I really don’t know if I have a knack for Texas Hold ‘em poker or if I’m just extremely lucky, but out of a total of about 8 rounds I’ve won 4.  They weren’t all with the same group of suckers, either.  Granted, we’re not talking about $100 buy-ins or the WSOP here.  It’s just a bunch of guys wasting time and not ever more than $20 per guy (I promise, dear).

My latest victory came on Friday night.  The lights at the Roblin Lake Dome, ahem, wouldn’t come on so our slowpitch game was canceled.  The boys thought an impromptu game of poker might sate our need for something macho to do.

I’m clearly not the right guy to give advice, being that I’ve only played a total of 8 rounds in my life, but the one tip I’ve found that really makes my position stronger is to only have three types of bet:

1. The check or call (you don’t always have to spend money)
2. The silo bet (is strong but doesn’t require any time or thinking to count)
3. The all-in

By limiting my plays to these three types of bet my opponents don’t have the opportunity to examine my reactions.  I know that I’m either going to call, push a silo or push all-in.  If I have to decide how much to bet and then worry about what kind of message I’m sending whether I’m too high or too low I’m clearly going to lose.  I would be out of my element in a hurry.  I’ve found that my opponents really get no read on my betting and I’ve really only been beaten by poor cards or bad rivers.

I also don’t think that revealing my methods will hurt me in the future.  The guys I play against don’t really get out (on the Internet) much.  Besides, this tip can’t help you read my cards or my face.  I’ve watched a fair amount of WSOP and celebrity poker on TV but I will never play enough poker to know, or care, what a good or bad bet is.  I have a hard enough time remembering the blinds and what beats what.

Best of luck to everyone not at my table!