Playing KQ suited by Top Poker

Most No Limit Holdem hands with any value fall into a specific hand grouping. Hands generally derive their power from either their ability to win a showdown unimproved, the ease at which they can produce strong hands like top pair strong kicker, or their ability to occasionally flop monster hands (straights or flushes) or draws to monster hands. KQs is a hand that holds a rather ambiguous quality, in that it has enough "hi card power" to easily improve to top pair with a strong kicker, and it also has a reasonable chance of flopping the kind of monster hand or draw that you would be playing for with a hand like 98s. It is exactly the "dualistic" nature of the hand that causes it to be played in such a dissimilar manner by many equally talented players.

Let's look at the two main categories of hands that you will be playing in No Limit Holdem poker: premium hands and speculative hands. Premium hands such as KK, AK, AQs and the like play best against one or two callers. They are likely to improve to or maintain their status as the best hand after the flop. These hands call for pre-flop raises that are designed mainly to limit the playing field and charge lesser hands to draw against them. The other types of playable hands, speculative hands, are more profitable in multi-player pots and favor calls to raises before the flop. With speculative poker hands, you would like to see a relatively cheap flop and wait until your hand is more defined before you decide how to proceed. KQs is a strong favorite against one random hand and fares well against one caller. However, if many players enter an unraised pot, the hand can morph into a strong drawing hand. You might elect to open with a raise in middle position before the flop with KQs, or you may decide to limp in with the hand after a few players call the big blind in front of you. Although I consider KQs a mediocre poker hand, it is certainly an interesting one. I am rarely disappointed to see it when I peek into my hand from middle or late position.
How to Play KQs
The manner in which you will play KQs is very dependant on your position at the table and the action that has taken place in front of you. If you are in early position you should not be eager to play with KQs. You may limp in with it occasionally from up front at a passive table. On very rare occasions you may even elect to raise with KQs from under the gun. That is only to vary your play, and only if you are playing against a lot of tight players and you have a very tight table image. Fundamentally, though, our default option is to fold with KQs in early position, limp with it in middle position, and open with it in late position. You won't hear me talk in similar terms about many other hand in the game. I do play medium pocket pairs in a similar method, but describing how to play those hands is another article. I want to explain the situations in which we would like to find ourselves with this hand so you can better understand my philosophy on it.
1) Many limpers and no raisers. We don't mind playing KQs in this situation because of its ability to flop high flushes and flush draws, and its ability to flop straights and straight draws. When you do flop a straight or straight draw, the straight will often be the nut straight.
2) One caller after you raise. Depending on the style of your caller and your respective positions relative to the dealer button, you have a good chance of having the best hand against one lone caller. The good thing about this situation is that when you flop the K or Q as top pair, you will have a pretty good kicker to go with it. It will also be very likely that your hand is the best hand if you do pair the high card on the flop. Not only is it true that top pair with second kicker is a good hand, it is also likely that your opponent would have re-raised with AK before the flop.
I think it might be wise to use some hand examples to illustrate the "variable sensitivity" of this hand.
Playing KQs: Example #1
You are playing a No Limit Holdem cash game with one and two dollar blinds. You have the button at a table of eight. All eight players have $200 dollars in front of them (for simplicity's sake). The player under gun limps in, as do two other players from middle position. You look down to find the king and the queen of hearts. What's your play?
A) Just call
B) Raise
C) Fold
I think you should go with A - just call in this spot and hope to make a big hand on the flop.
You call, the small blind completes, and the big blind checks. The flop comes out 5h 9h Ad. All five players check to you. How do you play it?
A) Bet out, about half the size of the pot
B) Check, it's free
C) Move all-in as a semi-bluff
I see players move-in here a lot, and I think it's ridiculous. You could have obtained the same effect by making a pot-sized bet without risking all of your chips. I also think that many players would just go ahead and throw out a medium sized bet of about half the pot, figuring that they might win the pot now, and if they do get called they could still hit the flush on one of the following streets. I think that's a bad play. Why take a chance of being raised off of a pot that you have a decent chance of winning? I think you should just pick answer B) - go ahead and take your free card. Someone's bound to have the ace with all these players in the hand. We don't want to be put to a difficult decision.
Now, the turn brings the Ah. You just made a very strong flush, the best possible flush. You don't have the nuts, though, because someone could have had two pair and just made a boat. That's a chance you'll just have to take. The player first to act, recognizing that was a very scary card, goes all-in. You call him, and his set of aces is beat by your flush. You just doubled up.
Playing KQs: Example #2
1) You are at the final table of a tournament. The blinds are 100-200 and you all have around 5000 chips. Everyone folds to the button, who raises 600 chips to you in the small blind. You call and the big blind folds. The flop comes Ks Js 5d. You're first to act. What's your move?
A) Check
B) Bet
C) Move all-in
While I don't think that you want to let your opponent have a free card with the possible draws on the table, I also don't think that you should bet so much that you blow him off the hand if he has a weaker hand. I would bet enough to make it a mistake for him to call on a draw, say about 2/3 the size of the pot. You bet; he folds.
Hopefully you're starting to see what a versatile hand KQs really is. It plays good in many different situations. The implied odds from possibly catching a monster make it an effective hand against a lot of limpers with big stacks and relatively small blinds. The two high cards make it play sort of like a "de-clawed" Big Slick against one or two callers. Until next time, Good "luck!"

Playing Ace Rag by Top Poker

The true mark of a No Limit Hold'em novice is his or her complete unwillingness to throw away a poker hand that contains an ace. This single mistake probably costs more players more chips than any other. The truth of the matter is that AX combinations are a favorite against most hands.

Therefore, there is a time and a place for playing any ace high hand, but in general the hands are long term losers. The problem that arises from playing your small and medium aces, A9 for example, is the negative implied odds that are attached. To put it simply: you will rarely be able to create a large pot playing A9 unless you are beaten.
Many new poker players have a philosophy about AX starting hands - they see an ace, they see a flop. That's a very bad habit to have, and it simply must be broken. You cannot continue to play every ace you're dealt from every position and expect to hold on to your bankroll very long. A9 is just above the middle of the road, as AX hands are concerned, so I think it will serve as the best example to use. Remember that other ace X combinations like A4o and A6o are even worse holdings. When playing No Limit Holdem, the object of the game is to maximize your wins and limit your losses. Ace 9 is a trap hand that will tend to win small pots or lose large ones. Let me explain.
Most raising and calling hands in No Limit Hold'em poker contain an ace. If you are facing an early position raise and you are contemplating calling with your A9, let's just think about what kinds of hands that raising player could have. If he's not a complete maniac, we can likely put him on a relatively small range of hands, because there just aren't many hands that are strong enough to raise with from early position. Let's assume; AA, KK, AKs, QQ, AKo, JJ, TT, AQs, 99, 88, AQ, AJs, AJ, 77, ATs, or KQs. That's a very loose list of starting opening hands from early position. Personally, I'd usually only open with 99 or better.
But even if our opponent is fairly loose and could have opened with any of those hands, how many of them are we beating right now? One, we are only ahead of KQs, and only by a small margin. Of all the hands that contain an ace, we have a smaller kicker. That means we are about a 4 to 1 dog to those hands. The worst thing about running into an ace with a larger kicker, though, is not the fact that we're unlikely to win. It's the fact that we are very likely going to lose a big pot if we hit our ace on the flop. Now, let's assume the best case scenario. Let's suppose our opponent opened with KQ. Now if the flop produces an ace, we're not going to easily make much money in the hand because our opponent is not going to risk a lot of chips without holding the top pair. The combination of its difficulty in winning large pots and the ease at which it loses large pots makes A9 an extremely difficult hand to call a raise with. Usually you should just throw this hand away.
When to Play Ace High Hands in Hold'em
There are times and places to play your ace high combinations. I'd like to talk for a moment about some of the times it might be OK to play A9o. Let's suppose you are in the middle to late stages of a NLHE sit 'n' go tournament. You started ten-handed with blinds of 10-20. Each player started with 1000 chips. Now, you are in the fourth blind round, 75-100, and you are short stacked with only 900 chips. This is a situation that requires you to aggressively attack the blinds in order to survive. I would move all-in with any medium or better strength hand any time no one enters the pot in front of me. A9 certainly qualifies in this spot. When the blinds are extremely high compared to your stack, implied odds considerations go entirely out the window. If you are called down by a bigger ace high hand, you're probably going to lose. That's the only risk in being dominated. You won't have to worry about making the difficult types of decisions often facing you with top pair, weak kicker.
When the blinds get large and you are short stacked, it's often wise to just limit your mistakes to one by moving all-in right from the beginning. My rule of thumb is, any time I have less than 10X the big blind, I'm playing one bet poker. In doing this you apply maximum pressure on your opponents to fold their hands and give you the blinds, which you are happy to take. When you have less than 10X the big blind, just picking up the blinds will add at least 15% to your stack size. In earlier rounds you have to worry about losing a large number of chips in relation to the blind money that you are contesting.
Remember that all pots start as a battle for the blinds and/or antes. When the blinds inflate, aggression rules the roost. Things like post-flop playability and position become less of a factor. "First in vigorish" and big cards become more important. First in vigorish refers to the edge that comes from being the first player to put your chips in the middle. It stems from the gap concept that states "it takes a better poker hand to call a raise with than to make a raise with."
The fact that your hand is a favorite against a couple random hands also makes A9 a perfectly legitimate blind-stealing hand. When playing at sit 'n' go tournaments, I usually like to save my blind-stealing attempts for later rounds when the blinds are more worth stealing. But the blind thief in me would never be able to pass on a position raise with A9 before the flop. If every player folds to you on the button, or maybe even on the cut-off seat (one before the dealer), you can go ahead and fire out a little bet. I know it doesn't make Sklansky's top ten hand list, but it's plenty good to justify a steal attempt. My entire bankroll is built upon stolen blinds. I have it down to a science. You need to build a tight table image and only raise with solid values in the first two or three blind rounds of a sit 'n' go tournament. But if everyone folds to you on the button and you have A9, you're gonna have to play.
Another time to play A9, or any ace high hand, aggressively is when you are in one of the blinds and you are contesting the pot against another one of the blinds. If you are in the small blind and every player folds to you, go ahead and bet. Now, if you are in the big blind and everyone folds to the small blind who just completes the blind, go ahead and bet. You should really think of blind vs. blind play as a mini "heads up" game within a poker game. A9 is certainly a strong enough raising hand in heads up Hold'em, so it qualifies as a raising hand against the other blind. Until next time, Good "luck!"

