Poker Tournaments - Winning Techniques

Poker Tournaments : Tips and techniques to make you a better player.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Consider this article on hold em. The techniques will make you a better player.

Please note this blog is meant to provide information on hold em in its legal and non-gambling applications.

Todays Poker Article

Tournament Poker and Cash Game Poker: A Two-headed Monster - Part 2

by Gary Gates

�Should I fold and wait for a better spot to put all my chips at risk? With only 50 players left to the money, do I have enough chips to survive the blinds and antes? How long until the blinds go up? Which players at my table are susceptible to getting eaten up by the blinds? Which players can I steal blinds from?�

When we left part I, we began to consider the additional factors a tournament poker player must consider within his or her decision-making process. These �special� circumstances often call for special action. A player might make one play in a cash game that he would never even consider in a tournament, and vice versa.

The unique decision-making processes required of these two very different brands of poker are necessitated by the manner in which profit is earned in each type. Cash games reward players instantly, as every pot pushed your way comes in the form of legal tender that you can walk away with at any time. In other words, a player can sit down at a cash game, double up on the first hand, put his chips back in the rack and proceed to the cashier with his newfound wealth. Though I do not recommend this method, as it won�t earn you many friends at the table, no one is going to stop you. (Who needs friends at the poker table anyway, right?)

Tournaments, however, reward only the top few participants who are able to outlast the masses. Described by many as marathons that call for hours of intense boredom, speckled with a few moments of sheer terror, poker tournaments require a great amount of time and patience. In a tournament that pays the top ten players, 100th place pays exactly as much as eleventh: nothing. Therefore, major decisions within the game are heavily influenced by the size of players� chip stacks, the number of players remaining, and the size of your own stack relative to the blinds. Before you take tenth, you have to guarantee yourself eleventh, and that fact is what makes survival a tournament player�s number one priority.

Cash games, because of their static blinds and the option to buy more chips at any time, tend to suit more conservative poker players. The never-increasing blinds allow them to sit back and wait for big hands with which they hope to win massive pots. Tournament play forces aggression to some extent, as the blinds and antes are constantly on the rise. The track records of Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar and Johnny Chan are prime examples of the kind of success that can come from aggressive tournament play.

Which brand of poker should you play? First consider the style of poker that comes most naturally to you. Do you tend to play passive or aggressive? Are you the kind of player that can recognize the multitude of situations that will be presented to you throughout a poker tournament and adapt your play accordingly, or do you feel more comfortable playing the player rather than the cards and situation? Be sure to try your hand at both and know the differences between the two before you decide which is right for you.

Source: http://www.wisehandpoker.com/articles/index.php?article=tournament-poker-cash-game-poker-part-2.html

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2008 WSOP Main Event: The 'November Nine' Return

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Saturday, November 08, 2008

Tired of playing poker and not coming out a winner? Here are some techniques to make you better.

Todays Texas Hold Em Article

Texas Holdem Lesson - Five Tips!

1. Big Bets mean big hands, don't call them!

Do not call large bets without a very strong hand yourself. Unless you are against truly wild players (or extremely tough players), big bets will most of the time mean big hands! You have to have a bigger hand to beat a big hand.

So, unless you have a very strong hand (or a monster draw with good odds) you need to strongly lean towards folding a hand like top pair plus good kicker on scary boards like straight or flush draws, or even most semi-coordinated boards once all 5 cards are out. Especially on the river, don't call down big bets with medium strength hands!

A big bet is considered "big" by comparing it's size in relation to the current pot size. 2/3rds to 3/4th the size of the pot are generally considered large bets.

2. Bluff "less" Especially when playing poker online!

I say less but that depends on how often you bluff now. The real tip is to make yourself have a compelling reason to make a bluff. Yes, pulling off a successful bluff is an awesome feeling... winning a big pot on a bluff is fun, but overdoing it is one of the fastest way to donk off your bankroll. Slow it down unless you're playing with a bunch of rocks (tight guys who will fold unless they have a monster hand).

Good bluffs need to be set up, well timed and 'fit' into the holdem game. Just making some random bet during some point in the hand because you want to win the pot is a loosing play. Make sure you have a reason to bluff (you sense serious weakness, or have dead on reads). Don't bluff away your money, especially online! It is easy to 'call and see' online since you are not sitting there face to face and have to 'face the music' of making a donkey call.

Plus, many good players will check top pair good kicker on the river if you have called them down with a drawing hand that has obviously missed. (ie, 4 to the flush on the turn, and a blank on the river). They check to give you the chance to bluff your busted draw and pick you off with a hand like top pair or even 2nd pair, when you would have simply folded to their river value bet.

Good bluffs depend on opponents who are paying attention and have the capability of laying down a strong but vulnerable hand. Make sure you have seen something in a player that shows you that they are paying attention and can lay a hand down. Most online players call.

