Great tip +Alec Torelli ! I do the same thing when I'm playing online. If I'm in a regular game I'm always taking notes when I'm not in the hands, or if I'm playing ZOOM or SNAP, a lot of the time I'll fold and watch the hands play out so I can take the notes down on players to make dealing with them in the future easier.
thanks for all the videos been watching some of them and last time I went to play a tourney at my local casino I took a bad beat n was knocked out but was not very disappointed, I decided to sit at a cash game n absolutely crushed it n won the same amount to the one finishing fifth..I was so happy with always trying to think ahead...I still got a long way to go but thank you alec
I worked on reading live tells a lot with the help of Zachary Elwood's book, and a few other resources. I agree with your thoughts - observing other people when you're not in a hand, especially when it goes to deep showdown at the river is a great way to obtain free information. I've picked up a lot of reliable tells of regulars I play with doing this.
Great video. Quite often I see players at the table playing with their phones, looking around etc when not in a hand. It's amazing to me when people aren't observant when their money is on the line. I played against a guy one time who was playing online poker while playing at our live game lol. It was like Christmas at the table for me.
Thanks for the tip Alec. I'm new to live cash games but I've noticed how most players pay no attention to hands they're not in. I guess that's why they're still playing low stakes after years at the tables.
So happy you exist lol I've watched almost all your videos. My way of thinking in the game has improved greatly and I'm profiting so much more than before! Thanks man!
thanks alec ive played over 20,000hrs of live low limit holdem and some omaha here at crown melbourne australia. im greek background with an education degree. my background is music. i can definately subscribe to your advice and would encourage interaction with the winning players regarding their play and taking it to the next level on how i can improve my game. watching is the key gaining information and then analysys. this to any poker player is gold cos you can get into peoples heads and most of all better follow the game with all ya moves. nice one alec. christian.
I think that watching others, particularly any regular opponents you may have, is a great way of finding out information and maybe also where you are going wrong. As far as the micro-stakes comment below is concerned, i'd agree with that. You get killed by anything even if you are playing top pairs but then again making decisions in these situations also depends on other factors such as position and stack size of your stack against your opponents.
Hey Alec...love your videos! I took a year off from poker after making a tun of money and blowing it all off on 'vices' as you state in one of your vid (alchohol, drugs, and other stuff..)..i have decided to un-retired now that I am back in the right state of mind and have a stable job and a loving and supporting GF. I spend my whole day at work listening, watching and studying your vids and how I could play hands .. and it seems to be what you would do...my 1 hour commute each way isn't as bad anymore.. learning and rebuilding confidences so when I am ready to get back in the grind...I am going to dominate once again. Thank you my man....if I make it again, it would all be because of your videos with great tips and tricks. Keep up the good work.
Mark Pham Bravo, staying clean is the hardest job out there. Everything you encounter in life makes it easy to slip up, but nothing in life makes it easier to say no. I speak from experience brother. I've noticed there aren't any poker (or much other types of) videos on this subject. Other than the usual 'avoid the vices' lecture. Nobody really talks about bouncing back from the bottom if you already fell. Maybe you could make one! It would help you, as well as countless others! It would be something special, a gift, from you to the other poker players going through struggles. I wish you health and happiness! Stay strong brother! God bless!
Yeah... it's the circle of friends I had. All cool guys that's has pocket full of money. We were always getting drunk even while grinding and going to after hours bars, doing all kinds of illegal shit... I'm so glad I just picked up and moved. Lost tons of money to bad loans, bad investments, bad life choices. It was rough path to take, but a lesson i'll never forget. It's making me look at life differently. I'm more appreciated of what I'm capable of this time around with poker. Now, sober and in the right state of mind..i'm crushing it again. This time..i won't have that "Too Much Money Syndrones..."
In smaller live tourneys,some players love to show their hands even when they don't have to,they think they are being "nice"Or they love to be complimented on how they played. I never ever show a hand,but I might lie if someone asks me what I had;-) that's why watching every hand is imperative in live games anyway. Also asking people about what they would have done if such and such a card fell gets you a lot of info.So look and listen is the key.
