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Poker as a Career

With the popularity of poker as high as it is right now, the game is seeing more and more people who have crossed over from other careers to make playing poker their full-time occupation.

Poker players have always had other occupations while they played the sport, but it was more of odd jobs to keep their stakes up so they could play cards. Work wasn’t really a polite word used in poker circles.

It is a trend that will continue, I believe. There are more and more hobbyists turning professional, and as purses increase it will make it more financially viable for business professionals to enter the game.

It didn’t used to be that way. Most of the older, more established players were poker players from a young age or worked in a profession associated with the game.
Several of the games' top players began as dealers. Gavin Smith, Erick Lindgren and Evelyn Ng learned the game while they were working, making the transition to the sport.

“I saw the same people winning all the time,” Ng said of her days as a dealer. “I knew it was a game of skill that I could really put my mind to and I would probably do well in, and I think it was a good guess.”

A lot of the older players, like Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Johnny Moss, played home games in Texas and made a dangerous living trying to avoid getting robbed while building their bankrolls.
Now, however, it seems more and more players had respectable careers that they threw in the muck to play professionally.

Barry Greenstein was a software engineer in Silicon Valley. Mark Seif was an attorney who worked in the District Attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Humberto Brenes is a successful businessman who owns a television station.

The recent winners of the World Series of Poker’s main events were business professionals first, card players second, but that quickly changed after capturing poker’s spotlight tournament.

Greg Raymer was an accountant, Joseph Hachem a chiropractor and this year’s winner, Jamie Gold, was a Hollywood agent.

Even the smaller events are seeing players who are more hobbyists than professionals.
The recent winner of the World Series of Poker circuit event, Jim McCorkle, was a golf professional.

McCorkle won the $1,000 no-limit game at Caesar’s Indiana , winning $56,254 for his first big victory.
A qualifier for the U.S. and British Opens, McCorkle tried to qualify for the Senior PGA Tour but didn’t make it and decided to start playing cards again. He had played in Las Vegas in the 70s, but not seriously.
In the tournament at Caesar’s, McCorkle entered the final table as the chip leader and never was seriously challenged.
It was ironic that one of the players at the table was named John Shanks. It was even more ironic that it was McCorkle who knocked out the player, whose last name is a forbidden word in the golf community.
McCorkle and John Rolnick were the last players, and it took 34 hands before McCorkle knocked out Rolnick, who has been playing professionally for 20 years.

As more and more people start entering the game, expect to see more success stories like McCorkle's. People are figuring out that they don’t need to keep their day job to make a living playing professional poker.

By John Reger
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Caribbean Stud Poker

Born in the Caribbean Islands years ago, Caribbean Stud Poker eventually found its way to cruise ships. It didn't take long for those cruise ships to bring this entertaining game to casinos in America. The casino pit has always been a testing ground for many new games. Most of them are a flash in the pan, but Caribbean Stud Poker held its own and solidified its place in the casino.

For anyone wondering why this game made the cut, you only have to look to the atmosphere it creates. Caribbean Stud Poker is a fun game to play, and it's very sociable. Online players have been "hooked" to this game thanks to generous progressive jackpot payouts.

The game itself is played with a single deck of 52 cards. Up to seven players can enjoy Caribbean Stud Poker at any time. When you sit down to partake in the fun, you will notice your "space" has three wagering areas --Bet, Ante, Jackpot.

When the hand begins, you will need to place a wager in the Ante circle. For our example, we'll imagine that you placed a $5 wager. At this time, you can choose to partake in the progressive jackpot by placing $1 in the progressive jackpot slot. This must be done before the hand is dealt.

Once your five cards are dealt, you need to decide if the hand is worth staying in or not. The dealer will show one card to you. If you decide to stay in the hand, you must place a wager in the Bet circle, and it must be twice the amount of your Ante wager -- $10 in our example. If your hand doesn't look good, you can choose to fold and lose your Ante wager.

Once you place your Bet wager down, the dealer's hand is revealed and the hands are evaluated. Here's the kicker of Caribbean Stud Poker: The dealer must qualify for you to get paid on your Bet wager. To qualify, the dealer must have a hand that's at least an Ace-King. Anything less and only your Ante wager is paid -- even money payment.

