Poker is a game of small edges. To be a consistent winner it is very important that you have an ability to play your A-game the vast majority of the time you sit down to play. When you are not at your best you are making mistakes and spewing money and doing damage to your expectation and to your bankroll.

Here are 8 different ways you can prepare yourself to play your A game. Implement all of them and you should be able to play your best whenever you decide to play.

1. Accept variance

Don’t focus on results. Focus on making the correct decisions. Variance is part of the game, and if you are focusing on it and worrying about how bad you run, or telling bad beat stories or hanging out in bad beat forums, then you have a long way to go. Eliminate all of that type of thinking and you will be better equipped to play at your best at all times at the table. Understand that even though variance seems unpleasant at times, it can also work in your favor. It is the reason that bad players keep coming back to play as it makes it possible for them to win against better competition in any given game. If going on a bad run is affecting your mindset in a way that is hindering you from making correct decisions consistently, then you have a big problem. You may need to take a break when you notice your negative mindset, and it would be wise for you to stop playing when you know that your not playing your A game. However, the next level to aspire to, which the truly great players understand is to not have this problem. The results and variance will not affect them or their mindset. So if you do struggle with tilting, by all means take a break and stop spewing if you can notice and control it, but try to get to a point where you just won’t tilt at all because you understand and accept the variance inherent in the game.

2. Multi-tabling

Play only the amount of tables you are comfortable with and don’t overdo it so it becomes impossible to play your A game. If anything start with a larger amount like 8 when your in the early game stages, but don’t continue to keep registering for additional tournaments until those 8 are all complete. That way, by the time you are down to the bubble, or the money, of the FT you are in very few tournaments and can focus much more as the situation calls for.

3. Bankroll Management

To consistently be able to play your A game you will need to play under conservative br guidelines.

200x your buyin for MTTs
65x your buyin in SNG’s and more for higher levels
225 big bets for limit games
45 buyins for NL games

Scared money is usually dead money. If you have a large roll for whatever you are playing then you will feel less pressure to win, and as a result of the lower stress you will be able to focus better.

4. Sleep/Eat/Shower

It is well documented that humans do not perform as well at mental or physical tasks when faced with a lack of sleep. Try to sleep well and in a somewhat regular pattern and your mind will be more sharp to make the tough decisions when you are at the table. Food is similar, in that if you do not eat enough, or if you eat too much or the wrong type of foods, then your mind won’t be in the ideal state to make decisions under pressure. Eat fruits and vegetables, and drink enough water. Stay away from fatty foods and things that will make you tired. Showering is good to do before you start a session, because it can have an effect of waking your mind up, getting you ready to be in the zone. You will feel fresher and more comfortable several hours into your session as opposed to grimy and uncomfortable.

5. Minimize Distractions

Pay attention to the game. Don’t watch tv or chat on instant messenger while you are playing. Anything that takes your focus away from the tables you are playing at is costing you money. You will end up missing spots by not giving full attention to playing your best. Do not have friends over or people watching you who are not playing. Don’t answer the phone. When you are playing, it should be treated like you are at work and involved in a project where distractions should be minimized. You are trying to play the best you can, and make the most money you can, so do not defeat this purpose by not giving your full attention to playing your most optimal. These recommendations might seem a bit anti-social but you probably don`t visit your friends when they are in the middle of making decisions at work that effect them for thousands of dollars.

6. Keep your game sharp

Keep game sharp by going over hand histories and using training sites. Your game will be more focused when you have spent time studying and working on your game it is similar to how a fighter trains to be ready for a fight. You need to get your mind in shape, and practice makes perfect. The best players spend almost as much time away from the tables working on their game as they spend at the tables. When you have spent time working on your game, your mind is more sharp and your subconscious decisions are more accurate because you have spent time honing your game and thinking about these types of decisions away from the table. When you sit down at the tables you will be more confident and ready to play your best because you know you are always improving.

7. Balance

You will be able to concentrate better if you have not let other things in your life get affected to much by poker. You need to take care of your other responsibilities before you start to play so your mind is not wandering on other things you need to do or have put off in order to play. If you take care of the tasks you have set for yourself to do before you play, you can play with a clearer mind, and be able to focus all of your mental energy on the game. Spend time with your family and friends. Have other hobbies. Don’t let the game consume you, as it can often do to people. You will likely play better when you balance your life and make poker a healthy part of it.

8. Be Comfortable

I think that how comfortable you are while playing is an underrated aspect of online poker. Invest in an expensive luxury chair to use. Your going to be sitting in it often so you may as well be as comfortable as possible Invest in multiple monitors, so it is way easier to effectively multi-table. Set up the room you play in how you will prefer it, and keep it clean. Make it so you feel refreshed when you sit down for work and make it a stress free zone.

Doing all of these things can all improve your bottom line by increasing your ability to consistently play your A game, among other benefits.

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Click here to get the latest charts to use http://realpokertraining.com/174.htm and you will clean up those games! I have tried them out and can vouch that they are softer then the games on Pokerstars.

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Many hopeful grinders overlook this cardinal aspect of being a winning player. It is easy to forget or downplay when you see guys like Durrrrrr take on all comers for hundreds of thousands or millions. It seems like some of the players at the top of the food chain use terrible game selection,  but most of them built there way to that point, crushing every level underneath before they got to where they are at. Some are crushing the highest levels, against the best players, and these players who are beating the highest levels, are not practicing bad game selection, because of the fact they are beating the game period. That brings us to the main essence of proper game selection, which is to find games that you can beat. It sounds so simple, yet for a staggering amount of players it is the reason they are a loser and not a winner. Many people donating money at the high stakes Mtt’s could probably beat the mid stakes mtt’s for a decent roi. Many of the players donating at the 3/6 games could beat the 1/2 games comfortably. Many European or Canadian players who are losing at the games on Pokerstars or Fulltilt could be beating the games on PartyPoker or the IPoker Network. They just need to swallow their pride and go where the games are the softest for them. The first step in the process, is finding what games you can beat, and narrowing it down to what games you can beat for the most over time. If you find you can’t beat any games, then you need to first work on that, and play at a micro level until you can become a winning player by experience and training. Once you find a game you can beat for the most, you need to find where you can beat it for the most and then make sure you are properly rolled at all times and play volume. Then you need to avoid certain regulars and follow certain donators around and play at the softest games available for the level. If you do this, you can maximize your earning potential at the poker tables.

I have been guilty myself of practicing bad game selection and it has definitely cost me. It is worth following this advice and finding the games you can beat the most, and then focusing on that and crushing it.

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It sounds obvious but many players ignore the implications every time they play. To be a consistent winner in the evolving strategy of this game we call poker, one must work harder at it then their opponents. This is something that people in the sports world have understood for ages, and accepted as part of the game. That is why teams have practices. A laymen, might sometimes wonder, why do those guys (or girls) even need to practice, they are so naturally gifted at what they do. But nonetheless, no matter how good somebody is at something they still benefit greatly from practicing to improve. Some of the most talented are the ones who practice the most. Look at guys like Kobe Byrant, or Tiger Woods or Wayne Gretzky when he was active. They all work harder then their opponents at improving themselves, and they would not be where they are today without that constant practice. Many poker players think they are above this, they think they are immune to needing to stay sharp with their game, and that they already know all there is to know so practicing is a waste for them. If your already winning, its easy to think this way. It is easy to think “ I am already crushing the tables, why do I need to work on my game”. The reason is that you need to continue to work harder then your opponents or they will catch up. While you are not practicing, your opponents probably are, and as they gain knowledge and continue to improve, you are remaining stagnant at the same level you are at, and sooner or later the field will catch up to you, and you will find yourself now unable to win, although you are playing just as good as you were when you were winning. The solution is to practice and improve and work on your game, and try to work harder then your opponents in any way you can.

