Beginner's Guide to Poker Part I

Approaching the Game

To truly understand the game we must first understand the underlying theories that underpin our time at the table. Arguably the most important theory you need to absorb is the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, which was first coined by professional poker player David Sklansky.

In a nutshell The Fundamental Theorem of Poker argues that:

"anytime you make a play that is different from the play you would have made if you could see your opponents hand they gain. And anytime you play your hand the same way if you could see their cards they lose."

This theory also applies if you opponents were able to see your cards.

For example, if you could see your opponent had made a flush on the turn against your straight then the correct move would be to throw away your hand because you can see you’re losing.

If in fact you saw their flush and still decided to call then this would be a mistake and a different play than you would have normally made and in the long run you will lose in that situation and your opponent will gain.

Why is this important? In short this theory underpins everything you are trying to achieve when you are playing poker; you want your opponents to make mistakes against you. You want them to call when they have incorrect odds, fold when the numbers dictate they should call and raise when you have the nuts.

Suppose your opponent holds Qs-Jc on a Qh, 5h, 7d flop and you hold Ah-Kh. Against this player you have 15 outs to make a better hand on the turn. You bet into this player and they call. In this instance you gain because had this player been able to see your cards (and that you had so many outs to beat their hand) they would have raised such a significant amount that you couldn’t call.

The Fundamental Theorem should also underpin how you perceive the beats you take at the table. For instance, assume you hold KdQs and your opponent holds 4h9h and the board reads: Kh, Qh, 3d, 7s. Your opponent has called on the flop with their flush draw and the action is now back on to you.

You bet again and this time you make oversized bet (an amount which is greater than the size of the pot) to protect your two pair against the flush. The odds the pot is offering your opponent to continue with his draw are not favourable and the mathematically correct play is to fold.

Your opponent does however call and make their flush on the river and you pay off their value bet. In this situation many players will bemoan their misfortune (with some justification), however, what is important to realise is that you forced your opponent to make a mistake.

By calling with improper odds you have theoretically gained money because if this situation was repeated numerous times you would emerge with a profit.

Thus, it is important to understand that poker is all about deceiving your opponents and tricking them into making the wrong moves against you. As players we can only ever hope to make the correct plays and, although in the short term luck may not be on our side, this should ensure that ultimately we profit from the game.

This leads on to our second general concept: variance. During your time playing poker you are going to experience a number of peaks and troughs; one minute your riding high and everything is going your way and the next your getting one outered left right and centre.

Many new players get too hung up on their short term results and fail to see the bigger picture. Just because you are a 90% favourite to win a hand it doesn’t mean you are always going to win; surprisingly you are going to lose 10% of the time.

Therefore, when you pile in your chips with pocket aces and some unsuspecting sap beats you into the pot with pocket kings there is roughly an 18% chance that you are going to lose. No hand is over until it’s over and as long as a player still has some equity in the pot, no matter how small, you can still get your hand cracked.

Poker is a game of swings and roundabouts and sometimes you will go through patches where you swerve every bad beat and other times you crash headfirst into them every time you play.

This series of upswings and downswings is known as variance and variance, as your monotone maths tutor would say, is: a statistical measure that tells us how measured data varies from the average value of the overall set of data.

Basically, if there is an average line of results, variance shows how far above or below that line the results are. So the next time you scream, smash your monitor and run round the room offering the poker gods a fight just remember: it’s only variance.

Finally, before you reach the tables there’s one more thing you need to make clear in you mind: Why?

Why do you want to play poker? What are you aims?

Maybe you love games and competition, maybe you just want to try a new hobby or maybe your want to become the next Phil Ivey (don’t we all). Whatever motivations you have for playing it is important to keep them in mind when you’re at the table.

Are you comfortable with losing $50, $100, $500 in one session? Everything you do in poker needs to be relative to your goals.

If you dream of making a living from poker then you are going to have to work hard on your game and expect to take the rough with the smooth.

However, if you want to splash around with some spare cash and enjoy yourself then you shouldn’t let the bad beats get to you. Enjoy the game - otherwise what’s the point in playing? As long as bear this in mind and keep your outcomes relative to your goals then you’ll never get tired of the game.