Q: Level 6 of a Tuesday night weekly tournament held at Parx Casino in Bensalem, PA $100 buy-in, 20 minute levels, 10k starting stacks. Blinds are 300/600 with 50 antes. Hero (Me) is in the cutoff with a stack of … Read more…
Today’s question comes from a comment on last week’s “What’s Your Play?” The relevant details are that Hero is in the SB with AQs facing a raise from a loose-passive player in early position and a call from a possible … Read more…
This week’s WYP is a little different, in that I don’t have a strong opinion about what’s best. I was actually hoping some of you smart people could help me out there, in particular with regard to how V2’s question … Read more…
This is really the second WYP from the PCA, but the first was technically a “What’s Your Plan?”, and I couldn’t think of a catchier name for this one. It takes during Level 2 of the tournament, with blinds of … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who commented on this week’s “What’s Your Play?” Sorry for the delay in getting results up; I’m currently visiting old friends and a new baby in New York, and the days have been busy. We’ll start with … Read more…
Today’s mailbag question comes from a comment on the What’s Your Plan? Flopped Pair and Draw: Results post. It was a good question that I felt warranted a thorough response. Q: Though honestly I agree with what you wrote I just … Read more…
Villain is an unremarkable tournament grinder, probably a modest winner. I don’t know much about him, nor do I know what if anything he thinks of me. This is on PokerStars, so I do have my Team Online avatar which … Read more…
Judging from the number of comments, folks found this WYP less compelling than someone. That’s to your credit, because as many commenters advocated, I believe folding the flop is correct. Dangerhorse explains why: I would probably fold although the pot … Read more…
Q: I’ve been thinking poker again with the exciting DoJ news at the end of last year. I’m sure many have. While actual regulated play is probably still far off (with the exception of Nevada), I’ve been wondering how best … Read more…
Edit: Fixed the suit of card (c) so it doesn’t match what’s in Hero’s hand. It’s Level 4 of the PCA. Hero is wearing his PokerStars Team Online patch, which in Villain’s eyes probably makes him a cash game grinder … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Balance, addresses a pet peeve of mine that I see often in the tournament forums: Balance is one of the most misunderstood concepts in tournament poker. Many players believe that playing in a balanced way … Read more…
To understand this week’s hand, you have to understand the psychology of a certain type of live player. I’m not the most experienced live player myself, but I do think I’m quite good at understanding what and how my opponents … Read more…
Q: If you find time i want your opinion about a hand i played in a EPT side event with a pokerstars pro from Argentina (i don’t remember his name but he won the high roller event last year at EPT … Read more…
This week’s WYP is based on a hand I witnessed during a rare live cash session at the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, West Virginia. Rare for me, that is- the Hollywood has a surprisingly large and active poker room. … Read more…
Sorry again for the error in my original What’s Your Plan? post. It certainly wasn’t deliberate, but in a weird way it did help to highlight one of the central points of this exercise, which is the significance of Villain’s … Read more…
This week’s WYP didn’t prove too controversial, but it generated some good discussion nonetheless. I must say that I’m a little disappointed more of you weren’t tempted to make the same mistake I did: PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (6 … Read more…
This hand occurred at a PokerStars deep table, meaning that the maximum buyin is $1500 and there’s an ante ($0.60 I believe) in addition to the blinds. I’ve never seen Villain before, but he seems both very aggressive and very … Read more…
I’ve now got three Thinking Poker Tournament Seminars under the belt, and they keep getting better every time. The next seminar will be held at 11AM Eastern time on Monday, December 19. The topic will be Advanced Flop Fundamentals, and … Read more…
Thanks again for all the great comments on this week’s What’s Your Plan?. I was a little worried since the question was more open-ended than usual, but once again we had a lot of really though-provoking contributions. I actually write … Read more…
This week I’ve got a slight variation on the usual “What’s Your Play?” Villain is a TAG regular playing 18/17 with an 8% 3-bet over a large sample. He’s a small winner at these stakes but not very tricky or … Read more…
One nice side benefit of teaching is that forces the teacher to crystallize his own knowledge and learn concepts more thoroughly in the process. In my recent Big Bluffs seminar I talked about how people will usually bet a flush … Read more…
I’m blown away by the number of responses Monday’s What’s Your Play? post received. It produced some great discussion that was instructive even for me, so a big thanks to all of you who commented. I know I didn’t interact … Read more…
