George Epstein

Playing low/middle-limit Texas hold’em, your goal is to go home a winner. Being the best player – the most skilled – at the table will help. But, more likely, you will rank near the middle in the skill department; let us assume that is the case. With eight opponents vying for the same pots, the cost-to- play (house rake, Bad Beat Jackpot drop, and...

Poker is game of partial information. The more pertinent information we have, the better chance we will win more pots and be able to build them up in size. I have often written about the importance of focusing on the game and paying attention to gain as much information as possible. That gives us a decided “edge” over our less attentive opponents. Mistakes...

I have a huge poker library, including my own three books. One of the best is “Poker for Dummies” by the memorable Lou Krieger, co-authored with Richard Harroch. Enjoying the warm fall weather, I was scanning the book while relaxing in my backyard. A section on “Bluffing on the Turn” caught my attention. Superb! My first thought was to share it...

It is hard to win if you play poker where the house takes a rake (i.e., anyplace aside from the friendly home game). The cost-to-play (the rake, Bad Beat Jackpot drop, and tips to dealers) is not easily overcome. In a low-limit hold’em game, it averages about $25 per hour for each player, so eight hours of play will cost you $200. It...

Playing hold’em, starting-hand selection is your most important decision; on average, only 25% are playable. Next is whether to invest further in the hand after the flop is opened on the board. At that point, you will have seen over 70% of your final hand. If your starting hand does improve, most often it will be to a drawing hand that still needs...

Some hold’em players believe that A-Q offsuit (A-Qo) is the hardest hand to play. They may be correct. World-famed poker pro Daniel Negreanu considers it a “trouble hand.” He says that he loses much more than he wins with it. But it is a hand with good possibilities. Based on the math probabilities, starting with A-Qo can be expected to win the pot...

To be a winner at Texas hold’em, you must learn how to count and use your outs. Outs are the unseen cards (presumably still available in the deck) that will complete your drawing hand after the flop. This applies when you need to catch a card to give you a strong hand – a made hand. The best examples of this are when...

Poker has a language of its own. Some words are coined specifically for the game. Some are a part of our regular English language, but may have a somewhat different meaning in practice. It could be confusing, especially to new players. I will wager that there are many frequent poker players who are not aware of the sometimes subtle differences that may affect...

Poker is a game of partial information. The more knowledge and data you can glean, the better your chance of winning. Skilled players seek it out before and during play of a hand, and while sitting out a hand. Obviously live poker and online poker are different, and one of the main ways in which this is so is that in live poker...

In my last article, we discussed the idea of being more aggressive pre-flop. In this article, we continue our discussion on playing a bit more aggressively. Let’s explore post-flop play…...