The following hand is from a $1,500 buy-in World Series of Poker event. Up until this point, I was extremely card dead. I actually only played three pots that went to the flop in the first three hours of play. When you happen to get relatively few playable hands, it is usually a good idea to attempt an intelligent, well-timed bluff, especially if your opponents realize that you have been tight and will give you more “respect” than usual. …
I recently played an interesting hand in a $1,500 buy-in live tournament. Everyone started with 15,000 chips at 50/100 with hour-long levels, meaning there was lots of time to hang out and wait for strong hands. I realized that everyone at my table was implementing that strategy so I quickly adjusted and decided to attempt to steal every pot once it was clear no one was interested in winning. This allowed me to double my starting stack within three hours with almost no risk, which is always an amazing result. You will find that when you are constantly pushing your opponents around, your observant opponents will eventually assume that you are overly wild and may adjust. …
Playing fast and slow Read More »
I recently witnessed this hand in a $1,000 buy-in even that clearly illustrates a flaw in many amateur players’ poker strategies. With blinds of 200/400 with a 50 ante with 23,000 effective stacks, everyone folded around to the button, a reasonably tight player, who raised to 900. The player in the small blind, we will refer to him as Hero, called with 3c-3s, and the big blind, an unknown player, called as well. …
Set turned into a bluff catcher Read More »
I recently traveled to Hollywood, Florida for the 2017 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. The venue is amazing and I had a lot of fun. I started my trip off losing almost every pot in a $2,000 turbo. When that happens, do not become discouraged and instead realize that quite often, you will not get anything going in a poker tournament. After that, I built a large stack (eight starting stacks) early in the $3,500 WPT event but lost about 20 hands in a row to fall short of the money. Again, don’t get discouraged! …
My 2017 WPT Tournament of Champions Bustout Read More »
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. …
Not going broke with a full house Read More »
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 stations Read More »
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.
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5 Ways to Stop Losing or Breaking Even Read More »
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 hand Read More »
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. …
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 Players Read More »
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