Poker Strategy Archives
 Balancing Life and Poker
 Poker is a great game, but Underdog34 reminds us that sometimes we just need to step back and get a little Perspective.
It seems that college kids and online poker go hand in hand these days, but what happens when you are feeling consumed by the game?
In Staying Afloat in the Poker World the schmenx gives a few "rules to live by" when it comes to playing poker professionally or as a serious hobby. Remember to always play at your best and do the things in life you enjoy-- it will help you at and away from the table!
In Dealing with poker guilt and depression Dhubermex shares a very personal poker-bio revealing how making his family his number one priority improved both his life and his play.
Ginzorella puts out the call for help with the thread Urgent: A serious question in need of serious answers and once again the pocketfives community comes through in a big way with good advice (four pages worth!) on his relationship issue.
Bankroll Management
In his article Money Management Seal reminds us that, "Money Management is a life skill". This is a great guide on how to be successful managing your money in poker whether you are a pro, an amateur or recreational player.
Fox's Bankroll Management won the award for best article of 2005 and it was well deserved. Many users have commented that this article helped them go from boom and bust type players to steady earners.
Thank goodness I learned good BR skills! says scgolfer, showing how even the most successful players benefit from prudent bankroll management.
Do you think you might be playing below your skill level? is a question we hear all the time, usually followed by "I'm tired ofthese donks sucking out on me!" "At what level do the players get better?" There is some good conversation in this thread about moving up versus staying put.
We all want to build a bankroll, and many of us aren't willing to grind it out at the lower levels. In Question about possible "steps-like" strategy there is some serious discussion about the perils of taking the fast track to higher games.
If you are ever going through a rough patch in your game or just want to work on plugging a few leaks, you might want to consider taking Muddywater's advice on Why moving down a level isn't a bad idea.
Bankroll requirements for large field MTTs, especially online, may be different from the standards set by Sklansky and company 20 years ago. This is discussed by DoubleLucky and others in Tournament Bankrolls?
Cash Games
Low limit cash games can be just as much of a minefield as micro tourneys,but tight-agressive players can also be guilty of over playing their hands after the flop. This is the situation discussed in Re-occuring problem, how to fix this hole in my game?
When it comes to cash games there are few better than Green Plastic, and we are lucky to have him as a regular poster in the forum. In this thread he shows How Quickly a No-Limit Hand Can Change. In one of many clashes with Mahatma, GP shares a few hand histories and discusses his plans on life after college in big session vs. Mahatma. The play at this level is a constant mind game and in a high level play GP shows the reasoning behind a big bluff on the river that paid off.
Implied Odds and how they affect buy in strategy, a Cardrunners article from the Loose Aggressive school of poker by Andrew Wiggins, explains why it is always optimal to buy in for the max at a NL ring game.
In Which is more profitable 6 or 10 seat limit ring games? a straightforward question gets straightforward answers.
General Strategy
Tranquilchaos starts this thread by sharing Something I've learned and invites the community to do the same. What follows is a long list of poker wisdom mixed with some one liners.
In AK, I need help NSXT2 shares an article he wrote adressing one of the most overplayed hands in Hold'em.
Texas Troll was generous enough to pass on some of the things he learned the hard way in Poker 101. He provides a nice guide for the beginning player combined with some rules to live by for all poker players. It is in two parts, so be sure to check out Part B.
In the article Taking control of the pot Wachovia gives a good explanation of the power a raise or a re-raise has in giving you control over how a hand develops.
When trying to extract the most chips you can from an opponent you often wonder whether you should Place a bet or let them bluff. Another great thread on this topic is Maximizing value on made hands.
I'm Playing too tight is a problem many "by the book" players face early in their poker careers. This thread features a great post by Awwwnutz about situational play and the evolution of his game.
The paper rock scissors approach to poker, a gem from lilprog79 where he shares his struggle adjusting to a new site and the changes he made to make those adjustments automatic.
Sometimes in poker discussions we throw around terms we don't really understand. This poster wasn't afraid to ask about Squeeze Play (how do you do it?) and it paid off with some basic explanation of the Squeeze, Stop'n'Go and Steam Raise.
In one of many great contributions by Blair Rodman, he raises the issue of whether Continuation bets have become useless against more sophisticated opponents.
