WinatTexasHoldEm

WSOP Fever: It's Going Around

2008-02-10T18:17:00.000-05:00

Even though the World Series of Poker (tm) is still nearly 5 months away, the online satellites have begun. With that in mind, I'm posting here another article from our friends at Pokertips.org concerning satellite strategy. I hope you find it as informative and helpfull as I did.

To get to the WSOP, most people win a satellite tournament. The optimal strategy to succeed at a satellite tournament depends on the structure of the tournament. There are three common types of satellite structures that people compete in:

1. A winner-take-all satellite. This is a satellite that awards only one seat to the WSOP.

2. A satellite that awards a relatively low number of seats to the WSOP. For example, a satellite that awards one seat per 80 people. If 320 people entered the tournament, only 4 seats would be given. These satellites tend to have lower buy-ins.

3. A satellite that awards a relatively high number of seats to the WSOP. For example, a satellite that gives out a seat to one of every 20 players. These satellites typically have larger buy-ins.

Winner-Take-All
The strategy for a winner-take-all satellite is fairly simple. Bet, raise, and raise again! To win the prize, you are going to have to win all of the chips. There is only one way to win chips in poker; win pots! Basically, play smart poker and do not be afraid go all-in. The absolute worst thing to do is get blinded away in this type of tournament. Since you need to win all of the chips, you do not want to give away your chips without a fight.

If you are fairly new to poker or if multi-table tournaments are not your specialty, then I recommend that you play this type of satellite. First, a lot of people playing this satellite are so used to their standard multi-table strategy that it handicaps them. These people play too conservatively and end up wasting their time. Furthermore, there is a very high luck factor in these tournaments, so it really does give a newer player a chance at reaching the WSOP.

Small Stack Psychology
The strategy for the other two types of satellites is more complicated. A lot of the tactics involved with these types of satellite tournaments have to do with how players treat larger stacks versus smaller stacks. People tend to challenge smaller stacks more than larger stacks for two reasons.

First, a person can lose a large hand to a smaller stack and remain in the tournament. There is something comforting knowing that you will still be in the tournament no matter what, and people tend to gamble when they feel comfortable. Even if this gamble could be very costly, they still feel more at ease at challenging a smaller stack. Of course, there is sometimes merit to this line of thinking, especially if the person has a much smaller stack than you and it is later in the tournament. Furthermore, there is a lot of excitement that goes along with knocking someone out. Most of the time, this is an emotional high that really has little relevance to the tournament.

Suppose five packages are awarded in a tournament, and there are 30 players left. If someone busts out of the tournament, it really does not change anyone's chances of winning the tournament that much (except for the person who won the chips!). Since it will have little affect on the outcome of the tournament, people unnecessarily let their emotions sway their thinking.
There are ways of exploiting this mentality.

The best way to do this is to analyze the tournament from the end towards the beginning. For example, consider a tournament that awards 5 seats. When there are six people left, everyone will be gunning for the person with the smallest stack. There is nothing to be gained from attacking someone with a large stack because that person will likely not be knocked out of the tournament. By attacking a large stack, you would also risk dwindling your stack down and risking your own exit from the tournament. Thus, everyone will be attacking the smallest stack.
Since you probably do not want to be in the position of the smallest stack, the best method is to be selectively aggressive at stealing the blinds. As long as you keep your stack as high as the average player, people will not be gunning for you towards the end. You do not need to have the largest stack, you just need to have a medium-sized stack.

If you are in the unfortunate case of having the smallest stack, you will need to consider fighting back quickly. You do not want to get to the point where a double up will still leave you as the smallest stack. If you double up, you want someone else to be that small stack. No one wants to be the person that risks their chips to knock you out, so you should be aggressive in fighting back. If your stack is small but not microscopic, you will be amazed at how many blinds you still might be able to steal.

However, if people are idiotically attacking each other, then you should be more selectively aggressive. Even though you are in last or close to last, you may be able to squeak into the money because the other players are foolishly getting in raising wars.

The end-game strategy for all multi-winner satellites is similar. However, the strategy for the earlier rounds of the tournament differs based on the buy-in of the satellite.

Low buy-in satellites
A lot of satellites cost around $100 to $200 to enter. These satellites tend to award relatively few number of WSOP seats because each player contributes a fairly small portion of the WSOP package. When relatively few seats are awarded in the qualifier, you are still going to have to gamble. If over 1,000 people enter and only 10 win, those 10 people will need to get lucky. The key is to elect a strategy that positions yourself to fall within those ten spots. You do not need a strategy to win the tournament; you just need aim to place in a spot that would win a WSOP package. The tournament in which I qualified had 419 entrants and 6 people received a package. I placed sixth.

We already analyzed what will occur at the end of a satellite tournament. The small stacks will be attacked and chewed up by the larger stacks. The key is to avoid being that small stack in the later rounds. You want to be at least a medium-sized stack as the later rounds near, so you are not the one people are trying to eliminate.

If you are able to build a decent stack size, you will be able to survive the tournament without being frequently contested. Your method of survival is primarily stealing blinds. When you have a larger stack, you will be more able to steal blinds in the middle and later rounds. Winning these blinds can really pad your stack size because the blinds get to be fairly large and there is generally an ante to boot. To accomplish this, I would suggest playing aggressively in the earlier rounds. Do not be scared of getting into confrontations. This way you will build up a large stack size, and you will be able to steal the blinds in the later rounds.

Basically, confrontations at the beginning of the tournament are fine. You are going to have to get lucky to win this type of satellite anyway, so you are going to have to gamble at some point. If you are able to build a big stack, you will be able to keep on building your stack later by stealing the blinds. People will not want to challenge you since you can bust them out, so you will win a lot of important pots uncontested. If you are consistently able to steal the blinds, you will be much more able to cruise into a WSOP package.

