High Stakes Poker: Sickest pot ever

The biggest pot in TV show High Stakes Poker history was played in the latest episode. Over $700K was on the table when Jamie Gold and Patrik Antonius clashed. With the minimum buy-in recently raised to $500,000, the High Stakes Poker action has been ultra-crazy in the last few episodes. In this particular hand, Patrik Antonius picked up As-Jd and raised to $4,000. Jamie Gold looked down on pocket kings, and re-raised to $14,000. Only Antonius called. The flop came 3s-Qd-Th. Antonius checked and Gold bet $15,000 with his over pair. The Finnish player called with one over card and a gut-shot straight draw. Amazingly, the turn brought the Kh. Gold now had top set, while Antonius had the nuts, an ace-high straight. Antonius bet $45,000, and Gold moved all-in for $341,500. Antonius immediately called, and thus created the biggest pot in the history of High Stakes Poker: $743,800 was on the table. “Unbelievable, but what am I going to do, right?” Gold said. Since it’s a cash game, the players are allowed to make deals in situations like these. Gold and Antonius decided to play the river three times, with almost $250,000 at stake on each card. Being a 3-to-1 underdog, Gold was hoping to catch at least one lucky card, and when the dealer placed the Qh on the table, giving Gold a full house, he shouted “Yes!” The 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event champion’s luck continued when the second river card was dealt. The 3d gave Gold another full house. “Haha! Wow!” was all Gold said this time, while Antonius hardly reacted at all. Gold was hoping for the case king to come the third time, but instead it was the 8s. Antonius’ hand finally held up, and he calmly collected a third of the gigantic pot. High Stakes Poker host AJ Benza summarized the craziest pot ever in the following way: “I tell you one thing: Patrik can take a punch. Imagine if that was Phil Hellmuth.” Note: High Stakes Poker airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. on the GSN network

Warning issued on lead in poker chips

Unbelievable We have to watch what we eat and drink and now watch what poker chips we play with!!Lead in poker chips Arizona health regulators issued a warning Thursday, saying Paulson brand poker chips could contain high levels of lead. The warning about the chips — used in many casinos and sold at retail to gamblers — came a day after a Phoenix TV station broadcast a story about the potential contamination. The station had 200 of the chips tested by a private lab and said all of them exceeded the EPA limit for surface lead. Paulson’s CEO issued a statement saying the company objected to any implication that the chips, when used as intended, posed a health hazard. He also said the chips had been reformulated to contain far less lead. The Associated Press

Chopping !!

Deal making is an important skill in poker tournaments. The reason for this is the prize structure of modern day tournaments. The prize pool ends up being extremely favorable to the winner, as well as the top three players in the tournament. The winner and second place often get up to sixty percent of the entire prize pool. First gets double second place, and often 4 times what the third place finisher receives. Because of this, at the late stages of a tournament deal making is be a very important skill.Many players don’t see the advantage to deal making. They figure, “Well, why should I give up a chance at first place money?” The reason is, you play poker to win money. You must accept that you will rarely final table tournaments, and win them even less. When you get to the final table you need to maximize your profit, and deal making can do that.One factor to take into account is if there are any player points involved. For example, Poker Stars has a weekly and yearly Tournament Leader Board. Players at Poker Stars are often very interested in winning a week of the entire year. You can use this to your advantage in deal making. For example:You have a short stack, and players are trying to arrange a deal. You can barter with the player points. Explain that the top players are going to get the player points, so you want more money.Also, always try to arrange a deal right before you are in the blinds. The opposite is also true. If another player proposes a deal just before his big blind, point out that he’s about to invest a ton of chips into the pot, so he should get less money.Usually, deals are created just by divvying up the prize pool by chip percentages. If you are a large stack, you should agree to this method. If you are a short stack, you should reject it. The reason being, if you only have 10% of the chips, and your opponents have 40% and 50%, you are going to get a very small portion of the prize pool. But, in all reality, you have a much better chance of coming in second or first place then your small share of the prize pool would reflect.The best deal making strategy you can use is to “play hard to get.” When deals are being proposed, make sure that it is known that you don’t really want to make a deal. If you show that you are unsure about the deal, players will offer you more money to persuade you to accept it.Deal making is especially important in one table sit and go satellites. Many players often just play these to make the final three players then chop the pot up.Deal making is an important skill in poker, and crucial to your final table strategy. By using the tips above you’ll be able to extract more money when you make the final table, and be able to negotiate excellent deals.

