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Posts Tagged ‘Poker Strategy’

Over 100 poker players and professional players have joined the first Filipino Poker Challenge Jan. 30 in Concord Card Casino Vienna Prater amusement center in the largest city.

Melvin Lopez, the chief controller of the event, is delighted that over 100 Filipino heard his call to participate in the tournament.

“This is the first time, the Filipino Poker Tournament will be held here in Vienna. I am quite puzzled by the presence of a number of Pinoys here. I am very honored and grateful for this enthusiastic response,” Lopez said ABS-CBN Europe News Agency.

Poker participant Rodel Reyes said, “The success of the first Pinoy Poker Challenge in Vienna has again proven that to win a highly competitive poker tournament, one needs not pure luck but lots of patience, mental discipline, physical endurance and sustained keen perception.”

Another poker player, Elmer Nicolas, said, “This is the very first time that such a game is being staged here in Vienna. I am very excited and hope I could make it until the end.”

Contrary to the perception of some “kababayans” in Austria that poker is just a game of luck, the organizer explained that poker could become a gambling vice if this is played the wrong way.

“In first-rate championship battles, competitors seriously prepare for the mental, as well as physical stress of the game. Poker, as a competitive sports, demands the same degree of preparation, strategy, mental and physical conditioning similar to that of tournaments in chess, backgammon and other mind games,” said Lopez.

The manager of Concorde Casino Prater expressed her appreciation for the enormous participation of the Filipinos. She likewise mentioned that the company is ready to stage Filipino Poker events, not only in Vienna but also in other key cities and provinces in Austria.

At the end, Fu Nguyen, an Asian national with Filipino background, emerged to become the last man standing at the First Pinoy Poker Tournament in Vienna, winning the top prize of 4,000 Euro (P240, 000). He took his big stack to the final table and made his presence felt by eliminating the last players.

With the success of the event, controllers hope to redo a similar tournament for players and fans of Filipino Poker.

In what will be the second book of poker for each author, drag the poker coaches Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt and Paul “GiantBuddha” Hoppe joined forces to produce a title of the most interesting poker story.  Do not listen Phil Hellmuth: The correction of 50 worst songs of poker advice I ever heard.

The book is available for pre-order or a book or e-book from DustySchmidt.net, and has an arrival date of 06 December as the e-book, and January 2 for the newspaper. Schmidt once again is the publication of the book through the publisher he founded to treat your poker as a business, Imagine Media LLC.

The highly anticipated follow-up to Schmidt’s Treat Your Poker Like a Business and Hoppe’s Way of the Poker Warrior saw the two team-up to produce a poker strategy book this time around. On his blog, Schmidt outlines hoe the two used each of their strengths to make the ultimate strategy book –Schmidt as the more instinctual player, and Hoppe as the math wizard.

As the title implies the text will center on debunking strategic myths about poker and showing you the correct ways to deal with different situations. The book is clearly aimed at the more aggressive cash-games that players find both online and in Brick & Mortar card-rooms, as opposed to the easy-to-beat games other books focus on.

Here is how Schmidt summed up the books contents on his blog:
“I don’t personally think it does a whole lot of good to tell people what to do with KQ on a QJ8 board against an aggressive player since poker is so dynamic and there are like thousands of boards that can run out in no limit holdem. Rather, the key is to teach people how to think about these decisions. Why do we raise flush draws out of position on one type of board texture against an aggressive player and not another? Why do we play KQ on a K74r flop for stacks against one guy and maybe even find a fold at some point in the hand vs. another opponent type? It’s all in there in this book.”

Dusty Schmidt has won over $3 million playing online poker, is a member of Team PokerStars and lead instructor at DragTheBar.com. Schmidt has maintained SuperNova Elite status since 2008, and has somehow managed to ever post a losing month at the online poker tables.

Paul Hoppe is a Limit Holdem specialist and heads the Limit Holdem coaching team at DragTheBar site.  He managed to double its revenues in the poker tables every year from 2007-2009, and has maintained a rate 1.5BB/100 impressive victory in the last 30 months.

Poker strategy in the world can become very complicated – especially when you get into heavy stuff based math! But sometimes the simplest ideas still reign true when it comes to poker strategy. So, to expand on this point, let’s look at a good game concept of micro-piles, which will help you build your bankroll up.

Micro Stakes Poker offers the most diverse crowd of gamers worldwide. Some people you find at the micro stakes players who dream of one day to find their way to the nosebleed tables, those who have no idea how to play poker and are willing to travel some and even high school students who are not in the legal age to play.

In any case, most micro stakes players either don’t have a large enough bankroll to play higher stakes, or they aren’t willing to risk much money in online poker. If you find yourself in either of these categories, then the following strategy will be useful.

