Poker Tips and Poker Articles

June 5th

Texas Hold`em - Why So Popular?

It’s amazing how much the game of poker has invaded our national consciousness over the past five years or so. People who’ve never won a hand of poker in their entire lives, much less gambled real money in a casino, find themselves glued to the television night after night, watching the best players in the world (and the occasional semi-skilled celebrity) duke it out in a fierce competition of skill and nerve. Poker has truly become a spectator sport for the first time in its long and illustrious history.

At the heart of this newfound wave of popularity, there is one particular variation of poker that stands tall above the rest. Texas Hold`em is king of the televised poker circuit, and the preferred game of the main event at the World Series of Poker. Not surprisingly, millions of poker card game loves who’ve been introduced to Texas Hold`em by watching the pro’s play have decided to try it for themselves. Now, in average backyard Tuesday night poker games from Maine to Oregon, you’re much more likely to come across a heated game of Hold`em than a more traditional variation like Five Card Draw, a big favorite for decades that many contemporary players consider to be tame and not worth their time.

What exactly is it about Texas Hold`em that accounts for its preeminent status? One word sums it up: “excitement.” This is not a game for the timid or weak-hearted. If you want to win the pot in a Hold`em match, you have to make quick decisions and be able to hang in there even when your gut tells you it might be time to fold. Professional Hold`em champs of past and present all have one thing in common: ice water runs through their veins, at least when they’re sitting at the table.

With a maximum table capacity of 22 players per game, Texas Hold`em is usually played between two and ten people. It is considered a “positional” variant of the game, which means the order of betting is fixed throughout all betting rounds. Victory is achieved when the final showdown by the player who assembles the strongest hand out of up to seven cards available, or by betting in such a way that forces the other players to fold.

In casino play, there is usually a fixed limit. The limit for the first two rounds of betting is called a small bet, while the limit for the third and fourth betting rounds is called a big bet. It’s usually but not always double the amount of the small bet. In casino and most tournament play, the cards are dealt by a professional who is not actually participating in the game.

In the no-limit version of Texas Hold`em, any player has the option of betting the entire stack of chips that he or she has on the table at any time. This bold gambit is called the “all-in wager.” If another player wants to call but doesn't have enough chips on the table to match the bet, he or she may call for the amount of chips available. The all-in player then removes the part of the bet that exceeds the amount of the call, unless there are other players also in the hand who call the bet, in which case a side pot is created between the players matching the entire bet for the amounts in excess of that matched by the caller with the fewest chips.

If more than one player goes all-in, it is possible to have more than one side pot going simultaneously, with different subsets of players contending for the poker chips in each side pot. A player may lose the main pot, but by winning one or more side pots, still win a greater number of chips than wagered.

With so much action going on and such huge amounts of cash to be one or lost on the turn of a card, it should hardly come as a surprise that Texas Hold`em is the fastest-spreading form of poker in the world today. And it probably will remain so for quite some time, maybe even for as long as people remember the Alamo.

April 24th

Anti rush

Poker is probably the largest skill based game where luck plays a component. There are times when some people just can’t seem to lose. Most poker players and poker books will tell you that luck comes in swings, good and bad. Similarly many online players blame the persistence of this ‘pattern’ on the sites’ rigging for more action hands.

You should test this by sitting down with a friend and deal out the deck, many times over. That’s what I did. There is no folding after the flop, simply make a decision preflop whether or not to play then hand and then deal the cards to a showdown. This simulates playing a super short stack who can keep calling all in before the blinds hit him without giving the blind a choice of playing him.

An interesting thing occurred – we each successively won 20 consecutive hands. It was unbelievable, and it wasn’t due to sloppy dealing. We were in no rush and used 2 decks which were treated with both a mechanical shuffler and manual shuffling between rounds.

Now would you call this a rush? We wouldn’t. What would we call it? Normal. Each player won half the pots. The distribution was a little sticky, if you will, but if we had continued dealing for another 1,000 hands it certainly would have started to normalize to a more identifiable degree.

Most people extrapolate this idea of a rush into their regular play, be that in a ring game or a tournament. They’ll win two hands in a row where they weren’t the favorite and all of a sudden they start raising preflop with anything and betting pot or more on the flop.

They are doing this for 2 reasons. The first of which is that on some level they believe they are going to win even if they can’t see an out. That is they truly believe that they are on a rush and entitled to the pot.

