Poker Academy Blogs

Dear Poker Community, 

I have now gotten back into the game, playing more frequently both live and online. My favorite game is a live cash game, however when I'm online I will often play a mix of SnGs, MTTs and cash games. I have decided to try to improve my game and continue treating poker very seriously. In an effort to do so, I have gona back to my poker books. I own 3 poker books (apart from the countless poker books I have online), which are : Power Hold'em Strategy, by Daniel Negreanu; Super System (A course in power poker), by the legend himself, The Old Papa Doyle Brunson; and Play Poker Like The Pros, by Phil Hellmuth Jr.


The books are great especially if you are looking to learn a new poker variation. Daniel Negreanu's book just focuses on Texas Hold'em though. "Play Poker Like The Pros" is great because it offers insight into the popular variations of poker from a Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced point of view. This makes it easier for the reader to understand how the game is played and how strategy and playing styles develop as you advance in the game. In a nut shell, what I have learnt from that book is that one of the most importants aspects of a winning poker player is the ability to put your opponent on a hand. Some pros seem to have a 6th sense when they start calling out an opponent's hole cards. However, what you will eventually learn is that this is a skill developed by years of experience and playing a lot of hands with different opponents.

Some important points on this issue:

1) You should always stay focused at the poker table, regardless of whether you are in  the hand or not (Remember that you may go through hours of not playing a hand) - Use this time well to observe your opponents and try to develop an understanding of their play. By constantly observing their body language and betting patterns, eventually you will also be able to call out their hands.
2) Phil Hellmuth suggests that you consider this as a game, where at the end of each hand (After having observed the hand) you call out what you think a player has. Of course, he might not always be obliged to tell you the truth and show you the hand..but when he does show the hand down, you can see how accurate you were. Hopefully, after trying this out for a number of sessions, your reading ability will improve. 
3) The best way to master this skill is to first start by putting your opponent on a range of hands rather than two particular cards. Ranges can be categorized in the following way: Big pocket pairs, Medium Pairs, Small Pairs, Suited Connectors, Big Picture Cards, Rag Aces (An Ace with a weak kicker), etc.


I am sure that after applying these main points during your poker sessions, you too will be able to master the magical art of guessing accurately your opponent's hand. By constantly observing their play, you will get inside their mind and start understanding the way they are thinking.  


That's all for now. Hopefully I will have some time soon to talk about the other two books. 

Jonah  

This 3 day main event that took place at Portomaso Casino in St.Julian's, Malta started on March 23rd. A total of 276 players both local and international (mainly Italians and Eastern) paid a fee of €550 each battling for a share of a €100,000 prize pool. I placed 3rd in this event cashing in €12,700 and below is my log of events. I took notes after every break, therefore the log below is a breakdown of every break.

Break 1. Started with 30,000 chips. My stack - 40,000 chips. Average stack - 34,000 chips. I played my usual game. Super aggressive and taking the lead in a pot. I realised I was being called most of the time with marginal hands. Since most of the players at table were Italian (and Italians are known to bet their marginal hands) I decided to slow down my play and cool down on my bluffs. I got into a hand with AA. Villain 2 seats before raised. I re raise. Villain calls. Flop A 5 blank. Villain bets. I call. Turn blank. Villain bets. I re raise. Villain pushes all in. I call. River blank. Villain shows 55. I was up to 55000 at this point.
Another hand I get into a hand with an Italian player who was seeing too many flops and taking the lead too often. I decided to put him on a bluff. We kept on betting to the river (I had a pair). Villain show a straight made on the turn. Took a hit of 15,000 chips.

Break 2. Card dead. Playing position to try get into a hand. I was really grinding it at this point. All my bluffs were getting called. Nothing seemed to be working but fold. When all seemed to go south, I flopped a straight on my last hand before the break. I slow played this hand and villain was betting into me. I extracted maximum value from this hand.

