Texas Hold'em Poker

No country for Old Milkshakes?

2008-06-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this parody of "No Country For Old Men/There will be Blood."

Deal Movie Trailer

2008-06-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

World's Fastest Automobile

2008-05-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

Looks like fun:

bugatti Veyron

Royal Flush at 2007 WSOP

2008-04-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

"What a way to miss the flop, but still be ahead."

With only high card ace on the flop, think of how many outs Mikkelsen has on this monster flop....

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High Roller: The Stu Unger Story

2008-04-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

[11 Parts] Stu Unger Story on You Tube

1

2

3

4

6

7

8

9

10

11

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Stu Unger in his last WSOP

2008-04-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

It's pretty cool to watch these old school videos of the WSOP before Chris Moneymaker made it such a popular game.

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Stu Unger Video Series

2008-04-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

1981 Footage of WSOP.

Stuart Errol Ungar (September 8, 1953 – November 22, 1998) was a professional poker and gin rummy player, considered by many to be the best in history at both games. He is the only three-time winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event tournament.

Hevad "Rainkhan" Playing 26 Sit and Gos Simultaneously

2008-04-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've heard about Hevad Khan playing 26 SNGs simultanously and had previously wondered whether he had a littany of pop up screens or rather played on a giant monitor with the 26 games viewable at the same time. This You Tube video answers this question...

Everything you own in the box to the left!

2008-03-20T07:53:00.001-07:00

Lol, here's a couple deep thoughts from Jack Handy....

1. In a SNG 6, the most important thing you need to learn first is how aggressive the player to your left is. If you have a super tight player on your left, you can make min bet out of position on flop if it is SB vs BB and rob the guy all day long. Of course, you have to randomize your bluffing frequency. At least you know that more than half the time, he won't have paired two upaired hole cards, so go crazy bluffing (min bet when blinds are big). If he calls or re-raises, you can be pretty darn sure that you're beat!

2. Ftilt vs PS? I started off playing mostly on PS. Ftilt is much harder to do well on I find. It's not really because the players are any better. Rather, everyone on ftilt thinks their guys hansen and play accordingly. People play so aggressively that it increases the variance to the point that you either are running good or not. I dunno how many times I've pushed back with a marginal hand that were still way ahead like flop of 9/q/9 (rainbow) where I have like kq to watch a guy with AK suited re-raise all in. Then the same runners that seem to hit for gus come running in from nowhere to save him (spade/spade for nut flush backdoor). Or you have a hand like KQs vs K10o and flop is like K47 rainbow. And the guy with K10 raises UTG pretty big on your bb. Then he moves all in on the flop. You know he's a donk so you call with your pair of KK/Q kicker only to see his cards turn. You breathe a quick sigh of relief when you see his dominated hand. Then the river comes to his rescue and pairs his ten and you "stand up."

Lol, yeah so I find on Ftilt, there are much more players that are willing to play any two cards and I am constantly forced into all-in situations where I have to fold to naked bluffs or make the call and watch my hand crack.

3. If you have a hand like Ak, the conventional play is to make a 3-5x bb raise. Then, if you miss the flop you make a 1/2 to 2/3 pot sized continuation bet. On Ftilt, this play seems to be disasterous. If you raise with AK 3-5xbb, you will always get a caller who has any two cards. If you miss the flop and check, he will bet enough that you pretty much have to fold. If you make a continuation bet, he will push back all in and now you lose your preflop raise and your cb. In comparison, on PS, this play will be profitable more often than not.

Oh well, gl on the felt everyone!

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Sit n Go Six players

2008-03-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

I am not quite sure why, but the SNG six is one of my favorite SNG formats. I think I prefer it over the SNG 9 because you have a better chance to win if you can outplay your opponents. In the SNG 9, there's that critical period where the blinds spike and you either win a race and make the bubble or lose one and you're out. After that, you find yourself either with a massage chip lead and you usually win or you have a huge deficit and you're usually dead.

The SNG six has a more reliable chance of providing a player with a fairly even head's up match. Table dynamics at the SNG six are also more important. IMO, the ideal table has 2 maniacs, 1 calling station, and one super tight/weak player. You use the calling station to pay off your strong hands, rob the tight/weak player and let the 2 maniacs kill eachother. The calling station has the potential to cripple either maniac and each maniac has the potential to knock eachother out.

If you're unlucky, you will be seated at a table with five maniacs. In this worst case scenario, you're basically going to have to play good cards and hope they hold. If you're really lucky, you will be seated with 5 tight/weak players and you can rob them all blind. The other second worst case scenario is being seated with 5 calling stations as this also leaves you stuck waiting for good hands/cards.

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How to play pocket JJ, lol.

2008-02-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Many of us who've ran into trouble playing pocket Jacks vs Ace rags should watch this replay... I wish I had known that all I had to do was catch my 2 out set on the river to beat ace rags with pocket JJ.... lol

Poker Humor

2008-02-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Please post some poker jokes here in the comments section...

Bad Luck in Big Tournament

2008-01-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I was just in a big poker tournament on the weekend on poker stars. I managed to win a free entry to the PS Sunday Hundred Grand. My sharkscope rating was 'hot' and I was pretty confident about my level of play going into the tournament. However, the tournament had about 20,000 players which means that even if you are Gus Hansen, Daniel Negraneau, or Sammy Fahra, you'll need to be running quite good to make any money.

My first strategy in poker tournaments is to get a quick understanding of table dynamics. With nine players at a table, often there are four or five players who are relatively unremarkable. Generally, there are at least two or three who really stand out. The first type of player that I try to avoid, I call 'maniacs.' Maniacs by my definition are basically loose-aggressive players on steroids. They have a tremendous range of hands that they play or that they will raise with, so it can be really hard to put them on a hand. From my experience, there are some maniacs that absolutely love ace rags and others that love nearly anything suited with suited connectors being amoung their favorite hand to play. They are dangerous because they can raise and bluff you off your hand, or they can bluff into catching a better hand. Occassionally, they will flop the nuts and follow the same betting pattern which will complel you to call and loose tons of chips.

With 3000 starting chips, one guy who I quickly labelled a maniac, raised about three hundred chips with ace four off suit. At the time, this raise represented about 15x the bb which is why I characterized this player as a maniac. Early on during large on-line tournaments, it doesn't make too much sense to make such a big raise. First of all, you may not get any action even if you have a premium hand which he did not and this will only result in stealing a blind of 30 chips while exposing a risk of 300 chips. Fortunately, he managed to get two people to call and this highlights the danger in playing the maniac early on in the tournament. I generally prefer to let them burn out or bust out. If I have to play vs a maniac, I prefer to have them covered with chips, so that I can afford to call them. Even maniacs play tighter when they are playing vs a bigger stack that can knock them out.

So here's the problem of calling a big raise early on vs a maniac even when you have a premium hand. One caller had suited AQ and the other caller had AK off suit. Both had the maniac's hand dominated preflop. Of course, the flop was A49 rainbow. The maniac bet hard to the river and was called which netted him a big payout.

The second most important player to look out for are the calling stations. Though they can be a great resource when you have a very strong hand, you can get sucked out by them all day long. Say for example you flop a pair of kings with an ace kicker. They may have a hand like king jack and catch a jack on the river. No matter how much you actually bet, they will often call to the river regardless.

There are several different player characteristics which I've previously described in an earlier post--calling stations, maniacs, rocks, loose-aggressive players, fish, tight players, chasers, etc. In addition to the individual player types at your table, it's good to get an overall gestalt of the table itself. Though it is more like a spectrum, the table dynamic has two polar opposites-tight or loose. At a tight table, players rarely make preflop raises or if they do, they are not very large. On the opposite end of this continuum, you will find donkey poker with three or more players all in preflop nearly every hand. The table dynamic is always in flux and you will generally find that it gets looser as the blinds increase.

After table dynamics, characterizing player types, the third thing that you have to do is get a sense of the range of hands that players at the table typically play and the amount they bet corresponding to that hand. At this tournament, I noticed that one player really loved suited cards such as king five suited or jack ten suited. He won a couple huge pots by chasing a river flush on the first one and by catcing a set of tens on the second hand.

