John is crushing the fulltilt .02/.05 cap No limit games, oh what a feeling.
Pokerstars is unlucky for me, fulltilt, seems to be better to me, my hands hold up a lot better. And to top it off, I have been the 1 sucking out from time to time. My AA beat 2 all ins in critical time in sit n go, pushed me into the chip lead from an average stack, something i never recall happening on stars, even though i remember being in that situation more than a dozen times, never did my AA beat 2 hands all in preflop, in cash game or tourney. Once in play chip table. Only time ever. So safe bet when you see my mug on tv. I will be wearing a Full tilt sponsorship.

Pokerstars is being good to me

First post in a while , sorry for delay

Went to fulltilt for a few weeks, they lowered there minimun deposits to 30 bucks.

Fulltilt has the biggest online poker games, with huge amounts being wagered by some of the biggest names in all of poker, but I can't seem to win there, maybe im a donk.

So i tucked tail and headed back to stars, put 25 on cashed out 41 2 days later, kept 25 on and have built to nearly 200 bucks in about a week, so whats different, why do i win at stars and lose at tilt? I sure don't know

Now the sickening beats i was taking at stars, runner runner, and 2 and 3 outers on turn or river, have slowed way down.

Am i getting luckier, is stars doom switch in off position, or am i playing better poker than i ever had before.

i think it is #3 , i didn't mention i took a full week off poker inbetween tilt and stars, didn't talk poker, think it, play live, or online, didn't read about it, didn't even watch on tv.

I have read all the books and tons of blogs, posts, columns, etc. I know pot odds, yadda yadda , but i don't think i always played what i knew, i suffered from fancy play syndrome, i expected to fancy play my way to the bigs..

Now im playing fundamental sound, only betting the good hands, unless i think my opponent is likely to fold to a continuation bet, used to i fired a cbet always, now before i do, is there a chance he will fold, if not i save that bet for a better spot, 1 leak i have plugged,

until next time

hold up hand , hold up

John vs. Pro's

Ok not to toot my own horn, but HONK HONK. I have played a few pro's online at the low limits of course, and a couple for play chips.

Mandy B. Im not even sure I know who she is, but she is a full tilt pro, have played her quite a few times in play chips Razz game on fulltilt. Googled her pic very nice looking.

Barney Boatman, Played him on fulltilt as well, Im a bit more familiar with him, although i don't think he is known by the masses, but most serious poker fans will know the name, same game play chip Razz. I never showed a losing hand to Barney although he showed me 3.

Humberto Brenes, Played him in limit .10 / .20 game on Pokerstars , only seen 1 showdown, we tied both having AJ . Ace high into a bet and call hand, we both donks.

Daniel Negreanu, although he was at my table for 1/2 hour, I never got dealt a playable hand. This is my poker Idol i did not want to make any foolish plays in his presence. But i did win a 2 dollar pot with Ace king no pair, he seen the hand prolly thought i was a donk for sure. I knew he was playing microlimits in quest to turn 10 bucks into 100,000 i think, not sure if he quit doing this, havent't seen him anywhere but the nosebleeds in awhile. I actually carried on a decent conversation with Daniel, he is very personable, I asked him who best Hollywood Actor/Poker player is. His answer Tobey Mcguire.. Spidey sense he said about his skill. Also thru Daniels myspace i asked and recieved signed pics addressed , for me and my 2 boys, The return address is a Vegas Address so i guess i can just drop by his house, no im kidding its to a po box, but i could always mob him for a lesson at the po box i guess.

Isabelle Mercer, Played her just 2 nights ago on Pokerstars , at .50/1 lhe , i won a few pots off her, as for the very rare oddity , the deck was smacking me in face, and even my 1 pair hands were taking down huge pots, love those few sessions when that happens. I made 26 bucks in just 1 hour or less, than i scram and can't catch that kind of luck any where on stars for the rest of the night.

Thats about it for now, but 1 day I will be in the nosebleeds and some other donk blogger will be bragging about play with me.

until next time

Hold up hand hold up

Heads up destruction of my roll heres how

I am actually a winner so far in the game of poker, not by as much as I'd like. I would really love to move the kids to Vegas, and play down stairs from my mega suite at the rio, that's not happened yet.

But somedays i can't win any key hands, Sunday May 2nd , is this day.

I play approx. 10 Hu sit n go's, 10 -$ 20 and win only 2, not playing bad at all.

I didn't pull any fancy bluffs that got me busted, didn't overplay any 1 pair hands, didn't misclick call an all in, although i did misclick 1 for 1/3 of my stack, but actually came back to win that 1.

