Poker bankroll management, building and strategy – online poker guide

Poker Bankroll Building on a stake deal

Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building | 5 Comments

I have started a stake deal with my good friend Artur. The deal is that I provide a starting bankroll of 2000$ and when he reaches 5000$ I receive 3000$. I have chosen to see the deal as a bet where I get odds 1.5 on my stake. Since I think the probability of success is more than 67% the EV on my bet is above 1. If you are a gambler you always take bets with an EV over 1

Here are some more details:

• Limits 0,5$/1$
• The project will obviously stop when the bankroll hits 0$
• I cannot pull out of the deal unless the bankroll reaches 5000$
• The daily running stop loss is 300$. This for example means that if the daily profit hits 600$ then Artur has to stop playing if the daily profit drops to 300$
• Rakeback goes back into the bankroll
• I receive weekly updates which I will post here

First week’s update

Key hands, 100$+ pots

• Lost KK vs AJ all in preflop, 189$ pot
• lost 88 vs Q3 on a 43383 board, 100$ pot
• lost A9 vs AQ on a AQ69 board, 200+$ pot
• Lost QJ vs Q9 vs 76 on a K10x board. Turn completed Q9′s flush, 212$ pot
• Lost K5 vs K8 on a K83 flop. Didn’t hit the flush. 221$
• Won 22 vs AJ on a AK2 flop, 120$
• Won 88 vs KK. Flopped trips. 200$ pot
• Won QQ vs J8 on a 8J5x5 board, 200$ pot
• Won AA vs Q9 on a AQ89 board, 200$ pot

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building

Top 10 turn and river moves from Mitchell Cogert’s Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves

Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | Poker Articles, Poker Strategy, Poker Top 10 Lists, Poker Tournament | No Comments

In this series of top 10 lists I have selected top moves from Mitchell Cogert’s “Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves”. I believe these moves have the largest probability of improving your chances of winning low to medium stakes online poker tournaments.

Top 10 lists in this series:

Top 10 preflop moves

Top 10 flop moves

Top 10 turn and river moves

Mitchell Cogert is the author of “Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves.” It is the only reference book to reveal the plays the Pros use to win a poker tournament. These plays are based on reviewing 20 years worth of tournament poker strategies and by actual play against Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, David Pham and other top pros. The book is available on Amazon and rated 5 out of 5 stars by customers. Find out more about Mitchell Cogert by visiting Tournament Poker or his website APokerExpert.

Top 10 turn and river moves

Stack sizes are one of the most important factors to consider when deciding whether or not to make a move on the turn or the river. If the opponent you are up against has a large stack compared to yours and the blinds in general he is more likely to call any bet you make. Similarly, if your opponent has a significantly smaller stack than yours he will most likely be pot committed to call your bets. The best spot for making moves is when both you and your opponent have similar stack sizes that are significantly larger than the current size of the big blind. In my opinion, significantly larger in this context are stack sizes above 20 times the big blind.

• The delayed continuation bet

You raise preflop with two high cards but don’t hit a pair on the flop. By checking the flop behind your opponents you raise suspicion in their minds. They were expecting a standard continuation bet, but instead you checked. Could you be slow playing a monster hand? When a harmless turn card hits you are now in a great position to steal the pot.

• The Action-Inducing bet

If you hit the nuts or another great hand on the turn then making a small bet compared to the size of the pot will give your opponents the impression that you are weak. This will sometimes lure them into making a large re raise or even pushing all in.

• The blocking bet

The blocking bet can be used on the turn as well as on the flop. I already mentioned the blocking bet in my previous list of top 10 flop moves. Here’s what I wrote:

Say you called a preflop raiser out of position with a drawing hand such as 89 suited. The flop comes A J 7 with one card in your suit. You have an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush opportunity. By making a small blocking bet as the first to act on the flop, you aim to slow down your opponent and either get a cheap turn card or if you’re lucky make your opponent fold. If he raised preflop with pocket 10’s, pocket Q’s or even pocket K’s, he might interpret your blocking bet as if you have hit your Ace and aim to suck some chips out of him. Your defensive blocking bet has a better chance of succeeding if your opponents have seen you make the same size bet earlier when you have hit a big hand.

