December 2008

Poker and life aims for 2009

Nick Cantwell / 29 December 2008 / Leave a comment

2009 is nearly upon us, so I thought it time to set some poker and non-poker goals for 2009....Read more »

Keyboard Warriors at Christmas

Matthew Pitt / 27 December 2008 / 5 Comments

Did you all have a good Christmas? I hope so as the Pudding family had a really enjoyable time, even if it was a long, exhausting day! Things got under way at 0500 in the morning when Step-Pud woke up...Read more »

Picking off desperation bluffs

Marcus Bateman / 23 December 2008 / Leave a comment

One of the key leaks in weak players games is that they bluff for very obvious reasons. The most obvious of these is desperation, usually in situations where their hand has missed and the only real option that they have...Read more »

Preparing for 2009

Matthew Pitt / 22 December 2008 / 6 Comments

Since my last post I have set the wheels in motion for a karma increased by giving Leeds General Infirmary my old PlayStation 2 and the games I had with it. In a strange twist of fate, I ended up...Read more »

Man Flu and Poker

Nick Cantwell / 22 December 2008 / Leave a comment

First things first. I've had the flu. And being a man, everyone automatically says that I have "man flu" - which is the same as saying "a slight cold". But I have been genuinely ill...you know how I can tell?...Read more »

Bluffing - How to pull the trigger

Marcus Bateman / 22 December 2008 / Leave a comment

'Pulling the trigger' simply refers to being prepared to fire numerous streets with nothing against any opponent that you feel is weak. This is often an extremely hard thing to do, especially late in tournaments, or when up against players...Read more »

Folding

Marcus Bateman / 19 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Nearly all the money you will ever make from playing poker comes from folding....Read more »

The Live John Crawley Charity Game

Nick Cantwell / 18 December 2008 / Leave a comment

I played in the "John Crawley Benefit" poker game at the Empire, Leicester Square the other week....Read more »

The value in rebuy tournaments

Marcus Bateman / 18 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Rebuy tournaments provide some of the most lucrative action for good tournament players. This is for a few key reasons. Firstly, the ability to rebuy gives a good player numerous shots at building a large stack - very important for...Read more »

Poker and Prejudice

Matthew Pitt / 17 December 2008 / 1 Comments

Often portrayed in films and soap operas as under-hand characters gambling ill-gotten gains in a dingy, smoke-filled warehouse, poker players have a poor reputation in the eyes of the non-playing public....Read more »

Bert and Ernie play the Sunday Million

Nick Cantwell / 17 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Bert and Ernie are sitting in the living room, and Bert is playing the Sunday Million on Pokerstars on his laptop....Read more »

How Good Are You?

Chris Edwards / 16 December 2008 / Leave a comment

After getting into poker I'd always wanted to go see some top players taking part in a big event. A few of us traveled to London for the first WSOPE, not knowing if we would be allowed entry as spectators...Read more »

Controlling your ego

Marcus Bateman / 16 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Ego has bust more players than any other single factor - except perhaps bad tilt (which is very closely linked to ego anyway)....Read more »

Tuff Fish vs Jim Moran

Dave Allan / 16 December 2008 / Leave a comment

We featured the excitable Jim Moran's exploits here on this site earlier this year while Tuff Fish is a living legend who started to record his poker games online a couple of years ago accompanied by his idiosyncratic commentaries....Read more »

The light bulb has finally come on in my brain

Dave Allan / 15 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Dominic Kay, who made the final table of the WSOPE in 2007, recently had another decent live tournament cash at the Luton Christmas Cracker Festival though it was a tournament he very nearly didn't play in.......Read more »

The Slowroll

Marcus Bateman / 15 December 2008 / Leave a comment

The term 'slowroll' refers to when a player is last to act, has either the nuts or a hand so strong they would never consider folding, and is facing an all in, and then sits there deliberating for a while...Read more »

Pud The Philanthropist

Matthew Pitt / 15 December 2008 / 1 Comments

Over the weekend I was sat wondering what I could write in some articles this week, when I decided to make some notes on the various poker related charities. As a poker player, I am aware that to the non-playing...Read more »

The changing story of poker online

Marcus Bateman / 14 December 2008 / Leave a comment

When online poker first started, the only thing you had to know how to do to beat no limit hold'em games was to three bet with hands other than monsters, and make continuation bets at a high frequency....Read more »