+gerry o sullivan It's also worth talking to people about there hands because they are more than willing to share information.. as long as your friendly about it you can tell who's telling the truth and who doesn't, and who just doesn't give anything away at all.. pick on the people who tell the truth haha
+gerry o sullivan Negreanu and Hellmuth use people's egos against themselves a lot, eliciting their hands occasionally. Most players don't attempt to simply ask their opponentswhat they had. Neg and Hellmuth have the smarts.
Great advice, agree this is something I need to really focus on instead of being distracted. I don't get one thing- the bluffer had Jack high, what did he get called with? What made him expose his hand? Do you mean he should have just folded as soon as he was called?
You already know but now, 4 years later, BUT, I answer for others who may not know: Alec probably meant the bluffer I'd obligated at showdown after river card dealt to show his poker hole cards in his hand FIRST, even though he announced J high IF his opponent who called his bet does NOT show his own cards after the bluffer says "Jack high". He can muck his hand if he wants too hide his starting hand range by not revealing his cards. In this case, the bluffer must have thought J high might be good, so he showed Jx with a 4 gap or more, since Alec mentioned his hand had no draws related to the board. If he had mucked instead, then the caller wouldn't have needed to show his own hand to win the pot, but could release his hand face down to the dealer ONLY AFTER the dealer pushed the pot towards him or acknowledged he won the pot (to prevent dealer error).
It's usually simply not allowed. In some games you may be allowed to see/show if the hand is shown to everyone afterwards (show one, show all). Simply ask the floor about the house rules.
22 years old here and ive been playing poker on and off since i turned 21, following a few tips here and there and always just coming out even at the end of it all, saw many of your videos and it helped me improve, the question i have is, for example where i play its $1/$2 no limit with a max of $300 buy in, and ive bought in with max and lowest in the past, would you say its best to buy in with max?
+Brian Galeano It's always better to buy into games at max buy in, if possible. This way if you get a monster hand and go all in, you win 300 dollars instead of 120 or however much the min buy in is. Also you're much harder to bully by people who have larger stacks.
You have most likely improved a lot but it still wouldn't hurt to study up on deep stack poker strategy and playing online microstakes with full buy ins to practice cheaply. Google deep stack poker strategy.
I feel like there's a lot of levels to this. he is opening himself to any two cards in the deck so it might make you think that any two pair could beat your top pair top kicker (for example). how do we absolutely make that decision based on one example?
The best thing you can do if you already do this (because it's poker and you SHOULD be doing this) is to move away from the micro-stakes grinding. Save up some cash and play some higher stakes. Why? Because no matter how well you play on micro-stakes, you are essentially playing against disposable hands. People play anything and bluff more. It's a horrible thing for someone who is good at poker to be play people who don't care about playing well because they always seem to get lucky. That's why you play the odds in those circumstances. The difference between a 1/2c ring game and a 5/10 is huge. How many micro-stakes games have you played AA/KK/QQ/AK, raised the BB 3 or 4x and been called by something like 62off and lost? Yeah micro-stakes.
+tehf00n thats so true, been playing micro tournament stakes for over a year still in the learning progress but i consider myself above the average even though im a loosing player. Why? Because I always loose against shitty hands that arent supposed to play the pot in key spots on tournaments, I mean it almost gotten to the point that im just gonna shove my AA preflopp with no action before me 10/20 blinds 3k stacked because no matter if i raise 120, 220, 360, (wich is huge considering the blinds right?) 2-3 players will still call me with ridicilous hands and suckout on me
+Welven Da Great if you were above average you'd be a winning player, but you're not so you're just another fish who's money i'll gladly take. thank you
+tehf00n I think that that people are better off playing at games their bankroll's can afford. Chances are if you're losing at the micros you are just going to be throwing good money after bad if you save up and start taking shots at medium-high stakes. In my humble opinion you need the experience of grinding your way through the micros in order to set you up properly for the higher stakes. You can read all the books you want, and talk game theory until you're blue in the face, but NOTHING beats the cold hard lessons you gain from putting some serious volume in on the tables. I'm no professional though, that's just my two cents. :)
+tehf00n +Buildin' My Bankroll... the thing what someone can learn on micro stakes is discipline, controling your emotions and feelings when you are loosing. in that moment its VERY good.
