Archive for the ‘Online Poker’ Category

How Long should you Play Poker?

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

One of the biggest mistakes that many online poker players make is extending a session too long. For example, if you start to lose concentration after two hours of playing and you keep going, you’ve played too much online poker.

Now you may be wondering why somebody would keep playing when they’re no longer focusing on the game. And the answer is that many players don’t even think anything about it when they’ve been on the poker tables too long. In essence, it becomes somewhat of blur, kind of like when you’re playing a video game for hours.

The downside of extending online poker sessions past when you can reasonably concentrate is that you stop focusing on opponents’ tendencies. Furthermore, you begin making small mistakes such as calling when you shouldn’t or playing marginal hands past the flop. So basically, playing poker for lengthy hours decreases your profitability with the game.

This being the case, it’s crucial that you both know your limits for playing, and stick to this limit. The only way to truly find out how long you can play poker is to go until you feel yourself losing concentration. For instance, if you fall into a lull after two hours, this should be your limit for the time being.

Interestingly enough, most poker players can extend the amount of time they’re able to play eventually. A large part of this is just getting better at the game, and having the correct moves become automatic responses. As you become more comfortable with playing longer online poker sessions, a good way to increase your interest is by multi-tabling. By managing two tables or more, you increase the challenge, which in turns keeps you more focused on the game. Just make sure you’re a winning player before you start multi-tabling!

 

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Micro Stakes Differences

Friday, January 20th, 2012

The term “micro stakes” collectively lumps together limits ranging from $0.01/$0.02 to $0.25/$0.50, which often makes the poker strategy run together as well. However, it’s important to understand that there are several noticeable differences as you move from the lower end of the micro stakes cash games to the $0.25/$0.50 end – especially when it comes to No Limit Hold’em.

First off, in $0.01/$0.02 (2NL) games, players don’t value the money nearly as much because the buy-in is normally $2.00 at the most. So if you bust your entire stack twice in an hour, you’ve only lost a total of $4.00. This being the case, people are loose with both their money and play because there’s little consequence to losing. So you need to watch out for both players that are willing to call big raises (relative to big blinds ratio), and those who are frequently willing to go all-in with top or middle pair.

To address the first issue, where players call lots of raises just to see the flop, you can’t follow the standard preflop raising rules for high stakes players to protect premium hands. Instead, you often need to bet 8x the big blind or more to isolate one player after the flop with AA through JJ to keep the advantage.

Now this will also depend on the table and how everybody’s playing, but just be aware that raising 3xbb in a $0.01/$0.02 game isn’t going to ward off too many callers. Furthermore, if three or four people call your preflop raise while you’re holding aces, you may need to hit a set just to win the hand.

Moving to the second aforementioned point, which involves players going all-in with top pairs and second pairs, this is another edge that you can exploit. To find the players who are willing to go all-in with pairs on dangerous boards where you could be holding the nuts, you need to identify each player’s range.

For instance, some players may be willing to shove a full cash game buy-in from early position with Q-J(o) on a board of A-Q-9. Here the player could easily be beaten by an ace, yet they’re willing to go all-in with little information on anybody else’s hand. If you see players who’ve made plays like this before, you can be a lot more confident calling with a top pair or two pair in these scenarios.

As you move up towards the end of the micro stakes realm where 50NL games lie, be aware that players are less likely to call huge preflop raises just to see the flop with something like Q-T(o). Also, you aren’t going to see as many people shove when they’re holding top pair on dangerous boards, or middle pair on any board. Simply put, you’re going to need to play better poker, know more poker strategy, and do a lot of extra thinking in these games.

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Randy “Nanonoko” Lew World Record – Impressive or Not?

Monday, January 9th, 2012

Yesterday, Randy “Nanonoko” Lew set the Guinness World Record for most online poker hands played in eight hours. He ended up playing 23,493 hands in eight hours, and made a $7.65 profit when everything was said and done. Based purely on the fact that Lew was playing 2,936 hands per hour, you’d have to say that this is a very impressive record.

