Phil Gordon

Once I am involved in a hand, many of the actions I take after the flop are automatic, or nearly automatic. Therefore, the most important decision I have to make in No Limit Hold ‘em takes place before the flop:

Should I play the two cards I’ve been dealt?

When I first started learning how to play, I reviewed the standard charts that suggest which two cards to play from each position. But while they provided useful guidelines, the charts don’t tell the whole story.

Poker is not a game that is best played by the numbers. Poker is a game of situations.

In blackjack, there is always a correct decision to be made – a “perfect strategy.” Once you have compared the strength of your hand against the dealer’s “up” card, the odds will — or at least should — dictate whether you should hit, stand, split, etc.

Poker, however, is a game of incomplete information. There are many factors to consider that go above and beyond what “the book” tells you to do. Some of them include:

• My opponents’ tendencies
• My state of mind
• My opponent’s state of mind
• Our respective stack sizes
• My image at the table

Computer programs can look up hands in a chart. Real poker players analyze situations and make their own decisions after processing all of the available information. I might raise with A-J from early position in one game, and fold the same hand from the same position in another.

A good chart can help give a very specific set of circumstances, namely:

• You are the first person to voluntarily put money into the pot and are going to come in for a raise of about three times the big blind
• You don’t know much about your opponents
• All the players at the table have an average-size stack
• The blinds are relatively small in relation to the size of the stacks

When the above things aren’t true, you’ll want to look beyond the charts.

If you’re a new player, these tables are a great place to start. The more poker you play, however, the more comfortable you will feel letting your experience and your instincts serve as your guide.

Erick Lindgren

Most players eventually realize that it’s fun and fairly easy to play at multiple online tables at one time. Early in my career, I played as many as eight games at once on a daily basis. Here are some tips and instructions for playing multiple games:

1. Increase the resolution on your monitor. You can do this by right clicking on the desktop, then clicking on Properties, then clicking on Settings. You can then grab the arrow in the Screen Resolution area and move it to a smaller resolution.

If possible, use the 1,600 x 1,200 setting to get up to four games on one screen without overlap. In order to maximize your screen area, make sure your video card and monitor support higher resolution settings.

2. Once you get into playing more than one game, the best way for you to keep up with the action is to look for hands you can fold automatically. Use advance actions. That will help you pay more attention to the game you have a real hand in.

3. Play the same game at every table. It will help you avoid mistakes in reading and playing your hand, and you’ll find it easier to get into a good rhythm.

4. Most importantly: Track who has raised the pot. Make sure you make a mental note of this since it is the key to how you will play your hand later. It sounds simple, but it is easy to get in a pot and not recall who raised when you’re playing more than one game.

5. Make sure you take some breaks. When I used to play eight games, I was an animal. I would run to the bathroom and every screen would be beeping at me. Take a few breaks. The games will still be there when you get back.

Playing multiple games is a lot of fun and I hope to see you at the table. Or tables.

How To Win At Tournament Poker, Part 2

Chris Ferguson

Last week I talked about not adjusting for tournament play, answered three specific tournament questions, and stressed that there is little difference between tournament strategy and ring game strategy. This week, I would like to expand on that by answering a fourth question, and address the two situations where it’s right to deviate from simply playing your best game.

The fourth question: Surely the different payout structure between ring games and tournaments means something, doesn’t it?

Yes, tournaments differ from live action in that you are rewarded for how long you last, rather than for how many chips you accumulate.

In ring game poker, the chips you save by folding are just as valuable as the chips you win by playing. In tournament play, the chips you save are actually more valuable.

Consider a typical $1,000 buy-in tournament with 100 players, where first place is worth $40,000 out of a total prize pool of $100,000.

At the beginning of the tournament everyone has 1,000 in chips with a value of $1,000. The eventual winner will have 100,000 in chips and, in live action, would be entitled to a prize of $100,000. In a tournament, that same $100,000 is worth only $40,000, meaning that, at the end, each 1,000 in chips is only worth $400. As your stack grows, the value of each additional chip decreases, which means you want to be slightly more averse to taking unnecessary risks in tournaments than you might be in live action. (And if you are at all averse to taking risks in live action, you’re probably playing over your bankroll.) Don’t overcompensate for tournament play. Most people would be better off making no changes at all, rather than the changes that they do make.

Having said all this, there are two cases where adjusting will help:

1. When you are just out of the money.

If you are short stacked, you need to be very careful when committing your chips, especially with a call.

If you have a large stack, look for opportunities to push the short and medium stacks around – especially the medium stacks. These players will be a lot less likely to want a confrontation with you, and it should be open season on their blinds and antes.

If you have a medium or small stack, you need to be a bit more careful. Remember, though, that the other players – even the larger stacks – don’t want to tangle with you. They just want to steal from you without a fight. Be prepared to push them around a little, and even to push back occasionally when they try to bully you. This often turns into a game of Chicken between the bigger stacks to determine which large stack will let the other steal most of the blinds.

