2BlogPoker.com

As I have mentioned in my Author Biography I am a keen poker player, both online and offline. A few months ago whilst playing a tournament a friend of my emailed me details of something called a Poker Analyzer. In its most simplest form the Poker Analyzer is computer software which can automatically calculate the odds of a poker game instantly, a helpful tool when playing fast paced games, such as Texas Hold ‘em.

The Poker Analyzer Software was developed back in 2005 when a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology clubbed together with a plan with students from University of Alberta, Canada. Between the two teams they devised a plan for the software which made direct links between mathematics and poker games.

What the Poker Analyzer software does is allows is to make the new online poker scene a little less daunting. Initially, poker was played as an offline game, where both social and physchological information would persuade people to play in a certain way. The new ‘block’ that online poker gives players means that many players are not able to ‘read’ a game, making it less skilful.

The group of students who have designed the Poker Analyzer Software have suggested that this means that the only way one can win on online poker is to look at the maths. That is what they have done by creating the software and they claim to have made $25,000 in one month.

As far as I’m concerned, I do actually agree with Adam Brinks (the founder), the online poker scene is definitely a game of luck and probability rather than analysis and skill, so this piece of software is definitely worth a look!”

Online heads up poker is a very hard field to get into, although I do know several players who play the $50-100 stakes and win a good percentage of the time. They are not your average gamblers though; they have strict routines and probably tilt 1/100 games if they are having an incredibly bad streak!

That is the key anyway, take it match by match, but overall you need to be hitting somewhere between a 58-60% win rate to be profitable overall, and have the bankroll to take your downswings in online heads up poker. Do not think that 100 games is a good enough sample either, I’d be looking at around 500-1000 games before you will see a clear indication of where your game is with online heads up poker, mainly due to the variation of results.

Playing online heads up poker is slightly different to offline, mainly due to the fact that you can’t see the opponents face. If you give off your emotions fairly easily, then this is definitely a good thing, as they can’t see your face either.

The only way you can portray or perceive an emotion in online heads up poker is by giving off vibes from bets, folds or by showing opponents your cards. Give off as little information as possible, mix up your play and keep your opponent guessing and you will begin to see them making huge amounts of mistakes.

Using your position, raising a mix of hands, showing a few bluffs, even calling and loosing chips just to see their hand is always a good way to work out your opponents play in online heads up poker.

I’ve been using Sharkscope over the last few weeks to monitor my progress over at pokerstars, but it has come to my attention that Pokerstars are not happy with members using the service.

I’m not sure whether this is for the subscription, free service or both, but I’d just thought I’d let fellow poker players know incase they get their Pokerstars account revoked.

The link to the story on the ban by Pokerstars regarding Sharkscope can be found here: Sharkscope

Going into a poker game with a strategy is definitely a good idea, especially when playing the bigger pots. As a player, you need to analyze others moves so you know exactly when to build the pot up, when to play when someone else builds a big pot and when to fold. This is all part of a successful Poker Strategy.

The first part of your poker strategy needs to be building the pot. There are two reasons you might want to build the pot, make sure you know why your doing it and when you stop.

You could have a good hand, in which case you want to keep as many players in as possible and keep increasing your bet size. Dragging as much money into a pot as possible when you have a good hand is crucial, this extra cash might keep you in the game at a later stage, so is a crucial part of the poker strategy.

On the other hand, you might be building the pot as a bluff that you have a good hand, even though you haven’t. This isn’t always a good way to play as the others players feel the need to carry on if your only betting minimal amounts, so make sure you do bets that are against their normal ones.

Make sure you know what you strategy is from the off, its not good going along if you don’t have the hand that is going to cut it in the long haul, especially if your not betting big enough amounts that are likely to scare other players off!

I suppose its down to the individual how they play, but personally, the hands I actually player, at least 80% of them are strong hands, but of course you can’t just play on a good hand, and let everyone know your game – you need to bluff every now and then.

Know the hands you want to go in on before you start, that’s easy, but you need to know the hands your going to bluff on too, as this could be the difference of staying in or going home for the night!

