The second installment of my trip report from the 2011 World Series of Poker main event is now appearing in the September edition of 2+2 Magazine. It covers my experiences on Days 3, 4, and 5:
… Read full postThere are people who are good at poker, and then there are people who
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
Thanks to everyone who commented on the latest What’s Your Play? If you haven’t already, please take a look at the original post and think about what you’d do before you read my thoughts and the results.
With Hero’s commanding chip lead and the fact that Villain is in 2nd/3rd … Read full post
I had a very frustrating 11th place finish in the $150 6-max today. Lost a huge coin flip. It’s a good thing that’s the last thing I was playing because it was the most frustrated I’ve let myself get in months. Anyway, here are two key hands.
CO was a … Read full post
Edit: Sorry, I made a significant typo when posting this. As many of you realized, the BB is actually 250K, not 500K.
With the WCOOP coming up in barely a week, here’s a “What’s Your Play?” that focuses on tournament play. This is a hand that occurred early at the … Read full post
Been playing some 8-game mix lately. I’m pretty sure the games are good but I am not so it all evens out! Here are two of the best hands I played yesterday (sorry for the lack of conversion):
PokerStars Game #66507871933: 8-Game (Hold’em Limit, $10/$20 USD) – 2011/08/24 22:27:27 MT … Read full post
There were tons of comments on the most recent “What’s Your Play?” post, which is awesome. I’m going to go ahead and post the results, but especially after seeing the comments I think it’s very close and I don’t mean to hold my play up as the best possible … Read full post
Hero and Villain are heads up on four tables at Villain’s request. Villain bought in short at all four but promised not to quit no matter how big his stack got, and he’s been true to his word. He’s not a professional but has proven surprisingly capable. He is playing … Read full post
Unfortunately I was the victim of this one. Honestly I don’t think his river call is too good. If diamonds miss, he can snap-call, but a huge chunk of my range just got there. It’s possible he didn’t think I would value bet a flush, but I absolutely would. The … Read full post
Q: I have a question about your article “The Last Bet“.
It is a very interesting article and I want to thank you for that and for your website. I read a lot of books about poker and learned a lot, but since I read your articles and … Read full post
Earlier this week I posted a new What’s Your Play, and now it’s time for the results and my analysis! First off thanks to everyone who commented, there were a lot of really interesting ideas and good questions, and I’m going to address a few of them here.
In … Read full post
First hand of the match, but both players are 5/10 regulars and each respects the other’s game. No history particularly relevant to this hand.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB ($2500)
SB ($2581.50)
Dealt to Hero: T♥ T♣
Preflop:
Hero bets … Read full post
One of the cooler hands from my time splashing around in the small stakes:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $1.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) ($100.50)
BB ($51)
Preflop: Hero is SB with K♦, Q♠
Hero bets $2, BB calls $1
Flop: ($4) … Read full post
Part 1 of my trip report from the 2011 WSOP Main Event is now appearing in the August edition of 2+2 Magazine. This covers my first two days and includes everything you could want from the WSOP: big calls, big bluffs, scared money, fearsome Russians, surly Frenchmen, bad beats, and … Read full post
This is an interview that I did with Railbirds.com a few hours after my elimination on Day 7. No beautiful women in this one but it is much less rushed than the others so I’m able to answer questions in more depth:
Q: I’m a member of Poker Savvy Plus and have been watching your High Stakes Review series videos. I enjoy them and find them helpful. One stupid question I have is when you say a particular hand “plays very well” in a particular spot or “doesn’t play very well” … Read full post
Whenever we get a lot of new visitors at Thinking Poker, and probably a lot of people who haven’t read my more monolithic trip reports (understandable), I reprint select stories that are buried in much longer narratives but that I consider among my best. This article is part of that … Read full post
(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
Here’s an archived hand that illustrates a key point from my Betting for Protection article. The idea is that you don’t have to worry about protecting against a draw if you expect your opponent to bluff very often when he misses his draw. Essentially your implied odds from catching bluffs … Read full post
Just posted a review of No Limits: The Fundamentals of No-Limit Holdem by Chris “Fox” Wallace and Adam Stemple. Here’s the gist of it:
As a book for small stakes cash game players, it’s not bad, but not bad isn’t good enough when it’s covering ground already tread by great … Read full post
Part trip report, part sequel to “Gray Friday“, “Three Days in Madrid” is my latest article for the Two Plus Two Poker Magazine:
… Read full postMy heart beat eagerly as my eyes scanned the waiting crowd at Madrid-Barajas Airport. It’s nice to know that, after nine hours of
My latest poker strategy article, “Having a Plan For a Hand“, is now appearing on Part Time Poker:
In this article, I want to consider a hand that at first glance may look like just a lucky flop against a bad player. In truth, however, I think the … Read full post
Found this sort of interesting hand while randomly perusing the database. I don’t know for sure that I would have folded to a turn barrel, but I think Villain definitely ought to bet, and if I know that he isn’t betting this, then folding 88h on the turn is easy:… Read full post
Dipping into the archives to bring you some poker content…
Villain and I were starting a game. He’s pretty solid and not someone I’d ordinarily go out of my way to play heads up, especially not at 2/4 where there’s easier competition available.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (2 handed) … Read full post
Yesterday, I posted a few hands where I exploited Early Position raisers with transparent ranges. Here’s an example of of the kind of play you can make to combat players who try to exploit you in this way:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy … Read full post
Many Tight-Aggressive players do a poor job of mixing up their ranges for raising from Early Position. This means that you can often identify boards on which your perceived range is stronger than theirs and bluff relentlessly:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (7 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com… Read full post
In my recent poker strategy article, Slowplaying, I emphasize how much a failure to build the pot can cost you when you slowplay a huge hand in NLHE. One of the exceptions I discuss is when you have an aggressive opponent who may help you to build the pot:… Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Slowplaying, is a meditation on a variety of topics related to slowplaying: what it costs you, when to do it, which types of boards and opponents are best, etc. Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:
“[Y]ou must weigh the advantages of slowplaying against what … Read full post
The field in the $1050 PokerStars Super Tuesday had been whittled down from 394 to 28. With 10 BB’s, I wasn’t in great shape, but I had a fighting chance. And then the internet at my apartment went out. I tried the usual disconnecting and reconnecting, but it didn’t fix … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1078.40)
BB ($2126.95)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 7s, 9c.
