Marcus Bateman

Over betting

Marcus Bateman / 20 November 2009 / Leave a comment

With 'Isildur1' still taking on and beating all comers, it seems a good time to look at one of the aspects of his game that makes him relatively unique amongst the high stakes players - his tendency to over bet...Read more »

When to push edges in tournaments

Marcus Bateman / 19 November 2009 / Leave a comment

Most weak multi table tournament players make two key areas of mistakes when they play in tournaments in terms of when they try and push their perceived edges, and recognising them and taking advantage of them is crucial in taking...Read more »

Poker hierarchy and islands of ability

Marcus Bateman / 18 November 2009 / Leave a comment

One of the greatest features of high stakes poker (and one of the things that makes it such an exciting world to play in or observe) is that you have constantly changing hierarchies. Much like how empire's rise and fall,...Read more »

Sizing players up

Marcus Bateman / 16 November 2009 / Leave a comment

Poker is a game where it is important that you have as many options as possible, not only in your arsenal, but also being used at a frequency that balances your game and makes you hard to read....Read more »

Exploiting edges

Marcus Bateman / 13 November 2009 / Leave a comment

In his excellent book "Amarillo Slim in a world full of fat people" Amarillo Slim makes the excellent observation that: 'You can shear a sheep many times, but only skin him once'....Read more »

Bluffing weak players

Marcus Bateman / 12 November 2009 / Leave a comment

There is an old poker saying that states that you 'cannot bluff an idiot'. Although this statement has its points, it is not completely true, and learning how to bluff very weak players is critical to maximising your win rate....Read more »

Arms races

Marcus Bateman / 10 November 2009 / Leave a comment

Nearly all competitive areas of life fundamentally come down to an 'arms race' between the participants. This is simply because as each individual improves, the others have to catch up, advance further, or die....Read more »

Being table captain

Marcus Bateman / 06 November 2009 / Leave a comment

Table presence is one of the most important features of poker, and establishing yourself as the 'table captain' can pay massive dividends if done correctly....Read more »

Dealing with new players

Marcus Bateman / 02 November 2009 / Leave a comment

When playing online, most of the players you will ever encounter will be completely unknown. This is because most players only play short sessions online, often play different stakes and games depending on their mood, and generally do not become...Read more »

Balancing ranges from early positions

Marcus Bateman / 30 October 2009 / Leave a comment

One of the most important aspects of poker is thinking about how your actions affect your opponent's decision making processes. A great example of this is in balancing your range from early position, and here I want to look at...Read more »

Loose aggressive style and variance

Marcus Bateman / 28 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Many more players are now playing a loose aggressive style than when I first started playing poker. The combination of lots of the very top players in the game exhibiting master classes in this style on TV, and the general...Read more »

Playing the mid stack in MTTs

Marcus Bateman / 27 October 2009 / Leave a comment

One of the hardest stack sizes to play in no limit hold'em is one between ten and twenty big blinds. Below ten big blinds and your life is pretty simple - the only move you have is to go all...Read more »

Grinding down tight players

Marcus Bateman / 24 October 2009 / Leave a comment

A large percentage of the poker players you will ever meet are very tight. They have either been taught - or discovered by themselves - that sticking to only playing premium hands enables them to make money off of weak...Read more »

Being results orientated

Marcus Bateman / 21 October 2009 / Leave a comment

One of the key mistakes weak players make (and a very easy one to spot at that, as players nearly always talk about hands in ways which clearly show this concept), is to be results orientated about a play they...Read more »