This qualifying requirement can be a real downer when you have a great hand -- like a four-of-a-kind -- and the dealer doesn't qualify. If that's the case, you lose out on all that money. There's good news if you play the progressive jackpot. You will win the progressive jackpot payout regardless of the dealer's hand.

If you are going to play Caribbean Stud Poker and plan on playing the progressive jackpot, you need to shop around. Some casinos pay more than others for hands such as a full house and four-of-a-kind. Take some time and look for the best progressive payouts before sitting down to play.

The progressive jackpot payouts start for hands of flushes and above. A typical payout on a flush hand is $50-$100. A straight flush will usually win 10 percent of the progressive jackpot amount, and the royal flush wins the whole thing. Some jackpots are extremely high.

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Don't Get Typecast

Changing gears -- it might sound like a skill most needed by someone working for a NASCAR team’s pit crew, but it is also an indispensable talent for any poker player. A player’s ability to change gears or alter his style of play from one hand to another is necessary in most styles of poker, but plays an even larger role during tournaments.

Commonly, when someone’s style of play is pegged by the others at the table, a certain level of advantage is lost because it becomes easier for his opponents to predict hands. Most players outside the upper echelon of the poker elite must avoid being accurately labeled or stereotyped. Sure, we all know Dan Harrington is extremely tight or Sam Farha is as loose as it gets. However, if you are as good as these guys are, then you should not be reading this story. Instead, you should be extracting large doses of money from the hordes of tourists currently inhabiting any of the Las Vegas poker rooms.

In the eyes of the others at the table, the average player should avoid getting nailed down to a certain style of play. If a player senses the others feel he is way too loose, then he should expect a fair number of his bluffs to be called. The same holds true for the other extreme. A tight player will find monster hands don’t pay off as much as they should because when he isn’t bet off a hand and stays around for the river, most of his opponents will put him on the goods.

If you are a regular player at a home cash game, your counterparts will usually have a decent feel of your game. So changing gears and occasionally playing hands you otherwise never do can help in most situations. That does not mean a player should throw away the style of play that he is most comfortable with; rather, there is often a large value in entering a hand with rags if none of your opponents believe you would do so.

Say a player uncharacteristically goes to a flop with something resembling 4-9 off-suit. He has the potential to win a large pot if he can find a pair while all low cards lay on the board. Since he is tight, others at the table might not fear him because there are no high cards on the board. They try to bluff him, but little do they realize Mr. Tight is now Mr. Top Pair.

Regularly playing 4-9 is not the most recommended course of action; however, tight players should give it a chance every once in a while when the cost to see the flop is relatively cheap.

Essentially, the key to changing gears is to occasionally implement a different style of play when the others at the table feel like they have you read accurately. The more you get opponents to contemplate about what you could possibly be playing, the better chance you have of them making an incorrect read.

In tournament play, changing gears is extremely important at the beginning and the end. Loose players need to think twice about getting flopitis and playing just about every hand. Sure, they might take down some pots with a stone-cold bluff and feel good about themselves. However, in a highly populated tournament, playing poor cards too much will eventually lead to a player’s demise. With so many opponents, the ultra loose player at the beginning of a tourney runs the unnecessary risk of stumbling into too many highly contested pots with other similarly minded opponents.

Take it easy during the early rounds of a tourney -- why risk so much on a lot of pots before the blinds become substantial?

However, come the late rounds when players become so tight because they are holding on to a pay-out position, getting loose will help. Toward the end of a tournament, a tight player will usually punch his exit ticket if he waits solely for premium hands. Don’t be afraid to mix it up in the late rounds. Be a little loose and rely more on your ability to bluff opponents rather than wait just for the nuts.

Just like an actor that doesn’t want to be typecast, the same holds true for poker players. The more varying roles you can play, the better chances of future pay days.

By Aaron J. Moore
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Poker News

First, let's start with the fun stuff -- the rapidly approaching European Poker Tour Dublin. We have yet to see the full lineup, but my picks for the event at present are:

1)     Ram Vaswani -- an excellent player with perfect understanding of the European style of play. He continues to destroy large tournaments and crush his opponents with final table power poker. He is a thoroughly fearless player who strikes terror into his opponents, forcing them to either gamble or tighten up too much. His style is one that is very hard to play against. That, combined with his experience in large buy-in events and excellent winning record, makes him a valuable pick for this event.