The second reason, and this is at least a little more respectable a reason, is that they know that other players at the poker table believe them to be on a rush. These players are susceptible to folding such hands as top pair with a mid kicker and below. The average player when presented with a strong bet or raise on the turn is going to consider folding even top pair and an ace kicker or an overpair simply because he has seen the odds defy the players before him. Beyond that he knows that one pair is not the strongest hand in the world.

What does this mean to you? It means two things, if you should have happened to found yourself on a ‘rush’ by means of misreading your opponents and then lucking out on the river you should go with it. You probably have a 2 or 3 hands of goodwill that will be credited to your overbets. This means proceeding with extra aggression and an extra keen eye for the couple players out there who know where this is going.

Where is this going?  Well the chips of the player who has convinced himself that he is on a rush are going straight into your collection. Here’s how it’s going to unroll. You are going to call him preflop. A preflop raise is pretty useless because he’s not thinking right and will probably push all in. There may be another player in the hand with you – if so you must proceed with extra caution. If they are trying what you are trying than you are in for a bit of a tug of war. These are ok if you have position or a huge poker chips stack, if not you may want to forgo this plan until the next time someone is on a rush.

We will continue as though you are playing him heads up because everyone else is too afraid of the rush. Once you have seen the flop you are going to enter into backwards play. Playing your strong hands week, probably by flat calling, and playing your week hands strong, raising minimum or a bit or more. For example, let’s imagine you flop a middle pair, and that pair is ten or higher, so there are only about 3 outs if the “rushor” even has a card higher than yours. This is a hand which should double you up. You should flat call his bet on the flop, or if for some reason he checked, then you check behind. On the turn he will probably bet again and you should just call again. On the river – one of the cards higher than yours comes. He moves all in. You should call. He is most likely bluffing and taking advantage of his rush, it is very very unlikely that someone in his position would have had the self control to not go all in preflop with two poker cards over ten, so the third card didn’t give him the nut straight or 2 high pair. He probably didn’t make 2 pair, why not? It’s just not very likely. He is probably just banking on you folding since you haven’t raised him yet and since everyone else is folding to him.

When you have nothing you obviously can’t win a showdown, this means that your best bet is going to be to apply pressure during the hand but being certain to leave him enough chips to fold on the river when you move in.

Usually a strategy which dictated being all in with a pair or less wouldn’t be a very good strategy at all. However, against players who believe they can win because of their belief in your belief in their special good luck over a small band of dealt cards, it makes perfect sense.

It is important to note that this is going to test your bluffing skills. In each case you are representing the opposite of what you believe yourself to be holding, the loser as a winner and the winner as a loser so remember to incorporate all the bluffing tricks that you can.

March 12th

A magical WSOP moment The World Series of Poker has grown immensely over the last few years. In 2005, over 5,000 players sat down at the poker tables to play in the main event. The winner, Joseph Hachem from Australia, took home the biggest poker prize check ever - $7,500 000.

Hachem secured his win with one the weakest starting hands possible in Texas Hold’em, 7-3 off-suit. He got lucky, flopped a straight, and tricked his opponent Steve Dannenmann into pushing all his poker chips in. That was a truly classic poker moment, and of course the WSOP has seen many of those since the start in 1970.

 One of the most famous hands is the one that gave Mansour Matloubi the victory in 1990. It wasn’t the final hand of the tournament but it certainly gave Matloubi command of the heads-up match against Hans Lund. If you’ve ever doubted that poker is one of the most dramatic and unpredictable games in the world, this will surely change your mind.

Matloubi got Td-Tc in his pocket and raised to $75,000. The chip leader Hans Lund called with Ac-9d. The flop came 9s-2c-4d. Lund had flopped top pair but Matloubi’s pair of Tens still was the best hand. Lund checked, Matloubi bet $100,000 and Lund raised $250,000. Matloubi pondered the situation for a while before he called the $250,000 and re-raised all-in for another $378,000. Lund hesitated but eventually called the raise.

Now the real drama started. Lund was in a really bad position and needed an Ace or a 9 to turn things around. When the As came on the turn Matloubi probably thought that his dream of becoming World Champion of Poker was over. He kicked his chair in anger and disappointment. The chance that one of the two remaining Tens in the deck would come on the river was less than 5 %. Matloubi needed a miracle - and he got one. The final card on the board was 10s and Matloubi had won the massive and match deciding pot.

After that sensational hand, Matloubi kept control of the game and finalized the win when his pocket 6’s held up against Lund’s pocket 4’s.