You are already taking steps in the right direction, because you are at a training site reading an article. That is one way to work harder then your opponents is to be a member of poker training sites where you can gain valuable information from the instructors at those sites. Anyone who is a member of a training site has one edge over those that do not, they have access to information and different thought processes and ideas that the non-member does not.

What are some other ways you can work harder then your opponents to gain every possible edge ?

When your at a table, you can use officialpokerrankings.com to OPR your opponents to get a feel for them. You can see who is a winner and who is a loser, and know who to avoid and who to abuse. This comes especially in handy when your near a bubble, or on a final table. If your in a $50 freezeout and first pays 10k and the money jumps are big, and some of your opponents have an average buyin of $4.39 and is a big lifetime loser on the site, well then you can bet that they are more concerned with moving up a couple spots in the ladder and not playing properly to win, so you can abuse that player and raise his blinds much more often. Conversely, if the player has a $218 abi and has a 94% roi, you know you probably are not going to outplay them and are best to stay away from them without the goods.

You can also use a tracking program like Hold Em Manager, to analyze your own game. There is all kinds of reports you can run on your Hand history database to identify leaks in your game. You can filter by specific situations. Imagine the value of figuring out that your losing money with Ajo when flatting with it from the BB. Not to mention the stats it compiles on other players that you can have displayed on the table in a HUD. Imagine the value in knowing that your opponent steals from the button 40% of the time, or that he folds his BB 92% of the time to a steal. I went without one of these programs for years. I now use it, and wish I had started much earlier. It is a big edge. Anyone who is using it has an edge that the people who are not do not have. That translates into profit. It is that simple.

You can discuss your hand histories with other players, (preferably winners), and gain insights and ways to look at hands that you might not have thought of. You can learn a lot from working with other players. Set up a study group and regularly hold meetings to go over trouble hands, and get multiple points of view on it and think through it. The benefits you gain from doing that is tremendous. Different players have varied thought processes and ways of approaching things, and you can gain a lot of value from learning another way to play a hand, or in even understanding how other players think to better exploit that type of player. You can talk to players on AIM, if you have friends who play locally, you can set up a study group, you can discuss in poker forums, or you can do all of these things. The shape it takes is unimportant, what is important is that you are constantly discussing hands with other players.

You should real all of the poker books by David Sklansky, Dan Harrington, Doyle Brunson, etc…There is no excuse not to. They are very inexpensive in relation to the benefits you gain from them. I know they are not the most enjoyable read, but you need to gain all of the knowledge available that is out there. Any book you decide not to read, is an edge you decide to give up. There could be only 1 valuable insight within the whole book that you will benefit greatly from in your own game, but unless you read it you will never know.

Work harder they your opponents do on improving your game, train harder and train for longer. Elite athletes have realized the value of this important concept for generations, but poker players tend to be lazy. Don’t be one of the lazy ones and you might just start seeing the money roll in, but even when it does, remember to keep on practicing and ask yourself what Kobe would do.

This is my new strategy chart for 6 Handed 5 Card Draw Limit poker as played on Pokerstars. Click the thumbnail image to view the opening chart. Click the link to download the calling/raising chart. Let me know if you have any questions. The system has tightened up. With the addition of the 6th player, obviously the ranges had to be fine tuned, and a new position accounted for in all the decisions. I even give some post-draw advice for the opening strategy. The tightening up of opening ranges like now needing KK from the hijack ( in the old system hijack would be equivalent to UTG) instead of QQ, and needing JJ in the cutoff as opposed to TT being ok before. You do need to adjust the ranges against specific opponents, especially if someone is raising a wide range you will want to call and 3-bet lighter. Post-draw skill is very key to winning at the game of online poker. The best way to learn the Post-draw skill other then experience is to watch my Draw videos. The first chart is the Opening Strategy. Below that is a link to download the Cold Calling / Raising when someone has opened strategy chart.

drawcalling-chart.xls UPDATE - I Have updated the Calling/Raising chart with the changes I alluded to in a video. It is now correct. I also changed its format and made into a Spreadsheet file so it is easier to follow.

Optimal Strategy for Heads-up Super Turbo’s on Full-Tilt Poker

I am going to outline optimal Heads-up Super Turbo SNG strategy (as played on Full-Tilt Poker) in this article. I’m sure some regulars will be upset with me for educating the Bluff readers with this information, and therefore making the games harder to beat. However, I am a poker trainer, and this is what I do, I refuse to hold back knowledge from my students or from my strategy articles.

Full-Tilt spreads super turbo’s where you start with only 300 chips, and blinds start at 15-30 leaving you with only 10 big blinds to start the match. The blinds go up every 3 minute making for a very fast and exciting game. This strategy article only pertains to the Heads-up variation of these SNG’s.

First of all I would like to dispel the myth that these are “crapshoots” or that they are based only in luck. While the variance is certainly much higher then normal SNG’s, they are very much beatable. They are beatable because many of your opponents either play them too tight or too loose. It sounds simple but that is the truth. They will either fold too much to shoves, making themselves exploitable by the standard strategy I am going to outline, or they push too wide of a range, again making themselves exploitable by my strategy. Conversely, they may call shoves too wide or they may not push a wide enough range. In any of these scenarios, your opponents natural mistakes will be automatically exploited by playing the “perfect” range of shoving and calling hands for each blind level.

In a Super Turbo Heads up match all of your decisions are pretty much made for you by the math. Whether to shove or to call a shove is really the only decisions you have to make in these and these decisions can easily be pre-modeled for optimization in a way that is impossible to exploit. The only times it gets tricky is if your opponent likes to limp a lot in the early level or to min raise you, this can make for some more complicated decisions but still easily solvable.

The best way to explain and use my strategy is through the use of the following charts. These charts are based on mathematical strategy that is not exploitable. This means that there is no way for your opponents to adjust to you to have an edge on you if you use this system. It will have an edge over anyone who is not using it.

These first two charts explains what your shoving range should be, based on what blind level it is and your M. M = Your stack divided by the sum of the blinds. My chart is really easy to use because the M calculation is already done for you, you just look for your stack size* and then look to the right and it will tell you what range of hands to shove. There is two charts for shoving, because there is one for each blind level. These will almost always finish within the first 2 blind levels.

*The decision is based on the “effective stack”. Effective stack = if one player has more than another, he can only risk what is in his opponents stack. This value is referred to as the effective stack. So basically, whichever stack of the two is the lowest that is the value you will use in the chart.

FIRST LEVEL SHOVING CHART
M—stack—range

6— 271-300 —22+ Kx+ Q2s+ Q6o+ J2s+ J7o+ T3s+ T7o+ 93s+ 96o+ 84s+ 86o+ 73s+ 76o+ 63s+ 65o 53s+ 43s

5— 226-270— 22+ Kx+ Q2s Q4o+ J2s+ J7o+ T2s+ T6o+ 93s+ 96o+ 84s+ 86o+ 73s+ 75o+ 63s+ 65o 52s+ 54o 43s+

4— 181-225— 22+ Qx+ J2s J5o+ T2s+ T6o+ 92s+ 96o+ 83s+ 86o+ 73s+ 75o+ 63s+ 75o+ 63s+ 65o 52s+ 54o 43s+

3— 136-180 — 22+ Jx+ T2s T5o+ 92s+ 95o+ 82s+ 85o+ 73s+ 75o+ 62s+ 65o+ 52s+ 54o+ 42s+

2— 91-135 —22+ Tx+ 92s 95o+ 82s+ 85o+ 73s+ 75o+ 62s+ 64o+ 52s+ 54o+ 42s+

1— 0-90 — 22+ 8x+ 72s+ 73o+ 62s+ 63o+ 52s+ 53o+ 42s+ 32s

SECOND LEVEL

5— 300 — 22+ Kx+ Q2s Q4o+ J2s+ J7o+ T2s+ T6o+ 93s+ 96o+ 84s+ 86o+ 73s+ 75o+ 63s+ 65o 52s+ 54o 43s+

