FlopTurnRiver.com Forum Post Highlights

William Hill Poker Download

2011-09-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

William Hill Poker download is owned by William Hill plc which is one of the most popular gambling brands in teh UK. William Hill has been around for decades as a sportsbetting pioneer, but is now a huge brand in the online gaming industry as well. William Hill not only offers the William Poker room, but a casino and of course the sportsbook. The William Hill Poker download is powered by the iPoker Network, which is one of the top 3 networks for European and Canadian players. William Hill players will receive excellent customer service, a solid user friendly poker client, and a great bonus of up to $2000! The William Hill Poker download is available in seven different languages including English, Spanish, and German.

The William Hill Poker download is compatible with Windows systems only and has a file size of 11.9 MB. Since the poker room is part of the WilliamHill.com brand players can easily transfer funds from their poker account, to the casino or sports book with ease and can access the casino games within the poker room.

Playtech developed the William Hill poker download. The lobby offers every tool you could possibly need. Although the William Hill download doesn't offer anything mind-blowing like 3D animation, but it does provide some great hand history features, and a convenient and easy to games filter.

The William Hill poker site is bustling 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has enough traffic to find a game of your liking. Check it out today!

PokerStars FPP's

2010-06-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

Poker Stars has a loyalty program that is unparalleled in the entirety of online poker today, which involves earning VPPs and FPPs through real money play. If you haven't already, get the PokerStars download!

Let's have a look at how it works: VIP Player Points and Frequent Player Points, better known as VPPs and FPPs are the cornerstone of the PokerStars Rewards program. By partaking in real money play you will be collecting certain amounts of VIP Player Points. FPPs, or frequent player points, will be generated simultaneously as well at a rate which is dependent upon your VIP level. If you possess a high VIP level you will be earning Frequent Player points at much faster rates than a lower VIP level player would.

PokerStars' VIP system has 6 levels, which can be achieved by earning set amounts of VPP per month. The level names are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Supernova and Supernova Elite. Of the six, four have to be renewed on a monthly basis while the last two will last until at least the following year. Different levels get different perks that will be available for purchase using FPPs from the VIP store. Naturally, the higher your VIP level, every single item in the VIP store will be unlocked for you for you to purchase using FPPs. Your FPP collection rate will increase as well if you compare it with a lower VIP level.

FPPs are earned by playing in real money games, and it really doesn't matter if it is a ring game or a tournament. For every $1 that you pay upon entering the tournament of your choice you will generate 5.5 VPPs which will now be multiplied by your current VIP level's multiplier in order to be converted into FPPs. The lowest level, Bronze, has a 1.0 multiplier, Silver level benefits of a 1.5 multiplier, Gold a 2.0, Platinum level a 2.5, Supernova gets three and a half times as many FPPs as VPPs and finally SNE VIP level which has a 5.0 multiplier. To illustrate, if you participate in 2 tournaments each having a buy-in of $10+1, 11 VPP will be going your way, because 2 x 5.5 = 11 VPP. A Gold VIP level player would have earned 22 FPPs because 11 x 2 = 22 FPPs, while a Supernova VIP level player would receive 11 x 3.5 = 38.5 FPPs for the same amount of play. Without any doubt, you will be earning considerably more FPPs as you rise in VIP level.

Cash games award VPPs as well with the total amount you get depending on how many seats the table you are playing on has. A table that has room for 8 or more players to play on gives out 8.5 VPPs for every dollar that is collected in rake which is in turn split among the players who were dealt into the hand. Every table that has 7 or fewer seats gives out 5.5 VPPs for every dollar that is collected in rake split equally among all who were dealt into the hand. For the amount of FPPs, remember to input the correct multiplier.

There are a ton of items within the PokerStars.com VIP store, and these can be purchased spending only FPPs. You will find many more items in the store than you've ever felt a need for, with anything between: autographed books, including ones from authors such as Sklansky, Schoonmaker and Negreanu; poker DVDs; electronic equipment, such as DVD players and iPod Touches; a Porsche Cayman S; PokerStars exclusive clothing, including customized shirts; Tournament tickets and entries into various tournaments both live and online, including the WSOP and the SCOOP; a plethora of bonuses, from small ones to very, very large ones; exclusive poker accessories such as cards and timers; and RSA tokens that enable two-factor authentication.

The PokerStars' VIP store is graced with a large and varied catalog of goods and it's only logical some deals may be better than others. Good deals in the store, meaning the items that should be at the top of your list, are: The $4K Bonus available to Supernova and Supernova elite only; the always popular concierge service; surprisingly, the Porsche Cayman S is also of great value; $1000 OnceCall.com gift certificate; $2500 ePlatinum Travel gift certificate; Titleist Golf Balls; and Steps 3,5,6 Tickets and also Sunday 530 and Sunday MTTs. All these items were discovered to be the best ways to get value from your FPPs.

VIP store items that you should avoid like the plague are: Nintendo Wii; Sony portable DVD player; $50 cash bonus; and Laptops, including the Sony Vaio and the Macbook Air. None of these items offer good enough value to warrant getting them from the PokerStars VIP store.

The folks at PokerStars sure seem to know what they are doing when it comes to VIP programs. FPPs, VPPs, the VIP store and the drive to play all come together like a well made puzzle in order to guarantee that playing on the site is both fun and lucrative at the same time. The PokerStars VIP system properly rewards frequent players, therefore ensuring that people will grind more and more which can lead to you actually getting better which is truly something unexpected from just a VIP program. To say that it's better than what the competitors are offering is an unbelievable understatement. Start grinding as soon as possible to make up for what you have been missing.

Full Tilt and the WSOP

2010-05-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today’s article will feature yet another reason why an online tournament player must have a Full Tilt Poker download. I’m about to explain the benefits of winning a seat to the World Series of Poker Main Event (WSOP ME) by using your Full Tilt download. In fact, over 400 Full Tilt players have already done so and we’ve only just started the spring season!

With a Full Tilt Poker download, you win more than just a seat to the WSOP ME because the prizes in the satellites are prize packages. If you win a seat in a satellite, you’ll get the $10k buy-in, $2k cash for spending money or travel expenses, a dinner with the Full Tilt pros, and the option to stay at the Rio for free!

If you don’t have money in your Full Tilt poker account, you should think about a poker deposit soon because there are a ton of ways to satellite into the ME. Even if you can’t make a deposit, it might be a long shot but you can try to play some of the freerolls that are available because a total of 50 free seats will be given away. If you have a sufficient amount on the site and just don’t want to spend a lot on satellites, you can try your hand in the $1 ME satellites that run every Sunday. You can also play shootouts, step tournaments, and direct qualifiers – you name it, Full Tilt probably has it. The satellite with the most seats to offer is the 150 Seat Main Event Guarantee tournament, though. You can buy-in to this satellite for $600+$40, but if bankroll management prevents you from doing so, you can also satellite in for as little as $1.

When you finally win one of the satellites, Full Tilt has some crazy incentives to go as deep as possible (as if the millions at stake weren’t enough already). The first prize you’ll receive is a free entry into WSOP ME 2011 if you’re able to cash the event this year. The site is also giving a little Full Tilt Poker bonus cash to those that can make the final table. Finishing 9th to 4th will net you $50k with no strings attached, and 3rd or 2nd will get you $100k. 1st place is a different story though because it jumps to $10 million. Your eyes are not deceiving you – the amount is ten million dollars. How’s that for a little extra incentive? By accepting the money, you’re basically signing a 10 year contract in which you get paid $1 million per year to represent the site. Sign me up!