I would have legitimate HU go broke hands, and yes went' broke, flop 2 pair, would get turned and beat by the set.

Flopped Ace high straight, I had AQ flop came KJ10 , got it all in there as villian had set of 10's, and hit case 10 on river for quads, yuck.

Playing a mild opponent not much preflop raising from him , and was baffled when we got it all in preflop just about even in chips 1500 after a back and forth battle had been going on for nearly 10mins, my JJ looked like the winner until Q high flop nailed his Queen 10,, what Queen 10 totally out of character i thot we were racing my JJ vs Ak or so, ?????? wtf was he thinking.

I hit tricky 2 pairs about 3 times and got broke by bigger sneaky 2 pairs usually made foe a better hand on turn or river.

2 times I turned a decent flush to lose to river Flush hitting my opponents 2 diff suit hands.

So very ugly day, but instead of going absolutely broke with my roll i called it a day, somedays no matter how good your play you can't win online, and this was it, have made up a big portion of that in just a few HU and cash games, so no real loss, but what the heck can you do when the deck hits opponent in face all day, and you can't do anything to stop it.

Until next time

Hold up hand hold up!!!

A little experiment to see how true odds are in poker for short term.

Ok i take a deck of 52 cards, traditional poker deck.

i pull out AA and KK and and set them to side i then shuffle deck , as would any dealer in poker game and deal out burn cards flop turn and river, 10 times, my results.

pocket kings beat the aces 3/10 times or 33.3 percent, well above the 21% it should

i got set over set 1 time as well in only 10 outings.. very odd, i thot.

so i tried a different match up using AK vs A7 and same thing ran it 10 times only

found that the 7 paired minus the king and won 3/10 or 33.3 , just about the expected there

so goes to show just cause you catch bad a few hands in row being a bit favorite doesn't mean a game is rigged, or your unlucky , #'s just run a little erratic at times. now after 10,000 times these should even out to expected values, but seriously i don't think even doyle brunson has seen AA vs KK 10,000 in 70 years he's been playing.

until next time , hold up hand hold up

Interesting session on stars so far, still at it, but will take a quick blog break

So it is brought to my attention, by a fellow stars player that im gay, well not really, but seems someone hacked into my blog here at Johnblogspot, and changed all info into stating that, ok maybe a funny joke by a friend or some 15 year old hacker that had nothing better to do, but either way, i in fact am hetero, and thought i had enough kids to prove that, maybe i need a few more, lol,, please don't do that again, whoever....

Got a good first opinion from this player, seems he joined the blog, awesome everyone starts somewhere, altho i truly think this guy is a much better player than me, maybe he will pick up some donk thing i do, to really boost his already good game, time will tell.

Ok so i buy into .02/.05 game , up and down up and down, but finally up to about 7 bucks, when i get QQ , flop comes out Jack high J 7 2, i think,, and finally i get it all in on turn, guy shows A2 and spikes an Ace on river to win 13 dollar pot. wow what a hit. All money in on turn only deuces so far for him, and i guess he had a flush draw too, but still i was favorite.

10 Mins later i turn 3 of kind 4's, on 10 high board, same player this time i get it all in and he shows a full boat 55544 , well what do i do?

He goes on to lose 5 bucks in next few hands and leaves with 2 buyins from me, just how it happens sometimes.

Well i mentioned i made a buddy at the table, in key pot i was pushed all in, by a guy 4 bucks into a 3 dollar pot, really thot my top pair mid kicker was beat, when friend put in chat something about the quality of play we had been seeing, i agreed and called off thinking i was going to show 2nd best hand with top pair, and to my surpirse i drag about 8 bucks,, nice.

Ok back to the lesson , I put all my chips in middle as favorite and lost to a very week hand that improved. then against same player a few hands later, i made an even better hand than either of us had prior and he happened to best me this time, and laughed in chat about my play, well when someone is willing to put 7 bucks into a pair of ducks and a draw, then my 3 of kind didn't seem foolish to me at all, there was a busted flush and str8 on board, very possible he held one of these hands.

So the story today, is sometimes you will seem like your having a very bad session, everyone at that table seen me 3 buyins gone, but didn't realize i was up still 30 bucks on day, from my sit n go's , and have a few hours left in me tonight to make this back up, still down about 8 bucks at this post time from my .02 / 05 session, will switch tables start new with a tighter image , cause i had a maniac image at the last table, calling preflop with any 2, have good luck with this, they don't realize i play the person more than the cards, only thing some people can't lay down their cards, So in all i will take a few min break go outside smoke, take my mind off few a while than hit tables fresh and make a dazzling comeback, until next time

hold up hand hold up!!!

