I’m taking a small break from playing.
Its time once again to take a break from poker! Not because things are going poorly but mostly because its starting to get boring. I wanted to write about this so that all of you readers can understand how important it is to strategically take breaks. If you don’t your almost sure to burn out.
Reasons The Reasons You Should take a Break
The first and last thing that tell me its time to take a few weeks away from the table is when I sit down get cards and think man this is going to be a long night! If that ever happens I take a break no matter what. Every time that I break that one rule I run into trouble, without exception! The other time I take breaks is times like this one when I feel like every hour I spend Playing Poker is time away from something more inportant. The third time I take a break is when I’m fired up about something else, Guitar, chess, pool, Websites any thing If I cant put something down I don’t try I drop everything else including poker and do what makes me happy at the time. That is the one thing I have found that makes my life most interesting at all times.
How Long Do You Need?
This question greatly depends on why you took the break it could be a day a month, an hour but the golden rule is you have to be both “Hungry and Patient” before your ready to play again. This is also a good way to prevent laziness ruin your poker fortune. When I take time off I find it’s best to start with absolutely no poker, no poker tv, no poker books, no discusions about poker, Nothing. Then as I get closer to ready I start to read a little maybe play some really small games and I try to mentally prepare for the games. Mental preperation is perhaps my strongest weapon in any game! Everybody comes to the table wanting to win but very few players are acutally prepared to play winning poker.
Back Again
When I get back to the tables I ussualy get back into a stronger rythem than when I left. I old see things clearer lay down good hands easier and take bad beats better. I don’t think their is another secret that has saved me or made me so much money as taking a break! And if I get bcak and the clouds are still there, I take an extra day, because I always want to be there on my own Terms!
Lou Krieger’s excellent blog ran a story last month about Rep. Barney Frank and Jim Mcdermit supporting a full legalization of Online Poker! This certainly would be exciting for the poker crowd but my stomach turns just a little when I hear Frank’s name. Being one of the representatives most adamently against the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac I feel he is very high in the responsibility chain for the last 2 years of global downturn! Still I do think legalization of poker makes sense. But let’s all unite when it happens to prevent excessive “SIN” taxes from making it much less profitable to round for a living.
P.S. Be sure to checkout Lou’s Blog!!
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I’m a strong player maybe you are too and I think that all players who feel that they are going to win money in poker start to realize that hey If I can beat 9 players at one table why no just beat 18 players on two. Well, you can but you have to consider the Pros and Cons first!
Pros:
- Playing more than one table can really be a big help with boredom. Sometimes we are all tempted to play hand that we should playing more than one table can help.
- If your better than your competition More tables really can be more chances to win. That is if your really better than your average opponent.
- The Law of Big Numbers states that even large advantages(AA vs 22) have a high swing probability over a short period of time i.e. a few hands. But if you are playing thousands of hands the odds always win out and 80% of the time Aces win. So if you are out playing the competition More Hands=Less Bad Luck!
Cons:
- More tables=Less Concentration this is an absolute law and all cons about multi tabling are derived from this one! This is especially true if you are new to the game or just slightly better than your competition because when your playing on four tables you might lose all of your edge!
- Small tilts are magnafied. It’s amazing how many times a small bad beat on one table can cause a bad descision on another and that loss can send you spiralling! Even if you are very cool headed the more tables you play the more stress will build!
- You may miss opprotunities on one table because you have to adjust your playing style. I am ussually a loose Agressive player and when I play multiple tables I have to play a whole lot tighter and I miss opprotunites to punish players with mediocre hands. JT etc.
- The short term swings can be crippling If you play multitables you have to have a much bigger bankroll because you can take alot of quick hits to bankroll!
- The Dreaded Pop up causes alot of mis bets! If you are not able to choose the table you are about to act on or if another table becomes active first it will often pull that screen in front of the one you were about to click. I have litterally reraised by accident with a hand that you couldn’t pay me to play ordinarily. One note of caution never play a big game with side tables open to a little game. It would of course suck for a .01/.02 cent game to mess up a final table in a big tournament!
Well thats the first part of this discussion, I will be posting more soon!
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Jun 10
19
What’s New? News about Pokerheavy!
We are currently getting recording software to start creating Podcasts and video Blog entries! This is somthing that I am very excited about. We will also be working on an official pokerheavy audio podcast to be released later this year.