In No-Limit Texas Hold’em, table image is everything. It can mean the difference between a losing session and a winning one. There are a few rules you must learn before learning how to exploit your table image for maximum profit. The first rule is that if you plan on showing a loose table image, you must be playing players who will acknowledge it. You cannot go to a low limit table where players go all-in with anything and expect to make a profit by showing them how loose you are. The best way to beat a low limit game is by playing the cards. Table image becomes a factor when you are playing the player rather than the cards. The second rule about table image deals with giving too much money away on trash hands. If you plan on playing like a maniac, show this to your opponents. Be careful not to go overboard and start playing stupid as it is very easy to fall into this trap. As a maniac, your goal should be to showdown a few cheap pots with trash hands and to raise some pretty crappy hands pre-flop. A lot of times, you will raise trash and hit top pair. Don’t get carried away with this and let it go if it must be done. The third and most important rule is to always play tight on the flop. Even if you are acting like a maniac, do the raising pre-flop. Only call down for a good image and show a stupid hand if the pot is really cheap. The Three Table Images The three table images I will discuss have varying degrees. I will outline the basic concepts and requirements for each image. The goal we are trying to accomplish here is letting our opponents make mistakes based on how we are perceived. We are trying to get them to lay down top pair when we are bluffing with a tight table image. Likewise, we are trying to get them to call us when we have the stone cold nuts and are playing like a maniac. Maniac Tight Crazy (Unpredictable) You can learn to play any of these images and I advise you to master them all. On a daily basis, I might use all 3 table images if the table demands it. Table image should be chosen based on the current status of a table. Which Table Image To Choose Choose your table image based on whether the table is loose or tight. Tight Table- Tight Image Loose Table- Loose Image This may look weird considering most people say play tight on a loose table and loose on a tight table. That is right. But you have to remember, we are talking image here, not the way we play. It doesn’t matter WHAT image I choose, I always play tight on the flop no matter what. Even when I am playing the role of a maniac, I will very rarely call down without nuts or a premium hand. I will occasionally show down a bad hand on purpose if it is a cheap pot overall. The reason we want to show that we are tight on a tight table is because most of the time the players will give up top pair. You will be able to steal the blinds and bluff as much as you want so long as the tight players THINK you are tight. The reason we want to show that we are loose on a loose table is because we want our opponents to think we are stupid players as well. Sometimes, on a really loose table, all you need to do is sit there and you will still get action on pocket aces. If they are folding to your premium hands, then make a few stupid calls here and there and raise some trash hands pre-flop so they know you are there to play and not there to take their money. The crazy table image is best when playing against players that you know are capable of reading you. Opponents that pay extreme attention to your every move can only be countered with one table image, the unpredictable and crazy image. These types of players (crazy/unpredictable) are winners over the long run because you will never peg them on a set hand. They know when to give up flops and know when to bet you out of the pot.

RAZZ

I was watching episodes of the 2004 World Series Of Poker, I saw my first game of Razz poker, and was intrigued. As I had never played Razz poker, I decided to at least learn how, and figure out why some of the players were calling it things like the “hated game” and repeatedly saying, “I hate this game”. Here are a few of the things I learned. As far as learning how to play, if you have ever played 7 Card Stud you will quickly be able to play Razz poker competently. Razz poker is played like 7 Card Stud, but it is played for low instead of high. The best possible hand is a “Wheel”, A 2 3 4 5 and straights or flushes have no bearing on the winning hand. After the first three cards are dealt, the high card, unlike 7 Card Stud, is forced to place a “bring in” bet to start the action. From this point, everything is the same as 7 Card Stud. Learning how to play is easy; learning how to play well is difficult, to say the least. In my opinion, Razz poker requires the highest level of reading your opponents and recognizing betting patterns of all of the variations of poker. As an extension, Razz poker is the game where it is most important to not give away any information about the strength of your hand. Bluffing is a large part of the game, as many times the best low hand will be a Nine or Ten high, and it seems like there are a lot of times when you end up with three pair to destroy much hopes of winning, but if you have good low cards showing you may be able to bluff and win. This is why it is so aggravating. An example is when you start with 2 3 5, followed by 3 7 5. Any A 4 6 or 8 will almost surely give you the win and a 9, T or J may give you the best hand. But when you hit another 2 3 5 or 7, you have no chance to win unless all of your opponents have multiple pairs also or you are able to make a successful bluff. You will often play this hand to the end, just to have any chance to win destroyed by pairing your seventh card. Overall, Razz poker is a fun variation of poker to play on occasion, but due to the lack of available games, and the few that do run are usually dominated by veteran players, I recommend it for a change of pace, not a full time profession. It can be a fun night of entertainment if you host a home game.