Ace Deuce Suited by Top Poker

I've been asked countless times if I have a favorite starting hand in no limit hold'em. I usually respond with a confused glance and the obvious answer, pocket aces. That is the logical answer. That is the correct answer. Any other answer would be absurd. Pocket aces are, as a matter of fact, the best hand to start with in NLH. However, I must confess to feeling a peculiar affinity towards A2s. I don't know if this feeling can be traced back to the sheer number of players I've busted with it, the fun and challenging situations I've found myself in with it, or the shocked look on my opponent's face when I take his whole stack with such a seemingly benign couple of starting cards.

How many times can you really remember taking a player completely out of a game with aces? How much skill is really involved when you do? It doesn't take much nerve to risk it all before the flop with the pre-flop nuts, does it? (If it does, maybe you should take up bridge). Now, how many times have you struggled to conceal your excitement as that third heart or diamond hit the felt. It's absolutely breathtaking, isn't it? Am I suggesting that A2s is a tier one hand or making a claim that the hand is better than wired aces? I wouldn't entertain such a preposterous thought for even a moment. I will, however, assert that A2s is a much more captivating hand to play. Remember, that's why we started playing in the first place, it's supposed to be fun.
A2s has the potential to flop a well concealed monster or a draw to the nut flush. It can turn into a straight or two pair. It is also a favorite against hands like KJs and KQo. Before you start getting excited along with me and donk off all your poker chips making re-raises before the flop with her, let's put in some pre-flop considerations. Ace deuce suited, regardless of her elegant appeal, is a speculative hand and has to be regarded as one. You can't play every suited ace you pick up, in every spot and hope to profit. Ace deuce suited is a hand you would like to see cheap flops with in the early rounds of a tournament or in a cash game. You would prefer to play A2s against a good number of players. You'll generally want to take flops from late position with A2s. The hand plays best at a table full of helpless fish. I know what you're thinking: "what hand doesn't?" My point is that this hand in particular goes up in value against loose-passive players. It also loses a lot against your garden variety tight-aggressive type. You'd like to see a string of calls and no raises ending at you on the dealer button.
Playing this hand doesn't require a degree in statistics, but a certain level of math sense could take the hand from a 0 EV (break even) starting hand to a long term winner. When you play the hand in deep money (small blinds compared to stacks) you can sometimes call a small raise. You'd really rather just limp in and take a look at the flop. I would generally not call a raise of more than 3 times the big blind, and I really want to be on the button with a big stack if I'm calling a raise. I also need the player who put in the raise to have a big stack to make it worth the risk I take by calling the bet. I think the potential reward begins to compensate for the initial risk of 3XBB when you have at least 15 times the amount you have to call off. As a pretty general rule, I'll call off no more than 5% of my stack with any speculative hand, but if the conditions are right I might be inclined to risk as much as 7%. To risk that large a chunk, everything has to be perfect. I want at least three other players in the hand, no savvy competition contesting the pot, and I want at least one or two exceptionally loose players to be involved. The only other time it's profitable to get involved with A2s is when everyone has folded to you on the button and the players in the blinds are reasonably tight. Your hand rates to be the best of three, so when it's just you and the blinds, I say fire.
Most of the time you will go into check or fold mode after the flop. You want to see the flush or flush draw, two pair, or a straight. If you hit one of your cards, you'll either have bottom pair top kicker or top pair bottom kicker. Both holdings are pretty weak actually; don't even play this hand if you can't fold top pair when it's appropriate. Even when you flop two pair, you have to be very aware that your second pair will be counterfeited if the board pairs. Don't bet your "three pair" for value at the end. If you did raise before the flop from the dealer position on a steal attempt and you got called, you'll probably want to put in a continuation bet after the flop. When I raise before the flop there is a very high likelihood that you'll see me continue the aggression after the flop if it is checked to me, particularly when I'm stealing blinds. That's what I mean by "continuation bet".
When you flop the nut flush, you can definitely think about slow playing. I like to let someone with a smaller flush draw have a chance to make his or her hand so I can bust someone. When you flop a draw to the flush you'll have to be careful not to make a math error and call off too many of your chips drawing. That's why the hand loses so much against savvy and aggressive players. There is no point in playing speculative hands if you're going to get priced off of your draws when you are lucky enough to flop one. My rule of thumb is half the size of the pot. I'll call a $50 raise into a $100 pot when I'm chasing the nuts. You do actually have some other valid options though. If you limp in from middle position and one player calls in later position you might be able to check-raise with your powerful draw. When you check the flop you are trying to get a free card, you would like to see the next card before you put any more money in. When the player in late position bets, he removes that option. One way to respond is to raise him. If the player was simply making a position raise he'll likely abort the mission. If he does have a strong hand he may call your check-raise, but he'll have a difficult time betting out again if you miss on the turn. This technique is called "buying a free card".
When you flop a straight with A2, you have to remember that you have the small end of the straight. Many times you'll hit your straight, and another player holding a 6 will have a draw to a higher straight. Be careful not to lose all your chips in these spots. Don't pay to draw to the low end of a straight either. You'll only concern yourself with your "wheel" (A2345) when you hit the whole thing on the flop, I wouldn't feel to comfortable slow playing the wheel. It's a hand that can be out drawn and when it is you can really lose a ton of chips.
I think good drawing hands can be the most entertaining hands to play. You'll have to do a lot of problem solving and math, and you might have to get creative. To me, that's when the fun begins. I love to win money, but I still love to play poker mostly for the poker. I hope I've added a bit of luster to A2s, but not too much, as it's still just a speculative hand. Until next time, Good "luck!"

