I know I promised earlier this week that I’d follow-up with more on optimal multi-street bluffing frequency. It proved to be a more thorny problem than I anticipated, and while I still don’t have a definitive answer, you’ll get a chance … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Worst Card to Bluff, and sorry that I’ve been slow in getting this results post up. It’s possibly a result of the fact that I’ve been driving back across the country … Read more…
This one comes from a $5/$10 no-limit hold ’em game at the Venetian. I’m new to the table, initially bought in for $1000 but relatively quickly decided to load up enough to cover the table. I don’t think I’ve done … Read more…
Pardon the spammy title, but I’ve got some seriously good material to share with you. First and foremost is the second installment in a series of free coaching videos I’m making with Andre Coimbra. Together we review his deep run … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play?, and sorry that I’m late in getting results up. My weekend turned out to be a lot busier – in a good way – than I’d anticipated. Preflop I’ll … Read more…
Edit: Thanks to ThereYouGoAgain and others who pointed out the errors in my original post. Sorry for the confusion – Villain 1 (the open limper) did overcall the raise, and three of us saw the flop and turn (where pot … Read more…
I’ve got a new video series going up on Tournament Poker Edge which deals with strategy for playing the final table bubble. It will be a three-part series, with one part dedicated to each of big-, medium-, and short-stacked play. … Read more…
Thanks for all the great comments on this week’s What’s Your Play? As I’d hoped, your suggestions have helped me to think more about both the river decision and my play on earlier streets. One point I want to emphasize … Read more…
I’ve got a tough one for you this week. This is one of the trickier spots I’ve been in of late, and I’ll tell you up front that I’m not 100% sure about my play or my plan at multiple … Read more…
I was very happy with the comments on What’s Your Play? Underrepresented Top Pair. Some of you thought it was an “easy call”, some an easy fold, and a few even wanted to raise, though I don’t recall anyone considering … Read more…
My main event run came to an end early on Day 3 in unspectacular fashion. I do, however, currently have an above average stack going into the $5000 Venetian Deep Stacks main event. I don’t think any hands from those … Read more…
Thanks for the comments on the river bluffing What’s Your Play? I was actually surprised not to get more comments on this one, because the impression I get is that many people don’t feel comfortable in their ability to make … Read more…
I know it’s a little early for a What’s Your Play?, but I decided to publish my report from this tournament elsewhere so this hand is sort of a stand in before I move on to the next one. Patient … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play? In this post I’m going to talk a lot about a concept that I call Value Targeting. Hopefully it will make sense just from what I say here, but … Read more…
It’s early in a $1500 WSOP event, and we’re playing 10-handed. Hero has been one of the more active players at the table but hasn’t done anything especially crazy or noteworthy. Villain is a middle-aged white woman, pretty clearly an … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get results up, but I ended up playing two long days of poker on Friday and Saturday, … Read more…
I’ve got a new series going up on Tournament Poker Edge. It’s a continuation of my hand history review from the $300 2x Chance WCOOP, with a new emphasis on late game play and stealing and restealing dynamics. I also … Read more…
This hand comes from level 3 of the $1500 “Millionaire Maker” WSOP event, a two-day affair expected to draw a field of 5000+. With just 4500 starting chips, preflop shoves were commonplace. They’ll be commonplace in lots of the low … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play?, and sorry that I’m late in getting up the results. My girlfriend and I are about to embark on a cross-country roadtrip, ending (for me) in Las Vegas, so … Read more…
Villain is in his early 20s. I’ve never seen before, but he gives off a distinct air of “I used to play on the internet and I wasn’t too bad at it.” He just joined the table 10 hands ago, … Read more…
My latest article, which is something like half tournament poker strategy and half navel-gazing in the tradition of Gray Friday and Three Days in Madrid, is now appearing in 2+2 Magazine: A lot of people, in the wake of the … Read more…
I thought about posting this one as a “What’s Your Play?”, but I think it’s too weird and the flop check would be too much of a distraction from the turn decision, so I’m just going to post it and … Read more…
I received this email as a mailbag question, but I think the author makes a good point well and I don’t really have anything to add to it, so I’m just going to post it here for everyone to read. … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Kings on an Ace River. Needless to say, a lot depends on how you interpret Villain’s actions up to this point. If you believe he has a polarized range for raising … Read more…
