Poker Guru Blog

The well-known international poker forum, 2+2 demonstrates its comic humour again, this time chucking its focus on Full Tilt Poker. As most of you might already be aware, Full Tilt Poker is being investigated by the FBI for supposedly accepting players from states (i.e. Washington) where online poker is already banned, breaking the legislation of the UIGEA, to be placed in full effect in June.

Although I don’t think that the people leading Full Tilt Poker (like Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey) will spend the rest of their time behind bars, the Photoshop section of the 2+2 forum seem to have pondered on this idea, not afraid to push it that extra step.

The Full Tilt Gang in the Prison

Being a poker guru, I have good experience in swimming with the fish, eating the fish and sometimes even being bitten by the sharks. In this blog post, I would like to share with you how I avoid being lunch and how I maximize my time online. 

It  probably wouldn’t come as  a surprise if I told you that it is in your best interest to always choose your table carefully. Find one with a pool of fish and, in general, do not hunt the regulars, but try to find the easy-to-beat opponents. In this post I will show you the trademarks of a fish, so you can easily identify them and find them without being bitten.

Part II of my two-part beginner guide will be covering the basic game techniques. Read the first part, too.

Only play premium hands:

In the beginning phase, when we are not really clear with the dynamics of the game, our best decision is to focus on playing very tight. We should only consider playing upon receiving premium hands, this way we can avoid several tough situations. Although later on, once our experience has grown, it is a necessity to widen the range of hands we play in order to maximize profit.

I was going through my collection of dvds yesterday and stumbled across an old favorite of mine, if you happen to not have seen this film, I would highly recommend it.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels can be put simply into one word: a masterpiece. Only those who don’t have any sense of humor left will be left looking for the remote. There are numerous scenes within this film to tickle the funny bone, but the ones who also seek action will not be disappointed. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels starts with a poker game to trigger the plot.

Part I of my two-part guide will provide orientation for beginner poker players. In the first part I will be sharing with you basic practice methods and my second part will cover issues concerning game techniques. With this guide I hope to provide an insight taste of not only the game, but also good management skills to come out on top. In order to reach long-term success, other serious commitments also need to be made.

Let’s start with the practical information. First of all, it is in good  practice to read as many articles concerning poker as possible to enlighten yourself with different situations and techniques.The best places to start acquiring these new insights would have to be strategy sections within poker forums where players can often find the best way to handle their hands by reading reviews and hand analyses of other players.

Thousands of people play poker on a daily basis and the possibility of making easy money attracts more and more new players. It’s inevitable that a great player pops up from time to time to make a career out of poker. Many players have Lady Luck on their side, winning huge amounts in minimal time and others remain on a gradual decline from day 1. As a poker guru, I have also experienced the highs and lows of playing poker. Here, I have collected a few of my favorite and memorable player searches. The colorful variety of different players can be visually viewed in the graphs below.

Dead Fish

Is it possible that someone plays 12,000 micro-limit Sit’n’Gos and learns nothing about poker during the process? I think this question is best answered by Rookie62. The poker extraordinaire tossed his bankroll underwater by playing $2 Sit’n’Gos. Most of the time, he plays 2-4 tables and if he is patient enough, he could become the biggest loser in the world. His talent is given.

Do you want to improve your poker? Are you a cash game player? So I really recomend you Ryan Fee’s NL 6 Max Strategy Guide. It is totally free.

The ebook covers small and mid stakes online 6 max ring games. The focus of this ebook will be the progression of a hand through preflop, flop, turn, and river. And it is really detailed. Covers issues like continuation betting, donk betting, floating, double and triple barreling and check-raising.

Here I have collected some of the best pictures on the net with their theme being related to poker. Enjoy!

Darci Faulkner - You are Right, I Don't Have The Spades (www.nostalgiaart.com)

It is a commonly known wisdom, that if you do not connect a king or ace high flop, and your continuation bet was called, you can expect a call on further streets too. So second and third barrels are like burning money.

