I post these articles every week. They come courtesy of the Full Tilt Poker newsletter. Paul Wolfe is one of the Poker Pros at Full Tilt Poker. You can get great tips like these every week simply by downloading their software and becoming a member. Plus its a great site!

Paul Wolfe Presents: Know Your Opponent; Own Your Opponent

I was at my first World Series of Poker in 2002, talking to a player who had made the final table the year before. He told me something I’ve never forgotten, and it’s helped me ever since.

I had raised pre-flop with A-K and he called from the button. The flop came all small cards. I checked and he fired a pot-sized bet. I looked at him and said, “You must have a good hand.” His reply caught me off guard; “It doesn’t matter what cards I have if I know what cards you have.”

At first I thought I might have a tell – maybe I hummed when I missed the flop, or I looked away from my chips. It was later that I realized I did have a tell, but it had nothing to do with my physical demeanor. It was the way I played my cards.

Poker is often not so much about the cards you have, but knowing the way your opponent plays. Keeping track of which hands your opponent raises with - and the position from which he raises with them - is a large part of the game.

In a live game, it is hard to remember exactly what cards your opponent has raised with over the years and, if they’re good players, those hands will change from time to time. But many poker players are creatures of habit, playing the style they are most familiar with. Online, there is no excuse not to have this knowledge at your fingertips.

While playing on Full Tilt Poker, I get to write notes on players and it is a great help. I am always referencing my notes, and they will often tell me which hands an opponent has played in the past. The color-coding makes it even easier for me. I use one color to mark the players who only bet when they have a strong hand, and another color to mark the action players.

When I see a player marked with a certain color, I can safely assume that he’s going to overplay his hands. This is a guy I am more willing to call with a hand that might be a little weaker, or a drawing hand after the flop. Why? Because I know that if I hit my hand, he’s going to pay me off; I have implied odds to call. With another player, I’ll play a little tighter because not getting paid off means my implied odds aren’t there. This one bit of information has both increased my winnings and minimized my losses.

Self-awareness is an important part of any endeavor. But in poker, knowing your opponent is just as important as knowing yourself.

Full Tilt Poker

Posted by as Learn Poker, Tips from Poker Pros at 6:01 PM BST

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Dear Fittsy,

Hello, this is, “The Mad Genius of Poker”, Mike Caro and on behalf of Doyle Brunson I want to thank you for making the Bounty Tournament at DoylesRoom.com such a resounding success. I am having so much fun playing in them. I am happy to announce that this week we will be holding a second Bounty Tournament Friday night, September 23rd at 9:00PM EDT (1:00AM GMT September 24). The buy-in will remain $25.00+$2.50 and the game is still No-Limit Hold’em with 12 minute rounds and no re-buys.

While Doyle and Todd sit this one out, my good friend Barry Greenstein will be joining us. Barry is excited to play in the tournament and is eager to fend off all of you. You knock me, “The Mad Genius of Poker,” or Barry out of the tournament and collect the $250 bounty. If you have the audacity to knock both of us out of the tournament, you will win $10,000. And don’t forget, if Barry or I win you all get your $25 back. Again, sign up for another Bounty Tournament this Friday night, September 23rd at 9:00PM EDT (1:00AM GMT September 24).

See you in the tournament,

Mike “The Mad Genuis of Poker” Caro

Posted by as Learn Poker, Cool Poker Sites at 10:05 PM BST

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You guys gotta check out Dr. Pauly’s blog the Tao of Poker. Dr. Pauly is at the WPT Borgata Open in Atlantic City, New Jersey. They actually have wifi in the poker room so Pauly can write about the event as it happens.

Today at 6pm EST will start the final round. There are 6 players left including one woman, Kathy Liebert!

I read Pauly’s blog all day yesterday as I was anxiously awaiting the results of one of my favorite players Mr. Barry Greenstein. Barry was knocked out in 38th place.

After Barry was knocked out it was time to cheer on the women! Two of the hottest female poker players proved they have more than good looks. Connie Glowen cashed out in 31st place with $14,987 and Evy Baby rocked the house and almost made the final table. I kept reading Pauly’s blog anxiously as Evy was short stacked for quite awhile and yet she managed to double up at the right time. Finally Evy was knocked out in 11th place and earned a $64,942 paycheck.

Final Table Chip Counts:
1 David Singer $ 3,200,000
2 John D’Agostino $ 2,295,000
3 Robert ‘Action Bob’ Hwang $ 1,795,000
4 Al Ardebili $ 1,425,000
5 Kathy Liebert $ 1,045,000
6 Richard Festejo $ 540,000

Check out Pauly’s blog about 6pm EST as the final table kicks off.