The when , why, and how of value betting river

Value bet, means to make a bet that likely if called will earn you more money on hand, but small enough that opponent will call with 2nd best hand.

When to value bet, definition in opening sentence gives you most you need to know.

When not to value bet, when a lot of action in hand up till the river, and opponent checks and you are not sure if your in lead or not, this is nice place to check, see whats up. Perhaps you foil his attempt to check you the best hand, with you betting , and he can spring in for a big reraise, known as a check raise, and put you to very difficult decision.

Why to value bet, to make a winning hand a little more rich in chips, also in future if you betting river often, opponents will know when they call a future turn bet on another hand, that they will likely have to call 1 on river as well, note most microstakes players will not catch this, as they only pay attention to their hands, and what their doing,

How to value bet, if you have say 3 of kind that you feel is best hand, and the pot is 2 dollars, a nice value bet that will get called by other player will be in area of 1/4 to 1/3 of pot. In this case you are giving him 3to1 and 4to1 on his money, he will get 2 bucks plus your .50 - .68 for a total of 2.68 aprox. for his 68 cent or less call, if he wins the hand. But your sure your 3 of kind is good so you are begging for a call, this is why you bet so little as to the pot, for guaranteed call, you hope. He may call this bet with any pair, plus you set up a possible raise from him, as the bet is so small he may think you are weak , and if he bets big you will fold, but with you 3 of kind here he is barking up the wrong tree.

A little something to help you decide whether to check or bet the river , until next time

Hold up hand hold up!!!

KK did i play this wrong?

Ok, we are at stars .02/.05 nlhe table.

Im dealt KK on Big blind, so last to act preflop, but first to act after flop against a button raiser, he bets out 25 cents or 5 times the blind.

Well if you know me you know i can't lay down kings preflop unless i see aces.

Well i am totally comfortable getting all my money in preflop with kings anytime, anytime , anytime.

Now if i push my entire 5.50 in pot preflop i don't suspect he will call unless he has aces. So what is good amt. to assure likely to get his whole stack in middle sooner or later in hand, I decide a 1.25 raise to 1.50 is good. He calls

Now the flop comes 79J no flush draw, but a weird str8 draw that he may of hit part of, if he has 88 or 1010 , he has a gut shot, now i feel here my Kings should be good more than 2/3 times, yes i realize he may have a set or 2 pair, but 2 pair is whacky to assume given he called a 1.25 preflop reraise.

So what are my choices, playing out of position, check let him bet then me try to figure out his hand, what if he shoves , we both have between 4 and 5 bucks left in stack so this is an all or nothing hand to me, So let me take this move away from him, and see if i can use it to my favor, let him guess, so i shove 4 bucks into a 3 dollar pot, is this correct?

Lets tear it down to what he may have to figure it out, in tournie with my whole stack at jeopardy maybe i play this with some caution but in cash game where i just rebuy if im wrong, im going for it. why you ask?

If he has AA i don't think he just calls my reraise preflop, he would shove and i call, I would be a 20 percent dog, only to Aces am i underdog, every other hand in world i am favorite to preflop.

Flop 79Jack

If he has Queens, Jacks, 10's 9's 8's 7's he is ahead or has outs anyways, so i choose to put him to the test, thinking none of the earlier hands he can fold to half pot or 2/3 pot bet.

If preflop he has jacks, he made the mistake of calling of 1/5 of his stack preflop when i was favorite, and he will only flop a set 1 out of 12.5 times, odds not there for him even if he does break me afterwards.

same exact odds for 99 or 77, so the set most likely hand that has me dominated here he made a big mistake earlier, and even if i go broke he played against the odds and got lucky.

same odds for 88 or 1010 and now he has gut shot straight, and im actually huge favorite, and the chance he flopped the str8 already so small noting the preflop raise size i won't even consider the math.

Now take into consideration, him having AceKing or AceQueen. or even AceJack suited, he must lay these down, so i beat more hands than beat me at this spot, and truthfully even if he has a set now, i will hit another King about 1/10 times seeing both the turn and river, so i too have outs. even with the board 2 gapped for a str8 i have to take on the runner runner split pot too, even though small still gives me outs if im behind here.

