When you are in a poker tournament you are going to get short stacked. It is inevitable. However, if you understand how to work with a short stack then you will be in decent shape. In fact, there are many your tournament pros who specialize in playing with a 20bb stack size. The important things to remember are stack sizes and player tendencies.

Ideally you want to get a huge chip stack early, never lose a flip, and dominate the final table. In reality this is almost never going to happen. What will happen is that you will go card dead, run into coolers, make a bad call, or somehow else get into a spot where you are a short stack. So, what should you do?

Don’t Get Too Short

You don’t want to get too short because you will have no fold equity. If you have 4 big blinds and you shove you are going to get called. This is a mistake most amateur poker players make. It is especially true if they are desperate to make the money. They fold and fold and wait for big hands. Then, when they are almost down to nothing the shove all in and get called by something trashy like Queen high and get sent out.

You want to shove when you have 10 big blinds. 15 big blinds would be better. Don’t make a raise to 3x if you only have 15 big blinds. There are some people who continue to do this, but they are relying on their superior post flop skills. Even so, there are still many pros that consider this a bad strategy.

Don’t Shove To Early

If you have 30-40 big blinds you don’t have to shove all in. In fact it is a bad idea. You should make standard 2.5x raises. Then you can fold to shoves. If someone calls you can play a small pot.

Learn to Reshove

The ability to reshove in the right spots is what makes some tournament players more profitable than others. It is a high variance spot because you are going to be doing it with a lot of hands that you might ditch early on in tournaments, but later on these hands go up in value.

A reshove is when you shove over an early raiser. A good stack size for re-shoving is around 15-25 big blinds. Once you get too short you price in people left to act.

Here is an example of a reshove. A middle stack (45bb) in middle position makes a 3x raise. It folds to you and you are in the Cut Off with AcJs. You have 20 big blinds. You can fold, shove, or call. Calling is terrible, folding is O.K., but reshoving is a decent option.

You need to factor in a few things anytime you shove.

1. How likely is the original raiser to call? If the person is super loose, then don’t reshove unless you want a call.
2. If they will call, what is your equity against their range? If you will get a call decide what hands you should do it with considering their range. AcJs is great against a loose player.
3. How about the people left to act? If you are planning on reshoving with Ks3d because the original raiser is constantly raise/folding, you have to be sure that you don’t have people behind that will call your shove. You always want to be aware of the players left to act as well as the original player tendencies.

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Winning a poker tournament requires a different skill set than winning during a cash game. This is one of the reasons that top cash game players are not the same group of people who tend to win tournaments. Below you will find a list of the worst tournament poker moves.

Blinding Off

This is the worst thing to do in a tournament. Your chip stack is your tournament life. People who blind off tend to be scared money. They might be under rolled for the event and are looking to mincash. The problem with this method is that over the long run you will end up losing money. You need to win more than double your entry to make up for all of the times you end up losing.

When you play in a tournament, especially in any of the big bet games like No Limit, blinding off is deadly. Losing fold equity is devastating to your tournament life. If you are down to 5 big blinds you cannot adequately put pressure on someone with 50+ big blinds. So you will end up getting called in many spots. You want to preserve fold equity. Getting below 15 big blinds in a tournament is not a good idea. You should be shoving before that point arrives.

Chasing Draws

This is not a great idea in cash games, unless you are really deep stacked, but it is a terribly idea in a tournaments. If you are going to call half your stack to chase a flush in a cash game you always have the ability to reload. This is not the case with a tournament.

Chasing draws tends to be bad, unless you are getting a very good price. However, even if the price is right, chasing can be wrong. If you are getting odds to chase a flush, but if you miss you would be down to an M of under 10 then it might be best to shove all in.

Limping Late

Open limping is fine early on in a tournament. This is especially the case when you hold a speculative hand such as a pocket pair. If you make a raise and the entire table comes along then it might be better to simply call.Later in the tournament, however, this is a bad idea. You have to remember that your chips are worth more later on in a tournament than they are early.

