Beat the people at your table

You play the same players every week. That is the largest advantage available to you, and most people never use it.

Sort every opponent into one of four types

Watch two things: how many hands they play (tight or loose), and whether they mostly bet and raise or mostly check and call (aggressive or passive).

The leaks that cost the most

1. Playing too many hands. Every weak hand you fold before the flop is a bad spot you never have to face after it.
2. Limping. Calling the big blind first-in invites a crowd and gives up the chance to win the pot right away.
3. Calling without the price. Do the lesson 3 sum whenever you're drawing. "I had a flush draw" is a description of your hand. It doesn't tell you whether to call.
4. Paying off big river bets from passive players. When someone who has called all night suddenly raises, they have it.
5. Bluffing people who don't fold. A bluff only works on a player capable of folding.
6. Checking strong hands to be tricky. Against callers, the straightforward bet earns more than the trap.
7. Tilt. Playing worse after a bad beat turns one lost pot into a lost night.

Your game: $50 buy-in, 25¢/50¢ blinds, rebuys

A $50 stack at these blinds is 100 big blinds. That is a deep stack, and it shapes how each hand should be played.

House rule: the straddle

A straddle is a third blind. The player to the left of the big blind puts in $1, double the big blind, before the cards are dealt and without looking. In return they get to act last before the flop. Players who like to gamble do it to make the pot bigger.

When a straddle is on, four things change for everyone at the table.

• The hand is played at double stakes. The bet to match before the flop is $1, not 50¢, and the pot starts at $1.75 instead of 75¢.
• Your stack is half as deep. $50 is 100 big blinds, but only 50 straddles. Lesson 6 covers what that means: big cards and big pairs go up in value, and small pairs and small suited cards go down, because there is less behind to win when they hit.
• Raise sizes double. Raise to three times the straddle, which is $3, plus $1 for every player who has already called the $1. Calling a $3 raise with a small pair to flop a set needs about $45 to $60 in the smaller stack, so with $50 stacks it is barely worth it.
• The order moves along one seat. The player to the left of the straddler acts first, and the straddler acts last. Count the players still to act after you, including the straddler, and use the chart for that count.

The straddler is holding two random cards, which is a weak hand on average. But they have $1 in already and they came to gamble, so they will often call. Raise your good hands for value and expect to be called. Don't try to steal the straddle with rubbish.

Should you straddle? Not if you are trying to win. You are putting in $1 before seeing your cards, and after the flop you are one of the first to act, which is the worst place to be. Two random cards from a bad seat lose money over time. If the whole table straddles in turn and sitting it out would spoil the mood, it costs you about one extra dollar a round. Treat that as the price of the game, not as a play.

House rule: the 7-2 game

Seven-two in different suits, like , is the worst starting hand in hold'em. Your table's rule is that if you win a pot with it, every other player pays you $2. With eight players that is 7 × $2 = $14, which is 28 big blinds and bigger than most pots you play. So the hand is no longer an automatic fold.

Check two details of the rule at your table, because the right play depends on them. Does it count if everyone folds and you show the 7-2 afterwards, or only if you win at a showdown? And does everyone pay, or only the players who were dealt in?

This is how often 7-2 offsuit wins when all five shared cards are dealt and nobody folds.

• A cheap look is fine. The bounty is worth $14 times your chance of winning. Seeing a flop for 50¢ or $1 from a late seat is reasonable. Calling a $3 raise is not, because you still have to get through three rounds of betting with a hand that rarely connects.
• If folds count, it is a bluffing hand. Lesson 4 gave the price of a bluff: your bet ÷ (your bet + the pot). The bounty is extra money you win when it works, so it goes on the bottom line too. A $4 bet into a $6 pot normally needs 40% folds. With a $14 bounty it needs 4 ÷ (4 + 6 + 14) = 17%. This is the one time a bluff into players who call too much can be right. Pick a pot with one opponent, not three.
• If only showdowns count, mostly fold it. You need to make a real hand. See a flop only when it is cheap, and carry on only with two pair or better.
• Other players have it less often than you fear. Anyone is dealt 7-2 offsuit about once in 110 hands. When someone makes a strange big bet it could be the 7-2, but it usually isn't. Don't call large bets just to stop a bounty. The $2 you would save is small next to the bet you would be calling.

Money and mood

• Decide your rebuy limit before you sit down, for example two rebuys, which caps the night at $150. When you reach it, you're finished.
• Rebuy because the game is good and you are playing well. If the reason is to win it back, go home.
• Judge your play by your decisions. A good call that loses was still a good call, and a bad call that wins was still a mistake.
• Afterwards, write down the two or three hands that bothered you and work them through with the lesson 3 calculator.

Five questions for every hand

1. Where am I sitting, and is this hand on the chart for that seat?
2. What type of player am I up against?
3. If I'm drawing: how many clean outs, and what price am I getting?
4. If I'm betting: which worse hands call, or which better hands fold?
5. How big is the pot compared with the stacks behind?