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teaulc

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    Tournament Tips: Take Control of Coin Flips

    in Poker

    Posted

    Regardless of the overall structure of a poker tournament or the style you play, you'll be forced to take some coin flips on your path to the title. With pressure from the rising blinds and players fighting for a finite number of chips, it's not possible - or rather it's completely improbable - you'll make it through any poker tournament without ever being in a coin-flip situation. So how can you make the most of it? You Have to Flip ... But You Don't Want To For clarity: Naturally, we're not talking about the actual act of flipping a coin here (although many poker players have won and lost large amounts of money doing just that). The poker equivalent of the coin flip is getting it all in against one opponent with your probability of winning approximately 50%. Classic examples: A-K vs. JJ; A-T vs. K-Q. Anytime you flip, you're risking your tournament life (or a portion of your very valuable chips) with a 50% chance at missing. [url=http://www.pokerlistings.com/assets/photos/wooka-kim-30659.jpg] In case you're unsure about investment odds and probabilities, those are not good odds. If the odds are poor, any decent investor would tell you simply not to invest. Wait until an opportunity arises in which you have more favorable odds. This is sound advice, and is exactly what you should be doing (for the most part) in cash-game Hold'em. Unfortunately, in a poker tournament, the increasing blind pressure adds other factors into play. These factors force you to flip simply to stay alive in the tournament. You're forced to play the situation, regardless of the actual hands in play. To sum up: You don't want to be taking coin flips, but there will come a point where taking a flip becomes your best chance at staying alive or making it deep. Make Your Opponents Make the Choice While you can't choose not to take coin flips, you can choose when to take them. In the majority of all coin flip situations, one player moves all-in and the other player calls. (Note: there are times when both players have a pocket pair, or some other combination of hands that give one player an edge over the other. Since these situations will go both ways (between the pusher and the caller) we'll exclude those situations from this conversation.) After removing those situations, the player calling is calling for a 50% shot at taking the pot, but the player pushing actually has a better opportunity at making money. It's not possible to put an exact number to it, but the concept is simply known as fold equity. Just by being the player to have pushed, you have the chance that your opponent will fold. When this happens, you win the pot 100% of the time. If the opponent calls, then you're a 50% shot. As you can see, the caller never has any fold equity while the pusher always does. In other words, you want to be the aggressor, the pusher. If you're never making any moves, it's going to be terribly difficult to force your opponent into making a mistake. Force your opponents to have to choose to flip with you or fold. If you're always making that choice as the caller, you're reducing your edge and counting on luck to bail you out. 30% is not 50% If you're at the point where your best chance at progressing in the tournament is by taking a coin flip, you need to think in terms of this: 30% is not 50%. Basically, you need to avoid calling all-in bets with easily dominated hands. Players will often call with hands such as A♠ 2♠ looking for a flip, knowing this hand is better than even money against K♥ Q♥ or any other non-paired, non-ace hand. Unfortunately, matching up with any other hand with an ace in it has you at a little less than 30% to win - same as being up against a pair. So a hand like this is a very poor choice when hoping for a coin flip. First, you have to get lucky to even be in a coin flip before you can have the chance at winning the flip itself. This goes for hands such as 3♥ 3♦ as well. This is not a bad hand, and is ahead of anything other than a higher pair. But if you're up against a higher pair, you're in a really tight spot. You need to know the range of hands your opponents will be willing to push or call an all-in with before you can choose your own range. In many tournament situations, pocket threes might be a great candidate for a hand to take a flip with. But if your opponent has a large stack, and is the kind of player only to raise hands with legitimate strength, you're putting it all on the line on the hope they have a something like A♥ K♥. The first step in being successful in tournaments is to make sure that the coin flips you take actually are coin flips. If you get it all in with a dominated hand, you're simply giving your money away. Bottom line: You're going to have to take coin flips in tournament poker; it's up to you to make sure you take them when it's best for you. sean lind

    Should I Quit?

    in Poker

    Posted

    Re: Should I Quit?

    I realised a long time ago that very few people are good enough at poker to make a living from the game. Like any sport ( if it is a sport? ), there are very few Beckhams and Phil Taylors at the very top of their chosen game. However , there are many thousands of amateurs in the UK who compete and gain enjoyment from taking part. I am not saying amateurs aren't trying their hardest to win, but more than anything it is about having fun rather than being dependant on poker to put food on the table. My advice would be to regain your love for playing poker and forget about the glitz and glamour shown in magazines and on tv. At the end of the day there are only a handfull of players good enough to live the champagne lifestyle. We all secretly strive to play poker at the highest levels and prop up the old pay check with a EPT bankroll booster, however a bit of realism is needed with a game like poker. Play poker for fun, stick in at University and don't do drugs :lol . ( Deep down, I still want to be a pro as well :lol )
    :clap:clap:clap

