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Quick Additions to Your Tournament Tool Box

Thursday, October 9, 2008, Chris Grove

If you're a multi-table tournament player, there's some good news for you: with just a few clicks of your mouse you can gain access to a ton of tools, mostly free, that can help transform your tournament game with just a little bit of time ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>If you're a multi-table tournament player, there's some good news for you: with just a few clicks of your mouse you can gain access to a ton of tools, mostly free, that can help transform your tournament game with just a little bit of time and effort on your part. There's some bad news as well: there's a good chance someone at your table is using these tools, and if you're not, that's an expensive edge you're giving up. Here's a quick rundown, with links (where applicable), to some great MTT tools for online and offline players.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The 2&43;2 tournament forums</strong> (FREE) . With dedicated forums for <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23">Small Stakes MTT</a> and <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=87">High Stakes MTT</a>, you're going to find a discussion that can help your game. And while you may have to navigate through some nonsense to find the quality, you'll also be sharing threads with some of the top online tournament minds. The <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61">MTT community</a> is more of a social forum, but still worth checking out from time to time.</p> <p><strong>The <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.parttimepoker.com/pokerstars-review">PokerStars</a> Sunday Million Final Table Reply</strong> (FREE). Every Sunday Stars replays the final table from the millions tournament the week before. What's more, players often give Stars the right to show their hole cards, so you will frequently end up being able to sweat a couple of players during the largest tournament regularly offered online. That's a pretty unique opportunity and a great learning tool. Just go to the Stars tournament lobby, click on Special and make sure you have your preferences set to show all tournaments, not just upcoming ones.<br /><strong><br />PokerXFactor </strong>(COST). It's arguably the premier online training program, and the combination of things it provides - access to great tournament minds along with tools for posting and sharing your own tournament efforts (and a community to discuss them with) - makes it worth the money for anyone serious about improving their tournament game. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.pokerxfactor.com/">Learn more about PXF here</a>.</p> <p><strong>The Universal Hand Replayer </strong>(FREE). If you don't want to pay the fee for PXF's hand replayer, this is probably your second-best bet. It's a pretty functional hand replayer that allows you to sort hands, take notes, and share the annotated histories with others. Plus, there's just something more satisfying and educational about watching a tournament replay visually than sorting through hand histories. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.universal-replayer.net/">Download the replayer here</a>.<br /><strong><br />Sit and Go Analyzer</strong> (COST). While it is a tool designed for sit and gos, the lessons you learn from it transfer easily to shorthanded MTT play, bubble play and final table play. It's not a cheap program at $79, but if you're not confident about your play in certain spots, for example 3 or 4 handed when blinds are significant, this will be an eye opener. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://sitngo-analyzer.com/">Check out the free download here</a>. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sngwiz.com/">SNG Wiz</a> is a similar tool, also with a free trial.<br /><strong><br />Daily Hand Quiz </strong>(FREE). Sure, it's a bit of a shameless plug, and the quizzes are split fairly evenly between cash and tournament, but any site that gives you scenarios to consider on a daily basis has got to be good for exercising your poker muscles. New quizzes every day and a healthy discussion on most hands result in a quick poker training session that won't cost you much effort or time. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.dailyhandquiz.com/">Check out DHQ.</a></p> <p>Poker Stove (FREE). If you're still getting the hang of of hand ranging and how shifts in ranges can impact your equity in a given spot, or if you're unfamiliar with the math involved in preflop all in calls, this is an essential learning tool. It's free, simple to use, and will teach you a lot of neat things about equity that you might not have known / thought to know of before. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.pokerstove.com/">Get Poker Stove here</a>.</p> <p>Look for more articles in this series in the weeks to come - but until then, you should be able to keep plenty busy with the tools provided above.</p>

Basic Odds For All in Situations in NL Hold'em

Tuesday, October 7, 2008, Staff

If you play any form of tournament poker (especially SNGs or turbos), you're going to find yourself facing various types of potential all-in situations. The first step in handling those situations properly is to know the fundamental odds in...Read more...