Interestingly enough, there are still people in the poker community (mainly the TwoPlusTwo forum) ripping on Nanonoko’s record, and saying that it’s not impressive at all. Their main gripe is that he only beat the old record for most online poker hands played by a single hand. Furthermore, they think that his $7.65 profit isn’t anything to brag about either.

But one point worth making here is that this record wasn’t about how much money Lew could make in the eight-hour span; instead, it was only about how many poker hands he could play in the allotted amount of time. And you also have to factor in that Lew was sometimes playing up to 40 tables simultaneously, which is something few people in the world could do profitably at any level.

Now if there is one flaw in the record, it’s that Lew and others can simply reach a certain profit, and keep folding just to get hands in. However, you have to be up quite a bit of money to do this, which Lew wasn’t since he fell behind by $1,200 at one point.

Basically, the only true argument against Lew’s record is that the “how many online poker hands you can play” record is flawed to begin with. After all, playing tons of hands in a certain amount of time leads to quite a bit of sloppy play and folding. Perhaps a better record for Lew to attempt would be how much profit he could make at a certain limit while multi-tabling 24 tables.

In any case, this isn’t to criticize Nanonoko the player because he merely set out to break a record – which he did. So hats off to Lew!

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John Duthie Moves foreshadow US Online Poker Regulation

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

John Duthie has become a legend within the poker community for starting up the European Poker Tour, and helping it to become one of the top three poker tournament organizations in the world. Interestingly enough though, Duthie resigned from his position as CEO of the EPT, and also chose not to renew his contract with PokerStars.

Duthie’s decision to leave the EPT especially comes as a shock because the UK native has successfully guided this company towards major TV deals and profits in his seven years with them. So what could make him leave the company he started and a lucrative deal with PokerStars? The answer is that Duthie is eyeing something even bigger in the US online poker market.

As of now, the future of US online poker is in limbo because the UIGEA is still in effect, and it’s unclear as to whether states, the federal government, or a combination of both will bring online poker games to players. However, one clear thing is that internet poker is closer than it’s ever been to being fully legalized in the US. And for someone like Duthie to leave behind big money-making jobs to chase after American opportunities has to mean something.

The 53-year-old basically said so in as many words by stating, “There are going to be some amazing opportunities coming up in 2012 and 2013 as the U.S. market prepares to open up for business once again, and I want to be available to take on new challenges, and to cement new relationships moving forward.”

We don’t know exactly what Duthie plans to do in a free online poker world over in America, but it’s got to be something big. Furthermore, you have to think that Duthie has some insider knowledge that the US is really getting close to regulating online poker on a wide scale level.

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Dealing with Calling Stations on your Left

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

For the most part, playing against calling stations in online poker is a blessing because they’re willing to call lots of raises and bets with marginal holdings. However, things can get a little trickier when this calling station is immediately to your left.

By having this kind of player to the left, your chances of successfully bluffing are diminished because there’s a good chance they will call any raise. Going further, you can’t really hope to check-raise them too often either because calling stations will also check to see free cards. Long story short, having a calling station sitting to your left can be annoying and bothersome.

Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to outplay these fish if you alter your game a little. The first thing you need to be aware of is that bluffs should be taken out of your arsenal. Now this sucks when you have late position because the ability to steal is essentially gone, but you can make up for this in other areas, which we’ll get to next.

The big bonus to having a calling station to your left is that you can open up your range of playable hands. Of course, doing so requires that you’ve played with this opponent long enough to see what their range is. But once you’ve accomplished this, you’ll be able to play a wider range of hands from late position, and value bet more effectively.

The whole key to beating a calling station is knowing just how far they’ll go to call a raise, and punishing them for this. Assuming you ever get stuck on a table full of calling stations, you can sit back and wait for premium hands because A) you know they won’t be re-raising you a lot, and B) once you do get a premium hand, you can get a lot more value because there’s a good chance at least one player will call your big raises.

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Absolute Poker $30m Tax Bill – The Final Scandal

Friday, December 30th, 2011

Absolute Poker has never been the most reputable site since they were entangled in one of the biggest poker scandals in history. An employee by the name of Allan Grimard (a.k.a. AJ Green) played under the superuser account “POTRIPPER,” and could see his opponents’ hole cards. After various complaints were lodged, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission investigated the matter, and discovered that Grimard essentially stole millions of dollars from players through seeing their hole cards.