Limit yourself to the amount of hands you can bluff, but also manage your money correctly. Don’t get emotional if your having a bad streak, don’t try and bluff your way through just to increase your bankroll quickly.

As mentioned in a previous post, if you have split your total bankroll into segments, using something along the lines of the 5% rule, then loosing one game isn’t really the end of the world, just re group, and come back the next day!

Any money management strategies you use are worth transferring, especially if they work, whether that be from previous poker experiences or even investing.

I learnt from experience after playing an ‘emotional’ game on Sunday night on PokerStars, I was trying to bluff a few to many hands and ended up getting re-raised, which eventually led to a loss. When the hand I needed actually came in, what was left of my 5% was so pathetic I should of just gone and got a burger, chips and a coke!!!

This section is slightly vague, I haven’t made a definite decision myself, but what seems to work for me is a 100% return on investment, which obviously increases your bankroll by 5%.

Others may beg to differ, I have friends who think that if there winning, they will carry on doing so as it’s their ‘lucky night’ and I don’t blame them, as in general they come out 200/300% on top.

I’m very conservative, if I win 60% of the time, and by a win I mean have a percentage increase on my buy in of 100%, then my bank balance is in the green overall.

The above statement starts to make management look a bit more interesting!

I’ll be honest, it doesn’t really matter.

Personally, im not a tourney person, I have patience, but only to a certain extent, I like sit and goes, winning or loosing as fast as possible, and coming back the next day.

Of course, if I was a tournament player, I’d adapt my money management strategy, probably decrease the risk a little, as the chances of winning become a lot slimmer, but of course the gains are higher in general, especially if your ‘lucky’ enough to win!

A big factor here read up on money vs emotion and see how many people in Poker forums or financial trading have lost out due to emotion setting in. If you loose your 5% on Day 1, take a step back, evaluate what went wrong, it might have been an honest mistake, or you might have gone all 50/50 on whether the other player had the flush, while you only had a straight.

Don’t worry, the beauty of money management is that it doesn’t matter, you’ve walked away 5% down, not well, but you’ve walked away, loosing, but still with 95% of your balance.

Walk away; come back the next day.

To be honest its a very basic strategy, but i’ve given it a name incase i need to refer back to it in the future, i can simply link to this post.

The name means nothing - Grants’ Five % Rule

It relates to something we’ll be speaking about alot over the coming days – money management.

My rule is based on the scenario that a player should never enter a poker tournement with any more than 5% of their bank role, its just a form of risk limitation.

By entering tournements with 100% of your bankroll, your heading for disaster, as you might win today, you might even win tomorrow, and have tripled you bankroll in the process, but eventually, you will loose.

Depending on the type of player you are, or in fact how often you tend to win, you might want to double up on my rule and go in with 10%, or even half it and go in with 2.5% of your bankroll, but whatever you do, adopt some kind of money management strategy.

Playing poker thoughtfully is working, playing poker irratically is gambling!

Always address your risk, never underestimate the competition and certainly don’t enter the game with the wrong state of mind.

Don’t get in to deep, poker is a game in its simplest form, but implement money management strategies and even the weakest of players can turn it into a business.

My background didn’t ever start in poker, as I tend to devote my time in financial markets.

Skills are transferable, and money management is a key ingredient to success, whether your running a trading business, deciding where to live and at what standard, or ultimately, playing poker!

Personally I like you run on a 5% rule if possible.

This is pretty basic, but I’ll explain it anyway.

When entering into stocks or other financial markets, I set limits at a 5% loss on my initial capital for every single trade. Now this is slightly different for poker, as you make 100 ‘trades’ every game, and if you set a 5% risk per ‘trade’ you’d have to have a hell of a balance.

For the sake of poker, I’ve adapted my strategy to have a 5% risk per buy in, the calculations are below (very complicated I know J ):

Buy in: $25

Capital: $500

Yes it will be a slow process, but by limiting risk and creating a consistent reward, you will actually stand a chance of coming out on top.