In Fact Filter vs. Judgement Filter Orioles Rule sparks a very in depth discussion of the common problem of falling in love with a hand and failing to make the big laydown. A must read!
One neglected aspect of the game for many players is mathematical analysis. Not just pot odds or outs, but really breaking down a hand by the numbers. Riley gave us a little insight into this process in How Mathematicians Think.
Going Pro
jupitert was Considering quitting day job to play online poker F/T. This thread is full of good advice for him and anyone else considering the same thing.
Becoming a professional card player may sound very exciting but there is a lot to consider before you decide if Taking the Plunge might be right for you. Fox is very cautionary here, with good reason because the life of a poker pro is definitely not for everyone.
Taking the plunge is a thread started by tranquilchaos on his decision to go pro. Much well wishing and some very sober advice follows.
At what point did you "pros" know it was time to go "pro"? is another going pro thread, this time from the Mennas Joint point of view. You've got to love the pocketfives community for things like this.
When liprog79 posted the Ten things i learned in my first month as a "pro" we knew we had an instant classic. He shares valuable tips for anyone, but everyone considering making poker their primary source of income should keep this by their computer.
Hand Analysis
In Hand Discussion Part 1 Gidders starts a nice thread about a specific hand in a 180 man sitngo.
TT on a ragged flop seems like a dream situation but in this thread we try to get a read on a player making some odd plays and decide whether our over pair is good. For pre-flop strategy with TT check out MTT Quiz?
Mindwise shows off a new function of his hand history re-player in PokerXFactor.com's New Interactive Quiz. The demo spawns some discussion, plus it's just cool to see what he's doing with this software and we look forward to more.
AawwNutz is an example of a great player who is always working on his game. One way he does this is by participating in the strategy discussions on Pocketfives. In this hand he lays down KK pre-flop. Did he make a sick read, or is there more to it than that, What do you guys think? In just the opposite situation - with QQ on an Ace high flop AawwNutz makes his play on the turn in Anybody like this one?. In a read to talk about he offers play by play analysis of a hand with mid pair early in a MTT. In Situational Poker he gives an example of a hand where he uses his chips to represent a hand to take down a pot on the turn. No wonder he was nominated for "Most Valuable Poster" in 2005.
In Anatomy of a Hand DelaReine shares his process of reviewing his hand histories as a tool for improving his game. The insight into his thought process both during a hand and in hindsight makes for good reading.
Some people post thinly veiled bad beat stories in the Hand Advice forum, but Footballman77 was honestly looking for advice when he asked Rockets again, can one of you hold'em studs tell me how to play differently? Proving once again that it is always better to win small pots than lose big ones, even when you flop top set.
Falling in love with a hand can be a major leak for some players. How do you play Middle Position QQ when facing a big raise from UTG?
Pocketfives encourages everyone to rail the top players in order to learn from them. One side affect of this is that people often catch someone making an odd play and race over to post about it. In Take a look at this hand The_Takeover played on UB today N 82 50 24 replies with detailed mathematical analysis of the hand. This is not necessarily to defend The_Takeover's play but to learn from it.
Limit Hold'em
Limit poker is not sexy, it's not exciting, but it can be very profitable with minimal risk. In How most pros make a living Fox shares his bread and butter - 4 tabling mid limits.
Gbmantis shares some hand histories in 30/60 hand analysis. A couple of these hands are examples of limit calling stations run amok but mantis and others discuss the importance of saving a bet here and there.
Freerolling has a Question for Fox or other limit specialists about how to play big pairs in limit, and he gets some good responses.
Millie88 asks for help dealing with the mental game in low limit focus. He gets some simple but good advice in this thread.
In Limit Poker : Big blind defense with a call? Beauright examines the pros and cons of loosening your starting requirements in the Big Blind in Limit Hold'em.
Many players these days start out in NL hold'em and can never quite adjust to the speed and strategy required to play Limit Hold'em. Some of the common frustrations and differences are discussed here with some good advice from Adam and others.
Live Play/Major Events
One fixture of online poker is the dream of playing in a major live event. The online cardrooms make a killing off of the rake for their endless satellites. Not many people stop to ask Why is winning a satellite the only option for most?
In Ultimate Poker Challenge Day 1 Blair Rodman gives us an inside look on his experience at a major live event with some in-depth hand analysis included. If you're in a reading mood he continues in day 2 part 1, day 2 part 2, day 2 part 3, and final day.