Ok so what does he have, he shows JJ and wins the pot, so was my 4 dollar bet a good bet, i still think yes, even if i lost this hand, could i have played the hand different or more cautious yes, but then im giving him a cheaper str8 shot, or even if he has big ace and hits ace he will destroy me too, so yeah i wouldn't play this hand much different if i had it 100 times in row to play. I think i would show a profit here, im not albert einstein and maybe even a donk wouldn't bet over the pot here, but i think this play was a solid.

Well not even 15 mins later very similiar situation where i have AA , at same table and i reraise a raiser, and i shove the flop and get called by 88 on a 9 high flop and scoop up about 11 dollar pot, so im almost back to even from the 2 plays and was only right once, now back to kk play where i was wrong but most times i would be ahead still, it really seems like i did the right thing, and likely could of had 2 winning hands 1 of 11 bucks and other between 3 and 11 bucks if he don' t flop a set which remember was 1 / 12 and half times to do.

until next time

hold up hand hold up!!!

A few tips to save you fortune....... $$$$

First off i would be thousands of dollars richer if i didn't try to outplay my opponents. to clarify read a bit further..

While playing in Texas holdem games, and all other poker games, for that matter , it is wise not to do too much bluffing or fancy plays, your opponents really don't understand what your trying to do anyways, nor do they care to go broke with 1 pair, so if the flop is 997 and you bet pot size, and opponent has JJ don't worry they are not folding, so hopefully you have the 9 your bet represents and will make a killing, or you will just pay his JJ off, and he will laugh all the way to the cashier. Not realizing your bet and story your saying with it, says you indeed have the 9, he will go broke with his JJ 85 percent of time. Just the game your playing. Just wait until in this situation you actually have Ace 9, 99 , 77, or 97, etc and let the JJ pay your rent,, lol .

Now im not saying you can never bet without the best hand, a bluff its called, or even a semi bluff, which is with a hand that if you hit 1 of several cards you will make the likely best hand, ex. you hold ace king both clubs, and flop is queen Jack 9, 2 of these are clubs, now any 10 or club gives you a straight or flush, both powerful hands, so now maybe a 1/2 to 2/3 size pot bet is in order, and you don't neccesarilly hate a caller, but you'd like to avoid a raiser, but maybe you go anyways, as you will hit 1 of these hands in this situation just a bit less than half the time, against more than 1 caller , in cash game this is good, as getting in as favorite is always correct, but in tourney with a big portion of chips in mix may be a avoidable situation that will keep you from making a early leave.

The earlier paragraph don't make any sense as i reread it, if i don't know Pot odds.

Pot odds definition and few examples.

Pot odds are your expected return on investment, much like playing the stock market.

If you put all your money in middle and are called by a weaker hand, you are favorite to win, but is any amount favorite worth the amount it may take to play, maybe, maybe not, heres how to tell.

AA you hold, and someone goes all in in front of you do you call, yes everytime.. easy you are about 80 percent favorite to win the hand preflop, every 1 time you lose this spot you will win 4 , so if everytime the call was 20 bucks, you would lose 20 bucks and win 80 so 80 minus 20 equals 60 bucks, so playing AA calling 1 all in is worth 60 bucks every 5 times it comes up or 12 bucks each call average, now this is just example it will not always be only 1 caller, and the bet amt not always exactly 20 bucks but an easy illustration.

Now at the beginning of a 1 dollar 45 people sit n go, 5 people all in preflop,, do you still call, well if you do and win you start off early with a huge monster stack and lead early in tournie, but with so many callers, you will only win now with the aces alone, very rarely, you are likely up against at least 2 players having a pair, 2 players having suited cards, and 1 have ace king , ace something anyways, and random 94 offsuit who love to call with junk and suckout, now with aces you will only hit another ace about 1 out of 5 1/2 times seeing all 5 cards, and hitting a 4 card straight or flush is almost impossible, and with so many other hands out against you, i say fold, fold fold, fold , fold, and just watch the 94 get paid when he hits a miracle full house, about how it goes everytime.

Now same situation and only 2 all ins, and your last person who can possibly call, then yes call you are getting 2 to 1 on your money, it costs you only 1,500 sit n go chips to win 3,000 for a total of 4,500 enough to make it to final table if you folded every hand until then, and against 2 players pocket pairs, you will win this about 60 percent of time, or 3/5 times, so your getting 2 to 1 on your money and will win 3/5 more than half makes this a winning situation in long run, and you should be willing to call this everytime.