If you’ve missed the previous days you can also find them as well as a few photos from the event.

- Fittsy
Envious of Pauly because I’m stuck in Boston this week!

Posted by as Learn Poker, Cool Poker Sites at 1:32 PM BST

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Dear Fittsy,

Hi, this is Doyle Brunson and I want to personally invite you to play in this weeks Bounty Tournament at DoylesRoom.com. Last weeks tournament was so much fun that the three of us Mike Caro, Todd and myself have decided to all play again. Only this week we are upping the ante: If any one of you knocks out all three of us, DoylesRoom will pay you a bounty of $25,000; if any one of you knocks out any two of us they will pay you $5,000. If Mike Caro, Todd or I will the tournament you all get your $25 back.

Last week one player knocked me out and then ended up sitting to the left of Mike where he did his best to felt Mike too, but Mike survived. So if you want to take a shot at the three of us you be there Wednsday night, September 21st at 9:00PM EDT (1:00AM GMT September 22). The buy-in is $25.00+$2.50 and we are going to play No-Limit Hold’em with 12 minute rounds and no re-buys.

See you in the tournament,

Doyle (TexDolly) Brunson

Posted by as Learn Poker, Cool Poker Sites at 6:27 PM BST

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The Borgata poker open is going on right now in Atlantic City New Jersey. It is one of the Main events in the World Poker Tour.

There are only 62 players left and the tournament is getting really interesting! Quite a few name pros are still in the event including Mike Matusow in second place. A couple of my other favorites Barry Greenstein is in 19th and Evelyn Ng is doing very well in 12th.

Unfortunately I’m not there. However if you want to read about whats going on in the tournament poker blogger Dr. Pauly is live blogging from the event on his blog the Tao of Poker. Dr. Pauly is a cool dude and has been writing for years. He frequently gets press passes to the biggest poker events like the WSOP, WPT, and EPT. You guys should check his blog out even if you miss the live blogging event.

Visit Poker Wire to check out the chipcounts at the end of day two.

- Fittsy

Posted by as Learn Poker, Cool Poker Sites at 11:07 AM BST

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I post these articles every week. They come courtesy of the Full Tilt Poker newsletter. Steve Brecher is one of the Poker Pros at Full Tilt Poker. You can get great tips like these every week simply by downloading their software and becoming a member. Plus its a great site!

Steve Brecher Presents: How Bad are the Beats?

While playing on Full Tilt Poker, I have said that there are three topics I won’t discuss in table chat; politics, religion, and whether online poker is rigged. That’s because many people’s opinions on those topics are hardened and not amenable to friendly or productive discussion.

Away from the table, I’ll venture a couple of comments about improbable events in poker. While not direct instruction in the tactics and strategy of play, these comments may help you take “bad beats” in stride — and that, in turn, is an essential part of poker maturity.

First, let’s consider what most would view as a typical “bad beat” — a lower pocket pair winning against a higher pocket pair in hold ‘em, such as KK beating AA. When those hands share one suit, the chance of the worse hand winning is about 18%. The chance of the lower pair winning twice — that is, the next two times that such hands happen to go against each other — is about 3%. If in one session of play, a lower pocket pair beat a higher pocket pair twice, that might seem a little, well, weird to some players.

Consider another situation involving chance. When two dice are thrown, the chance of rolling “snake eyes” (1-1) is about 3% — about the same as a lower pocket pair beating a higher pocket pair twice.

Suppose there were 600 craps tables using standard, unaltered dice with nine players around each table — a total of 5,400 players — and these tables operated for a three-hour “session.” How many players would observe snake eyes being thrown at least once? The statistical expectation result is not important. The point is that it’s easy to intuitively see that a large number of players would.

Further, do you think some players might see snake eyes thrown several times in an evening — say, three or four times? (That is equivalent to six or eight poker “bad beats.”) And if some of those players would be inclined to report their observation on forums and in chat, then it might seem to some as if the dice were “fixed.”

Let’s go back to poker. Recently, I played a hand of No-Limit Hold ‘Em on Full Tilt Poker. An opponent four seats in front of the button open-raised pre-flop. It was folded around to me in the big blind, and I called. I semi-bluff check-raised the flop, continued with a semi-bluff bet on the turn, was raised all-in, and called the raise. I made my draw on the river. After the hand my opponent chatted:

opponent: ur horrible steve
opponent: why the [****] did u call that?
opponent: horrible that this site rewards that

(Confidential to opponent: I know these comments were made in the heat of the moment after a big loss and don’t necessarily reflect your considered view.)