So - don't bluff so much, your bankroll will thank you! (mostly considering $$ games here, tourneys are more situational even than $$ games imo)

3. In general bet larger amounts.

Bet more when you are betting for value, they'll call you. Bet more when you have a strong but vulnerable hand so you end the hand there and take down the pot now. Bet more so you make they draws pay way to much to properly draw for their outs. When you bluff, bet the amount to 'get the job done', which is normally a larger amount (unless your opponent things large amounts mean bluff and smaller value bets mean monsters....

When in doubt, bet a little bit more. If there are flush draws or straight draws on the board, trying to value bet a hand like Ac Ad on a board of Js 10ds 8h with 1/4 or 1/3 pot sized bets on the flop or turn is way to small. This is a highly coordinated board, with straigt draws, flush draws, straight flush draws etc... you name it. Your hand is probably good, but you need to find out right now. You need to stick in a bet around the 3/4th's to pot sized bet to find out where you are at. You could already be behind. Strong re-raises should be respected, as well as smooth calls depending on the turn and the action.

Bet bigger and take it down or give the drawing hand very bad pot odds for calling! 3/4ths pot size to full pot size bets get it done!

4. Frequent continuation bets are fine if you are the initial aggressor pre-flop.

If you've raised pre-flop and gotten 1 or 2 callers it is fine to often make continuation bets on the flop. Continuation bets can be made when the action is checked to you on a non-threatening board.

A continuation bet is a bet that should be between 1/2 the pot up to the size of the pot, made on the flop after raising pre-flop (not calling a raise). If you make a lot of continuation bets, you also need to bet exactly the same when you make a hand.

To be a successful continuation bettor you must also bet the same when you hit your hand. Please notice I said 'frequent' and not 'constant.' Finding exactly where and when to make these takes practice, but if conditions are not bad, start firing away.

5. Don't go broke in an unraised pot - play cautiously when you and others limp on in!

In unraised pots players can literally have any two cards and if you do not have a seriously strong hand (nut or near nut), don't play a large pot. Two pair no good - fold it to serious aggression or resistance. Don't go broke by flopping two pair in an unraised pot!

Source: http://www.kickasspoker.com/poker-strategy/articles/texas-holdem-common-sense-tips.htm

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Labels: Texas hold em | poker strategies | poker online

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The information in this blog is in no way meant to promote gambling. It provides information on poker to be used in its legal and non-gambling applications.

This Texas Hold Em Article Will Make You A Better Player

Quick Tips for Beginning Holdem Players

Tips for Playing Your Starting Poker Hands:
There are a lot of starting hand guides available, this isn't one of them. These tips are quick helpers to get the foundation of a solid poker game underneath you. These are the concepts behind starting hands and ideas you should be thinking about while playing no limit holdem.

1. Small Pocket Pairs.
Play small pocket pairs against many opponents and try and see the flop as cheaply as possible. You typically want to play small pocket pairs against many other opponents. Especially in a cash game or in the early stages of a tournament. Criteria for playing small pocket pairs is that you can get in cheaply, simply by calling the blinds (limping) and hoping to see a flop.

With small pockets you're looking to hit a 3rd of your kind on the flop. This is called "flopping a set." If you flop your set you are almost certain to have the best hand right then, unless it is just a really unlucky flop for you. If you flop a set, bet or raise and work to get as many chips in the pot as you can.

Small pockets pairs are hands like pocket two's up through pocket 8's or 9's. The reason you want to play this hand against many opponents is because when you hit your hand, you hope that someone else has hit a hand as well and will pay you off. The more opponents still active in the hand, the more likely that one of them has hit a hand and will pay off some of your bets.

So, if you are dealt a small pocket pair it is usually a good idea to simply limp in and hope to hit your 3 of a kind on the flop. If you miss, which you will most of the time, then it is fine to check and fold to any bet. It is almost always a bad idea to call any substantial bet on the flop hoping to hit your set on the turn, just fold and save your money.

Small Pocket Pair Quick Tip: You will flop a set roughly once out of every 7.5 times you get a pocket pair. click here for a poker odds chart.

2. Suited Connectors
Suited connectors are hands that play well against many opponents, but poorly against 1 or 2 others. Suited connectors are a bit more difficult to play than small pocket pairs... with small pockets you know pretty much exactly where you stand after the flop. You either hit your set or you didn't. Suited connectors typically do not make a monster hand on the flop, but they will often flop monster draws (draws means that you need 1 more card to complete your hand, typically with a straight or flush).

Suited connectors are hands that are of the same suit, and next to one another, such as 7c 8c, 10d, 9d, or my favorite, Js Ts.

These hands play well in multi-way confrontations, against many opponents. When these hands hit, you typically have a very strong hand, strong enough to beat most everyone else. With suited connectors you are hoping to flop a strong draw, such as an open-ended straight flush draw, a flush draw or a straight draw.

Pre-flop, these hands are weak hands, and even if you hit the top pair these are still a fairly weak and vunerable hand. Suited connectors have a lot of potential to turn into very strong hands. See flops cheaply and late in position with these cards, especially if there are already a lot of players calling the blind to see the flop. Look to flop strong draws or two pair to continue against any heavy action before you.