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*Text		<p>If you play any form of tournament poker (especially SNGs or turbos), you're going to find yourself facing various types of potential all-in situations. The first step in handling those situations properly is to know the fundamental odds involved. Below, we've listed the basic probabilities involved in common all in situations.</p> <p> </p> <p>Understanding these odds is only a small part of making proper all-in decisions. You'll also need to develop a good sense for putting your opponents on a range of possible hands and an appreciation for the impact of a broad array of other situational factors. That said, these numbers are still useful for newer players and an interesting reminder of the inescapable fact that you're just never all that far ahead (or behind) in preflop all in situations.</p> <p>For equity calculations, we suggest using PokerStove (read our <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.parttimepoker.com/poker-reviews/online-poker/resource-pokerstove.html">review of Poker Stove here</a>).</p> <p><strong>Two overs vs two unders</strong><br />Two overcards will generally be a 65 / 35 favorite over two undercards. That gap closes as the undercards get connected and suited and the overcards become less so.</p> <p>Sample matchups<br />K9o vs 76s = 58 / 41<br />QJs vs 98s = 66 / 34<br />AKs vs 32o = 67 / 33</p> <p><strong>An over and an under vs two mid cards</strong><br />This matchup usually features an over-under running slightly ahead (roughly 57 / 43). The distance closes based on suitedness, connectedness and whether or not the opposing hands share cards needed to make straights.</p> <p>Sample matchups<br />A2s vs T9o = 58 / 42<br />KTo vs QJs = 56 / 44<br />Q3o vs 87s = 52 / 48</p> <p><strong>An over and under vs a mid and an under</strong><br />The over-under will be about a 60 / 40 favorite over the mid-under hand. That gap shrinks as the mid-under hand gets more suited an connected and the over-under becomes less so.</p> <p>Sample matchups<br />A7s vs J4o = 66 / 34<br />K8o vs 97s = 56 / 44<br />AQo vs KJs = 59 / 41</p> <p><strong>A pair vs one over and one under</strong><br />The pair is generally about a 70 / 30 favorite over the over-under. The over-under gets back to just about 2 /1 when it's suited and connected.</p> <p>Sample matchups<br />99 vs K7o = 72 / 28<br />99 vs T8s = 67 / 33</p> <p><strong>A pair vs two unders</strong><br />The pair is about a 80 / 20 favorite over the two unders. Suited connectors that don't share straight cards with the overpair are the best hand in this group to take up against an overpair.</p> <p>Sample matchups<br />KK vs 87s = 77 / 23<br />KK vs QJs = 82 / 18<br />KK vs Q3o = 88 / 12</p> <p><strong>A pair vs an underpair</strong><br />A larger pair is roughly a 80 / 20 favorite over a smaller pair (slightly more depending on whether or not the pairs share suits)</p> <p><strong>An over vs an under with one shared card</strong><br />Generally referred to as a 'dominated' matchup. The dominating hand is actually usually only about a 70 / 30 favorite, with suitedness and connectedness having a reasonable impact on the gap. Dominated matches that feature two high-low hands are much closer due to how often they end up splitting the pot..</p> <p>Sample matchups<br />KQo vs KJs = 69 / 31<br />AJs vs A8o = 74 / 26<br />A5o vs A3o = 56 / 44<br />ATo vs KTo = 74 / 26<br />ATo vs JTs = 68 / 32<br />KTo vs T9s = 67 / 33</p> <p><img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1223393475-94461.jpg" style="width:59px;height:31px;" alt="" /></p>

A Basic Guide to Data Mining in Online Poker

Tuesday, October 7, 2008, Jace Thomas

In an era of increasingly tough online games, if you're not collecting (and utilizing) data on your online opponents, you're giving up a pretty significant edge. This article is intended to provide a basic explanation of what data mining is...Read more...

