Poker theory changes so fast you can never be sure that you are reading current theory. A poker book that was written in 2006 may have some good information in 2010, but alas not enough. This article will be good for anyone wanting to play Double or Nothing Sit and go poker tournaments in 2010, but possibly not if you come across it in 2013. Nevertheless, these general concepts will remain the same and you should be aware of them.

You will find DON poker tournaments in most online poker rooms. They are a uniquely structured tournament where the top five finishers win and double their money (less the rake) and the bottom five finishers, as the Weakest Link host Anne Robinson says, ‘they leave with nothing’. You must be able to cash in around 65% of these tournaments to show a good win rate over time and they are only profitable when multi-tabling as you must reduce the amount of time it takes to run out this marginal profit. This is why some players leave them alone, but others enjoy the low-risk nature of them and they are very beatable.

Grinder Alert!

Other poker players will be grinding these tournaments. You can spot who these may be in a number of ways. Grinders will fold around 95% or more of their hands in the opening two levels of play. It is easy therefore to make a note of the players who literally fold everything. After the opening two rounds you should be able to spot these players easily. A tool like Sharkscope is useful also, but bear in mind that in 2010 this tool must be opt-in and players can choose not to, therefore masking their profits and their ability.

Early Stages – First Two Levels

Watch out for the grinders and make a note. These are the players you will need to avoid later on as they play their hands optimally in this structure. You need to play like them and fold most of your hands. The key to the early stages is taking no risks to accumulate chips which are not worth the actual gains in tournament equity (ICM).

The early levels are about survival, but if you get a premium hand then play it strongly. If a couple of players are eliminated here then things are looking good for you.

Middle Stages – Third and Fourth Level

When the ante appears we have more reason to steal the blinds. Think position because this is important and you should still be relatively tight, although loosening off as the blinds get higher in relation to your stack. Rarely call raises unless you are holding AA or KK. Even AK is easily beaten and whether or not I play AK depends on your opponents previous hands.

If you play a hand you should be first into the pot when it is folded to you in position.

Endgame – Above 100/200

Hopefully we are down to six or seven players now. Almost immediately bubble play takes over. I have read many articles on DON strategy and they all advocate never calling all-in. All-in is a powerful way to maintain a stack but you need to be first into the pot to make this move. I would call all-in with AA, KK or QQ if I am honest, but others advocate an even tighter approach. With blinds high and plenty of folding and all-ins, it is only a matter of time before a confrontation that could end the tournament occurs.

The ability to quickly adjust throughout the tournaments is important to DON SNG success. Bubble play is also critical and if you are a good SNG player already with a good knowledge and appreciation of ICM (Independent Chip Modelling) theory then you are primed to do very well at these enjoyable poker tournaments.

By Malcolm Clarke

Related posts:

1. Tournament Structures Discussed There are many different types of Poker Tournaments that...
2. Easy Fixes for Common Poker Tournament Errors Texas Hold ‘em poker tournaments are available 24/7 to...
3. Conspiracy Theories in Online Poker For every pot that a player wins, there are...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Doyle Brunson used Twitter to make a great response to the EPT Berlin Armed Robbery scare that has the whole of the poker world in shock this week. He said “Welcome to my ex-world. 800,000 euros….nice score.” Doyle is certainly not condoning what happened in Berlin and was very careful to say ‘ex-world’ but this was a throwback to a different age of Poker where there was a constant threat of being robbed because of the security issues in playing with a large amount of money in an unsecured environment. The robbers even had public advertising telling them where the money will be and when! Can we really be surprised such a robbery has taken place?

There were security issues already at the venue and unfortunately they were proved to be accurate when the casino erupted in mass panic when armed robbers broke in and started demanding money. According to many eye-witness reports, players ran for cover under tables then crawled across the floor and made their way through the various fire exits to safety. Although unconfirmed, there are rumours that a hotel doorman intercepted the gunmen and saved some of the money. Considering he will not be getting the money as a reward, my feelings are he should have left them to it. There were no gunshots fired as far as I can tell from reading witness accounts, which is something positive. Someone could have lost their lives.