If you’re a micro stakes player, you should try mixing your real money sessions with play money sessions. Now this might sound stupid at first because you’re already not risking much money to play in micro stakes. But on the other hand, if you are playing micro stakes poker, chances are you are playing scared since you aren’t willing to risk any money to move up limits.

Thus, instead of playing a full session of fear, why not play aggressively and without fear of meeting a half. The other half of the time can be playing for play money tables just get satisfaction from playing an entire session. You can shuffle money and real money sessions as you wish, but a good idea is to make the session fun money first and then play real money tables next.

When the average player feels he can play the video poker machines, even for the money – or even better than houses, in some cases – are ready to jump in and start playing right away.

But here’s the thing: you must execute the perfect strategy and have large funds, primarily to beat your dream home becomes reality.

First, it is quite difficult to use a perfect strategy, unless you’ve spent countless hours perfecting your video poker strategy. Second, you need a huge bankroll because it takes thousands and thousands of rotations to achieve the higher rate of pay.

Add in the fact that you go through video poker hands rather quickly, and you have to be seriously well-funded to have any chance at earning the top payout percentage.

Even if you aren’t an extremely experienced video poker player, you could be playing 500 hands or more an hour. Sure you can play for just $0.25 a spin, but you also have to take into account that you’ll be earning a much lower payout percentage than the one advertised.

For instance, if the game you are playing offers a 99.5% payout percentage, you need to win the jackpot at some point to earn this payout percentage. Assuming the jackpot doesn’t come for 70,000 hands, that’s a lot of video poker to be playing.

Getting to the point, if you are only earning 90% back on every dollar you spend until the jackpot finally comes, you’d be losing $15 an hour if six hundred $0.25 spins were made ($150 X 0.10 house edge).

Of course, this does not look much like a player well-funded, but there is someone with a bankroll of $ 300. In essence, the funds are gone after 20 hours or 12,000 spins, and it is not enough to reach the prize.

So the fact is that you need a big bankroll if you want to earn big winnings from video poker games.

There are many tough games to play online, like chess or billiards and even football. The most popular of all is the online poker. Millions of people play these games online poker and enjoy the pleasure of making money quickly, or even a little more. Sometimes people say I have won thousands of pounds on them, while some have cried over losing too. Whatever your story, if you’ve never played poker online, you better keep reading!

An Internet search will show you that there are many sites that allow you to play online poker on their sites. Some sites offer free trial sessions, and if you’re a beginner, it would be a good idea to try a free trial run just to get the hang of it. Most online poker games, players must download the software. Before downloading software, verify the authenticity of the software.

Let your anti-virus check if it is a clean download, other wise instead of a poker game download you will end up downloading a virus and that is not a pleasurable experience as many of us have seen! So check before downloading! It is also important to make sure your system is compatible with downloads, if you are working on an old system, you might have to make some minor upgrades to your system in order to start playing.

Now, before you start playing, you need to know how you wish to make payments for the games. Some web sites accept cheques. If that suits you then it is fine, other wise you can always set up an online electronic account with which you can make payments easily. Again, verify the destination of your payments before you send them.

Finally, remember to control yourself when you play and not get overwhelmed by the victory. Often people are more money than they should and end up losing everything. Online Poker is just a game, and you should play accordingly. Observe their movements and know when to stop. It can be fun when played in moderation. So go ahead and make a move!

Lots Of people have taken the game seriously and spend a lot of time online games. People may never have tried a few games like sports betting have become a part of this sports betting by joining the online poker and started playing poker online.

Poker has always been very interesting, and thanks to online poker, online poker has been made available to all. While playing online poker you can play with people of different nationalities, and know their way of thinking and acting.

You must keep a very tight table image to use your poker strategy successfully. It’s a known fact that the background layer closest to your desk is more successful than one person at a loose table image.

One is very experienced in order to win the game of poker online. More should have a clear understanding of the game must be able to play online poker successfully. While playing they need to make sure that other players are not aware of the your poker strategy.

The implemented flop betting strategy is introduction and makes use of professional information. It is complicated enough to not hamper overall performance so that the focus can be put on flop play.

Flowing are different strategies that can be used in flop:

1. Over cards: If you have a backdoor or high pot odd then you can check and fold your cards.

2. Top pair with high kicker: In top pair with high kicker you can bet and raise your bet whenever required. If you don’t have highest raise then end your game and leave the table.

3 .Top pair with poor kicker: If you are losing the game continuously then try to fold your game. If you think that your opponents will lose the game then you can raise your bet.

4. Middle or bottom pair: If you are leading player of over-card or backdoor then you can take the benefit of the services that are provided by middle or bottom pair.

5. Two pair: In this bet you can raise your bet when required. In this you can get the benefit of re -raising your bet.

6. Pair of the board: If your pairs are low and there is a lot of action then it is advisable to fold.

7. Three of a kind: In three of a kin bet the player gets a chance to raise and re-raise their bets. You can take benefit of this service only when you are sure of your bet.