    Hold`em to Omaha - the Fine Edge

    in Poker

    Posted

    To the Hold'em player, Omaha seems like the same game with twice as many cards. Without understanding the odds and numbers of Omaha a Hold'em player will default to their two-card knowledge, assuming that the numbers they know simply need to be doubled (or halved) to work with Omaha. It seems logical, since 4 cards are twice as many as 2 cards, the odds should be twice as good. Since no one likes to sit through a math lesson (or if you do, you'll already know all of this), I'll keep this explanation very simple: In Omaha you're dealt a four-card hand, not two two-card hands. Because your cards can all work together, like in a wrap draw, the odds increase (and decrease) exponentially. In the simplest explanation possible: two plus two does not always equal just four. The Fine Edge Poker is an odds game. You wait for a situation in which you have favorable odds, and then you bet as much as you can. On the other end, when the odds are against you, you try to bet as little money as possible. That's the very foundation behind poker strategy, excluding the bluffing aspect. In Hold'em you will commonly find yourself in white and black situations, where you're either dominating or dominated. If you have aces against anything else, you're a massive favorite to win, and know it. CroppedImage320180-final-table-31856.jpg A WSOP Final Table, the ultimate goal. Hold'em is full of these scenarios, when you can be almost positive that you're dominating or dominated, making the game (at times) very easy to play. The best Hold'em players are not the ones who make the most when they have the best hand; they aren't even the ones who lose the least with the worst. The best players are the players who consistently make a profit when they're playing hands in the grey areas, where the facts are unclear at best, and the edges are fine. Unlike Hold'em, Omaha is almost exclusively a game of fine edges. With the most dramatic examples aside, almost any hand vs. hand matchup you can come up with will have the better hand at about a 60:40 favorite. You will play almost every hand of every session of Omaha in this grey zone of fine edges. To be successful in a game like this, you need to be relentless in your value bets, a super nit when you're on the losing end, and absolutely dead on with your reads. Factor in what we learned in the previous article about the relative strenght of hands and you'll begin to understand why Omaha is such a fun, action-filled but dangerous game. Even when you flop the nuts, there's almost always someone with a legitimate chance at catching up by the river. This is why Omaha doesn't function properly as a No-Limit game. If the game was No-Limit, the player who flops the best of it would be all in on the flop, basically turning the game into a gamble filled, two-betting round shit show. To play Omaha successfully, you need to understand that you're almost always only a 60:40 favorite at best, but at your worst you're only behind by 20 points. Once you add four cards combining for multiple draws, and the equity this gives you, you'll begin to understand why Omaha is known as a drawing game. Large Outs and Faulty Odds The final point every Hold'em player needs to drill into their head before playing Omaha is the faulty odds associated with a large amount of outs. If you find yourself with a big wrap draw, sitting on 20 outs, an average Hold'em player will put their odds of winning at 80%. The full-time grinder will put their odds at "Ship it", not caring about where the actual numbers come in at. The astute Hold'em player will use the formula (20*4)-(20-8)=68%. While you have a huge hand with a big wrap, you can't count your outs and your odds as you do in Hold'em, and assume that they'll be correct and accurate most of the time. If your one opponent has just a single over pair to your wrap draw, you're sitting at around 73% to win. [url=http://edge2.pokerlistings.com/assets/photos/chip-stack-31375.jpg] If your opponent happens to have a set though, your odds drop to around 54%. Once you factor in other players, especially other players with blockers and higher draws, your equity can absolutely plummet. With 36 cards dealt out to players preflop (at a 9 handed table), chances are another player is holding your outs. This doesn't mean your wrap draw is weak, in fact your hand is probably the best hand at the table, but you need to understand that even the most promising of a draw hand can still be dominated, only with a hand this strong it can take more than one player to do it. In short, as a Hold'em player you need to take a step back, and shed the confidence that comes along with hitting a big flop. You need to separate yourself from the confidence that comes with holding a massive draw, and you need to understand that often times, regardless of how the situation may appear, you're sitting at about even money. This game isn't for the faint of heart; it's for the players who are willing to be aggressive enough to put their money behind their hand. The best Omaha players understand all of the concepts in this article and are willing to put their entire stack on the line knowing that the odds of you folding, along with the 60:40 rule makes betting, on anything, a decent proposition. If you're not willing, or able to play back at someone throwing pot bets at you all night, on every street, then you should stick to a different game. Omaha is not a game to play super-tight, if that's the only style of poker you're comfortable with you're going to have a hard time turning a profit. If you're willing to play back at someone throwing pot bets at you like candy, then take some time to digest the information in the articles and understand where you truly stand with your hand. Once you know where you're at, you'll know where you need to get to if you want to come out on top.