Are you convinced that Full Tilt is one of the best sites out there for the MTT poker player yet? They don’t really have a lot of competition out there when it comes to the WSOP. Whether your bankroll is 6 figures or just 2, Full Tilt has made sure that you’ll have a chance to get to Vegas and compete for some serious cash.

Register your new account with the Full Tilt Bonus code "FLOPTURNRIVER" and get $600 free!

Learning from a Hand Converter

2010-04-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

When it comes to online poker, there are countless styles of play. One of the game’s most enticing features is the range of different players. It’s a cliché to say that all online players are aggressive, but it would be a big mistake to think that the all play alike. There are players who like to three-bet constantly before the flop, or favor consistent pressure applied on every street. The top players know that to really make it in this game you have to able to react to different poker hand order situations. Being able to switch up your tactics on the fly makes you a much harder player to beat.

One thing that all online players have in common is the use they get from Hand Converter tools. There isn’t a player in the world who won’t benefit from looking back over his most recent hands, looking closely at every step in the hand and thinking hard about how to build on and correct positives and negatives. Whether you’re a nosebleed Full Tilt Poker Download player or a tournament wizard, cogitating on your previous plays is the simplest way to improve. You can employ plenty of external methods to help you be more profitable, but installing tracker software or poker marketing codes will only help you so much. When it gets down the nitty gritty, the most efficacious way of improving is by looking over your past hands.

Thankfully, there are services available that will help speed up this process. Most online poker sites store every hand you play as a raw text file on your hard drive. Although there are some cases where you need to request your hand history by email. These provide hugely useful pools of data, but are not designed to be easily read by the human eye. There are no graphics to help you quickly scan the action and no emphasis on the most relevant players. This is where Hand History Converter tools come in. These can take the basic files from an individual hand and convert them into something readable and manageable. Many of these Poker Hand Converter tools are capable of changing the hands into version that can be posted onto online poker forums. As helpful as it is to look over your play alone, the advice and knowledge of other good players can really help push your game to the next level.

Putting this kind of basic study to the back of your mind is all too easy while you’re working hard to clear a no deposit poker bonus. But it’s this kind of neglect which can have major negative impact on your play in the long term. The cash you make from clearing the bonus will probably be back out of the door if you don’t constantly work on improving. Don’t pass up valuable offers like the PokerStars bonus, but utilizing these codes shouldn’t come at the cost of continuing to improve.

Online Poker in the USA

2010-03-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

American Poker Online Still Gaining Popularity

For the last 10 years, the enjoyment of Texas Holdem and poker in general has swelled in the USA. The cause of such growth is attributed to the availability of online poker websites and television networks such as ESPN broadcasting the annual World Series of Poker. Millions of Americans started playing online poker.

The legal status of American poker online was unclear. But on September 29, 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) was passed. This law made it illegal for online gambling establishments to process payments from a US bank. At the time, PartyPoker.com was far and away the biggest poker room on the Internet. However, on October 2, 2006 PartyPoker.com's parent company (PartyGaming) announced that it would back out of the US market.

Not every online site decided to shut down their American poker online. Two up and coming sites were PokerStars and Full Tilt. Soon after the UIGEA was passed, PokerStars.com released a statement to their customer base. They said that they didn't believe that the law affected them and that they were committed to remain open.

A debate that perhaps will never die is whether or not poker is game of skill or a game of chance. Party Poker apparently decided it was a gambling game and abandoned the US market. Poker Stars took the stance that it was a skill game, and therefore the law did not apply to them.

The result is that Poker Stars is now the top online poker room in the world with many people making a poker deposit every day. At any given time, about a quarter million (250,000) people can be found playing poker on their site. This is a lot more than Party Poker had when they were in their prime. Full Tilt Poker is also doing very well and averages about 100,000 people online at a time. It appears that even with the passage of the UIGEA, the rise in poker popularity has not ceased. Commercials advertising a PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker download can even be seen on TV.

Anyone interested in poker should try playing some poker hands at one of the many popular US friendly poker sites. A majority of the online community still believe Poker Stars and Full Tilt to be the best legal US poker sites, though.

There are plenty of free poker tools, poker forums, and other free resources available to you on the internet to help you develop your poker game. This is a free hand converter to analyze online poker hands, and here are free poker videos to watch others play online poker!

Wanna try playing some online poker? Check out PokerStars for play money! But be sure to use this PokerStars marketing code and PokerStars bonus code if you may play for real money, because you can get some free bonus money!

Full Tilt Poker Bonus

2010-03-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

Full Tilt is one of the most well-known digital poker clients, and is currently the second in terms of overall traffic in all of online poker. Full Tilt is the remote destination for many of the most famous poker players, including Jordan Morgan, Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Tom Dwan, Allan Cunningham, David Benyamine and Howard Lederer. FullTiltPoker.net features excellent software, strong tournament play, a wide variety of games including their recently introduced and ultra-popular Rush Poker, and the highest stakes cash games found on the internet. One of the most famous internet poker tournament series, the FTOPS, also is held on on Full Tilt Poker. Perhaps most important, they are one of the few rooms to stand behind their American players following the UIGEA ordeal.

On top of all that goodness, they have one of the best sign on bonuses around. For all new players, Full Tilt Poker will double your initial buy-in of up to $600. How do you cash in on this amazing offer? Just enter the Full Tilt Poker referral code "MAXBONUS600” when creating your account to qualify. You will have 120 days to clear the whole bonus, which will be placed into your account in segments of either 10% of the total bonus or $20 - whichever is the smallest. Let's say, if you deposit $100, you will receive a $100 bonus. This will be released in $10 chunks. If you deposit $600, you are in for a $600 bonus to be doled out in $20 increments.

Nothing free is ever quite as good as it seems, though. How long this takes will swing wildly according to which real money games you play. The bonus is unlocked at a rate of $0.06 per Full Tilt Point (FTP), which you earn by spending time with Full Tilt's cash games. So, let's say you deposited $600 and became eligible for a bonus of $600. It will take a total of $600/$0.06 = 10,000 FTPs if you want to clear your complete bonus. Now if you play cash games, you'll have to keep in mind that for each dollar taken in rake every player dealt in for that hand will get 1 point. That translates into a rake of $10,000 in order to release the entire package while participating in cash games, which is not as much as it sounds. Naturally, the higher the stakes, the faster the bonus will be yours. If you sit at $25 No Limit, you will need approximately 156,187 hands of Full Ring or 108,652 hands of 6-max before you get the complete bonus. If 50NL is your thing, it will take you a total of approximately 75,727 hands of Full Ring or 55,533 hands of 6-max play to earn your prize. Bear in mind that these are extreme totals calculated, and that in reality no player will play only one type of game like that. So, let these projections act as a guide.

In tournament play, every $1 you pay in entry fees results earns you 7 FTP. For example, if you play in the $10+$1 level, you will be required to play in about 1,428 events to clear your total Full Tilt bonus. Rise to the $20+$2 level and the total be cut in half. You would now need only to play 714 events!

