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The G-Spot:Shorthanded No-Limit Hold’em

Players love them, but cookie-cutter strategies don’t cut it. Adaptation is the name of the game, especially if you play shorthanded no-limit hold’em. Many writing about shorthanded poker says, “play more poker hands than you would in a typical fullhanded game,” but it doesn’t say how to play more hands.

For those accustomed to fullhanded no-limit hold’em ring games, shorthanded play can be a scary departure. Loosening up and “playing more hands” can be really tough if you’re used to playing tight, snug poker. However, shorthanded no-limit hold’em is much more profitable than its fullhanded counterpart if you’re skilled at the art. To reap the shorthanded profits awaiting you, you need to shift your worldview.

The Most Important Number In Hold’em

If you’re heads up, your opponent will miss the flop approximately two-thirds of the time. This number doesn’t mean much in fullhanded ring games because three or more opponents usually see the flop, meaning that someone will typically hit the flop. Fullhanded poker is about staying out of trouble when you have little or nothing and extracting value when you have something.

In shorthanded games, multiway pots are rare. Postflop, you’re often playing in heads-up situations in which neither you nor your opponent has anything. To profit at shorthanded no limit hold’em, you need to learn how to win a majority of these hands. Shorthanded play is about winning with nothing.

Bet!

You can’t win with nothing unless you bet. Put pressure on your opponents and make them fold. By constantly putting pressure on your opponents, you also set them up to make big mistakes against you when you have big hands. By being aggressive with a wide range of hands, you force your opponents to devalue your hand distributions and start playing hands they aren’t accustomed to playing a lot of poker hands.

How To Be Aggressive

The key to playing aggressively is to know your foes. Against tight, timid foes, you may be able to raise preflop with any two cards and take down pots on the flop by mindlessly firing out continuation bets. Against trickier opponents who start reraising you preflop, you may need to slow down.

Aggression is important, but like everything else, there’s a time and place for it, even in shorthanded no-limit hold’em, a game in which the aggressor typically carries a huge advantage. Always pay close attention to your opponents…pick up their betting patterns and their tells. Strive to be aggressive, but know that being predictably aggressive is about as bad as being predictably anything else. Pressure and confuse your opponents, and their stacks will eventually be yours!

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

The G-Spot - The Blocking Bet

Having position on your opponent(s) is a huge advantage in no-limit hold’em. Generally, you want to play small pots out of position (OOP) and large pots in position (IP); and you should play fewer hands OOP than you play IP. However, if you play like this, you’ll still be playing some hands OOP.

One of the most important weapons for playing decent, but not great hands, when you’re OPP is the blocking bet, a preemptive bet made by an OOP player with the intention of preventing an opponent from making a larger bet. Blocking bets work great against straightforward opponents.

The Blocking Bet For Protection

Instead of check-calling large bets in tricky situations, like top pair with a marginal kicker, you can preempt your opponents by leading out with smaller, blocking bets. For instance, if you know an opponent will bet about 60% of the pot on the turn and 40% of the pot on the river (with a distribution the requires you to call), you can make blocking bets of 40% of the pot on the turn and 25% of the pot on the river. If a straightforward opponent raises one of your blocking bets, then you know you’re beaten, and you can safely fold. By making these blocking bets, you lose a smaller amount of money than you would have normally lost.

The Blocking Bet For Value

If you check OOP with a decent (but not great) poker hand, your opponent may check behind with his weaker hands for a free showdown, meaning that you make no money from those hands. By making blocking bets, you extract value by getting calls from hands that you opponent won’t bet. The blocking bet is a double-edged sword. It protects your chips when you are possibly beaten, and it makes you more money against hands that you beat.

Aggression Usually Seizes The Profits

We hear it all the time: no-limit hold’em favors the aggressor. The blocking bet is just another example of this aphorism at work. By staying aggressive when you’re OOP, you keep yourself out of trouble because you allow your opponents to define their hands by the way they respond to your bets.

Of course, circumstances exist in which passive play will be best; for example, the blocking bet might actually get you into lots of trouble against some of your trickier, hyper-aggressive opponents. As always, the key is being flexible. Incorporate the blocking bet as just one of many weapons in a well-balanced game plan, and, as always, may your monetary EV always be positive!

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

The G-Spot - Thinking Away From The Table

To make good decisions at the table, you need to do good analysis away from the table. If you can't analyze a poker situation in the comfort of your own home, there's no way you can correctly assess a situation when you're in a casino or when you're playing four tables concurrently online.

Recall and Express Situations As Precisely As Possible

Doing poker analysis away from the table begins with stating situations as precisely as possible - you need to be a thorough, accurate storyteller. If you are talking about a hand you played in the casino the other day, how deeply stacked were you and your opponents? What did you know about your opponents? Did anyone give off any tells? What was the precise order of the betting action? What were the sizes of the bets and raises? You can't do any meaningful analysis on hands you've played unless you precisely address these and other questions that help you come as close as possible to conveying 100% of the information you had available to you when you were playing.

