Texas holdem poker in the WSOP
Poker games, not basketball or football, are the oldest, largest and most widely followed gaming competition in the world. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) began in 1970 as an exclusive match between the six legendary players of that time. Since then, its following has grown to massive numbers of people, amounting to thousands while its cash prize has grown to millions. Last 2006 its main event alone reached a record high of 8773 participants with a first place cash prize of $12,000,000.
The WSOP gaming season is made up of 55 televised poker competitions. It culminates with its main event, a $10,000 no-limit Texas Holdem poker competition between the best players in the world. Recently, Europe followed suit in 2004, coming out with its own European Poker Tour (EPT), also a series of televised poker competitions.
While only four years old, the value of EPT buy-ins have quickly caught up to the current standard. One difference however is that its final table is composed of eight players instead of the usual six.
This intense game of wits, luck and deceit has easily become a favorite among viewers. While many people are not able to participate in the WSOP or the EPT, amateur but passionate players can hone their skills through online poker tournaments. Avid fans are also able to satiate their hunger for the latest poker updates and commentaries through Littlewoods poker blog. If you’re interested in hearing more about the high rolling world of poker, you can go to Littlewoods poker for the latest poker action.
Using a Stop Loss
One common problem that Holdem Poker players experience is not being able to get away from the table when they are in a losing session. Players will leave a table early to preserve a win but will stick around for hours to try and chase lost money. As a result they end up losing more money than was necessary for a session.
Recently a friend of mine was having this problem and one solution that I suggested to him to help to keep losses down is to institute a stop loss. A stop loss is a system that a poker player sets up to limit the amount of money the player loses in a day. The way it works is simple. If you reach the limit that you set, you leave the game or quit for the day.
Stop losses come in two types. The first is a session stop loss. This sets a limit for the player for each individual session. Let’s say you play No Limit and you set a stop loss at 3 buy-ins per session. If you lose, you leave the game. This is a simple plan but it does come with a potential pitfall. Let’s say that you play a session and go on a bad streak and leave the session. You could just as easily buy-in to another table or at a later time in the day.
The type of stop loss that I personally recommend is a daily stop loss. This type of stop loss sets a limit relative to the limits that you are playing. If you reach your stop loss for the day, you are done for the day. For example, many players will set their stop loss at 30 big bets. If you are playing $5-$10 Limit Holdem, 30 big bets is $300. If you lose $300 in a day, you leave the game and come back another day. The main reason that most stop losses are 30 big bets is that it is very hard to win more than 30 big bets in a day in a typical Limit game. Five buy-ins to a NL game is about the equivalent.
Stop losses are great tools, but a player must have the discipline to follow their stop loss regardless of the game. There are some players that will stay in a “good game” and lose more money just because the game is good. Seldom will you be able to recover 30 big bets or 5 buy-ins in a single session once it is lost. What you risk is putting yourself further in the red.
A big key to managing ones bankroll is to keep loses at a minimum. Tools such as the stop loss will allow you to get away from a game when you are running bad. This in turn will help to preserve your bankroll and allow you to come back and fight another day. Good luck to you at the tables.
Differences in Limit and No Limit Holdem
Many players starting to play Texas Holdem since 2003 have begun their poker education with No Limit Holdem. For many players, this is the only type of Holdem that they have played. Whether it is due to bankroll considerations or due to wanting to improve their overall poker game, many players eventually take a look at playing Limit Holdem. For many, the transition from No Limit to Limit can be a difficult one. Let’s take a look at a few pointers to help make the transition smoother.
First, in Limit Holdem your objective is to win pots and bet, not stack. This concept is alone makes playing Limit a lot tougher than No Limit for some. In No Limit, one or two pots can erase a deficit and make you a winner for a session. The same is not true in Limit Holdem. Limit Holdem is more of a slow grind and building a profit is the end goal and not one that can be hit by sucking out on one big hand on the river.
Next, Limit Holdem is much more math driven than No Limit Holdem. You need to have a strong grasp on odds and statistics to become a successful Limit Holdem player. You don’t need to know the winning percentage of 10-9 vs. 7-8 for example but you do need to know what type of price the pot is laying to you and pot odds. There are many times that you will make a call in Limit Holdem based not on the fact that you are winning but due to the fact that a pot is laying huge odds. For example, if you hold bottom pair and the pot is laying 13 to 1 to you, you are likely going to call a bet on the river even if you know you are beat. About the only way you would fold here is if the player has flashed you his cards.