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*Text		<p>In an era of increasingly tough online games, if you're not collecting (and utilizing) data on your online opponents, you're giving up a pretty significant edge. This article is intended to provide a basic explanation of what data mining is and an overview of the tools you'll need to get started.</p> <p>So what is data mining? Basically, it's the process of acquiring information about your potential opponents through the use of automated tools that record hand histories. Think of it as the online equivalent of scouting a live game from the rail, except you get to scout dozens of games at once without having to do much more than opening a few windows. What's the point of data mining? By collecting and analyzing hand histories, you make it easier to identify soft games and avoid tough ones, you improve your decision making in marginal situations and you save some bets that you'd otherwise use to acquire information from your opponents.</p> <p> </p> <p>There are a few simple tools, all readily available and easy to use, that you'll need to collect and analyze data effectively. These are all popular tools that are (as of the time of this article) approved for use by the major online poker rooms.</p> <p>IdleMiner: This tool, available at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.idleminer.com">http://www.idleminer.com</a>, does pretty much what the name suggests - it grabs hand histories in the background, allowing you to accumulate data while you're playing at other sites, working, or sleeping. Idleminer is very easy to set up and use, and can be customized in a variety of ways to grab hands from the tables you want. Idleminer is available for Full Tilt, Party Poker, Absolute and Pacific, with each room functioning as a stand-alone product. Cost: $55 each.</p> <p>PokerTracker: The granddaddy of hand history analysis tools, Pokertracker (available at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.pokertracker.com">http://www.pokertracker.com</a>) is a database-driven program that takes the hand histories you collect (Idleminer writes hand history files in a format that works fine with PT) and aggregates the data they contain. With Pokertracker, you'll be able to dissect your play (and your opponent's play) from just about every angle imaginable, allowing you to find weaknesses that you can plug in your game and exploit in others. PokerTracker can also be set up to import your hand histories as you play, allowing you to collect and utilize information in real-time. PokerTracker works with just about every online poker room, although some smaller sites are not supported. Cost: $55.</p> <p>PokerAceHUD: PokerTracker is a great program, but the amount of data it presents can be overwhelming, and navigating through that sea of information while you're trying to play is difficult at best, and -EV at worst. That's where PokerAceHUD, available at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.pokeracesoftware.com">http://www.pokeracesoftware.com</a>, comes in. This program lets you select some critical stats and then displays them as an overlay right on the table you're playing. With one click on your opponent's avatar you'll have access to all of the information you've collected on them in current and past sessions, arranged in a customizable format that provides you with critical, relevant data that can instantly improve your decision-making. Bonus - AceHud will display showdown cards when your opponents go to showdown but muck their hand, saving you the trouble of checking and ensuring you get one of the most critical pieces of info available. Cost: $25.</p>

How much do you need to Raise?

Thursday, October 2, 2008, Greg Shadade

Concept from WSOP Superstars Invitational I noticed an interesting hand from the WSOP Superstars Invitational, in which the "top 10" players in the World were invited to a winner take all 2 million dollar tournament. There were 7 players le...Read more...

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*Text		<p><strong>Concept from WSOP Superstars Invitational</strong></p> <p>I noticed an interesting hand from the WSOP Superstars Invitational, in which the "top 10" players in the World were invited to a winner take all 2 million dollar tournament. There were 7 players left in the event, and the blinds were 5k 10k with a 1k ante. These blinds sound high, but all players began with 200k in chips, so it wasn't that crazy.</p> <p>In the hand in question, Daniel Negreanu opened for 30k UTG leaving himself with 100k more. Annie Duke was next to act with TT. She has about 300k in chips. The rest of the field have anywhere from 200k-500k in chips. What should she do?</p> <p>A - Call<br />B - Raise to 90K<br />C - Raise to 130K (to put Negreanu allin)<br />D - Raise all-in<br />E - Fold</p> <p>Choice A and E somehow seem ridiculous to me, Daniel Negreanu does not need a huge hand to raise there. I think she needs to raise and the question is how much to raise? I think that one amount is correct and the others are less accurate.</p> <p>Raising all-in is a bit unnecessary, as if someone has AA or KK behind you, they aren't going anywhere. You are basically risking all your chips when a lower amount would do the same job. This raise has nothing to gain over raising to 90 or 130k</p> <p>So this leaves choices B and C. Choice C seems like a natural choice, because by raising to 130k, Daniel Negreanu knows that he has to commit all his chips to play the hand. The flaw in this thinking is that by raising to 90k, Daniel still knows that he has to commit all his chips to play the hand! The amount of your raise (from 80k-130k) in this spot should have almost no affect on what Daniel will do. It also should have very little effect on what your opponents after you do. They will not try to attack you because you made a smallish raise, as you could easily have made this raise with AA or KK, and Daniel could have a big hand as well.</p> <p>The main reason that you should raise to 80-90k is that if one of the players wakes up with a huge hand after you, you lose about 40-50k less by raising less, while at the same time risking NOTHING!</p> <p>This situation won't happen very often because most of the time none of the remaining opponents will have a hand worth playing. However on those rare occasions where it does come up, you will be happy to have the extra 40-50k.</p> <p>In the actual hand Negreanu raised to 30k with 55 and Annie made it 130k to go. Gregory Raymer woke up with KK and moved allin, convincing Annie to fold. Her larger raise put an extra chunk of chips out in the middle for no reason. This is the kind of situation that's easy to take for granted while you are playing, as it can happen so many times without ever being punished. However it's good to take pride in always making the best choice, and I think that by raising to 80-90k in this spot, you will be making the correct play.</p> <p><img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1222963731-34647.jpg" style="width:58px;height:30px;" alt="" /></p>

Don’t Talk Too Much at Tournaments

Thursday, October 2, 2008, Greg Shadade

I'm going to relate to you an example of how I used some of my opponents thoughts and comments in between hands against him. We are playing a $200 NL tournament at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The tournament began with 210 players and is...Read more...