4— 241-300 — 22+ Qx+ J2s J5o+ T2s+ T6o+ 92s+ 96o+ 83s+ 86o+ 73s+ 75o+ 63s+ 75o+ 63s+ 65o 52s+ 54o 43s+

3 — 181-240 — 22+ Jx+ T2s T5o+ 92s+ 95o+ 82s+ 85o+ 73s+ 75o+ 62s+ 65o+ 52s+ 54o+ 42s+

2 — 121-180 — 22+ Tx+ 92s 95o+ 82s+ 85o+ 73s+ 75o+ 62s+ 64o+ 52s+ 54o+ 42s+

1 — 0-120 — 22+ 8x+ 72s+ 73o+ 62s+ 63o+ 52s+ 53o+ 42s+ 32s

It probably seems that the pushing ranges are very loose. This is how loose that they should be for you to play optimally and not be exploitable. If they loosen up and call you lighter, you will still have an edge, if they tighten up and call you stronger, you will have an edge. The only way you will not have an edge using these, is if the player is using the following perfect calling ranges, which would negate your edge and even the playing field.

These calling charts are the same concept as the above charts, again using the effective stack as a reference point to decide what is the optimal calling range is when your opponent open shoves on your BB.

If you use these calling charts, then there is no way for your opponent to adjust to exploit you. Whether he shoves light, or tight makes no difference unless he is using the “perfect” shoving charts I have provided above, then nobody has the edge.

FIRST Level CALL SHOVE CHART

effective
M stack

6 270-300 44+ A2s+ A3o+ K7s+ K9o+ QTs+ QJo

5 225-270 33+ Ax+ K4s+ K7o+ Q8s+ Q9o+ JTs

4 180-225 22+ Ax+ K2s+ K5o+ Q7s+ Q9o+ J9s+ JTo

3 135-180 22+ Kx+ Q3s+ Q7o+ J7s+ J9o+ T8s+

2 90-135 22+ Qx+ J2s+ J4o+ T4s+ T7o+ 95s+ 97o+ 86s+ 76s 65s

1 0-90 Any Two

Second Level

5 300 33+ Ax+ K4s+ K7o+ Q8s+ Q9o+ JTs

4 240-300 22+ Ax+ K2s+ K5o+ Q7s+ Q9o+ J9s+ JTo

3 180-240 22+ Kx+ Q3s+ Q7o+ J7s+ J9o+ T8s+

2 120-180 22+ Qx+ J2s+ J4o+ T4s+ T7o+ 95s+ 97o+ 86s+ 76s 65s

1 0-120 Any Two

There you have it. Use these charts and you will be playing as perfectly as you possibly can in these. Now put in a ton of volume and when you sense somebody is not playing optimal try to rematch them as much as you can, and grind that edge out. If you sense someone is either using these charts as well or is playing close to optimal on there own then do not rematch and go for the fishier opponents. Opponent selection is always a great tool to increase your edge.

Now to address the two issues I identified earlier.

Opponent open limps often - If you believe he is open limping light (which you should assume for players you have no history with) then you should refer to your shoving chart and shove the same range you would if you were SB an he was BB. If you believe is is open limping strong ( if you have played him before and seen him do this, or he has made this adjustment after you were shoving his weak limps to try to exploit you) then you should refer to your calling chart and shove the same range you would call if he had shoved his whole stack.

The times you check behind, you should check-raise all-in when you hit any piece of the flop, like bottom pair. If he min bets the flop you can shove flush draws and open ended straight draws as well, but if he bets the pot size just let these hands go. If you have a big draw, like a flush draw with overcards then check-raise all-in no matter what his bet is. Your opponent will usually bet the flop after limping if you check to him.

If you miss the flop then you should just check fold. If he checks again, then the same goes for the turn, if you hit the turn at all then check -raise him all in, and if not then check fold. If he checks the turn as well, then bet the pot on the river the times when you hit the turn or the river, and just check fold if you did not hit it.

Opponent min-raises often – This will only really happen on the first level. Generally you should treat the min-raises as if the opponent had shoved, and use your call shove chart to raise-all in with whatever hands you would have called his open shove with. If you notice that he often folds after doing this, ( if you have played several matches with him and its clear that he likes to min-raise and then fold to shoves), then you should loosen your range to shove over top by using the calling range for an M of 4 (180-225 ) instead of using the M of 6 (270-300) calling range to shove over top of his min-raises.

That is all you need to dominate and crush these super-turbos. Good luck at the tables.

New players and their egos

New players are a breed apart in online poker. These guys don’t yet know much about the subtleties of the game, and they’re naive enough to consider themselves the next re-incarnation of Doyle Brunson. They learn the rules of the game, and within a few hours, they’re winning pot after pot, doubling up their initial bankrolls. Then they get hit by a couple of bad beats, and blinded by tilt, they lose their very last cent. Before they know it, there they stand, nickel and dime-less, wondering how a super-player could be gotten the better of at such an alert pace. Obviously, something’s got to be wrong, but it would never cross out rookie’s mind that he is in fact at fault for the failure and that the problem is with his poker skills, or rather with the lack thereof.

He’ll try again, and he’ll be denied yet again. Surely, something’s got to be wrong with the poker room’s software. Every time he picks up pocket rockets, they get cracked. Every time he makes a set, someone hits a runner-runner flush. These events pile up and they push our rookie to the next stage of his ego-driven rut: he hits the poker forums and begins to complain about his bad luck, blissfully unaware of the fact that: 1) the community doesn’t give a flying rat’s ass about his predicament. Folks on there have heard such stories a countless number of times, and they get truly pissed when some rookie shows up to whine. 2) Whining will only work towards deepening his problems. One of the worst possible things a rookie can do is to whine about how unlucky he is at the poker table. That is basically an invitation for the other players to come and abuse him some more. In poker, the dog eat dog, wolf-pack psychology is at its best. As soon as they smell weakness, players turn on the ailing to finish him off and to get a piece of him before others do.

So what does our rookie do? He either tries a few more times then quits (which is unfortunately the case with many a new online poker player), or he begins to realize that the core of his problem is that he sucks. That’s right, I should’ve written that in capitals. Our guy realizes he may not be quite the natural talent he thought he was and he begins to read. As he reads on, he becomes more and more humbled: he learns that the poker rake which he took so lightly when he made the move to the real money tables is actually a pretty serious hurdle. Then he learns about rakeback and poker prop deals, and finds out that the poker account he’s created cannot be turned into one which gives him rakeback, despite the fact that the poker room where he plays offers rakeback too. For that though, he should’ve created a rake back account to begin with. He does’t even get to the actual strategy part, he’s already ashamed of himself. Then he learns about “little things” like bankroll management, table selection and position. Once players learn such basic concepts, they manage to rise to the second level of poker thought.

The second level of poker thought is a tricky trap though. Regaining some of his initial swagger, out rookie feels like he’s indeed a knowledgeable player now. He begins to ponder past his own cards and he begins to make his first reads. He begins to lay down hands based on these reads, and he starts feeling proud of himself. He hits the poker forum again, this time though, his goal is to flaunt his newly acquired knowledge. He belittles folks in the forums and he scolds opponents at the tables for making “donk” calls. Amid all this excitement though, he gets stuck on this thought level. This is the level on which the vast majority of online players are, and this is where most of them shall remain. It takes another moment of revelation for a player to realize there are still higher thought levels he has to transcend in order to become better and to truly be able to call himself a poker player. The third level of poker thought is what it really takes to become a “player”, in the proper sense of the word. Those on this thought level begin considering the reads their opponents make on them, and their possible consequences. This is where players become capable of bluffing. As I said though, while it may look simple on paper, few people ever manage to rise to the third thought level. A good poker player never stops learning. As the game keeps evolving and changing, new challenges arise every step of the way. He who is unable to dynamically adapt to the ever changing world of online poker, will be left in the dust.