2. At the final table.

Very little adjustment is necessary until you are one player away from the final table. Here, again, you should tighten up slightly because this is the next point where the payout structure handsomely rewards outlasting other players.

Look for opportunities to push around the other players, and the smaller stacks in particular. This is good advice throughout the final table.

What about heads up?

There are no more tournament adjustments necessary. You are essentially playing a winner take all freeze-out for the difference between first and second place.

Remember: Tournament adjustments should be subtle. It is rare that your play would be dramatically different in a tournament. When in doubt, just play your best game. And if you never adjust from that, you’ve got a great shot of winning, no matter what game you’re playing.

Chris Ferguson

People often ask very specific questions about how to be a winning tournament player:

• How many chips am I supposed to have after the first two levels?
• Should I play a lot of hands early while the blinds are small, then tighten up later as the blinds increase?
• I seem to always finish on the bubble. Should I tighten up more as I get close to the money, or try to accumulate more chips early on?

Surprisingly, all three questions have the same answer:

Stop trying to force things to happen. Just concentrate on playing solid poker, and let the chips fall where they may.

In fact, that’s the best answer for almost any specific tournament question. Here is a more useful question:

How much of a difference is there between ring game strategy and tournament strategy?

The answer: Not as much as you think.

Before you worry about adjusting for tournaments, concentrate on adjusting for the other players. The most important skill in poker is the ability to react to a wide range of opponents playing a wide range of styles. Players who can do this will thrive in both ring games and tournaments alike.

Many of the most costly tournament mistakes are the result of players over-adjusting for tournament play. Let’s look at these questions again:

How many chips am I supposed to have after the first two levels?

The short answer is: As many as you can get.

Play your cards. Play your opponents. Do not try to force action simply because you think you “need” to have a certain number of chips to have a chance of winning. You should be thinking about accumulating more chips, while trying to conserve the chips you already have. The more chips you have, the better your chances of winning. The fewer chips you have, the worse your chances.

Forget about reaching some magical number. There is no amount below which you have no shot, nor is there any amount above which you can be guaranteed a victory. A chip and a chair is enough to win, and enough to beat you. Getting fixated on a specific number is a good way to ensure failure. Next question:

Should I play a lot of hands early while the blinds are small, and then tighten up later as the blinds increase?

Your play shouldn’t change much as the tournament progresses. Gear your play to take maximum advantage of your opponents, irrespective of how far along the tournament is. Most players are too loose in the early stages of a tournament. Rather than become one of these players, adjust for their play instead:

• Attempt to steal the blinds less often
• Call more raises
• Re-raise more frequently

Likewise, when opponents typically tighten up later on, you should steal more often and be less inclined to get involved in opened pots. Again, this should be a reaction to the way your opponents are playing, not an action based on any particular stage of the tournament.

Last question: I seem to always finish on the bubble. Should I tighten up more as I get close to the money to avoid this, or try to accumulate more chips early on?

Usually the people asking this question are already tightening up too soon before reaching the money. In other words, they are over-adjusting to tournament play. Not only is it incorrect to tighten up considerably before you are two or three players from the money, doing so is the surest way to finish on or near the bubble. Just play your best, most aggressive game, and try not to let your stack dwindle to a point where you can’t protect your hand with a pre-flop all-in raise. If you do, your opponents will be getting the right pot odds to call, even with weak hands. Look for opportunities to make a move before you let this happen, even if it means raising with less than desirable holdings.

Next time, I will address the two situations where adjusting your game will help.

Phil Gordon

Everyone makes mistakes. The thing is, a good player will learn from them while a bad player will make the same mistake over and over again. And poker players that can exploit these mistakes will win.

Here are some of the most common mistakes that bad players make and my usual methods for exploiting them:

A player doesn’t bluff enough. When these players bet or raise, I usually give them credit for a good hand. When they check, I will usually bet to try and take the pot.

A player overvalues top pair. The “average” winning hand in Hold ‘em is two pair. Yet many players are willing to take tremendous risks with top pair. When I have a hand that can beat a player who overvalues his top pair, I will over-bet the pot and put them into a position to make a big mistake. I go out of my way to play small pocket pairs against these players because I know that if I flop a set, I’m likely to get paid off in a huge way.

A player under-bets the pot. It is incredibly important, especially in No Limit Hold ‘em, to make bets large enough to punish opponents for their draws. When a player under-bets the pot and I have a draw, I take advantage of their mistake by just calling the small bet. When I think I have him beat, I’ll make a raise.

A player calls too much. I will very rarely bluff against a “calling station.” I will, however, make value bets throughout the hand.