High buy-in satellites
A lot of satellites have buyins of $500 or more. These tournaments tend to award a relatively large number of WSOP packages in relation to the number of entrants. For these tournaments, a typical ratio is one package per twenty entrants.

You do not want to foolishly lose your stack at the beginning of this type of satellite. You do not need to be overly aggressive because there are not as many people you have to defeat. The key is being selectively aggressive and trying to achieve a stack size that is simply above-average.
Again, you are going to want to be contested as little as possible as the end of the tournament nears. The ability to steal blinds is still of high importance.

For this type of tournament, the end game of the tournament begins quite quickly! Don't lose your whole stack on an idiotic play, but try to achieve an above-average stack before the large blinds and antes kick in.

Tournament Holdem: Headed for Disappointment?

2008-02-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

With the popularity of the World Series of Poker(tm) and the World Poker Tour(tm), many people are entering these competitions looking forward to a big score. Most are doomed to a disappointing finish out of the money regardless of their talent and skills. There are a great many famous poker pros who are sent to the rail on the first day of these tournaments.

Luck has a much greater impact in a large tournament than in a typical cash game. It's simply a function of odds and percentages. The more people contending for the prize pool, the longer the odds for each participant. For the professionals, they are usually vastly out-numbered by amateurs who are notorious for their lower skill level and resulting unpredictable play. This often results in their being busted by amateur players calling with hands that a pro would lay down and sucking out. Any serious player will tell you that the real poker doesn't get played until you're near the bubble. Until then, it's a minefield.

This is not to say you should avoid multi-table tournaments. Just don't fall into the trap of accepting the fallacy that it's all skill and little luck. If you're going to win any No-Limit tournament, you will have to win more than your share of races and coin-flips.

In terms of strategy, tournaments are very different from cash games. Bluffs (especially early) are of limited value because of the size of the pot in relation to the stack sizes. Many amateur players try to bluff way too much early in a tournament because of a mis-application of pot odds. When it comes to making a bluff, pot odds are (or should be) largely irrelevant. Instead, you should be looking at the risk/reward ratio.

It's like this: If you are making a pot-sized bet on a bluff, how much will it increase your stack by if you win? How much will your stack be reduced if you lose? If your stack size is 5,000 and you bet 1000 at a 1000 pot, the numbers aren't in your favor. The potential gain is only 16.6% (5000 to 6000) while the potential loss is 20% (5000 to 4000).

For this reason you should generally try to avoid bluffing too much early on in a tournament. It usually isn't worth the risk. If someone goes all-in preflop and you have A's, by all means, call. That's altogether different than going all in on a bluff. Early in a tournament you want to identify a weaker player and get him to pay you off.

Later in the tournament, you will need to change things up a bit. As the blinds get bigger, properly timed bluffs meant to steal the blinds and antes are necessary to help you stay alive. This is where the relationship between the size of the pot and the sizes of the stacks becomes more important. Most players will require a stronger hand to call a raise than they would need to make the move themselves. In the middle part of a tournament most players are looking to protect their stack and get into the money. So should you. Plan your bluff wisely and avoid confrontations unless you have an extremely strong hand. Preferably the nuts. NEVER bluff against a bad player. They're likely to call with anything.

Late in the tournament is when you are most likely to run into "coin-flip" situations. As the blinds accelerate, the lower stacks will be pushed to the point that they absolutely have to make a move, regardless of how good/poor their hand is. When some players lose in this situation they often rail against what they see as a "donkey" play. That's not always the case. Anything less than 10-15 blinds is the area when you begin to find yourself with no alternative but to force the action. At this point, you still have enough of a stack to give your opponent some fold equity in the face of your push all in. If you let yourself get too short, you won't have enough of a stack to make it dangerous for the others to call and will often find yourself in a multi-way pot for your tournament life.

There's no doubt that there is a massive amount of money that can be made in the major poker tournaments. After all, someone's gotta win. Just keep in mind that no one (professionals included) has ever won a major tournament without getting lucky at least a few times.

Don't Make This Mistake

2008-01-29T13:14:00.000-05:00

I did it again. I over-played my hand and it cost me. All because I was sitting on round after round of mediocre and bad cards. Here's the situation:

After better than 30 min of post/fold in a live event, I get K9os in the BB. UTG limps, the button calls, and I check. Flops brings K63 rainbow. I'm first to act with top pair, but a lousy kicker. I decide to bet 2/3 pot in hopes of taking it down right there. Both players just smooth call.

The turn brings a blank and I bet out about 1/2 pot, reasoning that these players have something like mid pkt pair or A6, A3. After all, there was no raise pre-flop and no raise of my bet on the flop. Again, both players just call.

The river brings an A. I check, UTG bets about 1/4 pot, the button calls. I think for a minute, but can't resist making the call with 2nd pair. I'm getting good odds on my money, and the way the hand has played out it's hard to put either opponent on an A. If either had had a hand like A6 or A3 and made 2 pair on the river, they'd be betting more than just 1/4 pot.

Well, UTG rolls over AK for 2 pair, A's and K's. (!)

The button shows A-rag for a pair of A's. (?)

Leaving aside the donkey that called every bet to the river with nothing but a naked A (no pair, no draws), I made my biggest mistake in continuing to bet on the turn after making a big bet on the flop and being called by 2 players. I should've given at least one of them credit for a hand. Not necessarily AK, but a hand like pkt 6's or 3's would have been reasonable in this situation, given the way the hand played out.

I ended up losing nearly 1/2 of my stack on this one hand. I managed to make a comeback later and finished 12th, but I never really recovered from the earlier loss. Those extra chips would've made a huge difference in the amount I could have won in the later hands, possibly allowing me to make the final table.