Bluffing is much more difficult to do in Limit Holdem. The main reason is that many players take the “oh it’s only one bet” mentality. Other times it is due to the fact that they are getting pot odds to call. One common complaint from No Limit players is that they “cannot push a person off a hand.” I am not saying that you cannot bluff in Limit Holdem, but I am saying that it will not work with nearly the same frequency as No Limit.
You will also draw more frequently in Limit Holdem than in No Limit due to the fact that you will have proper odds to draw. Again, the inability to push players off draws is another common complaint by No Limit players.
For those switching from No Limit to Limit, prepare for a bit of a challenge and prepare for a bit of frustration. Playing Limit takes a different skill set but it is a game that can be mastered with a bit of preparation and practice. Good luck to you at the tables.
Why you should use poker tracking software regardless of the limits that you play
PokerTracker, Sit N Go Power Tools, Sit N Go Shark, do any of these names sound familiar to you? If they don’t, you are probably making more deposits than withdrawals into your poker account. In this day of poker, if you do not have at least one of the many forms of poker tracking software that are on the market, you are merely begging to have your cash taken by players that are willing to out the $100 or so to know every last detail of how you play the game.
Check out the poker forums online and read about how people get called down by the same players time and again with nothing and they end up losing all kinds of hands on a bluff. Do you think that is merely coincidence? Is it a conspiracy? No, more than likely the other players have poker software that tells them that they do this all the time and are taking a shot against a very loose aggressive player.
While the software is generally sold on the basis that you can data mine information on other players, there are also other benefits to consider. First and foremost, you can get add ones to the software that will not only enable you to store all of their information, but you can also have it up on your screen in real time to help you make decisions against the player your are up against.
By using this software, you are able to track every move that you would consider to be important during the course of the hand. How much money they win or lose overall. How many times they follow up a pre-flop raise with a continuation bet. How often they call down to the river and win. Their win percentage when they check raise on the river. You don’t think this kind of stuff is useful regardless of the level that you play at?
In addition to mining other player’s information, you are also getting all of your data stored. You can tell when you are falling into a pattern during an individual session and you are also able to start to analyze your play offline. This is where the software really helps your game.
Imagine having a frustrating session and losing a small mint. Your mind is not clear and your probably forget the hands as soon as you shut down your system for the day. Once you get off of tilt, you can go back and use the video playback feature and see where you made your mistakes. You may not like what you see sometimes, but it will make you a better player.
Of course there is the question of the money. Your argument is that you only buy in for $50 at a time and play micro-limits. You see no use in spending a $100 on software at that level. Then ask yourself how many deposits you have made and how much if ever you have withdrawn. Also ask yourself how many other micro players have the same attitude. That software will pay for itself if you use it right regardless of the level of player you are. This can end up being the best investment you ever made in poker.
How are poker bots raking online money?
Sophisticated card-playing robots – known as “poker bots” – have now been playing online for years and the trend is accelerating. The increasing activity on poker bots forums and the growing interest generated by the annual poker bot competition (organized by the university of Alberta) are prime indicators of this trend.
Of course, online poker rooms have been fighting bots since the beginning as it hurts their revenues but, detecting bots is becoming more challenging every day as bots improve their counter-detection measures. While Full Tilt, one of the leading online poker rooms, recently successfully detected a network of bots (and redistributed the seized bankrolls, thousands of dollars, to the fooled human opponents), it only shows the tip of the iceberg.
This increasing presence of online poker bots proves, if still needed, that it is a very lucrative business to be in. But how are poker bots raking online money? In other words, how come poker bots are so successful against human players?
Thomas Kessler, founder of http://www.MyPokerCoach.net (a free Poker coaching service based on a leading bot), explains what makes poker bots so strong:
In the long run, poker bots are winning against humans and this can easily be explained by a number of bots’ intrinsics:
-
Analytical power: bots have, already today, a massive amount of analytical power and it is going to further double every two years as computers become more powerful. Our bot, for instance, simulates ~5 million situations at the Flop in less than a second to perfectly assess the current hand strength and the possible outcomes. Something a human player will obviously never match
-
Lifelong memory: can you remember how the opponent sitting next to you last month was playing? Bots have a memory that will never fail. They can remember all their opponent’s previous actions and playing style. In our case, we store all the observed moves (even if our bot isn’t in the hand) in a large database and, next time we play against the same opponent – even in 3 years, we already know his playing style.