A player tightens up under pressure. Most bad players “squeeze” too much in the middle stages of a tournament, or when they’re on the bubble. They tighten up and wait for a huge hand. Against these players, I will play a lot looser, looking to steal a larger share of the blinds and antes.

A player telegraphs the strength of his hand with “tells.” I am always observing these players, whether I am in the hand or not.

Playing perfect poker may be nearly impossible for most players but, by recognizing your own tendencies – and those of your opponents – you’re much more likely to limit your mistakes and capitalize on the weaknesses of others at the table.

This lesson is from Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book of No Limit Hold’em Simon Spotlight Entertainment, Sept 2005.

John Juanda

I’m at Foxwoods playing the $2,000 No Limit Hold ‘em event. We all started with $3,000 and now I’ve got $15,000. At my table is Richard Tatalovitch, a player whom I’ve competed against many times.

I raise pre-flop from middle position with K-J offsuit and Richard calls from the big blind. The flop comes 9-6-4 with two diamonds on the board.

Richard hesitates for a moment before checking, and I put in a pot-sized bet. Richard thinks for a while and calls. All of a sudden, I don’t like my hand — so much.

Imagine my relief when a non-diamond J hits the turn. Now I have top pair and a pretty good kicker. Then Richard comes out betting. Uh-oh.

Now, let me back up a moment and mention that when someone hesitates before checking, it’s usually a huge tell. But Richard is the king of delayed action, so I ignored his tell and bet the flop anyway. And his bet on the turn just screams, “Raise me! I dare you!”

I go into the tank and my thoughts go something like this:

1. He flopped a set. That explains the smooth call on the flop – he’s trying to trap me into staying, hoping I’ll bet the turn, too.

2. No. If he had a set, he’d have checked the turn and waited for me to hang myself right then and there, or let me catch something on the river. He can’t have a set.

3. The jack helped him. I don’t have the jack of diamonds. Maybe he does, and he called the flop with a jack-high flush draw. If so, I like my kicker and my hand.

4. He’s betting on the come with a flush or straight draw and is hoping to buy the pot right there.

I run through these possibilities and reach no conclusion.

Normally, I would just call here. We both have a lot of chips, and I don’t want to put them all in with nothing but top pair. Then, I have the misfortune to remember a hand from a month earlier at Bellagio:

Richard had been running bad and was complaining about a string of horrific beats. I saw him check and call with top boat because he was afraid of quads! A guy that afraid of monsters under the bed isn’t going to check-call top set on the flop with a flush draw out there.

“All in!” I declared.

Oops. This is now a Big Pot. And rest assured, top pair doesn’t even resemble a Big Hand.

In the four years I’ve been playing with him, I’ve never seen him call so fast. I am drawing dead to his perfectly-played 9-9.

Sometimes, we all forget that big cards don’t always equal a big hand and that the smart move can be to play conservatively instead of going for the quick kill. As for Richard – he had the good sense to be in a Big Pot with a Big Hand, and the patience to make it pay off.

Erick Lindgren

Last week I offered an example of a hand where asking the right question – “Why’d you bet so much?” – netted me a sizeable pot.

This week, I’ll show how a very different question at the same tournament proved equally effective.

Case Two:

Today, I start my table as the chip leader with more than double the average stack. This is a tougher table, with Annie Duke, Bill Gazes, Casey Kastle, and Lee Salem.

An older gentleman at the table is raising and reraising a lot of pots, and generally, playing wildly. Like the Cowboy from a day earlier, he is definitely today’s mark. He’s got Casey, who’s stuck on his right, especially frustrated. The three times Casey brings it in for a raise, the old man reraises, and Casey throws his hand away. This hand, Casey limps in for $1,200. Annie, Lee, and another player all call.

I’m pretty sure I have the best hand with A-T, and raise it $5K. I expect to win the pot right there, and am rather unhappy when Casey quickly says “All in” for a total bet of $25K. It’s folded back to me, and I am now faced with a decision for half my chips.

Here, Casey is representing that he limped in with A-A hoping for a raise behind him so he could reraise all-in. This is a typical slow play in our game. But his play here doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t Casey have been more than happy to raise with his A-A, knowing the older gentleman would reraise him? I look at Casey hoping to get a read, but he is frozen like a kid playing statue.

I need more information, so I try to get Casey to acknowledge that I’m still in the hand, or at the very least, that he’s still alive. I ask if he limped with aces and I still get no reaction. I then say, “Can you beat queen high?” He finally looks up, smirks, and says, “Yeah, I can beat queen high.”

Now, some people in poker like to lie about their hands. Here, it felt like Casey was happy to be able to tell the truth in response to what is, admittedly, a pretty silly question. After all, if I can’t beat queen high, why am I even thinking of calling?