Dealing with bad beats

Matthew Pitt / 12 December 2008 / Leave a comment

The term "bad beat" in poker is reserved for when a player loses a hand, despite being a huge mathematical favourite or when a very strong hand loses out to an even stronger one....Read more »

Taking notes

Matthew Pitt / 11 December 2008 / 1 Comments

One of the most important skills a poker player will develop is the ability to take notes on their opponents. Poker is a game of incomplete information, where players have to make decisions based on betting patterns or tells and...Read more »

Playing with very live ones

Marcus Bateman / 11 December 2008 / Leave a comment

I was recently playing a bit of $.50/1 no limit hold'em when a true maniac sat down and started to play....Read more »

Introduction to Razz

Chris Edwards / 10 December 2008 / 2 Comments

Razz is a simple game. It is played identically to 7 Card Stud with one key difference, the lowest hand wins....Read more »

Table dominance

Marcus Bateman / 10 December 2008 / Leave a comment

This is an effect which is frequently forgotten by online players, although one which has, and always will be, a critical feature of poker....Read more »

Whose blind is it anyway?

Marcus Bateman / 09 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Although the fundamental reason that anyone successfully plays poker is to win the forced bets, lots of careful considerations have to be made about quite how you go about it....Read more »

When to tap the glass

Marcus Bateman / 08 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Although for the most part you hardly ever want to tell bad players how bad they really are, occasionally it is profitable and correct to try and get under the skin of bad players through berating them. A great example...Read more »

Full ring or short-handed cash games?

Matthew Pitt / 08 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Cash games are often the bread and butter of a poker professional simply for the fact they have the opportunity to win vast sums of money each and every hand they play, whereas substantial tournament wins are usually few and...Read more »

Mizzi lands first live event

Dave Allan / 07 December 2008 / 1 Comments

Betfair pro Sorel Mizzi has done what he has been threatening to do since turning professional last year - won a major live poker tournament....Read more »

Riding a heater!

Matthew Pitt / 07 December 2008 / 1 Comments

After a couple of month of running like what can only be described as dog shit, I am pleased to report that I am now on some sort of heater, running hotter than the sun and loving playing poker!...Read more »

Betfair Poker By Numbers

Dave Allan / 05 December 2008 / Leave a comment

In an effort to answer the age-old question of whether poker is a game of skill or luck, Betfair Poker have been crunching through the stats on their site, and the results are intriguing. Below are some of the more...Read more »

Switching from tournaments to cash

Nick Cantwell / 05 December 2008 / Leave a comment

I recently made the transition from playing tournament poker exclusively to playing cash poker whenever I hit the tables. And this has been an eye-opener - and has bought with it a complete change of mindset....Read more »

Dealing with tournaments

Marcus Bateman / 04 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Tournament poker is one of the most savage ways to play poker, particularly when playing live. You can easily play for days on end, only to find that all your time was wasted, as some cruel beat, when a few...Read more »

Ace king early in tournaments

Marcus Bateman / 04 December 2008 / Leave a comment

One of the most frequent mistakes you see bad players make is going broke with ace king early in tournaments....Read more »

Don't tap the glass!

Matthew Pitt / 04 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Despite what some crazy American politicians may tell you, poker is a game that needs both skills and luck to succeed in the long term, not just the luck factor....Read more »

Stu Ungar

Marcus Bateman / 03 December 2008 / 2 Comments

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Stu Ungar - who was arguably the greatest poker player who ever lived (even if not the best poker player, he was certainly the greatest gin rummy player ever)....Read more »

Extreme Game Selection

Chris Edwards / 03 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Game selection is a simple concept for the poker player - out of all the games or tournaments on offer to you, find the one you are able to beat the easiest....Read more »

Turbo or Regular?

Matthew Pitt / 03 December 2008 / Leave a comment

A good way to get a feel for playing poker with real money can be by playing sit and go (SnG) tournaments....Read more »

December Goals

Matthew Pitt / 03 December 2008 / 2 Comments

I have had the bright idea to write this blog entry at 0330 in the morning after Step Pud woke up screaming at 0230 as he is scared of the dark and the landing light decided to die last night,...Read more »

Pot Control

Marcus Bateman / 01 December 2008 / Leave a comment

One of the most important things you need to learn to become successful at deep stacked, big bet poker, is to be able to exercise pot control on a regular basis....Read more »