For a year or two, I’ve been playing poker. Well, I love playing online. In quite a short span of time, I was able to familiarize myself about position and odds.

Just recently, I introduced some of my friends to poker and as of now we are planning to be into regular events. But there’s a problem. All of them seriously want to call stations, my style which basically works online won’t be effective.

Say in middle position I had ace queen and then for four times the BB I raised. Four callers appeared. To be honest, I knew then that I should tighten up and wait for premium hands however my premium seemed not so strong when the field just can’t be narrowed to one opponent. Any thoughts?

Your help will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Reilly
Reilly,

When you are against calling stations, you need to push your advantages. There are times that they will draw out against you, but the other times you will just punish them for extra bets.

You can also try and play small ball poker where you see a lot of cheap flops with them and when you connect strong with the flop, punish them with extra bets.

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Just recently, I was in a one-table tourney online. Luckily, I made it to the final three players. If I remember it right, one of the two others was tight. I was a little looser then because I was the short stack. I believe the other one of the two was a tight aggressive; as he actually thought also.

With marginal hands, I took a few pots from him at some point. Eventually, I became the chip leader which caused him to drive nuts. Player A then folded, he was on the button. I then called the big blind 400 with K 8 off suit. Player C was next and raised to 800. I was in for 400 so I didn’t mind seeing the flop for another 400.

Finally, flop came and brought 989. I then placed 1,000 bet while player C went all in. I then called him. Later, he flipped A Q off suit over. Turn and river came however both of no help at all so I just took him out. He then went nuts and called me a fish and so on.

Now, in such situation, was calling his preflop raise just right? Another thing, in a tourney situation, do you have to play differently than you would more or less play in a regular event? Any thoughts?

Habin
Habin,

You do have to play differently in a tournament situation than you do in a cash game. When you are down to three players, it is right to call down with weaker hands. His main mistake was not raising enough. If he raised to say 1,500, I don’t see you staying in. I don’t know how much he had, but it may have been right to call for pot odds.

You weren’t a fish. He is just a weak player.

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I am now into sit and go tournaments online and I badly want to win. Do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Quinonez
Quinonez,

In the early part of the tournament, play a solid, tight aggressive style. In the middle part to the bubble, you will want to steal more blinds in position and try and see flops cheap if you can. If you are short stacked, find a hand to make a stand with to try and double up. Once you have made the money, now is the time to try and go for the win. Push your big hands, and open up your holdings to try and pick up more pots. Play small pot poker preflop and push your hands when you flop strong.

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I don’t like table tournaments so I tried $25 PL online. I’ve been playing such kind for some time now.

In one of the events I was in, I lost because of a certain hand. There were actually five players in back then. I had $64 and was considered the largest stack. At certain point, I got 10 10. Then I raised to $2.75 by which was the pot amount. Other four players called. Flop came and brought 10d Qc Kc. Player into me placed a $2 bet while I raised to $5. Player next to me also raised but at such point it was $10. Other two players followed and went all in for the money left to them, approximately $15. For $25, original bettor then went all in. Later, I followed my instincts saying I have to call. I wasn’t able to get the boat as well as any club. Player next to me had AJ.

In your opinion, did I make the right play? Or if not, I should have laid it down?

Well, fortunately, I got AA on next hand while the player who won the big pot had KK. For $28, both of us re-raise till I’m all in. Luckily I was able to somehow get back what I lost earlier.

Since I’m here, I’ll just grab the chance to ask this. Well, it’s something about the argument that me and my friend had just recently. He said that the 2004 WSOP is not over and that Greg Raymer and his $5 million win was only a preliminary. Is this true? And according to another guy I fairly know, it was the Vogel guy who won it.

Personally, I believe that the event lasted 6-7 days and actually started with preliminary tournaments. Those who won got a bracelet and go on to play. It just continued till the winner was determined. Please, I need clarity on this.

Thanks!

Regards,
Zaccano
Zaccano,

You flopped a set. There was a lot of action involved which meant that you might be behind. Of course, there is a good chance that you had the best hand. With so much money in the pot, you pretty much had to call here.

The 2004 WSOP concluded when Greg Raymer won the Main Event when he defeated David Williams. The World Series of Poker is a set of over 50 tournaments. Each award a bracelet. The events before the Main Event are preliminary events. The winners of the event does not automatically qualify for the Main Event. The players that play the Main Event must put up $10,000 each to play. The Main Event is spread out over around the course of nearly two weeks now. The entire WSOP lasts over 6 weeks.

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I’ve just started playing online limit holdem. Occasionally, I play low limit tournaments with $5-$10 buy-in.

I’ve always been a keen observer. Well, there was one thing that really bothered me for some time, many players always call terrible pre-flop hands and then go on calling bets as well as raises. Well, I strongly believe that such kind of play won’t ever be beneficial, however somebody will always have something on the turn or if not on the river.

Do you think playing NL holdem tournaments will be the answer? Will this eliminate such kind of players or I’ll just hope when I’m already in higher limits? What do you think?

Thanks!

Phillips
Phillips,

It depends on the hands. Limit Holdem is different than No-Limit Holdem. Some hands that are considered bad hands in NL become playable in Limit depending on position, number of players in the hand, etc.

Playing NL will help some, but I would recommend educating yourself on Limit Holdem. Howard Lederer has a fantastic Limit Holdem DVD and Ed Miller has a book on Small Stakes Holdem. I would get one or the other and read up on the game.