It should then come as no surprise that by mixing stakes and entering tournaments, it will drastically lessen the total amount of poker hands.

A theoretical scenario to release the whole bonus could be as follows: 50% in $11 SNG's, 25% in 25NL 6-max hands and 25% in 50NL Full Ring hands to clear 10,000 FTPs. This translates into approximately 714 SNGs, 27,000 hands at 25NL, and 18,500 hands at 50NL. Keep in mind that no matter which way you decide to clear your bonus, you've got 120 days to do so before your whole bonus expires. You'd better be ready for some extended play.

Full Tilt Poker boasts an unmatched total package. Excellent software and support, Rush Poker, and the chance to play against some of the game's most well known faces, bolstered by the offer of the best bonuses in Internet poker. It should be obvious that if you are not playing with this group, it's at least worth a look. Use our Full Tilt referral code MAXBONUS600 to ensure the maximum bonus and pick up the Full Tilt Poker download today!

Poker Stars Marketing Code

2010-02-04T16:16:00.001-08:00

While opening a new player account at PokerStars, there will be a prompt “How did you find out about PokerStars?”. Answer with the best option, but it is the answer in the text field that is crucial. The title is “Enter marketing code if available. Please do not use this field for any other code.” In the PokerStars marketing code box, carefully enter FLOPTURNRIVER.

By using the PokerStars marketing code of FLOPTURNRIVER, you are entitled to some special bonuses and perks when registering your new account. First of all, you will receive the maximum PokerStars bonus of $600. This is the maximum bonus offered by Poker Stars. Additionally, you gain exclusive eligibility to private money-added tournaments and freerolls offered every single month! By using the PokerStars marketing code, FLOPTURNRIVER, you can participate in three private tournaments:
$300 exclusive monthly free-roll
$200 private money-added tourney every month, with a small $2 buy in
$300 monthly private money-added tournament, with only a $3 buy-in
Keep up with all the details of these private PokerStars events, and other promotions, from our partner – the poker strategy forum, FlopTurnRiver.com!
Follow our sign-up guidelines to make sure you get these exclusive benefits and bonuses.

Registering Your New PokerStars Account

Signing up to PokerStars and installing the software is simple and streamlined. Start by clicking on any of the PokerStars banners on this website or this PokerStars link. On the Poker Stars website, click on the “PLAY Poker, FREE Download” button. This will bring up a PokerStars download window, and you should press Save File. Remember where you saved the file!
The PokerStars software download is about 7.6 MB, so it downloads quickly. Once finished, open the file to install it on your computer. The PokerStars software supports 19 languages, so select the language, then hit next a few times, and in minutes the PokerStars software will be installed.
You are now ready to run the PokerStars client and participate in the world of online poker! But first, you need to establish you online PokerStars player account. To create your player account, press the red Log In button in the bottom right corner. Since you can’t login yet, press Create New Account. Here you choose your User ID and enter your personal information. Don’t worry, PokerStars is a trustworthy, secure, and reliable site. Once you’ve filled in the required information, press OK.
A window will then pop up asking “How did you find out about PokerStars?” On this screen, you may select whichever option suits you. Below there will be prompt stating “Enter marketing code if available. Please do not use this field for any other code.” This is where you should enter FLOPTURNRIVER. Once this is entered press OK. You have now gained access to our exclusive three monthly events:
$300 monthly private freeroll
$200 monthly private money-added tournament, with only a $2 buy-in
$300 monthly private money-added tournament, with only a $3 buy-in
You are not quite done, a validation email has been sent to your email account, check your email and click on the link to complete your registration. If you don’t see it in your inbox be sure to check your spam folder.
Ok, you are now officially a member of PokerStars! You can play in the free money poker games! But before you can start taking people’s money, you will need to make a real money deposit. Here is where you will get your $600 bonus by using the PokerStars Bonus Code of STARS600.
PokerStars is the safest and most secure online poker room in the industry. That’s one of the reasons it is the largest and most popular poker room. So making a real money deposit should not frighten you at all. Make sure you are logged in, then click the Cashier button in the bottom right of the lobby. Then press Buy Chips. The methods that are available to you based on your location will appear. You can choose which one you like to use, but the easiest methods are Instant eChecks, or using your Visa/MasterCard.
When you make your first deposit, enter the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600. To receive the full $600, you will need to deposit a total of $600, although not all at once! You have 90 days to make your $600 deposit. For more details on cashing in on the full $600 in bonus dollars, please see our Poker Stars bonus code page.

Once your deposit clears (usually within minutes) your account will be funded and now you can participate in some real poker games! Good luck at becoming a poker legend!

Full Tilt Poker Referral Code

2010-02-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

Have you been looking for the greatest online poker rooms and Full Tilt referral codes?

Full Tilt has a large player base and is endorsed by some of the greatest poker players in the world like Phil Ivey and Howard Lederer. Read on to learn more or get your Full Tilt Poker Referral codes here and set up your Full Tilt Poker account.

What Makes Full Tilt referral code through FlopTurnRiver different than other referral codes?

By signing up through FlopTurnRiver, and using our Full Tilt Poker Referral Codes "FLOPTURNRIVER", you will be given a 100% up to $600 bonus!

In addition to your 100% up to $600 bonus, you gain entry into private MEMBER'S ONLY monthly tournaments totaling $800 each and every month! Here is what you get - $100 password protected freeroll, a $200 restricted freeroll and a $5 buy-in event with $500 added on to the prize pool!

Keep in mind, this special offer can only be taken advantage of by signing up through FlopTurnRiver and using the proper referral code. Use the FullTilt referral code FLOPTURNRIVER when registering your player account as shown in the image below.

In addition to the best Full Tilt Poker referral codes, check out the latest exclusive offers for Flop Turn River players...

-Private money-added tournaments each month reserved for Flop Turn River players.

-An array of exclusive freerolls and buy-in tournaments to choose from and these tournaments are only open to players from FTR.

-Access to strategy articles to help you improve your game, maybe enough to take down these exclusive tournaments!

Use the Referral Code FLOPTURNRIVER when signing up your account to gain access to these exclusive bonus features! Then, after making your initial deposit, FullTilt will match it up to $600!

What are you waiting for? Sign up now and use FlopTurnRiver.com's Full Tilt Poker referral codes.

Double or Nothing Strategy

2009-12-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

PART 1: PRE-GAME

INTRODUCTION

Disclaimer: This series is going be quite long, there is a lot to digest and I don’t intend that you read it all in one go. It's probably best to read it in several short sections. To help you, I am splitting the guide into several smaller threads, which will be posted in due course. The hands used in this post are real hands I have been involved in. I have sometimes taken a little artistic license and changed some of the specifics to illustrate the point a bit clearer, but usually the hands are unedited. I am intentionally vague in some of the later sections. I would say it’s impossible to write a guide that says “do this when you have AKs etc.” because this depends to a greater or lesser extent on the table specifics, such as stack sizes and opponent tendencies. Rather, I have chosen to write about things I consider when I make decisions.

I have written this post as a guide to ‘Double or Nothing’ tournaments (DONs). DON tournaments are usually single table sit-and-go tournaments where half the field doubles up and the rest go home with nothing. If you are unfamiliar with the basics of these tournaments, I highly recommend you read Kevster’s Introduction to Double or Nothings, which gives a great general introduction.