The live reports can be fun to read if you are stuck at home while these guys live it up in the tropics. So next rainy day you may want to read steely's PCA Trip Report and SamENole's My day 1 in the Atlantis WPT.
At first glance Live Play- Straddling is a sucker bet, but this thread shows us that if you put a little thought into it, the live straddle can actually be a useful tool in a NL ring game.
MultiTable Tournament Strategy
We all know there is no one right way to play poker and when Dg0016 asked was this a horrible play? we found out top players like brsavage, gbmantis, and ActionJeff can disagree completely on how to play the same hand. This is a long thread discussing AK, fold equity, squeeze play, stack accumulation vs. preservation and many more MTT concepts.
One common question on here is "I am getting close a lot but can't push through, what do I do? Beanie answers this question very simply: play more! Sometimes sheer volume is what you need to get that big score. He also shares some of his views on tournament play in this post.
Coderman1 has a Request(frequent winners): Post your pivotal tournament hands and he gets responses from Aawwnutz, GambleAB and isuck123, who have certainly done their fair share of winning.
When Lightning007 was ousted from a tourney he came to the Pocketfives community looking for help. In MTT Tourney advice needed he gets some good responses to his question about his play with KK in the mid-stages of the tournament.
Pot Odds in tournament play is an area of poker theory that is continually developing. In the thread a bad lay down??? you get a wide variety of perspectives, many of them from top players. It is a good example of a time when maybe you take the worst of it in order to chip up. The discussion is continued in Pot Odds: To call or not to call, with some fairly extensive mathematical analysis.
Have you won a tournament w/o stealing? is a good thread on the importance of picking up the blinds in MTT play, with some technique discussed.
A user came looking for Tournament Specific Advice (a Pokerstars Points satellite for the PCA event) but he gets some good advice for play in any tournament.
In Stop-n-go vs. All-in DP388 starts a discussion about how to play mid pairs late in a tourney.
Improving your MTT game is, as supermoves says,"An article for mediocre players who want to get good". This is very good ABC type advice that will get you deep in MTTs. Some of the responses also have good advice on how and when to depart from this ABC strategy. Another good thread for beginners is Newbie with questions.
We constantly hear about the importance of aggression. In The whole cockroach thing/patience apestyles reminds us of the importance of having multiple speeds and knowing when to shift those gears. The "cockroach" part comes from this thread about Samenole's indestructibility. You can't just let yourself blind off however. Make sure you have a stack with some fold equity in it, as discussed in Patience vs Cold Deck. SamEnole took the conversation a step further with a full article on his shortstack play in The Cockroach Effect. He even went so far as to provide an entire HH from a sngo where he was down to 60 chips and went on to win in A sng pertaining to my article.
The "slow gear" and play style in online MTTs is one of the best threads on MTT strategy in general and the ability to change it up in particular. ActionJeff starts if off and gets some GREAT responses.
supermoves asks "Could someone write an article on this?", but doesn't have to wait long before he gets some very good responses on the battle of the blinds in tournament play. Another thread about playing from the blinds is You make the call part 2 where Awwnutz gives us a scenario of button/blind battle with some good commentary on positional play and AK strategy late in a tourney. In question about a flush draw Tim G. posts about back-to-back hands he played late in a MTT -- the first hand receives the most interesting responses. Another common situation you might face is holding AK vs. position raise.
AawwNutz starts off with a self deprecating title, but generally when he starts thinking he comes up with something good and Uh-oh, I've been thinking is no exception. This thread about the style of play required to succeed in online MTTs is definitely worth reading. In another thread, idle speculation on The Styles of the Ranked Players solicits some interesting discussion of the strategies of Harrington and Cloutier in online play. AawwNutz experiments with LAG play in The Ivey Experiment
A major asset to the pocketfives community is the regular contribution of some of the best poker players on the net. One way they do this is post and discuss hand histories. BRSavage joined the fun with Ok, Here is my educational hand history. It offers some great insight into the concepts of stack preservation versus accumulation. BeLOWaBOVe shares Hands from my MTTs on stars tonight with analysis from many different situations. Moral of the story? Don't min raise with BeLOW at your table. Another thread with lots of HHs and some analysis is ActionJeff's Boring Hands Section.