I was in a hand with this player and to my recollection, I was playing KJ off suit. Two suited cards were on the flop, but I had caught top pair with a decent kicker. He bet into his draw and I called him. One other player called to the turn, then folded. At the river, I wasn't worried, but when I put someone on a hand I try to make my decision accordingly. He made a huge river bet and I nervously called. Turns out he had king nine suited and missed his flush. This was a huge pot which illustrates how you can make a lot of chips by making a tough call. After this pot, I had about 4500 chips which put me in the top 2500 players at the time, though it was only about the fourth hand in the tournament.

Early on in a tournament, I prefer to play small ball poker which involves playing several hands depeding on the cards as well as your position. It requires decent reading skills and can get you into trouble. For example, I called a small raise from the first maniac with AJ on the big blind. I managed to flop a jack which was top pair on a rainbow flop. He bet 200 chips and I re-raised and he simply called. He bet 200 on the turn and I called... Then he bet another 200 on the river and I called again. There were no flush or straight draws by the river and I still had top pair with a decent kicker. He had made a small raise from the button, so I wasn't too sure what too put him on except for a bluff or maybe a rags and he caught a rag. If he had bet a larger amount, I probably would have had to fold as my hand was not that strong for such an early hand in the tournament. Novice players often follow that betting pattern when they are bluffing of betting a constant amount. Loose-aggressive players typically will escalate their betting while bluffing. For this reason, I did put him on a hand, but not a stronger hand than mine. To my surprise, he had value bet me to the river with a flopped set of sixes. I didn't not expect this betting pattern from this particular player and I resultantly lost 800 chips.

Position is very important at the poker table as well. Having positions means to be call/bet/fold after the other player. Later positions are considered and advantage, however, I find that there is one big exception to this rule. With loose-aggressive players, it can be a huge disadvantage if they have early position on you. For example, I had position on the maniac above with suited AK. He raised 250 chips out of position and I called from the sb. With no ace, king, or flush draw on the flop, I was in a difficult situation. He raised 400 chips out of position and I was in a situation where I had to fold. If he had ace rags, he may have caught his kicker which meant that I only had three outs to the river. If he had a pocket pair, then I had only six outs provided that he didn't flop a set. Chances are, he had a hand like ace queen and I had him beat on the flop, but since he bet 400 chips out of position, I didn't want to be put in a situation where I had to call or raise and risk a huge portion of my chips with absolutely nothing. If he had a set, I would be drawing dead and get knocked out and best case scenario he had ace rags and still might catch his kicker and knock me out.

Here's where my bad luck continued. The blinds were now up to about 250 chips which is definitely the point where it's worth trying to steal when you have a hand like ak or suited aq. I raised a few times on the button with AJ and AK--about 3-4x the bb. Both times, the player on the bb called and defended their blind. As well, both times the flop was low junk rainbow cards. I followed up with a decent continuation bet and got re-raised both times and had to fold. The third time this happened, I was once again on the button with aj off suit. I raised 3x the bb and the bb countered by raising all in preflop. I knew that he loved aces with high kickers, so I knew that I would either be dominated preflop or chopping. I had a strong feeling that he had the same hand, but didn't want to risk my entire stack on this, so I folded. Turns out one of the short stacks called him and he did actually have the aj too.

After winning a few small pots and rebuilding my stack, once again, I ran into some trouble. I raised 4x the bb with AQ suited way out of position. The only action came from the bb who was short-stacked. He re-raised me and I called. I flopped a queen on a flop that also gave me the nut flush draw. He bet 500 chips and I re-raised to 1000. He went all in and I called. Turns out he had the big blind special--pocket cowboys and my flush never hit so I lost about 1/2 of my chip stack. It's always hard to put the bb on a premium hand especially when he is shortstacked. Either way, top pair/kicker with a nut flush draw is not a hand I would ever fold to a short-stacked big blind. I had 13 outs on the flop which gave me the slight advantage with about 52% odds on him. I remember reading in Daniel Negraneau's blog of him being in a similar situation and losing the exact same way. Given how pot committed I was after I re-raised him on the flop, I would've made the same call if his cards were subsequently face up.

My final hand of the tournament was even harder to fold. By this time, I was down to about 2600 chips which was now well below the tournament average. The blinds were now about 350-400 chips. The player on the button who was the previously described manaic raised the minimum. I was on the bb with king jack and I called. The flop was k4k rainbow. He bet the flop for about 400 chips. I called... the turn was a ten... He bet 800 and since I now thought that I had him trapped, I re-raised him which nearly put me all. He insta went all in and I called. Turns out he was sitting on pocket fours and had flopped a boat with fours full of kings. I only had seven outs on the river and none of them came. That was all she wrote...

Mike Matusow

2008-01-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry about all of the meltdown replays, Mike. For the record, Mike actually does know how to play poker--he has career earnings of almost $4.9 million. Here is the link for the Mike Matusow player profile on bluff magazine:

http://www.bluffmagazine.com/players/mike-matusow/248/player-profile.asp

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Mike Matsuow vs Phil Helmuth

2008-01-15T08:06:00.001-08:00

Phil Helmuth vs Mike Matusow

Watch Mike fold his pocket Kings to the Hammer (seven deuce off suit) of Phil Helmuth with a $40,000 bluff on the river.

Technorati Tags:mike matusow, phil helmuth, high stakes poker,

Mike Matusow bust

2008-01-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

High Stakes Poker:

Phil Lark with kd3d

Mike Matusow with Qh9d

Flop: jd4d10d

[Mike has open ended straight draw vs. Phil Lark's flopped king high flush]

Mike makes an all-in short stack river bluff without seemingly putting Phil Lark on a hand.

Technorati Tags:mike matusow, phil lark, high stakes poker, texas hold'em, mike matusow felt

Mike Matusow online replay

2007-12-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

Mike Matusow moves all in after flop, out of position on a nut flush draw. Watch to see what he runs into. As an added bonus, along with the replay, you also get some interesting commentary.

Though the commentary is fairly critical of Mike's play, I've seen people make this play all day long during on-line poker tournaments and though he was unlucky, it's not as bad as the commentator suggests. Often on 5-6 bb raises, both players miss the flop and whoever bets first takes it down.

Mike: AdQd
other player: 44

Mike's on the BB, and the other player

Flop: 7d4c4d

Mike is first to bet which means has it's pros and cons. Realistically, unless the other player had pocket fours or sevens, mike would still have possibly up to 15 outs. The advantage to betting first is that if the other player missed the flop and doesn't have a decent pocket pair, then he can't call if you bet enough.

Unfortunately for Mike, the player made a 5-6x BB raise on pocket 4's and got an extremely lucky flop. One thing that is clear is that mike was in a pot vs. a fairly loose-aggressive player who simply got lucky. Preflop, they had nearly a coin toss either way in terms of who would win. After the flop, poor mike was drawing dead. Regardless of how he played it, it would have been pretty hard to put a loose-aggressive player on flopping quads.

What's worse, is that when you watch the replay, you see that though Mike didn't catch his flush, he did catch an Ace on the turn. Realistically, the only hand you could really put the guy on that you would have to worry about is maybe pocket sevens, AK, or maybe AA. Even if Mike had checked the flop, the other player would likely have done the same. Then Mike would have paired his ace and probably made a pretty large bet.

Again, when your in a tournament and you are first to bet after the flop, and you've got a nutflush draw as well as a few overcards, if you simply check, then the other player regardless of his hand can make a large enough bet that you can't rationally make the call in terms of pot odds. After all, it's far different play to be the one moving all in with the hand that mike had than it is to call someone else who goes all in when you only have a flush draw and a few overcards.

Mike Matusow vs Mike Sexton

2007-12-13T10:04:00.001-08:00

Ouch, here Mike Matusow makes a decent bluff and Mike Sexton makes a 'sick call'

Mike Matusow

2007-12-13T08:07:00.001-08:00

Mike Matusow at 2004 WSOP vs Greg Raimer
How Mike made the call on this, I am not sure. Mike has mid pair with a bad kicker and Greg has two overcards with a nut flush draw giving him 15 outs.

