Post Archives Tag: mailbag

Mailbag: Zoom Poker, Yay or Nay?

Q: I would love to hear your thoughts on zoom poker. It seems to me, at low stakes anyway, that the level of play is much higher than at regular cash tables at the same stakes. For some reason, it seems to attract much fewer fish and many more regs.Read full post

Mailbag: Suited Gappers

Q: Is there anyway to quantify the difference in value between a 2-gapper (4-7) and connector (4-5)? I understand a 2-gapper can only make a straight two ways and a connector can make it four ways … do you just cut the various probabilities in half?

Personally I don’t Read full post

Mailbag: Weak Draw on the Button

Q: I’ve got a hand that came up at Event 3 of the $40k Guarantee $200 buyin Deepstack event at The Bike (no rebuys, no add ons).

This is level 2 (150 – 300) and I ran the starting stack of 15k up to 28k. A player from middle position Read full post

Mailbag: Kings on an Ace-High Flop

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: We are in a .25/.50 NLholdem home game, 5 players are left. Hero and villain are the two big stacks at the table.

Preflop 5 handed:
Hero ($77.75 from a $50 buy in) (KK) Raise $1.75 
Villain ($58.25 from a $25 buy in) Call
Dealer Fold
SB call (after Read full post

Mailbag: Big Pair, Everyone Calls

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I am an active live player who plays in local games in NYC. This hand was from a $1/$3 NLHE game 9 player table with mostly fairly loose players but they are quite competent for this level. Most hands are played with 3+ players although hands are rarely limped Read full post

Mailbag: Looking at the Clock

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I was BB ($600) and held KhKc. UTG+1 LAG ($500) limps CO limps Button (<$100) limps SB limps and I raise to $10. Perhaps on the small side since the table was loosening up with the end near but I can typically play post flop well.

UTG+1 calls
CO Read full post

Mailbag: Getting Away From Hands

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I have a recurring situation that is driving me crazy. You speak to it around the edges quite a bit in the blog, I’d be interested in hearing your direct take. I win many small pots in a session then lose a big pot that I should have been Read full post

Mailbag: Playing Like a Robot

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: Remember years ago the training websites were saying we want to teach you to not become a “robot” and think about decisions. Wouldnt that be more of the exploitive strategy and now people almost want to play like a “robot” with game theory. Do you find that is happening Read full post

Mailbag: Implied Odds in a Multiway Pot

Thinking Poker MailbagQ:Game is 2/5 and involves three players:
A-$350(SB)
B-$500(hero, MP)T/T
C-$650(Button)

action is limped by1 player(B) to Button that raises to $25, folds to BB and he re pops it for $85 total… now here is the question, given a hero read of extremely strong ranges on at the Read full post

Mailbag: Going Crazy With a Low Flush

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: My son and I have different opinions on a hand I played this week and would love to here your take. The game is live 1-2 and I have been running crazy good and only showing down big hands. My stack is at $1200.

Villan is young aggressive and Read full post

Mailbag: First Time in a Live Poker Room

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I played my first live game at a casino this weekend. I played $1/$2 NLHE for about and hour or two at the Sands in Bethlehem, Pa. I finished with a very small profit, but I found the game a lot less fun than playing a home game with Read full post

Choosing Your Restealing Hands

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: Thanks for the great blog. I’m a cash game player who has started to venture into playing tournaments and had a question about tournament theory for you. I was thinking about preflop shoving ranges earlier and I was wondering if this is a true statement: if you think your Read full post

Mailbag: Following Up on Success

Some of you may remember this e-mail that I received last year seeking staking advice:

I am 24 years old and I live in Henderson, NV. Following the shut down of service to US players on Pokerstars I decided to play a few live tournaments.  I instantly final tabled two
Read full post

Mailbag: Playing Suited Connectors

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: My guess is most people (including me) don’t play 89suited (67,910,10J) the right way…
20BB 89 suited on button vs 3x raise?
40BB 89suited on button vs 3x raise?
100BB 89 suited on button vs 3x raise?
200BB 89 suited on button vs 3x raise?
What about 89s on Read full post

Mailbag: Chasing a Gut Shot

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I have seen a french poker video in which 2 players discuss about a hand played by one of these player on a french online tournament (6max, buy in 100€).