Raising Too Much

The standard raise is either 2.5x or 3x the big blind. Of course, it all depends on the table you are at. If you are at a table of calling stations, then raise as much as you can for value. However, most tournament poker players play with a 2.5x-3x raise size.

If you raise too much, then you are either going to get worse hands to fold, or be re-raised by better hands. Sometimes worse hands will re-raise you, but more often than not you will be in a tricky spot. You want to put in the least amount of money to get a fold. Likewise, if you need to fold to a 3 bet you want to lose the least amount of money.

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I would just like to say at this stage that one of my old favourites has just re-opened its doors again and that is Pokerroom. I was having a discussion with someone the other day about the need to switch poker sites and I felt that it was more important now than in days gone by. The use of tracking software has just led to many players earn rates falling through the floor and this means that although you would lose your player notes by moving sites, that this may be compensated for by you being able to get an edge on the other regs at the site for at least a short period of time and this may be more important in the modern online poker world than first imagined.

I think that any serious online poker player needs several factors to be working in unison for them to be profitable or at least to have the right environment to be profitable. The first one is that you should be able to multi-table and this means having significant player numbers on the site. Pokerroom has around 40,000 players at peak time and so this represents significant player numbers that allow a player good game selection and even seat selection. Also having a good site lobby is important as well and you need to be able to avail yourself of all of the important game data that you need in real time to be assist you in maximising your earn rate.

Data like the stack sizes of the cash poker games players is very important. As a no limit hold’em player then you are going to be always on the lookout for players who are either operating with a maximum or a minimum stack. This has a massive effect on your game strategy because you need to be careful what moves that you make against minimum stack players. They will deny you implied odds when they re-raise you or your stealing opportunities when they three bet your steal raise. If they are looking to shove all in either pre-flop or on the flop then you need to be careful to the extent of the type of plays that you make.

All this means knowing what the stack sizes are of course. Another factor that I feel needs to be exploited more by online players and players who are looking to make a living from the game is to play for sign up bonuses. Pokerroom at this time has one of the better sign up bonuses on the online poker circuit and has a 100% sign up bonus up to and including $1000. These sorts of bonuses are key for survival for many online poker players and especially the novice players when they first start out in the game. A $1000 bonus is a great cushion and highly successful poker careers have been launched off the back of such bonuses. But if sites like Pokerroom are prepared to give you free money then you would be a fool to turn that down.

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If you have played online poker then you have probably been at a table with a rakeback grinder. These players are hard to miss. They give no action, are not bad players, and take a long time to act. Some people say they are killing the online poker scene. What are they and why do they exist?

A rakeback grinder is someone who is playing to make a profit off of Rakeback. This means that they are not looking to outplay their opponents to maximize their EV. What they want to do is play as many hands as possible and generate as much rake. Then they receive a percentage of that rake back from the site.

Rakeback grinders exist everywhere, even PokerStars, which has no rakeback so to speak. What PokerStars does have is the VIP system. Under this system a person who generates enough rake is eligible for SuperNova or Supernova Elite. The SNE program is worth around 100k dollars. This means that if a person were to break even and play enough raked hands they would make 100k.

Sounds nice right? Well in practice it can be mind numbingly dull, tedious, and some say it is not even real poker. If a person is 24 tabling low limit cash games or SNG’s then they are not able to devote a true decent of time to their decisions. As such, things like reads, table image, and other variables that people associate with the game of Poker go out the window.

These players rely almost completely on HUD displays, a very tight game, and sheer volume. It would not be uncommon to find that a rakeback grinder plays 2 million hands a year. If they are playing SNG’s, then they might play 24 at a time for several hours a day.

Now, some say that there is nothing wrong with this. It is not cheating, of course, though it does drastically change the game. The game becomes less like what people traditional think of when they conjure up the image of a poker game. When you play in a casino, or you watch poker on T.V., the image is one of people playing off of reads, table dynamics, board textures, etc.