We preach agression at the inflection points in a tourney like right before the money and the Final table bubble. In this situation AawwNutz got caught going too far in a hand by a player making some odd plays. The commentary on the hand expands far beyond the paramaters of this one hand.
There has been some discussion of The UTG Steal as a new trend in poker. This is a thread from August '05 with opinons from gbmanits, NSXT2 and others.
Omaha
When photonn asked for the Best hand in Omaha? he could have gotten "AAKK doublesuited" end of story, but instead NIURAT responded with a great explanation of what makes Omaha so different from Hold'em.
If you are just venturing into Omaha country then you may have noticed it is a very different game from Hold'em. In Draws in Omaha N 82 50 24 explains this game of "redraws, redraws and more redraws".
Omaha Hi and Omaha 8s are related, but more like distant cousins. In this article grapsfan gives us Omaha 8/b: An Introduction. He followed that up with Math in Omaha 8/b
Omaha Hi/Lo is a great thread about hand rankings in Omaha 8s.
In OMAHA Hi/Lo Question grapsfan gives a nice analysis why 23xx is not a good starting hand to draw to a low.
How come I'm good at PLO but crap at 8b? This thread has some great advice for the beginning Omaha 8s player.
Rebuy Tournaments
Always add on? is a question that often comes up about rebuys. Further discussion on the issue can be found in General Guideline for Add-Ons
In the first article in a series from Cardrunners.com Jsup shares his Rebuy tournament strategy. He replays a live rebuy tourney he played in detail by detail. The section about the importance of acquiring a big stack early is very helpful, as is the hand analysis.
Many satellites these days are turbo rebuys and being the swell guy that he is AawwNutz shares his strategy specifically for these games in My Christmas Gift to Some.
Record Keeping/Notetaking
Opposing Player Notes:What do yours say? is a great thread with lots of examples of how to take effective notes on the players at your table.
Step one is keeping comprehensive, honest records. Step two is interpreting those records in a way that is meaningful. Success Question has some good discussion of how to gauge your success and set goals for improvement.
Fox is our resident expert on Pokertracker and there is some good introductory info in his blog including Stats Week for Fox and anything with Pokertracker in the title. Check out Fox's Blog for more information.
We all know that keeping records is important, and probably plan to "get around to it" or have made a half-hearted start. In his article Keep records and use them to your advantage Adam gives a few examples of why it is so important, and profitable.
Sit n Gos
If you are looking for A guide to single table tournaments then go no further than this article by Adam. It is a great guide to playing and beating mid and low level STTs, with stage by stage strategy.
In Help with an Advanced SNG situation ActionJeff shows why he is such a good player. He is always analyzing every detail and looking to improve. This thread includes in-depth discussion of bubble theory and ICM analysis.
In this post laser16 shares Some random thoughts to help you own SNGs. He covers some intermediate to advanced concepts which will help you improve your SitnGo play.
In a Sit and go revisited there is some good discussion of what to do in the small blind with a playable hand as a short stack.
In SNG for the ages? sheets shares the entire hand history from an epic SitnGo - Priceless! He added another much shorter one in with the tongue-in-cheek title How to win a SnGO in 37 hands. Mindwise and Pokerxfactor turned it into an animation for us in This Thread.
Party Poker Mini Steps includes a good discussion of the different values the step tourneys offer beginning players versus pros.
Short handed play is a discussion of hand selection and strategy for sitngos once a few people have been knocked out.
We've all felt the frustration of playing against a maniac. In this thread Mr.Gobbles asks When to gamble against bad players? and Fox responds with his strategy based upon game and situation.
How do you play on the short stack in a sitngo? is a question from the early days of the site which gets some very good basic SitnGo advice.
Tilt / The Mental Game
In one of those "aha" moments Jluce describes how he went from a tilt-prone player to cool, calm and collected no matter the situation in An Untouched State of Mind.
Gidders originally wrote You Deserve to Win as a letter to a friend who was going through a rough patch in his poker career. He decided to share it with the whole pocketfives community and we are lucky he did! He gives some good advice on how to get out of a rut and reminds us of the importance of confidence in poker.
Why can't I be disciplined? is a typical post venting about the frustration of playing yourself out of a tournament but it gets some good responses from the community.
Most players find it difficult to stay focused and play their "A" game when running bad. Sweeet Pea shares how she has made it her goal to focus on Sustaining confidence as a player no matter what.
