Dantepoker

I’ve been reading about poker training sites, that many are calling Poker school recently, and I have to say I’m a little confused about what one learns at a poker school. Granted if you are new to poker, you can learn just about everything about the game (except how to play it well), but most poker schools aren’t for novices they are for old hands. As an experienced player what can you gain from poker school?
My belief is that good poker players are made like swords. They are put into a fire and bashed until properly formed. There is no short-cut to making a good player. Granted some people have played poker for years and never improved. Perhaps, they’d make good candidates for poker school. I’d argue no.
The players that have stagnated as poker players are a little bit like swords taken out of the fire too early or too late. They might look good, can riffle chips with the best of them, drop poker lingo and poker analogies into every day conversation, but they are malformed. Simply put, when they were getting beat up they got to a point where they thought they had learned enough.
Maybe they ran good and they thought they solved poker. Anyway, they are flawed. So why wouldn’t they be good candidates for poker school? Obviously they got leaks to spare. The problem is those guys don’t believe they do anything wrong in poker. They aren’t open to being taught or to looking at the game from a new viewpoint.
The worst possible student is one that isn’t ready or willing to learn. First off, all those bad players, even after banging their heads against the same walls for years, are not about to sign up or enroll in a poker school. Never going to happen they keep doing the same thing because they think it’s right and there ego won’t let them think otherwise.
So, that leaves only a small segment of players that would even consider such an enterprise. They are the players constantly looking to improve and evolve as poker professionals. Course, many of those fly right by the teaching abilities of their fellow pros. Who can teach a pro to play poker?
You can only teach what you do different than your opponent does and that’s only valuable one way; for him to exploit you the next time you play. So much about poker knowledge is learned on the felt with a tuition paid by buy-ins. Just as the sword is forged in the fire, the best players take every experience and learn from it.
Each loss hones the blade a little more, and each victory shines the steel a little more, because that player is constantly improving. Also, what many of those players develop is a knack for a game. They learn the missed opportunities they should have exploited and they try out new things in similar circumstances.
Much of poker is trial and error. You opponent is a liquid target because his psyche changes with every hand, so you have to be willing to change with them. These math guys that swear by the numbers in a particular situation, and teach their students to apply those numbers in their poker schools, ignore the truth sometimes. A math guy will say something like “You just need to be right one time out of seven that he is bluffing, so you should call every-time because it’s probably closer to one and a half times out of seven.” The truth is a lot of times there is zero chance that guy is bluffing in that spot. And you should never call there.
Look there is probably some value in a poker school as a form of supplementing your own education, but you should research your teachers. You want guys that play the game different than you do, and you want to understand why they play it different than you do. With that information you can do one of two things, play things differently and better, or play the same way but exploit the guys that play like your teacher.

