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[jeremyr32]

last weekend i was playing and i get very frustrated with new players!! it seams there harder to beat in limit holdem every time i get a solid hand they race me to the river and hit there cards i try to over power them but it never scares them off!!! any ideas???

[Johnny Chan]

Hi Jeremyr32,
In some ways new players can be a bit harder to beat becasue they don't know the value of their hands, but what you need to do is adjust to their play. Once you accurately identify a player as a newbie who is a bit clueless and won't fold once they are in, just play stronger hands against that player and don't try to bluff them at all. If you select your hands properly, you will win lots of bets over time. That is why you need a proper bankroll to win in the long run.

Always remember, though, that poker is a gambling game and it takes a long run to get the money. You are not entitled to a pot just because you started with the best hand. That is why the bad players continue to play. A decent way to look at it is that part of what you get paid for as a winning player is to put up with the bad beats...

[jeremyr32]

is it better to not bluff in pot limit? and also on bluffing i always here that if a person is breathing heavy or shaking its probally because there bluffing but when ever i have a real good hand i breath heavy???

[Mark]

Hi Jeremy,

Every player is different. Some people act the same way when they have a good hand as others do when they are bluffing. The trick is to observe each player and decide what their behavior means.

[totr46]

mark is right i have an ex co-workin in my home game (i always try and hlp my friends improve thier poker skills not cuz i feel bad about takin thier money but because i alwasy want to improve mind u i dont tell them right away) neway 1 of his tells were when his hand is nuts he cant stop but breath heavy the adrenalin overwelms him so i decided 1 day to tell him this and how i can easilt fold AA on the flop when he does this. so he decided to try to pretend he has the nuts when he is bluffin and he would breath real heavily because he couldent control it when he did have a monster but what he didnt (and i havent told him yet) realize is that when he did have the nuts he would breath in and out of his nose and when he was bluffin he would breath out of his mouth to try and get me to think he was on the nuts and on more than 1 occasion i called him down with bottom pair or even ace high and of corse when i won a sizable pot callin down the whole way with nuthin he would get a lil upset with me sayin things like "how could u call me on the riv with ace high" and id respond cuz i had the best hand and that steamed him up and hed try to bluff even more i also have a close friend who is a very tight player who never bluffs atleast thats what evrybuddy thought well 1 night i noticed somthin i never noticed b4 and that is that when he bet the riv against me he had his mouth part way open and hes usualy like a rock when he in a hand no movment atall so i decided to call with 88 when the board showed Qc,9c,Kc,5s,7h and he fired his cards in the muck and the rest of the table was like wow i would have folded a st8 yeah i folded Q9 ect... so just watch the ppl u play with and always remember what there doin and always watch them as they watch the flop, turn, & riv come out