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4 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO POKER

CONTENTSThe Ultimate Guide to Poker

GETTING STARTED

008 History of hold’emHow poker moved from simple origins to

become a multi-million-dollar phenomenon

014 How to play no-limit hold’emMaster the game the whole world’s

playing: no-limit Texas hold’em

022 Poker’s big winnersIntroducing the seven poker players

who have won more than $10 million

from live tournament poker

024 Table mannersThe five most common breaches

of etiquette in the game

028 Poker terminologyTalk the talk with a guide to

common poker jargon

030 Online pokerThe real story of the rise of online poker– and some common myths debunked

SIT&GOs036 How to beat sit&gos

Mastering the sit&go format can helpyou turn a tidy profit – and it’s easierthan you think

044 Sit&go strategy15 steps to take you from sit&gobeginner to single-table titan

048 Leader of the stackTake control of the game once itreaches the heads-up stage courtesyof an unexploitable strategy

052 Sit&go toolsA round-up of the best softwareto help you master the single-tableonline tournament

054 Sit&go quizTest your knowledge of sit&gostrategy with this tricky quiz

TOURNAMENTS058 How to beat tournaments

Tips and strategy on how to takedown multi-table tournaments

064 JC TranThe tournament legend on how to developa consistent tournament game

066 Julian ThewThe British pro on what it takes to excelin live tournament poker

068 Size is everythingHow to play short, medium and big stacksall the way to the final table

072 Your moveCreative moves to add to yourmulti-table tournament arsenal

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5THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO POKER

074 Chris MoormanThe online MTT master’s top 10tips for tournament success

076 Ruling rebuysThe strategy behind masteringrebuy tournaments

080 Beating satellitesHow to take your shot at the bigtime via online satellites

CASH GAMES086 How to beat cash games

A crash course in beatinglow-stakes cash games

094 Pre-flop dangersThe starting hands that can get you intohot water in no-limit cash games

098 Post-flop decisionsA look at some post-flop cash-gamedilemmas and winning strategies

102 How to get paid in fullExtracting maximum value inno-limit hold’em cash games

106 Doyle BrunsonTexas Dolly on how he fought his wayto the top of the poker tree

108 Moving on upA guide to moving up throughthe limits in cash games

110 Phil GalfondOne of the best online cash playersin the game reveals his secrets

112 Cash games quizTest your cash game prowesswith this challenging quiz

LIVE POKER116 House rules!

How to host the ultimate poker homegame, from cards to chips to rules

120 How to spot tellsBeing able to pick up on your opponents’body language can give you a huge edgeat the poker table

126 How to deal like a proA look at how to shuffle up anddeal in style, as shown by aprofessional dealer

130 Poker hand nicknamesKnow your Big Slick from yourPocket Rockets

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Editor Alun BowdenArt Editor Spike

Additional Design Richard DavisSub-editors AJ Holden, Scott Skinner

Contributors Dave Woods, Alex Martin, Paul Cheung, David Tuchman, Phil Shaw,Nick Wealthall, Tom Bailey, Aaron Hendrix, Shaun Dean, Nick Wright

Photography Danny Bird, Timo Hebditch, Andrew Ridge, Hugh ThrelfallImage retouching Jan Cihak, Linda Duong

Publisher Russell BlackmanAdvertising Manager Matthew Balch

Digital Production Manager Nicky BakerBookazine Manager Dharmesh Mistry

Production Director Robin RyanManaging Director of Advertising Julian Lloyd-Evans

Newstrade Director Martin BelsonChief Operating Officer Brett Reynolds

Group Finance Director Ian LeggettChief Executive James Tye

Chairman Felix Dennis

The ‘Magbook’ brand is a trademark of Dennis Publishing Ltd.30 Cleveland St, London W1T 4JD. Company registered in England.

All material © Dennis Publishing Ltd, licensed by Felden 2009, and maynot be reproduced in whole or part without the consent of the publishers.

The Ultimate Guide to Poker ISBN 1-906372-68-3

LICENSINGTo license this product, please contact Winnie Liesenfeld on +44 (0) 20 7907 6134 or

email [email protected]

LIABILITYWhile every care was taken during the production of this Magbook, the publishers cannot be

held responsible for the accuracy of the information or any consequence arising from it.Dennis Publishing takes no responsibility for the companies advertising in this Magbook.

The paper used within this Magbook is produced from sustainable fibre, manufacturedby mills with a valid chain of custody.

Printed at BGP

The Guide To

CoCoContributors Dave Woods Alex Martin, Paul Cheung David Tuchchmaman, Phil Shaw

POKEREditor Alun Bowden

Art Editor SpikeAdditional Design Richard Davis

Sub-editors AJ Holden, Scott Skinner

Editor Alun Bowden

POKEREditor Alun Bowden

POKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERPOKERTheThe Guide ToGuide To

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HOLD’EMFind out how poker developed from its simple origins to a multi-million

dollar phenomenon, and why the game of no-limit Texas hold’emhas become the world’s most popular card game

THE ONLY THING EVERYONE CANagree upon in the history of pokeris nobody knows where the gamestarted. Some point to the Frenchgame of poque, some say the Persian

game of As Nas, but wherever it began there isone place that made poker its spiritual home – theUSA. During the American Civil War in the 1850sthe game of poker as we know it began to takeshape as the game of five-card stud sprung up.The game played with one card dealt face downand the remaining four cards dealt face-up. It ledto much more betting action than other forms ofpoker so quickly caught on as the game of choice.

It may seem unthinkable nowadays, butperhaps the most famous battle in the game’shistory was played out in a time before no-limithold’em had really caught on. Two of poker’sall-time greats clashed in a five-month heads-up battle that took in a variety of variants,concentrating initially on five-card stud.

Legend has it that Nick ‘The Greek’ Dandoloshit Las Vegas with a desire to play some high-stakes poker. Benny Binion agreed to providethe action for Dandolos in his Horseshoe casino –and promptly contacted Johnny Moss, who wasembroiled in a three-day-long cash game in Texas.Nevertheless, swayed by the promise of an epichigh-stakes encounter, Moss booked himself aflight to Vegas. It proved to be a good decision.

The history of

HOLD’EM HISTORYThe timeline of hold’emThe story of how hold’em went fromthe streets of Texas to being themost popular card game in the world.We look at the players and eventsthat changed the face of poker andturned it into a global businessworth millions of dollars… 1967 A group of Texas-based gamblers

take no-limit hold’em to Las Vegas1950s Hold’em grows in popularityin its home state of Texas

From January to May in 1951, the pair lockedhorns every single day, breaking only briefly forthe trifling matter of a few hours’ sleep. Reportsof the exact amount of money that changed handsdiffer, but it’s thought that by the end of theconfrontation Moss was anywhere from $2m to$4m up – a large amount of money by today’sstandards, but an absolutely astronomicalamount back in the 1950s. The legendary matchcame to a close when Dandolos – 15 years Moss’ssenior and physically drained from the monthsof intense play – uttered the immortal line: ‘MrMoss, I have to let you go.’

The contest between Moss and Dandolos raisedthe profile of poker hugely with Binion savvyenough to move the game from the depths of thecasino to front and centre where it attracted hugecrowds desperate to live the life of a high-rollervicariously, if only for an hour or two. And aspoker became more popular, a new variant ofthe game was starting to come to the fore…

AN EPIC BATTLETexas hold’em originated in the Lone Star Stateand grew in popularity during the 50s and 60sthanks to its complex nature. A group of localpoker pros, known as road gamblers, includingsuch legends as Amarillo Slim and Doyle Brunsontook the game to their hearts. Their life washugely different to the poker pros of the modern

The legendary matchcame to a close whenDandolos uttered the

immortal line: ‘Mr Moss,I have to let you go’


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1970 The first World Series of Poker takesplace with Johnny Moss the winner 1971 No-limit hold’em is introduced to the

WSOP with the first main event 1978 Seminal poker guide Super/Systemis first published

age, travelling from town to town, finding gamespopulated by men with guns who weren’t afraid touse them. It was a high-risk, high-action lifestyleand only the most cunning and careful of roadgamblers survived to tell the tale.

THE BIRTH OF THE WSOPAs Las Vegas started to become a popular touristdestination these road gamblers recognised apotentially safer and easier life and travelled westto introduce the game to Sin City. For a numberof years the only casino in town to spread hold’emwas the Golden Nugget, but the game caught onand by the late 1960s more prominently-placedestablishments were spreading the game too.

The attraction of hold’em for the local sharkswas twofold. First, the fact that this was a newgame meant that if they could master it quickly,they’d have a major edge on uneducated tourists.Second, the very nature of the game suitedstudents of the game – with four rounds of bettingas opposed to the two employed in draw games,hold’em allowed for more strategic play.

Benny Binion was also at the forefront ofanother defining moment in poker’s historywhen, along with his son Jack, he acquired therights to a fledgling gambling convention in1970. The event provided games of all kinds –and while poker didn’t feature at the outset, bythe time the Binions bought the rights, pokertournaments, including hold’em, had beenintroduced. Following the acquisition, the annualconvention was moved to the Horseshoe and thefocus shifted entirely to poker, prompting a namechange: the World Series of Poker was born.

The first WSOP was an invitational affair,with Benny Binion convincing a handful ofwell-respected players – Johnny Moss, DoyleBrunson, Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson,Crandell Addington, Sailor Roberts and CarlCannon – to sit around a table and do battleover a series of cash games. At the end of theallotted time, the players voted to decide whowould be crowned the inaugural worldchampion. They all voted for themselves so asecond ballot was taken and this time JohnnyMoss was crowned champion.

THE KID RISESMoss also emerged victorious the following yearwhen the WSOP main event moved to the nowP

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Benny Binion kick-started theWorld Series, holding the firstone at his Horseshoe casino

Stu ‘The Kid’ Ungar celebrateshis first of three World Series

of Poker main event wins


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Although it quickly established itself as thepremier poker tournament, with a buy-in aimedsquarely at attracting true high-rollers, the mainevent was slow to take off in terms of numbers.Moss’s victory in 1971 saw him pitted againstjust five other players – and by the time he wonit again in 1974 he overcame a field of just 16. Itwasn’t until 1982 that the main event drew morethan 100 participants, partly prompted by theintroduction of the satellite tournaments thatare now commonplace, which allowed playerswith more limited bankrolls to have a shot atthe big time.

Numbers were also buoyed by the publicationof Doyle Brunson’s seminal poker strategy book,Super/System. The strategy book was self-published and cost $100, but it was a hugesuccess as it offered readers an insight into thekind of strategic thinking employed by worldchampions across a number of poker disciplines,including hold’em. Such information hadpreviously been unavailable to the generalpublic, but now it was out there more and moreplayers fancied their chances of taking on thebig boys.

As well as increased fields, the 1980s broughta whole new generation of poker superstars.The most notable of these was Stu ‘The Kid’Ungar who burst onto the scene in 1980,becoming the youngest ever main eventchampion (since superseded by Phil Hellmuthand Peter Eastgate) after a heads-up tussle withpast master Doyle Brunson for the first prize of$365,000. Ungar, a noted gin rummy player,would later claim that the 1980 WSOP was thefirst time he had ever played no-limit hold’em.He proved his win was no fluke, though,when he repeated his main event success thefollowing year.

Ungar’s personal life, however, also grabbedthe headlines for entirely different reasons. Hewas a drug and alcohol abuser for many yearsand everyone thought his poker career was over.However, 16 years after his 1981 victory andfollowing a long battle with drug addiction, thepreviously down-and-out Ungar became knownas ‘The Comeback Kid’. After scraping enoughmoney together to enter the 1997 main eventat the last minute, against all the odds Ungarwent on to take it down, becoming only the

1980 Stu Ungar becomes the youngestever main event champ 1981 Ungar wins the main event for the

second consecutive year 1982 WSOP main event breaks the100-entrant barrier

Doyle Brunson was a roadgambler who hit Vegas in

search of action in the 1960s


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second person besides Johnny Moss to win theWSOP main event three times.

EUROPE TAKES NOTICEAnother player to make his mark during the 80swas Johnny Chan, who achieved the remarkablefeat of winning back-to-back main events - andwas only denied an unprecedented three-in-a-rowby the emergence of one Phil Hellmuth. Channavigated a 152-strong field in 1987 to take thetitle after defeating Frank Henderson heads-up.The following year he and Erik Seidel were thefinal two of 167 entrants, but Chan emergedvictorious. In 1989, the 24-year-old Hellmuthdashed Chan’s dreams of an unlikely ‘threepeat’,

beating his opponent heads-up to earn the firstof his record-breaking 11 bracelets – all of whichhave been won in hold’em events.

The 80s also saw the game of no-limit hold’emtake off in Europe. Irish bookmakers TerryRogers and Liam Flood are widely credited withintroducing the game to European shoresfollowing regular trips to Vegas and the WSOP.Rogers also had an uncanny knack for pickingout poker players for the future. He’s thought tohave been the only bookmaker to have a stronghunch that Stu Ungar would take down the 1980main event; the Irishman laid just 20-1 and placedmoney on Ungar to win with other bookmakers,who were typically offering 100-1.

1987 Johnny Chan begins his remarkablerun of Main Event final tables 1988 Chan takes down his second main

event in a row 1989 Phil Hellmuth denies Chan to becomethe youngest main event winner

DOYLE BRUNSONThe godfather of pokerDoyle Brunson is a true poker legend. With back-to-back WSOP main event wins and 10 bracelets he is one ofthe best players ever. An integral part of poker for over 50 years, ‘Texas Dolly’ is still a force to be reckoned with

One of the greatest players ever to grace thegame, ‘Texas Dolly’ is the very definition of aliving legend. Born in August 1933, Brunson haswon 10 World Series of Poker bracelets to date(just one behind current record-holder PhilHellmuth along with Johnny Chan) and isreported to be the first player to have earned$1m in poker tournament prize money.

As one of a group of Texas gamblers tointroduce no-limit hold’em to Las Vegas,Brunson paved the way for the poker boom thatfollowed and has stayed the pace ever since. Hisback-to-back victories at the 1976 and 1977WSOP main events puts him in an exclusive clubof just three, with Stu Ungar and Johnny Chanthe only others to have won the main event inconsecutive years. He’s also one of only twoplayers to have won WSOP bracelets for fourconsecutive years – the other being Bill Boyd.

A budding athlete in his youth, Brunson’sdreams of becoming a professional basketballplayer were dashed when he broke his legbadly in a work-related accident. Following theincident, he focused on his education and woundup landing a job as a salesman. It wasn’t to be,

however – the story goes that he was invited toa seven-card stud game on his first day and tookhis opponents to the cleaners, prompting him to

give up his job shortly after to chance his armas a poker professional. He hooked up with thelikes of Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts andplayed the Texas circuit with great success.Brunson and his group of peers began to takeregular trips to Las Vegas and he eventuallydecided the action was too good to turn down,making the decision to move there permanently.The rest, as they say, is history.

As well as his success at the tables, Brunson’snotable for his hugely influential poker strategybook, Super/System. Originally published in1978, the book also included contributions bya host of other top professionals, includingDavid Sklansky, Bobby Baldwin and Chip Reese.An updated version, Super/System 2, came outin 2004 featuring content from the likes ofDaniel Negreanu and Johnny Chan.

And as if that’s not enough to confirm hislegendary status, Brunson has the rare honourof having a starting hand named after him.While 10-2 might not seem like the greatestof hole pairings, they’ve been lucky for TexasDolly; his 1976 and 1977 main event victorieswere both clinched with that hand.

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1997 Ungar becomes ‘The Comeback Kid’by winning a third main event 1999 Late Night Poker introduces the

revolutionary hole-card cams 2002 The World Poker Tourbegins its first season

The popularity of no-limit hold’em grew as TVcoverage of the WSOP was introduced in the 80sand 90s. But the game would probably haveremained a minority interest if it weren’t forthe introduction of hole-card cameras in aBritish TV show called Late Night Poker in thelate 90s. For the first time viewers at homecould see how the pros played and it sparked asurge of interest in the game. While TV viewershad previously had to guess at whether aparticular player had the nuts or was pulling anaudacious bluff, they now had the informationright in front of them. It allowed those watchingto learn from professionals, giving them anopportunity to work out players’ thoughtprocesses when making certain situation-dependant moves.

MONEYMAKER EFFECTThe show was broadcast in the US on PBS andthe concept was taken on board by the producersof the World Poker Tour TV show, which becamea huge TV hit in the US. The WPT began in 2002,with its first season offering a $25,000 buy-in

world championship finale and ten lead-upevents with buy-ins ranging from $500 (withrebuys) to $10,000. A roaring success, the WPTis now in its eighth season, playing host to 15side events as well as the established $25,000WPT Championship event.

Alongside all this was the rise of online poker,which began in 1999 to little general interest.By 2001, though, it was a booming businesswith thousands of players taking to the game ofno-limit hold’em and tournaments in particular.And the internet sites were quick to capitalise onthe success of the WPT in the US, advertising onthe show and seeing players flock online as aresult. The game everyone wanted to play wasthe adrenaline fuelled no-limit hold’em game.

The true turning point for the game came in2003, when the aptly named Chris Moneymaker,a previously unknown player, won a $39 satellitequalifier for a $10,000 seat at the WSOP mainevent. He promptly went on to shock everyoneby winning the big one for a $2.5m payday. Thewidely-televised story of an everyday guy turningthe kind of cash most people carry around intheir wallet, into millions of dollars, through asimple game of cards captured the imaginationof millions of players. Online poker sitesexploded with sign-ups, as the ‘Moneymakereffect’ kicked in.

STRENGTH TO STRENGTHLightning struck twice in 2004 when anotherinternet qualifier, Greg Raymer, defeated DavidWilliams to take down the main event for $5m.Raymer had also qualified online, having wonhis seat in a $160 satellite. Following this anunprecedented number of new players signedup online and tried their hand at not onlymaking a little money as a hobby, but alsochasing the dream realised by the likes ofMoneymaker and Raymer.

WSOP field sizes – both for the main eventand side events – ballooned further, with thepeak being reached in 2006, when a staggering8,773 entrants took part in the main event,contributing to a record-breaking $82.5mprize pool. Jamie Gold took down the biggesttournament in World Series history for aneye-watering $12m.

Numbers actually fell in 2007, but the drop-offhas largely been attributed to law changes in the

For the first time viewersat home could see howthe pros played and it

sparked a surge ofinterest in the game

Phil Hellmuth still holds therecord for most amount of

WSOP bracelet wins – 11


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2003 Chris Moneymaker wins the mainevent and the online boom begins 2004 Greg Raymer became the second

online qualifier to win the WSOP 2006 Jamie Gold scoops $12m as he winsthe largest prize in WSOP history

US that prevented large amounts of playersfrom gambling online. As a result, the numberof internet qualifiers for WSOP events droppedoff dramatically, having a knock-on effect onthe overall field sizes.

Nevertheless, online poker remains robust,with hundreds of thousands playing everyday. The online game has served as a greatlearning tool for those first taking up the game.With the option to take part in ‘play money’games, new players can learn the rules of thegame before risking any of their own money.When they do feel confident enough to gamblewith their cash, there are games across all levelsto suit everyone’s needs. Micro-stakes cashgames and tournaments are freely availableand for the dedicated player, online poker haspresented the opportunity to get on a par withestablished pros, in terms of hands played, in afraction of the time.

A GLOBAL PHENOMENONBut poker’s success is not just confined tothe online game, with live poker also in rudehealth. Around the world there are majorpoker tournaments taking place every weekfrom South East Asia to Latin America. Andpub poker leagues and home games continueto spring up to keep the game alive for thesmaller stakes players. Wherever you go inthe world now you can find a game of pokerbeing played. No-limit hold’em has taken theglobal poker community by storm – long mayit continue.

No-limit hold’em has taken the global pokercommunity by storm. Wherever you go in theworld you can find a game of poker being played

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The 2009Main Event final

tablists pose forthe money shot


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TEXASHOLD’EMHow to play no-limit

From the $10,000 World Championship to crazy $5 games in the pub,no-limit Texas hold’em is the game the whole world is playing. If you’renew to the game it’s time to saddle up and join the action…

The WSOP main event is poker’sultimate championship, awardinga $9.1m first prize in 2008. Thegame? No-limit hold’em, naturally

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O-LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM IS FAR ANDaway the most popular form of poker playedtoday, and with very good reason. It’s anexciting, fast-paced and finely balancedgame, with a perfect blend of simple gamemechanics and highly nuanced strategies. Itsucks in new players with its fast gameplayand monster bluffs and keeps the veteranshooked with its endlessly shifting dynamics.

As the most popular form of poker, no-limit hold’em (often abbreviated to NLH)

also has the biggest prizes and tournaments, with millions of dollars to bewon if you’re good – or lucky – enough to beat the field. The action comes inevery possible shape and size, from beginners’ freerolls to the $10,000 mainevent of the World Series of Poker. And because there are thousands ofplayers duking it out online 24/7, you’ll never struggle to find a game.

If you’re new to hold’em the good news is that it’s a doddle topick up. Wherever you are and whatever stakes you’re playing theformat is always the same. You’re dealt two hole cards that onlyyou are allowed to see, which you combine with five communitycards, which everyone can use, to make up a hand of five cards.The person who can make the strongest hand – or makeeveryone else fold – wins all the money in the pot. Soundssimple? It is. It’s making sure that you’re the one left raking thechips in where things get interesting.

GETTING STARTEDOkay, before we get to the nitty gritty of how the game works, there are afew technical terms to get acquainted with. Don’t worry – it will all besecond nature soon enough.

THE BUTTONThe button is a small disc or marker that indicates who is the ‘dealer’ in thecurrent hand. It often has ‘dealer’ or ‘D’ written on it and is necessary fortwo reasons. Firstly, because in poker the deal changes hands after everypot (we’ll see why in a moment). And secondly, because the person who is thenominal ‘dealer’ in a hand may not actually be the one handling the cards,either because you are playing in a casino with a professional dealer, oryou’re playing online where the dealing is automatic. Either way, you needsome sort of marker to show who the effective dealer is in each hand.

So why does the button keep moving round the table? Well, in poker thedealing of the cards and the order of action always runs clockwise from thedealer position. Because of the nature of poker betting,where everyone takes it in turn to act, being thedealer (and hence the last to act) confers a hugeadvantage. So to counter this the deal movesone seat to the left with every hand.

In hold’em, being the dealer is calledbeing ‘on the button’.

THE BLINDSBlinds are, simply speaking, forced betsthat have to be paid at the beginning ofevery hand. In hold’em there are two

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Do thisOnce you’ve mastered the

basics, the next step is to trya play-money game online.

Load up the software in theattached CD and play 3Dpoker on PKR for free

The action comesin every possibleshape and size,from beginners’

freerolls to the$10,000 main

event of the WorldSeries of Poker


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M blinds: the small blind and the big blind. Thesmall blind is located directly to the left of thedealer button and the big blind is to the left ofthe small blind. The big blind is usually twice theamount of the small blind. The blinds move roundwith the button, meaning that in one orbit of thetable everyone has to pay both a small blind andbig blind. Think of them like a table tax, and justlike tax, you’ll often hear people moaning aboutthem. But the fact is that without the blinds thegame would never get off the ground. Withoutsomething to fight over right from the start,everyone could simply wait for good cards whilethe game meandered on inexorably. In a hold’emtournament, where there has to be an eventualwinner, the blinds rise at steady intervals to forcethe game towards a conclusion.

HOLE CARDSThe hole cards are the two cards that everyonegets dealt face down at the start of a hand. No onegets to see your hole cards apart from you – unlessthe hand goes to a showdown. The best startinghole card combination is two Aces of any suit(‘pocket Aces’), whereas the worst is 7-2 unsuited.

COMMUNITY CARDSHold’em is what’s known as a ‘community card’game, which means that as well your two holecards there are cards dealt face up in the middleof the table that everyone gets to use to maketheir best five-card hand. In a complete hand ofhold’em there are five community cards on thetable, but we’ll find out more about this below.

Right, now we are ready to play some poker.

PLAYING THE GAMELet’s look at how a hand of hold’em unfolds,from the moment the dealer picks up thecards right through to the final showdown.

THE OPENING DEALAt the beginning of each hand, every player(from two players in a heads-up game up to tenin a full-handed game) is dealt two hole cardsclockwise from the dealer. As mentioned above,the first player to the left of the dealer is requiredto pay the ‘small blind’, let’s say $1, and the nextplayer to the left has to pay the ‘big blind’ whichis twice as much, in this case $2. The level of theblinds depends on what game you decide to play.Remember, the nominated dealer moves one seatto the left after every hand, so you only get stungby the big blind once each round.

FOLD, CALL OR RAISEAfter the blinds have been paid and you’vereceived your hole cards the first round ofbetting takes place. The player to the left of thebig blind has three options: fold, call or raise.Folding costs nothing so if you don’t like thecards you’ve got you can ditch (or ‘muck’) themand wait for the next deal. If you want to stay inthe hand you have to match the big blind, whichin our example is $2, or if you’re feeling confidentyou can raise. Raising is a sign of strength thatsays, ‘my hole cards are strong and I’m going to

In hold’em you can use one, both orneither of your hole cards to make yourbest hand. In the latter case, when thecards on the board represent your bestpossible five-card hand, you are said tobe ‘playing the board’. In the exampleshown, your best hand is two pairwith an Ace kicker, meaningneither of your holecards come intoplay.

In hold’e both

Playing the board

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Don’t act out of turn! Inhold’em the action proceedsclockwise around the tableand it’s very bad form tofold or bet before the‘action’ gets to you

Don’t do this


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The mechanics of a hand of hold’em are simple – two hole cards apieceand five community cards, punctuated by four rounds of betting…

HOLD’EM ESSENTIALSHow a hand unfolds

1 Once the blinds have been posted thedeal begins. Each player gets two cards

face down, followed by a round of betting.

3 After another betting round, a fourthcommunity card – the ‘turn’ – is dealt.

Once again, there is a round of betting.

2 Assuming more than one player decidesto carry on in the hand, the first three

community cards are dealt: the ‘flop’.

4 A fifth and final card is then dealt: the‘river’. There’s more betting, and, if more

than one player stays involved, a showdown.


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M take the pot right now unless anyone’s braveenough to call me.’ If you raised to $5 thenanyone else wanting to play their hand wouldhave to match your $5 bet. If no one calls, youtake whatever’s in the pot and the hand is over.

FLOP, TURN, RIVERWhen all the active players have bet the sameamount, the first round of betting is over. Threecards are then dealt face up in the centre(collectively referred to as the ‘flop’). The firstactive player to the left of the dealer then startsthe next round of betting which proceeds in thesame way as the last. When that’s complete,assuming more than one player has decided tocontinue in the hand, a further community card(the ‘turn’, aka ‘fourth street’) is dealt. There’smore betting on the turn card and then, onceagain assuming the hand has not been won yet,there’s one last chance to get your chips in afterthe fifth and final card (the ‘river’, aka ‘fifthstreet’) is turned over.

SHOWDOWNAfter the river is dealt and all betting isdone and dusted it’s time for the momentof truth, the showdown, where the besthand wins the pot. Refer to the boxouton page 21 if you’re not sure about pokerhand rankings. Just remember that inany given hand there are always two waysto win. Firstly, you can have the best hand atshowdown. Secondly, however, you can makeeveryone else fold by betting them off the pot. Ifyou bet big and no one is brave enough to call –on any of the four betting rounds – you’ll walkaway with the pot and don’t even have to showyour cards! In fact, this is how most hands inhold’em are won, which is why they say ‘play theman, not the cards’.

BASIC STRATEGYNow that you know how the action works, let’slook at some simple strategy concepts to helpyou start winning.

HAND SELECTIONWhile it’s important to remember that any twocards can win, when you first start playinghold’em your hole cards are vitally important,because they’re the only thing separating youfrom the rest of the table. If you look down andsee a pair of Aces or Kings staring back at youthen you’re in good shape. On the other hand,you shouldn’t be very happy to see the likes of7;-2: or J:-3Ú sadly gazing your way.

Choosing which hole cards to play is central toyour hold’em success and setting some starting-hand requirements is a good way to kick off yourcareer. Former world champ Phil Hellmuth oftenquotes his ten starting hands as being pairs ofAces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, tens, nines, eightsand sevens, as well as A-K and A-Q. As a novice,you may want to play an even narrower selectionthan this, as pairs like sevens and eights can betricky to play. As your experience increases, yourrange of playable hands can similarly expand.

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to call –

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a bad call

Don’t do this

Choosing whichhole cards to playis central to yourhold’em success.Setting some handrequirements is agood way to kickoff your career

Aces, appropriately known as bullets or pocketrockets, are the best hole cards you can have asthey are the favourite to win against any othertwo cards in the deck. Once the flop is dealt,those Aces may no longer be favourite, but inthe majority of cases you’ll still be ahead.

BETTING TIPSSo how much should you bet when you getstrong hands? In no-limit hold’em, as the namesuggests, there is no upper limit on the amountyou can bet. On any of the four betting rounds(usually referred to as ‘streets’), you can bet upto and including all your available chips. Bettingall your chips is known going ‘all-in’ or simply‘shoving’. However, this is the ultimate powermove and should be reserved for very specificoccasions. In most circumstances your bet sizesshould be tailored to the size of the pot.


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EXTREMEBASICS #2How doesbetting work?If you’ve never played awagering game before theprocess might be unfamiliarto you. It’s a good idea towatch a game to get thehang of it before you dive in –check out some poker on TVor a website like PKR.tv andall will soon become clear. Inthe meantime, here’s a quickguide to poker betting…

1 Everyone in a game of pokerhas a certain number of chips

to make bets with. In a cash gamethese represent actual money, whilein a tournament they are simply away of keeping score (the player whoaccumulates all the chips wins thetournament). In each hand, bets areplaced in a central pool referred toas the ‘pot’. If you win a hand youwin whatever’s in the pot.

2 Betting takes place in rounds.When a bet has been made, each

player must in turn either match thatbet (call), increase the bet (raise) orresign from the hand (fold). A raisemust usually be at least as much asthe previous bet or raise, so if thecurrent bet is $20 the minimum raisewould be to $40. A betting roundends when all players have eithercalled the last bet or folded.

3 If all but one player folds onany given betting round, the

remaining player collects the potwithout having to show his hand. Ifmore than one player remains in thehand after the final betting round,there is a ‘showdown’ in which handsare exposed and the winning handtakes the pot.

4 Before a hand starts, there’susually some sort of forced bet

to get the action going. In otherwords, some or all of the players haveto place a bet at the beginning of thefirst betting round to create a pot toplay for. In hold’em the two playersto the left of the dealer must placethese bets, called the blinds. Theaction then proceeds to the left.

Sometimes, two or more playerswill have exactly the same hand

at showdown, and the pot will bedivided equally between them.

In this example, the player withA-Q was winning on the turnwith a Broadway (Ace-high)

straight, but the AÚ on theriver means the player with

Q-Q also makes Broadway.As such, it’s a split pot.

Sometimes, two or more players

Split pot

A stupid question? Maybe, but the answer is not as simple as you might think…

EXTREME BASICS #1What is poker?

Poker is not strictly speaking a ‘game’ in the samesense as blackjack or bridge. Rather, it’s a wholefamily of games, with scores of variations andmutations played in home games and private clubsaround the world. So what are the features thatdefine a game as being ‘poker’? Let’s take a look…

1 Poker is based around betting or wagering.Everyone holds cards with a certain value,

and players may bet on the strength of their handrelative to their opponents’.

2 Hand rankings generally follow the samepattern, which you can find on page 21. Some

games reverse the order so that the ‘worst’ handwins, but almost every poker game retains thissame basic hierarchy.

3 You use five cards to make your hand. You mighthave more than five to choose from – in hold’em,

for instance, you have seven cards to choose from –but in all but the most eccentric poker variants you’llonly use five cards to make your best possible hand.


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Don’t feel you haveto throw your weight

around by pushingloads of chips into

the middle. There’sno need to risk more

than is necessary

On the first (pre-flop) betting round, a goodrule of thumb is to raise to three times the bigblind if no one else has entered the pot. If thebig blind is $2, a standard raise would see youputting $6 into the pot. And betting is what it’sall about because in poker aggression pays: younot only win the pots where you have a betterhand but also the ones where other players aretoo scared to call you. Just don’t feel you have tothrow your weight around by pushing loads ofchips into the middle. There’s no need to risk morethan necessary if a smaller bet will do the job.

On later streets, a pot-sized bet – an amountequal to what has already been bet in total –sends out a message of strength and will forceyour opponent to think hard about whether theyshould continue or fold their hand.

However, always think carefully about whatyou want a bet to achieve. Do you want youropponent to fold, call or even go all-in? Askyourself questions like: ‘How much will this

opponent be willing to call here with a worsehand?’ (if you’re confident you’re ahead); and‘Can I make this player fold a better hand?’ (ifyou’re confident you’re behind).

FOLDINGThis is something you should do a lot of in no-limithold’em – especially when you are still learning. Ifyou peek at your cards only to see rags – weak cardsthat are low, unsuited and have little possibility ofimproving – you are usually best off tossing themaway. Folding bad cards will bring profit by savingyou from dribbling your chips away, leaving youwith a bigger stack with which to attack otherplayers when you get dealt a monster hand.

BLUFFINGLet’s not forget one of the best and mostenjoyable arts of poker – bluffing. There is a bigplace in poker for bluffing, in no-limit hold’emparticularly, but try to pull a fast one on the

Sometimes hold’em can be a very cruel game. In thishand, Player 1 has been dealt a pair of sixes while Player2 has a raggedy 9-3 offsuit. The pair is winning all theway until the river, when a second pair comes on theboard, which reads A-7-2-A-7. As such, both playershave two pair – Aces and sevens – and the winner isdetermined by the kicker, or highest side card. In thiscase, Player 2 wins with a 9 kicker, beating the 6kicker of Player 1, who is said to be ‘out-kicked’.

On the first (pre-flop) betting round, a g

Somhand,2 haswayboahavdetcaskic

Out-kicked!


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wrong person at the wrong time and you’regoing to get burnt. Stone-cold bluffs – when youhave a bad hand with little chance of improving –should be used only when you are confident youwon’t get called. Semi-bluffs – where you have a‘drawing’ hand that is probably behind right nowbut could potentially be a winner if the right cardcomes – are better, but still to be used with caution.In fact, you’re best to eschew bluffing altogetheruntil you’ve got some experience under your belt.

To start with, stick to betting strong handssuch as the highest pair and two pair until you’vestudied how your opponents play. Take it slowly,get your basic ABC play sorted, and then you canthink about being a bit more creative.

MOVING FORWARDHere are some ideas to think about once you’vegot the basic rules in place.

GAME OF PEOPLE NOT CARDSWe’d all love to get Aces and Kings every handbut probability is a tough mistress and she’drather deal you trash most of the time. Thereare going to be times when you go completelycard-dead. Losing players curl up and die in thissituation, refusing to play a hand until their luckturns around. Winning players realise that handsare won long before cards even get seen and tryto make the most of every opportunity.

POWER OF POSITIONAs you gain more experience, you’ll realise thatplaying from late position or on the button makesthe game so much easier. That’s not to say thatyou should raise like a madman when you’re onthe button, but if three players have limped toyou and you have a reasonable hand, just raise adecent amount and see what happens. Chancesare you’ll probably take it down there and then,but even if you get called, you have the benefit ofseeing what your opponent does first on the flop.

POT ODDSNo one is saying you need to be a maths geniusto play poker, but the bottom line is that if youmake the mathematically correct play everyhand, you will be a winning player. Making suchplays each and every time is beyond the realm ofmost mortals, but all you need to do is get agrounding in the basics. If you can understandand apply the concepts of ‘outs’ and ‘pot odds’,you’re well on your way. See our cash gamesection for more details

UNDER PRESSUREChecking and calling certainly have their place inpoker, but to be a winning player you’re going tohave to take the fight to the other players. Thinkabout how you feel when a player bets and raisesyou constantly. It’s uncomfortable and you wantto avoid them, right? Make sure you’re the oneother players stay away from and if they tanglewith you, ensure they’re not in for an easy ride.

Learn to observe your opponents’ tendenciesand try to exploit them, and you’ll be well on yourway to being a winning player. Good luck!

HOLD’EM ESSENTIALSHand rankingsBefore you start playing you have to know what hand beats what! Belowis the complete poker hand hierarchy, starting with the highest…

ROYAL FLUSHThe best hand of all: a straight flush from ten throughAce. The suit doesn’t matter, but your odds of gettingone are in hold’em are a whopping 30,939-to-1.

STRAIGHT FLUSHA straight but with all the cards of the same suit.Once again, the suit doesn’t matter (there is nosuit hierarchy in hold’em).

FOUR OF A KINDAlso known as ‘quads’, this is four cards of the samerank. If the quads are dealt on the board, the highestkicker determines the winner.

FULL HOUSEA combination of a pair and three of a kind. Whencomparing full houses it’s the three of a kind thatcounts first, so 3-3-3-2-2 beats 2-2-2-A-A.

FLUSHAny five non-sequential cards of the same suit.When comparing two competing flushes, it’s thehighest card that counts.

STRAIGHTFive sequential cards not all in the same suit. A Queen-high straight beats a Jack-high straight, and so on. Acecan be used either high or low when making a straight.

THREE OF A KINDAlso called ‘trips’ or a ‘set’, this is when you havethree cards of equal rank.

TWO PAIRTwo pairs of cards of equal rank, for example, twoJacks and two Nines, as shown here.

PAIRAny two cards of the same rank, in this case two Aces.If two players hold the same pair, the highest kicker isused to determine the winner.

HIGH CARDIf no one has any of the combinations above, the winnercomes down to the highest single card, from Ace downto two. In this example, you have Jack-high.


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POKER’S$10 MILLIONCLUB The seven players in poker history who have won

more than $10 million from tournaments (andthat’s not counting their cash game millions!)

PHIL IVEYWith multiple WPT titles, WSOP bracelets and millions of dollars ofcash game winnings to his name, Phil Ivey is arguably the greatest

poker player in the world. There isn’t a form of poker Ivey hasn’t mastered anddominated, and he invokes fear and respect throughout the poker world. Ivey isa master of adapting to any situation and has the uncanny ability to get insidehis opponent’s head and figure out a way to beat him. His natural home is at thehigh-stakes cash game tables either in his home in Las Vegas or online. But he’swon more in tournaments than anyone else alive and with 2009’s amazing WSOPsuccess there are few worlds left for him to conquer. A true poker legend.