After all the hand wringing about Online Poker Games being destroyed by the actions of the United States Department of Justice there are still a few sites never missing a beat. While the folks at UB/AB are experiencing a painful 83% decline in numbers the same is not true for the sites that have been out of the U.S. markets for years. PokerStars seems to be recovering from their losses with an already large International player pool and FullTilt is probably somewhere in between the two, but other than those three it’s been business as usual everywhere else.
The safety of International online poker games continues unabated. Sites like bwin and Party Poker are gaining market share and players have nothing to worry about by putting money on those sites. Sure the state of the game has been affected by Black Friday but the changes are not the most predictable ones that are becoming evident. The sites that once serviced the U.S. are minus the troves of American fish that donated to the game. Course there were a lot of good American players too, that took back much of those donations, but Stars and Tilt have suffered not just in their player base but in their bad player base.
In the short run, without a consistent place to play there will probably be degradation or eroding of some of the American’ players poker skills. The ones that weren’t fish are now without a venue to play online poker games at a moment’s notice. Now many of those online prodigies find themselves in the unfamiliar smoky environs of a brick and mortar casino.
Those kids that are under 21 have discovered that many U.S. states only allow players 21 or older to play in a casino. Short of moving, they’ve discovered their government has taken away their best avenue to make a good living. There have been documented cases of American players moving overseas to gain access to online poker. Granted some are chasing their bankrolls on sites they already played at but many are also trying out newer international sites and some of those new sites are profiting from the U.S. crackdown.
People have drawn analogues to the Vietnam War when it comes to players that have moved north or south, to Canada or Mexico to play, just as kids once moved to try and dodge the draft during the Vietnam War. In both cases, the kids felt like their government was unfairly imposing somebody else’s laws and dictates on them. They felt like their freedom was exploited for reasons not entirely clear or logical to the lay person. While being restricted from playing online poker games is not anywhere on the same level as being forced to risk life and limb for a war a kid didn’t believe in the parallels are still there even if they don’t match in size and scope.
On a micro level, American casino suddenly are subject to kids spouting new terminology and educating their tablemates to terms like four-bet, back-raise, and measuring everything as plus or minus e.v. It’s likely the quality and aggression of live poker will improve, but at the same time the skill level of poker players in general in the United States will get worse. With live games spread so far apart, only a central hub like Las Vegas will come close to mimicking some of the bigger online sites, and it will still far well short of sustaining the elevated talent pool all in one place.
In short, the game got harder for everybody in American and long-run in online poker American players just moved to the slow lane, to let Europe, Asia, and South America put them in their rear view mirrors. One day, maybe one day soon, the United States market will reopen but U.S. players will discover they are more likely the donks than any other nationality that didn’t ban poker.

I recently purchased my first Mac. With any computer the first thing I do is get my online poker room set up and fire off a game or two. Problem is some sites don’t work with a mac. I didn’t know this. I did learn after some aggravation and frustration that at some places if you want to play poker on a mac, you are basically out of luck. Well, not at all places, some actually encourage you to play poker on a mac and are set up for you to do that, but I’ll get to them. How did I discover my old sites didn’t support Poker on a mac?

After several emails to support, on one of my former sites, they finally copped to the fact they don’t service a Mac. Instead of just emblazoning this on their website or asking me that question at first they went through a litany of trouble-shooting things before asking me if I had a mac. Then, rather than apologizing for wasting my time, they encouraged me to keep using my old computer, a PC. Only problem is, I wanted to play poker on a mac, because my PC was dead and I have a mac now! They suggested I bring the PC back to life to be able to fully enjoy their product again.

CPR for a PC just to play on a poker site that hasn’t figured out how to allow all their potential customer base to play? I don’t think so. I can just imagine salvaging the few working parts from that old PC and taking it to a repair shop just so I can get back on the old poker site. Yes, let me go out of my way to continue being a customer of yours. Probably would be far easier for you to just design some software that is mac friendly considering how many people play poker on a mac! What are these poker sites in the pockets of pc manufacturers, do they just have a beef with Apple, or are they bad at designing software for apple? I don’t know the answer to that question but I do wonder about it.

I bought a mac because I have an iPhone and I’m moving over to being an “Apple” man totally. This was not something I really thought about it. I made the switch because I enjoyed the ease of the iPhone and I do a lot of things with graphics and writing that my peers sing the praises of a mac.

Let me just say, I’m not into the marketing of Apple, and I don’t believe that owning a mac, an iPhone, or an iPad will somehow make me cooler. I’m cool enough as is without the electronics. Okay, I’m kidding, well only slightly. Still, if anything the Apple marketing only made me consider staying with a PC. Some mac people are so pretentious about their little macs and iPhones it almost dissuaded me from joining the “movement.”

Certainly, there are aspects to a mac that are far superior to a PC, and as I’m discovering vice versa. The slowness of internet poker sites to service macs, for me an avid player, is a big drawback. However, I did discover after some research, which consisted of message board visits, and some angry blog posts a site that lets me play poker on a mac almost hassle free.