Break 3. My Stack - 65,000 chips. Average stack - 50,000 chips. Getting into hands with marginal hands but was always hitting the board. Variance was on my side and was getting very lucky. I ran good at his point and let luck work her magic.

End of Day 1. My Stack - 145,000 chips. Average stack - 60,000 chips. At this point I was still running good. I built an image that I was getting very lucky and always had a hand when I called or raised. Villains were respecting my bets and folding to my bluffs. I rode this image and exploited it to the max. Last hand I remember making an amazing hero call where this Nordic guy was on a complete bluff. The table were awed with the outcome of that hand.

Day 2 to follow asap ..

In what is unveiling to be one of the biggest scams over the past year, pivgame which was sharing the services of its multi poker platform with muchospoker, has got the same muchos closed down and opened a court injuction against the "Estonian-owned site" of muchospoker.

From what is emerging the web-site has masked its operations and inducted players making them think they were depositing to the licencee (i.e. pivgame) bank accounts and online wallets. However players were depositing funds to personal online wallets and bank accounts attached to a certain Tim Heath. 



Tim Heath - Alleged MasterMind in MuchosPoker Fraud

Lots of player funds seem to be trapped on this guy's skrill and neteller address. It looks quite incredible how no-one had yet managed to understand what was going on.

The mastermind behind this is being investigated by Interpol for various crimes amidst misappropriation of funds, fraud etc. Just a suggestion for all players out there having funds and depositing in certain type of site. PLEASE CHECK FIRST WHERE YOU ARE DEPOSITING, GO VERIFY THE LICENCE ON THE LICENCE ISSUING SITE AND DONT TRUST MUCH ON SHINY SITES THEY MIGHT LOOK NICE BUT THE HURT AS HELL.

Dropping a hand like A-J is easy enough, but dropping A-Q can sometimes be a heartbreaker. Having the courage to do so can save your bankroll in many situations and this advice is geared towards higher limits or 'rational' games where raises from players are usually a good indicator of strength.

Most tight players will raise with three hands: AA and KK, to increase the pot value, and AK, to narrow the field. These hands are considered first tier pre-flop raising hands. Second tier pre-flop raising hands would be QQ, JJ or TT against AQ. The majority of uncreative tight players lie in the first tier. Tight players who are more experienced will often raise two tier hands as well. Many top players will raise with all sorts of hands, but usually as a ruse to be tricky or due to the high-limit nature of the games they play.

Given these first and second-tier hands, let's see how well AQ matches up against them:

Tier One Hands AA vs AQ: 92% to 8%
KK vs AQ: 72% to 29%
AK vs AQ: 72% to 24%

Tier Two Hands
QQ vs AQ: 70% to 30%
JJ vs AQ: 58% to 43%
TT vs AQ: 58% to 43%
AQ vs AQ: 57% to 43%

Never play a pocket pair as if you are a guaranteed winner. While pocket Jacks and Tens are both decent hands as far as pocket pairs go, they are still only a pair of Jacks or Tens, however you look at it. Middle and low pocket pairs only work well when they are heads-up or if the flop comes up with nothing. When you are heads-up you can play the game knowing you've already paired up, even if overcards fall on the table. With some trickery you can even occasionally get a player who has a high pair to fold. In a full game though, never count on this.

One idea to consider is to never raise JJ or TT unless there are a few limpers and you are in late or early position, focusing on keeping people out. If you end up with four callers in a pot with you, JJ and TT quickly become worthless if an overcard falls. If the action is continuing in such a fashion, you should routinely fold these pockets. Some tricky players will check-raise you if you show aggression from pre-flop to the flop, but if you are up against unsophisticated players you are surely beaten.

Bring on next Friday's freeroll on Yachting Poker ! https://www.facebook.com/events/407891709257168/ I'm taking home the money :D 

Just created my account on Yachting Poker : http://www.mypokeracademy.com/poker-room-bonus/yachting-poker 

Join the tournament !! Let's make it an interesting one ! .. Interesting for me anyways, i'll be winning :D

Hey Academy Members,

Playing on Yachting Poker just got better for you! First we offered you 60 % Rake back - One of the best rake back deals ever. Now, we will be hosting an Academy Freeroll on Yachting Poker !