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For months now, I’ve been fond of playing poker. Same case as with my husband actually. We always watch TV Hold Em, play online and home NL tournaments NL Holdem. However, though we regularly play, we still don’t know all the rules. Well, we know more than the basics of the game however we just most of the time depend on those who we consider “regulars” to make calls.

This weekend, we’ll be having our first ever poker party but we are now troubled as we don’t know as maybe we’ll mess up and the like. We have invited players who don’t have any idea about the game. Our purpose of this is to try introduce them to the the game itself and then have fun. Buy in will be $20 and for sure there will be no more, no re-buys.

As of the moment, few days before the party, I’m still clueless if what are the types of Holdem games and if there’s any big difference between types. Any idea?

Thanks!

Warm regards,
Han
Han,

There are three types of Holdem, Limit Holdem, Pot Limit Holdem, and No Limit Holdem. The rules are the same for each except for betting. No Limit of course you can bet up to the max you have in your stack at any time. In Pot Limit Holdem, the most you can bet at any time is the size of the pot. In Limit, the betting is in fixed amounts and you are limited to the number of times that you may raise.

Most players will want to play a No-Limit Holdem tournament. There is a great article about running your own home tournament that can be found at http://casinogambling.about.com/od/poker/a/homepoker.htm and http://casinogambling.about.com/od/poker/a/homepoker_2.htm. I would read that article to give you some insight.

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I’m here as I want to ask something. I have a problem now as when I play tournaments online I oftentimes finish in the top 20% to 30% however when antes and blinds move up I end up going all in on nonsense cards and with almost no money. Well, in the small tournaments, I might be able to have my entry fee back to me.

I’m wondering if there’s anything I need to do. Please consider my stats. Any thoughts?

I hope to hear from you in no time.

Thank you very much!

Gilberg
Gilberg,

You probably are playing very tights and the blinds an antes catch up to you. Think about expanding your holdings in late position or seeing more cheap flops to try and catch lucky. Also, try and take advantage of other players that may be playing too tight.

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I’m not really serious about playing poker or even being a pro. I play just during my pastime. Well, I love playing online. As a player, I’m a tight type and if I don’t have good hands like ak, aq pocket pairs etc, I don’t get involved. In early stages, I play loosely. I then try to always see cheap flops when the blinds are small and a lot of callers are in. However, when the blinds start to increase, I also begin tightening a bit. Do you think this makes sense and actually a good strategy? Usually, I can have many in-the-money finishes however not oftentimes on the top 3. Also, when I get to the final stages, my stacks are really small. And to collect more money, I also just fold most of the time when everything is about to end.

I’m now confuse as to how to play as the blinds go up. Any idea? And another thing, with a medium pocket pair say a pair of sevens, is it good to raise? Or else just limp in and then have a set instead? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Mitchelle
Mitchelle,

You have it backwards. You need to play tight early on and then loosen up the later you get in the tournament. Tightening up and letting yourself be blinded off is why you are making the money as a short stack.

As far a medium pair, if you are in late position, you can raise. Otherwise, limp in and try to hit a set on the flop.

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For about a month now, I’ve been playing no-limit holdem. Most of the time I play online. Because I want to improve my skills, I started reading some books and articles from some websites just recently. Well, there’s one thing I notice, almost everything talks about assessing your opponent’s style of play.

I’ve tried to be observant then and started using some of the things I learned to my own advantage. In one of the tournaments I was in, I’ve caught somebody bluffing for a good pot. I’ve also tried to keep written records of the number of flops others saw, pre-flop raises and any bluffs or slow plays I picked up on, however I’m not yet sure if it brought really good results.

Now, I want to ask if what kind of moves by an opponent should I consider the most important. Any idea? And what sort of information should I be recording to effectively evaluate my opponent’s style of play?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Bailey
Bailey,

The most important thing to watch is their betting pattern. How do they bet their hands when they show strong hands? How do they bet when they bluff? Does the amount change depending on the hand? Do they have any mannerisms that give off the strength of their hand? Also, how does this change when they are in position or not? Figuring out their betting pattern is the quickest way to classify an opponent in most cases, especially online.

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I’ve been playing $5-$30 buy-in tournaments online for some time now. I believe I’ve done quite well however these past days, I’ve been facing few troubles when the table gets down to four players and I am on the small stack or on the middle. I was surprised to know that even loose games turn extremely tight when four players are left as the first or top three are up for the money and all.

I’ve stumbled on your site the other day and discovered that you have to play face cards a bit stronger than usual in the event the table gets down to four. However, I find it hard to resist all-in draws.

I tried to be extremely tight however I was just blinded out or compelled to bid specially that I’m not high stack. But despite of this, I still believe that being tight and having tight play still work however, the big stack should push the action or the like. What do you think?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Raineri
Raineri,

Play at the bubble can be tricky when you are the short stack. If you are short but are still in good shape relative to the blinds and ante’s, then play your solid style. If you are in trouble in relation to the blinds, you need to pick a hand and move. Pairs, A-K, A-Q, A-J, and even K-Q or K-J are very strong four handed. If you get to a flop and have a big draw of at least 9 cards or more, it is not a bad move to go all in, especially if you have pot odds.

If you have a big stack, you should push the action, and usually with the short stack. When you play a hand as the short stack, play it aggressively. Sometimes aggression will pick up the pot.

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