If you are a poker player and thinking about a buying a new computer the easiest thing to do is to stick with a PC. Though if you really want a mac, have to have a mac, or easily influenced by the coolness of Apple marketing take heed there are some options for poker play.

If you are ready to play just head over to a site that supports Mac Poker. I usually do to a safe poker site such as: https://www.bwin.com/texas-holdem-poker. See you there!

I have often heard it said that bluffing in limit Texas Holdem is very difficult. While it is certainly more difficult to execute than in no-limit then bluffing is still possible in limit hold’em as well. In this form of poker then you are always getting good odds to launch bluffs in certain situations and you do not need to risk your whole stack in order to do it. Let us look at an example from six handed $10-$20 limit Hold’em poker to show you what I mean. Here is has been folded around to the small blind who has been very aggressive and they raise to $20.

You could three bet with a K-J but choose to call instead making the pot $40. The flop comes 5d-5h-3c and your opponent bets $10 and with five to one pot odds you decide to call as you feel that raising now would be too soon. The turn card is the 8c and your opponent bets again for $20 and with $80 in the pot you call again which is a risky play and raising to $40 only has to work one hand in three for the play to break even. But you call again making the pot $100 and the river card is the 2s and your aggressive opponent bets again.

This puts $120 into the pot and you are a little unsure of what to do with your king high hand. In this situation then your opponent is either value betting or bluffing. If they had an ace then they would have check-called and so your opponent is either betting a made hand or fresh air. This is what is known as a polarised range and here is where you are getting excellent pot odds to raise here. Calling is fine too as if your opponent doesn’t have ace high then your king high hand will beat many bluffs.

However your opponent could have a very weak hand that beats yours like a pair of deuces for example but once again your opponent would check call the hand rather than bet and risk a raise. So calling and raising may be good plays here but notice that raising the river only risks $40 to win $120. If this were a no limit game with a pot of $120 then the risk would have to be almost pot sized to get your opponent from the hand or something that was at least of a substantial nature.

In this example then your king high hand could have won without bluff raising but let us alter your hand from K-J to a hand that certainly wouldn’t win a showdown and was J-9. Here then it would certainly be a good play to bluff raise the river. You will lose a lot of $40 bets here but the play only has to work one time in four for the play to show a profit.

Aggression is key in any form of poker and it is difficult to be successful in any form of poker without being aggressive at some stage. In no limit Texas Hold em then you can be very successful in full ring games only winning a very tiny percentage of pots. However in six max games in limit hold’em then life is a whole lot different and also more demanding. You simply need to fight for pots in this form of poker more so than most others as the demand for you to win pots is much higher.

In limit hold’em and especially six handed then if you do not fight for the pots that you play then you will basically stand no chance. Let us look at an example here to show you what I mean. It has been raised by the hijack seat and you have Q-10 on the button. Now if you fold this hand and stay out of trouble then you cannot come to any harm in the hand. You could easily be three betting the best hand anyway and so folding lowers variance and is not a terrible play.

However if you are folding because you know with firm evidence that you are losing to your opponents range then you have made a sound play. However folding just because you do not want to play a Q-10 is a different matter as this indicates the wrong mindset for this form of poker. If your opponent has opened with an A-9 and you three bet with Q-10 then you may not stand that badly. If your opponent plays weak-tight then you may be able to get them from the hand with aggressive post flop action.

Also if you three bet then you may be able to create dead money in the pot when other players fold. If you are playing say $2-$4 and the hijack raised to $4 and you three bet to $6 then if both blinds fold then you may find that you get $3 of dead money in the pot from the blinds. The flop comes J-J-4 and your opponent checks and you bet and they call. Many players check-call flops but then give up on the turn. So if a card comes on the turn that is neither a nine nor an ace then a follow up turn bet will probably take the pot down as you are facing your opponent with having to call two big bets with basically nothing.