An often neglected aspect of poker strategy is quite simply "where is your head at" when you sit down to play. Wachovia gives us some of his insight into The Mental Aspect of the Game and also addresses dealing with Frustration in another article.
When running bad it's easy to lose confidence. Sophiea was totally confused,looking for advice about his Tight Agressive game getting hammered at the tables. He gets some good advice on how to play through it and come out the other side a better player.
Tournament Backing
In this thread some of the top players clear up some of the misconceptions about how the Staking process works.
Jed is the founder of 5th Street Venture Capital, a fund created expressly for Backing Tournament Players, so when he talks about backing he know his stuff.
Why Online Poker Is Safe
Fox posted his article Put on your Tinfoil hat... on 4/12/2005 and the debate on the boards raged for days. We still see plenty of "rigged" posts, but now most of them are immediately rewarded with a "tinfoil hat" response. If you are wondering where that came from, read this article.
Those players who have accepted that the RNGs are legit but still feel the universe is conspiring against them wonder about the "CheatatPoker" ads they see all over the internet (and perhaps secretly want to try it out). In See Your Opponents Hole Cards-Guaranteed Fox says in no uncertain terms what he thinks of these programs.
We all get tired of "rigged" posts, so beanie decided to do something about it in his article Instead of asking if online poker is rigged. He doesn't even honor the question with arguments to the contrary, but instead directs us to ask more useful questions like "How can I improve my game?"
Pocketfives Classics
The now famous/infamous Stars August TLB bet originated when sheets brought us a PROPOSAL FROM GIGABET.
Pocketfives has long been a place where internet pros come to discuss the important issues they face in their careers. When erbloore posted Letter from Steve Libscomb one of the biggest issues facing tournament poker was aired in our forums. This discussion brought Annie Duke to the boards, as it is very important to her and other pros. The discussion continues with another new poster, Michael Craig, in Annie Duke and the WPT.
One of the most popular items on Pocketfives are the Interviews we feature from time to time. These include The Grinder, KrazyKanuck, PokerHO, Green Plastic and many more.
Americans abroad are notorious for being big, loud and obnoxious, but Europeans are also guilty of being snobbish and condescending if not outright rude to Yanks overseas. This clash of cultures came to a head with the resounding words "For America I call!" in POkerH0's Stories from Paris.
Seal has provided the pocketfives community with valuable strategy and poker advice in his posts and his articles, but he is perhaps best loved for his entertaining ESPoker series. Check it out in his blog.
"FBeanie" has taken on a life of it's own, but every now and then people ask "Why F Beanie? He seems like a nice guy?". It is true, Beanie is a nice guy, and a valued member of the community but seriously Beanie, it's all your fault, how could that donkey call me down with bottom pair and hit trips on the river? I hope you develop an inoperable cancer of the...wait, why don't you just read for yourself in a forum to berate BEANIE.
The first annual Presto award for Funniest Poster went to BigHems for his Bad beat stories from 2005. Just so they will never be lost, here are the "BigHems Classics" : Worst Bad Beat Ever , OMG!?! YOU LIKED THE LAST ONE? THIS ONE IS 83957894x WORSE! , BigHems gives tips on how to PWN , IMPORTANT ACCOUNCEMENT FROM BIGHEMS! , A Poker Story: Owned!!! (Woot Woot)
How to Handle Bad Beats looks like your typical poker post. I came across this thread thinking it might be good for people looking for serious advice on avoiding tilt. What I found was even better.
Ever wonder where GG Candy machine came from? In the midst of a thread about stealing from UB phatcat added this phrase to pocketfives culture. Thank you sir, thank you.
If you live below the Mason-Dixon Line I'm sure you have a Waffle House story of your own, but here's one from Adam - Waffle House turned mad.
Hawkhill7 submitted this clever little tactic on avoiding tilt as a product review. We decided not to include it in that "serious" section but yes, we do have a sense of humor. So if you want a guaranteed way to increase your win rate read Taking Your Game to The Next Level.
the schmenx started off this thread of eerie similarities between certain poker players and celebrites. Perhaps they were really Seperated at Birth?
In a rare public appearance Riley shares his impersonation of the internet clebrity known simply as the "Numa Numa Guy" in Riley's Funny Side.
PocketFives.com, 2008
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