Deep Stack Poker

True Love Will Find You In The End

2012-01-29T16:24:00.000Z

Easy shove?

2011-12-31T14:57:00.001Z

"These are Phil’s words, and I am paraphrasing.
One time, I had a really tough river spot facing a pretty big bet. It felt so close between calling and folding, I didn’t know what to do. I told Tom about the hand and he said ‘easy shove’. My head exploded. (This was probably like 2005 or something before people were good at NL). Tom was really far ahead of the curve for a long time in NL."

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19/high-stakes-pl-nl/well-raptor517-1138473/index14.html

Reviewing the early steps from a portuguese poker pro

2011-11-13T22:39:00.004Z

Equilibrium

I firmly believe that this is one of the great strengths of the best poker players and something totally indispensable who want to be.

I'm talking about the balance of feelings arising from this game and how they influence our well being.

Being overly optimistic and positive after a good victory is as bad as being too pessimistic and negative after a defeat, I believe that we should face a victoria (very good session, a victory mtt) as a result of a positive variance that we suffer a defeat as well as a negative result of the variance, I think that a large variance of ego can be very harmful to the player so that you can not face reality as it really is.

Obvious that I feel more happy when I win than when I lose, but the distance between these sensations should be shortened as much as possible, so that one feels to play at the next session calm and aware of the fact that you have and how to improve.

Obviously I am not advocating that one should not feel good and happy with ourselves, but this state should be natural, unaffected by short sessions, the happiness we could have bought something that satisfies us with money from the poker, because our bankrool allowed ourselves to do it, etc ...

After my first tournament win, the next ones I did not play it professionally, not being with great attention and playing very casually.

My ego was totally inflamed, never thinking it would lose through their own fault, (after all how the great champion could lose??) I lost almost all my bankroll ...

What happened to me (and unfortunately happen again later) was an increase of ego for which I was not prepared psychological, a huge change in my feelings that made me feel good and confident . I see this happen enough times to other people, with sudden variances in the state of mind and believe as things go well or badly, and many times it's just variance

You will not always win even if you are playing at your best and sometimes you will win by a lot of mistakes, so there is no reason for drama or joy.

Today I am much stronger in this respect, dealing very well with the two situations and working to improve Whether I am up or down, my ego does not have large variances and generally do not feel no better or worse after a win or a lose (a bit, but not very relevant).

I think we should not feel happy or shaken with situations that happen to us, because I think that people will make us much more apt to face the reality of each day. I think there's good and bad variance in life and we should stay semi-neutral so that this does not shake us too much.

http://socioanonimo-ulgg.blogspot.com/2008/12/equilibrio.html

Are you training enough?

2011-10-20T23:12:00.002+01:00

A good measure is:

You are only training enough when stuff are so hard that you wish to be doing "something else".

Just a Reminder to Myself

2011-09-24T09:41:00.001+01:00

"At the end, the money doesn't matter much. What is important is the friends you made, and the moments you lived."

When the Last Sword is Drawn

2011-09-20T00:20:00.000+01:00

If there is a character that I identify myself in a movie it is in this one

Analysis of the Party Poker Big Game V - Episode 1

2011-08-28T16:36:00.001+01:00

Episode 1 - click here

Hand 1:

Sam Trickett leads to collect dead equity and to get value of a 5 or a 4 against their loose opponents, and continues on the turn with a merge bet against one of the most tight players on the table.

Hand 2:

Sam Trickett 3 bets for value IP with KJs because he knows that his opponent don't fold to often.

He made a standard cbet in a dry board, and double barrels when caught more equity. Viffer calls the flop and the turn with what is sometimes the best hand against a bluffing 3betting range.

On the river Trickett opted for a overbet polarizing his range hoping to get called with even a bigger frequency.

Hand 3:

Tilly leads the flop on the draw because she doesn't want to play it on c/c oop.

On the turn she represents the flush (necessary condition when you playing straight draws), and taking in consideration the agressive nature of op.

Hand 4:

Trickett river big overshove is meant to fold TP and worst type hands, I guess in Trickett mind Fitoussi had close to 0% of slowplay monsters on the turn.

It is always beautiful to see 2 diferent players clash.

Hand 5:

I think Trickett preflop call is only justified if he believes the qualifier would play weak posflop because he is not too deep.

Hand 6:

Neil Channing river play is odd, because he is up against a very agressive player, If he is putting money on the river should be by calling because if not, he is capping her range to better hands.

Hand 7:

It is a difficult spot for the qualifier, but I think he can find a fold on the flop because the board his somewhat dry and Viffer is raising into a big field.

Hand 8:

Tight fold from Devilfish to the 1/2 pot bet, also I didn't like his sizing on the turn.

Hand 9:

Nothing much to add there.

Hand 10:

I believe the qualifier get those somewhat light preflop calls because is from Sweden.

Post flop Devilfish lead the flop with the combo draw I believe to try maximize the profit from the fold equity to a 3bet shove on the flop against an expected agressive player.

Analysis of 10NL FR Video (in Portuguese)

2011-08-13T23:45:00.003+01:00

Vídeos reviews up to 10NL FR and 6max - 20€ (the best micro stakes cash player in the world)

The STINK

2011-08-11T22:28:00.001+01:00

Negreanu a big donater cash game player (min 3)

2011-07-04T00:18:00.000+01:00

FULL METAL JACKET

2011-06-28T00:17:00.002+01:00

Funny Drill Sergeant

Quote of the day

2011-06-15T22:45:00.003+01:00

In 6max I always look happy for AK when I got 3betted, but in FR I became sad...

Phounder, High Stakes Player

Developing Inner Dialogue

2011-06-15T18:02:00.000+01:00

...

Try to avoid self deprecation when you find yourself in a tough spot,or one which you wish you weren’t in. When you are betting three streets with top set and then your opponent jams the river when the flush hits, as much as you want to scream and yell and throw a fit, don’t do it. Don’t feel sorry for yourself or bemoan your bad luck. Don’t even think about things like that. Focus on how to make the best decision from that point forward. The cards cannot be controlled, so focus on things which you can especially control, like your thought process. If you find yourself uncontrollably thinking about things you know you shouldn’t be when you have a decision to make, try to make a conscious effort to stop. It’s easier than you think to train your mind to be calm at the poker table. You need to convince yourself that it is wrong to tilt, it is wrong to get flustered when you are in a tough spot, and it is wrong to get mad about something you cannot control.

The more poker you play, the easier these inner dialogues will become because you will begin to figure out the important questions in each situation. You will also be less shocked and angry when you are facing a brutal decision because it has happened fifty times before that. It can be easy to think about what you would do in a situation on paper, but being able to think about it when it’s actually happening is harder. The best solution for that is to simply be prepared.

Source: http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Developing-Inner-Dialogue-Dani-Stern-2304.htm

From what movie this passage is from?

2011-06-14T16:59:00.000+01:00

...

The old man is blind. Pete asks for water for the horses. No problem. Then the old man says he likes to listen to the Mexican radio station, even if he can’t understand the words. “I like the way Spanish sounds, don’t you?”

...

The old man invites them in for some dinner. Pete asks the old man if he lives alone. He says his son usually comes once a month with food, but he hasn’t seen him for 6 months.

Then it’s time to leave. The old man asks a favor. “Anything you want,” Pete says. The old man asks, “I wanted to ask you if you could shoot me.” Pete and Norton react. “My son ain’t coming back.” Pete says, “Oh, he’ll come back.” But the old man insists: “He told me he has cancer. He told me to go back to town with him. But I’ve always lived here.” Pete shakes his head. “We can’t do it.” The old man says, “I don’t want to offend God by killing myself. It’s a problem.” Pete concludes, “We don’t want to offend God either.” They ride off. Norton can’t help but look back toward the old man. “You’re good people,” he cries. “You need to go ahead and shoot me.”

Polarization vs Polarization and Bet Sizing

2011-06-08T00:38:00.003+01:00

Ecstasy of Gold

2011-05-29T23:55:00.000+01:00

Delayed Cbet

2011-05-23T22:03:00.000+01:00

"One great spot to delayed cbet is against fish that will not fold alot on a board you have poor equity when called and can't barrel.

Say J92 and you have 56o.

If you check behind on the flop and they check the turn, they are giving up very often, so you delay cbet the turn."

AceofSpades, 2+2 member

"One of the best spots is obviously when cbetting flop has no clue whereas betting the turn makes sense.

As an example :
you raise PF with KQo, flop brings AdKs9h, you check behind figuring nothing worse calls and nothing better folds if you cbet, and you bet the turn which brings Th because now a lot of worse hands will call you (pairs + gutters, flushdraws, 2nd pairs with worse kicker, etcetc)

I also like to do it sometimes versus nits or aggressive guys. The nit won't give me three streets of value anyways when I hold KQo on a K72rb flop so I might aswell let him see a turn to let him "catch up a bit" and widen his calling range, and I give the maniac a chance to bluff me because he views my range as weak (QQ-) when I check the flop.

Basically three reasons :

- It will induce a bluff later
- You can't get three streets of value anyways and/or you have a hand that doesn't wanna face heat/a big pot
- Nothing worse calls on the flop and nothing better folds, thus cbetting the flop is useless"

beHypE, 2+2 member

"Delayed cbet against regs also could work well, but normally I only use it In Position and against aggressive regs that check raise a little bit too much."

Flyerr, EducaPoker Coach

Sources:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32/beginners-questions/delayed-cbet-961306/

http://pokerpt.com/forum/cash-games-nl-low-stakes-f42/topic19887.html

Embrace the Variance

2011-04-06T10:35:00.000+01:00

There are people in the poker community who consider the word ‘gambling’ unsavoury or distasteful. They prefer to think of poker as a ‘mind sport’, and distinguish our great game from inferior, pure chance games in an attempt to raise its acceptability in the eyes of the public.

Making poker more acceptable is an admirable goal, but it’s impossible to ignore the element of chance in the game. The ups and downs that every player experiences are commonly referred to as ‘variance’, which is a mathematical term used to measure the deviation present in a group of results, such as wins and losses in poker. When you hear somebody say that PLO is a ‘high variance’ game, they mean that the wins and losses tend to be large compared to other games.

Variance affects different players in different ways. Take a beginner, for example, who plays lots of hands and calls a lot of bets. This is a high variance style, which will win big when the beginner catches cards or plays against opponents who bluff too much. At the opposite end of the scale, take a professional tourney player. It’s difficult to consistently cash in tournaments with thousands of players and make a profit. Most of the time, the professional will bust out of the tournament early on, perhaps through sheer bad luck. But when the professional does cash, often it’s for a very large amount of money, which cancels out all the previous losses and puts them in the black for the year. Being a tournament pro is a high variance profession.

