Articles

Folding a set on the turn

folding-setThe following extremely interesting hand example is featured in my book Jonathan Little on Live No-Limit Cash Games, Volumes 2: The Workbook. It took place in a live $10/$20 no-limit hold’em game. Leading up to this hand, I had been fairly loose and aggressive, although certainly not crazy.

I raised to $60 out of my $8,000 effective stack with 2c-2d from second position at an eight-handed table. Only the Hijack, a loose, aggressive guy, and the Small Blind, a tight, aggressive kid, called. …

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Bluffing a maniac

591022-viktor-isildur1-blomThis summer at the WSOP, I decided to spend a bit of time away from the tournaments playing $10/$20 no-limit at Bellagio. After a few hands at the table, a Spanish kid to my left commented about how he didn’t like that I was writing down my hands in my notebook. It clearly had him rattled. He proceeded to play in a maniacal manner and bluffed off over $5,000 to me over the next hour. He was tilted. To be fair, I showed down decently strong hands, so he probably didn’t think I was outplaying him, but instead was lucky to make some strong hands. (I was actually lucky that he kept trying to bluff me!) …

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In the media

I have been fortunate enough to be featured in the poker (and non-poker media) quite a few times over the last few months. In this blog post, I will share with you a few of these mentions, many of which include lots of free educational poker content. This blog post has been in the works for quite a while, but great things have kept popping up. Sorry that it is so long!

The Cover of CardPlayer Magazine

CP cover

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Facing a river raise in Deauville

57068316-decb-11e4-_885450cLast year I had the opportunity to travel to Deauville, France for the European Poker Tour series. Even though I had only marginal success, cashing for the minimum in the €10,000 buy-in high roller event, I got to play lots of fun hands. This hand is from a €5,000 buy-in six-handed turbo tournament. My opponent is a loose, aggressive kid who I have been pushing around so far. While I am not sure if he is a stereotypical overly aggressive European kid, I tend to assume that European kids are overly aggressive until they prove otherwise. …

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Folding A-K Preflop in the Global Poker League

W5M44_datetime-1024x576The action in the Global Poker League has been fast and furious. I have played lots of matches so far and in general, I am happy with my play.

In my second 6-handed match, I got away with a fun check-raise bluff on the turn and generally got to play some poker. Even though I took 3rd place by running J-6 into J-7 on a J-7-4-8-J board, I think I played particularity great in this match.  …

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In-depth Hand Range Analysis

This blog post is an experiment. I have been trying to figure out a good way to help amateur poker players better understand how to put players on hand ranges in a clear, easy to understand format. I am considering writing a book using the format below and I want to see what you think about it. Please let me know in the Comment section below. Thank you!

This blog post would likely be near the end of the book, after it is fully discussed how to put someone on a reasonable preflop range. I also have to figure out how to add weighted ranges in a visual format. Writing books is hard work!

Preflop

At 100/200-25 with 25,000 effective stacks, a good, loose, aggressive played raised to 525 from the lojack seat.

The lojack’s preflop raising range is:

 

11

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A Bit Too Optimistic?

analyze-poker-jonathan-littleThe following hand took place in the €5000 six-handed turbo event, which always takes place on the last day of European Poker Tour series to give the players one last chance at a nice score.

With blinds at 200/400 with a 50 ante, I raised to 1,000 out of my 50,000 stack with Qd-Jd from the cutoff seat. Deep stacked 6-handed NLHE is fun! The Small Blind, a young European kid, and the Big Blind, a tight player, called. I thought my opponents’ ranges could easily be incredibly wide, although they were probably not too out of line.   …

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Tough situation on the bubble

downloadHello everyone! In this blog post, I am going to share with you the most important hand from a $5,000 event I recently played. Nearing the bubble, I was cruising along with an 185,000 stack. Average once everyone got in the money would be roughly 175,000. When you have an average stack on the bubble, your general strategy should usually be to avoid playing a gigantic pot versus the big stacks while applying pressure to the short stacks. This will allow you to build your stack while avoiding going broke. It is important to have a rough game plan before you approach any poker situation. I have laid out my tournament strategies in my best-selling book, Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker.  …

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Why most players lose at poker – the rake

With the WSOP quickly approaching, I would like to share with you a concept that many amateur players are either unaware of or completely ignore. Most amateur players do not lose because they are bad at poker. They are usually not much better or worse than their competition. Instead, they lose because the casino consistently rakes away a significant amount of money in play. The rake, the money the casino takes in exchange for letting you play, is a key determining factor of whether or not any game is potentially profitable.   …

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Learning to fold

bigfoldWhile I feel like I have a fairly solid grasp on how to play fundamentally sound poker, I have found that I have been calling a bit too often with good, but second best, hands when my opponents seem to be willing to put all of their money in the pot. I have been working hard to plug that leak. This hand demonstrates my progress. …

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