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*Text		<p>I'm going to relate to you an example of how I used some of my opponents thoughts and comments in between hands against him. We are playing a $200 NL tournament at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The tournament began with 210 players and is down to the final 33. The top 27 spots are paid.</p> <p>The player to my left has made a lot of comments to the player sitting next to him, about how close we are to making the money. Along with these comments, they often discuss how many players are left at each table, and so on - basically, this player made it very clear that he wants to make it into the money.</p> <p><strong>Now onto our feature hand :</strong></p> <p>The blinds are at 1000-2000 with a 200 dollar ante. Our table was 8 handed, thus there was 4600 in the pot to begin the hand. The player to my left is 2nd to act and decides to limp in for 2000 (he has about 24k total). I have 38k in chips and am next to act with Q9s. Normally this is just not a situation in which I'd get involved, but I know that there is a very good chance that the limper will fold his hand due to his previous comments.</p> <p>I decided to raise it up to 10,000, and after everyone folded, the limper thought for a while and mucked his hand, and I added a cool 6800 to my stack. Now the point of this article isn't that my play was genius or anything like that, as if someone wakes up with AKo behind me, Ill look like an ass (although the bubble mentality is strong, and it really is possible that someone would fold a hand like this, they are always talking about how you have to fold even Aces in this situation). The point is that when you are playing poker you you should be very careful of what you say, as there are many things that can be used against you by observant opponents. Just knowing that my opponent wanted to money, caused me to make an aggressive play that I would have never made in that situation.</p> <p>Another important point is that I would often would shy away from making that raise with Q9s because of fear that my opponent is sandbagging with a big hand. However it is not the mindset of players that really want to make the money, to gamble by limping with AA or KK in that spot. They would rather raise all-in and be done with it.</p> <p>Be careful that when you are playing in live tournaments, that you NEVER make it seem as though coming in the money is very important to you. Do not openly obsess about how many players are remaining, as aggressive players may then decide to go out of their way to make the bubble period a nightmare for you. On the other hand, you should always pay attention to which players really care about making it into the money, and which players it means very little to.</p> <p><img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1222963525-16024.jpg" style="width:54px;height:28px;" alt="" /></p>

Surviving Long Sessions

Monday, September 29, 2008, John Darr

No work, no school, girlfriend or wife is out of town, just bored for a few days - reasons can be found to play poker as long as the eyes stay open. And when the game is REAL good it's tempting to never leave. What most players don't realiz...Read more...