One of the key concepts to get your head around, which is probably as important as any strategy that you can learn or study, is how to manage the variance. Make no mistake, a career in any poker tournament, you have days or weeks, you fly where all your tractor hit, you win all your races and you get treated just the right cards at the right time. At the same time, there will be days and weeks where nothing goes, and the only thing you can be sure of is that you leave with an unprecedented ego and its tail between its legs.

I have seen too often in an explosion of new players on the scene, running ridiculously good for a short period of time, to have higher levels and be back by the battery faster than you can say &”all-in”. The reason for this is the variance. Every poker player has been beaten by the stick of the variance, and each player will be affected by this new. Poker is a game of probabilities and averages so that the record should be square, and we must prepare for the roller coaster.

So when the poker gods decide to release the curse of the variance on us, how we face, so that we can learn something and come out the other side a better player? Although most of the time, we slow down we just put it in a race accident, the first thing to do is stand back and assess your game.

A common theme amongst successful players is that when they experience a period of success, complacency can sometimes set in (usually at higher levels to what the player was used to playing as he now has more money and can afford these games), and mistakes can creep into their game. This could come in the form of playing too many hands pre-flop, being a little trigger happy with the all-in move, or just using those high-risk, high-profit moves too much, and they just aren’t sticking like they were a few weeks ago. If you assess your game and find this to be the case, then you probably just need to go back to basic ABC poker for a few sessions and let things iron out. It is also a good idea to use effective bankroll management principles and drop down to smaller games.

The other problem I find when being on the wrong end of variance is your mood and attitude to the game. When you are constantly getting your chips in with the best hand only for your opponent to get lucky and eliminate you, it’s hard not to feel the whole world is against you. It harbors negative feelings towards the game and you lose your focus. This has a snowball effect as you start to make bad decisions and lose your edge over the game. It is sometimes a wise move to stop registering and even take a few days off to refresh, get the negativity out of your head and come back with a clear mind hungry for success at the top of your game.

There is always no matter what you do, no matter how well you play, you are still only to be broken. Unfortunately, this is only part of the game and as long as you keep what you have to manage – you can focus and attitude – it will eventually turn around and you’re sitting on top of the new world.

Respect for the variance, and reconcile with it. It is part of this great game we play, and by being aware of it, and having positive and the wheel turns in your favor over time, will help go a long way in a poker career with long-term success.

Once a backroom game only played by professional gamblers in the corners of Las Vegas casinos, poker has exploded into mainstream culture. Poker has made it’s way into homes around the world as people watch major tournaments on their televisions and play at online poker rooms on their computers.

The largest live poker tournament in history was in 2006 when the WSOP Main Event reached 8,773 players, sending eventual winner Jamie Gold home with a first-place prize of $12 million.

Winning a tournament of that size certainly takes a ton of luck but that doesn’t mean tournament poker isn’t a skill game. The best players have an edge over the rest of the field and, over time, will win more than their less-skilled peers.

But it’s the element of luck that makes tournament poker so attractive. Anyone with a chip and a chair has the chance to beat the best in the world, and come home a millionaire.

What is a Poker Tournament?

Unlike a cash game which can run indefinitely, a poker tournament begins at a predetermined start time with each player buying a ticket to the event, and starting at the same time with the same number of chips.

Players play until they are eliminated by losing all of their chips. A set number of finishers (typically around 10% of the total starting field) get paid on a descending scale from the winner down to the last paid finishing spot.

All players who finish below the lowest paid spot (for example in a 100 person tournament, all players finishing from 100^th to 11^th) leave the tournament with nothing but a story.

Differences between Tournaments and Ring Games

Aside from being able to re-buy and cash-out whenever you like, tournament play sees the blinds increase on a predetermined schedule. This is very different from the static blinds of a ring game which will allow players to dictate their own pace of play.

Another major difference between cash games and tournaments are the stack sizes. The stack sizes in a cash game are typically closer to each other than in a tournament, where some players will have many times that of the average stack, while others may just hold a single chip.

A successful tournament player needs to understand how to play with all stack sizes, while a cash game player can choose to only ever sit behind a stack of a specific amount.

Stack Sizes

How you play in a tournament will mostly depend on two variables: the stage of the tournament and the size of your stack.

The size of your stack is measured in two ways:

1. Your stack in comparison to the average stack size
2. Your stack in relation to the blinds.

The more chips you have, the more risk you’re able to shoulder. In other words, you can make plays which risk 5,000 chips if you have 50,000, but the same play would be foolish if you only hold 6,000.

The most important thing to understand in a tournament is your chips are your tournament life.

Chips = Life

When you run out of chips, your tournament is over; everything you do in a tournament should be based on this one concept. Protect your chips like they’re your children, all the while trying to grow your family.

