| Poker News | | Books | |
Jun 23, 2010 - 11:47 AM - by KingBorgo |
I went out to Barnes and Noble and looked through some poker strategy text to brush up before Vegas. I own a few, but nothing really new. So, I went and poked around, and looked through some. I first picked up one of Hellmuth’s books, considering he is, no matter what you say about his attitude, one of the best tournament players on the circuit. While the book may have been good and informative, I could not get past his tone in it. All I could read was, “Damn right, I’m Phil Hellmuth”. That one went back on the shelf.
I next picked up Negreanu’s “Power Poker”. I thumbed through a lot of the early sections, and, to be frank, those seemed worthless. David Williams’ section looked promising though. When I got to Negreanu’s section (most of the book), it really only reaffirmed a lot of my play. I started a small ball style about a year ago, and while it is nice to have my thoughts reaffirmed, what I found was not very revolutionary to me.
I wanted to find... [Read More] | | | | Pre-Felt Mindset | |
Jun 23, 2010 - 11:08 AM - by Bailyen | Many people talk about going and watching the play at the tables before you actually sit down, but a topic you seldom see discussed is the mindset you need to be in before you set down, or even watch players. That's exactly what I am going to discuss.
First, you need to be completely confident in your play before you sit down. If you are not confident that you can sit at the felt and take on whoever sits with you, then don't sit down. Move down a level or just take a break and regroup. I read an article recently from Card Player magazine and it mentioned the poker mindset. Although, it talked about using a mantra (or chant) before you play. They said to say your name and then something like this: You are the best! So the whole thing would look like this: Bill Roberts (fictional name), you are the best! The author said that this will create a self-confidence that will carry over to the poker table. Now, I'm not saying to do this but you at least need to... [Read More] | | | | How Much to Sit With | |
Jun 22, 2010 - 11:32 AM - by KingBorgo |
When sitting at a cash game, you have the option of choosing how much money you want to sit at the table with. This differs strongly from tournaments, where you pay a set amount, and everybody receives the exact same amount of chips. There is no immediate big stack, and no immediate short stack. Everybody is on the same playing field, jockeying for the same prize: 1st place.
A cash game is much different. While everyone sitting at the table is playing to win, they are going about it different ways. Since the blinds never escalate, some take a tighter approach, and wait on good hands, and try to get maximum value out of them. Others take a more aggressive approach, trying to bully the table and make their profits through numerous pots won. Players can vary anywhere in between, and are not stuck in this role.
One thing you must immediately consider when you go to play a cash game is which of these strategies you will prefer to play, if you want to be the... [Read More] | | | | New Strategy on Multi-Tabling in Texas Holdem | |
Jun 11, 2010 - 9:54 AM - by Fonzi | |
I just posted a new strategy article on Multi-tabling in tournaments and cash games. You can read it here Multi-Tabling Texas Holdem | | | | Annoyances | |
Jun 10, 2010 - 9:20 AM - by KingBorgo | If you play any sort of poker for any sort of time, you’ll hear a discussion about the showing of hands. It will range from never showing hands (you don’t want to give an opponent any information, after all) to showing bluffs (so you can make a profit when you make the nuts) to showing your strong hands (the opposite of the last, so you can bluff more frequently). You will have players who will try to pay you to show, players who will always show, and everything in between.
Dan Katz recently wrote in an article, and I quote, “One type of player that annoys me is the guy who constantly shows his cards when he is the last to fold or wins a pot without showdown. “ I understand this feeling, and have shared it many times. So what, you have 57os in the BB? I’m not raising my 39 into it. As soon as I read that, I identified with it, because, who really cares... [Read More] | | | | The Effect of Turbos on Tournaments | |
Jun 09, 2010 - 2:43 PM - by KingBorgo | In today’s poker atmosphere, one of the most prevalent concepts of poker is speed. Players want more hands, more tournaments, and more chances, and they want it faster. It became apparent a while ago with the advent of “Turbo” structures, in which players were given less time to act and shorter blind levels. Many players loved this, for who honestly likes playing a Sit-N-Go for 1.5 hours to finish 3rd and barely double your buy-in. So, everyone jumped on the Turbo bandwagon, with these tournaments taking significantly less time, thus allowing players to get better profits in shorter times.
If we can shorten the tournament time and structure a little bit, why not a lot? That’s what the major sites apparently thought, for not long after came the advent of the Super/Ultra turbo, with tournaments frequently featuring one or two minute blind levels. You could finish... [Read More] | | | | Changing Styles | |
May 11, 2010 - 10:14 AM - by Fonzi |
My natural playing style is Tight Aggressive but there's a flaw in my style that I've been trying to figure out for a while now. I'm fine early in tournaments and usually move up the leaderboard quickly but once the blinds and antes start going up and I go card dead I find myself moving down the leaderboard and many times end up having to play hands I don't like for fear of being blinded out.
Do I open up my range and try to steal? I've tried several things but it's very unnatural for me and I find myself questioning myself. I don't bluff much and even when I do it's based on information and feel. Even then I usually have outs.
I need to be more aggressive. Is my biggest problem putting on the brakes if I miss?
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