Is Limit Hold’em really a Solved G...

In all the different variations of poker, there is perhaps none that involve as much math and statistics as Limit Hold’em does.  With Limit Hold’em, people can make most of their plays based on statistical percentages and be a profitable player over the long run (in theory).  There are plenty of poker bots and little experiments such as the machine vs. man challenges that support this line of thinking too.

In fact, these poker bots have fueled the software industry which is constantly churning out new products designed to give people an advantage over their opponents.  There are so many products available that many people are starting to wonder if Limit Hold’em is a solved game.

After all, poker software can pretty much tell players everything they need to know from how many times an opponent sees the flop to how likely they are to call on the river.  It’s almost unfair how much a person can gain over their opponents by using poker software.  I guess that’s why so many online poker players are buying up this software so they don’t get left behind.

But just because there is detailed poker software which helps people out with all these stats doesn’t mean Limit Hold’em is a solved game.  There are just too many other things you need to keep track of to call Limit solved.  For one thing, the software can only put opponents on a range of cards.  Sure knowing an opponent’s range is helpful, but it’s not an exact science.

And if you can’t pin down an opponent’s cards exactly then some reading abilities do come into play.  Plus it is the player who makes all of the final decisions in online poker so the software is only an aid.  In short, people have a long way to go before they completely solve Limit Hold’em.

Great Multi-Way Pot Moves...

Most of the poker strategy we see today focuses on what to do when you’re isolated with an opponent on later streets.  And this type of strategy is great too since it’s very useful when handling these one-on-one situations.  However, there are more than enough times when you will have multiple people in the pot with you and thus must know some moves for dealing with multi-pot situations.  Here are a couple of great moves you can use when going against multiple players for a pot.

Squeeze Play

One of the best ways to take down a multi-way pot is by capitalizing on the over-aggressiveness of another player.  For instance if a very aggressive player raises in early position and the player before you calls the raise, you can then re-raise to get both of them to fold.  Of course for the squeeze play to be successful you need to be very sure that the initial raiser is holding a weak hand and hoping to steal the hand with a raise.  You’ve also got to know that the player in the middle is only calling with a mediocre hand as well.

Calling

Another great thing you can do in multi-way pots is simply call on earlier streets, then fire out a big raise later on.  What’s great about this move is that it allows you to fool your opponents into thinking you’re only calling everything they do.  Then, when all cards have been laid out, you fire out a big raise which makes your opponents question their own hands.  If you’re only holding a decent hand, this can be a great way to get others to fold even better hands.

Kara Scott will to be new High Stakes Po...

Those who are immersed in the world of poker hotties have no doubt heard of Kara Scott.  She has burst on to the poker scene in the last couple of years with her sexy looks and solid playing skills.  And speaking of the playing skills, Scott is one of the few people to make the final 250 players in the WSOP Main Event in the last two years.  She has over $500,000 in career winnings with about $450,000 of it coming within the last year.  This is not to mention the fact that she’s also done commentary work for the European Poker Tour.

Due to her impressive resume, and great looks, Kara Scott has now been named the new hostess of High Stakes Poker.  With this announcement, all the speculation of other people being named the host will finally come to an end.  At one point, rumors were swirling around that Vanessa Rouso would be the next person to host High Stakes Poker.  Most of these unfounded rumors came from poker forums, but still they took off in a big way.  Since Kara Scott has been named the host, we now know that there is no truth to these rumors.

With Scott taking over at HSP, she’ll be teaming up with Gabe Kaplan which should be very interesting.  Kaplan and A.J. Benza were a fantastic commentary team, but the Game Show Network decided to disband the team in favor of brining in a younger, female co-host.  Long-time fans of the show are still puzzled as to why they would break up this team, but one big reason could be that GSN is looking for a more general audience.  Kara Scott could certainly bring that bigger general audience.