    Hold`em to Omaha - hand value

    in Poker

    Posted

    More and more players are making the move to Omaha, and if you want to follow suit you must understand the key differences between the two games. The poker world always has been, and always will be, in a state of flux. New games come in and out of favor as the game progresses and changes. Years ago Stud was the main game being played across North America. It wasn't until relatively recently that Hold`em took the poker world by storm. The simplicity in rules but complexity in strategy allowed all players to play and enjoy Hold'em from day one, but after a few years of non-stop play, Hold'em has begun to hit a wall. People play poker for different reasons, two of the main ones being:

    • Making money
    • Learning, progressing and honing your skills

    Since the world has spent years focused on just one game, the average skill level of a Hold'em player is far beyond what has been considered "average" for poker. It's easy to see that this is going to make it harder to gain a big edge. Also, many players have begun to feel like they're no longer learning or progressing in their game. They've read all the books, clicked through the web's poker strategy articles, played countless hours yet are still playing the same games, making the same money they were four years ago. For all of these reasons, many people feel it's time to move on. This article assumes you're coming into Omaha with a base set of Hold'em skills. If you've never played any poker, this article is not for you. If you're brand new to poker you'll want to start with the basic rules of poker. If you're a Hold'em player thinking about making the change you're in the right place. Relative Hand Value The biggest thing you need to understand to play Omaha with any competency is the shift in relative hand value. Most poker players don't know all the math, or theory, behind the inherent probabilities of poker. A good poker player understands that a full house is more valuable and less likely than a straight; they might even know the odds of making either hand. But very few poker players can tell you how to calculate these odds, and more importantly exactly what they mean. Feeling lost? Don't worry, this is all about to make sense. The bottom line is this: Unless you have a mathematicians' understanding of all probability and odds, you'll approach Omaha by using your collection of poker knowledge and experience, applying and adapting what you know to the new game. This is good, but there are a few pitfalls to this approach you should be aware of. One of the biggest is understanding the differences in relative hand value between Omaha and Hold'em. When you flop top-two on a rainbow board with nothing more than a possible gutshot draw, you're probably willing to bet the farm in Hold'em. Your hand is second only to a set: you're in a good spot. Unfortunately, if you've played a lot of Hold'em, this understanding of your top-two hand value is as much of a feeling as it is a basic understanding of the principals of poker. When you sit in an Omaha game and flop the very same thing, chances are you're going to feel almost the same about it. Before you lose your head, and your stack, you need to take a second to re-evaluate the situation, rather than relying completely on your Hold'em mindset and experience. Although flopping top two is a very good start, you are by no means holding the nuts. In fact, it's possible for your opponents to hold wrap-draws with no pairs, but still be treading water at even money. Factor in the much greater possibility of running into a set, and you're now in a very vulnerable position. When you allow yourself to feel comfortable and confident with your hand, when you're actually vulnerable and weak, you're setting yourself up for a massive mistake and loss. To be clear, you do not need to throw out everything you know about poker and start fresh, but you do need to understand that you need to build on your Hold'em skill-set. CroppedImage320180-josh-arieh-31966.jpg The hardest thing in Omaha: Looking at your 4 cards. Having countless thousands of hands of Hold'em under your belt will help you at the Omaha tables, but it can also give you a false sense of confidence. Understand this before you begin playing the game, and don't over value your hands. In the end the nuts remain the same, just be aware of all possible draws, re-draws and even backdoors. In Omaha, you're never as rock-solid as you may think. Rather than evaluating your hand on the flop, then adjusting your evaluation as the turn and river come out, you want to think of it as running a preliminary evaluation on the flop, only really cementing your view of your hand after seeing the turn. The flop gives you an idea if you want to continue with the hand and a basic idea of the size of pot you're willing to play. After the turn is out, there are only made hands, and draws. Backdoor draws are out of the question, making things far more straight forward. If you hold top set on the turn, it's very straight forward to see if and how you can be beat. your hold`em instincts and poker intuition at this point are going to be far more valuable, as calculating your opponents outs to draws becomes far more Hold'em-esque, and straight forward. If you want to succeed at Omaha, you need to stop assuming you can just use your Hold'em experience and everything will be just fine. Instead, take the time to think through each hand as if you've never played poker before, and then use your Hold'em knowledge to understand and evaluate the situation as best you can. In the end, remember the golden rule of Omaha: If you don't have the nuts, chances are someone else does.

    Daily Satellite Winnings March 2011

    in Poker

    Posted

    Re: Daily Satellite Winnings March 2011 PokerStars Tournament #377206417, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50 USD 83 players $190.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars Total Prize Pool: $605.00 USD Target Tournament #413010003 Buy-In: $11.00 USD 55 tickets to the target tournament Tournament started 2011/03/21 19:30:00 WET [2011/03/21 15:30:00 ET] Dear teaulc, You finished the tournament in 1st place. You qualified to play in Tournament #413010003 and are automatically registered for it. See Tournament #413010003 Lobby for further details. If you choose to unregister from this tournament your account will be credited with T-USD 11.00. Tournament US Dollars can be used to buy into any tournament. Visit our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/ for more details. Congratulations! Thank you for participating.

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