When you play 24 tables at a time there is no time for this. The game becomes completely different. All of your decisions have to be streamlined. Nothing can be complicated. Therefore people tighten their ranges. You will never see a rakeback grinder playing a LAG style. They cannot afford to put themselves into a bad spot.

The downside to this, for other players, is that it slows the game. Next time you are at a table and see several nits timing down each and every hand, you will know what’s happening.

The other bad thing is that they are not inherently bad players. They will not spew off stacks with bad hands. They are not going to limp call with Ks4c and check fold. So they are not good “spots” in the game. They take up seats, and simply want to break even. If they make a profit, that’s great. But the objective is to simply be involved in as many raked hands as possible.

Recreational players do not want this. They want action. If a player sits down at an online full ring table and 6 or 7of the players are taking ten seconds each to fold, it is going to be a major negative.

The idea of a wining poker player is one who can outplay others preflop and post flop. Online, that is becoming a rare occurrence in many games. Some poker players have suggested table limits. Force players to only play 5 or 6 tables. This would make the decisions quicker and force them to involve themselves in more pots. They would still be able to generate rakeback, but it would no longer be the main source of their profit.

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A straddle in poker is essentially an additional blind bet. In Texas Hold’Em the small blind and the big blind are forced bets. This creates action. A straddle is an extra blind bet. Using the straddle creates more action, a larger pot, and also changes the betting action for the first round. Straddles are used almost exclusively in live cash game poker. You will not see them in tournaments or in online poker.

Here is an example of a basic straddle. You are playing in a $5.00/$10.00 No Limit Holdem. The table decides to play using a straddle. The player UTG will then place a $20.00 straddle out. This is essentially an extra blind. The action then begins with the player left of the UTG player. When it returns to the straddle, if there was only a call before them, they have the option of raising or checking.

The next type of straddle is called a Mississippi straddle. The Mississippi straddle is a blind bet from the person on the button. The action then starts with the small blind and rotates back to the button.

There is also a sleeper straddle. This is the least common straddle. The sleeper straddle will be put out from any position except UTG. The players then act and have to either call the sleeper straddle, raise, or fold. The sleeper straddle does not have the ability to raise when it returns to them, all they can do is check, call or fold.

Most people believe that straddling is not an advantageous play. In poker parlance it is a negative EV play. There are exceptions. The regular straddle is not considered a good move because you will be out of position for the rest of the hand. The sleeper is likewise considered a bad play. The Mississippi straddle is the one straddle that people consider to sometimes be positive EV.

Consider what you are doing when you straddle. You put money in without looking at your cards. When you “sleep” you gain no advantage other then juicing up the pot. This is only going to be beneficial if you are playing a table of super nits that will never put money in without the nuts. The problem is that straddles are only used in live poker and you are rarely going to find a tight table in a live setting.

The downside of not seeing your cards and putting in extra money has to give you some advantage to warrant using the straddle. When you do a Mississippi straddle you are adding money to the pot when you are in the best position. This is why you hear people say they will only straddle when it is a Mississippi straddle.

Of course there are some considerations to think about. If you have very tough opponents to your immediate right then you might want to not Mississippi straddle. Your positional advantage might not be enough to negate their skill advantage. They might see the dead money as reason to try and outplay you for the rest of the hand. It can put you into tough positions.

The other thing to keep in mind is that people tend to straddle as a group. If one person refuses to straddle they are gaining an advantage over other players. This is why you will hear people call for a “round” of straddles.

The best straddle to use is the Mississippi straddle. Only when you have incredibly tough opponents playing with you should you reconsider. In that case you should also reconsider playing at the table to begin with. A straddle is used to make the game play larger and more exiting, however it can often times be used to your advantage as long as you understand the positional advantages you need in order to use it successfully.