DANIEL NEGREANUPoker’s most likeable and friendly character is also oneof its most prolific tournament winners, with a huge

number of WPT and WSOP titles to his name. Negreanu beganplaying cash games in his home of Toronto, but moved to LasVegas and found the tournament circuit where he made hisname with victories in the early days of the World Poker Tour.He has played in the biggest high-stakes cash games for manyyears, but now focuses more on the live tournament circuitwhere he continues to take on and beat the best in the world.

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JOE HACHEMThe Australian proburst onto the scene

when he won the 2005 WSOPmain event, scooping $7.5million for his troubles. Sincethen he has proved he was noone-hit wonder with a victoryin the WPT North AmericanPoker Classic adding a further$2.2 million to his bankbalance. He has been muchquieter of late, failing to addanother WSOP bracelet tohis main event win and onlymanaging an eleventh placefinish in the European PokerTour events he plays regularly.He has become one of themost iconic players in poker,however, and is a householdname in his native Australia.

ALLENCUNNINGHAMAllen Cunningham

could be the poster boy for‘getting it quietly’. He’s one ofthe most unassuming men inpoker, but you just can’t stophim winning. He’s won fiveWSOP bracelets in his careeralong with a host of othertitles. He’s also achieved theincredible feat of winning aWSOP bracelet three years ina row (2005, 2006, 2007).Cunningham is one of the mostthoughtful poker pros aroundand his peers rate him as oneof the greatest talents in thegame. He shuns the limelight,however, preferring to let hispoker do the talking.

JAMIE GOLDThe winner of the singlebiggest prize in poker

history is a TV producer fromCalifornia named Jamie Gold. Thetalkative and slightly irritating Golddominated the 2006 WSOP mainevent, still the richest tournamentin history, to take down the $12million first prize. Since then he’snot really done a great deal in theworld of poker apart from playing afew televised cash games and somecharity events. He was a hugelycontroversial world champion, asmany viewed him as a poor playerwho got lucky. But his performancein the 2006 WSOP remains one ofthe most impressive in history.

PHIL HELLMUTH, JRProbably the greatest no-limit hold’em tournament playeralive, Phil Hellmuth is the holder of a record 11 WSOP

bracelets and over $10 million in tournament winnings. He wasthe youngest ever winner of the WSOP main event back in 1989aged just 24. Since then he has become renowned as much for hisattitude at the table as his poker. Hellmuth is famed for ranting andberating opponents when he loses a big pot, famously telling oneguy he ‘couldn’t even spell p-o-k-e-r.’ Hellmuth divides opinion amongpoker fans, with many doubting his talents extend beyond beatingbad players, and his style is determinedly passive. But his recordhas few equals and on his day he is a fabulous reader of players,capable of amazing calls and laydowns.

SCOTTY NGUYENThe Prince of Poker is one of the most enigmatic players inthe game, with a list of accomplishments equal to anyone.

He is also responsible for the legendary line ‘You call and it’s all overbaby’, which he famously said on the final hand of his 1998 WSOPmain event win. The fast-talking man from Vietnam has a pastlittered with gambling addiction and alcohol-fuelled lows, but he’snow a reformed family man and still a ferocious tournament talent.His big successes continue to be at the WSOP where he won theprestigious $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event in 2008. He’s also thewinner of a WPT title with victory in the World Poker Open in 2006.

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TABLEMANNERS

Poker is a strange world filled with its own quirky rules, regulationsand codes of conduct every player should adhere to. Here we

reveal five of poker’s most common breaches of etiquette

1 SLOW-ROLLINGWHAT IS IT? Nothing gets poker players more vexed

than a slow-roll. It is without doubt one of the most irritatingthings in the game. But what exactly is a slow-roll? It’s theaction of deliberately taking a long time to show the winninghand, usually while pretending you are beaten. In the rightcontext they can be very funny, such as announcing two pairwith four of a kind in a home game with mates. But, in thewrong context, they can lead to a punch in the mouth. There issomething about a slow-roll that makes a poker player’s bloodboil. It’s the equivalent of playground bullying, rubbing youropponent’s nose in their defeat. You just beat them in a handand took their chips – do you really need to make a song anddance about it? Just show your cards and act like a man.

IN ACTION At the 2005 WSOP main event, female poker proJennifer Harman was the victim of a classic slow-roll whenCorey Zeidman made a straight flush to beat her full house.When she puts him all-in he pretends to weigh up the decisionand says he can do some sightseeing if he loses beforeshowing the unbeatable hand and asking for applause.Harman should have clapped him round the head.

WATCH IT http://tinyurl.com/dnenxs

2 OVER-CELEBRATINGWHAT IS IT? In poker there is a lot of luck involved. Even with a hand

like pocket Aces you are still going to lose one time out of five to pocket twoswhen you are all-in pre-flop. We all know this, but it doesn’t make it any lesscruel when that miracle two arrives on the flop. Or it doesn’t mean we don’twant to smash the table up when that guy hits two perfect cards to outdrawour full house. It’s like fate decided it hated us. You feel like the world isagainst you. Like nothing can ever go right. And so the last thing you needis some goon who played badly and got lucky jumping up and down andwhooping like a brain-damaged monkey. If it’s you that sucked out thensit down, don’t say a word and quietly stack your chips.

IN ACTION Mike Matusow gets caught out when he flops top pair against anunlikely two pair of his opponent at the 2009 WSOP main event. They both getit all-in on the turn and Mike hits a lucky river to take the pot. He then jumpsup from his seat and starts celebrating while his opponent sits stoney-facedknowing he’s out of the tournament. To be fair to Mike it’s not the worst badbeat in the world and he does say sorry afterwards, but it’s still out of order.

WATCH IT http://tinyurl.com/m6yxxq


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5 TRASH-TALKINGWHAT IS IT? If you beat a player

then celebrating is one thing, but rubbinghis nose in it is another. Nobody likes tosee a sore loser, but a sore winner iseven worse. Many players have made acareer out of acting up at the tables andgiving players rubdowns when theywin, none more so than Tony G. Theloudmouth Aussie has crossed so farover the line in poker tournaments hecan’t even see it any more. He gets awaywith it because there is no penalty inpoker for being a jerk. But you shouldn’tlearn from Tony G about how to conductyourself at the poker table. Sure, it’ssometimes funny to watch, but try itat the local casino and you may findyour laughter quickly stops when thewhole table turns against you.

IN ACTION The classic Tony G rubdowncame against Ralph Perry in a televisedtournament. The two have some previoushistory so when Tony G knocks him outhe launches into a tirade telling Perryhis career is finished and telling him toget out. Perry sits, dumbfounded for awhile, before eventually getting up toleave with Tony G still hollering abuseat him as he exits stage left.

WATCH IT www.tinyurl.com/3vkaop

3 TALKING MID-HANDWHAT IS IT? Okay, let’s clarify that a

bit. We don’t mean you can’t talk about theweather or something that happened earlier,but if you’re not involved in the current handyou should keep quiet about things going onin it until it’s finished. If you say what you had,you’re giving information that could swaysomeone’s decision. And if you mentionsomething like, ‘Oh he looks weak there, hedidn’t like that Ace,’ you are massively out ofline. Poker is a game of limited information,so even if you think you have some you shouldkeep your ego in check and wait until the endof the hand. Nobody cares what you think ifyou’re not involved in the hand, and you arelikely to severely annoy the people stillplaying if you chime in with unwantedcomments. In short, be discreet.

IN ACTION Once again it’s Mike Matusowinvolved, but this time he’s the injuredparty. At the 2005 WSOP main event ShawnSheikhan slams his fist against the tableafter the flop has been dealt, clearlyindicating he had a hand that would haveflopped well. In other words making itless likely Mike Matusow did. Matusowunderstandably explodes and the twoplayers get into a huge row.

WATCH IT www.tinyurl.com/mymzsz

4 HIT AND RUNWHAT IS IT? This is something

that only happens in cash games – inparticular online – and is one of themore subtle breaches of pokeretiquette. To ‘hit and run’ is to winall of an opponent’s money and thenimmediately leave. You see this a lotmore when playing online than inlive games where it’s not as easy toslide away from the table withoutcausing a row. Some players seenothing wrong with this tactic, andfeel they have no duty to allow theother player the opportunity to ‘winhis money back’. However, most inthe poker world view players thatdon’t want to continue to play onafter winning a big pot as bad winnersand bad for the game.

OUR TIP If you win a big pot in a livecash game then don’t immediatelyleave or make moves to leave. Stayand play a few more orbits of theblinds. You don’t have to play manyhands, but give the illusion you arestill active in the game. And, whoknows, if you tighten up your startinghand selection and only play if youhit a big hand, it could even end upwith you finishing even more up.

Many players havemade a career out ofacting up at the tablesand giving playersrubdowns… nonemore so than Tony G

KEY POINTWhen you are not involved in a handyou should keep quiet until the handis over. Don’t talk about what cardsyou folded or your opinion of youropponents’ play. It is bad form andlikely to annoy your opponents.

All images taken from actual in-game screenshots.

Club PKR is a different kind of loyalty programme. For starters our ‘always up,

never down’ policy means you never lose points or VIP status just because you

want to take a break. Once you reach a level it’s yours - for life.

Our levels are also easier to achieve, meaning you’ll find yourself in Silver, Gold

and even Platinum status far sooner than you would in other poker rooms.

And that’s great news because there is a world of fantastic rewards just waiting

for you as you move up the loyalty ladder including free PKR merchandise, big

money freerolls every month, VIP access to PKR events and a whole lot more.

Club PKR - The mostrewarding club in poker

Please gamble responsibly. For more information and advice visitwww.gambleaware.co.uk Licensed by the UK Gambling Commission


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POKERTERMINOLOGY

Poker has a rich and constantly growing language. Here are some of themost common terms you will need to know when learning the game

ALL-IN The name given to betting all yourchips on any given hand in no-limit hold’em.

ANTE An additional forced bet which comesinto play later in a tournament. It must bepaid by every player every hand and it isusually between one-sixth to one-quarterof the small blind.

BAD BEAT To be a favourite in a hand butlose to an opponent who is statisticallyan underdog when the money goes in.

BANKROLL The total amount of ‘pokermoney’ you have available to you at anyone time. Online this would be all themoney in your poker account, and shouldbe kept separate from your ‘real’ money.

BLINDS Compulsory bets that ensurethere are some chips to win every hand. Intournaments they force the action as theyrise progressively, and in cash games theypromote action. The player to the immediateleft of the dealer posts the ‘small blind’, andthe player to their left posts the ‘big blind’(usually double the small blind). The blindsalso move around the table clockwise oneach new hand so that every player takestheir turn to pay them. The size of the blindsare dictated by the table stakes or the stageof a tournament.

BLUFF To bet and raise when you are likelyto have the worst hand in a bid to get anopponent to fold.

BOARD The community cards in hold’em arecollectively known as the ‘board’.

BUBBLE In a tournament this is the lastperson to be knocked out before the moneypositions. This person is often called the‘bubble boy’ or is said to have ‘bubbled’.

BUTTON This is the physical marker onthe table that indicates which player is thedesignated dealer and therefore which twoplayers (the two to the left) are in the blinds.The button moves one seat to the left each

hand, and is often said to be the strongestposition because the dealer is the last personto act and therefore has most information.

BUY-IN The cost of the game that you wantto enter. It varies from micro stakes to highstakes. In a tournament it will be a flat feethat everyone pays and which goes towardsthe total prize pool, while in a cash game itdepends on the table stakes. If the game is$1/$2 no-limit hold’em the typical buy-inwould be a maximum of $200.

CALL The action a player makes when theymatch a bet from another player.

CHECK The option to ‘check’ arises if you donot want to bet and there is no bet to match.However, if someone has bet you cannotcheck – you have to fold, call or raise.

COMMUNITY CARDS The face-up cards inthe middle of the table shared by all players.

CONTINUATION BET A bet made afterthe flop by the player who took the lead inbetting before the flop. The term is oftenknown as a c-bet.

DRAWING DEAD If there are cards to comebut your hand cannot improve on that ofyour opponent(s) you are ‘drawing dead’.

FIFTH STREET The fifth community cardin hold’em, often called the ‘river’.

FLOP This is the set of three face-upcommunity cards that are dealt after thefirst round of betting.

FLUSH A strong hand at showdownconsisting of five cards of the same suit,

for example AÚ-JÚ-8Ú-4Ú-2Ú. If they areall connected you can make a very rare –and incredibly strong – straight flush.

FOLD The action of throwing away yourcards and taking no further part in the hand,forfeiting any claim to win the pot.

FOURTH STREET The fourth communitycard in hold’em, often known as the ‘turn’.

FULL HOUSE A five-card hand in whichyou have a combination of three of a kindand another pair, for example, K-K-K-J-J.

HEADS-UP When only two players are incontention for the pot, they’re said to be‘heads-up’. It’s also used as a term for aform of poker where two players play aone-on-one match either as a tournamentor cash game.

HOLE CARDS The two face-down cards eachplayer is dealt at the start of every hand.

KICKER The term for the card used to breakties between similar hands. So if a hand goesto showdown and two players have the samepair, the player with the bigger ‘kicker’ orside card wins the hand.

LAG Abbreviation for a loose-aggressiveplayer, who bets with a wide range of hands.

MAIN POT The principal pot of chips thatall players are trying to win. If one or moreplayers go all-in, a ‘side pot’ is created forother players in the hand who are not all-inand are still betting.

MUCK As a noun, this refers to the pileof folded and discarded cards. As a verb,it means the act of folding.

MULTI-TABLE TOURNAMENT A type oftournament where the field size dictatesthat more than one table is needed. As thetournament progresses players get knockedout and the tables reduce, until eventuallythere is just the final table.

If one or more players goesall-in, a ‘side pot’ is createdfor other players in the handwho are still betting


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NO-LIMIT A betting structure in whicheach bet is only limited by the number ofchips a player has in their stack.

OUTS These are cards that can come topotentially give someone a winning hand.For example, nine cards or ‘outs’ when aplayer flops four cards to a flush.

PLAYING THE BOARD When a playeruses all the community cards in hold’emas their best hand.

POCKET PAIR A pair ‘in the hole’ (dealtas hole cards), such as 2-2 or A-A.

POT The total chips that are available towin in any given hand created by playersbetting and calling, and any blinds andantes in play.

POT-LIMIT A betting format where eachplayer may bet up to the current amountof chips in the pot after the cost of calling.

RAISE The act of betting more than thatwhich was wagered by a prior bettor. It hasto be at least double that of the initial bet.

RE-RAISE The name given to a third betwhen there has been a bet and a raise.

RIVER The fifth and final community cardin hold’em. Also known as ‘fifth street’.

ROYAL FLUSH This is the best straightflush, for example 10;-J;-Q;-K;-A;. It isthe strongest possible hand ranking.

SET Three of a kind using two hole cardsand one of the community cards.

SHOWDOWN This takes place after the finalbet where all players show their hands ormuck, and the best hand takes the pot.

SIDE POT The pot created when a playergoes all-in and there are other players in thehand who still have chips and are betting tocreate a separate side pot only they can win.

SINGLE-TABLE TOURNAMENT This termdescribes a tournament where only one tableis used, with typically six or ten playerscompeting. Often referred to as a sit&go.

STRAIGHT A fairly strong five-card handin rank order where suit doesn’t matter –for example, 8;-9:-10…-JÚ-Q….

SUIT There are four ‘suits’ in a 52-card deck– hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades. Theyare used to make flushes, and in hold’em nosuit has a bigger strength than another.

TAG Abbreviation for a tight-aggressiveplayer – one who plays a small range ofpremium hands strongly.

TEXTURE A term for the make-up of theboard. If the community cards create a lotof potential for straights and flushes theboard is said to have a ‘wet’ texture. If it isgenerally unsuited and has few connectingcards it is said to have a ‘dry’ texture.

THREE-BET Another term for a re-raise.Pre-flop the big blind is the first bet, a raisethe second bet and re-raise a three-bet.

TILT When a player gets frustrated andangry because of something that happens atthe poker table, and starts playing badly.

TRIPS Another name for three of a kind.

TURN A common name given to the fourthcommunity card in hold’em.

VALUE BET A bet made when you think youhave the best hand and are trying to extractmore chips or money from your opponent.

If the communitycards create a lotof potential forstraights andflushes the boardis said to have a‘wet’ texture


ONLINEPOKER…

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The real storyEverything you need to know about the online game,

and some of the myths about internet poker exploded…

Y OU PROBABLY HAVEtrainers that are olderthan the online pokerindustry. It took itsfirst tentative steps

in January 1998, when Planet Pokerbecame the first real-money onlinepoker room. The idea was to tryto replicate the land-based casinoexperience online – and to behonest, nobody really cared thatmuch. The only game available was$3/$6 limit, and just a handful ofplayers could be found sitting inat any one time. It wasn’t until late1999 when the first real giant ofthe online poker world was born.

Over in Costa Rica, a group ofCanadian college friends, who tothis day remain nameless, startedup Paradise Poker. The site offeredOmaha and seven-card stud as wellas Texas hold’em. The graphicswere slick and ran a lot faster thanthe sluggish Planet Poker, and thesite quickly proved a hit.

At the end of 2000 the next ofthe big names made its debut.UltimateBet was set up jointly bysoftware firm ieLogic (founded bytech geeks Greg Pierson and Jon

Karl) and some secretive high-stakes poker players (believed toinclude a former WSOP main eventwinner). UB started to gain someground, but the market was stilldominated by Paradise. By the endof 2000 it had introduced no-limithold’em cash games and the onlinepoker world as we know it startedto be defined. But developments inthe real world were about to turneverything upside down...

THE GOLD RUSHPrior to 2001, tournament pokerjust wasn’t all that interestingto your average online punter.Paradise Poker’s 50,000 playerswere mostly grinding it out at thelimit hold’em tables, and while afew other sites were runningsit&gos and occasional freezeouttournaments, online poker was acash game world.

But some newcomers on thescene had other ideas. PartyPoker inparticular saw the marketing valueof online tournaments. What betterway to launch yourself onto thescene than by running a huge seriesof tournaments culminating in a

$1m main event on a cruise ship?Sound familiar? It sure as hell wasn’tback in 2001 when PartyPoker cameup with the PartyPoker.com Million.

Just a few months later anotherpoker site made its presence known.PokerStars.com launched in October2001 with the intention of becomingthe home of online tournamentplay. Its first big promotion was a$50,000 guaranteed tournamentwith a $215 buy-in. However, therewas a third component that tookonline poker to a new level.

THE BIG BANGIn 2002 the World Poker Tour madeits TV debut on the Travel Channelin the US. It not only created hugeinterest in tournament poker, butalso gave poker sites a platformon which to advertise. As a result,those sites offering big-moneytournaments started to see a hugeuplift in player numbers, which iswhen the poker boom really started.

There was one clear winner in theearly skirmishes. PartyPoker wentfrom nowhere to become the largestonline poker room in just two years.Paradise Poker meanwhile, which

ONLINEPOKER

TIMELINEThe rise and rise

of the onlinegame

In 2002 theWorld PokerTour made

its TV debut,creating huge

interest intournament

poker

1998 Planet Poker becomes thefirst proper online poker

site and signs up a few early fans

2002 The World Poker Tourlaunches, changing poker

history for good

2001 Paradise Poker becomesthe first online success

attracting thousands of new players


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still wasn’t offering multi-tabletournaments, saw its marketposition drop like a stone. In starkcontrast, PokerStars was growingfast, thanks to a business modelbased heavily on tournaments.

It was at this point, with the‘American’ sites showing incrediblegrowth, that Europe sat up andtook notice. Ladbrokes launched itsonline poker site in 2002. It didn’taccept US players, and concentratedon growing the business in the UKand Scandinavian markets. Over inthe US though, where more than80% of the online poker market was,PartyPoker was comprehensivelywinning the war. And when amateurplayer Chris Moneymaker won theWSOP main event there was a hugerush to sign up to play online in theUS. By 2004 PartyPoker was makingover $1m profit a day. A DAY!

This wasn’t lost on the rest of theonline gaming world. Suddenly everyman and his dog was launching apoker room. By the end of 2004, theonline poker world as we know ithad taken shape. The tournamentsites and the cash game sites hadstolen the best bits from each other

and there was a real sense ofuniformity in the poker world.

From here on the poker industryboomed, spreading out from theUSA to Europe and beyond. Majortournaments in Europe helped growthe scene, fuelled as they were byonline satellites. And while growthin America stagnated, the Europeanpoker sector continues to grow at ahuge rate today. By 2009 poker hadbecome a truly global game playedby hundreds of thousands of playersacross the world every day.

STATE OF THE ARTAnd the software didn’t stand stilleither. Almost every game you canimagine is now available around theclock, with slick and easy-to-useinterfaces. Poker sites such as PKRhave even embraced cutting edgegraphics technology, taking pokerto a whole new level with stunning3D visuals. The quality of the onlinepoker experience now is trulyspectacular, in many ways equallingthe casino experience envisaged inthe early days. And we’ve only beengoing for a decade. Here’s to thenext ten years of online poker!

By 2009 pokerhad become a

truly global gameplayed by hundreds

of thousands ofplayers across

the world

ONLINE POKER FAQKey info for newcomers

HOW DO I GETMONEY ON ANDOFF A POKER SITE?It’s surprisingly easy. Yourbest bet is to use a debitcard such as Maestro or Visadebit, as you can simply putin your details and depositand withdraw onto the samecard. You can also use a creditcard, though this is not asconvenient as you are usuallynot able to withdraw to thesame card. You can also useonline e-wallets such as PayPalto deposit and withdraw onmany sites.

HOW SAFE ISMY MONEY?If you stick to the major sitessuch as PKR your money isvery safe as it is kept in‘ring-fenced’ accounts, whichthe sites themselves do nothave access to. If in doubt askthe site via email if they usering-fenced accounts.

HOW ARE THECARDS DEALT?Online sites use randomnumber generators (RNGs) tosimulate the shuffle of thecards. This is done by using the

RNG to assign numbers to each‘card’ and then using eitherthe highest or lowest numberas the first card and so on.The RNGs use incrediblysophisticated technology toensure they can’t be ‘cracked’and are regularly audited byexternal testing agencies.

WHAT STAKES ARETHERE ONLINE?You can play for free in freerolltournaments or play-moneygames, or play very low-stakes $1 tournaments or$0.01/$0.02 cash games. Youcan play as high as $1,000tournaments or $500/$1,000cash games if you have thebankroll. Any game you wantyou can find online.

WHO AM I PLAYINGAGAINST?Other people like yourself fromaround the world. The USA, UK,France and Germany providea large number of players butyou can find players from allover the world taking part.The sites simply take a smallpercentage of each pot as acommission or rake in thesame way as a live casino.

ONLINE POKER MYTHSDon’t believe the hype

‘EVERYONE ISCOLLUDINGAGAINST ME’WRONG Collusion (wheretwo or more players team up togain advantage), is not onlyrare, but the sites spend agreat deal of time and moneylooking for it. They havesophisticated software thatdetects collusion and theyinvestigate any complaintsor reports from players.

‘THE SOFTWAREIS RIGGED!’WRONG Poker software usesrandom number generators and

the results are audited forfairness by outside testingagencies. The myth comesfrom the fact so many handsare dealt online so you see amonth’s worth of bad beatsand amazing hands every day.

‘THE SITES LET YOUWIN AT FIRST BUTTHEN MAKE YOU LOSE’WRONG The sites don’t makemore money when you lose,they simply take a ‘rake’ or apercentage of the pot whoeverwins or loses. It’s not in theirinterests for any one player towin more than another.2004 PartyPoker becomes the

world’s largest poker siteand offers $1m guaranteed tourney

2007 PKR takes online poker toa whole new level with the

launch of graphically rich 3D poker


The next chapter in online poker’s evolution is the development offast, realistic and compelling 3D poker. Step forward PKR.com…

WHEN POKER FIRST MADEthe leap from casino tocomputer screen, it’s fairto say something was lostin translation. For all its

convenience, the online game couldn’t matchthe excitement, drama and atmosphere of thelive game. But PKR.com is the next stage inonline poker’s evolution, and the closest youcan get to the real world on the internet.

Conceived and created by some of theleading lights in the videogames industry,PKR is the slickest and most graphicallyimpressive poker site ever seen, with rich3D environments and a clever game systemthat mimics the interactive qualities of live

poker. As you can see from the in-gamescreenshots, it looks absolutely stunning,and utterly different from any online pokersite you’ve ever seen.

BE WHO YOU WANT TO BEWhen you first log in, you’re able to designand create a virtual character or ‘avatar’ torepresent you at the poker table. There’s ahuge range of options to play with, ensuringthat every character in the game is unique.PKR can even render an in-game image thatlooks exactly like you by mapping your faceonto an avatar. You can also express yourselfat the table by activating a variety of ‘emotes’– animations that act out your feelings and

expressions, whether it’s to say ‘nice hand’or shake your head in disgust.

But don’t be confused into thinking thiscomes at the expense of the gameplay. AtPKR you still get a fast, slick game,multi-table options and a huge range oftournaments and cash games.

It’s a site for seriously good poker,just with a lot more fun. The graphicalwonders also add a new element to thegame including the art of picking up tellsand faking out opponents. You can use bodylanguage, attitude and even the clothes onyour back to control the action and winpots! Find out how to bring a whole newdimension to your game on PKR...

POKER COMESOF AGE

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WATCH THE ACTIONA fresh look at online pokerWith PKR you can choose from a variety of different viewsto watch the action. And with 10 lush environments to playin PKR is poker like you’ve never seen it before...

PLAY YOUR GAME AT PKRFind the game that’s right for you…PKR offers tournaments, ring games, sit&gos and much more…

DYNAMIC Be the star of your own poker TVshow with a ‘director’ automatically deliveringall the best angles and following all the action

ORBIT Take in the action from almost anyangle you choose. Use your mouse to swiveland zoom for the perfect view

POINTS OF THE COMPASS Quickly getthe view you need by choosing one of fourfixed cameras that cover the table

FIRSTPERSON See the action from yourcharacter’s point of view. Look around andeven make eye contact with your opponents!

OVERVIEW Get on top of the game witha bird’s eye view that takes in all the actionand every player at the table

MULTI-TABLE Overview modeallows you to play up to four gamesat once and increase your profits!

MULTI-TABLE TOURNAMENTS PKR’sMTTs rule! Go into the lobby and you’ll

find big guaranteed prize pools to play forevery day, satellite qualifiers for online andland-based events, a huge range of innovativetournament types, and your chance to bebroadcast all over Europe and the UK on PKR.TV.

CASH GAMES PKR’s technology is perfectfor ring games where getting to know your

opponents is critical. There are a huge range foryou to choose from at limits to suit every bankroll.The limits start from very small stakes. Playerscan play cash games with stakes as low as$0.01/$0.02 and up to $25/$50 no-limit.

SIT&GOS Perfect the art of the sit&goat PKR where two, six and 10-seaters

fill up quickly and offer huge variety. Play with astandard clock or go turbo for even more action.And with innovative Double Thru’s, Winner-Takes-All, Phase and Terminator tourneys, there’s alwaysa new way to sharpen your game.

TOP TIPSCreate a characterthat’s as unique asyou are. Start byselecting a gender,skin tone and bodyshape, then get to workcreating your perfectpoker personality. Youcan even choose from amassive catalogue ofclothing items tocreate your look.

There are 10 lushenvironments to playin, ranging from yourtypical home gameto Monte Carlo, LasVegas and even anEgyptian casino.Immerse yourself inPKR’s poker world.

The camera can betricky to get to gripswith, especially if youhaven’t played a lot of3D games before, sospend a bit of timetrying it out until youfind a view that suitsyou. If you’re havingtrouble getting theright angle, the‘orbit’ camera isthe most versatile,allowing panning,tilting and zooming.

If any player is gettingon your nerves withconstant chickennoises and taunts(PKR calls it ‘emotespamming’), there’san option to blockemotes altogether.

At PKR youstill get a slick

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SIT&GOsThe ultimate guide to


SIT&GOs

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Sit&gos are a great format in which to build your skills andconfidence, and can also yield a very handsome profit.Here we look at how to master the games by moving

through the gears and how to swiftly move up the levels

THE MOST POPULAR NEW FORMATto emerge from internet poker is thesit&go, or single-table tournament.Games typically run with ten players,with first place taking 50% of the

prizepool, second place 30% and third place20%. These are the most common games you willfind in home games, pubs and online. In short,sit&gos are a game everyone should be able toplay and beat. They are the easiest form of pokerto master and probably the most profitable wayto make money in poker for the average punter– they run constantly and can be played to aformula as many as 12 tables at a time.

The best sit&go players at any given level canexpect to average a 20% return on investment– so for every $10 game they would make $12, fora profit of $2. If you start off playing $5 games,then good players should average around $1 pergame. You can then move up a level providing youhave at least 20 times the buy-in. So when you getto $200 you can try the $10 games. Rememberthat the goal is to play at the level that is mostprofitable to you at any given time, so if you stepup and do well stick with it, and if you take abeating then drop down and recover.

If all goes to plan and you consistentlyacclimatise to and dominate each new level thereis no reason why you shouldn’t move up a levelevery 100 games or so, meaning that from the$5 to $100 level could be done in less that 500games. Of course, in reality, the path is likely tobe more circuitous and contain a few pitfalls anddead ends along the way, but the more you learnand apply yourself the quicker you will progress.

Beyond this level there is still plenty ofdistance to cover, with buy-ins from $200 up to$2,000 currently available. Remember thoughthat if you get this far you will start to encountermany excellent and sophisticated opponents, sobeware! Should you be able to outsmart themyou will certainly find a pot of gold yours forthe taking – playing just at the $200 level withfour games on one high-resolution screen a

good player can rake in around $200-$300 anhour. Happy days!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Firstwe need to learn to beat the low-stakes games,which are full of bad players not playing correctstrategy. Unlike most forms of poker, sit&gos arealmost a solved game and you need to stick to afixed game plan to do well. The key to winning isusing a formula based on dividing the game intothree stages – early, middle and late.

It helps to view these three elements as trafficlights – red, amber and green. In the red stageyou should play with extreme caution as you arein the danger zone. With amber you should startto move slowly through the gears and play a bitmore freely and at green you should put your footdown and hit top gear. Confused? You won’t be.

HOW TO WINSIT&GOsBecome a sit&go master by learning howto effectively move through the gears

1 The early phase dictates a tight handselection and favours good post-flop

players. Your goal is to gain some chips whenyou get a good hand.

2 The middle phase dictates a transitionfrom post-flop play to a pre-flop push/fold

strategy. Most players are unaware that thisapproach is correct and will allow you to collectthe blinds. Your goal is to put yourself in aposition to win the sit&go.

3 In the late phase of play, both pre-flop andpost-flop play can dominate, depending on

the blinds and the sizes of the three remainingstacks. Go for the win, and don’t be cautious.

How to beat

Playing at the $200level with four gameson one high-resolutionscreen, a good playercan make $200-$300an hour. Happy days!


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TYPES OF SIT&GOThe sit&go format has taken the online world by storm in recent years. This strategy guide focuses on nineand ten-handed games, but there are many other game types out there, including these classic options…

1 TURBOSThese are fast-paced games with the

blinds rising much quicker than a standardgame. These are the best games if you want torestrict your game to a push/fold strategy asthere is not much middle-game play.

2 SIX-HANDEDIn these ‘six-max’ games only the top

two places are paid. They are usually muchmore aggressive games where you have to playmore hands to survive, and as such they arebetter suited to the more experienced player.

3 HEADS-UPThese are one-on-one games where you

really need to be an experienced player to dowell. You play every hand and the skills involvedare quite different. Stay away from these ifyou are a beginner.


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1 EARLY GAME PLAYIn the red-light stage of a sit&go your first,

crucial, task is to play safely and conservativelyto avoid getting knocked out early. No all-in callswith pocket Jacks here. The key to successfulsit&go play is pacing yourself – start slowly andsteadily and go through the gears. The otheradvantage to this style is that it presents a tableimage of a tight player, so that when you do startplaying with more aggression your opponentsare unlikely to call you with anything but amonster hand.

The opening levels of a sit&go are often wherethe games are won or lost. The key is to notwaste valuable chips chasing draws. The earlyphase of a sit&go exists in every structure, nomatter if it’s played live or online, and is definedby how many chips you have in relation to theblinds. It ends when the blinds are worth around1/15th of your starting stack.

Generally speaking, super-tight hand selectionis the best strategy at the beginning of the earlyphase. If you squander your chips in the earlyphase on speculative hands – like when chasing

draws – you will often put yourself at asignificant disadvantage. The blinds continuallyincrease, which means the middle phase of playcould arrive quicker for you.

KEY POINTIn the early phase of a sit&go a tight strategy isbest, as conserving your chips for the later stagesis paramount. Limit your hand selection to bigpairs, A-K and A-Q, and above all, play position

While the middle phase still allows for skilledplay, there is more opportunity to use this toyour advantage in the early phase. In a cashgame you can simply reload if things go poorly,but in a sit&go you must conserve your chipsand thereby conserve your equity. Most playersdo not understand this, and the early phase isdominated by poor play – particularly of thecalling station, draw-chasing variety. Obviously,if you have a good hand, you can exploit thisby value-betting.

EARLY STAGESPLAY

2-2 to J-J, A-K and A-Q

RE-RAISEQ-Q, K-K, A-A

FOLDAll other hands

STARTINGHAND GUIDE


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The best strategy at this stage is to limit yourhand selection to either monsters or hands thatcan flop easily-played monsters, which is whyyour hand range should be restricted to pocketpairs, A-Q and A-K. Big pairs, such as Q-Q andabove ought to be played aggressively. Lowerpairs and the big Aces should be played morecautiously. Ideally, you should only play yourlesser hands in late position, though limping orcalling a moderate raise in middle position isokay. As the blinds rise and you move towardsthe middle stage of the sit&go you shouldcontinue to play a tight strategy, just a little lesstight than the initial super-tight strategy.

KEY POINTYou can raise with smaller pairs like 5-5 when inposition but don’t play a big pot with this sort ofhand unless you flop a monster. Also, continuationbets do not need to be pot-sized. At this stage inthe game it’s all about limiting your risk

EQUITY Your equity is your expectedvalue from a pot or tournament. Sayyou have a 40% chance to win a potworth $100, your equity is $40 (0.4times 100). The term is somewhatperfunctory as you will usually win$100 or $0 but it gives you an idea ofhow much you can ‘expect’ to win.

SHORT STACK A player with lessthan ten big blinds

TERMINOLOGY

WALKTHROUGHPlaying the early levelsThe early stages of a sit&go are all aboutsurvival. You don’t need to take big riskswhen there are still ten players left

1 You get dealt A…-10…on the button at the10/20 level. While this hand is marginal in early

position, in late position you should raise and c-betmost flops, as you will likely have the best hand.

2 You get dealt Q:-J; on the button at the25/50 blind level and there has been a

mid-position raise to 100. While this hand lookspretty it is only going to get you into troublepost-flop so you should wait for a better spot.

3 You pick up A;-J; in mid-position at the10/20 level. There’s a raise to 80 and a

call before it reaches you. You should fold, asunless you hit a flush or your Jack you won’tknow where you are in the hand.


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2 THE MIDDLE GAMEUnsurprisingly, the tactic of only playing

big hands can’t be used throughout. By the timeyou get to the middle phase of a sit&go, you aregoing to have to get more imaginative. Themiddle phase ends when the bubble bursts andonly three players remain. Those three playerswill each then be guaranteed a portion of theprizepool, and play shifts to the late phase. Thebest middle phase strategy should graduallytransition into more aggressive play.

Conventional tournament wisdom states thatyou should play in two stages. First survive tothe payout, then play for first. There is no moneyfor fourth place, hence finishing out of the moneyrepresents a waste of your time. Even if youcrawl into third place, you make something,and something is better than nothing. As youapproach the bubble of a sit&go, you may betempted to creep into the money and take whatyou can, but it may be more profitable to go forbroke. You may be partial to conventional wisdom,but the aggressive path is more profitable.

KEY POINTThe middle phase of a sit&go begins when theblinds are worth around 1/15th or more of yourchipstack and ends when the bubble bursts. Duringthis period, you should be changing gears if theblinds total 10% of your stack. So if the blinds are50/100 and you have a 1,500 stack, it’s time tostart widening your range of starting hands

The middle game is where the real poker startsbeing played. This is when a few players havebeen knocked out and the blinds have risen to thepoint where the average stack is around ten bigblinds. At this stage you will typically see theshort-stacks moving all-in with any hand theydeem playable – which is the best tactic if you aredown to 10 big blinds or less – while normal-sizedraises from larger stacks will often be met by anall-in from someone else.

KNOW YOUR PLACEThe key to this stage is understanding youroverall position in the game and where youstand in relation to the other players. Goingout in a marginal situation unnecessarily isa disaster, especially if you are one of thebig stacks and there are several small stacks.Likewise, if the game is four-handed withequal stacks and two players end up all-in ona coinflip then in effect they are just givingmoney to the other players who gain simplyby watching from the sidelines.

What this means in practical terms is thatyou should play according to your relativestack size. You should attack the smaller stacks,as they are playing for survival. Use frequentraises, re-raises and all-ins as they will needa very big hand to call you. When you are ashort-stack, however, you should look to dowhatever is necessary to make the money,

THE BUBBLE The point in atournament or sit&go where thenext person out will not make anymoney but all remaining players willget paid. So if three players are paidout and four remain, you are said tobe ‘on the bubble’, while to go outat this point is known as ‘bubbling’

TERMINOLOGYfolding bad and marginal hands when you canafford to in the hope that someone else busts,getting your chips in first unless you have amonster, moving all-in to steal the blinds whenyou are running out of chips and attacking thebig blind of the next shortest stacks wheneverpossible to lower the deficit.

However, stick to the golden rule of cautiousaggression. Don’t be reckless. Bet hard onlywhen the cards truly deserve it or if you haveless than six to eight times the big blind.

Remember, though your ultimate objectiveis to win the whole shooting match, your firstpriority is to get a money finish. Take advantageof any opportunities that come your way, anddo everything it takes to make the final three.From there you can up the aggression and startgambling on marginal hands, with the safety netof at least doubling your money.

