The Poker Blog

By Tony Guerrera

In cash games, you can afford to lay low while you observe your opponents and obtain extensive book on them. But what do you do when a tournament just starts, when new players are moved to your tournament table, or when you’re tournament table breaks and you’re forced to move to another table? In tournaments, you can’t afford to sit back idly; one missed opportunity can mean the difference between a huge payday and no payday whatsoever, and certain blind structures simply don’t give you the time to wait. And though you can theoretically sit tight early in cash games, what happens what you get AA the first hand of a session and an opponent shows aggression on the turn and the river: are you ahead or behind?

Fortunately, if you have a bit of playing experience under your belt, you actually have information about your opponents before you even sit at the table. That’s right…you have information about players you’ve never seen in your life! Before you play a single hand, you can draw upon all your past poker playing experience. You can assume that your opponents play like the average of all foes you’ve encountered in your poker-playing life.

Since poker evolves, the default profile I assign to my opponents now (April 2008) isn’t the same as the default profile I assigned to my opponents two years ago. And most likely, it won’t be the same as the default profile I assign to my opponents two years from now. It’s important to monitor and update constantly the default player profiles you assign to unknown foes. If you play in different venues, it will probably be the case that you’ll have default profiles that you assign depending on where you’re playing. For example, I use different default player profiles for each online poker room as a function of stakes, and I also have a different default player profile that I use when playing in an LA card room.

The more accurate the default profiles you use are, the less trouble you’ll encounter against fresh faces. However, default profiles are ultimately not enough. No matter how good a default profile is, you must identify as quickly as possible how each of your opponents deviates. As soon as your opponents show their true colors, you can then assign them to more specific player profiles–let’s call these more specific player profiles archetypes (In Killer Poker Shorthanded (Kensington, 2007), John Vorhaus and I put forth several player archetypes that we commonly encounter in shorthanded NLHE cash games. Check them out if you’re looking for some examples).

Archetypes are a step forward, but they still aren’t enough. After all, archetypes are just slightly more specific versions of default player profiles. The task of profiling opponents is never really done. But nonetheless, using good default profiles is the foundation for success when playing against so-called unknowns.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By Tony Guerrera

Poker is about much more than just your cards. It’s also about how your opponents play. Putting opponents on hand distributions is a big part of determining how your opponents play, but it’s only half of what you need to do when you read your opponents. You also need to predict how your opponents respond to your actions:

1.) If your hand compares unfavorably to your opponents’ hand distributions, lines of play may exist that will force your opponents to fold often enough for you to show a long-term profit.

2.) Suppose you’re in a hand of no-limit hold’em, and you put an opponent on a range of weak hands that are all better than your hand. For example, you missed a straight draw with 87, and you put your opponent on ace-high or bottom pair. Many foes will fold to bets on the river with such hands–but not all of them. Bluffing is only a good play if your opponent is the type who will fold such hands.

3.) If your hand compares favorably to your opponents’ hand distributions, size your bets such that you extract value or take pots down immediately depending on what the circumstances dictate..

4.) Know when you’re against a tricky opponent capable of inducing a mistake from you when you have a good–but not–great hand. Ideally, when in such a situation, you should employ lines of play that allow you to see showdowns relatively easily and cheaply. You don’t want to fold too many winners; simultaneously, you don’t want to lose lots of chips in big pots when you’re beaten.