Now with poker like investing, the best hand will not always hold up, and it is very frustrating , to put all your money in middle with the best hand and watch the lesser hand break you on turn or river, be very careful how bad you handle this when it happens, rather than losing a buyin , of tournie cost, or the 20 bucks you have at table, if you get pissed off and play like a mad man for the next hour trying to make that money back, often times you will bury yourself even deeper in losses, this phenomenom , has a name, it is tilt, Tilt is very costly, and should be avoided at all costs, if your running bad many bad beats in row, or just some idiot who's 37 beats your kings , you may need to take a break for an hour, or day, or week, until your back in the frame of mind to play correctly and only getting your money in with the best hand agian. Repeat, many of players would be very big winners in life vs poker, if this did not happen to them, they will lose a big pot they expected to win, instead of just taking a 20 dollar loss, they will blow thru another 40 bucks or more trying to get back at this player. Playing less than optimal poker, and they will not get lucky as the other player did I Guarantee it.

A little fact Ive read several times, it is said and i believe it, that only 5 percent or 1/20 people that play the game, at the end of their life will be winners. that means 95 percent or 19/20 will be losers, the decisions you make at the table will either put you in the 5 percent winners column or the other 95 pit. which do you want to be?

So just because the guy playing King 2 suited hits a flush on river to beat your flopped set, 3 of kind, when you put him all in on turn, meaning you should be about 84 percent favorite in most thinkable situations, and he wins a 30 buck pot, doesn't mean his style of play puts him in 5 percent winners bracket, in fact it suggests just the opposite, that if this particular hand happened 1,ooo times , unless he is bill gates, he will notice several thousands of dollars that he don't have anymore that he would of had otherwise. And you my friend could treat yourself to a week at disney land with this poor schmoes cash.

Why do pocket Kings always lose big pots or win very small ones???

Answer. Well they do win more times then they will lose, but the big losses and small wins, can be explained very easily, Its playing them not so great, heres a tip to help this stop.

First you have to raise with big pocket pairs, in my opinion, and you have to raise quite big, to weed out all non paired no big card hands so you know a bit where you stand and possible holdings your opponents may hold, if in 5c 10 cent game you raise only 10 cents, you will get about 3 - 5 players calling your raise, not a good outcome, but if you raise say 35 cents you will only get called by other decent to great hands, which is exactly what you want. Why you ask?

You will actually have easier decisions after flop, if flop comes jack 9 7 and you will likely have the best hand in this case, unless the guy has misplayed his Aces and only called a raise, or got lucky enough to hit a set, holding JJ, 99, 77 which are possible but not as likely as if you bet a smaller amt, and have 3 other hands that could all hit a pair or better, or even a guy holding 8 10 and already has you crushed with the nut straight. So best just raise big and pick up blinds, and save yourself from losing a big pot to inferior hands, or get ace king qq , jj 101o to push behind you and snap call , or reraise big, and break him 80 percent of time, that the kings hold up agianst 1 hand.

Lets figure out winning odds together, if you passed the 4th grade in mathematics, this is no sweat,
if not go back to 4th grade and when your done finish reading this post.

odds my hand will win , or at least improve..

These are going to be estimates but so close to real numbers that unless you care about a few percetn either way, these should work fine. Yes every percent counts, but preflop 52 / 48 and 50/50 are going to be same for now. to get an idea about winning odds, this isn't the math whiz's idea of a fun outing, but good enough for now.

AA vs KK 80/20 or 4 to 1 with Aces
KK vs 22 80/20
TT vs 77 80/20

notice the pattern, any pair vs smaller pair is 4 to 1 to win 80/20 PREFLOP!!!!

Now the next examples can vary from 55/45 or so 51/49 53/47 Known in poker terms as a coin flip cause they are so close to 50/50 or odds of Heads vs Tails.

Ak vs 77
QK vs 44
JT vs 99
63 vs 22

These hands pitted against the other the pairs are a very slim favorite, but not big enough to justify a big pot preflop holding 1 or other if you knew your opponents cards.