Mike Matusow Melt Down

2007-12-13T08:03:00.000-08:00

Mike Matusow vs Phil Lark

Floyd Mayweather defeats Ricky Hatton in 10th round

2007-12-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas--Floyd Mayweather defeated Ricky 'the hitman' Hatton in 10th round KO. I missed the fight on PPV, but look forward to watching it.

Jamie Gold vs Doyle Brunson

2007-12-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a link for an 8 minute youtube segment where you get to watch Jamie Gold play the legendary Doyle Brunson. At the end of the video, you will see Daniel Negraneau's uncanny ability to read cards as he puts Jamie on a suited Ace three.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATp1qsjEh-c&feature=related

Replay of Jamie Gold vs Phil Hellmuth

2007-12-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting play by Phil Helmuth.

Phil's hand: AK spades
Jamie's hand: AK off suit

flop

4s7sKh

Phil raises 150,000. Jamie comes to the conclusion that he's either drawing dead or chopping the pot and reasonably folds. I'm not sure if Phil was hoping that Jamie would call or if he put Jamie on a similar hand (unsuited) and simiply didn't want to chop the pot.

Replay of Jamie Gold and Sammy Farha

2007-12-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

AA vs KK.

Jamie Gold shows that this best poker asset is not only his card reading skills, but also his mouth as he talks Sammy Farha out of betting on the river.

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2007-12-02T20:06:00.001-08:00

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The peril of playing suited connectors out of position

2007-11-21T17:22:00.000-08:00

Though suited connectors can be dangerous cards as you can connect on the flush or straight draws, and rarely on the straight flush draws, playing them can be quite perilous when you are out of position.

What do I mean by 'out of position?' Generally, this means that you are the first to bet after the flop. Here's an example that illustrates the problem:

Your hand: suited jack ten (spades)

Flop:

2/5/J 'rainbow'

Okay, you now have top pair, but you have no idea what anyone else has flopped. If you bet too much, you might be giving away chips to someone who has AJ or if you don't bet enough, someone might catch something on the river or turn.

Recently, I made a bet of about 60 chips as it was early in the tournament (start with 1500). I wanted to bet enough to shake off the weak hands, but also not too much that I would be unhappy losing if I got re-raised.

Three players folded and one simply called.

Turn:

6 (second diamond)

Okay, now I was trying to put the other player on a hand. I was pretty sure that they must have a Jack, but was unsure if they had a better kicker. I bet another 100 chips to hopefully get some information. The person simply called which didn't give me any information. I wasn't sure whether I was betting into a calling station who may actually have a better hand or get lucky on the river, or if they were slow playing a monster hand like a set.

River:

10 of diamonds!

Wow, again I am out of position and now I have two pair. I really don't like the position that I am in as folding two pair is very difficult to do if I think the person has ace Jack which would make a lot of sense. Turns out the last hand in the world that I put the player on was actually the hand that he had. Though there were now three diamonds on the board, I was pretty sure that the player wouldn't calle even 160 chips at this stage of the tournament on a runner runner Queen high flush draw.

I bet 200 chips on the river as I went with my read that he had a hand like ace Jack. The player insta went all in following my bet. Fortunately, I had enough chips to cover his call and still be in the tournament. Since there was no preflop raise, I didn't put him on pocket jacks or even pocket fives. I thought he may have gotten lucky and flopped a set of ducks, but still didn't feel that this is what he had. I went with my read that he probably had AJ and called. To my astonishment, he had simply caught a runner runner queen high flush. I would never had suspected that someone who completely missed the flop save for one diamond, would call any amount of betting action to the river. When people make bizarre and generally unprofitable plays like this and get lucky, it can be very difficult to put them on a hand.

To summarize, the problem with playing suited connectors out of position is that you have to either risk betting enough to protect your hand and possibly get re-raised by a better hand on the flop, or you have to bet too little to protect your hand and risk getting sucked out on the river.

Identifying and playing different types of players

2007-11-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

Okay,

One of the most important aspects of my evolving strategy for playing poker is to identify the different types of players at a table. Here's some insight into different playing styles, how to identify them, and how to play against them. In terms of how to play against them, it depends upon your own style. Currently, I am playing more 'small ball' poker which entails playing several hands and requires decent reading skills. It is the most effective strategy, but also the hardest to play as it requires you to make far more decisions. As well, it is can be very ineffective if you are at an aggressive table or especially ineffective at an aggressive table with turbo blinds since you will rarely get a cheap look at the flop.

The beginner:

You can usually spot a beginner from a mile away by these characteristics:

1. They play almost every hand.
2. They usually never make pre-flop raises or bet to protect their hand.
3. They are frequently calling stations.

How to play against them:

1. You can eat them alive by simple strategies like preflop raises as they will call these with any hand.
2. Always becareful not to try to bluff a beginner as they will usually not put you on the hand that you are trying to represent. They can be very difficult to bluff as they will call because they cannot tolerate not knowing what hand you have.
3. When you have a good hand, you can bet hard into the calling station and take a large portion of their stack.

The Rock

How to identify them:

1. They play very few hands.
2. They only play premium hands such has high pocket pairs or Aces with good kickers.

How to play against them:

1. Usually they aren't much to worry about as they spend most of the time out of the pot.
2. If you are in a pot with a rock, you can be pretty sure that they have AK/AQ/AJ or high pocket pair, so watch out for these hands if you are betting against them.
3. Rocks are usually easy to bluff, provided that there is a good flop texture. If you bet against a rock, be sure that there are no aces or high cards on the board, and they will likely fold as they are very tight with their chips.

The Calling Station:

How to identify them:

1. They have the same characteristics as the beginner, but they differ in that they will actually bet when they have a good hand.
2. They rarely bluff, so if they are betting, you can usually put them on at least some hand.

How to play against them:

1. Never bluff a calling station! I once bet into an open-ended draw as a semi bluff. Everyone folded except for the calling station. I bet again, this time even more chips at the turn to try to shake him off, and he simply called. At this point, I was confused and somewhat worried that he was slow playing me. He checked at the river in front of me. Worried, that he was looking to check raise, I also checked as I missed my straight. To my astonishment, he turned over king five off suit for the win! I couldn't believe that he kept calling me with high card king given that there was neither a str8 or a flush draw that he had. As well, he hadn't actually paired either of his cards.

The Chaser

How to identify them:

1. The chaser is the guy who will call any bet regardless of pot odds to chase down his flush or straight draw.
2. They rarely make preflop raises.
3. They play several hands.
4. They will usually bet once they've made their straight.

How to play against them.

1. If you catch a good hand on the flop and you bet to protect your hand and the chaser calls without re-raising you, you can be pretty sure they are chasing if their are two suited cards on flop or a possible straight.
2. Though the odds are in your favor that they will miss their straight, be careful of trying to bet them off their chase as they can make a big payout by catching it.
3. I especially don't like to go all in on the flop against them to protect my hand as they will call and may knock you out with the suck out.
4. My preference is to make a medium bet after the flop. This way if another suited card hits, I won't lose too many chips.
5. If suited card doesn't hit on the turn, I will make a larger bet after the turn as even a chaser will not always chase from the turn.
6. Rarely, if you flop a boat, you know that you can cash them out by betting large. To do this, you have to bet very big after the flop, not turn. Or you can try to slow play them and hope that they will catch their flush, but this is riskier as if they get a free look at the cards and miss, you will not get a payoff. Personally, I would rather bet large pretending that I am protecting a hand like top pair/top kicker and additionally hope that they catch the flush and bet hard.

The Maniac

How to identify:

1. The maniacs are the easiest to identify.
2. They often go all in preflop several times, strangely they seem to always win with junk cards.
3. They love to raise preflop with even an Ace with bad kicker to steal the blind.
4. They bad really hard after the flop to steal the pot, often overbetting a hand like mid pair to make it seem like they have a very good hand.