Once you’re able to put your opponents on accurate hand and action distributions, you can have complete control over your table. You’ll know how to make as many chips as possible with your very good hands, you’ll know how to maximize value while minimizing losses with your decent–but not great–hands, and you’ll find ways to win chips even when you’re not getting good hole cards or hitting flops. To be a good player, you need to be good at accomplishing all of these tasks.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By Tony Guerrera

Situation 1: Joe Schmoe is playing in a fullhanded no-limit hold’em ring game. Action folds to Joe, and he raises with A♣9♣ from the cutoff. The button and the blinds call, and the flop is A♥A♦9♦. The blinds check to Joe, and he makes a pot-sized bet fueled by two hopes:

1.) One of his opponents has the case ace and will go over the top.
2.) An opponent with a pocket pair will call on the flop
3.) An opponent with a flush draw will call or semibluff

All three of Joe’s opponents dash Joe’s hopes and quickly fold.
Situation 2: Joe Schmoe is playing shorthanded no-limit hold’em. In 100 hands of play there’s only been one reraise preflop. Joe raised from the button, the small blind reraised, and Joe folded. This happened around hand #50 of Joe’s session.
During hands #101 and #102, Joe (who has been playing somewhat aggressively but far from manically) opens from the button and the cutoff with raises. Both times, the same player reraises. After not doing much for 8 hands, Joe opens for a raise with JJ. Joe is reraised again–this time by a different player who has never reraised preflop. Being that this is the third time in the span of about 10 hands that he’s been reraised preflop, Joe has faith in his JJ, goes over the top, and ends up losing 100 big blinds versus his opponent’s AA.

Hope and faith adversely affect our poker playing. In situation #1, Joe needs to think about his opponents. Instead of betting pot and hoping, he should think realistically about his opponents’ distributions. In many–but not all–games, a half-pot bet (or even something slightly less) will be ideal. A pot-sized bet might actually force a player with the case ace out of the pot if he has a bad kicker to accompany it. And anyone who mucks an ace with a bad kicker here will do the same with a pocket pair. Instead of betting big and hoping for a monster confrontation, Joe should bet smaller and get value from his hand.

In situation #2, a lot of things happen within a short span of time, and Joe makes a common mistake. At a table where no preflop reraising is happening, the reality of the game is that players are waiting for cards. The player who reraised Joe twice in a row probably had big hands both times. It could be possible that the different player who reraises him the third time observed Joe’s reaction to the prior two reraises, but the texture of the table dictates that Joe probably ran into another big hand. If preflop reraises begins happening regularly–on the order of once every two orbits or so–Joe can reason that the dynamic of the game has changed. But by letting faith replace reason with a hand like JJ and a random short spurt of events, Joe got himself into a lot of trouble.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By Tony Guerrera

Texas hold’em, seven card stud, Omaha, razz, Mexican poker, blind man’s bluff — the list of playable poker variants extends pretty much as far as your imagination can take you with a deck of cards. And the same can be said for the number of ways each poker variant can be played: cash games and several different tournament formats.
When playing in a cash game, the chips on the table are directly equivalent to cash (a $1 chip represents $1), and you may cash out or add more chips at any time. Generally, chips aren’t directly equivalent to cash in a tournament. You can’t just take the payout for first place and divide by the number of chips in play to find out how much each chip is worth (the exception being if you’re playing a winner-take-all tournament). When playing in a tournament, your goal is to maximize your monetary expected value, which is equal to P(1st)(Payout for 1st) + P(2nd)(Payout for 2nd) +…+P(nth)(Payout for nth)–P(kth) is the probability that you’ll finish in kth place.

At a given time in a tournament, your probability of finishing in each place will be a strong function of the relative stack sizes. And the monetary expected value associated with each stack distribution is a function of the payout structure. When evaluating the monetary expected value of a tournament decision, you need to evaluate the distribution of possible stack distributions that will result from a particular move. For some payout structures -– particularly top-heavy ones –- you won’t mind taking risks that are just barely above neutral chip expected value. For other payout structures–like the relatively flat ones found in satellites and many single table tournaments–you’ll prefer to avoid big confrontations with marginal edges, looking to keep pots small in such situations and folding if action gets too heavy.