You can’t escape variance in poker and you need to prepare for it both mentally and financially.

The Long Run

One of the most common fallacies you hear in poker is the idea that luck ‘evens out over time’. It doesn’t. Luck has no memory, and it doesn’t care that you just lost with Aces against Kings twice in a row. There is no guarantee that you will win with Aces against Kings twice in a row in future, evening out your losses.

What does happen is that over a large sample, your individual wins and losses tend to become insignificant compared to the big picture. When you average out all of your results, you’ll tend to find that your Aces won about 81% of the time that they were all-in against a smaller pair. The more hands you play, the more likely it is that your average result for a situation will be close to the mathematical probability.

In poker, your ‘sample size’ is the number of hands you have played in your career. Beginners tend to underestimate how many hands are required to get into the long run. Take a moment and think to yourself – how many hands do I need to play before I know for sure whether I’m a winner or a loser?

For no-limit Hold’em ring games, it’s generally accepted that you need at least 10,000 hands at the same limit under your belt before you can be confident that you’re beating the game, and probably more like 100,000 before you can be absolutely certain. If you’re playing a single table, it might take 125 hours or more to play this many hands! However, if you’ve played fewer hands, variance plays too significant a part in determining the results. Similarly, if you’re playing a higher variance game, such as PLO, you’re going to need more hands before you can be sure that you’re a long-term winner.

Tourneys

For tournaments it’s not quite as simple, because there are so many different varieties of tournament – regular, turbo, hyper-turbo and so on. A good way to approach the problem is to look at the average number of hands that you play in a particular tournament type, and then divide 10,000 by that number. So, if in a regular sit-and-go you typically play 80 hands, you’ll need to play at least 125 of them before you know whether you’re a long-term winner or not. If you usually play 20 hands in a hyper-turbo SNG, you’ll need to play 500 of them.

As you can see, the fewer hands are involved in determining the outcome, the more variance is involved. It would be very easy for a complete beginner to win a 20-hand hyper-turbo SNG, for example. However, a 1,000-hand cash game session would be a completely different proposition, and it’s much more likely that a skilful player would pocket the money.

People often ask whether there is more variance in ring games or tournaments, but that’s like asking which is larger, a circle or a square. The important thing is how many hands are played to determine the outcome, and how much money is risked. For example, let’s say you play 100 hands of a no-limit cash game, and wager (on average) $1 each hand. The variance would be similar to playing a $100 tournament that lasted for the same 100 hands – in both cases, you’ve wagered the same amount of money over the same number of hands. It’s a simplified example, but an eye-opening one.

Variance goes both ways. If you’re playing a high variance game or style, you’re going to have big wins and big losses. A topical example is the meteoric rise of Isildur1, who from September to November 2009 took down over $5m in the high stakes online cash games. Since then, Isildur1 has lost it all back and then some – and at the time of writing is a $2m loser in the games overall!

Many players find the big swings difficult to deal with, so they seek ways to reduce variance and simply grind out a consistent profit over time. The simplest way to do this is to play more hands, which can mean playing in faster games, multi-tabling, or simply playing more hours. But there are also more complex ways to reduce variance, such as changing your playing style.

Fighting Variance

High variance situations in poker tend to be those where you enter the pot with a hand which is close to even against the opposing hands you’re facing – for example, if you enter the pot with

8-8 against an opponent who has A-K. It therefore stands to reason that by playing a tight style in which you enter the pot only with strong hands you’ll reduce your variance, because you’ll usually be a bigger favourite against the competition. Conversely, by playing a loose style and entering the pot with lots of hands, you’ll be less of a favourite and your variance will

increase accordingly.

Some players online have taken this to its logical extreme, playing as many as 24 tables (or more!) of excruciatingly tight poker in order to grind out a living. The downside to this type of play, besides the extreme tedium, is that it doesn’t make as much money per hand as a more balanced, prudent style. Not only does extremely tight play mean giving up on potentially profitable situations, it makes you an easier player to read and exploit.

Depending on how risk-averse you are, giving up a bit of profit to lower your variance might be acceptable to you; but to become a truly great player, you need to embrace variance and simply make the optimal play as often as possible.

The Luck Delusion

Finally, a word of caution: it’s easy to chalk up your wins to skilful play on your part and dismiss your losses as variance. It’s exactly this trap that allows so many losing players to delude themselves that they are in fact winners, or at worst ‘breaking even’. While you shouldn’t get too frustrated with short-term fluctuations, it’s never a bad thing to be critical or to analyse your game. It’s much worse to have a leak and never find it than to waste a bit of time looking for a leak that isn’t there.

Source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/cash-poker/10630/variance.html

Value range vs Bluffing range

2011-04-02T10:11:00.000+01:00

Threads13

Against Tag's: Expand our bluffing range and tight your value range to avoid value bet yourself.

Against Loose's: Expand our value range and tight your bluffing range because they dont like to fold.

WTF was that? Merging!!!!!

2011-03-29T21:21:00.001+01:00

Carroters joins Grindcore to tear apart recreational player's river bets

2011-03-19T00:40:00.000Z

Carroters: "When a recreational player bets the river he is generally polarized because the recreational player usually don't thin value bet ."

Grindcore: "Yeah, nice point, and when a player bets with a polarized range, we can almost always bluff catch efficiently."

You should optimize your play for bluffs in NLH

2011-02-27T12:05:00.002Z

"Any spot where you can decrease your bet size without losing value, you usually should, because if you decrease your bet size it means your bluffs become cheaper, and this is No Limit Holdem where you never have anything, so you want to optimize your play for bluffs usually, not for value."

Grindcore, DC Instructor

Bluff the river with monsters - part 2

2011-02-11T10:56:00.000Z

A strong spirit never gets old

2011-02-08T10:52:00.000Z

Reverse Floating

2011-02-04T10:35:00.000Z

Floating/reverse floating

DISCLAIMER: Not for stakes 25nl and below. 25NLers might be able to take something away from this to use at the tables. For 10NL and below, valuebet valuebet valuebet and save the FPS for higher stakes.

Floating - Calling with a weaker hand/draw with intention of taking the pot away on a later street. Most often done in position.

Reverse floating - Floating out of position, usually applies in a Late position vs Blinds scenario

Why do we need it?

Hands are quite hard to make and often you’re going to be in an air vs relative air battle. In addition, you’ll see people cbet flops too much with hands that should/can be pot controlling. (Cbetting too much at the micros is NOT a leak if you plan on barreling good turns and rivers). Players will cbet 77 on K5x and then check back turn for “pot control” and then fold to a river lead. Vs some people that is a valid and good line. Vs others, checking back can be better.

When I sweat people I often see them 3bet hands like KQ/KJ/AT blinds vs LP. I’m not saying that it’s wrong, but these hands can be played profitably from the blinds without having to 3bet them (given that BB isn’t a squeeze monkey). If BB is a squeeze monkey, then 3betting from the SB is fine. These hands have postflop value and high card value and you’ll often see threads where “I flop tp in a 3bet pot and don’t know what to do”. Then you ask OP if they were 3betting preflop for value or not and they don’t really know. Unless villain is flatting all your 3bets, you can’t really know for sure and the average [good] player’s 3bet flatting range 100 deep will have you dominated and they’ll end up folding everything that you dominate pre.

Reverse floating

Good boards to do it on, in order of best to worst

Axxr/Kxxr/Qxxr

Why?

When you x/c on an Axxr board, especially oop, you rep Ax quite well. Since the board is A high and rainbow, there are less draws and no overcards for your opponent to barrel. When you x/c on a Kxx board, you rep Kx well. The only overcard is an Ace. When you x/c on a Qxx board, you rep Qx well. Ect.

Lead rivers often if the turn is checked through without relative SDV (or if you want to conceal your hand).
Hands to float with?
You can float with pocketpairs or cards with some connection to the board and some equity/chance to improve. Such as JTss AQxdds with the backdoor flushdraw. Or 78ss on K62scc again with the backdoor flushdraw. Having backdoor equity is always good. When you float pocketpairs on these boards, you’re basically using the high card on the board to get to showdown since you won’t get barreled often. Turning your small pp into a bluff on the river if the turn checks through so that you don’t have to show your hand (and that you’re capable of reverse floating) is fine. On Qxx/Kxx boards, you can float with Ax(AT/AJ) type hands for the over and possibly a gutshot.
Boards that are NOT good to reverse float would be ones that you are prone to getting barreled on. Such as 67Tssx/68Jssx and other middling connected/twotone boards. Reason being that there are more draws and overcards and you will get barreled if villain is semi competent. That and a lot of you guys NEVER EVER SLOWPLAY your SETS on connected boards because you’re scared of the board running out bad. As a side note, if you don’t protect your calling range with sets on these boards, you’re going to get barreled to kingdom come when you move up. Just something to keep in mind.
Of course all of this goes out of the window if villain is a One-pump-chump. Vs Mr. One pump, you can float wide and if you get double barreled you can happily muck your hand.
The Villains you choose to float/reverse float will be just as important as the boards you choose to do so. If villain is just a maniac barrel monkey, you will want to make your flop calling range stronger and just call down with TP+ instead of floating and getting tricky. So instead of reverse floating 56ss on A58ccs, you’ll want to have a hand like AT. It is important to pick up reads on your opponents barreling tendencies, whether they always barrel draws on the turn but give up rivers, or if they check back turns. Adjust accordingly (call down pairs lighter ott if they always barrel draws ott, river action depends on whether or not they fire brick rivers).
Some villains with WTSD of ~30%+ will never fold their hand if they pot control the turn, ie if they have KQ and they cbet AKx (lol), check turn and then you lead river with your mid pp and they snap it off because they pot controlled turn. Vs these guys don’t reverse float garbage, just flat Ax and lead rivers or c/f your mid pp OTR because you have some SDV vs their river checking range.
The games just got that much harder.
Or I just made everyone a cbet calling station.
Hope this was somewhat informational and good luck at the tables.

By "SharkbaitOHH" 2+2 member

Source: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69/micro-stakes-pl-nl/pooh-bah-reverse-floating-972834/

The best quality to excel at poker

2011-01-09T22:22:00.000Z

Burning a 100 dollar bill and sleep like an angel the night after

Playing top pair no kicker in 3bet pots

2010-12-31T20:45:00.002Z

Merry Christmas Foxes

2010-12-25T12:31:00.001Z

Just can't avoid crying always i see this movie, James Stewart at is best.

Another fashionable concept: Bluff Raising the river with monsters

2010-12-23T18:25:00.003Z

I believe this move is most efective in a 3 to a flush paired board.

