Short and to the Point

Want to know one of the biggest keys to success in online tournament poker?

Avoid playing out of position as much as you can. It really can't be stressed enough.

AJo and AJs UTG and UTG+1 is a fold.

KTo and KTs in the SB and BB is a fold.

It goes on and on. Tournament poker is about developing an overall strategy and then trying to hone your skills within that strategy whether it be small ball, Kill Phil style, or something in between.

But playing pots in position is paramount to success in any given style and there really is no argument against that.

Ding Ding Ding!

"I don't think poker takes that much inteligence - that's something poker players tell themselves - but it does take a specialized skills that some people will never acquire or always have problems implementing."

-V, posted on http://raiseorfold.cardgrrl.com/

I'd say this is mostly accurate and seldom said.

The fact that he/she misspells intelligence and mixes up the singular/plural of 'skills' may add additional credence to this. I say this tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek, of course.

The actual poker math required at the table is 8th grade algebra and even then there are little shortcuts you can take.

Of all the poker math geniuses out there (Paul Magriel, David Sklansky and Chris Ferguson come to mind immediately) there are an equal number of players who play "by feel" or admit they don't know the math behind the game (Chad Batista, Puggy Pearson, Phil Ivey).

I could have done extensive research to make a balanced list of names but much like the Men At Work song, it's just Overkill.

Poker is more about picking up the tells and betting patterns of your opponents coupled with preventing them from picking up on yours than it is about knowing the exact odds on every street. Knowing the math won't do you much good if you can't make a bet that entices your opponents to call - see David Sklansky as an example of this.

However, you should at least know how much of a chance you stand if called even if it's just broken down into the terms "not bad", "good", or "none."

Minor Adjustments

I'm not playing much poker anymore, but that doesn't mean you need to scale back!

And if that first line didn't sound like an infomercial then I don't know what does.

A blog entry I recently read alluded to its author tweaking her cash game mechanics ever-so-slightly leading to staggering results. I like to call this coincidence. Often times unless you're making severe blunders on a regular basis, no single adjustment or two will lead to a cash windfall on a short-term basis.

However, there are a few things you can do which will in fact lead to nice savings in the long run.

Quick aside: I hate the phrase "in the long run" because of poker. I also can't hear the word "sick" used in any context without cringing a little.

I digress. Here are a couple adjustments you can make as ways to save money in cash games.

• Fold in the blinds more frequently. I know it's tempting to play 22, 33, and hands like 56o or 45s from the blinds but the odds are stacked against you. Not only do you need to flop a made hand or flop a big draw, but you need your opponent to come along for the ride when you're playing the hand entirely out of position.
• Overcall less frequently. I see this happen way more than it should. Let's say there's a raise and a call up front and you flat on the button with 78s. If the flop makes you bottom or middle pair and the action in front is bet/call, I think you should fold. I look at it this way - one of them has you beat, and if you take the lead on the turn you're not guaranteed to be paid off by a good player so you're chasing with low expectation.
• Raise the flop more frequently. Having played a lot of 1/2 NL and 2/4 NL a lot of times I'll see the original raiser call the flop, turn, and river with top pair or slightly worse only to be beaten by a monster. Sound familiar? A lot of times you can get away more cheaply by raising the flop. If your villain re-raises or flats, you should have developed enough of a read on him/her to know what this could mean so it won't take two more streets of action to know you're beaten.

It sounds like I'm advocating a fairly tight/conservative game, and I suppose I am. But if poker wisdom tells you to profit by doing the opposite of everyone else, and all these poker training sites and books are preaching endless aggression isn't it worth a shot?

I've noticed that these players are so busy focusing on being aggressive that they failed to notice I only showed up with the goods at showdown. And if they do take notice? Well then, that's when you finally work some bluffs into your game.

Next Time I'll Take a Screen Shot

I was playing a few tables of 3/6 LHE this morning which is always a very juicy game. At a 6 handed table you will usually find nothing but loose/weak European or Russian players. There are a few players whose game I have respect for but I have detailed notes on how they play their hands.

Then you have one other type of player who will be there some times and when he is, the game is great. This player is the drunk/tired west coast player who has been up all night. Usually I only see this on Saturday or Sunday mornings but today there was a player from New Mexico who might be the worst player I've ever seen at a 3/6 online table.

He had a stack of about $470 and was 3-betting every hand pre-flop, calling raises and re-raises cold, and showing down with bottom pair and ace high. Of course this means he was getting paid off on every big hand and he was running like Usain Bolt.

Then the following hand took place.

UTG he raises as he'd been doing every hand. Everyone calls behind and on the Button I 3-bet with JsTs because it has great value there. Both blinds fold and everyone else just calls.

The flop is 7s 8s 9h.

Southwestern Psycho leads, UTG+2 raises, folded to me and I 3-bet. SwP caps and we both call.

The turn is Ad and the same action takes place - lead, raise, 3-bet, cap, call, call.

The river is Kd and this time it goes check, check, bet by me, call, call.

SwP had a set of nines and UTG+2 had As6s. Pretty big pot for a 3-6 game. After it was done is when the fun started in the chat box.