How to play against them:

1. You have to avoid calling preflop raises unless you have a hand like a pocket pair or an ace with a good kicker.
2. If you call a preflop raise with a hand like suited seven/eight and miss flop, they will eat you alive by making a large enough bet that you cannot call even if you have a decent draw.
3. Better maniacs will realize their table image and use it to their advantage. For example, you might be tempted to stand your ground against a maniac betting very large with your top pair/top kicker, and call only to get knocked out by a set that they hit.
4. Maniacs can be the hardest to play against as they are fearless.
5. They only effective way to counter one is to try to trap them. Let the other players battle the maniac until you have really good hole cards. If you manage to hit a really good flop, check and let them hang themselves trying to bluff you off.
6. The only other way to counter the manaic is to call them when they go all in preflop with a high pocket pair or a hand like AK/AQ.

The Shark

How to identify them:

1. The shark is the experienced player who is often quite street smart.
2. The shark plays more on how other people bet/react, than on their own actual cards.
3. The shark has a wide array of tools like check raising/ effective bluffing/ trapping /slow playing/ overbetting hands to steal/ raising to steal blinds / rarely makes a bad call.

How to play against them:

1. The biggest weakness of a shark is simply the card run that they have. If they are getting bad hole cards and missing flops, you can take advantage of this.
2. Be wary of folding agains them as they often will bet to represent a better hand than they actually have. If you think you have the best hand, but are not certain, stick to calling them out rather than pushing all in as they might be trapping you.
3. If you are a beginner, the only effective way to counter a cagey shark is to play 'big bat' poker looking to make home-runs instead of out playing them.
4. To do this, stick to playing pocket pairs looking to make sets or hands like AK/AQ/AJ.
5. The best way to bet against a shark is all-in. If they think they are beat, they will have to fold.
6. Pre-flop raises are not a good idea because if you miss the flop, they will smell blood and bluff to make you fold.

The Tight Player

How to identify them:

1. They don't play very many hands.
2. They almost never bluff.
3. They almost never make a call when they are beat.
4. They always bet when they have a good hand.

How to play against them:

1. Tight players are very easy to play against as their strategy is rarely effective. Though they don't hand out many of their chips, they generally don't accumulate very many chips either unless they are having a good run of cards. As well, most players can easily put them on a good a hand and immediately fold to them.
2. Tight players get absolutely abused by maniacs and loose aggressive players who steal their blinds and bluff them off of hands.
3. The easiest way to abuse a tight-aggressive player is by a combination of bluffing and overbetting your hand when you are in a pot against them. They will often fold top-pair/kicker if you bet representing a flush that may have hit on the turn, for example.
4. Eventually, most tight players will get frustrated by a comination of constantly getting bluffed and by their diminishing chip stack. At this point, you have to trap them when you have a really good hand. Instead of their usual fold, they may simply call you out or try to fight back by re-raising you, even all in sometimes.
5. Never be afraid of bluffing an tight player by representing or pretending that you just hit a flush on river or something like that. Early game, if they call or re-raise, simply fold to them because they likely will have a very good hand and will not fold.

The Loose-aggressive Player

How to identify them:

1. In a nutshell, think 'gus hansen.'
2. The loose-aggressive player is often the most difficult to play against.
3. They will raise action preflop and bluff the pot after everyone misses flop or overbet out of position to scare off other players.
4. They absolutely love to steal blinds late game by raising preflop.
5. They can be extremely dangerous as they are not afraid to gamble. For example, you might go all with pocket QQ short stacked late game. They will call you with a hand like K7 suited and knock you out when they catch a king.

How to play against them:

1. There is no easy answer to this question. You're ultimate results playing a loose-aggressive player are going to depend more on luck than anything.
2. If you call their preflop raises and miss the flop, you are pretty much in a double bind. If you try to bluff them, they will call if they caught anything on the flop or re-raise you. If you hit a flop and they tried to bluff out of position, they are often smart enough to fold to a bet if they don't have a hand or any outs.
3. If you try to steal blinds by raising, they will protect their blind by calling.
4. If you try to steal blinds with going all-in, they will call you with a marginal hand and seemingly perpertually get lucky and flop two pair to beat your high pocket pair or suited ace king.
5. In a nutshell, I like to play pretty tight vs a loose-aggressive player. Knowing that they want nothing more than turning the game into a coin toss--except maybe running you over with aggression, I try not to give them what they want.
6. I am willing to call pre-flop raises with a good hand or better yet, call all in preflop if I know they've been raising to steal quite frequently.
7. At the core of an effective loose-aggressive player, you will not find a complete idiot. They will fold to bluffs and generally not call if you push back against them if they think they are beat.
8. Loose-aggressive players are also susceptible to smart bluffs. For example, if they bet hard on the flop and you simply call. Then a third suited card hits and they check, if you bet representing the flush and they don't have it, they will likely fold.
9. Though they seemingly play wild, they are usually pretty smart and try to put you on hand. You have to represent a better hand to bluff them back or simply trap them with a very good hand.

Unlucky flop

2007-11-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

Okay,

Here's a brutal flop for pocket tens vs a10. Many people on the you tube comments suggest that Hudson played like a donkey. I certainly would be more sympathetic. Others would call this type of hand the cooler hand.

On the one hand, it's pretty hard to walk away form tens full of aces, especially vs a player like Sammy Farha. One could look at this hand many ways. Though Sammy Fahra won the hand, if Hudson was playing AQ or AJ, the end result would have been different.

Whether or not Hudson played like a donk or just got unlucky is subject to interpretation. If anything. he didn't seem to put much thought into what hand Sammy had. I've lost enough hands being on the wrong end of the full boat, that I may not want to lay this hand down, but I certainly wouldn't want to go all in on it.

At the turn, with Sammy Fahra raising 1200 chips, you pretty much have to put him on a very good hand. Let's look at the action...

Preflop:
Sammy raises 200 [A, 10]
Hudson re-raises to 450 [pocket ten]

[I would be nervous about playing a hand like pocket tens, the first hand of the worlds series of poker. Sammy called the re-raise which suggests that he probably has either a pocket pair or an ace with a decent kicker.]

Flop: AA10
Sammy checks the nuts
Hudson checks

[Sammy checks which was the necessary slow play. However, had Hudson been holding an ace with a better kicker, Sammy would've given him a chance to win the hand--probably a risk worth taking. Hudson, should have worried that Sammy might have been in the pot with an Ace with a decent kicker.]

Turn: AA10, Q

[Hudson bet 300 out of position. Sammy raised to 1200 (Pot was now 900+1200). At this point, you have to ask what hand Hudson thought Sammy had. It's hard to believe that Sammy would risk1200 chips to bluff a 900 chips pot the first hand in the WSOP main event. This is especially hard to believe since there is a pretty scary combination of cards on the board. As well, Sammy probably knows that it's pretty hard to bluff an amature player--which Hudson is and proved by pushing all in.

To me, my pocket tens wouldn't look very good, especially at the turn. Sammy may have had the pocket AA--I've seen quad aces on flop before online, A/10, AQ, pocket QQ all of which would beat pocket tens.

The lesson here is to pay attention to dangerous flops. Whenever the board pairs a single card, there is always a possibility that someone has a full house. As well, when you have the a full house, if you are on the wrong side of the boat (tens full of aces vs aces full of tens), you can get into a lot of trouble.

At the turn, I would certainly consider the possibility that Sammy had a full house given his large raise. I would know that if he did have a full-house that I was beat. It's certainly possible that Sammy had a str8 to ace and with KJ overbetting his hand. If that's what I thought, I would have simply called. When the jack hit on the river, I would feel very uncomfortable about my tens full of aces simply because players love to play hands like AJ/AQ/A10. About the only hand that I would think that I could now beat that would make anysense still being in this hand would be KJ or AK.

My thoughts on playing big BB poker..