If it is a good spot to value bet it is not a good one to bluff, and vice versa.

2010-12-23T01:13:00.000Z

One of the most fashionable concepts of the moment.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/56/medium-stakes-pl-nl/1knl-call-not-spot-vs-tough-reg-940791/

Love, Jealous and Destruction

2010-12-20T14:46:00.000Z

Blog Saver! or not really?

Betting for Protection

2010-12-14T23:10:00.007Z

Some definitions:

"Betting for protection doesn't exist! You are betting for value, and your value comes from when your opponet folds his equity in the pot" Baluga Whale - DC instructor

"Protection betting simply means that you're betting to protect your equity in a pot. Sometimes that means protecting your opponent from hitting some of his outs, whether or not he's correct to call or fold; sometimes it means protecting yourself from being bluffed by bluffing first, thereby protecting your bluffing equity." wazz - 2+2 member

"Betting for protection only is relevant when your opponet is folding a significant amount of the time". Carroter - GrinderSchool Instructor

I would maybe add: Folding more then 80%(?), if you can´t make him fold, you're better out checking, especially on the flop, not much on the turn, ie, the turn bet for protection is better because is strength doesn't depend as much from the folds we get.

Sources:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/15/poker-theory/accurate-definition-protection-betting-687598/

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/4-General-Discussion/topics/32888-Betting-for-protection

http://www.cardschat.com/reasons-for-betting.php

http://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?goto=nextnewest&threadid=87943

Equity Chunks vs Equity Pieces

2010-12-11T12:48:00.000Z

I believe this is a concept brought by Baluga Whale regarding especially to 3 bet pots.

Pockets pairs flop Equity Chunks, when they hit, they are at least 90% favorites.

Suited Cards flop Equity Pieces, which aloud us to continue more often, by raising or calling.

Ghost Equity

2010-12-04T13:44:00.001Z

Here’s a reply I made to someone reagarding a decision they had on the flop. It illustrates a much overlooked concept on poker and one I felt deserved a name of it’s own. I therefore coined the term of the title to explain this idea.

Here is hero’s post, detailing the question:
“I was playing vs. a guy who was extremely aggro. postflop raising/betting the flop 50% of the time over 8 times and full potting the flop/turn/river and only showdowned twice both having TP…once TPWK on a very wet board.
I had AT on a QT2tt board vs him and a reg. I was first to act and cbet and the reg folded and the aggro minraised me. What’s my plan? ”
I replied with the following:
“Okay, let’s think about the factors that you need to consider in this hand.
This guy is aggro, but from previous reads it’s not a very polarised range when he starts shovelling monies in. He’s also less likely to dick with us with total air when we bet on a 3 way flop. If he has a range of all Qx+ and draws then we’ll have pretty shitty equity due to there being a load of combos of Qx and the draws still doing well vs us.

So looks like on the flop that even though he’s generally aggro, our equity isn’t going to be great and so we should probably fold, unless of course, we have another reason not to. So…..what about the LOL OMFG POT ODDS!!!!! that we’re getting, is this a reason to peel the flop? Even if we have enough equity vs his range to peel a min raise based on these immediate pot odds in a vacuum, this is still going to be a fold and here’s why…..

The other thing you observed about this guy is that when he played flops aggressively before, he potted turns and rivers and didn’t slowdown. It’s fairly likely he’ll do this again on the turn with most of his range. What this means is, if we’re going to call the flop minraise profitably, we need to also be able to call turns profitably when he bets larger amounts, because we think he’ll do this very often. Since we actually have to fold turns due to his range containing too much Qx, it doesn’t matter how good our odds on the flop are, because we very rarely get to realise any of the equity we have vs his flop raising range because we don’t, and can’t get to showdown profitably.

Therefore there can be spots where even if a min raise gives us the lolpotodds to make a call in a vacuum on the flop, looking only at only one street; analysis of the hand as a whole will show that we actually have way less equity than a stoved range on the flop will show us to have due to having to fold the turn/river so often. Thus, a lot of the equity we may have vs the draws or even air part of his range on the flop is actually ghost equity (dum dum DUM) since it hardly ever gets realised. So let’s fold the flop.

Obviously if this guy is likely to start slowing down, giving up on the turn etc then we could peel since he’ll define his range more on turn cards and allow us to play well vs him and get to showdowns. Since he isn’t doing this often at all based on what we’ve observed, peeling the flop to fold turns a huge amount of the time will be setting monies on fire.

There are loads of ways to exploit a guy who goes mental with top pair, one of them is to fold 2nd pair when he starts going mental.”

To summarise then there will be spots where we have less actual showdown equity than we have immediate pot equity on a given street because of the high frequnecy that we will have to fold on a later street due to what we know of villain and his tendencies. The equity that very frequently disappears due to us not being able to continue vs a larger future bet on a future street is now known offically as ghost equitees.

Source: http://pokersback.com/Blogs/carroters/

Inelastic calling range

2010-11-28T21:59:00.000Z

Always you believe your opponent has a inelastic calling range you should:

- Overbet for value
- Underbet as a bluff

http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?b=710

Tom "Durrrr" Dwan vs Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates

2010-11-27T19:49:00.001Z

Jungleman does not have an edge over durrrr in small sessions.

Jungleman have a "robotic" style, and durrr a "creative" one.

But when the "artist" is tired doesn't have a chance over the "machine".

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/durrrr-challenge-stage-ii-daniel-jungleman12-cates-running-thread-861923/index202.html#post23131360

Mark Twain

2010-11-13T11:13:00.000Z

«Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.»

"Minnesota" Fats

2010-10-26T21:09:00.000+01:00

“I am the most intelligent man I know ... I know everything that anybody knows, and nobody knows what I know.”

http://www.bluffeurope.com/poker-news/en/editorial/Minnesota-Fats_8957.aspx

Turning The Initiative

2010-10-01T12:52:00.001+01:00

Most winning online tournament players are a big fan of pot controlling. They will religiously check back the turn after betting the flop in order to get to showdown cheaply. This is often a very successful strategy as they turn their marginal hands into bluff catchers and don’t risk getting moved off of the best hand by bet folding the turn. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about combating this strategy and taking pot controllers’ out of their comfort zone.
A strategy that I have found to be really useful in counteracting this strategy is something which I call ‘turning the initiative’. Turning the initiative involves check calling the flop and then donking the turn on a card where you know your opponent is likely to pot control. This then forces them into tough turn and river decisions because they either end up playing a much bigger hand than they wanted to with a marginal hand or folding;whereas if you took the normal course of action and checked to them on the turn, they will often check back the turn keeping the pot under control. Now on the river its very hard for you to run a bluff, as you only have one street to get them to fold rather than two if you had donked the turn and river. Additionally if you have a strong hand which moved ahead on the turn then you won’t be able to get as much value as you would like to for it.
Over the months of June and July I was playing in the WSOP and have already ‘turned the initiative’ a number of times (both for value and as bluffs).

Here is an example of when I used it to get max value from my opponents:

The blinds were 25/50 in a recent $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event and I held 88 in the small blind. The cutoff opened to 150 and I flat called, the big blind also made the call and it was three way to the flop.The fl op was k-k-- rainbow. The action checked to the pre-flop raiser who c-bet 250 which I felt he would with his whole range, so I figured to have the best hand the majority of the time and made the call. However, the big blind also made the call and this alarmed me a lot as there were no draws on the flop, and I felt his over calling range included a lot of K-x hands after I had shown a lot of strength with my call out of position.
The turn threw everything up in the air coming as the 8S and making me a full house. If I checked it was likely that the big blind would check his likely king to the pre-flop raiser, and I felt the initial raiser was competent enough to give up with his air/pot control with anything other than a king,as it was very likely that one of us would have him beat on this board. Therefore I decided to donk the turn in order to stop this from happening and bet 700, the big blind made the call and the initial raiser got out of the way.
The river was a brick off suit 3 and I thought about the best way to get value from my opponent. There was already 2,600 in the pot and he had 3,300 behind.I just couldn’t see him ever being able to pass trip kings to me with the image I had and over bet shoved for value, he made the call pretty quickly and I was off to a great start in the tournament. Unfortunately I bust out shortly after when I got in a big pot with a straight flush draw versus a set and didn’t get there.

Here is an example of when I used it in order to bluff my opponent:

We were playing a $2,500 6-max NLHE event and the antes had just kicked into play. I was flying high at 40,000 at 100/200/25 and my opponent, a young woman, had just doubled to 24,000 when she had opened 66 on the button and four-bet an aggressive guy’s three-bet; she had been unfortunate to run into JJ but her luck changed as she turned a 6 to double up.After getting lucky to double up I felt she would be reluctant to play a big pot without a ‘nut’ hand in the near future. Anyway enough background info, I’ll go over the actual hand itself. She opens UTG (- handed)to 600 and I flat from the small blind with T9 of diamonds,often I might re-raise pre-flop here but I felt my opponent had a big hand so I called to try and hit a big flop.
The pot ended up being heads-up and came J-8-2 two hearts and one club. I flopped an open ender and checked to my opponent and she bet 1,200 into 1,525. I interpreted this bet as being very strong and just decided to call and try and make my hand on the turn. The turn card was very interesting as it was the bringing in the flush. It also gave me a pair to go with my open ended straight draw. However, the key to the donk here was that I interpreted it to be a scary card for my opponent. I felt that if I checked she would check behind a top pair/over pair and then value town me on the river. However donking the turn, and likely the river if called, would force her to play a much bigger pot than she wanted to with her likely hands. Also the possibilities of her having a flush were reduced with the jack and ten of hearts being on the board and her being a tight player raising UTG. It’s also important to remember that we still have a lot of outs that we figure are likely good so we are effectively semi bluffing. Finally the turn bet also stops her taking a free card with an airy hand such as A-Q with a heart which obviously has a ton of outs to my hand. After analysing all of this I decided to bet 2,800; however, the hand wasn’t over yet as she made the call.
In an ideal world she would of folded the turn and made it easy for me, however, after her turn call I could give her a much more precise range than previously allowed. After the pre-flop, flop and turn action, I felt she was most likely on a QQ, KK, AJ, KJ, QJ type of hand. I also felt it was quite likely she had a high heart. Therefore I didn�'t plan on bluffing a fourth heart on the river. Also if she can hand read well a fourth heart is very unlikely to have helped us as we are representing a turned flush and would often check raise a nut flush draw on the flop. Therefore a fourth heart would be a scare card for our turned flush if indeed we did have one. The river happened to be perfect for the purposes of our bluff as it was the AS. In our previously listed marginal hand range this river is only good for one of the hands (AJ), for all of the others it is yet another card that puts her marginal hand in jeopardy. After we check called the flop we told her we have a hand we are interested in and we now come out firing on this turn and river. It is very hard for her to make a hero call here as long as we balance our �turning the initiative� range to strong hands as well. The results of this hand were that I bet 5,800 on the river and managed to get a fold.