This is the hand :
Blinds 250/500 ante 60.
Hero is the CO with AcTs.
utg folds.
utg +1 Read full post

Mailbag: Don’t Pay Off

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I recently read Andrew Seidman’s response to a question about the key to become a winning poker player. His statement was simple and direct: “Don’t pay off.”

This advice hit me right in the face, given how frequently I look up a big river bet even when I’m pretty Read full post

Mailbag: Speaking of Tangling with the Chipleader

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: Hero and Villian are chip leaders at the table, everyone else is in the 5-15bb range. Both are most active players at the table, Villian continuation bets approximately 65-70% of flops.

$400 +40 tournament
Final Table. 6 remaining
Blinds 1,200-2,400 w/300ante
Villian (57kstack) raises utg to 8k
Folds to Read full post

Mailbag: Dealmaking

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I’m curious to hear your take on dealmaking generally and on a deal I made recently at the final table of a live tournament. Blinds were 5K/10K/1K. Payouts were $3000 for 1st, $1600 for 2nd, $1000 for 3rd, and $700 for 4th.

There was talk of a chop, but Read full post

Mailbag: Stack Size Goals

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: Do you have goals in terms of stack size? As a cash player, I’m comfortable with 100bb or so, but in tourneys, I find myself between 10bb and 20bb a lot of the times. Trying to get near 100bb is impossible in the mid game so should I just Read full post

Mailbag: Commitment Decisions

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: Level 6 of a Tuesday night weekly tournament held at Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA $100 buy-in, 20 minute levels, 10k starting stacks. Blinds are 300/600 with 50 antes. Hero (Me) is in the cutoff with a stack of 16,050. Everyone in earlier position folds and I find 8s7s. Read full post

Mailbag: Staying Sharp

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: I’ve been thinking poker again with the exciting DoJ news at the end of last year. I’m sure many have.

While actual regulated play is probably still far off (with the exception of Nevada), I’ve been wondering how best to prepare myself for online poker’s eventual return [to the Read full post

Mailbag: Floating and Calling

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: If you find time i want your opinion about a hand i played in a EPT side event with a pokerstars pro from Argentina (i don’t remember his name but he won the high roller event last year at EPT London i think)…
With 75/150 blinds and about Read full post

Mailbag: Using Poker Stove

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: How would you recommend using Poker Stove to get better? Especially since I can only play live these days.

A: Your caveat at the end there threw a wrench in my plans for building a post around what I think is an innovative idea for the popular no-limit hold … Read full post

Mailbag: The Learning Process

Thinking Poker MailbagQ: What’s your process for improving as a player?  Do you review your hand histories or take notes while you play?  Or have a master list of tips that you review regularly?  Like most “normal” people, I have a family and work full time and must do the bulk of Read full post

Mailbag: Playing a Suited Flop

One topic that I would appreciate some comments (and possibly something posted on the blog for discussion) are techniques for playing, in comparatively low-staked NL games, a flop of three suited cards. In particular, for those circumstances where there has not been a lot of pre-flop action, and you are Read full post

Mailbag Follow-Up

In a recent mailbag, I discussed the potential for exploiting players who size bets one way when they want to induce a raise and another when they don’t. I had the opportunity to take advantage of such a player last Sunday.

I’d already folded to re-raises twice  this orbit, … Read full post

Mailbag: Making Live Reads

Q: When playing live what sort of mental notes do you keep on people? Do you give them labels and those labels are associated to hand ranges, raising tendencies, calling tendencies, etc, etc?

I remember my first couple of live tourneys I was trying to keep track of what people Read full post

Mailbag: Check-Raised on the Flop

(I’ve made blog posts out of responses to reader-submitted questions before, but it never occurred to me to actively solicit such questions for a regular feature until now! So welcome to the first Thinking Poker Mailbag, and please read on for information about how to submit your own question!)

Q: Read full post

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