Hero raises to $18, BB calls $12.
Flop: ($36) 2c, 2d, 6h (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.
Turn: ($36) 7h (2 players)
BB bets … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1000)
BB ($3855.15)
Preflop: Hero is Button with 8s, Ts.
Hero raises to $30, BB calls $20.
Flop: ($60) 8c, 5d, Qd (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $44.6, BB calls $44.60.
Turn: ($149.20) … Read full post
First hand is a very relevant bit of recent history:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1153.70)
Button ($752.10)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Th, Jh.
Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $42, Button calls $30.
Flop: ($84) Qc, … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero (t14702)
UTG (t30344)
MP (t15991)
CO (t16405)
Button (t34712)
SB (t61552)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Ks, 9s.
3 folds, Button raises to t1200, 1 fold, Hero calls t600.
Flop:… Read full post
I’m posting three hands tonight, all of them against the same Villain. I’d just stacked him for the second time, and after that he bought in for just 30 BB’s, won a sizable pot, and then started donking a lot of flops. In the first two, I made some biggish … Read full post
I figured Villain’s river range was nuts/bluffs, and given that this was a backdoor draw and the flop draws missed, there’d be enough bluffs to warrant a call. I hadn’t counted on this:
PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha High, $1.00 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($655.40)
SB … Read full post
Thanks to everyone who played in the inaugural Thinking Poker cash game last night. We had our share of technical difficulties:
1. When I set the stakes at $.10/$.25 and 100-250BB buy-in, I somehow thought that would mean a $2.50-$6.25 buy-in range. Of course it’s actually 10x that, so we … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Out of Position Against a LAG, has just been published in the March 2011 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s a street-by-street analysis of a single hand, highlighting a lesson that can be learned from each. Here’s an example:
Lesson: Against an opponent who is … Read full post
I let a guy get under my skin and tilt me tonight, which I almost never do. We were at a $2/$4 deep-stacked table, and he was just relentlessly aggressive pre-flop, both in and out of position. He was cold 4-betting me, he was 3-betting me, he was 5-betting me, … Read full post
My girlfriend was kind enough to let me plan our Valentine’s Day around an interview with Mike and Adam. We spoke for a little over half an hour about all kinds of stuff: blogging, coaching, traveling, and of course strategy.
My only regret is with regard to the last question … Read full post
Villain was unknown to me and had pretty crazy stats for a 6-max game, like 57/32 or something. He floated a lot of flops and would fire the turn when in position, so I was originally looking to check-raise. The overbet threw me off, as I’d never seen him do … Read full post
Sorry that I was slow in posting results and lax about responding to comments. Not only was I moving over the weekend (got a place in Boston for a few months- more on this soon), but I also took ill. In retrospect eating a pre-made tuna sandwich from a rest … Read full post
Today I’ve got another variation on the “What’s Your Play?” theme. I’m going to give you the play, and you have to give me the range with which you would make it. Of course for the sake of discussion, please give us your reasoning as well.
Reads:
MP2 … Read full post
I think my line looks pretty damn strong here. Obviously it’s not going to work when Villain has trips himself, but I feel like he has a lot of TT-AA here as well (not to mention AK before he calls turn).