Poker is a game of situations, but those situations aren’t just defined by the cards and how your opponents play. They’re also defined by the structure of the game you’re playing in. You can have the same cards and be playing against an opponent who plays identically regardless of format, and optimal play can dictate taking completely different lines of play depending on the format. Those who say that it’s tough to be good at cash games, single table tournaments, and multitable tournaments tend to be those who play the same regardless of the poker format they’re playing. Account for the game format, and you’ll be able to succeed in whatever form of poker you’re playing.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By By Tony Guerrera

When asked about the philosophy I take to the tables, I recently put forth the following two aphorisms:

1.) Embrace the process, and have no attachment to outcomes
2.) In general, don’t generalize
I didn’t put focus and discipline on this list because they didn’t even cross my mind. I’ve always assumed that focus and discipline are part of who I am. But after a recent edition of Killer Poker Analysis (in which Todd Brunson emphasized the importance of focus and discipline) and a careful look at my own game, I realize that focus and discipline can never be taken for granted.

Since landing my deal for Killer Poker By The Numbers back in the fall of 2005, I’ve been a writing machine. Add coaching and some random consulting here and there, and well, 2006 and 2007 weren’t exactly spent playing a lot of poker. Now we’re in 2008. I’m still writing, coaching, and consulting, but I’m also putting in some serious online playing time.

My old stomping ground, Party Poker, is no longer a possibility for me. After some serious scouting, I decided to adopt Cake Poker as my new home. Their rakeback deal is excellent, and the competition on Cake is easier than average. I don’t know exactly why it’s easier, but one hunch of mine is that it’s because they don’t allow the use of player tracking software and heads-up displays (HUDs); the hoards of HUD-using multitablers on Poker Stars and Full Tilt aren’t at Cake.

Of course, this means that I myself can no longer be a HUD-using multitabler. Luckily for me, I was multitabling before HUDs. But in those days, I was playing 4 tables at most. The beginning of 2008 has been all about honing my 6-max no-limit hold’em multitabling chops to where I can play 8-10 tables without a HUD. 6-tabling seems quite comfortable. 8- and 10-tabling territory has been tough. Observing opponents when not involved in a hand is difficult, as is typing player notes (I’m currently working on a system of note-taking acronyms to help in this department). Fatigue is also a factor (both mentally and physically). And leaving tough games can be a hassle–especially when it comes to navigating through the lobby to find a new game to sit in.

Unfortunately, the difference between success and disaster is slight. If you have KK preflop, and you’re facing a preflop reraise from a very tight reraiser, is he on {AA, KK, AK} or {AA,KK}? Is a suspicious looking bet on the river coming from a known floater or a straightforward, hit-to-win player? The difference between my big wins and my big losses at Cake (well, big in terms of big blinds anyway) has been subtle, almost undetectable shifts in judgment. Focus and discipline are the keys to reigning in these shifts.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By Tony Guerrera

Recently, I played in a home game with some friends of mine. If $.25-$.50 no-limit hold’em sounds like a friendly get together, think again. All the players were tough, and there was no max buy-in. $100, a 200 big blind stack, was typically the shortest stack at the table. Meanwhile, the largest stack was around $4,000. If that seems excessive for $.25-$.50 blinds, just believe me when I say that it wasn’t. What was excessive was the number of players at the table: 11!

These days, when I play online, I typically 8-table shorthanded no-limit hold’em cash games, meaning that I play something on the order of 600 hands per hour. That’s 10 hands per minute, or one hand every 6 seconds! And since I’m playing shorthanded, I’m not folding 85% of my hands preflop. When you’re used to such a high rate of action, it’s easy to let impatience creep in at a live table–especially an eleven-handed one where the number of hands per hour was probably somewhere in the 20-25 range.

The game was too slow for my taste, but that didn’t mean I got into a bored funk. Maybe it helped that all the players at the table were highly skilled; lots of interesting poker was happening. But the bottom line is that poker is a game that’s played even when you’re not in a hand. In fact, with all the thinking I do away from the table, I tend to think that it’s a game you play even when you’re not at a table!

