Poker Information Strategies

Early Position Limpers

Blinds are T1000-T2000. You're in the fifth hour of a no-limit hold'em tournament that's down to 40 of its 500 original entrants. You have 7 opponents at your table. A new hand is dealt. The under-the-gun player (UTG) limps with a T25,000 stack. The T8,000 stack two to his left shoves all-in. PAction folds to you, and you're in the big blind with T30,000. You have 99. Read Full Article

The Texas Hold'em Blinds

The poker blinds are the small blind and the big blind bets placed by the two players to the dealer's left, before the hole cards are dealt. Sure they're lost if you don't win and they can be stolen as well, but don't think that posting the blinds will put you at a disadvantage. Texas hold 'em victory comes with winning the big pots, not from stealing the blinds. Read Full Article

Finding Greener Grass

When you are playing online poker, it is normal for a good hand to give you a big satisfaction; in that single moment you have instant gratification. But then, to play the next game you must wait for a seat to open up in your game of choice: 6-max $100NL hold'em. This minute of waiting becomes the longest sixty seconds of your life as you prepare yourself to take your place in your new table. Read Full Article

Estimating Opponents' Folding Percentage

As we know, in all forms of poker hands it's vital to get opponents to fold to your aggressions, especially at the endgame of tournaments, which in most cases are defined by shove-fests. The intention of this article is give you an idea on how to calculate your probabilities of winning uncontested and how to push it up few percentage points.Read Full Article

Eliminating Opponents

When playing a tournament, every time an opponent is eliminated, all of the remaining players benefit. There's one less opponent to worry about, and everyone moves closer to the money (or, if you are already in the money, everyone moves up a spot). Thus, there is great incentive to eliminate a short stack when you have the opportunity, and many opponents will encourage you to do so. A prime example goes something like this: You are in the big blind and everyone folds to the cut-off, who is short-stacked with 3000 in chips. The blinds are 500-1000 with $100 antes. At this point the short stack moves all-in, and everyone folds to you on the big blind. Read Full Article

Playing for Respect

It's natural to want respect. In both our professional and personal lives, respect is something desired by the great majority of us. A few of us may profess to not caring what others think and actually mean it, but for the rest of us, it's important to have earned the respect of family, friends, peers and co-workers. Respect is an end in and of itself. We take satisfaction in having earned that respect. In fact, most of us have become so accustomed to striving for respect, that it becomes important to get it in all aspects of our life no matter how minor. Think about all of the daily situations in which you seek respect that in hindsight are rather inconsequential. Read Full Article

Maximizing Luck

In poker, luck is not about happiness or sorrow. Here the luckiest player at the table is the one who gets the most out of a stroke of good luck when it happens. There's good luck and bad luck, and no matter if you are superstitious or not, in poker, you can see when an inexperienced player is unusually lucky. In some cases, the rookie will lament the luck of a more accomplished opponent. Read Full Article

Know Your Chip Leader

In a no limit tournament, there can be wild fluctuations in chip stacks. Luck, skill and circumstance can all play a role in propelling someone to a chip lead. Facing a player with a huge stack can be a daunting task. Not knowing how he got there can make that task more challenging. Let me offer an example from a two table tournament I recently played. At our table, we had an eclectic mix of styles and skill level. One player was loose, aggressive and clueless - which usually translates into an early exit in this game. However, this player kept sucking out and managed to build a huge chip lead. To make matters worse, when we consolidated tables Read Full Article

The Chips You Don't Win

We all know that the chips you don't lose are as valuable as the chips you win. However, in this game of infinite subtlety, the chips you don't win are equally important. I played in a recent tournament with eighteen players and the top four would be in the money. I came in 4th place and my initial reaction was that I played well. When we were down to four, I put another guy all-in when I was an 80% favorite and he called and pulled it out by hitting a three outer on the river. That left me crippled and I was eliminated soon after. Upon further reflection, however, I believe I made two questionable plays in the course of the tournament that could have made a big difference. Read Full Article

The Psychology of Online Poker

Online poker often takes a back seat whenever credit is given for the recent poker explosion. The lipstick camera, the World Poker Tour and Chris Moneymaker are the usual reasons mentioned. For those who play, though, there's no denying the contribution made by poker sites. No longer did you need to travel (great distances in some cases) to play a game of poker. With the click of a mouse, you could be in just about any game for whatever stakes you desire. This greatly accelerated the learning curve of beginning poker players. With the ability to play any time of day or night in the comfort of their own home Read Full Article

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