With this little history lesson out of the way, it’s worth mentioning that Absolute’s mark on the poker world will soon come to a close because they’re reportedly ready to liquidate assets and pay players back. Now players won’t receive full payment back on their deposits since Absolute is apparently only going to deliver between 15 and 20 cents on the dollar; but it’s probably more than most players expected to get.

Speaking of liquidating their assets, it doesn’t look like Absolute will be paying the $30 million tax bill that the Norwegian government has sent their way. After a lengthy investigation done by Norway’s Tax Crimes unit, they concluded that Absolute Poker had been laundering money through the country via a holding company called Madeira Fjord.

Those who followed Absolute after Black Friday may remember Madeira Fjord because they filed bankruptcy when the poker site refused to pay them for services. And now it’s been revealed that these services included laundering money for AP when they were having trouble accepting US customer deposits.

In any case, it looks like Absolute Poker and their checkered past will soon be wiped off the map when everything is sold, and players receive fractions of what they’re owed. Furthermore, co-owner Brent Beckley is headed off to prison for 12-18 months, while colleague Scott Tom should be joining him in the near future.

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Online Poker removed from Wire Act – Legal Now?

Monday, December 26th, 2011

In a surprise bit of news the other day, the US Department of Justice clarified the Wire Act of 1961, and stated that online poker is no longer considered in violation of this law.

This is a pretty big victory for online poker in the United States because the Wire Act outlaws gambling when it crosses from state to state. Seeing as how internet poker no longer falls under the Wire Act any longer, it’s not technically illegal.

Of course, it was never “illegal” for people to play online poker – except in the state of Washington – but it’s still good news that federal lawmakers no longer consider internet poker breaking the law. Instead, the only online wagering activity that the US government views as illegal now is online sports betting.

So does this mean that lawmakers are turning a blind eye towards online poker and chasing after sports betting operations instead? Absolutely not, and you can still expect the UIGEA to continue hampering US online poker until regulation and legalization is set in motion.

After all, the UIGEA prevents banks from dealing with gambling-related transactions, and this is the big reason why some poker sites have committed bank and wire fraud in order to service players. They need ways around the current laws, and unfortunately, these methods have turned out to be illegal in certain situations.

So while online poker may not fall under the Wire Act anymore, we still have a ways to go before those in the US are playing poker free and clear. With talk of regulation some time in 2012 or 2013, it may not be an eternity before the United States sees a better structure in place for online poker players. But we’ll have to wait until that day actually comes.

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Jonathan Duhamel Robbery shows Trend in Poker World

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

The poker world was shocked today to find out that 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel had been bound, beaten and robbed at his Montreal home. According to Duhamel’s account, the robbers forced their way into his house early in the morning, then started attacking him. Eventually, they tied him up, and began hitting the poker pro repeatedly until he told them where his valuables were.

And the items they took were valuable indeed as the robbers stole Duhamel’s 2010 WSOP Main Event bracelet, along with a Rolex Submarine watch that came courtesy of PokerStars. The 24-year-old spoke about the valuable items by saying, “I won’t hide the fact that these two items have a much larger value for me than their commercial value, and I really hope we will be able to retrieve them in a near future.” Hopefully, Duhamel can eventually recover the stolen bracelet and watch since his name is on them.

Moving past the Jonathan Duhamel robbery, a bigger problem may be at stake here since the Canadian is just the latest poker pro to be the victim of a robbery. Early this year, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh had her room safe broken into at the 2011 WSOP. Leigh had a few thousand dollars in the safe, and suspected that it may have been an inside job by hotel staff members.

Much like Duhamel, Scott Montgomery had a scary robbery experience, but to a different degree. A knife-wielding man demanded that Montgomery empty his pockets in a Bellagio restroom; the Canadian obliged, giving the man over $2,000.