But in six handed limit hold’em then the average pot size may only be six big bets and so would be $24 in this $2-$4 game. So if you only win one pot per orbit then your total win may be only $24. Now it would be fair to say that no more than $12 of this would be your money. This would be countered by you losing a possible $3 in blind money and also money that you lose in other pots. So it could be possible that a player who only wins one pot in every six may not be beating the rake. So if you are doing worse than this and are only winning one pot in every eight or nine hands then you have a major problem. You are simply not playing aggressively enough and aggression needs to be injected into your game. You must accept variance in poker to hold your own and reap the rewards and so in a way you should embrace it.

I hear many times how it is always correct to raise or fold pre-flop in limit hold’em if you are not in the blinds. This isn’t always correct and I will demonstrate a few examples in this article. If it has been folded to you on the button then you are in a raise or fold situation for sure. Limit Texas Holdem is all about winning pots and limping in gives the small blind pot odds of 5/1 to call and the big blind can play the hand for free. Raising reduces the small blinds pot odds alarmingly and if you raise to say $2 in a $1-$2 game then this places a total of $3.50 in the pot at that stage and the small blind has to call $1.50 to play and so their odds are 2.33/1 instead of 5/1 which is a far less attractive proposition. If they fold then the big blind is getting a decent 3.5/1 on their play but you get to play a hand in position against a single player which is a good proposition.

So clearly it is correct to raise or fold here. But now let us look at another situation where the first player limps and so does the cut-off. You have a decent playable hand with A-10 but yet raising is marginal here. If you raise then the big blind could well call with great pot odds and the two original limpers will certainly call. Your hand could well be dominated by bigger aces as players do not always open raise in small stakes limit play. So in this position then it is you who is getting 3.5/1 on their money and a call is not a bad play. In limit Hold’em poker then your hand usually benefits from having no opponents (everyone folding) or only one or many opponents for implied odds.

Likewise if your hand was say 6c-6d and you were on the button. Even though your pot odds are only 3.5/1 then you can still call. If the small blind calls and you flop a set then the implied odds could make your pre-flop call very profitable indeed. You often raise to isolate in limit hold’em and to take the initiative in the hand but if this is not easy to do then calling is not a bad second option. When two players have already expressed an interest in the pot then raising with a hand like A-10 becomes extremely marginal.

So there is nothing wrong with seeing a cheap flop in position with a marginal hand. So this goes some way to dispensing with the notion that every decision point in limit pre-flop when you are not in the blinds is a raise or fold situation. As the pre-flop opener then you should always raise or fold. Raising helps to get out those troublesome hands that may have come along for a single bet but are suffering from poor implied odds through having to call a double bet!

When you play Texas Hold em cash games then you are going to have to get used to periods of time where very little happens. This is actually not a negative event as such but yet it is often perceived that way by players who expect too much from the game. These are usually players who are pretty good players in terms of knowledge but who are relatively inexperienced in terms of playing the game. I have always maintained that a player is not really experienced until they have been through a really bad negative run and come through the other side.

This then means that the player has more than likely been through the worst that the game can throw at them and lived to tell the tale. But when millions of players sit down to play in any one session then they expect to win. If you are a winning poker player then your expectation is to win but that does not make it guaranteed. If you have played 1000 sessions of poker and won 600 of them and lost 400 then you have a roughly 60% chance of coming out ahead in any one session. This is hardly a massive edge and if you were to walk into a strange room where 60% of the time nothing happened but the other 40% of the time you were punched in the face then you would hardly enter that room with confidence.

It is like this with poker but yet too many people simply do not see it that way. But poker does reflect life very accurately because some people get upset at events that happen to them that other people would see as minor. Like being cut up by another car for instance, this is a minor event but yet many people enlarge this in their own minds and this is how road rage happens. The problem is that when you get angry at minor events like these then there are going to be a lot more minor events than major ones.