This question was posted in response to my analysis of a hand in which the Hero had to make a decision, for most if not all of his stack, with pocket Jacks facing an early position raise, a call, and … Read more…
Edit: Hey look, a mistake in a WYP post! Been a while since that happened… At least this was a minor one. My preflop raise was to 150, and I’ve adjusted pot size to reflect that. Sorry for any confusion. … Read more…
Edit: As usual, my attempts to perform a complicated equity calculation in under an hour resulted in a mistake. I don’t have time to fix it at the moment – the Borgata Main Event starts shortly – but any calc … Read more…
This one comes to us via Andre Coimbra. Hero is new to the table but has the PokerStars Team Online red spade that sometimes affects how people play. He has only 25 hands worth of data on all the Villains … Read more…
Card Player just published one of my articles about a challenge that I gave myself at the casino one night when it became clear that the game I wanted to play wasn’t going to go off: Rather than leave immediately, … Read more…
In the results post for What’s Your Play? Overpair on Dry Flop, I cited a quote from Zach Ellwood, author of Reading Poker Tells, about opponents who comment on the texture of the board: “players who actually connect with the … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Rivered Top Pair. This was an interesting one for me because although there were quite a few different opinions, no one suggested what I consider to be the best play. I … Read more…
Whether or not you’re participating in the April Bookclub, I hope you’ll find my latest poker strategy article, “Idealistic Extremes“, to be of interest. It extrapolates on the meaning of a key phrase from Tommy Angelo’s introduction to Elements of … Read more…
This is the fourth hand of a six-max tournament on a .FR site. Hero (who is not me) and Villain are both readless on each other. Blinds are 50/100, both players have roughly 20K to start the hand. Villain opens … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who commented on What’s Your Play? Overpair on Dry Flop. I realize that in some sense this isn’t a very interesting spot, because nothing out of the ordinary has happened and I’m not going to advocate some … Read more…
Playing 10-handed $1/$3 no-limit hold ’em. Villain has roughly $300, Hero covers. Villain is relatively new to the table, but he’s already complaining, good-naturedly but often, about how he’s getting nothing but bad cards. Before looking at his cards this … Read more…
You pay off too much. You have trouble letting go of big hands. Bad calls on early streets get you into trouble later. You call when you know you’re beat, saying things like, “I had to,” or “I was priced … Read more…
Often, when I’m in a smaller stakes game waiting for a seat in the bigger game to open up, I use it as an opportunity to practice my discipline. Generally it’s easier to pick up physical tells, betting tendencies, etc. … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play? There was a lot of disagreement, which is understandable since multiple players are defensible. The important thing is your reasoning behind your choice. Brief Comments on Earlier Streets The … Read more…
This WYP should be of particular interest to fans of my Getting Paid series on Tournament Poker Edge. We’re heads up at the first table of a $500 NLHE Shootout WCOOP event. (In a shootout, they don’t break tables. Instead … Read more…
This week’s What’s Your Play? highlights an important point about how to integrate an opponent’s physical tells into your decision-making process. Contrary to what Hollywood would have you believe, it’s not something that you can do in a vacuum: TeddyKGB … Read more…
Edit: Just realized the first paragraph of this post disappeared for some reason. Rewriting it now. In his opinion, Hero hasn’t been that aggressive, but that isn’t how this loose and passive $1/$3 no-limit hold ’em table sees it. I’ve … Read more…
My new video series at Tournament Poker Edge is called Getting Paid, and it’s about getting money into the pot when you have the best hand. The first video in this five-part series, which was just released, is about identifying … Read more…
Thanks for the comments on this week’s WYP, everyone. You all seem to agree with my thinking during the hand, which was that Villain’s line just doesn’t make sense. People often use that as an excuse to call, since they … Read more…
I haven’t posted in a while so I figured I’d go ahead and put up an early WYP. Villain is a regular but for whatever reason we don’t have a lot of experience playing together. From what little I’ve seen … Read more…