It's even worse than that. These idiots just play the most basic ABC poker, which seems like it would be easy to exploit. But after many hours your mind just starts to wander since it's so mind numbing and you think "Oh he wouldn't shove with the nuts here, he's been that predictable for hours. He's changing it up". And THEY NEVER DO. So yes you can sit there and milk pennies for hours. But why bother?
I did this to a aggressive pro...and he got on wacky tilt, reloading to cover my stack after he had to show the table his 'nothing'. I told him the same thing...'your jack high's no good...'. that forced him to open his junk cards and I showed my one pair and he was ready to punch my face...hahahaha
I guess my question for this is if he didn't say Jack High a couple times drawing attention to himself, would anyone not in the hand that doesn't watch every single hand even notice this lesson?
trust me, what you think is the best way to play AK or any other hand at any given moment will not be the best way to play it next time. anyone giving you advice on NLHE is basically telling you a bad beat story.
It would obviously be much easier to watch other people playing when you're not in the game/hand because you don't have to worry about thinking about your hand all you observations can be totally subjective‼️®™️
This is really simple but totally true. I always say "If you're in a hand play it, if you're not, practice hand reading."
Great tip +Alec Torelli ! I do the same thing when I'm playing online. If I'm in a regular game I'm always taking notes when I'm not in the hands, or if I'm playing ZOOM or SNAP, a lot of the time I'll fold and watch the hands play out so I can take the notes down on players to make dealing with them in the future easier.
thanks for all the videos been watching some of them and last time I went to play a tourney at my local casino I took a bad beat n was knocked out but was not very disappointed, I decided to sit at a cash game n absolutely crushed it n won the same amount to the one finishing fifth..I was so happy with always trying to think ahead...I still got a long way to go but thank you alec
I worked on reading live tells a lot with the help of Zachary Elwood's book, and a few other resources. I agree with your thoughts - observing other people when you're not in a hand, especially when it goes to deep showdown at the river is a great way to obtain free information.
I've picked up a lot of reliable tells of regulars I play with doing this.
Great video. Quite often I see players at the table playing with their phones, looking around etc when not in a hand. It's amazing to me when people aren't observant when their money is on the line. I played against a guy one time who was playing online poker while playing at our live game lol. It was like Christmas at the table for me.
Thanks a lot,been watching your videos for a while and I can say it really improved my game.Keep up :)
Ya know that is something I knew subconsciously. But it's nice to have it brought to my working memory. Good wisdom
Thanks for the tip Alec. I'm new to live cash games but I've noticed how most players pay no attention to hands they're not in. I guess that's why they're still playing low stakes after years at the tables.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR VIDEOS!! WILL BE WATCHING THEM ALL.
I ENJOY YOUR WAY OF THINKING!!
So happy you exist lol I've watched almost all your videos. My way of thinking in the game has improved greatly and I'm profiting so much more than before! Thanks man!
Same to me!
We are so lucky that he share his knowledge with us
Fantastic information and for a newbie wanting to play 1-2 it really helps a lot. Thank you..
fantastic INFOrmation ‼️®™️ 👏👏👏
Thanks!
Perfect practice makes perfect play 😜
thanks alec
ive played over 20,000hrs of live low limit holdem and some omaha here at crown melbourne australia. im greek background with an education degree. my background is music.
i can definately subscribe to your advice and would encourage interaction with the winning players regarding their play and taking it to the next level on how i can improve my game. watching is the key gaining information and then analysys. this to any poker player is gold cos you can get into peoples heads and most of all better follow the game with all ya moves. nice one alec.
christian.
Great stuff Alec!
I think that watching others, particularly any regular opponents you may have, is a great way of finding out information and maybe also where you are going wrong. As far as the micro-stakes comment below is concerned, i'd agree with that. You get killed by anything even if you are playing top pairs but then again making decisions in these situations also depends on other factors such as position and stack size of your stack against your opponents.
Useful info! Thanks
Hey Alec...love your videos! I took a year off from poker after making a tun of money and blowing it all off on 'vices' as you state in one of your vid (alchohol, drugs, and other stuff..)..i have decided to un-retired now that I am back in the right state of mind and have a stable job and a loving and supporting GF. I spend my whole day at work listening, watching and studying your vids and how I could play hands .. and it seems to be what you would do...my 1 hour commute each way isn't as bad anymore.. learning and rebuilding confidences so when I am ready to get back in the grind...I am going to dominate once again. Thank you my man....if I make it again, it would all be because of your videos with great tips and tricks. Keep up the good work.
