Stop Misplaying Small Pocket Pairs

Stop Misplaying Small Pocket Pairs

When you get dealt a small pocket pair in a poker tournament, do you react with fear, confusion, joy or ? I believe small pocket pairs are an opportunity to accumulate a big increase in stack size.

Recently I sat down with a poker player to talk about his game. One of the things he said really surprised me. He stated that he entered a deep stack tournament and in the first round, he folded pocket 4's after a really good player raised pre-flop. His thinking was that he didn't want to get involved with this super aggressive player since if he hit a set, he would probably lose against a better set. In fact, when his opponent revealed pocket Aces, it confirmed his belief his fold was the right decision.

I was quite surprised and by his thinking. It is all wrong.

How To Play Small Pocket Pairs

Pocket pairs, even small pocket pairs, provide an excellent opportunity to stack your opponent when you hit a set. Poker tournaments are about winning. Winning is about accumulating chips. You can't accumulate chips unless you take smart risks with small pairs.

Here are the things to consider when you are dealt a hand like pocket 3's.

1. The stage of the tournament
2. Stack sizes of your opponents and your own stack size
3. Your position and the action in front of you
4. Your table image and the table image of your opponent
5. How your table is being played

Let me give you a couple of examples:

Calling early in an event
I was at the daily event at the Venetian. We had played one round and the table was playing ABC poker. I was taking advantage of this situation by making pre-flop raises after a lot of limpers. I had 12,000, while most opponents had 8-10,000 in chips.

I was in the big blind with pocket 9's. Pocket 9's are not a small pocket pair. They are a premium pair. 6 players limped. There was 750 in the pot, so I raised to 1,200. Everyone folded except for the button. I put this player on a small pair or a suited Ace.

The flop came 9-6-2 with two spades. I bet out. I was raised, so I re-raised. My opponent moved all-in and I called. He had pocket 6's and lost his stack.

The fact is that he played his hand correctly even though he lost. I had 12,000 in chips and he had 10,000. He called my raise because there was no more action pre flop, the stacks were big so the implied odds were excellent, and hitting a set would more than likely double his stack.

While the outcome was not what he wanted, the fact is that he played his hand correctly.

Re-raising in the middle or later rounds of an event

Small pocket pairs are also an opportunity to re-raise pre flop. An example is when an overly aggressive pre flop raiser, raises again in a back position. If you have position and get dealt a small pocket pair consider the re-raise here, if:

• Your opponent has been raising pre flop too frequently
• Your both deep stacked
• You have a tight table image; that is, you haven't been raising pre flop often and almost never three bet pre flop

A re-raise here should get your opponent to fold. Now, some opponents won't fold their Ace-x hand against a three bet. That is okay. If the flop is not dangerous-for example three rags--a continuation bet should take down the pot. If the flop has high ranking cards and coordinated, checking is a good option to take a free card.

Overall
Too many players view small pocket pairs as chip bleeders. That is only true if you play them scared. Small pocket pairs are a great opportunity to double up your stack or increase your stack size significantly. In fact, when I am holding a small pocket pair and my opponent raises pre flop I am hoping he has pocket Aces.

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

Please note: This post is not meant to offend. Only to provide a chuckle or perhaps two chuckles from the reader. If you are one who gets offended with poor attempts at humor, please do not continue reading...but if you do read on, please accept my aplology.

Top 10 Things Martin Staszko is Doing With His New Fame and Fortune

10. Opening a plaid fashion store on the Strip

9. Avoiding the constant calls from Matt Giannatti's girlfriend

8. Upgrading his home's dial-up connection to the Internet

7. Getting texts from Howard Lederer to be the new face of Full Tilt Poker

6. Buying the Czech Republic

5. Hiring Jason Bourne to liquidate Pius Heinz

4. Sacrificing two virgins to the poker gods for his success but having to leave Vegas to find them

3. Taking Rosetta Stone courses to learn how to say in 36 languages: "Damn, I should haven't called all-in with a lousy flush draw!"

2. Ending his 1-2 Koruna home poker game with Boris, Bogdan and Dudek

1. Making a sex video with Kim Kardashian

November Nine: My Experience Playing Against Heinz & Staszko at the WSOP.