Stuart Rutter was quoted today as saying he noticed when you bought in for cash the large amounts of notes were stacked next to the teller and when asked about security they simply said not to worry. The poker tournaments must respond as players said that although they understood buying in with cash is not the best way to operate there was little choice for the EPT tournaments. In my opinion, because some events can be €10,000+ to enter it should be done through bank transfer in all cases. If a poker player prefers to deal cash in hand for either tax or personal preference then unfortunately they cannot take part. If they really wanted to play they would find a way even depositing into a friends account and having them swipe their card for the buy-in. Having €1 million in cash at a venue (and having advertised this often guaranteed) and yet still be surprised when a robbery is attempted is very naïve.

It is bizarre to think this heist has not taken place earlier. In the USA there is gun protection at the WSOP when large amounts of cash are placed on the table when the tournament reaches its heads up match. The sight of gunmen can look a little theatrical and unnecessary, but the EPT has learned just why the security is taken so seriously. If you are lax there are people out there willing to make you pay for that lax attitude.

Hopefully Poker can respond and tighten security so the live game is not affected. Cash is not a great way to operate in my view with anything other than the smallest amounts of money. I remember working in the betting Industry when one bettor was known as the “hip bag man” because he wore a hip bag rammed with cash for his betting. I was told his nickname by other customers! The risk of robbery must have been high for this man and the stash on offer for any would be robber was over £10,000. As Doyle said in his tweet – nice score.

Do not fear, however, as online poker can be the answer. If you play at a great site like bwin.com, your money is safely stored in their accounts and you are as safe as you can be in your own home. Your risk of robbery is not increased in the same way it would be by playing in an environment where millions of dollars in real cash could tempt an assailant into trying to get their hands on it. Perhaps this episode will remind people of the benefits of online poker.

Sign up to bwin.com today if you want to play poker in a safe environment.

By Malcolm Clarke

Related posts:

1. My Top Three Poker Books When visiting my local Waterstones or Ottakers I invariably...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Online casinos have revolutionized the way casino games are played, they have made it easier to excess, learn and play casino games and today the online casino business is one of the biggest online businesses on the net. Online casinos offer people the chance to play all their favorite casino games such as poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, backgammon, keno, etc. The use of tools such as a poker odds calculator or Baccarat guides are oftenly used. Of all the casino games you can play online, baccarat is by far the best and most recommended game. This is however debatable but there are many reasons for this argument. For example, if you were to learn the basic rules of the game of baccarat you will find that the game has the best odds of winning for the player than most other online casino games, both brick & mortar. Casinos and online casinos have low house edges, which means that you have more chances of winning and any game that allows you to win frequently is good.

Baccarat has for a long time been associated with the elite and has been played by only a few people behind velvet ropes in casinos. Online casinos have changed everything; they have made it possible to play baccarat in the comfort of your home and have brought the game of baccarat to the masses and now more people have access to the game. Online baccarat has also helped to dispel certain myths that had surrounded baccarat, for example most people were afraid to play baccarat because they feared that it was too difficult and impossible to win. However, through online casinos most people have now become aware that baccarat is a simple and very exciting game which has some of best odds of any card and table game in a casino. Online casino has also made baccarat more accessible to the public, because now you don’t have to be rich to play baccarat. All you need is a computer with internet connectivity and you are ready to go.
Online casinos are the best place to learn baccarat because you can play free games and gain experience. When you have learnt the rules and mastered the strategy then you can move on to playing at casino bonus or playing for cash on a online casino. Online baccarat has many advantages for the novice, for example most online casinos that offer baccarat games have articles on the games which will provide you withy helpful information on the rules of the game, strategies, odds, pros & cons of the game, history etc.

Related posts:

1. Key Advantages Of Using Online Casinos Have you ever thought how convenient our lives are...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Bankroll challenges are the best thing you can do to play poker. Why? They teach you about far more than playing your hands and equip you with skills that you can use in every poker session for the rest of the time you play the game. First though, a newsflash…

It is true that when you play Texas Hold’em poker online you can lose a lot of money. Alert the sceptics! But is that a reason to run away if you enjoy playing? Certainly not! Bankroll challenges keep you playing the right way, controlling the risk and that (along with great skills) is part of playing winning poker and if you are prone to playing too high for your bankroll, then learning bankroll management is more important than squeezing out an extra 1 BB/100 right now for you.

My own bankroll challenge saw me start with $20 and using good bankroll management, I had to slowly build from the lowest cash games and tournaments to a more substantial bankroll. This has many benefits for my poker game.

