The 90-10 No Limit Holdem Rule to Poker Winning Success

In 1906 Italian economist, sociologist and philosopher Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of Italian property was owned by 20% of the population. This was later generalized into the "80/20 Rule" or the Pareto Principle. Most people have heard of the 80/20 rule. 80% of sales in a company are made by 20% of the salespeople. 80% your results are created by 20% of your time. There are a whole host of 80/20 rules that float around. Knowing this principle is only useful if you can apply it intelligently and consistently to a situation. When applied to the situation of No Limit Ring Poker (I'll specifically be referring to Hold-em, although I'm sure it applies to other games) the rule becomes much more pointed. Once you learn this poker principle you should allow it have a great impact on how you play.

With all due respect to Mr. Pareto, he never played NL Ring Holdem, so we are going to call this rule "Winning Legal Online Poker's 90/10 NL Ring Rule". First let me tell you that this rule is real, and it's statistically accurate. If you believe that AA is statistically more advantageous to play than 72, then you need to put this rule in the same part of your poker brain. Ponder it and find new ways to make it work for you.

Here's Winning Legal Online Poker's 90/10 NL Ring Rule:

90% of the MONEY you win playing NL Ring is won with the top 10% of poker hands... AND (for most tight/aggressive poker players) 90% of the money you LOSE playing NL Ring is lost to the top 10% of poker hands.

The first part of this rule is absolutely true for almost any NL Ring poker player. The 2nd part is only true if you aren't a fish. Also, the 2nd part of the rule is a good way to monitor your play. If you are losing most of your money to hands like Top Pair Top Kicker (TPTK) or worse, then you really need to focus on learning how to play NL Ring Poker better. If you already read the book "Winning Legal Online Poker" then you will have already noticed that your sessions are pretty consistent. You win good money when your strong hands hold up. You lose some money when your strong hands keep running into better hands. But you win TONS of money when you have have top 10% hands hold up. And you lose a buyin plus when your really good hands run into top 10% hands.

Winning Legal Online Poker doesn't change the 90/10 rule. It's a rule, and as such it IS REALITY. However, the rule doesn't state that you will lose 90% of the money you WIN to top 10% hands. It states that 90% of the money you lose is lost to top 10% hands. That may seem like word play, but it means you can reduce your losses, and thus increase your poker profits by managing your game with the 90/10 rule. Winning Legal Online Poker teaches you how to spot the top 10% hands and lose less $$$ to them, although as a % of money lost you'll still find that 90% of your lost money will go to top 10% hands - EVEN WHEN YOU FOLD BEFORE THE RIVER.

There are plenty of instances where you fold AA or TPTK or even a better hand to a made flush or straight. You may have invested quite a bit of money into the pot, but you lost that money to a top 10% hand. Winning Legal Online Poker is devised to help you spot those instances when your good hands are beat by a top 10% hand and lose less money. Now the other part of the rule is that you will win 90% of your money with top 10% hands.

You see this happen all the time. You flop a set against a big pocket pair. You make a full house against a flush. You turn a straight against 2 pair. Of course there are times when the other person simply over values his hand and gives you chips. But you're double-ups are generally these top 10% hands. This rule doesn't mean that your top 10% hands ALWAYS make big money. In order to make big money with a top 10% hand Winning Legal Online Poker's "Contested Pot Rule" (which is discussed in another article) must also be in effect. But there's no doubt that your big wins come from these big hands. So how does this apply to your game? It's pretty simple.

If 90% of your wins come from big hands and 90% of your losses are to other big hands, then you need to play the # of hands required to get more of the first while avoiding giving too much money to the 2nd. This is where the term "nut hunting" comes from. A lot of quality players are just playing for nut hands. That doesn't mean they don't play value hands for value, however. But you need to understand the Winning Legal Online Poker 90/10 rule and the Winning Legal Online Poker Contested Pot Rule as you play NL Ring poker.