I think having started out as a live player helps me a lot whenever I’m in a live game. But for those of you whose only experience is online, open yourself to the whole new world of information that awaits you live. Online, you get information from repeated situations happening within a short period of time, and from heads-up displays with all sorts of statistics. Live, you don’t necessarily have the same context density when it comes to betting patterns. But nonetheless, a wealth of information is at your disposal. It just presents itself in a different way.

When playing live, people’s words and physical actions might give something away–both when they’re in a hand and when they’re not in a hand. And you’re in a realm where it’s impossible to miss what an opponent does because you have to do something to do at five other tables; you don’t necessarily need betting patterns to repeat a whole bunch of times when you’re playing live.

You’ll wish that you could play more hands per hour. But the quality per hand is much higher live. And that’s what should compensate. Datamine and enjoy the show when you’re not in a hand, so that way you can pummel your opponents whenever you are in a hand.
Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By Tony Guerrera

Lots of motivations exist for playing poker. When I write about poker, I always write from the perspective of making decisions that make the most money possible. But really, your goal in poker, as in everything else in life, is to maximize your utility. Utility is a term from economics referring to overall satisfaction; think of it as a variable that somehow combines money and happiness (because money and happiness are not the same thing).

When I play poker, it just so happens that I maximize my utility by maximizing my expected profits. I’m a competitive son-of-a-gun who’s addicted to the thrill of victory, and I like making as much money as possible. Competitive players like myself have a tough time understanding those without the same killer instincts. But I’m finally grasping the idea that some people actually maximize their utility when they don’t maximize their expected wins.

This is a huge step from simply saying “I’ll let my opponents make however many mistakes they want.” For example, perhaps some player loves getting drunk and watching opponents’ reactions to bad beats that he puts on them. The amount of money this player loses is more than compensated by the joy this person experiences from playing the way he does. And in this player’s worldview, he’s playing optimally by playing drunk and repeatedly getting his chips in with the worst of it, because optimal play is being measured in terms of utility instead of dollars and cents.

It’s amazing how people sitting down playing the same game can actually be playing different games. Poker is wonderful in so many ways, and this is just another one. On the surface, it appears to be a zero-sum game (well, before accounting for the rake). But actually, it’s possible for the overall utility of the table to increase (or decrease). Maybe you’re a pure money player who gets in a huge pot as a favorite against an action junkie who loves the ride regardless of the outcome. You get your positive monetary expectation, and the action junkie gets his adrenaline rush. Meanwhile, two skilled players get involved in a huge pot. The underdog wins, but is pissed off about making a mistake, and his opponent is mad about having lost the huge pot when he was way ahead.

I know this article seems to be a huge departure from my usual “make the most money possible” material, but I think it was an important one. Understanding what poker can be to different players can only serve to help us in our quests to maximize our individual poker-playing utilities. And through this filter, maybe we can begin to think of poker as a game played by people, and give all players the respect and dignity they deserve–regardless of whether they play profitably.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

 

This article is provided free of charge by www.RoyRounder.com . “Roy Rounder” is the pen name of a successful professional poker player and author.

To skyrocket your Texas Holdem winnings, join his free newsletter. Just click here.

---

***QUESTION FROM A READER***

Roy, Your newsletters have greatly helped my play I used to be a tight wad player. Now that I have changed gears (play more aggressively) in my head its thrown players off balance a lot. I take notes on my friends poker play so it helps me remember betting patterns etc.

I am really good at sniffing out stone cold bluffs (I’ve been known to call with queen high before) or strong hands that are hard to recognize like small sets and low and medium straights. I’ve even folded full houses before knowing that other players have four of a kind by their erratic breathing and confidence in their voice and shaky hands.

However I need advanced improvement on reading tells and avoiding traps. Other then the ones mentioned in Caro’s book of poker tells it is a little outdated. Especially I have had also a problem with reading people when they play medium strength hands aggressively - especially in casino tournaments unlike my weekly poker games with my friends.

After a while you learn your friends play but in tournaments they are all strangers how to get a read on them? Some players bet medium strength (not weak strength hands) aggressively. Does your e-book cover these questions?