Openly Discuss Hands With Friends and On Forums

Learning is seldom a process that happens in a vacuum. Your friends, and people posting in web forums, have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw upon…so take advantage! Actively participate in poker discussions and debates. Don't just blindly follow advice you're given, but at the same time, make sure you keep an open-mind and carefully weigh every piece of input thrown your way. Get Your Mind In a Positive Feedback Loop To get your mind to work the way you want it to, you need to condition it properly. Doing precise analysis away from the table is a necessary part of properly conditioning your poker mind. The best way to learn something is to engage your mind actively, and analysis away from the table-on your own and with poker buddies-does exactly that. And if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right. When you hold yourself to a high standard of precision when you think about poker away from the table, an amazing thing will happen...you will begin to think more clearly about your poker when you are at the table. When you think more clearly at the table, you'll take more detailed information with you when you leave the table - information that you can think about and learn from. This positive feedback loop never stops, and it will ultimately make you a beast that no one will want to mess with at the tables!

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

The G-Spot - Know Your Opponents Before You Play a Single Hand!

Playing good poker is all about knowing what your opponents are doing. Knowing your opponents is an exercise in reading betting patterns and tells. To read betting patterns and tells, you generally need a large enough sample set of information to work with. What are you supposed to do when you first sit at a table?

Well, for betting patterns, you can draw upon all your past poker playing experience to come up with a default playing profile to assign to your opponents. Regarding tells, there are some classic tells that apply as soon as you sit at a table–tells that will give you a rough idea of the general playing disposition of each of your opponents.

Your Opponents Reveal Everything When It’s Not Their Turn To Act
When you first sit at a table, observe how your opponents act when they have cards in front of them and it’s not their turn to act. Do they pay close attention to what their opponents are doing, or are they distracted while they wait for action to reach them? Distracted opponents who quickly fold are opponents who you can assume to be playing predictable, tight poker until you get evidence to the contrary. Distracted opponents who put carefree calls in pots are typically loose-passive. These players tend to have a bit of a clueless, blank stare.

Your Opponents Reveal Everything When They Aren’t In a Hand
Watch your opponents when they aren’t involved in a hand. Are they watching TV, turned around eating, chatting away, text messaging, or distracted in some other way? Or, are they paying very close attention to the action? Distracted players are playing their cards and nothing else. Attentive players are potentially dangerous…these are the ones you might want to steer clear of early in your session until you get a good handle on how they play.

Exploitive Play Early In a Session
By observing how your opponents behave at the poker table, you can get quick information about who to bluff, who to value bet, and who to avoid early in your sessions. The easiest time to make big mistakes is early in a session because that’s the point at which you have the least information to work with. The tells we’ve discussed will turn the informational battle at least slightly in your favor, so focus and pay close attention to everyone at the table…not just the players throwing chips in the pot.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

Are you serious about the World Series of Poker?

Then you seriously need to check out what's on offer at VC Poker this summer as they present their most comprehensive WSOP offering to date including satellites to both the WSOP in Las Vegas and the all new WSOP Europe!

And that's just for starters!

With freeroll and Action Point opportunities, not to mention WSOP sign up bonuses, be sure to check out the full menu below and satisfy your hunger for the WSOP today!

WSOP Las Vegas.

Their weekly Super Satellite Freezeout events are now bigger and better than ever before with each guaranteeing five seats into the WSOP main event. What's more, each prize package is worth an astounding $13,000 giving you much more bang for your buck and additional funds with which to secure a WSOP bracelet.
In addition to this, "you've never had it so good" when it comes to our Super Satellite feeders where buy-ins start from as little as $1.70. Alternatively, play your cards right at VC Poker and you could be winging your way to Las Vegas all for the price of a handful of Action Points.

$1,000,000 Guaranteed

And for the icing on the cake; should you qualify for the WSOP through a super satellite on VC Poker and go on to win the WSOP main event, we will guarantee you a $1,000,000 sponsorship package!
Now doesn't that sound tasty? Then check out our schedule below and let's VC you at the WSOP!

WSOP Las Vegas (schedule of events)

- Feeder Satellites underway
- Super Satellites every Sunday until 17th June
- Action Point Satellites commence 4th June

WSOP Europe.

$22,000 Super Satellite Prize Packages

If the USA is too far away, then set your sights instead on the inaugural WSOP Europe. Scheduled to debut in September, hot on the heels of its American counterpart, the WSOP Europe Main Event carries an astonishing £10,000 (that's GBP) buy-in and has an estimated prize pool of a whopping £7,000,000. Ok, it may not be on a par with the WSOP Las Vegas but with an estimated field of only 700 runners your chances of winning a bracelet are far better than ever before. What's more, you can win one of VC Poker's $22,000 Super Satellite Prize Packages and qualify for this most prestigious of events for as little as $2.30!