KEY POINTJust because you think you may have a slightlybetter hand than your opponent doesn’t meanyou should always call. Chips are not actuallyequivalent to their money value, and you shouldavoid situations where you can be knocked out,allowing others to gain at your expense


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WALKTHROUGHShoving with anythingIn the middle stage of a sit&go there aretimes when you should play with seriousaggression regardless of your cards

1 You are on the bubble in a $10 sit&go whereeach of the four remaining players have

2,500 chips. The blinds are 200/400 and you aredealt 3-2 offsuit in the small blind.

2 The first two players fold. The big blind isa tight-solid player who views you as the

same. You move all-in.

3 The big blind folds. This will undoubtedlysurprise a few people, but the big blind will

call with very few hands here as he understandsthe value of survival. Your cards are meaningless.You should always push here unless you suspecthe is the type to call with substandard hands.

MIDDLE STAGE GAME PLANHow your stack affects your strategyYour goal in the middle stage should be to adjust your game to the players infront of you. Your cards are not as important as your relative stack sizes

SHORT-STACKEDIf you are short-stacked you should belooking to move in with any playable hand,such as pocket pairs, big Aces or two courtcards (Queens, Kings, Jacks). Don’t raisepre-flop, simply move all-in.

Only raise all-in if there has been no raisebefore you if you have an average hand.Re-raise all-in if you have a big hand.

Attack fellow short-stacks when they areon the big blind. They will be reluctant tocall without a big hand.

Avoid calling all-in moves from big-stacksunless you have a big pair or A-Q, A-K.

MEDIUM-STACKEDAttack other medium and short-stackedplayers. Raise with a wide range of hands

and re-raise medium-stacked players whoare raising frequently.

Avoid the big stacks as much as possible.They are the only players who can knockyou out at this stage.

Do not be the one calling. Be the one raising.Use your chipstack as a weapon.

BIG-STACKEDDo not make too many hero calls with badAces and small pairs. You do not want to getinto coinflips and waste your chip lead.

Make frequent raises to try to steal theblinds, but don’t call too easily whenplayers move all-in over the top of you.

Bully the other players by making raises andre-raises, as they will need very good handsto call you with.


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3 ENDGAME PLAYSo you’ve made it to the money – now

what? Well, here is where the gambling beginsas there is only 10% difference between secondand third but 30% between second and first. Youshould be playing to accumulate chips and win.Turn everything we have told you so far on itshead and be bold and aggressive. But rememberto play the players in front of you.

By now, after lasting this long, you shouldhave a pretty good read on your opponents. Soif you are playing a short-stacked maniac it maynot be a great idea to call him all-in with your 6-3offsuit when you’re on the button. If you make itall the way to heads-up play then the game takeson another complexion.

Obviously, you want to win at this point sincevictory holds the biggest payout. Your opponentsalso want to win and their play will loosen up,becoming more aggressive. For much of the timethere will be no change in the character of playfrom the middle phase. If the big blind representsa tenth of your or your opponents’ stacks, thecorrect play will be to push or fold.

What changes is that your opponents will bemore willing to gamble, and as your goal is to

COINFLIP A situation in pokerwhere two players are all-in andboth have roughly a 50/50 chanceof winning the hand. This is mostcommon when one player has a smallpair such as pocket sixes and theother has overcards such as K-Q.

TERMINOLOGYwin you should be willing to take somechances when three-handed. If you are secondin chips with stacks of 6,000, 4,000, 3,500 youshould be willing to take a coinflip with thethird-placed player, as the 7.5k resulting stackgives you an immense advantage over the otherplayer heads-up.

KEY POINTWhen three-handed, try to put yourself in aposition to move up the ladder rather thanlooking to simply hang on. The value of winningis worth so much more than just cashing – evenif the frequency of doing so is less

HEADS-UP PLAYIf you make it to heads-up play you will generallyfind yourself in a push/fold game. In other wordsthe only move you should make is all-in or fold.Your opponents are generally unaware that adramatic change in tactics is needed. They areleft puzzled as to why someone with a stack of6,000 is pushing in just because the blinds are300/600. Of course, their lack of understanding


If you are second inchips with stacks of6,000, 4,000, 3,500 youshould take a coinflipwith the third-placedplayer, as the 7.5kresulting stack givesyou an immenseadvantage heads-up

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gives you yet another advantage: if you playaggressively, you will quickly whittle theirstacks down to nothing, and then it will bealmost too late for them.

But what happens if the blinds are lower – say200/400 with a stack size of 6,000? A stack of 15big blinds gives precious little room, thoughthere is some. If the blinds are due to change inthe next few minutes, we would recommendsome deliberate play on your part – unless youhappen to have a premium hand, such as a pairof Queens. If this is the case, then by all meansraise it up and try to win a big pot.

Aggression is critical in heads-up play.Most hands miss most flops – so you shouldbe attacking and stealing pots the majority ofthe time. If you or your opponent creeps downtowards the 10 big blind threshold, be preparedto shift gears to the push/fold game.

If your opponent raises pre-flop every hand,however, then you will need to make anadjustment. Obviously, it is highly unlikelyyour opponent has a hand every time. This is a‘perma-raise’ strategy designed to put immediatepressure on the other player, every hand. Thereare two options to counter this strategy. You caneither look to trap or, be more aggressive.

KEY POINTWhen you get to heads-up, your strategy – ifthe blinds and stacks permit – should include alot of post-flop aggression. If you’re up againsta player who raises pre-flop every hand, youshould always become more aggressive

The problem with a trapping approach is thatyou must actually catch a hand. You most likelywill not catch one unless you have a lot of timebefore the blinds increase. The typical result of atrapping approach, then, is that your chipstackwill dwindle, as will your chances of winningwhen the blinds increase and correct playswitches to the pre-flop push/fold strategy.

Become more aggressive. Many players whouse a perma-raise strategy at lower stakes will notfollow it up with post-flop aggression. Typically,they will c-bet the flop and then give up if theyhave failed to make a hand. A simple check-raiseon the flop will win you several pots before youropponent considers switching strategies, and-at that point you should have a significant chiplead and can win the vast majority of the time.


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Tailoring your poker game to the sit&go format can bea great low-risk way to build a bankroll. Follow these

15 tips for single-table tournament success

15 steps to

S INGLE-TABLE TOURNAMENTS(STTs) or sit&gos provide theperfect learning ground forplayers new to the game.They can be very cheap to enter

and take you from the early stages of atournament, past the bubble and into the

money spots – all in 60 minutes or less. Theycan be a fun and profitable way to get startedin poker without risking a lot of money.By playing sit&gos you get to appreciatethe shifting nature of hand values and theimportance of chipstack sizes, position andaggression. These games are available at all

times when you are playing online but theyare also quickly becoming very popular inthe live poker rooms. There is certainlymoney to be made if you can master thistricky game. We’ve learnt the hard way, soyou don’t have to. Just follow our 15-stepguide and sit&go glory won’t be far away.

STEP 1

KEEP IT TIGHTIn the early stages when the blinds are smallin comparison to the chipstacks, keep it tight.There’s nothing to be gained in stealing the tinyblinds with substandard hands. You’ll also setyourself up with a solid table image which willput the fear of God into other players when youcrank up the aggression in the later stages. Playbig hands strongly and muck your muck.

STEP 2

BIG PAIRS, BIG BETSPlay big pairs (A-A, K-K, Q-Q) aggressively. If fourplayers have limped in before you’ve acted with theblinds at 25/50, stick in a pot-size raise to about400. You’ll now either pick up all that dead moneywhen everyone folds, get the hand down toheads-up where big pairs are most effective, orsomeone will make a mistake, re-raise and overplaytheir smaller pair or two ‘big’ cards. If someone hasAces and you have Kings or Queens, well, that’s justbad luck, but you should be looking to exploitopportunities to pick up these sorts of pots, orforce others to make mistakes all the time.

SNEAK IN WITHDANGER HANDSTry and see a lot of cheap multi-way pots early on with hands that have thepotential to do damage. Suited connectors, small pairs and A-x suited can alldecimate an opponent’s stack if you hit the flop big. However, fold these typesof hands to pre-flop raises or if you don’t make a major hand on the flop.

STEP 3


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KEY POINTContinuation-betting is an essentialplay in sit&gos. A bet of around halfto two-thirds pot after the flop is aprofitable play in the long run.

You’ll see players getting into a flop cheaplyand thinking they can steal the pot with a bet

of 50 into a pot of 400. Punish those aquaticcreatures with a big raise (if you have a

hand) or call with drawing hands

these require you to push any edge you have andhope your hand holds up. Overpairs, top pair/topkicker and even flush draws (when you’re a bigstack) become hands to move all-in with.

STEP 8

KEEP FIRINGContinuation-betting is essential in sit&gos.Generally, a pre-flop raise, followed by a bet willtake down most pots. If someone plays back andre-raises, you can simply lay down your hand ifyou’re weak. But essentially a bet of around a halfto two-thirds of the pot after the flop will be aprofitable play in the long run and allow you toaccumulate chips when you don’t have anythingmore than two cards in front of you.

STEP 9

KNOW WHEN TO RUNFOR COVERIt’s crucial that you know when to back downwith marginal hands. Your hand requirementsmight be less than when playing long large-fieldtournaments, but even so top pair/bad kicker inthe face of a big re-raise usually means it’s timeto take cover.

STEP 5

GET PAID OFFDon’t be afraid to move all-in after the flop withbig hands. You’ll find a lot of players think top pair/badkicker is enough to call an all-in. If the flop has comeK-J-5 and you’ve managed to flop two-pair in the bigblind with J-5, don’t slow-play it and wait for anotherKing to arrive on the turn – try and get your opponentto make a mistake. A check, followed by a bet fromsomeone else, should see you re-raising heavily ormoving all-in. At this point, they’ll either fold andyou’ll pick up a nice pot or, as is the case so often,players will call with K-x and will be about a 3-to-1dog to hit one of their few outs and win the hand.

STEP 6

PUNISH WEAKBETTINGForget the minimum betting crap. You’ll see ittime and time again online – players getting intoa flop reasonably cheaply and thinking they canthen steal the pot with a bet of 50 into a pot of400. Punish those aquatic creatures with a bigraise (if you have a hand) or call with drawingor marginal hands. Usually they fold or makebad calls and turn over middle pair or anunderpair to the board at the end.

STEP 7

SPEED UPFor the gamblers among you, turbo STTs aregreat fun, but you have to make moves veryquickly. While normal sit&gos require patience,

BE A SURVIVORIf you’re the short stack early on,you’ve still got time to hang around.Don’t feel you have to get your chipsin straight away with hands likeAce-rag – bide your time. You cancome back from just 200 chips ifyou pick your spots. Be patient forone or two rotations and wait andsee how your opponents are playing.There is plenty of time to movethrough the gears. If you do get abig hand look for a spot to get yourchips into the pot for a double-up.Above all, make it hard for otherplayers to get their grubby mittson your chips.

STEP 4


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As a short-stack you can use the forceof the chips that you do have left to

prise unopened pots away from youropponents with an all-in push

STEP 11

MONEYMANAGEMENTObserve all the players’ chipstacks fluctuatewildly as the blinds increase. Keep an eye openfor the big stacks you don’t want to mess withand make a note of the small-stacks you want tobully. Also, never believe you’re dead and buried

just because you drop into last place. Use it asan opportunity to become the danger man. Asa short-stack you can use the force of the chipsthat you do have left to prise unopened potsaway from your opponents with an all-in push.You’ll either pick up lots of blinds or potentiallydouble-up and head back towards the top ofthe field.

STEP 13

BURST THE BUBBLEOn the bubble it’s often correct to get aggressiveas play often tightens up when people can smellthe money. With a biggish stack try movingall-in a lot and you’ll find you pick up blindsuncontested, or have a good chance to knocksomeone out. If you’re a short-stack, wait for abig hand and chuck in your chips in the attemptto double-up, or move all-in on the button withany two cards if the pot is yet to be raised.

STEP 14

GET AGGRESSIVEWhen short-handed (three or four players) it’stime to get even more aggressive by raising fromthe button virtually every hand. With escalatingblinds, there’s no time to wait for premiumhands. Your opponents may be hoping to coastinto the money. This is where you can steal theblinds and pick up money from the short-stackswho will fold regularly. Don’t be kamikaze aboutit but raises and re-raises in position followedby aggressive play after the flop (when you’vemade a hand) are the keys to getting to theheads-up confrontation.

BE A BULLYIf you’ve accumulated a big stack you should put pressure on smaller stacksall the time. Pick the right times and right hands to raise with but as youapproach the middle stages of an STT, the short-stacks will be looking tohang on or double through to make the money. Raise their blinds, move themall-in (with hands which you won’t mind being called with), and generallyterrorise them into making a mistake.

STEP 10

DON’T FADE AWAYIf you’re in danger in the latter stages (about seven or fewer bigblinds left) you must be prepared to stick your chips in with lesserhands, which can still make something. Look to get your chipsinto an unopened pot with hands like K-8 suited, J-10, 6-7 suitedand small pocket pairs. If you pick up the blinds, fine. If you getone caller, you’re usually not worse than a 2-to-1 underdog.Don’t get blinded down to a stage where you have no fold equity,and don’t put yourself in the position where you won’t get muchback if you do double-up.

STEP 12


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A SAMPLE HANDWHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THESE HANDS PRE-FLOP?

Blinds25/50

Seat 3 It’s notoriouslydifficult to play smallpairs out of position.You’re first to act anddecide to call but will foldto any significant betting.

Seat 2 There’s been fartoo much action to becalling with this easilydominated hand. Ditchit and let the othersscrap it out.

Seat 1 Usually if you cansee a cheap flop in thesmall blind these suitedconnectors are worth acall. But there’s beena lot of action. Muck them.

Seat 10 A marginal handat best – and with an earlyposition raise, followed bya late position re-raisethis hand is likely to bedominated. Fold.

Seat 9 The chip leaderhas bet out in Seat 5 butyou have a premium handin position – double ortreble his bet to seehow good his hand is.

Seat 8 Later in the STTin an unopened pot youmight think about raisingwith any two cards here,but early on these cardsare instant muck.

Seat 4 With the shortestchipstack and a junkholding out of positionthis is an easy fold. Waitto pick up a premiumhand to get involved.

Seat 5 As chip leader abet of three times thebig blind is reasonable,although beware of anyraises with this decent,but easily beatable hand.

Seat 7 Your chip stackisn’t that healthy, there’sbeen action from the chipleader and your hand hasvery little going for it. It’sa clear fold.

Seat 6 The chip leaderraised in the previous seatand you have rags. Even ifthe pot is unopened you’restill out of position withrags. Fold.

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EARLY POS.

MID POSITION

LATE POS.

2,150chips

800chips

1,500chips

1,350chips

950chips

2,100chips

1,200chips

1850chips

1400chips

1700chips

STEP 15

FINISH HIM!When it’s down to two, it’s time toraise, raise, raise. Don’t let the bigblind have free flops, realise thatmost of the time the other playerdoesn’t have a hand, and you canbully with a big stack. If it’s yourbig blind being raised every handthen you need to push back. Try abig re-raise and more often than notyou’ll pick up the pot and send amessage out that you can’t bebullied. Also consider that pot oddscan often dictate that it might becorrect to call an all-in when you’rean underdog if there’s a goodchance to win the tournament.Remember to push every smalledge, as top pair on the flop willoften be good enough to win thehand. Of course, picking the rightspot to exploit your opponent andnoticing betting patterns will comewith experience, but until thengetting your chips in when youthink you’re ahead is never badadvice. Good luck, and get winning.


OF THESTACK

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Getting over the finishing line first in asit&go can make a big difference to youroverall profit. Here we look at how to exploitweak players when you get to heads-up

Leader

SETTLING DOWN FOR A BITof online poker, you fire up aten-handed turbo sit&go andstart off playing a tight, solidgame. Gradually you accumulate

chips with quality hands, and you make it tothe bubble. With four players left, you makesome tight folds against the chip leader,but manage to sustain your stack and takeadvantage of the other three players whofear finishing out of the money. After a longbattle, the bubble bursts, and the blindsare high. The very next hand, the other twoplayers clash, leaving you heads-up. Nowyou might think your work is done, but thenext step is incredibly important, becauseyou’ll either eke out a small two buy-inprofit for finishing second, or get a hugefour buy-in profit for winning. That’s abig difference! Do you know how to handlethis situation to maximise your profit?

WINNER TAKES IT ALLThe heads-up stage of an SNG is a winner-take-all contest. Both players are guaranteedto win at least the second-place money, soit’s the difference between first and secondthat’s up for grabs. At this stage you shouldplay each hand as though both you andyour opponent have the shorter of your twostacks, as that’s the most you can win orlose in one hand. So, if one player has 9,000chips and the other has 4,500, both playersshould play as though they have 4,500. Thisis called the ‘effective stack’ and the biggestconcern at this point is how deep theeffective stack is in terms of big blinds.

HAND VALUESUnderstanding hand values is crucial in theheads-up stage. As you may already know,relative hand values go up as the numberof players in a game goes down. Whereasa hand like A-2 offsuit is complete rags atthe beginning of a sit&go, it becomes areasonably big hand when you’re heads-up.If you are used to playing at full-ring tables,some of the hands that are correct to pushall-in with heads-up may come as a surprise.But it’s a fact that far too many playersdo not push enough hands or call oftenenough. After this lesson, you’ll be able toexploit those tendencies perfectly.

Hand values go up as the number of players in a game goesdown. Whereas a hand like A-2 offsuit is complete rags atthe beginning of a sit&go, it becomes a big hand heads-up

Do thisAs the field of a sit&go dropsfrom four to three to two, thenature of play and the valueof hands changes hugely, soyou must adjust your playto each situation


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THE NASH EQUILIBRIUMThe Nash Equilibrium was named aftermathematician John Nash, who theorisedthat some games featured an unexploitablestrategy. If however, one player deviates fromthe strategy, the player who sticks to theNash Equilibrium strategy stands to benefit.

In poker, and in particular high-blindheads-up play, this theory can be applied tooptimal push/fold strategy, where it’s possibleto play unexploitably. In practice this meansthat if you are the small blind, you shouldpush your hand if the number on the chart(see right) is greater than the number of bigblinds in the effective stack. For example, ifthe blinds are 200/400 and the stacks are9,500 and 4,000, effective stacks are 10BBs.Consulting the chart you may correctly pushJ-3s (10.6), but not 10-7o (9.0).

When you are the BB/caller, you should callif the number of big blinds in the effective

stack is less than that. For example, with theabove stacks you could call with J-8s (10.6),but not J-9o (9.5). This calling chart onlyworks if you believe your foe is pushing

according to Nash or wider. Of course, manyplayers don’t play perfectly, so you can adjustthe Nash strategy to exploit this. Turn overfor three examples of how to do just that.

HEADS-UP PUSH/FOLD NASH EQUILIBRIUM

SUITED OFFSUIT POCKET PAIRS * 6-3s: 7.1-5.1, 2.3 **5-3s: 12.9-3.8, 2.4 ***4-3s: 10.0-4.9, 2.2


NASH EQUILIBRIUM IN ACTIONHeads-up strategy

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CASE 1BLINDS 300/600STACKS 1,800 (HERO) vs 11,700(Effective stack is 3BBs)

HERO CAN PUSH 76.8% of hands(2-2+, J-x+, 10-2s+, 10-3o+, 9-2s+, 9-5o+,8-4s+, 8-6o+, 7-4s+, 7-6o, 6-4s+, 5-4s)

VILLAIN CAN CALL WITH 92.8% of hands(2-2+, 9-x+, 8-2s+, 8-4o+, 7-2s+, 7-4o+, 6-2s+,6-3o+, 5-2s+, 5-3o+, 4-2s+, 4-3o, 3-2s)

VILLAIN CAN CALL WITH 60.8% of hands(2-2+, Q-x+, J-2s+, J-5o+, 10-5s+, 10-7o+,9-6s+, 9-8o, 8-6s+, 7-6s)

VILLAIN CAN CALL WITH 40.6% of hands(2-2+, A-x+, K-2s+, K-4o+, Q-6s+, Q-8o+,J-8s+, J-9o+, 10-8s+)

CASE 2BLINDS 300/600,STACKS 3,000 (HERO) vs 10,500(Effective stack is 5BBs)

HERO CAN PUSH 71.3% of hands (2-2+, Q-x+,J-2s+, J-3o+, 10-2s+, 10-6o+, 9-4s+ 9-7o+,8-4s+, 8-6o+, 7-4s+, 7-6o, 6-4s+, 5-3s+, 4-3s)

CASE 3BLINDS 300/600,STACKS 5,400 (HERO) vs 8,100(Effective stack is 9BBs)

HERO CAN PUSH 59.9% of hands (2-2+, K-x+,Q-2s+, Q-6o+, J-3s+, J-8o+, 10-4s+, 10-7o+, 9-5s+,9-7o+, 8-5s+, 8-7o, 7-4s+, 7-6o, 6-4s+, 5-3s+, 4-3s)

In this example, the hero has a tiny stackof just 1,800 against the villain’s 11,700,meaning the effective stacks are 3BBs.As such, most villains are likely to call allor almost all of the time. The Nash rangeassigned to the villain accurately reflectsthis, so the pushing range given is very wide.

This time the hero has a stack of 5BBs.Most villains realise they’re committed tocalling often in this situation, but manyinexperienced villains play much tighter thanthey should. As such it becomes profitableto push any two cards if the villain is callingonly 48% of the time or less.

Unlike the first two cases, the villain willcall a lot less often here – probably less than40%. Also, most players won’t push oftenenough, so a good player will tighten up hiscalling range to adjust. Inexperienced players,however, don’t call as often as they should.In any event, unless you think the villain iscalling as wide as the range given here, youmay push more hands than the equilibriumrange (60%). If the villain is calling with lessthan 30% of hands (which is more than likely),you may profitably push any two cards.

As the examples illustrate, it’s frequently correct topush all-in with complete junk when the blinds are high

When to push and call, and how to exploit players who don’t know any better


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SHOVING WITH ANY TWOAs the examples opposite illustrate, it’sfrequently correct to push all-in withcomplete junk – and often any two cards– when the blinds are high. Nevertheless,many players do not want to put theirtournament life on the line with 2-3o, andmay be hesitant to shove. For the doubters,here’s the maths comparing a push and afold in case three:

If you fold you have 5,100 chips left.If you were to push 2-3o 100 times, when

the villain is calling with a typical range(25% of all hands): 75 times the villain folds,you win the blinds, and your stack, afterwinning the blinds is 6,000. Total gain is75 x 900, which is 67,500.

Seven times the villain calls but you getlucky and win the hand! Your stack is 10,800(+ 5,700). Your total gain is 7 x 5,700,which is 39,900.

18 times the villain calls and you lose(-5,100). Your total loss is 18 x 5,100,which is 91,800.

Therefore, over 100 pushes you win 15,600chips (156 chips per shove) by pushing 2-3o,instead of folding.

ADJUSTMENTSIf you’re lost, your adjustments aren’tworking, or you think your opponent has askill edge, feel free to revert back to the NashEquilibrium at any time. If you play this way,then, theoretically, the greatest player in theworld can only tie with you – at best!

For this article we used the following:The Nash Equilibrium chart – www.

holdemresources.net/hr/sngs/hune.htmlThe case study calculations – www.holdem

resources.net/hr/sngs/icmcalculator.html

TOP TIPSo what if you’re in the BB and the SB limps?This can be a tricky spot, as it could be a trap,or a so-so hand that wants to see a flop. If youshove with Nash Equilibrium ranges you’ll beunexploitable, but an aggressive strategy maybe correct against someone who’s unlikely to betrapping. Limping big pairs is only a good tacticif your foe is aggressive and likely to push.

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORSDeep-stack adjustmentsIf you’re heads-up with deeper stacks, it’s a whole different game

CHARACTERISTICSNever bluffs, raises with high-quality hands only andfolds to raises without a good hand. A rock bets theflop when he hits and check-folds when he missesand faces a bet. Won’t trap and doesn’t chase draws.

BEST COUNTER-STRATEGYBe paper (over-aggressive). Never fold your smallblind and raise often. In fact, raising with any handworks well, because the rock will play against yourraise less than 20% of the time, meaning a raise with

two blank cards would be profitable. Even if youropponent calls, he’s likely to give up on the flop toa single continuation bet. Many rocks counter bybecoming scissors after a while, and trapping you.

An alternative is to raise your good hands, andlimp your worst, with the intent to bet any flop thatis checked to you. This ‘small-ball’ strategy worksbecause he bets good hands and checks when hemisses, giving you a perfect read. Small-ball pokerallows for less variance, allowing you to win agreater percentage of games against the rock.

CHARACTERISTICSRaises nearly every hand and bets most flops,

hit or miss. Always semi-bluffswith any type of draw.

BEST COUNTER-STRATEGYBe scissors (play a trapping style). Fold your smallblind/button with your worst hands, becauselimping is futile against an opponent who is goingto raise you. Limp-call with Aces and Kings pre-flop

because your opponent will often raise. And limpwith the intent to three-bet with your strong andvulnerable hands like 7-7 or A-K. Call his bets whenyou hit top pair on any board that is not draw-heavy.The flaw in applying this strategy on its own is thatyou can’t sit and wait for good hands, or you’ll beground down. To balance this problem, fight paperwith paper when you don’t have the goods to trap.Try a check-raise bluff or re-steal. Heads-up is agame that favours aggression, so fight back!

CHARACTERISTICSPlays a straightforward heads-up game,

but limps with big hands pre-flop, suchas 9-9+ or A-J+, planning to out-flop and trap

you. Checks and calls a lot with middle-pairtype hands, in the hope that you’ll hangyourself out to dry with a triple-barrel

bluff. Rarely bets, preferring to playa trappy loose-passive style.

BEST COUNTER-STRATEGYBe a rock. Tighten up pre-flop, play a straightforwardgame and take all the free cards he gives you.Eventually you’ll outdraw your passive opponent andtake him for a lot of chips. Aggression is appropriate,but don’t fire out twice without a premium hand!If he check-calls you must be wary! He’s usuallysetting a trap when he starts flat-calling multiplestreets, so don’t fall for it!

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HA REMINDERROCK BLUNTS SCISSORSPAPER COVERS ROCKSCISSORS CUTS PAPER

CHARACTERISTRaises nearl

hit

BESBe scissors (play a tblind/button with

CHAPlays

but lias 9-9+ o

you. Ctyp

blua trap

ROCK: The straight forward player

PAPER: The over-aggressive player

SCISSORS: The habitual trapper


INDEPENDENT CHIPMODELLING (ICM)ICM forms the basis of correctsit&go strategy and is amethod of calculating thereal-money value oftournament chips at anystage of a sit&go basedon payout structure, numberof players left and individual chipstacks.

KEY FEATURESIt will help you understand what to do inspecific situations where cEV (the number oftournament chips you can win or lose) is verydifferent from the $EV (the amount of realmoney you can win or lose).

Type in the chipstacks andpayouts and play about withthem to see how the chip andreal-money values differ incrucial situations.

Use when away from thetables to work out how yourequity will change if you

make a big call on the bubble or double-upearly. www.chillin411.com (among others)

VERDICTICM is a simple tool you can use away fromthe table to analyse common decisions untilthey become second nature. After that,sit&gos should be a cinch.

SIT&GO TOOLS

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A round-up of the best software to help you master the single-table tournament game

AS THE GROWTH OF ONLINEpoker continues apace, so doesthe amount of high-tech toolsand toys to help increase yourwin-rate. And the good news

is that most of them are as cheap as chips!When it comes to helpful software, the formatof poker best serviced is sit&gos, wheremaths and hand ranges are a big factor inwinning (and losing).

It could be argued that the majority of yourprofits in sit&gos will come from knowinghow to play correctly on and around thebubble. That is, how to make and respond tounexploitable shoves in the late game whenstack sizes dictate that you only have twomoves – to shove all-in or fold. Therefore,it’s no surprise that of the myriad sit&gosoftware tools available most are designedto help you calculate ‘correct’ pushing andfolding ranges in a variety of spots. Soconnect with your inner geek and read on.

1 INDEPENDENT CHIP MODELLING

5 of the best


SIT&GO END GAME TOOLS(SNGEGT) SNGEGT is anICM-based program that canconsider situations and tell youwhether pushing or folding (orcalling or folding) is moreprofitable.

KEY FEATURESSNGEGT takes calculationsmade by an ICM spreadsheet aswell as considering hand rangesand pot odds, and enables you toanalyse situations with littleeffort.

It’s particularly effective as atraining tool, as even if you’renot sure about hand ranges youcan simply move the slider upand down to find the point atwhich a certain play is break-even, and decide based on that.

SNGEGT is so effective thatthe controversial ‘live play’version has been banned byPokerStars.

SITNGO WIZARDSitNGo Wizard is a similarprogram to Sit&Go End GameTools and has most of the samefeatures, but enables you tomake more dynamic ICM-based calculations.

KEY FEATURESThe interface is slightly morecomplex than SNGEGT and it hasa few more options. SitNGoWizard is able to calculatesituations involving multipleall-ins, or what to do when thereis a raise in front of you – in fact,almost any situation where thereare two or fewer all-insin front of you.

SNG Wiz includes a future playsimulator, which helps you makedecisions in spots where ICMmight be unreliable, such as howto play correctly when under thegun with a short stack, or whenthe blinds are very high on thebubble.

HEADS-UP TRAINER(HUT) Heads-Up Trainer doesexactly what it says on the tin – ithelps you improve your heads-upgame at the end ofan sit&go. It comes with theSNGEGT package.

KEY FEATURESHUT simulates playing heads-upwith high blinds against anopponent who is aware ofoptimal strategy, where youronly options are to shove or fold.

Combined with use of thejam-or-fold tables published byBill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman inThe Mathematics of Poker –which give maximum push-or-callvalues for all hands – thisprogram helps you learn anaggressive endgame strategythat opponents can’t exploit.

HUT will see you decimatingyour opponents by moving all-inwith a wide range, while they

SHARKSCOPESharkScope is a data-mining sitethat collects and collatesinformation on sit&gotournaments to provide visitorsand subscribers with detailedprofiles of their opponents.

KEY FEATURESThe site provides data on totalgames played, average buy-in,average ROI%, total profit/lossand so on. The service can be veryuseful when looking for softertables or to size up opponents.

SharkScope is also useful forchecking out your own results. Apackage where you get 150searches a day (plenty) costs$11.99 a month. You can breakdown results to your heart’scontent using filters such asnumber of entrants, days of theweek and turbo or regular.

Players should note thatPokerStars has banned the use of

You can download a basicversion for free, so there’s noexcuse not to get crunchinghand ranges. www.sngegt.com

VERDICTWe love messing around withhand ranges in Sit&Go End GameTools and it’s a greatway of learning what factorsyou need to call or push insome common spots.

You can download the softwarefor free on the website, withunrestricted use for 30 days.Unlimited use of the SitNGoWizard is $99.www.sngwiz.com

VERDICTAn excellent resource that anyserious sit&go player wouldbenefit from. And there’s a free,unrestricted trial on the website,so give it a go.

lose chips waiting for ‘good’hands. The Heads-Up Trainershould be unexploitable, andonce you learn the appropriatestrategies, so should you!www.sngegt.com

VERDICTThis heads-up training program isso addictive that if you use it atwork you’ll have to uninstall asyou won’t get any work done.

SharkScope while its client isopen, so you will need to use adifferent site if you want to lookin detail at opponents whileplaying. www.sharkscope.com

VERDICTSharkScope is an invaluabledatabase of sit-and-go results,best used to find out whetheryou’re sitting at a table of fish orsharks before you start a game.

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2 SIT&GO END GAME TOOLS

4 SITNGO WIZARD

3 HEADS-UP TRAINER

5 SHARKSCOPE

KEY POINTSNGEGT is so powerful it hasbeen banned by some sites

KEY POINTSomesitesarestartingtoblockSharkScopefromusingtheirresults

The program shouldsee you decimatingyour opponents

Helps with decisionsin the spots whereICM is unreliable


SIT&GOQUIZSo you think you’re a poker genius huh?Well, now it’s time to prove it. Test yourknowledge on sit&gos to find out howmuch you really know…

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ACTIONIt’s the bubble of a $100nine-handed turbo sit&go andthe big-stack under the gunfolds to you. You have J:-10:.The two players in the blindshave similar sized stacks of3,000 and 3,150 beforeposting the blinds (200/400).You have 1,850 chips left,

which is just over four bigblinds, and the blinds are setto go up in one minute. Whatdo you do?

DECISIONa) callb) foldc) min-raised) push all-in

1 EARLY GAMBLE?

ACTIONYou’re playing a non-turbo$55 nine-man SNG withstarting stacks of 1,500chips. It’s the very firsthand and the player underthe gun raises to 60. Theaction folds to you on thebutton holding A…-KÚ and

you raise to 180. Bothblinds quickly fold and theunder-the-gun playerre-raises you all-in. What doyou do?

DECISIONa) callb) fold

Players 9 Blinds 10/20 Your stack 1,500 Your hand A…-KÚ

YOU (BTN)1,320

UTGAll-in

Fold

Fold

SBFold

Fold

FoldFold

BBFold

1,50020

10

3 BUBBLE TROUBLE2 TAKE A STAND

ACTIONYou’re in an $11 nine-manturbo sit&go and have beenplaying tight, blinding downto 1,210 chips from a startingstack of 1,500. One playerhas been eliminated. Withblinds at 30/60 the actionfolds to the loose-aggressivebig stack on the button, who

makes a small raise to 150.The small blind folds andyou’re in the big blind withK:-8:. What do you do?

DECISIONa) callb) foldc) raise to 450d) raise all-in

Players 8 Blinds 30/60 Your stack 1,210 Your hand K:-8:

BUTTON2,880

150

Fold Fold

SBFold

Fold

FoldFold

YOU (BB)1,150 60

30

Players 4 Blinds 200/400 Your stack 1,850 Your hand J:-10:

YOU (BTN)1,850

Fold5,500

SB2,800

BB2,750 400

200

180


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4 BULLY TACTICS

5 HEADS-UP

Answers(onepointforeach)1b)Fold.Althoughyouhaveapremiumhandyouwilloftenbeupagainstabigpairandracingatbest.Itisterribleforyourtournamentequityandlong-termprofitstotakethesekindsofearlygambles.2b)Fold.Yourhandisprobablyaheadofthelooseplayer’srange,butifyoucallyou’llbeoutofpositionandhe’llmostlikelytakeitdownwithacontinuationbet.Raisingall-inistoodrasticandputtingathirdofyourstackatriskwithasmallerraiseagainstalooseplayeristoorisky.3d)Pushall-in.Youaregettingveryshort-stackedandneitherofthemid-sizestackscanriskcallingyoufornearlyalltheirchipswithanythingotherthanpremiumhands.Also,youcan’twaitfortheblindstohityouagain,andevenifcalledyourhandhasstraightandflushpotential.4c)Raiseall-in.Althoughfoldingisfine,themidstackhasmadeaterriblemistakebyraisingfor800asyoucanjustmoveall-inand,providingthetinystackinthesmallblindfolds,hewillalmostcertainlyhavetofoldtoo.Evenifyougetcalledandlose,youwillstillbeinadominantposition.5a)Moveall-in.Youropponenthasshownhimselftobetootightandwillfoldtooofteninthisspot.Meanwhileyoucanaddanother600chipstoyourstack.Quick-fireround6c)Youshouldplayverytightatthisstage,especiallyinearlyposition.7b)Thissmallerraisewillgettheblindstofoldbutwithoutexpendingtoomanychipsifsomeonepushesandyoucan’tcall.8a)12%wouldbeverygood,and16%exceptionaloverthatsamplesize.9b)Despitethegreatpotodds,youwillgetintotroublewithweakhandslikethiswhenyoufloptoppairbutaredominatedbyotherhands.10b)Thisisflexible,butshovingfor15bigblindsisabitmuch,whilewithfivebigblindsyoumaynolongerhaveenoughfoldequity.

SNG SHARK OR FISH?0-3 SHARK FOODHit the books, watch some trainingvideos and read all the sit&go strategyguides. You need serious help, but withdedication you can turn it around.

4-7 TIGER SHARKYou’re aware of what makes a winningsit&go player but you still need to makethe right moves at the right times toincrease your profits.

8-10 GREAT WHITE SHARKYou’re a sit&go master, terrorisingopponents with expert strategies thatmake you some decent money. Keepit up and your bankroll will soar.

QUICK-FIREROUND

ACTIONYou’re on the bubble of a $33six-max turbo sit&go. A tightplayer on the button raises to800 from his stack of 2,200.This effectively puts the bigblind all-in, as he has only 600behind after posting his 200blind. You have a huge stack

of 5,900 chips after postingthe small blind, but look downto find absolute rags. What doyou do?

DECISIONa) foldb) callc) raise all-in

Players 3 Blinds 100/200 Your stack 6,000 Your hand 6Ú-2;

YOU (SB)5,900

BB600

BUTTON1,400

800

100 200

ACTIONYou’ve just got to heads-upin a nine-man $20 turbosit&go against a tightplayer. You’ve alreadypushed all-in on his bigblind once (which hefolded) and he has alsofolded from the smallblind on two occasions.

Blinds are 300/600 andyou have a stack of 8,400.You are dealt 10;-8; inthe small blind. What doyou do?

DECISIONa) move all-inb) callc) fold

Players 2 Blinds 300/600 Your stack 8,400 Your hand 10;-8;

YOU (SB)8,100

300

BB4,500 600

6 What would bea solid opening

range from earlyposition in the firstlevel of a turbonine-handed sit&go?

a) All pairs, suitedconnectors andBroadwaycombinationsb) Pairs A-A to 7-7and all Broadwaycombinationsc) A-Q+ suited, 10-10+

7 In the latterstages of a

sit&go when yourstack is gettingshorter in relation tothe blinds, how bigshould you generallymake your openingraises?

a) 2x big blindb) 2.5x big blindc) 3x big blind

8 What wouldbe considered

a decent returnon investmentfor someone whohas played about2,000 $20 turbosit&gos?

a) 8%b) 12%c) 16%

9 You hold QÚ-5;

in the smallblind early on ina sit&go and threeplayers limp in.You’re getting oddsof nearly 10-to-1to call. Should youcall too?

a) Yesb) No

10 Generallyspeaking,

at what stage in asit&go should youstart moving all-inor folding, in termsof big blinds in yourstack?

a) 5 big blindsb) 10 big blindsc) 15 big blinds

All images taken from actual in-game screenshots.