2)     Donnacha O' Dea -- Donnacha is a fully established force to be reckoned with. He knows every trick in the book and is an expert at manipulating his opponents into making poor plays and silly mistakes. You will almost never see Donnacha all in with the worst of it. He knows every inflection point and how it affects his opponents' decisions. Knowing this information allows him to stay one step ahead. Also, being on his home ground he is sure to feel comfortable in his surroundings, and I expect to see a great performance from him at this event. Donnacha has a ton of experience in such professional events and has many final tables and large wins to his name. He's not a player anyone wants to see at their table!

3)     Martin Wendt -- This is my wild-card pick. Having met him in Aruba and discussed some poker strategy, it is clear he has a natural talent for everything poker. He regularly plays high stakes cash games while also traveling the tournament circuit worldwide. He knows exactly what to do in every situation and will almost never make a stupid move or mistake. If the cards fall his way just once or twice in important pots, then we are sure to see the ultimate dominance of Martin's wrath. Tidbit: Martin is so confident in his playing abilities, even from a short stack, that while we were flying back from Aruba last year he was actually being blinded out of the European Poker Tour in Baden, Austria, and was going to be arriving almost 6 hours late for the tournament!

Meanwhile, another area of interest is the recent Anti-Gaming Law introduced into American legislation -- essentially preventing U.S. players from playing online poker. This has had catastrophic effects on some of the major online rooms -- in particular PartyPoker and 888 poker. Both companies have now made the decision to disallow all American customers playing for real money. It's almost certainly a move intended to maintain whatever stock value is left (having both dropped close to 70 percent of total value). As stated in a previous article, I think it is highly unlikely PartyGaming (the parent company of PartyPoker) is going to shut down or sell out. It has already launched a major advertising campaign across Europe and will be moving into the Asian market in the near future, too.

If you have some spare funds and are looking for an exciting investment, I would certainly put at least a little into PartyGaming. It has been an online poker market leader for many years as well as having many other areas of business. Once it has infiltrated these new markets, I expect it will be back to making unbelievable profits (previously $2.2 million net profit per day -- prior to the new law), and its stocks will return to previous highs.

Also, Neteller, the major online banking system used by millions to deposit and withdraw funds with online gaming sites, has also announced that it will soon discontinue allowing US customers to interact with poker/gaming companies. As such this leaves a huge opening for other businesses to provide such a service. We are sure to see new competitors vying for this massive opportunity. As such, it is a good idea to keep an eye on all business-related poker news. Whoever manages to take over where Neteller leaves off is sure to see a huge return on its investment and soaring share prices.

Finally, if you have ever laid odds on any of the betting exchanges for poker tournaments, then we are soon to see a huge new area of undiscovered players, and as such an opportunity to lay on the new fish and back the sharks! Asia has recently opened its doors and embraced large-scale poker tournaments, and as such there is essentially a whole new continent of players about to enter the poker arena. We all know there are already many incredible Asian players, but nevertheless it is likely we will see the young breed of Asian pros rising to the top in months to come -- just as they did in the U.S. I will be monitoring this demographic closely to see if I can spot a few potential superstars and pick a few winners!

By Ross Glacken
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Middle Pairs

There are a lot of tricky hands to play in Hold 'Em poker, but to me some of the hardest decisions come when you have a middle pair (anything from 6-6 to 10-10) as your hole cards. It has taken me a long time to figure out what strategy works best when I get one of these, and now I think I'm comfortable enough with my results to share that strategy with you.

Middle pairs are tough because you never know how your hand stacks up to everyone else that's in the pot, and there's also always the likelihood that you will no longer have the best pair after the flop comes. The first thing you need to consider when you get a MP (middle pair) is your position at the table. If you are first to act and have a 6-6, there's a pretty decent chance that someone else ahead of you has a bigger pocket pair than yours, and that's no good because then you only have two outs to beat them.

Generally, if I'm in an early position and I pick up a MP, I will just call and hope to see a cheap flop.

Seeing a cheap flop is what you are hoping for when you have a MP because usually the only way you can win with it is if you flop a set (hitting your 3 of a kind). There is a 7-1 chance that this is going to happen, so you have to consider the size of a pot before entering it. If you call in from an early position, you are hoping for a lot of callers, and then if you hit your set you have the chance to make a lot of money.