Image via WikipediaNovember Nine: My Experience Playing Against Heinz & Staszko at the WSOP.

I was fortunate to have finished 71st at the WSOP Main Event and play against Pius Heinz and Martin Staszko: two of the players at the November Nine final table.

On Day 4, I spent the entire day having Heinz seated next to me, on my right. Here are my observations about his game:

• A successful online player who obviously has figured out how to play live.
• He is super aggressive, and will two, three and four bet preflop in order to the take the initiative with a c-bet on the flop, or better yet, get his opponent to fold before the flop.
• He was very lucky as he doubled up against a new player at our table with a big stack. This guy sat down and lost all his chips on two hands against Pius' two premium starting hands.
• In a leveling war against another aggressive player at the table, Pius hit his draw on the turn and got paid off big on his river bet.
• I learned a couple of moves from watching Pius play, which I have used in my game with some success.
• He is young, super aggressive and a really nice guy at the poker table.

How will Pius do at the final table?
While I will be rooting for him to win, my hunch is that he is going to get it all-in against an opponent's premium starting hand like pocket Kings and lose a big pot. Just a hunch.

On Day 5, Staszko was also seated next to me, on my right. Unlike Heinz, I only got to play against him for around 3 hours. Here are my observations of his game:

• A cautious player who uses his tight image to steal pots.
• He will enter a pot with a range of hands if he has been inactive for a while.
• My impression is that he likes to see flops and then evaluate the situation.
• An opponent's continuation bet will not get him to automatically fold, even if he only holds an Ace overcard to the board.
• He doesn't say a word at the table.
• It will be incredibly difficult to win chips from him.

How will Martin do at the final table?
Unlike Pius, I believe Martin will more cautious given his chip lead. My hunch is that he will finish in second or third place, as his lack of aggressiveness will hurt him when the game is short handed.

My selection to win it all: Phil Collins.

Who are you picking to win it all?

10 Specific Poker Tells You Can Cash-in On

10 Specific Poker Tells You Can Cash-in On

I may not be the best card player but I believe I am fairly good when it comes to reading my opponents. My ability to read players is about being able to differentiate when an opponent is strong or weak. Am I perfect at this skill? No. But, I have learned quite a bit that I want to share with you.

The one area that usually gets overlooked is the tells you provide your opponents. If you don't believe you
may signaling your hand strength to opponents, think again.

Recently, I moved all-in on the turn with a flush draw and an Ace overcard believing my opponent would fold since I showed strength pre-flop and flop, and calling my bet would cripple his stack. My opponent took quite a while to decide, but he did make the call. He said, "I know you're weak." I got lucky and I sucked out on the river. But, to me it meant I had a tell I needed to eliminate from my game.

One way to catch yourself giving a tell is to learn from these situations. Immediately think about what you did that gave away the strength of your hand. Perhaps at times you speak your bets and other times you are silent. Or, at times you slide your bet into the pot and other times toss them into the pot. Or, perhaps it was how you breathed after placing a big bet. It is not easy to find your own tells but you MUST do it to be a winning poker player.

Above I posted a picture of Hellmuth at the WSOP. The pose he is using is the one suggested by Joe Navarro to hide your tells during a hand. It may be something you should try.

Now, here are 10 specific poker tells you can cash-in on. Almost all of these tells are subconscious tells-- the player does not realize he is doing it. These subconscious tells often become habitual and indicate strength or weakness.

1. Preflop: Check the Player to your left
-The player to your left will often look at their cards when it is your turn to act and you check your hole cards. Pause when you do these and peek to see what he does when he plays a hand versus when he folds a hand.

It may be where he places a card protector. Or, it may be how he holds his cards in preparation of his action. Or, it may be how he leans slightly forward or back.

I can not stress enough how important it is to get in the habit of noticing your opponent's differences when folding or playing a hand pre-flop.

By the way, just because someone does not look at his hole cards until it is his turn at the start of a tournament does not mean that he will not start peeking an hour or more into the event. Keep checking.