Him: F.ucking donkeys
Him: JT nice play fish
Him: No wonder u dont have a real stack

First, el oh el at him thinking stack size matters in a limit game. Second, I usually don't ever do something like this but it was time for me to go to work anyway. I sat out and clicked on the dealer to add more chips, then made my stack at the table $15,999. Then I sat back in.

Me: Sorry, is this better?

He left on the next hand, and so did I.

Soft Game Alert and Bodog Nostalgia

This is probably old news to some.

The 2/4 and 3/6 limit hold em games on the Cake network are softer than all other poker sites. Not only is the percentage of flops seen greater on this network, but your opponents also call down with Ace high or weak hands at a far greater ratio than other sites I have played - Full Tilt, Poker Stars, and Bodog.

Note: My own Bodog experiences are about 8 months old at this point, but some of my online poker playing friends have commented that the traffic is terrible and the site is no longer worthy of any consideration due to this and their increased tournament fees/decreased guaranteed prize pools.

That's a real shame. Bodog used to be the site for all your donkey needs. In 2006 and 2007 I made a killing at 2/3 NL and 2/4 NL. I still see some of the same players kicking around at these same stakes, but for the most part the well has run dry.

Back to the Cake network.

I highly recommend the LHE games there. I haven't played 5/10 or 10/20 yet so I cannot speak to those, but I observed a 5/10 game for a bit and it played aggressively with most pots being 3-bet pre-flop so proceed with caution if you are rockish by nature.

The tournaments also have good value. The $20,000 Guaranteed is soft. My girlfriend and I decided to team up so she could ask me questions about strategy and hand selection and I think we took 13th place even though I haven't been thinking about poker lately.

The only catch to re-buy tournaments on the Cake network is the fact that no one seems to play it like a re-buy. In other words, what you'll find is that everyone takes the immediate re-buy to get to 3,000 chips and then it's played like a freezeout. This can be advantageous, though. If you decide to gamble for a stack, the other players will usually assume this is your normal playing style and you'll get paid off every time after the break.

Either that, or I really am a maniac and haven't figure it out yet.

All Done

This blog will probably live on in one form or another, but I picked a weird point in my poker life to start it.

I've scaled way down in terms of both playing time and stakes when it comes to poker, and it's due to no other reason than pure boredom. While I never reached the status of being a 25/50 reg, I managed to pretty well for myself over the past few years and it's clearly time to move on to something else.

At the end of the day it's just money and I get no enjoyment out of it except for the odd Sunday major where I manage to make a deep run.

But the fact is I have lost the will to play because I'd much rather take those hours each day and spend them with my girlfriend as we continue to build up our apartment, explore the city, and try new things together.

I've always been socially introverted, cynical, and a creature of habit. She forces me to step out of my comfort zone and try different things. In a span of 8 months she's managed to change years and years worth of stubborness and reticence. And stubborn as I might be, she knows how much she's done and how much I appreciate all of it.

It would feel like an insult to her hard work and love if I wasted my time sitting at a PC every night, frittering my time away just to grind out a modest profit.

This isn't me standing on a soap box and telling other players to give it up - far from it. But I think at some point in our lives we all luck into or create a good opportunity for long-term happiness and have this decision to make.

Faced with the choice between this beautiful, funny, and smart girl who loves me unconditionally or a card game played over a computer, there isn't a choice at all.

A, each morning I wake up and tell myself to always deserve you.

And if anyone comes looking for me to play in a home game - sorry, can't. I had to see about a girl.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I have really scaled back the amount of online poker I play for a couple reasons:

1. I also sports bet and am producing far greater profits there, which in turn requires a lot of my free time researching trends and tracking line movements, but the bigger reason is
2. Online poker has really dried up.

It was only a matter of time, really. I admire the business sense of people like Taylor Caby, Johnny Bax, Phil Galfond and other people who run poker training sites - but the reality is they've killed the game.

You'll notice how the majority of the people who run these training sites barely play the game anymore. They're more content to stake others and reap the profits of a site that has no overhead costs. Galfond is the only exception and he plays nosebleed PLO. Caby is all but retired, Townshend is a multi-accounting cheat, and Bax and Sheets either don't play much anymore or they play and fail to put up strong results.

A few years ago you could play $200 NL and $400 NL and crush it against donks would would stack off with top pair, weak kicker or worse.

Now it's to the point where it's borderline unprofitable to set mine because even as low as $100 NL you're finding players capable of laying down pretty good hands - not too mention everybody now knows about 3-betting light and the value of semi-bluffing hands.

I'll still play online tournaments because I have a 90% ROI on the site I choose to play at, but the value of cash games has taken a turn for the worse. There is a mathematically correct to play your hands in most situations and the more people who learn this, the less money can be won. Now it's just a game of set over set hands or Aces versus Kings AIPF. Yawn. I'll find another hobby, thanks.

If you choose to play cash games, make Pot Limit Omaha your game of choice. There is still plenty of dead money out there, but make sure you're properly bankrolled and can handle horrid swings because you will rarely get it all in the middle being more than a 55% favorite in any given hand.

Our only hope is that poker gets regulated in the United States and brings in an influx of bad players who were too scared to make accounts when it was all being run offshore, but maybe that's just a pipe dream for the mid-stakes grinder. My advice? Keep ahead of the curve.