If you are wondering about my credentials, I don't pretend to be an excellent DON player, but I do have extensive experience at the $5 and $10 levels, where I have been a consistent winner over thousands of tournaments. This guide is based primarily on my experiences at $5.20 and $10.40 DON turbo tables on PokerStars.

Throughout this article, I'm going to talk consistently about fold equity. When I talk about fold equity, this is what I mean. "Pot equity is your share of the pot if the pot were to go to show-down, without any further betting. Fold equity is the forfeited pot equity" - Kill Everyone by Nelson, Streib and Lee.

An example

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 10.4 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds 5 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t1895)

CO (t710)

Button (t1340)

SB (t2000)

BB (t1420)

UTG (t1515)

Hero (UTG+1) (t1470)

MP1 (t2940)

MP2 (t1710)

Hero's M: 12.25

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with K , A , Villain is in BB with K , Q

1 fold, Hero bets t150, 6 folds, BB calls t100

Flop: (t370) A , 3 , 4 (2 players)

You have top pair versus a flush draw. The villain has 37% of the pot equity. In other words, if the hand were to get to showdown, he would win 37% of the time. If you bet enough to make to make calling unprofitable for the villain, he may fold his hand and your pot equity increases from 63% to 100%.

The bigger your stack is, the greater your fold equity is. Maintaining a healthy stack size is vital in DON as the flat payout structure tends to punish people who call widely on the bubble. However, in order to encourage opponents to fold, you need to maintain a stack with sufficient fold equity. The more chips you have, the better off you will be.

The concept of preserving chips encourages me to play very tightly in the early stages of double or nothings. I am less concerned with winning pots than keeping pots small without the nuts. I will tend to lead out hands like TPTK and two-pair. If I am in position and there is action ahead of me, I will usually call behind and re-evaluate the turn/river. If I am out of position, I may check-call the flop and further streets depending on my hand quality and the board texture. I make a lot of chips by checking the river and allowing my opponents to bluff with hands they feel are ahead.

Hand 1

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 10.4 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t1360)

UTG (t1695)

UTG+1 (t1390)

MP1 (t3280)

MP2 (t1080)

MP3 (t680)

CO (t2590)

Button (t1455)

Hero (SB) (t1470)

Hero's M: 32.67

Preflop: Hero is SB with A , J

UTG calls t30, UTG+1 calls t30, 4 folds, Button calls t30, Hero calls t15, BB checks

Flop: (t150) 10 , J , 4 (5 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets t30, UTG+1 raises to t120, 1 fold, Hero folds.

Although Hero has TPTK here, the board texture is poor so he checks the flop and waits to observe the action. After a raise and a reraise, the villains are announcing they have hands they like and want to play. Hero should fold since UTG could squeeze him, the number of player involved in the pot in concerning and 120 chips is unlikely to all the chips he will risk in the hand. Remember, risking those chips is bad for maintaining your fold equity.

Before we start discussing strategy and analysing hands, here are a few things to consider before you hit the tables.

MULTI-TABLING

DONs offer a fantastic opportunity for multi-tabling, probably more so than any other form of poker, since the decisions are relatively simple and rarely go beyond the flop. They also have an inherent advantage over multi-tabling normal SnG’s in that there are always 6+ people at the table, which means the period between hands is usually longer.

Important considerations

Beginner's Guide to Multi-tabling by Nakamura and Rage2100

AVOIDING THE GOOD PLAYERS

This is generally pretty self-explanatory. Where possible you should try to avoid the good players. If you see a good regular already registered in the tournament lobby, you should wait a few minutes and join another table. Also try to avoid registering for tournaments where there are several tables that have 4 or 5 players registered. This may mean there are too many regulars on these tables and not enough fish to spread the wealth around.

Personally, I don’t exercise this kind of table selection as I actually enjoy playing against most regulars. I usually have a good idea of how they play and if they sit to my left they usually ‘get’ that they can’t call wide in these spots. I know I can push very wide into them and it’s an easy way to stay afloat in a DON.

VARIANCE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BANKROLL

Although variance is probably lower in DONs, since the result is binary; either you lose or a double of your stake, most likely around 50% of the time, there is still considerable variance. Two months ago I made over $1000 at DON tables but I dropped at least 15 BI 3 times. Be properly rolled. I suggest at least 25-30 if you are a recreational player and at least 50-60 if you are a professional player. Being properly rolled will allow you to bring a fearless game to the table and give you an edge over timid, under-rolled opponents. Consider downloading this Excel spreadsheet and playing around with Hero’s edge.

TO TURBO OR NOT TO TURBO

Should you play turbos or normals? To a certain extent, this is personal preference. Off the top of my head, here are a few things you should consider.

The rake in the turbos is half that of the normal-speeds. If you choose to play the normal-speeds, you will need to overcome this extra rake. Turbos will generally be much quicker and allow you to play more tournaments in the same time period. On the other hand, there will be less time before blind increases and therefore you will have to push more marginal hands in turbos. Consequentially there is generally a trade off that means you trade a lower ROI for higher volume.

RUNNING A HUD

A HUD or Heads Up Display is a graphical interface that overlies a table and provides an indication of how opponents play. The two main tracking softwares are Hold ‘em Manager and Poker Tracker. If you are serious about DONs, I seriously recommend running a HUD. They are especially useful if you are multi-tabling.

Here is my design. The top row in my HUD indicates how aggressive a player is, the second row indicates how often opponents steal the blinds and how often they call when they are in the blinds. Since I have started using the stats in the second row I have noticed a big difference in my game.

VPIP / PFR / AF / Hands

Steal / Call in BB / Call in SB

The next instalment of this thread should follow shortly

Ramblings on 8/9-Out Drawing Hands

2007-11-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'm sort of at a weird spot in the development of my game and I'm going to type out a bunch of random crap about common drawing spots with straight or flush draws in hopes that it'll internalize some things I still probably screw up occasionally. Also, I'm hoping questions get asked, comments get made, and this has an end result of making me think deeper about things I take for granted, if that makes any sense.

But anyway, I'll use $100nl for examples since the dollar amount matches the number of big blinds and it looks all pretty and whatnot (and also since it's the current stakes I'm playing).

I. Implied Odds on 1 street vs 2 streets

Assume a 9-handed table with $100 effective stacks.
You are on the button with A 3 , and there are four limpers. You decide to just call behind instead of raising the limpers this time. The SB completes and the BB checks.

The pot is $7 and everyone in the hand has $99 behind. The flop comes K 9 8 , giving us the nut flush draw. Since there are 47 cards we don't know and 9 cards that help us, the odds of hitting our draw on the next card is 4.22:1. The SB bets $7 followed by five folds, and it's $7 to us in a pot of $14, and we call.

So if we hit on the turn, how much do we have to extract over the turn and river to make our flop call profitable? Since our pot odds are 2:1 and our chance of hitting are 4.22:1, then the difference is 2.22 times the size of the bet we're calling, so that's the amount we have to make up if we hit. This amount is barely over $15.50.

Since after we call, the pot will be $21, we only need to extract about 3/4ths of that over two streets to break even, AND we're in position, it seems like the call is obvious.

Suppose the turn is a brick, putting the board at something like K 9 8 J . The pot is $21 and the players have $92 behind each. The SB bets $14, making it $14 to call $35, giving you pot odds of 2.5:1. Now you are presumably 4.11:1 to hit your 9-out draw.

