October 2008

Who is the best?

Marcus Bateman / 31 October 2008 / Leave a comment

This is a question in poker that seems to create a huge amount of debate. Who really is the best? Is it Phil Hellmuth, with his record number of bracelets? Is it Doyle Brunson, with his years and years at...Read more »

Beating weak games

Marcus Bateman / 30 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Although weak games can occasionally be found at nearly every limit, mostly they are exclusive to the low stakes. Beating these particular games requires a very different strategy to beating games with thinking players - and requires anyone sitting in...Read more »

Team Betfair lead EPT Budapest

Matthew Pitt / 29 October 2008 / Leave a comment

The European Poker Tour has landed in Budapest, Hungary for the very first time in its history and Team Betfair have ended Day 1a in pole position....Read more »

Volume and variance

Marcus Bateman / 28 October 2008 / Leave a comment

These two concepts are very closely linked in poker. As in any area with probability, the larger your sample size, the closer you get to the actual odds, and the smaller the variance from the correct line there is (as...Read more »

A narrow escape

Matthew Pitt / 27 October 2008 / 3 Comments

I hope you are all sitting down to read this as I have a one-off bit of information for you! Yorkshire Pudding has actually finished a challenge for once, shock horror! In my last post I said I wanted to...Read more »

The Grind

Marcus Bateman / 27 October 2008 / 1 Comments

If you start playing poker for a serious part of your income, you will often start to feel different about the game than you did when you first started. Although the exact things that change are very subjective and person...Read more »

Lincoln marathon longer than London's?

Matthew Pitt / 24 October 2008 / Leave a comment

When John Juanda was crowned the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Champion, the main talking point was the time the final table took to complete. At 22-hours, it was the longest final table in WSOP history, but during the...Read more »

Getting it in last

Marcus Bateman / 24 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Throughout poker literature, great emphasis is placed on being 'first in' - that is, the first player to make a bet (usually an all in) in order to win the blinds late in a tournament - enabling a player's survival....Read more »

Long ball poker

Marcus Bateman / 23 October 2008 / Leave a comment

This is the polar opposite to the small ball strategy in poker. Instead of constantly trying to pick up lots of small pots, a player is attempting to stick to solid hand values, and play large pots with these few...Read more »

Small ball poker

Marcus Bateman / 22 October 2008 / Leave a comment

The concept of 'small ball' poker seems to have first been mentioned regularly by Dan Harrington in his excellent series of no limit hold'em tournament strategy books - entitled Harrington on hold'em....Read more »

Chatting with the pros

Matthew Pitt / 21 October 2008 / 4 Comments

After being woken up at 0400 by a Step Pud that would only go back to sleep in my bed and who then spent the next three hours doing a great Spinning Dervish impression, forcing me onto the bed frame...Read more »

Attacking the blinds

Marcus Bateman / 21 October 2008 / Leave a comment

The single most important feature of poker are the forced bets. Without these, all the action would stagnate, players would only play aces and the game would have died a long time ago. By forcing players to put in a...Read more »

The WSOPE after-party live game report

Nick Cantwell / 20 October 2008 / Leave a comment

A great playwright once said, "All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players". A not so great playwright once said, "Give a man a one-day travelcard and the world is his oyster"....Read more »

The Missing Link

Matthew Pitt / 16 October 2008 / 4 Comments

It is common knowledge that the key to becoming a winning player at the crazy game we call Texas Hold'em is volume, and plenty of it. After all, there are 1,362 possible starting hand combinations (169 if you are not...Read more »

Qualifying for the WSOPE after-party event

Nick Cantwell / 16 October 2008 / Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I received a poker e-mail in my inbox. As one of the four hundred poker e-mails I receive daily, I pretty much ignored it - until I noticed the words "win a share of £25k"...Read more »

A pot odds problem

Marcus Bateman / 15 October 2008 / Leave a comment

This particular mistake is one that many starting players seem to make - and is one that will cost you a fortune if you don't recognise it and adjust to it. I used to habitually make this mistake until I...Read more »

My word, there is a formula

Dave Allan / 15 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Most poker players will declare that there is more to the game (or indeed sport depending on your viewpoint) than just luck as many would have you believe, but there appears to be a growing change in official eyes, writes...Read more »

From Russia With Love

Matthew Pitt / 14 October 2008 / Leave a comment

When Alex Kravchenko made history at the 2007 World Series of Poker by becoming the first Russian native to win a bracelet, little did he know of the effect this victory would have on his fellow countrymen writes Matthew Pitt...Read more »

Importance of self confidence in poker

Marcus Bateman / 14 October 2008 / Leave a comment

'All it takes is confidence' - Bryn Kenney, professional poker player and winner of over one million dollars in online cash games and tournaments....Read more »

An interesting sit and go dynamic

Marcus Bateman / 13 October 2008 / Leave a comment

There is quite a common situation that arises on the bubble of sit and go tournaments that can hugely improve your win rate if you can spot and take advantage of it. It usually comes about when playing three or...Read more »

I am such a geek!

Matthew Pitt / 12 October 2008 / 2 Comments

After doubling my bankroll within the first week of October, I have hardly played any poker. Why? I am not sure to be honest! Last month I simply could not stop playing even though I was losing heavily but this...Read more »

Mercier denies JJ London double

Dave Allan / 10 October 2008 / Leave a comment

London has been a happy hunting ground of late for John Juanda who became the first American to land a gold bracelet at Betfair's World Series of Poker Europe with his victory in the Main Event earlier this month, writes...Read more »

After that big MTT win...what next?

Marcus Bateman / 10 October 2008 / Leave a comment

So it's all finally come together for you, you've bought into a big multi table tournament, you've played your heart out and finally taken down that big score. Time to go pro and buy a new car? Actually probably not...Read more »

The prisoner's dilemma

Marcus Bateman / 10 October 2008 / Leave a comment

The prisoner's dilemma is a problem that is frequently discussed as an example of game theory. It is a simple problem that has some key consequences on poker. Game theory is extremely useful for analysing certain aspects of poker, and...Read more »

Consequences of position in poker

Marcus Bateman / 09 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Following on from the previous article about the importance of moving seats in cash games, I want to look at the broader consequences of seats and position in poker. The first key point is that most of any players profit...Read more »

Changing seats to gain position.

Marcus Bateman / 08 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Situations often arise in cash games where changing seat will give you a larger edge than where you currently are. These situations come up frequently when there are one or two players who seem to be either tilting hard or...Read more »

Martin lands EPT London

Dave Allan / 08 October 2008 / Leave a comment

London has been the focal point of the poker world over the last month or so, not least with the second running of the World Series of Poker Europe at the Casino at The Empire, presented by Betfair, writes Rob...Read more »

"NEWS:" E-Dog swaggers proudly around the house after killing an intruder

Matt Broughton / 06 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Ever since poker pro Erik Lindgren beat a burglar to death with a five iron in his house last month he won't stop parading from room to room like some vigilante king. Lindgren's wife, Jean, is grateful that her husband...Read more »

A Chip, a chair and a cut and shut!

Matthew Pitt / 05 October 2008 / 3 Comments

A couple of months ago I wrote an article for Betfair's WSOP site about the chip and a chair story involving Jack 'Tree Top' Strauss. Anyone who is interested in poker will know the aphorism and on Wednesday night, I...Read more »

John Juanda wins WSOPE 2008 Main Event

Dave Allan / 03 October 2008 / 1 Comments

John Juanda became the first US-based player to win a WSOPE bracelet when finally getting the better of the young Russian Stanislav Alekhin after an epic 22 hour final table battle....Read more »