This means that you are really going to be angry all the time or at least a very large percentage of the time. This is like getting angry at minor events in poker and these could be losing individual pots or even perhaps nothing happening for an hour or two where you are merely recycling money. We can take this a step further and look at individual sessions or even losing weeks. A losing week is obviously a fairly major negative event but even that fades into insignificance when compared to a losing month.

So what we perceive in life and in poker to be negative is highly individual and subjective. An event that someone perceives as negative would hardly register at all with a more tranquil person who had a more laid back personality. Getting upset at little things is not a good poker trait because many little things in succession will go wrong simply because this is all part and parcel of poker.

Something funny about poker (whether it is free poker or at a casino) is that you could carry out the right action and get the wrong results. In some instances, being deceived into thinking that one has the best hand might backfire when your raise causes an opponent who has a better hand than yours, to fold. When playing poker, you have to be very tactical, but this is not always necessary to confuse your opponents.
There are several things you are able to do to gain control of your opponents. At times you may raise your hand, basing it on luck, in the anticipation that the opponent, who has a better hand, will fold. If this does not work out, then you will be in a tight situation that can even reduce your bankroll.

Of cause, this strategy can be banked on, and it will certainly cause mass confusion to your opponents. You should be very careful when making use of this strategy. The best way is to not to keep repeating it several times, on all hands that are dealt to you, because it will soon be recognized that you are bluffing. Though it is an undeniable fact that it is better to have one’s opponents confused than for them knowing exactly what you have, this strategy is not 100 percent recommended. It is bound to fail. On a wider consideration, it is a bad idea to intentionally make moves that leave opponents in utter darkness about the game.

It is good that the opponent picks the best information at their disposal, so that they can be actually misled by the retinue of information available to them. It is treading on a dangerous path to leave the opponent completely uninformed. The target is to get the opponent manipulated as much as possible.

The wise thing to do is to build a strategy around counter-intelligence. This is achieved by providing them with information through which they can be later controlled and manipulated. This is better than leaving the opponent in the dark. This can backfire anytime, without being adequately prepared. Although there are a few choices that you are able to make in the game, (call, raise, fold), aggressive players, who decide to make a clueless raise or calm are way better than the inactive players. Luck can work in favour of clueless opponents, to one’s detriment. It is thus a better idea to a show a bit of “mercy” to one’s opponents. They should be given as much information as possible. Clues should be given to them to build their confidence. This makes the opponent to base his decisions on those tips, and before he knows it, his back is on the ground!

Thankfully this quest for balance does not involve me walking in a straight line for a Policeman. Far from it in fact. It is my quest to ensure that my life remains balanced and that my poker interests both personal and business do not become unhealthy. In this article I will discuss the various ways in which I maintain this balanced lifestyle.

Poker is a pursuit that has brought me great entertainment and even some profits. I am well aware having written extensively on the subject about the potential pitfalls of poker, these pitfalls are often brushed aside by the poker media as something we would rather not think about. After all, it might put us off our gambling! I am fortunate in that as a writer I have the ability to think outside the box and analyse myself and others. This is a skill many people are unable to do honestly. I can look at pokers involvement in my life and other people’s lives and give some recommendations to ensure people always get to enjoy this great game.

If you play a lot of hands you must have another avenue in your life that you find interesting. This gives you both an alternative to keep poker from becoming boring and a perspective on the pursuit so it does not become addictive. In my case my other interest is Pool. I can practise either 8-Ball or 9-Ball for hours without it becoming boring and I would not trade Poker for Pool or vice versa. I enjoy doing both and I enjoy the challenges that Pool offers me. I will always enjoy both hobbies as without one the other could become slightly obsessive. The fact that poker is essentially sensible gambling if you do it right you still need to be careful that it does not start taking over your life as this change can be very subtle over a period of time. I have been involved with poker and gambling long enough where I have proven my control to myself, but others may find it harder. I hate to see people who love the game fall foul to its temptations and passionately believe that everyone can control its influence yet still enjoy all the positive things the game offers.