February 22nd

Setting up a poker tournament

There is a lot you have to think when you’re about to host a poker tournaments. Of course you have to buy a poker set, but that’s not nearly enough. It takes a lot of planning if you want the poker night to run smoothly. These are some pointers you can use.

Buy-in size

The size of the buy-in of course depends on how much you’re the players that are going to play in the tournament are willing gamble with. It is a good idea to have a lower buy-in if you are going to allow re-buys and add-ons.

Starting stacks

The amount of poker chips each participating player gets at the start of a tournament is normally 1,000 or 1,500. These are the standard starting stacks in online poker tournaments, and it’s naturally easier to run a tournament with conventional values that the participants are used to. This will make the betting patterns recognizable to the participating players and the game will run smoothly.

Chips values

It’s good to use chips of four different colors in a tournament. Each color will have its on value assigned to it. $5, $25, $100, and $500 is a good structure.

Working out a blinds scheme

It’s preferable to start of with low blinds. If the blinds are too high the game will be more about luck than skill. At the start of a tournament the big blind should be around1% of the starting stack size. If you want a faster, more aggressive game the big blind can be 2-3% of the starting stack size. How long blinds periods you use naturally depend on how much time you have. The blind structure should not be altered during a poker tournament. Sometimes antes are used to speed up the game.

Allowing re-buys and add-ons

Players that come from away will not find it very enjoyable if they’re eliminated on a bad beat quickly and there is no chance to get back into the game. However, you have to consider that the possibility to buy more chips will affect the way the game is played. Players normally take more risks when re-buys and add-ons are available and the game might get rather wild.

Usually the re-buy period lasts for an hour, and the typical re-buy is either the same as the buy-in or half that amount. You can have either one (or another specified amount) re-buy or unlimited re-buys during the re-buy period.

An alternative to re-buys and add-ons is to arrange cash games for the eliminated players (if you have the space to do so).

The pay out structure

January 28th

Narrator: After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down.   Maybe this is what we love about poker.  It can have all the elements of a good fight (without the blood, usually - especially in online poker): competition, defeat, victory, satisfaction.

Fuck what you know. You need to forget about what you know, that's your problem. Forget about what you think you know about life.  Sometimes we need to clear all the garbage we think we’ve learned about poker (and life) out of our heads, just to get a genuinely clear vision of what it is we think we’re doing. 

Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.  No poker application here.  I just like the sentiment.

I am Jack's smirking revenge.

-Tom Toren-

Join me at PartyPoker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

January 28th

New Year’s Resolutions for Online Poker Players

With 2006 creeping up, it’s time to start thinking of resolutions for the next year.  Here are some suggestions from Tips4Poker.  And of course, these hold true for both online poker and real world poker.

Be Selectively Aggressive: An oldie but a goodie, selective aggression is for the most part the ideal stance to take in poker.  This is the mode that will pay you off in the long run.  Only be smart about your aggressive behavior.  Don’t go overboard.  Be prepared to back off at any time.  One of the nasty facts about poker is that though your hand may start off strong, looking like a monster, somewhere along the trail you take through the hand, you may need to bail out and wait for your next opportunity.  So be selective, aggressive, not reckless.

Be Patient: About a year ago I was playing in a no-limit hold ‘em sit-n-go at Party Poker.  Half way through the tournament, with two players gone, I suddenly had to leave the computer to help out my next door neighbor when her ex showed up with trouble in mind.  After calling the cops and trying to stay out of harms way, I went back to the computer and found that though I hadn’t been there for the last half of the tournament, I had come in third place and in the money.

A big lesson for me in patience.  While you want to get in there when the time comes to take advantage of profitable situations, your job is not to knock people out.  Your job is to take the most efficient path through the course of the tournament and come in the money. Don’t get anxious to play just because you haven’t had a playable hand in three rounds.   Patience pays.

Revenge is for Suckers: John Wayne said that, and of course the Duke was right.  It’s the easiest thing in the world to want to take down the ass hat who busted your flopped set with a back door blush draw.  He hurt you, so you want to nail his hide to the wall.  But, please, don’t waste your time.  Specifically targeting another player is one of the best ways to lose focus on what you’re really trying to accomplish, winning.  Going after the guy who has your chips sitting in front of him won’t bring them back.  If in the course of the tournament/game he loses those chips or busts out, fine.  Then you can sit back and smile and let satisfaction and a sense of righteous justice wash over you.  But while still in the game,  forget the last hand.  On to the next one.