Don't let yourself get pressured into over-playing any hand because of frustration with perceived inactivity. While it's true that my play of this hand would have won me the pot if neither of these players held premium cards, their calls should have been a BIG red flag.

Heads Up!!!

2008-01-24T16:57:00.000-05:00

Every year the National Heads-Up Poker Championship is one of TV's highest rated poker shows, and in the past has been reserved for the poker elite on an invitation-only basis.

This year, PokerStars has your invitation!

If you think you have what it takes, you could get the chance to face off against the worlds greatest players, including PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso, and Greg Raymer.

PokerStars is holding twice-daily freerolls beginning January 22nd to February 22nd:

Round 1A tournaments are held at 7pm Eastern time.
Round 1B tournaments are held at 10pm Eastern time.

These aren't your usual freerolls. You can't go crashing through, bust out, and re-enter the next day. You are allowed a maximum of 2 shots. That's all.

Every new and existing PokerStars player will be allowed to enter one Round 1A and one Round 1B qualifier.

Win your way through the qualifying stages, and this is what you'll receive:

* $20,000 buy-in to the exclusive National Heads-Up Championship
* 4 nights accomodation in Las Vegas (Feb 28th -- March 2nd)
* $1000 cash for travel expenses

These freerolls are open to US players only, so give it a shot. If you have what it takes, you could be playing heads-up for $1.5M!

WILL YOU BE THE NEXT CHAMPION?

Answer from WPT about ClubWPT

2008-01-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

This is the answer I got back from Customer Support at the WPT:

Hello Lawrence,

Thank you for contacting us.

There is no conflict for US players at ClubWPT. This service was set up specifically with US players in mind.

We don't accept cash deposits.

We are set up to operate under sweepstakes laws. There are a few states where we're not allowed, but rest assured Vermont is a perfectly acceptable state for using this service.

While I don't have specific information about WPT event prizes such as you mentioned, I can tell you that we are currently exploring the possibility and it is likely.

We look forward to seeing you at the Club tables soon.

Best of luck to you!Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,Michael

Please visit our online Customer Support center for answers to any questions and concerns.

A New Release from the WPT

2008-01-24T11:36:00.000-05:00

The World Poker Tour has recently opened a new feature called ClubWPT. It is a free poker site that is point-based.

It basically works the same as some of the other free play sites. You are given a "bankroll" of points with which to "buy-in" to games and tournaments where you can win cash, prizes, and additional points to afford you entry into bigger events.

It is subscription-based, and the membership is $19.95/mo. You are not paying for poker. The membership gets you access to special features of the club, such as: a subscription to Allin magazine, a guide on the best deals to be found in Las Vegas, a "coupon book" worth (potentially) hundreds of dollars in discounts, and more.

The cash prizes offered range from $10 all the way to $5000 and more and the merchandise prizes are just as impressive. You can view a list here.

All it takes is going to the WPT site and registering your account. The club offers a free 2 week trial, but does require a credit card number to prevent multiple accounts. You can cancel at any time within the trial and be charged nothing. However, if you're like me you'd rather not take too many chances with your personal information. I checked into the rules and found (as I expected) the section concerning alternative means of entry.

You can get a free membership (a month at a time) by submitting a 3"x5" card. I've included a reprint of the section of the rules below. Free memberships do not include any of the above bonuses. I'm gonna give it a shot. I've sent them an email asking if they are planning to offer "free" satellites to WPT Events anytime in the future. I'll post their reply when it comes in. Here's the section of the rules for free entry:

You Do Not Need to Join the Club to participate in tournaments. Alternative means of tournament entry. OFFLINE, NO-PURCHASE-NECESSARY, METHOD OF ENTRY:

As an alternate means of entry into Club Tournaments, a player must:

Register at ClubWPT.com as a free player and download and install the software; and For each period that you want to participate in Club Tournaments, send a 3 inch x 5 inch card on which the player has legibly handwritten their ClubWPT Username, First and Last Name, Complete Mailing Address (e.g. Street, City, State, ZIP code), Email Address, and Date of Birth. The card must be placed in a envelope, and mailed to: PO Box 30488 Las Vegas Nevada 89173.

No photocopies, reproductions or facsimiles of the 3 inch x 5 inch card are allowed.

The usage of a service to provide the production of the 3 inch x 5 inch card will not be allowed.

For each individual registration, the Player will be given a 30-day period of Membership to Club Tournaments. The period will begin on the Monday following the day the mail-in entry is processed.

Approved mail-in entries will receive Tournament Points in accordance with Section 1.4 above or will have access to any tournament points they have accumulated in the past if greater than 500 Tournament Points. Tournament Points accumulated during previous periods will remain with the players account.

ClubWPT.com will post a listing of all upcoming tournaments in the game lobby. The game lobby is viewed by accessing the game software and clicking on the tournament game links.

ClubWPT.com shall not be responsible for late, lost, illegible, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, mutilated or postage-due mail. ClubWPT.com will advise you of your eligibility dates by email.

The odds of winning any prize will be the same by mail in entry as by online membership in the Club.

The odds of qualifying through a qualifying tournament will be the same by mail in entry as by online membership in the Club, and all participants entering through this means will be accorded equal opportunities to participate and win in events held at ClubWPT.com, and will depend on the number of entrants.

Can anything be done?

2008-01-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

No poker today. I'm gonna be watching my New England Patriots as they go to 18-0 en route to the Superbowl. My pick is GB vs NE in Arizona.

