Did I mention patience is one of the main keys to good poker?

Hand selection and patience will get you to the money I’m telling you …. the more I play the more it seems to bear out that this is true. I have not updated my blog in quite a while due to being away in Ibiza. Lucky me I found out that there was a series of $100 sit and go’s happening at the local casino out there while I was in town.

My spanish is poor but the guys at the table were very considerate and one guy translated most of the banter I couldnt understand – at least I think he did haha!

Anyway a little patience early on went a long way as in a race to be in the top 3 slots ( the money) people were dropping like flies on their AJ’s!

I played conservatively until I flopped a hand with more outs than a 1 legged cricketer! I had to play it to the finish and I hit big brunson style with a guy who had hit trips early on and me with my flush on the river – nice.

I didn’t rush it then though opting for the same measured approach until my next big hand and so on all the while kamikaze’s left the table until there was 3. I should have got it to heads up but a bad beat saw me out – better to go like that though and no regrets on my play.

I’ll be sure to head back next time I’m in town and in the meantime i’ll be working on my spanish!

$1 wins you $2000 in the daily dollar poker tournament

Everyday at 8.15pm UK time there is a tournament on Fulltiltpoker.com which is only a dollar to buy in. Obviously there are loads f players who come to take part but most of them bomb out early as they are not focused due to the buy in being so low. You can win up to $2000 though so its worth trying and if you play solid you can easily make the money.

Could you get a million players?

Just musing today about different business ideas and was wondering if it might be possible to get a million players together for a poker game? or even a 100,000.

100,000 players $20 +$5 buy in – thats a 2 million dollar prize pool and $500,000 to the house. Run this weekly and thats 52 x $500,000 = $26 million gross profit

With a little TV advertising I’m sure that 100,000 people would be achievable given the size of the prize pool and the lvl of buy in.

Is there a weekly tournament with a $2 million prize pool?

 

World Series of Poker

I was out in Vegas this year at the World Series Of Poker at the Rio. This was my first WSOP so I entered two tournaments – a $2500 buy in No Limit and a $1500 No Limit.

I just wasted away getting blinded out in the first tourny, I think nerves got the better of me and I clung onto my chips  like they were my last money on earth! I loosened up nicely in the second tourny but after 8 hours of play I had seen maybe 3 decent starting hands and I had started to run low on chips. I made a move but got a caller, was ahead but got run down to sympathetic groans from the table.

Fantastic experience and I’m definitely going back next year to try my luck. If the poker doesnt go well who cares your in VEGAS right!!

Poker tip – minimum raise speaks volumes

I see so many people trying to buy the blinds and ante pre flop with huge 6x+ BB raises. You either look stupid or weak neither of which is a reputation you want to foster.

Sometimes in the later stages of the tournament(especially in an early position) a minimum raise shouts at the other players IT’S A TRAP! RUN FOR THE HILLS! and they duly do. Risking a little to gain a lot is a good strategy at this stage in a tourny and if you get called or raised then you really know your up against it so it’s a good feeler raise to save you some money later on.

Poker tip – use a big win to your advantage

This is especially true in the latter stages when the blinds are really starting to sting most of the entrants. You have just taken down a big pot and perhaps even busted out another player.

This is THE best time to steal blinds – mentally everyone else can’t help thinking about losing lots of chips to you and everyone has seen someone run hot before hitting all their outs. With this in mind when you make a 3x BB raise just watch everyone give it up 90% of the time, its out of that fear.

Only someone with a monster hand will get involved with you so you will know exactly where you are.

So many set up hands?

Does everyone else find this online? Just moneyed in the $1 re-buy $10k guarantee tournament on fulltiltpoker but it was a roller coaster.

Every time i got ahead of the average i hit a hand that blew my stack in half. I mean hands where no one is going to lay it down as one has the current nuts and the other has so many outs they have to stay. When I was the first guy I lost and lastly when I was the outs guy I lost lol go figure!!

Can you avoid playing these hands late on in a tourney when the blinds are crushing you?

 

A bad beat night turns out ok in the end!

Too many to list but the worst which broke me for a while and sent me into a full tilt was this …..

a10 vs ak raised before flop- flop comes down 6210  he bets I call……… 5 comes out and he tries to buy the pot with an all in. I read it and called all in(we had about the same stack size) the river turns up a king of course!!!

This was about an hour in and after taking my time and reading it right it was such a sucker punch to get rivered. So many bad beats tonight but a 14th place finish in a small tournament kept me level for the day. I felt I learned a lot today and it didn’t cost me any money.

In poker patience is a paying virtue!

So I got to a final table recently and was reflecting on what got me there…..was it just the little luck I thought I was missing or did I change my style of play for the long haul?

Well I had been running alright in the last couple of weeks but just getting either a little unlucky or a little frustrated i.e tilting.

In the tournament where I made the final table though I was:

Fresh, Focused and VERY patient!

I don’t mean that I played passively – far from it, I had a great reputation at the tables I played at which helped me pick up most of the small pots I took a bet at but I picked my fights well….

I didn’t for instance play AQ with a big raise in front of me or make that small call with ak post flop when I hadnt hit. In other words I played rock solid and made sure when I had the cards I made them pay and when I didnt I knew when to push and when to fold….

I folded a lot of good cards in that tourny, I probably folded the best hand on some of those occasions but tournaments are as much about surviving to the money and the final table as they are about being in a strong position when you get there.

Finally a final table!

I knew if I kept playing the way I was that a final table in a decent sized tournament was just around the corner and right enough last night in the “early daily double a” on fulltiltpoker I made it! I didnt just scrape through either I was rocking with an above average chip stack.

I also made the money in the sister tournament the “early daily double b”. If you have not tried these yet you really must – $5+$1 entry and if you finish in the money in both you get a bonus. If you win both you get the progressive jackpot which is standing at around $25000!