Using Bankroll to determine your Play...

The average poker beginner simply starts out at a low limit they’re comfortable with and tries to work their way up from that point.  And this is fine since it’s definitely good to start out playing low stakes until you truly have a good feel for the game.  However, most people don’t ever do any serious math when determining where they should be playing as they get more experienced with poker. 

But poker players really need to be concerned with where they should seriously be playing at and the best way to do this is by using bankroll as a measure.  By using bankroll as the measuring stick, you’ll not only have a good idea of where you should be playing at skill wise, but you’ll also know how much money you can afford to play with in case you start losing and need to absorb that rough period.

Most experts contend that you’ll need a minimum of 100 times the big blind, if not 200 times the big blind to seriously consider playing at a certain limit.  This is especially important in No Limit games since you want to be playing from a position of power instead of in a spot where you’re worrying about making solid plays because the pot is too large.

Another thing to keep in mind with the whole bankroll concept is that you shouldn’t use your whole bankroll as a measure of what limit you want to be playing at.  In fact, you’ll want to set aside a certain amount of money that you won’t be taking to the table in case you really get beaten up at the table one day.  This way you ensure that your poker playing days aren’t ended because you decided to take the whole bankroll to the table.

Full Tilt and PokerStars Games are Way T...

I realize the importance of being selective with your play on the poker table so as to avoid being a major fish.  You don’t want to be chasing after every hand with second rate cards hoping to hit a lucky break.   Unfortunately, I find that the players at the two biggest poker rooms in the world - Full Tilt and PokerStars - are a little too selective with what hands they will and won’t play.

And the problem with these super-tight players is that it becomes really hard to win any kind of real money on the actual table.  That’s because everyone at these rooms who are in the know just want to sit back, play as tight as possible, and reap the rewards of all the VIP bonuses and rakeback incentives that are commonly given out at Stars and Full Tilt.  In fact, many people who consider themselves to be pro or semi-pro players only try to break even on the tables while earning a killing with rakeback.

To me, this just isn’t poker anymore since these sites are littered with cash game players trying to grind as many hours on the table as they can without losing money.  There’s really not much of a place for recreational players at Full Tilt and PokerStars since there’s only fodder for those that occasionally step outside of their comfort zone to make money on the actual tables.

Now I certainly understand the importance of providing frequent players with more incentive to play, but I also think the whole VIP and rakeback deals at Full Tilt and PokerStars beckon people to play extra tight.  The only thing that I think would loosen things up some is if the UIGEA gets lifted and some of the softer players come back to the game.  This way people trying to make money will actually do it on the tables rather than through rakeback deals.

Phil Hellmuth: The Twittering Champion...

By now most people are familiar with the social networking and blogging service known as Twitter.  But for those who aren’t familiar with Twitter, it is mainly used to send and read updates about people.  If you subscribe to someone’s Twitter service than you’ll be able to read their text updates that are no longer than 140 characters long.

Many celebrities have taken to Twitter like it’s their job and some humorous stories have definitely arose as a result such as NBA player Charlie Villanueva being chastised by the media for sending a text out during halftime of a Milwaukee Bucks game. 

Relating this whole Twitter thing to poker, Phil Hellmuth has really taken a liking to this mass texting service and frequently uses Twitter to bitch about his losing hand as he is often seen doing on TV.  Recently, Hellmuth send out a barrage of Twitters while he was drinking and these were too funny.  Here are some excerpts from Hellmuth’s drunken debacle:

 I am drinking tonight, in fact way too much! Maybe 6 total shots in 5 hours. Just landed in bay area…

I have never had a drinking problem, never. But here i am having another beer! Moosehead Beer is good! Thats 6 in 6 hours.

 Called Layne Flack to tell him to tell me to stop drinking! But he said, ‘U have everything, enjoy yourself.’ Opening another Moosehead

 What the F@&/k is going on here? 7 drinks in 6 hours, and i just cracked another Moosehead…Watching ‘Supertramp’ on youtube at home

 I am Dissapointed in myself…8 drinks in 6 and 30 mins. And I want more! F it, opening 1 more Moosehead!!

 I guess I will have a hangover, just finishing 9 drinks in 7 hours! Listening to Beatles ‘Something in the way she moves’ on youtube

 9 drinks down in 7 hours…Trying Red Tail Ale, yuck! Michelob, pass. Blue Moon Rasberry Cream, horrible!!

 Ok, completely wasted now. Listening to Beatles ‘Strawberry Fields’ and opening a bottle of Innskillin ‘Vidal’ pouring a glass.

 Listening to Beatles ‘I am the walrus’ by myself while drinking number 10 drink…Embarassed to drink so much!! Help!

By the end of the night, Phil came up with the bright idea to start playing poker on Ultimate Bet and here are the results:

I am so drunk I cannot lose!!!! Going to play high stakes limit Hold’em at UB now!!

 Lost 16k at no limit

Now throwing my cell phone accross my desk in disgust…And still drinking…12 down, i hate alcohol…

Let this be a lesson that drinking, Twittering, and playing poker at UB don’t mix!

A New Direction for Online Poker...

Even though the online poker industry is making tons of money as a whole, the market is still cluttered with rooms providing virtually the same service.  About the only true division is that pure poker rooms concentrate on only providing poker and sportsbook/poker rooms run poker games in addition to the online gambling services they run.  Seeing as how they market is already crowded enough, some rooms like Duplicate Poker and Bugsy’s Club have been forced to close their cyber doors within the last year. 

But there are still some companies out there who use innovation as their tool for gaining a foothold within the online poker world.  Zen Gaming is one such place since they are seeking to take their operation in a different direction from the norm. 

Basically, Zen Gaming is going to differentiate itself from other poker rooms by providing a totally free poker room service.  Obviously just doing this alone is not going to make Zen Gaming any money so they’ve decided to make their profits through “Advergaming”.  What this equates to is lining up lots of online advertisements around the actual game people are playing.  And you might think that this would be super distracting, but from the pictures I’ve seen it doesn’t look like it will interfere too much. 

Still I’m not sure if Advergaming has a legitimate shot of upending the free services provided by many other poker rooms.  Most people get into free online poker with the intention of someday playing for real money and that’s why they get started at somewhere like PokerStars or Full Tilt.  On the other hand, Advergaming is a pretty unique concept and I think Zen Gaming might be able to attract a number of casual players who have no interest in playing for real cash in the future.

Learning to make Reads...

People talk about it all the time in poker….learning to make reads.  And for good reason too since the reads you make on other players is what’s going to separate you from the rest of the field.  If you can’t make reads then you are in fact gambling just like the government suspects with all of poker.  That’s why so many of today’s poker players are intent on making reads on every player at the table. 

And this is certainly the right way to play if you want to be any good, but the problem is that many people are making the wrong reads again and again.  Wrong reads are just as bad as not making any reads too since you don’t know what you’re opponent is holding in either case. 

What happens most of the time when someone makes a wrong read is that they try to use past experiences from players to make the same read again.  Then when their read is wrong they completely switch their thinking to compensate for the wrong read.  An example of this is when somebody plays medium pairs after limping in and you’re wrong on the read only to be wrong again when they play A-Q the next time.

The thing you should take away from this situation is that the player will play both A-Q and medium pairs when they limp in.  This way you’ll have two different reads on them for situations when they limp in and you’ll know to be prepared for either scenario when you’re in the hand with them.  The key thing to remember is that you have to adjust after wrong reads until you’re making the correct read on a player again and again.  Don’t take shots in the dark when you are wrong!