What I want to bring up is the extreme lack of manners, even basic decency, seen from some of the players online. Case in point: I am a member of a couple forums that have freeroll and low buy-in tournaments sponsored on a few online poker sites. Playing in one just the other day, I get A-10 on the button. I call and the BB makes a standard raise. It's folded back to me. Now, A-10 isn't the kind of hand you would normally call with, but I was getting better than 3:1 on my money to call and I had position.

I hit my 10 on the flop and I "walk the dog" to the river and double up against the pkt 9's in the BB. Of course, he has to start right in with what a "Donkey" I was for calling the raise with A-10 (see above for explanation). I decide to have fun with this kid and we start trading shots. Nothing out of the ordinary. His taunts start to descend into the realm of a 5th grade shouting match on the playground and a lady player (correctly, I think) comments that's time to let it go. Bad beats happen.

That's when this punk goes WAAAY out of line and tells this woman to "get on your knees where you belong".???????? WTF is this sht? I guarantee, if this had been live, there would've been a line waiting to kick this guy's ass. As it was, he was safe behind the keyboard. He not only refused to apologize for his remarks, he (after first trying to justify his crudity) repeated them and added to them. All because a female player dared to ask for some semblance of courtesy at the table.

Of course, both the female player and myself (and others) contacted the administrators of the poker forum we belong to about getting this kid censured. We were both told that, since the conduct took place outside the forum (on another poker website) there was nothing they could do. (!?!) It happened during a forum sponsored event. The forum was for members only, so it wasn't like this was some outsider causing trouble. We both made the case that the forum needed to address this issue, and I made the case that this player be removed from the forum membership and banned. We were told that the matter would have to be addressed by the support staff at the poker site itself.

I don't get it. Can't the players who run this forum (all very good, skilled players and decent people) see what this is going to do to the reputation of their site? Their membership has exploded during the course of this past year, going from less than 10,000 to well over 40,000. Although most of these additions are not very active beyond the minimum to qualify for invitations for the daily sponsored freerolls. It is my belief that they'd be better served by coming down harder on those who are misbehaving and by limiting access to their freerolls to those members showing true interest in the well-being of the site and it's other members. In that way, the reputation of the site as a "family" of true poker players/enthusiasts who are known for their respect of the game and other players, as well as being a community that produces skilled players would grow and be a source of pride to both the members and founders.

As it is, we are losing our best and brightest. Those who could (and, indeed, want to) teach what they know are leaving because they don't want to deal with all the bs, and beginners looking for a place to learn and grow are greatly disillusioned when they run into these kinds of situations.

I want to make clear that I'm not singling out this one forum I belong to. I see it across the board. On almost every site, if you are in the freeroll satellites, or the lower cost buy-in tournaments, you are going to find a large percentage of players who feel the need to compensate for the success of another player over them by being personally offensive. Making racial, sexual, and ethnic comments that have absolutely no place at the poker table, much less in civil conversation.

Please, if you recognize yourself in this post (even if you would never admit it), THINK about what you are saying and doing at the table. RESPECT the other players in the game. It's ok to pick back and forth, and needling is a part of the psychology of the game (to an extent), but you and I both know that you would never act the same way, or say the same things, if you were live in a casino and had to answer for your conduct.

Worst bubble ever?

2008-01-17T13:14:00.000-05:00

No advice for anyone today. Just a short vent. I played in the Absolute Swag freeroll on AbsolutePoker last night. Top 5 got prizes. A nice collection of gear for 1st, T's, hats, and the like for 2nd-5th. After over 4 hours of play I went out in 6th/2647. Ordinarily, I'd be pleased with the finish. In this case, playing so long and hard for zero result kinda bites.

NEW RESOURCE

I've joined a new blog community made up exclusively of poker bloggers. Some of whom are poker professionals. Check it out. Pokerweblogs.com

Don't forget to check out the articles in this blog and to leave your comments so I can research and post articles on topics that are of interest to you.

Poker Strategies: Playing Position I & II

2008-01-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

Every professional endeavor has it own mantra. In business there's K.I.S.S. In real estate, it's location, location, location. In poker, it's position, position, position.

Position impacts each and every decision you make as a poker player.

Winning poker is about much more than what your cards are. Even what your opponents cards might be. Winning poker is all about situations and position.

We've all been told that the value of starting hands goes way up as you get short handed. This is a function of odds and percentages. The fewer hands contesting the pot, the better the odds that your hand will/may be good. For example: pocket 7's are much stronger 4-handed than they would be with a full table. What many beginning poker players don't fully appreciate is the fact that position plays much the same role.

Starting hand values will vary quite a bit well before you get the chance to be short handed at the final table. This is where position comes in. Hands become more valuable (playable) later in position. We'll take the earlier example of pocket 7's. In very early position (UTG), pocket 7's may be a hand you would want to stay away from. If you open the pot for a raise, as is standard, what do you do if you get re-raised by a later acting player? He's putting you in a tough spot because he has the advantage of having position over you.

He's able to use the information he gets by seeing your action to help him make his decision. It is a huge advantage. In this situation, you'd probably have to fold. There are 2 main reasons: 1) Unless he's a total maniac, he's not going to raise your bet unless he holds premium cards, either a strong Ace (AK,AQ) or a good pocket pair, and 2) even if you are a slight favorite pre-flop it's extremely likely that one or more overcards are going to come out on the flop, making it very tough for you to bet, and he'll still have position over you.

Now, let's take our measley pair of 7's and move over to the button. If we get a few limpers in the pot before us, we can usually assume that no one has a good Ace. A pot-sized raise could very well win us the pot right here. If we get called, we can be fairly certain we are slight favorites in a coin flip situation.

The later we have to act, and the fewer players in the hand, the more power our hand assumes (remember the example of playing short-handed). Being in position gives our hand more potential and gives us more options, being out of position seriously limits both.