Source: http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Turning-The-Initiative-Chris-Moorman-2086.htm

Insights of when to call down 3 streets

2010-09-22T21:07:00.000+01:00

"Friendship and Love" from the best movie in history to many

2010-09-14T21:23:00.000+01:00

Loose Aggressive Poker Strategy

2010-09-11T13:15:00.000+01:00

Playing like a maniac on purpose

Usually we list lags (loose-aggressive players) as losing players. These are good people to have at the table because they routinely put lots of money in the pot with poor hands and constantly pay us off when we have strong hands.

Most of the time that’s the case. But have you ever played at a table where the lag was a player who seemed unstoppable? He might have had a huge stack and seemed like he always bluffed you when you were weak and folded when you were strong. If that’s ever happened to you, you’ll know how tough it can be playing against lags.

Sometimes it’s just dumb luck. The lag player had a good run at the table, hit a few big hands and threw everyone else off track. But what if he was actually a good player doing this on purpose? They are out there you know.

Good lag players can throw an entire table off balance and take advantage of table image by getting paid off more with strong hands. Well-timed bluffs also add to the profits to make the lag strategy a dangerous one if put in the right hands.

The basic concept at work behind winning lag players is that superior postflop play can make up for poor preflop play. Playing hands like 75s before the flop is a losing strategy by itself but if you can make up for it with superior postflop play, you can turn losing hands into winners.

On top of that, it creates a crazy table image which results in more pay offs from players who would otherwise fold their weak hands. When the lag plays so many hands aggressively, his opponents have an incredibly tough time trying to read his hands.

Position is everything

No matter how good you are, position is the ultimate equalizer. Strong lag players know this and avoid playing trashy hands out of position. They might play more hands from early position than other players but they still player fewer hands from early position compared to the number of hands they play in late position.

When they build that aggressive table image, having position becomes an even stronger weapon. They use that table image to the maximum by stealing the blinds, raising from the button and buying the button with raises on the cutoff.

Lags have to use every advantage they can get because the very nature of the loose-aggressive style gets them into all kinds of difficult postflop situations. Playing marginal hands after the flop is a difficult task but having position makes it much easier for the lag.

They get into postflop situations with drawing hands, pure bluffs, mediocre hands and everything in between. Having position makes it easier to read their opponents’ hands so the lags can get away cheap if someone has a strong hand.

Position is everything for lags.

Folding Power

Lag players use folding power more than any other type of player. They raise those weak hands not because they think those hands are good but because they know they can win the pot in one of three ways:

1. Hit a well-disguised monster hand and get paid off

2. Win pots by making their opponents fold the best hand

3. Earn extra money by stealing the blinds

In addition to that, the table image developed by lag play leads to additional profits later on down the road because players are less likely to give them credit for strong hands.

Value Bets

Lags thrive on making thin value bets. What I mean by this is that the lags can make profitable bets with weaker hands because their opponents are more willing to call them. An average poker player will call bets from a lag with a much wider range of hands than usual.

Value bets are a major source of profit for lags. With all the weak hands they play and tough decisions they have to make, those extra value bets provide a nice cushion for good lags.

Hand Reading

Hand reading is the most important skill for lag players. Lag players get into so many iffy situations with marginal hands that having excellent hand reading skills is an absolute necessity.

Lags have to know when to keep pushing for the fold and when to give up when someone is being stubborn. They have to catch on when other players are slowplaying or setting up a checkraise. They also have to be able to gauge hand ranges well enough to know when to place thin value bets and when to bluff.

Changing Gears

Lags need to be able to change playing styles on the drop of a dime. This skill is almost as vital as hand reading and is just as difficult. When opponents start calling every bet a lag makes, that lag needs to switch to value mode and play tight, straight-forward poker.

What makes changing gears even harder is that the lag needs to change gears for specific opponents only. So against one opponent, the lag might have to start playing straightforward poker but against his neighbor, the lag might need to keep playing like a maniac. Being able to switch in and out of different playing styles is one of the hallmarks of great lag players.

Mental Stability

If huge swings in your profits bother you, the lag style is a bad fit for you. The lag style is extremely volatile, marked by huge swings in the bankroll. Some days might result in 8 buyins worth of losses while other days might result in 10 buyin upswings.

Lags also experience more bad beats than anyone else because people don’t like to fold to lags. If you can’t handle taking ridiculous bad beats on a regular basis, you’ll probably want to avoid the lag style because bad beats are a way of life for lags.

Learning the Lag Style

The lag style relies on a lot of creativity, hand reading and feel so there’s not a lot of strategy advice out there for lag play. Most websites and books only teach the tag (tight-aggressive) approach because it’s easier to learn and it’s the best strategy for new poker players.

The best way to learn the lag style is to get practice. It’s a difficult playing style to learn so you should definitely move down one or two stakes when practicing the lag style. By doing so you’ll have more confidence at the table and the crazy swings won’t hurt your bankroll as much.

The lag style requires more concentration than any other playing style so it also helps to reduce the number of tables you play. If you cut down to just 1 or 2 tables at a time, you’ll be able to get better reads on your opponents and make better decisions.

You should probably keep double the bankroll when trying the lag style. The volatility in the style is just too great for average bankroll recommendations. It’s not a bad idea at all to keep a minimum of 40 or 50 buyins when playing the lag style.

Conclusion

•The lag style can be dangerous in the right hands but it’s not for everyone. New players should worry about getting their fundamentals down before even thinking about the lag style.

•Only the most experienced players should try the lag style because it requires a lot of skill to play successfully. Poor lag players can lose a ton of money in short time periods.

•If you decide to try the lag style, move down in stakes and cut back on the number of tables you play.

Source: http://www.beatnolimit.com/poker-strategy/loose-aggressive-strategy.htm

Early Position with Small & Medium Pocket Pairs

2010-09-09T23:54:00.001+01:00

In the last episode of this series we discussed how to maximize our EV on small and middle pocket pairs in loose passive games. Now, let’s take a look at how these hands play in other types of games.

TIGHT-PASSIVE (Weak-Tight) Games

These games feature players who understand that they need to play tight in order to profit but who don’t have much bite to their game. The players in these games often do a lot of “setmining” and are thus very easy to read. They will very often limp into a pot, call a “standard” raise, and then check-fold the flop if they don’t spike their set. Obviously, since these players are so predictable it is easy to take advantage of them. Remember, we make money in poker when players make mistakes. Look for the mistakes your opponents make and then do whatever you can to make sure they make those mistakes more often and that they are more costly. The biggest mistake that weak-tight players make is that they fold too often - even when they are in position. They will very rarely put you in a difficult spot or punish you for getting out of line when you are out of position. In my experience, you can often find these types of games a couple levels up from the smallest stakes offered at a given location. (For example, you currently might start finding these players in the $.25/.50 and $.50/1 online games.)
Since these tight players consistently put money in the pot, only to abandon the pot unless they have a very good hand, these hands play well when you raise them in early position. This will give you the initiative and will allow you to get the pot heads-up or 3-way. This is a good spot to be in, as these opponents will often fold to your c-bet. Plan to make your money by raising a small enough preflop that you will still get called and then bet a lot of flops (sometimes you will be putting in action on the turn/river as well). These players will sometimes fold a better hand to your flop bet, giving you the pot. Conversely, you won’t make a lot of your money from when you actually do hit a set, because they will rarely have a worse hand that will put a lot of money in. These types of players only put in money with big hands, so they aren’t offering good implied odds. Essentially, against these players your fold equity goes way up and your implied odds go way down. You maximize against these types of players by grabbing up all their blinds and orphaned pots when they miss the flop.

LOOSE/TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE (Tough) Games

These games are of various varieties. I am grouping loose and tight games together, because the aggressiveness is what determines your play more than other things. These games feature players who play aggressively both before and after the flop. They open up properly in position and punish players for playing out of position too often. They call flop bets with a wide range with the intention of bluffing the turn. They also may 3-bet with a wider range of hands. Abridged version: They are tough.

One of the problems with raising these hands in early position is that 3-betting really takes away from the value of your hand. With 100 big blind stacks, you will very often have to fold to a 3-bet. In aggressive games you are going to get 3-bet more, which in turn makes raising less favorable. Another argument against raising is that good players will not go away so easily on the flop. If your raise gets called, then your c-bet will still get called a relatively higher percentage of the time than in a weaktight game. This leaves you out of position and not committed to getting all in. Unfortunately, a turn bet by your opponent forces you to make a decision for your stack. This is not a fun place to be. The problem with merely being out of position is going to be so huge against a tough player that you will really have trouble making a mark. Say that you raise preflop with 2-2 and the flop comes down Q-6-5 with a flush draw. You bet out and get a call. Now what are you going to do? Your tough opponent can be calling the flop with a queen, ace-high, a flush or straight draw, a monster. It is tough to know whether or not you are good, so now here you are, out of position with a big pot brewing and up against an opponent who is going to make you make mistakes as more money goes in and is going to not make very big mistakes when you happen to hit a hand (which is happening a very small percentage of the time). This will be a fairly common scenario when you raise with one of these hands in early position in these games.

Unfortunately, limping doesn’t offer many better options when the players are good. These types of players will often raise you in late position to exploit their positional advantage. They will be raising enough hands that it will cut down on your implied odds. The more hands they raise, the less often they have anything good. If they often have a marginal hand, then you won’t be able to stack them very often. It is true that you will be able to pick up a c-bet a higher percentage of the time, but this pales in comparison to winning 100 big blinds a larger percentage of the time (as you would against lesser players).

These games are very situational and you will have to rely on your judgment to figure out what will be the best play. If you are in a loose and aggressive game where many pots are multiway and you expect to often be 3-bet, but also expect to see a raised multiway pot often, it may be best to limp these hands in. If the pot is raised and multiway, you will still be able to get good value out of playing to hit a set, because the players are loose, the pot will be bigger (meaning players will get their stacks in quicker) and because pocket pairs do well in multiway pots. If you are in a loose and aggressive game where many pots are 3-bet and heads up, it may be best to raise these hands with the intention of occasionally 4-betting them. You are taking advantage of your opponent’s mistake of 3-betting you too lightly. Of course, with the lesser of these hands, you are pretty much 4-betting as a bluff, and with hands like JJ and TT, you 4-bet because your equity is good against their 3-betting range.