2. Flop: 3 Cards of the Same Suit
-The most obvious tell on the flop is when the board comes with three cards of the same suit. 99% of the time if a player checks his hole cards after this flop, you can be sure he does not have a flush yet. He is checking in hopes that one of his hole cards is the same suit as those on the flop.

3. Speed of a Call on Flop
-A player who calls a bet quickly on the flop means that the decision to call is not a difficult one. These quick calls usually indicate the player has a piece of the board or is on a draw.

4. Speed of Bet on River When a Scare Card Hits
-Watch the player who has taken the lead in betting on the flop and turn, to see how quickly he bets on the river when a scare card hits. If the player does not miss a beat and bets, it usually means that he is not strong. Why? Because a scare card will make a player think for a while before deciding to bet or not.

In fact, there is a rhythm to the series of bets that simply does not make sense:

• flop: card on board, reach for chips, bet.
• turn: card on board, reach for chips, bet.
• river: SCARE card on board, reach for chips, bet. Huh?

Even if the player has been betting his draw and hit it on the river, he will usually pause before making that river bet.

5. Breathing after making a final bet
-I find it difficult to notice someone's breathing pattern. Instead, if I am trying to decide to call a big bet on the river or an all-in move, I will look at a person's chest. I need to pause about 10 seconds or so to see what happens. If after the pause, the person's chest starts to move in and out more noticeably, I take that as a sign of non-strength. It does not mean he is weak, but he is not strong.

6. Looking away after making a final bet
-This is almost a sign of strength. Let's say I find that the player is breathing more noticeably as above. If I have a good hand I am inclined to call. But, if the player looks away at any time after making the bet, I will use that as a more reliable indicator of strength. The reason is that a player who looks away usually does not want to give away any sign of the strength of his hand. Now, instead of calling, I will muck.

7. Torso Bobbing after making a final bet
-Navarro talks about how someone's feet is the most reliable poker tell. Well, I've never peeked under the table to check out an opponent's feet. But, if a player has happy feet, his torso will start bobbing quickly above the table. This is a sign of strength.

8. How bets are placed in the pot
-You may notice that the way you make a bet differs. Perhaps at times you slide in your bet, toss in your bet, toss in your bet with force, and/or bet palm down or palm up. Correct these mistakes and be consistent in how you place a bet in the pot.

Of course, you need to notice those same differences in how your opponents place a bet. These differences having meaning--strength or weakness. Make sure you have a consistent pattern before using these tells to make a decision.

9. Speech after making a bet or when making a bet
-A player who speaks after making a bet usually means strength. This player can not hold back his excitement of a strong hand and wants to tell everyone.

A player who speaks a bet may have meaning. Here, you need to see if there is a correlation of the strength of a hand when speaking versus not speaking a bet.

10. Posture after making a bet
-By posture I mean anything a player does with his hands and body that are different when strong versus weak. Let me share with you a couple of these:

• A player who put his hand over his mouth when he was strong but did not do this pose when he was weak
• A player who rested his head in his hand when he was strong but did not do this pose when he was weak

Of course, in all these tells, it is important to realize that every opponent is different and you are looking for consistent pattern.

Finally, there is something about having a "feeling" when getting a read on your opponent. Trust your feelings above all else. Recently, I was in a hand where I had pocket Jacks and had to decide whether to call an all-in bet pre-flop. I knew my hand was better than my opponent but I had a feeling that the last player yet to act had a stronger hand than me. I dismissed this feeling and called. It was a mistake as that last player had pocket Queens.

Trust your feelings!

Poker Tells: What Caro and Navarro Don't Tell

Image by Bahi P via FlickrPoker Tells: What Caro and Navarro Don't Tell

When I started playing poker I followed the basic concept of "fit or fold." This means that if your starting two cards hit the flop with a pair or better, or if it provided you with a draw, your hand is said to "fit" the board. If it did fit, you would have a reason to play on.

After a while, though, I realized that this fundamental approach to poker was really just a more advanced game of bingo.

Next, I learned about poker tells. My definition of a poker tell may be broader than most. I believe that a poker tell is anything your opponent does that provides a reliable signal to you about the strength of his hand.

Learning about poker tells and putting them into practice makes poker more fun and more profitable for me. I hope this article does the same for you.