I can confirm that this theorem is correct. In my experience typical villains do not like to call ace or king high flops without a top pair, but if they have it, they have a hard time to fold it.

It is really true hard to make an average player to fold a so high top pair. So do not bluff the turn and river.

Ever since people have been playing poker, players have been giving hole cards various nicknames. Here, I have collected some of the most known and popular nicknames for hole cards.

Pairs’ nicknames:

AA: Pocket Rockets; Bullets; American Airlines
KK: Cowboys; King Kong
QQ: Ladies, Whores, Siegfried & Roy
JJ: Fishhooks; hooks
TT: Dimes
99: German Virgin; Barbara Feldon (Get Smart Agent 99)
88: Snowmen; Doggie Balls; Piano Keys
77: Sunset Strip
66: Route 66
55: Speed Limit
44: Magnum; Sailboats
33: Crabs
22: Ducks

This is a really a book not to pass by. Because Barry Greenstein’s book is one of my all-time favorites, I think I’m gonna be a bit biased when it comes to this review. Why is this? Because it was a pleasure to read, well-structured and left me wanting more. I think everyone can take away something from this book, I found all the chapters very useful and all the pages are worth looking over twice. This might not be the most convincing argument for the book, but the quality of the paper it’s published in and its high quality photos (284 of them!) not only make it a pleasure for your eyes, but also a valued book in your collection. Another reason behind my favoritism towards this book would have to be my respect for Barry Greenstein as both a professional poker player and a personality. I feel there is a lot to learn from him and his gameplay is simply amazing.

The author of the book did not pick up the nickname ’The Robin Hood of Poker’ accidentally, as for he has donated millions of dollars of his winnings to numerous charities. Greenstein doesn’t only have his hands in tournaments, but he also plays cash game and has appeared numerous times in the American show High Stakes Poker, aired by the GSN Network.

There is nothing better than winning the pot with a weaker hand and letting your poker face intimidate your opponent into thinking you are the strongest. I have collected five of the most memorable bluffs in this compilation to make you think next time you fold. It’s undoubtable that it is a pleasure to win the pot with Aces, but if you can do it with 7-2 off-suit, that’s skill. 

The bluff is essential in any poker game and is a deadly weapon once mastered. It takes years and great control over emotions to master a great bluff. In order to be able to build your stack without a good hand, most good players abide by these guidelines:

• Choice of opponent
• Perfect timing
• A good read
• Exact bet amounts
• Consequent aggressivity

Here I found a collection of some of my favorite funny poker-related videos and ads. Check them out and enjoy!

To begin with, let’s start with a Full Tilt Poker classic, starring Phil Ivey. A surprise awaits Phil when he gets home. Full Tilt made several similar ads based around the theme ‘One of the best poker faces in the world’.

$0.50/$1  No Limit Holdem

UTG  $97
CO  (Hero) $101
BTN  $130
SB  Wavefuncti0n $95
BB  debe90 $100

Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 5 players) Hero is CO with

1 fold, Hero raises to $3, BTN calls $3, 2 folds

Flop: ($7.50, 2 players)

Hero bets $6, BTN calls $6

Turn: ($19.50, 2 players)

Hero bets $14, BTN calls $14

River: ($47.50, 2 players)

Hero ?

In my opinion the play until the river is really standard. You open with a preflop raise and have to value bet the turn and the river. Bet sizing should be 2/3-3/4 pot on both streets. The hand is really easy to play until the river. But what should you do on this scary river? That is what will make the difference to your outcome.

It is a common occurence when palying a game of poker that the cards we hold aren’t the greatest. Being hopeful, we wait for certain cards to come to make our hand complete (in the case of flush draws or straight draws, for example). This is known in the poker world as a drawing hand and can be very profitable is we play our cards right. It has been said that it is enough to know the number of our outs with outs being the cards in which we would win the hand. In order to get the odds in your favor, this number needs to be compared to the total remaining cards within the deck. Following this, it is essential to compare the size of the bet with the size of the total pot. If  we compare these two odds, they form what is known as pot odds calculation.