card shown) is the river

We should be careful when betting rivers because of the amount of cards shown to make a good 5 card hand. If we have AJ on J82hh (hh meaning two hearts) and the turn comes 2 of spades but the river is the K of hearts, we now lose to any K, making a better pair or any flush draw (5 of the same suit so if the opponent has 2 hearts in his hand and 3 hearts are showing, he has a flush)

When starting out, playing "tight" (only a select few cards with alot of folding) is the best strategy.
You dont want to expose yourself to the tougher situations that arise when you play more hands.

So follow the hand chart, bet high % of pot when you make a strong hand, and get to that 10k play money. Once you are there, we can continue onto more advanced strategy next week.