Look to flop straights, flushes and draws to both. Do not overvalue flopping top pair with small or medium sized suited connectors. Two pair is normally good, but that means that someone else very well may have a straight draw while you have two pair with suited connectors.

Suited Connector Quick Tip: One of the best hands to hold against pocket aces is suited connector, such as 7h8h.

3. Two Big Face Cards
Do not slow play your big face cards. If you are going to play these cards, you need to come in for a raise pre-flop. Big face cards start out very strong, pre-flop, and that means that normally you should make the others pay to stick around for the flop.

Pre-flop these hands are probably some of the strongest at the table, out ranking most of the other hands out there. For this reason, these hands you want to play against as FEW players as possible. To make sure you are playing against few players, you should RAISE pre-flop when it is your turn to act instead of just calling the blind.

A hand like AQ is a strong hand, but it doesn't play well against 3+ players on average. Ideally you will be playing this hand against 1 other opponent, and you ban bet the flop virtually regardless of what comes down.

Avoid calling raises with hands like KJ, QJ, AT, even AJ and KQo. You are often times dominated by everyones 'favorite' hand, big slick (AK). There is no shame in folding KJ pre-flop.

Big Face Card Quick Tip:

Raise pre-flop to limit the field to just one other player whenever possible.

For more poker tips, be sure and check out our listing of poker strategy articles and the absolute best way to improve your play is by finding an online poker room that has SERIOUS 'play money' poker (if you don't want to deposit)..

The best way to practice these no limit holdem tips is to download free online poker software. I recommend PokerStars or Bodog Poker for new players. You can play with free chips and practice these strategies. I do recommend that you also play for extremely small stakes to get a real feel for poker. Free money poker is played differently as poker is for anything of value, even if the value is very small.

Source: http://www.kickasspoker.com/poker-strategy/articles/no-limit-holdem-tips.htm

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Matthew Hilger is generally recognized as one of the best authors on the subject of internet poker. He and some of the most knowledgeable players and writers in the poker industry have joined to contribute columns on every aspect of poker. Contributors range from Tournament Pros like the Hendon Mob� to Internet Poker Pros from the Internet Texas Holdem community. Beyond Texas Holdem Strategy, this section covers Omaha, Backgammon, Sit 'n Go tournaments, multitable tournaments, cash games, poker psychology, mind sets and general revelry.

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Sunday, November 02, 2008

Ready to improve your hold em game? Lets get started then.

Please note this blog is meant to provide information on hold em in its legal and non-gambling applications.

Todays Poker Article

Tournament Poker and Cash Game Poker: A Two-headed Monster - Part 2

by Gary Gates

�Should I fold and wait for a better spot to put all my chips at risk? With only 50 players left to the money, do I have enough chips to survive the blinds and antes? How long until the blinds go up? Which players at my table are susceptible to getting eaten up by the blinds? Which players can I steal blinds from?�

When we left part I, we began to consider the additional factors a tournament poker player must consider within his or her decision-making process. These �special� circumstances often call for special action. A player might make one play in a cash game that he would never even consider in a tournament, and vice versa.

The unique decision-making processes required of these two very different brands of poker are necessitated by the manner in which profit is earned in each type. Cash games reward players instantly, as every pot pushed your way comes in the form of legal tender that you can walk away with at any time. In other words, a player can sit down at a cash game, double up on the first hand, put his chips back in the rack and proceed to the cashier with his newfound wealth. Though I do not recommend this method, as it won�t earn you many friends at the table, no one is going to stop you. (Who needs friends at the poker table anyway, right?)

Tournaments, however, reward only the top few participants who are able to outlast the masses. Described by many as marathons that call for hours of intense boredom, speckled with a few moments of sheer terror, poker tournaments require a great amount of time and patience. In a tournament that pays the top ten players, 100th place pays exactly as much as eleventh: nothing. Therefore, major decisions within the game are heavily influenced by the size of players� chip stacks, the number of players remaining, and the size of your own stack relative to the blinds. Before you take tenth, you have to guarantee yourself eleventh, and that fact is what makes survival a tournament player�s number one priority.

Cash games, because of their static blinds and the option to buy more chips at any time, tend to suit more conservative poker players. The never-increasing blinds allow them to sit back and wait for big hands with which they hope to win massive pots. Tournament play forces aggression to some extent, as the blinds and antes are constantly on the rise. The track records of Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar and Johnny Chan are prime examples of the kind of success that can come from aggressive tournament play.

Which brand of poker should you play? First consider the style of poker that comes most naturally to you. Do you tend to play passive or aggressive? Are you the kind of player that can recognize the multitude of situations that will be presented to you throughout a poker tournament and adapt your play accordingly, or do you feel more comfortable playing the player rather than the cards and situation? Be sure to try your hand at both and know the differences between the two before you decide which is right for you.

Source: http://www.wisehandpoker.com/articles/index.php?article=tournament-poker-cash-game-poker-part-2.html

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