Playing AQ off by Top Poker

Ace Queen off suit (AQ) is, in my opinion, the most overvalued hand in No Limit Hold'em poker.
While AQ is a very powerful starting hand, I believe players typically have a hard time releasing it when they should. Many players simply refuse to fold AQ before the flop; some players will even call bets and raises after the flop with AQ trying to chase down their over cards.
I'd like to mathematically examine the hand and then address some of the situations that occur while playing this poker hand.

AQ is a very strong poker hand. It is a huge favorite against a random hand, and it also has most AX combinations dominated. For those two reasons, it almost always warrants a raise before the flop. The problem, however, is that it does not play well against most hands that will call your raises. That is, of course, assuming that your opponents are reasonable poker players. This is a hand that becomes very profitable against the right field of players, and that loses a lot of its value against seasoned players.
When you pull up a virtual chair at a virtual casino, you will see players playing virtually every ace they are dealt. In a "loose- passive" environment, whether it's in "cyberspace" or at your neighbor's house, AQ can earn you a ton of chips. When you play against savvy players, however, it can be pretty tricky to get chips into the center of the table with AQ and keep them. The problem is, of course, that savvy players understand the gap concept (that it takes a better hand to call a raise than to make a raise). They are unlikely to call a raise before the flop with a hand that AQ has dominated. In small stakes, with poor players, you will find players who are willing to call a raise before the flop with any ace, and many of them will commit their entire stacks to the pot if an ace flops. Usually when you get all of the money in with your opponent drawing to three live cards in the deck, it's a beautiful thing. About 13% of the time, though, they hit their kicker and make you want to swear off poker forever. That's just the game we love, doing what it does. Let's look at some numbers…
Chance of AQ Winning vs. Various Hands
AQ vs. a random hand: 65% in favor of AQ (AQ is more than a 3 to 2 favorite)
AQ vs. 87s: 60%, 3 to 2
AQ vs. KTs: 60%, 3 to 2
AQ vs. TT: 45%, just under 1 to 1
AQ vs. 22: 48%, very nearly a coin flip 1 to 1
AQ vs. KK: 28%, worse than 2 to 1 against
AQ vs. AK: 23%, dominated, almost as bad as 4 to 1
AQ vs. AA: 7.3%, almost dead, about 13 to 1
Hopefully, after examining the numbers above, it has become pretty clear that you don't want to run AQ into a really big hand. I can't count how many times I've seen a player risk all of his chips after a raise and a re-raise on a hand that is so vulnerable. This is usually a mistake.
When the blinds are relatively small compared to the stack sizes, AQ is a great opening hand, but when you compare it to the types of hands that are likely to re-raise before the flop, you can see that it's usually not profitable to call a raise and a re-raise with AQ. Let me illustrate with some examples.
Ace-Queen Example Hands
Suppose you are playing a $1-$2 No Limit Holdem cash game and you hold AQ in first position. Many players would limp in Under-the-Gun (UTG) with AQ, hoping to take a cheap look at a flop. And some would raise to try to find out where they stand in the hand. Let's just say you decide to open for 3X the big blind (not an unreasonable play). Now, everyone folds to the player in the cut-off seat, he re-raises, and the dealer button calls. What's your play?
Well, assuming the players are both fairly sane, I think this is a clear fold. When the player in the cut-off seat sees you open from early position, he has to suspect you have a very strong hand. (Most players only play very good poker hands from up front.) Despite this knowledge, he decided to re-raise you. He's representing a hand that is stronger than yours when he makes this play, maybe QQ, AA, KK, or AKs. Now the dealer, having seen your early position open and a re-raise, decides to play as well. To me, that smells like a very strong hand. I would be very surprised if a good player on the button would make that sort of move without K's or A's. With action like that there is almost no chance your AQ is the best hand. Calling here is the sort of play I see a lot of amateurs make; this call will cost you money in the long run. What if you do call? Even if you do hit your dream flop, say Q 2 6 rainbow, you'll still have to worry that one of your opponents has an over pair.
Now, let's suppose you are on the dealer button with AQ. Everyone folds around to the player in the cut-off position, who makes it 4bb's to go. Now what? Well, I think you should re-raise him. Don't raise enough of your chips to leave you stuck to the hand. You will want to fold if either of the blinds or the original raiser comes over the top of you.
If you've read my article on AK, you may see that I play the hands similarly. The biggest problem with AQ that AK doesn't have to worry about is, well, AK. When you play AQ, I feel like you should raise and re-raise in most cases, but be sure not to get over invested before the flop. AQ is certainly a good opening hand, but it really just can't take as much pressure as players seem to think it can. I'll usually open with it from any position, and I'll re-raise with it only if two conditions are met. I want to have position on the raiser in case he does call, and the raiser has to be in middle to late position.
I don't like to re-raise against early position raises with any but the very best hands, QQ or better. That's for two reasons. Number one, I don't mind smooth calling when I have position on my opponent, because acting after him after the flop is a huge advantage. The second reason is simply that most reasonable players only open with very strong hands early, and I don't want to take the chance of letting my opponent put me to the test for all of my chips before the flop when I have AQ.
I don't want to leave you with the impression that AQ is not a strong hand. It is. I just want to engrave in your mind the idea that AQ is at the very bottom of the list of "premium hands". Therefore if you represent a premium hand by, say, opening in early position, if you get raised there is a very good chance your hand is beat. Players don't generally have a problem making money with AQ when it is the best hand. Hopefully this article will help you to avoid losing a great deal when it is not the best hand. Until next time, Good "luck!"

Playing the Pocket Rockets by Top Poker

What should come to mind when considering the Rolls Royce of all starting poker hands, the stone cold, pre-flop nuts? Your mental list might include the huge pots that you've won. Or perhaps, suckers whose chip stacks you've reduced to bare felt. Or the looks of terror on their faces when you beat them to the pot with all of your chips and toss those two sexy aces on the table face up.

Now for the reality: what do people really think about when they think of pocket aces? All the horrible beats they've taken. I've heard otherwise sane people babble on for minutes or more about how bad they hate having aces. "I never win with pocket aces." "I'd rather have pocket queens." "Aces always win small pots and lose big ones." STOP IT! I'm serious, knock it off! That is all complete crap. I mean you really cannot be serious. Pocket aces are, by far, the best starting hand in Holdem poker. Maybe you're just not playing them right. Not to worry, I can help.
Okay, first let's just do some math and we'll see how "horrible" this hand really is. Alright, pocket aces vs. a random hand = better than 4 to 1 in favor of the aces. Hmmm, but that's not really a good example, is it? So, pocket aces vs. pocket kings, what do you think? Oh well, that's about 4 to 1 in favor of the aces. What about pocket aces vs. KQs? Yeah, uh, that's about 4 to 1 in favor of the aces. What about when you run it into suited connectors, say 76s? The answer is that the aces will hold up 4 out of 5 times, or 4 to 1.
O.K. We've established that pocket aces are a huge favorite against any starting hand, right? And believe me when I say that 4 to 1 is huge. What that means is that 1 out of 5 times, on average, when you call someone's all-in with AA, what's going to happen? Three things, at least: (1) you're going to get angry, (2) you're going to remember it, and (3) you're going to tell other people about it (a lot). This really has to end if you are going to learn to keep your superstition away from the felt. You're confusing yourselves and others. We aren't going to win every single time we get all of our money in with aces. We're just going to win most of the time. And that's enough. It really is. I've paid for vacations and expensive toys with these edges - they will work in the long run. In the meantime, let's see if we can learn some tricks to help us make more money with aces and lose less.
Playing with the Best Poker Hand
Before the flop, I see this hand played worse than any other poker hand. I know that when you get pocket aces your natural instinct is to go into trap mode. Most of the time that is the worst thing you can do. You can't limp in with aces in middle position, let four people see a cheap flop, and then be upset when you get beat by some raggedy hand. For one thing, you're letting the more speculative hands like 98s see a flop, and those are actually the ones that are the biggest threat to you.
Another thing is that by not raising before the flop you are not learning anything about your opponents' hands. If you raised and got re-raised, then you smooth called the re-raise to trap, at least you'd have some ideas as to what strength your opponent is representing. Maybe then when the King flops, you bet he raises and you call, the turn brings another king and your opponent moves all-in, maybe you don't have to lose all of your chips. Now, when you don't raise before the flop with AA, you don't even know where you stand when the board shows two deuces. I think you should be raising and re-raising from every position with AA. If you aren't getting any callers, you're not raising enough before the flop. If you notice that you can't get any action when you raise with premium hands, it can really mean only two things. Either you don't raise enough or your opponents don't call enough. Both of those situations mean you should be raising more.
Now, is there a time to slow play aces before the flop? Yes, of course there is. I will always limp in with aces if I am in early position at an aggressive table and no one has entered the pot in front of me. That's so that I can re-raise whoever opens, or if there is an open and a re-raise, maybe I can get all of the money in before the flop. That's really what you want to do with aces - get it all in before the flop. Now, sometimes this play backfires.
I want to tell you a very important lesson that has taken me years to learn. Maybe you've heard it before, but it's worth hearing again. Don't go broke with aces in an unraised pot. This is so easy to do. I'm telling you, when you limp in and everyone just calls behind you, go ahead and bet your aces on the flop, but be very careful if you encounter resistance. Sometimes you end up playing against a large field of speculative hands. No one took the bait; you wasted your aces. Learn from it and move on. Depending on the array of hands you let see the flop, you could be less than 40% to win the showdown against 4 other hands. Notice, however, that you are still winning far more than your fair share of hands. If you see a flop with 4 other players with random hands, you are actually still a favorite to beat all four other hands. You just have to be able to figure out when you're beat. At the end of the day, it's just one pair. It's also very unlikely to improve, so you'll probably show down one pair.
Aces are the best hand in the game of poker, but they're not invincible. You still have to try to charge people to draw against your hand. Otherwise you haven't caused your opponent to make a big mistake, and that's where all of your profit comes from in this game - the mistakes of other players. I hope this helped. Until next time, Good "luck!"