The event is taking place on the unlucky, and lucky for some, Friday the 13th! Be sure to create your account on Yachting Poker http://www.mypokeracademy.com/poker-room-bonus/yachting-poker ... The tournament will be added to the Lobby this Monday ! 

The event is FREE but if eliminated you may rebuy for $2.


Here is our event page for all you Facebook members: https://www.facebook.com/events/407891709257168/ 

Battle it out against each other just to prove that Friday the 13th isn't so unlucky for YOU !


Good Luck.

Hi fellow poker fans & academy members ! 

Freeroll events are a good way to start out playing online poker. It's the safest way of building a bankroll. This is because no financial risk is involved as the buy in for such tournaments is FREE! However,  money is added to the prize pool to be won :)

I read about a good event which is coming up next week ! Next Friday the 13th, I will be playing on Yachting Poker for a freeroll event !


This is the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/407891709257168/

All you need to do is register for an account on Yachting Poker: 
http://www.mypokeracademy.com/poker-room-bonus/yachting-poker 

Th event will be added to the Yachting Poker lobby next monday !!

Let's all make it an interestion tournament filled with plenty of action :D


J

Fining a good online tournament is not always easy, some poker room just don't have the quantity of players needed to organize a solid online event. Personally I like to play re-buy tournaments any where between $3-5 dollars, with as many players as possible. I have had the most success in there type of tournaments - usually opening two tournaments at the same time and looking to go deep in at least one or both. I won't discuss my full strategy in the public domain, but I have been doing well for at least 2 years.

If you are looking for a good tournament then you really can't go wrong with Pokerstars.

Next month Pokerstars will host a major online event named TCOOP or Turbo Championship of Online Poker.

Running January 19-29 PokerStars' newest tournament series will kick off with 50 events. They will run the gamut of styles and games, but they will all have one thing in common: they will be fast-as-lightning turbo affairs.

My goal is to play several tournaments over the next few days in view of earning enough cash for at least one of the TCOOP tournaments.

I am hoping for at least a final table tonight.

Feeling in the zone with $35,000 chips after the first break.

Stay tuned. Stay Focused. Stay Alert.

As noted our starting bankroll is a 100 euro, starting with the right amount is vital, choosing the right limit and table is also vital. I had a quick  look around on Yachting Poker and there is not to many tables to choose from, I do find 1 table with 1 player in the Omaha section of the client. Omaha is my favorite game and I can also play heads up. Some more player might show up and make it interesting.

Limit's are 10/20 cents so I sit down with 25 euro it is 1/4 of my budget not a wise decision but with no table selection it will have to do.

We play for about 10 minutes when I over play a pair of AA and lost half my stack. I decide not to reload my stack and play short instead. I do manage to win it back with some good bluffing. A bit later I change my play as my opponent is playing aggressive, I decide to slow play, next hand I hit top two pairs ace and queen, he is betting hard and I am playing slow the turn. Trap works he bets big - then I make my move and push. He calls. I am ahead as he only has a smaller two pair Q and 4. River is a 4 and he makes a full house meaning my stack is gone.

I know I can take him and I am feeling warmed up.

I decide to reload with another 25 euro.

We play for another 40 minutes. I am now play passive, waiting for the right hand.
I finally win most of my stack back when I slow play a set of 2's.
Player leaves.

I am still down 10 euro during my first session. 

Second session is going to be about winning that back

Here we go...

This time I find a donkey on a NLH 5/10 cents table. He has 5 euro so I sit down with 10. First hand he raises, I re raise with a AQ he folds. Second hand 33 and then a set on the flop. Donkey bets I smooth call. On the turn he pushes call, I win he leaves table.

Now I am only down 5 euro.

Can I break even...

http://www.theblopoker.com

If your french enjoy reading it, otherwise maybe you will just enjoy the numerous picture