Does it also have a section on poker tells as well. I’ve played players giving off false tells as a trap such as acting weak when weak and strong when strong? My friends do this as well giving off false tells doing the opposite of the opposite of what you would expect - we’ve read the same books.

Thanks, A.C.

***MY COMMENTS***

I want to start off by saying CONGRATULATIONS, my friend.

Calling bluffs with a queen high and laying down full boats is a sign of a BALLSY player… That level of faith in your abilities is a CRUCIAL step towards a successful poker career.

I am also impressed by your choice to take notes on your opponents. I notice that there are a lot of players who CLAIM to want to be better, but don’t take the TIME to do what is needed.

As far as your question about reading poker tells against players you aren’t familiar with… here’s what you can do:

When you are at a new table, it is obviously VERY important that you pay close attention to the GAME and to the PLAYERS right away.

Most players… when they sit down… get so caught up in themselves and their own heads that they don’t even make it to this first step…

To put it bluntly: “SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, and WATCH.”

Don’t start running your mouth… don’t try to act cool… and don’t daydream. The first few minutes you’re at the table is perhaps the most IMPORTANT time there.

Once you’ve done this, be sure not to rush into any hands. In fact, I recommend NOT getting involved in any hands at the very beginning… and here’s why:

If you’re an experienced tournament player, you know that most players are eliminated from tournaments when they are in “shuffle times” (when they are moving from table to table).

It is at these times when the BIGGEST MISTAKES are usually made.

Let’s say that you sit down a new table. You may have been playing at a tight table where you could buy a lot of pots…

You sit at this new table… and fall right back into your betting pattern. You make a bold move, try to buy a pot, and get burnt because THIS TABLE is much LOOSER than the last one.

This puts you at a disadvantage right away… one which you might not recover from.

When I move to a new table… or begin at a game where I don’t know the players… I always wait at least 3-4 rounds of betting before I get involved in a hand… and a lot of times I wait EVEN LONGER.

This gives me a chance to get to know my opponents… BEFORE I risk any chips.

I call it my “Study Period.”

Of course, the WHOLE GAME is a study period in itself… but these first few hands is 100% devoted towards just watching my poker opponents.

And here’s the added benefit:

If I don’t know my competition, THEY don’t know ME, either. By taking my time and doing my study period, I learn about THEM… but they DON’T LEARN ABOUT ME.

If anything, they just ASSUME that I’m a tight player…

That means within 10 minutes, I immediately have an advantage over all the other players at the table… even if I haven’t won a pot yet… or even played a hand.

OK, so when you do your study period, what should you look for?

A lot of newbies think it’s all in the face and in the eyes… which is a mistake.

Most poker tells are the COMBINATION of an entire set of movements and behavior…

On TV– especially in movies– poker tells are portrayed as something as simple as the twitch of a nose or the movement of a leg.

Kind of like in “Rounders,” when Mike McDee figures out Teddy KGB based on how he ate his cookies.

TAKE NOTE…

For the most part, this type of portrayal of poker tells is a TOTAL MYTH.

If you think you can figure out a player’s hand just based on how he blinks, you’re in for a rude awakening… and you’ll lose your chips fast.

In REAL LIFE (where you play), tells are more complex…

…VERY RARELY are they “cut and dry.”

When you study your opponents… here are the things you should think about:

1. Past Play

Think about how this player has acted in the past…

Is he usually strong or weak?

Aggressive or timid?

Smart or dumb?

And so on…

2. Timing

If your instinct tells you that a player deliberated for a long time trying to make a choice, chances are that his hand isn’t too strong.

However, you should also note how long he has taken to play in the past, to make sure that the move wasn’t just a regular timing move.

3. Posture

Especially with bad players, the posture of a player is a key tell that will reveal a lot about a hand…

If the person leans back, that USUALLY represents strength. If he leans forward, that USUALLY represents weakness.