2007-11-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

As I've pointed out, I am relatively new to playing poker. However, I've put a tremendous amount of thought into different aspects of the game. What do I mean by playing big BB poker? Quite simply, I am referring to playing turbo blinds. My first experience with playing turbo blinds was in the Daniel Negraneau Poker Stars freeroll.

I managed to place around 455th. When I think back to that tournament, I got eaten alive by aggressive players when the blinds were around 1200 chips and I had about 12x BB in my stack. Even then, I realized that the large blinds can put you into a situation where the next hand you play could very well be your last. As a result, I sat back waiting for a premium hand. The blinds whirled round and round and my stack got chewed up pretty fast as I had a run of very bad cards. Thinking back to this first experience, waiting for a premium hand was a very reasonable decision.

However, how I actually played my premium hands could have been better. The last few hands that I did play were AK off suit (big slick) and big chick, AQ. I recall raising about 2x the bb as at this time blinds were about 1200 chips and I only had about 12k in chips. Of course, there is only about a 36% chance of pairing one of your cards on flop and I missed. Two players had called my raise and were in the pot with me. The player out of position went all in and I reluctantly folded. It turns out he had absolutely nothing but KQ that missed. The player that called him had AJ and had paired his jack--first card on the flop. He won with a pair of jacks-ace kicker and had I called I would have lost.

Again, thinking back, in the situation that I was in, you can't afford to not play a hand like big slick. My tight play did enable me to escape elimination, but left me with only about 8xBB stack. Though it may seem like I played the hand reasonably well. The end result was that I was left with only 9k in chips and again a run of very bad cards to play ensued. The only otherway that I could have maybe played the hand better was to simply go all in preflop. Sure the player with AJ probably would have called me and won, but I still had enough chips that he may have thought twice about risking 1/3 of his stack on AJ. If he folded, then I would have either stolen the blind or ultimately beaten the other player that played that hand.

I played AQ in virtually the same exact way. Raised 2400, missed flop, and folded to post flop betting action that would have put me all in. This left me virtually crippled in terms of my chip stack and I eventually was all in on the BB with K9 suited and lost.

Of course, hind-sight being 20x20, I now realize that in that same position, a premium hand like AK is not likely to come around again before I even have enough of a stack worth doubling. I would have played both of those hands reasonably well if I had had a large stack at the table. However, when you are short stacked, you have to increase your tolerance for risk in order to survive.

I know clearly believe that the risk of going all in with AK to either steal the blind or maybe win a horse race is far less than raising to fold, or going all in after missing the flop completely. Nothing creates greater risk in a tournament that being completely exposed at the table with a low stack as your only option is to go all in preflop at that point anyway and by the time you make that decision, it will ultimately be with a far worse hand than AK.

My final thoughts are quite simple. Part of my new strategy is quite simple again... I start off the tournament playing very tight--unless I get a hand like pocket KK/QQ/JJ in which case I will try to push someone all in preflop to get a chance to double or triple up. I am always willing to gamble with one of those hands and occassionally with AK/AQ. If this works and often it does, if I double up, I will force myself to keep accumulating chips either by carefully bluffing if I have a run of bad cards, or maximizing the play of my good cards. Once I am in the top 3 in stacks of say a 45 player tourney, I will really switch to a very tight game to hold on to my chips.

There have certainly been occassions where I've been the chip leader in a 45 player tourney only to hit a very nice card rush. This can often be the worst time for it to happen. as there are often only 25 players left in the tournament, many of which are very desparate and fully willing to gamble. In the times that I have been willing to continue to play aggressively with the chip stack lead, it doesn't take long to lose half your chips to people who are willing to gamble and get lucky.

In a nutshell, it's a simple strategy... whether ultimately it means ocillating or vacillating between playing loose aggressive to accumulate chips and tight to hold on to them, it is generally very effective. Play tight until you make the bubble. After that, if you want to actuall win, you have to be willing to gamble again. Playing head's up in a turbo tourney is extremely dependent on luck. If you get a run of bad cards vs an aggressive player, you will get run down very quickly. Too many times head's up, I've had to call an aggressive player all in head's up. Even though I've made the right call and had huge preflop odds--I've lost some brutal horse races.

e.g. JJ vs 78--player hit set on flop.
10 10 vs q3--player hit deuce to six with runner runners on turn and river.
Ak vs 72--player paired their deuce.
88 vs A3--paired the ace.
Kk vs J3--player catches to seven to J on river.

Hence, if I am looking for the 'w' in the tournament, I will choose risking getting knocked out in forth to build a massive stack before I will want to be ends up head's up with a short stack.

Life Lessons From Poker

2007-11-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Playing poker can be incredibly frustrating. We all know the times we flop top pair/top kicker and make large enough bet to deter someone from chasing their flush draw. They call anyway and miss it on the turn. Then you increase the bet to the point that they have absolutely no pot odds on calling, but of course, they do anyway and catch the flush on the river.

Other frustrating times in online poker include the reality that you can only ever play the cards that you're dealt. There's always tournaments where you get a run of incredibly bad cards--you know, the seven deuce off suit, nine three, queen deuce, jack five, ten six, suited deuce three, three eight, king three, jack four... run that seems to repeat itself forever. I know I've been there and I've actually checked to see that I've once played 100 hands in a tournament without catching one pocket pair (The preflop odds are about 1/16). Most recently, I was in a tournament where I ace jack twice, no pocket pairs, and maybe ace four/five a couple times out of about 100 hands.

When you go through these moments, it feels like walking in the desert thristing for water. You almost start to see mirages... It's not long before a suited A3 starts to look like pocket aces to you. By now, you're chip stack is so low that you go all in, merely hoping to steal a blind, only to get called by a big stack with a hand like five ten off suit. Of course, everytime the 63% preflop odds that you have crumble when he pairs his five first card on the flop.

The opportunity in these moments is that it teaches you a little about bluffing--and ultimately, hopefully you learn the most important lesson about bluffing in poker. Though it plays an important role and can greatly augment your chip stack, ultimately, if you're suffering a run of bad cards and worse flops, bluffing alone is not going to win you the tournament. If you flop the worst hand with enough consistently, you're not going to win the tournament--period.

Bluffing in poker suffers on inevitable reality--the odds! The more you have to bluff, the less likely you are to make a profit. What can be even more frustrating than a run of bad cards or getting a bad beat, is watching a horrible poker player make a series of really bad calls and get lucky. When you are staring at his massive chip stack and thinking about how poorly he has played, the only realization that you can make is that luck may or may not be random, but it certainly isn't usually fair.

Given all the possible frustration inherent in poker, the only solution is to learn how to deal with this frustration. With the dealing of a single card, odds can turn on a dime and anything can happen. The sooner you accept this, the less frustrating poker becomes. The easiest way to accomplish this is to try to focus more on the decisions that you actually made rather than the final results. After all, it's the decision alone that really matters even though you can make a good decision and lose or a really bad decision and win.

How to play pocket Kings in Online Poker Tournaments

2007-11-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

As my poker play has improved and evolved, I've changed the way I play hands like pocket Kings or Queens. Basically, there are three different ways of playing this hand. In my opinion, the worst and least profitable way is to simply 'call.' Without question, if you simply call you can quickly transition from having the best preflop odds to the worst post flop odds. Despite increasing the number of people in the pot after the flop, this strategy likely won't make you very much chips. First of all, there is now a very good chance that you simply get out flopped by a junk hand. Secondly, even if you flop a set of kings, most of the players that limped in will simply fold to any bet, so even if you get a monster flop, you won't likely get any reciprocal betting action.

The second way of playing pocket kings is possibly even more dangerous. In the past, I would often make a small raise as I was afraid of getting out flopped. I would usually only raise 2 to 3x the big blind. This puts you in a very precarious position. If there is an Ace on the flop, three suited cards, or a three consecutive cards, you are now in a very difficult position. If someone has the flush, str8, or even an open ended str8 draw or set of fives, either you will simply lose your preflop raise or risk going all in and getting knocked out. There's clearly nothing worse than putting yourself in a position where you let yourself get beat by a player who calls you with ace rags and flops an ace. Eitherway, this strategy can put you in a position where you have three or more people in the pot with you and you have a very difficult decision to make. Too many times this option results in you losing to either ace rags, or someone who called with a marginal hand on the BB who hits two pair, a flush, a str8, or a draw they want to gamble on. It's rarely profitable as you now either have to risk your entire stack to win the pot anyway or fold and lose your preflop raise.