Quick explanation of Omaha!

What you do is get four cards. Doesn’t matter much what they are because nobody really looks at them anyway. Next, they put three cards on the board. It doesn’t matter what they are because nobody really pays any attention to the flop either. Then one more card for the turn and another one for the river. Same betting scenario as before. Doesn’t really matter much what they are, except, for a few of the players that may have “cheated” and looked at their hole cards. These players may now fold if they have absolutely no outs. (Mostly bad sports.) Now, at the showdown, everybody turns over their cards and helps the dealer figure out who has the best hand. You MUST play two cards out of your hand so this usually takes a while and and the winning hand is usually found out after a little bit of searching by all of the players and a partially confused dealer. The dealer now pushes the pot to the wrong player and everybody yells at him and he smiles glibly and says, “Oh yeah,,,sorry” and then sends it in the right direction. Then, after all of that excitement dies down, everybody lets out a collective sigh of relief and gets ready to wind up and do it all over again. Fun game. Everyone here is a bonus Joke for today’s Blog! A man came home from a poker game late one night and found his hideous wife waiting for him with a rolling pin. “Where the hell have you been?” she asked. The man reply’s“You’ll have to pack all your things, dear “I’ve just lost you in a card game.” “How did you manage to do that?” asks the wife. “It wasn’t easy, honest. I had to fold with a royal flush.”

The Check Raise

The check raise can be an effective tool to control your opponents and force others to make mistakes. It can help neutralize your opponent’s advantage due to position. You can trap opponents with your strong hands. As well, you can protect your good but vulnerable hands in family pots. It is very important that you do not attempt to check raise passive opponents because your plan will backfire if you give them a free card if they do not bet. When we play hands out of position, our opponents have a very large advantage since they see what we do before they act. If we always check when we have a weak hand, observant opponents will pick up on this pattern and bluff us out of pots. By check raising, we keep our opponents on their toes, and they will value bet and bluff less frequently. In hands that involve multiple players, we can isolate players with a check raise and force those who act after us to pay multiple bets to continue in the hand. Look at the situation where there are three limpers and the button raises. We call the raise in the big blind with AJ offsuit, as do all the limpers. The flop comes J25 with two hearts and everyone checks to the pre-flop raiser. The pre-flop raiser bets as expected and we can now raise, thereby forcing the three players who act after us to pay two bets if they want to continue in the hand. If we had just bet out and any of the limpers called, they would be likely to call the extra bet if the button raises. Check raising is an effective tool in hands with only one opponent. By check raising, which is a sign of strength, we get extra bets into the pot with our very strong hands. Opponents who tend to bluff players that show weakness will begin to become more passive in pots that you are involved in, because they fear the check raise. While the check raise is an effective tool, it should be used relatively sparingly. If you constantly attempt to check raise your opponents, they will begin to take free cards after you check. This gives them the opportunity to outdraw you with weaker hands for free, which would be a huge mistake on your behalf. The real key is to only attempt the check raise when you feel an opponent will bet.