Written by Steve Larson, an online poker player from Canada, visit his rakeback site for some more useful information.

This is some notes I have made about playing Limit Holdem 3 handed.

It is very basic but works quite well.

Your the Button - open raise almost every hand

Follow up flop most of time. Lay down to resistance

Your the Sb - a bit tighter raise half or less hands.. when folded to.

Re-raise A9+ and any pair from to a button raise. Call with JTs and QJ+ to a button raise

After 3 betting follow up 100% of time

After he reacts decide how to proceed

Your the BB - Just call button raises with moderate and monster hands (mixes it up). Check raise after flop when you had a monster or you hit your moderate hand.

3bet the SB with KQ and A7 + any pair. Call with other moderate hands.

A tell is any habit that a player has that gives other players information on the card’s they are holding.
I’m not going to debate over whether or not online tells exist in this article, as it is obvious. Lets just say that, YES, it is possible to derive information by observing your opponents online.
How you ask ? By paying attention to everything that happens.

Timing Tells

Lets first discuss timing tells. This is gaining information about the possible range of your opponents by observing the time it takes them to act.

The most reliable timing tells are as follows.

The insta-call of your c-bet - When a player calls your c-bet immediately it is likely that they have a weak calling hand. A stronger hand would need time to think about whether to raise or call.

What you do - When your c-bet gets insta-called, if your hand is weak and behind the callers range you should fire close to a pot sized bet on the turn, and the 2nd barrel should be enough to get your opponent to fold the better hand. Any less of a bet might get your opponent to call the turn as well. If your hand is strong and ahead of your opponents range you should value bet on the turn for a small bet that your opponent will be tempted to call with his marginal holding.

The delayed check: When a player takes a long time to check they could be attempting to hide weakness. They already know they are going to check, but they are afraid that checking too fast will look weak and induce the opponent to bet any two cards. So the player pretends to be thinking about whether to bet before checking. They don’t want you to bet, they want to see the next card for free.

What you do - You should usually bet ¾ of pot to full pot against a player who pauses long before checking, if they are otherwise playing fast. If your hand is weak then you should take the opportunity to bet and take down the pot.. If your hand is marginal or even strong but susceptible to being drawn out you should also bet the pot to give unfavorable odds to any type of weak draw. The only exception is when a player does the delayed check when your holding a made hand, you should then also do a delayed check back to them, and more often then not they will bet the next street (if there is one). The process there is that the player who just did the first delayed check will see your reciprocal delayed check as the same thing theirs was, weak. A reciprocal delayed check can have the effect of making it look like you were thinking about bluffing after your opponents check but then decided not to. They think that their original delayed check worked by getting you not to bet, so they take the opportunity to bluff the next street and you get the chips.

The delayed bet: When an opponent who is otherwise playing regular speed, takes a long time to think and then makes a bet it can be a tell that they have a strong hand. They are taking time to figure out what bet sizing will get the most value out of their strong hand. They also want you to believe that the hesitation in making the bet is due to it being a tough decision on whether to bet.

What you do - FOLD unless you are very strong. Warning – good players also use this as a reverse tell so be aware of who your opponent is when using this tell. If he is an online regular then it might not be the best time to use this tell. This tell works best against random unknowns.

The insta-check from the big blind:

A player sitting in the big blinds who uses the check/fold in turn option button obviously has a week hand. They are often multi-tabling and are trying to save time.

What you do - If you limped in and the BB insta-checks you should bet at the pot, a half pot bet will work and you’ll take it down the majority of the time. If there is another limper in the hand and you have position you should bet if he checks, and raise if he bets. You raise when he bets because he will be betting light. No strength has been shown, you limped after him and the BB insta-checked, so he will be betting often. You bet when he checks because duh you have position that’s why you limped after him in position so you can bet any flop he checks to you on. Your ignoring the BB because you know he is super weak and was ready to fold preflop, if he hits huge he will likely make it very clear by c-raising and you can get away. If you open limped (in a cash game, don’t open limp it mtts) and there is another limper in the hand as well as the BB, you should bet any flop and re-assess after that.

The insta preflop 3-bet

When you open raise and an opponent 3-bets automatically when its his turn, they will often have a very strong hand. It means QQ – AA and AK. If your opponent had JJ or worse then he would need to pause to think for at least a couple seconds on how to play the hand.

What you do - If you or your opponent has less then 20M or you are out of position then you should fold which will be the majority of the time. If you and your opponent are over 20M deep and he is 3betting from the blinds, putting you in position after the flop, then you should call with any underpair to set-mine and suited connectors and gappers to try to flop huge. This is implied odds coming into play. If you hit a set or other big hand on the flop then you are fairly certain you are going to get paid off well.

The insta c-bet

When your opponent opens pre-flop and you call, then he instantly fires at the flop. He was already planning to bet any flop. If he hit the flop at all he would have pauses to determine the best bet sizing for value.

What you do - If your hand is weak you should raise and try to re-steal the c-bet. If your hand is strong you should smooth call and try to get him to 2nd barrel you. If your hand is marginal should also raise because you will be in a tough spot if she 2nd barrels you. Notice you never fold to the insta-cbet. * There is certain flop textures you might want to call with the marginal hand instead of raising but that is beyond the scope of this article.

The insta river bet

Your opponent insta bets the river, when a strong hand would take the time to get value and a marginal hand would need to take some time to decide whether to bet for value or to check-call.. The insta river bet is very often a bluff because they don’t need time to think, they decided they were bluffing before the river card hit.

What you do - If you have any hand capable of beating a complete bluff then call. There is not value in raising a total bluff, because its never calling. You win the same pot by calling without risking any more chips in the event your read was wrong. If you have something like king high and you cannot beat a complete bluff, then you can consider raising and taking the pot.

WARNING ABOUT TIMING TELLS

Timing tells are not as reliable as they once used to be, due to the amount of players multi-tabling but they still have relevance. Players playing slow and habitually delaying checks and bets is standard and not a tell for players who are multi-tabling several tournaments. The key is to target randoms and unknowns who are less likely to be playing several tournaments when using the “delayed” timing tells.

The value in observing timing tells against regulars (or anyone) occurs when an opponent deviates from their usual patterns. For example, if a player has been playing fast for several orbits, but then suddenly delays, this will almost always be a tell. Conversely, if a player who has been playing slow insta-bets you , this also is a tell. Its not always going to mean the same thing, but you need to be aware of when your opponents behavior is out of character.

Pattern Tells

Pattern tells are identifiable and exploitable betting patterns that many players use. There are two types of pattern tells, common pattern tells that you can use on randoms and specific pattern tells that you should develop against regulars with note taking. In this article we will discuss a common pattern tell and a specific pattern tell in the same scenario.

The out of position bet from the blinds.

When the SB or BB call your initial opening raise from the blinds, and then bet into you on the flop, it much more often then not means a marginal holding like 2nd pair. This is usually a bet intended to “see where they are at” with a hand that’s not strong but has some value. This is the common pattern tell.

