Expert Article

A lot of people assume poker to be gambling, and to be fair most people who play the game are playing in such a fashion where they are just mainly gambling - putting money in the middle with suboptimal hands because they have a feeling or hoping that they will "hit". Growing up, I've loved puzzles, math, and strategy games, and poker is no different. Despite what my parents may think, poker is really a math based game that balances calculated risks to maximize a player's expected value in every situation possible. 

It all starts pre-flop, before the flop is dealt. The flop being the first 3 cards that are dealt face up in the middle for everyone to see. Pre-flop, every player is dealt 2 cards, their "hole cards". The game of poker has essentially been solved already, by computers that have run millions of simulations to calculate a game theory optimal way of playing. Similar to playing perfect basic strategy in blackjack, there is a mathematically optimal way of playing poker. Pre-flop, based on your position, and the cards that you are dealt, there is a certain action that a player should take, whether it be fold, call, or raise, that will maximize a player's expected value. Pre-flop, the players in the small and big blind are required to put money in the middle without looking at their cards, hence they are in the "blinds". The action starts with the player next to act who is sitting to the left of the big blind. Because this player has 8 other players left to act after him, they should only be opening the absolute top of their range. This means that this player should only be putting money in the pot with hole cards that have the highest equity against every other possible combination of hands that other players may have. This means that they should only be playing the strongest hands possible, such as 10/10, JJ, QQ, KK, AA, & AK because they have the worst position at the table. As you move further along the positions at the table, you can widen your range because you less players left to act behind you. The player on the "button" has the best position at the table because they are always last to act post-flop. Position and being last to act is very important in poker because you have the last say in what happens. Therefore, as your position improves, the cards you can play also weaken. So, if you are opening a hand on the button, you can play almost your entire range and be fine. By looking at pre flop charts, a player can memorize what hands should be played based on their position. However, many if not most players do not have this information memorized, which makes the game profitable as opponents are frequently betting money with sub optimal hands. 

Pre flop strategy is very basic and can be easily memorized. However, post flop play is much more complex and much harder to understand, learn, and master. Post flop play also depends heavily on pre flop play. In theory, the person who put the most money in pre flop, should have the strongest hand pre flop. If I 3-bet pre flop, that means that I was willing and wanting to bet more money before seeing the cards that would come out on the flop, turn, and river. And, if no one else had raised my bet pre flop, their range is capped. For example, any player who had AA, the best starting hand possible, would want to get as much money in the middle as possible. So, if I had raised pre flop, and other players just call instead of raising, they can not have AA in theory because if they did have that hand, they would have raised themselves. So, only the player who raised pre flop, can have this particular holding. To simplify, the player who raises pre flop is more likely to have stronger cards than a player who just called their raise instead of raising it again themselves. So, the flop reveals 3 cards and the betting starts again. Computers, called a "solver" have already run millions of simulations against all the possible cards an opponent could have and their is a GTO action a player should take. For example, a flop that contains and A is very good for the pre flop raiser as their range will often have all the strongest Ax holdings. Therefore, this player should be continuing to bet on almost all A high boards because they are betting their entire range on this board texture. A player can calculate their potential equity on the flop - their chances of winning based on what cards they have and what cards are shown. If a player has a draw, they have nothing strong right now, but certain cards will improve to hand to most likely the best hand. The chances of the card they need coming out can be calculated by factoring in the number of cards they need, the number cards of left to come, and the number of cards that will not improve them. And based on these odds, there is a mathematically amount of money they should be willing to put in the middle. For example, if you have a 20% of making the best hand, but have to put in $100 to potentially win $250, you are not getting the correct odds and should fold. Next comes the turn which reveals another card. Finally is the last card on the river and the last street of betting. If a player calls a bet on the river, the players then showdown their cards and the best cards win the money.

Bluffing is also an important way of winning money in poker. Although this is very complex, there are better cards to bluff with than others in theory. For example, if there are 3 diamonds on the board and you have the Ace of diamonds. This means that no other player at the table can possibly have the "nuts" aka the best possible hand. Because you have the Ace of diamonds, the card needed to make the best diamond flush, no other player can have the best possible hand. Because no one else can have the best flush, you could potentially bluff using this information. This is called using "blockers" -  cards that block other players from having certain hands and/or make it more unlikely for them to have a certain hand.