I recently asked on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook if you would rather have $500 to play poker with 15 years ago or $10,000 today. Here is my answer:

Thanks for taking the time to watch this video. Be sure to check back at JLPoker.com/blog next week for another educational poker blog. Good luck in your games!

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I was recently told about a dicey situation from a $1/$2 game that you should strive to avoid while playing. A loose, weak player with $80 limped from middle position and our Hero found Jd-7d in the cutoff with a $200 stack. Hero decided to raise to $10.

Hero told me that he thought he could outplay the limper, winning most pots where the limper missed while sidestepping difficult situations where Hero happens to flop well but is still behind. While this may be true, as stacks start to get shallow ($80 is only 40 big blinds), you should mostly raise limpers with strong big cards and hands that have a lot of potential to make strong postflop hands, like Tc-9c. Jh-7h is simply too weak to justify raising. Hero should fold and wait for a better spot. An added bonus of playing only reasonable hands (besides making better postflop hands) is that your raises over limpers will tend to elicit most folds compared to when you frequently raise. If you are mindlessly aggressive, even the most obtuse opponents will eventually figure out your strategy. …

Playing a Marginal Made Hand with a DrawRead More »

The World Series of Poker upon us, so today I want to share an article from a few years ago that illustrates my mindset during the WSOP. I hope you enjoy it!

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Lucky flop leads to the final table in the $5,000 WSOP eventRead More »

One of my students recently told me about a hand from a $5/$10 no-limit hold’em cash game that demonstrates exactly how you should play a marginal under pair. Although he ended up losing the pot, he played it great.

A somewhat loose, splashy player raised to $30 out of his $1,000 effective stack from first position at a seven-handed table and our Hero with 10d-10c elected to 3-bet from second position to $90. …

The right way to play an under pairRead More »

Despite spending a decent amount of time studying, getting in shape, and finding my way into a tranquil mindset, the 2015 $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event did not go well for me. I felt like I played my best but the cards simply did not cooperate at all. However, I did get off to a nice start. Today I will share with you a hand that may seem straightforward, but in reality, it is a tricky spot that I think I played in the most profitable manner.   …

Choosing the correct river bet sizeRead More »

This hand I was told about from a $500 buy-in tournament clearly illustrates an important concept you must master if you want to succeed at poker.

With blinds at 800/1600-200 with a 45,000 effective stack, the button, an unknown player who seems to be a bit too aggressive and splashy, called. Our Hero raised to 4,000 with Ah-6s from the small blind. The big blind folded and the button called.

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Checking for ValueRead More »

The fact that the players who made the WSOP final table used to have four months to prepare created an interesting dynamic that diligent players could exploit. If you happened to make the final table with a short stack, you had four months to study exactly which hands you should be willing to go all-in with when the action folds to you. This high-risk all-in or fold situation just so happened to occur on the second hand of the 2015 WSOP final table.

Without going into too much detail, there were two short stacks at the table, Chan and Butteroni, both with 15 big blinds. The next shortest stack had 30 big blinds. This typically implies that Chan and Butteroni should try to outlast each other. However, the WSOP Main Event has a bizarre payout structure: …

Interesting Hand from the WSOP Main Event Final TableRead More »