In Other News we will be searching for additional writers who will start their own catagories. As of right now this is only for locals who I know so don’t send me request yet. We will are also looking for a co-host or co-hosts to help with the podcast!
The third Item of business is that I may create a new catagory for my two other passions chess and pool. I know it’s not poker but I have rarely met a poker player that didn’t appreciate either ches or pool!
Last But Not least I am Adding an add this button to my widgets list so that you can easily share these posts with friends via facebook myspace, yadda Yadda.
Here is the sample button:
Jun 10
16
Poker Skills: Making a Big Laydown
Making a Big Laydown is on of the most important skills you can have in any type of Poker. But it’s particularly important when your a no limit texas hold ‘em player. In all honesty it’s also one of the hardest possible things to learn because over folding is also disasterous.
In this example it wasn’t quite so bad because I limped early with them and when a raise and a reraise came afterward I was more than happy to not find out what the raisers had. Now I don’t want you to think that you should always throw your Jacks away in this situation. The truth is this is very much a read play.
The first thing you have to know in this process is what hands most opponents are likely to raise and reraise with. You know this by gaining general experience of how most people at your level of poker play. At most low level tables I think your very justified in calling this reraise because most low level tables have bad players willing to reraise with AJ. If I were playing a bunch of pros I would almost auto fold QQ here unless I have a read that at least on of the two players is full of it.(or If were so big stacked that flopping a Q would win hugh amounts of dough).
The second part is that you should always be watching and noting what opponents have. If you pick out a real tight player and he reraises. You definately need to dump the Jacks. In fact that’s exactly why I folded. The initial raiser pushed All in and the reraiser showed pocket Queens! and I saved myself half of my buy in! Haza!
When you make big laydowns or calls you should constently be watching to see if you were right or wrong. Getting it wrong means you need to readjust your playing strategy getting it right is a good indicator of were you stand. Your reads and abilities mature over time but only if you keep focusing an honing them. Before long you should be able to call specific hands that your opponent has, though only occassionally!
Jun 10
15
The Path to Poker profit
- Poker Winnings “We Hope”
So you want to win alot of money at poker? Well I sure as hell do and I can tell you one of the best stratagies to do it to. Cash in on some bonuses! All of these poker sites out there are fighting for your patronage but if you haven’t got a favorite or even if you have you can cash in big on Poker room bonuses. There are hundreds of poker sites out there most of them have good start-up bonuses and some have great rebuy bonuses. In our right hand column we have some of our favorites.
The number one mistake I see when people are following bonuses is that some people inately change the way they play just to cash out the bonus. I have seen good solid players play so poorly to try and cash out a bonus that they lost 2-3 timesa the amount that the bonus paid!
Lesson1: Don’t play to long.
Playing too long to cash out a bonus is the first step toward losing it. I have personally lost many pots and many hours of sleep trying to get that last hundred “Poker Player Points” only to regreat it the next morning.
The Second Problem I see is players playing games other than their specialty to clear bonuses. I don’t know how many times friends and relatives have complained about OH8 only to play it time and again to cash out a bonus! The third problem people run into is changing their style to cash a bonus. I have even seen friends raise a pot just to make it qualify for a FPP! On other occassions I have seen friends fold good hand after good hand trying to wait out the bonus, Honestly thats insane, common in poker players but insane in the real world!
So how do you make bonuses work for you?Simple, PLay your ussual high level of Poker and pretend they don’t Even Exist! I’ve seen many, mediocre players make decent profits this way. Think how Much more Money you can make off of bonuses if your a good player!
For more info on poker Bonuses check out our poker bonus Page. We are going to keep working on it and adding more reviews for more sites!
Final Thoughts: Sites vary greatly in both the size of a bonus and the ease of clearence so please use our bonus page and find theright fit for you. If you playing 1cent/2cent give up the $600 deposit to full tilt you’ll never cash it, no completely! Please comment on this post and this page if you have any info into good bonuses we’d love to hear them!
Can You Win alot of money in poker without ever bluffing. Probably, In fact thats the easiest way to win in cash games especially in the ultra loose cash games online. Still, If you can’t make a bluff at the right time your just throwing away money that you could be raking in.
So I’m going to give you a good Crash Course in Bluffing Starting with The Semi Bluff.
Now by definition a semi Bluff is a Bluff that accompanies either a draw or when you supect that you may have a tied hand or a slighlty better hand.