If you are putting "extraordinary" amounts of money behind "ordinary" hands you are going to be a victim of the 90/10 rule. Each hand has a certain value. It has "card" value, but it also has MONEY value. Pocket tens preflop are not that great. You can make money with them, but you won't make great money with them. You should play them for the value that they have, and not over-value them. As the hand plays their value may drop precariously (as overcards hit). However, if overcards DON'T hit then they still just have a certain maximum value, because you will generally get very limited action. If your TT remains the best hand on the board then no one else will want to put much money in the pot. The pot will be small. It will be a TT POT!! However, if you notice the pot going well beyond a TT pot, then you have to understand that your competition probably has better than a TT hand (even if the board doesn't show it). This is how you can observe the 90/10 rule in action.

Preflop AA is a top 10% hand. It's the best hand!! If you can get all your money and all someone else's money in the pot preflop when you have AA then the 90/10 rule is working for you. However, once the flop hits AA drops off the top 10% list, and you must be aware of that. On ANY flop the best hand is at least a set of the top card flopped. So, with a flop of 269, the best possible hand is a set of 9's. And any set is a top 10% hand at this point. As the hand plays out the AA becomes a weaker and weaker hand. You should continue playing it like TPTK at least, but you also must be aware of the value that you are giving your AA as the hand unfolds. You may be seriously over valuing your AA. If you raised it preflop and bet it on the flop, then on the turn, and you get raised, what does that say? First you're starting to see a pot that is more valuable than your AA and 2nd you have just walked into a "Contested Pot" scenario. If you get into a raise/reraise situation and all you have is pocket AA, then you are most probably going to be on the losing end of the 90/10 rule. Disciplined players know how to fold. Winning players know that keeping their winnings is more important that "going down" with AA, just because it WAS the best hand preflop. All AA is is TPTK, until someone prove otherwise by getting a better hand.

Another way to look at this is when you are playing "drawing odds". You may start with a suited connector or a small to mid pocket pair. These are not top 10% hands, but they have the potential of becoming top 10% hands. When they do, hopefully your competition will over value his hand and contest the pot with you. The "Contested Pot Rule" will then go into effect in your favor and you will make lots of money.

Another ramification of the 90/10 rule is that the rest of the hands you play in a typical session (good, bad or indifferent) are just background noise. They are just "keeping up with the blinds". You may use them to create a table image to set up your top 10% hands or you may just fold, fold, fold. You can bluff and steal small pots. You can c-bet and take small pots. You may stick around with draws and lose small pots or play small pots that you turn out losing or winning.

But the reality is 90% of the money you win is made off top 10% hands and vice verse.

Think about this rule. Find ways to apply it to your game. Review the "Contested Pot Rule" also. If you don't have a consistently winning NL Ring game then take the Winning Legal Online Poker Challenge to learn the skills and gain the vision to play quality winning poker. Will the 90/10 rule turn you into a "nut hunter"? Maybe! There are thousands of winning "nut hunters" online every day. There are many thousand more players who hate nut hunters. Many quality, winning players hate nut hunters. However, even quality, experienced, winning online players fall within the 90/10 rule. They may proclaim that they don't. They may hate the idea that all their "moves" and "action", their "reads" and sophisticated play is really just background noise. But for most players that's all it is - Background Noise, Keeping up with the Blinds. If they analyzed their play they would find that the 90/10 rule applies to them too. The 90/10 rule is very consistent for No Limit Ring play. If you play MTT's or Sit-n-Go's then who knows? I haven't analyzed the rule against them. They have their own dynamic. But if you play NL Ring Holdem, then make sure you understand and think about this rule as you play.

Summary:

90% of the money you win is won with the top 10% of hands.

The top 10% changes as the hand unfolds. AA is a top 10% hand preflop, by the river it may be a bad pocket pair.

90% of the money you lose is lost to top 10% hands. Find ways to spot them earlier in the hand.

Most of your other hands and action is just background noise. You need to play them to keep up with the blinds and maintain a reasonable table image, but understand that they are just a small part of your winnings/losings.

If you find that you lose most of your money to non-top 10% hands then you need to take the at least read, understand and apply the Winning Legal Online Poker book (and associated chart) and get your game right!!

Anthony Okrongly is a professional online poker player, trainer and author of numerous underground poker books, insider guides and rapid poker improvement systems. His methods are at times as controversial as they are effective for both beginners and experienced players alike. You can find his books and articles on http://www.legalonlinepokerchallenge.com/

Texas Poker Strategy - A Complete Strategy For Success In Poker

Do you want a complete Texas Poker strategy? Need to know everything you'll need for success in poker? Don't miss out on this article then.