When you make a blocking bet on the turn you are aiming to slow down your opponent and see a cheap river card. Sometimes you get lucky and your blocking bet wins you the pot.

• Firing the Second Barrel

Don’t be afraid to bet again on the turn as the preflop raiser if your opponent called your flop bet. He might be on a draw, have a middle pair or he might be floating and hoping to steal the pot if you show weakness on the turn. Be wary  of firing the second barrel if a scare card such as a flush card or a straight card hits.

• Bet when opponents are weak

If your opponents have checked the flop and check to you on the turn as well they are most likely weak. Bet to pick up the pot.

• Bet when a scare card appears

If a scare card hits on the turn you can use it to your advantage to steal the pot by betting or re-raising your opponent. Depending on the texture of the flop, any Ace, King, straight or flush card may be a card you can use to win the pot. I would only use this move if you are up against one opponent. Betting when a scare card hits requires both skill and courage. Skill, because you need to be able to put your opponent on a hand range in order to determine what cards might be scare cards. Courage, because you are representing a strong hand which you do not have and if you misread the situation you could look like a fool.

• The naked Ace bluff

If you hold an Ace in the same suit as a suited board you can use this information to represent the nut flush. You can do this by checking the flop and raising any bet on the turn. Since no one else has the Ace they will have a hard time calling with top pair or a lower flush. If they do call you still have outs to win the hand.

• When you hold a pair and get raised on the turn think fold

Usually players will not raise a bet on the turn if they cannot beat top pair (unless of course they are betting due to a scare card hitting). If you have top pair, your flop bet has been called and your turn bet is raised you are most likely either beat or have run into an opponent with big cojones. Remember that a good fold is a good thing. However, if you suspect you have been outplayed make a note about your opponent and pay attention to his future betting patterns.

• When folding is clearly the right play

Don’t fall in love with big pairs. If you raise preflop, get three callers and they all call your bet on the flop alarm bells should be ringing inside your head. If a scare card hits on the turn you can be sure that one of your three opponents hit his draw.

• The River value bet

Poker in a nutshell is to get your opponents to call you with worse hands and fold with better hands. Keep this in mind when deciding what bet size to use on the river. If you are convinced you are ahead choose a bet size which you feel confident your opponent will call. If you are not sure you are ahead go for a small blocking/value bet.

• Getting paid off on the river

When you have the nuts on the river do not expect that a small bet is more likely to be called than a larger bet. Your opponents will be expecting you to make a small bet if you have the nuts. Instead try making a big bet or moving all in. To some opponents this will signal that you are trying to steal the pot     and make them call your bet if they have a piece of the board.
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Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Strategy, Poker Top 10 Lists, Poker Tournament

The PokerBRB monthly poker freeroll and tournament league competition draws to an end.

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | Poker Freeroll, Poker News | No Comments

October has been a great month for our poker freeroll and tournament league with a 100%+ increase in membership numbers. We now have 143 members who in total have won 238$ in prize money.

It is still possible to make our leaderboard and earn a ticket to our two 125$ monthly finals at Poker Nordica and Power Poker. We have two buyin tournaments left this week, namely the 6$ buyin 18GT 2000$ guaranteed tournament on Power Poker the 21st of October and the 2$ buyin 19 GMT tournament on Poker Nordica the 22nd of October.

We look forward to seeing you at the tables in November’s PokerBRB monthly poker freeroll and tournament league competition at which time we will also have made some cool changes to the PokerBRB site.

Tags: Poker Freeroll, Poker News

WOSB.com launch Betting Tips in German and English

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | Poker News, Sports and Fantasy betting | No Comments

Today WOSB.com has launched Betting Tips in Danish and English, take a look here:

German website – Fussball Wetten Tipps
Danish website – Tips Spil

The two new pages will be pretty similar to the English WOSB.com Betting Tips, but might take different paths in the near future.