Now with the exception of Ace King, this 1 is a bit more worthy of a war, because often times instead of a smaller pair you will actually be vs Ace Q , Ace 10, Ace 8 suited etc. which means vs these other Ace ? hands your likely a 70/30 favorite against the other Ace ? holdings. So if you add the 50/50 and 70/30 you should get an 60/40 lead in this on avg. so the Ace king is a bit more worthy of big pot, only hands that you absolutely are afraid of are AA and KK but Since you hold both an A and K these chance are reduced that another player hold 2 of 3 remaining kings or Aces. not impossible but lot less likely. Now im not saying war worthy as you would be loving idea of going broke with ace king, or getting knocked out of tournie preflop calling an all in, as this can be dangerous only being a not so respectable 60/40 to be best hand, but you could stand a reraise , and see what if anything materializes on flop, if you catch air, not hitting any king or ace and guy raises again, after flop likely he holds a smaller pair, and you can see what the bet amount is, you will only pair your Ace or King on turn or river about 1/4 not too good of odds, but say preflop the pot is 1 buck and his flop raise is only 20 cents, 1/5 of pot, you may afford to call this raise , to see if turn helps you out, but if he bets again on turn you will need to fold your Ace high and wait for better spot to gamble. But often times your flop bet call will cause him to check the turn instead of bet him fearing you have a piece of it, because you called preflop raise and now a flop bet, he may check turn giving you a free look at river card, now if the river is A or K , then maybe now you have the best hand, as his check on turn suggests he shouldn't have 2 pair or better, likely a pair smaller than k or A , but is slightly possible he had Ace something he was betting his smaller pair on board, say flop was 972 , he had Ace 9 and bet his 9's on flop, you called the 20 cents now he checks his turn to see if you have a over pair, maybe 10s or J's and now the Ace on river actually gives him Aces up, meaning 2 pair, and your Ace king just improved to a bigger yet still losing hand, man i love this game,, lol

Improving your hand what are the chances it, one of the most significant bits of info in all of poker.

Ac is Ace clubs, Ks is King of spaces, Jh is Jack of hearts, 7d is 7 of diamonds.

Ad 7d vs ?? now the flop is Kd 3d 8h , you now have 4 diamonds and almost the nut flush

now how to know if you should call a bet , raise yourself , or fold to bet.

with turn and river to go, you have about 1/3 shot at hitting flop how do i know this??

Easy the power of 4 and 2. multiply outs by 4 with turn and river to come, and by 2 when just to the river.

An out is any card that improves your hand, in this case 9 outs remain cause their are 9 other diamonds left in deck, and with 4 times 9 = 36, tru odds are about 32.7 or something close to that.

now with just the river card to come, if you didn't hit your diamond, 2 x 9 = equals 18 percent 1/5 chance just slightly lower but close enough, if he makes a pot size bet before the river card you have to fold your flush draw here, unless he has a massive stack behind this bet and so do you, and you know 100 percent that if you hit your flush he will pay you off his whole stack, known as Implied Odds, how much of your opponents money will i win, now you will never know 100 percent if opponent will go broke when you hit your hand, but some players may do it a little more often than others, your part as a player in this game is to seperate a player and his chips by putting them in your stack, sometimes you hook a fish and eat like a king.

Lets try to be the best poker players possible , make that promise to yourself you won't play when tilted, tired, pissed, sexually frustrated, or when on the bottle, alcohol is a big losing formula when playing poker.

lets be a 5 percenter and winner in long game, not a 95 percent loser, there is enough of them to last a lifetime already.. until next time

Hold up hand hold up!!!!

Poker is in fact a game board, beginner strategies

Ok so i don't think i covered very much poker strategies in first installment , i will try to stay on pace this time.

Position, ok you would not try to play chess without at least understanding what a chess board looks like, poker is not much different as in there is a board , table and position, imagine monopoly, chess, checkers, etc blown up to real life board meeting size, and now you have a poker table. A business meeting done with cards and stories.

Texas holdem whether limit or no limit, has same board. imagine if you will, a mini war.

Dealer, he is at home fighting in his back yard, he will see all the other players make their moves before he has to even decide whether to continue in hand, optimal position, Dealer Dealer Dealer, best spot in house, and for every trip around the table you will have this sweet land once, as will everyone else. examples how this works for your benefit,

1. You have AA and 1 person calls your 30 cent raise, microstakes remember, your the dealer , now with flop of King 5 2, you can almost say for certain he doesn't have 2 5, never 100 percent sure but for the sake of this demonstration we should know that they don't, king 5 , king 2 are not real likely good, and since he only called a raise kk is out of question , so we know we still have the best hand 95 percent of time right now, and he has to make his bet or check in front of us, now with pot of 60 cents he may bet out 15 - 20 cents with nothing, 15 -50 cents if he hit his king, which the smaller raise we may just call for 1 more card to trap him, the bigger raise has the pot over 1 buck and nice place to reraise, which is making his bet 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 times his original bet, or All in if he has not many chips or sure he will put em all in anyways, but with us acting after him we get all this info for free, he gives away his hand at least a good idea of it from his check or his bet, and even his bet size..