To Clarify this I’m going to review a hand I played last night on Full Tilt Poker. I limped in with AK and a fairly strong/Tight player raises. I fear a coin flop so I didn’t want to risk gambling so I flat call. The flop is all low cards so I check call and I start to get the feeling that he’s got a medium pair or AK/AJ. The Turn comes a queen which is the perfect card for me. If he did have AK /JJ/TT or AJ the queen hurts him quite a bit if He has AQ or KQ I believe I would pick up a change in his betting pattern. He bets out again just under a potsize bet and I immediately RRs a little more than the size of the pot. He thought about it and folded and I dragged in a big pot!
The Key parts of this hand are:
- I had played for a long time with this player prior to trying this move.
- He was a good player. A bad player would have probably called me with JJ or even 88 and I would have had to catch an A or K.
- I was very confident of my read. If I only had an inkling of what he had this would be losing play in the long run.
- The part that is least apparent is that every move I made in the hand has a mathematical element behind it. That is to say if you are going to make a bluff like this you need to be picking up this hand at least 2 out of every 3 times you try it. If there not folding at least that often your doing something wrong. That may mean your not cut out for big bluffs still you can uses smaller high percentage bluffs when the timing is right.
If you’ve never had a Royal Flush you might just be dreaming of the day when your time is coming. Truth be told the better your hand the worse the payout, ussually! Thats of course bcause when hands like this happens the board just scares the shit out of any player worth his salt. You bet hard and they think twice about mixing it up., even if their holding strong hands themselves. This is my sixth Royal Flush and I think I won a grand total of nine cents 
on this one. Still being the sixth it is a testament to just how much poker hands I have played as you on average get one once in every 589,000 hands.
The Other Royal Flushes were all for the most part uneventful as well. I got one while vacationing in Atlantic City. It was conviently enough one week after they ended a get a Royal Flush Jackpot. In at least 2 everyone folded and one my very first royal flush I trashed the competition who called an all in. Unfortunately, I was at a play money table I had Just been Busted from the real one.
The second and best time I got a Royal (only 2 days after my first royal) I was playing in a homegame tournament and turned my straight +flush redraw. When the river hit my chair cracked under my weight and I went sprawling to the floor without seeing the card. That card musta hit you hard the dealler joked and I brushed myself off and slowly rose to see the Ace of Diamonds that Gives me the Royal. “Yeah , Terry hit me right between the eyes” I’m all in. We all laughed and my opponent called. The pot I dragged was more than half the chips on the table. I won the tournament along with $300 I got a good story and that’s Probably woth more than anything!
So Remember No matter how you play your hands take away this, The Joy of Playing (Poker ) will outlast any gain you could ever hope to get. And always rember a good story will last you long after your winnings are spent!
Jun 10
5
Playing Ace King Part 2
Now We still haven’t talked about AK in limit hold Em yet so I think this is a fine time to start. As we mentioned prevously AK is not very good against multiple opponets. Thats why we make nice big 3x raises in no limit to thin the field. Of course in limit this is completely impossible as quite honestly a 2x raise won’t scare my grandma out of a pot. This is especially true if there were severallimpers ahead of you. In that case raising just tips your hand and raises the pot giving opponents pot odds on the flop to chase you.
So how should you play AK in limit raise early or with no limpers ahead of you. Bet strong if you flop your ace/King. And avoid raising in late position. On occocasion or on tables were no one folds anyway limp with your AK if you flop a strait or trips you AK is well disguised. If you missed the flop completely you can get out for very little invested.
Playing Ace King in Tournament Poker
Tournaments is one of the places where AK really shine Expecially against GOOD players. This is because if your reallu good players understand that their advantage comes from reads and small pot play. Since that advantage is much bigger than your average player why in the worl would a Dave Skalansky, or Doyle Brunson want to risk their tournament on TT or 99 when they could fold and out play you later. And since AK is unlikely to be dominated it is an excelent Reraise hand Against a player that’s better than you. Even if he turns over Cowboys you still have about one in three chances of winning! Now the reraise stratagey of course doesn’t work out mathematically if the blinds are supper low, because when the pots aren’t big enough they will just fold until they have that High pair and generally that will destroy in small pots that you’ve stolen! Well that’s officially it for AK. I will be writing more about it in the future I’m sure but not in this series. I hope I have given you enough info to play AK well.
Join Us Again on Teusday for How to play a Weak Ace!
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