One more recent incident involved Kayvan Payman, who was robbed of €4,000 at the EPT Barcelona tournament. Apparently, Payman was leaving the bar with friends, and got ahead of them before having several Spanish thugs surround him and demand money. After being robbed, the poker pro ran back to find his friends, and they chased after the criminals. Eventually, they came upon a local restaurant, where two men not related to the robbers attacked the group with a machete and frying pan.

Fortunately, Payman and his friends weren’t seriously hurt, but the rash of poker robberies has to make a person wonder what’s behind all of these incidents. One element at play here is that poker pros often carry a lot of money around with them, which can attract the attention of thieves. Another aspect behind poker robberies is that players like to drink and party, which leads them to meeting some unsavory characters. And most robbers target people or businesses that they know. Finally, grinders do a lot of traveling, which puts them in unfamiliar cities and locations, thus increasing the chance of being robbed.

We could go on with the list of poker robberies and reasons behind them, but the bottom line is that players need to be careful with whom they associate, and also when they flash their money.

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Knowing when you’ve beaten an Online Poker Limit

Sunday, December 18th, 2011


Those who want to make more and more profits in online poker obviously have to move up the stakes. Of course, the smart thing to do is to wait until you’ve officially conquered a certain limit before moving on towards the next. That being said, many online poker players wonder when they’ve officially beaten a cash game limit.

After all, there is no set number of poker hands that will tell you when you’re a truly successful player at certain stakes. Some people say 5k hands or more, some people say you won’t know until you’ve played 100k hands or more. The reason why it’s so difficult to pinpoint an amount is because there’s so much variance involved with playing internet poker.

The reality is that you can never be absolutely sure about your win rate until you’ve played at least several hundred thousand poker hands at one limit. But you can take a look at your win rate vs. the amount of hands played to come up with a reasonable idea.

For example, let’s say that you’re playing at the $0.01/$0.02 stakes, and you are winning 2bb/per hour after 20,000 hands. Now this isn’t too bad for a recreational grinder who learns a little poker strategy on the side. However, if you truly want to be a winning player who makes money from the game, a win rate of 2bb ($0.04 total) at the smallest online poker stakes possible isn’t the greatest. Furthermore, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that you’ll crush the $0.02/$0.04 stakes and up.

So it’s also important to take into account the level of competition you’re facing along with win rate and hands played. For instance, if you were winning 2bb at the $1/$2 stakes after 20k hands, this might be cause for moving up since win rates are smaller as you advance.

In answer to the original question of how you truly tell when you’ve beaten certain stakes, it’s important to look at the hands played first, then win rate and competition secondly. Provided your win rate is good enough, 15k-20k hands should be enough to determine your success rate for a given limit.

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Does Phil Hellmuth know about Online Poker Legalization?

Friday, December 16th, 2011

2011 has been a very good year for Phil Hellmuth since he managed to finish second in three WSOP tournaments, and earn over $1.5 million with these three cashes alone. The only thing that seems to be missing from Hellmuth’s life right now is a good sponsorship deal. However, according to a recent Hellmuth interview, that may change along with the landscape of online poker in the United States.

Beginning with the latter, Hellmuth revealed his thoughts on online poker legalization to Short Stacked Radio by saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it passed before Feb. 1. I think there’s going to be the biggest explosion in poker history the minute (online poker) is legalized.”

These are certainly interesting thoughts on the matter since many people are still in the dark on how online poker legalization is faring in the US. Assuming the American government does legalize and regulate internet poker in the near future, plenty of people stand to benefit, including Hellmuth as he stated, “I happen to be in a pretty lucky position where we have had more than one discussion recently, you know, there’s some very big companies and some very big people that are starting to get ready for the legalization of online poker.”

The Poker Brat also hinted that it won’t be long before he picks up a new sponsorship deal by saying, “You may find me signing something in the next two weeks. You may find me signing with a company that no one’s ever heard of. Don’t be surprised if that happens.”

The last comment definitely raises some eyebrows because there are a number of companies that could offer Hellmuth a lucrative deal provided internet poker does happen in America. Assuming it does, you can guarantee that a number of online poker sites will be clamoring for the services of an 11-time WSOP gold bracelet winner.

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