Distractions when you're playing

Why should you avoid distractions when you’re playing online poker? You can multi-task can’t you?The first paragraph of this article asks you a simple question, why should you avoid distractions when you’re in the midst of a game online? For the same reason you would avoid them if you were playing in a land based poker tournament, staying focused during play is essential if you are to avoid making mistakes. What exactly are distractions? These are going to differ from person to person, many players require absolute silence when they are playing, others have a web browser open or the TV on in the background. A few will have four or five attention grabbing things going on at once, the wife talking about her day, answering email, chatting on the internet and even finishing up some work. Any one of these distractions could potentially cost you your tournament, which means a wasted buy-in or a cash amount in a ring game. How can we avoid these things? It isn’t too difficult, try playing when the wife is out or watching her favorite TV show. Maybe leave the computer alone until your young child is safely tucked up in bed. Turn the TV down or off completely, you cannot watch two screens at once very easily! Finish your work first, then play. It seems a very straight forward thing to do, but you’d be surprised at how many non-focused players there are on the internet. If you are 100% focused on the game, you have an edge over these players. Recognising and taking advantage of non-focused players.So, how can we spot a non-focused player? Keep and eye on the chat, is someone talking about the football game? The next horse race? Or perhaps the bad beat they just took on another table? These could be players who are not focused on the task in hand.

Terms that describe playing styles

These are all terms that describe playing styles. Loose and tight generally refer to a player’s attitude toward his stack of chips. The loose player bets more often prior to the flop and will gamble more to try and make a hand. They tend to bluff a lot. A player that is ‘tight’ plays few hands that are carefully selected; they’ll fold easily. They tend to only play strong hands. Passive and aggressive refer to a player’s attitude toward other players. A ‘passive’ player tends to follow other player’s leads and not try to command the table while an ‘aggressive’ player tries to command the table and force others to chase him or fold. These attitudes combine to create four generalized playing styles: Loose-passive: These players don’t guard every penny, but they do tend to follow other players leads. These players will play most hands, but rarely initiate bets or raises. Loose-passive play is typified by casual ‘poker night’ games amongst friends. Loose-aggressive: These players are also free with their money, but they are in the game for the action and want to command the game. These players will raise often, even with weak cards. Loose-aggressive play is typified by the ‘play money’ internet poker rooms where no real money is at stake. Tight-passive: These players are careful with their money and follow other player’s leads. These players let others initiate betting, call when they have good cards and seldom raise. Tight-passive play is typified by regulars at public card rooms. Tight-aggressive: These players guard their money, but also love the competition and want to command the game. They may let other’s initiate betting, but when they raise it is very probable that they hold good cards. Tight-aggressive play is typified by professional poker players and those in tournaments. It is important to note that none of these play styles is absolute – anyone may ‘push his luck’ or bluff if they feel the time is right.

Personal Improvment !!

Yesterday we talked about Team Poker and I personally wasn’t a big fan of that type of format. But it made me take a look at my personal game and I think no matter what skill level you are at you always need to look at your own game and look for areas to improve.I always put a list of things together and at my next live event I will pay attention to each of these things and try to improve or correct. Now to be clear the list is always there once I fix something there something that replaces it on the list. There is that old saying “Texas Holdem takes a minute to learn but a life time to master” Below is my current list of things I need to work on at my next live event. Tells I need to eliminate. 9. Yelling “Yeehaw!” everytime I have a pocket pair 8. Everytime I bluff I say,”Call this if you don’t like money.” 7. Shaking the entire table when I have the nuts. 6. Sweating profusely when I know I’m beat. 5. Begging the other players not to call or raise. 4. Wearing mirror glasses that shows the table my hole cards. 3. Discussing my cards with the cocktail girl during the hand. 2. Having to constantly ask other players what hands are best. 1. Hyperventilating when I look at my hole cards and see Pocket Rockets!

Team Poker? Is it a way to practice cheating!