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*Text		<p>No work, no school, girlfriend or wife is out of town, just bored for a few days - reasons can be found to play poker as long as the eyes stay open. And when the game is REAL good it's tempting to never leave. What most players don't realize is this - playing an epic session even poorly takes a lot of skill and some assistance. To play it well takes a lot of focus and determination. Don't fret. I'm going to give you the ancient poker secrets to playing well for days on end.</p> <p><strong>Online </strong></p> <p>Playing online, monster sessions aren't that rough on your life-schedule. You can sit in the tub when you feel the funk, do some laundry when it piles up, or cook yourself dinner while check-raising some sucka. The key to playing a long online session is to do a few simple things. First, get away from the computer long enough to give your eyes a rest. Apparently, computer users like yourself are at a high risk for glaucoma. Squash that, you want to poker-it-up with the lights on in your room. You also want the computer screen below eye level, just a bit. Doing some chores or chatting on IM with friends won't hurt but don't get too distracted. You must keep your focus on the game, how your opponents are betting and responding to changing table conditions.</p> <p>Back in college I once turned 50 bucks in to $1600 in one day playing limit on Party Poker. It took me 18 hours and I started out on a 2-4 limit table and kept moving up limits when I barely had enough for a buy in at the next level. So it's late, I'm exhausted, grinding it out in the back of my fraternity house and I'm on a 30-60 limit table. My vision was blurry but I was playing well until . . . I think I make a straight flush on the turn. I cap it with this guy then cap it on the river. Um, nope. Sure enough I had a flush but it wasn't a straight flush. There went the majority of my profit.</p> <p>There's another aspect to fatigue during online monster sessions - the misclick. It's really difficult to avoid but realize that when you're tired you're more likely to make this mistake. And the probability of a misclick occurring is increased with each additional table you're playing, every chat window, youtube.com video and stat tracking program running. To help curb this error focus on playing deliberately and taking a bit longer with your decisions when the money is deep or decision is critical.</p> <p><strong>Live </strong></p> <p>A man playing a two-day session is a pathetic site when he's playing live. Same seat, same clothes, B.O. ever increasing, seeing a dealer work his shift, go home, come back and then work his shift again. I've seen guys do it and I've done it. I've honestly gone two days without seeing the sunshine because my ass was in a windowless room trying to bust the idiots.</p> <p>Last year I had seven poker sessions last more than 10 hours. My longest session dragged on for 33 hours in Tunica's Grand Casino and I made $1200. Ironically I was up that amount within my first three hours of play. Instead of going back to the room I stayed to try to bust the idiot, gave money to good players and had to spend a day and a half getting it back. At one point I was down $1500. Ugh. I once even played 24 hours straight just to break even.</p> <p>There are a few tricks to staying sharp when you're playing a long live session. Skip the Redbulls, they'll make you more tired when the buzz wears off. Instead, take time to eat all three meals and drink plenty water. Even if you eat at the table, the carbs will give you energy that lasts and the water will keep you hydrated. Also, try to sit up straight in your chair and keep good posture. Slumping and getting too relaxed will only make it more tough to stay awake.</p> <p>Your mind wondering to the TV above? Think tyrosine. I know, WTF right? Well that's the amino acid that keeps you alert. You can find it in yogurt and lucky for you a majority of casinos have yogurt on their breakfast menus. You may also increase your alertness by listening to classical music. A trick I also picked up on is based on acupressure. Take three fingers and firmly tap the top of your skull three times. That should stimulate your inner workings to put your mind back on track.</p> <p>If you're thinking of playing a monster session, be sure to go in to it with a full night's rest. You'll do better mentally rolling out of bed and playing 16 hours than you would working 8 hours then playing the same amount.</p> <p>As a poker professional and trusted PTP advice giver, I encourage you NOT to play long sessions. They're just not worth the time investment or risk. When tiredness sets in you won't know it until it's too late. It only takes a few hands to screw up all the hard work you put in during the previous hours or days. There's nothing worse than walking away from the table busted, hours lost, only wanting to sleep.</p> <p>Yes, it's cool to say "I played poker for two days straight." But poker isn't about cool, at least it shouldn't be for a savvy PTP reader. We all know it's about making money. And chances are you're much more profitable playing four to six hour sessions.</p> <p>Some information in this article came from years of experience and these sources. Check them out for more info or google 'sleep deprivation' or 'mental alertness.'</p> <p>http://www.visionworksusa.com/computereyestrain.htm</p> <p>http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18625011.900</p> <p>http://www.thrivingnow.com/for/Health/stimulating-acupoints-helps-alertness/</p> <p><img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-2/1222714298-61961.jpg" style="width:59px;height:31px;" alt="" /></p>

Speaking at the Table - What do your Opponents Mean When They Say What They Say?

Monday, September 29, 2008, Chris Grove

People give away a lot more with their chatter than they realize when they're playing live poker - especially in tournaments, where people tend to loosen up with those around them (since they're expecting to be there for a decent amount of ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>People give away a lot more with their chatter than they realize when they're playing live poker - especially in tournaments, where people tend to loosen up with those around them (since they're expecting to be there for a decent amount of time). While it's impossible to ever be 100% sure of what a person means when they engage in table talk, there are a few general principles and generic situations that can help you properly interpret the words of your opponents.</p> <p>- When people make a point of how willing they are to defend their blinds, especially if they have more than 10 BB's in a tournament, they are generally tight and willing to fold their blinds without a very strong hand. By announcing their intention to defend, they're tipping you off to how important the chips are to them. Raise it up if you have the chance.</p> <p>- When people guess your hand, they're giving you a lot of information about how they think about poker in general and more specifically about how they view you as a player. Pay careful attention to what hands opponents think you had in a particular spot. If you can start a friendly game of 'guess my hand' with your neighbor, great - just be sure not to give away anything useful.</p> <p>- When people talk about their specific cards or hand, they're usually telling a version of the truth. For example, if someone calls for a certain suit on the turn, it's likely that they're on some kind of draw but probably not the flush draw. If someone calls for certain cards to not hit on the river, they usually have a made hand already, but probably not a very strong hand.</p> <p>- People are willing to comment on how hands played out if you're a good neighbor. By starting a conversation about a particular hand, you can often get your neighbor to give up information about how he or she did play or would have played in a similar spot- especially if they're a little chatty or proud of a play they made. .</p> <p>- When people tell you the 'truth' about a hand more than a few hands after it happened, they're usually actually telling you the truth. The further away you get from the hand, the more likely it is they're actually telling the truth. This is extra-super-true if they were on tilt when the play in question happened.</p> <p>- Some people always say 'nice hand' if you take down a pot without a showdown. Some people always say 'nice bet' in that situation. Some people choose between the two. Pay attention to those people, because which one they say to you in a given spot speaks volumes about how they are viewing you, and it's information you'll probably be able to use in the immediate future, especially in a tournament.</p> <p>These are just a few quick examples of how to convert your opponent's words into useful information at the poker table. The next time you play a live tournament, take off your ipod every few hands and strike up a small conversation with your neighbor. You might be surprised at what they're willing to teach you if you're just willing to listen.</p> <p><img src="http://www.pokerspace.com/uploaded-images-1/1222714001-23464.jpg" style="width:56px;height:29px;" alt="" /></p>