Playing the Big Slick By Top Poker

There are many decisions to make at the poker table, none more important than whether or not to play your starting cards. A number of factors have to be considered in deciding what to do with your starting cards before the flop. As much as new players don't want to hear this, the right answer is usually to throw them into the muck. Most experts agree that the way to play No Limit Holdem is to play tight and aggressive. That is to say, only play the best starting hands, and play them like you mean it.

But what is a good starting hand? That's what we're going to look into in this series of articles. We'll be breaking down some of the starting poker hands that you'll want to play in NLH and try to see what makes them tick. I think it's only proper to start our analysis series with the coveted "Big Slick".
Ace king, better known as "Big Slick", is considered a tier one starting hand by all of the top poker theorists. In this article we'll talk about its strengths and its weaknesses. We'll discuss factors such as its win percentages against other starting hands, we'll talk about its post-flop playability, and I'll even give you some tips on how to play it before the flop.
Over the past few years I have attempted to break down the game of no limit hold'em to its mathematical and fundamental roots. Most recently, I've turned my attention to uncovering the truth behind tournament poker. In order to be truly successful at any game you have to strip it down to its nuts and bolts. You have to peel the paint away from the kings and queens and understand the cards functionally. In order to be great at any form of poker, you have to develop a complete understanding of the game, so that you can exploit your opponents' lack of understanding. One of the most fascinating realizations I've had about NLH is that there is not an absolute and objective "linear hierarchy" of starting hands. I'm going to use an example to illustrate this point. KQ is a favorite against 98s, and 22 is a favorite against KQ. It would seem from this example that 22 must be the best hand of the three. In truth, however, 98s is a favorite against 22. So, in that illustration we find that hand one is a favorite over hand two which is a favorite over hand three which is a favorite against hand one. For that reason, among many others, it is impossible to list all of the starting hands in terms of absolute value from best to worst.
Another interesting phenomenon that I'd like to share with you deals with tournament play. The value of any given starting hand is altered by the size of the blinds related to the size of the stacks in play. For instance, poker hands such as 98s are playable in the early stages of a tournament or in a cash game due to their potential implied odds and their easy post-flop playability. Some of these "speculative hands" lose their power as the blinds increase. Other starting card combinations like KT do not play particularly well in the early stages of a tournament because of "negative implied odds" but they morph into playable hands in the late stages of tournament play. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about AK is that its value remains strong throughout every stage of a tournament. It's a hand that can be played from any position at a table with any number of players under any blind structure.
To understand why AK plays so well in the early rounds of a tournament or in a cash game we should look at its post-flop playability. Assuming you've raised before the flop and are called by only one or two players, you will usually be able to access where you are at after the flop with reasonable clarity. That is a very important consideration. One of the keys to playing good NLH is to keep yourself from having to make difficult decisions. When the flop comes off with an ace or a king, you have made the best pair with the best possible kicker. It is unlikely that you are behind in the hand, and you will likely proceed as though you have the best hand unless you are given a good reason to believe otherwise. What's even better is that any player who may have called your raise with an ace or a king in their hand and has also made top pair with a worse kicker is probably going to lose a lot of chips to you. One of the biggest factors in examining the strength of a starting hand under low blind situations is the potential "implied odds" a hand offers. "Implied odds" refers to the money that you will probably make in future betting rounds if you hit your hand just right. Most big pots are won or lost when both players believe they have the best hand. When you play AK you will frequently find yourself on the good side of this situation. When you raise with AK and a player calls with AQ, if the ace flops, you will be in position to potentially bust your opponent. If you miss the flop it's pretty easy for you to get away from your hand without additional risk.
When the blinds start to increase, post-flop playability and implied odds considerations become much less of a factor in starting hand evaluation. The main factor relevant to starting hand requirements under inflated blind conditions is the hands' ability to win in a showdown. Most players have a tenancy to play their ace high starting hands, and AK is between a 3 to 1 and a 4 to 1 favorite against any other AX combination. It's also a clear favorite against a random hand, although maybe not be as clear a favorite as you think. While AK is about 76% to beat most AX or KX combinations it is only roughly a 3 to 2 favorite against two random cards. As a matter of fact any pocket pair, even a small pocket pair, such as 22 is a small favorite against the infamous "Big Slick." It is also noteworthy that there are only two hands that are actually substantial favorites against AK, and they are of course, AA and KK. The combination of being vulnerable to suck-out by random hands and of being a strong favorite against many hands that would likely call a raise, makes slow playing AK before the flop a very risky proposition.
I believe AK is one of the most misplayed hands in NLH. I think that AK must be played very aggressively under all conditions. If you are the first player to enter a pot with AK you should almost always raise; when someone has opened with a raise in front of you, I think you should re-raise; and after a string of calls and or raises, you should almost never smooth-call. In fact, if the size of the pot is large enough in relation to your stack, just go ahead and put it all in the middle. I generally like to make pot-sized re-raises; if making the standard raise would commit a significant portion of your stack, you might as well just move-in. When you take into consideration the fact that there are only two hands that are strongly favored to beat you, the fact that random hands actually pose a pretty serious threat, and the fold equity that comes from being the first player to move-in, you can start to understand why you've seen so many players on T.V. "pull the trigger for all their chips" with what is essentially a drawing hand. The other reason it is often advisable to "risk the all-in" with Big Slick is that you are about a "coin flip" to pair one of your two hole cards by fifth street only when you get to see all five cards. The surest way to see all five board cards is to bet it all. Playing the hand this way gives you the best chance of winning the pot uncontested, and it keeps you from having to make difficult decisions after the flop.
You should be starting to get a feel for the way I think you should play Big Slick. Just raise or re-raise from any position. The only time you might consider limping in with AK is when you are playing at an aggressive table and you are first to act. You might try to limp in early with AK and look for a re- raise. I use this tactic sparingly and only against the right type of players (solid and aggressive). When any experienced player sees you limp in early and then re-raise him, he's going to be suspicious. It's actually a pretty standard play with pocket aces. By limp-raising against a savvy player you will very possibly get him to throw away hands like 99 or even JJ - hands that you didn't want to play against anyway. By throwing in the occasional "limp-raise" you add deception to your game. The reason you want to push so hard with AK is that the hand is actually more of a favorite against medium-strong and strong hands than it is against weak hands. It may seem almost paradoxical, but you really want to play AK against reasonable hands, like AQ and KQs, and you would usually just prefer to chase out speculative hands like 98s and pocket 2's.
The other insight I would like for you to take away from this analysis is that AK is a tier 1 starting hand under all conceivable blind structures. It has a lot of implied odd potential, it is a solid favorite against most hands, and it has easy post flop- playability. Until next time, Good "luck!"