Now if we call, we're having to make up 4.11-2.5 = 1.61 times $14 when we hit on the river in order to break even. In this scenario, we'll have to average making $22.50 on the river when we hit to break even on a call.

The river pot will be $49, so if a club comes on the river, it's likely villain will check since we called a bet on both the flop and the river. To put this into perspective, at this point a $25 bet will break even if it's called 90% of the time, a $30 bet will break even if it's called 75% of the time, and a $35 bet will break even if it's called 64% of the time.

It's possible that the turn call is profitable against the typical 100nl opponent, but it's the flop call that's clearly +EV. Also, if our opponent bets more on the turn, it becomes harder to turn a call into a profitable play, but we can be facing a pot-sized bet on the flop and still figure a call as a profitable play.

II. Picking Up Outs on the Turn

Assume a 9-handed table with $100 effective stacks. A tight UTG raises to $4, there an MP caller ahead of you on the button with T 9 . You elect to call, the SB calls, and the BB folds.

On the flop, the pot is $17. The board comes Q 7 4 , giving you a flush draw. SB checks, UTG bets $14, MP calls $14, and it's $14 to you in a $45 pot. You're getting 3.21:1 in position behind two guys who seem to like their hand, so it's reasonable to believe the call is +EV. SB folds.

On the turn, the pot is $59. Everyone still in the pot has $82 behind. The turn comes the 8 giving you some more outs. Now any spade gives you a flush (9 outs), plus any 6 or J that's a non-spade gives you a very concealed straight (6 outs). UTG bets $50, and MP folds. Let's examine the situation:

The pot is $109 and you'll be calling $50. You and UTG will both have $32 left behind if you call. Overall, you presumably now have 15 outs and since there are 46 cards you haven't seen yet, you'll need 2.07:1 to break even if all of your outs are good. However, you're getting 2.18:1 on the call, and since the % of time you'll pick up his remaining $27 on the river is greater than zero, the call is good.

The difference here is that even though you missed on the turn, you picked up outs that turned even a pot-sized bet on the turn into a +EV call for you.

III. Straight Draws are Harder to Detect

Assume a 9-handed table with $100 effective stacks. You are on the button, and there are four limpers. You call. The SB completes and the BB checks.

Consider the differences now in having A 8 on a flop of Q 9 2 and in having T 8 on a flop of A 9 7 .

While the first scenario lends you to having more outs, in the second scenario, if you hit your hand, it's going to be much more hidden. When your opponents have a made hand on the flop, say two pair or a set, they're going to be much more likely to pay you off when you hit your draw in the second scenario than in the first scenario. The reason is simple: straight draws are often harder to pick up on than flush draws. Anyone can see three of a suit on a board, but it's harder to pick up on when a weird straight draw has hit.

IV. Free Card Plays

The free card play for hold'em is when you raise on the flop in position in an attempt to get your opponent to lead with a check on the turn. Then you check behind, and your raise on the flop essentially bought a free card. Also, you may have fold equity with your raise, an added benefit.

While the extra street you get to see isn't exactly free, it generally costs less total than you would anticipate if you called both a flop and turn bet. There are numerous examples of this so I won't give another.

Going along with point III, the free card play is easier to identify if the flop is two-tone, and is much harder to identify if the flop is rainbow. Likewise, you'll likely have more fold equity with straight draws on a rainbow board. When you're against a made hand on the flop, the free card play can backfire, but often your opponent will just call and let you check through on the turn, creating a spot where if you hit with a draw that's hard to see, you'll often stack your villain.

The free card play followed up with a second barrel on the turn if you miss is also an option, but I won't get off onto that tangent here.

V. Tainted Outs

In general you should be careful when you have a straight draw on a two-tone flop, or a 8/9-out draw on a paired flop. Often it's best to just let the draw go if you think your opponent likely has trips. The reason for this is that occasionally you'll hit your draw, but your opponent will improve as well making a hand better than yours, and you'll take a big loss in the process. This really kills the value of your draws.

This basically comes down to relative hand strength, a topic Renton covered in one of his post-flop guides.

However, sort of going along with point I, if the turn pairs the board after a relatively safe flop, or puts two to a suit on the board when you have a straight draw, you have to make sure you re-evaluate the new situation correctly instead of just chasing away.

This isn't meant to be some sort of guide or anything; I'm just looking to open some discussion about some really basic stuff. Feel free to post example hands or whatever you want on the subject.

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Bode's 10k hands Op

2007-11-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

alright, last month and the beginning of this month have been a complete rollercoaster for me. I started last month losing 9 buyins over 13k hands. I was running slightly bad and spewing on top of that. The next 10k hands i played good solid poker winning 10 buyins. From oct. 31st through yesterday, im down 14 buyins over only ~7k hands. Im not running good by an means, but after reviewing HH's, i spewed about 8 of those buyins. Not little spew, im talking pure unadulterated spew.

On to the operation. My ultimate goal for this year has been, and still is, to be rolled for 200nl by Jan. 1st of next year. My BR has been diminished down to a lowly $1600 so i forced myself to move back down to 50nl (for the 3rd time now, lol). My goal with this short OP is to play 10k hands at 50nl and run 5ptbb/100. Im cutting my tables from 10 down to 6. After a few thousand hands i may re-evaluate and go to 8 tables, we'll see.

Anyway, my biggest problem i can tell is that im not taking the proper time to think through situations and getting in tough spots. Im terrible at spotting my leaks, so any help i can get with that would be much appreciated. If anyone that reads this would be interested in doing a review for me that would be awesome. I would really like one of the 100nl+ regs to look over a few sessions ive played recently and give me some good harsh criticism because god knows i need it.

Anyway, ill be updating this evertime i play and post hands i had trouble with.

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The Half-Stack Approach to NLHE

2007-11-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

General Aproach:
Buy-in for 50bb
Re-load when you drop below 40bb
At 75bb re-evaluate table conditions. If you don't like your seat or table, nit it up until your blinds hit, then leave.
Tend to leave if you drop 100bb at a table.

Advantages to a less than 100bb stack:
It's easier to set-up favorable stack-to-pot ratios

It simplifies one pair decsions. You just pretty much go all-in unless you're pretty sure you're crushed.
Pulling the trigger all-in is much more accessable. All-in is a weapon that I don't feel I use often enough 100bb+ deep unless the game is juiced.
You often get read as a fish. Regulars bluff you less and tend to felt pretty good hands instead of making well thought-out laydowns. Consider all the -EV shit people do for a table image like that. All I had to do was buy-in for less than max!
It changes up the decisions, hence full-buy in robots will be more likely to make errors against you.
Set-mining is less effective against you.
More options to play a monster to get all the money in since you don't need to get in a full 3 or 4 big bets.

"The way you win at chicken is to throw the steering wheel out the window in full view of your opponent" - David Skylansky

Drawbacks to playing less than 100bb:
Can't get as much value from strong second best hands or calling stations. (most calling stations have less than 100bb anyway.)
Often don't get to the river with or against a draw in a raised pot.
Can't trap someone for their stack when they flip the spew bit (although it's hard to make a hand strong enough to do this anyway.)

Although I don't like 20bb deep because I feel it takes the play out of some of my best streets. Too much pressure on making a hand and the rake doesn't cap out on as many hands.

