In a recent email conversation about poker with an online friend who has recently started playing, she asked some interesting questions that confuse a lot of beginning and even seasoned players. I attempted to introduce a basic understanding of positional play in Limit Texas Holdem.

For now stick to 2c/4c real money Holdem Limit games ...boring I know but use this to study players and get the mechanics and strategy of the game down well before you try to move up. You are not going to bust your bankroll too quickly.

At this low limit, 2c/4c, people play as stupid as in free games. If you watch certain tables with the same players you will soon see a pattern to their poker strategy, play the same table with people you recognise as often as possible, you will see their play patterns fairly quickly. This will fine tune your poker radar with minimum expense.

Play the same people as often as possible, find a friendly table, watch them closely...you are playing too many people in tourneys without learning their tell patterns and individual poker strategy. Do the 2c/4c real money tables and try to play with the same players as much as possible and observe! Player A is tight and only bets huge hands, player B is a caller and calls anything, player C is loose and raises anything, player D always calls to see the flop...

Tourneys are fun and the way to great riches, but a solid grounding in the strategy of real money limit games will be your bread and butter.

She replied with this question, ...on the other hand if I'm in the small or big blind with a fairly strong hand besides your sample as above and the dealer will raise I could assume that the dealer has a weaker hand than mine knowing he is using his position and therefore still can place a bet. However I do understand what you’re saying....

Let's say in the above situation your decision would be based on these considerations to determine your poker strategy... if you are in the big blind there are 7 people to act after you including me, the dealer. What did the other 6 people do the last round I raised? You are thinking about me the dealer when it is the other players you should be worrying about to determine your decision to bet or fold.

Say 2 people folded and the other 4 called to limp in, this is a loose situation, you want to see the flop as cheaply as possible but you will be going up against 5 people and that could get expensive really quickly! Now if 5 people had folded, one called and I raised things are totally different and you would very likely act with a pair or better as there are less opponents and this reduces your odds of being outdrawn.

In fun money and low limit poker games you probably will have found almost everyone calls so there is always a lot of loose action and a lot more luck involved in the outcome and rather difficult for you to get rid of players when you rise. Usually at the river there are far too many players involved and therefore more sickouts, some guy hits a deuce on the river and pulls trips against your aces. We have all been there!

The ideal river situation is 3 or less players involved as to be on the river you should have a strong hand anyway and the outcome of the round is already determined and now the art of reading people and bluffing come into play. You need to be able to see what the best possible hand could be from the board cards and do you have it? If so you have the nuts and are unbeatable. Congratulations! That pot will be yours! Now, if you do not have the nuts do one of the other two players? This is what you must now figure out. You are already committed to the pot and have to decide how much you have put in as opposed to what you can win. Pot committed is when so many of your chips are already in the pot, that you have to at least call. This is general advice because you also have the factor of position involved.