In very tough and reasonably tight games, it works out that your smallest pairs (and this really goes for all of your hands) are probably not as profitable in early position. Hands like 66-22 are just not as strong in a game that doesn’t offer implied odds and features opponents who will take advantage of position. Your best play may be to either: A) Fold the weakest of these hands (say 66-22) a majority of the time, or B) Limp these hands more often, but also limp other big hands like AA and KK, so as to make it a mistake for them to automatically try to steal your limps.

If you are going to be folding these hands a majority of the time, then I would still suggest occasionally raising with them as a way to balance your play so that your early position raises are not just the nuts. Limping these hands is actually playing these hands for what they are worth. However, you need to take your entire strategy into consideration. You have to add some deception so that your limps don’t mean pure weakness. You will have to limp some strong hands. Both of these are ways to try to limit the amount of money you put in preflop with your weaker hands. In general, you don’t want to have as big of preflop pots when you are out of position with 2-2 as you do with AA. This minimizes your positional disadvantage while still giving your game some deception. If your opponents are going to be playing sticky postflop, then they are cutting down on your fold equity, but at the same time, they won’t offer huge implied odds because they aren’t going to be as willing to stack off light (although they will stack off, or at least put more in a pot a bit more often than in a weaktight game, because they will sometimes make some all in semi-bluffs and things of this nature). In effect, you will be making money with these hands with a somewhat equal combination of winning before showdown and winning at showdown.

When you take either of these options, you will tend to have a strong range in early position when you raise. That being the case, your opponents will not really be able to take advantage of you as often by playing their position on you (especially if you mix up your play by throwing in some raises with hands like suited-connectors on occasion). This will make it more difficult for them to steal against you, because you will often have a strong hand that you aren’t going to fold. Still, you won’t be offering huge implied odds, because you will not just stack off on a whim and your range is wide enough that your opponent won’t know precisely which hand you have. This balancing strategy puts up a good defense against tough opponents when you are most vulnerable. The real key is to balance things out so that you make good raises, folds or limps at the right time or in such a way that your opponent can’t completely and accurately determine the exact nature of your hand and put you in difficult decisions. You want to make things more difficult for your opponent to respond.

In reality, you shouldn’t be in too many games this tough, so your best bet is going to be estimating which opponents are most likely to give you action and what mistakes both you and your opponents are likely to make given your hand. Is there a player who is 3-betting like crazy and everyone is just getting out of his way? In that case, let’s raise and go for a 4-bet with JJ. Are there two or three opponents who tend to just play a hair too loose but don’t 3-bet that often, who love to raise limpers and so you are likely to end up heads up and out of position without the initiative? Then let’s raise it and take the initiative ourselves, and maybe we will end up with a three- or four-handed pot. That’s not a bad result. If all else fails, sometimes fold those hands and/or use a randomizing strategy so that your opponents can’t narrow your range so much. But remember, just because you limp doesn’t mean you can’t 3-bet. To be perfectly honest, your best option may be looking for a different table!

SUMMARY

It is true that often times the games will not fall into one of these nice three categories, but that’s what makes poker fun! You have to assess your opponents and figure out where the money will be flowing from and then go from there. Also, the stack sizes can completely change how to play these situations. Be aware of all the variables. The correct play of these hands in early position is extremely situational.

Source: http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Early-Position-with-Small-%26-Medium-Pocket-Pairs-Jacob-Hoke-2011.htm

Timing Tells

2010-09-08T22:06:00.001+01:00

Before the Internet (yes, there was such a time, I’ve been told), poker was a game where your continuation bet frequency and VPIP/ PFR (voluntary put into pot/preflop raise) meant nothing.

In those days of yore, when Hellmuth was king (and didn’t just think he was), the strength of your opponent’s hand was not weighted on a carefully analyzed range based on statistical tendencies — it was judged by the way he smoked a cigarette, the uncomfortable fidget of fingers on felt, the twitch at the side of his set lips.

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells was the definitive poker volume before PokerTracker and online play came along. Most players now judge tells as relics of a bygone age — who needs nervous tics and subtle fluctuations in body language when you have a 12,000-hand sample and extensive notes that tell you this turn check-raise is a semi-bluff?

Well, I’m not going to argue with that. However, tells are not dead — anyone who has ever played a live game is familiar with that gut feeling that you’re up against a bluff or a monster. They’re real, and just because your opponent is a faceless collection of pixels on a computer monitor that doesn’t mean you can’t make a thin call or a massive bluff based on subconscious signals.

Caro says that the second a player sits down at the table you should judge his appearance to ascertain hints of his character. A smartly dressed opponent will be tight, whereas someone who stacks their chips in unordered and huge piles or doesn’t iron their shirt is likely to be loose.

Well, I don’t know how true that theory is insofar as that I look like shit 87 percent of the time, but I’m very OCD about my chip stacks.

VPIP: 26 PFR: 24 - you be the judge. Well, that aside, there’s a man who knows a lot more about this online poker malarkey than I do. Actually there are several thousand, but this guy is one of the best ones. Promise.

Hunter Bick is founder and CEO of the highly recommended video training site, Drag The Bar, and coaches alongside such names as Dusty “leatherass” Schmidt. Evidently, having an awesome name is a requirement to be a Drag The Bar coach. A heads-up specialist, Hunter has made more money from timing tells alone than many people can hope to see at a poker table.

Hunter concurs that tells are still alive, well and exploitable, even in the online game. Whether playing at a full-handed table or playing mano-a-mano, the timing of your opponents’ actions can often be a clue to their cards.

A weak player insta-calls

You raise before the flop and a fish calls from the big blind, as fish do. The board is 7♣9♦2♥, and he checks. You fire out a decent sized continuation bet, and he calls before your chips have reached the middle. What does this mean?

“This tell is fairly common, especially among weaker players who are not aware of it,” says Hunter.

“Most decent players are more careful about it these days, but it’s useful nonetheless. Basically, it signifies that the player that insta-calls has a medium strength hand or a big draw, usually something decent but not great, [that he is] trying to get to showdown with. Why would he hit the call button automatically without thinking about it? Basically, he is somewhat nervous and very anxious to just see the next card as soon as possible.”

In this example, it’s likely that our opponent holds a hand like 7-6 or 10-8, maybe even something as weak as A-2. If the turn and river cards are paint or aces, then it’s a great spot to fire a second and third barrel to try and take down the pot.

A good player insta-calls

Even the regulars aren’t immune to giving away more information than is necessary by their timing. Say you’ve reached the river with deep stacks against another regular in your games who is solid. Say you decide it’s a good spot to bluff — do so and get called — it doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad bluff.

However, if your opponent called you instantly with a weak hand, that held up at showdown, then he’s telling you something. He’s telling you that your bluff had not a snowball’s chance in hell of working, which puts you at an advantage. You know, now, not to do it again, and that’s bad for your opponent.

Reverse the situation. If you insta-call a bluff with a weak hand then you might as well just type in the chat box: “Bad bluff, mate. Don’t do it again, very obvious bluff line.” The idea of doing that is insane, as you want him to keep making bad bluffs.

It’s difficult, because when two strong players are in the pot, they’re often thinking streets ahead and have narrowed down ranges before it is their turn to act. Just give yourself a few seconds’ breathing room before you make your descision to call that obvious bluff with king-high.

Hmmm… what should I do? Er… uhm… all in!

Everyone has seen this timing tell – a player reaches the river, which completes a flush draw, and requests time. He ponders, ponders and ponders some more before reaching his decision – he’s all in!

Fold your set, he just made the nuts.

“This one always cracks me up, and you see it from players of all skill levels,” Hunter says. “If he was bluffing, he would not have thought about it so long. Everyone who is running a huge bluff wants to look as confident as possible, and do you really accomplish that by using up 75 percent of the time bank? No, of course not, no one does. The entire point of tanking down before shoving the nuts is to look unconfident, and that’s exactly why it’s a very reliable, strong tell. They are trying to send us a fake timing tell, but in reality, it’s fairly transparent, because no one ever does this on a bluff.”

The insta-shove.

This tell is essentially the opposite of the one above. If a player reaches the river, especially if it’s a scary card, they go all-in (or make a huge bet) barely before the card has hit the felt. As you might expect, this tell means the opposite of the “Ponder’n’Shove” – they have nothing.

“When someone just goes instant pot bet, pot bet, pot bet on the flop turn and river, they are not taking the time to think about any of these, they are just trying to look as strong as possible and as intimidating as possible. They want you to fold, so call them down,” Hunter advises.

Think about it — say the river of a board is really scary for both players — it completes a straight and a flush, and it’s an overcard. If your opponent goes all-in straight away, then they’re likely on a bluff. If they had a made hand, they’d have to think about how that scare card affected both your hand and their own. If that scare card made them a hand, they’d have to consider checking to induce a bluff or how much to value bet.

How deep is your stack? (Is your stack, how deep is your stack…?)

That was a Bee Gees reference. Anyway…

One major advantage of playing online is that you know exactly how much is in the pot and in front of each player. No more squinting at piles of multicolored ceramics and trying in vain to guess a number.

Just as you can, according to Caro, find tells in live, literal chips, you can find out what kind of opponent you’re facing by the dollar figure in front of him. Remember, earlier I said that if someone buys in for 62BBs, they’re probably a bit of a dribbler? That is a very reliable indication that a player is a fish as soon as he sits down. If you’re at a $5/$10 table and someone has more than $250 but less than $900 or so, then start licking your chops.

“There are two types of winning ring game players,” Hunter says. “There are the ones that play full stacked and always have the auto-rebuy feature enabled, so they are automatically topped up to a full maximum buy-in. Then there are the shortstackers who buy-in for 20BBs and leave when they double up. So what this means is that when you see someone playing with more than 20-25 big blinds, and less than 100 big blinds, then they are probably a fish.”

This is a great sign of fishiness when players are at the table, but you can tell if they’re a fish or not the minute they sit down. If you see them buy in for, say, $20 at a $0.25/$0.50, table, then you know they’re a bit on the donkey side. However, if you see them buy in for $22.38, then you know something more — not only are they a fish, but that’s their entire account balance.

“No one decent is going to show up to play and either A) bother to type in the 38 cents, or B) choose to play with less than a full buy-in. This guy is probably a weak player simply because good players don’t put their account balance on the line at a single table,” Hunter affirms.

In this situation you have an extra advantage — the player in question is likely on tilt and trying to double or bust, especially if you’re playing at a table with reasonably high stakes. If they’re not going mad trying to double up, then you can take advantage of them and put them to the test with big bets — they’re not going to bust their account by calling you with bottom two pair on a scary board.