Adjusting to play 40-60bb deep:
Big cards go up in value.
Good one pair hands tend to get felted. Try to get the money in by the turn.
Hence, draws lose value against a "made" hand because they often can't bet the river for value.
Strong draws can commit on the flop.
Suited trash goes down in value. Don't even bother without initiative + position.
Reads on your opponent lose value over strong play.
Can't float around hoping for a chance to win as much.

If you find yourself playing cards more than getting great reads. Playing infrequently enough that you don't know the regulars in your player pool. Totally lost in difficult one pair spots on the river. Going for a quanitity over quality approach to poker profits. Then I think this approach is very +++EV for you.

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Poker experience and moving up

2007-11-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure this has been asked before but I've had a look and can't find anything so here goes.

These are all Poker Stars buy-ins but you'll get the idea. How much experience at SnGs did players on here have before they moved from the $3.40s to the $6.50s to the $16s, etc? Or did some of you go from $3.40 Turbos to $5.50 Normals to $6.50 Turbos to $11 Normals, etc? What is an average number of SnGs to play at each level before you move up or does it all depend on your bankroll?

And what poker experience did everyone have before they started playing online as this may affect the buy-in that you started off at?

Here is my poker history:

A year ago I'd never played poker in my life, didn't even really know the rules of Hold'em. Saw it on TV and thought it looked exciting.

Joined an obscure poker site around last Christmas and they gave me $10 free (Xmas Bonus ). Played a few play-money games to learn the rules and then played some $1 SnGs. Site was a bit crap so looked around for something else. Discovered FTR and joined at start of 2007. After advice on FTR, joined Poker Stars and deposited in about mid-Feb.

Since then I've played 200 SnGs on Stars, mainly the $3.40 Turbos with a handful of $5.50 Normals thrown in. 200 is not a lot since mid-Feb, it's not even 1-a-day, but I sometimes don't get much time to play due to other stuff. It seems that when I don't play for 3 or 4 days, the next session takes me a while to get back into it, and if I only end up playing 1 or 2 SnGs, this isn't good.

Hopefully, I will get more time to play soon but I just wondered how many games at each level did others play and how many a day did you play when you were at that level? I think I'm much better than I was 6 months ago but I don't think I'm playing enough games to consistently keep improving.

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Breathweapon's 3-bet thread

2007-11-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

TPTK=Felt, I'm sure.

How do you deal with some one who 3Bets you, or some one who is a light 3Better? Do you even bother trying to deal with them, or do you just walk away?

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Reuben Peters wins EPT Dublin!

2007-11-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

Incase you missed it, season 4 of the EPT in Dublin just finished yesterday. Reuben Peters topped the aggressive Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad who is very well known to the online community. Annette cashed €297,800 ($416,920) for 2nd place and Peters took home the title and is €532,620 ($745,668) richer.

Peters was over a 4:1 underdog when it got to heads up play do to Annette just dominating and getting lucky at the final table. However he battled back and took the title.

FTR documented the entire event and plans to do future events as well, and you can view the entire tournament summary from Day 1 until the finish on Day 4 here: http://www.flopturnriver.com/blogs/category/ept

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Renton's Operation Low Stakes Baller

2007-11-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I'm a midstakes full ring professional poker player. I have a few problems which I will now list:

- fancy play syndrome: i find myself mixing it up and making speculative plays way too much when i play 2/4 and 3/6, and like 90% of them don't work.

- losing focus: i find that my "a" game is an ever fluctuating thing that i can not control no matter how hard i try. Sadly, 2/4+ games are tough enough now that if im playing my b minus game all the time i basically am destined to break even or even possibly lose.

- tilt: i have a tilt problem. Not a huge one, but i definitely still tilt. I don't even get like super pissed whenever things don't go my way, but i definitely believe that it at least subtly affects my game. I think immediate 4 digit monetary swings are enough to trigger this response for me.

- lack of stamina: for some reason i cant play longer than like 1k hands anymore. Its fucking ridiculous. In december and january i played over 120k hands each month, since then i seriously struggle to put in more than 50-60k.

- I'm probably not a huge winner. I think its highly likely that my winrate at 1/2 is close to twice as high as at 2/4 and higher. Lets break this down some.

Let's assume for a moment that my winrate at 2/4 full ring on stars is 2ptbb/100. Thats probably about what it is lifetime, even though i've def got better at poker since my first 2/4 hand. Ok fuck it, lets say 2.5.

My lifetime winrate at 1/2 full ring on stars is just over 3ptbb/100 (300+ k hands). Once again, ive definitely gotten much better since i played my first hand of 1/2. I would wager that i could be 4-5ptbb at least lifetime at it now, 12 tabling.

Rake paid at 2/4 is similar to 1/2, so the Rakeback difference is minor at best. Secondly, its much easier to multitable 1/2 since there are tons of games going and they are always good. Often times 2/4 isn't very good and you have to mix and match and things get a little sketchy. So what im getting at is that its safe to say that if i played solely 1/2 my mt-ratio would be over 12, whereas my mt ratio at 2/4 would be something like 8 to 10, we'll say 9.

So, 9 tabling 2/4 for 2.5ptbb/100, or 12+ tabling 1/2 for 3.5+ ptbb/100, both with similar Rakeback payouts. A quick calculation indicates that i'd make about 160/hour at 2/4 and 151/hour at 1/2. A 9 dollar difference. Is 2/4 worth it, making 9 more dollars an hour for a massive increase in variance and stress. I think not.

So here's what im going to do about it:

Starting tomorrow, and tentatively ending on November 30, I'm going to play ONLY 1/2 full ring, with my goals being as follows:

1. Learn how to grind again. By 'grind' i mean playing long sessions, consistently, without tilt. Hopefully playing 1/2 exclusively with a $50k roll will help facilitate this.

2. See how much money can be made in one month at 1/2. I'm going to make a serious run at playing 100-150k hands, in an attempt to make around 15-20k dollars.

3. This will lead to my reevaluation as to whether its even worth it to move up.

I'll keep you all posted in here, and get one of those nifty banners.

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Beyond the Basics by grnydrowave2

2007-11-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Beyond the Basics

Phase I: Grind my way to $600 - COMPLETE!
Flawed hand analysis and purty graphs
salsa4ever disses my graphs and agitates my dots
I donk off my FPPs and switch to an Absolute skin
I start pwning 6-max
Poker is easy, just wait for Royals
AA vs. KK philosophy
Phase I complete

Phase II: Get over the hump and onto 50NL ($1500) - in progress
Progress Report
The Game Plan
I finally realize that I'm over rolled
Absolute is ZOMG RIGGED, time to retreat
I manipulate an opponent and get a huge boner
I learn about 3-bet ranges and make hilarious puns
Time to man up and take shots at 50NL
I continue to pwn 6-max
kmind observes as my heater takes a lunch break
I decide to tighten up and stop c-betting so much
spenda gets snarky, kmind challenges him to a dance-off
I finally learn what a downswing feels like (no lube)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello and thanks for reading. Here I will chronicle my journey through the microstakes as well as my development as a poker player. I'm sure my story will be similar to many others, and I don't expect a ton of feedback, so this will probably serve mainly as a personal motivator.