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This week we continue our discussion on playing aces in Hold’em.  We started with some mistakes players make, followed by a bit of poker math involving aces.  Then we talked about the obvious advantages of raising with aces.  Let’s conclude our discussion on the topic.

Depending on your position and table dynamics, with pocket aces I will generally make a 6-8x BB raise. By doing so, it will allow you to narrow down the field, and you are putting yourself in a great situation to win when playing aces in holdem. Waking up with aces on the button is a great position to be in. If the action has been folded around to you on the button, you would want to consider the tendencies of the players in the blinds. If they are loose players that will defend their blinds with a wide range, there is no need to be deceptive and make your standard sized raise. However, if they’re tighter players, you may want to consider making a smaller sized raise that looks like a blind steal, to encourage one of them to call.

On the flop, generally the callers will check to the raiser, and on most flop board textures you can be confident you still have the best hand, and you should be looking to value bet all three streets. Paired boards such as K-K-7, Q-Q-5, T-T-7 can be trickier to play because the other players can easily have trips. In these situations, it will largely depend on how many callers there were to the flop. If against just one opponent, and you can define their calling range fairly easily, then it shouldn’t be too difficult knowing where you’re at in the hand. Even though you may think you have the best hand, like when you expect the other player to have a worse pocket pair, you should consider checking one of the streets to extract the most amount of money, since it will be difficult getting your opponents to call down all three streets with just a pair on a scary board.

Sometimes one of the callers will donk bet on the flop instead of checking to the raiser, and you will have to reevaluate where you are at in the hand. On flops such as Q-9-2 some players will donkbet top pair hands to protect their hand in an attempt to take down the pot straight away. Aggressive texas holdem poker players may even consider leading out with strong draws. In this instance, you almost certainly still have the best hand, but the only play you can make is just to call, especially if you think they have a weaker made hand, since there usually won’t be scare cards on the turn on non draw heavy boards and when smooth calling they’re almost certainly betting the turn and not slowing down so you’re not losing any value.

While the situation doesn’t occur very often, sometimes there will be scenarios when you would have to think your aces are beat. You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to let go of your aces especially against tight players that are only showing aggression with better.

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Looking down at your two hole cards you discover that you’ve been dealt pocket rockets. You find it difficult to control your excitement because you know that you’ve been fortunate to be dealt the best hand in poker. That being said, playing pocket aces would have to be one of the worst hands played by amateur players. What a lot of novice players don’t realize is that whilst pocket aces are certainly the best hand pre-flop before the community cards have been dealt, when you’re involved in a pot with many callers, the value of big pocket pairs goes down considerably.

If you don’t happen to improve with pocket aces on the flop or later streets, you still only have a one pair hand, and it’s important to not lose sight of that. Tight aggressive players are looking to build big pots with big hands, and thus a one pair hand when faced with aggression from a tight player is likely not going to be the best hand anymore.

Obviously the situation of whether or not your aces are still good will be player dependant, but for the most part, you can avoid tough situations when playing aces in holdem, by knowing how to play pocket aces correctly pre-flop. Any poker player worth their salt knows that pocket aces can be easily beat.

In live cash games players are looking to play hands. The worst scenario you could put yourself in is to limp in with pocket aces. Limping in will allow all of the other players a free shot at cracking your aces on the flop. You will have no idea what range of hands they are limping in with since live players are terrible and they will be limping in with a ridiculously wide range of hands. Even on an fairly innocuous low card flop that seems great for your aces, when faced against aggression, you really have no idea where you are in the hand even with an over pair.

I have seen many novice players limp in when playing aces in holdem to try and be deceptive. The story usually ends with 5-6 other players who have called to see a flop, then the inevitable blow up when the amateur player is berating the player who cracked his aces.

To avoid the situation of playing aces in large multi-way pots, make sure to make a good size raise pre-flop to isolate one or two players.