Meditations of pokus professionalius (things I know to be true about poker)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008, John Darr

Awhile back I saw the movie 300 at the IMAX in the Palms Casino with two friends of mine. I'd never seen a Hollywood movie in IMAX, just educational titles like 'To the Moon' or 'This Green Earth' when I was, like, in grade school. Although...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Awhile back I saw the movie 300 at the IMAX in the Palms Casino with two friends of mine. I'd never seen a Hollywood movie in IMAX, just educational titles like 'To the Moon' or 'This Green Earth' when I was, like, in grade school. Although I really didn't care for the movie 300, seeing blood and war and naked women on a screen like that was a cool experience.</p> <p>It's worth mentioning because when I go on 'poker trips' to Vegas, Tunica, etc. I used to never do anything like that. Well, there's not much to do in Tunica anyway but I never looked either. When I travel, I'm there to play and win. Period. I sleep, try to eat somewhere good and free, play a lot of poker, and occasionally I check my email. Well, alright, sometimes I do find myself in random casino spa, relaxing in the grotto.</p> <p>Well it got me thinking. On poker trips, I play to win money, but when I come home I have fun and rest. That's true. So, what else do I know is true for me, the professional poker player? About three weeks ago I started a list. And as I like my expressions to have themes, I wrote it with "The Meditations of Marcus Aurillieus" in mind.</p> <p>So in no particular order (except the first and last one), here's a little flesh, a little breath and my 54 reasons to rule all in poker. I hope you enjoy them.</p> <p>The Meditations of Pokus Professionalius.</p> <p>For the poker professional, I know these following things to be undisputed and true:</p> <p>1. You can never win enough<br />2. Hold'em is a much better game when you don't need the win<br />3. When you first get the urge to leave, leave<br />4. Never slow play a hand that can be out drawn IF you can't fold to a large raise from a maniac when a scare card hits<br />5. Get in the habit of carrying only three buy-ins to a game<br />6. Writing about poker in any form (personal journal, for PTP!, etc) is an unequaled catalyst for positive self-development<br />7. Do not borrow money to play, even if you have the money near by; should you lose, by borrowing you're only delaying the losing process<br />8. If all else fails, change tables; if that doesn't work, take the night off!<br />9. Do not stray too far from your original career path or when you bust, you'll really bust<br />10. Order the seafood salad or the wienerschnitzel at the Venetian in Vegas, you won't be disappointed with either<br />11. When you flop quads, bet<br />12. On the river when you miss your draw, it can be right to bet<br />13. On the river when you miss your draw, it can be right to make a massive raise<br />14. On the river when you miss your draw, it can be right to call but not often enough to make it profitable<br />15. A big loss has more emotional impact on your psyche than a big win<br />16. You can play well for six days straight and in the last hour on the seventh day play so bad it ruins your week<br />17. Gunsmoke is one hell of a TV show<br />18. Some Harvard study implies that you play poker worse after a large meal, so give yourself an hour or so after the last bite, seriously. It's science<br />19. Never drink alcohol when you play<br />20. When playing live, try not to drink ANYTHING when you have cards in front of you; subconscious needs can be a huge tell if you indulge at will<br />21. 90% of winning tournament players are big fish in the cash games I play<br />22. 5% of winning tournament players are smart enough not to play cash games<br />23. The other 5% of winning tournament players are scary enough to avoid at all costs<br />24. If you play poker profitably, you need an accountant NOW<br />25. If you play poker profitably, you need and never stop needing<br />26. As long as you play for a living, you will live with permanent jetlag<br />27. Once a hand of poker is played, it can never be played again<br />28. It's cooler to quote Steve McQueen than Matt Damon, John Malkovich and/or Edward Norton<br />29. However, it's cooler not to quote, and you can quote me on that. Or don't, but "it be a lot cooler if ya did" - Wooderson, Dazed and Confused<br />30. Zen and the Art of Poker is not a poker book<br />31. Never reveal why you did what you did in the middle of the hand. Why you think the way you think is the biggest weapon you have<br />32. Listen! Players will tell you how to beat them<br />33. When playing heads up against a coke head, wait for him to run out of coke, then grind him some more. He can not beat his addiction as well as you<br />34. Never play a micro-limit JUST to hit the bad beat jackpot; it's not worth your time<br />35. If you want to learn to play a new game, read at least three books specifically devoted to it; there's so much crap out there, and so many opinions on how to play, it's best to over due the education process when your money is at risk<br />36. If you want to play poker, play poker. If at the table you find yourself watching ESPN, go home. Your couch is much more comfortable<br />37. Speaking of ESPN, never watch poker on TV unless it's High Stakes Poker<br />38. Embrace bad beats as you'd embrace every opportunity to flip a coin for a lot of money with a 70% edge or better. If you don't embrace them, they will cost you your focus and your money<br />39. Losing when you're 51-69% to win is NOT a bad beat<br />40. Losing when you're 69-99% to win is NOT a bad beat<br />41. Bad beats are simply beats, ask for no sympathy and give none<br />42. Playing poker WILL make you lazier<br />43. World class poker players don't get better cards than you, they just play them better more frequently<br />44. You can not give your heart to a woman and poker at the same time, unless she's a better player than you<br />45. We enter the game at zero and without another source of income, we will return to zero several times over<br />46. You make your money off other's mistakes. Your skill is what keeps you even in the meantime<br />47. Poker is a sprint, a marathon and not a race at all<br />48. It is a lot easier to lose than it is to win<br />49. In your efforts to stack the idiot, do not become the idiot<br />50. No limit poker is unique in that rarely is there only one correct way to play a hand on the turn<br />51. Once you own a man in a game, you always own him<br />52. It's better to be unknown and un-owned<br />53. Remember that if you straddle, you significantly increase your variance in the game, and that can be good, bad and sometimes a lot of both<br />54. Some play for fun, for money, to socialize, to escape. Above all, know why you play</p>