Part II

Playing position applies to every form of poker, whether it's No-Limit/Limit, Holdem, Omaha, Stud, or Razz. Once you understand the strengths of the various starting hands you need to factor in the strength/weakness of your positon at the table. Hands that are almost an automatic raise/re-raise in late position, may be only worth a call in mid position, if they are playable at all, and mandatory folds early.

In general, if you are opening the pot (first to act) you will need to have a stronger hand the earlier your position in relation to the button. If you are later in position, but still first to act, you can lower your starting hand requirements and increase your aggression. Take our example of pocket 7's from Part I. You may want to consider folding if first to act in early position due to the unknown potential of the hands still to act. If action is folded around to you and you are in late position or on the button, a raise is definitely in order. There are fewer people who could compete with you for the pot, making it more likely that you will have the best hand going in if you are called. Same hand, different position.

Conversely, you can also use your opponent's position at the table to your advantage. His actions in different positions can help you determine what hands he could be holding. This will, in turn, aid you in making your decision later.

If he is raising in early position, you need to give him credit for a decent hand and judge your hand's strength accordingly. Similarly, if he is calling or re-raising your bet/raise, you need to give him credit for having a hand. Players usually require a stronger hand to call or re-raise somebody else's action. You don't want to start calling with trash hands or re-raising with ATC (any two cards) just because you have position. Having someone already in the pot changes the dynamics of the game and adds another variable for you to consider.

Practice and experience will make taking position into account easier as you go along. After all, position is only one of the many variables you will need to take into consideration while you are at the table.

Texas Holdem Strategy: Know When to Say "When"

2008-01-10T20:03:00.000-05:00

This is an article I wrote a few days ago for submission to a few online magazines. I thought I'd include it here to get your feedback (please, be kind).

The difference between walking away a winner and going broke chasing your losses is knowing when to walk away. Many poker players, even skilled, experienced players have dealt with this problem. It takes discipline to get up and leave the table. Some signs that it may be time to "take the money and run" (I just love the classics) include:

1. The players at the table have changed and you are not winning as consistently as you were.

There is a saying that there is at least one sucker at every poker table. If you look around and can't identify who they are, it's you. If you've driven all of the fish away from your table and you aren't winning as often or as much, don't be afraid to get up and try your luck at another table. If you're being out-played, you're being out-played. You want to be the shark (or barracuda, at least), not the fish.

2. You've lost your focus.

Believe it or not, playing poker can be an exhausting endeavor. While physically sedentary, it's very emotionally and mentally draining to constantly try to remain aware of shifting player dynamics during hours of play. It wears at you. There are literally dozens of studies that show concentration, focus, and decision making ability all suffer with prolonged periods of stress and exhaustion. We need to acknowledge it when, for whatever reason, we just aren't at our best.

4. There's little or no money to be made.

Winning poker is only possible when there is a good mix of aggressive and conservative players at the table. Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation when it seems everyone at the table, including you, is a "rock". When that happens, the pots are likely to be smaller, with less action. Rocks as a rule are tight-aggressive. They're not going to play too many speculative hands, and they're certainly not going to give you action without a strong hand. A table full of maniacs is just as bad, in a different way. If everyone is being super-aggressive, poker soon takes on the semblance of a lottery. There's much more opportunity to lose than to win.

5. You have made a reasonable profit on the session.

You need to keep track of your stack in relation to the other players' and also in relation to the total chips at the table. At a certain point the ratio of risk:reward gets turned against you. It may seem counter-intuitive, but being a massive chip leader is a difficult circumstance to master. The reason is that your perception of risk can get skewed and distorted by the size of your stack. If you've been playing well and have built up your stack to 3,4 or even 5 times your starting stack, you will be a huge force at the table. Even if other players have re-bought, you are likely to have at least a 2:1 chip advantage over the average stack at your table. If you become "drunk with power" you could start pushing with hands you should fold. For the same reason, watch your stack's ratio to the total chips at the table. If you have over half the chips in play you really can't advance your cause too much. At that point you are potentially risking your large stack to win a portion of a much smaller one.

6. You are card dead.

In the movie "The Color of Money", Paul Newman's character tells Tom Cruise, "Listen kid, the balls roll funny for everyone". Poker is very similar, with the exception that billiard players have much more control over their situations. Poker pros can win without the best hand, some of the time, but no one can win without catching at least a few hands. No matter how long you've been playing poker, no matter how skilled your play may be, you are going to find that there will be times when it's just "not your night". If the cards just aren't breaking your way, you need to get your ego out of the way and cut your losses and run. This is a situation where discipline really becomes important. You can be the most skilled player at the table, but if you don't get the cards, it's time to go.

Playing Poker Online. Is it Worth Your Time?

2008-01-06T15:34:00.000-05:00

You've read some books, subscribed to a couple of online E-zines, participated in forum discussions, even joined a few sites and played in the freeroll tournaments. You've studied the game, you've practiced your moves, and you're ready to hit the "big time". The Real Money Games. But, are you really?

Once you make the decision to take the plunge and start playing for actual money you need to decide if it's worth your time. This isn't as flippant a question as it may at first seem. You need to take an honest look at your bankroll and your poker skills. Both are likely to be rather low if you're just starting out.

So, the first question to ask is, "Can I afford to play at these stakes?" If the cost to buy into a tournament is more than 15% of your bankroll, it's easy. NO. If the cost for a seat in a ring game is more than 20% of your bankroll (cash games usually require min 100 BB's), NO. Money management is crucial to both online and live play. I know of no faster way to go broke than to over-play your bankroll.

