Different tournament structures under testing at WSOP

With the growth in popularity poker has seen in recent years, it has become obvious that in order to facilitate the skill factor over the luck one, changes had to be made. It’s not news to those closely following live and online poker events that since the big poker boom of 2003-2004, spearheaded by PokerStars online qualifiers Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, events like the WSOP’s Big Dance haven’t been the same. All sorts of random names popped up on the winners’ list as the true pros slowly but surely disappeared from among the top finishers. There was a distinct feeling that the Main Event was turning into a giant lottery where the lucky would always prevail over the skilled. 2006 was probably the year that rang the alarm bells for the organizers. That year, Jamie Gold bested the largest ever Main Event field, beating several world class pros against all the odds. Gold appeared unstoppable that nigh and strung together entire streaks of extremely lucky hands and draws to knock his opponents out.

I’m not trying to take anything away from Jamie Gold, but all those who have seen the final table action unfold will agree that his luck was borderline insane that day.
Live tournament officials began contemplating ways to change the structure of the events soon after, as it became obvious that while the luck factor did work in favor of beginners, acting as the great equalizer at the green felt and it did convey the message that everyone could make it big at the WSOP, it wasn’t doing much for TV ratings in general. The public was still eager to see the well-known players battle it out in a contest of skill, and that watching a bunch of unknown people play lottery at the final tables of live poker events was not where the future of televised events would be.

The first change, meant to further incite public interest and to provide new opportunities for parties interested in televising live poker events was the postponement of the Main Event final table till November, first implemented in 2008. The move apparently did deliver for the organizers and interested parties because the $10,000 Main Event final table will be pushed back all the way to November once again.
This move however did little more than to create additional buzz about the event and additional advertising opportunities. In order to limit the impact of the luck factor in various live events, some organizers resorted to providing the players with deeper starting stacks. This way, the decision over the fate of a player would be spread over more hands than in short-stacked scenarios, which would offer more opportunities for truly skilled players to assert the edges their experience and knowledge of game subtleties offered them.
An extremely interesting approach to tournament structuring was the experiment implemented in the $40,000 anniversary event, in the 2009 WSOP. The restrictive buy-in alone made certain that no lucky floaters would even get to register for the event, but the structure adopted made some serious waves indeed negative and positive ones as well.
Players started the event on 120,000 chip stacks, and the first blinds level would feature 200/400 chips and 50 chip antes. Most of the professionals involved were pleased with the changes although how pleased one was seemed to be a direct function of how high or low he’d finished on the provisional chip leaderboard on day 1 of the event. Take Chris Moneymaker for example, who finished second behind chip leader Bruno Fitoussi on Day 1. The PokerStars pro was definitely pleased with the structure and with how things were generally progressing. He said that in his view antes were a must, given that a tournament would only really gather momentum once the ante stage was reached. Greg Raymer who has most of his tournament buy-ins paid by PokerStars didn’t find anything wrong with the new structure either.
Mike Matusow on the other hand, was pronouncedly displeased and he didn’t refrain from calling the inventor of the new structure “a moron”. Of course his not exactly jubilant mood could also have been own to the fact that he finished Day 1 on a short-stack.
Due to the stepped up pace of action, out of the 201 initial entrants only 89 survived to do battle on Day 2.

WSOP Champions invitational

One of the most prestigious events of the summer, the WSOP Champions invitational is bound to be a great photo opportunity for enthusiasts. I know what you’re thinking (“how much is the buy-in and where can I sign up?), but you may as well forget about it. This event doesn’t feature a buy-in. It’s a freeroll. And if you’re not one of the 33 all-time WSOP Main Event winners (25 who are still alive), you won’t get to play. Period.
The Invitational is an invitations-based event (sarcasm) and it’s also one of only four WSOP events which ESPN shall broadcast.

There is no prize-pool, but the winner will not go home empty handed: he will get a Binion trophy (named so after Benny Binion, the father of the Series), as well as a 1970 Corvette, restored and fully pimped. Despite the lack of a conventional prize-pool, Nolan Dalla, the WSOP’s media director is not worried about the interest the event will raise. As a matter of fact, he estimates that interest-wise only the Main Event itself shall surpass the 2009 WSOP Champions Invitational.

