Poker World

Playing from the Blinds in Tournaments Part 1

If tournament poker is a game of situations, then it’s important to know how to play from the blinds. Poker comes down to three basic decisions: fold, call, or raise. When you’re facing a pre-flop raise, folding the blinds will usually be your best option. You have a significant disadvantage when you defend your blinds because you will be out of position for the remainder of the hand. However, there are times during the course of a tournament that you can pick up a key pot or two by making the right play from either the small or big blind.

One of the first things to realize is that you should never get too attached to your blinds early in a tournament. Being first to act leaves you at a clear disadvantage. The reward of winning a small pot simply isn’t worth the risk of playing out of position. Later in a tournament, when the blinds are more significant and antes come into play, you should think twice about automatically folding your blinds to a raise because there are so many more chips at stake before the flop.

In fact, these are the times in a tournament when you need to think about playing back at your opponents from the blinds. As I mentioned, tournament poker is a game of situations and it’s critical that you evaluate your situation properly throughout the event. When appropriate, you may want to just flat-call a late position raise or even think about re-raising from the blinds.

I’ll never defend my blind with marginal cards against an early-position raiser no matter what point of the tournament I’m in. When a player raises in early position, it’s often safer to assume he has a real hand as opposed to thinking that he’s just trying to pick up the blinds. Against strong players, I usually let the blinds go because I know there’s going to be a battle. I’m looking to pick up pots, not pick a fight. Read the rest of this entry »

Phil Ivey Vs Erick Lindgren

Awesome Poker Bluff

Folding Aces Pre-Flop… Some Scenarios

Some poker psychology today… well a new look at an old question at least - want to run an old scenrio by you all, and then apply this to various situations…

The Situation:

You just sat down, the very first hand is dealt - you are dealt a pair of red aces in the big blind… nice.

The UTG player pushes all in… even nicer.

Before you know what is happening UTG+1 also pushes, as does the next player - in fact by the time the action gets to you every player at the table has pushed all in!!

Wow. Read the rest of this entry »

Thats really unbelivable.High Stakes Poker.

Won PPM Sub Qualifaer

Heh, today i has won a PPM Sub Qualifaer at Party Poker. You may ask what is mean. It is mean next step qualifier. The winers at the end, will go at 8 day cruise, which will start at Venecia, and at cruise they will play poker with guaranteed prise $ 1000000. So, tomorrow i will play at next step qualifaer, and tell u about my luck or unluck.

Poker…Poker bad beat

Personal Experience

Today have played at $50 000 setalite. (it,s mean the winers of this tourment, take a participation at tourment $50 000 guaranted) I won. But i wanted tell not about it. Today few times i did really crazy things. Like, my hand is 8 5p, i dont know why, but i had a big wish play on this card. So i call on raise 2400 (blinds 300/600) . And what u think? I had a street from flop. Than in next round, i had the same wish to play on 7h 4p, and the same, i again had street from flop. I not often have such crazy wishes, they are rear, but i dont know how to exlaine them.

Mastering the Turn

Introduction

The difference between a poker pro and an amateur is in the way a person plays over the course of time. That said, how a player handles the turn in each hand is what separates the men from the boys. Most professional players know betting the turn is a very profitable play, and that’s where you want to press on the gas pedal the majority of the time.

When & When Not to Bet

If you bet out on the flop, you should almost always bet the turn unless you know you’re beat.

Most amateur players will bet the flop, but refuse to put any more money into the pot for fear of losing - they refuse to fire twice. You must get over this and learn the right time to fire twice to move up with the pros. Read the rest of this entry »

No-Limit Strategy: Handling Position

By Peter Wessel
Anyone who has played more than a few hands of No-Limit Hold’em has undoubtedly heard the mantra “Position is critical.”

But few truly understand why it’s so important - or more specifically, in what situations and in what ways position most impacts a No-Limit Hold’em game.

You’ll find several situations in No-Limit where the relative position of the players in the hand has a significant impact - both on the way the hand is played and on the outcome. In particular when:

• Flopping a set
• Playing drawing hands
• Playing difficult or trap hands (controlling the size of the pot)
• Looking for bluffing opportunities
• Playing the turn

If you want to be a successful No-Limit Hold’em player, understanding position is absolutely essential. So with that in mind, it seems appropriate to devote a series of articles to some of the subtleties of positional play. This is the first in a five-part series.

Part I: The Impact of Position When You Flop a Set

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll restrict our analysis to heads-up pots and discuss some of the differences in the play of the hand depending on whether you are in or out of position. Read the rest of this entry »