Q: How would you recommend using Poker Stove to get better? Especially since I can only play live these days. A: Your caveat at the end there threw a wrench in my plans for building a post around what I … Read more…
The next installment in the Thinking Poker Tournament Seminar series will be on Saturday, December 3rd, Noon-2 PM Eastern. The topic will be Playing Out of Position: Value Betting, Bluffing, and Getting to Showdown. Virtually all of the toughest spots … Read more…
Villain is a decent player on the tight side of TAG, 18/15 pre-flop with a 33% Fold to Flop Continuation Bet over a sample of about 200 hands. Don’t have much idea how he views Hero. PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2.00 … Read more…
Q: What’s your process for improving as a player? Do you review your hand histories or take notes while you play? Or have a master list of tips that you review regularly? Like most “normal” people, I have a family … Read more…
On Monday, I posted a hand from the British Columbia Poker Championship in which I flopped top two pair in a three-way pot but saw heavy action in front me. It solicited a lot of interesting thoughts and comments. I’ll … Read more…
Yesterday’s inaugural Thinking Poker Tournament Seminar was a great success. I think all the participants got a lot out of it, and I learned a few things that I can do to make future seminars even better. So thinking of … Read more…
Q: You were talking about a hand you played on Day 1 of the recent BCPC . You didn’t specifically say the blinds and stack sizes, but I can estimate them from your write-up and my guess is that the … Read more…
One topic that I would appreciate some comments (and possibly something posted on the blog for discussion) are techniques for playing, in comparatively low-staked NL games, a flop of three suited cards. In particular, for those circumstances where there has … Read more…
In a recent mailbag, I discussed the potential for exploiting players who size bets one way when they want to induce a raise and another when they don’t. I had the opportunity to take advantage of such a player last … Read more…
Thanks to everyone who commented on the latest What’s Your Play? If you haven’t already, please take a look at the original post and think about what you’d do before you read my thoughts and the results. With Hero’s commanding … Read more…
Edit: Sorry, I made a significant typo when posting this. As many of you realized, the BB is actually 250K, not 500K. With the WCOOP coming up in barely a week, here’s a “What’s Your Play?” that focuses on tournament … Read more…
There were tons of comments on the most recent “What’s Your Play?” post, which is awesome. I’m going to go ahead and post the results, but especially after seeing the comments I think it’s very close and I don’t mean … Read more…
Hero and Villain are heads up on four tables at Villain’s request. Villain bought in short at all four but promised not to quit no matter how big his stack got, and he’s been true to his word. He’s not … Read more…
Q: I have a question about your article “The Last Bet“. It is a very interesting article and I want to thank you for that and for your website. I read a lot of books about poker and learned a … Read more…
Earlier this week I posted a new What’s Your Play, and now it’s time for the results and my analysis! First off thanks to everyone who commented, there were a lot of really interesting ideas and good questions, and I’m … Read more…
First hand of the match, but both players are 5/10 regulars and each respects the other’s game. No history particularly relevant to this hand. PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com BB ($2500) SB … Read more…
Q: When playing live what sort of mental notes do you keep on people? Do you give them labels and those labels are associated to hand ranges, raising tendencies, calling tendencies, etc, etc? I remember my first couple of live … Read more…
Q: I’m a member of Poker Savvy Plus and have been watching your High Stakes Review series videos. I enjoy them and find them helpful. One stupid question I have is when you say a particular hand “plays very well” … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, What Are You Afraid Of?, is now appearing in the July 2011 edition of the 2+2 Magazine. The article uses a single hand to look at a larger point about game theory and exploitability: Being … Read more…
(I’ve made blog posts out of responses to reader-submitted questions before, but it never occurred to me to actively solicit such questions for a regular feature until now! So welcome to the first Thinking Poker Mailbag, and please read on … Read more…
