help me beat my friend at poker

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Gordon Gekko, Jul 29, 2006.

  1. first of all, i am not an advanced poker player AT ALL, but somehow i'm still better than most of my friends.

    i'm good at reading other people, i'm good at bluffing, i won't hesitate to fold shitty cards.. but when it comes to odds and anything mathematical, i pretty much know nothing.

    i would say my style is insanely unpredictable. sometimes i play as ridiculous as possible to be whacky and make people laugh. every now and then i'll literally fold 2 aces early in a hand and show people that i did just so they see how ridiculous i am. or sometimes i'll play very strongly something like a 5 and a 2 off suit and then show everyone at the end of the hand just how shitty my cards really were. we don't usually play for that much money anyway and i play for fun more than anything else, so losing doesn't bother me. plus i get the girls laughing and they say i'm entertaining. :)

    ANYWAY.. here's why i'm posting..

    i have one friend in particular who is easily the best player of all my friends. he watches poker on tv and is much more into it than the rest of us and he wins the most..

    many times it will come down to me and him as the final 2 players. my goal right now is to beat him about 50% of the time when it comes down to the 2 of us. we usually play so that 2nd place gets their money back. all i want is some simple strategy to use in a 1 on 1 situation against him. if i were to win about 50% of the time, i'd be very happy with that until i get good at the mathematical aspects.

    i have noticed his strategy changes a lot when he is down to playing 1 on 1 against someone. at that point the blinds are usually high and he tends to be more aggressive. he will also go all in much more frequently than when there are more players.

    last night i did this as soon as it was 1 on 1 with him: :p i had more chips than he had and i went all in every single hand before the flop without even looking at my cards. i know this isn't the most intelligent way of playing, but could something like that work against a player you know is superior?? basically i want a simple strategy to maybe press my luck and end the game as quickly as possible when it is 1 on 1 with him. i'm thinking this might limit his opportunities to play better than me.

    help

    thanks
     
  2. If ur friend is clearly better than you, your strategy of pushing a lot is sound. You se his advantage is in outplaying you after the flop, when you push you take that dynamic out of the game.

    When heads up, rember your starting hand requirements go way down and your card values go way up. Against him, I would push any ace, pair, suited connectors or kq,kj even k10. Remeber that Q7 is the average hand, so anything better you will have an advantage against a random hand.

    If youre in a book store grab a cup of coffee and read the book "kill phil", it teaches the exact way to play a person who is significantly more skilled than you, gl.
     
  3. yeah avoid to let him see too many flops...force him in to a corner before the turn so he has to make tough decisions...be aggressive. avoid raisin' 2much with middle low pairs or u get killed.
     
  4. :cool:

    i found a amazon.com review for that book that pretty much says exactly what i was thinking:

    "...the Kill Phil expert player, can use selected, and total, aggression pre-flop to negate the expertise of professionals. What the pro wants, more than anything, is to last in a tournament as long as possible so that his skill, which provides positive expectation value, has a chance to manifest itself and he can outplay his opponents. With Kill Phil strategy, the pros must now play defensively. A hand like AQo, which usually warrants a raise, must be folded should the pro not want to risk all his chips."