Once again, poker tells aren’t black and white. It’s a gray area, where everything needs to be considered together…

4. Bet Amount

If a player tends to make small bets, but then places an unusually large bet, he could be holding a strong hand. Or he may be trying to buy the pot.

Always watch for irregularities in betting patterns… most amateurs don’t mix up their bets enough, which gives you an easy edge if you pay attention.

5. Pulse

This is one of the only “body tells” that I find works most of the time. You can usually see the intensity of a player’s pulse by looking closely at his neck.

Often if a player gets “shaky,” he usually has a great hand. If the player is cool and collected, it’s probably a fake.

6. Your Gut Feeling

Depending on your poker experience, your gut will often be your best guide…

I’ve been playing poker for so long now that when I sit down with newbies, I can usually read the players almost INSTANTLY, without much thought.

It just comes naturally… and it will come naturally to you, too… once you gain a lot of experience under your belt… and once you spend enough time studying the game.

With the pros, of course, you’ve got to be much more careful, because they DO know how to disguise their tells and play their hands in an unpredictable manner.

So, to recap:

1. When you sit down to play at a table of strangers… especially in a tournament… take your time before becoming involved in a hand.

2. Go through a careful “Study Period.” During this time, SHUT UP and STUDY the players intensely.

3. When you start betting, watch for the six things we discussed: past play, timing, posture, bet amount, pulse, and your own gut instincts.

Finally… there’s one more step to add…

And that is:

NEVER REVEAL THE WAY YOU THINK.

Here’s what I mean…

Poker is truly a BATTLE of minds. The tells we’ve been discussing are mostly simple REFLECTIONS of how a player is thinking at the time of a bet. For some reason, it’s a natural tendency in all of us to share our thoughts at the poker table… ESPECIALLY when we aren’t involved in hands.

This is more common during “home games” than in tournament play or casinos…

For instance, let’s say there’s a heads up match between Don and John after the river card.

Don goes all in…

The river was the third diamond on the board. John has trip Aces.

(Of course, a flush would beat John’s three of a kind.)

Anyway… John’s has to decide whether Don is a on a bluff… or if he caught the diamond flush.

THIS is where everyone starts screwing up:

Since Don is all in… and can’t change his mind… John shows his trip Aces to the other guys at the table who aren’t in the hand.

He says, “Man, I don’t know whether to call. Don made a pre-flop raise… I think he’s just pot-committed and is trying to buy it.”

Someone else might chime in, “Yea, but he seems like he’s got the flush. Did you notice how he’s been quiet the whole hand?”

Someone else says, “C’mon wuss. Just call his bet and go all-in… I’m getting tired and want to get going.” And so on…

Do you see where I’m going with this?

John should NEVER show his Aces to the other guys of course… aside from being bad poker etiquette, now they just saw an entire “free hand” and got to see how John acted the whole way with his three of a kind.

The next guy just revealed that he’s been watching how SILENT Don has been… which clues everyone in on how this guy thinks about tells. Now you know to be very conscious about how much you talk around this player.

And the third guy reveals an attitude of carelessness… which means as soon as I caught a good hand I’d try to get in a heads-up match with him and go all in… because there’s a decent chance he’ll call.

When you reveal your THINKING PROCESS, you’re simply GIVING AWAY tons of crucial information… FOR NO REASON.

The other players at the table with pick up a read on you quickly… both consciously and subconsciously.

So don’t do it.

Period.

As you know, Texas Holdem is filled with TONS of techniques and strategies like these, that anyone can understand if they just take the time to learn them.

Unlike popular belief, poker is NOT about having natural talent.

It’s about LEARNING– through experience, analysis, and expertise– how to MASTER the game.

To develop YOUR poker genius, subscribe to my one-of-a-kind poker strategy newsletter. You’ll gain the exepertise you need to TURBO-CHARGE your winnings instantly.

Best of all, it’s 100% FREE! Just Click Here.