In addition to the 2 new pages each preview has been improved with WOSB betting tips for each match, added external betting tips and injury information for the major leagues.

Tags: Poker News, Sports and Fantasy betting

What are the best poker sunglasses?

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Poker Articles, Poker Tools | 7 Comments

Submitted by James, this article belongs to the Poker Tools series.

Wearing sunglasses at the poker table continues to be the fastest growing trend in the game.  Walk into any casino poker room in Las Vegas, or any local bar with a free poker game, and you will see 30-40% of the players wearing their favorite sunglasses while playing.  Some players wear them to hide their own eyes.  Others wear them to have that “intimidation factor” when they are staring down their opponent.  WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer wears his trademark “dinosaur eyes” glasses because it simply is distracting to have those ugly things looking right at you.

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I know from my regular play that most amateur players will immediately glance at their chip stack after seeing a big hand when they look at their cards, so hiding their eyes can immediately solve this habit.  Besides that simple tell, glasses can also hide blinking patterns, the wide-eyed look of surprise when you see A-A, and numerous other things other players can see by watching you.
With this in mind, I decided to test out several different brands of glasses to see which actually help my game, and which ones hurt it.  The differences were incredible.

I judged the glasses on seven factors:
-    Price  (and what I would really pay for these)
-    Style
-    Quality
-    Selection
-    Visibility of my eyes
-    Visibility of the hole cards
-    Visibility of the rest of the table

I then selected three of the more popular brands from the internet, along with a couple of pair of average sunglasses that you can buy in any WalMart or Target.  We can call this last category simply “Cheapo’s”.

The three that I compared are:
Royal Poker Eyewear
Poker Armor
Blue Shark Optics

One of the first factors that stand out is price.  I tried glasses ranging from $9.99 from Target to $169 from Blue Shark Optics.  Being a firm believer that price doe’s not always equal quality, I knew I was going to have fun with the comparisons.

To begin with, in the interest of brevity, I am immediately going to throw out the cheapo’s from the discount stores.  They are fine for wearing at the beach, or while driving, but they have absolutely no place at the poker table.  These sunglasses are designed to reduce light, and most poker rooms are already dark.  The average player, wearing the average cheap pair of sunglasses, regularly misreads suits, and mistakes the 4 for an Ace.  A recipe for disaster when there is money on the line.

Now that we’ve established that poker eye wear must be designed for poker play, I began the true comparison.  I had three sun glass wearing friends order a product from each company, and wear them while playing poker for a week.  They then switched glasses for another week, and switched one more time for the final week.  The final reviews and recommendations from each participant were consistent and unanimous.
Royal Eye wear has received some publicity as the eye wear worn and recommended by David “Devilfish” Ulliot.  At $79.00, their glasses came in at the mid range of price.  They make only one model, which is a narrow wrap around frame.  Their lenses are coated with an anti-reflective film, and work well in low light.

Our reviewers all had the same criticism of the Royal Eye wear though.
1.     Lack of choice in frame styles.   Every face is different, and different players prefer different styles.  Royal’s decision to limit their offering to one style certainly reduces costs, but provides no user choices.

2.    Lack of quality in the one frame style they do offer.  The frame is a molded plastic with no enhancements, other than the company logo on the temple.  A simple padding around the nose would have gone a long way to increase the comfort also.

3.    While the lenses do increase the light to the user, this increase comes with one huge setback:  The wearer’s eyes can be clearly seen by the other players.  Royal Eye wear advertises that their lens coating provides 98% shielding of your eyes, but this turned out to be in the amount of the eye the frame covers, and not the actual visibility of the eye itself from across the table.

To be perfectly honest, I do not rate these glasses any higher than the cheap glasses you can get from Target or WalMart, and Royal charges $79.