Will the big poker stars used to playing for millions buy into the idea of a memorial freeroll? You bet they will. 8 of the people concerned are already deceased, among them Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss, so they won’t be present physically, although they will definitely be present in the hearts and minds of not just the participants but the railbirds as well. Bobby Baldwin, who won the Big Dance in 1978, will not participate either and he’s already announced the organizers about it. The rest of the WSOP’s best though is itching to belly up to the table and to log some valuable time in front of the TV cameras: a superb opportunity for each of them to push their agenda a bit, whatever it may be.

Phil Hellmuth, 11-times WSOP bracelet winner and 1989 Main Event Champion is delighted about the event and about the TV opportunity.

Greg Raymer, 2004 Champion and one of the people directly responsible for the online poker boom, will be at the tables as well. The Fossilman says he’s suggested this sort of a promotional event several times in the past to commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, and that he will definitely take part.

The Newest Main Event champion, Denmark’s Peter Eastgate, far from being content with having taken down the second largest WSOP Main Event prize ever, is nurturing plans of proving himself in this illustrious field. He says that having bested the second largest WSOP Main Event field ever makes him the prime candidate for a WSOP Champions Invitational win. Of course, if one is to follow that logic, Jamie Gold would have to be recognized as the best player of them all, simply on account of the fact that in 2006 he survived a much larger starting field than Eastgate did last year and we all know that would be at least awkward when we’re talking about people like Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth.
The young Dane does admit though that players like these have proven themselves far beyond the WSOP Main Event titles they’d won back in the day.

Jamie Gold hailed what he called a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to play poker against people who represent 40 years of poker history. He and Greg Raymer both agreed that it was an honor to share the felt with this select group and to play in the 2009 WSOP Champions Invitational.
According to Dalla, the primary goal behind the 2009 WSOP Champions invitational is to cater for the everyday poker fan. As poker became more and more popular, familiar faces slowly but surely disappeared from most final tables all over the world. Even though these guys still compete at the highest level, you’ll seldom see them facing each other, something that the regular poker fan definitely fancies. This event will bring all the familiar faces together, and the public will see the legends in action.

The 2009 WSOP Champions invitational starts on May 31st and it will be on ESPN on August 4th. You can railbird the action in person if you so wish though or you can check out our poker news section for details as they unfold. Whoever wins this one, will surely be thought of as the champion of champions in the future.

Most successful WSOP players of all time

There are several ways to measure WSOP success and determining success based on the amount of money won may not be the most accurate of skill and talent indicators. By winning a single Main Event, Jamie Gold is probably the biggest money–earner in the Series’ history, but people would generally agree that he isn’t the most skilled and talented player by a longshot.
One way to determine success based on skill and talent is to take a look at the number of WSOP bracelets people have won, and the number of bracelets they managed to take down during the same Series.

Believe it or not, since 2000, there has been at least one multiple WSOP bracelet winner each year. Let take a closer look at the folks who managed to score multiple bracelets over the years and try to assess their skill level and overall importance in the poker industry.
Denmark’s Jesper Hougaard is one of the multiple bracelets winners. He scored both his WSOP bracelets in 2008, one of them in the $1,500 NL Holdem event of the WSOP series, where he beat 2,447 players to the title and to the $610,304 prize. He scored his second bracelet later that year, in the WSOPE London’s £1,500 event.
Hougaard may not be among the best known poker players out there, but he’s certainly no push-over either. He plays well online too, proof to which is the fact that he’s won the PokerStars Sunday Million twice.

In 2006, it was Jeff Madsen who took the Player of the Year honors at that year’s WSOP, and deservedly too. He first won the $2,000 NL Holdem event, where he bested a field of 1,579 players. Then, he won the $5,000 Short handed NL Holdem event for his second bracelet, besting none other than Erick Lindgren heads-up for the title. Back then, Madsen was the youngest ever WSOP bracelet winner, and to add some icing to the cake, he finished 3rd in the $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event.