Next question is, re-buy or freezeout? A freezeout simply means that you pay a one-time fee to enter and get a fixed amount of chips. When your stack is gone, so are you. In a re-buy, you can "go broke" and buy your way back in. There are usually some kind of limits on the re-buys. ie: Only allowed to rebuy below a certain stack level, limited number of re-buys allowed per player, re-buys only allowed before first break, etc.

If you're playing a freezeout, the 15% rule applies. If your bankroll is $100, the biggest game you should get into is a $15 buy. If you're playing a re-buy, you need to decide how many "buys" you will allow yourself. Keep in mind that re-buy tournaments also have an "add-on" at the end of the first round. The total of all buy-in and add-ons should not exceed 15% of your bankroll. If you don't want to spend any more than the initial buy-in, stay away from re-buy tournaments.

Why? Because you will be putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage to the others in the field.

If you only take a single buy-in and the rest of the field averages 3 buy-ins, you've started out giving everyone else a 3 to 1 chip advantage. Playing winning poker is tough enough, do you really want to give them that extra advantage?

Finally, is it worth your time? Is the prize you hope to win big enough, in relation to the cost of playing and the time it will take to play out the event, worth it? For example: some of the lower buy-in tournaments ($5-$15 buy) online could have hundreds, even thousands of players. Check out the prize ladder. Most tournaments pay out to the top 20%. However, spreading the money out that far means that the bottom tiers cover a large percentage of the pay-out field. This means that any real money to be won will be had much later in the tournament. Usually in the final 2 or 3 tables.

You need to decide whether you have the skills to compete at these stakes, and the free time available to reach the money. It's a waste of time and money to start a tournament you don't have time enough to finish.

Managing your bankroll and your time effectively is critical to your eventual success.

If you really want to dominate online poker, you need to play to win.

Lower Your Online Gambling Risks

2008-01-03T23:55:00.000-05:00

Online gambling has many risks.

Aside from the risks of the game is the possibility of scams and frauds. The internet reaches far and wide and it is no wonder that some have found ways to cheat us out of the money that we’ve worked hard for.

Therefore, you should know if the online casino you’re entering is legitimate. Modern technology can make this a difficult task. Scammers need only to copy the layouts of legitimate casinos and adopt them as their own, including memberships and certifications. Logos and banners are very easy to copy (ever hear of photoshop?) so be wary of relying on these.

The best way to make sure that you don’t get scammed is to only go to online casinos approved by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. If you get invited to a site you are not familiar with, look up their certifications and make sure that these are legitimate. You can do this by doing a check of the authority certifying the site, checking with the Kahnawake commission, or even "Googleing"(tm) the site name to find reviews. You can also do a quick search of online gaming organizations' memberships. Scammers don't usually take the time to become members of these organizations because they are usually up and running for only short periods of time before they shut down one site and move on to the next.

Once you have found a legitimate site, you still have the risks inherent in the game itself. There are two ways to deal with these risks. The first way is to learn by doing. It's an excellent way to learn, but it's also the most expensive. It can be so expensive that you give up before you really get started. A better way is to read books by various experts and pros to learn basic strategy and theory. There are also forums you can join to meet with and learn from other players. Whatever your gaming interest, there's a forum for you.

Gambling should be primarily recreational entertainment. Taking the time to learn the game and taking care to patronize only legitimate sites will go a long way towards eliminating scams and frauds and making your gaming experience more enjoyable.

Poker Strategies: Playing with Style

2008-01-01T20:18:00.000-05:00

It seems everyone has an opinion on how you should play. However, there are very few hard and fast rules when it comes to playing Texas HoldEm and most of those are more suggestions based on the odds of a certain combination of cards coming up.

My advice for beginning players is to ignore what you see on "TV Poker". Those shows are meant for entertainment, not instruction. The hands you see are not representative. The shows have been edited and the hands chosen for dramatic value.
I've found that it is usually best to adopt a playing style that best fits your basic/innate personality. While Gus Hanson's style of play makes for exciting television, not everyone has the flair (or talent) to pull that off.

As an example, if you are by nature cautious, you should begin with a more conservative style of play (ie., tight/aggressive). While it is always good to mix up your play, forcing yourself to play too aggressive will only serve to make you excessively nervous. Perhaps even to the point that you are unable to concentrate on your opponents due to anxiety over the size of your stack and the size of the pot.

Alternatively, if you are naturally aggressive and out-going, then you should adopt a more aggressive, wide open style of play (ie., loose/aggressive) for exactly the opposite reasons. If you are an aggressive type, forcing yourself to slow down and play too tight might make you nervous because you are "missing the action". This in turn could cause you to make an improper raise or all-in against the wrong player in the wrong situation.

There is no "right" way to play. One style of play works for one player and another style works better for another regardless of the cards that are dealt.

A "rock" and a "maniac" can be at the same table and be equally successfull.
Whichever style you choose, remember that at some point you will have to "change gears" in order to not become too predictable. That is the one hard and fast rule I have found in poker. If your play becomes predictable, your opponents won't have to worry about how to read you.

Win more, more often! Click Here!
Poker professional Kim Birch, the "Danish Dragon" shares some of the strategies that regularly make him a yearly 6-figure income. Click Here! for more details.

Poker Strategies: Getting Paid Off

2007-12-31T15:17:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having a great time and has a safe holiday.

In researching new material for this blog (hey, I can't write all the articles myself), I stumbled on a great resource. They have graciously allowed me to use some of their content for this blog. Please see the link at the end of this article to check them out for yourself.

Getting Paid Off

In the Olympics, second place wins a silver medal. In no-limit hold'em,
second place loses large sums of money.

Many players who cross over from limit hold'em to no-limit hold'em have
a hard time understanding this important concept. If you hold AK and
flop top pair in limit hold'em, rarely will you be folding your hand.
After all, your hand will win most of the time, and you do not lose too
much if your hand ends up placing second. However, if you are not
careful at no-limit hold'em, these types of hands will quickly cost you
your entire stack.