Strategies for Avoiding Cascading Errors

Wednesday, September 24, 2008, Chris Grove

Poker players make mistakes for a variety of reasons - a lack of information, an off-kilter emotional state, a patch of temporary insanity, and so on. Each time you make a mistake, you probably spend some time immediately afterward playing ...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Poker players make mistakes for a variety of reasons - a lack of information, an off-kilter emotional state, a patch of temporary insanity, and so on. Each time you make a mistake, you probably spend some time immediately afterward playing detective in an attempt to uncover the root of the error. This type of reflection is critical, as it helps you identify flaws in your approach that can help reduce the amount and severity of future errors. However, the same reflective process that can help your game in the long term can do immeasurable damage to your game in the short term if you're not careful. Focusing too much on a mistake you just made can increase your level of frustration, lower your confidence, kill your focus and undermine your image at the table, inviting a cascade of additional errors that often cause far more harm than the original blunder. This phenomenon is particularly damaging in tournament play, where you generally don't have the luxury of taking a break to deal with an error away from the table.</p> <p>So what's a poker player to do? How can we best strike a balance between giving mistakes enough attention to ensure that we learn something from them, but not so much attention that they lower the quality of our play in the immediate future? The simplest answer is to develop a quick, rigid process for dealing with errors as they happen. As with any type of cognitive re-wiring, there's no one-size-fits-all approach, but I can offer a basic outline of the process that has worked for myself and other players that I know, and you can fine-tune it as you see fit to better suit your needs. My process involves four steps: Qualifying, Identifying, Remedying, and Closing.</p> <p><strong>Step one - Qualifying</strong><br />While it might sound a little ridiculous to some, the first step in quickly analyzing an error is to make sure it's actually an error. I generally put things that go wrong into one of three categories - dealer error, player error or opponent error. Let's face it, sometimes you can do everything right and still lose a massive pot. When you lose, despite doing everything correctly, it feels like you've done something wrong. Take a second after things don't go your way and ask yourself: did I actually do something wrong, or did the deck or my opponent behave in ways I couldn't control? Worrying about legitimate mistakes is enough of a burden without adding the weight of bad luck or bad play by your opponents to your stress load.</p> <p><strong>Step two - Identifying</strong><br />If you determine that you've actually made a mistake, the next step is to quickly identify the basic flaw in your approach to the hand that resulted in the error. Sometimes mistakes are the result of several flaws - in that case, just pick the major ones and don't worry about the rest. After all, you can only solve so many problems at a time, so there's no point in identifying every single leak in your game that contributed to an error. For example, let's say you call a raise preflop with K5s, flop top pair with a weak kicker and end up paying off an opponent all the way to the river. In this case, your basic flaw might be overvaluing weak suited hands preflop or not being able to re-evaluate the strength of your hand post-flop. If you can't figure out a flaw in your play that led to the error, then it might not be an error at all - head back to step one and make sure you actually did something wrong.</p> <p><strong>Step three - Remedying</strong><br />This is probably the easiest step of the four. All you need to do in this step is to quickly sketch out the basic lesson you're supposed to learn from the error. In a lot of cases, this doesn't take any more effort than just rephrasing the flaw you identified in step two (and maybe adding a quick action step). To continue with our K5 example from earlier, you might conclude that you need to absolutely fold weak suited cards to a raise until you learn to handle those hands better, or that you should attempt to use flop bets and raises to define the strength of your hand while the pot is still reasonably sized. Whatever the lesson is, just make sure it's brief and logically connected to the underlying flaw in your play.</p> <p><strong>Step four - Closing</strong><br />If you've done steps one through three correctly, this step should come fairly naturally. Mistakes tend to nag at poker players because they feel like a waste of time and chips, but completing the above process ensures that you at least get something concrete for your efforts - a clear understanding of your flaws and a plan for correcting them. It won't always be that simple - sometimes mistakes will continue to bother you for other reasons, such as the embarrassment you feel for appearing weak or foolish in front of players, or due to unrealistic standards you hold yourself to as a player. If mistakes continue to bother you even after you've dealt with them rationally, you need to commit some time away from the table to deconstructing the emotional reaction you have to mistakes.</p> <p>Mistakes are an inevitable part of playing poker. The fact of the matter is that you simply can't stop yourself from making mistakes - but you can work to control the impact those mistakes have on your game. Don't let yourself be a player who can't handle the occasional error or two, or you'll quickly find yourself in the company of countless would-be pros who are capable of playing their A game when everything goes right, but immediately revert to a state of donkdom when faced with the slightest challenge or obstacle.</p>