1995 was Dan Harrington’s year. I suppose there’s no point in debating whether or not Harrington has a knack for the game. His theories are wide spread today and he’s recognized as one of the forefathers of modern poker theory. In 1995, he won a bracelet in the $2,500 NL Holdem event, and then went on to win the Main Event too. Back then, the top prize in the big dance was a “mere” $1 million, but then again, money had a different value back then too.
Harrington went on to rank near the top in several other WSOP events in years that followed, and he scored a WPT title in 2007, when he won the Legends of Poker, taking home about $1.6 million.

In 2002, Phil Ivey won no fewer than 3 WSOP bracelets in 18 days’ time. None of these bracelets were his first though: he’d won his first WSOP bracelet back in 2000. In 2002, he won the $1,500 7-Card Stud event, the $2,500 Stud Hi/Lo event and the $2,000 SHOE event. Who could ever say after such a run that poker wasn’t a game of skill?
One of the top Full Tilt pros, Phil Ivey is a regular presence on the high stakes cash circuit to this day.

This list would definitely be incomplete without Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat first won multiple bracelets in 1993. He scored no fewer than three of them back then, within a 13 day span. He won a $1,500 NL Holdem event, a $2,500 NL Holdem one and a $5,000 Limit Holdem one.

Then years later, in 2003, he won two bracelets again, one in the $2,500 Limit Holdem event and one in the $3,000 NL Holdem one.
Hellmuth is one of the “faces” of the online poker site Ultimate Bet these days and his spree of high WSOP event finishes continues.

Chris Ferguson, another Full Tilt Poker in-house pro, has also had two multiple-bracelet runs. One in 2000, when he won the $2,500 7-Card Stud event shortly before taking down the first prize at the Big Dance.
The other run occurred in 2003, when he won the $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event and the $2000 Holdem/7-Card Stud event.
Ferguson is one of the active contributors at Full Tilt Poker, meaning that he is actively involved in updating and continuously developing the poker room’s software.

Another notable name on this list is that of Ted Forrest. He won three bracelets in 1993 (in the $1,500 Razz, $1,500 Omaha 8 or better and the $5,000 7-Card Stud events).
He won two bracelets in 2004, when he struck gold in the $1,500 7-Card Stud and $1,500 NL Holdem events.

The durrrr challenge and the most successful cash player of the year

It is official now: Patrik Antonius is among the most successful high stakes cash game players of the year, if not the most successful.

The Finn has been taking the durrrr challenge one step at a time and he has managed to improve his game on the go. Take a look at the following YouTube clip:

See and hear Patrik talk about the 50,000 hand PLO challenge he’s currently involved in with Tom Dwan (known online as durrrr).

The interview was apparently taken right after Antonius got ousted from the EPT’s San Remo event, and the interviewer didn’t miss the opportunity to get some inside scoop on the durrrr challenge. There were rumors in the beginning that Dwan, whose bankroll had been dealt a few 6-figure blows this year wasn’t all that keen on pushing forth with the challenge and that he was taking his time, logging a brief session every now and then just to keep the subject atop the headlines. Word even had it for a while that Antonius was displeased with the tactics and he had in fact intended to put a wrap on the affair by the time the WSOP kicked off. Apparently that had indeed been the case. Antonius confesses that in the beginning of the challenge (of which the two have completed only around 15,000 hands now) he was indeed keen on pushing things forward and he did on occasion get frustrated by his opponent’s stalling tactics.

What’s interesting to hear though is that Antonius hadn’t really had any multi table heads-up experience before the start of the challenge. He says he started playing 3 tables in January, in preparation for the challenge and that in the beginning he had trouble adapting to the 4 challenge tables. What’s interesting about this fact is that in the beginning of the durrrr challenge I had the distinct feeling that it was Dwan in the driver seat and Antonius trying to keep up – which apparently might’ve been the case indeed. One could actually feel the momentum shift as Antonius got more and more comfortable with the 4-table action and as he gradually learned the ways of his adversary.