Starting with a small bankroll makes you very aware of your chances of going bust and gives you a heightened perception of the value of that small bankroll. I do not like to lose, so busting hurts as much (in terms of the challenge) as if I busted a larger bankroll. Also, if my playing skills need work I would rather discover that nursing a $20 hole in my bankroll than a $2000 hole. If you are a new player I see playing from a small bankroll as an Apprenticeship you should serve to prove to yourself that you are able to beat online poker.

Some would argue, and on the whole I agree, that because you can win money from playing freerolls then working up through the micro stakes to larger games you should play from a small bankroll and learn patience. Even if Poker rooms prevented players from making any deposits some players (very skilled players admittedly) would still rise from the bottom and become a fantastic player with a large bankroll. I see it as a personal challenge to become good enough at Poker to do that.

There is also the personal satisfaction of completing a bankroll challenge. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson turned $0 into $10,000 as a challenge. Imagine the feeling knowing you have successfully turned nothing into $10,000! In what other area of enterprise can you do that, where nothing really means absolutely no money! From an achievement point of view being good at poker can have personal success benefits as well as earning you money. Money is not everything in poker; success is felt and enjoyed beyond the financial benefits of a poker challenge.

Perhaps you would like to do a bankroll challenge. You should start with a small bankroll and set yourself specific bankroll targets before you move up. You should always have one hundred buy-ins for the level of tournament and around twenty buy-ins for cash games. I like to take shots at higher levels of cash game if I reach fifteen buy-ins for that level but I move down if things do not work out. Moving down when things are not going well and moving up when things are going well is how losses are minimised and profits maximised. Do not be afraid to stop moving up if you feel you are getting uncomfortable with the amount of money at risk in pots. Everyone has their comfort zone; I have a friend who makes over $40,000 each year playing at levels under $1/$2. The profits are always there if you are good enough!

Enjoy your poker challenge and let me know how you get on! I’’ll be working hard on my challenge in the meantime!

By Malcolm Clarke

Related posts:

1. Risky Bankroll Management Never would I try and persuade people to manage...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There are many different types of Poker Tournaments that you can participate in, particularly if you like to play poker online. Each different type of tournament with a different structure needs a different approach in order to succeed. We are going to look at each type of structure in turn and analyse what sort of approach is optimal in each one. Future articles will look at each type of poker tournament in more detail. Before you sign up to any poker tournament you should be analysing the structure and assessing if it is worth your while to play in it.

Freezeout Tournaments

These tournaments are the most frequently played. Players get one buy-in and pay-outs and prizes are decided by what your finishing position is. Once you bust out of the tournament your game is over i.e. once you lose, you are frozen out from continuing to play. The structure of a freezeout is normally now like a deepstack or a turbo, but somewhere in the middle. A solid grasp of poker tournament strategy gives you a good chance of success in this tournament format.

Re-buy Tournaments

For the first ninety minutes or opening levels of some poker tournaments you buy a new stack of chips if you are busted. For this reason players like to build a stack in the early part of the poker tournaments by gambling. This is a good strategy to use because as everyone else is gambling you get far more value spots where a raise can be far lighter in terms of hand strength than when a player would bust out if he is called.

Action in a re-buy period of a tournament is fast and furious and not for the weak at heart. They can give you a good opportunity for building a big stack for the later stages of the tournament but you will need to change gears and adopt a more conservative style of play after the re-buy period ends as players immediately tighten up. The action at the beginning is only such because players can re-buy if things do not work out for them.

Turbo Structures

Poker tournaments can often take around four hours to complete, sometimes a lot longer. Players who enjoy participating in online poker tournaments sometimes do not have as long to play before other engagements so they prefer a faster structure. Not only does the faster structure get the poker tournament completed in a shorter space of time but the strategies used are more straight-forward. This gives less skilled players a better chance to win. Players are looking to get their money in as the favourite and hope to hold. Winning these marginal situations are a big part of getting lucky enough to win the tournament, rather than relying on squeeze plays and other complicated moves to outplay their opponents. A player with a skill edge also enjoys tournaments as their profit is obtained in a shorter space of time.

Different types of poker tournaments suit different types of player. If you enjoy a gamble rather than steadily outplaying your opponents then you will find the poker tournament structures that suit you best are the ones with the faster structures. The poker strategy required to beat those games is better suited to your own poker playing preferences. Try out all the different types of tournaments and see which suits you best.

Just because you think one will suit you does not mean it will unless you have already experienced it. Keep accurate records and let the statistics show you which type of poker tournament to focus on. Prize pools are always healthy, so do not delay in finding your best game.