What you do - Tell them where they are at by re-raising the bet and they will usually determine that their hand is behind and fold. If your not already raising these bets, I consider that a huge leak. Give it a try and be pleasantly surprised how much it works. While many other “moves” become obsolete as the field catches up to how to counter them, this move has proven to have longevity and survived the knowledge explosion in online poker. Not enough players are using the move, for the counter-move to be very effective, which is to make the bet from the blinds with a strong hand to induce the move. The counter move does work great against specific players that you have determined are using the move. This is a specific pattern tell. If your in a pot with a player who you know will raise the “out of position blind bet” and you flop a monster in the BB then go ahead and try the counter move, just don’t use it against randoms. Use the common pattern tell move itself of raising the out of position blind bet in your regular play against random unknowns, and the counter-move specific pattern tell of betting out of position from the blinds into the flop when you flop big against specific opponents you have a note on that they do the first move.

Bet sizing tells

Bet sizing tells are gaining information on what your opponent holds based on the size of his bets.

Min or small pre-flop 3-bet

When an unknown random player min or small 3-bets you then he usually has AA.. This is a common bet sizing tell. The player wants to raise but they want to keep you in the pot so they raise a small amount that they think you are sure to call.

What you do - See the above timing tells section on insta 3-betting. The rules are the same here.

Weak flop bet

When an unknown or random player bets less then half the size of the pot it is usually weak. They are doing one of two things usually. They could be betting to “see where they are at” with a marginal holding so they can fold easily if they are raised. They also could be employing a post oak type of bluff, making a small bet that looks like its for value and wants a call. These bluffs don’t need to succeed very often to be profitable so don’t let them succeed against you.

What you do - Raise or check-raise. If he is betting a marginal hand to see where hes at he will fold and the other times he is bluffing he will also fold. If you had a specific read and could narrow down when hes bluffing and when hes betting marginally I would say to just call on the times hes bluffing if you have a decent hand but you won’t be able to make that distinction the vast majority of the time so raising is the safer play.

The 999 bet

When your opponent bets a funny amount like 24,999, a mountain of chips appears on the table. Sometimes your opponent is doing this to make the bet look more then it is. It usually won’t want a call.

What you do - They usually don’t want you to raise or call so you should disappoint them when you can. I would be careful with this tell, don’t just raise any 2 over someone because they bet an amount like that, just use it to sway an otherwise close decision towards raising or calling but don’t get too out of line.

The post-flop overshove

When your opponent re-raises you on the flop all-in for a significant amount. This is often a semi-bluff with a draw. The fold equity they gain and the outs they have when they are called make this a correct play for your opponents to make.

What you do - Call with top pair and hold 1 time. Fold if you don’t have at least top pair, as you wont have enough equity to make calling profitable with less.

WARNING ABOUT BET SIZING TELLS

These bet sizing tells are well-known by regulars and they often give reverse fake tells to deceive you. Be aware who you are playing against. Unless otherwise indicated, these tells work best against random unknown players and not so much against regulars.

Chat tells

Chat tells are when a player gives you information on his play by what he says in the chat box.
Comments that indicate how clueless a player is will give you solid information to exploit.

The tilt monkey mega ranter

These are players who think they are far better than they are, and play much worse when losing.
When they start going off at people at the table and freaking out, its just a bad player telling you that they are about to play even worse than normal

What you do - Prey on their fears by betting scare cards, they’ll think they’ve just been ‘screwed again’ and give you the pot while typing “nice catch donkey”. Play as many pots as you can with these players, they are usually dead money and will make all around spewy plays.

The Gloater

Players who like to gloat after winning a pot by typing “ty fish” or something similar are normally long-term weak-tight losers. Someone who regularly wins doesn’t need to talk smack about it. Someone who rarely wins a pot and needs to draw attention to that fact will be insecure with their game and weak-tight.

What you do – They are weak-tight so respect their raises and re-raises. Bluff them often when they show weakness.

The “why do you raise every hand” whiner

A player who doesn’t know how to handle your constant pressure might say a thing like, “you really got it every time”, or “keep raising every hand buddy”.

What you do – Run them over. They can’t handle you so keep doing what your doing. If they finally reshove you, it could be that they got dealt a hand good enough to finally play back at you, or they could be blowing up from tilt. Err on the side of caution when they play back at you.

The “you raised UTG with 86, what a donkey” whiner

If an opponent comments on your starting hand selection being loose, it can be because he thinks he plays ‘the right way’, which is ABC, tight/passive.

What you do – Exploit him by betting when he checks. He is straightforward so his plays usually mean what they look like. When he enters the pot he has a good starting hand so narrow the range you put him on accordingly.

The “professor”

Your opponent is the type who says things in the chatbox like “why would you raise in that spot ever” or “ I am never showing down anything less then a set there, what a bad call”. Sometimes he is a good player and sometimes he is a bad player, you will be able to tell by the things he says.

What you do -

Agree with him whether he is right or wrong, engage him and he will keep telling you how he would of played every hand, and you can adjust your strategies against him accordingly. After you play a standard hand and show down, ask him how he would of played it, ask him if you played it “right”.

Reverse tells

Like I indicated earlier, good players give off reverse tells to induce you to make mistakes. Be aware of who is capable of this and do not rely on these standard tells against them but develop specific tells for them pertaining to their game. Employ Reverse Tells into your own game to induce your opponent to make mistakes by doing these things I have listed as tells when you are against a knowledgeable opponent who is capable of reading the tell and acting on it. Now if your opponent knows that you are also knowledgeable he could realize your employing a reverse tell and adjust accordingly, and it can become a leveling game of rock,paper,scissors. If that’s the case you should probably mix things up and not try to use obvious reverse tells against someone who knows what your doing. Many players might not know who you are though, and if that’s the case, they won’t think your capable of doing reverse tells, that’s who you use them. To summarize, use reverse tells against good players who don’t know your capable of using reverse tells. Be aware of other players who are capable of using reverse tells and avoid getting trapped by them.

Implement these exploits into your game and you will see an improvement in your results.
Against unknown random players you should exploit them in the proven, tried and tested methods. Exploit their standard habits and patterns over and over.

Many online players are regulars. Their standard habits are still exploitable, but when they deviate from their normal patterns is what you should focus on.

This article first appeared in Bluff Magazine.

Tournament management :

knowing when to gamble it up vs. understanding when you can fold QQ/AK.
Rhythm and pace, knowing when to speed up and slow down.
Knowing when to practice avoidance vs. looking for a showdown.
Understanding your hands equity vs. a players hand range.

It is strange how I remember laying down big hands more than I recall making straight flushes.
How many times do you remember laying down AK pre?
Have you ever laid down Kings or Aces pre?
I am sure you have laid down Queens preflop, right?

The reason I am mentioning this is the number of mistakes I see deep in tournaments. I have been at many a table with hundreds of hands on multiple players and one of these players will go crazy versus a total nit’s three bet. I wonder how could this guy not realize the nit hasn’t seen a flop in over 100 hands? I think that at the lower stakes there are a high percentage of players who just have no idea of how there hands play versus a particular hand range.

Tournament management is definitely style dependent and I am not going to get into the specifics as I see them. I think it is important for players to develop a sense of game theory that will be dependent to their play and logic style.

A great exercise for any player is to imagine scenarios where they could fold Aces, Kings or Queens pre flop.
When is it profitable to call with any two?
When is the best times to check call with top pair top kicker?
Rebuys with 6 players all in, what are you gonna do?
Imagine extreme situations and what you would do if you encountered that situation.
When you find yourself sitting right in the middle of the very spot you imagined you will confidently make your play.

Q: Why do we bet in poker?
A: We bet to build a pot, buy a pot, or to get information.

How do we bet:
Bet two thirds the pot.
Bet half the pot.
Bet the pot.
Over bet the pot.
Under bet the pot.
Minimum bet.
All In bet.

Those are a few examples of common ways to bet.

How do we interpret bets?
A solid steady player has consistently bet two thirds pot on the flop, then seemingly out of the blue he comes in for a minimum bet. How do we interpret his bet? Weakness? Strength?
A loose aggressive player calls out of the blinds and then leads out. Weakness? Strength?