Poker and Your Significant Other

Monday, September 15, 2008, Chris Grove

Hobbies are great for killing two things: time and relationships. No matter how innocuous a hobby might seem at first, you can be sure that somewhere within those instructions for constructing a ship-in-a-bottle lurks a potential pitfall fo...Read more...

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*Text		<p>Hobbies are great for killing two things: time and relationships. No matter how innocuous a hobby might seem at first, you can be sure that somewhere within those instructions for constructing a ship-in-a-bottle lurks a potential pitfall for you and your significant other. Some hobbies present more of a threat than others: golf, for example, has certainly unanchored more than a few relationships that otherwise might have worked out just fine, but if you find yourself screaming yourself hoarse over your girlfriend's crocheting obsession, it's likely that you all were just waiting for any reason to call it quits. Unfortunately for those of you reading this article, our shared hobby - poker - has a lot more in common with the former than the latter.</p> <p>What is it about poker that makes it such a real threat to the stability of an otherwise healthy relationship? Answering that question is a task that might be better completed by a small book than a single paragraph, but here's a summary of the major issues in play. First, poker for many people occupies a strange middle ground between job and hobby. Since you can make (and lose) money playing poker, it can't quite be treated as a regular hobby, but it also doesn't have the schedule and guaranteed income typical of most forms of employment. This fact makes conversations about poker potentially difficult, as you and your significant other can have wildly different estimates of the importance of playing poker. The volatile nature of poker further complicates the role it plays in your relationship. All hobbies have the potential to impact you emotionally, but the variance inherent to poker makes it generally more stressful for you (and your partner) than, say, woodworking. Last, but certainly not least, there's the lingering social stigma attached to poker that can create a completely new pressure on your relationship, both from internal and external sources.</p> <p>Even an abbreviated discussion like the one above leads to two simple conclusions. One, poker is basically a relationship minefield and two, successfully navigating that minefield without losing a limb (or a spot in your comfortable bed) requires a bit of planning and effort. As someone who's played poker for a number of years (and through a number of relationships), I've picked up a trick or two along the way for mitigating the impact poker has on your relationship. The best plan for your specific relationship has a lot to do with the way you already interact with your significant other, but I'll suggest three fundamental strategies that should help you find a solid starting point for balancing the needs of the two loves of your life.</p> <p>The first, and probably most idealistic, strategy is to involve your significant other in your poker life. The underlying concept here is that (to paraphrase GI Joe) getting them to know is half the battle. People have a lot of preconceptions about poker and those who play it, and a little bit of first-hand exposure might help to correct some of the prejudices your significant other has about poker.

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