Playing Small Ball Poker - Negreanu Likes It, So Do We!

Dated: 9 Feb 2009
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker
1 Comment

Guest article, courtesy of ArticleAlley:

Author: OnView

The decision to start playing small ball poker and integrating it into an overall adaptive poker strategy is a change players on all levels are making. The style of play now known as ‘small ball’ has probably been in circulation as long as poker has. However, its recognition and emergence as a profitable form of play has been assisted through it’s adoption by poker pro Daniel Negreanu, the man also responsible for the styles current moniker. For those of us who have suffered one too many bad beats at the business end of a massive pot, it seems there might be some pretty tempting reasons to implement small ball poker into our playing repertoire.

Small Ball is an advanced poker play the primary benefits of which is the establishment of a very loose table image without abandoning proper hand selection, and the prospect of seeing a high percentage of flops whilst still maintaining small pot sizes. Significantly, central to the method is the desire not putting our stack at risk, unless of course we want it to be. Whilst the method is one which relies heavily on post flop ability, it promotes action by fostering the perception in our opposition that we are loose aggressive players constantly sniping at the pot, even though we’re looking to consciously control the pot size.

Whilst the premise can be summed up pretty simply, there are a couple of factors which mean playing profitable small ball poker requires a little brain power.

Firstly, the decision to implement a small ball poker approach in any given session depends on our opponents. If we are facing a hyper aggressive table who are prepared to increase the pot size heedless of any play we might make, then we’re better off adapting a tight posture and waiting for a spot to capitalize on our opponents zeal.

Similarly, our opponents need to have at least some understanding of the way we are playing. If they lack the situational awareness to grasp the image we seek to project, this may be a limiting factor in how profitable this method of play is against them.

The real profit in small ball comes from creating a poker table image which doesn’t reflect the way we are playing, and taking down numerous small pots with marginal hands because our opponents fail to give us credit for our respectable holdings, and also pay us off when we hit our monsters. It is the creation of this table image and making narrow calls, bets and timely poker bluffs that attributes to the skill factor required to implement this method of play.

The Nitty Gritty

Position and poker hand selection are critical to playing small ball poker. We’re looking to play as many hands as possible with position, and with a range of hands that still hold potential. Suited connectors and suited gapers are prime real estate, with suited Ax becoming playable. Our opening hands might span many of the Sklansky Groups, particularly groups 1-6, but we’ll continue to discard trash hands.

Small ball poker involves smaller than usual raises. Against the right field a raise of 2.5xBB in early position and 3xBB in late can have the marginally same effect as raises of twice that size, but the difference to the end pot size can be significant.

Seeing a lot of flops is a large part of small ball poker as it contributes to the loose aggressive image. However by controlling the pot size we can minimize our chip bleeding on hands which don’t develop their potential.

Pot control may also necessitate checking at some point in the hand, although logic suggests this should be against boards which aren’t draw heavy. The benefit though of small ball is being able to evaluate your opponents holdings on each street without putting our stack at significant risk. Checking behind on the flop or turn can assist us to determine the strength of their hand based on their response. A check on the river can be used to induce a small bluff, or avoiding a situation where your opponents comes over the top of our bet with a river bluff of their own.

With small ball it’s also important to be prepared to change gears. By occasionally making use of larger bets in situations where we think our opponents holdings are meager, or when we have good holdings, can make it easier to get paid off when we do finally hit our monster hands. Selective aggression will be needed here.

Small ball poker is probably best suited to cash game play or in tournaments where blinds are small relative to stack sizes (primarily early stages). It can be an extremely successful strategy and one apt to produce profitable results if employed correctly.

Want to see some examples on how to play small ball?

Go to Texas Holdem Rules Poker

Starting hand chart

Dated: 10 Jan 2009
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker, Poker guides
0 Comments

I bet any of you wondered if you can have a list of how you should play pre-flop. In this article I will show you a conservative starting hand chart for no limit poker.

In case you need to remember, you can find here an article regardind your position at the table.

AA or KK
- always Raise

QQ, JJ, AK
-  Raise if there is no more than 1 raise in front of you
- Fold if there are at least 2 raises in front of you

TT, 99, AQ
-  Fold if you are in Early position
- Raise if you are in Middle or Late position and there is no raise in front of you
- Fold if there is at least one raise in front of you

88, 77, AJ, KQ
- Fold if you are in Early or Middle position
- Raise if you are in Late position and there is no raise in front of you
- Fold if there is at least one raise in front of you

Any other starting hand
- Fold no matter what

PartyBingo.com - the right Internet Bingo site

Dated: 20 Nov 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker
0 Comments

I know this is not about a poker site, but it’s somehow related :) Today I’m going to write you about a new internet bingo site, PartyBingo.com.

PartyBingo.com is part of Party network, well known for the poker site PartyPoker.com and for the casino site PartyCasino.com.