Whoever you are, whether you have just started out playing poker, have already been playing for a while or are already achieving some success playing poker, I know that you, like me, will love this Texas Poker strategy article because I'm going to simply and easily lay out practically everything you need to become successful at poker. So if you want to be come successful at poker and make money easily playing a game you love, you will really enjoy this article.

Texas Poker Strategy - Pre-flop

The first and probably most important area you need to learn is pre-flop strategy or tactics. This part of your Texas Poker strategy is the most important because the pre-flop is the situation you will spend most time in - in fact every single hand.

Texas Poker Strategy - Post-flop

Your post-flop strategy is the next most important area because it's the second most probable situation to get into - you've just bet and seen the flop. It is critical to learn how to deal with all the possible situations that occur here, and there are a lot.

Texas Poker Strategy - Turn

The turn is fairly important as it can 'turn' the games. Either the winner will keep winning or the tides will drastically turn and a player with a marginal hand will make a great. How do you think it got the name?

Texas Poker Strategy - River/Showdown

Generally, a play won't often increase the strength of their hand on the river. Sometimes but hardly ever. The main things to learn here are detecting bluffs and eeking out the most chips from an enemy.

Texas Poker Strategy - Tells

Poker tells are an important but not fundamental area of poker - to begin with. Also, with the advent of online poker tells are becoming less important. But in real life a tell may indicate something so it's worth knowing the basics.

Texas Poker Strategy - Probability

Probability is a very important area of poker. Although there are champions who can't calculate probability to save their life, it really does help if you get to a solid intermediate level in this area.

Texas Poker Strategy - Psychology

Psychology is one of, if not the, most important area of poker. Poker is psychology practically. How you present your image, scare tactics, betting strategy, your mindset and success. A lot of things tie back to psychology.

Now that you are reading this you are probably becoming more aware of all the different areas of poker that have an impact on your success. In fact, you may now be realizing that there are some areas you personally aren't 100% perfect on and this is probably a cause of any lack of success you may be experiencing right now. The good thing is there is a solution and it is within you.

As you have been reading this article you are experiencing a strong sense of curiosity and intrigue, almost excitement, of learning new and powerful methods of winning more cash playing poker. I want you to harness this feeling of curiosity, the feeling that makes you want to get your hands on any information possible that will help you on your poker journey. Because every time you act on and acquire new information you will become a more successful poker player. And every time you turn away from an opportunity to learn more about poker you will become a worse poker player.

Get Your Hands On The Crucial Support Mechanism To Create A Truly Unbeatable Texas Poker Strategy On How To Get Good At Poker On The Cheap

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Alex is an avid Texas Hold Em Poker player and has dedicated his time, effort and money to learning the art and skill of successfully winning rounds of No Limit Hold Em. Shoot him an email at alex@mytexasholdempokertips.com or head on over to his website jam packed with more Texas Holdem Secrets.

Learning Texas Holdem Poker - Plan for Success

The world-wide fascination with Texas Holdem poker continues to grow. The success of young poker players at the World Series of Poker has caught the attention of young people around the world. Jonathan Duhamel, a part-time student and professional poker player, became the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion at the age of 22 years winning almost $9 million. Add to this the fact that the top eight players, all of whom were still in their twenties, each won at least a million dollars and you can see why the appeal of Texas Holdem poker has received a huge burst of interest. Duhamel follows in the footsteps of other great young champions, Daniel Neagreanu, Phip Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker and Peter Eastgate who have risen to superstar status by hitting it big at the World Series of Poker. They are now rich and famous poker celebrities who have inspired great numbers of aspiring poker champions to explore the marvelous world of Texas Holdem poker.

While there are a few poker players who have gained instant wealth and fame, the road to a World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour or a European Poker Tour Championship is a long and potentially expensive, learning process. For the poker neophyte, a basic poker skill development plan must be part of their learning strategy.

