I was recently told about a hand from a $1,000 buy-in tournament that illustrates a fundamental mistake that many amateurs are unaware they are making. With blinds at 800/1,600 with a 200 ante, a loose, but straightforward player raised to 4,000 out of his 56,000 effective stack. A tight player called in the cutoff. Our Hero decided to reraise to 14,000 with 9-9. …
A Common Preflop Mistake Read More »
I recently witnessed a hand in a $1,500 buy-in live event that I think illustrates a key concept that many amateurs never fully grasp. With blinds at 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante, a loose, aggressive player raised to 8,500 out of his 100,000 stack from the hijack seat, a player with 85,000 called from the cutoff, a player with 80,000 called from the button, and then the small blind went all-in for 45,000. …
Do Not Be Afraid to Gamble Read More »
In the process of running my exclusive bi-weekly Inner Circle Office Hours, I have the opportunity to review numerous hands from my best students. This hand from a small stakes tournament clearly illustrates an important concept you must master if you want to succeed at poker. …
Good Spot for a Hero Call? Read More »
I was recently told about a hand from a $1,000 buy-in satellite into the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event that illustrates a costly flaw in the logic of numerous amateur players. About 70 players remained in the satellite with 19 lucky ones winning their Main Event seat, so the players were nowhere near getting in the money.
With blinds at 1,200/2,400 with a 200 ante, a somewhat standard player raised to 6,000 out of his 110,000 stack from middle position with K-K. Another typical player 3-bet all-in for 25,000 from the cutoff seat. Another normal player on the button 4-bet to 50,000 out of his 150,000 stack and then the action folded around to the initial raiser (who has K-K). After some thought, he went all-in. …
Big Fold in a Satellite? Read More »
Today I am going to share with you a situation that occasionally comes up in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments that you must master if you want to succeed. To illustrate this concept, I will use a hand from a $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour event I recently played at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. …
Folding for the Win Read More »
I was recently told about a hand played by an amateur player in the middle levels of a $100 buy-in live event. With blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante, an aggressive player raised to 1,600 out of is 16,000 effective stack from second position. A tight player called on the button. Our Hero looked down at 7c-7s in the small blind and decided to reraise to 5,000. …
(Incorrectly) Folding a Set Read More »
I was recently told about a hand from a $240 buy-in live poker tournament that illustrates a key error that many amateur players commit on a regular basis. Early in the tournament with blinds at 100/200 with 15,000 effective stacks, a somewhat tight player limped (called the big blind) from first position, the player in second position called and then our Hero called from middle position with Tc-9s. …
Extracting Full Value Read More »
This hand is from the 2015 $3,500 World Poker Tour event at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. We were in the middle of the third day of the five-day competition. The blinds were 4,000/8,000-1,000. I had 450,000 and my opponent, a middle-aged splashy player had 800,000. …
Lucky River with Quads Read More »
I recently played an interesting hand in a €2,200 event in Prague that demonstrates a concept you must master if you want to succeed at poker. Up until this hand, my day was going decently well. I had chipped up to 25,000 from my 12,000 starting stack with no significant confrontations. You will find that the biggest winners in tournament poker typically win (steal) lots of small pots that don’t belong to them, and that was exactly what I was doing leading up to this pot. …
One of my followers recently sent me a hand on twitter (@JonathanLittle). His analysis of the situation seemed to be so result oriented and he seemed so afraid of losing a big pot and his tournament life that it moved me to write this article.
With blinds at 400/800-100, a tight aggressive player with 22,000 raised to 2,000 from first position. An unknown player in second position called 2,000 out of his 8,500 stack. The player in third position folded and Hero looked down at Ad-Kd in the lojack seat. With a 24,000 stack, he decided to 3-bet to 6,000. …
Calling an All-In with a Flush Draw Read More »
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