-
Discipline: most humans are open to emotions and are sometimes looking for adrenaline in a game. Bots are disciplined and will, for instance, never go on a tilt. Discipline is key in poker and always pays off in the long run.
-
Game richness: there are many great poker strategy books out there but most players remember less than 20% of it and they often over-use the few strategies they remember. Bots can learn a large set of strategies and only apply them when most appropriate.
-
Patience: who likes to fold 80% of his hands without seeing the Flop? Bots will only play hands that should be played, even if they’ll have to spend most of their time watching opponents playing (and collecting information on their playing style).
When asked what human players can do to defeat bots, Thomas says: to increase your chances against bots you should definitely train yourself with them to learn their play pattern (www.MyPokerCoach.net genuinely provides a free poker bot) and you should frequently change your online ID so that bots can’t rely on their historic database when playing against you. So, next time you play online, ask yourself if you’re ready to play against bots!
About MyPokercoach.net
Created by voluntary Artificial Intelligence developers, http://www.MyPokerCoach.net provides a free online poker coach that has recently proven to be stronger than Poker Academy Pro 2 (the leading commercial poker software).
Women Poker Players Can Be Tricky Too
Men need to be careful when playing women. Before some of you give me the “Yeah, we know this” look, let me convey a story. I was playing in a Pot Limit holdem tournament in 2007 in Las Vegas. There was a very well endowed middle aged woman that a lot of men liked to flirt with. This woman was not drop dead gorgeous or anything like that, but she had a certain feisty way about her that men were drawn to.
This woman was sitting to my right for a good portion of the second half of the tournament. A lot of her raises went unchallenged preflop. If they were challenged past the flop, she almost always won the pot on the river. There were a couple of times that she literally flirted her way out of a guy betting into her. One time a guy was reaching for Poker chips, she looked at the guy, reached down and squeezed her breast together and gave the guy a sly look. The guy laughed so hard that he decided to check. Of course, the river card completed her draw and she won the hand.
Well later on, this woman and I were in a hand together. I happened to flop a straight, but there was a potential flush draw on the board. She bet out and I went to raise. She touched my arm and went, “You would raise little old me would you?” My reply, “Pot.” She just gave me a look as to say, “I can’t believe you did this?” She called the bet. The turn fell a blank and the bet was checked to me. I potted again and the woman folded.
Shortly afterwards we all went on break. The woman and I got back early and she started talking to me and was trying to flirt with me. Now, this woman was a good 10 to 12 years older than me at the time so it really wasn’t phasing me any. I happened to mention that I liked the breast squeeze move that she did against another opponent. She looks at me and said, “It didn’t work on your huh?” By this point most of the players at our table were taking their seats. My reply to her was, “Nope. You stopped being a woman the moment you sat down at the table.”
The other guys at the table looked at me like I was a fool. The woman knew exactly what I meant however. She looked at me and said, “I understand.” I had been paying close attention and knew that she was a local and played regularly at a different casino. A lot of the players here did not know her. I didn’t know her either but I know her type. She is the type who can actually play poker, but also likes playing the men at the table.
Unfortunately for the men, she has worked her routine so well that they fall for it. The men at the table commented for a few minutes that “We know she is a woman” etc. That was fine by me. The guys didn’t notice the boyfriend that was sitting on the rail constantly watching her progress. I did. One thing that the other guys didn’t notice afterwards is that she didn’t play in a hand with me at all unless she had a really strong hand. She had lost her edge and knew she had to play to beat me. She was a very competent player and actually finished 3rd in the tournament.
What is the point of my little story above? Women in Online Poker today have not only learned how to play the game, but some have begun to play the player by using men’s own hormones against them. Women even recommend that other women use this as a tactic. Annie Duke mentioned in her biography that other women should use this tactic.
I actually agree with Annie. If you are capable of competently playing the ditzy, flirty poker player that is just there to have fun, feel free.
When you see a fairly attractive woman sit down at your table, watch a few things about her if she is overly flirty or chatty with the other men. Pay attention to when she talks to them and whether she changes the way she acts while she is in a hand. I have seen women do everything from start somewhat distracting conversations to give puppy dog eyes to their male opponents. The puppy dog eyes were actually quite cute, as was the face when I bet into her. (Of course, it was a limit game so she called.)