For a while there, the two looked intent on wrapping the challenge up before the start of the WSOP. They convened more often at the four challenge tables and their sessions were longer. Just as soon as Antonius began building up a sizeable lead though, the determination seemed to have cooled off again. It is now obvious that they won’t even reach the 20,000 hands mark by the time the WSOP kicks off, and that they will probably not see any sort of action while the WSOP lasts.
Antonius says that while this far the slow pace of the challenge action was mainly durrrr’s fault, he too will slow down and take things easier. Did he just grow tired of all the pushing and prodding or does he really feel he needs to take a break from the hectic online schedule he’s imposed on himself lately?
I can’t help but ponder what Dwan’s motives are to show so little interest in getting the challenge done and over with. Some say he’s nothing but a gambler, and now that he feels he’s gotten in way over his head with Antonius.
The fact that – according to Antonius – Dwan is trying to keep pots as small as possible would fit nicely into that picture. One needs to keep in mind that this interview was probably taken before Antonius managed to build up the over 400k lead he’s got over Dwan now. Back then the swings from one session to another were extremely small indeed, nothing that either of the two players could not have covered over a single hand.
Antonius says he lost more money in the challenge when he played from Thailand on account of the passive stance he’d adopted. He says he’s learned a thing or two since and that he’s become much more efficient playing at four tables.

The most successful cash game player of the year makes it clear that his focus will remain on the cash tables. While he does intend to take part in 5-6 WSOP events (where he may even play against Dwan on occasion) he’s aware that the online cash approach is working just fine for him now and he doesn’t intend to switch gears any time soon.

WSOP 2009 preview

With the WSOP’s start just two days away, the question on every poker enthusiast’s mind is whether it will exceed last year’s series, attendance as well as prize-pool wise. Take a look at the following YouTube vid:

Get a scoop on the predictions first hand from WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.
The interview in the flick happened two weeks before the start of the event, and according to Pollack, based on the actual event pre-registrations and the WSOP-related hotel bookings, the turnout had already been shaping up nicely then.

The recession and probably the UIGEA as well, will make their effects felt though. While he doesn’t openly admit it, Pollack hints at the fact that the organizers would be happy to have as many players show up as last year (the exact number was 58,720 I believe) which means that he doesn’t exactly expect a year like 2006 when all previous records were shattered.
In the interview, he also talks about the $1,000 Stimulus Special, an event which is a first timer on the WSOP schedule, and the fact that the final table will again be delayed till November, like last year.

Even if increases in participant numbers and prize-pool sizes are not likely, the World Series of Poker is considered a recession-proof event by many. How can something like the WSOP withstand recession while another – previously recession-proof considered – industry, gambling is struggling? The answer to that is simple: poker is not gambling. Like it or not, because of the skill element involved, poker can be considered a sport rather than a game of chance. Pollack says that it’s considered the “Stanley Cup of poker”, and that’s exactly the reason why the recession will fail to put a dent into its popularity.
Gambling is a different matter altogether. While there are some beginners who fail to grasp the basic concepts that make casino games tick, the vast majority of the players are well aware that they’re going up against adverse odds.

Most people are even well aware that the house edge is the least of their worries: it’s the house drop they’re going to deal with, and while the house edge is often a minuscule 1-2% quantity, the house drop is a much heftier, approximately 30% one. This is why gamblers usually take their disposable funds to the gambling tables. Sure, you can get lucky and hit a big-time jackpot, but it’s much more likely that you’ll just end up losing your money. Money that you spend in a casino is basically money invested into fun. That’s the way most players view it and that’s how you too should consider it too.

Poker on the other hand, is a game where it is possible to secure positive expected value (EV) and where the house doesn’t play a role: people go up against other players just like themselves. While it’s true that the majority of players play with negative EV, as long as they consider they’re playing with EV+ they won’t think twice about viewing the whole thing as an investment. Whether or not one is able to secure EV+ depends solely on his/her talent, skills and time spent studying the game, so even those who play on EV- have none else to blame but themselves for the outcome.

The problem with gambling is, disposable income is among the first victims of recession, and while poker players don’t bring their disposable money to the WSOP tables (well, at least those who play in the WSOP don’t) recession won’t really affect attendance.
Another interesting note that Pollack strikes in the interview is about the TV popularity of the event. Televised WSOP bits don’t just provide a great action-filled storyline for the viewers, they possess a lot of re-run value because they can be used for education too by those interested in taking up the game or in improving their game.