The third scenario is the most profitable, but also the most risky. Depending on the size of the blind, I like to make a very big raise with a hand like pocket KK. Prefop, you are getting better odds on any hand except pocket AA. Any day of the week, I would prefer to make a big raise and not getting action on my bet and even take down a small blind than to be put in a situation where I lose my preflop raise or have to call an all in after the flop when my odds of winning could be dramatically worse. More often than not, when you make a very large preflop raise, people usually either fold or put you all in which is what you want. Most of the time, the only hands that will call you will be a lower pocket pair or AK/AQ/AJ.

The reason for this strategy is simple. You are getting 2:1 odds on even suited AK and a very good chance to double your stack if they call. If you get called by a lower pair you have 4:1 odds! If you are unlucky enough to get called by pocket AA, though your odds of winning are very low (4:1), if you had simply raised and he called and there was low rainbow flop, you might have called his all in anyway. Preflop your odds might be very bad vs pocket AA, but if you hit a low rainbow flop, they get dramatically worse (from 4:1 to 10:1). I would much rather go all in preflop with KK vs AA, than to go all in after a low rainbow flop with KK vs AA!

I've been put all in this situation by pocket AA many times. Surpsingly, I've managed to get lucky and catch a king on the turn or river or sometimes the first card on the flop. In a tournament, I would rather take the chance of doubling my stack or getting knocked out vs. losing my preflop raise and getting crippled. Once your chip stack gets crippled, you can't really do much. Hence, you are always better off taking the chance to get to play doubled up than you are to play it safer and risk getting crippled anyway.

With a crippled chip stack, it's virtually impossible to bluff pots and you can't call very many pots. When your stack does get crippled, even if you are only in the bottom third, it becomes very difficult to play. If you call some preflop raises and miss, then your stack starts depleting very quickly. Or if you hit something on the flop, you are likely to get bluffed off after the flop by someone with a good draw or a few overcards. Even if you call their bluffs, they might catch something on the turn or river and knock you out anyway. Quite simply, the big stacks can afford to gamble and you cannot.

Mike Matusow's Hundred Thousand Dollar Bet to Lose Weight

2007-10-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching the WSOP Horse event last night and heart that Mike Matusow has a hundred thousand dollar bet to lose something like sixty pounds by May 2008. I recall him saying something that he can lose "15lbs per month because I have a fast metabolism." Mike's certainly an entertaining person to watch at the tables. I wish him well in this endeavor.

WCOOP Champion Disqualified

2007-10-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

WCOOP Champion Disqualified

Pokerstars is pretty quiet about what the player who initially won the tournament of around 3,000 players for over 1 million dollars, actually did... Rumours abound about the player named, V0ID, including that he had used multiple accounts during the tournament. Though I can see how this would be grounds for disqualification, I question how much advantage playing 5-6 accounts would be given that there were 3,000 entrants in the tournament--in terms of the collusion argument. Certainly, it would be an unfair advantage in terms of increasing your probability of making it to the final table, However, with over 300 starting tables, it would likely be quite a while before you had two or more accounts at the same table.

For more information on this story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/columns/story?columnist=wise_gary&id=3068854

Nice read, bad river for Antonio Esferandi

2007-10-29T10:45:00.001-07:00

You can't help but feel bad for Antonio after he loses his shirt in this replay. It's interesting some poker players get extremely angry after a river beat, yet others almost get tears in their eyes.

Poker Hand Nicknames

2007-10-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

AA Rockets; Bullets; American Airlines
KK Cowboys
QQ Canadian Aces;
JJ Fishhooks; hooks
88 Snowmen
77 Sunset Strip
66 Route 66
55 Presto; Speed Limit
44 Canadian Presto
33 Crabs
22 Ducks
AK Big Slick
AQ Big Chick
KQsuited Marriage
KQoffsuit Mixed Marriage
KJ Kojak
K9 Fido
Q7 Computer hand
Q3 Gay Waiter (queen with a tray)
J5 Motown; Jackson Five
T8 Golden Dan
T5 Five and Dime
T4 Broderick Crawford; Convoy; Good Buddy
T2 Texas Doll
98 Oldsmobile
95 Dolly Parton
83 Most feared hand in Holdem
7T Split
76 Union Oil

Play for Millions with Daniel Negraneau in the Bahamas

2007-10-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I just recently finished my first attempt at the 10,000 online player tournament to qualify to play with Daniel Negraneau in the Bahamas.

To say that this tournament is a challenge, is quite the understatment. For the first two hours, I played 'hand to hand' which basically means that you get bumped from table to table after almost every hand. For this reason, you do not really get a sense of how anyone at your table plays.

Not to make excuses, but I had a pretty unremarkable run of hole cards. I recall having big slick once, pocket jacks three times, and big chick on one other occassion. Starting with 1500 chips, you are in quite the precarious situation. Most hands people raise about 150 from the start, so if you call and miss three or four flops, you're in trouble pretty quick.

In the end, I placed 655th out of 10,000 people which is quite unremarkable. One thing that I learned from this experience, is that playing tight amoungst all of these competitors is not a very good approach. In my opinion, you need to build a stack of chips very fast to do well in this tournament. Being stuck with a marginal chip stack for most of the tournament made it very difficult to play many hands. Next time I would rather take more chances and risk being eliminated early on than to grind it out with an average chip stack.

Early on, you can pretty much expect to have to play the poker lotto to build up a big stack. I tried playing premium hands like pocket jacks--only to find out my pre-flop raises were called by people with hands like ten deuce of diamonds. Of course, they would call any raise after the flop and turn and continue on to hit the flush suck out on the river. This is the kind of play you can expect here. People will play any type of hole cards regardless of how pots are raised and many of them will get lucky flops or go for a suck out on the river.

On three or four occassions, even though I thought that I was playing pretty tight, I had to call all in bluffs on the river. That can be very difficult to do when you have queen ten and the board has AJq10J with three spades which is the situation that I was in. Fortunately, I was close to being pot committed. I was already aware that anyone with a king had a straight to ace after the turn. Then the river came and the board not only paired the jacks which was bad enough, but a spade came as well. Luckily the guy who went all in had 9,10 and had missed his open ended straight draw.

Once the top 1200 or so were remaining, hand to hand play was turned off. Moments before being eliminated, I had about 11,000 chips with the chip leader somewhere around 100,000 chips. The blinds were about 800 with a 100 chip ante. Here, I ran into a bad strech of hole cards. With pre-flop raises of 2-3000 chips almost every hand, I was unable to call very many hands. When I did call and completely missed the flops, I had to simply fold as three or four people were re-raising each other. It wasn't long between missing a few flops and the big blind/ante that I was now down to about 1500 chips and had little choice but to go all in (ante was 100 chips/blind 1000) with a hand I wouldn't normally have chosen--K9 hearts. The person who called had Ace Queen off suit--so they probably had 2:1 odds and they paired the Queen on the turn for the win.

Tough calls in on-line poker

2007-10-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

Online poker thoughts: 27 player tourneys.

Here's a common scenario in on-line poker:

Your hole cards: KK

You raise preflop...

Flop: 3 5 9

You make a bet... thinking that you likely have the best hand.

1 player folds, the other one re-raises you or goes all-in.

Now you are in a tough position, because the player may have pocket aces, 3s, 5s, or 9s in which case, your chances of winning the hand are very low.

However, the player may have put you on an AK and re-raised you thinking that you were tying to buy the pot.

They may have JJ QQ, 10 10, or absolutely nothing.

So what do you do?

I've been in this scenario and sometimes I've called an the other player has either nothing, or a flush draw, or a pair of jacks and I win the pot. Other times, I've called and ran into a set of fives and lost.