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TOURNAMENTSThe ultimate guide to


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TOURNAMENTSNo-limit hold’em tournaments offer the glamour, excitement and money thatattracts most players to poker. But in order to be a success at tournamentpoker you need discipline, stamina and, above all, the will to win

How to beat

MANY PEOPLE GET INTOplaying poker because theyhave watched it on televisionand it got them curious aboutthe game. Most televised poker

is tournament poker. The action is fast-paced andthe capability of being able to risk it all in onehand makes for exciting television. If you’re newto poker and are interested in learning how toplay tournaments, it is important to understandthe various nuances of tournament poker and thebasic concepts that will come into play throughthe course of a tournament.

A major reason that tournament poker is sopopular is that there is the potential to win alarge sum of money in relation to the amount ofthe buy-in. Take the World Series of Poker mainevent as an example. The buy in is $10,000 butif you make the final table, you’ll be guaranteedmore than 100 times that amount. It’s like alottery ticket that you have some control over.Tournament poker, however, is not for everyone.If you are going to be a successful tournamentpoker player you must have incredible disciplineand patience. Tournaments, especially the largerones, last countless hours and sometimes days. Ifyou’re looking to make a quick buck, try a cashgame. Discipline is important because you haveto stay alert and focused on what is going on atyour table. This might be easy for an hour ortwo, but when you’ve been playing for 10 hoursstraight it can become difficult.

CONTROLLED AGGRESSIONIn addition to discipline and patience, a goodtournament player will need to be adept at gametheory. This doesn’t mean you need to have adoctorate in game theory in order to succeed,but you need to understand the differentdynamics that will exist over the course of atournament and how to adapt your game to besttake advantage of these dynamics. It’s alsoimportant to have the ability to be aggressive.While a patient and tight player can often make agood living in cash games, this isn’t necessarilytrue in a tournament because of the increasingblinds and antes. You can’t sit back and wait forpremium hands and expect to win consistentlyin poker tournaments. You will need to be ableto win pots using imagination, creativity, andwell-timed aggression.IM

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Jamie Gold won the 2006WSOP main event for $12m


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TYPES OF TOURNAMENTSFind your perfect tournamentThere are numerous types of tournaments thatyou can play. Here are the most common ones…

STARTING OUTBasic tournament strategyWhen you first start out playing, there are a few thingsyou should do until you understand the game better

1 PLAY TIGHT It is always better to playa somewhat solid, predictable game.

When you are a beginner, you should beplaying big hands only and in position. Don’tget involved with a hand like K-10 in earlyposition or 2-2 when the pot has been raised.

2 USE POSITION Position is probablythe biggest advantage you can have

in poker. The more information you haveavailable to you, the better the decisionsyou will make. When you play hands fromthe blinds or early position you are workingat a disadvantage because, post-flop, playerswill be acting after you and can react to theactions you take. However, when you haveposition, you are the one who can see whatothers do first and thus have an advantage.

3 BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR BETTINGWhen starting out in poker, it’s best

that you make the same size bets wheneveryou are betting. The reason is it gives lessinformation to your opponents and makesyou harder to read. If you vary your bets,there is a chance a good, experienced playerwill be able to pick up on your patterns.

4 BET BIG While small-ball poker is thecurrent popular style of play, until you

get comfortable playing post-flop you shouldbe making your opponents pay a premium toplay pots with you. Make your pre-flop raiseslarger than your opponents’ typical raise.Make your flop bets big enough to put youropponent to the test. Don’t bet half the pot,instead bet around the size of the pot.

FREEZEOUT This is the mostcommon tourney. Every playerstarts with the same amountof chips and play continuesuntil one player has them all.

SATELLITE These tourneysare low-cost options to getinto a bigger buy-in event.Unlike a freezeout they donot play to completion butrather until the number ofseats into the bigger buy-inevent has been reached. Forexample, 100 players putup $100 for a chance towin a seat into a $1,000tournament. There are 10seats available. Once thereare only 10 players left thetournament is over.

REBUY In these events,players can rebuy (purchaseanother stack) an unlimitedamount of times if they fallbelow a certain amount ofchips for a certain periodof time – usually an houror first few levels of thetournament. Typically inthese tournaments, a playercan also add-on at the breakto get additional chips.

SHOOTOUT These aretournaments consistingof a series of single-tablesatellites where the winnerof each table moves on tothe next round. The winnerof the tournament is thewinner of the final table.

HEADS-UP In thesetournaments players faceoff in a series of heads-upmatches (one againstone) with the winnersadvancing until there isone player left standing.

DEEP-STACK In thesetournaments the stacksare relatively high in relationto the blinds or antes becausethe players start with morechips and the blind levels areoften slower.

TURBO In contrast to anormal-structured tourneythese have either shorterrounds, lower startingchipstacks, or both.

You will need tobe able to win potsusing imagination,creativity and well-

timed aggression

Heads-uptournamentsare fast andfurious affairs

Rebuys canbe wild but

also veryprofitable


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THE STAGES OF ATOURNAMENTA poker tournament has three distinct stages– early, medium, and late – that require youto apply different tactics based upon a numberof factors. These stages and how to play themare as follows…

EARLY STAGEThe early stages of a tournament is the time youshould be speculating the most. This is the timeto limp in and call raises with a wide range ofmarginal and speculative hands. The reason issimple: the cost relative to the percentage of yourstack is small and the reward (implied value) ishigh. For example, calling a 3x raise with 7-6suited early in a tournament will usually onlycost you a small percentage of your stack.Later in a tournament, this same call would bea larger percentage.

Players like Phil Hellmuth like to avoid thefirst level or two of play, but this is a primeopportunity to accumulate chips as it is whenthe really bad players tend to give their chipsaway. Don’t sit back and let other people get thechips from these bad players. Speculate and seesome flops against these players. Make that 300call with a marginal hand – your goal isn’t to winthe initial bet your opponent made, it’s to win therest of the chips he has in his stack.

A great hand to play early on is small andmedium pairs. The implied value for floppinga set at this stage is high. A key concept at thisstage is to play small pots. There is no reasonto commit a large portion of your stack with amarginal hand. If you think you can win thepot, take a stab at it, but if you face a lot ofpressure, it’s often better to err on the sideof caution. It’s only a small mistake to fold thebest hand at this stage because if you’re wrongand lose a big pot, it’s harder to recover.

MIDDLE STAGEThe middle stage is usually when the antes havestarted in a tournament. What you do during thisstage depends on how you did in the early stage.There are typically three categories your middlestage play can fall under…

SHORT (your stack has less than 20 big blinds)If you are short-stacked you are going to haveto look for one of two types of situations. One, ahand where you can double-up with a premiumhand. Two, a hand where you can pick up a potwith little risk despite your hand, for examplebeing on the button with two very tight playersin the big blinds or moving all-in from lateposition when some weak or passive playershave limped into the pot.

MEDIUM (your stack has 20-40 times thebig blind) At this level, it is important to useposition. It’s probably not a good idea to raisewith pocket twos in early position or call raiseswith K-10. What you want to do is be aggressive

TOP TIPEarly in a tournament try andspeculate as much as possible. Thisis the time of the tournament whenbad players are giving away theirchips and you want to be the onetrying to get them rather thanletting someone else take them.By speculating we mean callingraises or limping in with hands likepocket pairs, suited connectors,suited Aces and Kings.

when you are first to act and re-raise positionalraises if you feel that the initial raiser is stealing.Don’t play too tight, just make sure you pick theright spots to make your steals.

BIG (your stack is more than 40 times the bigblind) At this level it’s still a good idea to useposition but now you can take a few morechances. Here it might be fine to raise with pockettwos in early position. You have the chips to causefear in your opponents, so use them. You shouldbe open-raising liberally with this stack size. Thiswill pay off because not only will your opponentsoften fold giving you the easy blinds and antes,but eventually they will play back at you and youwill win additional chips when you actually pickup a big hand or hit a flop hard.

There’s no reason to commit a big portion of your stack with amarginal hand. If you think you can win the pot, take a stab,but if you face a lot of pressure err on the side of cautionIM

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Phil Hellmuth is one of the besttournament players in the worldand has won a record-breaking11 WSOP bracelets


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LATE STAGELike with the middle stage, what you do herewill depend on your stack size.

SHORT (your stack is less than10 times the bigblind) With this stack size, you cannot afford tosit back and wait. Many poker players advocatemoving all-in with any Ace in an unopened pot.While there are times to do so (later positionbeing one of them), generally you will want tomove all-in with a hand that you know will notbe dominated if called – hands like suited andconnected cards. You still want to moveall-in with hands like big Aces, K-Qsuited and pairs, but don’t be afraidto move all-in with a hand like 7-6suited. You don’t have enoughchips to fold your way to victoryso you have to take some chancesin order to maintain your stackuntil you get an opportunity todouble up legitimately.

MEDIUM (your stack is 10-25 times the bigblind) This is similar to the middle stage in thatyou want to use your position and try and avoidrace situations with stacks that can bust orcripple you, while embracing races with stacksthat are less than half your stack size. Youshould probably avoid raising if you areplanning to fold to an all-in shove from ashort-stacked player.

BIG (your stack is more than 25 times the bigblind) With a big stack late in the tournamentyou should keep attacking until your opponents

start playing back at you. When they dothis, adjust and pick your spots. For

example, you are in the small blindand a player that you know raiseswith a wide range in late positionopens for 2.5 times the big blindfrom the cut-off. This is a perfecttime to use your stack and re-raiseall-in. He will be forced to fold all

but the very best hands.

TOP TIPAvoid playing big pots early. The onlytime you should play a big pot early ina tournament is when you feel likeyou have by far the best hand. Keepthe pots small by making small betsand playing a bit more passively withyour marginal holdings.

TOP TIPWhen the antes kick in, start openingup your game and attacking playerswho are merely thinking aboutsurvival. These players are the oneswho fold their big blind every timeor who muck their hand any timethey face pressure. Identify theseplayers early, stealing their blindsand re-raising them in position.

suited ando move

K-Qd

you should keep atstart playing b

this, adjustexampland awith aopensfrom ttime tall-in. H

but the v

Do thisWhen you are a big stackattack your opponentsand pick your spots. Useyour stack size to bullyopponents and pushthem off hands

THE VALUE OF POSITIONUse position to grow your stackActing last can be a huge advantage in tournaments…

1 You have pocketsixes on the button

and call a standard 3xraise from a weak-tightplayer in mid position.

2 The flop comes5-K-7 and your

opponent checks. Ifyou’d been out ofposition, you wouldn’thave wanted to c-bet thatflop and your opponentcould have called or raisedputting you to the test.

3 You bet out. If youropponent has a hand

like A-Q, A-10 or even 8-8,they will probably have torelease their hand nowthat you have put themto the test.

that

sed

If you have a short stack

don’t just sit back and wait

for premium hands. Take

some chances in order to

maintain your stack or

double up.

Don’t do this

You want to useposition and try andavoid race situationswith stacks that canbust or cripple you,while embracingraces with stacksthat are less thanhalf your stack size


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TOP TIPDon’t let yourself get so short that araise/shove from you has no meaning.Many players make the mistake ofblinding/anteing down until theyhave 3-5 big blinds and then complainabout how unlucky they are whentheir pocket Aces are cracked by 9-7off when they shoved all-in for justfour big blinds and the big stackcalled their measly little raise.

THE BIGGEST MISTAKESPLAYERS MAKE INTOURNAMENTSIf you play tournament poker, it’s inevitablethat you will make mistakes. But it’s how youlearn from these mistakes, and the adjustmentsthat you make, that are the difference betweenbeing a winning and losing player. There arehundreds of mistakes that players make on aroutine basis, but the following four are amongthe biggest culprits.

1 RAISING IN EARLY POSITIONWITH MARGINAL HANDS

This would appear to be a mistake that onlybeginners make but you would besurprised how many experiencedplayers fall into this trap. Howoften do you find yourselflooking at a hand like A-Junder the gun and think toyourself that this is the firstgood hand you’ve had in anhour and you have to play it. Yougrab some chips and open the potfor a raise. There’s nothing wrongwith this you’re probably thinking...but you’d be wrong.

When you are in early position with a goodbut not great hand you will have the problem ofreacting to your opponents. If someone re-raises,you’ve basically thrown away the chips you’veraised with. Think about it – your opponentknows you raised from early position and hasto give you credit for a good hand. They haveraised you knowing this, which means generallyspeaking they don’t fear your reaction. They havea great hand and want to play it and you’ll haveto muck your marginal hand gifting youropponent much needed chips.

2 GIVING AWAY INFORMATIONThere are poker players who advocate

varying bet size based upon your position, thestrength of your hand, and the tendencies ofthe players left to act. These players say thatyou should do so randomly so that you don’tgive away any information about the strengthof your hand. The problem with this is thatpeople have a natural tendency to fall intopredictable patterns. You might think thatyou are raising three times the big blind 75%of the time when you have Jacks in earlyposition, but the reality is that you’re doingit 95% of the time.

The most common mistake players make isbetting an amount based upon their hand

WATCH AND LEARNLearn from your foesWhat you pick up from your opponents’play can influence your strategy

Observe your opponents carefully. A key aspectof tournament poker is identifying players’tendencies. When they raise from the button isthis a play they make all the time or never? If it’s acommon play, they are more than likely stealingand you can make a move on them. If it’s notsomething they do often, they probably have a bighand and you should fold. Do they only limp in withhands like small pairs and suited connectors butraise with bigger pairs and A-K? Raise their limpssince you know their range and can make it difficultfor them to call. Call their raises with speculativehands since you know that you can win a big pot ifyou hit. Being able to identify how players playcertain hands can be the single most importantthing you do in a tournament.

eced

Youot

rongking...

ion with a goodthe obl of

Do thisObserve how youropponents play in differentsituations in order to makemoney when you have thegoods and lose lesswhen you don’t

There is some seriously bigmoney to be won at the tophold’em tournaments


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strength. These players might bet bigwith their good hands to reduce thesize of the field or perhaps bet lesswanting to get as much money inthe pot. There is no problem withthis if you are consistent. Theproblem occurs when you start tovary your betting. If you are the typeof player who bets less when you have astrong hand but raises more when youwant to steal the blinds, a player who ispaying attention will notice and do oneof two things. First, they will re-raise yourbig bets because they know you are weak.Second, they will call your small bets moreoften because they know there is implied value,due to you having a big hand.

3 NOT MAKING PROPERSIZED BETS

This mistake consists of players who either bet toomuch or too little. The reason someone bets is toeither get a player to fold, induce a raise, or call.When we make a bet, we have an intended result.The best bet is the one that accomplishes yourobjective at the lowest cost (if you’re bluffing) orhighest value (if you’re betting for value).

Determining these precise amounts will dependon a number of factors. You need to know whatyour opponents tendencies are. Do they fold whensomeone bets? If so, you can make a small betwhen bluffing. Do they call when on draws andyou have a hand like top pair? Then you can makea large bet. There will be times you want to bet anamount that gives your opponent the appearancethat you are weak. This too will depend on whoyou are up against. You need to know how theyhave reacted to small and large-sized bets in thepast. If they think a large bet is weak and youhave a strong hand, you should make an over-sized bet. Use observation to figure out the bettingthresholds of your opponents. This is how youmake money when you have the goods and loseless when you don’t.

4 BLAMING EVERYONEBUT YOURSELF

How many players do you know that have readeverything there is to know about poker andinsist when they lose it’s because they wereunlucky and their opponent was a luckbox?This mindset plagues many players. They believethey are perfect and the only thing stoppingthem from winning is bad luck. While it is truethat luck does play a role in hold’em, more oftenthan not if a player is consistently losing theproblems lie much deeper.

If you are going to be a successful hold’emplayer, you need to constantly analyse your play

and scrutinise everything that you do, bothgood and bad. If you lost a big pot to a

donkey, you need to ask yourself ifthere was something that youcould have done to prevent theloss. Could you have bet moreor prevented them from seeingthe flop? Rather than placingblame on the ‘donkey’, look for

reasons that you failed to winthe hand. If you can do this, you

will probably find some holes inyour game and understand how to

counteract your opponents’ play. Eventuallyyou’ll be complaining less and raking in moreand more big pots.

g

e ayou

isone

Avoid getting frustrated

and raising in early position

with good, but not great,

hands. If you are re-raised

you will be put in a

very tricky spot.

Don’t do this

The best bet is the one thataccomplishes your objectiveat the lowest cost (if bluffing)or highest value (if bettingfor value)

and scrutinise evegood and bad

donkey, ythere wascould havloss. Couor prethe flblame

reasonthe hand.

will probablyour game an

counteract your opponyou’ll be complaining

Do thisAssess your own play,whether you are winningor losing hands. Byscrutinising your playyou spot leaks and areaswhere you can improve


LEARN FROM THE MASTERS

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With a WPT title, two WSOP bracelets and close to $8 million in winnings,JC Tran is one of poker’s powerhouses and a true tournament legend

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN POKER?On my 21st birthday my brother took me to thelocal card room in Sacramento, California, as he

was already playing poker regularly. He introduced me tohold’em, broke down the basics for me, and from there Ipicked it up through putting in the hours. I started off atsmall-stakes limit hold’em and grinded my way up. Icertainly wasn’t an overnight success – for years I wasplaying small-stakes where I’d make a few hundred aweek. Limit poker tournaments helped build my bankrolland then I played no-limit, realised I had talent and beganto focus more on those tournaments. I still play limit butmore in cash games. But I definitely consider myself moreof a tournament player than a cash game player.

AS A TOURNAMENT PLAYER YOU PUT UP INCREDIBLYCONSISTENT RESULTS. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS?I believe my style is very effective. And I think I’mfortunate with my image to get a combination ofrespect and fear from players. I can also adapt to allstyles that my opponents have, which is key becausethe game changes all the time. Also, I’m careful aboutmy tournament selection. Previously I used to just playevery tournament and burn myself out. Now I play less,but make sure I’m more focused in the ones I enter.

THE STANDARD OF POKER SEEMS TO BE RISING ALLTHE TIME. DO YOU THINK EVEN THE BIG $10,000BUY-IN TOURNEYS ARE GETTING A LOT TOUGHER?Yes, very much so – especially in the last year or so.There’s not as much dead money in tournaments asthere used to be. Most of the players in the $10k eventsare pros now – even the $2k and $3k events are tough– you recognise nearly everyone in the room. Even if youdon’t know them, it’s likely they’re good online players.

YOU SEEM TO BE ONE OF THE PROS WHO LIKE TO‘GET IT QUIETLY’. DO YOU CONSCIOUSLY LIKE TOKEEP A LOW PROFILE?I’ve always been the type of player who comes in, playsmy game and then leaves when I’m done. I’m not thetype to yell across the room or jump up and down or getin confrontations with other players. I just act myselfand I come to play poker. That’s what I’m there for.

WHAT’S YOUR PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT IN POKER?My World Poker Tour win [in March 2007] was agreat feeling because I’d come up short so many times.The same goes for winning my first WSOP bracelet[in 2008] – I’d made final tables before but not goneon to win one.

ASIAN PLAYERS ARE GENERALLY ASSUMED TO BECRAZY, LOOSE AND ALWAYS LOOKING TO GAMBLE,YET YOU SEEM FAR REMOVED FROM THATSTEREOTYPE. DOES THAT HELP YOU AGAINSTUNKNOWN PLAYERS WHO THINK YOU’RE LOOSERTHAN YOU ACTUALLY ARE?Yeah, the majority of players and the public categoriseme as an aggressive player, some even as a veryaggressive player. The reality is that sometimes I doplay aggressively or hyper-aggressively, but only whenthe table conditions are right. I’m just as comfortableplaying very solid. Every day it can change.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR BEST ASSET?Being able to adapt. I think the thing that makes mesuccessful is that I can change gears. Sometimes if I spotthat people think I’m playing aggressively then I’ll shutdown and play a solid game. This really works becauseother players don’t think I’m capable of playing a solidgame. You need to have a solid side if you want to do well.

ASIA HAS TAKEN A WHILE TO WARM TO POKERBUT IT SEEMS LIKE IT’S PICKING UP NOW, WITHTHE ASIAN POKER TOUR AND NEW CARDROOMSSPRINGING UP. DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO BEPOKER’S NEXT HOTSPOT?Asia is definitely the sleeping giant of the poker world.Asians are known to gamble all through their lives andhave a ‘natural’ touch when it comes to gambling.There are many low-key Asian poker players who areextremely talented. They are not as well-known due tothe fact that they don’t travel the world to play in majortournaments. Once poker is allowed on television inAsia, you will see them make a real presence.

YOU TRAVEL WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS ON THECIRCUIT, INCLUDING FELLOW APT AMBASSADORNAM LE AND WPT WINNER DAVID ‘CHINO’ RHEEM –IS THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU?It’s always good to be around friends, and it’s not onlyimportant to have their support but to discuss poker. It’salways good to get different people to express theirthoughts on how they’d play in a certain situation –getting a perspective other than your own can help youlearn. Saying that, if I’m railing someone deep in a reallybig tournament, I won’t give advice. They’ve been withthe players they’re playing with, sometimes for days, sothey’re the best judge of the situation. We’ll just be thereto support and make sure they don’t go on tilt. We alsotry to avoid talking about poker over dinner. Often thefirst person to bring up poker has to pay the bill!

Name JC TranLives Sacramento,CaliforniaLive tournamentwinnings$7,938,169WSOP bracelets2008 $1,500no-limit hold’em2009 $2,500pot-limit OmahaHighest main eventfinish 108th in 2009

Sometimes Ido play hyper-aggressively,but only whenthe tableconditions areright. I’m justas comfortableplaying verysolid. Every dayit can change

TRANFACTS

JC TRAN


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JULIANTHEW


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With close to $2.5m in career tournament winnings, Julian Thew is inthe top tier of British poker players. He’s made three EPT final tables,including a win in Baden in 2007, where he took home over 670,000

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER POKER?I had a sporting background, but hit 30 andpacked it in. Afterwards I felt that there was a

competitive element missing from my life. Then pokercame on telly and I became fascinated with it. I startedplaying home games with friends and that’s how I gotthe poker bug. I was playing once a week losing about£10 a week for six months.

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO CHANGE THINGS FOR YOU?That Christmas I received a poker book, read it, andfrom then on I began to break even in the home games.The natural progression was to take it a step furtherand play in a local casino. A casino near where I lived inDublin had two or three tournaments a week, and afterentering the cardroom for the first time I felt at home– all I wanted to do with my free time was play poker.

SO WOULD YOU RECOMMEND STRATEGY BOOKSTO BRING YOUR GAME ON?I’ve read a lot of poker books – I really immersed myselfin them. I have probably got about 50 books at homenow and I’ve read them all. It’s definitely a good way tobring your game on, but there are lots of other thingsyou can do as well.

SUCH AS?Well I believe in taking notes – I’m a great note-takerand I’ve got folders full of them at home. I still takenotes and keep records, and I always review myperformances, as I think you can learn a lot fromyour mistakes. At the end of every year I like to doa full review – not a financial onebut one which looks at the stateof my game.When I was learning Iwas also very prepared to put themiles in. It was always importantfor me to go to different places andplay against as many people aspossible. That was a big part of mylearning curve. In tournaments youcan go a long time without anymeaningful results but you can be

learning while losing. Learning from your mistakes isvery important.

AND DID YOU LEARN OFF FRIENDS YOU MADEON THE CIRCUIT?When poker started to become a nice top-up to myincome, I began picking up bits and pieces fromother players. Lucy Rokach and Peter Costa wereboth big influences on me. I can’t stress enough howincorporating facets from other people’s games wascrucial to my improvement.

WHEN DID YOU START TO THINK YOU COULD MAKEIT AS A TOURNAMENT PLAYER?Winning didn’t come quickly, in fact I don’t think I wonfor the first six months I played in casinos. I slowly gotbetter though, made a few final tables, and won a fewsmall comps. In 2004 I decided to cut back hours atwork which meant I could play later hours during theweek. Getting the right balance between work andpoker was a big step forward for me.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST TASTE OF SUCCESS?I was scoring fairly consistently in tournaments andthen in October 2004 I played the £3,000 EPT eventat the Vic. I was chip leader at the end of day one, chipleader with nine left and then finished ninth for £8,000(Julian’s nickname is ‘Yo-Yo’). I was very disappointed.Then two weeks later at the EPT Dublin I finishedseventh. A week later I got a call offering mesponsorship. I thought it was a wind-up!

HOW DID SPONSORSHIP CHANGETHINGS FOR YOU?Once you’re sponsored everythingchanges. You haven’t got the pressureof worrying about money or buy-ins.I can now pick and choose the eventsI enter and it definitely frees up theway you play. Saying that, even aftergetting sponsored I stayed in myjob for another year and didn’t gofull-time until the end of 2006.

NameJulian ThewNickname‘Yo-Yo’LivesNottingham, UKLive tournamentwinnings$2,444,109Biggest winEPT Baden Classic,October 2007 – 1st,€670,800

Once you’re sponsoredeverything changes. I

can now pick and choosethe events I enter andit definitely frees up

the way you play

THEWFACTS


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THEW’STOP TENTOURNAMENTTIPSFollow in Julian Thew’sfootsteps as he revealshis top ten winning tips…

1 Contrary to popular opinion,you don’t need to be good

at all aspects of poker to wintournaments. For instance, I’mterrible at laying a hand down.You’ve just got to try and improve allaspects of your game all the time.

2 Always trust your pokerinstincts, even if you risk

looking stupid sometimes.

3 Don’t be lazy. There’s usuallya right or wrong move and 90%

of the time the wrong option isthe lazy one – for instance, callinginstead of raising, or checkinginstead of betting.

4 Be aware of table image andhow your opponents perceive

you and use this to your benefit.

5 Position is so important. Youalways hear it but it’s true –

it’s only very recently that this hasreally hit home for me. The sooneryou understand position the quickeryou’ll start winning.

6 Have patience. Poker is oftena boring game, but you need to

be able to put hands down until youfind yourself in a favourable spot.

7 Learn to spot exploitablesituations and have the balls

to pull the trigger when you do so,such as isolating weak players toget them into heads-up pots.

8 Don’t get fazed by theopposition.

9 Try to develop mentaltoughness. You’ve got to

be really tough to deal with theswings in the game.

10 Remember, the cards you aredealt are just one element of

the game. The best players don’trely on cards to win a tournament.

POKE

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Poker might be a game of cards but the way you play any given hand in a tournamentshould largely be dictated by the size of your stack. We show you how to play short,medium and big stacks all the way to the final table…

WHEN PLAYING A NO-LIMIThold’em tournament,your stack is your life.Lose it all and (rebuysnotwithstanding) it’s

game over. Use it wisely and you’ll see yourstack grow to Himalayan proportions.

Your ultimate aim, clearly, is to accumulateall the chips in play. However, only in a truedream scenario is your tournament going tobe a smooth, steady process of accumulation.Most of the time your chipstack will fluctuatewildly as your fortunes twist and turn, andall the while the blinds will be growing,diminishing the value of your chips andthreatening to engulf you completely. Assuch, knowing how to play different stacksizes effectively is an absolutely crucialtournament skill.

Before we look at how to play differentstack sizes, however, we need to know whatdefines a small, medium and big stack. It’s

important to appreciate that only blindsand antes dictate this, not the stacks ofother players around you. Lose a big pot atthe start of a tournament, see your stackgo from 5,000 to 2,000 chips, and it’s easyto panic. But with low blinds of say 25/50,you’re still playing 40 big blinds. That meansyou have plenty of time to wait for handsand situations to rebuild your stack. In fact,you shouldn’t consider yourself short-stackeduntil you’ve got less than 10-12 big blindsleft. A medium stack is anywhere between12 and 25 big blinds. Anything above thisand you can hold your head high – you’reofficially a big-stack!

SHORT STACKSIf you’re a short-stack your chips are morevaluable than at any other time. That’sbecause if you win the tournament you endup with all the chips, but you don’t get all the

money in the prize pool (sadly). So as yourchipstack increases above average, eachindividual chip is worth less, enabling youto play a little looser. But as a short-stack,the opposite is true. Because your existencein the tournament gives you some equity(as you still have a chance to make money),the smaller your stack gets, the more eachindividual chip is worth.

If you have a genuine short stack, playingit is easy as you only really have one optionand that is to move all-in or fold. The onlyexception to this is if you have a massivehand pre-flop and think you can induce actionfrom other players by making a smaller bet,although this often looks suspicious.

DON’T FEAR THE REAPERSo when should you get your chips in? Mostplayers wait too long, hoping to pick up abig hand before committing all their chips,but the problem with this is your stack canT

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Size is

Find your game at PKR.com.Build your character with PKR’sstate-of-the-art software andimmerse yourself in a range oftournament games. PKR hasa range of no-limit hold’emtournaments across all levelsrunning around the clock. If youlove tournament poker, you needto bring your game to PKR…

FINDYOUR GAME


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become so shortthat you lose all foldequity (i.e. your stackis so small you can’tmake other playersfold). Even worse,if you become veryshort (five big blindsor less) you canmove all-in, win anddouble-up and still beshort-stacked. The thing to remember isthat you’re never that far behind if you getcalled, as long as you have two live cards.Even if you’ve got 7-2 offsuit, and are calledby A-K, you still have a 33% chance towin the hand. Pick up a hand like 9-10 inmid position in an unraised pot and youshouldn’t think twice above shoving.

You should also be aware that movingyour chips into an unraised pot puts youin a far better situation than calling all-in.This is because you have a chance to pickup the pot uncontested, and to forcehands that currently have you beaten tofold. Sometimes it’s right to call all-inwhen short-stacked, but only if you havea strong hand or your stack is so smallthat it has no fold equity anyway.

Remember, ifyou’re almost

certain to becalled, eitherbecause there

are loose playerswith big stacks

behind you, orloose players inthe blinds, you losenearly all your fold

equity, so you need totighten up your handstandards. Conversely, ifyou have tight playersbehind you, particularlyin the blinds, or thetournament is close tothe money spots, you canmove in with a far widerrange of starting hands.

MEDIUM STACKSHaving a medium stack in tournaments isuncomfortable because you’ll often be putin tough spots. You need to accumulatechips to make sure you don’t slip into beingshort-stacked, and the faster the tournamentstructure the more pressure there is onyou. This should make you more inclinedto take on coinflip situations (for example,playing for all your chips with handslike A-Q or 8-8 against an underpair orovercards respectively).

In a slower tournament the opposite istrue. You may be able to chip away (win somesmaller pots to build up) but you can still getaway from hands as you will have more timebefore the blind pressure becomes intolerable.

However, the mistake you don’t want tomake is to get too comfortable. You shouldalways be looking to accumulate chips byseeking out the right kind of opportunities.You should also be looking to exploit anyother medium-stacks, especially if they arefeeling too comfortable and playing too tight.

Re-raising and re-stealing (raising aftersomeone has made a late-position raise tosteal the blinds) are very important weaponsto have when you’re playing a medium stack.

Most players wait toolong before committing alltheir chips. The problemwith this is your stack

can become so short thatyou lose all fold equity

SHORT STACKDouble or bust…The challenges of playing a shortstack alter according to what stageof a tournament you’re at…

EARLY STAGES It can be extremelydisheartening to lose a lot of chips early

on, but make sure you don’t feel like you’rea short-stack straight away. If you still haveplenty of chips compared to the blinds, you canstill manoeuvre and play good poker to rebuild.If you really are short, try to play an all-in potwith someone playing loose early on, who maygive you that courtesy double-up you need.

MIDDLE STAGES Playing the short-stack in the middle stages is all about

being patient and finding the right spots.Remember, you can’t wait too long – don’t gettempted to start hanging on for the moneywhen you entered the tourney to win it. Findspots where the players in the blinds areplaying tight and your all-in move has somechance of taking the pot down uncontested.

LATE STAGES Being a short-stack nearthe end is tough. If you’re in the money

your tournament life has some value, whichescalates as other players are knocked out.However, unless you’re very close to the end ofthe tourney you should still be trying to grabchips. Look for spots where the blinds areplaying too tight, or find some high-cardstrength and hope a big-stack doubles you up.


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Both moves can be used to put a lot ofpressure on your opponents and maximiseyour ways to win, by either forcing your foesto fold or by having the winning hand if called.Re-raising pre-flop is generally a better optionthan calling in no-limit hold’em, and with amedium stack it’s almost always the betteroption. This is due to a combination of it beingbetter to commit your chips as the aggressor,particularly in a situation where you may wellend up committed later in the hand, but alsobecause you’re putting pressure on youropponents to fold. Other medium-stacks willoften fold too much in tournaments, givingyour re-raises great equity.

Re-stealing is valuable for the same reasons,and if you pick the correct spot it greatlyincreases your equity in the tournament, asyou’re winning more chips than your fairshare. With more and more players openingpots with marginal hands to steal the blindsit’s vital you have it in your armoury.

For example, say you’re in the big blindwith blinds of 100/200 and you have 3,000chips. An aggressive player with 4,000 chipsraises to 600 from the button. You shouldbe looking to move in here reasonably often.If he’s a typical player he’ll be opening witha huge number of hands that can’t call yourall-in. If they fold you pick up 900 chips,increasing your stack by 30%. If you’recalled and double-through you’re well onyour way to becoming a big-stack again.

Finally you need to watch out for short-stacks that might be willing to make a standand tighten up your opening and stealingstandards. This is where calling an all-in

could be profitable with a wider range ofhands as well. If the short-stack is moving inwith a substandard hand this can be a greatopportunity to get some chips in positiveequity situations.

BIG STACKSHaving a big stack in a tournament is agreat position to be in. It’s the time whenyou can be a complete poker player, makingmoves and using your bets, and the threatof further bets, to put maximum pressure onyour opponents.

There are two different scenarios whereyou could be big-stacked. The first is wheneveryone else is a big-stack (usually at thebeginning of a tournament) and the secondis when you are big-stacked in relation tothe other players.

At the start of a relatively deep-stackedevent, say with 100 big blinds or more,every player is effectively a big-stack. In thissituation there is more emphasis on post-floprather than pre-flop play, and with both youand your opponents having deep stacks,your implied odds are increased. As such, youcan sometimes take the worst of it pre-flop inorder to make more money when you hit yourhand. This means hands like small pairs andsuited connectors become more playable –though you shouldn’t get carried away withsuch hands, and should avoid playingcomplete junk.

Remember that in order to make up for apre-flop disadvantage you have to get paidwhen you hit your hand, so don’t forget to

Whatever your tournament you’llfind it at PKR.com. Enter the world’smost advanced poker room andfind a huge range of MTTs andsit&gos running every day withbig guaranteed prizes with buy-insstarting at just $1. Join Club PKRfor exclusive freerolls in whichyou can play for big cash prizesand gain access to amazing liveevents, plus a whole lot more.

PLAY TO WIN

MEDIUM STACKBuilding plansWhatever stage you’re at in atournament make sure you’vealways got a plan for how you’regoing to grow your stack

EARLY STAGES Vary your playaccording to the tournament structure.

If it’s a slow structure, try to steal yourway to a big stack. If the structure is fast,look to get your chips in even when you’remarginally ahead – taking a 50/50 raceif necessary, especially if you’re gettingbetter odds on the call. Build that stack forthe big blinds to come.

MIDDLE STAGES This is where it’svital not to sit on your medium stack

and limp your way to a minimum cash. Useit to make plays and take calculated risks togive yourself a shot at the big prizes. Don’tget complacent or the blinds will turn yourmedium stack into a small one.

LATE STAGES Balance aggression withavoiding unnecessary confrontations.

Keep the pressure on your tight opponentswho are looking to move up in the moneywith re-raises and re-steals. Try to avoidplaying hands that you’re not willing tocommit your entire stack with.


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bet when you actuallydo. As ever, don’tforget to adjust yourdecisions accordingto your opponents’play. If someone isplaying more looselybecause they have abig stack, you need toisolate that player andbe willing to call themdown with lesser hands – though that’s notto say with complete rags. Other playersmay play tighter because it’s a big event orbecause there are no blinds worth winning,and you can take advantage of this byputting greater pressure on them.

The second scenario is when you have abig stack relative to the rest of your table orindeed the tournament, and this is perhapsthe most enjoyable situation in poker.

Conceptually, it’s important to recognisethat the more chips you have relative to thefield, the less each individual chip is worth.If this concept doesn’t sit naturally with you,consider that if you win the tournament youdon’t get paid the true value of your stack.

For instance, JamieGold won the2006 WorldSeries of Poker,which had

around 85million chips in

play. He ended upwith all the chipsbut was only (!) paid

$12 million. Thismeans you can affordto be looser with yourchips than if youwere an average orsmall stack, but don’tkeep calling bets withsubstandard hands‘because you can’. It’sa good way to lose abig stack quickly.

If you do want to use the leverage offeredby a big chipstack, target the players whoappear to be playing too tight and putpressure on them with bets and raises.They’ll be all too aware of the fact your bigstack could knock them out of the tourneyat any time. If players are folding to youpre-flop because they don’t want to getinvolved in a confrontation, this is amistake you should exploit. If your raisesare successfully stealing the blinds, do it asmuch as you can get away with. Against apre-flop bet, you should consider re-raisinga lot and re-raising all-in if the blinds allow.

BULLYING TACTICSPost-flop, look to semi-bluff a lot and playbig draws. Let’s say you’re in hand againsta poor player with predictable startinghand selection with 6-7 suited. The flopcomes Q-4-5 and your opponent makesa standard continuation bet. More oftenthan not you should make a large raise hereand even push all-in as long as it’s not amassive overbet. If called, you may wellneed to make your straight to win, but the

Being a big-stack is whenyou can be a complete pokerplayer, making moves and

using your bets to putmaximum pressure on

your opponents

BIG STACKTest your opponentsPiling the pressure on youropponents is the key to playingand maintaining a big stack

EARLY STAGES Put pressure on whereyou can, but remember that the other

players probably have a decent amount ofchips compared to the blinds, so they won’tfold as often as they will later in the tourney.