If you look at the math of playing aces in holdem versus multiple opponents. When playing against just one opponent, if the other player has a worse pocket pair, you’re about a 80% favorite to win the hand. On the other hand, if you’re playing against two other players in the hand, then you’re typically only about a 65% favorite to win the hand. As you can begin to imagine, the more callers you have when playing aces in holdem, the less chance you will have of winning in the long run.

Raising pre-flop with aces achieves two things. Not only does it isolate the pot with fewer players to maximize your chances of winning the hand, it also helps to define the range of hands your opponents are calling with. As said above in limped pots it’s impossible to put your opponents on hands.

The majority of the time you should be raising your pocket aces from any position. That being said, when you’re playing aces in holdem out of position, usually you want to 3bet with them, since it can be difficult extracting value on later streets.

By just calling when in the blinds, you open yourself up to the possibility of the limpers also calling since they’re getting favorable pot odds, and then having to play in a large multi-way pot out of position – not a good position to be in.

Don’t worry that a decent sized raise will scare away the other players. There are so many bad players in live games that will call big raises pre-flop to chase. A 3-4x BB raise that is typical in online games won’t cut in when playing aces in live cash games due to the loose/passive nature of these games.

Come back next week as we conclude our discussion on playing pocket aces in Texas Hold’em.

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Micro stakes cash games are a great place for beginning players to learn the ins and outs of online poker and build your bankroll.  By playing a solid strategy and playing a straight forward game you will be able to crush micro stakes cash games and move up to the middle and high stakes.

Value bet more and push your big hands in micro stakes.

One of the biggest key to beating micro stakes cash games is not bluffing.  Players at the micro stakes love to call bets and chase any type of draw no matter what.  Trying to bluff players who love to call is a sure fire way to lose a big pot to a fish that call you down with bottom pair.  Instead, when you completely miss the flop and are heads up against a player who likes to call simply fold to any bet.  Attempting to make advanced plays and bluffs and micro stakes cash games will not work and you will lose the pot at showdown.

Another key to playing to beating micro stakes cash games is value betting.  When you have a quality hand on the river it is essential that you value bet.  While you may get check raised occasionally the benefits greatly outweigh the risk.  Players at the micro stakes love to call with hands like bottom pair on the river, it is important that you exploit their tendency to call and maximize your potential profits on every hand.  When value betting at the micro stakes you should size your bets to the opponents you are playing against.  Since most players at low limits rarely fold it is ok to make your value bets slightly larger than you would if you were playing high stakes.

Third, don’t fall victim to fancy play syndrome.  Just because you may be the best player at the table does not mean you should try to out play the other players at the table on every hand.  Instead, stick to a basic, straight forward strategy.  Many of the players at micro stakes cash games do not pay much attention to what is going on and other players strategies, they simply play their cards and try to win every pot.  Instead of trying to win every pot fold your weaker hands and concentrate on winning the most money when you get dealt a premium hand.

In addition, one of the most important factors for winning at any level of poker is being able to read your opponents hands.  For the most part players at micro stakes cash games are very easy to read, they will rarely bluff and when they have a strong hand they will make big bets.  Because of this you should use your head and remember to not try and out play your opponents.  If they are making big bets preflop and on multiple streets it is probably best to fold and move onto the next hand instead of trying to out play them.  Remember, players at the micro stakes rarely fold and it can be nearly impossible to bluff some players.

Finally, don’t be afraid to get involved in a big pot when you have a premium hand.  Players at the micro limits will play random hands from any position at the table.   When you are dealt a premium hand like aces or kings you should be looking to all in as soon as possible.  While you may lose the pot occasionally at showdown you will almost always be up against a weaker hand.

Micro stakes cash games are a great place to build your bankroll and improve on the fundamentals of poker.  While these five tips will help you beat the micro stakes they will also help you when you move to the upper limits.  Remember to avoid bluffing, value bet every chance you get, play simple, read your opponents and play big pots with your big hands are you are sure to crush the micro stakes.