The ideal flop for a MP is something like 7-J-A rainbow (all different
suits) when you have 7-7 as your hole cards. You're going to get some action on the hand, so it's best to just check and see what happens. In this scenario I will almost always just call whatever bets are out there and then wait until the turn to check-raise. If the flop is scary, (let's say Q-J-7 with two hearts) with a straight and/or flush draw, you need to come out betting strong to try to ensure you win the hand. You need to make sure that someone chasing a draw is paying to do it. In that scenario I'll usually bet the size of the pot so that the chaser isn't getting good odds to try to see
those cards.

Now, let's say you've called with your MP in early or middle position and you get raised. When the action comes back to you, you now have a decision to make. You need to do some quick math and figure out if you are getting proper odds to call. You also need to figure out what your implied odds are, meaning not only do you have to figure out if you are getting proper odds on your money to call, but how much will you make if you hit your set. The implied odds for you when you do hit your set are fantastic, as most people
won't see it coming and you can get a lot of money out of them.

Because these implied odds are so great, I will usually call even if I'm only getting 3-1 on my money (again meaning the size of my call is 1/3 the pot).

The reason I can do this is because I have the discipline to lay my hand down if I don't hit the set.

It is crucial when you play a MP to be able to lay it down if there are
cards higher than yours on the board. Yes, you're going to lose some money on the hand, but remember, you only have to hit the set one out of every seven times to make money on them, and when you do hit it, you're going to win a huge pot most of the time.

Now, let's say you're in later position (the button and the two spots before it), no one has called and you have 8-8. In this scenario, it is correct to put in a raise and try and win the hand right there. If you just call you're not going to get enough money in the pot to get to that 7-1 ratio you are looking for, so it's best to put in a healthy raise (I usually go 3 to 3.5 times the big blind) and try to get everyone to fold. If you do get called on your raise, again, have the discipline to fold after the flop if you get over-cards to your MP.

Let's say you've either called a raise or gone to the flop with your initial raise being called and you have 8-8. The flop comes 2-4-6 rainbow. Obviously your pair is better than what is on the board, but you also have at least one person in the pot that has represented a very good hand by either raising or calling a raise. At this point you need tread very carefully.

It's doubtful that anyone has a 2-4-6 in their hand because we're talking about hands that have been raised or called a raise. It's very possible you have the best hand, but anyone still in the pot could have a bigger pocket pair than yours.

Usually what I'll do in this scenario is if I act first I will put out a
feeler bet of about 2/3 the size of the pot. If I get re-raised then I have to figure I'm beat by a stronger pocket pair, but my hope is that my opponents don't have a pocket pair and they have something like A-Q or A-J and they will fold. If you have a MP and the flop comes out with all cards lower than yours, you really don't want to see another card because it's likely that it will be higher than yours and then you could be beat.

If I'm in later position on that 2-4-6 flop and there is a single bet ahead of me, I will re-raise to see if I have the best hand or not. Just calling in that spot doesn't give you any information about what your opponent has, but a re-raise should either get him to fold or if he re-raises you back, you know he's probably got you beat and you can fold.

Middle pairs are definitely scary to play but they are also extremely
profitable in the right scenario. Play them correctly and they might make the difference between busting out early and making the final table!

By Chris Goudey
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Continuation Bets

When breaking down the difference between good poker players and poor ones, there might be a thousand various reasons why some people make money while others give it away. One technique that goes a long way in determining which players are grouped among the good, bad and the ugly is the continuation bet. Strong players have developed the necessary ability to follow up their initial raise or re-raise after each ensuing street even though they did not hit anything and most likely have the worst hand of those involved.

While scrutinizing facets of your game that need improving, focus particularly on how you react to when you make a raise and then find yourself with nothing after the flop.

One of the best ways to play poker is to play strong and aggressively. From Doyle Brunson to the guy sitting next to you at a home game, power poker is a battle-tested method to winning. However, in many cases it is easier said than done. For example, Player A looks down and sees A-10 suited. He does the customary bet of 3 to 4 times the big blind. Basically he is hoping to scare everybody away and take down the blinds. That unfortunately doesn't happen, and he gets a caller or two join in on the flop. And this time they have position on him. The board comes down a rainbow K-9-8.