Stages of a Tournament

There are three basic tournament stages:

• Early
• Middle
• Late

Early Stage

Since everyone gets to play the early stages of almost every tournament this is the part in which all players have the most experience, feel the most comfortable, and have a lot of chips in relation to the blinds. Everyone’s on an equal footing and it’s hard to find anyone looking to gamble.

People in this stage are rarely looking to get it all in with anything but the nuts. If you find a player willing to play a large pot, they either have the nuts, they’re looking to gamble or they’re trying to build a big stack early through sheer aggression. More often than not, though, they have the goods.

The standard approach to playing in this stage is to play very ABC tight-aggressive poker. It makes no sense to make big moves to steal the blinds, since the blinds are worth relatively nothing compared to the size of your stack.

The idea is to make it through the early stage with average or above chips, giving you room to maneuver as you enter the middle stage.

Middle Stage

The middle stage will range from being deep-stacked at the start (lots of chips compared to blinds) to short-stacked near the end. In this stage chips are quickly becoming more valuable, each round of blinds potentially bringing you one step closer to elimination.

It’s at this point you can no longer afford to sit around waiting for only the best hands. You need to steal blinds and protect your chips to keep yourself from getting short. Once you get too short your only move left is all in.

As Dan Harrington wrote in his famous Harrington on Hold’em tournament strategy books it’s always better to take a risk to keep yourself sitting with a healthy stack than to wait until you’ve been whittled down, forced to take a risk just to stay alive.

If you take the risk to stay healthy and lose, you still have a handful of chips to try again with. If you wait until you’re in dire straits you have no second chance.

The goal with the middle stage is simply to stay alive and get yourself into the money (a tournament pro cares little about making the money, and plays to win at all times). Once you’re into the money, you’ve entered the late stages of the tourney.

Late Stage

The late stage will have many players with very few chips, and a few players with a lot of them. This is the time of a tournament when everyone’s willing to gamble. Once you’re in the money, people no longer care about going bust and are aiming for the win at all times.

You need to play very aggressively, make few or no mistakes, and get lucky at the right times to have a shot at the title. Luck is always a part of poker, and in tournaments it becomes a large factor of the game in the later stages.

With the blinds being very large, and many stacks being very short, most players will be playing a simple all-in or fold game. You need to be willing to take coin flips, and have the luck to win them if you want to finish in first.

How to Become a Better Tournament Player

Firstly, read every article, book, forum thread and webpage you can find. Watch poker on TV, listen to webcasts, and watch strategy videos. But above all else, you’re going to have to play as much poker as you can.

The more tournaments you play, the better you will become at playing them. Many of the best tournament players in the world play hundreds to thousands of tournaments each year. The more you play, the better you will get.

Many people disagree with this strategy, but I’ve found there are times when it’s profitable and times when it’s downright ugly. Knowing when to use this strategy is essential to make it successful and profitable.

Before discussing the best time to go all-in, let me discuss one of the worst strategies I’ve seen: going all-in pre-flop during the early stages of a tournament. Many people do this in hopes of doubling-up, but the problem with this strategy is that the read is simple. When you commit all of your chips to the pot everyone knows you have a decent hand. Players frequently do this with a pair of jacks during the early rounds, which usually results in only getting calls from the hands that are better than theirs pre-flop – queens, kings or aces.

That being said, I love going all-in when the opportunity presents itself. What separates a great tournament player from a good one is that he knows when the best time to go all-in is. Here are the guidelines I use to determine if I should all-in with a hand.

Late Rounds (Tight Image)

If you’ve played very tight throughout the game your opponents have probably realized that you’re only playing the good hands. You can use this against them by going all-in to steal the blinds. If you’re on the button and everyone has folded to you, don’t be afraid to push in A-x suited or any pair all-in against decent players. Always remember that it is much harder to call an all-in than to bet all-in.

Against Highly Skilled Players

The all-in strategy is great for players who know they’re out-gunned. When you’re up against highly skilled tournament players who can outplay you on the flop, going all-in before the flop can be a helpful move. Although this strategy can backfire on you, it can be profitable when done in a certain way.

A player once went all-in on me repeatedly during the late stages of a tournament. In chat, I asked him why he would want to risk all of his chips each and every time. His response was that he knew I was the more skilled player and would outplay him on the flop. By going all-in, he significantly cut down how many times I would’ve called and taken him to the flop because I would’ve been forced to risk all of my chips on marginal hands.

The Bubble

Although this also qualifies as late rounds, the situation is a little different. During multi-table tournaments, players tend to tighten their game considerably as they get closer to the money. This is when I love to build my chip stack by going all-in. I’ve won many big tournaments by raising tight players’ blinds during this stage of the tournament.

If you’re going to become a successful tournament player, you can’t be afraid to put your opponents’ chips to the test. The next time someone raises, you can say “I’m all-in” knowing you are in the proper situation to do so.