About the WSOP Main Event prize pool, Pollack didn’t venture into stating anything concrete. He basically ducked the question by going into how the prize-pool was dependant on the attendance, however, if one pays attention to the 2006, 2007 and 2008 prize-pools a trend will become apparent: while the drop from the $12.1 million first prize that Jamie Gold pocketed in 2006 to the $8.3 million that Jerry Yang took home in 2007 is obvious, one cannot help noticing that in 2008 the first prize rebounded to $9.2 million. If that trend holds out, we’re likely to see the winner take home around $10.1 this year.

Texas Hold’em position – don’t be a sucker

Everyone’s a sucker when he/she first hits the online poker tables. You may feel like you’re God’s gift to the poker world and that you have a natural talent for the game, that doesn’t change the fact that you and around 80% of the other players are in fact suckers, prey to the remaining 20% of players who do their homework.

This is the bad news. The good news is, even as a sucker, you’re not that much worse than around 95% of all online players. What this means is that it doesn’t really take any sort of talent and it’s not exactly rocket-science either to catch up with these guys. If you manage to hammer a few basic concepts into your head, and you become disciplined enough to apply these concepts at the table, you’ll have caught up with 95% of online players. That’s pretty impressive huh?
The tricky thing is that if you’re playing Texas Hold’em (and if you’re a rookie that’s probably exactly what you’re playing) the increased short term variance will plant the seed of doubt in your mind in regards to the efficiency of these tactics. Bad calls will often get the better of you whether or not you make the right call, but that’s just the way Holdem works. You’ll just have to take my word for it that these concepts do indeed work and they do indeed yield results in the long-run.

After starting hand selection, position is the basic concept you have to get familiar with, because Texas Holdem is a fixed position game and – if you are to believe some professional players – from a top down look, one can actually see how the money follows around in the wake of the blinds at the table.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of poker position, here’s what it consists in: depending on where the dealer button is, some players will have to act before other players at the poker table. The fact that they act after their opponents offers players in “late position” a series of advantages. Before we go into details on that though, let’s see how these positions work. The dealer button determines every position at the table. As the dealer button moves one slot to the left in each hand, none of the positions will stick. They too will move around with the button. It is however possible to gain position on a certain opponent by taking a seat on his/her left, for the vast majority of hands in a dealer-button orbit.

Now then, the SB is on the immediate left of the dealer button and the BB is on the immediate left of the SB. These two positions will be the first to act on every street, except the very first one. The guy on the immediate left of the BB is sitting “under the gun”. He’ll be the first to act in the very first betting round. Positions on the left of the UTG are still considered early positions. Those in middle position will have the advantage over some players, while they’ll have to yield to those acting after them. The latest position is that of the dealer. He’ll be the last to act and thus he’ll enjoy all the advantages offered by position. The cut off is on the immediate right of the button and it too is a relatively good position. It is called the cut off because the player in this position can mess up the button’s blinds stealing tactics.

Here are the advantages offered by position:

• Your opponents will offer you free information on their hands via their betting patterns.
• If you’re in late position, you’ll be able to bluff much more effectively. Just about every advanced maneuver (like 3-betting, Floating etc) is much easier to undertake from late position.
• Value betting is infinitely easier to make from position as well.
• Most importantly: you’ll have control of the pot at all times. This means you’ll be able to keep the pot small if you’re floating along on a drawing hand and you suspect you may be behind, and to inflate it whenever you’re fairly certain you have the best hand at the table.

If you need some more solid proof in regards to the above said than my word, take a look at the hand histories of the durrrr challenge (a 50,000 hand high stakes PLO series between Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan). You’ll see that both players involved incurred the majority of their losses while playing out of position and scored the majority of their wins from position.

Is the recession going to affect WSOP?