Mike Caro and Joe Navarro: The Best at Providing Poker Tell Advice

I find that these two poker authors do an excellent job at providing poker players advice on tells.
Mike Caro's top advice is about how players tend to consciously act in a way opposite of their hand strength. Essentially, if a player acts strong, he is weak and if he acts weak, he is strong.

Joe Navarro uses his FBI background to provide advice on how players subconciously act in a way to give away their hand strength. Examples include watching an opponent's face for minor facial expressions.

Of course, when was the last time, Caro or Navarro won money in a poker game? Or, even played poker? And, if they are playing, how come they are not killing the competition?

My Recent Experience at the WSOP

On Day 6 of the Main Event, I was in the Amazon ballroom of the Rio. The Amazon room is the size of a football field. For the tournament, there is a large area set apart for the ESPN featured and secondary tables. I was seated at one of the other eight poker tables, spread out in the ballroom. What you don't see at home on TV are the camera crews, press and officials who surround these tables watching and recording the action.

When you get to the final 100 players there is quite a bit of pressure as every decision can cost you a shot at winning close to $9 million. Given the importance of every action at the table, things slow down. With those all-in decisions, your tournament life is at stake and the action stops as a player thinks. The ESPN cameras focus on the face of the players involved. Inevitably, one player will study his opponent for a long time. It can be a glance. It can be a glare. It can take minutes.

I found it funny.

I wasn't laughing inside at the importance of these decisions. What I was laughing about was how often a top professional player, who spent all this time studying his opponent, would make the wrong decision. It seemed that the more time the player studied an opponent, the more likely his read was wrong!

I found it very unfunny when I was sitting with pocket Kings, my opponent studied me for a long time, moved all-in with his Ace-Ten hand, and knocked me out with an Ace on the turn. Not funny at all.

Guidelines to Poker Tells That Work

First, I do not pretend to be the best poker player in the world. If I was the best poker player, my Kings would have held up.
Second, I promise you that these poker tells work for me but are based on tournament poker.
Third, you have to decide what will work for you.

My advice is to take just one guideline at a time and try it out at your next game. Using poker tells is so much more fun, especially when you see the results in your bottom line.

Guideline #1. Look at your first two cards as soon as you get them, so you can study your opponents.

Today, most players wait until the preflop action gets to them before they peek at their hole cards. I believe this is a mistake.

By looking at your cards right away it allows you to do the following:
-Study your opponents actions when they first see their hole cards. Often you will notice a slight difference when someone has pocket Aces.
-Gives you time to think over your decision before the action gets to you.
-Gives you an opportunity to provide a reverse tell to your aware opponents. Example: You can behave exactly as you have in the past when you folded to get action from the player to your right when you have a premium hand.

Guideline #2. Study the player to your left.

This is obvious. Some unaware players tell you if they will fold or play pre-flop by their actions.
This is valuable when you are on the button or small blind. Notice any difference in how they hold their cards, where they place a chip to protect their cards, if they glance at their chips after looking at their cards, or anything that signals a change.

Of course, if they don't peek at their cards before you act, none of this will happen.

Guideline #3. Study the most aggressive player at your table and look for any difference in his actions.

The most aggressive player will be the easiest to read as he will be the most active. This player will be the one you will most likely be playing hands again.

Watch to see if this player has any changes in his actions when he is in a hand. Does his pose change when the is strong or weak? Does the way he place his bets into the pot change? Does the speed or force of a bet change?

You are looking for any differences. When you spot these differences, you want to associate a strong or weak hand when the final hand is revealed.

While you can do this for all your opponents, it is easier to focus on one player as a starting point.

Guideline #4. Watch for betting patterns and bet sizing.

All players have a betting pattern that tells you if they are strong or weak.

Here is a common pattern: a preflop raise, followed by a cbet on the flop, and a check on the turn. It is a sign of weakness.

Players often show fear by the size of their bets, especially on the turn. Here is a common bet sizing pattern: a preflop raise, followed by a cbet on the flop, and then a turn bet which is slightly bigger than the cbet. It is a sign of weakness.

Guideline #5. Watch for how fast or slow a player acts before he makes a bet.

This is missed by many players who are too involved with their own cards.