It's never an easy decision and you have to take in consideration how early in the tournament this happens. Almost all of the times that I've made this call and lost have been in the first few minutes of a tournament. Most of the times that I've made this call and won have been later on in the tournament.

High pocket pairs can be surprisingly tricky to play early on during online tournaments. If you make a substantial raise preflop with a hand like KK, and the flop has an ace--many online players will call pre-flop raises with ace rags, then you are probably in trouble. If you just fold, you've lost the pre-flop raise and you will be in the bottom 27 of the tourney. If you try to call to the end, you can lose a huge amount of chips. Either way, it is not an ideal scenario.

The three most imporant questions in poker are always:

1. What do I think that the other player has?--based upon how he plays his hand (bets/raises)..

2. What does he think that I may have? Here is the problem with online poker, this question doesn't not enter into the consideration of many on-line players. Novice on-line players are the hardest to bluff, not because they make 'sick calls,' but because they will call to the end with any pair inspite of possible flushes/straights on board.

3. How can I make the most chips from this hand? In my opinion--slow playing is generally only profitable if you have the nuts. Any time you give someone a free look at another card, you are taking a big risk.

Expected Value in Poker

2007-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Often, in on-line play people will make a bet if they have either an open-ended straight draw or a flush draw. The reason for this play ties into the concept of 'expected value.' Of course, there is a large chance that you will not actually catch the flush or straight, but if you do it will increase the payout at the end and be profitable over the course of several hands.

Here's my example

[This is example is oversimplied and excludes other hand possibilities including someone else catching a full house, or other hand possibilities.]

You have J 9 as hole cards.

Flop is 10 8 3 (rainbow).

This gives you an open ended straight draw (8-J) whiche means that you have 8 outs to catch the draw (either a seven or a queen), which means that you have a 32% chance of hitting the straight.

If the pot is already 450 chips, and you bet 150 chips--two other players call.
[Note there are other hand possiblities like simply pairing the jack on turn or river or everyone folding to your raise--depending on the other players cards, etc.]

You know have a pot of 750 chips with a 32% chance of winning the pot (approx). =240

On the other hand, you have a 68% chance of losing the 150 chip bet= 102.

Overall, your expected return is 240-102= 138 which means that this is a profitable bet in the long run. Clearly, in any given hand you are more unlikely to miss the staright, but over the course of playing several hands, this type of bet will likely be profitable given the risk/reward ratio.

Poker Cheating Video

2007-10-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an entertaining video of a highly elaborate way of cheating at poker in a non-casino type of environment which involves the use of 'cold decks.'

Poker Tips

2007-10-23T19:06:00.001-07:00

Here's an interesting link for a site with a large volume of content on poker tips. I will review the content and provide feedback. Cheers..

http://www.pokertips.org

Play for Millions with Daniel Negreanu in the Bahamas

2007-10-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

I was watching some high stakes poker on TV the other day when I saw the commercial for the "Play for Millions with Daniel Negreanu in the Bahamas" promotion from Pokerstars. I believe that the tournament play time is 6:30 pm EST most evenings. All that is required is to download pokerstars from: http://www.pokerstars.net/, then you simply make a play money account. To find the tournment, click on "events" and scroll down to the current date. Please note that registration starts at 4:30pm EST! I had plans of playing today, however, the 10,000 available seats for the 'free' online tournament fill up very quickly.

For more information on the contest, click:

http://www.pokerstars.net/millions/index.html

Cheating on on-line poker revealed in these digital images

2007-10-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

In the above photo, you can clearly see the dealer, dealing cards from the bottom of the deck. In the photo below, you can clearly see this on-line player hiding cards up his sleeves! For the full story, lol, click here : http://www.billrini.com/2004/11/30/proof-that-online-poker-is-rigged/

Replay of Phil Ivey in Monte Carlo Millions

2007-10-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

This is why Phil Ivey is one of the best poker players in the world. Nice read by Phil Ivey.

Replays of Cheating on Absolute Poker

2007-10-21T00:49:00.000-07:00

Part 1 of "POTRIPPER" Cheating on Absolute Poker:

Part 2 of "POTRIPPER" Cheating on Absolute Poker:

Part 3 of "POTRIPPER" cheating on Absolute Poker:

Part 4 of "POTRIPPER" Cheating on Absolute Poker:

Cheating exposed on Absolute Poker!

2007-10-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I just read an interesting story about cheating on Absolute Poker (http://www.absolutepoker.com/). Apparently, one of the part-owners of Absolute Poker had a super account that was developed during beta testing which allowed him to see the other players hole cards. He played on a high stakes table and was caught cheating when another player became suspicious and obtained a card history. The card history included the ip address of one of the owners of the site, Scott Tom. Normally they don't include the ip addresses with the card history which raises the possibility of a whistle blower within the company (Absolute Poker). I've just recently posted the Absolute Poker replays on another posting on my site. I personally have watched them and cannot recall seeing a single hand in which he called when he had the worst hand. The player's name who is alleged to be an insider cheating on the site is POTRIPPER.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/page/2/

Big Slick Not So Big...

2007-10-20T15:41:00.001-07:00

Here are my thoughts on playing big slick on online poker...

I play on pokerstars.com (play money version). I enjoy the on-line poker tournaments on that site. One hand that can be surpsingly difficult to play is big slick.

Many people love to raise big with big slick or go all in with it, but it's really not as great of hand as many would believe. Big slick will lose slightly more than half of the time to pocket sixes. If you are short-stacked and you have to go all in, you're better off with a pocket pair assuming that one other person calls.

Here's the classic problem with big slick. You pretty much have to raise pre-flop so that you don't end up losing to a junk hand. However, more than half the time, you won't actually pair your hand, so what do you do then?

Here's the scenario:

You put a 200 chip raise (pokerstar tourney) preflop. The flop is jack, four, eight (rainbow). You now have no chance of a straight or a flush. You now have six outs (three kings and three aces) to make a better hand. This gives you a (using the rule of 4/2) 24% chance of making a better hand. Basically, your choices now are to try to make a continuation bet to try to buy the pot, check and hope to make a hand, or fold to someone else's raise.

The problem occurs when someone calls you or re-raises you--following your continuation bet. If they just call and the turn comes and you still have nothing but high card ace with a king kicker, then what? Now you only have a 12% chance of pairing one of your cards. You can then try another continuation bet, making a larger one than the previous one, and sometimes the other people will just fold. But when it comes to on-line poker, people will often call with almost any kind of draw or any hand. Either way, I agree with one of Gus Hansen's tips when it comes to bluffing. In terms of bluffing, it's much better to try to make a bluff when there is only one other person in the hand. Trying to bluff two or three other players is not a very smart move usually, though sometimes you will get lucky.

I can't count how many times I've tried to make a continuation bluff on the turn and had someone either call or re-raise. In my opinion, trying to buy the pot with ace king is often a losing venture when you have nothing at the turn--at least with on-line poker and play money. What's especially problematic is when you raise pre-flop and at least one of the other players either has a pocket pair or they flop top pair or better. The last thing in the world you want is to try to bluff someone who flopped a set.

Overall, I find playing ace king depends on the circumstances in the tournament. If it is early in the tournament, I will make a small pre-flop raise, follow with a continuation bet if I don't flop anything, then check at the turn. If I find that I get a lot of resistance in terms of someone else re-raising me after my bet post-flop, or they bet enough at the turn, I will usually cut my loses and fold. With on-line poker, people will call a big raise with four suited cards on the table even if they don't have one of that suit. You would think that you could make a bet representing a flush in that case and have the other person fold if they do not have it, but don't expect people to make reasonable decisions on-line.

Later in the tournament, when the blinds are big, Ace King is a much better hand. Usually, people play far less hands when the blinds are larger. As well, you can often make a decent raise pre-flop just to steal the blind now.

Here is a reply of Sammy Fahra playing ace king vs a pocket pair from Phil Helmeth. Sammy tries a continuation bet after the flop, and again after the turn, then Phil makes a nice play and goes all in which forces Sammy to fold.