So, now you know — timing tells are the nuts. Well, not quite. Like any tell, they’re not 100 percent reliable, but Hunter assures me that the above tells are likely right more often than not.

So bear this in mind in your own game — don’t only try spotting them in others, but make sure you don’t give anything away yourself. On a site like Full Tilt, why not let the time bar go down two-thirds of the way on each decision, for example? That way, the big decisions and easy calls or folds will appear the same.

Poker is a game of incomplete information. The less you give away, the better.

Source: http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Timing-Tells-Matt-Perry-2018.htm

When a machine is the star of a movie

2010-09-04T13:14:00.000+01:00

Philosophy Moment

2010-09-02T22:01:00.002+01:00

At the end, the money doesn't matter much. What is important is the friends you made, and the moments you lived.

Antonio Vitor - 2010-09-02

Your Range Or His?

2010-08-31T04:25:00.000+01:00

When deciding whether or not to call a possible bluff, there is a method used commonly by high stakes players that many casual or low stakes players are not aware of. To put it simply, you can analyze your own range rather than your opponent’s range.

Before I get into things, I need to offer a disclaimer. The reason this method is used in high stakes games is because it’s primarily only useful in high stakes games. Against someone that bluffs too much, you should virtually always call with your bluff-catchers, and against someone that doesn’t bluff enough, you should almost always fold with your bluff-catchers. The approach in this article is primarily useful against players that are very good, players that don’t telegraph the strength of their hand and, ideally, against players that you have played a bunch in the past, and plan on playing again in the future.

The standard method of deciding whether or not to call against a possible bluff is very simple in nature. That’s not to say there isn’t much depth to these decisions, because there is seemingly boundless depth to these decisions. I’m simply saying that the general overlying principal is very simple: Analyze your opponent’s range and general tendencies. If he’s likely to be bluffing, you should call. If he’s not likely to be bluffing, you should fold.

The problem arises when you are playing against a player with very balanced tendencies. To put it another way, the above strategy is useless against someone that bluffs with optimal frequency. In general, optimal bluff frequencies are balanced such that you do not care what your opponent does with his hands that can only beat a bluff. He will break even with those hands regardless of whether he calls or folds.

This is not always true. For example, say you bet the turn with a combination of made hands, flush draws and straight draws. If the river completes both the flush and the straight, you now have so few bluffs in your range that your optimal bluffing frequency is to bluff with all of your bluffs, and your range is so strong that your opponent still can never call. I digress.

So what is the method many high stakes players use on a regular basis to decide whether or not to bluffcatch? It’s simple in its elegance.

Instead of analyzing your opponent’s range, analyze your own range! If you have the strongest possible hand you can ever have in a single instance, you should probably call. If you fold, you are just inviting your opponent to run you over. The opposite of course is true, too. If you have the weakest hand you can possibly have, you should probably fold, otherwise you run the risk of calling until you have no chips left.

Let’s look at a hypothetical example. Pretend you’re sitting in a really tough online $25/$50 cash game. It folds to you on the button, and you raise to $150. The small blind, who is a very intelligent aggressive player, reraises to $550. You call. The flop comes T-3-2 rainbow. Your opponent bets $700. You call. The turn is a queen. Your opponent bets $1,500. You call. The river is a five. Your opponent moves all-in for $4,000.

What’s the worst hand you would call with?

If at all possible, you should analyze your opponent’s bluff frequency first. If he bluffs too much, you should call a lot, and if he doesn’t bluff enough, you should fold a lot. That much should be obvious. Let’s say for the sake of argument that you think he bluffs just the right amount to put you in a really tough spot. How do you take that scary piece of information into something that helps you make a decision?

Instead of analyzing his range in this spot, analyze your own range.

Take pocket deuces for example. If you have bottom set, that is one of the strongest possible hands you can have. If you fold hands this strong, your opponents are sure to catch on and start bluffing you. You just can’t beat an aggressive player if you are folding every river where you don’t have the nuts. This much should be obvious.

Let’s say instead you have 5-4♠. You flopped a straight draw, and missed your straight, but hit a pair on the end. A pair of fives is just about the worst possible hand you can have on this river in this situation. If you are calling in this spot, that means you are basically always calling the river. This is an obvious recipe for disaster. Your opponents will stop bluffing you and rake in the money every time they have a hand.

As always, some basic math can be applied to this situation. There is $5,550 in the pot, and your opponent is risking $4,000 to win it. If you fold 50% of the time, your opponent is showing a large profit on his bluffs (-$4,000 for a failed attempt, +$5,550 for a successful attempt = profit). Naturally, if you fold only 33% of the time, your opponent is losing a ton of money on his bluffs. (-$8,000 for two failed attempts, +$5,550 for one successful attempt = loss). Some not-too-complicated algebra can determine the exact equilibrium point at which your opponent will break even on his bluffs, but this math is not really what the article is about.

So what should you call with? Unfortunately, like all complicated poker decisions, this one requires some more analysis. Think back to previous streets. Would you just call the flop and turn with A-T? What about T-9? A-Q? A-A? 9-9? What you do with all of these hands determines what makes up your range on the river. If you have a tendency to slowplay all of your big hands, that pushes some of the weaker hands like T-9 into the bottom of your range. On the other hand, if you tend to raise every time you have top pair or better, all of the sudden 9-9 is the best hand you can have. Naturally, this is a concept you need to be aware of on the flop. If your range to get to the river is too weak or too strong, you are probably making a mistake somewhere along the line before the river.

So how would I play in this spot? Preflop, I’d call with a wide range of hands. This would roughly include hands like 5-5, A-9o, K-To, T-9o, A-4♠, K-8♠, Q-9♠, 8-6♠, and all hands better of course. My exact tendencies depend heavily on the small blind’s 3-betting range, but let’s say it’s a range that makes me want to call with all those hands listed and all hands better. We’ll assume that I never reraise anything in this spot (which is often, but not always, how I would actually play).

What hands would I continue with on the flop? I would call with any pair. Good overcard hands like K-Q, and A-J (especially with a backdoor flush draw), and any hand that has a gutshot, which basically means only A-4♠ and A-5♠.

On the turn, my range gets a lot more narrow. I might continue with only hands that have a ten or better. This would basically narrow my range down to T-8♠, T-9, J-T, K-T, A-T, Q-T, K-Q, A-Q, A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, T-T. This range is actually so strong that, against a really aggressive player, I might balance it by adding in a few hands that I can float to bluff the river if checked to. The best hands for this are generally the strongest draws – in this case, gutshots like A-Jo, and A-4♠. There’s also an argument to be had for calling with hands like 9-9 and 8-8 instead, or just arguments for calling the gutshots to check the river rather than bluff, but those are beyond the scope of this article.

Let’s get back to the river. With what hands should I call his all-in? Just from eye balling, the hands that make a pair of tens or worse account for a bit under half our range. That’s approximately the cut-off point we want, based on the earlier quick math. Given our flop and turn plans, our borderline hands on the river are roughly A-T and J-J. Any hands worse are close enough to the bottom of our range that we should fold to avoid calling too much. Any hands better are close enough to the top of our range that we need to call to avoid being bluffed too much.

This, of course, is just a made-up range for a made-up situation. Don’t dwell too much on these hands I actually listed. They might be designed for an opponent that is much more aggressive than the ones you are used to.

Instead, focus on why this line of thinking is often useful for high stakes players. If you are calling with the appropriate portion of your range (or some approximation thereof), you are basically making it impossible for your opponent to “own you.” If he bluffs too much, you only suffer when you fold the worst hands you can have. If he only value bets, you only suffer when you have the best possible hands you can have. If he bets hands like K-T that make no sense to bet, then you get to own your opponent by almost always making a perfect decision! Your strategy will be nearly unexploitable.

Regardless of whether or not you are up against expert aggressive players, you should try thinking about some of the concepts in this article. Next time you are in a similar spot on the river, think to yourself, Am I letting my opponent exploit me by folding too much of my range? or, Am I letting my opponent exploit me because I’m calling with virtually everything? If the answers to either of these questions are yes, it’s possible you need to reevaluate where your hand ranks among your overall range.

Before I sign off, I need to finish with the same disclaimer I started with. Even if the answer to those questions is yes, it is possible that you are playing perfectly. If your opponent is simply incapable of bluffing you, it doesn’t matter that you are letting him exploit you by folding too much. There is no downside to playing exploitively against someone that is incapable of taking advantage of it. Above all else, you should always be aware of what type of opponent you are playing against and what level of analysis is appropriate for him.

Happy Bluffcatching!

Source: http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Your-Range-Or-His%3F-Justin-Bonomo-1996.htm

Floating in 3bet pots

2010-08-19T22:27:00.000+01:00

How to combat this?

The books says that you should check-raise the turn for value and for bluff.

The IP turn raise with marginal hands

2010-07-31T22:25:00.000+01:00

Normally this move is made with top/second par in a draw heavy board, hoping to get a call and check behind the river.

This move request a loose opponent that bets the turn with a draw, and have no problem to call our raise.

Note that also could be a cheap way to get at showdown, in oposition to call a river bet.

Definition of laziness

2010-07-23T14:30:00.000+01:00

Merge Ranges - the Principles

2010-06-18T22:47:00.000+01:00

http://uk.pokernews.com/poker-strategy-theory/range-merging.htm

Spots to 3 Barrel, and spots to call the 3 Barrel

2010-06-17T23:08:00.003+01:00

Lets see 2 good spots for a 3 barrel:

That means betting the turn you have almost always have to bet the river, depending of the metagame and if the board pares.

The same aply when to call the barrels, if you chose to call the turn, you must call the river.
This a standard rule that also depending of the metagame, and some no brick cards on the river.

How To Manipulate The Pot Size Effectively

2010-05-27T22:55:00.002+01:00

Don’t get lost with your bets.

In poker and many other games, a significant difference between the newcomer and the more experienced player is the ability to devise a plan and anticipate how the situation could evolve. Of course, one does not know (hopefully) what cards will fall or what one’s opponents will do, but it is not too complicated to categorize the various possibilities and figure out how likely each category is. This contrasts with the beginner who simply tries to find the “best move” in each situation (playing quiz poker), with no real plan. The same trait shows in chess, where beginners play mostly for tricks and tactics, and have little understanding of strategical requirements.