With the economic recession seemingly deepening with each month that goes by, many experts predict that the WSOP, which is just around the corner, will probably reflect its effects in some shape or form. After all, the myth of gambling being a recession-proof industry has been shattered as some of Vegas’ once thriving venues keep posting horrendous numbers when it comes to turn over and profit. Yes, the recession has reached the Strip this time around, and casinos and hotels are being forced to cut prices and offer never before heard-of incentives to keep customer flow at acceptable levels. There’s no doubt about it, the gambling industry is hurting. The question here though is whether poker’s in the same boat or not.
As courts around the nation recognize the skill based nature of poker one after the other, and as scientific studies are underway to prove this fact using cold hard data, I think it’s getting outdated to even mention poker and gambling on the same page when it comes to discussing their nature.

Gambling games are all played against the house, and the house would be nuts to offer the player favorable long-term odds. After all, they’re not about to invest serious money into an operation which carries negative EV. In gambling, it is the player who bears the brunt of the EV-. Each and every single casino game carries a so called house edge, which makes sure that the house gets paid on every single bet that the gamblers place. Everyone knows about the house edge, though fewer people know about exactly what the house edge is supposed to achieve.
In most casino games, the house edge is extremely small. It wouldn’t be worth the casino’s while to work with such small profit margins, so there has to be something else they have working for them. The house drop is where the true profit lies in a casino operation. The house edge is like a catalyst: it induces the house drop, which is not only much heftier but much less advertised as well.

As I said, all gamblers know that they’re confronted with adverse odds once they set foot in a casino. This is why people only take their disposable income to the casino tables (except for the problem gamblers, but that’s a different story) in the hopes of getting lucky and cashing in big. What is the first victim of hard economic times though? Peoples’ disposable income of course.
Poker on the other hand, is a game where all players believe they have positive EV. Some of them do indeed have EV+ while the majority of players don’t, but because one is not faced with the house but rather with other privateers, the presence of the EV+ depends solely on one’s skill level. It is for these reasons that people do not play poker on their disposable incomes only (recreational players do, but the majority of players who buy into WSOP events are not such recreational players).
While gambling tends to be a form of entertainment where people don’t really expect to win, poker is the other side of the coin.

According to experts, even if the recession does make its presence felt in certain locations and among certain player demographics, the WSOP is too large an event to be affected in any way. If let’s say the US players base which buys its way directly into the WSOP events sees a dwindling, players from Europe or other internationals will make up for it. Another trend that is more and more obvious these days is the significant increase in WSOP seats offered online. What these online qualifies do is that they make WSOP seats available for players by sharing the expenses. Someone who would never consider coughing up the $10,000 for a direct buy-in, won’t think twice about posting $60 or less on an online qualifier. Because of the enormous publicity that the WSOP enjoys, these online packages will be fought over like never before.

Whether there will be a small decline in WSOP player numbers this year remains to be seen. One thing is quite certain though: the series is not likely to suffer a crippling blow on account of the economic crises now or any time in the future. If it ever gets crippled, it will probably be on account of competition and not because of external factors.

Stop being the sucker at the table

You know what they say: the person who cannot spot the sucker at a poker table within a few minutes’ time is likely to be the sucker himself. I know… it sucks to be the sucker huh? There are a few basic steps you can take though to distance yourself from “suckerdom”. It’s all just basic common sense really, and it all sticks to the first level of poker thought, so it’s not exactly rocket science either.

Play fewer hands to begin with. I know you don’t come to the table to fold hand after hand and I know that every single pocket hand you pick up brings up images of perfect flops that could hit you dead on, but statistically speaking, some pocket hands offer you much better odds to win pots than others. Watching poker on TV is not going to help you at tightening up your starting hand selection at all. Those guys preach that they can win potss on any pocket hand, and playing the player is the real deal not playing the cards like a rookie – which is true too, for the level of play they’re playing at.

In your own case though, there are a few things you need to factor in. Those guys on TV may be playing in the late stages of a high buy-in tournament, where it makes sense to shove all-in on hands you wouldn’t normally shove on in a cash game.
Those guys on TV, they’re like only a few thousand times better players than you are, and they therefore play at a level which is – for the time being – beyond your level of comprehension.
The folks you’re going to play at your $1/$2 max online tables are not exactly on the same level of poker thought as the professionals you see on TV. To beat them, you’ll need different – albeit simpler – strategies.