Play With Conviction:  When you sit down into a poker game, you aren’t sitting down to play.  You’re sitting down to win.  Maintaining confidence in any contest, poker included, is essential to winning.  I don’t care if you’re down to your last ten chips.  Say to yourself, “After I win this, I’m going to (fill in the blank).”  You gotta believe, and if you don’t, what are you doing there?

And a few classics: Raise more than call, fold more than call, and the mistakes other players make will net you more profit in the long run than all the fancy plays you can come up with.

-Tom Toren-

Join me at PartyPoker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

December 9th

The Silence of the Poker Babes

Clonie Gowan, prominent 3/6 hold ‘em player, and occasional women’s night final tablist on the World Poker tour, disappeared from Texas this week when hurricane Gamma struck Galveston.  “I’m afraid she just blew away,” Clonie’s distraught husband, Jerry,  said.  Apparently Clonie had been known to leave the ground in strong gusts of wind.

And Jennifer Harmon, author of the  new poker book for women, “Using Sex as a Weapon at the Poker Table,” will be leaving Las Vegas for India where she plans to study Sufi mysticism with guru Aminah Gopi.  Jennifer claims her brush with death last year and her kidney transplant have given her new insight into those things that really matter in life.

Am I the only one?

If I’m involved in a slow moving sit-n-go on a Wednesday night, and it’s creeping up on nine o’clock, I start playing a tad on the reckless side, hoping to build a monstrous stack and move things along, or bust out.   Damn you, Lost.  Have to get Tivo.

-Tom Toren-

Join me at PartyPoker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

November 21st

Online Poker Concentration Tips

How Multi-Table Play Can Enhance Your Concentration: One of the greatest advantages of online poker is the option to play a number of tables, even a number of different types of games, at once.  Now I’ve been told by quite a few players that they don’t play more than one table at a time because it’s distracting or because moving back and forth between a number of tables prevents them from concentrating on individual players as much as they would like.  I’d like to suggest however that multi-table play increases concentration and decreases distraction.  Because of the lack of obvious, visual and aural tells, a more basic game is required in the online poker arena than in the real world.  Calling fewer possible bluffs, bluffing less, and frequently taking what another player is representing at face value - all basic to the online game.  And despite the speed of online play, it’s easy to become distracted while at a single table.  Playing multiple games forces you to concentrate, lessens the likelihood that you’ll become distracted by individual players annoying habits (slow action, unpleasant chat, etc.).  Multi-tabling often clarifies correct action because it necessitates quick decisions and requires ignoring many of the what-ifs you that may entangle you in single table play.

And

The Mozart effect.  Try playing a bit of the classics while at the tables. It eases the nerves (if you’ve got any) and clarifies your thoughts.  Not your cup of tea, you say.  Sure a bit of Fitty Cent or Slipknot might work the adrenalin a bit more than Mozart, but give it a shot.  Put on a few Chopin etudes and see if your concentration doesn’t increase just a bit.

And

When you’re about to sit down and play, do a bit of pre-game preparation.  Turn off the TV, put on some good tunes (see above), and maybe even turn off the cell phone.   Poker time should be poker time, not a part of your multi-tasking day.

And

Finally, always follow Roy West’s first rule of poker: play happy or don’t play at all..  If you’re distracted, feeling down or moody, you probably won’t be bringing you’re a game to the table, or concentrating as well as ideal play requires.  Take a walk, run around the block, whatever it takes to shake the mood up a few notches before you sit down to win.

-Tom Toren-

Join me at PartyPoker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

November 13TH

Another Reason to Love TV Poker:

I gotta say I love the alpha male drum beat that gets pounded on almost every episode of TV poker.  The philosophy of the pros: I came to win, not sneak into the money.  This mis-education of American poker neophytes is great for those of us who recognize that sometimes you just ain’t gonna make it to the final table, much less the final three, and just squeaking into small end of the money sometimes  maybe isn’t such a bad thing after all.  Sure it’d be nice to make the final three.  But when that’s clearly not your fate, and other folks in the tournament are taking those big chances, hoping to score a pot or two to carry them to the big money, sometimes it’s right to lay back and let them disappear while you quietly make it into the money..

New Positive Self-Talk;

With all due respect to Mike Caro, I’d like to suggest  the old style affirmations, are a little out of date.  The classic Caro line, “I am a lucky player.  A powerful winning force surrounds me.” was fine in its day.  But in the age of hiphop, gangsta rap, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the inwardly directed affirmations are about as useful as a Republican at a .Katrina fundraiser.  Time for something more outwardly directed, in your face, mofo.  Like, “You will all bow before me,” “You will all die with pain,” and of course, “Yo, I’m gonna bust a cap in all yo asses.”