2. If the role is reversed, we have Aa and flop comes king 5 2 , now we have to act first , still 60 cents in pot as he called our 30 cent bet, but if we bet and he has nothing most times he folds and we only win 60 cents in there now, if we slow play and check and he checks too, now we gave him a free card to hit his hand, which now we have no idea what he has, unlikely a king, as he didn't bet, but not impossible say he has 10 10, pair of tens, we won't know this of course, now the turn comes 10, so board reads , A 5 2 10 , now with him checking we feel we have to get money in pot so we bet, say 40 cents or 2/3rd size of pot, now with his last 3 bucks he pushes all in, now with 4 bucks in pot, we have to call another 2.70 with aces and hope were still good, we don' know maybe he had hand like king 10 2 pair now, Ace 10, and we still have the best of it, he could actually have 10 10. etc. so now we make the call and he shows us a set of 10's, for the win, now this is unlikely hand and him hitting 2 outer shouldn't happen too often, but it does and this is how big pots are won and lost every minute of everyday, all across the world, by playing out of position , and not knowing where your opponent is at in the hand. ok moving on.

A lot has been writtin about the blinds, 1st spot small blind after dealer
2nd spot big blind 2 people after the dealer,

now pre flop before anyone see the cards in middle in texas holdem, each player is dealt 2 hole cards that are hidden from any other players, just based on these 2 cards players will bet, check, call , or raise,

Dealer deals out cards to players in clockwise manner, next to dealer puts in half bet, if stakes are 5 and 10 cent blinds, then player left of dealer puts in nickle whether he likes to play his cards or not, a forced bet, now the big blind 2 spots after dealer, puts in dime, same case forced bet, they can indeed play these hands if they choose too, or fold but the bet is made no matter what, now 1 person on left of bb is called, 1 hole, 1st position, under the gun or utg, all same person just different names people call this player, he has to act as first person to either call the dime bet, fold his hand, or raise the dime bet , and whole table will see his actions, and be able to make a better decision of what cards they should play you against, or fold, utg i call it, is not a position you should play but 1/10 hands from this spot, most of time its an automatic fold, king jack, queen 10, jack 8, ace 10, are all hands that get folded in this spot, AA , Kk , QQ, JJ 10 10, Ak AQ suited you can play from here but be careful to raise, unless you got AA KK , you can call any raise size, or even reraise any raise with these 2 pairs, I only fold KK if someone actually showed me they had 2 Aces preflop, and since this should never happen, i will never fold kings preflop.

Next 2 spots behind utg are almost same, big pairs or big Ace king ace queen are only hands you should play from any of these spots,

next 2 spots after these or about 4 -5 spots after big blind are middle position they are called, and now a few more hands can be played King queen , 99 pair down to 55, ace jack and king jack suited, if no one has raised bet from utg or next 2 spots that is, if a raise comes out of these spots auto fold unless you got a big pair or Ace king / ace queen. now i will limp with above hands with 2 or more players in it that have limped, ( means only calling the dime bet), and willing to call a raise that comes from behind me as long as it is not huge compared to my stack.

Note some players will limp in with AA KK QQ utg or 1 spot behind big blind to sneak in and wait for any one else to bet the pot, so they in fact can reraise and pick up a lot of limpers chips, or even to get a lesser hand all in pre flop if they suspect the bettor will indeed go to war with them.

slow playing a monster from utg and springing in for the kill after some unsuspecting tool raises, very common now a days for this to happen it is in every poker book written in last few years.

2 spots to dealer right and dealer. all are in late position, they already know if any raises or reraises or how many people want to limp in and see a cheap flop, all info is laying out in front of them so far, excetp what the blinds will do or dealer if they are 1 or 2 spots off , but they have a good idea if this is going to be a huge pot preflop or if many people just want the flop dealt out cheap, lots of info being late position, and more hands in right situation can be played, you would not ever play jack 8 both diamonds in first or middle positon, but if 4 or 5 players have all limped in and now the pot is 50 cents and your the dealer, or on the button they call it as well, you may pay a dime and hope the small blind or big blind don't raise, and see if you can't hit a magic flop suck as 2 pair, or straight or flush in diamonds, etc. see later you are to act in any given hand gives you an edge over the rest of table, and poker is all about small edges cutting big chunks out of your opponents wallets.

now small blind and big blind preflop have position cause they in fact are the last 2 to act before the flop is dealt, ( 3 of 5 total cards that are community or board cards as there known) so if you have small pair maybe and your in blind you can see the flop in unraised pot for a nickle or for free if your the big blind, or and hope to hit a another card to match your pair , known as a set in poker, 3 of kind, for the older crowd, now this is usually going to be a winning hand, be careful about really coordinated boards, 3 spades or Ace Queen 10 , where a king jack already flopped the winning straight, etc, but if you hold 66 and flop is A K 6 , simply wait for the Ace or King paired player to do all your betting for you hold on as you scoop a big pot when all the dust settles, especially if he holds Ace kIng you will get every penny he has table.