By Malcolm Clarke

Related posts:

1. Easy Fixes for Common Poker Tournament Errors Texas Hold ‘em poker tournaments are available 24/7 to...
2. DVD Poker Tuition Discussed There are many DVD’s on the market to help...
3. If I Was Only Allowed One Form of Poker Let’s assume that you force yourself to only focus...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There are many DVD’s on the market to help teach you how to play poker. Most were recorded a few years ago at the height of the poker boom with players racing to release products to capitalise on the sudden interest in the game and glut of new players entering the poker market. This compromised the quality of what was on offer due to the speed the products were released and with the game developing this article asks whether any of the DVD training materials in the marketplace are value for money. In my research I have found that unfortunately this does not appear to be the case, but there is another solution.

Phil Hellmuth, Mike Caro, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon and many others released DVD products to satisfy demand in people wanting to know how to play poker. These types of things are often cleverly placed in Supermarkets and stores and regularly get picked up by well-meaning family members as stocking fillers at Christmas. You even have had one in the last few years, I know I have!

Before you buy these DVD products to help a family member or friend learn Texas Holdem remember that these products are for the absolute novice. If the person who will watch the poker tuition DVD is already playing online poker and winning then the material in the training will not be advanced enough for them and they will gain little from being told what a raise is and what a check is when they already know the basics. Once you have watched these DVD’s you should have a good grounding of how to play and this is also important.

Because online poker has become a game played primarily by intermediate and advanced players with the odd fish here and there these DVD’s are too basic for the standard online poker player. Whilst you may well enjoy watching the poker players go through the basic concepts in poker, perhaps marvelling at how slim and young they look, you will need to look elsewhere to take your online poker game to the next level. Note that there are few DVD’s available that have been released after 2006. So where are the players going for that all important poker training?

The answer is online poker training websites. For a monthly subscription of around $20 – $40 players can stream tuition videos made by the best online poker players. The advantages over this type of training are that the players selected to make the videos by the training sites are selected for two reasons. Firstly, their ability to put into words the strategies they use for their success and second, their poker resume online is very good and they are therefore worth listening to and learning from. Most of the players selling the DVD’s are well-known, but not for online poker play. Whilst you may not buy a DVD with Adam Junglen on the front of it you would benefit greatly from what this great player has to say on beating online poker because he does it everyday.

If you get a Poker DVD for a birthday or Christmas present then do not despair. Perhaps you should have dropped better hints for a subscription to Card Runners or Deuces Cracked! Fortunately the price of these products are low enough where you can watch it once and take whatever value you can get from the advice (they are not all terrible) and move on. Certainly there are more advanced lessons on three betting, continuation bets and check raising that are generally not covered by the DVD tuition on the online poker training websites and that is where you should go for modern poker training.

By Malcolm Clarke

Related posts:

1. Tournament Structures Discussed There are many different types of Poker Tournaments that...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Let’s assume that you force yourself to only focus on one type of Texas Hold’em poker game from this moment forward. What would you choose? Here is the case for each of the three main disciplines offered in poker. They are cash games; multi-table tournaments and single table sit and go poker tournaments.

Cash Games

Cash games are real money pots with real cash being won and lost every hand. Probably over half of all poker players would choose this as their preferred form of poker if they had to choose only one type of poker to play. Cash games are played with a specific strategy that once learned will form a solid foundation of your future poker playing.

Using good bankroll management you can work your way up and down the poker levels to manage swings of luck and if you are good enough at the strategy required in cash games you can show a consistent profit over time. Many players make over $100,000 from relatively small stakes by combining actual cash wins with rakeback or VIP player points and prizes.

Cash games are always available and accurate statistics can be kept on regular players to help your decision making and when you win, you win real money. You can also start and finish playing whenever you want and, perhaps crucially, you have full control over which table you play at and against which opponents. Game selection can enable you to always be contesting hands against players who you should beat.

Multi-table Poker Tournaments

Life changing wins can be obtained by winning a big poker tournament. Cash game wins are more consistent but compared to your buy-in a poker tournament win will be a lot higher. For those who like the chance to win big money and have a bankroll to withstand the swings of playing regular poker tournaments this would be a good game for you to play.

There are players like Shaun Deeb, who play only poker tournaments and show a good profit from doing so. Playing multi-table tournaments is not something many players would choose to do exclusively but if you understand the correct strategy to make it work you can show a good profit over time.

