Using PokerTracker for Online Poker
June 16, 2011
Poker Tracker is used for analyzing your own poker games. The program actually lists a varied range of statistics about the tendencies that can actually paint some specific pictures about the strengths and weaknesses of a player. The first and most important aspect of the game is to analyze the Pre-Flop tendencies.
For the ones who are new to the game of poker, the perfect strategy would be to use a bonus or referral code at a soft room like bet365 and then to play a very tight and aggressive game. At the 9-10 handed poker tables, this can cause specific results in the form of VP$IP.
VP$IP is basically the percentage of the hands you would voluntarily place your money in pot. This could be the result of limping in, calling it a raise or completing Small Blind. PFR is yet another important factor that deals with the total percentage of hands that you would raise before a flop. This would also include re-raising.
The Poker Tracker website includes all the essential steps of installation and use to guide people while they are opening an account for using trackers. It has a lot of benefits that will eventually unfold once you know how to use the appropriate tools at the right time. That is the only trick you should consider when playing poker.
New Evidence Against the DOJ
June 13, 2011
If you are reading this blog you probably know that the Department of Justice and FBI have been waging a crusade against online poker operators in the
Clearly employees at these prestigious Government agencies did not get A grades in their statistics classes, but others did. Indeed it is hard to find scholars more versed in the science of Statistics than these two eminent economists at the
Unfortunately the DOJ and FBI did not read this paper, or even wondered if online blackjack or online poker are online gambling.
The approach is simple. The data set consists of all players at the 2010 WSOP. These players are divided into two groups: (1) players considered highly skilled, (2) the rest. The way to determine if a player is ‘considered highly skilled’ is based on public knowledge available to all. For instance online poker pros sponsored by poker rooms such as PokerStars or Party Poker are for the most part considered highly skilled. Or players who already hold a WSOP or WPT bracelet are also considered highly skilled. On the other hand all unknown players or known fish are put into group 2.
This division is of course independent of the results of the 2010 WSOP themselves, and this is the key factor to guarantee statistical significance. Then the ROI for each group was calculated, in other words their return on investment for this event. Group 1 had a 30% ROI, while group 2 had a –5% ROI. The Professors concluded that there is strong evidence that poker is a game of skill, based on how large the difference in performance between the two groups was.
Poker Traps: Drawing to the Non-Nuts
April 21, 2011
In multi-way pots in deep stacked tournaments, many players drool at the prospect of having flush and straight draws to shoot for when given the chance to tag one of many players for a stack. But, when in these multi-way pots with non nut draws, like A7 on a 456 board or 45s on a 210Jss board, just how much value do these drawing hands actually have? Shockingly, the answer is pretty simple; not as much as you’d expect.
There are a few reasons for each of the situations, and we’ll start with the bare straight draw board. Let’s assume you’re playing at Bodog Poker (make sure to get a referral number for Bodog Poker if you’re not signed up yet) and you have three other opponents in the hand with you, and there’s a bet and a call, with you to act and a player (the preflop raiser) behind. If you call here, the original opener can pop it, pricing you out of your draw, which is already a bad result. But, what happens if you hit your straight? The board will read either 3456 or 4568, both boards making it blatantly obvious that one of the four of you made your straight. But, would hands like 97s or 87 have called a raise and/or bet/called this flop? You better believe it. That makes the actual value of your draw very little in comparison to the cost of playing the hand through. You may have the best hand if you do hit, but you can’t expect to make very much with the hand, and there’s a fair chance that someone either has a straight already or will make a better straight on you if you do call. This is one of those times I simply let the hand go.
The flush draw example is a bit trickier to go through, but we’ll approach it with a slightly different scenario; preflop raiser has led out, with you to call and two players to act behind you. On a J102ss board, the players involved in the hand can see how dangerous the board is initially, with KQ, Q9, 89, any two spades, and combo draws all out there and waiting to draw. With two players to act behind you, if they’ve made any reasonable hand at all on this flop, they’re probably going to raise, and if they do, it’s going to be an expensive raise, hoping to limit the players drawing at them. This makes it less enticing to call. Also, if you do make your flush on the turn, your hand is very vulnerable; 8 cards can come on the river to put a crippling four flush on the board, and assuming your flush card doesn’t pair the board, another 12 cards can come on the river to put a potential full house on board.