Now once the flop is out, small blind is terrible position as it has to act first before all other players not knowing how strong they will play their hands, if you flop a set in this position i would check rather than bet, and give away the strength of my hand, and wait for someone else or someones' else hopefully a few will be in hand when the action gets back to you and you can reraise them for many reasons to get the flush draws to fold if any, or 2 simply add more money in the pot, when you should be a huge favorite at this point to win hand, but if you flop 1 pair or less you are in guessing game what to do before all these poeple act, and basically should check and see what action develops behind before you make any more decisions, optical way for playing small and big blind, check and see what develops, if the betting is too scary you just fold your 1 pair, and know your likely doing the right thing.

now after flop the dealer has all the say so, he will be last person to act the remainder of hand, and what a sweet piece of realestate that is, to know how much people are willing to risk with their hands, gives you invaluable info, as how to play your own, hand,

anyways this is all from position at tables for now, hope im not confusing too many of you, but for any poker player position is 1 of the winnningest ingredients to a winners pie..

until next time,

hold up hand hold up!!!

micro stakes to the big time, back to micro stakes

Hello poker players of any skill level, although most of my poker adventures are geared to microstakes, i am absolutely knowlegeable to be playing higher limits, just don't got the scrilla and or luck to do so, so if nothing else stick around and check me out time to time to laugh at me and my misfortune at the very least.

Ok , I am absolutely convinced in big pots, online I will go broke out of tourney with AA , anytime i am covered by another player, I will win some small pots or the blinds with this powerhouse from time to time, but when the pot is tasty i will get busted guaranteed. I will push all of em in center (chips) anytime any position bubble or not, against any amt of players, maybe some of this is my problem, but im a math guy and think almost 80 percent win against single villian , i should be good, against 3 or more players i should be laying down this hand, and it is very very hard to do. not sure ive done it yet, but should never less, AA vs 1 or 2 players all in very fine, but more than that, they won't hold up very often.

here is a few times my AA didn't fare so well

don't worry i will get into some sound poker advice, at least get your money in as favorite, whether it actually wins or not is up to the poker gods. lol

AA all in pre in a 5.50 double or nothing tourney on stars, of course king 5 of spades calls i have him covered by a few chips but not many, and he risks his tourney as were on bubble with this pathetic hand, and with a flop containing 2 fives i am out the very next hand as i don't cover the big blind, wow thats a tuffy,

Easter sunday, i almsot have a avg stack, 4500 in chips a couple of hours into the 250,000 or 1/4 million guarantee , 12 buck buyin first prize 25k not too bad investment really, mid pos pushes all in , for about 7000 i gotta call with AA looking back at me, and surprised to see a 3rd caller as we are a few hours in, but anyways raiser has KK, me AA, and 3rd caller TT, wow what a call, and your right 10 spikes the flop and me and KK are wrecked me exiting and him crippled, so safe to say TT thinks he made a brilliant play, ( first poker tip) midway thru tourney TT is not a all in calling hand , especially calling a caller, but maybe you spike your T , but mathematically this is an error, as your T hits flop only 12percent of time, and almost 4/5 times you take the shame walk not kk or AA .

Enough with these AA beats,

A few poker books that may actually help you, NO NO NO not all poker books are created equal, a few will down right destroy you..

1. TJ Cloutier How to win championship, is tourney book but very sound advice help your tourney or cash games. The best book out in my opinion.

2. 2 books by Daniel Negreanu, Poker wisdom for all players, and More poker wisdom, 15 bucks a pop sound advice each contains 50 tips . Very good easy read you will learn something from both.

Now the hellmuth, sklansky, harrington, caro, and others have very advanced strategies, that in the hands of beginner, or intermediate, will cause you confusion, and are geared to higher limits of play, 10/20 nlhe and above, in my opinion, when you are buying into games and winning 5/10 dollar blinds and winning, i would venture to say you got what it takes to take these books head on and improve your game to the next level. But if your like the millions of us who can't afford to buy into any game with more than 50 bucks on payday, then stay clear of these till you got some wins under your belt consistently.

I am using this very brief 1st post just to break my official blog cherry, next installment will be in just a few hours. as my goal is to have half a dozen or more in just a couple of days, then i will go to 1 daily or bi daily. till next time, Hold up Hand Hold up,,!!!