If you make a preflop raise and then a cbet on the flop, notice the speed of an opponents reaction to your bet. If a player calls you without missing a beat, it tends to mean he is on a draw. Why? It is an easy decision--no time is needed to make a call.

But, if your opponent thinks a while before calling your bet, it means the flop fits his hand. It is a sign to take notice act accordingly on the turn.

Another example is when a player never slows down in his betting. For example, if you called an opponent's bet preflop, flop and turn with position, and now a scare card hits the river, observe how fast your opponent bets. The fact is that unless your opponent is dead, he has to slow down for a second or two before deciding if to bet and how much to bet when a scare card comes on the river. If your opponent bets out without missing a beat, this is often a sign of weakness.

A popular tell is when your opponent takes longer than normal to place a bet into the pot. Often, this is a sign of a players who is acting weak when he has the nuts. Most often you will see this long poker pause on the river, before your opponent moves all in.

Guideline #6. Personal Appearance

Most poker players believe they are better players than they are. Often, these guys dress the part, especially the younger guys. When you are in a hand with these professional wanna be players, you can make a weak/small bet that indicates fear when you have a monster hand.

Of course, your personal "table image" effects the effectiveness of this play. If you look like a young poker pro, your opponent will be more suspicious of a small bet.

Guideline #7. Use reverse tells.

Some players are aware of their opponents actions and table image, and others are not. Use reverse tells to your advantage on these aware opponents.

Frankly, on that last hand at the WSOP, I induced my opponent to move all-in on me when I had pocket Kings. Here is how I did it. A few hands earlier the player to his left reraised me preflop. I was going to fold, but I waited untill I knew other players were looking at me. I made a subtle facial change to signal weakness and folded. In this hand, I gave the same slight facial change when my opponent looked my way. My guess is that he picked up this change subconsciously, thought I was weak, and moved all-in.

Finally, ask yourself after each poker session if you learned something new. If not, you are not working to get better. And, if you are not working to get better, then why did you even bother to read this article?

Best of luck!

Online Poker In The U.S.: Time To Do The Right Thing

Cover of Do the Right Thing [Blu-ray]Online Poker In The U.S.: Time To Do The Right Thing

Given the Full Tilt Poker disaster, I believe it will be more difficult than ever before to get the U.S. Congress to approve legalization. Never the less, I would love to see online poker be legal so millions of U.S. citizens can play poker anywhere and anytime via the internet.

I believe that the online poker companies should be aggressive in putting together a plan of what they will do to make sure that online poker is good for the U.S. economy, good for its citizens, is a fair game, prohibits underage gambling, and addresses problem gamblers.

Here are 11 areas that I would like online poker companies to promise to the U.S. Congress and poker players:

1. All companies must be headquartered in the U.S. to operate a legal online poker site in the U.S.

2. Jobs to operate online poker companies must include U.S. citizens in a similar percentage to the revenue anticipated from the U.S. poker players. If 70% of revenue is from U.S. poker players, then the online site must hire 70% of their total employees from the U.S.

3. No top executives, directors or major shareholders in online poker sites can have a criminal record.

4. Online poker companies must pay a U.S. tax rate that is similar to brick and mortar casinos.

5. Online poker companies must issue 1099's for all players that cash over $5,000.

6. The online poker industry must fund and create an independent agency to monitor their sites. This agency will have the power to penalize or shut down sites that do not adhere to the rules. The funding for the agency will come from an annual fee per online site based on total revenues.

7. The online poker sites must take adequate steps to prevent gambling by U.S. citizens under the age of 21.

8. There must be one universal poker dealing program that all sites use. This poker dealing program must be developed, tested and proven to replicate the randomness of live poker dealing. While each site will have its own design, format, promotions, etc., the dealing of poker hands must be fair and true to the game.

9. Online poker sites must identify the types of cheating that is possible by online players and agree to the best practices to try to prevent and stop these practices. Each poker site must have an internal group to audit the poker tables, investigate player complaints of cheating, and to act promptly.

Money lost by players due to cheating will be returned to players. The players caught cheating will be banned for life at all online poker sites. The names of these cheaters will be made public.