How old are you?
he's 5
Mark Pham
Bravo, staying clean is the hardest job out there. Everything you encounter in life makes it easy to slip up, but nothing in life makes it easier to say no.
I speak from experience brother.
I've noticed there aren't any poker (or much other types of) videos on this subject. Other than the usual 'avoid the vices' lecture. Nobody really talks about bouncing back from the bottom if you already fell. Maybe you could make one! It would help you, as well as countless others! It would be something special, a gift, from you to the other poker players going through struggles. I wish you health and happiness! Stay strong brother! God bless!
Yeah... it's the circle of friends I had. All cool guys that's has pocket full of money. We were always getting drunk even while grinding and going to after hours bars, doing all kinds of illegal shit... I'm so glad I just picked up and moved. Lost tons of money to bad loans, bad investments, bad life choices. It was rough path to take, but a lesson i'll never forget. It's making me look at life differently. I'm more appreciated of what I'm capable of this time around with poker. Now, sober and in the right state of mind..i'm crushing it again. This time..i won't have that "Too Much Money Syndrones..."
That little guy is why I'm still alive...have to make changes to be there for him down the road =)
awsome tip, just watching your videos, getting into the mind of a pro player, has really help my game, thanks man :)
Keith Roberts Awesome Keith, appreciate that. Glad it's effective.
great advice,thanks
jose braga Thanks Jose glad you enjoyed it!
great advice!
Yuri Vukojevic Thanks Yuri!
Awesome brother
In smaller live tourneys,some players love to show their hands even when they don't have to,they think they are being "nice"Or they love to be complimented on how they played.
I never ever show a hand,but I might lie if someone asks me what I had;-)
that's why watching every hand is imperative in live games anyway.
Also asking people about what they would have done if such and such a card fell gets you a lot of info.So look and listen is the key.
gerry o sullivan Smart man Gerry!
+gerry o sullivan It's also worth talking to people about there hands because they are more than willing to share information.. as long as your friendly about it you can tell who's telling the truth and who doesn't, and who just doesn't give anything away at all.. pick on the people who tell the truth haha
+William Hock Well said lol.
+gerry o sullivan Negreanu and Hellmuth use people's egos against themselves a lot, eliciting their hands occasionally. Most players don't attempt to simply ask their opponentswhat they had. Neg and Hellmuth have the smarts.
Great advice, agree this is something I need to really focus on instead of being distracted. I don't get one thing- the bluffer had Jack high, what did he get called with? What made him expose his hand? Do you mean he should have just folded as soon as he was called?
You already know but now, 4 years later, BUT, I answer for others who may not know:
Alec probably meant the bluffer I'd obligated at showdown after river card dealt to show his poker hole cards in his hand FIRST, even though he announced J high IF his opponent who called his bet does NOT show his own cards after the bluffer says "Jack high". He can muck his hand if he wants too hide his starting hand range by not revealing his cards.
In this case, the bluffer must have thought J high might be good, so he showed Jx with a 4 gap or more, since Alec mentioned his hand had no draws related to the board.
If he had mucked instead, then the caller wouldn't have needed to show his own hand to win the pot, but could release his hand face down to the dealer ONLY AFTER the dealer pushed the pot towards him or acknowledged he won the pot (to prevent dealer error).
What are your thoughts on asking to see the hand that you're not involved in?
It's usually simply not allowed. In some games you may be allowed to see/show if the hand is shown to everyone afterwards (show one, show all). Simply ask the floor about the house rules.
Where does everyone in the USA play online poker for cash now?
22 years old here and ive been playing poker on and off since i turned 21, following a few tips here and there and always just coming out even at the end of it all, saw many of your videos and it helped me improve, the question i have is, for example where i play its $1/$2 no limit with a max of $300 buy in, and ive bought in with max and lowest in the past, would you say its best to buy in with max?