Poker Armor eye wear received somewhat higher grades, simply because they had more choices, and a cheaper price.  With three frame styles, all at $58.00, their appeal could certainly be understood.  However of the three styles they offer, only one (The Secret Agent) was even deemed wearable by the reviewers.  The other two were rejected by the reviewers before the order was placed.
This being said, the quality simply wasn’t there to support a $58 price tag.
As with Royal Eye wear, the reviewers all had one high mark of praise, and some consistent complaints about the Secret Agent.  The praise was in simple comfort.  The Secret Agent is a lightweight frame that is comfortable to wear for long periods of time.  Beyond that though, our review panel of all three gave a thumbs down to the product based on one resounding reason:  They simply didn’t protect the eyes from view.  The lens was too small, and did not extend to the sides of the eyes.  And quite honestly, you can see right through them from across the table.  The light enhancement was decent enough, but not enough to warrant recommending the glasses.

Lastly, we took a look at Blue Shark Optics.  One of the first things you notice when you visit their website is the choices.  At this time, Blue Shark is offering eight different styles to choose from.  Two of these are being phased out, but the remaining six are in a variety of stylish frames that are sure to satisfy the needs of any customer.

The lens on the Blue Shark glasses all have what the company calls Crystalion-3 coating.  This coating not only increased light to the user, but was virtually impenetrable from the outside.  You simply could not detect eye movement when looking at the wearer.  Our reviewer’s chose the Viper Shark, simply to be somewhat consistent in comparing the glasses, as this was the closest style to match the two from the other companies.  While we based our review off of the Viper Shark, the true poker enthusiast would probably be more interested in the MP3 Tiger Shark.  1GB of storage built into the frame, with ear buds perfect placed to allow any player to sit for up to 5 hours jamming to their favorite tunes without the wires associates with an iPod.
And if you don’t like the frames offered by Blue Shark, you can even send in a frame you do like and they will custom fit a lens (prescription or not) for those frames.

Another strong selling point of the Blue Shark brand is the availability of prescription eye wear.  Simply fill out the order form, and provide a copy of your current eye wear prescription, and the company will make a pair of medical quality sunglasses for any user.  I personally wear bifocals, and I have long been relegated to either my normal prescription sunglasses, cheap clip-ons, or having a poker film applied to my glasses.  It is nice to see at least one poker eye wear company understand the needs of their customers and provide this service.

While the Blue Shark Optics prices were higher than the rest, the quality and effectiveness of their product certainly warranted the price difference. Their frames are made of high quality acetate and not cheap plastic.  Starting at $129 ($169 for the MP3 Tiger Shark), the Blue Shark product should be seen as an investment rather than an expense.  These glasses can not only be worn at the poker table, but are perfect for night driving, as well as to reduce eyestrain for computer users.  Sure, you might look silly wearing sunglasses while multi-tabling at Full Tilt, but your eyes will thank you for thinking of them.
Blue Shark even offers free shipping and a money back guarantee.  And professional players like John “The Razor”  Phan, Young Phan and Kathy Liebert are winning while wearing them, which is more than can be said for the other brands.

So in the end, the three reviewers were all unanimous in their choice of Blue Shark Optics as their preference.  The slight increase in cost was more than offset by the comfort, quality, and multi-functionality of the product. The bottom line is that Blue Shark Optics deliver what they promise, with a lens that, unlike the others, completely hides the eyes.  And in the end, as we were comparing them for poker play, the others weren’t even close.  So when you are ready to step up your game, I highly recommend you do so in Blue Shark Optics eye wear.  Professional poker players across the spectrum have made them their personal choice, and I believe that you should too.

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Now I know this is coming across like a commercial for Blue Shark Optics, but I want to make it clear that we conducted a comparison with real players, in real money games.  The players weren’t told which brand they should choose, but they all chose Blue Shark Optics anyway.  Since I have long felt that Blue Shark Optics were the best on the market, I was very happy to see the three players make the same decision while wearing them under real tournament conditions.

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