One of the first things I tell my new poker students is to not use card protectors, which comes as a shock to some of them. They vividly recall a time when the dealer mistakenly mucked their poker hand, costing them a ton of money, and a card protector would have saved them. While it is obviously a disaster to get your hand mucked, a card protector is not the only solution to protecting your hand. …
Do NOT Use a Card Protector Read More »
Veronica flops top pair and takes Kathy to value town. Sometimes middle pair is good for two bets, and occasionally even three!
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Weekly Poker Hand #239 Read More »
While a high amount of your profit, especially in soft or small buy-in tournaments, will come from getting maximum value from your strong hands, occasionally you will need to run a well-timed bluff. I played a hand in the recent $3,500 WPT event at Borgata that illustrates this point. …
Exploit Your Opponent’s Tendencies Read More »
Sue decides to see the flop with Jd-9d and gets punished. Tight aggressive play works for a reason.
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Weekly Poker Hand #238 Read More »
The following hand took place early in Day 1 of the $3,500 buy-in Borgata Poker Open WPT main event. I was pleased to find myself at a table that should have been quite good for me because my opponents were clearly playing in a blatantly straightforward manner. Despite this, I found myself down to 24,000 from my initial 30,000 chip stack, mostly due to making a strong, but second best hands a few times in a row. …
Don’t Be Afraid to Go for Full Value Read More »
Everyone has an easy all-in preflop but they all opt to limp instead. Talk about passive! Then, A-9 flops the effective nuts and check-raises, allowing his opponents to fold. Don’t let them off the hook!
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Weekly Poker Hand #237 Read More »
I was recently told about, a poker 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. …
3-Betting All-In Preflop Read More »
Joe raises with with A-T to 25% of his starting stack but then folds to a 3-bet. Do you make this play on a regular basis? How does it work out in your games?
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Weekly Poker Hand #236 Read More »
I was recently told about a hand from a $500 buy-in live tournament that illustrates an important concept that many amateur poker players fail to fully understand. With blinds at 500/1,000 with a 100 ante, our Hero raised to 2,500 out of his 50,000 effective stack on the button with Kh-Qc. Only the big blind, a generally tight and extremely straightforward 50 year old man called. …
Facing a Lead on All Three Streets Read More »
When you raise from early position with junk, you open yourself up to getting punished. Equity realization is a real thing!
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Weekly Poker Hand #235 Read More »
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