Let’s take a look at my call on the turn. I held Ad Td; my opponent held Kd Kc. The board was Qd 9d 7h Jc.

With my opponent’s actual holding, I had 16 outs to win the pot on the river, making me a 1.75 to 1 underdog. Of course, it could have been worse for me against other holdings, but even the worst case for me would have been to be up against K-T (a made straight), and then I would have been only a 3 to 1 underdog.

After my bet and the opponent’s all in-raise, I was getting pot odds of 3.7 to 1 to call, so the call is clearly correct. But it seemed to my opponent — and to at least one observer — that I made a bad call, and that my winning with a 36% chance to do so when I called was a bad beat for my opponent.

The moral of this story: While “bad beats” (low-probability events) do occur, sometimes a closer examination of a poker hand can change first impressions and allow you to continue to play with a cooler, clearer head.

Steve Brecher

Posted by as Learn Poker at 6:03 PM BST

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I mentioned this a few days ago in a post.

Mike Caro wrote an excellent article on how players are learning to play Hold’em by watching TV.

Tonight I had a perfect example.

I didn’t get the hand history but here is a rough breakdown.

Early in a SNG I am dealt pocket aces. I raise 5x the bet. I get two callers.

The flop comes something like 9 3 3.

I make a bet of 1/3rd my stack, about 15x the minimum.

Again I’m probably playing my cards too much, not thinking about my opponents. So when I am raised, I reraise and go all in.

My opponent turns over a K3 off suit.

So this idiot called my raise for 10x the bet with K3 off suit!

The he happens to flop a set.

I end up getting a boat. 3’s over aces. The third better gets a boat 3’s over 9s. The asshole who called with K3 offsuit, got 4 of a kind and almost tripled his stack.

The really telling part was the comments after the hand. I pointed out how I thought it was pretty loose to call my raise with only a K3 off suit. He went on to say “Its only $5.” Hello?!? What does that have do with your crappy play? Do you go into every low limit game and play loose just because it is low limit? Do you miraculously play good poker once you get to higher limit tables?

Somehow I doubt it. This is one of those TV Poker players that thinks playing wild and loose is a good way to play. Unfortunately calling 10x the bet with K3 off suit isn’t going to win very often. He’ll definitely end up loosing more hands in the long run. He got lucky this time, but playing like that regularly is a surefire way to loose your bankroll!

- Fittsy

Posted by as Learn Poker, Texas Hold Em, How to Play Poker at 11:45 PM BST

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Did you learn to play Poker watching Poker tournaments on TV?

Mike Caro the esteemed poker pro and one of the best known poker authors wrote an awesome article about people who learn poker watching tv.

He points out that the television shows take an hour or even a few hours of a tournament that lasted several days. The television producers have simply pulled up the most interesting hands and edited them together. This means that they may edit out dozens of hands between the hands that air on tv. For example you may have missed the player folding weak hands or even folding large hands because he felt he was beaten. The hands that air on tv are typically hands where people go all in, or where people suck out because they are the most interesting hands to watch.

The problem becomes that this show isn’t a good lesson on “How to play poker”. Instead it is a show on what makes for interesting poker.

What really happens is that professional players vary their play. They may play it tight 80% of the time, but 20% of the time they have to play loose to put their opponents off. By varying their play they can fool their opponents and sometimes get a few extra bets out of them when they have the nuts, or get them to fold when they have nothing but rags.

Poker on TV is often only showing you that 20% where the player is playing loose. New players often see professionals playing weak hands. They don’t see the hundreds of times a player has to fold over the course of a day. Instead they show things like Doyle Brunson winning with the hammer (7,2) . After watching this they think this hand is cool or fun to play when in fact it is the WEAKEST hand in all of Texas Hold Em.

Check out Mike Caro’s article. It is worth a read.

- Fittsy

Mike Caro is a professional player. He has earned the nickname the “Mad Genius of Poker”. He has written 8 books on poker and is considered to be the worlds foremost authority of poker strategy. Mike has joined Doyle Brunson to create Doyle’s Room. Doyle’s is a cool new poker room which has regular “knockout” tournaments where you can play against Doyle Brunson, Ted Brunson (Doyle’s son and 2005 WSOP champion), and Mike Caro.

Posted by as Learn Poker, How to Play Poker, Tips from Poker Pros at 6:36 AM BST

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