Mar 08 2010

When Will They Learn?

Category: Texas Holdem FAQ — malcolm @ 8:24 pm

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

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Feb 20 2010

Tournament Structures Discussed

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 3:18 pm

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

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Feb 16 2010

DVD Poker Tuition Discussed

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 11:12 am

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

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Feb 12 2010

If I Was Only Allowed One Form of Poker

Category: Texas Holdem FAQ — malcolm @ 2:58 pm

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

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Jan 28 2010

Talking about poker bankrolls part three

Category: Poker strategy — carl @ 5:27 pm

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

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Jan 28 2010

Talking about bankrolls in poker part two

Category: Poker strategy — carl @ 5:15 pm

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

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Jan 28 2010

Talking about bankrolls in poker part one

Category: Poker strategy — carl @ 5:06 pm

The subject of bankrolls and how much money to have behind you gets talked about an awful lot and just like anything else, most of it is WRONG. Much of this RUBBISH has been spoken by people who have never played poker or gambled in their entire lives. I have my very own attitude towards bankrolls and financing my playing that has worked very well for me.

Firstly let me state something blatantly obvious, a poker bankroll will not turn a losing player into a winning player. When you hear about big stakes players frequently going bust then so much for bankrolls. But I have always argued that any part time semi-professional player simply does not need one if they have other sources of income that is disposable.

For example, let us take what used to be my bread and butter game of $30-$60 Limit Holdem poker once upon a time. All the books say that any working pro who wins at a rate of one big bet an hour ($60) needs at least 300 big bets to avoid going broke. But that is $18,000 which is a very substantial amount of money to many people. But what if you don’t have that kind of money then does this mean that you can never play 30-60.

But what if you do have that kind of money, does this mean that you can automatically jump right in, I say no to both. What if you have the skills to play 30-60 holdem but not the mindset to want to risk 18K. What if the mere thought of having this mental eighteen grand disturbs you so much that it drags you away from your optimal game. Also, what about the guy who starts off playing at 30-60 with his 18K bankroll and despite being a very good poker player, is down $9000 after a couple of months and then packs it in because the fear of losing it all has affected him.

Any player that does this has not in theory started with $18,000 but actually $9000 and a 9K bankroll is not big enough for 30-60. But the mathematicians in the gambling world make me laugh because they churn pathetic advice out to people that is based on figures and nothing but figures as if Hold’em poker online is played by emotionless robots. Much of what they talk about is unworkable for many people and looks good when seen on paper or in a book.

It is exactly the same principle with financial advice, it would be blatantly wrong to advise someone to transfer money from a much lower interest bank account to an investment that was linked to the stock market all because the FTSE had risen by an average of 10% per year since it was formed and the bank account in question was only providing 3% at best without finding out certain things about the nature of that person first. Look out for the second part of this article elsewhere on the site.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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Jan 18 2010

Freshen Up Poker with a Change

Category: Poker Blog — malcolm @ 12:26 pm

If you are a regular online poker player you can often feel like the game gets very repetitive. You may sit every day on the online poker tables and watch the same poker software playing against the same players and the grind can seem very grinding indeed. Perhaps you need a change either focusing on poker tournaments instead of cash games or vice versa. Avoiding burn out and looking for the signs of burn out are important to becoming and remaining a winning poker player.

Running multiple cash game tables removes the feeling of being involved on every table. Feeling a part of the cash game keeps you interested but if you are moving to and from different tables quickly then you feel like you are almost above the action and only a small part of it. This can resonate into a player becoming bored very quickly, which can compound any losses and make players leave a session early.

You could change your poker room and try a new site to keep things feeling fresh. Something as simple as looking at a different table style on a different poker room with different usernames playing poker can cause you to instantly perk up and feel more enthusiastic about playing poker. Do you ever get bored of seeing the same view from your office window? Although the feeling of buoyancy if you moved positions in the office is temporary, the feelings are real and you can harness these positive feelings by enforcing change in your poker routine.

Shaun Deeb, the online poker tournament phenom who played around thirty poker tournaments per day on multiple tables is currently on a break from tournaments after admitting to be completely burned out by them. Playing thirty tables per day I am surprised he was not burned out sooner, yet it shows even the best players recognise the need to change or take a break. He will probably come back a more dangerous player and enjoy renewed sustained success as a result of this self imposed vacation.

The right time to make a change is when things are not going well for you. The best time to make a change is just before the run of bad poker which comes about either through luck or self-inflicted bad play. Recognise the signs that you are becoming fidgety or on edge with the poker room or games before it turns into losses.

Remember, however, that grinding online poker is not easy and you must endure it to some extent exactly like a person working a full time job needs to do. You should enjoy playing poker but sometimes you will want to do something else and this is the point where you must be professional and grind it out. The research you have done on fellow players and hand histories you have worked on are lost if you change sites so some degree of pain is tolerable in the poker grind. If you work a normal job then you will probably regularly feel this way but stick it out and keep trying hard to win.

