fulltiltpoker.com – Styles of Play and Their Importance:
Every player has their own style of play, and you should be very careful about not allowing this style to become too rigid or predictable. The fact is, there will always be a best way to play certain types of hands in your own mind, and it is easy to find yourself playing them the same way each time.
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In reality, I always feel it is best to play those hands in a slightly unorthodox way sometimes, if you are playing with the same players each week.
There are some players at my local game who I am beginning to understand better, and work out how to play to their weaknesses, and I know they will work my own play out in the same way, given enough opportunity and playing time.
For this reason, I might turn up one week raising lots of pots and getting heavily involved early on, and the next I will play tight and conservative. I might also slow play a big hand one moment, then raise strongly with the next one I get. This should prevent me from becoming too predictable, but there are many players out there who do not seem to want to switch their play around too much, probably because they think they are playing the hand is at should be played and see no reason to change.
Recently at my live local game, I took to showing a lot of my hands over an hour or so, knowing that it was likely to encourage my opponents to show some of theirs too. Little things like this can help you as a player, but only if you are changing your style of play so that the information you are giving is not as useful to the opposing players.
My own belief is that it is necessary to keep altering the way you play your hands, to remain difficult to read, but if you play regularly with players who do not attach much importance to changing their plays, then by all means, exploit it.
pokeroom.co.uk – The Role of Television in Promoting Poker:
I think that televised poker tournaments have done a huge amount of good to the game of poker. There are thousands of players who are enjoying poker today because they were inspired by professional players playing in televised tournaments several years ago.
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Although I had already started playing poker when I saw my first televised game, they fulfilled the function each week, of inspiring me to better my play, as well as holding my intertest in the game as a whole.
The introduction of under table cameras was a revelation in poker viewing of course, and began to draw in ever more viewers as players who were previously unsure of what hands a professional player were raising or folding and why. Commentators also help with this aspect too, providing information about why players may be making particular moves and helping the amateurs watching at home to quickly develop their understanding of the game.
Apart from bringing the game to every casual poker players television and inspiring them to play more often and more skillfully, the following that such events get when they are televised, brings more interest from sponsors and the like.
With the WSOP being broadcast too, the interest in poker from the general populace should be set to grow further, as fledgling players watch their favoured players battling it out for the most prestigious of prizes.
All in all, we can say that television, has provided a much needed platform to both dispel the myths surrounding the game, and promote it for what it is. That being, a highly skilled game played by people with great minds and a real sense of sportsmanship.
fulltiltpoker.com – Poker Leagues:
Personally, I feel that poker leagues are a great idea and add something extra to the game. We all know that sometimes the most skillful players can end up not winning a tournament due to one piece of bad luck, but we also know that luck evens out over time. This means that a poker league run over several months gives a fair chance for the most skillful players to shine.
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I have recently started playing in a local league, and it is nice to have an extra incentive to play for, and to see the league leader board updated each week.
Many major sports and games have leagues involved, and I think that due to the luck factor playing it’s part in the game it is perhaps even more important that leagues are part of poker.
Points awarded for league placings probably differ in different leagues, but from my own experience a player is awarded 1 point for finishing last, 2 points for second last and 1 point thereafter for each place up to 1st. This seems a fair way of awarding points, and is a well balanced points system I feel.
I am not very highly placed on our league at the moment due to a very rocky start over the past few weeks, but the good thing about a league is that things can change pretty quickly with one good result, and so it is always worth coming back the next week to try and improve.
My hopes for the moment are to move into the top ten, and I am sure other players in other leagues can recognise the extra enjoyment factor of competing for an additional prize pool over a lengthy league campaign.
partypoker.co – How Important are H.O.R.S.E Events?
Tournaments of the H.O.R.S.E variety, and other similar events are not usually given the same attention as the Holdem main event at the WSOP on a yearly basis, although last years event certainly drummed up more interest than previous years.
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Part of the reason for this is that the charismatic professional player Scotty Nguyen emerged as the victor, and there were many big names in the game all fighting it out over the duration of the tournament.
Also the fact that the 50k HORSE is the most expensive event to buy into at the World series has also helped refine the fields to mostly professionals, and has helped the tournament to get more attention each year. I think the fundamental importance behind HORSE events is much more than the sum of these aspects though.
The importance lies in the fact that to win such an event, you need to be extremely talented in a number of different games, namely Holdem, Omaha, Razz, and Stud. Learning these different games to the level needed to win this event requires a great effort on the part of the players, and this is why HORSE events in my opinion, are the test of a true all round poker player. The player who triumphs over his fellow pros in these combined games, is the best all rounder I feel, and that should have more prestige attached to it than simply being Holdem champion.
Despite this, the attention the World Championship holdem event gets each year will always be huge, but that is partly due to it’s rich history, and past winners as much as anything else.
Overall though, HORSE events are very important and I would like to see more of this type of tournament played both in casinos, and home games.
pokeroom.com – Live Tournament Set up:
From my own personal experience, a local live tournament you might attend is usually run in the following way. In the absence of professional croupiers or tournament directors, one of the more experienced players will take down the names of the competitors and handle the monetary aspect of the tournament. Shortly before the tournament commences, players will draw for seating arrangements and then take their seats. Each table should have a stopwatch and remind each oter when blinds increase too.
