Poker strategy II
Poker strategy and its understanding is a crucial factor that any poker player must learn if he wants to be a veteran of the game and not just seek his fortune depending on mere chance. It has been a longstanding question in minds of poker players regarding the relation between pot odds and odds of winning. It is important to know what pot odds and odds of winning mean first. The ratio of the total amount of dough put in the pot to the amount needed to bet in order a player may qualified to play for the pot is pot odds. So, if someone bets $10 while the pot size is $50, then his pot odds stand at 5-to-1. In any case the player must have better odds of winning than his pot odds if he expects to make a gain. However, if his pot odds and odds of winning are the same, he can only expect to break even. So, with 5-to-1 odds of winning the pot, if the player plays six times, he would expectedly lose five times and win once.
Implied odds is a concept derived from pot odds, where the size of the pot is calculated not at the amount it currently holds, but the amount that is expected in the pot at the end of the hand of play. An expert poker player who has a strong hand and expectation to win even money may either call a bet or open betting based on implied odds, a situation that is often seen in multi-way pots. Often players, playing with implied odds, call bets at every possible turn of play till showdown happens.
Deception in the form of bluffing and slow playing is integral poker strategies used by many players. So a deceptive player may either bluff about his hands and induce opponents with better hands to fold or by slow playing, he may bet weakly even with a string hand. Whether a player bluffs or plays slow, he must be consistent in his gameplan to be effective.