Doing the hard work away from the table

Something I'm always doing is scrolling through reading pro's tips reading strategy articles, simply trying to stay in touch with the opposition or even a step ahead.
These are the things that must be one to try and stay on top of your game and give you every bit of an edge possibly available, to make it in this competitive game.
So what do you read?
Well the answer is easy you read up on what you think your lacking in.
Q. Do you struggle in tournaments?
A. You read up on tournament strategy.

Q. Do you often loose at cash games?
A. You study cash games.

Q. have you won loads of money but nothing to show for it now?
A. Get to grips with your bankroll management.

So now that's sorted good luck in spending your millions and I hope you enjoy it.
All the best. Skipper
Next point people have, is that they have read up on all these problem points but still struggle to make it in the poker world and constantly fail to make a steady profit.
We are all guilty of the same crime here .
We go out of our way, away from the poker table buy all the books, get all the magazines, study all the pro's blogs and still we cant make it as a profitable player.
A. Is because we don't listen. Yes! We don't listen.
You see what happens is the first thing.
We study how to control the bankroll then decide that the tournaments it allows us to play in don't pay enough so we enter a bigger one.
That's not listening.
Then do the same by raising under the gun with ace ten suited because it looks nice, yet everything we have read says to do different.
I cant say it loud enough listening to yourself as your reading the facts.
Its a common problem in this game that the better we get, the worse the results are. This is because once we have learnt this little move or what ever it is, we decide to ignore the fundamentals, and this is where the problems start.
Every player should read and play equal amounts if necessary to improve there game to the realistic level they want to be at. To do this no matter how much you play you must always follow the fundamentals of the game. Always, always always.
I'm not trying to say that you cant ever bluff a situation because it's not a fundamental, but it is a fundamental to learn enough about the opponent your going to bluff and know he is going to fold etc.......
You will probably find that your doing a lot of hard work away from the table just make sure you practise what you preach and you will not go far wrong and at the same time make a long term profit...........LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN

$5k gtd betfred Double stack freeze out

Played a real good game I felt. Didn't really get any decent hands the whole game found myself seeing alot of flops with people that couldn't play them.
Plenty of good strong reads on all the tables I was on and with a passive solid game got to the final table.
Arrived there in 9th place in chips and managed to hang around for a while lost alot of chips with aj and hung on until 2 went out.
Blinds where huge and i moved in on the only guy on the table,s blind that couldn't call me comfortably but unfortunately the other short stack called with kj suited.
No help on the flop for my 83 off suit and i was the man down.......
Cashed for $222. so that's not so bad.....
Next time fishes, next time. Good night all skipper

Betfred $3k gtd

Just squeezed into the money 40 of us left paying top 50.
Got 10k in chips with the blinds at 500/1000.
Just lost 3k wit 33.
In the 10k gtd as well so updates will be a bit shabby......
Blinds gone up 600/1200. Only got a 6300 stack so need a bit of luck.
Managed to last as long as 25th spot. I suppose its a profit.
Lost a key hand with ak vs kq and eventually went out on a blind steal....

Haven't played at all in the 10k whilst trying to catch up in the $3k so need to try and double up badly...
Blinds 600/1200 only got 6900 so get ready.
Up to 13k now with a steal and an out play with a9.......
The games back on for now....lol
Pocket aces played well now on 22500
car crash car crash...... me pocket kings chip leader A10 do i need to say any more .........
Man down

Teltscher

PokerStars Disqualifies TheV0id
The winner of the WCOOP main event, said to be British player Mark Teltscher, has been disqalified following accusations of 'multi-accounting'...
By James Hipwell 15 October 2007

"TheV0id was in breach of the PokerStars Terms of Service"
PokerStars has disqualified the winner of its WCOOP main event, TheV0id, following an internal investigation.The site carried out the investigation after rumours started circulating on poker forums and bulletin boards following the $1.2 million win, which by a long way was the biggest win in online poker history. TheV0id is said to be an account registered to the sister of British player Mark Teltscher, a former winner on the European Poker Tour. He also placed second in the first leg of the new season of the European Poker Tour in Barcelona last month.Forum speculation on sites such as 2plus2 and PocketFives suggested Teltscher had played in the $2,600 buy-in tournament using at least six different accounts, a scam known as 'multi-accounting'. A member of the PokerStars Game Security department called Stephen W, whose identity Poker Verdict has independently verified, made a posting in several poker forums today that went as follows: “The investigation into the WCOOP Main Event has now been concluded.We have determined, based on the totality of evidence, that the tournament winner “TheV0id” was in breach of the PokerStars Terms of Service.In the interests of Game Integrity, “TheV0id” has been disqualified from first place.All other WCOOP Main Event prizewinners in addition to the player who originally bubbled in 415th place will therefore advance one place in the prize pool. The necessary financial adjustments to reflect the revised tournament places will be made within the next 24 hours.Please note that we are unable to release further details of this investigation, for reasons of confidentiality and privacy.” This means that the player who finished second, US player ka$ino, will find an extra $377,548 in his account and presumably there will be a WCOOP bracelet in the post. Team PokerStars player Vanessa Rousso finished third and will receive an extra $386k as a result of the ruling.

Well done the man that can....