There are six types of hands in no-limit hold'em:

1. Hands that have no value. They cannot even beat a bluff.

2. Hands that can beat a bluff. For example, middle pair.

3. Top pair.

4. Overpair.

5. Strong hands (that are not quite the nuts).

6. Nuts or near-nuts.

Understanding these hand types means understanding how large a pot each
hand type can win. Hands of lesser value are generally only able to win
smaller pots, because the hands they can beat will not call large bets.

For example, suppose you hold AK and the board is AJ4. Someone with KJ
is simply not going to pay you off that much in this situation.
However, if you hold AK and the board is A9652, you will likely pay off
someone who holds 87. Again, the stronger the hand, the more likely
someone is to pay off.

Obviously, any hand is capable of being a nut hand: 72os is the nuts
with a 77753 board. Nevertheless, certain starting hands lend
themselves more to certain categories.

High Pocket Pairs (AA, KK, etc.): These hands are typically overpairs.
If you are fortunate to hit a set with them, then it is unlikely that
you will be paid off. Why? Suppose you hold AA with a board of A87. It
is unlikely that someone else will have top pair, because there is only
one other ace in the deck. So you are left with relatively few strong
hands that you can beat except draws to a hand that beats you.

Big Unpaired Cards (AK, AQ, etc.): These hands are likely to become top
pair. It is possible to hit straights with these hands, too. However,
most of the time you form a hand, it will be top pair.

Small Pocket Pairs (33, 77, etc): They will generally form either
category 2, 5, or 6 hands. For example, if you hold pocket sixes,
chances are good that the flop will bring you a bunch of overcards or
it will make you a set. Thus, your hand will either be weak or
extremely strong.

Suited Connectors (T9s, 64s): These hands tend to be category 1, 2, 5,
or 6. What is nice about these hands is that you generally know your
place in the pot, because these hands are either very strong or very
weak.

As the rank of a hand increases, the potential risks and rewards of
that hand increases as well. Obviously, a trash hand will not win a pot
(except with a bluff), but it will not pay off as well.

It gets tricky as you get into top pairs and overpairs. These
hands really cannot beat very many hands. Someone with middle pair will
not call you down for big bets unless they think you are bluffing.
However, players holding top pair often pay off to people who have
stronger hands.

This is why top pair and overpair tend to be less reliable in no-limit than
they are in fixed-limit. In fixed-limit, the bets are very small in
relation to the pot. Because they are so small, people with category 2
hands will pay off, because it is worth risking a small amount of money
if there is a decent chance one's opponent is bluffing. So there are a
lot of hands that will pay off to top pair.

In no-limit, the bets tend to be large in relation to the pot.
Thus, there are much fewer hands that will pay off to top pair, because
people would be risking a lot more money to call down with hands that
really can only beat bluffs. The hands that pay off top pair are not
worth pot-sized bets. However, for many people, top pair and overpair
are worth paying off other people with pot-sized bets.

This is not to say that top pair is a trash hand in no-limit. It
certainly can win a fair share of pots. However, it generally is not
able to win huge pots in relation to the blinds. This is why top pair
tends to be better if a person has a short stack, rather than a large
stack.

I hope you found this article as informative as I did. My thanks to PokerTips.org for allowing me to use this article.

Start Winning with Sit-N-Go Tournaments

2007-12-29T15:29:00.000-05:00

We've all seen the tournaments on TV. Playing for "life changing" money. If you are even a casual player you have probably wondered if it's really skilled play or if besting a field of hundreds is all a matter of luck.

The fact is, most average people never have the chance to find out. Let's face it, how many of us have an "extra" 5-10 grand lying around?

The good news is, there is another way. Sit-n-Go's are "fixed field" tournaments with usually less than 100 players. You can get started for much less money and, unlike the mega tournaments, there are specific strategies you can use to greatly increase your winning percentage.

Poker Pro John Rothman reveals the exact system he uses to consistently win up to, and over, $1200 per night in Sit-N-Go Pro

My personal favorite strategy with the single-table SNG is to play very tight at the beginning of play. You can't win the tourney on the first hand, but you can sure lose it. At the lower buy-ins many players are excessively loose and aggressive. The best way to take advantage of them is to play only premium cards.

For example, early in the tournament I'll only come into a pot with hands like AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ (although it's ok to limp in with lesser hands if you're in the blinds). The reason being that other hands are very vulnerable to getting out-drawn. Particularly in multi-way pots with more than 2 or 3 players.

As play winds down, keep in mind that the top 3 make the money (in a single table event). You can use this fact to your advantage when you get down to 5-and 4-handed play. If you've played tight so far, you should have a table image as a "rock", or solid player. Now is the time to open up your game and play a wider range of starting hands, as well as to be more aggressive in your betting patterns. When nearing the "bubble", many players will tighten up and start playing "not to lose". Taking advantage of this is a good way to steal the blinds and antes.

When you make it to the money, take a look at the pay ladder. What is the difference in pay between 3rd and 2nd, and 3rd and 1st? How is your stack in relation to your opponents? If you're not the chip leader, maybe it's time to really start pushing with a lot of allin's. You've already made a profit, now go for the title!

Poker Strategies: Comfort Zones

2007-12-26T14:57:00.000-05:00

Poker Strategies: Make your opponents UN-comfortable.

Ever wonder just how it is that a professional poker player can sometimes make more with a "junk" hand than you can with AA? How they can force a player with the better hand to lay it down? Here's one possible answer:

Watch how your opponents play, whether they're loose/aggressive, tight/passive, etc. When you have identified the players who seem to be the most cautious, keep an eye on their chip stacks. Most players have their "comfort zones" and these zones will move during the course of a tournament. What you need to do is to identify specific "break" points in order to attack these comfort zones.