It occurs to me that, although my latest poker strategy article has been up since the beginning of the month, I haven’t actually mentioned it here yet. You can read The Button Tax in Two Plus Two Magazine to learn … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Plan? Flopped Straight, Board Pairs on Turn. The Action So Far Despite having somewhat better reads on my opponents and their timing than I sometimes do in these posts, I didn’t believe … Read more…
The Game: $1/$3/$6 no-limit hold ’em. Plays loose-passive pre-flop but gets progressively more tight-passive as pots get larger. Villain 1 ($1800): Best of the regulars in this Hero’s opinion. He’s 30ish, seems comfortable playing 200+ BB pots when it’s warranted, … Read more…
Wow, thanks for all the comments on What’s His Hand? Nit vs LAG! For whatever reason this post generated more guesses and discussion than any other WYP. And sorry for the delay in getting results up – I just ran … Read more…
In honor of my first video series at Tournament Poker Edge, here’s a twist on the “What’s Your Play?” theme with an emphasis on hand reading. Five-handed $5/$5 no-limit hold ’em game. Villain bought in about an hour ago for … Read more…
Thanks to those who commented on this week’s “What’s Your Play?”. I think this may have been the liveliest discussion yet, and I’d encourage everyone who hasn’t to read those comments, because I think those conversations are at least as … Read more…
Live $10/$25 NLHE cash game at the PCA, playing seven-handed at the moment. I haven’t been involved in many pots but may have an aggro image anyway because of a hand that went to showdown where I raised K6s, bet … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, “Way Ahead/Way Behind and Other Common Situations“, is now appearing in the January edition of Two Plus Two Magazine. It re-examines the standard advice for way ahead/way behind situations and then applies that logic to … Read more…
Q:Game is 2/5 and involves three players: A-$350(SB) B-$500(hero, MP)T/T C-$650(Button) action is limped by1 player(B) to Button that raises to $25, folds to BB and he re pops it for $85 total… now here is the question, given a … Read more…
Not too much controversy surrounding this week’s “What’s Your Play?”, but interestingly I think it nevertheless generated some of the best comments. Nearly everyone advocated folding, so let’s start by considering the alternatives: Shoving Hero risks, roughly, 800 to win … Read more…
Edit: Villain is the BB (the $3 blind). Ten-handed live $1/$3/$6 game. Hero is the only player at the table with a pre-flop raise percent greater 5 (it’s close to 15). As such, I’m perceived as an insanely aggressive bully … Read more…
This happened the same night as the first one. The $1/$3/$6 game is up and running again. There are a couple of limps, so I limp behind with 85s in the HJ. The CO limps, the BB completes, and then … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Capping Ranges in Live Poker, has just been published in 2+2 Magazine. Using examples from the Borgata Poker Open, I demonstrate what you can get away with when your opponents are kind enough to broadcast … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s What’s Your Play? from the Borgata Poker Open. Sorry I was late in posting this, I ended up making a last-minute trip to see my family for Thanksgiving. I also played the … Read more…
Sorry for the delay, new podcast episode should be up tomorrow. Here’s something to keep you busy in the meantime. Shortly after dinner break at the $2500 Borgata Poker Open, re-entry period is over. Table is reasonably tough for this … Read more…
Edit: Wow somehow this was up for more than three days without anyone asking what my hand was? Sorry I forgot to include it, as I hinted in some of my responses to comments, it was kind of relevant. I … Read more…
Q: My son and I have different opinions on a hand I played this week and would love to here your take. The game is live 1-2 and I have been running crazy good and only showing down big hands. … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on What’s Your Play? Out of Position With a Flush Draw. Pre-Flop A few people questioned/criticized the pre-flop call, and rightfully so. I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s literally marginal, meaning it’s a close … Read more…
Early in the $320 6-max WCOOP event. Hero has been an unremarkable TAG so far, and Villain even more so. Villain, over a small sample of hands, is 15/10 with 22% Attempt to Steal. PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 15/30 … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Winning in a Tight Game, is now available from the Card Player website. As the name suggests, it draws on some of my recent experiences in nitty live games to talk about how and why … Read more…
Thanks for all the comments on this week’s “What’s Your Play?”. You all asked some thought-provoking questions as well, and I’m sorry that I haven’t responded to all of them. Hopefully this post will address the ones I’ve missed. Flop … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Telling a Story With Your Value Bets, is now appearing in the 2+2 Magazine. Drawing on examples from the WCOOP, it explores the corollary of that old saw about telling a story with your bluffs: … Read more…