2BlogPoker.com

When in the company of certified poker aficionados, there is no way a debate of all-time poker greats won’t crop up. In fact, poker fans can spend the whole day arguing a veritable list of who’s who in the poker world and talk about them some more when the sun does its inevitable descent. After that they would be planning to meet and talk some more.

If golf has Tiger Woods and basketball has Michael Jordan, poker has Stuart Errol “The Kid” Ungar, arguably one of the best poker players of all. His mathematical skills at calculating the odds is phenomenal, only his adeptness in gin rummy beats his skill in poker. Many consider him the greatest No Limit Hold ‘Em player of all time. Ungar’s genius IQ level and photographic memory made him three-time World Champion with 5 WSOP bracelets under his belt. He won his first championship with virtually zero experience in No Limit Hold ‘Em.

(more…)

I’d like to share a little experience that I gained while playing shootout tournaments at partypoker.com. Those tournaments are held four times a day, three times the buy in is 6$ and once it is 22$ in the evening. Due to the massive amount of players who buy into those tournaments you always play four rounds in this tournament. You have to make it to the best 3 of 10 to make it into the money in the first three rounds and to the best 3 of all remaining players in the last round.

The great thing about this type of tournament is that you already win some money if you make it to the best of three in the first round of the tournament which means that seven other players on that table have to leave the table before you. I like this type of tournament way better than those with hundreds of players that you have to beat to make it into the money.

(more…)

Calculatem Pro is another poker software that does the calculations for you. You attach the software to the poker room that you entered and select the place where you are currently sitting. From then on the software will keep track of your cards and give information like pot odds, hand rank, chance to win, outs and a suggestion what you should do (check, raise, fold etc). The software has two modes, the first one is a compact mode which is a long bar that fits nicely under the poker room, the second one is a larger one that has to be placed on either side of the poker room.

The mini toolbar of Calculatem Pro is great, it displays every information needed to play professional poker without the need to calculate the odds and outs for yourself. You could easily let the program guide you through poker tournaments without much work by yourself. It is of course necessary to interpretate the given values, you might want to play some hands sometimes where Calculatem pro suggests a fold or fold hands were it suggests a raise. It helps tremendously in tournaments.

(more…)

I came across and interesting article talking about how the pro’s beat video poker machines by using the payout advantage. It seems the most important thing to always remember is to play max coins all the time.

Pro strategies is much more than just knowing which cards to hold and which cards to fold. It is also not overbetting your bankroll, and knowing that you can’t get an edge on a video poker game unless you bet maximum coins. That’s because of the huge jump in the royal flush jackpot with five coins wagered. On most machines, a royal pays 250 coins for a one-coin wager, 500 for two, 750 for three or 1,000 for four. But on the fifth coin, the royal jumps to 4,000 coins – essentially, you’re getting 3,000 coins for the royal on that final coin wagered, but only getting 250 per coin on the first four coins and that is a must have advantage.

But you may ask, royal flushes don’t payout often if ever?

It makes all the difference in the world. Take 10-7-5 Double Bonus Poker, where full houses pay 10-for-1, flushes 7-for-1 and straights 5-for-1. With expert style play, that’s a 100.17 percent game. The pro squeezes out a small profit on the game, and cash back and comps are gravy. But when the royal is worth only 250 coins per coin wagered, the payback with expert play drops to 99.11 percent. Then it’s not a beatable game.

Bottom line is that professionals play the long-term odds and to beat the machines long-term you need to use the rigth strategies. Stay sharp and good luck!

I was pondering with this question for a while and came up with no universal way to handle a bad streak. Ever had the feeling that luck was against you for some nights ? You go all in with AA and the other guy with 89 suited and he takes the pot home with a flash ? You get the first great hand of the evening KK only to be beaten by someone with AA in the same hand ? That is bad luck and if it happens a lot close to each other it is called a bad streak.

You did not change the way you play your poker game but you happen to loose against “inferior” hands or unlikely hands more often. Should you go on as always and play until the bad streak is over, knowing that you will be loosing money on the way ? Or should you take some days off and play after you cleared your mind about this and start playing without thinking that something bad will happen soon on the table ?

(more…)