This means that, if you make on the turn, you have to be willing to protect your hand with a very large bet, which also means if someone else was in there with a flush draw, you’re going to be giving them your stack; it’s a high risk, moderate reward scenario, in case someone does elect to call off with something like AsJ or a set, but if they call with a bigger flush, you’re dead. This relies more on player feel than anything else; if your opponents play straightforwardly, call and evaluate after your opponents act and you get your option on the turn, if the flush does make.
Full Tilt and PokerStars Exit the US Market
April 19, 2011
In news that has sent shockwaves throughout the online poker industry, giants PokerStars and FullTiltPoker announced within hours of each other that they would be ceasing access to real money tables for players from the US.
At this point it is absolutely unclear whether or not this is a permanent state of affairs, although many have speculated that we are, in fact, seeing the end of the two companies, or at a minimum the end of their US incarnations.
The pullout was prompted by the unsealing of an indictment by the US DoJ against three major online poker operators and their payment processors. In addition to Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, Absolute / UB Poker (the rooms comprising the CEREUS Network) was also named in the filing.
The companies also face a civil complaint from the government seeking billions in damages on top of the multiple criminal complaints detailed in the filing. The timeline: This report emerges Friday, the FBI seize Pokerstars site on the same day, and the company pulls out of the US hours later.
Several rooms continue to serve the US market, although that list has diminished significantly with the exit of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. The amount, type and size of games that players from the US can take part in are also impacted dramatically by this news.
While their game servers were unaffected by the seizure, Pokerstars and Full Tilt were both forced to set up new websites to replace those taken down by the DoJ and the FBI. full tilt shifted over to a .co.uk address, while PokerStars changed over to pokerstars.eu. The seizures caused confusion on the part of many players who confused the main website of the poker room with the servers that actually host the games.
It is very difficult to predict any outcome of this situation, as the facts surrounding the news are hard to come by. Neither room has issued a detailed response yet, only cursory statements providing vague assurances regarding operations and player balances. Until more detailed responses are issued, or until some time passes, it will be next to impossible to fully imagine the ultimate impacts of these events on the community and the industry at large.
Blind Defense in MTTs
March 5, 2011
It’s the dreaded position that no one wants to be in come tournament time; stuck in the blinds against a player that has made it his personal mission to steal those precious blinds every single time you’re in them, making your life hell and your stack dwindle. You want to take a stand against the bully, but you keep getting absolute garbage in the blinds and have no way to play defense against his barrage, so what are you going to do? It’s not like the old days when there were tons of paypal gambling sites and people played terribly all the time – in today’s modern online poker games you need a real plan to end up a winner.
There are a few things you can do to quell his raises, at least temporarily. If you and him are both deep stacked, it may help to begin to three bet him with some of your garbage hands, enough to where he can’t simply call the three bet, he either has to four bet or fold. This is a play I’ve had a lot of success with in tournaments over at PKR poker – the softness of their tournaments combined with the standard PKR rakeback deal makes for a pretty good value indeed. If he opens to t2,200 at the t500/t1,000/t200 level with a t30k stack, a three bet of t5,500-t6,000 makes the price to take a flop expensive for his hand, and forced him to commit almost 20% of his stack before the flop. Many times, the aggressive player opening to steal the blinds isn’t looking to play postflop, and will either let his hand go or four bet shove. Most of the time, though, if he’s really been active, you’ll accomplish the fold and get him to slow down on stealing your blinds. For more on deep-stack tournament strategy, check out www.onlinepoker.net, a site with tons of content and in-depth room information.