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $4 BB (6 handed) Hand History … Read full post
In NLHE, I pretty much always choose to call rather than re-raise-get-it-in when I have position and suspect some sort of coinflip situation (overs vs. pair pre-flop, top pair vs. big draw on the flop, etc.). I figure that between position and superior skill, I ought to be able to … Read full post
I was looking to check-raise flop. When he checked it back and the turn is a brick, he’s got a wide range but a narrow value range so it’s check-call, check-call.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6 BB (2 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($691.50)
Hero ($605.50)
Preflop: Hero … Read full post
My post from last night flubbed a simple equation badly enough that I felt the need to scrap it and start over from scratch. I’ve left the old post up for posterity’s sake and so people can see what not to do. Here’s what I should have said:
Blinds are … Read full post
Edit: As several commenters pointed out, I screwed this up in multiple ways. I’m getting ready to start up a session, but I’ll be making a new post with a corrected equation soon. In the meantime, you can disregard this post unless you’re curious to see whether you can spot … Read full post
I think this is one of the worst hands I’ve played in a while:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($646.60)
SB ($1000)
Hero (BB) ($1000)
UTG ($458)
MP ($2288.55)
CO ($1148)
Preflop: Hero is BB with K
, Q
2 … Read full post
Remember our Sources of Value in a Bet discussion? My latest poker strategy article, Betting For Protection, is now appearing in the January issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s a taste of what to expect:
… Read full postEarly in their no-limit hold ’em careers, many players are overly concerned with protecting their
Certainly an above average year in tournaments, with an FTOPS win, a WCOOP final table, a SCOOP final table bubble, and a top 100 finish in the WSOP Main Event. No room to complain about anything here. My true ROI is probably in the … Read full post
The last hand I posted touched on the concept of recognizing the best bluffing hand(s) in your range. Here’s another example:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
SB (t32977)
BB (t8225)
UTG (t31597)
UTG+1 (t7626)
MP1 (t21893)
MP2 (t17250)
MP3 … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG+1 ($600)
MP1 ($600.10)
MP2 ($309.35)
MP3 ($1521.45)
CO ($1167.20)
Hero (Button) ($618)
SB ($663)
BB ($600)
UTG ($444)
Preflop: Hero is Button with A
, 10
5 folds, CO bets $15, Hero calls … Read full post
Villain’s flop call out of position with a gutshot may look bad, but it actually illustrates an important point about deep-stacked NLHE: you must play in such a way that your opponent can never exclude nutted hands from your range. Otherwise, you are exploitable by bluffs such as the one … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG (t4465)
Hero (UTG+1) (t5220)
MP1 (t5035)
MP2 (t5865)
MP3 (t5000)
CO (t4955)
Button (t4460)
SB (t4970)
BB (t5030)
Hero’s M: 116.00
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 3, 3
1 fold, … Read full post
My latest poker strategy article, Joseph Cheong WSOP Final Table “Blow Up“, has just been published in the December 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s an in-depth analysis of the complex factors at play in the infamous A7 vs. QQ hand, many of which have been overlooked by … Read full post
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) ($3307.50)
SB ($2010)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3, 3
SB bets $60, Hero calls $40
Flop: ($120) 5, 4, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $100, … Read full post
Villain tells me had 6d 4d, which seems plausible:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP ($7477)
CO ($2314)
Hero (Button) ($6720)
SB ($6379)
BB ($2207)
UTG ($9558.50)
Preflop: Hero is Button with A, K
1 fold, MP bets … Read full post
One of my criticisms of Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time, which I generally liked, was that the authors neglected opportunities to play Ace-high for showdown value and turned such hands into a bluff too frequently. Today I had the misfortune of having one of the authors … Read full post
A lot of players are torn about what to do when they know an opponent is frequently betting the flop without a hand. Is it better to float, or to bluff-raise? I’ve written a strategy article on the subject, but in the 1K FTOPS tonight, I had the chance to … Read full post
This wasn’t anything that I planned from the get-go. It was just that on each street, I kept feeling like he could be weak enough for an underbet to show a profit. I almost shoved the turn, and then I was like, “Screw it, 80% of what he folds to … Read full post
Before I became a serious poker player, I loved to watch poker on TV. Now, I can hardly stand it. I did watch a few episodes of this year’s WSOP broadcast, mostly from the days I expected to be on there and for the final table coverage. It’s clearly increased … Read full post
About 3 hours into today’s $300 6-max, I got moved to a table with two Pocket Fives superstars. One was to my immediate right, and one two seats to my left. We tangled in a few interesting spots, and while I definitely got the best of the one on my … Read full post
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP3 ($126.70)
CO ($508.10)
Button ($470.80)
SB ($443.50)
Hero (BB) ($823)
UTG ($469.40)
UTG+1 ($793.10)
MP1 ($400)
MP2 ($376.90)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 10
1 fold, UTG+1 bets $12, 4 … Read full post
FWIW I shouldn’t have 3-bet this guy pre-flop because he rarely calls but often 4-bets and KQs isn’t quite so good that I’m happy about 3-bet-calling it (although I did after remembering who this guy was).
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com… Read full post
28 players remaining in the FTP Friday Night Fight, 27 places pay. As soon as I saw this flop, I told myself that if the pre-flop raiser made a continuation bet I’d have to either check-call or check-fold. I just didn’t see him betting this board into two players with … Read full post
Following hot on the heels of last week’s “What’s Your Play?”, here’s another hand where there’s a full house on the board and I beat it. This time I did go for the overbet just because in this case my range looks a lot stronger and my opponent … Read full post