This lack of game plan generally translates into the inadequate use of available resources, ie. poker chips. Many beginners bring some chips at the poker table as though it was a second, temporary bankroll for the session. They don’t plan on putting it all at stake unless they have the nuts. Naturally, this is all wrong. Chips are like infantry on the battlefield: you must know how many men you have, and how many assaults you can launch. If a general “throw some forces” at the enemy and he realizes in the middle of the battle that he has no division left for the decisive onslaught, this is very poor planning. Same if he sends a few divisions in some murky situations, only to find out that he cannot back them up with the rest of his troops as he cannot risk losing too many men in such a mess.

In poker, you need to know how many “assaults” you can launch with your stack, and whether you risk getting caught in some predicament where you have already invested many chips in the hand but the situation doesn’t look good anymore. In other words, you should manage your stack adequately to make the most of it.

The SPR

The usual indicator for measuring your stack size before the flop is the number of big blinds (eg. 100BB stacks), and after the flop it is the Stack to Pot Ratio (SPR). If you have $75 in front of you and the pot is $25, you have three times the pot and your SPR is 3. Naturally, if your opponent has only $25, your $75 won’t be of much use and the effective SPR is only 1.

In big bet poker (NLHE or PLO), bets generally go from half the pot (1/2PSB, ie. half a Pot-Size Bet) to the full pot (1PSB). There can be smaller bets, especially in live games, and larger bets (overbets), but most bets fall into this range. A bet of 1/2PSB lays 3 to 1 to your opponent, and 1PSB lays 2 to 1 — this is enough to prevent most hands from outdrawing cheaply.

Heads-up, if the pot is $1, a PSB is $1 and the pot is then $3 if your opponent calls. If you want to fire another PSB, you would need $3, and the pot would be $9 if you were called. This means you should have $1+$3 = $4 to fire two consecutive PSB. For three PSB, you would need another $9, and your initial stack would have to be $4+$9 = $13 or greater. In other words, with a SPR 1 you can bet the pot one time, with a SPR 4 you can bet the pot two times, and with a SPR 13 you can bet it three times.

It follows a simple geometric progression with a ratio 3: a0 = 1, an = 3.an-1 ie. an = 3n. The sum is the geometric series given by the formula: Sn = (3n-1)/2. For instance, firing four consecutive PSB requires a SPR of: S4 = (34-1)/2 = 40.

The Magic Numbers

So the magic numbers for pot size manipulation are: 1, 4, 13, 40. Note that the SPR can tell you how many PSB you have left, but not when the bets occur; a pot-size bet and a pot-size raise count for two consecutive PSB ie. you need a SPR 4 for this betting sequence. A bet/raise/reraise, all to full pot, wants a SPR 13.

In practice, working with a SPR 10 (that is, multiplying the pot size by ten) is faster; this lets you bet two PSB and one 2/3PSB, in whatever order.

If the effective stacks are short, it might be necessary to bet smaller so as to keep three barrels. The same method can be applied to 2/3PSB: the ratio of the geometric series is 7/3, and the magic numbers are then 0.666, 2.222, 5.851, 14.32 (Sn = 2/3×((7/3)n-1)/1.33). This means that with a SPR 5, you can have either two PSB or three 2/3PSB (approximately), and with a SPR 14, you can have either three PSB or four 2/3PSB. However, this supposes your opponent either just calls, or bets or raises 2/3PSB too — if he bets or raises full pot at some point, he can take a barrel away.

Keeping a PSB for moving in next street

Let’s say you want to move in with a PSB next street, so that your opponent face a tough decision. If your SPR is precisely 4, it is trivial: bet the pot now, and bet the pot next street. But what if your SPR is something else?

The formula is: P+2B = S-B, where P is the pot, B is your bet and S is your stack size. This simplifies to: B = (S-P)/3. In other words, you want to bet a third of the difference between your stack and the current pot. If your SPR is 3, you should bet (3-1)/3 = 2/3 now, and you will be able to move in with a PSB next street.

Use your barrels wisely

Calculate as soon as you can how many bets there are left in the hand, considering effective stacks and not only yours. Do not forget that in some situations, it is better for you if you can fire three barrels, while in some others, your hand is actually impaired by the higher SPR. As we previously noted, it might be better to give up the hand early, rather than firing a bet or two and realize you cannot profitably back up your equity with the rest of your stack.

Source: http://seanpoker.net/769/articles/how-to-manipulate-the-pot-size-effectively

Some key ideas in NLH - Part 1

2010-05-27T16:42:00.003+01:00

Avoid lose money defensively, especially out of position

Meditation and relaxation for poker players

2010-05-23T23:18:00.000+01:00

I've recently noticed a few threads that touch on the tremendous benefits of meditation and the Buddhist approach to life... especially when it comes to staying in control of your emotions while playing poker. As most of us have learned the hard way, tilt is usually to blame for our epic bankroll meltdowns.

I know firsthand how difficult playing for a living can be as I did it for nearly six months in 2005 (as my sole income). Long before I discovered 2p2, I was a self-taught online 5/10 and 10/20 NL grinder and was making more money than I ever had in my life, and decided to quit my full time job as an IT consultant. However, I was not in a good place mentally and eventually lost my entire bankroll due to stress, anxiety, and plenty of tilt.

Anxiety got the better of me for over five years, as I was plagued by daily panic attacks and developed many social anxieties as well. These problems were present before I started playing online poker in 2004, but the financial and emotional swings, along with the social isolation of playing online for a living certainly made things worse. Simply put, I didn't know how to handle my stress and anxiety, and I was a mess.

Things are much better for me these days. I've gotten past all of my anxiety problems (without having to depend on medication or therapy) by learning how to relax, guide my thoughts, and quiet my mind. Much of the peace of mind I enjoy today comes from my daily practice of meditation. I have taught many others how to meditate and relax and I wanted to share a brief introduction to meditation with 2p2.

Beginner's Meditation

Within thirty minutes of waking up (before you drink any coffee!), go to a quiet spot in your home where you will not be disturbed. Get into a comfortable seated position such that no part of your body is likely to fall asleep or start tingling. Put on noise-canceling headphones (or at least earplugs) and close your eyes.

The goal of your first few meditations is to learn how to focus on only one thought at a time. The simplest way to do this is to concentrate on solely the in and out of your breath.

With your eyes closed, simply breathe in and out slowly through your nose. With every breath you inhale, try to hold it for two to three seconds before slowly exhaling through your nose. With every breath you inhale, feel the air as it passes from your nose, down your throat, filling your lungs. With every breath you exhale, imagine feeling more stress and anxiety leaving your body. Feel yourself sinking into a deeper state of relaxation with every breath you exhale.

You may have difficulty focusing on just your breathing. Random thoughts may begin filling your head – what you had for dinner last night – what you’re going to wear today, etc. This is normal. Your mind is not accustomed to being quiet, and is going to resist this change. Take solace in knowing it feels awkward for everyone at first.

The trick is to gently shift your focus back to your breathing. You don’t want to focus on these random thoughts. As soon as a distracting thought arises, shift all of your attention back to your breathing. Be aware of every tiny detail – what the air feels like as it enters the inside of your nose, your chest expanding and deflating, and the stillness of the rest of your body. Focusing on these small details forces your mind to let go of other distracting thoughts.

Your goal for your first few meditations should be to practice for five to ten minutes. Don’t expect to receive complete enlightenment and inner peace right from the start! Like anything worthwhile, it takes much practice and repetition to become good at this. The more often you practice, the better you get, and the more you get out of it.

I recommend you practice this meditation daily. If during one of these sessions you find yourself feeling very relaxed and focused, by all means you can go longer than your goal of five to ten minutes.

I personally meditate every morning for 15-30 minutes, and feel quite out of sorts if I miss a day. If you give this a try it may take several days before you feel fully relaxed during a session, so stick with it. You'll know when you're there, the feeling is complete peace of mind, and anyone can get there with regular practice.

If you can't find time in the morning, I'd recommend you try this meditation just before you fire up the tables for a session. You will likely find yourself thinking much clearer and making better decisions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Some other relaxation tips specifically for poker players

In addition to the above introductory meditation, here are a few tips to help you stay focused and controlled while playing online. This is much of the same advice I give to people that have stress and anxiety problems in other occupations.

Exercise before you play

Exercise helps us release excess energy and promotes the natural release of endorphins which provide a calming feeling. You will find you are thinking much clearer and are less prone to overreact or become emotional to a horrific bad beat.

Take a break every 30 minutes

We all know how intense multitabling can be, especially for those of you who who can handle 10+ tables. Your mind can only stay sharp for so long before you start making bad decisions or simply start playing on autopilot (instead of analyzing each individual situation). Your mind needs a break, so every 30 minutes sit out and get up and away from your computer. Get outside if you can and get some fresh air and do some jumping jacks or other easy exercise to get your heart rate up. Do some easy stretches to help promote better circulation and to relieve any tension that's likely building up from the stress of focusing so intensely.

Be prepared to walk away

Being reactive and taking things personally is at the root of all tilt. If you get sucked out on and know you're steaming, in the very least sit out at all your tables and walk away for a few minutes. Get outside and crank out some push-ups or sprint around the block - something to help you get rid of your frustration. Try to take a few more minutes to sit calmly and gather your thoughts, remembering the big picture of grinding and that it's just variance, before you return to play.

Garbage in / Garbage out

I'm not saying you have to sign up for Jenny Craig, but do your best to cut down on sugary drinks and unhealthy fried stuff. Your body goes through a whirlwind trying to digest that stuff and the inevitable surges in blood sugar and eventual crash certainly makes it much more difficult to focus on the task at hand. We all know what foods are healthy, try to stay in bounds.

Easy on the caffeine

If you're getting all jacked up on red bull and the like, your going to be all over the place both mentally and physically. Sitting at a computer with a heart rate of 130 while your hands shake is not conducive to making good reads and hero calls. Try to cut back and give other drinks such as tea a shot.

I certainly don't claim to be an expert when it comes to poker - we all know how soft the games were in 2005 when I climbed up to 10/20NL (and eventually tilted my roll away). However, I am an expert and published author in the field of anxiety and know from my own personal struggles how difficult finding peace of mind can be.

If I could get there, you certainly can too. Best of luck guys, hope this helps.

Steve

Source: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/meditation-relaxation-poker-players-672865/

The most incredible sequence of folds ever

2010-05-21T01:29:00.004+01:00

That is one of the most impressive plays ever

Please Forgive me Brother

2010-05-15T16:09:00.001+01:00

The best dramatic 5 min sequence in cinema.

Please stop the video on the cigar scene.

Folding

2010-05-13T16:13:00.000+01:00

I played poker for ten years before I discovered folding in 1984. That's when I met Bobby. He had a big belly, a big beard, and a big laugh. Bobby was like Santa Claus, minus the giving. He just kept throwing his hand away, and he didn't seem to mind. Then he would carry the money away, and the players didn't seem to mind.