Now that the WSOP is in full-swing, many players will be taking a shot or two at events well above their usual buy-in levels. This can be a great opportunity, because the $1000 and $1500 NLHE events attract hundreds of … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, “Having a Plan For a Hand“, is now appearing on Part Time Poker: In this article, I want to consider a hand that at first glance may look like just a lucky flop against a … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Slowplaying, is a meditation on a variety of topics related to slowplaying: what it costs you, when to do it, which types of boards and opponents are best, etc. Here’s an excerpt from the introduction: … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Out of Position Against a LAG, has just been published in the March 2011 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s a street-by-street analysis of a single hand, highlighting a lesson that can be learned from each. … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article in the 2+2 Magazine, entitled “Bluff Cooler“, introduces a new term to the poker lexicon: A “bluff cooler” would mean that a hand in your bluffing range runs into a hand in your opponent’s bluff-catching … Read more…
Remember our Sources of Value in a Bet discussion? My latest poker strategy article, Betting For Protection, is now appearing in the January issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s a taste of what to expect: Early in their no-limit hold ’em … Read more…
Happy New Year! The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to re-evaluate your priorities, set new goals for yourself, and start planning for how you will achieve those goals. This is the first in a series of … Read more…
It has long been known that scrub jays, cousins of the crow and the raven, both hide and steal food from each other. Researchers recently demonstrated, however, that jays first learn to hide food, not by being victims of a … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Joseph Cheong WSOP Final Table “Blow Up“, has just been published in the December 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. It’s an in-depth analysis of the complex factors at play in the infamous A7 vs. QQ … Read more…
I witnessed this hand in weekly $1K on Stars. BTN underbets the river, SB tanks for a while and then check-raises about 75% of his stack, BTN snap-shoves, and SB folds. Now in all likelihood SB was bluffing, but I … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Standard Bet Sizes, has just been published in the November 2010 issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here’s an excerpt to give you an idea of what the article is about: The ability to size your bet … Read more…
A lot of you probably get these “pro tip” e-mails from Full Tilt from time to time. I’ve glanced at a few and they were always very rudimentary and sometimes wrong. The title of this one caught my eye, though, … Read more…
Someone e-mailed me this question recently, and as I began to compose an answer, it occurred to me that it could make for an interesting blog post: Recently a friend of mine and I were batting around a question about … Read more…
In theory, you ought to be wholly focused on the table(s) when you are playing poker. Even online, there are so many little things to pay attention to that can help you make better decisions in future hands. Who hasn’t … Read more…
Thanks for all your help so far in generating this list. Now that I’ve got a revised version of it, let me try to explain a bit more about what I’m going for here. I believe that a bet or … Read more…
I’m trying to make as thorough of a list as I can of reasons for betting or raising, and I’d appreciate your help. Obviously this isn’t an exact science, but I’m very interested in your feedback regarding the following list: … Read more…
Oddly, as much thought as I’ve put into the more than 100 instructional poker videos I’ve made and the many more I plan to make, I’ve never actually asked my audience what they like to see in a poker video. … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Improving Your MTT Skills, is now appearing in the July edition of the 2+2 Magazine. It’s a little different in that it doesn’t discuss particular hands or strategy concepts. Rather, it recommends some non-traditional ways … Read more…
This is another example of making a move with one of the best possible bluffs. The flop float is a little more questionable. PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com UTG ($1771.35) MP ($1505.40) … Read more…
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com SB ($3733) Hero (BB) ($2918) UTG ($2394) MP ($2100) CO ($2000) Button ($5294) Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 8 1 fold, MP bets $60, CO calls $60, … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, Bluff Catching, is now appearing in the June issue of the 2+2 Internet Magazine. Here’s the hypothetical that kicks off the discussion: I had a nightmare last night that I was playing high-stakes heads up … Read more…
I’ve finally gotten around to adding some more of my poker strategy articles and World Series of Poker trip reports to the archive. The sad part is that my girlfriend/webmaster does all the work, all I have to do is … Read more…
My latest poker strategy article, No Such Thing as a Free Hunch, is now appearing in the May issue of 2+2 Magazine: You’ve undoubtedly heard it said before that poker is a battle for information. At least among good players, … Read more…
“Relative position” refers to when you must act in comparison to the player who is most likely to bet on a given street. For example, if there are several limpers, you complete the SB, the BB raises, and everyone calls, … Read more…