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When I look for poker rooms to frequent, I look for more than modern furnishings, comp rewards, and tournament structures.  While those things are important to some, they don’t make or break a casino for me.  Check out four things I look for in a poker room.

The Bike has one of the best mix of games you will find anywhere in Los Angeles.

Solid Mix of Hold’em

While many players are happy with just playing $1-$2, I don’t fit among them.  I look and see if there are any Limit Hold’em games going down and if so, what the limits are.  A sign of a decent room in my view is a room that has multiple limits of both Limit Hold’em and No-Limit Hold’em

More than Just Hold’em

I am not likely to frequent a casino poker room if they just have Texas Hold’em.  I like to play both Stud and Omaha, and maybe a little HORSE if I can get a spread.  Personally, I will be happy with some lower limit Stud and Omaha Hi-Lo.  A place that will gladly spread more than just Hold’em is a place I will check out.  That is one reason I regularly play at the Taj Mahal in Las Vegas.

Location Relative to the Rest of the Casino

There is nothing I hate worse than a poker room that you have to make an extended hike to get to and is set away from most of the casino.  Hollywood Park in Charles Town, WV is a great example.  You have to make an extended hike to get there and then go up to the 2nd floor where there is nothing around.  I like casinos with rooms either in a centralized area or they have made accommodations for players in regards to food, drinks, restrooms, etc.

Competency of Dealers

When I go to a casino, the only place I expect to regularly see new dealers is in the daily tournaments.  They have to get their feet wet somewhere.  However, when I go to a casino and seldom see the same faces twice, that is a sign that something isn’t run well at the casino.  Rooms where the players remember your name but look like they have been there since the beginning of the room are much preferred as the dealers are usually experienced.

Granted, I am not going to get everything I want in most rooms.  However, the rooms that are devoid of most of the items above are those that either I go to when I have no other choice, or for a special reason, such as a tournament or a night with buddies.  Good luck at the tables.

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With the recent developments surrounding Full Tilt Poker, many feel that there is no better time for the United States Congress to legalize online gambling.  However, many people are overlooking several realities associated with legalizing online gambling and poker.  Let’s take a look at a few.

Don't expect these guys to legalize online poker anytime soon.

Online Gambling is Politically Toxic Now

With the Black Friday indictments and now the recent news of Full Tilt squandering nearly $400 Million in player funds, the issue of online gambling for many politicians has become overly toxic.

While many feel that the public would be served by regulation, there are too many opponents that would point out the devastation that online companies have done to player bankrolls and also point out the fact that the company and the Poker Player’s Alliance has put money into the campaigns of numerous congressmen.  Those Congressmen would have a hard time disproving that they are not in the pocket of the online gambling companies.

The negative press surrounding the issue right now is too great for many congressmen as well.  Most any opponent that would vote or show substantial support for this gives any potential campaign opponent ammunition to use in an upcoming election.

Simply, the storm surrounding this issue has to die down before anything can be done.

Online Legalization Will Not Be Instantaneous

Let’s assume that a law was passed by Congress to make poker legal.  How long do you think it would take before players could legally play online.  Considering that a governing body would have to be in place, regulations drawn up, licenses applied for, not to mention the actual setup of the sites themselves, you are looking at no more than a year.  Honestly, you are probably looking at about 2 years turnaround.

The Big Three Companies Still Have to Face the DOJ

It does not matter when online poker is legalized, the sites and people indicted by the DOJ will still have to face charges and fines in connection with currently existing laws.  In addition, there is a high probability that Full Tilt and UB have little or no chance of ever getting a license in the US in the future.  Pokerstars may have a shot, but I do not think it will happen without them paying a significant amount of money to the government.

Just wishing online poker to be legal or signing a petition is not going to make it legal in the near future.  You are looking at, at minimum, 2 years before it will be legalized.  In reality, it will likely be 3 to 5 years before people in the US will be able to legally play poker online.

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