Long Time No Post

I haven't posted on here in forever, the reason for this being the shutdown of Pokerstars and Full Tilt in the United States.  Additionally, now that I am running a mac, there are not too many options for online poker, and I've stuck to BetOnline.  I haven't deposited but I built up my bankroll with freerolls, then low stake sit-n-gos and then moved to a combination of sit-n-gos and cash games.  In my next post I'm going to give step by step instructions for how to take down these freerolls to get a little bit of money for yourself.

A Response to Steven

A while back Steven asked me about position and the meaning of ABC poker.
Here is my response to his comment:

I haven't been tending the poker blog very well at all, and I just saw your comment.

As far as position goes, keep in mind that you should play a bit looser in late position than in early position.  In early position if you don't have at least QQ, fold.  In middle position, fold with anything worse than TT but in late position, you can play many more cards.  If you are in a hand with a limper or two and you are seated just before the blinds, make a small raise.  Many times you will be able to get everyone to fold and you will easily collect the blinds and the limped calls by the other players. In this position it is advantageous to play with any pocket pairs if all you have to do is call, or even with suited connectors if you feel like you have a good idea of how the table plays and aren't facing too much aggression.  As a general rule of thumb, do not do what you would do in early position when you are in late position.

ABC poker is merely doing exactly what you should do, based on the odds.  You will never bluff or make questionable calls and don't play hands unless you will probably win.  While this can be good, it is easily exploited by other players who can make big bets to move you off of your hand and with a reduced tendency to gamble, your winnings will also not be as high.

PurePlay is the freesite that I use sometimes, although I do love the freerolls on FullTilt and PokerStars.

Again, I am very sorry for being so late in contacting you!

If you need advice in the future, coaching, or anything related to poker, don't hesitate to let me know.

(This goes for anyone.  I am more than happy to share poker advice and tips with anyone who needs it.  Contact me on here or at jake.cartier3@gmail.com)

Coaching

I have decided that poker is a game that needs to be shared with more people so I have decided that I will coach people in low and micro limit cash games, SNGs and MTTs.
I will not ask for any fee up front, only a negotiable cut of the profits.  If you don't make money with me, I don't make money!
If this sounds interesting or if you would like more information, leave a comment below.

I'm Back

After a hiatus of a few months, I have decided that I should get back into poker.  I am going to do it without depositing any money, though I will accept stakes and sponsorships.  I'll see how far I can get trying this out!

Raise or Call by Roy Winston

Unless you have a monster draw or are slow playing a big hand, calling is often the wrong play at the table. In fact, it often times takes a stronger hand to make a call than it does to make a raise.

"You raised with that?" is a question I hear a lot after showing down a hand. You can make a raise with any two cards (sometimes less than that), but it takes a real hand to make a call.

When I’m in late position in an unopened pot and someone in front of me puts in a raise, I’ll always say to myself, "Hey, I was going to do that!" The fact is opening a pot with a raise is a good idea because it puts you in control, while cold-calling a raise is not a great option for a variety of reasons.

First of all is the realization that I am probably behind. I have lost the ability to take the lead and be the aggressor, and perhaps represent a wide range of hands. Re-raising in position is always an option. However, if the initial raiser was pretty strong, I could wind up facing a re-raise, which could mean a decision for a lot of chips. I have now put myself in a bad position and made the first of perhaps many mistakes in the hand.

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t hands I like to call with pre-flop. For instance, I’ll limp with hands like ace-rag suited (because you can make the nuts), small pocket pairs (looking to flop a set), sometimes big pocket pairs (to camouflage the strength of my hand) and suited connectors in position. But, making a bad call is almost always worse than making a bad fold.

When in doubt, listen to that little voice in your head saying "fold, fold, fold." Even if it turns out you were ahead in the hand when you folded, it’s still better than making a bad call and losing even more chips.

It takes a great player to make great lay-downs; you have to occasionally fold a winning hand. If you’re not sure what to do with a hand, ask yourself whether or not this is a good place to get your chips in the pot.