Your New Friend,

Roy Rounder

By Tony Guerrera

Blinds are T1000-T2000. You’re in the fifth hour of a no-limit hold’em tournament that’s down to 40 of its 500 original entrants. You have 7 opponents at your table. A new hand is dealt. The under-the-gun player (UTG) limps with a T25,000 stack. The T8,000 stack two to his left shoves all-in. PAction folds to you, and you’re in the big blind with T30,000. You have 99.

Accumulate Chips, But Do So Cautiously

To do well in poker tournaments, you need to accumulate chips. And accumulating chips means getting your chips in when you’re ahead of your opponents’ distributions. With your 99, you’re almost certainly ahead of the all-in player’s distribution. Unfortunately, the UTG limper is still in the hand, and he completely changes the dynamics of the hand. Before making any decisions, you need to consider his hand distribution.

In the absence of any other evidence, you have to assume that the UTG limper has a huge hand. Poker Players who limp from early position when the blinds are high typically have big hands. This is especially true of players with very short stacks, but it’s pretty much true regardless of the limper’s stack size. Early position limpers in high blind tournament play are looking to get value from their premium hole cards, and they assume that they won’t get any action if they raise from early position, figuring that an early position raise would betray the strength of their hand.

Discipline, Discipline, Discipline

If you’re new to the table and know nothing about the UTG limper, you need to lay your 99 down. Honestly, JJ and even QQ are hands that you should probably lay down in this spot. The only way you can justify putting any chips in this pot is if the UTG limper has been a habitual limper…a player who has been limping a few times per orbit.

This article is specifically about early position limpers in high blind tournament play, but as usual, there’s a more generalized lesson to be learned. Whenever you’re in a hand, one seemingly tiny change to a scenario can have a huge effect on your optimal course of action. A player who typically opens to 5 big blinds changes things up and opens to 3.5 big blinds. What’s the significance? Pay attention to every possible detail, and separate the meaningful information from the random smoke that means nothing.

Eat properly, stay hydrated, and get enough rest, so you can play as alertly and effectively as possible!

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

By Tony Guerrera

You’re playing poker online, and normally, online poker hands is all about instant gratification (like online anything else). But this time you’re actually stuck waiting for a seat to open up in your game of choice: 6-max $100NL hold’em. After the longest minute of waiting in your life, you take a seat at your new table

Tough Start

Your elation is quickly eclipsed by disappointment. Occasionally, getting caught bluffing or calling with the worst hand can have a positive impact on your table image. However, getting off to a really bad start is a very difficult handicap to shed, and it’s one that you’ve just given yourself in your first 10-15 minutes at the table – having dumped $200 on some very poor play.

You’re not handicapped because of the money you’ve already lost, and how you’ll have to play winning poker hand from this point forward just to have a shot at breaking even for the session. Remember, each session is just part of the proverbial life-long session. Instead, you’re handicapped because of the psychological edge that your opponents currently have over you. They are mentally alert – like sharks honing in for the kill. You are dumbfounded, as if you just took a surprise punch to the stomach.

You look at the lobby to see if any other 6-max $100NL hold’em seats have opened. Unfortunately, all the tables are still full, and you put yourself on the 6-max $100NL hold’em waiting list.

Just Leave

Congratulations for being honest about your situation and realizing that you need to find a different table. With so many poker sites, and so many tables at each site, there’s never a need to battle through a bad table image that you create from a few early mistakes. The mistake that everyone makes here, and the one that I want you to avoid, is continuing to sit and play at the really tough table you’ve created for yourself while you wait for your seat at another table. Leave your bad table immediately, and give yourself a few moments to compose yourself so that you can enter your new table with a refreshed mindset.

Discipline

Not playing beyond your bankroll; not becoming a compulsive gambler; having the willingness to lay down a great hand to an even better hand; table selection. A profitable poker player is a disciplined poker player. When the grass isn’t very green where you currently are, get up and find some greener grass.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com