Most people tend to want to segregate things into groups, be it groups of 5's, 10's, 100's, etc. This is also true of many poker players and their chip stacks. If you are observant, you may notice a player who seems to "tighten up" whenever his stack breaks new ground; say, the first time he gets over 10K, 25K, 50K, etc. These players may be vulnerable to folding when calling a particular bet or raise has the potential to put them back under that newly established level.

Example:

Let's say you are on the button with a marginal hand such as pocket 6's or 7's. The blinds are at 500/1000 Ante 50 and the BB (big blind) has just gotten over the 25K mark for the first time (27,500), and action has been folded around to you. If you have identified him/her as the type who hates to lose ground, a bet of 4-5 times the blind should get them to fold any but a premium hand such as AK, AQ, or any pair higher than 10's. If so, you can pick up the blinds and antes for a tidy 1950. If they do call, you will have "position" and you will have gained valuable information on the probable strength of their hand.

Always pay attention to your opponents. The more information you have, the easier (and better) your decisions will be.

For more tips and strategies for playing winning poker, Click Here!

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Poker Strategies: Bad Beats

2007-12-26T14:34:00.000-05:00

Bad beats suck. Sorry, there's no way to pretty it up. If you have been playing online poker for any amount of time, you know exactly what I mean. Unfortunately, there's very little you can do to prevent bad beats from happening. Whenever there is a confrontation between luck vs skill, no contest.

Luck ALWAYS trumps skill

Harsh, but true. Even 72 offsuit will beat pocket Aces a certain percentage of the time. You can be in about as dominating a position as there is, let's say set over set going to the river. Your opponent has only one "out". He's roughly 2% to win. Guess what happens next?

So........what do you do?

You can't always tell who the maniac at the table is, and folding pocket pairs or AK isn't a good way to build up your chipstack. At least not over the long term. And yes, I have folded AA when I had reason to believe my opponent had me beat (he turned a set of Q's). The key is to not be in too big a hurry. The only hand that can win you the tournament is the last one. Almost any other hand has the potential to put you out or cripple your stack if played poorly.

FREEROLLS and low-limit buyins

I put these together because they are ultimately the same, play-wise. I would suggest only playing these types of tournaments to familiarize yourself with how a new site's interface works, or to practice a new poker strategy without risking your bankroll. The reason is that the level of play is usually very low in these events, with a high percentage of maniacs.
For that reason, I have curtailed my play in freerolls a great deal. The only ones I play now are the feeder tournaments that can earn you a shot at a bigger tournament. I don't have anyting to gain or learn from someone beating me with a river suckout on a hand they should never have seen a flop with. Let me be clear on one thing, I'm not talking about getting beat by bad luck. The bad beats I'm talking about are the one's where you're better than 85% to win and end up losing to someone who called your 4x preflop raise with 73 "'cause they were suited". AAARRRGGHHH!!!

And that's exactly why I say to avoid these tournaments unless all you want to do is goof for a half hr or so. In addition to the low level of skill normally found, I've also found an unfortunate trend of so-called "players" getting into these events and intentionally playing badly for no other reason than to try to ruin the game for the beginners who are honestly trying to improve. These guys live to put on the ugliest of beats and have no intention of trying to learn to play properly or improve their game. They don't respect the game or the other players. I don't need the aggravation. My blood pressure is high enough, thank you.

So. While you can't eliminate the bad beats and the resulting aggravation from your poker life, there are some things you can do to reduce their impact. The first thing is to accept them as part of the cost of doing business as a poker player. There's no defense against a lucky donkey. Second, if you're playing one of these FR or low-limit buy tournaments, you will need to adopt an extremely conservative style for the first stage and into the second. The poor players will usually, but not always, have weeded themselves out after the first hour or so. After that, you can start playing poker instead of bingo.

Higher limits

It's axiomatic that the higher you go in limit and/or buy-in, the fewer instances of wild play will be found, thereby reducing the number and frequency of "sick" beats. That's not to say your AA won't get cracked, there's always the chance of some idiot (or drunk) with deep pockets choosing your table to sit at, but it's not going to happen as often. People have a lot more respect for a game that's costing them $50 or $100 or more to play than they do the micro games.
Once you've developed you skills a bit, do yourself a favor and step up to real money as soon as you can. Moving up in limit is the best way to get out of the "bingo parlor".

Online or Live?

If you have the opportunity, play live in a casino as much as possible. Even the lower limits. They have $1/$2 tables in most poker rooms as well as relatively low cost sit-n-go's. I much prefer playing live to online because it's easier to hone your "reading" skills, the games aren't as fast so you get more felt time for your dollar, and just the fact that you're at a "live" game as opposed to online will in itself cut down on the ridiculous play. One of the reasons the "players" play the way they do online is because it's so anonymous.

I've gone a bit longer than I thought I would, but this is a topic I am somewhat passionate about. I love the game and I'm not very happy at the state it's fallen to since the Moneymaker "boom" (no offense Chris). To summarize:

* Only play freerolls and micro games for the fun of it or to learn a new site. It's not worth the aggravation otherwise.
* Move up to real money games as soon as you feel comfortable with your skills and can afford it. Having real money at risk has a wonderfull way of earning a player's respect.
* Play live tournaments as much as you possibly can. People are much more likely to play proper poker face to face, without the anonymity of the computer screen.

Don't let the occasional bad beat get you too discouraged. If the only way you lose is to a "bad beat", it means you are consistently going in with the best hand and are well on your way to a winning poker career.