+Brian Galeano It's always better to buy into games at max buy in, if possible. This way if you get a monster hand and go all in, you win 300 dollars instead of 120 or however much the min buy in is. Also you're much harder to bully by people who have larger stacks.
always max buy buddy
You have most likely improved a lot but it still wouldn't hurt to study up on deep stack poker strategy and playing online microstakes with full buy ins to practice cheaply. Google deep stack poker strategy.
I feel like there's a lot of levels to this. he is opening himself to any two cards in the deck so it might make you think that any two pair could beat your top pair top kicker (for example). how do we absolutely make that decision based on one example?
other than betting patterns
u ar such a nice guy !
The best thing you can do if you already do this (because it's poker and you SHOULD be doing this) is to move away from the micro-stakes grinding. Save up some cash and play some higher stakes. Why? Because no matter how well you play on micro-stakes, you are essentially playing against disposable hands. People play anything and bluff more. It's a horrible thing for someone who is good at poker to be play people who don't care about playing well because they always seem to get lucky. That's why you play the odds in those circumstances. The difference between a 1/2c ring game and a 5/10 is huge. How many micro-stakes games have you played AA/KK/QQ/AK, raised the BB 3 or 4x and been called by something like 62off and lost? Yeah micro-stakes.
+tehf00n thats so true, been playing micro tournament stakes for over a year still in the learning progress but i consider myself above the average even though im a loosing player. Why? Because I always loose against shitty hands that arent supposed to play the pot in key spots on tournaments, I mean it almost gotten to the point that im just gonna shove my AA preflopp with no action before me 10/20 blinds 3k stacked because no matter if i raise 120, 220, 360, (wich is huge considering the blinds right?) 2-3 players will still call me with ridicilous hands and suckout on me
+Welven Da Great if you were above average you'd be a winning player, but you're not so you're just another fish who's money i'll gladly take. thank you
+tehf00n I think that that people are better off playing at games their bankroll's can afford. Chances are if you're losing at the micros you are just going to be throwing good money after bad if you save up and start taking shots at medium-high stakes.
In my humble opinion you need the experience of grinding your way through the micros in order to set you up properly for the higher stakes. You can read all the books you want, and talk game theory until you're blue in the face, but NOTHING beats the cold hard lessons you gain from putting some serious volume in on the tables.
I'm no professional though, that's just my two cents. :)
+tehf00n +Buildin' My Bankroll... the thing what someone can learn on micro stakes is discipline, controling your emotions and feelings when you are loosing. in that moment its VERY good.
It's even worse than that. These idiots just play the most basic ABC poker, which seems like it would be easy to exploit. But after many hours your mind just starts to wander since it's so mind numbing and you think "Oh he wouldn't shove with the nuts here, he's been that predictable for hours. He's changing it up". And THEY NEVER DO. So yes you can sit there and milk pennies for hours. But why bother?
Looks like the vdara hotelroom?
You know it.
I did this to a aggressive pro...and he got on wacky tilt, reloading to cover my stack after he had to show the table his 'nothing'. I told him the same thing...'your jack high's no good...'. that forced him to open his junk cards and I showed my one pair and he was ready to punch my face...hahahaha
If hes a pro hes a fking moron
I guess my question for this is if he didn't say Jack High a couple times drawing attention to himself, would anyone not in the hand that doesn't watch every single hand even notice this lesson?
did they both have Jack high? What did the river caller have to win ?
trust me, what you think is the best way to play AK or any other hand at any given moment will not be the best way to play it next time.
anyone giving you advice on NLHE is basically telling you a bad beat story.
If the guy is so embarrassed just muck. No reason to get upset when you're obligated to act first.
It would obviously be much easier to watch other people playing when you're not in the game/hand because you don't have to worry about thinking about your hand all you observations can be totally subjective‼️®™️
Pizza and lasagna dude
Show or muck.... If i bet as a bluff on the river and get called, i insta muck
J Parker showing a bluff is good in certain circumstances.
sounds really time consuming.
So vague and unusefull advice.. if u are playing poker u have to watch how the rest of the table is playing... Duhhh
Sorry Dany, this was one of those early videos. Hope you'll stick around on the channel and enjoy some of our newer content. A lot here for you...
Alec is a great player and a great person!!
I am a fan!