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The first thing to consider when forming your PokerStar strategy is where you’re sitting at the table. It makes a huge difference in how you can play certain hands. Your position will either help or hinder your knowledge of other players’ hands and decisions. If you’re at an early position, meaning one of the first to act, your options are limited. At a full table, a bluff or check is suicide, as you’ll most certainly get at least one caller on a bluff, and if you check (unless it’s to set a trap) you establish yourself as a weakling ready to surrender his blind. Later position players can use what they’ve seen in the betting round thus far and react accordingly. They can limp in on a call, raise back with a bluff or strong play, etc… And by then, half the table might already be out of the hand.

A second point of consideration for forming strategy was already briefly touched upon – your hand. Crazy, right? How good your cards are might actually affect how you play your hand! You should already know how you plan to play certain hands in certain situations at Poker Star before entering live play. Then it’s simply a matter of remembering and sticking to what your strategy is for each of those hands, breaking only when you sense a trap or a tight table you can take advantage of.

A tight table? Great transition to the final point of strategy, how your table is playing. You’ll need to sit through at least 15 hands or so before coming to a conclusion here, but if the table is tight, you can open up with some aggressive play. Taking a risk here can net you some early blinds and establish you as a chip leader before the middle rounds where the blinds get up to a certain level. If players are aggressive around you, leave your options open – don’t automatically assume it’s the right call to do the opposite and clam up. While doing so might allow you to avoid the big hands, you’ll also miss out on some very winnable big pots. So stick to your hand strategy here and be open to going along with the aggressive game until you get burned a few times, then you can back away before it’s too late.

Player Ballande of CarbonPoker peeks at his Ace, Queen off-suit and immediate goes all-in. AK no doubt is wondering at this point if he made such a wise choice to put those initial chips in play on such a sketchy hand.

Hellmuth folds, which is great, we don’t have to hear or even see him much right now. The bet stands at about an additional $66K for AK to call. Bellande currently holds a 63% to 37% statistical advantage on the hand.

A head-shake-inducing quick call from AK follows. You have to wonder why he makes this call. It doesn’t make sense. Even if he feels Ballande is bluffing, which he’s not, the probability that he is beaten by just one higher card is high enough to significantly discourage this type of call on an all-in bet. My guess is AK was smarting from the feeling of being burned and let his emotions get in the way of his common sense. Too late to take it back now. Ballande eagerly flips his cards after the call.

The pot stands at $174,000. Ballande, after seeing what AK called with, makes a comment and then starts shaking in anticipation in his chair. Anyone else would do the same thing, as well as wearing the sizable grin on his face.

The flop is Ace, 2, 8….which puts Ballande at a massive 94% advantage now. Out of the corner of your eye, though, you have to peek at that 8 and wonder if weird things are afoot here. Nevertheless, the flop pulls an expected fist pump and cheer from Ballande.

The turn is a 6. It’s also worth nothing all 4 community cards are of a different suit, so there’s no chance of a flush. The Carbon Poker Pro Ballande was calling for “no jack and no seven” so the six was a welcome sight to him. Still, though, the advantage drops a few percentage points, and the lingering stink of an inside straight rears its ugly head.

The river is…do I even need to say it? Yes, a 7. Ballande rips his hat off and wipes his brow with his sleeve, his plastered grin suddenly replaced with a frustrated, disbelieving frown.

You hate to see that happen. But, as anyone knows, that’s poker.