How to easily calculate the odds of making a better hand post-flop

2007-10-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

The Four/Two method for calculating the odds of making a better hand....
(Texas Hold'em)

Here's a really simple method to figure out what the odds of making a better hand after the flop.

Example 1. You are on a flush draw after the flop...

You have Ace/deuce of hearts and there are two hearts on the flop... What are the odds that you will make your flush? 50%? Nope... On pokerstars, I see countless people going all in after the flop assuming that it's a coin toss as to whether or not they will make a flush. why not? I will walk you through it...

1. There are 13 cards of each suit in the deck--as we all know.
2. 2 cards are already on the table and you have 2 cards in your hand. This leaves 9 outs for making the flush.
3. To calculate your odds of making the flush after the flop, you simply multiply the number of outs that you have for the flush (9) and multiply it by four to get 36% which is the the odds of making a flush post flop.
4. Please note, this method cannot and does not take into consideration what the other players have in their hand.
5. If just one more person is also on the flush draw, you're odds are considerably lower as you only have seven outs now which gives you 28% chance of making the flush.
6. If the turn comes and you still haven't made the flush, then you simply multiply the number of outs that you have by 2 now. So now you only have an 18% chance of making the flush.

Example 2, You are on an open-ended straight draw after the flop...

When I am the short stack in an online tournament, many times I will go all in post flop if I have an open ended straight draw. Sometimes, I will hit the straight, more often than not, I won't. However, this strategy has some added advantage as sometimes people will simply fold to your bet and you will at least win a pot you may otherwise would not. As well, if someone does call your bet and you make the straight, and you win, then you will at least, double up your chips stack.

If you don't make this kind of all in bet when you are short-stacked, then the other alternative is usually worse. Someone will raise and you will have to either simply fold or keeping calling them anyway until you miss the straight and you lose most of your chips. Further, if you just check till you hit the straight, when you actually do bet, no one may call which means you lost a chance to double up your chip stack.

Let's say that you have king ten(off suit) in your hand. The flop is Jack, Queen, deuce (rainbow). This gives you a 10,j, q, k open ended draw. This means that you either need a 9 or an ace to make the straight. There are obviously four of each of these cards in the deck, so you have 8 outs to make the straight. 8x4 is 32% chance which is not much worse than the odds of making a flush.

In addition to the 32% chance of making the straight. The other advantage of this strategy is that depending on your opponents hand, you probably have additional outs. Let's assume that your opponent has pocket eights. You now have two overcards to his pair which means that you can also win the hand if you pair your king or ten. There are three of each of these left in the deck, so you have an additional six outs. These six outs plus the 8 other ones to make the straight, now gives you 14 outs or a 48% chance of winning the hand.

Which Phil has the 'best' poker stare?

2007-10-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

When it comes to the poker stare, no one does it better than Phil... But which Phil has the best poker stare? Phil Ivey or Phil Hilm? Personally, I think it's a toss-up. What are your opinons?

For those who missed the 2007 WSOP main event, here is a Pillip Hilm highlight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikPjj0hXOKs

Final Table Poker with Phil Gordon on Calculating Odds

2007-10-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some tips from Phil Gordon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn97ymhgp_w

http://www.expertinsight.net/blog/

World Series of Poker

2007-10-12T07:51:00.001-07:00

Here is the link for the World Seris of Poker:

http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/

End of the Main Event and the 2007 World Series of Poker

Top 50 players final results:

Jerry Yang -- $8,250,000
Tuan Lam -- $4,840,981
Raymond Rahme -- $3,048,025
Alex Kravchenko -- $1,852,721
Jon Kalmar -- $1,255,069
Hevad Khan -- $956,243
Lee Childs -- $705,229
Lee Watkinson -- $585,699
Philip Hilm -- $525,934
Steven Garfinkel -- $476,926
Scotty Nguyen -- $476,926
Ray Henson -- $476,926
William Spadea -- $429,114
David Tran -- $429,114
Bob Slezak -- $381,302
Kenny Tran -- $381,302
Kevin Farry -- $381,302
John Arbrust -- $381,302
Scott Freeman -- $333,490
Mikkel Madsen -- $333,490
Jason Welch -- $333,490
Stefan Mattson -- $333,490
Bill Elder -- $333,490
Ryan Elson -- $333,490
Daniel Aleai -- $333,490
Roy Winston -- $333,490
Jeff Bryan -- $285,678
Paulo Loureiro -- $285,678
Ron Kluber -- $285,678
Jason Koshi -- $285,678
Peter Darvill -- $285,678
Kevin Kim -- $285,678
Christian Togsverd -- $285,678
Hoa Nguyen -- $285,678
Allan King -- $285,678
Robin Bergren -- $285,678
Ayaz Mahmood -- $237,865
Maria Ho -- $237,865
Rep Porter -- $237,865
Philip Yeh -- $237,865
Jeff "The Rain" Banghart -- $237,865
Dag Martin Mikkelsen -- $237,865
Avi Cohen -- $237,865
Senovio Ramirez -- $237,865
Stig Tap Rasmussen -- $237,865
Reagan Silber -- $190,053
Nicholas Atlan -- $190,053
Markus Gonsalves -- $190,053
Adam White -- $190,053
Ken Smith -- $190,053

Sammy Farha vs. Berry Greentein

2007-10-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Not to make it seem like Gus Hansen's the only guy who ever gets lucky on the flop. Hey, that's why they call it poker, there are always outs. Here's an all in money game with Sammy Fahra vs. Berry Greenstein where Sammy's pocket kings crack Barry's pocket aces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg551su1KnM

Gus pairs his ace on flop with queen kicker and runs into a set of 8s.

2007-10-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Uh oh, Gus Hansen's in trouble again when he pairs his Aces and Queens vs Erik Seidel's set of 8s. What will happen on the river? C'mon it's Gus that we are talking about here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeRQeIdymYM

"There's a lot of king's left in the deck" --Gus Hansen

2007-10-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Here's another great Gus Hansen video on You Tube. Mike Matusow is all in pre-flop with pocket queens vs Gus Hansen's King 8 off suit. Just before the flop, Gus Comments, "There's a lot of Kings left in the deck."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNH5Iqq0MpE

Free down load of poker odds caculator link

2007-10-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a link for free download of Holdem Indicator Poker Odds Calculator 1.3.2:

http://www.download.com/3000-2647_4-10748977.html

Celebrity Poker Players

2007-10-11T14:07:00.001-07:00

I am impressed with the head's up play of some celebrity poker players like Shannen Elisabeth, here is some info on her poker bio. Not only is she a skilled poker player, but she's not too hard on the eyes either:

http://www.pokerlistings.com/poker-player_shannon-elizabeth

She placed a very respectable 3rd at the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Gamblng

2007-10-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

My site is a resource only for information only. I personally only play poker for fun-not money. If you think that you might have a gambling problem here is a link for Gambler's Anonymous:

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/

Gus Hansen's Advanced Poker Strategies Link

2007-10-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

Poker Hand Scenarios

2007-10-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a link with some interesting hand scenarios discussed by Chris Moneymaker, Vanessa Rousso, and Greg Raymer:

http://www.inside-edge-mag.co.uk/poker/strategy/2341/pro_views_major_tournaments.html

Link for Poker Odds Calculator

2007-10-11T13:30:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone, here's a link for a simple poker odds calculator:

http://www.pokerlistings.com/online-poker-odds-calculator

Link for Poker Odds Calculator

2007-10-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, here's a link for a simple poker odds calculator:

http://www.pokerlistings.com/online-poker-odds-calculator

Gus Hansen Makes a 'Sick Call'

2007-10-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Gus Hansen is one of my favorite poker players... With that being said, I can't believe some of the calls he makes--and yet he always seems to win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si2q5f6h2nQ

Gus Hansen vs. Daniel Negraneau

2007-10-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is one of my favorite Highlight reals.

Gus Hansen has pocket fives vs. Daniel's pocket sixes.

Watch Gus win 500k in one pot with pocket fives.