Their software is pretty good (maybe one of the better software from other Bingo applications) and the download should take no more than 2 minutes on a usual broadband Internet connection. To play bingo you will need an account, but if you already have a PartyPoker.com account or a PartyCasino.com one, you can use same credentials to login.

Monday to Sunday, you can take part in different daily specials, as Night Owl’s Treat (Buy 6 Get 2 FREE. Tickets are half price.), Speed Penny / Speed Cent (all bingo cards in the Lilac Lounge and the Diamond Club are just 1p and all bingo cards in the Jade Garden are just 1 cent), Early Bird / Happy Hour (All card prices are halved), Speed bingo, Buy 3 Get 1 Free, Brabble (you can win 50 free cards), Buy 4 Get 2 Free, Late Birds Delight (Tickets are half price).

Also interesting are the jackpots, the internet bingo site PartyBingo.com has over $100,000 in jackpots every single day! Their Loyalty Program is completed with a Points system. The more you play, the more points you earn. The more point you collect, the higher your player level will become, and the more your point will worth when you redeem them.

In conclusion, I can recommend this internet bingo program to all of you. Enjoy :)

How to make a bluff: Cristian Dragomir versus Phil Hellmuth at WSOP 2008

Dated: 11 Nov 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker
4 Comments

This is a very nice bluff made by Romanian Cristian Dragomir against Phil Hellmuth at WSOP 2008.

Here you can see how can throw away an :)

In same movie you can see Phil’s answer, which attracted first a penalty from the organizers of the tournament. The penalty was redrawn next day.

Enjoy the little fight!

Online Poker Strategies - Poker Guide by Kim Birch

Dated: 6 Aug 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker, Poker guides
1 Comment

Today I’m going to recommend you a Poker Guide written by Danish poker star Kim Birch. Kim is among the top poker pros in Scandinavia and a bestselling poker book author in his home country Denmark.

Since 2005 Kim Birch has been a sponsored live poker pro as well as an online poker machine known for his big cash game winnings online. He was among the very first back in 1999-2000 to be able to make money from online poker and became as far as we know the first Danish online poker millionaire!

Reading his Poker guide, you will discover how you can:

- Win More Pots Day After Day And Skyrocket Your Earnings Into $10,000’s a Month!
- Never Lose to A Gambler With Lucky Cards Again!
- Win Texas NL Hold’em Poker SNG’s Almost EVERY Time With My Unique SNG Strategy!
- One Month From Today You Will Be Making $10,000’s a Month Playing Online Poker As A Business With The Skills Of A Poker Pro!
- How To Keep From Losing Your Shirt And Instead Win The BIG Pots!
- Exactly When And How To Bluff In An Online Poker Game / Tournament.
- Develop An Advanced Level Of Mastery Over Online NL Texas Hold’em Poker.
- Master heads-up play and earn easy money at the tables!
- Advanced Poker Moves And Strategies That Will Let You To Take The Pots, Even From Professional Players!
- How to read players in online poker just like an open book and steal their money while they ponder about what just happened!
- Gain A Competitive Edge With My Insider Online Poker Knowledge!

I highly recommend you to buy this guide written by a professional Poker player!

What is your position at the poker table?

Dated: 4 Aug 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker
4 Comments

Position refers to the order in which players are seated around the table and the strategic consequences of this. Your position at the table is very important, because the more players are behind you, the higher is the probability that at least one of them can have a better hand.

To determine your position, you start at the current dealer and count the seats between you and the dealer counter-clockwise.

Generaly, in a 10 seats poker table, you have these positions:

- 2 late positions; the dealer and the player to his right
- 3 middle positions; the following 3 players
- 3 early positions; next 3 players
- 2 blind positions; the 2 players that already played small and big blind.

Position is one of the most vital elements to understand in order to be a long-term winning player. As a player’s position improves, so too does the range of cards with which he can profitably enter a hand.

Order of Poker hands

Dated: 2 Aug 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker
3 Comments

I think some of you need sometime to remember which is the order of Poker hands. So I will list here all posible situations, listed from the smallest posible winner to the king of poker hands, the Royal Flush.

High card
A high-card or no-pair hand is a poker hand such as , in which no two cards have the same rank, the five cards are not in sequence, and the five cards are not all the same suit. High card ranks below all other poker hands; two such hands are ranked by comparing the highest ranking card. If those are equal, then the next highest ranking card from each hand is compared, and so on until a difference is found.

One pair
One pair is a poker hand such as , which contains two cards of the same rank, plus three other unmatched cards. Higher ranking pairs defeat lower ranking pairs; if two hands have the same pair, the non-paired cards (the kickers) are compared in descending order to determine the winner.