N 82 50 24’s Blog
Fastest Kid Alive
{ 2007 10 17 }
The AP situation
Okay, so, anyone who follows 2p2 or P5s or a lot of other forums has probably noticed all of the Absolute Poker uproar. If you don’t know about it, here’s the basic idea…
CrazyMarco, a well-known online tourney player, played in a 1K AP tournament on 9/12/07. The tournament was won by a player named POTRIPPER who made a crazy call with T high against Marco’s 9 high flush draw. In the following days, Marco emailed with AP support and asked for a hand history so he could review POTRIPPER’s play at the final table. There were rumors that POTRIPPER could see hole cards and he wanted to follow up because of the possibility that he was cheated. On Friday Sept 21st, AP sent Marco a huge excel file (10 mb and a full 65,536 rows, the excel limit for most versions being used currently). He didn’t think much of it and it was too scambled and complicated to analyze, so he put it on the backburner for the time being.
Fast forward a few weeks. Marco, along with his roommate Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, decided to take a look at the file. This happened sometime around October 12th or 13th as I understand it. They realized soon after that AP had send Marco ALL of the hole cards in the hand history. This, of course, allowed them to watch how POTRIPPER played and to examine what hands were at the table when POTRIPPER was/was not playing hands. It quickly became apparent to all who saw the history that POTRIPPER was cheating and, somehow, knew peoples’ hole cards. You can view the hand history on PokerXFactor here. One thing to note is that the spreadsheet only had the first 2 hours and 20 minutes of the tournament because of the Excel line limit, so the hole card access somewhat cuts off around hand 94.
Anyway, I noticed posts talking about this Excel file. On Saturday, MrTimCaum sent me a copy of the spreadsheet. I started to play around with it and noticed that there was random IP/email/user id data interspersed with the player actions. It wasn’t clear at first exactly what the info meant. It didn’t seem like the info pointed to people at tables for the following reason:
The IP info looked something like that. It told me when someone “entered” a table, what their email was, what their IP was, what their user id was, etc. Note that I changed all of the info in this line to protect the privacy of the real data. I put in my email address for the hell of it. Anyway, there were 845 lines with either “TABLE_ENTER” or “TABLE_LEAVE” and through some analysis, I realized that there were tons of players in the event who I knew and they never appeared in the “TABLE_ENTER” or “TABLE_LEAVE” lines. Eventually, we figured out that Enter and Leave lines were recorded for people who were logged into the software and opening or closing the table, but not seated at the table.
Next, I analyzed the lines related to table 13, where POTRIPPER was seated. 2+2er snagglepuss, who I forwarded the spreadsheet to, had already pointed out to me two sketchy observers, one of whom opened up table 13. And when I looked at the data, I noticed something a little weird. One of the sketchy observers opened up table 13 and he was user number 363! This number is incredibly low and I instantly knew that the account had been created by AP or someone who was associated in some way with AP. It had to be a test account of some kind to be made that early in the system.
I am still hiding some of the sensitive info, but this line in the spreadsheet was probably the key to cracking the case in my opinion. It showed a number of things:
A Costa Rican IP address (and this IP address becomes more important)
An observer entering the table and never leaving the table until at least 11:20 PM (or over two hours later when the spreadsheet cuts off)
A very very low user number that indicates AP involvement in some way — not that the company as a whole knows, but that SOMEONE on the inside was involved.
The next step was to cross reference the IP address within the file. When I did that, some info on the other “sketchy” guy came up.
Once again I blacked out some of the info, but the important thing is that SCOTT@RIVIERALTD.COM had the same IP address as user 363. He stopped by table 9 for whatever reason for about 20 seconds. The only real significance of table 9, as far as I know, was that Mark Seif, an AP sponsored player and AP co-owner (I think?) was playing on it. That doesn’t mean that Mark was involved, but it is a relevant fact with regards to table 9.
The next step, which I think I did the next day, was to figure out some info on rivieraltd.com. I pinged the domain and found the IP to be 66.212.244.147. Note that someone has since changed this, but the IP can still be connected to the mail server as of this writing. Then upon doing further research on that IP address, I traced it to what I believed to be the Kahnawake gaming commission. I posted my findings on 2+2 and P5s. Then a poster on P5s named JackBileDuct pointed out the following:
66.212.244.147 is mail.riveraltd.com telneting to it on port 25 gets a greeting from a mail server. It *IS* a mail server.
Also that IP is NOT the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Are you ready for this… It is AP.
Mohawk Internet Technologies MIT-BLK-01 (NET-66-212-224-0-1)66.212.224.0 - 66.212.255.255Absolute Entertainment S.A. MIT-ABPOK-02 (NET-66-212-244-128-1)66.212.244.128 - 66.212.244.255
Go to http://www.arin.net and enter the IP address in a whois search. That connection is from one of their own IP’s….
CustName: Absolute Entertainment S.A.Address: Plaza Mayor 2nd building 2nd floorCity: San JoseStateProv:PostalCode:Country: CRRegDate: 2006-08-16Updated: 2006-09-26
That might be kind of technical, but the general idea is that the email address was hosted by Kahnawake but actually belong to AP! So this SCOTT@RIVIERALTD.COM fellow was actually connected to AP. This was overwhelming evidence in my mind… remember:
There was a low numbered user watching the table (and probably sharing hole card info) with the suspicious player POTRIPPER
The low numbered user was connecting from Costa Rica
An AP-associated person was on the same IP address and even though he wasn’t watching table 13, he revealed himself nonetheless
My head was spinning. I kept posting more and more of these revelations online. One issue was that I didn’t know who Scott was. So I sent out a feeler email (PM in some cases) asking various places to check on the IP address that was used by the two sketchy accounts.
Sure enough, I woke up Tuesday morning to find a rash of evidence sitting in front of me. 2+2 moderator Adanthar found that the IP address was used by a 2+2 account with the login name scotttom. P5s admin Adam Small told me that he knew one of the AP owners was named Scott (although he didn’t say the last name). A few other sources who do not want to be named told me that Scott Tom was associated with that IP address. It was also pointed out to me that there was an online blog post where some girl said that Scott and Phil Tom (brothers I think, although only Scott seems to have been implicated) were AP owners and executives. Adanthar posted his findings on 2+2 and revealed that he’d connected the somewhat mysterious IP address to an actual person. Also, other sources that do not want to be named confirmed that the IP address was a residential cable modem tied specifically to the Tom family.
So that’s how everything was tied together on as simple a level as I can make it. I am not including a ton of various leads that I’ve followed or some of the inside info that I received, but this is the general gist of it. I’ll post more as time goes on, especially on things like the media, AP and community reactions to this stuff.

From the blog of " 82 50 24's blog
Well done dude you da man

Latest on AP from poker news

Absolute Poker: Consultant Cited in Latest Statement
October 21, 2007Haley Hintze

Absolute Poker issued a statement in connection with recent insider-cheating allegations on Sunday through Joe Norton, the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake. In the statement, Norton identifies himself as the "owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker." The statement acknowledges the security breach within Absolute's system that allowed information about opponents' hole cards to be transmitted to several suspect accounts, and confirmed that the hand log released accidentally to Marco 'CrazyMarco' Johnson, the runner-up in the suspect tournament, did in fact highlight the security flaw that allowed the site to be compromised.

The latest Absolute statement assigns responsibility to "a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems." It continues by stating that the unnamed consultant "devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge," and that the consultant was "immediately terminated" by Absolute. The statement continues by asserting that Absolute will play for all losses to players traced to the cheating account(s), pending results of the audit by Gaming Associates and a separate audit conducted by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission itself. The statement also implies that Absolute will be cooperating with any investigations down by other jurisdictional or regulatory bodies. The complete statement as released by Norton reads as follows: October 21, 2007 Dear AP Player: I am the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake and the owner of Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, which holds a 100% interest in Absolute Poker. As many of our players are aware, there has been a security breach in our system that allowed unlawful access to player information that resulted in unfair play. I am writing to you today to let you know what we know so far in order to set the record straight, and to assure you of AP's commitment to player security. I am sure that this letter will not address all of the questions and concerns you may have, nor will it extinguish the heated discussion surrounding this issue. At this point, our intention is to let you know all we can disclose and to assure you of our continued efforts to keep you informed as best we can as the investigations continue. We deeply regret this situation has occurred. A breach in security in online poker is serious and of great concern to players and the industry worldwide, and this particular situation has been the subject of debate within the poker player community and in the media, giving rise to the creation of several websites and hundreds and hundreds of comments, opinions, and theories of what occurred – some of which are accurate, and some that are not. Like you, I have not been happy that during the initial stage of our investigation, AP has not been more forthcoming in providing a timely or comprehensive explanation on this matter, giving rise to anger, suspicion, and concern on the part of our valued customers. I hope that our customers can appreciate that this remains an incredibly complex and sensitive issue, and I want to give you my strongest possible assurance that we will be as forthcoming as possible on how this breach occurred and what we are doing to remedy the situation. What We Know and Actions We Have AP was notified by a customer that a possible cheating incident occurred during a recent tournament, and in response forwarded players' hand logs. This disclosure of the hand logs prompted our customers to determine that a more serious security breach had occurred. We immediately launched an internal investigation and also requested a formal audit by Gaming Associates, an acknowledged world-wide expert in audits, interactive gaming tests, and information security. Based upon our preliminary findings, it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. As this consultant was aware of the details of our fraud detection process, the likelihood that the scheme would be uncovered through our normal procedures was minimized. We consider this security breach to be a horrendous and inexcusable offense. We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined. Although we are in the process of attempting to recover all the winnings of this consultant, any unrecovered losses of affected players will be paid by Absolute Poker so that all affected persons will be made whole. Next Steps We are still investigating whether the consultant was acting alone or in concert with others, and it appears at this time that all account holders are innocent of collusion and were unaware of any wrong-doing by the consultant, who was immediately terminated. We continue to investigate this matter aggressively, and all of these preliminary findings are subject to the audits currently underway. We have recently uncovered additional accounts used by the consultant that have not been publicly reported. So as to not compromise the investigation, we are not releasing the names of these additional accounts at this time, and will contact these affected customers individually. The specific allegations of unlawful activity are being investigated both by AP and by the authorized authorities, including the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. We will continue to actively cooperate with these authorities in full compliance with the Regulations Concerning Interactive Gaming. In addition to our own investigation and the audit by Gaming Associates, we have also submitted to an audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Please be assured that we have corrected the problem that allowed the system to be unfairly manipulated. We are working furiously to increase the safeguards within our systems. While we are satisfied that our systems are secured, we realize that our security systems must be continuously monitored and enhanced. Without question, this incident has been unfortunate for all concerned, and we will emerge as a stronger company. I realize it will take some time and much more information for AP to re-earn the trust and confidence of our customers who are in doubt of our commitment to the highest levels of security, privacy and integrity. As we move to address and correct this situation, our valued customers have played a vital role in uncovering this scheme through various online forums and have become an active part of the solution. With my full sincerity, I thank you, and I promise to keep you updated as we bring this situation to a close. Sincerely, Joe Norton Separately, Absolute has already begun two processes connected with the accidental release of the spreadsheet containing information about the suspect tournament. First, Absolute has begun issuing payments of $500 each to any watcher of the tournament whose e-mail address was included in the file. Second, Absolute has begun the process of refunds to players in the September 12th 'POTRIPPER' tournament. All players in that tournament who cashed will be bumped up one spot, and all players in the event (which had 98 entrants), will receive a refund of their $1,000+50 entry fee, plus interest calculated at 10% per annum (or about 1%). It is believed that 96 of the 98 accounts in the tournament are expected to receive these refund payments, excepting the disqualified winner, POTRIPPER, and 'GRAYCAT,' another of the suspect accounts connected to the cheating situation. The GRAYCAT account was first linked to the allegations in regards to cash-game anomalies, but was present in the September 12th tournament as well. The GRAYCAT account was reported as being blinded off in its entirety in this tourney, while seated at a different table. PokerNews cannot confirm the complete blinding off of that account at this time, but the spreadsheet does show the GRAYCAT account not playing any hands during the initial 2:20 of tournament play captured within the file, at which point the account had been blinded down to 4,150 in chips from an initial 10,000 starting stack. Absolute also announced plans to begin working on calculating refunds based on cash-game play involving the supposed cheating accounts, the entire list of which has not been released at this time. Those payments are expected to be calculated within the upcoming Gaming Associates audit. PokerNews will return to the unfolding story as further information warrants.