Single Table Sit and Go Poker Tournaments

SNG’s are a great way of learning final table strategy. As you are repeating the same blinds, chip stacks and bubble way once you understand the concepts of Sit and go play and the push fold ranges on the bubble you can play many of these tournaments at once and repeat the strategy over and over.

This is a relatively low risk way of building your bankroll as even against good players you are able to repeat sound strategy and show a decent profit. ROI (Return on Investment) of between 10% and 15% is very achievable over the long term for a good Sit and go single table tournament player.

The downside of SNG play is you never know who you will play against until players begin to register and often there is too large of a playing pool to know whether you should unregister based on the other players joining the game.

My own choice would have to be cash games. My favourite game is playing Sit and go’s, but cash games are the bread and butter of the quality poker player. You would need to play many $10 SNG’s at a 10% ROI to earn enough to make a living whilst playing cash games this could be done playing less hours but having more of an edge over the players you choose to play against. Poker tournaments are what I use for a shot at a big prize depending on my success in other forms of poker so I would be hesitant to play these exclusively.

By Malcolm Clarke

Related posts:

1. Isildur1 Continues to Play High Stakes Poker At one point this month Isildur1, whose identity is...
2. Tournament Structures Discussed There are many different types of Poker Tournaments that...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The marketing side of poker is big business with the top players paid to wear branded logos for poker rooms. At tournaments like the World Series of Poker, representatives for the biggest poker rooms offer large sums for players to wear their badges. It was reported that Darvin Moon, the second place finisher in the 2009 WSOP main event, declined all offers for sponsorship and was apparently offered $500,000 by a poker room in a last ditch attempt to have him wear their brand for the live final table. Amazingly, Darvin declined the offer.

Are these types of sponsorships worth it? Many poker sites send players to large events and stipulate the players wear their branded T shirt and caps as part of the deal. They hope the players get on television but this may not happen and they may bust out early in the tournament. The site hopes that the player wins their seat through their site and goes on to earn a big score from the event. Other players then follow suit hoping for a similar outcome. Chris Moneymaker won his seat to the 2003 World Series of Poker through winning a series of satellites into the event. His total investment was said to be $40 to win $2.5 million. Pokerstars did very well in subsequent years sending hundreds of players to the event.

Competition is high for the poker rooms and many rooms sign up players to long term deals. Annette Obrestad works with Betfair who pays her buy-ins to large tournaments all around the world. You question whether this is value for money. Annette does get a lot of exposure but it is she that gets the exposure not the site she represents. Of course their badge is on display if she gets on television, but there is no verbal discussion of Betfair when the TV watches Annette. The site hopes people notice the badge, like Annette’s play, and visits the site she recommends by the logo she is wearing.

The problem for the poker rooms is that every site sponsors players and it is costing a lot of money to keep up. There is a trend towards sites rewarding their high raking regular players with live sponsorship deals to go to live events, thus holding onto their custom. It also shows other players that increasing their play with the site could be very beneficial to them.

James Akenhead signed up as a Full Tilt Red Pro after making the final table of the World Series of Poker and went on to play in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and win the Poker Million. He appeared in many magazines and interviews as a result of his achievements in 2009. In every picture or TV segment he was wearing the badge of Full Tilt. Whatever they paid/pay James for him to wear their logos paid off. There are, however, many Red Pros who are staked into events and earning great rakeback that you wonder whether they are value for that investment.

Poker rooms also run the risk that the player may get into trouble. If an incident occurs like Scotty Nguyen in the 2008 HORSE event at the WSOP then the poker rooms would not enjoy being associated with it. The motivation of the players for sponsorship is also a worry for the sites. Many of them are just looking for a way to be a poker professional, live comfortably and play in large events. A proportion of them will care about the site and how they represent it, but most would sign up with whoever offered them the deal. Darvin Moon should be praised for his refusal to sign up as a sponsored player. Why? Because he said he never played online poker and to wear a badge would mislead the public who did not know he was a live only player.

A great way to represent a poker room is to win a satellite and be sent to a large poker event. Bwin sent many players to the Aussie Millions and their players are genuinely representing the site and their progress can be followed by reading the bwin poker blog.

By Malcolm Clarke

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In the third and final part of this series then and following on from part two, this highlights another so called piece of poker wisdom that is wrong and that is that just because a player is playing successfully at $100-$200 Hold’em online for instance, that they can beat all of the levels below that. Maybe they can but chances are that they can’t for the reason that I stated. As I have said many times, there is a lot of rubbish spoken in poker and much of the advice that is bandied about is far too generic for it to be of any use whatsoever.

