I’ve just published two new poker strategy articles, both of which are available to read for free! Beginning and immediate players should check out “Calling is Not a Compromise” in the pages of Cardplayer magazine. This article addresses one of the most common errors in thinking that I see among smaller stakes players:
“Calling is not a safer version of betting for value to be employed when you aren’t as confident as you’d like to be in your hand. It can actually be less safe and less profitable than betting or raising a marginal hand, and there are many circumstances where you’d do well to make a decision about the strength of your hand and bet or fold accordingly rather than cop out with a call.”
For those who play in tough games with tough opponents, there’s “Beating the Curve in a Tough Tournament” in the June edition of Two Plus Two Magazine:
“Your edge can’t come from moves like stealing the blinds, re-raising light, isolating limpers, and set-mining that are the bread and butter of a professional tournament player in a field full of amateurs. Instead, you have to play creatively, think deeply, and keep your opponents guessing by putting them in spots that they haven’t seen ten thousand times before.”
This article reviews a few hands I played during a particularly tough SCOOP tournament, some in which I got tricky against some high-level opponents and one in which I got tricked.
Whether you read one or both, please let me know what you think of them! As always, many of my other poker strategy articles are available for free on my website.
Great stuff, Andrew. I admire your constant efforts to produce quality poker strategy. You are an amazing asset to aspiring poker greats!
Thanks! Really appreciate the kind words.
Seconded!
Andrew: you still passing through London at the end of the month?
Andrew, these are really good articles !
I really liked your article about calling not being a compromise. I often found myself asking myself on the turn : “How will I play on the river ? Will I be able to bet or call a substantial bet ?”. If the answer was no, then I would fold on the turn or transform my hand into a bluff if I felt the guy to be folding often enough to be profitable.
For the hand where you got bluffed out, do you see any way for you not to fold the best hand here ? Does your turn play played a role on his decision ? I see that your check-call on the flop, check on the turn, then bet on the river look like someone not that confident into his hand.
I think as your opponent with this hand I would have played the same turn because of the free card offered and I see myself doing the same river raise because of the weakness shown on flop and turn. I would have found that either you don’t have a better hand than mine or I can kick you out of that hand with a raise.
Your two other bluffs are brilliant and needed some guts. I don’t have them neither do I have the opponents good enough to fold to them !