Pot Limit Omaha Satellites

In addition to the main event, VC Poker will also be running satellites for the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event where one prize package of $12,000 will be awarded for every 40 participating runners. Satellite buy-ins for this event start from $6.00 so be sure to jump on the bandwagon and register today for yet one more opportunity of securing a WSOP bracelet!

Schedule of Events

- Feeder Satellites commence as from 28th May *
- Super Satellites to run on 16th June, 1st, 15th and 29th July, 5th, 12th 19th and 26th August

Check out VC Poker for even more promotions in line with the WSOP including a Winning Hands Freeroll and a generous sign on bonus of 150% up to $500.

The G-Spot: - So Many Styles

One of my favorite rap songs of all time is Raekwon’s Guillotine (Swordz). Halfway through the song, a clip from the martial arts move Shaolin vs. Lama is sampled. In it, the following dialogue occurs:

Combatant 1: “Weren’t you just using the Wu-Tang school method against me?”
Combatant 2: “I’ve learned so many styles. Forgive me.”

Read on, and you’ll see how this is related to poker.

First Impressions Last
Whatever happens during your first few hands at a table sticks for quite awhile. Most of your opponents will take whatever information they observe from you in your first five to ten minutes at the table, and they’ll use it to assign a player profile to you…a profile that they’ll use to make decisions against you.

Once a player has assigned such a profile to you, he usually won’t change it unless something surprising happens. Your opponents usually won’t suspect you of changing gears because, especially at lower and middle limits, most players aren’t capable of changing gears.

Master Many Styles
Know how your opponents perceive you, and take advantage by changing gears appropriately. For example, if you have a tight image, you’ll have a higher probability of stealing some pots. Additionally, your trickier opponents may make calculated bluffs against you on the turn or the river; if you’re out of position, you can sometimes check with marginal holdings to induce a bluff instead of throwing in a blocking bet.

Mastering many styles is important because you’ll encounter many different types of players. To play winning poker, you need to be comfortable playing as many different counter strategies as possible.

Know Your Opponents’ Styles
Since poker players at lower limits and middle limits usually have only one gear, it’s very tempting to succumb to first impressions if you play regularly in these venues. However, you can’t stop paying attention to your opponents after you think you have them dialed in.

Constantly pay attention because you aren’t the only tricky player in the world. The seemingly loose gambler may become a rock. The tightest, most passive player at the table may start taking control by tossing in numerous raises and continuation bets.

Always respect your opponents, no matter how bad you might think they are.

Value judgments are very dangerous in poker. Keep everything objective, and think in terms of betting patterns and tells instead of “bad” and “good.”

Adaptation Is Ultimately The Name Of The Game
Get comfortable playing many styles, and you’ll be much better prepared to take optimal advantage of all the unique circumstance you’ll find yourself in. Instead of just playing standard tight-aggressive poker, you’ll start thinking on multiple levels. Execute this thinking successfully, and your opponents will have to forgive you for all the money you win from them.

By Tony Guerrera

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

The G-Spot - Pleasure Your Poker Profits

Adjust Reads From Tight To Loose

No matter what specific variant of poker you’re playing, playing profitable poker is all about mastering the following process:

1. Put your opponents on hand distributions
2. Evaluate your own hand (or put yourself on a hand distribution if you’re playing a game like Blind Man’s Bluff)
3. Predict how your opponents will respond to every possible action you can make
4. Pick the most profitable line of play based on #1-#3

Today, we’ll focus on putting your opponents on hand distributions when you first sit at a table.

Default Distributions
Putting your opponents on hand distributions is all about reading your opponents’ betting patterns and picking off their physical tells. You don’t really have the ability to put your opponents on hand distributions until you’ve carefully observed them play for a few orbits. Does this mean that you should fold the first forty or fifty hands you’re dealt?

Hell no…especially if you’re playing at a shorthanded table or in a tournament. The good news is that you actually have information about players you’ve never seen in your life. Before you even play a single hand, you have all your past poker playing experience to draw upon, meaning that you can assign a default playing profile to each opponent before you see the table play a single hand. This default profile will be the average of all the poker players you typically face.

The more accurate your default profile is, the less trouble you’ll get yourself into during the first orbit or two. However, your default profile is not enough to get you through an entire session or tournament, no matter how good it is. No matter how good your default profile is, you must identify as quickly as possible how each of your opponents deviates from your default playing profile and adjust your play accordingly.