10. Online poker sites will not allow players to use online poker tools that provide data as to the betting habits and trends of individual poker players. This type of information is not available in a live poker game and will not be allowed online. Players caught using these online poker tools will be banned for life at all online poker sites.

11. Online poker sites must provide information to their players about responsible gambling and where to go if there is a problem. An online poker site can prohibit a player from continuing to participate on their site, if they perceive a player as a problem gambler.

I believe it is time for the online poker sites to take the initiative and go above and beyond what has been done in the past in order to get online poker legal in the U.S.

What do you think?

How To Improve Your Poker Tournament Results

Image via WikipediaHow To Improve Your Poker Tournament Results

Let me share with you a way to improve your tournament poker results. It may change the way you think about your tournament game and how you play in your next event.

Here is a question for you:

Let's say you enter your local poker tournament. The event has 80 entrants. You start with 8,000 in chips. The blinds are 25-50. The rounds are 20 minutes. (This is a typical structure in SF Bay Area ). First place is $5,000.

It is the first hand. You have Kc-6s in the big blind. Everyone folds to the small blind. He picks up his cards to see what he holds. When he lifts his cards up, he holds them so high that you can see that he has 9h-8h.

He calls. You check.

The flop is Kd-4h-2h. You have top pair. Your opponent checks. You bet 100. Your opponent moves all-in with his flush draw. What should you do?

You state aloud. "I have to call."

You call as you are a big favorite with your top pair. The turn card is not a heart, but the river is a heart and you are eliminated. You shake your head, walk away from the table, and tell anyone who will listen about your "bad beat."

Does this sound familiar? Maybe this has happened to you?

I believe you made a mistake if you called this all-in bet. Let me explain why.

Risk in Poker: Don't Worry No Numbers Here!

When evaluating stocks in a portfolio, there are different kinds of risks that are measured to determine it's performance.

One kind of risk is market risk. This is the risk of the entire mutual fund compared to the market as a whole. Called Alpha.

A second kind of risk is specific stock risk. This is the risk that is specific to a given stock compared to the market as a whole. Called Beta.

I believe in poker, there is an analogy which will help you make the "right decision" at any point in time of an event.

Think of market risk as the "tournament risk" you are taking that uses your relative chip count and the number of chips you will win as it compares to your chances of winning the event.(Lets call this your PokerAlpha)

While specific stock risk is the "hand risk" you have or probability of winning a specific hand of poker. (Lets call this your Poker Beta).

How to Use These Risks in Poker

Lets take that poker hand where you flopped top pair and you knew your opponent was on a flush draw. Your probability of winning a specific hand of poker was very favorable--about a 66% favorite.

But, your market risk was extremely high: If you lost the hand, you are eliminated. And, you have only increased your chance of winning the event by a small margin if you win the hand.

Given this risk analysis, I believe the best decision is to fold.

Now, if you think your opponents are much better than you, you should forget about using the Poker Alpha. Just evaluate your odds of winning a specific hand and play accordingly. But, if you think you are as good or better than your opponents, consider both types of risk.

As you get deeper in a tournament, your risk assessment will change. In fact, that is why it is often best to move all-in when your stack is low relative to the big blind; for example, 10x's or less. Your tournament risk is such that it is better to make a move all-in now and take the hand risk to double-up.

Does this Poker Risk Concept Work?

Yes.

I used this concept in making my poker decisions at the WSOP Main Event.

For example, on day 2, I was under the gun and raised pre-flop. Only the big blind called. I flopped top pair, and after I bet the flop, I was check raised all-in. Even though I was 90% sure my opponent was on a flush draw, I knew that losing this hand would cripple my stack. I folded.

I believed that I was one of the better players at my table and I would get these chips back. (It turned out that I won those chips back and more from that same opponent later that day.)

Does this Translate to Online Poker?

Yes.

If you play online poker, your risk reward analysis is very different than a live event. Online, you may be playing multiple events and you know you can enter a new tournament in seconds. This means that the overall tournament risk is practically nil early in an online event.

I know others have written about risk in poker before, but I wanted to provide for a simpler and possibly a new way for players to understand them.

By the way, if you don't agree with this post, don't use it in your game.

Good luck!