Not going broke with a full house

The World Series of Poker is right around the corner, so today I am going to share with you a hand from the WSOP two years ago where I managed to not go broke with the second nut full house. When you find yourself in a situation on the river (where the vast majority of amateur players play in a blatantly straightforward manner) where you face a polarizing bet, meaning your opponent either has the nuts or nothing, conserving your stack is of the utmost importance, even when you have a premium hand. …

One of my students recently played this hand that illustrates a key concept that you must master if you want to succeed at no-limit hold’em. With blinds at 50/100 with 20,000 effective stacks early in a $500 buy-in tournament, a player who is known to be a loose, splashy calling station raised to 300. My student called on the button with 7s-6s. The blinds folded. …

Playing junk against calling stationsRead More »

Playing junk against calling stations Read More »

5 Ways to Stop Losing or Breaking Even

If you are already winning at poker, this blog post probably will not be too useful to you. If you are losing or breaking even, it will be immensely beneficial. It goes without saying that you must be honest with yourself about your results. If you lie to yourself, or do not keep accurate records of your results, odds are you will not make it in the long run.

Realize That You Do Not Know What You Are Doing Wrong

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5 Ways to Stop Losing or Breaking EvenRead More »

5 Ways to Stop Losing or Breaking Even Read More »

Four mistakes in one hand

This hand illustrates a few mistakes that many players commit on a regular basis. At $2/$5 with $1,000 effective stacks, a reasonably aggressive player who plays lots of pots raised to $15 from second position at a 9-handed table. The player in third position called and then our Hero called from the hijack seat with K-Jo. …

Four mistakes in one handRead More »

Four mistakes in one hand Read More »

Combating Maniacs

In my previous two blog posts, we discussed how to exploit Calling Stations and Weak Players. Today, we will discuss combating Maniacs.

We will classify a maniac as someone who will apply pressure whenever given the opportunity. It should be obvious, but the way you beat maniacs is by rarely folding your decently strong hands. This should lead you play your strong hands in a manner that makes it nearly impossible for you to have to fold. One of the biggest leaks amateurs have is they will call a flop check-raise from a maniac, call the turn, and then fold on the river, believing that the maniac simply must have a strong hand to fire all three streets. This is exactly what maniacs want because they win a free flop and turn bet. …

Combating ManiacsRead More »

Combating Maniacs Read More »

Combating Weak Players

In my previous blog post, we discussed how to exploit calling stations. This time, we will discuss how to combat overly weak players. In my next article, we will discuss combating maniacs. …

Combating Weak PlayersRead More »

Combating Weak Players Read More »

Combating Calling Stations

While I always suggest that you work hard away from the table to develop strong, fundamentally sound strategies, in the small stakes games, most of your profit will come from exploiting the mistakes that your opponents make. This will allow you to make considerably more money compared to if you play like a robot, treating all opponents the same. …

Combating Calling StationsRead More »

Combating Calling Stations Read More »

Two Key Tournament Concepts

I recently played hand in a $2,200 turbo event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that I think is quite instructional. It demonstrates two key concepts that you must master if you want to succeed at poker tournaments:

Avoid playing gigantic pots without the nuts

Constantly analyze your opponent’s range and figure out how to best take advantage of it …

Two Key Tournament ConceptsRead More »

Two Key Tournament Concepts Read More »

Don’t be a pushover

The following hand illustrates a common leak that many amateur players have in their poker strategy. When they face the least bit of resistance, they fold all but their best hands. With blinds at 250/500-75 with 25,000 effective stacks in a $500 buy-in tournament, the cutoff raised to 1,200 and our Hero in this hand reraised to 3,000 with Jh-Jd on the button. Only the cutoff called. …