The learning process begins by acquiring a solid understanding of the basics of poker. These basics will involve knowledge of the ranking of poker hands, understanding the concepts of betting, checking, raising, re-raising, bluffing and folding. The ability to calculate mathematical odds and probabilities is a great skill to possess. But for many players who are not so blessed, a basic understanding of hand strength is required. Knowing which hands are strong and which hands are weak and the chances of making a hand with the cards that are dealt is an essential skill. Without this minimum basic poker knowledge and skill, poker success at any level will be difficult to accomplish.

Unfortunately, today there is a rush to get it done, just do it! Patience is not a virtue, it is basically non-existent. The biggest mistake that a beginning player can make is to rush off to a casino, a poker room or an online poker room such as PokerStars, Poker Party or Full Tilt poker and start playing for real money. This can be a very costly mistake.

The poker learning and development process should begin by playing poker at home in a low-risk environment with family and friends. Initially, stakes should be restricted to playing for bragging rights or for very low stakes. The poker group should include players who are at the same stage of learning, at least until there is an understanding of all the basic rules and procedures. At these very basic levels, the group of players might even want to share their knowledge to help each other develop their skills more quickly. It is at this level, that they should also begin to acquire a poker library of poker instructional books and DVDs. These instructional resources should provide basic poker instruction plus information on more advanced poker strategy and tactics.

There are many excellent instructional resources available for top poker players and authors who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise. Top player authors and poker experts include Doyle Brunson, David Sklansky, Pat Harrington, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein and Mike Caro. These individuals have all written highly acclaimed books and/or produced top quality poker instructional DVDs on playing Texas Holdem poker and Texas Holdem Poker Strategies. These instructional materials are valuable resources for poker players over a broad range of skill and experience levels.

When the player has acquired basic poker knowledge, they must then move to the next level of understanding. This includes understanding and utilizing position at the table, determining pre flop odds, pot odds and calculating OUTS. This knowledge will help the player to make better decisions about which cards to play. The positioning of a player at the table has an effect on how the dealt cards should be played. For example, there are table positions and circumstances when an Ace in the hole would require the player to fold, while the same cards, with the player in a different table position, would require a raise. Learning the when and how of making these decisions is a higher level skill that is essential for consistent poker success.

To make the appropriate mathematical decisions at the poker table related to odds and probabilities, a number of aids are available that can assist the player. These aids include charts and calculators that can assist players in acquiring the necessary statistical information. Through consistent use of these learning devices the player will begin to gain an understanding of how to make the right card playing and betting choices. In the early learning stages, beginning players should agree to allow the communal use of these assists. As the players develop a greater understanding or develop their calculation skills, the aids can be phased out or removed completely from use. These charts and calculators or available on line for purchase and at no cost and can be found with a simple search.

Armed with basic knowledge and skills, beginning players are now ready to attempt online play. They should start at online poker sites with play money tables. Here they can continue to use the charts and odds calculators to help in their decision making. The more they play using these aids, the better understanding they will develop. At this stage, they should begin reading more advanced poker instructional resources that will teach how to calculate odds and probabilities, determine the range of cards that a player might be holding, how to spot tells and the other psychological aspects of

When a player has reached this level with their poker play, they have advanced beyond the beginner level. They are now intermediate level players ready to begin playing for small stakes online and can venture into the casinos or poker rooms. Their poker education now takes on a new dimension requiring more advanced strategy and focus. They may not possess the skills necessary to challenge highly skilled players at the poker tables so they should focus on strategies that can somewhat neutralize the advantages that experienced players enjoy. One such strategy is the Big Bet No-Limit Hold'em Strategy. This strategy can be effective in both tournament and cash games. But this is instruction at the intermediate level and the focus of this article has been the beginning player.

As the intermediate poker players continue with their poker education, they must continue to take time to plan before they initiate further action. By setting out a path to follow and goals to meet along the way will help ensure the best chance for success. Remember "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".

http://www.holdempokersupplies.com is an online poker store that features top professional quality Texas Holdem poker supplies and educational products. Our emphasis is on promoting the playing of Texas Holdem poker in the home environment and the development of the poker knowledge, skills and strategies of beginning and intermediate level poker players. We encourage the building and use of the home poker games room as a low risk environment for these players to enjoy playing Texas Holdem poker with family and friends while developing their poker skills and strategies.