Older women will actually try certain “friendly” techniques to try and distract their male opponents or younger opponents. I have heard the “you wouldn’t bet your grandmother” or “you wouldn’t bet an old lady would you” more times than you would believe. I actually know this older woman player in Atlantic City that is the master of “playing friendly.” She is actually a very nice lady away from the table, but I have seen her draw more free cards by smiling and talking polite than any other person I know. She even has a little “friendly check” that she does. Of course, when she wants to bet she goes from friendly to the “you better not call me” face. I enjoy playing with her and when I want free cards, I give her the “friendly check” right back.
Of course not all women are going to use these types of tactics. Some will try and hold their own with the men at the table because of either ego or because they want to earn your respect. As with all things poker, every situation is different. These examples were given to help you look out for some potential pitfalls when playing against female opponents. Women can be just as tricky as us guys. The difference is that women usually have more self control and have a few more tricks that their male opponents.
Viktor Blom names himself best heads up NLHe player
Online success story “Isildur1”, who is now known to be Swede Viktor Blom, has discussed the extremes of his high stakes game in a comprehensive interview granted to a national newspaper in his home country.
The interview has been published as both a written piece and a video interview (both in Swedish) which have caused excitement across the poker world. In the interview, translated about as badly as Babelfish or other ‘bots can do such things in such as places as a TwoPlusTwo thread, Blom claims he is “probably” the best No Limit Texas Holdem Poker player around at the moment – in heads up play that is.Since revealing his identity last week, Viktor Blom has become a hot, new national property in Sweden as well as granting interviews to the poker press during the PCA tournament in the Bahamas where his sponsor chose to unmask his online persona “Isildur1”. This week, Aftonbladet, a national newspaper interview has probed the mind and short career of the 20-year-old.
The Swedish professional claims he has no problem with losing when playing other types of poker as he can always win money playing heads up NLHe. After begining to play poker at the age of 14, Blom reveals that he became good at the game by the age of 18 and from there invested the infamous Swedish equivalent of $2,000 into his Full Tilt Poker account and went on to make 2,000,000 in just three weeks (this story has been reported with many variations on the “facts” in a number of poker publications in recent times.
Blom says he plays poker “because I believe it is incredibly fun. Its that simple. I have a passion for poker y when I play good, action-packed games its even more fun still.” About his marathon sessions at the tables, Blom commented “during the Swedish winter I don’t have anything else to do.”
In mentioning the famous 1.4 million-dollar hand he lost to Patrik Antonius, Blom comments that initially thought he’d won the hand: “The hand was so sick, because I looked at the screen through my fingers, as the cards came, and at one stage I thought that I had won. But then I realized that I had lost. It didn’t felt so good, it was hard. But of course you also win sometimes.”
In an interview published by Swedish newspaper, Nya Wermlands-Tidningen, Blom’s mother, Catharina, reveals“I’ve tried to ask him about precise sums but he tells me its money that comes and goes … Its incredible that they play for millions.”
Alessio Isaia wins the WPT Venice after epic heads-upEuropean Poker Tour
The Italian professional Alessio Isaia has won a marathon heads-up encounter lasting over eight hours to pip Szabolcs Mayer to the World Poker Tour Venice crown.
Scotsman David Vamplew headed into the final table as chip leader but the champion of last year’s European Poker Tour (EPT) London could not add a WPT title to his triple crown hopes thanks to eventual runner-up Szabolcs Mayer.
Mayer eliminated Vamplew in third place just after 1800 hours local time and the heads up lasted until almost 0300 hours with an initial drought of all-in calls until the last 40 minutes in which the lead and the onus to win changed hands several times. It wasn’t until level 32, with the blinds at 100,000 and 200,000 that Isaia managed to better his opponent permanently.
Alessio Isaia has taken home €380,000 for his troubles, while Mayers received €228,990 and Vamplew heads back to Scotland with a pocket €149,910 heavier. 523 players paid the €3,000 and created a total prize pool of €1,521,930.
In other WPT Venice events, the high roller final table is now set with PartyPoker’s Giovanni Safina in the lead with 131,000 chips while Dario Minieri is up there with 80,000. The final table at midday local time on Wednesday.
Live Texas Hold’em Poker tournament stopped due to alleged cheating
Allegedly involved in a scandal that was brought to light last year during the Cannes stop of the Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) that was organized in November of last year, Turkish poker player Kadir Karabulut has been accused of cheating and disqualified from a tournament played in Holland this past weekend.
The Australia Heads-Up Championship offered a first prize of $130,000 but only managed to attarct 24 participants last Saturday at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
rikipoker 