What all that tells us is that while starting hand selection may shrink to an insignificant detail at some time in a players career, at the level at which you’re currently playing, it’s still a huge part of the equation. Bottom line: learn how to select your starting hands and exercise proper starting hand selection. It will make your later-street decisions a whole lot simpler, and it’ll take a lot of unnecessary stress off your back too.
Don’t underestimate starting hand selection on account of the fact that it’s such a simple concept. It may be a tiny edge, but it doesn’t take that much to catch up with 90-95% of the online poker players out there, and you do not need to be an expert at the game to make money at it.

There are 169 (not considering the suits) possible starting hands in Holdem and out of all these hands, only a handful are playable. As a matter of fact, only 5 of them are considered “premium” hands (you have heard of “premium” hands, haven’t you?). Obviously, the AA, KK, QQ, and JJ are among these premium hands. Add to this the suited A,K and you have the hands which you should pretty much play all the time, that is, when you don’t have a raise and possibly several calls ahead of you. Of course, hands like small pocket pairs, suited connectors and even suited one-gappers are great for cashing in on the implied odds, but they do not qualify as premium starting hands. As you can see, the premium hands are all either made hands or hands which stand excellent odds to improve on the flop.
Keeping an eye on your position at he table is the next not so big step you can take. How you play a starting hand depends a lot on the information you gather from players who act before you. You will only see anyone act before you if you’re in late position though.
Take the 5 “premium” starting hands for instance. If there are no raisers and callers in front of you, you can pretty much play all of them, and a whole bunch of other starting hands too. If there’s a raiser, possibly a re-raiser and several callers, your starting hand immediately plummets in value. Under these conditions, playing anything weaker than pocket rockets or kings can prove to be a mistake.

Being a positional game, Holdem offers a clear advantage to players in late position (in the cut off and the button) over those in early position (under the gun or in one of the blinds). This isn’t rocket science either, but it’s simple concepts like these two discussed in the above post that make the difference between suckers and reasonable players in online poker these days.

Coin flips in tournaments

In poker, the expression coin-flip denotes a situation in which two players go up against each other in a hand in which the odds for victory are approximately 50% for both of them. A classic example of a coin-flip would be the pocket jacks vs A,K match up , where all the money goes in before the flop.

Obviously, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that a coin-flip is not exactly the ideal situation for either party involved. Technical purists may argue that a perfectly 50-50 matchup does actually carry some marginal EV+ in a cash-game where the blinds are fixed however over the long run, it may not be a healthy decision to go hunting for coin-flip situations there either.
If in a cash game you can – at least theoretically – get way with your coin-flips in the long-run, in a tournament the situation is radically different.

In the early and middle stages of a MTT or STT, you should do everything to avoid such coin-flips. Given the fact that in a tourney your stack is much more than a weapon you use to relieve your opponents of as much money as possible, you have to protect it too. The best way to protect your stack is to give up on marginal EV situations, so that you can take advantage of better EV+ later on. Coin flip hands are exactly such marginal situations.
Later on in the tourney though, you will inevitably come face to face with the dreaded coin-flip. As the blinds grow to nearly unmanageable size, sooner or later you’ll find yourself with your back against the wall and you will have to take your chances on coin-flips. Tournament winners generally have to win several such coin-flips to make it all the way to first place. It’s not that they like taking these chances it’s that they are forced to.

When the blinds are that high and the pressure keeps mounting, a coin-flip will actually become one of the most favorable situations for you to shove your stack in.
Can you do anything to better your coin-flip odds? After all, a coin-flip is supposed to be a 50-50 bet, right? You can’t better your odds on the bet itself, but you can better your overall odds by taking advantage of the fold equity.

If you are the player who makes the shove and not the one who makes the call following someone else’s shove, you create the premises for two possible outcomes: intimidated by your move, your opponent folds, or confident in the strength of his own starting hand, he calls. If he calls, you still have a 50% chance to win the pot.

If, on the other hand, you call your opponent’s all-in, you do not have any fold equity. In conclusion: as always, having control on the coin-flip on which you decide to risk your tournament life offers you certain advantages. Pick your spots carefully and make sure you’re the one who makes the shove and not the call.