So I started folding more often, to see what would happen. I folded before the flop with ten-nine a couple times. I folded queen-eight suited. I folded an ace when somebody raised. It was so new, so exciting. I was high from it, like an explorer. I kept adding more hands not to play, trying to get my starting-hand folding rate up with Bobby's. But it didn't stop there. Oh no. Before long I got hooked on the hard stuff, like folding on the river when I had a good hand.

Soon I went to Vegas. After a week in the desert, I felt like Charles Darwin must have felt on the Galapagos Islands, having traveled to an isolated land, where he found strange new ecosystems populated by bizarre species. What I discovered on Las Vegas Island was that in the poker ecosystem, at the top of the food chain, sat the folders.

I need to stop here and tell you exactly the kind of folding I mean. I'm talking about folding that is done often, and conspicuously, and audaciously, and without a fuss.

Every now and then in the Vegas games, a non-folder would say something to a folder, sometimes friendly sometimes not, about playing so tight. I couldn't get over how comfortable the folders were, with all of it, with the folding, with the comments, and they'd just sit there behind their tall stacks and long smiles, and muck, one more time.

I was like, okay, I see how this works now. It's like a club. The folders club. Well, whatever it was, I wanted in.

After my first taste of big-time folding, I felt that if I could get really good at it, I could quit my job. So I made folding my holy grail, my quest, my mountain to climb. I could see the mountain. I could see my path. I looked at the ground in front of me, and I took a step.

By 1990 I was folding enough to support my food and rent habit. This freed up lots of time for lots more folding. Before long I got so good at folding that I could afford to get stupid at first one flavor of gambling then another and another. My tether line to solvency was always the folding. Anytime I was low on money, all I had to do was stop betting and stop eating and get back to the folding.

Eventually I outpaced the gamble demon and the cigarette demon and the tilt demon and several others I met along the way. My path became a gentle incline that coaxed me up to a sunny ledge where I stopped, and sat, and I looked around in wonder, for I could see the top of the mountain far away and high above, and I could see the bottom, waiting for me, should I neglect my folding.

When I play now, in 2006, one of the things I don't do during the opening drive of the game is wager much. I like to get to the folding right away. My ideal session starts with a sip of coffee, then somebody raises and I fold from the big blind, then another little sip before I fold my small blind, then I take as big a sip as the coffee's temperature will allow, and I sit up straight, and I get ready to play my button, and I exhale consciously, and most likely fold.

Which brings me to the hand that got me to writing about my folding fetish in the first place.

The game was brick-and-mortar $80-160 limit hold'em. It was my first hand of the session. I was in the big blind with ace-ten offsuit and no hearts. One player limped, the small blind folded, and I checked. We were headsup going into the flop with me first.

The flop came ace, ace, nine, with two hearts.

I checked. He checked.

The turn was the eight of hearts.

I checked. He checked.

The river was the seven of hearts, making the final board A-A-9, 8, 7, with four hearts.

I checked. He bet. And I folded.

Of course no one at the table had any idea I had a hand like that. After all, all that happened was limp, check -- check, check -- check, check -- check, bet, fold. If any of my opponents were to draw a conclusion from what they had seen, it would not be that I had folded a good hand. It would be that I had chosen to not bluff, three times, with a bad one. And that's why I fold the way I do, with a quiet mind and a silent body, so nobody knows what I had.

Sometimes folding makes me feel like a puppet master. Like when I openraise from the cutoff with not much, and the button calls and the blinds fold, and it's headsup with me first, and I miss the flop, and I check and he bets and I fold. Or if I raise before the flop and someone reraises behind me and everyone else is out and I call and the flop comes and I check and he bets and I fold. With punts like these, I make money twice. Once by immediately ending my worst situations. Twice by making it correct, in their worlds, for the bluffing types to bluff when I check, and for the folding types to fold when I bet. And all of a sudden, I can't lose. I love folding.

© 2006 tommy angelo

Source: http://www.tommyangelo.com/articles/folding.htm

Go Mike!!!!!!!!

2010-04-27T21:37:00.003+01:00

I was so happy about the big win of Mike Matusow on this week episode of HSP. I was rooting so bad for him.

Even happier I became because his big wins came from Daniel Negreanu. Who can forget the unbearable scene this guy made in season 2 paying mike to stay in the table when we was tired, and pure mike took it, showing a lot of heart even though he knew we was a big dog playing that many hours and tired like he was. The worst came after, seeing Daniel grabbing himself after busted Mike.

On this season some players of the table, only open their mouth to criticize the away Mike is playing, DN being the worst one.

I know why they to do this. They hope Mike can’t take the verbal pressure, and start to make bad plays. Maybe this all part of the game, but is not nice to see nevertheless. And maybe those critic players can’t beat this game and they need to use those underground moves. You embarrass yourself with those tactics DN.

Mike is a pure guy that is not afraid to be what he is, and he is an inspiration for all of us, genuine lovers of this game.

Compilation of the best insights from Phil Galfond in the Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge.

2010-04-19T20:49:00.016+01:00

1) Galfond: You have to remain unpredictable, against good opponents, that is one of the keys of sucess.

Commentator: But there isn't a fine line between being unpredictable, and making bad plays?

G: There are a common term in the poker world, that is FPS (Fancy Play Syndrome), is when you get a little carried away being tricky and start to making plays that kinda cross the line, and they are just bad.

2) C: What are some of the consequences of playing tired?

G:
- Being kinda of lazy, making loose calls, especialy on early streets.

- Not bluffing in spots where you should be bluffing.

- Not taking creative lines.

3) G: Try to emulate Tom's style ruin people's games, because he always has good reason for the unorthodox plays he makes, if you try to copy without thinking very hard about it, you just can get in a lot of trouble.

The ring No Limit Holden, can only survive the future with antes?

2010-04-17T20:10:00.003+01:00

That is the opinion of Tom "Durrrr" Dwan.

What about your thoughts?

Is the blocking bet a old fashion move?

2010-04-11T01:27:00.002+01:00

Some guys in the forum that I hang around, are calling blocking bets old fashioned, a fishy play, a donation move, etc, etc.

It really is? What about if you make your river blocking bets seems like your value bets? For that propose, maybe you have to make them a bit bigger than the original concept. Or your value bets are small?

What about making looking like your frequent bluffs? If you bluff frequently, you are called much more light, and if so, they are no longer blocking bets but thin value bets.

Let’s see this "old move" by an old timer.

What's your name? My name..., my name is..., my name is Phil

2010-04-07T21:17:00.001+01:00

You are not gona call me, are you? Little puny boy

I’m sorry sir. I Think I am going to call you, just this time.

Top Pair Top Kiker facing a raise on the flop

2010-04-07T17:51:00.004+01:00

That is always another unplesant day in the office for any poker player.

What to do without any special reads?

1) Close the eyes and call the barrels all the way

2) Call to the river and then fold facing a sizable bet

3) Call flop and fold facing the second barrel

4) Fold the flop straight away

Lets see an example of "Action" Dan Harrington facing a babe

Nash economic theory applied to poker (In Portuguese)

2010-03-26T18:07:00.004Z

Text by Famous Portuguese Player Ricardo “lostlucky” Sousa:

"…tem sido um mês excepcional em que mudei de uma estratégia de overbets/shoves rivers de 80% for value e 20% bluffs p/ 20% for value e 80% bluffs vs. regulares uma vez que eles sabem que eu nos ultimos meses tenho estado a jogar assim e pensam que este tipo de bets é quase sempre for value, estou a ser pago em river shoves/overbets menos de 20% das vezes contra regulares, resolvi explorar non stop esse facto durante este mês o que me permitiu ter um lucro ridículo só com este ajustamento. Este tipo de ajustamentos, fazer diferente do que todos estão a fazer e do que as escolas online de poker ensinam é uma das melhores maneiras para avançar p/ o nível seguinte no poker. Estou a ver os vídeos das escolas de poker com a noção de que 90% dos regulares que jogam contra mim também estão a ver esses vídeos e o desafio que coloco a mim mesmo é como hei-de explorar ao máximo os ensinamentos que os meus adversários estão a retirar dos vídeos em vez de ir replicar o que é ensinado nos vídeos."

http://lostlucky.blogspot.com/2010/03/poker-golf-san-remo-e-monte-carlo.html

River - the most important street in NL Holden.

2010-03-25T23:23:00.004Z

Like in chess the ending is the most important phase of the game, the river is also the crucial phase in NL Holden.

The reasoning behind that is that in the river the pots are bigger than in any other street. So good decisions are crucial, and any bad move will cost us much more than a bad decision in the turn, the flop, or preflop.

The first game I study like a science was chess, and today I believe the following analogy Between Holden and Chess:

Pre-flop = Opening
Flop and Turn = Middle Game
River = Endings

Rebluff on the river – Such an exquisite play

2010-02-28T18:43:00.013Z

This kind of play is one of the most difficult to master.

Generally, Rebluffing should be an important weapon against loose opponents that play many hands.

By playing many hands, a loose opponent must bluff more often than a tight player in order to make is style profitable.

Let’s see a recent example that will be a future classic.

Marcelo had the button and Dawn made a 3Bet of 10.000€ that was called. Durrrr made Cbet’s on the flop and turn. Tom had Marcello covered in chips.

Like Marcelo confessed, he had planned the play from the beginning, and I think the 8 on the river helped him on this.

Mathematically Marcello in the river is putting 145.000€ on a 223.000€ pot, solving the equation:

145x = 223y

x + y = 1 ↔ y=0.394 x=0.606

This play only has to work 40% of the times in order to show profit, 39,4% is the break-even point.

Using the terminology more common in poker, Marcello is giving himself 1,5 to 1 on his money.

A Classic

2010-02-14T16:55:00.002Z

At this point the game is quite loose. The players are showing signs of fatigue, and there was when became interesting for the spectators.

These conditions helped to create a classic between Todd Brunson and Daniel Negreanu.

I believe that the check of Negreanu on the river worked in the perfection, applying the point nº 2 of the last post. But seems that he have a read, making him hesitant.

Let’s see what happened.

Such a beautiful hand that makes us think of the excellence of deep stack poker.

Playing the river out of position with medium/weak holdings

2010-02-13T21:12:00.000Z

There are at least 2 schools of thinking.

1. You shouldn’t miss bets - every time you checked and then call a bet, you should bet in the first place, because if not, you are losing the value of weaker hands that would call you if you bet, and only check behind if you don’t bet.

2. Checking, you are playing with all the range of the villain – that range includes all the possible bluffs that aren’t present in his calling range.