MIDDLE STAGES Attack the otherplayers as the blinds rise. Particularly

target those trying to hang on in thetournament or to scrape into the money.

LATE STAGES Stay on the front footand put pressure on the weaker players/

smaller stacks, but avoid marginal situationswith other big-stacks who can really hurt you.

important point is that your opponentdoesn’t need to fold very often to make thissort of move correct.

It’s also important to be very aware of yourimage as a big-stack and how the otherplayers are responding to you. Observewhich ones are playing back at you and waitfor a big hand to punish them – they oftenwon’t give you credit for having a big hand,thinking you’re just a loose player.


YOUR MOVEM

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In the cutthroat world of multi-table tournaments you can’t rely on getting dealt Acesand Kings every other hand. Instead, you’ll need some tricky manoeuvres, nerves ofsteel and perfect timing to see you through to the money. Adding some of thesetechniques to your MTT arsenal should help you go deep time and time again…

PUSH YOUR DRAWSYou put in a healthy raise with a big suitedAce and pick up a caller. The flop misses youbut does give you the nut flush draw whichyou should be prepared to play fast. Beingprepared to go all the way with monsterdraws is a technique a lot of successful andaggressive tournament players use to build abig stack, and it’s a good play as you have somany ways to win the hand. Your opponentcould fold, but if he calls you could still hityour flush. If your overcards are live you areusually a favourite to win the hand, even ifyou’re behind on the flop.

STOP-AND-GOThe stop-and-go is a great move to makewhen you’re in the blinds and starting torun low on chips and ideas. It involves youcalling a late position raise – hopefullytargeting a serial raiser – and moving all-inwhatever the flop brings. You’re not makingthe pre-flop call on the odds the flop will helpyou, but on the fact that your opponent’s twocards will only connect with the flop a thirdof the time. If he’s missed, it’s very hard forhim to call even if he suspects that you’retrying to pull a move.

RAGGY RAISEEveryone knows that a minimum raise fromunder the gun is often a sign of strength.It’s not likely to berespected in the firstfew levels when it costsso little to see a flop,but in later levels, whenthe blinds are largerand most of the weakplayers have alreadybeen knocked out, aminimum raise fromunder the gun is more

likely to be respected, especially if you’ve gota tight table image. If you pick up a calleryou’ll be playing the hand out of position,but you’ll also have a well disguised handyou can represent on the flop. If you meetsome resistance, in the form of a big raise,then you know you’re usually up against agenuine hand, in which case you can fold.

SLOW-PLAYINGSlow-playing a monster pre-flop can be aprofitable move, but it’s risky and you needthe right table conditions. Slow-playinggenerally won’t work in the early stagesof a tournament when the blinds are smallenough for lots of people to call withoutcreating a pot big enough for someone totry and steal. And the last thing you wantwith a hand like pocket Aces is a table full oflimpers. Later on in the tournament though,when the blinds are high and you’re on anaggressive table, try limping your Aces orKings and hope for a raise or a shove. Bewarned, if you pick up a few callers you needto be good enough to put the hand down ifyou meet strong resistance on the flop.

SQUEEZE!Often, when a player raises in early or midposition he’ll pick up a caller. This callermight induce others to come along for theride, creating a chain effect which you cantake advantage of in late position by making

a healthy pot-sized raise.If you can get the originalraiser to fold the chancesare you’ll get everyoneelse to muck as well, as iftheir hands were strongit’s likely they would havere-raised themselves. Theonly disadvantage to thismove is that it’s a bit of anoldie and people are wise

For an effective re-steal,make sure you have asemi-decent hand, and

when your stealer strikes,come over the top with

an all-in shoveTIM

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Creative urge: moves likethe value shove can add anew dimension to your game


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to it. Saying that, it’s still hard to combatwithout a genuine hand. If you have amonster yourself, you can play it fast, hopesomeone pegs it incorrectly as a squeeze playand calls you with a lighter holding.

VALUE SHOVE!The value shove is a relatively modern movethat sees you making a massive overbet witha huge hand. Say you’ve got the nut flush

on the river and you want to extract themaximum from your opponent. You’re prettysure he’s got a hand that’s fairly strong andyou know for certain he’ll call a small valuebet. That’s the safe option. If you shove all-in,what percentage of the time do you thinkhe’s going to call? It might not be 100% oranywhere near, but it doesn’t need to be forthis to be a profitable move. If he calls youone in five times, and you make ten times asmany chips, you’ve just made this move your

own. And you’ll be surprised how many peopletake this shove as a bluff and call you light.

THREE-BETTINGThe game of no-limit hold’em has changedimmeasurably in the past few years, andnowhere is this more apparent than pre-flopaggression. A few years ago a re-raisepre-flop meant Aces, Kings, Queens orAce-King. Now if you watch good players,re-raising before the flop is commonplace,and to survive in the modern game you’llneed to master the skill. It’s called three-betting because you’re literally putting inthe third bet after an initial raiser (thesecond bet) has raised the big blind (the firstbet). Look to make your re-raise aroundpot size, or if the stacks are shallower, youcan move all-in. Three-betting gives you theinitiative in the hand and puts the pressureon your opponent, but you need to mix yourrange up to keep your opponents guessing.You can three-bet for value (when you havethe best hand), as a semi-bluff (a hand withpotential) or as a complete bluff.

ATTACKING HIGH-BLINDLIMPERSThis sounds technical but it’s dead easy.Limping in the early stages of a tournamentis a decent enough strategy but some peoplecan’t stop limping, even when the blinds arehigh, with speculative cards. Punish themby making a hefty raise, or moving all-inif you’re short-stacked and they’re goingto find it very difficult to call. Make surethe person you’re making the move on is ahigh-blind limper (i.e. they’ve limped andshown down speculative hands before, oryou’ve pegged them as weak) and not acrafty player looking to trap with Aces.

RE-STEALINGIf you’ve pegged someone as a serial blindstealer (i.e. they’re consistently raising inlate position), it’s time to shut them down.For an effective re-steal, make sure youhave a semi-decent hand, and when yourstealer strikes, come over the top withan all-in shove. You should send a clearmessage that you’re not afraid to defendyour blinds, but make sure they’re worthdefending before you pull the move. If youropponent raises to 60 on the button, youcan probably let your 20 chips go!



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Chris Moorman is one of the hottest online tournamentplayers in the world. Now he shows you how it’s done…

1 EARLY DOORSIn the early stages of the tournament identify the weak

players at your table and try to get involved with them in afew pots. These are the players you’re going to make most ofyour chips from. It’s best to avoid calling raises with easilydominated hands like A-J, K-Q and K-J. Small pairs andsuited connectors are golden hands early on though,because it’s much easier to know where you’re at in the hand.You can flop massively and make a lot of chips from a weakplayer who can’t fold a big pair. If you hit a set with a smallpair, you know that 95% of the time you have the best hand.You can then go about building the pot the best way you can.

2 KEEP IT TIGHTBefore the antes kick in there’s no need to go crazy

playing too many hands. You can still play hands like6-7 suited for deception, but you really need to be carefulabout playing speculative hands. This factor is mainlydependent on your stack size though.

3 NO SET, NO BETStack sizes are one of the most important aspects of

MTTs. For example, a lot of people overvalue pocket pairswith a mid-stack. What people don’t realise with small pairsis that in order to get paid they need to hit their set, stillhave the best hand and hope their opponent has a handthat they are willing to go to the felt with. Small pairs area lot better early on in a tournament when pots are morelikely to be multi-way, because when you do hit your setsomeone else is likely to have a strong, but weaker hand.

4 RAISE THE RAISERBubble play isn’t nearly as profitable as it once was

because a lot of people are approaching the bubble veryaggressively. A great way to attack the bubble is to re-raiseother people who are also raising a wide range of hands,or to flat-call in position and mess with them post-flop.

5 THE EARLY BIRDWhen deciding how loose or tight to play at a certain

table you should try to play the opposite of your table – tighton a loose table and loose on a tight table. However, otherimportant factors, such as how much early position raisesare being respected, should be considered. If you find yourearly position raises are being respected by the table, youcan raise knowing that mostly you will either take theblinds uncontested, or only have to face someone flat-callingyou with the possibility of taking it down on the flop.

6 QUICK ON THE DRAWPost-flop play is still important in MTTs, even

though it’s usually not as important as in deeper-stackedcash games. Try and evaluate flops and put youropponent on a range. From this you can start to thinkabout how likely they are to have hit the flop. This clearlyhelps aid you in deciding whether to continuation-bet ornot. Also, take note of whether a player plays his drawsfast or slow. This will enable you to represent when thedraw gets there if they just called your flop bet, becauseyou already know they play their draws fast or vice versa.

7 LOVE THY NEIGHBOURThe most important people at your table are those to

your immediate right and left. That’s because every orbityou’re probably going to have blind and late position battles.If you have a good read on these opponents, you can reallystart to pick up chips. For example, if you’re on the left ofsomeone who likes to open a lot in late position, but doesn’tre-shove all-in unless they have a premium hand, then youcan re-raise them without the goods in position and takedown a healthy-sized pot a winning percentage of the time.

8 PILE ON THE PRESSUREA strong trait of most winning players is their ability

to get inside their opponents’ heads and force them intomaking big mistakes. In order to do this you need to applyconstant pressure. One way to do this is by winning lots ofsmaller pots from them without the goods. The real trick isto know when they’ve had enough, then pick up a hand andget it to hold… That’s something that can’t be taught!

9 SWITCHING GEARSOn a final table, if there’s one player whose stack is a lot

shorter than the rest, then you can really apply pressure onyour opponents. They will all be concerned with moving upa money spot and will wait for the short stack to bust ratherthan play back at you without the goods. Once the short-stack has been knocked out, players will be more willingto gamble. You should then switch gears and ‘slow down’because your image will be loose at that point. The best MTTplayers can switch gears constantly with no difficulty at all.

10 PLAY TO WINTry not to look at the payouts of a tournament as this

can affect your decision-making. Always play to win and gowith your gut instinct. If your opponents know you arecapable of anything it makes you a much trickier opponent.

A trait of mostwinning playersis their abilityto get insidetheir opponents’heads and forcethem intomaking bigmistakes

NameChris MoormanAge24LivesBrightonOnlinewinningsOver $1.5mOnlinescreen nameMoorman1

MOORMANFACTS

CHRISMOORMAN


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RULINGREBUYS

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Hate busting out of a tournament? Play a rebuy and youcan resurrect yourself time and time again – as long asyou’ve got deep pockets…

SO YOU MIGHT REMEMBER WEmentioned earlier that the great thingabout a tournament is that you knowexactly how much money you’rerisking up front, and that no matter

how badly you play, you can’t lose more than yourinitial buy-in? Well that’s true for freezeouts, butthere is another tournament format that givesyou the opportunity to gamble a bit more, andpotentially win – or lose – more money.

A rebuy tournament effectively gives you extralives for more money. So, when you bust yourinitial chipstack – or dip to a pre-agreed amount,say 50% of your stack – you can buy back in foranother stack. And another. And another. Somerebuys limit you to two or three stacks, but themost common format is where you’re allowedunlimited rebuys for a set period (generally the

first hour) after which you get theoption to add on another set

amount of chips regardlessof your stack size, before thetournament moves into astandard freezeout mode.Here, as in a standardtournament, once you’reout, you’re out for good.Starting stacks are

generally smaller for rebuytournaments – anywhere

between 1,000 and 2,000 is thenorm. This is because as chips are added to thetable in the form of rebuys, the number of chipsin the tournament will grow quickly, leading toa relatively deep-stacked tournament once therebuy period is over.

With an averageplayer rebuying onceand adding on once, theprizepool usually endsup around three timesas big as a standardfreezeout for the sameinitial buy-in. That’sall well and good, butrebuys come with a

completely different set of strategies, and to ensureyou maximise the return for a reasonable outlayyou need to go in with a plan and stick to it.

TIGHT VS MANIACThere are several ways to approach rebuytournaments, depending on your style and howmuch money you are willing to invest. At theconservative end, you can try to maximise yourvalue by playing tight and taking advantage ofplayers who are looking to gamble with theirstacks early on. What this means though is thatyou’re going to have to wait for big hands andsidestep a number of all-ins, getting lucky untilyou have enough chips to play standard poker.That’s because a lot of players will be calling youvery light, and often with complete trash.

These players are using another common rebuystrategy: gambling like crazy in an attempt tobuild up a big stack early on. Their plan is toship it in whenever they see an edge or a decentchance to double up, rebuying up to dozens oftimes if their initial efforts fail.

Alternatively, you can take the middle path,loosening up your range but not turning into acomplete maniac. This approach often involvestrying to see a lot of flops with hands that canimprove to monsters. You might normally binhands like 8-J in the opening stages of a regulartourney, but if you’re on a passive table and thereare lots of family pots with excellent implied oddsfor drawing, it’s worth getting involved. Alwayskeep one eye on your stack though. Starting offwith a smaller number of chips gives you farfewer options for calling along and hoping to hit.

Whatever you plan, try to pegthe ultra-aggressive players earlyon. This won’t be hard. They willbe moving all-in over any raise orgroup of limpers, and they’ll haveno shame gambling with the likesof 8-5. If you’ve got any suchplayers at your table and they’restill to act, the value of limpingor trying to get in a pot with aspeculative hand is next to nil.

first hour) aftoption to ad

amountof your stournastandaHere,tournaout, yStarti

generallytournamen

between 1,000 anorm. This is because as chipstable in the fo of reb , t

Don’t make the mistake

of treating a rebuy like a

normal tourney. Play during

the rebuy period will be

super-loose, so you must

adjust your game

Don’t do this

With an average playerrebuying once and adding

on once, the prizepoolusually ends up aroundthree times as big as a

standard freezeout


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TRIPLE TROUBLECommon rebuy strategies

You also need to adjust your game in terms ofbluffing. Bluffing in a rebuy period is generallyfutile, unless you’re facing someone who’s clearlyplaying tight and looking to eke out a stack.

The trouble with playing a conservative gamein rebuys is that it’s not a lot of fun. You’ll need toget lucky early on and have your hands hold up.For that reason, most players who enter rebuysto play tight still keep enough money for one ortwo extra buy-ins and an add-on if required. Thisgives you a couple of chances in the tournamentand although you’ll still need to pick and chooseyour spots, you’ll have more flexibility to play.

GOING CRAZYOf course, if you’re just out for a good time, youcan join the ranks of crazy gamblers and comearmed with enough money to rebuy five, six ormore times! This might be a lot of fun, especiallyif the cards go your way, but we’d advise againstit unless you’re a rebuy veteran. That’s becausethe maths dictate that if you rebuy a lot of times,you’re going to need to finish deep into thetournament, and possibly on the final table, justto break even. Most gambling players in a rebuyare looking to buy a big stack when the freezeoutperiod starts, which they can use to bully theirway to the final table and hopefully victory.

If you do decide to go the crazy gamblingroute, remember that you don’t have to play thisway through the entire rebuy period. The ideais to accumulate chips, so if you get a stack sixor seven times your starting stack you can slowdown, start playing tight and reap the rewardsfrom people who still think you’re playing like amaniac. You’ve achieved your goal – to get abig stack – so there’s no point throwing it away.

Whichever route you take, remember to keepan eye on the clock, because as the rebuy periodcomes to an end almost every short stack willbe looking to double up or lose their chips, thusenabling them to rebuy. People will be pushing

with almost anything, which means you canchoose to either sit tight and preserve the stackyou’ve accumulated, or pick off shoves in positionwith a much wider calling range.

FREEZEOUTOnce the rebuy period is over you can usually electto add on. Every player can do this regardless ofstack size; whether or not you should depends onhow many chips you’ve got. It might be temptingto get another 2,000 chips for a minimal outlay,but if you’ve got a stack of 20,000 it’s pointless.We would advise you not to bother if the add-onrepresents less than a fifth of your stack.

Once the freezeout period has started, checkyour chipstack again. Your aim should be to startthe freezeout period with at least three times thechips that you started with, which should giveyou an average stack to play with. If you’re wayunder this target you’re going to need to startpushing in while you’ve still got enough chips toknock people off their hands. If you make it withsix times the chips then you’re doing well andcan now sit and wait for hands and make theodd well-timed bluff or steal (these will now bepossible, but pick your moment and player).

The great thing about rebuys is that once thefreezeout period starts, you’ll find a lot of playerswho forget to adjust their game. Despite havingchips, they will still be operating on an ultra-aggressive raise/push strategy, which is entirelyunsuited to a freezeout. Try to make sure you’rein position to take their chips – they won’t lastlong in the tournament.

Once they’ve gone, the rest of the tournamentto the final table is real poker. Don’t be one of theplayers who can’t adjust to the change in pace,but do take advantage of the situation if you’vemanaged to build up a big stack. Above all taketime to make decisions, play a solid game withmeasured aggression and – bad beats aside –you should make it to the final stages.

There are three distinct types of player in a rebuy tournament – which one are you?

1 THE SKINFLINT >You want to play for a big prize but you

don’t want to put your hand in your pocket.You may be limiting your chances of buildinga stack for the freezeout period, but you’rewilling to be patient and pick your spots,hoping to capitalise on the maniacs.HOW YOU PLAY: You play big pairs and bigAces and you play them very aggressively,committing yourself pre-flop if possible.PROBLEMS: You’ll quickly be pegged as tightand people will be less willing to gamble withyou. Plus you’ve only got a limited amount oftime to pick up the premium cards you needto get your chips in.ADVISABLE IF: You’re on a really tight budget.

2 THE SOLID PLAYER >You don’t mind taking a few chances but

you don’t want to go crazy. You’ll limit yourselfto two or three rebuys, and unless you get puton tilt you’ll leave the tournament as soon asyou hit your budget.HOW YOU PLAY: You love suited connectors, orindeed any hand with potential where you cansee a flop for five big blinds or less. If you hit bigon the flop or get a big draw you’re willing to getall your chips in and if you lose you can rebuy.PROBLEMS: You’re still playing a very predictablegame and there are no guarantees you’re going tobuild a big stack despite a willingness to rebuy.ADVISABLE IF: You want to play a sensible gameand maximise your investment.

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If you’re a maniac, whatstarts as a cheap rebuy

event can turn ratherexpensive. In the2006 World Seriesof Poker, top proDaniel Negreanu

made a total of 48rebuys in the $1,000

no-limit event. Hewas attempting to buy

himself a big stack to takeinto the freezeout part of the

tournament to give him a goodchance of winning a bracelet, butit backfired and ended up costinghim nearly $50,000. That meant heneeded to finish eighth just to breakeven, but unfortunately he ended upbusting outside of the money!

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3 THE MANIAC >You’re willing to gamble with any

half-decent hand and capitalise on any sign ofweakness. If you get called and lose the handyou’ll just reach deep into your pockets andbuy some more chips – that’s why it’s calleda rebuy, right?HOW YOU PLAY: Pre-flop you’ll play any pair,any Ace, any paint cards, and you’re willing toget all your chips in if you hit even a tiny pieceof the flop.PROBLEMS: It could prove very expensive andyou might end up needing to final-table thetournament just to break even.ADVISABLE IF: You are playing for fun at a levelyou can afford – or you hate money.

KEY POINTRebuys are fun tournaments but youneed to set a budget in your mindbefore you start playing and stickto it, even if you get consistentlyunlucky. If you normally play $20tournaments, you should considerdropping down to $10 or even $5rebuys, to give yourself a chanceto rebuy chips without playingabove your means.

DID YOU KNOW?If you

staeve

rebno-

was athimself a


BEATINGSATELLITES

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You don’t need a big bankroll to play with thebiggest pros for millions of dollars – you justneed to master the art of satellite tournaments

SATELLITES ARE TOURNAMENTSwhich reward a certain number ofpeople with a seat in a bigger buy-inevent, and it’s no exaggeration tosay they have changed the face of

poker forever. Think of them as a sort of pyramidscheme. At the bottom you’ve got the ultra-cheapbuy-ins with thousands of people, all paying fora few hundred places one rung up the ladder.Further up you’ve got the more expensivebuy-ins, with a much smaller field and directentry into the big money tourney. Eventually,you’re left with one winner, who cops the lion’sshare of everyone’s cash. Satellites give you theopportunity to be that winner, and all for a fewdollars initial entry.

Unlike standard tournaments, there’s nosliding pay scale. Everyone who ‘wins’ a satellitegets exactly the same prize, so if you’re playing ina 500-man satellite tournament and 50 playerswin a seat, it doesn’t matter whether you are chipleader or sitting on one chip when the 51st playergoes out – you’re still a winner.

Tactics in satellites are very different from astandard freezeout tournament, for the simplereason that you’re not playing for first place.There are winner-takes-all satellites, but most ofthe time there are a number of seats up for grabsand you should adjust your play accordingly.

REGULAR SATELLITESThe most common satellites reward the top 10%of finishers, so if 100 people play, you have to finishin the top ten to win. The key here is to play yournormal game. Don’t go risking three-quarters ofyour stack with A-K. Steal the blinds from theplayers you can steal from. Play your big pairsaggressively. Race in situations where youropponent’s stack only represents a small percentageof yours. Try to play a lot of small pots and onlyplay big pots when you know you have the best of it.

Let’s look at two example scenarios whenholding A-K. In each case, there are 100 playersleft with the top 20 winning seats. You have anabove average stack of 50,000 and the blindsare 500/1,000. You are in the big blind.

SCENARIO 1 A short-stackhas moved all-in for 9,000.Everyone else has folded.This is a perfect situationto play with A-K and youshould call.

SCENARIO 2 An early position playerwith a 60,000 stack has raised to 3,000.A middle position player has moved all-infor 30,000. In a conventional MTT, you canmake a case for playing A-K here. However,in a satellite this is a situation you shouldprobably avoid. While there is a chance youare ahead, the fact that the call is for morethan half your stack – as well as the fact thatyou still have the open-raiser to act behind you– make this a clear fold.

Remember that your aim, above all else, is to keepyour chip stack around the average. If you managethis then you’ll coast through the bubble. If you

Steal the blinds from the players you cansteal from. Play your big pairs aggressively.Try to play a lot of small pots and only play bigpots when you know you have the best of it

MONEY MATTERSMaking the most from your money…Don’t just launch yourself into the first satellite you see.Make sure you sort out the practicalities first

If you’ve set your mind on qualifying for a big tournament, ask yourself how much moneyyou are willing to spend to try to qualify, given that you might, just might, not succeed thefirst time? If there are a few satellites between you and the end tournament, can you affordto buy yourself in one rung up to give yourself a better shot of qualifying?

It goes without saying that you should always stick to a cut-off budget. There’s no pointplaying so many satellites that you could have bought yourself into the actual tournamentyou’re trying to qualify for direct.


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THE SHARKPOOL!Satellites can be a tough training groundand you need to watch out for the sharks

A lot of people play satellites as a meansto an end, for a shot at a much biggertournament. Others find that their gameis just well suited to the particularrigours of satellite play andfind satellites much moreprofitable than regularMTTs. The straightpayout of around 10%of the field means thatstrong players have a muchbigger edge and it reducesthe variance that regulartournaments and their steeppayout structures provide. Forthat reason, if you cash in a satellite alot of online sites let you either playthe next tournament up, or cash in yourticket for cash to add to your bankroll.The upside of this is that it offers youcomplete flexibility, but it does meanthat a lot of good players circulate in thesatellite pool looking to prey on weakerplayers taking a shot upwards. Thiswon’t happen at the lower level wherethe prize payouts are relatively small, but

you can expect the fields toget significantly tougheras you move up.

Don’t let this putyou off taking ashot though. Theexperience you willgain from playing above your meansand with better players is invaluable,and worth much more than the priceof the tournament buy-in.


manage to get hold of a big stack by picking upcards then you can tighten up and prey on theweaker players, especially when you get towardsthe bubble.

LOW BUY-IN ANDWINNER-TAKES ALLThere are satellites with only one prize up forgrabs, or a relatively small number comparedto the field. If you enter one of these you’llneed to play differently again. In both, butespecially in winner-takes-all tournaments,it’s critical to build a big stack early on. Don’tbe scared to get into confrontations and if youdo manage to build a stack you need to use itto bully the other players and keep yourmomentum going.

The good news is that in the low buy-insatellites you’re going to find a bulk of very weakplayers who are just making up the numbers.These are the players to target and the ones whoare hopefully going to build your stack up to asize that will let you play solid poker through tothe bubble. The best tactic to adopt at the start oflow buy-in satellites is to see as many cheap flopsas possible. Weak players are unlikely to be ableto drop top-pair hands and will enable you todouble through if you manage to flop two pairor better.

Winning a satellite like this, where thenumbers are against you, is a lot harder thana regular satellite. However, the rewards aremuch greater and as the buy-in is generallya lot lower you can afford to loosen up andgamble. Be prepared to get your money in withbig draws, show people that you’re not going tobe pushed around and target weak players whoare folding too much.

After the first hour a lot of the weaker playerswill have been knocked out and the blinds willbe up to the level where seeing cheap flopsisn’t really an option. This is the time to evaluateyour stack and push through to the bubbleby playing solid poker. An hour of play shouldalso be enough to mark out which playersyou want to tangle with and which are betterleft alone.

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SATELLITE MANMeet the man who invented the satellite and made poker the people’s game

Satellites were invented back in the1970s by a man called Eric Drache whowas then tournament director of theWorld Series of Poker. He was lookingfor a way to increase numbers in the$10,000 buy-in main event, when onlythe very richest players could afford toenter, and hit on a novel concept. Hegot ten players to put up $1,000 eachand got them to play winner-takes-allfor entry into the tournament.

From these humble beginningsthe satellite has become thedream-maker, offering amateurplayers without a big bankroll theopportunity to play in the world’sbiggest tournaments for an initialoutlay of a few dollars. This hithome when Chris Moneymaker, anaccountant, qualified for the 2003WSOP main event for $40 online. Hewent on to defeat old-school playerSammy Farha in an infamous heads-up

confrontation and won the $2.5million first prize.

In 2003, the WSOP main event wascontested by 839 players. Just threeyears later, thanks to Moneymakerand the satellite craze, 8,773 playersrolled up to make the 2006 mainevent the biggest live tournamentof all time. Jamie Gold eventuallywon the staggering first prize of$12 million.

ON THE BUBBLEThe period approaching the bubble is anabsolutely critical point of any satellite. You’renot just playing for a small cash if you break thebubble, but a shared first prize. Thankfully, it’sextremely easy to make the right decisions andavoid serious mistakes. Remember that your goalis simple: outlast other players. Let the otherplayers make the mistakes and don’t put yourlife on the line needlessly.

Here’s a good example of something youshould never consider doing. It’s folded to

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the button who has 12 times the big blind.The tournament is three spots from endingand the button has more chips than eight ofthe remaining players. The blinds have aboutthe same size stack as the button. The buttonlooks down at A-9 and decides to try to pick upthe dead money knowing they will fold ninetimes out of ten. He moves all-in, runs intopocket Kings and is eliminated. Unlike atournament, chip accumulation during thebubble is not crucial – survival is. While open-shoving with A-9 on the button with 12 bigblinds is often a no-brainer in a conventionaltournament, it’s not an option here.

You could even look at a more extremeexample. You’re second in chips with 32 playersleft and 30 get paid. You get Aces in the big blindand the chip leader in the small blind open-shoves on you. Yes you’ve got the best hand, butthe correct move here is to fold. If you fold you’llwin a seat 99.95% of the time just by foldingevery hand. Call with Aces and you’ve probablygot a 15-25% shot of going out.

The key on the bubble is to look at your chipposition and compare it to the other players. Ifyou are in a comfortable chip position, there isno need to get involved with all but the best ofhands and only against stacks that can’t crippleyou. If you have an average stack but are abovethe threshold needed to win the seat, againthere is no reason to get involved, although it’simportant to keep an eye on the bubble as thetournament moves on. With blinds very highat this point, and most hands getting decidedpre-flop with shoves and folds, the button willmove around the table very quickly and you canfind yourself being whittled down from a positionof relative comfort to being in danger. Whateveryou do, don’t let yourself get to the position ofplaying the short-stack if you can avoid it.

BE THE WORLD CHAMP!Poker is a game where dreams can come true…

Some say that satellites have made the World Series of Poker main event too popular. Witha field of up to 8,000 players, it’s by far the world’s biggest poker tournament, but it’s stillalso the tournament that every poker player wants to win, and it guarantees the winner aplace in poker history as well as fame and fortune. It’s also the tournament that’s worthplaying in just for the experience. Every poker player should harbour an ambition to play inthe main event once, so set aside a small chunk of cash and a weekend to try to win yourself aseat to the 2010 WSOP. You never know, this year it might just be you that comes home withthe gold bracelet and the millions of dollars in prize money.

Everyone will be gunning for you and if you letyour chips run down too far you’ll find that yoursmall shoves will be called by two, three or fourpeople, in the knowledge that collectively they’vegot a very good chance of knocking you out.

The bottom line is that if you are in danger ofbeing eliminated, or moving to a position whereyou might be eliminated, you can’t be afraid toplay hands and getting your chips in first is key.If you aren’t in danger, let other players panicand make the mistakes. Trust us, they will.

While open-shoving with A-9 on thebutton with 12 big blinds is often ano-brainer in a conventional tournament,it’s not an option here

Please gamble responsibly. For more information and advice visitwww.gambleaware.co.uk.18+

www.pkr.com

TIME TO FIXTHAT LEAK

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Now get even better with RAISE YOUR GAME, the most

complete selection of free to view poker strategy

articles anywhere on the web.

Written by experts hand-picked from the game’s most respected

magazines. Packed with information and insights you

need to take your game to the next level.

Get hold of it today at PKR.com.


CASH GAMESThe ultimate guide to


CASH GAMES

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Cash games are arguably the most lucrative, exciting and difficult formof poker. So follow this crash course in how to win big in ring games…

POKER IS A GAME OF DECEPTIONand audacious bluffs. It requiresthe skilled practitioner to beunpredictable – to outmanoeuvreopponents, set traps and sidestep

hazards. But these bluffs can often go wrong,and in a tournament this can be frustrating asone mistake can mean you are out. Thankfullythere are also cash games where you can reallylet your creative nature loose.

Cash games are arguably the hardest pokerdiscipline to master because there is no hidingplace. If you or your opponents go bust you cansimply reload and start again. The only timeyou need to stop is when you run out of money,although it’s good common sense to stop a longtime before that. Unlike in a tournament, theblinds remain at fixed stakes throughout thegame, meaning there’s always a level playingfield. As such it is frequently a game of waitingfor other people to make mistakes.

Once you have a good grounding in them,full-ring (nine or ten-handed) no-limit cashgames are considered to be one of the best waysof making a solid living from poker, not leastbecause they are the most prevalent form ofpoker found in casinos. If you’re an online player,it also makes a lot of sense to play full-ring gamesas you can play on multiple tables with relativeease and make your decisions based on the actionrather than just what cards you have.

The nature of cash games, with their fixedblinds and the ability to reload, also makes themthe form of poker where luck has the least effecton the long-term result. You can afford to takemathematically-sound risks because you areplaying a long-term game. That is what cashgames are – one long game that only ends whenyou want it to. It’s poker at its most pure.

But before you can start dreaming about all thefancy plays you’re going to make, it’s crucial thatyou know the fundamentals of cash game poker.

How to beat

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KEY POINTCash games are about playing goodhands from good positions and nottrying to get too creative all thetime. If you can be disciplined andnot play too many hands you willbeat most low-level games.

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TOP TIPIf you have a small pair you canusually call a pre-flop raise foranything less than 10% of youropponent’s stack with the hope ofhitting a set on the flop. If you don’tmake a set you should normally fold.


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There are five basic concepts that you must knowand understand even before you sit down to play.

1 BANKROLL MANAGEMENTOkay, this might not seem like a very

exciting topic to kick off with but you simplycan’t ignore it. Good bankroll managementmeans two things. First, keeping your pokermoney – aka your ‘bankroll’ – separate from yournormal day-to-day money. And second, alwaysplaying within your limits at a level that canwithstand the natural swings of the game.

The bottom line is this: if you’re playing ata higher limit than your bankroll can sustainyou stand a good chance of going broke. Evenif you’re a good, winning player, bad luck willmake you tilt, blow up and generally have atorrid time at the tables. As such, in no-limithold’em cash games you should never risk morethan 5% of your bankroll at any one time. In

CASH GAMESFind your levelThe stakes in a poker cash game aredetermined by the size of the blinds. Alllevels are catered for at online sites likePKR.com, from play-money and micro-stakes right up to ‘nosebleed’ stakes

FULL-RING CASH GAMESPlaying nine- and ten-handedFull-ring cash games are characterised by three main traits…

1 They involve either nine or ten playersas opposed to short-handed where it’s

six or less. There is no schedule to the games– they start as soon as there are enoughplayers in the game. When the tables becomefull there is usually a waiting list for a seat.

2 There is always a minimum and maximumbuy-in amount. The minimum is usually

around 20 times the big blind, while the

maximum can be 100 times the big blind. So,at a $0.25/$0.50 table, the minimum buy-inwould be $10, while the max would be $50.

3 You can leave whenever you want andyou can buy more chips at any time. The

only time you are ‘out’ is when you run out ofmoney, although it’s advisable to stick to astop-loss limit of 3-4 buy-ins. If you’ve stackedoff three times it may be a good idea to quit.

Do thisOnly put money into yourpoker bankroll that you cancomfortably afford to loseif you go bust. Playingabove your limit is aseriously bad idea

Full-ring (nine orten-handed) no-limitcash games areconsidered to beone of the best waysof making a solidliving from poker

This is a low-stakes game where the blinds are$0.05 for the small blind and $0.10 for the bigblind. The maximum, and most common buy-in is$10, but you can buy in for as little as $2. It is agreat game for beginners to start off with online.

The $0.25/$0.50 level is probably the lowestone where the vast majority of players will stillbe recreational, as opposed to playing poker fora living. You can buy in for anything from $10 to$50. It is also the lowest level cash game you willtypically find in a live casino or poker room.

The $1/$2 level is where poker starts to becomeserious. Here you can buy in for $200 at a time andit’s easy to see how you can quickly win or lose alot of money. Be warned, online you will find a lotof very skilled players playing at this level!


other words make sure you have 20 buy-ins forthe level you’re playing at. This figure assumes adecent win rate (something like five big blindsper 100 hands) and a normal standard deviationin the game. If your eyes just glazed over, don’tpanic. Just understand that minimising yourbuy-ins to this level will give you the optimalbalance between staking enough to grow yourbankroll and preventing yourself from goingbroke. These are relatively conservativeguidelines but they will give you good protectionagainst going bust.

This system does not mean you will inexorablybuild your bankroll. If you’re a winning playeryour edge should yield you a profit in thelong-term, but there will always be ups anddowns. Crucially, you must be prepared to dropdown in limits if you encounter a sustained losingrun. This of course takes discipline and requiresyou to leave your pride at the door, but manya poker player has gone bust because of ego.Downswings are a natural part of the game andsome of the best in the world have had to dropdown in limits for a time on their way to the top.

KEY POINTThe ability to drop down in limits is a vital one. Ifyou have $2,000 and are playing $0.50/$1 no-limitbut have a losing run that sees your bankroll fall tojust over 10 buy-ins, you should seriously considerdropping down in limits. Your $1,000 will see youadequately rolled for $0.25/$0.50 no-limit.

2 POSITIONThe power of position in no-limit hold’em

cannot be overstated. It’s hard to quantify theadvantage that acting behind an opponent givesyou, but to put some perspective on it pokerlegend Doyle Brunson says, ‘If you give me thebutton every hand I can beat almost any gameblind.’ Normally you should only enter the potin early position with premium hands – whichis essentially big pairs and A-K. Mucking A-Qup front is usually right in a full-ring game. Ina deep-stacked game which is relatively passivebefore the flop, limping with smaller pocket pairscan also be profitable. Get used to mucking ahuge amount of hands in the first three spots.

As you move around the table you can openup your range far more. The later your positionthe greater your chance of being able to play thehand in position on future streets. We’ll come tothis in more detail later on but for now let’s lookat why you should play only premium hands fromearly and middle position and avoid cold-callingwhen there are still many players to act after you.

The earlier the position you enter the handfrom, the more likely it is that you will be stuckout of position for the rest of the hand. That putsyou at a huge disadvantage as you’ll be forcedto make decisions before your opponents. Thecloser to the button you are in the hand the lateryou act on each street and the more informationyou’ll receive about your opponents’ hands.

You must beprepared to dropdown in limits ifyou encounter asustained losing

run. Of course thistakes discipline

Don’t limp! Limping in

(i.e. flat-calling the blinds

pre-flop) is a terrible habit to

get into. Raising or folding

are nearly always much

better options

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Avoid calling in the blinds with weak hands justbecause you’ve already committed some money. Itmay seem like a cheap way to see a flop, but you’llhave to play the entire hand out of position – andwithout committing more chips you’ll have littleidea as to the strength of your opponents’ cards.Many fortunes have been lost this way.

3 POT ODDSPlaying solid poker is not about pulling

off complex multi-street bluffs – it’s about callingwhen you have the correct odds to do so, foldingwhen you don’t, and getting other players to callwhen they shouldn’t. It’s important to play amathematically sound game, and for that youneed to understand pot odds. In many marginalspots they are indispensable, such as when youare deciding whether or not to call with adrawing hand.

If you do nothing else, learn how to work outrough pot odds and start using them. On theflop, count the number of outs you think youhave to make the winning hand and multiply thatnumber by four. This will give you the roughpercentage chance of hitting your hand onthe turn or river. On the turn, do the same butmultiply your outs by two to get the odds. So, forexample, if you have 10:-J… on an 8Ú-9:-A; flopyou have four sevens and four Queens to makeyour straight or eight outs. So, multiplying 8by 4 equals a 32% chance of winning. Some keynumbers to keep in mind are nine outs for a flushdraw, eight outs for an open-ended straight drawand four outs for a gutshot straight draw.


4 IMPLIED ODDSAnother important concept in cash play is

‘implied odds’. Often in cash games the blinds aretiny compared to players’ stacks. This means youcan play a lot of hands pre-flop that stand to wina big pot if you hit. You’re investing a little nowfor the ‘implied’ value of making a lot later.