Because of my very cautious attitude to money then what I had to do was to basically trick my mind into playing with large amounts of money. What worked for me personally was to take $2000 for instance that I had earned down some other gambling avenue and to use it to take a shot in a poker game. If I lost it then I would not play until I had mentally absorbed the loss.

This brings up yet another point of why the slide rule “experts” have missed the point. Let us go back to the case of the 18K poker bankroll. What if you are the type of person that tilts easily or simply cannot mentally absorb a loss until a certain amount of time has passed. If you have lost 1K in the blink of an eye in a big no limit pot with an unbelievable outdraw then you are hardly the type of person that can be entrusted to have another seventeen grand at their disposal immediately can you.

If everyone had to wait until they had the correct theoretical poker bankroll available before they could play at any level then hardly anyone would be playing the game. Here’s another thing, do you really have to play down to the felt and lose all of your bankroll before you admit to yourself or find out that a particular level of poker is too difficult for you. If the “experts” say that you need 12K to play theoretically at a certain level to avoid going bust then what if you stump up the money but are wrong in your assessment of your abilities.

If you are five grand down, do you play on just because you have another seven in your poker bankroll before you say “oh well, better drop down a level but I will have to wait until I have got some more money because I have lost it all trying to prove that I could beat 20-40 holdem”.

This is insane and utter madness. The upshot of all this is that don’t go along with what you hear about poker bankrolls and just do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable because if you are uncomfortable then this will affect your game plain and simple. If a bankroll approach helps you then fine, if you prefer a no bankroll approach then that is fine also but too much rubbish is spouted in this area by people who have never tried to gamble for a living and I think that you know my views on them by now.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Related posts:

1. Talking about bankrolls in poker part one The subject of bankrolls and how much money to...
2. Talking about bankrolls in poker part two Carrying on from part one then, this is all...
3. Risky Bankroll Management Never would I try and persuade people to manage...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Carrying on from part one then, this is all well and good with regards to what was mentioned at the end of part one but if the person involved has what is called a “very low attitude to risk” then they should not be doing it. If they are not psychologically inclined to be able to ride the sometimes violent fluctuations in the market then investing in that kind of thing is wrong for them.

Also if the stock market went through one of its steep downward trends like it did a few years ago and this person panicked and withdrew their money through ignorance or fear then they would have lost a very substantial amount of money, I know people personally who did and it was a very sad sight.

How you handle your money has basically an awful lot to do with what suits you as a person and not what someone says that you should do or what I or anybody else has done for that matter. I had a very low attitude to risk when I first started playing, I wanted to play professional level poker but this means playing for sizeable amounts of money and this was something that I found very uncomfortable.

So I had a very serious problem to overcome with regards to playing online poker, I had two parts of my personality that were basically at war with each other. On one side was this person that had a burning desire to play poker at a high level and on the other side was my more cautious and play it safe self holding me back.

A lot of books say that the answer to this is to start playing poker at low levels and slowly work your way up and build a bankroll and taking sign up bonuses along the way to boost it. Once again this is RUBBISH, anyone who plays low level poker and especially Limit Texas Hold’em will be likely beaten by the effect of the rake. It is not so bad in No Limit and this is why I advise players to go down this route. There is a world of difference between a $1-$2 Limit game and a $1-$2 No Limit game.

The Limit poker game will have about an average pot size of 5/6 big bets whereas the No Limit game will have on average at least double that for most games. The best player on the table can be a loser in a low stakes limit game and few players earn decent money out of it even allowing for multi-tabling online. But there is another subtle but highly significant reason why this advice is wrong and that has to do with personal motivation. One of the best pieces of advice that I ever heard about selecting the right level to play at for you went like this,

“Play at a level that motivates not intimidates”

This simple statement highlights a reason why many players fail in poker. They play at a level that is too small to mean anything to them and they end up not focusing or playing properly and basically messing about on the table. This means that they lose money, maybe not all at once but slowly but surely drip feeding it over time.

The level has to motivate you enough to play properly without it scaring you, once you identify this level THEN you have found the correct level to play at and not what any book or anyone else tells you.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Related posts:

1. Talking about poker bankrolls part three In the third and final part of this series...
2. Talking about bankrolls in poker part one The subject of bankrolls and how much money to...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.