A combination of smart and aggressive play will help you to improve your results. And personally, I’d rather be a raiser than a caller...

Tight Aggressive by Stephan Kalhamer

If a poker player wants an edge, he must move with the times. Today, a style which was successful only a year ago can already be outdated; tomorrow, he could be the sucker.

However, in the poker world (as in the fashion world), there are timeless classics: the little black dress for a woman; the pinstripe suit on a man; tight/aggressive play at the table. Admittedly, this type of player is less likely to knock somebody’s socks off, but he is also far less likely to be knocked out of the tournament himself.

Dan Harrington described this style in his tremendous book, “ Harrington On Hold ’em” and, as a result, it quickly became the worldwide standard. Today’s truly smart tournament players, however, were soon tearing up the rule book and, as a result, modern poker has no dominant strategy. Loose/aggressive is currently in fashion and playing out of position has become the Holy Grail. But again and again the strategies turn back to what poker is all about: bet on a good hand and give up a bad or hard-to-rate one.

As soon as one reflects on it, by focusing his own bets solely on “value” instead of bluffing, a good player wins again and again with safe, tight/aggressive play. Why ever not?

Good players do not make plays simply because they want to or to show that they can. They make plays because they represent the optimal decisions. Poker is ultimately a contest of decision-making; he who consistently makes the best decisions, wins - all the same in which outfit he enters the party.

Riskers gamble, experts calculate.

Bluffing Big by Brandon Adams

The ability to bluff big pots effectively is one of the key skills that separate good players from great players. It is no accident that the games played at the highest stakes feature some of the most daring bluffs: big bluffs are a central part of the game.

Most players mix up their play well for small bets – they’ll bet out or raise with nothing on the flop with about the right frequency – but most players don’t mix up their play well on big bets. Some players never mess around when they put in really big money on the turn or river. Other players can never resist the big bluff when they see a lot of money in the middle. Striking the right balance between value bets and bluffs when you are putting big money in the pot is crucial to playing top-level poker.

When you are playing against world-class competition, bluffing too often is a bigger mistake than not bluffing enough. You will get called very often and you will look to everyone like you are spewing chips. You will wonder why they are calling you so often, but the reason will be somewhat simple: your opponents will be getting 2:1 odds on a call (if you are betting the size of the pot) and they will infer based on your betting frequency that you’re bluffing more often than that.

How can they infer that you are bluffing too often? Roughly speaking, if you are balancing your big bluffs properly, you will be betting for value about two-thirds of the time and you will be betting as a bluff about one-third of the time. Hands that you will bet big for value on the turn or river come up quite rarely. It’s not often that you make a straight, a flush, a set, or some other huge hand that merits a big bet on the river for value. If you’re betting big on the turn and river very often, your opponents will correctly guess that you’re bluffing too often.

Bluffing too often can be a huge mistake, but I think that not bluffing often enough in the truly big spots is one thing that prevents great players from becoming world-class. You’ll never hear someone say of Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan or Patrik Antonius "he’s never messing around in that spot." They can be bluffing in any spot. As the pot gets very big, their bluffs will be less frequent, as they will be trying to represent very thin ranges, but their bluffing frequency will never be zero in any spot (other than some trivial ones where it’s only appropriate to raise with the nuts).

Most of your big bluffs will occur when you have position on an opponent. This is especially true for big moves on the river. If an opponent checks to you on the river, it’s likely not a check of strength. With one pair hands, people will often call on the flop and turn, but not on the river. Their "check-call, check-call, check" line often tells you that they have a big pair but no better. Some inexperienced players will fold to a pot-sized bluff way too often in this spot, and will not adjust their behavior even when they begin to suspect that you are bluffing them often. Against these players, you are obligated to keep stealing until they adjust.

Once again, the ability to pull off a big bluff is a crucial element in poker. Do so with the correct frequency, and you’ll raise your game to the next level.