On the 4th of September I deposited $100 into my Stars account. I played SnGs somewhat infrequently for about a week before becoming dissatisfied with my inability to multitable shorthanded among other things. So I switched to full ring 5NL and have since moved up to 10NL.

After 3 weeks and 15,000 hands I have made $190 net profit. The trouble is, I'm not a very good player. More specifically, I'm not a thinking player. I just play very tight, wait for monsters, and get paid off. This is profitable at microstakes, but I know that as I move up I will encounter observant opponents and this will no longer be a practical way to approach the game.

My overall goal is to learn the correct thought processes behind winning poker so that I can profit at mid-stakes. This is not applicable to my current stakes, so for now my goal will be strictly monetary. The plan is to build the bankroll up to $600 and move it to Full Tilt to take advantage of their 100% sign up Bonus. I estimate this will take about 60,000 hands to clear at $25NL, probably fewer depending on how soon I can move up to $50NL.

At some point I would like to switch to 6-max. I'm not comfortable doing so now because I am still wired like a robot and apparently incapable of opening up my game. As I nut peddle at FR I will spend a good deal of time reading about 6-max strategy and make the occasional venture to micro SH tables.

Here are my PT stats thus far:

I should be clearing the Stars $50 Bonus very soon, and I'm going to cheat a little bit and deposit another $100 to speed up the transition to $25NL. I generally 4 table and occasionally 6-7 table on the weekend if I feel that I haven't played enough hands during the week. I am a college student and my studies are top priority, so I sometimes fall behind on my goals for hands played. I have a 2nd monitor in storage and would like to 8-table eventually. I'm not sure if this will require buying a PC or getting some sort of adapter for my laptop. My laptop has a monitor port, which I use for my 20" LCD. Perhaps I could get some sort of splitter.

That's all for now. I have a tendency to ramble sometimes. My apologies if anyone actually read all that, lol.

Bankroll: $290.55

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PokerStars Now Allows 24-Tabling!

2007-11-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

Is this bad for FR?... brings out lots of uber-nits.. which in turn brings out shorties...

Do we just say fug it... keep adding tables with minimal adjustment to our game and pwn?...

Does 24-tabling uber-nitish @ 100NL become highly profitable due to bonuses and such?... Time to break out 13-hands strat?

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Four Holdem Scenarios

2007-10-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

Assume 100bb stacks for all these,

1) 2 folds, loose/passive CO limps, button folds, SB completes we check in the BB and flop middle pair on lets say a K 7 4 flop. SB checks, whats our line?

2) 18/10 open limps in MP, folds to us on the button with 6 7 . Raise/limp/fold? Does it all depend on how often he folds to cbets?

3) 2 folds, 42/35/4 CO who basically has no fold button raises pot, folds to us in the SB with K Q. Whats our move?

4) We hold AK in the BB, 20/12 UTG raises pot, folds to us. Call/fold/reraise?

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Aggression

2007-10-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

When does being aggressive cross over into reckless stupidity?

As usual, I probably know the answer but woudl like your opinions too.

We all know the importance of aggression, and I've been reading an excellent thread by Soupie that espouses the main themes: limiting the field, putting pressure on opponents, giviing 2 chances to win as opposed to 1 etc, but quite often you can walk into a sound beating. That's poker. But I'd like to know how to ensure you don't put your poker life on the line when you really shouldn't.

EX 1:
Just the other day, down to the final 3 in a Freeroll, 1.5 million chips in play of which I had about 820,000 and the villains around 300,000 each. 3 games cost me and I bowed out in 3rd. Both villains had been on the previous table with me, saw me dominate, eliminate and that when I bet big, I had the winning hand. So when I raised pre flop, one always called. Each time I hit the flop and I bet hard (at least a pot sized bet, at most an all in) to chase out any draws. Each time I was called, each time I knew they were drawing and each time they made their hand. When someone calls all their chips with A4 off- and win - it stings. Even in a Freeroll.

EX 2:
Yesterday, a guy was calling every bet in every hand and miraculously catching the cards to get him out of trouble. I was chip leader at the time, looked down on QA diamonds and raised 6xbb to 350. He reraises to 450 and everyone else folds. I call and the flop is lovely: Qh Jd 2d. So TPTK, nut flush draw and even straight and straight flush draws. I figure he has A high. Hell, even with a pocket pair, I only need fear Ks and As - and even then I have lots of outs. So, 85% wanting to get paid off by this bozo and 15% wanted to end it there and then, worried about allowing him to make his hand (a la the final table the night before) I pushed. he called and I was half right. he has an ace. He also has the other. And unlike his good self, I don't spike one of the many cards that would have seen me suck out.

EX 3:
As I have been writing this, down to final 15, with a maniac going all in with nothing and as such his stack is fluctuating wildly. He has 110,000 and I have 65,000. he has also been truthfully anouncing his hands and told me he had 82. I am dealt AJ diamonds, blinds are 3,000/6.000 and I raise to 15,000. All fold, he calls, flop comes K910 raindow. I push, he calls with his 82 and spikes a 2 on the turn.

So at this point, "it's a Freeroll full of donks, whaddaya expect?" is on many people's lips yet the question is, had my play in these 3 events been acceptable and unlucky or just plain bad? Looking back, I can't fault my play against the maniac in EX 2 - but am I right? And though it was me who put my chips in the firing line at the final table the previous night, I get the impression that as they were happy to bet all their chips after the flop with nothing but high cards and draws, that they'd call any smaller bet I could make - ergo I was destined to lose those hands regardless.

And playing this way is what took me to the final table and deep into these events and success at SNGs. Sometimes you can be unlucky and your KK hits AA but sometimes I wonder if I get carried away and truly am too reckless. Eg: If I have QQ or KK, bet large and get called, I am 95% of the time going to push as long as I don't see aces and 3 to the flush or straight. Maybe 'cause I've been stung by someone catching their ace or set after the flop. Maybe 'cause it's reckless, I dunno. But I give little consideration to whether they have a higher hand as with any of these 3, I'll push 'til the cows come home.

Don't get me wrong, I try to play tight and in position, and will often fold good looking hands even when there's a good chance these guys are re re raising with K3 off. However, I wonder if it's me being overtly aggressive or just bad luck when bozos call with trash. When they do, I know they are at fault but am I too by giving him 2, or less often, 5 free cards?

And because I am playing with numptys, it's very hard to evaluate just what they have. After all, these guys will bet off 98% of their chips on each street only to fold on the river. So when the flop comes after a 4xbb raise, I hold JJ, the flop comes 966 and Villain bets large, he could be playing AA as much as K10, 55 or even 36. As such, I am pushing in the dark a lot.

Overall, I think it's more bad luck than bad management (though I could be wrong) as I am repeatedly negotiating the field, being amongst the chip lead at any table I join and by winning 50% of SNGs I enter. But we all have leaks and is this one of them? And even if I am utilsing good management most of the time, I'd rather it be 90% than 65%.

Of note is that my cash game doesn't fare half as well. And again, I question the level of aggression I show. Winning 10 pots and $50 this way is of small consolation when it all goes to someone else - whether they called with trash or rockets.

Anyhoo, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And I know it's only Freeroll, but any MTT experience is better than none

Thx

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A Hand Reading Exercise

2007-10-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

villain is 20/15/3 type reg. He's hasn't been getting out of line but is capable of a move every once in a while. Hero has been 3-betting back at him quite a bit.