Blackpool update

Arrived just on time to make the last entry stage due to the traffic in Blackpool, took me the best part of 1 1/2 to get there.
Sat down with 3k to start off with table seemed to be very solid then opened up a bit after 20 mins.
Got dealt A4 suited in a late position with about 4 people already in the pot, so called 100 to see a flop. Comes come down I catch but flush straight flush draw and a gut shot. Checks around to me and I bet out for 400 trying to build the pot. Get 1 caller on my left and the sb that had checked then pushes all in, the fish next to him calls and the guy on my left is getting worked up to call himself. My turn to act I'm getting 5/2 my money so all the chips go in and guy on my left folds. Sb has trip 5's fish has a gut shot. I hit the flush on the turn and the board doesn't pair. Grand job I'm up to 6,800 and took my double chance as well 9,800.
Next hand i got involved with was kq. Get in in a late position flop comes down q high I bet out get called by the fish and then sb re raises. I end up laying the hand down because of the sb's history ( limping in mid position with aa after limper's and check raising on the flop) the fish calls him on the turn all the chips go in the middle. The fish had Q8 top pair queen shit kicker, the sb was on a flush draw and missed. Yes i had folded a monster....
Big hand for me was getting involved with ak, raiser in middle position for 300 i Re raise to 900 (i think) and get called flop comes down J high. Other player bets out 600 I'm sure at this stage he isn't to sure whether his hand is good or not so I decide to explain by raising to 1500.
He calls at this stage there where 2 diamonds on flop. Turn brings another diamond so my gut is telling me that he might very well of been on the draw. He bets out 300 ( wtf) I raise again 2k he calls I'm now sure that the guy has a flush river comes no help for me what so ever he checks and Muck my cards he shows kj in his hand no straight.
This hand put me on a bit of a downer because I thought the player I was up against show of been able to fold such minimal holdings.
The next hand was great, I have decided that the table is only raising with premiums pre and if they miss flop they are out of there.
It comes around to me in a late position I enter pot with J9 pot size is 700 going to the flop.
I have a cracking tell on the fish and he bets out on the flop for 1k everyone starts to him and ha that he's slow playing pre or tripped on the flop. I think different I think I'm streets ahead with my kicker, just need to ask a question ( if u like). It folds to me and I say to him "will I had hit it as well mate I just hope I don't have kicker trouble" as the guy's bottom lip went and he had another look at his cards I know he his hit the 9 just praying he has a shit kicker as usual.
At this stage I call the 1k bet. Turn comes a 10 no help for either of us I'm sure and the guy bets out another 1k I said " ok then lets do it ) and put all my chips in the middle. At first he thinks its only another 3oo to call and puts that in, then thinks its 700 and puts that in, dealer tells him different and he reluctantly puts the rest in. Total pot in the middle now about 8k and I was over the moon to see his face when i turned over j9 and he showed 95 off. Yes he had hit the 9 with a 5 kicker and was happy to call my all in.
Just a shame he got a lot happier when that lovely dealer gave him his 5 on the river........
boy o boy was i sick. The only thing I won from it was the satisfaction to have the faith back in my gut instinct to make the right play .........
Til next time....

Blackpool G £30 f/o

Well its off to Blackpool G tonight for the £30 freeze out. Must admit that this game doesn't do anything for me what so ever since they have introduced the antes but I plan to play a bit in the festival next month and I,m getting a bit concerned that I'm not playing enough live at the minute so that's the reason I'm there tonight.
I'm not expecting a huge result from the tournament s my belief now that the antes have been brought in it really has turned this game into a crap shoot.
I think the only benefit I will have out of playing this comp is it get me back to being patient, I hope ! lol
Watch this space probably update tonight or tomorrow.....

Which games are the most profitable

OK well i have written in another post about recording your results and figuring out where your bankroll is actually going or hopefully where it is coming from but what should you use the results for. Well hopefully you already get where I'm coming form.

The reason that you need to keep your results is to make sure you know what you are doing with your bankroll but if like the position i have been in, in the past I know I,m a winner at the game because my results show it but for a long time i didn't make any long term profit.

The problem with my game was that because i was doing well in multi table tournaments I was winning large amounts of cash and as much as this was great and my cash rate was around 5 out of 10 competitions my bankroll was taking huge swings.

The problem was that every time i had a cash in a tournament I would sit at the cash an squander most of my profit. Another problem i had was because I was playing well in the live tournaments the nights i couldn't get to the casino i would jump into a multi online and and sit there feeding the sharks because couldn't cash in them.
Not trying to get off the subject but the problem i had with the multi's was that I treated them as the same multi's i was playing in the casino. It may not be obvious to everyone the difference in the two games but i was playing them in exactly the same way and not for a minute did I even think of changing my style. I had a solid game live but didn't understand that it had to change for the online game simply because of the fact that the online tournaments so many more hands per hour/ hands per blind etc. etc. This is a lesson of its own because playing this game although it may be the same structure of tournament they are both played under very different conditions and so your style must be changed accordingly to take advantage.
So back to where i was getting to.
The results of your spread sheet are there to tell you a story and provide you with the long term information about your strengths and weaknesses in all the different forms of poker you decide to play. The key to a winning poker player is to work out which type/format of the game suits you best and stick with it.
The only other problem that remains is the one in which i have myself.
I love playing cash tables but I'm shit at the game. Why? I don't know the answers to that yet but believe you me its being worked on. Even though I play cash still knowing that I'm a loosing player in the long run. I also know that to earn the bread and butter at this game a successful strategy must be used and stuck to. This doesn't stop me playing it but I will always make sure the the approach i take in a cash game is a cautious one in the terms of how much of my bankroll I use to play with.
So get the results out and make a decision on your most profitable game and when you have found it, stick to it. When you do decide to play a game that's not in your line of expertise then make sure you only investment the minimum whilst trying to educate yourself in that field.
With a bit of luck your bankroll will prove to you that your making that right decision.
Remember this game doesn't start and end simply when the cards are in your hands. It started they day you made that first deposit in the poker world and it will not end until you give the game up. So approach it as above and you shouldn't go far wrong .......... Happy hunting

Getting to know the player's

This has to be one of the most important parts of the poker game for playing online and at the tables, and to my reckoning it would be the most beneficial part of your game to work on.
I have played tournaments in the past and sat there for an hour with out getting a hand that comes even close to a recommended starting hand.
We have all read the books and know the score as far as starting hands are concerned and know that its an automatic fold under the gun when we get dealt kq suited we all know that aq suited should be folded the cut off when a player has min raised utg and someone else has raised.
So what happens if you're like me and you've been sitting in a tournament for an hour and your stack is slowing dwindling away because you have never been in a position to get involved?
Well this is where the hard workcomes in to action and knowing your player comes into action.
Some times you have to make a stand and decide that its time to make a play because if you don't then your going to be blinded away and end up having to put your chips in the middle when the size of your stack is open to 3 or 4 callers.
So what do we need to know?
Well as well as you I'm still looking for all the answers but I'm happy enough to talk about what I look for in players. The things I look out for in the hour that I'm sat there doing nothing is ..