So I played in my first team event last night online and it got me thinking. Is team Poker just a way to practice what has always been illegal in poker and that’s “Collusion” or is Team poker another way to drive excitement into the game? With all the Large fields at the WSOP do we really need something to create any more excitement? And team Poker is just not on-line for forums to challenge each other. There is an event that is being put together for the Pro’s and will be televised. I actually was hoping to play on the Dallas Team but the buy in of $10,000 was a little to much for my bankroll. Cheating at Poker when not playing team event(What to watch out for) There are three or four major forms of poker cheating that you must remain on guard against; marked cards, imported chips, mechanics, and collusion. Imported chips are unauthorized poker chips brought into the tournament. Mechanics is the physical manipulation of playing cards to someone’s advantage, for example, dealing from the bottom of the deck. Collusion is playing differently against one or more players at the table than you do against others. Cheating at low stakes home poker games is not usually a problem. Tournament play discourages cheating due to the relatively low buyin dollar amount. Many home tourney players are attending for the enjoyment and camaraderie rather than the need to win the money. So don’t worry too much about cheaters at your game. Surprisingly, the biggest form of “cheating” is peeking at other players cards. Glimpsing your neighbor’s cards is sometimes unavoidable due to the cramped quarters of a home poker room. Remind your guests to protect their cards at all times. Remember that is not improper for one player to complain about another player who constantly has the opportunity to view a third player’s cards. Marked CardsMarked cards can be purchased on Ebay and at other locations. Brand new decks of marked KEM cards (in sealed plastic!) use a dye that is only visible to players wearing special glasses. This cheating method can be easily avoided by never using anyone else’s cards at your home tourney. Some players may also try to mark cards by tearing or nicking them with a fingernail. This is usually a little too obvious a tactic but of greater concern is a ‘punched’ card. A punched card has a little indentation punched into the card in a specific location. You can view a punched card here. A dealer can feel the punch as he deals the card and an observant player can view the punches on everyone’s down-cards. Imported ChipsYou must be on guard against players who might try to bring their own poker chips into your tournament. This is particularly true if you use one of the more common types of chip that is readily available. If you use a customized chip with your name printed on it, you don’t have to worry about a player having an identical chip, but if you are using the plastic Bike chips - what’s to stop a player from bringing extra chips into your tourney? If you must use common poker chips, try to modify them in some unique way. One easy method is to place little stickers (labels) of a certain color or shape on each chip. Just make sure they don’t come off … you don’t want to make false accusations against an innocent player. You might also use an unusually colored felt marker to permanently mark your chips. Always pay attention to the chips in play. If you’ve owned your set of chips for ten years but all of a sudden one or two shiny, new Purple (500) chips appears .. you’ve got a problem. Make sure you account for your entire chipset at the end of the night. Chips do occasionally get lost under carpets or down ventilation grates. Ensure that you know the exact number of chips you have in your set. MechanicsYou should always pay particular attention to the dealer as this is where the majority of cheating can occur. Your worries will be greatly lessened if you have a dedicated dealer you can trust. You can learn more about card mechanics at PokerCheat.com. CollusionCollusion is extremely difficult to prove and caution must be used when dealing with the issue. In a public cardroom, or someone else’s house, it is best to simply walk away from the game when you suspect collusion. Unfortunately, walking away is not an option when you are in your own house hosting 20 guys for a night of poker! Some common forms of collusion are: Dumping chips: Deliberately losing to a partner (perhaps someone you are backing financially or with whom you have traded a percentage stake). Hand-mucking: Switching or altering hands. Two people sitting next to each other might try to switch hands or alter them in some way. Hot-seat: A new player is invited to a game, only to play against a team of players all secretly working together. Signaling: Trading information between partners. Signals can take many forms, from the placement of the chips on the cards, to coughing, to Morse code tappings on the table. The key ingredient in all signaling systems is the ability to be repeated without being noticed. In a game where people (hopefully) are always watching each other, this can prove problematic. When a cheater is signaling the value of his hand to his partner(s), he is also signaling the value of his hand to everybody else at the table. Soft play: Failing to bet or raise in a situation that would normally merit it because of your opponent. In home poker games it is common to be playing against someone you know well but the best advice is to leave friendship outside the door, especially in tournament poker. Soft playing a friend is cheating all of the other players at the game who would prefer to see you bust out your friend, getting them closer to the prize money. Whipsawing: Partners raise and reraise each other to trap players in between. Implicit CollusionLet’s say there are three players left in the pot and one of those players goes all-in. There is now a good chance that the remaining two players will “check it down", meaning that they will both check, rather than bet or raise, until the showdown. This is known as “implicit collusion” because the two players are now, in effect, teaming up against the all-in player. There are several legitimate reasons why implicit collusion is somewhat tolerated: The chance of a successful bluff is much lower since there is a guaranteed card showdown with the all-in player. Eliminating players is an important objective in a tournament and both players have a vested interest in seeing the all-in player eliminated. Two hands have a better chance of beating the all-in player than one. Players not in the pot also have a vested interest in seeing the all-in player eliminated. For these reasons, don’t be surprised to see many checked-down hands in these situations. It is not considered to be cheating unless done by verbal agreement.