Playing on a new poker room will reignite your interest in poker as every room as different poker tournaments to participate in with slightly different structures, prize pools and bonuses. Try bwin.com which is backed up by the large sports betting company. Aesthetically the dark style of poker software and table layouts they use will be enough to make you feel fresh even when you play a lot of online poker.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Dec 30 2009

Easy Fixes for Common Poker Tournament Errors

Category: Texas Holdem FAQ — malcolm @ 11:09 am

Texas Hold ‘em poker tournaments are available 24/7 to play online and you can shoot for big prizes participating in many live poker tournaments once you gain some experience. Unfortunately it is very difficult to play like World Champion Joe Cada and win a massive tournament like the World Series of Poker. Even Joe got very lucky to win. But aside from luck, you must have a solid set of fundamental skills in order to put yourself in a position to benefit from good luck and win possibly life changing prizes.

There are many poker software programs like Pokerstove that calculate your specific equity in a pre-determined spot which is excellent for hand analysis however you must be making good decisions at the table during live poker play. There are a number of common errors that are easily fixable and once addressed they result in an immediate improvement in your poker game.

Three Betting Too Lightly

AA, KK and QQ are good three betting hands. If you start three betting with hands like JJ, TT, 99, 88, AQ and AJ then you are perhaps being a little loose. Often a player’s raise is very legitimate in building the pot because they have a good hand. Re-raising with the second set of weaker premium hands exposes you to a large pot when you are already dominated. In poker tournaments any player with a good starting hand will not fold to your re-raise and most often will shove into you so three betting must be done with care.

Middle pairs are played for value trying to hit the set. Would you rather wait to have your made hand and see what the early action is or speculate with a marginal hand? Most players prefer to get their money in better than a middle pair that is likely to face overcards after the flop. Tighten up your three betting range unless you specifically want to bluff or semi-bluff. Only ever do this on purpose and do not get dragged into an uncomfortable spot because you unwittingly over value certain hands that are good for one raise but vulnerable in a raised pot.

Calling an All-in Bet

Admittedly I have fallen foul of this myself many times. The tough spots are when you have a decent but not great hand like AJ or KQ and you are unsure whether your opponent is bluffing or not. Factors like your opponents stacks sizes in relation to the blinds, your stack in relation to your opponents and how much it is to call are important. You should be particularly careful when calling the all-in shove by your opponent will mean you risk your tournament life.

Not Profiling Players Properly

Failing to have good information when faced with a big decision is a very common fault of many cash game poker players and tournament players. Even in a tournament of 1 million players you only need to capture information about the nine other players at your table, so there is no excuse for failing to do so. Start off with general observations like loose or aggressive and become more specific as you are given more information. Gathering information about a poker player is an ongoing process so always start with the very first hand and go from there.

There are plenty of common mistakes made in poker tournaments, but stay patient and alert and observe opponents from the first hand and you will do well if the poker luck goes your way. Remember if you bust out with bad play you do not get a chance to get lucky.

By Malcolm Clarke

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Dec 19 2009

Playing Heads up Against Aggressive Stealers

Category: Poker Blog — carl @ 12:31 pm

In ring games whether they are full-ring or six max, there will always be a fair number of players who will raise with a fairly wide range from the button. Most of the time a wider opening range will be correct anyway but some players stray away from this in many poker games and start open raising with around 75% of their total range!

This may even be correct of course at the lower stakes games where more players are playing tightly and especially if they are getting rakeback. If you have been active in a game and have been folding several big blinds then whoever is on the button may just think that it is open season on your blind.

One such hand that I played last year should highlight the point. It was folded to the button who open raised to $3.50 in a NL100 Holdem poker game and we both had $100+ stacks. I had the Kc-3c and called. Many players would either three bet or fold here and these are not bad lines to take.

My own preference is not to escalate a pot out of position with a weak hand and to try and see more streets against a player who I rate to be better than. I want to outplay him and not try to outmuscle him. Trying to outmuscle someone who is prepared for a fight may not be a very wise online poker strategy and I have the capability to play well beyond the flop.

The flop came Ah-Ks-2d giving me middle pair and weak kicker. My opponent had been very aggressive and my Poker Office told me that this guy raised a lot of buttons when it had been folded to him. So my middle pair is now ahead of his range so I wait for the obvious continuation bet and check-call.

If I am behind then so be it and your variance increases in and around the blinds but you shouldn’t be afraid of that as good solid short handed skills can make you a mint in small-stakes poker. My opponent was raising 73% of his hands when folded to on the button so my K-3s favours well against his range.

Against players who play badly post flop and who think that aggression is the be all and end all of poker then you can really find good EV in these situations. The turn card is the 3h giving me two pair and the probable best hand. With $17.50 in the pot then I need to decide what to do. If I check then they may check a lot of hands back as I have called a pre-flop raise and also a flop bet on a board with no draws.

I decide to check and let him possibly fire another barrel as a bluff and I do so but this plan is foiled by them checking behind me. The river card is the 9d and now it is time to value bet or to encourage a bluff. His betting sequence looks weak so I make what looks like a weak stab and bet $10 and he raises to $35 and I call and take the pot.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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