You can also start taking flops with him with somewhat playable hands, like 57s, Axs, 89o, things that are marginal at best, but allow you to show the opener, “Hey, you can’t just expect to take my blind every orbit, I’m going to call you with some of my crap, too.” Just knowing that you have the ability to call him when he opens will slow him down a bit in raising your blinds with some of the more garbage type hands he may be leaning on your blinds with. The more you can show your opponent that you’re leaning towards playing back at him or with him, the less lucrative it looks for him to come after your blinds.
However, this doesn’t mean you should be attempting to trap with your monster hands, necessarily, especially if you’ve made a light three bet before. More often than not, you’re going to want to go ahead and three bet your hand anyways, simply because of the positional disadvantage you’ll be in postflop. Take those queens and get your three bet in now, and be happy if you drag the pot and ecstatic if he get stubborn and shoves or calls. Many times, the “any two” openers will not be as reliable in continuation betting as most openers, just because the initial open was already weak to begin with. You’ll see them enter a “hit and bet” type of mentality post flop, or maybe a tiny stab on either the flop or turn, more often than the normal continuation bet, making the three bet preflop with the better hands in your range a better play in the long run.
Poker Bets: The Atom of the Game
February 5, 2011
Poker chips act as the protons and electrons, while the bet happens to be the building block of the game. Everything that is good or bad for the game of poker takes place in the form of bets, and if you are playing for some real money, you have to be more careful. If you are playing the game in order satisfy your ego, rather than simply winning some money, your priorities will be different. However, this will not suffice. You will have to be very good at betting, and every bet should be placed wisely.
All the ring game concepts of poker tend to revolve around the bets. Although the tournaments are different, surviving in this game and winning the tournament is based on the concepts that do not transfer to the ring games. You are actually not trying to win any of the pots here; rather, you are trying to master the bets and be an excellent poker player.
People playing such wise games tend to wager some money, make bets with proper calculations, and have favorable expectations too. This will surely involve having coincidental goals and winning pots. However, that is not the primary goal, and definitely not the sole focus. The idea should be to play well and get back the money.
The Fold Away Poker Table for Home Games
January 29, 2011
The Fold Away poker table is the mid-range option of tables that you can use at home. If you are choosing this poker table, the cost will rise for sure, but you will also get some additional facilities and will not be compromising on the risk factor of the table tumbling down time and again.
There are many advantages of the Fold Away poker table, and the best part is that it can be stored very easily if storage is a problem. It is also cheaper than most of the constructed poker tables and other varieties.
This is indeed a great option for small apartments, and the table can also be used in homes with small children running around the house all the time. You can store the poker table anywhere and you can also have a poker table that is stable enough at a moderate price.
Using the slow play in online poker
January 18, 2011
If you have caught a big hand, you would have to come out betting. Instead of tempting your opponents into making moves that will allow you to reach the top, place the bet all by yourself. Most amateur players hesitate at the very thought of such a situation and waste a lot of time in big hand, but in the practical sense, you will definitely get some more betting action if you take this path.
By betting a big hand instead of slow play, you will be performing double bluff, as people against you will be playing it slow. Your opponents will also assume that you are bluffing and you might get to see some betting action, which means you win more.
There is yet another reason why your should bet is that in case if you do not bet, you will be allowing the opponents to take a free look at your cards, and while a card is turned over, it will be converted from a losing hand to a winning hand.
Cash Games: Playing Small Pairs
January 17, 2011
One of the trickier nuances – once you sign up poker and create your account – to playing in deep stacked cash games comes when encountering small pocket pairs (in this case, we’re considering 22-99 to be “small). In tournaments, with shorter stacks and escalating blinds, these hands become the perfect hand to three bet shove, open shove, anything that closes action and allows you to get in with some hope of having a coin flip for a stack or a chance to steal a nice portion of chips. But in a deep stacked cash game, these resteals don’t work as often, and you’re less likely to get players to fold early in hands; so how are we to play these small pocket pairs when we’re sitting on 100+ big blind stacks?