Specifically this means that suited, connectinghands (such as 8;-7; or A:-10: ) and small pairsoften have a lot of value in cash games. You arehoping to hit a straight or flush and get paid offby a player with a big pair. In an unraised pot youshould be playing these hands – although don’t gettoo carried away when you’re out of position.

It’s also possible to play these hands in a raisedpot. Proceed with caution though – to get theimplied odds both you and your opponent(s)must have deep stacks (committing no more than5% of your stack pre-flop is a good rule of thumb)and it’s best if your foes are tight players.

5 BLUFF LESS, WIN MOREWhen you first start playing poker it’s easy

to think the game is about bluffing and spottingtells – after all, that’s what it’s about on TV, right?Wrong. TV highlights tend to focus on the monsterpots and audacious bluffs, making it appear thatplayers bluff a lot more than they do. Bluffingshould be just one weapon in your arsenal, andwhen you do bluff you should have a good reasonfor it. You need to gauge the situation carefully,weighing up factors such as your table image andwhether or not your bets tell a believable story.

PRE AND POST-FLOP PLAYWith those basic concepts in place it’s now timeto look at some specifics relating to play beforeand after the flop. The strategic ideas here arevery different from those used in tournaments.Concepts such as stealing the blinds, squeezingand protecting your tournament life, forexample, have little or no relevance to cash play,while an ability to play every street is crucial.

PRE-FLOP PLAYLike every other part of a poker game, pre-flopplay in a cash game is a situational concept. Thecorrect play will change according to your table,the players in the pot, stack sizes, your tableimage and so on. With that in mind, when werecommend playing a particular hand bear inmind that this is a ‘standard’ play to give youa starting point in cash games. The mostimportant thing is to grasp the factors that affectwhether and how you enter a pot. If someone elsehas entered the pot before you with a raise youneed to play far, far tighter. They’re stating theyhave a good hand, so you need to have a serioushand to play. But to balance this slightly you dohave position over the opening raiser.

HAND SELECTIONYou may have read that in poker you should playthe man and not the cards. Well, that’s true upto a point, but it doesn’t mean you should startignoring the strength of your hole cards and getup in arms when ‘some fish’ doesn’t put you on

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KEY POINTThe most effective raise pre-flop iseither 3x or 4x the big blind. So ina $0.25/$0.50 game you would makeyour bet between $1.50 and $2 ifyou had a playable hand and foldotherwise. When raising pre-flop youshould always bet the same amount– no matter what cards you hold – todisguise the strength of your hand.

TOP TIPIf there have already been severallimpers (people calling the big blind)before you and you want to raise, addthose bets to your pre-flop bet size. Soif there have been three limpers in a$0.10/$0.20 game, rather than bet$0.80 you might raise to $1.40.


the big hand you’re trying to represent. Wouldn’tit be better if you just showed down a big handinstead and still had opponents call down yourbig bets? You don’t have to go as far as onlyplaying Jacks or better, but if you stick to a solidrange of starting hands including pairs, big Acesand the occasional suited connector, you will hitflops, out-kick other players’ bad Aces and takedown some juicy pots. At the lower levels this isoften all you need to post a regular profit.

PLAYING PAIRSYou should look to re-raise with big pairs most ofthe time. Bear in mind that there’s a big differencebetween A-A/K-K and Q-Q. You should almostalways re-raise with Aces and Kings, but Queensare a more marginal hand that you should mix upwith calls and re-raises. With hands like A-K, A-Qsuited, J-J, 10-10 and 9-9, you should usually justcall, but an occasional re-raise is good to mix upyour play. It’s not simply a matter of what actionthere’s been but also who has made that action.For example, if a better player than you with abigger stack than you has entered the pot, thatshould make you much less inclined to play.Conversely, if a weak player who calls far toomuch has opened the action, you should loosenyour starting hand requirements considerably.

WHY RAISE?If you’re going to raise pre-flop be clear whyyou’re doing it. Often you’ll be raising for value –investing money when you think you have thebest hand. But that’s not the only reason to do it.Raising to steal the blinds has very little value ina cash game as the blinds are only a tiny fraction

of the stacks. In fact limping in late position or onthe button (while not a good habit to get into) isa legitimate play if you’re better than the blindsand want to play a hand with them in position.

BET SIZINGThere are two schools of thought regarding howbig your pre-flop raises should be. One is to raisethe same amount no matter what your hand is, toprevent giving away any information. The secondis that you should vary your raise, making biggerraises when you want to build a big pot andkeeping it small at other times. We’d recommendthat until you have a good understanding of howthe various situational factors affect your pre-flopdecisions you make a standard open-raise ofthree or four times the big blind, giving minimalinformation on your hand. The exceptions arewhen there are limpers in the pot already, inwhich case you should raise it up slightly more.If you’re not sure how much to bet, a normalfigure is anywhere between half-pot and full-pot.

POST-FLOP PLAYOnce the flop is dealt you are playing real poker.This is where the game becomes a complex battleof assessing your opponents’ holdings. Mostplayers at the lower limits make the mistake ofonly thinking of their own hand strength, butyou should be playing close attention to the flopand how it may have helped other players’ hands.A flop which contains lots of connected cards orcards of the same suit may present dangers toyour pocket Jacks. However, if you hold A-Kon a AÚ-8;-2… flop you can bet out safe in the

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EARLY POSITIONPLAY

10-10, J-J, Q-Q, K-K, A-A, A-K, A-Q

FOLDAll other hands

RE-RAISEQ-Q, K-K, A-A, A-K and A-Q

MID POSITIONPLAY

All early position hands plus A-J,K-Q, 9-9, 8-8 and 7-7. A-10, K-J,

Q-J, J-10 and 9-10 (suited)

FOLDAll other hands

RE-RAISEJ-J, Q-Q, K-K, A-A, A-K and A-Q

CUTOFF SEATPLAY

All mid position handsplus all pairs

FOLDAll other hands

RE-RAISE10-10, J-J, Q-Q, K-K, A-A, A-K, A-Q

BUTTONPLAY

All cutoff hands plus K-J, K-10,Q-10, K-9, Q-9, A-x suited and

high suited connectors (8…-7…+)

FOLDAll other hands

RE-RAISE10-10, J-J, Q-Q, K-K, A-A,

A-K, A-Q, 10-J, K-Q

STARTINGHAND GUIDE

KEY POINTHow much should you bet post-flop?Well the best idea is to bet the sameamount every time you get involved.If nobody has bet before you then youshould bet two-thirds of the pot. So ifyou were playing $0.50/$1 and yougot two callers pre-flop, the pot onthe flop might be around $9. In thiscase you should bet around $6.


knowledge you likely have the best hand. Whatyou need to learn to recognise is relative handstrength. How strong is your hand in relation towhat the best possible hand is on the flop? Fromthere you can decide if you are betting for valueor to make other players fold. You should alwayshave a clear plan in mind post-flop as this is whenthe betting starts to get much more expensive.

A CONTINUING THEMEContinuation bets are among of the mostimportant tools at your disposal when learningto play cash games. Continuation-betting isfollowing up a pre-flop raise with a bet onthe flop. This continuation of your pre-flopaggression will often be enough to take downa pot if there is just one other player remaining,as the flop will miss most hands. Aim to makeyour bets around two-thirds of the pot regardlessof whether your hand has improved or not. Aimto continuation-bet around 80% of the time,but be wary of overdoing it in multi-way pots.Someone will have caught a piece of the flop!

PLAYING THE PLAYERSBut what if your continuation bet is called,or even raised? At the lower limits, by callingyour bet your opponent is telling you their handhas improved, whether they have made a pair,two-pair or just a draw. This is where you needto pay attention to what hands your opponentshave shown down previously. Are they the typeto chase their draws? Or will they call withmiddling pairs? Every player is different andthere are no hard and fast rules. Observation iskey to being a winning cash game player.

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POST-FLOP ODDS CHARTTURN RIVER DRAW TYPE

17% 9% Gutshot straight draw (e.g. J:-10… on a flop of QÚ-8;-7…)32% 17% Open-ended straight draw (e.g. J:-10… on a flop of QÚ-9;-2…)35% 19% Flush draw (e.g. A:-10: on a flop of K:-7:-2…)54% 33% Flush and open-ended straight draw (e.g. K:-Q: on a flop of 10:-J…-4:)

You should alwayshave a clear planin mind post-flopas this is whenthe betting startsto get much moreexpensive

WALKTHROUGHContinuation bettingThere’s no need to get fancy – basicmoves such as continuation betting andusing position are simple and effective

1 You are in a $0.10/$0.20 cash game onPKR.com and you open the betting action

with a raise to $0.80 with K-Q offsuit. You’recalled by the big blind, making the pot $1.70.

2 The flop comes A-2-3 with two diamonds.The big blind checks to you.

3 Here you should usually c-bet somewherebetween $0.90-$1.40. You’re representing

the Ace, and if they don’t have it you’ll often win.

TOP TIPIf you have a very good hand suchas three of a kind and someone bets,you should re-raise to a number atleast two and a half times their bet.So, if they bet $6 you should raiseto $15. If they re-raise you back youshould usually just go all-in.

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Do thisAlways know what youare trying to achieve whenmaking a bet or raise. Sayin your head whether it’sa bluff or a value bet andwhat you want youropponent to do


Your first missionis to assess the

game you’re puttingyour money in. Youneed to know what

type of table it is andwhere your profit

is coming from

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ASSESSING THE TABLEYou may have heard the saying (in Roundersif nowhere else), ‘If you don’t know who thesucker is at your table, it’s you.’ There is a lotof truth to this and you shouldn’t just blindlysit in the first game you find and start throwingchips around. Your first mission when you joina cash table is to assess the game you’re puttingyour money at stake in. You need to know whattype of table it is, how the individuals are playingand, critically, where your profit is coming from.

You need to gather this information as quicklyas possible. If you’re waiting to sit down or forthe big blind to come round, observe the gamecarefully, even if you’ve played with the playersbefore. You can’t afford to make assumptions, asthey might be playing differently from normaldepending on how their session is going.

PLAYER TYPESIn order to get a handle on how to vary your playagainst different opponents we’re going to lookat some player ‘types’. Remember, this is to helpyou make decisions against different players, butyou should try not to think in generic groups,rather in terms of the individuals you’re playing.We’ll assess playing types on two different scales:looseness and aggression. It’s important tounderstand the difference between the two.Looseness is how many hands a player is willingto get involved with – the fewer they play thetighter they are. Aggression is how often theytend to bet and raise rather than check and call.There is no necessary correlation between thetwo, and often it is how aggressively an opponentplays that is the more important factor.

1 TIGHT-AGGRESSIVE (TAG)There was a time when a tight-aggressive

style was the way all good players sought to play,and the truth is, for many it’s still the optimalapproach. This style involves playing qualityhands with a slightly wider range in position. Italso involves playing those hands aggressively,looking to have the lead in the hand pre-flop byraising or re-raising, and keeping the lead afterthe flop by making continuation bets. This styleis often employed by players who multi-table andare possibly earning a living from the game.

STRENGTHS It is generally tough to exploit agood tight-aggressive player. They continuallyput pressure on their opponents but play enoughquality hands to make it hard to know when youcan take them on.

WEAKNESSES Sometimes TAG players becomepredictable and end up playing on autopilot.For example, they tend to continuation-bet toofrequently and play poorly when check-raised.Poorer tight-aggressive players sometimes losetheir aggression on later streets and fail toextract enough value on the turn and river.

COUNTER-STRATEGY TAGs’ biggest weaknessis that they can be predictable in terms of whichhands they will play in which positions and youcan look to exploit this.

2 LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE (LAG)This type of player will get involved in a lot

of pots and play their hands very aggressively.This style has been extremely popular in pokerover the last few years, but when you’re upagainst a loose-aggressive player it’s crucial to


Don’t get annoyed with

weak, passive players. Even

though they will suck out on

you occasionally, they are

your bread and butter as

a winning player

Don’t do this

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discern how competently your opponent isplaying this style. The key to figuring this outis how they play the big pots. Are they makingreckless bluffs in big pots or trapping peoplewhen they have the goods?

STRENGTHS Playing against a good loose-aggressive player can be extremely tough. Theywill put huge pressure on you, sometimes bettingall three streets with very little and then turningup with a big hand the time you decide to call.

WEAKNESSES The LAG style is extremelydifficult to execute well as it involves enteringpots with poorer hands and making far moremarginal decisions on later streets.

COUNTER-STRATEGY It’s vital to widen yourcalling range when playing against a LAG. Theyare playing and betting substandard hands, so ifyou want to fully exploit them it’s important tobe prepared to call them with weaker hands thanyou would an average player.

3 TIGHT-PASSIVE (TIGHT/WEAK)These types of players look to wait for

premium hands, but when they get them don’tplay them aggressively enough. When theymeet resistance in a hand they often eitherfold or become defensive, checking and callinginstead of betting. This type of player may believethey’re playing tight-aggressive when actuallythey’re playing in a highly exploitable way.

STRENGTHS These opponents are still playinggood cards in the main and it’s going to be toughto get them to fold a big pair or top pair whenthere’s nothing you can credibly represent.

HOW TO ASSESS THE GAMETaking stock of your tableThere are three main ways to assess the game you’re in…

1 The best piece of information is thecards revealed at showdown. Replay

the hand in your head and see if it tells youanything about the players. Are they playingtoo many hands? Are they missing bets orcalling too easily? Are they bluffing andplaying very trickily?

2 A good way to assess how well you’rereading players is to try to ‘call’ their

hands to yourself before they’re revealed. Ifyou think someone has A-A and he shows 8-3

you may have a problem reading that player!

3 You should also quickly get a flavourfor how many players are seeing the

flop and how much pre-flop raising there isin the game – i.e. how loose and aggressiveyour opponents are. Take a careful mentalnote of how much money the players have infront of them. Stack size is a fundamentalconsideration in most cash game decisionsand you must know what you stand to winfrom (or lose to) each player.

WEAKNESSES Tight-passives usually play ina predictable style and are probably the easiestopponents to put on a hand. For instance, if theyraise under the gun they’re highly likely to havea premium hand. If they call a bet on the flopand then make a big check-raise on the turn,they almost always have a strong made handrather than being on a draw or bluff.

COUNTER-STRATEGY You should be looking tobully this kind of weak opponent. They fold toomuch and will very rarely make big bluffs or gettheir stack in the pot with anything less than apremium hand. Make sure you give them everyopportunity to make a big fold by representingthe monster hand they’re already afraid of.

4 LOOSE-PASSIVE(CALLING STATIONS)

It’s basically impossible to play winning pokerif you play a lot of hands passively, but theseguys try. They love to limp and flat-call from allpositions pre-flop, then after the flop they willcheck-fold or check-call, often calling along ifthey catch any part of the flop. They are classicdonkeys and in the long run you will make muchof your profit from this type of player.

It’s important to adjust your game significantlyagainst calling stations. Time and again, even atthe higher levels, it’s possible to witness goodplayers trying to bluff loose-passive players.

STRENGTHS If one of these players has a runof cards it can be very frustrating as they’rebasically playing showdown poker, whichmeans you need to have a hand to beat them.

WEAKNESSES This is a losing style, whichinvolves rarely taking the lead in hands andcalling far too often with substandard hands.

COUNTER STRATEGY Extracting maximumvalue from these opponents is absolutely vitalto playing winning poker. They call too much,so make them pay for their mistakes. Have thediscipline to wait for a hand, and then, whenyou have the goods, bet big and often.

Do thisIn cash games, always stayaware of the situationalfactors in every hand. Theseinclude relative stacks, yourtable image, who’s on tiltand who’s chasinglosses

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Some of the most costly mistakes in no-limit cash games are madepre-flop. Here we look at some dangerous hands to watch out forand how to adjust to short-handed play

HANDS LIKE A-J, K-10, J-10 ANDsmall to medium pairs are oftenreferred to as ‘trouble hands’.These are hands that are playable,but can land you in serious trouble

if you get too attached to them. It is of courseimpossible to state in absolute terms how to playany given hand. Doyle Brunson has won twoWSOP main event bracelets with 10-2, but thatdoesn’t mean you should limp with it under thegun! Nevertheless, we will look at generalstrategies as to how to play certain startinghands that help you stay out of trouble.

K-J, K-10, A-10With these hands you will never know whereyou stand on the flop unless you hit an absolutemonster. Flat-calling with these hands out ofposition is one of the biggest mistakes you canmake. If you call a raise with A-10 or A-9 then hitan Ace-high flop you can be in all sorts of trouble,as you’re often going to find yourself out-kickedand are generally only going to get action froma better hand. The same applies to hitting aKing-high flop with the King hands. This conceptis known as ‘reverse implied odds’: where a handstands to win you a small pot when you’re ahead

but lose you a big pot when you’re behind. Inother words, calling a raise with these hands is alosing proposition. You’re far better off holding ahand like 5:-6:, because it’s a lot easier to getaway from on the flop.

With any marginal hand, it’s important not to getcaught up in the ‘call because they are suited’syndrome. That extra 2-3% isn’t worth the call.You’ll also be in deep trouble if you have theKing-high flush and someone has the Ace-high one.

KEY POINTThe worst thing you can do is flat-call out ofposition with these hands. Even if you hit part ofyour hand, you could easily have kicker problems.Play them with a raise in position, or not at all

A-JThe hand known as ‘Jackass’ should carry agovernment health warning and it shouldonly be played if you are the aggressor, oryou hold position. If you raise with thishand and get re-raised, it is difficult tomake the call as you cannot know where

PRE-FLOPDANGERS

With any marginalhand, it’s important notto get caught up in the‘call because they aresuited’ syndrome


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example, 8-9-2), in case you miss on the turn, soyou still have the opportunity to bluff the river.What you have to be wary of is the Jack-high flop,which can give you a false sense of security,especially in a multi-way pot. So again, you canonly play this type of hand if you are aware of itsvulnerabilities and have the ability to lay it down.

KEY POINTBy all means call a small raise with this handpre-flop, hoping to make a big hand or draw.However, be careful not to fall in love with yourhand when the flop comes Jack-high

9-9, 10-10 AND J-JA standard way to play pocket nines, tens andJacks is to raise and then probably pass to are-raise. In position, you should be looking tothree-bet with these hands pre-flop, althougha lot of players prefer to flat-call and play it fromthere. But you can get a lot of information froma three-bet that you don’t get by calling. Forexample, if you just call with J-J and see a flopof 6-7-10 and your opponent bets, what do youdo? A re-raise from this position after the flopcould easily leave you committed to the hand,whereas a pre-flop re-raise enables you to escaperelatively cheaply if your opponent comes backover the top for most of your chips.

KEY POINTA positional re-raise pre-flop with one of thesehands can be better than a call because it givesyou a lot more information about the truestrength of your opponent’s hand

SMALL PAIRSPlaying small pairs (for our purposes, anythingup to pocket eights) in no-limit hold’em cashgames can be tricky and cost you a lot of money,but there is a simple way to play them thatkeeps you out of danger. In fact, one of the mostprofitable moves in deep-stacked cash games isset-mining with small pairs. This means callinga raise (although not a re-raise) with a small pairhoping to hit a set on the flop. This is usually awell-disguised hand and you can often get a lotof value from players with overpairs.

Be careful to only go set-mining if the raiseamounts to 10% or less of the effective stacks, asyou will only hit a set one in every eight times(and some of those times your hand won’t begood). Also be careful not to fall in love with yourset on a board where the flush has come.

KEY POINTBy all means call small raises with small pairs withthe intention of hitting a set. However, if you missand face a bet you must be prepared to let go

you stand in the hand. If you decide to call andhit the Ace, you could be drawing almost dead toan Ace with a higher kicker. Hitting the Jack isyour best option, but you could still be behind toa higher pair (especially if your opponent raisedpre-flop). If your opponent just called pre-flopyour best hope is to hit a Jack-high flop, as youare probably ahead in this scenario. Hitting theAce may get you into trouble and if not, all youwill win is the pre-flop bet.

Whatever move you make with A-J it’s a riskyone, with little chance of reward, but a greatchance of haemorrhaging chips. Basically, it’sthe equivalent of a one-card hand, as the Jackis your only playable card.

A sA sA sA sA sA sKEY POINTAce-Jack is one of the toughest hands to playbecause it seems strong, but is so vulnerable tohigher Aces. Essentially it is a one-card hand,as the Jack is the only card you are hoping to hit

J-10 (AND OTHER SUITEDCONNECTORS)J-10 can yield good results as long as you areable to sidestep the dangers it poses. Manyplayers like to limp into pots with this type ofhand, hoping to catch a made hand on the flop– or at least a big draw. The only problem with

the drawing hand is beingable to gauge the strength

of your opponent’s hand.You should bet this hand

on good flops (for

Avoid calling three-bets

with marginal hands. If you

raise and get re-raised, don’t

be tempted to take a flop

with the likes of J-J or

A-10. Four-bet bluff

or let it go

Don’t do this


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ADJUSTING TO SIX-HANDED GAMESThe first thing students of hold’em usually learnafter they’ve grasped the basics is some kind ofhand selection chart and positional requirementsfor entering a pot. While these should not be takenas gospel, they can provide a good foundation forpre-flop play, as well as helping you to read youropponents’ likely holdings. When you make themove to six-handed (aka six-max) cash games,you need to reassess your ranges and adjust tothe more aggressive game. Below we’ve outlinedsome typical hand ranges for six-max no-limitcash, as well as tweaks you can make dependingon how your table is playing.

UNDER THE GUN (UTG)This is the most vulnerable seat from which toenter a pot, as you are out of position and havefar less pot control. As you move up through thecash levels, position becomes more and moreimportant. As a result you should only really playyour best hands when under the gun, plus theodd bluff to keep up appearances.

7-7+A-J suited+K-Q suited+7-8 suited+

SOLID UTG RANGE

ADJUSTING YOUR UTG RANGEWhile that range is definitely profitable at mosttables, you can open your starting range up a bitmore at a tighter table, including all pairs andK-Q offsuit, plus a few more suited connectors.The reason is that your hands will be fairly easyto play post-flop, as you are showingserious strength by raising UTG andhave the initiative in the hand.

If you are at a loose table on theother hand (which will includemost $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 tables),you have to tighten up your rangeand get rid of the more disguisedhands like suited connectors.These won’t flop big enough oftenenough in multi-way pots to beprofitable. Stick to high card value,where you will make bigger pairs withbetter kickers, which should enable you toextract money. Lose the suited connectors andpossibly even 7-7/8-8 and replace those handswith the likes of A-10 offsuit and K-Q offsuit.

MIDDLE POSITIONMid-position is a little easier to play, but not by alot. You still want to be playing the top end of yourrange here and not much more. You should re-raisemore hands though. Most players’ UTG raisingranges are tight, and as such you should only bethree-betting in mid-position with Q-Q+ and A-K.The problem with J-J and A-Q is that you’re neversure whether you are ahead or crushed.

HAND RANGESThe key to cash successIf you want to be a winning cash player,you must stop thinking in terms of specifichands and start thinking in ranges

The key to cash games is the ability to put youropponents on a range of possible hands, and,perhaps more difficult, to know what range they’reputting you on. Thinking in these terms can be aleap for novice players, but don’t be daunted – a bitof logic and some basic observational skills are allyou need. For instance, if a player moves all-in inmid position and you call with A-K, it’s clear youwill often have the best hand. However, this is lessimportant than the underlying logic that states,‘I believe A-K is ahead of my opponent’s range forpushing all-in.’ That range might be A-J through A-Kand 7-7 through A-A if he is a tight player – or farwider if he is loose. What is important is that theaverage of your equity against all of these handsis positive. On the other hand, calling all-in with2-2 against the above player would be suicide, as,while you would be a small favourite half the time,the other half you would be a 4-to-1 underdog.

You should always be trying to put your foes ona range of hands rather than one specific hand andassessing how your hand plays against that.

Do thisSteal the blinds! Unlikein full-ring cash games,where stealing the blinds isrelatively unimportant, inshort-handed games youneed to steal just tostay afloat


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If your table is relatively lively you can re-raiseQ-Q, J-J and even 10-10 for value. But versus atight player you can’t be sure if you are bluffingor value-raising, which can be confusing on laterstreets. It is fine to flat-call with these hands.

PLAYING IN THE CUT-OFFIn the cut-off you can really start to open up yourrange. The main point now is that you are oftengoing to have position, and position is nine-tenths of the law. Now we can start isolating badplayers who limp and re-raising middle-positionopeners. A standard six-handed raising range inthe cut-off looks something like this…

All your UTG/mid-position rangeAll pairs5-6 suited+J-10 offsuit+A-2 through A-5 suited

CUT-OFF RANGE

The Ace-rag hands are really powerful in positionas you can put immense pressure on players onsome boards and always have good equity.

ADJUSTING YOUR CUT-OFF RANGEYou can add a few more hands to your cut-offrange depending on the table, your image andhow often you are being played back at from theblinds. Because being in position is so fantasticyou can profitably raise the following in mostgames, unless you’ve just sat down at a randomtable with no background on the other players.

Suited one-gappers (i.e. hands suchas 7:-9: and 8…-10…)High suited two-gappers (hands suchas J…-8…+)A-x suited

ADDITIONAL HANDS

The ability to flop a flush draw plus overcards is ahuge advantage. You can put lots of pressure onplayers with a flush draw and will frequently hitsome kind of combo draw as well. You shouldnote, however, that adding a bunch of hands inthe cut-off is only useful if you are at a good table.If you are getting played back at a lot by thebutton and blinds then don’t raise them. Tightenup a bit – at least until your image is repaired.

RE-RAISING IN THE CUT-OFFTo re-raise a mid-position raiser you usuallyneed to maintain a high ratio of value-raises tobluff-raises. Something like four value raises to

every one bluff raise will really keep the pressureon. Even in the cut-off you don’t really want to bethree-betting with junk Broadway hands like K-Jand Q-10, but you can definitely add more suitedconnectors. Your value-betting range should nowinclude 9-9+, A-J suited and K-Q suited, as youwill have the initiative and position.

THE BUTTONThis is the most profitable seat at the table, soyou’ll want to play a lot of hands here. All you arereally after is to nick the blinds and isolate anyweak players limping, so you don’t need to thinktwice about raising something playable such asQ-8 suited or 3-5 suited on the button. Stealingthe blinds is so important that you should bewilling to raise almost every unopened button

until the blinds adjust. And when they do,simply tone it down a little then hammer

them again once they have cooled off.

ADJUSTING YOURBUTTON RANGEAt tighter tables you can probably openwith any two cards on the button. At

looser tables, this simply gets you intoa lot of spots where you feel compelled to

fire another barrel on the turn. If in doubt,tighten up. If you still get no respect, completelychange your range and go back to playing solidABC poker – it is the logical adjustment.

RE-RAISING ON THE BUTTONGenerally this is where you should bluff-raisethe most and where you can get the most out ofline. As you will be last to act on every street youcan be confident you are getting the best out ofthe situation a lot of the time.

At tighter tables you can probably open withany two cards on the button. At looser tables,this simply gets you into a lot of spots whereyou feel compelled to fire again on the turn


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In every cash game you will be faced with many tricky decisions oncethe flop has been dealt. We look at a some post-flop dilemmas andwinning strategies to make you a master of post-flop play

SO, WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGYonce those all-important first threecommunity cards hit the baize? Oneof the problems with modern pokeris that most no-limit tournaments see

a lot of hands decided pre-flop. In cash games,however, you need to know how to play on everystreet – and with deep stacks the idea of push/foldpoker is completely alien.

A golden rule to remember is to play big potswith big hands and small pots with marginalhands. This may seem like common sense, butmany players get this wrong time after time.Inexperienced cash game players often makesmall bets when they’re strong because they’reterrified of not getting paid. But then they doprecisely the opposite with marginal hands,making big bets because they don’t want to beoutdrawn. Don’t make these elementary mistakes.

The texture of the flop is pivotal to the strengthof your hand and your ability to represent hands

you don’t hold. Obviously if the flop improvesyour hand that’s great news. Sadly though, themajority of times it won’t. You must be aware ofhow much a flop has helped you.

Top pair is a classic example of this. If you holdA-Q and the flop comes A-9-2 rainbow you’re usuallyin an extremely strong position. If, however, theflop comes A-9-8 with two hearts and you don’thold any, your hand is much more vulnerable.

Don’t fall into the trap of over-betting your handand ending up playing a big pot with a marginalhand. To price out most draws you only need tooffer your opponents worse odds than 3.5-to-1 onthe next card (unless all-ins are involved), and abet of two-thirds of the pot will comfortably do this.

READING TIMEYou should also be able to quickly assess thechances of a flop helping your opponents, too.For example, if you open the pot for a raise andit’s called behind you, your opponent(s) are far

POST-FLOPDECISIONS

Don’t fall into the trapof over-betting yourhand and playing a bigpot with a marginal hand

Once the flop has been dealt youcan quickly assess how it haslikely helped your opponents


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your prospects of taking the pot down with abet now are very slim.

KEY POINTIf you have raised pre-flop you should generallymake a bet on the flop, but pay close attentionto the flop and the number of players in the handbefore you do so

POSITIONAL SENSEYour position is, of course, vital on the flop. Asyou play more deep-stacked cash games you’llstart to appreciate just how critical havingposition is. For example, let’s say you limp inlate position with A-4 suited. Five players takethe flop of A-9-6. If it’s checked to you, with areasonable degree of confidence you can bet thatyou currently hold the best hand. Contrast thiswith being in early position in the same situationwhen it’s hard to know if you have the only Aceand checking is probably the best play.

One of the reasons you should look to entermore pots in late position is to pick up your fairshare on the flop with nothing – make sure youdon’t miss these opportunities. When you’veraised before the flop and been called behind it’soften right to check a lot of your hands. If theplayer behind you bets out you have a lot ofoptions. If you like your hand or think you candissuade your opponent from liking their handyou can check-raise. You could also flat-call withthe plan to take the pot away on the turn – ormuck at minimal cost.

Meeting resistance on the flop in a low-stakescash game is something you should take veryseriously. Players at the lower levels rarely makesophisticated plays like calling on the flop withnothing planning to win the pot on the turn. Ifyou’re meeting resistance, either from a call or araise, it means they have something. Now thissomething may not necessarily be a made hand,but at the very least it will be a strong draw.

FIRE AT WILLOne of the toughest decisions you’ll face regularlyin a cash game is whether or not to fire the secondbullet (bet again) when your initial bet on the flopis called. If you don’t hold a strong hand and havehad your post-flop continuation bet called, youshould often check the turn. For instance, if youhold A-K and haven’t paired your hand you shouldprobably shut down after the flop and try to playthe hand as cheaply as possible.

You should know that novice and intermediateplayers very rarely check-raise as a bluff. Ifyou’re check-raised on the flop you should take itseriously and usually only continue with a stronghand or a draw that you will be paid off on if youhit. At lower-level cash games the pattern ofcalling a bet on the flop and then check-raisingthe turn is how the majority of players playtheir strong hands.

When you flop a strong hand, such as two-pairor better, you should be calculating how to getmoney in the pot straight away and on later

less likely to be helped by a flop like 6-4-2 thanthey are by K-Q-J.

It can be very profitable to bet flops that areunlikely to have helped your opponents. Forinstance, with a flop like Q-5-2 (with no flushdraws) you should often bet if no one else has,regardless of your cards, because it’s very hardfor an opponent to call without holding a Queen.If you bet these flops two-thirds of the time theyonly have to succeed half the time to show aprofit, which in low-stakes cash games they will.

What’s often forgotten is that the flop hasimplications for your opponents, too. Let’s say areasonably tight opponent opens the pot fromearly position and it’s passed round to you in thebig blind with 4-4. You decide to call, thinkingyou have a good idea of his possible hands andhitting a set would make the call worthwhile. Theflop comes 7-8-9 (with two clubs). You shouldstrongly consider check-raising the flop. Youshould realise the board doesn’t help you but itprobably petrifies your opponent if they’ve raisedwith a big pair or two big cards. An alternativeplay, which may sometimes be more profitable, iscalling the flop and then check-raising the turn.

you

KEY POINTReading the flop is a very important skill. Makesure you take into account the likelihood of therebeing a hand out there that beats yours beforeyou get carried away with betting

PLEASE CONTINUE…Continuation-betting is your friend in cashgames. By continuation-betting (aka c-betting)we mean that after you have taken the lead byraising pre-flop you should ‘continue’ your actionby betting the flop. Normally this bet should beabout two-thirds of the pot. A lot of the time youropponents’ hands will not have been helped bythe flop and they will fold to a bet. In cash games– even up to mid stakes – you should c-bet a veryhigh percentage of the time.

For instance in a $0.50/$1 game you open thepot for $3 with A-K offsuit. You’re called by the bigblind, which makes the pot £6.50. The flop comes10-8-2 with two hearts. If the big blind checks toyou, you should almost always bet $4-$5 – you’llfind you very often win the hand there and then.This policy of continuation betting applies unlessyou’re against perceptive opponents who maycheck-raise you with nothing – in this case youneed to mix up the times when you bet and check.

The number of players in the pot should alsohave a big effect on your actions after the flop.Put simply, the more players involved in the potthe stronger your hand needs to be. For example,we looked at c-betting with A-K against oneopponent. Let’s say you raise with A-K offsuitin middle position, but get called by fouropponents. The flop comes 10-8-7 with two clubs;against one opponent you should usually bet,but in this situation you would be crazy to. Thechances the flop has missed all your opponents isvery unlikely. Your hand has not improved and

CONTINUATION BET (OR C-BET)A bet made after the flop by theplayer who took the lead in thepre-flop betting

TERMINOLOGY

CASH GAMESPost-flop playHow to play with top pair ondangerous boards

1 You’re in a $0.10/$0.20 no-limithold’em cash game. You hold

AÚ-K;under the gun and raise to$0.80. Both the cut-off and buttoncall. The pot is now $2.70.

2 The flop comes AÚ-9…-10…. Youhave flopped top pair but the

board is very dangerous so you need tobet out to find out where you stand.

3 Both players fold, and you win asmall pot. It’s vital to bet these

flops when out of position, as withso many draws out there you can’tafford to give away free cards, and ifyou check-call you are playing in thedark. Top pair is rarely the winninghand by the river in cash games somake sure you don’t try to get tooclever with hands such as this onvery draw-heavy flops. Bet out andsee how your opponents react.

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streets. A lot of your pre-flop decisions arepredicated on the implied odds available fromthe big stacks. If you can’t get paid off when youmake strong hands this strategy is flawed.

As such, you need to be clear about the beststrategy for getting paid off in the game you’replaying. Very often in lower-stakes games thiswill be taking the lead in the betting. Playerstend to call too much in no-limit cash gamesand you should be charging them for tryingto outdraw you.

More importantly you’ve got a big hand soyou want to play a big pot. If you checkthe flop and bet a small amount onthe turn trying to ‘sucker him in’it’s extremely hard to get properlypaid. Remember you want youropponent’s entire stack andyou’re not going to get that byputting in a massive overbet onthe river – massage that pot andget his money in there and then.

Slow-playing does have its place ofcourse. If you encounter an aggressiveopponent or one who’s taking the lead becausehe has a hand (let’s say an overpair to your set)then it may be correct to trap him. Apart fromyour desire to build the pot you should alsotake into account the number of players andthe texture of the flop; there’s a big differencebetween flopping bottom set on a dangerous6-7-8 (suited) board than there is on a Q-7-2board. You would almost never want to slow-playon the first board but you’re much less likely tobe beaten or drawn out on with the second,where slow-playing becomes a viable option.

Remember, playing the players is everythingand the further through the hand you get themore important it becomes in your decision-making. You must always be aware of who is inthe hand with you.

WHEN TO SLOW DOWNLet’s say, you are playing in a $3/$6 six-handedgame. On your right is a very aggressive playercalled Phil. He’s by far the worst player at thetable and he likes to gamble. He’s been raisingany two cards and will call re-raises lightly. You

have been playing a patient style waitingto bust him and eventually you pick up

K:-K… on the button.When Phil raises to $18 you smile

to yourself and stick in a re-raise,but only to $45 as you don’t want toscare him off. He calls, and the flopis Q:-JÚ-8…. After Phil checks you

lead out for $80 into a $99 pot andare instantly re-raised to $160. You

call, making the pot $419.At this point you’re in trouble, and let’s

look at why. For a start, your re-raise pre-flop wasway too small. All you are doing there is givingPhil the odds to call with any of his raising range,thereby not defining his range at all. Then on theflop you make quite a large bet. You’re right to beworried about draws, because even though theflop isn’t massively connected you don’t want togive away free cards. But when you are check-raised it’s a tough decision.

Would he really be check-raising a tight playerhere without a hand that beats top pair? You areway behind to Q-J, Q-8, J-8, J-J, Q-Q, A-A, 8-8 and

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CALLING STATION A derogatoryterm to describe a player whoconsistently calls bets and rarely(if ever) raises, regardless of thestrength of his/her hand

TERMINOLOGY

CASH GAMESPost-flop playA look at getting value witha big hand against a LAG

1 You are playing in a $0.10/$0.20no-limit hold’em cash game.

You have 10;-10… on the button.The cut-off raises to $0.80. You call.

2 The pot is $1.90. The flop comes10:-5…-4;. The cut-off bets

$1.60. He is a loose-agressive player.You have flopped a huge hand, but youshould call to allow him to continue tobluff at the pot on the turn.

3 The turn comes K…and thecut-off bets out $3. Here you

can raise to $7 as you want to startbuilding a pot and you also don’t wantto allow your opponent to draw to abackdoor flush or straight. If he hasa King it’s likely he will at least calland he may even re-raise you withmany hands you crush so don’t beafraid to raise for value.

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9-10, all of which are possibilities given Phil’sprevious hands. As such, you should havereluctantly folded here as the only range youcan assign to Phil where he would possiblycheck-raise with a worse hand would be A-Q, K-Qand if he was playing really loosely, 10-K, A-K andA-J. Anything else just seems unlikely.

The turn is the 8: and Phil bets $200, leavingonly $200 behind. You call. The turn isn’t actuallya bad card for you as it counterfeits J-Q andalso might make Phil think twice. The fact thatyou called the flop re-raise almost commits youto calling Phil’s turn bet. However, you shouldbe far more inclined to shove all-in than justcall on the turn as the call is committing youto the hand anyway.

The river is the 10…, making the final boardread Q:-JÚ-8…-8:-10…. Phil is all-in for $200 andyou reluctantly call, as you are pot-committedby this point. You can be pretty certain you arebehind but the odds are simply too good. Philshows J;-8; and wins a $1,200+ pot.