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The dealing of the cards falls to the players seated at the table, with the dealer button moving one place to the left each hand along with the blinds.
Generally players are allowed to leave their seats for toilet or cigarette breaks during play, although they are usually polite enough to ensure they do this when they do not have dealing duties to attend to. If a player is not seated when the action comes round the table to them, their cards are automatically folded.
In the event of a deal going wrong or a mistake of some sort being made, the players will usually discuss the situation and take a vote on how to proceed. Having said this there are generally accepted regulations in place to deal with most situations, but in the event of some unforseen circumstance, the players will discuss the course of action with regards to the hand, and go with the general feeling amongst the players. At my own local tournament, prizes are paid for the top three positions, and there is a good social atmosphere present, providing an enjoyable evening for all players involved.
ladbroke poker – Wielding a Big Stack Effectively:
Having a strong chiplead is a position that any player enjoys being in, not simply because they have the chips to weather the blinds and see them through to the latter stages, but also because they can use these chips to forcefully win more.
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There is of course risk attached to bullying players off pots however.
Firstly you will always be prone to slow plays and traps, but for the most part think it is profitable to attempt this type of play. More often than not, a smaller stack will be afraid of getting heavily involved in a hand against a big stack, and this gives the opportunity to pick up lots of blinds. This in turn gives extra chips to take on a weaker stack if they move all in, and the true cost of losing such a hand is diminished due to the chips picked up earlier with this type of aggressive play.
As with all types of aggressive play, there also has to be an element or restraint involved, as you will only go backwards if you try and bluff the best hand each time. Trust your reads and apply careful pressure though, and you should find this a winning strategy if you are lucky enough to have a comfortable chip lead.
As a general rule, I would not employ these tactics in the earlier stages of a tournament even if you have doubled up and have a good chip lead. The reason for this being that the blinds are far too small for it to be a profitable endeavour usually. In the latter stages of a tournament though, as a big chipstack, you should do well by trying to apply pressure to your weaker opponents.
A Hand to Remember:
This hand is a prime example of my recent troubles in live play. It involves an extremely unlikely scenario, and me having to make one of the best folds of my life, which ultimately turned out to be meaningless as I went out in second last place anyway.
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On about the third hand of the tournament I was dealt (A,K) off suit, and after putting a strong preflop raise of 500 in, was disappointed to see the whole table fold. So when the next hand was dealt and I looked down at (Q,Q), I decided to be more careful and only raised 300 in chips. The two players that called were one too many for my liking, but I certainly did not mind the flop coming down (3,3,3). Having made a full house I raised 300, half expecting my opponents to fold as they realised I probably had a pocket pair.
The first player folded, but the second player…after a long look at her hole cards, flat called. This immediately troubled me. Either she thought I was bluffing and that a high card was ahead, or she had a hand. But what hand could she have been holding? Surely (K,K) or (A,A) would have reraised preflop, especially as she was last to act. In my head I had already ruled these two possible hands out as the turn fell, which was a (J). She checked the turn to me, and I thought I would put in another raise to try and be sure she had some sort of hand. My 300 raise was reraised to 1500. And again, she looked at her hole cards. With a strong full house, I was considering folding.
Everything she was doing had ‘trap’ written over it, and when I considered that she kept looking back at her hand, I was close to folding, but after much deliberation, I called. The river was a (7), and she led out with a 2500 raise. She was clearly trying to price me in to make a call. So with a strong full house, and having already eliminated her possible hands of aces or kings, there was only one other possibility that I could imagine her holding. If her hand was four of a kind, she had to have called a preflop raise with a hand containing a three. I could only really put her on (A,3), and after some thinking, folded my pocket queens face up.
Congratulations on a great fold then ensued, as she did indeed show the hand of (A,3).
I was unfortunately eliminated from the tournament around 5 hands later when my (9,9) didn’t stand up in a race against (A,J). The great read, and subsequent fold were all for nothing. I was left feeling as though it didn’t matter what I did, winning this tournament for a second time was forever going to elude me.
The Morality of Poker
There are some religions in the world, and even simply communities of people with differing opinions, that think that poker is immoral and wrong. The reasoning behind this being that gambling of any kind is a bad thing, and in some ways I can understand what the sentiment. It is true that some people do become addicted to gambling and it has an adverse affect on their lives, but the same can be said of many things. As with many of life’s enjoyable past times, moderation and personal judgement are key to enjoying gambling in a responsible manner.
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If players are seated at a table in a friendly and sociable atmosphere to risk small amounts of money which they do not mind losing, then I cannot see how this is a bad thing, and certainly not immoral either.
You see, the problem with people who dislike poker and have never played it, is that they have no understanding of the game. It is not about sitting down to feed a craving to gamble, it is about feeding a craving to compete and pit your mind against fellow competitors. This urge to compete and be successful can be found in many walks of life, and poker is no different.
The fact that the game involves something of value being at risk, is coincidental. That is merely the best way to drive competitors to play their best and try and make the best choices during play.
So anybody who feels that playing poker is an unsavoury past time, in my opinion, is simply misguided and misinformed about the game itself. Because although there are a small amount of people who enjoy a good thing too much and do themselves harm, there are millions who find poker a perfect way to bring people together with a common interest, to sit around a table and to socialise and enjoy a game that does not involve a television screen. In the modern day world in which we live, that is a rare and precious thing.