The real money in online poker is in the larger multi-table tournaments. Unfortunately this is also where the highest variance is. You can go a long time without cashing so you need a decent bankroll. Dry spells can be frustrating and cause you to change plans and start playing cash instead. That is a big mistake in my opinion.

Unless you have a decent rakeback deal going for you, play high stakes, or are always cashing bonuses (like you are at Ultimate Bet), cash games should be avoided. The rake is just too high. Most sites take 5% with a $3 cap and it’s just too difficult to overcome that at limits where the cap is not being invoked on most hands (which means the average pot size needs to be significantly over $60). You might be a very good player but the rake is going to grind you down and you might not be able to do much better than breaking even in the long run.

Multi-table tournaments on the other hand, have the opposite affect going for them. You lose lot in the short run but you are eventually assured of a worthwhile profits (assuming you are applying good tournament strategy). This is because of the tremendous amount of dead money in MTT’s. I am talking about players who have almost no chance of cashing. There are a ton of them and they more than make up for your entry fees. In other words, they pay for your entry fees and in effect you are always freerolling!

This is why you see online sites willing to back MTT players that have any kind of decent record whatsoever. There is a lot of equity in these things, especially the larger-field tournaments. With a good tourney plan a poker player can parlay himself to a paid exotic vacation for his family, and you might even find yourself on ESPN at some glamorous final table somewhere!

Technorati Tags: Poker, Poker strategy, Poker tournaments

One setup you need to watch out for in poker are situations where you think you are betting your good hand, but in actuality you are bluffing. Now how can that happen, you ask? It’s when you flop what at first glance seems like pretty good hand and bet it - but have to fold if you are raised, and in fact can’t even bet it any more if you are called. So basically if you get called on the flop you are giving up the hand. This happens all the time in No Limit Hold’em, especially in cash games of any significant size.

Suited connectors and trouble hands are both notorious for putting you in this spot. Here is an example:

You are on the button, everybody folds, you make your standard preflop raise, and only the big blind calls. The flop comes:

He checks and you bet about 75% of the pot, your standard continuation bet on the flop. He then comes over the top for a large raise.

It now doesn’t matter whether you have the hand that you have, AK, J10, pocket fives, or any of the other many hands that you would make the same play with in this situation (raise from the button and make a standard continuation bet). You have to abandon the hand. So you weren’t really betting top pair were you? It was just a standard continuation bet-bluff on the flop for all practical purposes.

Now, suppose he just calls. Other than the two remaining nines and the three remaining eights, what card can possibly hit the board that would cause you to do anything other than try to check the hand down and abandon ship for any action except a meek-looking bet on the river? Truth be told, even if an eight or nine hits and he comes out swinging I am not all that thrilled in a cash game with deep stacks - that’s a good way to get broke.

So you see, sometimes you hit the flop and it just doesn’t matter - you play it the same way you would if you missed it. By the way, if you would call the flop check-raise on the flop with this hand please tell me where you will be playing tonight!

Technorati Tags: Poker strategy, Poker, No limit holdem

Are you a Kill Phil tournament player? If so, I consider your game to be pretty weak. That being said, there are some useful applications for even a strong player in this controversial little book by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson. And following this playing style is a heck of a lot better than your otherwise total fish-newbie approach might be. But if you have been playing for a while, it’s time to get real. Step up and become a player.

This book was written for people that don’t have any game whatsoever, in an effort to give them at least some chance to progress in a poker tournament. And for that purpose, it works. If you Grandmother gives it a quick read before the after Thanksgiving dinner family poker tournament, she has a decent chance of doing all right.

It’s basically a list of hands to go all-in with before the flop. I mean, that’s about it. The book wants you to avoid having to actually play poker. No situational decisions, just go all-in whenever you have AK, AQs, or a pocket pair above fours. Nothing to it. Kind of sickening to a real poker player.

What’s surprising is how well that strategy actually performs in the early stages of a tournament. The reason is, so many other players are willing to flip coins with you for your stack. They want to build a big stack early or bust out and enter another tournament. Also, medium pocket pairs like 88 through JJ are so difficult to play after the flop that it really is better to just go all-in with them - that is, in a tournament! Try that in a cash game (of any reasonable size) and expect to do rather poorly.

Me, I’ll keep calling with my pocket pairs and trying to make a set on you. A Kill Phil player is going to have a very difficult time reaching the final table. Winning 7 or 8 coin flips in a row is hard!

Technorati Tags: Poker, Kill phil, Poker books