Another thing you need to pay attention to is the hand range that your opponent is likely to call your all-in on. Coin flip situations can be extremely tricky. A low pocket pair for instance is an excellent coin-flop hand which will in fact enjoy a handy edge over everything other than a bigger pocket pair. If you’re faced with a bigger pocket pair though, you can pretty much forget your coin-flip. Make sure you have a relatively accurate idea about how your opponent plays and more specifically, how he plays his coin-flips if possible.
The biggest challenge about coin flips is to make sure that they are indeed coin-flips. If you think you’re putting your tournament life on the line on a coin-flip and you are getting 20-80 odds, you’re making a huge mistake. Regardless of how bad a shape you’re in, such situations simply do not justify your all-in.
Remember: it’s not up to you to choose whether or not you want to risk your stack on a coin-flip, but it is up to you when you do it and how you do it.

Tony G’s poker school

You can watch poker pros in action all the time on TV, and if you’re patient enough, you can even railbird matches between professional players online. Watching these guys play can be a lesson in itself, however nothing is quite like a professional playing heads-up online and commentating his actions in real time. Now that’s one poker lesson that’s likely to stick with you for the rest of your online career, regardless of how long or short it may turn out to be.
I suppose you all know Tony G. The Lithuanian-born Aussie professional is much more than just a successful and skilled player: he’s a brilliant business mind as well. He is behind some of the most successful online poker websites and as such, he is probably one of the poker personalities who’d deserve an award for doing as much as he did for the promotion of the game of poker.

Every successful poker player has to pay his/her “tuition” as a beginner. In this case, this may not be true. Take a look at the following video:

See and hear Tony G dispensing heads-up online knowledge free of charge. Now, this video is just a segment of a larger piece in which Tony G pretty much covers all aspects of online NL Hold’em Heads-up play.

He begins by detailing why it is important to be aggressive in a heads-up game. By being aggressive, you’ll establish control and you’ll be the one dictating the pace of the action. Tony G sums it all by stating that in heads-up everything comes down to control.
In the video, Tony G constantly pressures his opponent and a as result of that, not many hands go to showdown. The match-up between Guoga and his opponent is like a heavy weight boxing bout, in which Guoga obviously holds an advantage and is constantly on the attack. He keeps probing his opponent’s defenses not to damage him but to get him all-in and to land that knockout blow. The guy he’s facing is skilled enough to avoid these blows, but he’s being worn down in the process as he’s fighting an uphill battle.

Another brief lesson that you’ll learn by watching this video is about starting hand selection and position. In a heads-up game, your starting hand selection should be a loose one, but you should never lose sight of the importance of position. At one point Guoga decides to fold a J,5 on account of being out of position, and immediately after, he plays the same hand because he’s on the button. Starting hand selection should always be dependent on your position.
All through the match, Tony G has control over what’s going on at the table. Obviously, in order to assert control, you need to read your opponent. It doesn’t take Guoga long to figure out the ways of his adversary, and therefore he settles into the driver seat from the get go. There’s no better way to illustrate his authority than through the pocket rockets he milks so nicely. He puts his opponent on a K so he lets him take over the hand and attempt to push him out, all in the name of having the pot stuffed for him. He knows on the flop that he’s going to go all-in in the end, and even though he fails to get the call on the river from his opponent he makes nice money on this one.

Every now and then, you need to make a stand and defend your BB. Guoga points it out that you’re likely to lose money on these hands. He calls his opponent’s preflop raise and he misses the flop, after which he’s forced to fold to his opponent’s pressure. Everybody loses money in the blinds, how much money one loses is where the difference is made though.

Tony G also makes a point of mixing his game up. Sometimes he’ll just call in order to maintain his unpredictability. He does play a 7d,9d (a suited one-gapper) because he feels he can take his opponent’s stack on that hand. Those are the direct implied odds that Tony G is counting on there, unfortunately he misses the flop. Riding the momentum of the game is also important. When the momentum is on your side, you can pull off moves you wouldn’t otherwise attempt.
Take a look at the video and the complete 3-part series if you can: there’s no better way to get inside the head of a successful pro.

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