Two pairs
A poker hand such as , which contains two cards of the same rank, plus two cards of another rank (that match each other but not the first pair), plus one unmatched card, is called two pair. To rank two hands both containing two pair, the higher ranking pair of each is first compared, and the higher pair wins. If both hands have the same “top pair”, then the second pair of each is compared. Finally, if both hands have the same two pairs, the kicker determines the winner.

Three of a kind
Three of a kind, also called trips or set, is a poker hand such as , which contains three cards of the same rank, plus two unmatched cards. Higher-valued three of a kind defeat lower-valued three of a kind.

Straight
A straight is a poker hand such as , which contains five cards of sequential rank but in more than one suit. Two straights are ranked by comparing the highest card of each. Two straights with the same high card are of equal value, suits are not used to separate them.

Flush
A flush is a poker hand such as , which contains five cards of the same suit, not in rank sequence. Two flushes are compared as if they were high card hands; the highest ranking card of each is compared to determine the winner.

Full house
A full house is a hand such as , which contains three matching cards of one rank, and two matching cards of another rank. Between two full houses, the one with the higher ranking set of three wins.

Four of a kind
Four of a kind, also known as quads, is a poker hand such as , which contains four cards of one rank, and an unmatched card of another rank. Higher ranking quads defeat lower ranking ones.

Straight flush
A straight flush is a poker hand which contains five cards in sequence, all of the same suit, such as . Two such hands are compared by their highest card.

Royal flush
An ace-high straight flush such as    is known as a royal flush, and is the highest ranking standard poker hand.

An interesting fact to know, the probability to be dealt a royal flush in any suit in a five card hand is 1 for every 649,740 dealt hands, so do not cry if you haven’t seen a dealt Royal Flush in your entire life :)

SIT-N-GO PRO: The Sit and Go Poker System - Killer Sit and Go Strategy

Dated: 30 Jul 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker, Poker guides
3 Comments

Today I present you a very interesting Poker Guide, SIT-N-GO PRO.

Publisher of the guide is Jonathan Rothman, winner of over $110,000 playing multi-table Sit-N-Go (SNG).

Here is a fragment of his starting history:

I graduated from college with a degree in computer science and got a job as a system’s analyst. I had an average job, paying an average salary. At the same time I was playing Texas Holdem poker on the side. Naturally, I became good enough at poker to make consistent winnings from playing regular cash games. To accomplish this consistency I practiced constantly, almost every single night. I read and reread every poker book out there, analyzing poker hands to refine my strategy.

Jonathan explain us why he choose SNG:

Let me put it in Laman’s terms: Playing an SNG is like watching the same movie over and over again…The beginning, middle and ending will always be the same result. And that’s the secret to SNG’s…If you know the exact winning poker SNG system, you’ll always end up a winner!
Our Full-Proof Poker SNG system is unique and the information within cannot be found elsewhere…This is the only SNG system offered to the public that guarantees you cashing in thousands of dollars!

After learning the Sit and Go Pro System, you’ll instantly and effortlessly start earning hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every night…And you’ll duplicate your success over and over again!

Learning our system will change the way you look at online or live poker forever…And will drastically change your strategy and the style you play to become a killer SNG shark!

Buying this Poker guide, you will also receive some nice bonuses:

- SIT-N-GO PRO - Online E-zine ($47.00 Value)
- SIT-N-GO PRO - “One-on-One with Johnny” ($57.00 Value)
- Special Freeroll for SIT-N-GO PRO Members (Free Entry into our Weekly $250 Guaranteed)
- FREE UPGRADE Premier Pro Access ($147.00 Value)

So, why wait? Buy now SIT-N-GO PRO 100% Risk-Free!

Poker acronyms

Dated: 27 Jul 2008
Posted by RoyalFlush
Category: Learning poker
0 Comments

C-bet = Continuation bet
V-bet = Value Bet
Ch = check
C = call
F = fold
R = raise
Ai = all-in
CRAI = check-raise all-in
TPTK = Top Pair, Top Kicker
gg = good game
wp = well played
nh = nice hand
nb = nice bet
nc = nice call
ep = early position
mp = middle position
lp = late position
CO = cutoff
BTN = button
UTG = under the gun
UTG +1 = The person to the left of UTG
HJ = hijack (the position to the right of the Cutoff)
BB = Big Blind
SB = Small Blind
PT = Poker Tracker
PO = Poker Office
PTBB = PokerTracker Big Blinds (big blind amount multiplied by two)
ul = unlucky
gl = good luck
g1 = good one
n1 = nice one
gn = good night
WTG = Way to go!
DB = database
PS = PokerStars
FTP = Full Tilt Poker
PP = PartyPoker
AP = Absolute Poker
UB = Ultimate Bet
TP = Titan Poker
SUN = Sun Poker
ty = thank you
ft = Final Table
H/U = Heads up
HUD = Heads up display
vn = very nice
vnh = very nice hand