• How many times does the player voluntarily put money in the pot to play a hand
• If he enters the pot, will he come in with a raise every time or just some of the time
• when he enters the pot does he always stay to the flop or can he fold to a raise
• Are they disciplined enough to always play in position
• what type of hands the raise with and limp with form an early position
• how do they play their premium hands
• When they raise do they always raise with the same structures, or do they add extra for protection
• will they always make a continuation bet on the flop
• can they fold after a continuation bet
• Which way do they bet in regards to the pot size once the flop has arrived, do they play to get payed or play to protect
• will they always stay to the turn or fold on flop if they miss
• Do they carry a style that would rather check raise you on the flop or bet straight out
• Do they over bet when flush draw on the board or play their hand exactly the same regardless

These are points that I mainly look for in a player at the table and believe you me its so much easier to gather all this information online than it is at the tables. I always try to make sure that every single person at my table has some sort of note on his name. I will even go as far as typing in their box " don't know". This may sound stupid but at least you know that the next time you come to play him there is something there telling you that he is at least solid because you didn't see him play a hand.

The next thing is then decided how to use all this information against your opponent.

Well gathering all the info is the easy part deciding how to use depends on the situation and the position you have on the players you know most about. The main things need to know is can you take the blinds every time it folds around to you on the button knowing that those 2 players will not defend unless they have a premium hand.

When you do eventually get to a flop and the player that you are now heads up with bets out the size of the pot when there isn't a flush draw in sight, you should know by then whether or not he bets out with a made hand or whether he tries to take the pot down with it.

These are all very beneficial things to know about your opponent and believe you me when you do get an online read on someone your chips are never far away.

For an example. I played in an online comp on Betfred and the guy 2 seats to my right was a complete thief and the player was chipped up all the way through the comp and even made it to the final table.

The problem this guy had was that he done a lot of raising and re raising when in position around late middle and late. What he would do was that every time he had a genuine hand he would raise the standard amount allowed buy the slide bar and when he was stealing or bluffing he would type the figure into the box. I sat and watched this guy the whole way through the tournament and all I kept telling myself was as long as he could stay in the tournament i would. The reason being that every time he would type his raise into the box I re raised him all in and he would fold. Every time he folded and i mean every time. It got to the stage where I was going to a flop with this player with absolutely nothing in my hand he would do it again as a continuation and I would shove all in. Don't get me wrong a few of the times he did hit a flop and he would check the flop but at these times I would just check with him.....

I think by now you should be starting to get the picture. I'm no Barry Greenstein and not for a minute am i saying that this article is book writing material. What I am saying is, unless your willing to sit down at a table and observe every detail that is going on then your playing the wrong game. This game will only reward you if you concentrate on every last move and keep going back over the hands either in your head or in the hand history. Reason being that when you play these multi tables will simply not get enough premium cards to win a tournament unless your very very lucky, so you need to figure another way, ands thats to fight back with the balls you where born with.

Good luck comes and goes, knowledge lasts forever. Thats why you can never do enough reading about this game......... Good luck folks

Sit n go challenge (day 3&4)

Forgot to put an update on yesterday. Played 4 stg's and only won one of them crap in the other 3. Balance for the day +$1

Running balance for challenge = +$6.00

Day 4 played 4 sng's today costing $24. Cashed in 2 of them for $25 and $10 dollars.
Balance for the day +$11.00

Running balance for the challenge = +$17.00
Total of 16 games played so far, so only another 4 to go before I raise the bar.
Keep your eyes peeled for the next update...................

Double stack $50 betfred

Stared with 3000 in chips had a very lucky first half hour where i managed to treble up.
Played pretty solid from there on in with the deck killing me. I was getting dealt all sorts of pocket pairs and getting re raised off flops left right and centre.
Comp was paying 20 places and i got to the bubble and was really struggling. Managed to get through that stage and we are now down to the last 15 players out of 137 runners.
Just been moved tables but in pretty bad shape.
Blinds are 1k/2k at the minute currently in 9th position with 16k so only one move for me now just hope it works and they hold up ........
Playing 5 handed now and the blinds are flying around 11 players left, really need the short stack to go before me managed too get the chips in once to steal blinds but its luck I'm depending on at the minute....
Ok just made the final table but I only have 16k and the blinds on me next at 1k/2k....
Still nine of us left got my chips in a few times but a long way off netting these little fishes lol...
Could do with a hand sometime in the next 10 hands as life is being made very difficult at the minute.....
Blinds now 1500/3000 so I can only let them come through me once an orbit as i only have 23k.
They are due to come through me now so i need to move.
Just been dealt aq on the bb 2nd to act min raises to 6k I move all in he calls with A5. Hits his 5 on the flop and it holds up for him.
Out in 8th place for $200 bit gutted but that was out of my control really.
This felt like the one that got away..... Later folks, probably on tomorrow day but off to Blackpool G tomorrow night. Keep you posted.........

Playing under the right conditions

This has to be one of the biggest fundamentals of playing a solid game of poker.
To many times we have all got home late from work and felt because we have spent the last 12 hours working for x amount of pounds per hour, then only its only right to have your own time and so decide to sit down and enter your favorite poker comp.
Of course this is where it all goes wrong. You have been on your feet or what ever concentrating for the last 12 hours solid and instead of getting a goods nights sleep you think your some sort of a machine and decide to play a multi table tournament that's going to take 4 hours to complete.
You know it doesn't make sense for a sec to even contemplate trying to perform this missiion but the problem is your think its only right because its your time now and you want to spend in enjoying yourself.
I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy yourself when playing this because that as you know is a must to become successful at the game, but what should over ride your decision to play a mtt is that you know fine rightly that there no way on earth you can concentrate for 4 solid hours after doing the shift in work you've just done.
This is one of the biggets problems for a lot of poker players to overcome and for some its impossible. They need to get straight in the door from work and jump to see what tournament is ready to enter.
Believe me I have suffered and still do it at times but the way I find easiest to get around it is to plan your day.
If you are a goal minded person then set yourself the goal to be disciplined. Make it your first rule that you only play mtt when you know have had the right time to prepare yourself, which might very well mean that you can only play them on your day off.
When you arrive home late from work, know in your own head that your not going through the door to play a multi and if you must play poker then only play a sit n go. If at any time paying a sit n go you feel tired then you know your only an hour away at most to finishing for the night and still a chance at making the money. If you enter a mtt and after 20 mins feel tired you might as well turn the pc off then because it will most likely take you at least another 3 hours to reach the money, and if you feel tired now then forget it.

This article probably sounds straight forward but think back how many times you've been tired, played poker, and lost and its probably most of the times you have played.
A lot people always think that they are the type of person that peaks in performance for the big events. What you will find out is, no matter in which sport, game, hobbies or whatever. The for this isn't because we switch ourselves on its because we always prepare better for the special events. We sleep well, we eat well, and focused on the task ahead. This doesn't happen when you rush home from work to play the $20k gtd freeze out starting at 1am.

All of this is just another fundamental which is vital for the human body to perform and as long as your giving your body the right preparation for a task like this, it means you already have an edge on your opponent before sitting down at the table