This hand shows how it’s very easy to getcaught up in a hand with an overpair and end upscreaming at the screen when your K-K is beatenby J-8. Many players will go diving in headfirstwith overpairs and not even bother to stop andlook at what’s going on.

LOWER OVERPAIRSWhat if your overpair is not as strongas K-K? What if you have 10-10 on alowish, textured board in a multi-way pot? Let’s say you make apre-flop raise in the small blindand get two callers. The flop comes

7:-5:-4Ú and you bet the full pot only to seeboth players calling. You are left in no man’sland, not knowing what you’re up against.There are very few good turn cards for you, asan Ace, King, Queen and Jack all give overcardsand 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 all give straight or setpossibilities – not to mention the fact that anyclub could fill a flush. I’m not saying you’re notmiles ahead of hands like 9-9 or A-7, but youmust be very wary as this is a spot where it’seasy to lose a very big pot by being blind to thereality of the situation.

In general, you should be making good moneyfrom overpairs. Don’t slow-play them unless youhave a good read because you will invariably getcaught out and end up trapping yourself. Betthem with confidence until you face a call or araise by an opponent, or until a really draw-heavyboard forces you to stand back and re-evaluateyour hand.

Finally, never fall into the trap of assumingyour hand is the winner. After all, how manybig cash game pots do you see being won by asingle pair other than all-in pre-flop hands?Not many I’ll bet.

It’s very easy to getcaught up in a handwith an overpair andend up screaming atthe screen when yourK-K is beaten by J-8

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THE DANGER OF DRAWSNot all drawing hands are equal

SEMI-BLUFFINGBluffing in position

The value of draws hinges on whether you’ll get paid off if you hit…

Raise in position and take advantage ofyour opponents’ weaknesses

Drawing hands present a big challenge inno-limit hold’em cash games. The worth ofyour draw is not just based on your cards butalso on how often, and to what degree, youcan get paid when you make your hand.

For this reason – against observantopponents – straight draws often have morevalue than flush draws as they’re harder tospot and will be paid off more often. Don’tmake the mistake of calling with your draws

thinking, ‘I’m not getting the right potodds but I’ll get his whole stack if I hit.’Even poor players will often slow downwhen the flush card comes. Also, be awarethat if you call a bet with a draw on the flopand miss on the turn you may face a biggerbet on the turn. You’ll need to build up yourexperience to know when you can call withincorrect pot odds because you’ll makemore chips if you hit.

Semi-bluffing is often a strong play – especiallywhen in position. Semi-bluffing is betting when youprobably don’t have the best hand at that point butmay improve to a winning hand. And by doing ityou’re giving yourself two ways to win as you mighttake the pot right then and there or, if called, youmight make your hand on the turn or river.

You should look to do this much more from lateposition because if your opponents have shownweakness you have a better chance of taking thepot. In fact, you should often check your drawsfrom early position on the flop because if you betan opponent can make a big raise and price youout of your draw.

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Bet your overpairs withconfidence until faced witha call, a raise or a draw-heavy board. You can thenre-evaluate where youare in the hand


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Extracting maximumvalue is the key to beinga long-term winner inno-limit hold’em cashgames. Here we showyou how to do itthe right way

EXTRACTING MAXIMUM VALUEmeans earning as much money aspossible from hands where you havea positive expectation. Wheneveryou win a hand and fail to get the

maximum reward possible, you are theoreticallylosing money. Of course, this is not a precisescience, so we have to judge how much moneywe can squeeze out of our opponent when wehave the best hand without chasing him awayor, conversely, letting him off too cheaply.

A very basic example is flopping top set on a5-8-J rainbow flop. We could bet the minimumon every street and would very often get threestreets of value, but would rarely win a decentpot with a very strong hand unless our opponentraised. We could instead overbet each street,but most often we will see our opponent foldprematurely and only win a small pot. We needto find the middle ground that will extract themaximum value in the long run.

So, how do we go about deciding how muchto bet and when? The following are some of thethings we need to consider…

1 HAND STRENGTH COMPARED TOOPPONENT’S RANGE

Hand-reading skills are the key to extractingmaximum value. Only when we can confidentlyassign a range of hands to our opponents canwe use this information to our advantage andsuccessfully win the maximum amount. Byknowing which hands our opponents may havewe can decide how much they are willing to pay,even if they are not confident of winning.

2 OPPONENT’S HAND STRENGTHCOMPARED TO OUR PERCEIVED RANGE

We need to work out not only what our opponenthas, but also what our opponent is guessing wehave. We can then play on his expectations andexploit them. We need to think about what worse

PAID IN FULL

Hand-reading skillsare key. Only whenwe can confidentlyassign a rangeof hands can wesuccessfully win themaximum amount

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hands our opponent could have that he can callwith, and how much he would be prepared tocall based on the strength of his hand comparedto his assumptions about ours.

3 BOARD TEXTUREThis often tells us whether to speed up

or slow down when we think we have the besthand. Obviously the way we play top set on anuncoordinated board will be completely differentfrom the way we play top pair on a draw-heavyboard. The board texture needs to be taken intoaccount alongside all our other information.

4 OPPONENT’S PLAYING STYLEEvery playing style has an optimum

counter-style. When trying to extract value thismay include betting big on every street with atop-pair hand against a bad calling station, orslowing down against a good TAG with a stronghand in order to set up a river bet or in order toinduce a bluff. It may be even more specificthan this, for example if someone is frequentlythree-betting then continuation-betting thepot but often folding to a four-bet. Against thisplayer we may want to just flat-call with our A-Aand let our opponent bet the flop for us.

5 POSITIONIt’s obviously much easier to extract value

when playing in position as we have the luxuryof our opponent acting before us post-flop.Extracting value is not easy though when outof position as we are often playing blind. Wemay prefer to keep the pot small with moremarginal hands that we would be betting formaximum value when in position. In otherwords, we may want to be playing a strongerrange of hands for value when out of positioncompared to when in position.

6 STACK SIZESSometimes, against short-stackers, it’s easy

to let them do your work for you. There’s justno need to think too much about maximum valueas hands that progress past the flop will oftenresult in an all-in situation anyway. When playingdeep though it’s much tougher to get opponentsto commit a lot of chips to the pot with a worsemarginal hand. They have much more to loseand this often creates unease in players andmakes them play more conservatively.

7 SIZE OF POTNot only do we need to base our betting

around the size of the current pot, but often weneed a plan to get the pot size to where we wantit. We may, for example, want to put enoughmoney into the pot on the turn, which if called,will leave a three-quarter pot shove on the river.

8 OUR TABLE IMAGEObviously, the looser our image the easier

we will find it to extract value with our winninghands. Conversely, if our image is super-tight,we will find it much more difficult to get paid off.We need to be aware of our image and play in away that takes advantage of it.

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KEY POINTOnce you’re confident you’ve got thebest hand you need to form a planto extract maximum value, takinginto account all the factors listedhere. Every situation is different,so don’t get complacent

EXTRACTING VALUE IN PRACTICEOnce everything is considered we can make aninformed decision as to how we can play the handoptimally and win the biggest pot possible versusweaker hands. Let’s take a look at three examplehands and then discuss some of the thoughtprocesses and decisions involved.

SCENARIO 1EXTRACTING VALUEYou are playing in a six-handed $1/$2 no-limithold’em game. Everyone has a full stack. Theplayer in the big blind has been fairly loosepost-flop, calling down with marginal handsfairly frequently. You have only shown downlegitimate hands so far in the session.

PRE-FLOP You are in the cut-off with QÚ-10Ú

and open-raise to $7 – a fairly standardraise from late position. The big blindcalls. We can’t yet assume too muchabout our opponent’s hand other thanthat he probably doesn’t have junk.

FLOP Q:-10;-8: (pot $15). The bigblind checks, you bet $12 and hecalls. The flop contains a lot of drawsso slow-playing here is a no-no. Hischeck-call suggests he has caughtsomething but is not overly confident andmay be trying to play a small pot with a marginalmade hand and/or draw. We should also be awarethat he might be trapping.

TURN Q:-10;-8:-3: (pot $39). The big blindchecks, you bet $32 and he calls. We know thatany flush draw hit but we can’t check here andgive a free card as the board is now extremelydraw-heavy. We aren’t pot-committing ourselveshere and should be fairly confident that our toptwo-pair is ahead when our opponent only calls.

RIVER Q:-10;-8:-3:-J… (pot $103). The big blindchecks, you bet $50 and he calls. The big blindcalls and shows K:-Q; and you win the $203 pot.Even though the river brought a lot of straights,our hand still plays well against his range. Canour villain really have a nine or A-K here? Wouldhe check the river with a straight or a flush?Against this player in this specific spot we feel westill have a positive expectation so make a smallvalue bet. Hands we lose to other than flushesand straights (which we have discounted) are Q-Jand J-J. We do, however, beat missed straightdraws and other paired hands including K-K andA-A. By betting small on the river we are askingour opponent to make a fairly cheap call with ahand that we judge to have some showdown value.By offering over 3-to-1 pot odds we can inducea call with a worse hand such as A-Q, K-Q, J-10,and one-pair hands with a club such as A:-10….

OVERALL ANALYSISThere were a couple of occasions in the handwhere it would have been easy to slow down andtry to keep the pot small, when in fact, the safestoption and the biggest reward came from betting

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all streets for value. We could havesaid, ‘The board is now very scary and

we’re happy to win this $100 pot withoutrisking any more money although we think

we’re ahead.’ This is a perfectly acceptableline against some opponents, but against

someone who is happy to call down withpoor hands we should be taking advantage

and making him pay.Some of the time we will lose the hand and

other times we will be check-raised and forcedto fold. But by betting all streets for valuewe are forcing our opponent to maketough decisions and put more moneyinto the pot with what will bemost often, in our opinion, aworse hand. If in the above handwe thought our expectationwas slightly negative, due to aslightly different read on theplayer or just a different ‘feel’about the hand, we could insteadcheck behind on the river.

SLOWING IT DOWNMaking the most money when we think we havethe best hand doesn’t necessarily mean we arebetting every street expecting to be called bya worse hand. Sometimes slowing down mayactually win us more money. There’s no pointflopping a monster then betting for value only tosee our opponent insta-fold. We have to weigh upour opponent’s range against the texture of theboard, our own hand and also against what ouropponent thinks we may have. Then we can try towork out which line will bring maximum reward.

For instance, let’s say we raise from the buttonpre-flop with 9-9 and get called by a bad passiveplayer in the big blind. The flop comes 5-5-9 andit’s checked to us. Our opponent’s range is bigbut doesn’t include too many nines or fives, asfive of the eight cards are already accounted for.

Betting here will only get value from somepocket pairs and everything else

will be folded.

Checking back, however, gives our opponent achance to hit something. It may also convincehim that a made weak hand such as 3-3 is good.What’s more, he may try to bluff the turn.

We should normally be betting the turn if it’schecked to us again, hoping our opponent haspicked up a little something. This is a basicplay that doesn’t require too much thought orplanning but goes to show that bet-bet-bet isnot always the optimal line to take.

SCENARIO 2BLUFF-CATCHING

One scenario where checkingcan make us money is when wespecifically want our opponent tobluff because we think it unlikely hewould call a bet with a worse hand.This works best in spots where a

missed draw is our opponent’s mostlikely holding and we are out of

position. Let’s look at an example.

PRE-FLOP The big blind has been playing lotsof hands and seems to be a bit tilted. We bothhave full stacks. In a $1/$2 six-max cash game weopen-raise to $7 from the small blind with AÚ-J…

and the big blind calls (pot $14).

FLOP J:-10:-3Ú. We lead out for $10 and the bigblind calls (pot $34).

TURN J:-10:-3Ú-5Ú. We lead again for $24 andthe big blind calls (pot $82).

RIVER J:-10:-3Ú-5Ú-7;. We check, the big blindbets $65, we call. The big blind shows A:-9: andwe take down the $212 pot.

We were fairly sure that our top pair, top kickerhand was ahead on this draw-heavy board, so webet the flop and turn for value. The river wasfairly safe-looking and our opponent’s handseems heavily weighted towards missed draws.We could bet here and hope to be called by worsebut we hate it if he shoves, and we’ve gainednothing if our read is good and he folds. Thereare still times where value-betting the river is the

correct play, but when we are sure ourvillain has a busted draw and will

bluff, we should check.

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Ideally, before we try to induce a bluff wewant to have fulfilled certain criteria. We wantan opponent with a history of bluffing, who isfairly aggressive with made hands (such thathe’d tend to raise the flop or turn with hands thatbeat us), while being fairly passive with drawinghands. We also want our opponent to have moremissed-draw possibilities than made-handpossibilities. Let’s look at some possible handsour opponent can hold in this spot.

POSSIBLE OPPONENT RANGES

1 DRAWS WE BEATAll A:-x: as well as other flush draws,

straight draws and combo draws. These handsmake up most of our opponent’s range. There aremore than 50 possible hand combinations! Wefeel our opponent has a missed draw more than60% of the time in this scenario – betting willget no value from him and may even induce abluff-shove that would be very difficult for us tocall. Checking gives him the option of bluffing.

2 HANDS THAT BEAT USWe are only losing this hand a small

percentage of the time. Two-pair hands aren’tvery common in an unraised post-flop pot,although hands like 10-7 and J-10 cannot bediscounted. We would normally expect sets andoverpairs to have raised at some stage andthe non-clubbed 8-9 hands to havefolded on the turn. If we check, weshould be losing the least moneyagainst better hands as we are notgiving our foe a chance to raise.

3 MADE HANDS WE BEATTHAT MAY CALL A RIVER BET

As well as K-J and Q-J, there are quitea few hands containing a ten that webeat that may call a small river bet if askedto. Often, however, we will see tens folding afterthree streets of betting on a scary board. That’snot to say, though, that value-betting the riveris incorrect against some opponents if we havesufficient reads and information to tell us thatwe will likely be called by worse.

This is not an exact science and involves a lotof educated guesswork, but the previous exampleshows it’s difficult for us to get value out ofbetting the river, and we may sometimes even getbluffed off the best hand. By contrast, checkingmay induce a bluff from our opponent with over60% of his range as well as controlling the potsize with what is, after all, only top pair, topkicker. The downside to checking is the valuemissed when our opponent has a worse madehand and checks back, but this is more than

compensated for by the times he bluffsor checks back a better hand.

SCENARIO 3SPEEDING UPOn occasion, we need to bet for value on allstreets. In the previous example we decided ouropponent’s most likely holding was a misseddraw and we checked the river to induce a bluff.In the next similar hand, on a draw-heavy board,we can spot some subtle differences and changeour play accordingly.

PRE-FLOP It’s a $1/$2 six-max cash game andeffective stacks are $200. The big blind hasbeen playing lots of hands and seems like heovervalues hands. We open-raise to $7 from thesmall blind with A:-Q… and get a call from thebig blind (pot $14).

FLOP Q:-J:-3Ú. We lead out for $10 and thebig blind calls (pot $34).

TURN Q:-J:-3Ú-8Ú. We lead again for $24 andthe big bind calls (pot $82).

RIVER Q:-J:-3Ú-8Ú-7;.

POSSIBLE OPPONENT RANGES

1 DRAWS WE BEATThis time, our opponent has far fewer draws

in his range. We have the A:, so many of hislikely flush draws are gone. There are also feweropen-ended straight-draw possibilities on thisflop. That leaves us hands like K-10, K-9 suited,and some suited club connectors and K:-x: typehands that are drawing.

2 HANDS THAT BEAT USThese include 10-9, two-pair hands and

sometimes overpairs or sets, although, as in theprevious example, we would expect our opponentto take a different line with these.

3 MADE HANDS WE BEAT THAT MAYCALL A RIVER BET

These are all one-pair hands (K-Q, Q-10, Q-9) –a total of 24 possible combinations – and wewould expect to be called most of the time. A-J,K-J, J-10, J-9, 10-10, 9-9 equate to more than 50combinations, but we would expect to be calledless frequently, depending on our bet sizing.

In this example, our opponent’s range is muchmore heavily weighted to a made hand ratherthan a draw. Here, it would be better to put ina value bet on the river and hope to be called bya worse hand. As such, we bet $52 into $82, getcalled by Q-10 and win the $186 pot.

OVERALL ANALYSISAs we are working with imperfect information,we must assess our opponent’s likely handstrength based on a range of criteria, includingboard texture, history, notes, table dynamics andfeel. When looking for maximum value, hand-reading is an important skill that should bepractised whenever possible. Only with goodunderstanding of our opponent’s range can wedecide just how much money he is willing to partwith, and whether he’s willing to bet or call.

We must assessour opponent’slikely hand strengthbased on a range ofcriteria, includingboard texture,history and feel

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Do thisPractise your hand-readingskills! Even if you’re notinvolved in a hand, guessingopponents’ hands andranges will improve yourhand-reading no end



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King of the old-school cash game grinders, Doyle Brunson explains howhe fought off the bad guys of Vegas to find himself at the top of the tree

FOR DOYLE BRUNSON – HIMSELF A WINNERof back-to-back main event crowns in 1976and 1977 – the glory of tournament successhas always come secondary to money. InBrunson’s world, the game is at its best at the

cash game tables, where survival demands the instincts ofa poker genius and the guts and brawn of a road gambler.‘I’ve always played poker for a living,’ he says, his Texandrawl not quite as deep as you may expect. ‘If you didn’twin, you didn’t eat. The guys who play in tournamentstoday are good. But stick them in the big cash games, andthey wouldn’t survive. Cash game players are betterplayers. It’s a totally different environment.’

After a promising basketball career was ended with ahorrific leg injury, Brunson discovered poker and foundhe could make more money from playing in one day thanhe could from a whole month’s salary. At first, poker wassimply a way of making money but he quickly developeda skill-set that defined his life’s path. ‘It was obvious froman early age that I was better at poker than most,’ saysBrunson. ‘I could just see things and remember them.People ask me how I remember so many hands; I rememberthousands of hands against thousands of players. Early on,I would remember how people would act, what they did incertain situations. I’d think back, work on what was the bestcourse of action and act accordingly. It’s like a sixth sense –something I’ve always had.’

MR TOUGH GUYOn the outside, Doyle Brunson’s persona is a difficult oneto gauge. He offers all the pleasantries you’d expect froma gentleman of his stature. But there’s also an edge to hischaracter. For years, his gambling appetite took him intopoker’s most dangerous waters in a world far removedfrom today’s Hollywood high-rollers. It was an educationearned the hard way, playing in games run by organisedcrime groups across America’s south throughout the late1950s and 60s. Poker was always about winning, but itwas never a time for careless minds. ‘I travelled to all thegames across the south,’ says Brunson, his look becomingmore piercing as if to add effect. ‘It was a dangerous time.There was always trouble and there were always badpeople around you. It was never a safe environment tobe in. But that was how we earned our money.’

It’s this fearless approach to gambling that has takenBrunson to where he sits today. The wide stetson sits onone of the toughest nuts in poker: a hard-nosed gamblerfrom the old school, a man who realises the importance

of risk-taking, always willing to put his neck on the lineand ready to rely on that gut feeling. ‘I take risks whenI have to,’ he says. ‘I have the urge to gamble and I’mconvinced all the top cash game players are compulsivegamblers – because we all have to do it.’

He admits getting married in 1962 helped to ‘settlehim down’. But the earning potential of poker was toogreat an incentive to ignore. And, when he moved toVegas in the 1970s, the dangers on the Strip would nevertemper his hunger for cash games where the actioninvolved anyone from hotel owners to drug dealers.

‘Vegas was a dishonest place when I first arrived,’he recalls. ‘Pretty much everything that went on wasillegal. But poker was probably the most honest partof gambling. And cash games back when I first arrivedwere easier than they are now. Trust me, nothing gaveme more satisfaction than taking money off a drug dealer.When the boys from the south brought Texas hold’em outhere, it was always going to take time for other players toacquire the skills needed. It was a good time, I can tell ya.’

EYE FOR A WINNERDespite his love of the cash game environment and hisdetermination to be recognised as a master in that fieldfirst, Brunson remains proud of his tournament record.Ten WSOP bracelets are testament to his pre-eminenceover many of the luckbox winners the Series has thrownup over the years. But he still clearly places most value onhis double main event success some 30 years ago, as hisvictories came against the ‘best players in the world’.

‘There were no weak players back then. Tournamentstoday have brought a new breed of player. Back when Iwon, everywhere you looked there were strong players.Today you can play the main event and not even comeacross a good player in days.’

With over 50 years of poker behind him, Big Papa iswell-placed to assess the standards of poker today.Poker has certainly been good to Brunson, despite thedangers the game has brought to his life. He has treatedpoker as an earner of money rather than an earner offame – although one has complemented the other. And,his success is down to more than risk-taking. Brunsonremains a student of the game with an unrivalled passionfor it. Even at his age, the craving for action stems froma deep commitment to success. ‘I believe my passionhas played a part in making me who I am. I was alwaysdetermined. I love the game. Hell, I plan on playingpoker for another 20 years.’

NameDoyle BrunsonLivesLas VegasLive tournamentwinnings$5,819,350WSOPbracelets10Highest main eventfinish Back-to-backmain event wins in1976 and 1977

Back when Iwon, everywhereyou looked therewere strongplayers. Today,you can play themain event andnot even comeacross a goodplayer in days

BRUNSONFACTS

DOYLEBRUNSON


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To make poker work for you over the long-term you need to ensure you are always learningand progressing – playing at the correct level to your ability and growing your bankroll. To

aid this progress we present a guide to moving up through the limits in cash games

THE REAL CHALLENGE OF POKERis being a consistently winning playerover a lifetime, and that meansnurturing a bankroll and moving upthrough the cash limits. Sure, it takes

time and effort. But as compensation you’ll knowyou’re a complete poker player, you’ll have beatenevery level, and you’ll have a stack of cash so youcan buy your own massive cheque and write it toyourself. Many of today’s high-stakes regularsworked their way up through the levels – now it’syour turn to join them!

MICRO-STAKESLIMIT: $0.05/$0.10BANKROLL GUIDELINE: 20 buy-ins – $200Welcome to no-fold’em hold’em. You’re on thenursery slopes and things are sticky – and by‘things’ I mean the cards to the players’ hands. Hereyou make money by almost never bluffing andbetting your big hands strongly; the players herewant to go to value town and you’re the driver.

You’ll sometimes hear players say they hateplaying against bad players, quoting the eternal

line, ‘If they don’t know what they’re doinghow can I know?’ This is absolute

rubbish – if you can’t win here youwon’t win at the higher limits. Atthis limit you’ll see a barrel load ofmistakes but the critical ones arethat your opponents will play toomany hands, they will overvaluethose hands and call too much.

They will also overvalue their drawsand, again, call too much. Finally,

they won’t bet their hands well forvalue. In short, they’ll call too much when

behind and not bet often enough when ahead.

IN ORDER TO BEAT THIS LIMIT YOU NEED:To shut away your aggro self and play solid

poker, bluffing infrequently and playing yourhands for value.

Make sure you really squeeze loose playersfor every penny. For example, if opponentsare calling a lot pre-flop, considermaking raises of five or six timesthe big blind – after all, wheneverthey call you with worse they’remaking a mistake. Extend thesame logic to your post-flopplay – when you have astrong hand consideroverbetting the pot,

particularly if you can move all-in without itbeing ridiculous. Very often you’re facing playerswhose only thought is whether to call or not, andnot about considering the size of the bet. Aclassic situation in these games is holding A-K,pairing your Ace and out-kicking youropponent’s A-x. In these spots it’s essential youget every cent.

You will find some maniacs at these limits whodon’t care because the money is small. Don’t letthis faze you – quickly identify them and just callthem down with a wider range than you would anormal opponent.

You’ll also be playing a lot of multi-way pots –it’s not uncommon to find tables at these stakeswith 35% or more of players in a full ring gameseeing the flop. Compare this to a $1/$2 gamewhere it’s rare for this number to go above 25%.The key is to not get involved in the limp-fest toooften, although if you do, remember that handslike 8-7 suited go up in value – while hands likeA-J offsuit are danger hands that play very poorlyin multi-way pots.

Finally, the most important thing is to learn asmuch about playing no-limit cash as you can atthis level. Start as you mean to go on, so buytracking software, analyse your results, uselearning materials to improve and play withfocus. You’ll be able to beat the games withoutdoing all this, but it’s all about getting yourselfready for the higher games.

KEY POINTPlay solid pokerBet your big hands stronglyBluff very infrequently

MOVING ON UP

line, ‘If they don’thow can I know?

rubbish – ifwon’t winthis limit ymistakesthat yourmany handthose han

They willand, again,

they won’t betvalue. In short, t

behind and not bet often

IN ORDER TO BEAT T

Make sure you don’t move up

a level too soon. Ensure that

you are regularly beating

the game and have the

bankroll to make the

step up.

Don’t do this

thethemak

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ove

CHECK-CALL A check followed by acall of any bet by your opponent

TERMINOLOGY

KEY POINTGame selection is keyGames will be much moreaggressiveBe flexible – play thesituations not the cards


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LOW-STAKESLIMIT: $0.25/$0.50BANKROLL GUIDELINE: 25 BUY-INS – $1,250A couple of years ago, most of what you’ve justread about $0.05/$0.10 applied to this limit too,but things have changed in online poker. Aswrong as it may seem, there are now people at$0.25/$0.50 actually trying hard to win!

This limit has therefore become a transitionalone – still full of fish but also of players like youaspiring to get better. The good news is that it’snot difficult to spot who’s who, and the evenbetter news is that even the regular players atthis limit have big weaknesses you can exploit.

Let’s focus on the players at this limit who aretrying to play well. Typically, they have two keyweaknesses. The first is that they play verypredictably. They have often learnt to play withstarting hand charts and, when they raise underthe gun you can put them on a very specific rangeof hands. Second, they often play weak-tight afterthe flop. This means they go into check-call modewhen worried about their hand and make far toomany folds in spots where they should commit.

In contrast to $0.05/$0.10 there will be fewerlimped pots and far more raised pots, eitherheads-up or three-way. Look to isolate weakerplayers and play in position. Make sure you openup a bit and push your comfort zone further ateach limit to really improve your game.

Having got the basics at the lower limits –enough to make you profitable by the way – youshould really start focusing on your hand-readingskills. Put your opponents on a range, understandwhat they’ll do with that range and adjust yourplay accordingly. This is the skill that will slowlydevelop for years as you move up the ranks.

MID-STAKESLIMIT: $1/$2BANKROLL GUIDELINE: 30 buy-ins – $6,000Make no mistake, these days $1/$2 is a toughpoker game to beat. These players don’t makethe big mistakes of lower limit players andaren’t afraid to commit their stack on a big call,semi-bluff or total bluff if the moment is right.The good news is there are still fish, and thebetter news is you can develop the game tobeat regulars with hard work and application.

You won’t be able to avoid the regularscompletely, but there are still ‘bad’ regulars thatyou can exploit. These are players who have rungood and don’t belong at this limit or are goodenough to beat the fish but still have big leaks.Observe players and try to spot the mistakes theymake or patterns they repeat. Some multi-tablersfall into predictable habits – for example, somewill continuation-bet almost every flop, makingit very profitable to check-raise bluff them a lot.The big difference, as you start moving intomid-stakes, is the level of aggression you’ll face,particularly from regulars. You’ll sometimes needto fight fire with fire, increasing your aggressionand sometimes use these players’ aggressionagainst them by inducing bluffs and mistakes.

At this limit you really need to start being acomplete, flexible player, dealing with situationsas they come up rather than to a preset formula.For example, if you have 7:-5: in the cut-off withaggressive players on the button and in the smallblind, it may be a fold. But with the same handunder the gun, a good table image and a fish inthe big blind, you might want to raise it.

You’ll sometimesneed to fight fire withfire by increasingyour own aggressionand using opponents’aggression againstthem by inducingbluffs and mistakes

KEY POINTLook to exploit those who play predictablyIsolate the weaker players at the tableFocus on improving hand-reading skills

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PHILGALFOND


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One of the leaders of the new school of online pros, Phil Galfond explainshis amazing rise to the top and how money hasn’t changed him

Phil Galfond is a 24-year-old high-stakes onlinepro from Wisconsin. He regularly plays the bestplayers in the world in cash games ranging from

$50/$100 to $500/$1,000. He is very well known in theonline world with his alias, ‘OMGClayAiken’, attractinglegions of online railbirds.

WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE POKER AND WHATSKILLS HAVE ALLOWED YOU TO EXCEL AT IT?I was a college student studying philosophy at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, though I dropped outafter five semesters. I’ve always excelled at maths andlogic. I think those two areas are very important tobeing a good poker player. Psychology is the third thatI’d consider most important, which I also feel strong in.

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND YOUR SCREEN NAME?‘OMGClayAiken’ was just a funny name I thought up.[Clay Aiken was the runner-up on season two ofAmerican Idol]. Most people like to have tough-sounding screen names and I think that’s stupid.

HOW DID YOU GET TO THE TOP?I didn’t play hold’em until I was 19. I started withsit&gos on PartyPoker and played them for a while,grinding my way up from $10 to $100 tourneys in thefirst year of my career. Then I moved up to the $200ones and took shots at the new $1,000 sit&gos. Afterthat I switched to $5/$10 no-limit cash games, whichwas probably a bit high, but I picked it up very quicklyand never had to drop down in stakes. I grinded up to$10/$20, then took shots at $25/$50 and $50/$100 onother sites when the games were good and ran verybadly. So, I dropped down to $5/$10 and grinded back.I rebuilt my roll and eventually tried the bigger gamesagain. I haven’t really looked back since.

WHAT BANKROLL APPROACH DID YOU TAKE TOMOVE UP SO FAST AND WOULD YOU RECOMMENDOTHERS TO FOLLOW IT?I’ve taken some gambles with my roll, but have neverbeen in danger of losing it all. I take shots in goodgames when I can afford to and I know that I can moveback down if need be. Some people take a shot and thencan’t move back down if they lose. They end up losingeverything. I think that most people should beconservative with their bankroll because a big loss can

be damaging psychologically and end up costing them alot more money. I’ve found that I’m fairly mentallystrong when it comes to dealing with losses.

WHAT DO YOU THINK SETS YOU APART AS A PLAYER?Frankly, I think I’m smarter than most other players. Icertainly don’t study or work as hard as some of the othergreats, although I do think about the game a lot. I think Ihandle different player types better than most people. Iadjust well when my opponent likes to bluff, or when theyare a bit of a calling station. Many good players just play astyle and don’t alter it enough for different opponents. I’malso well-known for making big calls. I find spots whereplayers aren’t representing any real hand better thanmost people. Some players with bottom pair will fold to abig bet on the river without bothering to think aboutwhat their opponent might have.

WHAT IS YOUR DAY TO DAY LIFE LIKE?I have a lot of great friends within poker, but most of myfriends in Madison have no poker experience. I like itthat way. I have no schedule at all. I often wake up at acompletely different hour every day. When I’m notplaying poker I like to hang out with friends.

CAN YOU GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHAT YOU’VE MADEFROM POKER AND WHAT YOU’VE DONE WITH IT?I’d rather not be specific about my lifetime winnings.I do okay but I’m not a baller. I’ve never boughtanything over $5,000 aside from my apartment. I don’town a car. I don’t really see the point in showing off.

THE HIGH-STAKES GAMES SEEM INSANELYAGGRESSIVE. IS THIS A REFLECTION OF THEPOWER OF AGGRESSION IN NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM?Aggression is a very powerful tool. Many people fightaggression with aggression. That isn’t the only wayto do it, but it’s probably the easiest. This results inthe hyper-aggro games that you see. As far as strategyadjustments go, this means calling down with weakhands, pushing back and thinking on very high levels.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?I would like to think I’ll be retired with a family andonly playing poker casually. A lot depends on howsuccessful I am in the near future and what non-pokeropportunities show up.

NamePhil GalfondNicknameOMGClayAikenJmanLivesNew YorkLive tournamentwinnings$939,384Biggest live win$5,000 pot-limitOmaha in 2008 for$817,781

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GALFOND’STOP TIPSThe cash game geniushas some tips for the top

1 AGGRESSION ISN’TEVERYTHING

Aggression is important, but youdon’t need to be aggro to win.Nothing can replace pure intelligenceand the ability to think on the fly.Beginners should focus on hand-reading. Always try to figure outwhy your opponent is playing hishand the way he is. It mostly comesdown to deductive logic with a hintof maths knowledge.

2 KEEP IT SIMPLE INTOURNAMENTS

In tournaments, you will usually faceweaker players. You don’t have to beas tricky and you don’t have to thinkon as high a level. The pot size on theflop is usually so big in tournamentsthat the best line involves taking itdown as soon as possible.

3 MIX IT UP IN CASH GAMESIn cash games, it’s more

important to balance your range,making your hands harder to read.Also, stacks are generally muchdeeper in cash games. That leavesmore room for creativity and theability to play more hands pre-flop.

4 BE CAREFUL ON THE TURNThe turn is probably the street

that is the toughest to play. Pre-flopand the river are easy, although theriver is important and misplayed bymany. Most people don’t check-raisebluff enough on the turn. A lot ofpeople bluff too often on the turnwith no outs, or with a lot of outs,but not enough to call a raise.

5 CATCH THE RIVERBLUFFS

It comes down to putting players on arange of hands and knowing youropponent. Try to pay attention towhat hands had a lot of outs andmissed. They’re likely to fire threebarrels. Also, if scare cards hit, like anAce or King on the river when the flopis 10-high, some players are verylikely to try to represent them.However, there will be times whenthey hit those cards. You just have todecide how likely they are to bluff atthe scare card and weigh that againsthow likely it was to hit their hand.

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CASHGAMESQUIZCash games are where the big moneyand best players are, but thanks toonline poker you can start out playingfor pennies. Get a headstart on youreducation by taking our cash game quiz!

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3 RIVER DECISION2 BARREL THE TURN?

ACTIONYou’re playing a 0.05/$0.10six-max cash game andmake an open-raise for threetimes the big blind on thebutton with QÚ-J:. Thesmall blind folds and thebig blind calls. You bothhave $10 stacks. The flop

is 10;-7;-5: and he checks.The pot is now $0.65 – whatdo you do?

DECISIONa) checkb) bet $0.30c) bet $0.50d) bet $1

Players 6 Blinds $0.05/$0.10 Your stack $10 Your hand QÚ-J:

FOLD

FOLDFOLD

BB$9.70SB

FOLD

YOU (BTN)$9.70

Pot: $0.65

ACTIONLet’s assume that in Q2you bet the turn and gotcalled again by the bigblind; the river now bringsthe J;, making the finalboard 10;-7;-5:-K…-J;.The pot stands at $4.05 andyour opponent checks again.What do you do?

DECISIONa) checkb) bet $1c) bet $3d) bet all-in for about $8


FOLD

FOLDFOLD

BB$8

YOU (BTN)$8

Pot: $4.05

SBFOLD

ACTIONLet’s assume that inquestion 1 you made acontinuation bet andyour opponent in the bigblind called. The turnnow brings the K… andthe pot size is $1.65.What do you do?

DECISIONa) checkb) bet $0.50c) bet $1.20d) bet $3


FOLD

FOLDFOLD

BB$9.20

YOU (BTN)$9.20

Pot: $1.65

SBFOLD


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4 FULL RING ACTION

5 HEADS-UP PLAY

6 A goodopen-raise

size is usually…

a) 2-3 timesthe big blindb) 3-4 timesthe big blindc) 4-5 timesthe big blindd) 5-6 timesthe big blind

7 A goodthree-bet size

is usually…

a) 2-3 timesthe initial raiseb) 3-4 timesthe initial raisec) 4-5 timesthe initial raised) 5-6 timesthe initial raise

8 A good four-betsize is usually…

a) 2-3 timesthe re-raiseb) 3-4 timesthe re-raisec) 4-5 timesthe re-raised) 5-6 timesthe re-raise

9 A good openingrange under

the gun in six-maxcash games is…

a) 10-10+, A-Q+b) 6-6+, A-8+ suited,A-J+ offsuitc) A-2+ suited, A-10+suited, 2-2+ and goodsuited connectorsd) Any Ace or pair;most suited/connected cards

10 A goodopening

range on the buttonin six-max play is…

a) 10-10+, A-Q+b) 6-6+, A-8+ suited,A-J+ offsuitc) A-2+ suited,A-10+ offsuit, 2-2+and good suitedconnectorsd) Any Ace or pair;most suited/connected cards

Answers(onepointforeach)1c)Youneedtoc-betthemajorityofthetimetotakepotsdownwhenyouhavenothingandbuildthemwhenyoudo,andthisisagoodbettoshowyouareseriouswithoutriskingtoomuch.2c)TheKinggivesyoustraightoutsandyouropponent’shandnowlooksweakifhehasasmallormediumpair.Asolidbetwilloftentakethepotdownwiththeworsthand,andifyoudohitastraightontheriveryoumaywinanevenbiggerpot.3a)Therivercardhasgivenyoudecentshowdownvalue,butbettingwouldbepointlessasyouwillrarelygetcalledbyworseandyouropponentmaybetrappingwithaflush.Checkitdownandexpecttowinthepotagoodpercentageofthetime.4a)Althoughyoustartedwithagoodhandyou’verunintoanightmareflopandalotofaction.Facingacallandaraiseyou’relikelytobeeitherevenmoneyagainstadraworalongwaybehindaset,straightortwopair.5a)You’vehitoneofthebestflopsforyourhandbutareunlikelytoaccomplishmuchbyraisingunlessyouropponentthinksyou’relikelytobluff.BycallingyouropponentmaybluffontheturnorcommithimselfwithahandlikeQ-Jthathemightfoldtoaraiseontheflop.Quick-fireround6b)Thisislargeenoughtostartbuildingapotwhenyouhaveastronghand,butnotsocheaptheblindswillcallyoutoooften.7b)Againthisisagoodsizetochargeopponentstoseeaflopandbuildapotwhenyouhaveagoodhand,butwithoutmakingittoocheapwhenyouhaveabluffortooexpensivewhenyouhaveabighand.8a)Withstacksof100bigblindsyouwanttofour-betquitesmalltoavoidcommittingyourselftoanall-in,and2.5timesthere-raiseisidealinmostspots.9c)Youhavethreeplayersbehindyousoyoudon’twanttoplaytoomanydominatedhands,butalloftheseshouldshowaprofitunlessthegameisverytough.10d)Nowyouareguaranteedthebestpositionyoucanplayaverywiderange,asyouwillmakeahandorbeabletooutplayyouropponentsoftenenough.