I do not play poker online everyday, as I write a lot about it. I find that writing feeds my poker fix and gives me a different perspective on the game. It also helps my learning. I would recommend everyone to have a blog and keep it updated. It can be interesting and very rewarding. The more hands I played in the past the more I enjoyed writing about it. One of the difficult aspects of poker is that it is self serving. If you are not fulfilled just by playing and winning the whole thing can seem pretty pointless. For me, using the blog as a way of entertaining others through my play gives my poker play purpose.

I would recommend each player start by assessing their own character and personality. I know that I am a 100% type of person in everything. If I sprint, despite being totally the wrong build for it I am comparing my times with Usain Bolt! It is therefore unhealthy for me to think about poker all of the time. For some people, their wives, friends, TV & Internet are all discussing poker or researching poker. If this is ok for you then by all means continue, but make the choice rather than just live one way because it has worked out that way. Work out whether you are happy to be 100% poker or whether your life and your game would benefit from enjoying other interests.

By actively controlling my involvement in poker and its role in my life I can say with conviction that I know it will continue to play a fun part in my life without ever becoming a problem. I will take the odd shot at big money tournaments without worrying about how my van payment will be made. That makes life easier and poker can so easily work the other way. Once we control poker we can then seek to master it, so check out all the strategy articles on this site and starting winning at poker today.

Question: How important is it to have a bankroll when playing poker?

Answer: Once again it sort of depends on your own situation. If you are a casual player who only plays a few hours a week and can readily top up your poker account should you lose that money then having a bankroll isn’t important.

However, for most full-time or serious players then I would say that it is essential. But what is even more important than having a bankroll is having sound money management principles in place. You can be a world class poker player and be forever busting out (many actually do) just because you simply didn’t have enough money to support the stakes that you were playing at.

Most players (and I am referring to the very best ones here as well) simply do not understand the level of variance that there is in poker. Many totally underestimate the amount of money that they need in order to play at a certain level.

If you are a world class player and you are playing $300-$600 no-limit with only about half a million behind you then you are in serious trouble. You simply cannot ride the fluctuations when you are under bankrolled and have poor money management philosophy. Any player at that level would need in my estimation somewhere in the region of several million at the very least.

If they didn’t have that kind of money to begin with then they would need to be able to put their hands on more money from somewhere. Likewise at a game like limit hold’em, imagine if you were playing something relatively small like $10-$20.

How much do you think is enough for this game? I would suggest at least 300 big bets which is $6000 and this is dependent on the fact that you are a strong player who has demonstrated that they can beat this game for at least one big bet per hour or several big bets per hundred hands if you are playing Texas Holdem online.

If your skill is less and your edge is therefore smaller then you may need 400-500 big bets. I know many world class high-stakes limit players who have as many as 1000 big bets in their respective bankrolls. Do you think that these players just have that amount of money in there purely for show?

Question 2: You are a specialistcash game player, but I want to play online poker tournaments for a living, what advice do you have if any?
Dean Windridge

Answer 2: There are many players who play online poker tournaments for a living. However I certainly do not recommend this avenue of poker in which to play professionally for several reasons. Firstly the variance is very severe in these large fields and you can go a considerable length of time before you seriously cash.

I prefer cash games for a reason and the main reason is because this is where the real consistent money is with the emphasis being on the word consistent. You really need to be playing in tournaments that have added prize money now or a high volume of satellite entries. You need to have an edge somewhere and this means that you either need a skill edge or a money edge in terms of added prize money.

Many serious players totally shy away from online poker tournaments simply because of the fast structures. These are viable reasons and they are not commonly referred to as “donkaments” for nothing. However, despite the super fast structures, there are still ways to get an edge in these events but you really need to be in tune with the speed of these tournaments otherwise you really won’t stand a chance in hell of going deep in them.

Going deep is where the real money is and you need to be hitting those last few places often enough to overcome the juice and the bad runs.