Now the real poker playing begins, and the continuation becomes a tremendous weapon.

Player A is first to act, and he now has nothing and very little on the horizon. He remembers that he initially used power poker and showed strength by raising pre-flop. Many players often just check here because they didn't catch anything. Essentially, this shows weakness and opens the door for the players next to act to make a sizeable bet and take down the pot even though the chances are high that one of them came away without at least a pair or strong draw as well. Commonly, upper echelon players would lead out with a bet or make a continuation bet to represent strength and make the players next to act make a financially prudent decision.

Weak players on the other hand just repeatedly check out of fear and then display to the others at the table that they don't utilize their pre-flop raise with a continuation bet. This is a reputation that you certainly want to avoid.

The benefits of implementing power poker are lost for those who have an inability to use continuation bets.

In the aforementioned scenario, Player A should still make a continuation bet.

First off, most likely he or the others did not connect on a pair following the flop. The odds of making a pair on the flop with one hole card are roughly 30%. Skilled players realize most flops fail to help players by making at least a pair, therefore by making a continuation bet, he keeps the pre-flop momentum going and maintains his style of power poker.

Once again, though, skilled players are masters at the continuation bet. They realize they can't bet too much because it will stink like a bluff and they might get caught with a call or re-raise. Problems also exist with a small raise. Most likely that will get a call and it exposes the player to keep on making bets on the turn and the river with nothing.

Players who have tremendous success with the continuation bet tend to be those labeled as "tight but aggressive." Players who don't often get involved with pots tend to win their bluffs because of a continuation bet more than loose players who seldom scare others away.

Understanding the power and presence of a continuation bet is something novice and beginning poker players should focus on while formulating their own style of play.

The continuation bet is one of the best examples to demonstrate that in poker, the winning hand doesn't have to be the best hand.

By Aaron J. Moore
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Heads Up

In an effort to play more online poker, I have been searching this site for different games that I might want to play. While I have been a fan of poker for years, my experience with online poker is relatively new, so it is exciting to explore the virtual poker room.

My new favorite game is heads up. Wager Web has a great section for heads up poker action, and it really has made my game better.

It was completely by accident how I found it. I was searching for a sit-and-go tournament to play in and saw it in the menu choices. When I began to play it, I was hooked immediately.

I have always been a fan of heads up play and enjoy watching the final two players when a tournament is on television. Sometimes I will skip the telecast until the last 15 minutes just to watch the two players go at it.

There is definitely a different psychology that is employed when playing heads up. Watch Todd Brunson, who is considered the best heads up player in poker right now, and how he acts when it is just him and another player

One of the reasons I like the game is the pace. It is constantly moving. I don't have much patience for people who slow play all the time. Once in a while is fine, but you have seen the type who takes forever to make every decision, even if it is 7-2 off-suit.

In heads up the game is always in action. Another thing I like about WagerWeb poker is the software is faster than most. The cards get dealt quicker than other online games I have played in the past.

The game certainly has a rhythm to it, and it is within that rhythm that you are trying to read your opponent. One of the reasons I like playing fast is that sometimes it doesn't allow for your opponent to think too much, and they might make a mistake that works in your favor.

A perfect example of this was a match I was playing the other day. I had junk in my hand, and was the small blind. I didn't have any cards and was totally out of position. I realistically shouldn't have been playing, and if I was in a full table game I would have absolutely folded.

I called the big blind and when he didn't raise, knew he was just along for the ride. When the flop came up J, 4, 9, I bet a small amount, which he called. I figured he either had a 9 or was trying to fish for a straight. When the turn came up an ace, I bet it hard and he folded.

Now, even if he had a jack, he thought I had an ace and didn't want to spend any more chips to find out. If the play was a bit slower, though, he would have known I didn't have anything because I just called the blind and made such a small bet on the turn. It is true he might have thought I was slow playing, but I hadn't done anything up to that point to indicate that.

When I play heads up I try and pick my spots to attack. It is best to let the game ebb and flow for a while unless you have a monster hand. If you haven't played it, give it a try and I think you will be just as big a fan of it as I am.

By John Reger
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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