When embarking on a journey in poker, a player needs to be questioning. By asking questions, we find answers and solutions that help development. This is why forums are a popular way of improving knowledge and gaining expertise; we get answers. In today’s article we’re going to share some questions that serious poker players need to be asking, both of others to gauge opinion and themselves, to understand whether they are on track.
How much should I be winning?
Look, we’re all trying to win at poker, but winning alone is not enough. Poker can be a mentally taxing activity so it’s important to understand how much you “should” be winning. That’s why asking what is a good win rate in poker and comparing to regular winners is helpful. If you find that playing NL$5 for $8 an hour is actually good going, you can pat yourself on the back and continue. On the other hand, if you find that breaking even with rake-back is poor, work harder away from the table.
How often should I be c-betting?
Something even winners struggle with c-bet frequencies. It’s an area that causes people grief as the complexity of various scenarios can confuse people. What to do on different flop textures with different hand strengths poses a real problem for the intermediate player. You should speak with a coach or take a continuation bet course if you are struggling. We also suggest analysing your poker tracker stats and see where you’re doing well. Once you master c-betting you can make money playing online poker.
What is a good value bet size?
The issue a lot of people have in poker is automation. They are executing the same betting patterns regardless of opponent. This is foolish as you want to manipulate the pot with your sizing and your opponent. Therefore, a good value bet size may be 25% against a regular but 1.5x pot against a calling station. Understanding an appropriate value bet size comes down to analysing the context of the hand and adjusting your bet to get the desired action. Rarely will betting 50% pot all the way down the hand be correct. It’s a lazy way of playing too!
How many buy-ins do I need?
With so many variants of poker around today there is no one size fits all when it comes to choosing the number of buy-ins you need. The important thing about bankroll management is insurance and planning for the worst. You don’t expect you’ll need to use the whole bankroll but its safeguarding against the worst, or a bad run. Therefore, we recommend 50 + for games that are high variance e.g., turbo SNGs and tournaments but 25+ in deeper stacked cash games where variance is lower.
Some of bankroll management is down to playing style too though. If you adopt a looser more aggressive brand of poker, allow for more buy-ins to be on the safe side. In contrast, someone who enjoys playing a tighter style can afford less buy-ins behind them as they are playing less recklessly.
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