What kind of range do we put this guy on? How often do you think he folds? Is our shove reasonable (I thought so or else I wouldn't have).

What about preflop... is calling or 3-betting better? What about 3-betting a different amount or making a more conventional-sized c-bet on the flop.. . What about checking???

So many aspects to consider in a typical hand... stuff you don't see in typical threads.

Begin........... wherever. you. wish. (if at all)

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (4 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

UTG ($199.75)
Button ($613)
SB ($501.10)
Hero ($1481.70)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
1 fold, Button raises to $21, 1 fold, Hero raises to $72, Button calls $51.

Flop: ($147) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $72, Button raises to $224, Hero raises to $1409.7,

317 to villain he's getting 3:1ish

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The FTR Gauntlet, Game 10

2007-10-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

If you'd like to learn more about the Gauntlet, visit http://www.flopturnriver.com/poker-league/

Where: PokerStars
Name: FTR Gauntlet VI 10
When: Oct 31, 2007, 22:00 ET
Buy-In: $5 + $0.50

In your PokerStars main lobby, click the Tourney tab, then the Private tab and look for the name of this game.

Surprise bonus prize(s) may be announced in our Chat Room during the game.
Be sure to join fellow players live in the FTR Chat Room while you play!

PASSWORDS
If you are registered for our league, you will have immediate access to the upcoming game's password.
Go to the FTR Gauntlet Schedule page and click Get Password next to the game in the list.

DO NOT share these passwords with anyone!
Sharing of passwords may result in forfeiture of league participation.

League Registration: Click here.
FTR Gauntlet Home: Click here.
FTR Gauntlet Forum: Click here.

Time Zone Converter: Click here.

PartyPoker's Bad Beat Jackpot Tables - The Place To Be!

2007-10-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Oh my donkish christ. What a cash cow.

So Party gives me $150 to play with. Just have to earn 1800 points. Catch is if you earn $50 or more profit, stop playing and cash that part out. Then start playing with the $150 again. So I did.

Over the last 2 afternoons here at work (10 mins yesterday and 20 mins today) I've cleared $170 from the 1/2 BBJ full ring tables. Unreal the things these guys call down with.

End of brag. Feels good after a major downswing.

See Full Article Here:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/partys-bbj-tables-61985.htm

Ultimate Bet Implements Major Software Upgrade!

2007-10-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know... they tell me not to play there but I do.(please no preaching about how they are crooks and whatnot. thanks)

Anyway... this morning a few changes were made to the UB software.

-Finally we get resizable tables. No more squinting for those of us with larger monitors and/or poor eyesight.
-Some slight changes to the card graphics makes them a bit easier to read.
- Also included: Players can now instantly download their hand histories to their hard drive.(nice for those of us who are PT morons) There is also a playback feature if you wish to re-live a particularly devastating beat down on some poor schlub.

Click Here to Read the Full Article:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/software-upgrade-at-ub-today-62307.htm

Money-Added FTR Tourney at Full Tilt Poker!

2007-10-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

The FTR500 series continues on the 5th of November with $500 added to the prize pool, courtesy of Full Tilt Poker and FTR!

The FTR500 is for registered FTR forum members ONLY.

If you don't have Full Tilt, download and register by clicking here.

Do not send private messages about these tournaments, they will not be answered. All questions about these tournaments should be asked in this topic.

Name: The FTR500
Date: 5 November 2007
Time: 10:00pm ET
Buyin: $5 + $.50
Game: NL Hold'em

$500 added to total prize pool!
Full Tilt Poker accepts U.S. players!

Password is now posted here:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/poker-62275.htm
You MUST be a registered FTR forum member to view this password.

Read the Full Article Here:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/ftr500-full-tilt-500-moneyadded-monthly-tourney-nov-5-62276.htm

Doyle's Room - Back in the US!

2007-10-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

After its switch to the Prima Network, Doyles Room shortly thereafter had to stop accepting US customers for real money play. Doyle was quoted on a few different shows and interviews about how terrible he felt about the UIGEA and how bad he thought this was for poker in general. All in all, this decision was above his head because he obviously would want everyone to be able to play.

Well earlier this week, it was announced that Doyles Room once again is taking US customers for real money play! This is great news for US players and online poker, and we hope more rooms will start to move back.

The only downside about this is being a part of the Prima network, they can only partially accept certain states. 12 states in all are still blocked, because of certain regulating laws at the state level; Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Washington. If you reside in one of those states, unfortunately you still will not be able to play at Doyles Room. However, I believe they are taking the correct steps and hopefully one day will be able to accept all of the US again.

Read the Full Article Here:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/doyles-room-accepts-us-players-again-61971.htm

River Check Raises - Interesting Discussions

2007-10-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

I'll start off with noting basic factors we consider when we want to decide whether we want to make a river c/r or not. I'm not sure which should be consider "main" factors, but all are definitely relevant.

C/R with nut hands:
1. Is our opponent going to value bet thin and on a similar note is he passive or aggressive? There are a lot of opponents at higher stakes especially that vbet thin like it's there job. Obviously, if we have a nut hand and our opponent is going to bet a wider range than he will call/raise with, a c/r may be the decision you want to go with.
2. Is he the type of person who cant find a fold button when faced with a minraise? Most of the time money is shallow, so most river c/r's are close to min.
3. Have we been making a lot of river c/r's?

More fun is c/r as a bluff.

1. Same as nut hands #1.
2. Is your image tight
3. Is he capable of making big folds.
4. Does our line make any sense?

Possible river c/r discussion hands:

I have been playing very aggro and 0evg0 is making the light vbetting like his life depends on it. I have been c/r the river a good amount, clearly sometimes with the nuts and clearly sometimes with not. He is a very good hand reader. This hand is obviously a bad play by me but worth discussing.

PokerStars GAME #12269058978: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2007/09/25 - 19:42:27 (ET)
Table 'Wurm' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: 0evg0 ($1033.50 in chips)
Seat 2: heybude ($621.50 in chips)
0evg0: posts small blind $2
heybude: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to heybude [Kh Qc]
0evg0 said, "****kkk"
0evg0: raises $8 to $12
heybude: raises $28 to $40
0evg0: calls $28
*** FLOP *** [Td 3s Ad]
heybude: bets $52
0evg0 said, "cooler after cooler"
0evg0: calls $52
*** TURN *** [Td 3s Ad] [8c]
heybude: checks
0evg0: checks
*** RIVER *** [Td 3s Ad 8c] [7s]
heybude: checks
0evg0: bets $100
heybude: raises $208 to $308

PokerStars GAME #12268409962: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2007/09/25 - 19:05:03 (ET)
Table 'Electra IV' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: 0evg0 ($394 in chips)
Seat 2: heybude ($406 in chips)
heybude: posts small blind $2
0evg0: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to 0evg0 [9d 8c]
heybude: raises $8 to $12
0evg0: calls $8
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9h 2d]
0evg0: bets $16
heybude: calls $16
*** TURN *** [Kc 9h 2d] [4d]
0evg0: checks
heybude: bets $44
0evg0: calls $44
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9h 2d 4d] [9s]
0evg0: checks
heybude: bets $104
0evg0: raises $164 to $268

Read Full Article Here: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/theory-thread-river-cr-62271.htm