Self Discipline

Ok I was not going tell a soul but then I thought if I’m going to blog I have to post about every thing not just the funny and the good so here goes.. I have a self discipline problem with On-line poker. Stop laughing that’s not Funny! Yesterday I had $42.00 dollars in my Cake account and since there was no points game for Holdem Radio I decide to play in a 20 dollar buy in bounty tourney. I played great I took 9 bounty’s and also finished 7th for a profit of $130.00.After the tourney my Cake account balance $172.00 (That more then I have ever had in an on-line account at one time) So here’s where the Self Discipline problem comes in, I’m listening to Earl and Jenn on the Tournament Trail so I decide I’m going to play in another bounty tourney but I do not have any luck. So then I decide to play in just a regular buy in tourney and I finish 11th just out of the money, at this point the Bankroll is $128.00. Ok at this point I should call it a night, not that in the last two tourneys I’ve played bad just didn’t get any cards but I continue on and head for the ring games at cake. I think you all know where this is going. I sit down at the ring games and the Bad beats keep coming, I get my money in with the best hands and Over and Over agian I continue to get beat. The Straits, The 4 card Flushes and even a Strait Flush beats my Full House. But because of no discipline I just didn’t quit and continued to play thinking that in poker bad streaks would come and if I continue to play solid Poker In the end I would triumph. But I didn’t and my bank roll on cake currently stands at $45.83 and that’s a profit of $3.83 for the day. With any self discipline at all I could have Quit when I was way ahead. I will be adding Self Discipline to the list we talked about yesterday.

I found this Great article written by our friend Lou Krieger titled Preparing to Win:

