# How do you win in poker?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-win-in-poker/785121>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [April 24, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-win-in-poker/785121 "2017-04-24T03:31:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-win-in-poker/785121/61 "2017-04-28T16:10:52Z")

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> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> That’s the point I’m making over and over and over again. A poker based purely on mathematical probabilities does not include bluffing; be definition, it’s purely mathematical probabilities. That’s what those words mean.

That makes absolutely no sense at all. Look up “expected value” in the context of poker.

A decision that has positive expected value is a good play “based purely on mathematical probabilities,” even if it’s a bluff.

> [@](#):
>
> It’s not an issue about what this strategy is called. The issue is whether this strategy works. It doesn’t. Arguing about what its name is isn’t going to change that.

Against weak players, a bluff-free approach absolutely does work. Against weak players in fixed limit, even more so.

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**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-win-in-poker/785121/62 "2017-04-28T17:49:39Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> Against weak players, a bluff-free approach absolutely does work. Against weak players in fixed limit, even more so.

Absolutely true.

At some super-weak $4/$8 limit hold-em games during the online poker boom (live games) I could go months without ever bluffing (playing 2-3 times a week for maybe 6 hours a session).

There are (at least) two reasons this type of game doesn’t respond well to bluffing: (1) the players are so bad they probably won’t even be thinking about what you have so will never fold and (2) even if they are thinking about your hand the fact that the bet size is fixed means it’s probably worth it for them to call most of the time anyways.

You can read a simple Limit Hold’em book, memorize the rules, and do pretty well if you can find a soft enough table. When I quit playing it was the last part that was the hardest - once the buzz from poker was gone the only folks left playing were at least as good if not better than me and the rake just killed us all.

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