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As we can see, poker has become so popular that just about everyone is doing it!  Millions of people worldwide are now playing Texas Hold'em, both online and in offline tournaments and home games around the world - due in large part to the high exposure on TV shows like The World Series of Poker,  the World Poker Tour and broad availability of great online poker rooms today.

In addition, many online players now use poker odds calculator software, advanced poker strategies and techniques - something you need to be aware of and stay atop of in order to win consistently. 

These days, you need to be up-to-date with tools like Poker Sidekick and proven strategies for winning.  For example, there are now e-books and online poker strategies that even guarantee they'll boost your tournament winnings - these tools are very good.

You'll learn to win bigger pots and you'll avoid getting into losing situations by betting smarter, playing the right hands at the right times, folding when you should, trapping and bluffing appropriately, using aggressive player's own style against them, and using table position to your advantage.

Check out the free Texas Hold'em poker articles that will help you ramp your knowledge level up quickly.  And if you play poker tournaments, then you need to check out the available tournament tools.

Our website is designed to help you through the journey of learning how to play better holdem, taking on new techniques and skills along the way, enabling you become a much better player quickly and cost-effectively.

So, whether you just play casually or are more serious and would perhaps like to become a full-time professional poker player and enter the World Series of Poker someday, you'll find it all here.  If you play in poker tournaments, be sure to check our poker tournament resources.

Be sure to bookmark this website and visit often, as we update the site regularly, so you'll want to come back and see what's new, as you learn to play awesome poker, profit from tournaments, drag in bigger pots from regular ring games.   Also, be sure to check out the latest poker odds calculator and tournament practice software.

Have a look at the free poker lesson below - another way we strive to boost your level of play and consistency - free poker lessons and articles.

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FREE TEXAS HOLDEM POKER LESSON

Learn Texas Holdem - this free poker lesson sponsored by:

Secrets of Winning Sit and Go Tournaments
by Rick Braddy

"UNDERSTANDING AND LEVERAGING PLAYER STYLES"

Learn Texas Holdem poker and how to quickly read a poker player's "style" and you'll be amazed at how it massively boosts your profits.  There are basically four different poker playing styles, which can be determined by observing:

1. how many starting hands a player typically plays,  and

2. the player's betting pattern. 

Let's start out by understanding the diagram shown in Figure 1.1 below, which shows how to determine a player's style of play.

First, a player who plays relatively few (typically only premium) starting hands is termed "tight", whereas a player who plays many more starting hands is termed "loose".

The second factor to consider is their betting style; that is, whether they tend to be more "passive" and just check/call a lot and rarely bet or raise, or they're instead much more "aggressive", tending to bet and raise quite often.

As we can see here, the combination of the number of hands played and betting style is used to "type" a player.  Watch players closely and you'll typically see a pattern emerge in their overall play and be able to type them fairly quickly.

Figure 1.1 - Poker Player Styles

Figure 1.1 shows a "target play zone", the overall area that good players should strive to maintain their play.  Most pros will play Tight-Aggressive, with occasional forays into the other quadrants to mix things up and keep everyone off balance, guessing about what they'll do next.

Let's discuss each of these styles in a bit more detail, ensuring you can recognize the styles of play (including your own style, or "table image").

Loose-Passive (Amateur)

This is the typical "amateur" play style, since these players like the action and just want to play and have fun, playing just about anything that's remotely playable.  These players are sometimes referred to as "fish", since they're easy to defeat.  They'll often just Check or Call with even marginal hands like Ace-trash, low to medium pairs and they'll call just about everything, hoping to pull something out of thin air.  These players are also sometimes termed "calling stations", since they'll call most anything.

Bet into these players whenever you have a decent hand.  If you bet too much, you'll probably scare them out, so bet just enough to keep them in the hand, contributing to the pot size and "milking" them for whatever chips you can get them to put in at each stage (flop. turn, river).

Be careful trying to bluff these players, though, as their "calling station" tendency could backfire - if you do bluff them, attack them very aggressively with a significant Bet / Raise in order to effectively bluff them.

Tight-Passive (Tight)

These "weak" players are typically fairly easily beaten.  They just hang out waiting for great starting hands and big flops, and then they come after everyone all of a sudden.  When these players seem to suddenly "wake up" and start betting significantly, get out of their way, unless you have a strong hand, since they probably have a good-to-great hand (that's about all they'll play, since they don't like risk-taking).

These players can "survive" a long time since they don't risk many chips at all.  These players are very easy to bluff out of a pot, since they're highly risk-averse (avoids risk-taking unless they have a real, strong hand).  These players tend to play "honest" - betting roughly in proportion to the strength of their actual hands, making them easier to read.

Loose-Aggressive (Maniac)

This style is typically referred to as the "maniac", since they'll aggressively bet or raise with just about anything and they play far too many starting hands, using their aggressive betting style to make up for their lack of good hands.

Be very careful when you encounter these types, as they can quickly injure you.  Since they play so many hands, you never really know when they have a trash hand, a real hand, a draw or a monster.  Players like Gus Hansen use this style very effectively, yet can be beaten several different ways, as we'll discuss in a lot more detail in the "Beating Aggressive Players" lesson.  Basically, remain patient and figure out how to get under these players' skin and trigger their aggressive response systems, doing so when you're holding a great hand, and they'll often bet heavily into you, exposing most or all of their chips to you!

Tight-Aggressive (Solid)

So, now it's time to discuss our preferred style of no-limit Hold'em play: Tight-Aggressive.  These players choose their starting hands carefully, and instead of "limping in" (check/call) to see a flop, they'll either Bet or Raise significantly if they do play or just Fold without seeing a flop at all.

On the Turn and River, they'll usually make aggressive Bets/Raises when they hit their hand.  These players are typically only risking their chips when they have a strong hand.  When they do bet, they bet heavily and quickly build a significant size stack by winning just a few key hands.

This style is easy to spot, so you'll quickly get typed by the other players using this style.  To address this, you must occasionally shift quadrants (as shown in Figure 1.1) to throw players off, and deliberately playing as if you're a "maniac". 

By raising smartly with strong hands, and then mixing it up occasionally with nicely-timed bluffs, semi-bluffs and blind-stealing, you'll be able to keep your opponents off balance, never knowing what to expect from you.

Truly understanding these poker player styles is essential to winning.  Knowing your own style and "table image" is important, as it'll help you predict your opponents' moves, and ensure you profit and win bigger every time that you play.
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LESSON SOURCE:  The Secrets of Winning Sit and Go Tournaments

The above lesson is just a sample of the many focused strategy lessons you'll find in the complete Texas Holdem poker e-course, which is available for immediate download.  It's guaranteed to have you profiting from Texas Holdem poker and poker tournaments today.  Click here to find out more - learn Texas Holdem secrets needed to win and profit consistently.

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