Every poker player wants to win. But willpower alone is not enough. In fact, too much willpower may even be detrimental to one’s game. After all, poker is not like those “World’s Strongest Man” competitions that fill the TV sports programming hours when no major sporting events are being contested. Will power drives those guys. Sometimes it’s all they’ve got left to hoist a 350 pound Atlas stone up and over that last inch of wall. Strong as these guys are, it’s often a game of inches and the force of one’s will decides the outcome of many of these events. But in poker the will to win - that unmitigated desire to drive one’s self to the wall and beyond - can lead players to make bad decisions. In a strong man competition it’s you and that stone and the wall. You have to lift it or you’re history. But in poker, you don’t have to play every hand - or even most of them. One must first decide which hands to play, and because of that it’s brains before desire, judgment before will, and knowledge before power. But knowledge alone won’t get you there. Success demands thinking, and thinking at the poker table in the heat of battle can be enhanced by a period of preparation - preparation for winning. How you think about the game, and what you think about, can make all the difference between winning and losing in the long run, regardless of how deep one’s knowledge base may be. If you are new to poker, or if you’ve never really studied the game or taken it seriously, your task is clear: learn the basics and learn them cold. It’s not all that tough nowadays. You needn’t go any further than the back pages of this magazine to see advertisements for a gaggle of books designed at improving your poker game. Some are better than others, to be sure, but if you’ve never taken a systematic approach to improving your poker before and want to change your losing ways, pick a book, any book, and start studying. Even if you get one good suggestion from it, you will have gotten your money’s worth. If you know what you ought to be doing but you’re just not able to do it, you’ve got a much tougher row to hoe - one that usually means making behavioral changes while ridding yourself of learned habits and old paradigms. If you have the knowledge but just can’t seem to hit the target when you pull the trigger, you’ve got a know-how problem, and preparation is often the key to unlocking this door. Knowledge, plus preparation, equals know-how, and that’s frequently what it takes. Here are a few things you can do to change your behavior and bad habits. Be responsible for yourself. If you are not in control of your own actions, how can you ever hope to win? So don’t ask for a deck change just because the cards are not falling your way. Cards have no mind, no memory, and they don’t choose a seat or a player and then jump around magically to deliver your adversary great hands while leaving you with those that are second best. A new set-up won’t help. And the dealer is not responsible for the cards you’re dealt or how you play them. While the random nature of how cards fall is beyond your control - or anyone else’s for that matter - there’s only one person accountable for how well you play. And that’s you, big guy. You are responsible for yourself. I’m not, the dealer isn’t, and neither are any of your opponents. The buck stops right in front of you, and when it comes to your decisions at the poker table, you da man. Step one in making behavioral changes and eliminating bad habits is the irrevocable assumption of personal responsibility for what happens to you at the poker table. If you blame poor results on forces outside of yourself, you have not committed yourself to making changes; you’re just denying the problem. And the only solution for that is to come back when you grow up and take responsibility for your own actions! If the shoe fits, steal it! Find a role model, or better yet, a couple of them. And make sure you’re looking at the right things too. Dangling gold bracelets, nugget rings, buffed fingernails, Rolex watches, and the ability to riffle an entire stack of chips with consummate ease only amount to talking the talk. If you want to learn to walk the walk, look at players whose game you admire and try to find out what they do and how they do it. See if you can learn the secrets of their discipline. Find out how they resist the temptation to play marginal hands in bad position. Learn how they keep from going on tilt, and discover how they exploit the table when they have the best of it. A friend of mine who is a very successful mid-limit hold’em player immediately gets up from the table and walks around whenever he takes a bad beat. Sometimes he walks around the casino, other times I’ve watched him walk the parking lot. But it allows him to cool down and regain control of his emotions. Some people think its foolish, but he is a consistent winner and he’s in the game every day. Many of his critics are on the rail. I’ve adapted this “time out” technique to suit my own style. Whenever something at the table upsets me, I get up, stretch and flex, touch my toes a few times, splash some cold water on my face, bounce a few times on the balls of my feet, take a good, athletic stance and walk back to the table with confidence and enthusiasm. It works! Build relationships you can trust. This is not easy. You’ll find plenty of people you can talk to in any cardroom, but damned few you can absolutely trust to speak openly, honestly, and truthfully with you. When you find someone like that, build and keep the friendship so you have a safe harbor where you can discuss your play and problems. You will each improve as a result of reinforcing one another. But you have to be willing to give more than you get in any relationship, and cardroom relationships are no exceptions. Ask the right questions. Some people persist in asking the wrong questions - even when they know they are incorrect. If you persist in asking, Why can’t I win? Why do I always get the bad beats? Why does the idiot in seat five always win with aces, and I always lose with them? you’re simply asking the wrong questions. They lead to self-defeat because the vary heart of these questions are based on an assumption that life at the poker table is beyond your control, and we all know it’s not. When you acknowledge that you are responsible for your actions at the card table, you might ask instead: How can I keep applying the winning strategies I’ve learned? What can I do to continue to prepare to win? How can I increase my winnings by recognizing and eliminating the “leaks” in my game? If you ask yourself questions based on a paradigm acknowledging your locus of control, your mind automatically directs itself toward positive suggestions. Because you have told your mind that you do exercise control over your actions, it will suggest strategies to you based on this assumption. Learning will begin to take place implicitly, often without your even being aware that some degree of learning is taking place. Contrast this with the “Why can’t I win?” question, where’s there’s nowhere for your mind to go, and nowhere to find a positive answer when you’re operating on the assumption that you have no control over the results you achieve. We can all spend a lifetime working on these four suggestions because there’s always room for improvement. In fact, as the number of skilled players continues to grow, there will probably be less of a knowledge gap between players at all levels. But some of us are going to continue to get the money, while other knowledgeable players will continue to lose. And the difference just might be these behavioral characteristics that separate consistent winners from the also-rans.