You Know You’re Becoming a Curmudgeon When: 

Sick to death of people typing in “nh”, when it was a horrible hand, for Chrissakes.  Yes, I know it’s the polite way to go, yes I know it’s good to use” nh” to reinforce bad playing habits in other players, but there’s a limit, people.  And of course those who use it after every hand are automatically condemned to the seventh ring of hell.

And

-Tom Toren-

Join me at PartyPoker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

November 3rd 2005

Online Poker Mental Health Tips: Part One: Sanity Preservation

1)  As I’ve said before, leave “zzzzzzzzzz” behind.  Rote, copied behavior is the sign of a stagnant mind.  When you indulge in this kind of repetitive, brain numbing behavior little pieces of your brain break off and die.  One major key to poker mental health is using your imagination, in big and little things.  In card rooms you hear the same phrases over and over again: “Deuces never loses”, “heart attack (signifying a heart flush), and so on.  When you hear these tired, hackneyed phrases, you are listening to the sound of a mind atrophying, a brain sitting down on the couch and vegging out in front of the tube.  Online it’s “Zzzzzzzzz”, and “How could you play that!”

2)  Which leads to my next point:  Rage doesn’t lead to wise decision making.  “How could you play (fill in the blank)”, not a question but an expression of discontent, is a sign you’re losing control.  And when we lose control, we lose money.  Relax.  In the long run, their bad plays make you money , and if the bad play knocked you out of the tournament, good news, there’s another one starting in 5 minutes at any number of online poker rooms.  Forget it, take it like a man (or woman), next hand.  And when someone is taking his time acting, be forgiving.  We adjust to the fast pace of online poker, and expect it to maintain a somewhat constant speed.   If there’s a delay, don’t do a slow burn, accept that 90% of the time it’s a disconnect.  If not, then something important holding him up.  I like to imagine he’s slow because he’s lying on his back in an iron lung, moving the cursor with a pencil sticking out of his mouth.  Makes it easier to be forgiving.

3)  Finally , do whatever it takes to play with a positive attitude.  Follow Roy West’s First Rule of Poker: play happy or don’t play at all.  Put simply, you stand a greater chance of making correct decisions when you’re feeling up, alert, happy.  Positive attitude in poker includes getting yourself to accept losing as a natural part of the game.  Most hands you get involved in, you won’t win.  Recognize that, expect it, accept it, and you’ll find playing happy is easy.

-Tom Toren-

Join me at Party Poker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

October 23rd 2005

Online Poker Tells You May Have Missed:  Part 1

1) When a player takes longer than usual to act another player types, “zzzzzzzzzzzz”.  Now aside from the fact that the delay is usually the result of a disconnect and not the player’s fault, this is so 2003, it indicates a player who, A) is new to online poker and still thinks it cool to type “zzzzzzz” in said situation, or B) a player who has been playing for years and still thinks it cool to type “zzzzzzzzz”.  Given this, you are clearly dealing with someone of either limited experience or limited intellect, who will very likely not present much of a threat.   

2) When a player’s screen name employs the clever spelling “dawg” or variations (dawwg or dawwwg),  he is either under 25 and new to poker, over 25 and trying to regain his cool, or just doesn’t realize that “dawg” went out with cargo pants.  Such a player is usually a Scott Fischman wannabe who gained all his poker experience watching reruns of the 2004 WSOP. Now Scott maintains he’s never read a poker book, and has gained all of his poker acumen through experience.  This makes him a wonderful role model for your opponents to follow. 

3) When a player has a female avatar, a sexy name to go with it, and a sweet line of chat, don’t be fooled.  It’s a man, baby!  You think women play poker online to meet charming fellows like yourself?  No.  He/she wants your money, and he/she should be treated accordingly.

There are lots of male players out there (myself included, at one popular site) who try to gain an edge through gender confusion.  That is, the poker world is full of guys who see female players a less of a threat than their male counterparts, and will even soft play a female player who chats a friendly word or two at them.   Poker brings out the worst mind clouding, testosterone influenced behavior in many players.  Don’t be one of the Neanderthals.  Treat her like a lady, but expect the worst.

-Tom Toren-

Join me at Party Poker and receive a 20% Bonus on your deposit.

Copyright 2005 Tips4Poker.com