There are no right or wrong answers here. Bets are player dependent. I’ve called a guy 100bb deep when he shoved all in on the flop after flopping the nut flush. Was his play brilliance or lunacy?

The purpose of this article is not hand reading. The purpose of this article is to make you think about bet sizing and why you size the way you do.
If you think your opponent might actually be capable of drawing conclusions about your bet sizing, then you want to try and make sure he reads the signals you are sending (but not seeing through them.)

One way to lock into the efficacy of different plays is to actually try them. Before you make a bet think about why you are betting that size and why. Think about the ways your opponents might react if you cut your bet in half or if you doubled it. Will they see weakness? Strength? What might seem like an obvious move to one player might look like second level play to another.

So mix it up, get into your opponents heads, and have fun.

GG GL

Full Tilt Poker Game #13026962254: $8 + $0.80 Tournament (96683914), Table 14 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold’em - 16:46:51 ET - 2009/06/25
Seat 2: asico (7,195)
Seat 3: thaifyta2gzz (3,505)
Seat 4: 6-4 NO GOOOOOD (1,360)
Seat 5: jalaman (770)
Seat 6: Monti060685 (8,367)
Seat 7: hokumfool (2,095)
Seat 9: daddyo47 (7,205)
6-4 NO GOOOOOD posts the small blind of 50
jalaman posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Qh Qd]
Monti060685 folds
masterscruffy sits down
masterscruffy has been disconnected
masterscruffy adds 2,125
skoby78 sits down
skoby78 adds 7,883
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
masterscruffy has reconnected
hokumfool raises to 300
daddyo47 folds
asico calls 300
thaifyta2gzz has 15 seconds left to act
thaifyta2gzz folds
6-4 NO GOOOOOD folds
jalaman folds

——- I make a standard raise with my QQ———

*** FLOP *** [Td 5s 7h]
hokumfool bets 100

——–I min donk bet , what doe smy opponent think? —————

asico raises to 6,895, and is all in
hokumfool calls 1,695, and is all in
asico shows [6h 6s]
hokumfool shows [Qh Qd]
*** TURN *** [Td 5s 7h] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Td 5s 7h 9d] [7c]
asico shows two pair, Sevens and Sixes
hokumfool shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
hokumfool wins the pot (4,340) with two pair, Queens and Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
 Easy game

Poker is a game of incomplete information. As a player you want to gather as much information as possible to help define were you stand in a hand. As a player you also want to send as much information as possible so your opponents think they know where they stand in a hand. To send information you have to know that the villain is capable of reading and interpreting information.

As players become more advanced in their reading and interpreting skills they begin to communicate in deeper levels of thought processes. The overwhelming majority of players in the micro levels are thinking at a base level, if they are thinking at all. One of the things I have noticed as I have moved up to the low levels is that I have gotten trapped a few times, wow, there are players that are actually thinking. Of course thinking players actually allow me to bluff more, so at the low levels I run into a higher percentage of players that can hand read and therefore can fold to a bluff.

Here is a hand where I am against a competent villain, his stats were TAGish for the sample size and I had not seen him get out of line.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12791640618: $21,000 KO Guarantee (95008692), Table 127 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold’em - 15:22:16 ET - 2009/06/13
Seat 1: diera (4,370)
Seat 2: hokumfool (3,383)
Seat 3: Norm682 (1,672)
Seat 4: garamond10pt (2,355)
Seat 5: DirkBravo (3,790)
Seat 6: TKROCKET (2,615)
Seat 7: du_duaraujo (3,455)
Seat 8: alexisonilt (5,930)
Seat 9: zulek (3,515)
DirkBravo posts the small blind of 20
TKROCKET posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Kd Ks]
du_duaraujo folds
alexisonilt has 15 seconds left to act
alexisonilt folds
zulek folds
diera calls 40
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool raises to 180
Norm682 folds
garamond10pt folds
DirkBravo folds
TKROCKET folds
diera calls 140

He limped in, there was 100 in the pot and I raise it to 180 with position. I put him on a pocket pair, obviously.

*** FLOP *** [8c Th 2h]
diera checks
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool bets 275
diera calls 275

The pot size was 420 so I make a standard C-bet of two thirds the pot. As a thinking player I can expect him to call this most of the time. He probably has AK,AQ as a huge percentage of my range. Something I notice a lot is guys with an overpair to the board JJ-QQ will frequently bet pot here. So I like my bet size which screams AK, AQ.

*** TURN *** [8c Th 2h] [Ts]
diera checks
hokumfool bets 300
diera calls 300

This is where I get tricky. The pot size is 970 and I bet 300. I make it really hard for him to get away from the hand here. Even if he is capable of seeing this as a pure value bet, he is getting great odds to call.

*** RIVER *** [8c Th 2h Ts] [9s]
diera checks
hokumfool bets 888
diera calls 888

My read on him still stands as a pocket pair. Yes, perhaps he limped a suit-connector but most players open raise the connectors preflop. I also think if he was anywhere near the board with a connector, 76 or JQ, I think there is a great chance he would have check raised me on the flop. So I have him firmly on a pocket pair and I bet just over half the pot and I get paid.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
hokumfool shows [Kd Ks] two pair, Kings and Tens
diera mucks
hokumfool wins the pot (3,346) with two pair, Kings and Tens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,346 | Rake 0
Board: [8c Th 2h Ts 9s]
Seat 1: diera mucked [4d 4s] - two pair, Tens and Fours

I could have played this hand faster but I think he would have folded. I think the key to getting some chips out of this guy was the small turn bet. A good hand reader might have known he was on a ride to value town but probably would have called with the great odds he was getting. This is an example of getting some value out of a hand that typically folds out on the turn versus a standard turn continuation bet.
Of course he might have called me down the whole way with standard bets and I could have lost some value here but I obviously do not think that is the case. The floor is open for discussion.

GG GL

http://realpokertraining.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5447#5447

Poker beats, what’s a player to do? You get it in as a huge favorite and boom!, you’re busted. How you handle your bad beats is a huge part of your overall poker game. If you go on life/poker tilt because of an unlucky turn of the cards, you are going to spew in every aspect of you life/poker game. So why am I rambling on about handling the suck-outs? It’s all a prelude, a set up, an introduction for a couple of my bad beat stories.

Beat #1
3 handed, 1st pays $11,193, 2nd pays $7223, 3rd pays $5,349.
KK is a 82% to 18% favorite

Full Tilt Poker Game #12206156211: MiniFTOPS Event #16 (84243348), Table 212 - 80K/160K - Pot Limit Hold’em - 22:37:42 ET - 2009/05/13
Seat 3: OH for SURE (1,133,580)
Seat 6: GoldRivr (10,465,596)
Seat 9: hokumfool (2,185,824)
GoldRivr posts the small blind of 80,000
hokumfool posts the big blind of 160,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Ks Kc]
OH for SURE folds
hokumfool raises to 1,440,000
GoldRivr raises to 4,320,000
hokumfool calls 745,824, and is all in
GoldRivr shows [Qs Qd]
hokumfool shows [Ks Kc]
Uncalled bet of 2,134,176 returned to GoldRivr
*** FLOP *** [Ts Qh Td]
*** TURN *** [Ts Qh Td] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Ts Qh Td Ad] [6d]
GoldRivr shows a full house, Queens full of Tens
hokumfool shows two pair, Kings and Tens
GoldRivr wins the pot (4,371,648) with a full house, Queens full of Tens
GoldRivr: im sorry