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to playing the small pocket pair; small-ball and flopping sets, or aggressive and furious. We’ll look at both styles of play, noting that neither are “wrong” as much as they are situational in use. Starting with the small ball philosophy, small pocket pairs are opening hands if folded to, but folding hands if the amount to see the flop costs more than 5% of their stack; so if we’re sitting on a $200 stack at $1/$2 and someone opens to $15, we’re tossing 66 in the muck. We’re also more likely to fold the pocket pair for less if we’re in early position; if UTG+1 opens to $10, and we’re next to act, we’re likely to fold, fearing any of the remaining players making a three bet that would cost us too much of our stack to take a flop with.
Once we take a flop, we’re only playing the hand on two conditions; we flop a set, or we flop a hand that plays well in relation to the board, like a 338 flop with 66. Otherwise, once we’ve seen the flop, we’re check/folding or trying to play the hand cheaply. This allows us to lose the minimum when we brick the flop, but makes us fold to many winning hands, and makes it a bit too obvious that we like our hand.
The other method in playing the small pocket pair is much more aggressive in play; these are the guys that aren’t afraid to three bet 44 on the button if they think someone is light, or call a continuation bet on a 27J flop with 33 not just to steal, but because they feel they have the best hand. These are the players that bet more than they check with hands like this, and enjoy abusing position far more often. A hand like 22-88 to an aggressive player is a fine choice to three/four bet against certain opponents with position; when they miss flops, they can use their continued aggression to steal pots, and when they flop sets, their hand is completely concealed from their opponent; they’re also much more likely to take flops with these hands when the price is less enticing; at a rate of 10% or less. Neither way is right or wrong; just play the way you’re more comfortable with!
Bubble Play in Online MTTs: Big Stack Strategy
January 10, 2011
1. Aggro, aggro, aggro. With a big stack on the bubble of a MTT, your first thought needs to be, “Who can I pick on at this table?” That’s how you play poker with a big stack. Look for players that are concerned about the coming bubble, short stacks that have enough chips to make a few rounds, but not enough to threaten anyone, or tight players that haven’t shown the ability to switch gears. All of these types of players can be mercilessly picked on at bubble time. The short stacks have no real defense against the aggression; if they call and double up, they’re still fairly short, and if they call and lose, they make nothing for their trouble. Players that alert you to their anxiousness for the bubble are telling you, “Hey, if this means enough to me, I may fold kings preflop. Just watch.” And the super tight players, if they have no other gear, will likely continue to play tight and just wait for the bubble to burst, to take the chips from all the people that will likely start shoving light afterwards.
2. Approaching aggro style. Finding the spots for stealing is a little tricky – unless you’re playing at the easiest poker sites – but many will become apparent as the bubble progresses. If you see a medium stack open from the button or cutoff, you can usually three bet on the bubble with relative ease. If a very short (but not extremely short, like 3 BB’s or less) stack is in the big blind, and you’re in the small blind, you have a profitable shove without looking at your cards if you think the short stack cares about cashing. Don’t just raise though; look for spots to three bet over some of the vulnerable stacks. There’s many chips to be had when the bubble looms, and they aren’t just blinds; and by mixing in three bets with your opens, it makes it harder for players to judge when you’re being light with your bets; it increases the believability of your opens, unless your light three bet gets called.
3. When to slow down. There may come a point in your relentless aggression that you finally do get caught with 93o or something similar, especially when you’re playing at the fishiest poker sites where people never fold.. It’s probably a good time to slow down your aggression, right? Only if the pot you lost brings you below a comfortable big stack; M15 or less. Even losing a pot with rags is not a reason to slow down on the bubble. You don’t get many money making opportunities that are as exploitable as the bubble, so even when you get caught with junk, don’t let it deter you from stealing. If you drop below M15 or you drop below the player to your left’s stack, it may be OK to calm down a bit; the bigger stack may pick up on how wild you are and play back at you with position. Being under M15 makes you much more vulnerable to dropping to short or medium stack status with another loss, and players will pick up on that. Just remember; only slow down if you absolutely have to on the bubble with a stack; after the bubble bursts, everyone will be wild, and you’ll have to tighten up for a bit to compensate.