Now I feel certain that Casey is holding K-T, K-J, or K-Q suited. I have him. “I’m not buying it,” I say as I push in my chips. “Good call,” he says and turns over K-T of diamonds. I proudly showed my A-T and it holds up, winning me the $50K pot.

Sometimes a simple question can return a very profitable answer. Remember though, information flows two ways at the tables, so be sure that you’re getting more information than you’re giving.

Erick Lindgren

All Talk and No Action,
A Two-Part Lesson from Erick Lindgren

You can learn a lot by listening. You can learn almost as much by talking, if you ask the right questions.

The following occurred at a tournament at Bellagio in 2004.

I draw a very good first table and recognize only two faces. They are solid pros, neither of whom is very aggressive. I know I can take control of the table and quickly look around to find the best targets. I notice an older gentleman in a cowboy hat who’s involved in too many pots and decide he’s my mark. My plan is to bluff him at first opportunity and do anything I can to get under his skin. I want him to view me as a young hot-shot, with the hopes that he’ll bully me later when I have the goods.

I chop away at some small pots and my $20K starting stack is now $43K when Cowboy and I finally get to lock horns. I’ve been raising a lot of hands and splashing my chips around a bit. In this case, the blinds are $200-$400, and I bring it in for $1,200 with pocket jacks. I get three callers, including Cowboy, in the big blind. The flop comes 7h 4c 4h and the small blind checks. It’s Cowboy’s turn, and he pushes all in. He looks proud, firing his $37K into a $5K pot.

I’m completely befuddled. What’s going on? I can’t make any sense of it. There’s a player to act behind me, but he’s only got $3K – he isn’t going to matter at all in this hand. My best bet here is to get Cowboy to talk. “Why’d you bet so much?” I ask. He tells me to call and find out.

I make a list of his possible hands: A-x hearts for the nut flush draw. Pocket eights, maybe. Or a random berzerko bet with a pair of sevens. After a minute or two of deliberation, I call. He flips up T-7c for one pair! He fails to improve and I now have $80K, and am ready to roll.

It’s important to know who your weaker players are. Concentrate on playing against them and finding ways to get them to make a big mistake. You can’t count on the pros to make those mistakes. In this particular case, I knew he was getting tired, and through a few verbal jabs, I was able to make myself his target.

Next week, a similar question with a very different answer yields an equally large profit.

‘This is the toughest field I have ever played against,’ said Tom McEvoy, upon winning the World Champions Invitational. He was awarded the first-ever Binion Cup, named for the Binion family who founded the WSOP forty years ago. Poker patriarch Jack Binion was on hand along with WSOP President Jeffrey Pollack to present the cup to McEvoy.

McEvoy has 38 WSOP in-the-money finishes and is the 1983 world champion. He holds four WSOP gold bracelets-limit hold ‘em (1983), the main event (1983), razz (1986), and Omaha/8 (1992), and 38 WSOP in-the-money finishes.

‘I told all my friends that I wanted to win this tournament more than anyone else,’ McEvoy, the author of 12 books on poker strategy, stated in a post-tournament interview. ‘I think I have been losing some respect because I have not won in some time, and I wanted this to regain that respect.’

The World Champions Invitational attracted the largest collection of WSOP current and former world … Continue reading Tom McEvoy Defeats 19 Other Former Main Event Winners-Captures Binion Cup at WSOP’s World Champions

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Jennifer Harman

Being a winning player isn’t only about playing good cards – it’s also about making good decisions. And there is one important decision you face every time you sit down in a cash game: Should I quit, or should I keep playing?

When should you keep playing?

I see so many players playing short hours when they’re winning, and long hours when they’re losing. It should be the other way around.

When you are winning in the game, at least a few of the other players must be losing. And when your opponents are losing, they often aren’t playing their best. But you are.

When you’re winning, other players fear you; you have a good table image. And when you have a good table image, you can get away with things that you can’t seem to when you’re losing. For one thing, you can bluff more. Usually a losing player is scared to get involved with a winning player, so it’s easier for you to pick up pots. You can represent more hands than you actually have because your opponents believe you’re hitting every flop.

The only time to quit when you’re winning is when you are tired, or when you start playing badly.

When should you call it a day?

Many players can’t seem to quit when they are losing. You have to remember that there will always be another poker game — if not tomorrow, then the day after, or the week after. I like to think of poker as one continuous game going on for my whole career. So, if I’m losing more than 30 big bets in the game, I usually quit.

There are a couple of reasons I do this: For one, if I lose a ton of money in one day, I don’t feel so hot the next day. That means if I go in to play the next day, I might not be able to play my best game. I might actually have to take a few days off to get my head straight. Another reason is that when I’m losing more than 30 bets, I might not be playing that well. I might think I’m playing my “A” game, but in reality, I’m probably not. You can’t be as objective about your play when you’re losing. After all, we are not robots; we’re just human beings.