Beat #2
In this hand I am a 91% to 9% favorite. Everyone was fairly short stacked with M’s of around 5 except for the chip leader whose M was closer to 20. The payout for 5th place was $1183. The payout for 1st place was $4247.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12741865532: MSOP Event #22 Overflow (93981311), Table 47 - 20000/40000 Ante 5000 - No Limit Hold’em - 22:15:17 ET - 2009/06/10
Seat 1: zdarko54 (580,973)
Seat 3: hokumfool (409,570)
Seat 5: mlowery (407,466)
Seat 6: MOD36 (579,698)
Seat 7: amarillion (1,883,293)
zdarko54 antes 5,000
hokumfool antes 5,000
mlowery antes 5,000
MOD36 antes 5,000
amarillion antes 5,000
mlowery posts the small blind of 20,000
MOD36 posts the big blind of 40,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Kc Kd]
amarillion raises to 82,999
zdarko54 folds
hokumfool raises to 404,570, and is all in
mlowery folds
MOD36 folds
amarillion calls 321,571
hokumfool shows [Kc Kd]
amarillion shows [Kh Qs]
*** FLOP *** [As Jc Td]
*** TURN *** [As Jc Td] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [As Jc Td 3d] [3h]
hokumfool shows two pair, Kings and Threes
amarillion shows a straight, Ace high
amarillion wins the pot (894,140) with a straight, Ace high
hokumfool throws up

All I have to say is yes these beats cost me thousands of dollars but I am so glad they didn’t happen an hour earlier. I am so glad they happened deep at the final table and not in the first twenty minutes of the tournament. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

GG GL

“Limp, check, flop, check, bet,fold” welcome to the micro/low limits of online poker. I have seen this scene play out ad nauseam amongst the weaker players online. Common remedies for limpers on your big blind include:

1. Raising preflop with any two - chase those limpers out before the flop hits and if they stick around, lead out any flop. I have a limp/fold statistic for my HUD, because it is a great stat to know.
2. Check raise any flop - keep the buggers honest. A strange phenomena of the micro limits is many players can not fold to a check raise, but they will lay down to a turn lead out after a check raise (a little something something to keep in mind.)
3. Lead out any flop - push those monkeys off your pot.
4. Fold - This is the most commonly used play against a limper who raises the flop (very effective.)
5. Float the flop - Call the flop with any two and see how the player reacts on the turn. See example below.

Always keep in mind that there are players in these levels that will not fold Jack high so beware the calling station when bluffing with air. Personally, I like to have some outs or at least an Ace for some kind of showdown value when bluffing.

The play in the example below is a basic poker move, a float with an Ace high. I could check the river but I think a bet folds out smaller pocket pairs enough to be profitable. Obviously most of you have this move in your repertoire, and for those of you who don’t, add it today.

GG GL
Example -

PokerStars Game #28913542941: Tournament #168050134, $3.00+$0.30 Hold’em No Limit - Level X (100/200) - 2009/06/02 15:59:34 ET
Table ‘168050134 535′ 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: charterbus (8095 in chips)
Seat 2: MAKKZ (23910 in chips)
Seat 3: hokumfool (9673 in chips)
Seat 4: PokerPete04 (11235 in chips)
Seat 5: veippa (25169 in chips)
Seat 6: THEKIDS2007 (9110 in chips)
Seat 7: Aces_jjAcKs (8720 in chips)
Seat 8: Albert47 (4175 in chips)
Seat 9: El_PoRTu_KK (8400 in chips)
charterbus: posts the ante 25
MAKKZ: posts the ante 25
hokumfool: posts the ante 25
PokerPete04: posts the ante 25
veippa: posts the ante 25
THEKIDS2007: posts the ante 25
Aces_jjAcKs: posts the ante 25
Albert47: posts the ante 25
El_PoRTu_KK: posts the ante 25
MAKKZ: posts small blind 100
hokumfool: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [7c Ac]
PokerPete04: folds
veippa: folds
THEKIDS2007: calls 200
Aces_jjAcKs: folds
Albert47: folds
El_PoRTu_KK: folds
charterbus: folds
MAKKZ: folds
hokumfool: checks
*** FLOP *** [8h 3s 9c]
hokumfool: checks
THEKIDS2007: bets 550
hokumfool: calls 550
*** TURN *** [8h 3s 9c] [Ts]
hokumfool: checks
THEKIDS2007: checks
*** RIVER *** [8h 3s 9c Ts] [9s]
hokumfool: bets 1200
THEKIDS2007: folds
Uncalled bet (1200) returned to hokumfool
hokumfool collected 1825 from pot
hokumfool: doesn’t show hand

Abusing the bubble is a great way to chip up for the long haul to the final table. Pay special attention to your table as the bubble draws near.
If the table seems to be playing tight, get active.
If there are certain players playing tight, attack their blinds.
If you notice a player using his timebank, he is only going to be playing his top 3-5%, raisy-daisy.
If a big stack is obviously abusing the bubble and you have some fold equity, three bet that monkey (with position.)
Obviously stay away from tight players who call or four bet you.
Stay away from the big stacks with whom you have no fold equity.

Here is an example of me gambling it up 5 players from the bubble:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12240231088: $10 + $1 Tournament (91334346), Table 7 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Omaha H/L - 19:19:24 ET - 2009/05/15
Seat 1: COMEBACKID1 (17,314)
Seat 2: iwntmymummy (31,137)
Seat 4: fleegreen (12,787)
Seat 5: BobbyRutts (43,127)
Seat 7: eric_the_actor1 (22,296)
Seat 8: hokumfool (17,320)
Seat 9: NativeAK (30,959)
COMEBACKID1 antes 75
iwntmymummy antes 75
fleegreen antes 75
BobbyRutts antes 75
eric_the_actor1 antes 75
hokumfool antes 75
NativeAK antes 75
BobbyRutts posts the small blind of 300
eric_the_actor1 posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Ad 6h 4d 2d]
hokumfool raises to 2,625
NativeAK folds
COMEBACKID1 calls 2,625
iwntmymummy folds
fleegreen folds
BobbyRutts folds
eric_the_actor1 folds
*** FLOP *** [5c Tc Th]
hokumfool bets 5,000
COMEBACKID1 has 15 seconds left to act
COMEBACKID1 folds
Uncalled bet of 5,000 returned to hokumfool
hokumfool mucks
hokumfool wins the pot (6,675)

The table was playing really tight, I had a better than average hand, so I popped it up and took it down with a strong continuation bet.
I would have still cashed no problem if he had raised me, and if he just called, I was done with the hand.
It was a really great flop for me. Only a few specific hands could make a call or raise, especially considering our stack sizes.

There is nothing particularly note worthy about this hand. It is a standard play. A standard play all of you should be making.

GG GL

The power of the raise can not be denied. A raise will turn your opponents imagination on, like opening the refrigerator will turn on a light (well maybe not quite as consistent but you get my point.)
A raise will give you momentum in the hand. A raise will give you the initiative.

Initiative :
1.The power or ability to begin or to follow through energetically with a plan or task; enterprise and determination.
2.A beginning or introductory step; an opening move: took the initiative in trying to solve the problem.

You are on the button with 57s. You have 15,000 chips and the blinds are 200/400 with an ante of 50. There is a one limper from cutoff+2 who has a stack of 13,500.
You could easily fold here and wait for a better spot but you could use your position and take the initiative and raise the pot. There is 1450 chips in the pot, so I like to raise somewhere around 1400-1600. Let us say that you raise it to 1600.
The blinds fold and it is back on the the limper. He is getting great odds to call and he should call, but very often a limper will fold her and you will take down the pot.
Let us say he calls. There is 4250 in the pot and the flop is AQ6 rainbow.

The most likely scenario is he checks, you bet, he folds. This is your bread and butter play. I use it in cash games all the time and in MTT’s after the antes kick in. Your opponent will most likely have no problem laying down a Q or a pocket pair, and you pick up a nice pot with 7 high.
But if you had limped, it might be a hard sell to get him to lay down a QJ or a pair of 8’s.