Money Talks ..And it's so true

In a 10-20 Hold’em game at the Mirage, a drunk was begining to get out of hand. “Well that was one pussy-pink river card from you dealer!” he bellowed after missing a flush. The dealer beheld the drunk gravely; “Sir, there is a young lady at the table. If you don’t control your language, you will have to leave.” On the next hand, the drunk doesn’t improve his set on the flop and looses to a straight. “Jesus Christ! Why don’t you just light my f**king wallet on fire pinhead!” The dealer was absolutely at his limit; “Sir, I’m telling you for the last time; there is a young lady at the table! Control your language or you will be escorted out of here!” On the following hand, every player in the game wades into the pot. There are raises and caps on every card. In the end, the drunk sucks out an inside straight and wins the 10-20 pot of the month. The drunk looks out over his pile of chips at the dealer and asks, “Do you boys pool your tips togeather or do you keep them for yourselves?” The dealer replies “All dealers here keep their own tips.” The drunk tosses two green chips at the dealer and says with a grin; “Well have a Goddamn toke on me, motherf***er.” The dealer picks up the $50, turns to the young woman and says, “Miss, I’m afraid you’ll have to leave the table.”

The Importance of Paying attention at the table !

As told by T.J.Cloutier… Once T.J. was playing Pot-Limit Hold’em down in Shreveport. They’d been playing for quite a few hours and there was a lot of money on the table. T.J. had a good hand and caught the stone nuts on the turn. So he bet $2,000 from his $5,000 left. One of his opponents was Wayne Edmunds. That guy had a habit of putting his head down after he called a bet, paying no interest to what was going on at the table. As T.J. was making his bet, the dealer grabbed his cards and threw them in the muck. Edmunds continued sitting with his head down and of course didn’t see it. So Cloutier just put his hands on the table as if he was protecting his cards. There came the River and T.J. bet his last $3,000. Wayne thought for a second and folded. “Everybody at the table except Wayne saw what had happened, but nobody said a thing,” says T.J. Well, we know that good players can sometimes win with a bad hand. But genius ones are able to do it even without any hand.

Origin of "the nuts"

In poker, “the nuts” refers to an unbeatable poker hand. According to some poker experts, the term originated in the old west, where players often bet their horse and wagon. When a player put up his horse and wagon in a game, he would be required to remove the nuts from his wagon wheels and place them in the pot, so that he could not flee if he lost the bet. Therefore, it was assumed that anyone would bet “the nuts” with only with the best possible poker hand. Cool fact: Similarly, a “nut” player is one who tends to play only strong hands. A “calling station” is someone who frequently checks and calls, but rarely raises.

Is it really Bad Luck ?

I read a great article by Daniel Negreanu that I liked to share with you. It deals with bad luck and why it might not be only that. There is a poker saying, “Poker is a lot like sex. Everybody thinks they are great at it, but most people don’t really know what they’re doing.” Becuase of this, players blame their losing streaks on luck. Some situations this may be true, but there may be other factors. The article mentions these factors: • Bad luck — Luck does play a part in how well you do in poker and bad luck could be the reason you’re losing. However, the longer you play the way you should play, the less likely bad luck will continue. You have to ride out bad-luck streaks. Just don’t create your own bad luck. Hoever, if you’re losing after months and months of play, bad luck may not be the key factor. Here’s a suggestion: Chart your results by the hour. See how you’re doing after 500 to 1,000 hours of play before throwing in the towel. If you’re still showing a loss after that much play, it may have nothing to do with luck. • Too predictable — This is especially true if you were once a winning player against the same opponents and are now losing to them on a regular basis. If you have a straightforward approach to the game, it could be that your opponents are on to you. Add some deceptive plays to your game. • Playing in tough games — You might be a great poker player but the players you are playing against might be better than you. Game selection is very important to your bankroll and how you play the game. Swallow your pride, put your ego in check, and find a new game against lesser-skilled competitors. • Lack of fundamentals — This is a common reason for losing. Learning poker fundamentals is as easy as picking up a few great books and working on expanding your knowledge. If you don’t have a solid foundation for making poker decisions, you’ll always be a step behind. Learn how to play the game the right way by focusing on the basics, and when you get those down, add the elements of your own style to the mix. • Playing on tilt — Taking a bad beat or two is inevitable. The difference between long-term winners and losers is how bad luck affects their play over the course of the session. Don’t chase your money and don’t lose your patience by playing hands you know you shouldn’t be playing. If you can’t handle the stress then quit before things get worse. The article concludes with this statement: “Remember, there’s always tomorrow. Poker isn’t going anywhere.”