SHARK OR FISH?0-3 SHARK FOODDon’t despair – sign up to a training siteand learn the basics from scratch.

4-7 TIGER SHARKYou’re on the right track. With a littlemore effort you should be a big winner.

8-10 GREAT WHITE SHARKYou’ve built your bankroll dominatinglow stakes – now it’s time to move up.

QUICK-FIREROUND

ACTIONYou’re in a $0.50/$1full-ring game. You raiseto $4 under the gun withQ;-QÚ and get three callers;all four of you have $100stacks. The flop comes4…-7…-8: and you bet $10into the $13.50 pot. The

first player calls, the secondfolds, and then the thirdraises to $35. What now?

DECISIONa) foldb) callc) move all-in

Players 9 Blinds $0.50/$1 Your stack $100 Your hand Q;-QÚ

SBFOLD

UTG+2$86

BBBBFOLD

$10 $10

$35 Pot: $68.50

FOLD

FOLD

FOLD

BTN$61

YOU (UTG)$86

FOLD

ACTIONEarly in a $0.25/$0.50heads-up match against adecent aggressive playeryou raise to $1.50 on thebutton from your $50 stack.He re-raises to $5 and youdefend with A:-J…. The flopcomes J-6-2 rainbow and hebets $8. What do you do?

DECISIONa) call, planning to get itall-in on the turnb) call, planning to fold tofurther aggressionc) raise to $16, planningto fold to a shoved) raise to $16, planningto call a shovee) move all-in

Players 2 Blinds $0.25/$0.50 Your stack $50 Your hand A:-J…

YOU (BTN)$45

BB$37

$8

Pot: $18


LIVE POKERThe ultimate guide to


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HOUSERULES!Running a home game isn’t as easy as youthink. We show you how to be the perfecthost and avoid a first-time flop

SO YOU’VE PLAYED POKER ONLINEor watched it on TV and now you’rethinking about running a game foryou and your mates. Easy, youmight think, but there’s actually

more to running a successful home game thana crate of beer, a pack of cards and a few chips.Not to worry, we’re here to act as your guideand mentor. Over the next few pages we’ll takeyou through the mechanics of a successfulhome tournament and show you how to be theperfect home game host. Do it properly andyou’ll win the respect of your friends and, moreimportantly, they’ll come back the next timeyou invite them. Get it wrong and your sociallife is over.

They’re everywhere at themoment – clothes shops, DIY stores,you name it. And you pretty much getwhat you pay for, so be careful about‘genuine casino’ bargains. You can getsampler packs from most retailers soyou can try before you buy. It seems11.5g clay-filled chips have becomethe standard, but one thing to watchout for – which always separatescheap chips from the top-of-the-lineones the professionals use – is howslippery they are. Towards the end of atourney you’re going to end up withbig piles of chips. Those dramaticall-in pushes aren’t going to look sogood when your stack spills all overthe table.

How many you need is going todepend on the size of your game but

a basic breakdown for a 10-playertournament is…150 red (worth 5)150 green (worth 25)100 black (worth 100)100 purple/orange/other(worth 500 or 1,000)

Don’t worry about the colourconventions but we recommend youstick with these denominations.There’s little point having ‘1’, ‘10’ or’50’ value chips. No tournamentblind structure will use the ‘1’ valuechip and if you have a cash game youcan make your denominations realmoney value; 100 = £1; 25 = 25p.Your 500-piece chipset will thenhave a monetary value of £645,which should be enough to coveryour average cash game. Think of

poker chips like currency. The idea isto use the fewest denominations tomake the required sum and for chipcounts to be possible at a glance.The blind structure and chips here isbased around a long five-hour game– adjust to suit the time you have.

Example blinds

SB BB Round length5 10 30mins10 20 30 mins20 40 30 mins25 50 30mins*50 100 30 mins100 200 30 mins150 300 30 mins250 500 30 mins400 800 30 mins*500 1000 30 mins1000 2000*Colour up

CHIPS CARDSFirst of all you need cards. It’s

a card game after all. The best cardsare 100% plastic. Play a full gamewith ordinary paper or plastic-coated cards and they’ll be bent upand marked. If standard cards is allyou have get online and order someCopags or Kems. We particularly likethe Kem Arrows, which you can getonline for around £14.

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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO POKER

TABLEPreferably you’ll have a soft

surface at your disposal as it makesthe cards easier to deal, pick up andlook at – not to mention the abilityfor experienced players to rifflechips on a nice soft baize. A polishedtabletop is no good, and while adedicated poker table doesn’t costas much as you might think it’s not apractical solution for all.

For a cheap alternative pick up afew metres of artificial baize or feltfrom a fabric shop, stretch it tightover your table and find a way ofholding it in place. Cheap ‘poker’tabletops aren’t great but areuseable if you’re desperate. But ifyou’ve got cash to splash, you canfind numerous websites sellingpoker tables from £100-£1000.

Poker has hundreds ofvariations. For your first game stickto the most simple and popular formof the game – no-limit Texas hold’em.

Hold’em is divided into twodifferent styles: tournaments andcash (ring) games. For your firsthome game stick with sit&gos(tournaments). Tourneys, as youprobably know, have become themost popular format of the game –and the ones you usually see on TV.They’re the best for home gamesbecause they give you clear winners,have a set time-frame and limit theamount of money anyone can lose inthe one night.

With a tourney everyone buys infor a set amount and the money ispooled together in a prize fund.

It’s up to you how the prizes aredistributed and this little detail willmake a considerable difference toyour game. With a table of eight to10 players a prize distribution of60%, 30%, 10% will give a balancedpayout. First place should get thelion’s share; second should get a nicelittle payout and third should gettheir buy-in back, or similar. Ifyou’ve got six players or less, youmight want to consider only payingfirst and second 70/30.

Another option is to play winnertakes all. This is fine if you’re allexperienced players with a goodchance of winning, but stick toplaces if you have novices playing.They’re likely to get disheartened byan early exit and not return.

THE SET-UP

FREEZEOUT ORREBUY?

Freezeouts are much simpler to run.Everyone pays a set amount and youall play for it. You know how muchmoney is in the pot, the payouts andhow many chips are on the table.They’re a bit more challenging toplay, as people tend to play tighterand big bets and bold bluffs tend tobe respected. The tension buildsand big pots are both rarer and moreexciting. On the downside, onceyou’re out, you’re out!

Rebuys allow players low on chipsto pay again and reload their chips.If the buy-in was £10 for 1,000chips then the rebuy will be another£10 for another 1,000 chips(available if down to less than 50%of starting stack). The rebuy chipsare usually issued as a single 1,000chip or two 500 chips, which arethen changed up for smaller chipswith the biggest stack.

The rebuy period is normallylimited to the first couple ofhours of the tourney or thefirst four or five blinds. Afterthe rebuy period ends, thegame becomes a freezeout.Everyone has the option of‘adding on’, which is arebuy available toeveryone regardlessof stack size. Ifyou’re down to50% of your stackat the freezeoutyou are entitledto rebuy andadd-on. This cantake you fromdeath’s door to backin the game. Also allthese rebuys and add-onswill swell the prize poolhandsomely. This is a good momentfor everyone to take a short break,for you to ‘colour up’ the smalldenomination chips, to count theprize pool and let everyone knowwhat the payouts are going to be.After the end of the rebuy period itbecomes a freezeout.

One other option is the doublechance. Here you get your startingchips for a single buy-in and havethe option at any time in the firsttwo hours to ‘add on’. You can evenstart the game with your extrachips. This means that no-one needgo out too early, there are plenty ofchances for action and those whocan only afford a single buy-in arenot as disadvantaged as with anormal rebuy. The choice is yours.

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The right way

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BUY-INThis is the entrance fee,

which everyone pays and forms theprize pool. But obviously theamount everyone is willing and ableto put in to a card game will vary.Newer players are unlikely to stumpup £100 to sit down with veteransof the game! When you have somenovice players, it’s best to makethe buy-in (taking into accountrebuys) about the same as anight out down the pub. No-one isgoing to mind spending that for anight’s entertainment, and thetotal prize pool is going to be atidy sum.

For your first freezeout, makethe buy-in £10-£50 depending onhow flush you are and how manynew players you have. A £20freezeout with 10 players couldgive payouts of £110, £60 and £30.It’ll be a serious game, but for thesame sort of money you’d spend ona night at the pub, a kebab and acab home.

For a rebuy you want to make thecost about half to a third of afreezeout. So if players are normallyhappy to play a £30 freezeoutthen a £10 rebuy is fine. If you playa £20 freezeout a £10 rebuymight work out a little moreexpensive if everyone takes intoaccount a possible rebuy plus anadd-on.

A £10 double chance is a veryaffordable home game, which,between 10 players and five or sixadd-ons, can still build a decent pot.

For most tourneys you can starteveryone off with 1,000 inchips – 10 times ‘5’, 10 times ‘25’and 7 times ‘100’ will give everyonea satisfying little stack to fiddlewith. If you’re playing a rebuythen give the players rebuying 2 x‘500’. They can change them up atthe table.

If everyone’s feeling a bit flushand wants to stick in twice asmuch then it’s fine to start offwith double the normal chipamounts. This doesn’tnormally prolong thegame too much– perhaps anextra level ofthe blinds furtherthan normal. Arule of thumb isthat tourneysnormally endwhen the bigblind is equal to thebuy-in.

STRING BETTINGIn almost every film or TV

drama which features a poker gameyou’ll hear something like, ‘I’ll seeyour 50 (pause, camera close up onanxious faces) and raise you 200.’

This is a string bet and would not beallowed in any casino or card room inthe world. Raises must be announcedfirst: ‘Raise’, and then either theamount of the raise declared or thechips put into the pot in one motion.The rule is designed to prevent peoplemaking one declaration, waiting for areaction, then altering their play.

Best practice is to declare ‘Raise’,count out your chips and put them inthe pot in one motion. Or you can say,‘Raise 200’, and then add your chipsin as you like until you’ve put the200 in the pot.

BOOZEHaving a drink at a home

game is one of the great pleasures oflife and we would never suggestcutting it out, but you’d be advised tokeep it within reason. Players willtend to play worse, go on tilt easierand get angry much quicker whendrunk. They may well not heardeclarations and willaccidentally expose cardsand misdeal. The mostimportantruleistoneverstart a game whenyou’re all pissed – it’ll allend in tears. To avoidarguments every playerneeds to be clear on therules, how much moneyyou’re playing for andthe payout structure.

BLINDSIf you have a solid blind

structure it will make for awell-paced and exciting game.Make the blinds too low and notfrequent enough and the tourneywill drag on for what seems aneternity. However, setting them toohigh will often result in the gamebeing little more than a crapshootwith little opportunity for skill – notto mention your poker night beingover by 9:30pm. The levels theblinds are set at will dictate thelength of your home game (alongwith rebuys and add-ons), but itshould last anywhere between 90minutes and five hours, dependingon your preference. One thing tothink about is that if you host afreezeout which goes on for fivehours, some poor sod may end uptwiddling their thumbs for threehours or so. Which could discouragethem from turning up again.

To keep things running on timeget a stopwatch or cooking timer. Or,if you have a laptop, download oneof the many free poker timers to runin the background. Once you’ve setyour blinds, be strict with them. Ifthe blind level goes up during a hand(after dealing has started) thenenforce the new level for the nexthand. If short stacks grumble thatthey are being blinded to death thentough! As the blinds rise the lowestvalue chips on the table (the fives)will become redundant. When thishappens you need to remove themfrom the game by exchanging themfor twenty fives. This will makethings much tidier and will make‘all-in’ count-ups simpler. After youhave run a game you might consideradjusting the blinds for the nextgame if the pace seemed too fast orslow, either by changing the lengthof rounds or by adding or removingrounds. However, there is nostructure that is going to stopplayers grumbling about their badbeats or how unlucky they are!


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AVOIDINGPITFALLS

Ever played one of those games ofMonopoly with your family where, bythe end of the night, no-one istalking to each other? Well, if youdon’t manage it right, your pokernight could end up just like that, too.It’s a game where you are trying tostitch each other up for real money.It’s not only important to get themechanics of the game right, butvital to consider the human

equation. So try not to get tooserious or taunt others abouttheir play or luck.

PERSONALITYCLASHES

Take a moment to consider who you’reinviting to play. And the first questionto ask yourself is, can they afford it? Ifthey can’t afford to lose, they can’tafford to play. You aren’t in it to takesomeone’s last £20 and theatmosphere can really sour if someonegoes genuinely broke at the table.

Likewise, if you were thinking ofinviting ‘that bloke from downthe pub’ who once got barred forputting his fist through the fruit

machine, perhaps you might wantto reconsider.

In fact, it’s probably a good ideato stick to a group of people who

all know each other so there’s lesspotential for a blow-up when playerX takes everyone’s money.

It’s not only important to get themechanics of the game right, butvital to consider the human

equation. So try not to get tooserious or taunt others abouttheir play or luck.

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ACTING OUTOF TURN

Novice players will act out of turnfairly frequently. Of course, it’sannoying for the rest of the table butyou’ll have to be a bit sympatheticand explain the rules. Folding out ofturn is binding. Players are not allowedto fish their cards out of the muck.

Players who are either calling orraising out of turn, or both, clearlyaren’t paying enough attention andafter a few warnings the rule shouldbe that they will be obliged to callany raise before them.

Being so desperate to get your chipsinto the pot is usually an obvious signthat you’re holding monster cards.Laugh at the culprit and watcheveryone fold round the table. Theywon’t make that mistake again!

TABLE TALKPlayers must not disclose

what cards they have until theshowdown. This rule applies toplayers who have folded. The boardshows K-K-K-A-6 and you raise all-in.Your opponent looks at his A-J andwonders if you have been slow-playing the King all this time. Youstare each other down, then somemuppet says, ‘I knew I shouldn’thave folded that King’.

Talking about hands you’re notplaying in is not only bad form but isdistracting and annoying and willprejudice the chances of thoseplaying. Likewise, showing yourcards to anyone before theshowdown, even if they are no longerin the hand, is poor form. Poker isabout patience – just wait twominutes until the end of the hand.

HOUSE RULESEnforce these basic poker

rules. They minimise arguments andmake the game flow smoothly.

MINIMUM BETSAND RAISES

The big blind is the minimumamount you can bet. If the blindsare 25-50 then any bet after theflop must be at least 50. Raises alsohave rules. Any raise must be thesame size or greater than theprevious raise or bet.

SOFT PLAYINGDon’t go easy on friends,

family and spouses. It’s collusionand against the spirit of an honestpoker game. If you get in a potwith them you should try and taketheir chips off them with thesame determination as you wouldanyone else.

RABBITHUNTING

Most pots are won uncontested.You don’t get to see the river, theturn, or sometimes even the flop.‘Can we see what the turn andriver would have been? I want toknow if my J-4 suited would havecaught a miracle full house.’ No wecan’t. It’s called rabbit hunting. It’spointless and annoying and slowsthe game down.

Good luck with your first game– above all enjoy yourself and don’tworry if you lose.

The wrong way

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Reading tells may not be as enigmatic a skill as the movies would have us believe,but we can glean a vast amount of information from a player’s face and body

language. Deciphering these tells will give you a huge edge

A TELL, IN POKER PARLANCE,is any behaviour that betrayssomething about your playor the strength of your hand.It’s a common device in poker

films, where a tell usually takes the form of achronic physical tic or a bizarre tendency tobleed from the eyeballs. In reality tells are a bitmore subtle than this, but they do exist andthey can reveal a great deal about a foe’s stateof mind. Over the next six pages we’re goingto lead you through the complex world ofphysical behaviour and explain how to spottells that convey either high or low confidence.

Given that the human body is so complexyou could literally write reams on the

physiological and psychological reasons forthe way we act. However, for our purposesthere are three main principles to keep inmind when it comes to physical tells. Firstly,all the tells we’re looking at are governed bythe ‘limbic’ system – the part of the brain thatgoverns involuntary behaviour. Althoughthis doesn’t mean that tells can’t be faked,it does mean that a player’s initial reaction –however quick or subtle – is truthful becausethey have no control over it. The secondprinciple is that reliable tell-reading can onlytake place if you have established baselinebehaviour. In other words, what does thatperson normally do and how do they tend todeviate from this pattern? Lastly, remember

that high confidence doesn’t necessarilymean a player has the nuts, or even a handthat beats you – simply that they are happywith their holding.

As a warning, note that each of the lowconfidence tells may not mean too muchindividually. However, when they appear inclusters it is a good indication that someoneis lying. Note, too, that the most honest partof the body, and the place you’ll get the mostaccurate information from, is the feet. Thiscan pose a problem at the poker table as it’snot often easy to see your opponents’ feet.The least honest parts of the body includethe mouth, eyes and face. So tread carefullyand try to catch the tells as early as possible.

How to spot

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One of the most acceptedgestures indicating high

confidence and power is the‘steeple’. Watch politicians likeHillary Clinton and they cansteeple dozens of times duringthe course of a speech. In thegesture, the fingertips of eachhand touch the correspondingdigits of the other hand whilepointing upwards. Althoughit seems like a fairly obviousphysical manifestation, apoker player may only steeplemomentarily, so you need akeen eye to see it. Don’t confuseupwards steepling with a steeplethat is directed forward. Thishas a very different meaningand acts like a defensive barrierbetween the player doing it andwhoever else is present.

Watch tinyurl.com/tells1for the perfect example of

a steeple. The hand involves Adam Levy and Phil Hellmuth at the 2008WSOP main event. Levy has the nuts when Hellmuth bets on the river andas he decides what to do next, he does a split-second steeple before claspinghis hands (possibly in an attempt to cover it up).

It may seemlike the most

obvious gesture inthe world, but whenwe have a positiveinterest in somethingwe try to get closerby leaning in towardsit. Some players try todisguise this gestureby pretending theyare re-adjusting theirseating position,but this usually onlyserves to highlight it.

In this notorioushalf-a-million

dollar hand betweenGus Hansen and DanielNegreanu on HighStakes Poker (tinyurl.com/tells3), watch KidPoker lean forward whenhe thinks his full houseis good on the turn.

Whenever we’re comfortable orinterested in a particular situation,

we tend to tilt our heads. Physiologicallywe are exposing the vulnerable carotidartery, thereby conveying the idea thatwe are very comfortable. In courtship,the tilt of the head is a flirtatious gestureexpressing an interest in someone. Don’tconfuse it with alternately tilting the headfrom side to side à la Gus Hansen. This ismore an expression of uncertainty.

Research suggests that women indulge inmore head-tilting at the table than men.

A smile is one of our most natural and indicativeforms of communication and if you catch someone

smiling you can usually assume they are pretty happywith their hand/flop. However, it’s crucial to be able todifferentiate between a real and a fake smile. A genuinesmile involves the orbicularis oculi muscle, which raisesthe cheeks and causes crow’s feet to appear around oureyes. Research suggests we do not contract this musclewhen smiling as a deliberate gesture – such a reactionis only triggered by genuine spontaneous emotions.

Test your ability to spot a fake smile attinyurl.com/tells2.

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When we’re attracted to someone or happy to seethe person in front of us, our reaction is to arch our

eyebrows, even before we’ve spoken a word. Transposedto the poker table, this gesture is definitive proof that aplayer likes, for example, his hole cards or how the flop hasturned out (unless there’s some serious flirting going on atthe table). The reason why this movement is so foolproofas a high confidence tell is that it happens automatically.The downside is that because it lasts barely a fifth of asecond, trying to pick up on it is very difficult.

According to studies, the eyebrow arch, or eyebrowflash, is the most instantly recognisable non-verbal

greeting that humans use.

Check out this hand from Poker After Dark (seetinyurl.com/tells4) and look out for the moment

when Howard Lederer gives away the strength of his handwith a split-second eyebrow raise. Watch his eyebrowscarefully after the KÚ hits the river. Lederer also feignsdisinterest (see tell number 8 below) by animatedlytalking to the other players about boxing.

5 EYEBROW ARCHINGWhen our pupils‘dilate’ it is usually

a response to a lightchange or because weare attracted to someoneor something. Althoughspotting it is not theeasiest task, if you doyou can be sure that theplayer involved likes hiscards. Pupil dilation isan involuntary responsecaused by the irisdilator muscle andimpossible to control.

Natural pupil sizevaries from person

to person so keep in mindthe person’s base level.

One of the themes explored inMike Caro’s seminal Caro’s Book of

Poker Tells was that ‘weak means strongand strong means weak’. Tells expertCaro argues that feigned disinterest isan attempt to appear as non-threateningas possible when a player has a big hand.Annie Duke has previously commented

that overacting, or ‘Hollywooding’,is one of the key traits of theinexperienced player.

If the player’s head is turned awaybut the rest of his body seems to

be involved in the hand, he is probablyfeigning disinterest

8 FEIGNING DISINTEREST

6 PUPIL DILATION

Althoughyou will

see most physicaltells in the face,neck or body of aplayer, the most‘honest’ area isactually the feet.‘Happy’ bouncingfeet are a reliableindicator of aplayer feelingexcited about asituation or a hand.You don’t even have to see the feet themselves as the movement willtransmit to moving shoulders, hands or torso. If the bouncing suddenlystops, it may be a ‘freezing’ response, indicating that they are bluffing.

Some people have a disposition to ‘happy’ feet, so make sure youestablish their baseline behaviour first.

7 HAPPY FEET

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According to former FBI agent Joe Navarro, one of the mostprevalent signs of high confidence is the ‘thumb display’.

Thumbs up denote that the player is confident about his hand.Navarro says the thumbs can go up and down during the course ofa hand, reflecting exactly how the player is feeling about his hand.Like many high confidence tells, the thumbs may only go up for asecond or two – the action is involuntary.

Psychologists who have studied handshakes recommendextending the hand with a thumb ‘up’ to convey confidence.

9 THUMB DISPLAY

If a player is in a slouched position, looks at his hole cards, thensuddenly sits up… watch out! He’s probably not too unhappy with

his holding. No doubt a reflex borne of all those no-nonsense primaryschool teachers barking at us to sit up straight, assuming an uprightposture is one of the most obvious ways of showing we are attentiveand interested.However, given theuniversality of thisgesture and the easewith which it can bemimicked, it’s oneof the most commonto be used as areverse tell.

Watch thishand from

the 2004 WSOP(tinyurl.com/tells5)and note how MikeMatusow’s posturechanges after hemoves all-in.

This indicator falls into the category of self-touching.Often if you see players put their finger to their

mouth, scratch their neck or touch their face they’re doingthis to ease anxiety as they need some self-comforting.At a poker table if you see these signs, which again willusually come in clusters, it’s not too much of a stretchto determine that your opponent is anxious about theirholding and deciding whether to carry on in the hand ornot. Even if they do decide to continue at this point, youropponent will likely fold to continued pressure.

This tell is particularly strong if your opponentdeliberates for a long time over any given decision.

10 BETTER POSTURE

1 NECK MASSAGE

Blood rushes tothe nose when

people lie, and thisextra blood may makethe nose itchy. Theresult is that peoplewho stretch the truthtend to either scratchtheir nose or touch itmore often. Bewarethough – this is one ofthe more well-known andobvious low confidencetells. Savvy opponentswho start scratching their nose may be trying to reversethe tell to appear weak. If it is the only low confidencetell they’re giving off be very cautious.

When a person is lying the nose may swell in sizeand also become redder.

2 NOSE SCRATCHING

According to former FBI agent Joe Navarro, one of the most

9 THUMB DISPLAY

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This is a natural humanresponse to danger and

something we’ve done for millionsof years to ensure survival frompredators stronger than ourselves.At a poker table this freezeresponse usually happens whensomeone is bluffing. An opponentwho is bluffing will attempt tostay as still as possible becausethey don’t want to do anythingthat may bring attention tothemselves. It is very importantto note a player’s responseimmediately after they maketheir bet as the initial (limbic)response will be to freeze butafter a few seconds the thinkingpart of the brain kicks in andinforms them that they shouldact strong. In this case manyplayers will freeze and thenbecome more animated. However,baseline behaviour is crucial here – for instance, Gus Hansen and Annette Obrestadare two pros who tend to ‘freeze’ after every action they take.

Check out this hand from the 2008 WSOP main event final table (see clipat tinyurl.com/tells6). Notice how still Ivan Demidov is after moving all-in

against Dennis Phillips, knowing he probably has the worst hand.

The classic example offlight is leaning away

from the table. In life ourreaction to something wedon’t like is wishing toescape or get away from it.Think about when someonesays something that cutsa bit close to the bone –you recoil in disgust andlean away. At a pokertable when we’re facingsomething we don’t likeour reaction is the same.Have you ever faced atough decision and leantback to contemplate? Orclosed your eyes whileclicking the call or all-inbutton online? We’retrying to put distancebetween the decision and ourselves.

In this clip Scotty Nguyen runs a big bluff on Humberto Brenesand has to get up from the table as Brenes contemplates his

action. Watch it at: tinyurl.com/tells8.

Lying takes more effort than telling thetruth and causes stress. Lip-licking and

compression is another sign of stress andliars usually tighten their lips or frequentlylick their lips. As Joe Navarro states in Read’Em and Reap, ‘If, after glancing at her holecards, a player does a quick lip press, you canbe sure that something is not good… thus itis probably fair to assume the player has aweak hand.’ So if you catch a player doing amomentary lip press and they come in for araise, three-bet them with impunity.

Watch Sammy Farha’s face at the30-second mark in this High Stakes

Poker clip: tinyurl.com/tells7.

Ever noticed how you stand if you get talking tosomeone you don’t really want to? Your feet point

away, your heels elevate and you put more weight on yourtoes. This is a sprinting stance and means you are readyto make a sharp exit. At the table you’ll notice a similarphenomenon. If someone is bluffing or not happy withtheir holding, they will find it difficult to plant their feetand their toes may point away.

Remember, the feet are considered the most honestpart of the body.

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This is anextension

of the freezinglow confidencetell. A foe whois lying willtry to stay asanonymousas possibleand as wellas makingthemselves assmall as possible will often hold their breath. If yougive someone a good stare-down this should becomenoticeable, as they can’t hold their breath forever!Also it’s the opposite of a high confidence tell, asoften when holding a good hand a player’s heart ratewill increase and they’ll breathe more heavily.

Animals in the wild also hold their breathto reduce their chances of being observed

by a predator/their prey.

8 HOLDING BREATHAND SWALLOWING

The human response to dangersometimes manifests itself in the

shape of aggression. A player will oftenact aggressively as a deterrent to stopsomeone from taking an action theydislike. For instance, after making a movethey may stare you down to intimidateyou and deter you from entering the pot –a classic ‘strong means weak’ tell. Verbalaggression is also a weapon used at thetable. Look for a discrepancy betweena player’s expression and words, forinstance frowning while saying ‘I’vegot the best hand.’

In this hand from High Stakes Poker,Hellmuth bluffs Matusow off pocket

Kings while holding 7-2. Hellmuth, whois silent for most of the hand, suddenlytalks on the river and asks Mike howmuch he has left: tinyurl.com/tells10.

le will often hold their brbreateath.h. IfIf youyougood stare-down this should become

Think back to when you were a kidand you did something naughty.

Your natural reaction was to coveryour mouth almost to prevent the lieescaping. The same is true at the pokertable. You’ll often see a player fleetinglycover their mouth, although someplayers have taken to covering their

mouths every hand, mindful of givingoff information – Phil Hellmuth andBrian Townsend are good examples.

In this hand from the MillionDollar Cash Game, watch Brian

Townsend from about the 1 minute 55mark (tinyurl.com/tells9).

by a predator/their prey.

7 COVERING THE MOUTH

9 STARING DOWN YOUR OPPONENT

‘We don’t blink at random,’ says DrGifford-Jones, a Canadian medical

practitioner. ‘We blink at times that arepsychologically important. You havelistened to a question, you understand it,now you take time out for a blink. Blinksare punctuation marks. Their timing iswhat’s going on in your head.’ When liarsare searching for an answer to an awkwardquestion, their thought processes speedup. In this situation, lying is frequentlyassociated with blinking and our rate ofblinking seems to correlate to the amount ofmental stress we are under, so it stands toreason that if someone is bluffing their rate of blinking will increase. Remember though,an opponent may be blinking excessively because they’ve moved all-in with a good but notgreat hand and don’t want a call, not because they’re out-and-out bluffing.

According to studies, a human’s normal rate of blinking is about 20 blinks per minute,but it can increase to four or five times that figure when we feel under pressure.

10 BLINKING

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Ever wanted to impress your mates at a home game orearn money dealing at your local club? Read on…

How to deal

EVERYONE KNOWS HOW PAINFULit can be waiting and watchingas the cack-handed beginner at yourtable takes ages to gather the cardstogether, before spilling the deck and

exposing cards when it’s their turn to deal. Buteven the home game veteran or regular club-goerin self-dealt tourneys can get it horribly wrong too.

Forget what you think you know about correctpractice in the field of shuffling and dealing – weenlisted the help of Nikki Letran, who has dealt atWorld Poker Tour final tables and in high-stakescash games, to explain the fine art of dealing.

So grab a deck of cards – well, several decks– clear the doilies off the dining table, laysome felt and get ready to learn how toshuffle, pitch, burn and turn until you aredealing like a pro. And when your matesturn up at your next home game, they’lllook at you with a new-found respect.Shuffle up and deal…

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At the start of your game spread the deckout on the baize as shown on the left soplayers can verify all cards are there, then dothesamefacedown.Thisistocheckthedeckisallthesamecolourandtherearenomarkedcards.Tospreadholdtheleftsideofthedeckwith your thumb, place your index finger ontop and your other fingers on the right side.Put the deck on the baize and swiftly spreadoutinasemi-circle,releasingcardswithyourthumb as you go. It’ll take a bit of practiseand won’t work on hard slippy surfaces.

1 Scramble all the cards to performthe ‘wash’. Do this after every hand.

2-3 Collect all the cards in and showthem face out to the players. Tap

the deck on the table and run your fingersover the top to ‘box’ it.

4 Hold the deck as shown in (3) andsplit the deck in half, by simply

sliding two sections apart.

1 Hold the two halves of the deck closetogether as shown above and lift the

corners with both thumbs so the cards bendslightly in preparation for the shuffle.

2-3 In a swift, smooth motion let the cardsfilter over each thumb; the corners of the

cards should interlace over the top of eachother. It should take no more than a second ortwo for the process to be complete.

4 Holding the cards in place, push the twohalves of the deck together to ‘box’ the

cards. Repeat the whole process.

WASH AND GO

STRIP AND CUT

THE SHUFFLE

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1 After shuffling, you must then strip thedeck. So by holding the cards in one

hand, take small sections off the top with yourother hand to lay on top of each other on thetable. Then repeat the shuffle.

2-3 Now you need to cut the cards.With theboxed deck in front of you, simply cut

the deck away from you and put the other halfon top to finish off.

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1 Hold the deck in your palmwith your index finger

wrapped around the bottom edge toprotect the deck from falling. Youshould also hold it so that it’s tiltingdownwards towards the table sowhen the cards are pitched it willreduce the chance of exposing acard. Now with the hand you’reholding the deck use your thumb toslide the top card off and grab thetop corner with your other hand.Hold it with thumb and index fingeras shown in the picture and insteadof just tossing the card out use yourmiddle finger, which is sitting justbehind the card, to flick the cardout. The moment your middle fingerflicks the card, release with yourother two fingers and the cardsshould glide, rather than flop,through the air onto the baize.

2 This will take a lot of practise,so sit at a table with a baize or

felt surface and make sure there’s arail of some description to stop thecards spilling all over the floor. Nowgrab a deck of quality plastic cards(Copags, Kems) and pitch, pitch,pitch. When you’ve mastered doingone or two at a time, build up arhythm and get that middle fingerflicking the cards out in a low arcover and over again. Also, trypitching into a hat, to get used todealing at the right trajectory andat the same spot.

3 Once you’re adept at the pitch,start dealing to several

positions at the table and build upspeed. The cards should land right infront of each player’s chips.

As an alternative to pitching, one type of dealyou will see in a lot of UK cardrooms, is thepush-and-drag off the top of the deck.

1 Hold the deck firmly and using two or threefingers of the other hand simply push down

and drag a card from the top of the deck.

2 Slide the cards out to each player. This iseasy on a small round table, where you

can reach everyone, but if you’re playing on aproper poker table where it’s hard to reach seatsthree and eight there’s a chance the card willcatch air and be exposed.

THE DEAL

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1 After shuffling anddealing every player

two cards, and pre-flopbetting is complete,it’s time to see the flop.Holding the deck in onehand, burn one card to theleft, then take three cardsoff the top one at a timeand place face down ontop of each other in a tidyfashion, so that only onecard is visible.

2 Using your thumbgently flip the cards

over and, with your otherfingers, spread the cardsout to the right so theystay in line and are evenlyspaced out. You’ll need totry doing this a few timesto look like a pro and itrequires a baize or feltsurface to work properly,otherwise the cards willslide around.

3 Place the second burncard at a slight angle

on top of the first andexpose the turn card to theright of the flop. The dealertaps the table with onehand before the flop, turnand river to indicate thepot is correct and thatthey’re about to expose acard. This is the players’last chance to say the potis wrong.

4 Finally, after bettingis complete, burn and

turn the river card in thesame way. The board isnow complete and once thelast betting round is overthe hand is finished. Nowsweep the board up in atidy way, mix with all themucked cards and burncards and start the ‘wash’process all over again.

FLOP ITF BECOME A DEALERFinally make cash from pokerThe most common route into becoming adealer is through casinos, of which there arenow several big chains in the UK. Gala, Grosvenorand Stanley casinos from time to time offer jobsfor trainee and experienced dealers

Mark Briggs has been involved in the gaming industrysince 1996 and is now manager of Dial a Dealer(www.dialadealer.com). Briggs says, ‘As a casinotrainee, you’ll receive your education in-house forabout six weeks, usually in Roulette, Blackjack andStud poker. These disciplines will get you used tohandling chips, getting to knowing the right techniques,and making sure the bets are correct.

It takes about 10-12 months to feel really comfortableand confident at dealing at pace and as you gain moreexperience you can then progress to other games thatthe casino runs, like the cardroom…’

Mark says that during training stages the pay isusually minimum wage, but increases when you qualifyand as you gain experience. As a full-time trainee youmight expect an annual salary of about £12,000,depending on the casino and area.

GOING CLUBBINGSo what happens if you don’t want to work in a casino,and just want to deal poker in clubs?

Roy Houghton, owner of London poker club LooseCannon and one of the most experienced dealers in theUK, says, ‘With the amount of poker tournaments beingrun at the moment, there always seems to be a shortageof dealers – I’d be interested in running a training schoolfor people interested in learning how to deal, shuffle andpush cards around the table.’

Houghton admits, though, that there aren’t manyfull-time positions in private clubs, but offers thisadvice: ‘If I was to go into it now I’d learn how to dealbut have another job, and then fit it in on a casual basis.’

So on a part-time basis what could dealers expectto make for a shift? Houghton says, ‘A tournamentdealer could earn anywhere between £100-£150 a night[a shift is typically 8pm-2am]. Cash game dealers inclubs can earn very good money. If you were doing iton a full-time basis [several nights a week, 8-12 hourshifts] you could earn maybe £500-£800 a week.’ Andthat’s before tips..

TRAININGBefore you commence work you will need to gain a licencefrom the Gambling Commission. This is usually awardedonce you have completed ‘on the job’ training. Trainingcan last six-to-eight weeks and can be in-house at acasino or at a training facility. To check for UK vacanciesyou should contact the British Casino Association. Ofcourse, you could teach yourself by reading our guideand then offer to deal in cash games at your local club.

For more information on job and training opportunitiescheck out www.dialadealer.com, www.loosecannonpoker.com and www.thefullhouse.co.uk. Other useful links:www.grosvenor-casinos.com, www.galacasinos.co.uk,www.stanleycasinos.co.uk.

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NICKNAMESPoker is awash with names, phrases and strange terms. And poker startinghands in particular have been given a whole range of pseudonyms. If you’re

new to the game here’s your chance to learn some of the parlance…

A-A Pocket Rockets; American Airlines; BulletsA-K Big SlickA-Q Little Slick; Big ChickA-8 Dead Man’s Hand (the hand held by Wild Bill

Hickok when he was shot dead)A-3 Ashtray; Baskin Robbins (31 flavours)K-K Cowboys; King KongK-Qos Mixed MarriageK-Qs MarriageK-J KojakK-9 Canine; FidoQ-Q Siegfried & Roy; LadiesQ-J MaverickQ-7 Computer Hand (from claims that this, on average,

is the median of all hold’em starting hands)Q-3 Gay Waiter, San Francisco Waiter (Queen with a tray)J-J Knaves; Hooks; Fishhooks; Jay BirdsJ-A Jackass; AjaxJ-5 Motown; Jackson FiveJ-4 Flat Tyres (as in what’s a Jack for?)10-10 Dimes10-5 Woolworth’s (because it was traditionally a chain

of 5- and 10-cent stores); Five & Dime10-4 Over And Out; Roger That; Convoy; Good Buddy10-2 Doyle Brunson (because he became world champion

twice with the hand)9-8 Oldsmobile9-9 Popeyes; Phil Hellmuth9-5 Dolly Parton9-2 Montana Banana (as in it’s more likely

bananas will grow in chilly Montanathan this hand will make money)

8-8 Snowmen; Two Fat Ladies;Doggie Balls

7-7 Sunset Strip; Mullets;Saturn; Hockey Sticks

7-8 RPM7-6 Union Oil

7-2 Beer Hand (if you’re playing poker’s worst hand, it’stime to head for the bar...)

6-6 Route 66; Kicks5-5 Speed Limit; Presto4-4 Magnum4-5 Jesse James; Colt 453-9 Jack Benny (refers to a running gag about the late

comic’s age)3-8 Raquel Welch (said to refer to the size of the One Million

Years B.C. actress’s most impressive assets)3-3 Crabs (looks like two crustaceans on their sides)2-2 Ducks; Pocket Swans

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