No move is 100% but like all good moves it will be highly profitable in the long run. So raise!!!

GG GL

Inducing bets from your opponents can be a profitable skill to have but it can lead to trouble. In my last article I discussed different ways to get the villain to put money in the pot. A couple of days after writing that article I had a curious hand come up. Here is how it played out:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12071070984: MiniFTOPS Event #1 (84239296), Table 2499 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold’em - 21:34:35 ET - 2009/05/06
Seat 1: DDubya97 (5,835)
Seat 2: hokumfool (4,440)
Seat 3: Batman Wins (4,555)
Seat 4: UnFckinReal (5,630)
Seat 5: Sir MafioSo94 (3,455)
Seat 6: scags23 (6,085)
Sir MafioSo94 posts the small blind of 20
scags23 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [Qs Ac]
DDubya97 folds
hokumfool raises to 120
Batman Wins calls 120
UnFckinReal folds
Sir MafioSo94 folds
scags23 folds

—–Notice how deep we are. I make a standard raise. I feel his range here can be very wide – AA, any two broadway cards, any suited connectors, any pocket pair. I feel like he would 3-Bet KK, QQ, JJ and perhaps AA or AK. I have no reads on him.

*** FLOP *** [4h Qc 9d]
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool bets 225
Batman Wins has 15 seconds left to act
Batman Wins calls 225

—–I make a a standard continuation bet and he calls. The range I put him on preflop holds, I can see a player not wanting to run me out of the pot with overs or a set. I can also see him floating with any suited connector, pocket pair, or even KQ-10 type hands.

*** TURN *** [4h Qc 9d] [7d]
hokumfool checks
Batman Wins has 15 seconds left to act
Batman Wins bets 320
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool calls 320

—–I check the turn because he has position and I don’t want him to fold to my turn continuation bet. He bets around half the pot. I consider a raise here, but I think the only hands that would call me are hands that have me beat or perhaps KQ. I think it is too likely he will fold, so I just call the raise to try and get more value on the river.

*** RIVER *** [4h Qc 9d 7d] [Kh]
hokumfool checks
Batman Wins bets 3,890, and is all in
hokumfool has 15 seconds left to act
hokumfool folds
Uncalled bet of 3,890 returned to Batman Wins
Batman Wins mucks
Batman Wins wins the pot (1,390)

—– The river was an ugly card but I was not that concerned. I did check for pot control and because the king did hit a large part of his range. I was perfectly willing to call a pot sized bet but he shoves. The shove actually made me think he had missed everything and I was very tempted to call. I felt my implied skill odds of recouping my loss in this hand was actually greater than the chance that he had air so I made the fold.

If I would have continued betting on the turn I would have had a tighter grasp of his range, but I was gambling to get more value. I use this move many times a day and it is very effective, but sometimes an attempt to reap value does nothing but induce trouble.

GG GL

A powerful move in your poker arsonal should be inducing bluffs. An aggressive villian can easily stack off if you are showing weakness but you could lose value if your oppenent does not bite, and you can lose money if you give them a free or cheap card while they are on the draw. Use this move thoughtfully.
Typical spots and way to induce are:

Cbet the flop then check the turn. I get a truck load of action this way and it protects your missed AK type hands.

Underbet. Say the pot is $210 on the flop and you bet $75, this will frequently induce just the action you desire.

Overbet. Frequently, an oppenent will see this as weakness but of course you might just push your oppentent out of the hand.

Just checking the flop will frequently have aggesive oppents building the pot for you where many times they would be folding.

A minimum raise from late position will often induce.

Just calling raises versus an aggressive villian. Use a timing tell to feign weakness for optimal results. In the example below I took just an extra second or two before calling.

GG GL

PokerStars Game #27860270505: Tournament #160529379, $8.00+$0.80 Hold’em No Limit - Level XI (125/250) - 2009/05/05 17:52:31 ET
Table ‘160529379 147′ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Trap_Door04 (14480 in chips)
Seat 2: hokumfool (11775 in chips)
Seat 3: superjokke (4920 in chips)
Seat 4: jackthuca (9890 in chips)
Seat 5: Goggen_S (3732 in chips)
Seat 6: Zeifod (19430 in chips)
Seat 7: bullets911 (19502 in chips)
Seat 8: JackTheRipa (17962 in chips)
Seat 9: funtas1 (7974 in chips)
Trap_Door04: posts the ante 30
hokumfool: posts the ante 30
superjokke: posts the ante 30
jackthuca: posts the ante 30
Goggen_S: posts the ante 30
Zeifod: posts the ante 30
bullets911: posts the ante 30
JackTheRipa: posts the ante 30
funtas1: posts the ante 30
bullets911: posts small blind 125
JackTheRipa: posts big blind 250
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hokumfool [As Ad]
funtas1: folds
Trap_Door04: calls 250
hokumfool: raises 500 to 750
superjokke: folds
jackthuca: folds
Goggen_S: folds
Zeifod: folds
bullets911: folds
JackTheRipa: folds
Trap_Door04: calls 500
*** FLOP *** [6d Ah 4c]
Trap_Door04: bets 1000
hokumfool: calls 1000
*** TURN *** [6d Ah 4c] [Js]
Trap_Door04: bets 1000
hokumfool: calls 1000
*** RIVER *** [6d Ah 4c Js] [8d]
Trap_Door04: bets 11700 and is all-in
hokumfool: calls 8995 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2705) returned to Trap_Door04
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Trap_Door04: shows [Qh Kc] (high card Ace)
hokumfool: shows [As Ad] (three of a kind, Aces)
hokumfool collected 24135 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 24135 | Rake 0
Board [6d Ah 4c Js 8d]
Seat 1: Trap_Door04 showed [Qh Kc] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 2: hokumfool showed [As Ad] and won (24135) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 3: superjokke folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: jackthuca folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: Goggen_S folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: Zeifod (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: bullets911 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: JackTheRipa (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: funtas1 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

tough game…

How has the inflationary spiral affected the WSOP? The first WSOP was in 1970, the first that featured the $5000 no limit hold’em main event was in 1971, and the first that featured the $10,000 no limit hold’em main event was in 1973. The entry fee doubled after two years, but has remained static ever since. However, the economy has changed a great deal over the last 40 years.

The Price of a Cadillac

In its initial conception, the entry fee for the main event was worth about the price of a new Cadillac (Cadillacs actually ran from about $3000-$5000 in 1971 depending on the model), and in fact, Doyle Brunson coined the phrase “the Cadillac of poker games,” to refer to no limit Texas hold’em. Today’s Cadillacs can go for as much as $100,000, but the price of the World Series of Poker main event remains the same.

The Effect of the Inflationary Spiral on the WSOP

While the large majority of people still cannot afford to plunk down $10,000 on a poker tournament, the number who could do it back then was no more than a handful. The first few WSOP main events had less than 20 players. Today, there are thousands. The creation of satellite tournaments and particularly online satellites, has been a great contributing factor as well, but the fact remains that $10,000 isn’t what it used to be. Nowadays a vast majority of Americans can afford to enter super-satellites or at least any cheap sub-satellite via us poker rooms such as PokerStars or Full Tilt.

Response to the Effect of the Inflationary Spiral on the WSOP

The $10,000 event is not likely to be changed anytime soon. Tournament organizers feel that the 10K is an immutable part of the tradition of the WSOP and they like the fact that more people are able to participate. Furthermore, with the current recession counteracting some of the effects of the inflationary spiral, $10,000 has gained in value a little bit in recent years. However, the WSOP has responded by adding more $10,000 events, and adding events that have a greater than $10,000 buy in, most notably the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event but also in 2009 a special $40,000 no limit hold’em event in honor of the WSOP’s 40th anniversary.