Learning Path Warm-Up
ICM Skill Quiz
Take quizWhile poker is technically the same game regardless of the stakes, there are considerable differences to remember when playing high-stakes poker as opposed to lower-stakes games.
You have learned the rules of the game and some basics while playing low-stakes, but there is still a lot more you need to learn before you can win in high-stakes poker games.
This guide will focus on the skills you need to beat high-stakes poker games filled with capable regs and professional players who play poker on a higher level.
At this point in time, you will want to forget about tactics you learned to apply at lower stakes and move towards a much more balanced game of poker that’s much harder to play.
We will also look beyond how you play your cards and talk about some important mental, financial, and other aspects you must take care of to win high-stakes poker games.
One of the biggest problems that high-stakes poker players face is maintaining a bankroll big enough to sustain their play in these games.
Since the stakes are so high, you will need tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars readily available to you, and this is not the kind of bankroll every poker player has access to.
While building a bankroll like this by playing lower-stakes games is certainly possible, it will take a lot of time. Once you have done it, it is incredibly important to protect that bankroll, continue to grow it, and never allow it to dry out.
High-stakes poker players also go broke because they don't use proper bankroll management skills, while others are staked for most of their action, earning only a small fraction of their winnings at the tables.
Maintaining a bankroll means dropping in stakes when you face downswings, using a stop-loss limit in your losing sessions, and generally being aware of how much money you have at your disposal.
A trap many high-stakes players fall into is to play in ultra-high-stakes games when they come along, which can easily decimate a massive bankroll in a single risky session.
Even if the best game you have ever seen is getting assembled and there is a seat there for you, you will want to make sure you have the kind of bankroll you need to comfortably sit in that game or have the option to sell some of your action.
Proper bankroll management is incredibly important for high-stakes poker players, but it is not something you should consider while playing. In fact, once you are in action, you should completely forget about the dollar value of the chips, if at all possible.
Of course, this is much easier said than done, as the dollar value of your chip stack in these games could equal the value of a house. And yet, the only way to play proper poker in high-stakes games is to focus on making the right decisions and not think about what the money you are about to put into the pot is worth.
You should always think about your decisions in terms of the blinds rather than dollars and simply concentrate on making +EV plays in every situation.
This tip can also be applied at lower stakes, as the monetary value of any decision should not influence which way you go, but it becomes even more essential when you move up the stakes.
Five out of ten players at the table at lower stakes might be recreational players, but you will be lucky if one or two are in the highest-stakes games.
For that reason, it will become incredibly important to detect who the weaker players in the game are and what are their biggest weaknesses.
High-stakes poker games often revolve around these players, known as "whales," who come to the games to have fun and splash around with some cash. They don’t have the skills to match the other players at the table, but they enjoy the game and don’t mind losing that much at the end of the day.
Your job as a high-stakes poker player will be to always be aware of who the fish are at the table and try to get favorable seats at tables with these players.
This does not mean you can play against these players exclusively, but the games with whales will generally be much better than those without them.
When it comes to high-stakes poker, with blinds going past $10/25, you will want to step away from online and play live poker almost exclusively. While a good online high-stakes poker game comes along every once in a while, all the best games at such stakes happen in the live arena.
The reason, of course, is that the whales want to have fun when playing poker, and online poker does not give them this opportunity.
Live poker games tend to include straddles, Mississippi straddles, and other forms of –EV plays that players don’t mind making as long as they have fun. You will see pots go multi-way, and players stack off on silly bluffs or call down with incredibly weak holdings.
None of this is possible in online poker games where most players play at a very high level, and very few chips can be won by other players making massive blunders.
If you want to be a high-stakes pro, live poker will have to be your scene, so you better get ready to practice playing in the live arena and get comfortable with getting stared down.
Regardless of your theoretical skill level in poker, you will not be a great player until you get some action playing high-stakes. There are many factors in play, especially in live poker, and getting the proper experience will be necessary before you are regularly walking away as a winner.
We recommend practicing your live skills at a bit lower levels, as this will allow you to get comfortable with all the intricacies of live poker.
After that, you will also need to get into some higher-stakes games and start taking some risks. Don't be too disappointed if you make mistakes in your early sessions, as this is unavoidable.
The more sessions you get under your belt, the more comfortable you will become in these games, and the more you will be able to apply your theoretical knowledge.
You may have gotten away with winning at lower stakes without much studying because there was so much dead money floating around. Now that you have graduated to high stakes, you will have to put in some serious work away from the tables and study the game hard to keep winning.
When we talk about studying, this includes working with solvers to improve your GTO game, trying to detect flaws and exploits in your opponents’, and working on your mental game.
The more time you spend studying the game when you are not playing, the more formidable you will be once you do get into the game.
Since most of your opponents are working on their games all the time, you should be dedicated to doing the same and ensure you don't get left behind by the more hard-working players.
As you start playing in higher stakes poker games where players are more aware of your actions, you will need to balance your ranges. While you could get away with playing unbalanced across all streets in lower stakes, those times are gone.
Players will start realizing this and exploiting you if you are playing too tight or too loose before the flop. The same will happen if your c-bet frequency is too high, your bets are too big, etc.
Therefore, you will have to start finding balance in everything you do at the poker table, from the opening raise size to the range of hands you play from each position and the way you approach different board textures.
This means you will probably need to learn the basics of GTO poker and try to play relatively close to these strategies when facing strong opponents.
As the stakes get higher, the availability of tables becomes lower, and the quality of play generally increases as well. This means it gets harder and harder to find good games you want to play, and it is very easy to find yourself in an unfavorable situation.
As a high-stakes poker player, you will have to play with some great opponents, whether you like it or not, but it is advisable to avoid being among the weakest players at the table.
While it’s completely OK to sit at the table at which one player is clearly a higher class than you, playing at one where several players fall into that category is usually a bad idea.
You should step away from a game if the whales are all gone, and the pros are circling, as this means there is literally no dead money to be had.
At the end of the day, the luckiest pro will usually win on the night in a very tough lineup, but you want to avoid this kind of gamble and play when there are weaker players in the game who aren't too worried about losing a few buyins.
The best way to find whales is to look for good private games, as the games in the casinos tend to be full of regulars who won’t give away their money.
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We talked in other guides about the fact that most lower-stakes players are calling stations and that so many pots go multi-way in low-stakes games that bluffing too much can hurt you badly. That being said, by reaching high stakes, you will need to significantly increase your bluffing frequencies and balance out your ranges.
If you only ever bet big for value, you will start getting too many people to fold their big bluff-catchers and not give you the value you were hoping for.
Staying unpredictable and adding a bunch of drawing hands into your betting ranges across all streets will make you much harder to play against at the high stakes.
The biggest flaw of most players in heads-up pots is that they don't bluff enough, so make sure to increase your bluffing frequencies and watch your overall profits soar.
Making a play without knowing what you will do if your opponent responds in different ways or if different cards come on later streets is a big mistake. Anytime you make a bet or check your option, you should have a pretty good plan for what you will do on future streets.
It’s easy enough to hope for the best outcome or that ideal turn card, but what will you do when things play out the other way?
Planning the entire hand ahead and ensuring you have the right response to your opponents’ different options will make you a better player.
In fact, if you are going to be a successful high-stakes poker player, planning your hands ahead of time will be an absolute requirement and something that will become second nature to you with time.
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