Easier to Accurately Adjust Default Distributions From Tight To Loose
Suppose your default profile assumes that an early position raise means {AT+, 77+}. If you see a player raise with 33 under-the-gun, that one hand gives you sufficient evidence to adjust his early position raising distribution to {AT+, 33+} (and most likely, 22 should also be included). Another opponent shows down AK and JJ after raising from early position. These two poker hands alone do not provide evidence sufficient for trimming this opponent’s early position raising distribution down to {AK, JJ+}. Tightening up hand distribution reads typically requires more data than loosening up hand distribution reads, meaning that it’s usually best to assign default player profiles that err towards being too tight.

By Tony Guerrera

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers. Visit him online at http://www.killerpokerbythenumbers.com

NECESSARY TOOL FOR SUPERIOR TABLE SELECTION

Poker Usher is a software tool that can really boost your poker winnings! It helps you improve an incredibly important area of poker that many players don’t even consider when playing online poker: table selection.

We all know it: poker is a game of skill (with a random element), and it’s the difference in skill between players that counts. This skill difference defines your poker profit – in the long run. Thus, logically, if you can find bad players to play with, you’ll make more money from your poker.

Poker Usher retrieves its information from two separate directions. First, it reads all your hand histories as you play and stores them in its database. Then information is extracted about every player you have ever played with, such as how much the player has won or lost, if he is passive or aggressive, how many hands he plays etc.

The other source of information is the poker site itself, for example, Party Poker. When you are about to start playing, Poker Usher connects to the poker site and assembles information about all the active games on your preferred level, computes a softness rating for each table using the database information for the seated players, and displays the tables in a list, softest tables first.

What’s more, you can go ahead and put yourself on the waiting list at the weakest tables – from within Poker Usher! This is cut out to really revolutionize your online poker experience. Usually, poker room lobbies list tables in no particular order and you’ll have a really hard time judging which table is good for you and which is hard to beat. Most players won’t even try, and this could be costly.

As the saying goes: Even if you’re the tenth best player in the world; play against the nine top players and you are bound to lose your money.

A word of caution is in place: Poker Usher is strongly addictive. Once you’ve tried it, entering an online poker room without it will feel awkward. A little like playing football without your glasses if you wear glasses, or with your friend’s glasses on if you don’t. The good tables are displayed with different colored stars and a lot of statistical info, together with the players that are seated and their individual statistics as well.

Also, by adding losing players to your “Buddy list”, you can see right away if any of your favorite losers are playing and subscribe to the next free seat at their table, all from within Poker Usher.

Talk about added value!

When you’ve realized that this heavy-duty tool for superior table selection is a must, please go ahead and try it out FOR FREE!!

Disclaimer… We do not promote illegal, underage gambling or gambling to those who live in a jurisdiction where gambling is considered unlawful. The information within this site and email is being presented solely for entertainment purposes. We will not be held responsible for any personal loss of wagers or damages you may incur. Anyone concerned about having a gambling problem can contact Gamblers Anonymous for further information.

Battle of the Sexes

Ever wondered which sex tops the table when it comes to poker skill, wit and nerve?

The Purple Lounge Battle of the Sexes sets out to find an answer to this very question.

Launching in May, this three-month war of the genders promises to be full of fun, surprises and maybe a few upsets. Pitting guys against girls, the battle will be fought over the course of four months -- May to August, culminating in the grand final at a secret London location.

Online qualification tournaments are in three stages and start on Tuesday, May 1st. Players have the chance to qualify twice weekly, either via a free roll or through a buy-in ($10+1) with all winners going through to a semi-final at the end of each stage.

The grand final will be held in London, with players travelling from around the world to take part -- travel and accommodation courtesy of Purple Lounge. With all the qualification tournaments set to go and the challenge laid down, the question on everyone's lips is -- WHO WILL WIN?

Everest Poker voted Favourite Poker Room

Everest Poker has been voted this year's Favourite Poker Room by readers of one of the industry's leading titles, Gambling.com Magazine.

The world's fifth-largest online poker room (according recent statistics from PokerSiteScout), Everest Poker received the prestigious 2006-2007 High Roller Award in the April issue of Gambling.com. The High Roller Awards are given out to online gaming sites that offer the best experience to players and are based on voting by the Platinum Members of the magazine.

"We're extremely happy to be given this award," said Jonathan May, Everest Poker's property manager. "Gambling.com's Platinum Members are the true elite among online gamers and being recognized by them is an honor."

Full details and the complete list of High Roller Award winners for 2006-2007 will be available in issue 7 of Gambling.com Magazine and on the Gambling.com website in April. Gambling.com is the United Kingdom's best online gaming site, offering players a dedicated search engine designed exclusively for gaming purposes.

"We'd like to thank all of our players for their votes," added May. "Without the support of our dedicated members, Everest Poker simply wouldn't exist."

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