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It’s a question I ask myself quite frequently, and I get an answer that varies quite frequently. The problem with these varying answers, however, is that the same ultimate goal of making money is always why I’m playing poker. Yes, I lie to myself sometimes, and this can cause serious problems for not only me, but for anyone else who does the same thing.
For example, let’s take my answer a couple weeks ago: “I am just playing for entertainment.” If I’m just playing for entertainment, it must mean I’m not concerned about losing money. However, I am. Why would I say this to myself then? I believe it boils down to two reasons that a lot of poker players can justify:
1. You’re losing - It’s easy to say you’re just playing for fun if you’re losing, and you don’t have to justify why you’re getting your ass kicked by everyone at the table if you don’t care about what you’re doing. This technique is of a face-saving variety, and while it may make you feel better around your peers, it makes you feel worse about yourself in the long run.
2. No Motivation - I found this to be the most recent of my problems. I had just won a big tournament, and since I had made a lot of money, I wasn’t really playing for anything in particular except to pass time. At that point, I really didn’t care about losing money. How does this problem get remedied? Well, it’s very possible that you could lose everything you won, and then you’re back to square one. However, since this is not ideal, I think another thing that can bring you back into a realm of focus at the table is to set a goal for yourself. It’s simple, and it’s common, but sometimes we don’t do common things because they are so run-of-the-mill, and only the “losers” have to do something like that.
Take me, for example. I am making the transition from school to the real world, and I need to buy a lot of household items like furniture, electronics, etc. I decided to set a goal for myself that would equal a profit large enough to buy one of these items. Coincidentally, my focus has increased dramatically, and while I’m still hovering around even, the game is more exciting to me and I have a new desire to win.
Figure out why you’re playing - and be honest, then do something to help you accomplish your reason for playing. It sounds simple, but it requires honesty and commitment, two things a lot of us have a hard time putting together.
Good luck at the tables and with yourself.
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 I never really thought that this issue would come up when writing content for this poker site, but it has.
The issue is this: Why do online poker sites now insist on putting blackjack on their main lobby page, and why have I just now figured out how to avoid playing it?
Obviously me admitting that I can’t stop playing it sounds like a true addiction, however, I have zero desire to play blackjack if it is not staring me in the face. That being said, my addiction is only present when I’m on a poker site. I’ve finally figured out what it takes to stop playing this devilish black jack game, but it took me awhile to figure it out.
This is typically the way it goes down: I will buy in to a $10 SNG or something of the like. I will lose, and then find myself trying to win it back in two $5 hands on the virtual black jack table. Before ya know it, I’m down waaaay more than I should be all because I’m willing to put my ass on the line for a quick score that many times doesn’t pan out.
I\’ve found three ways to deal with this problem:
1. If there is a “hide blackjack” option on your toolbar, click it immediately so that icon isn’t tempting you every time you look at the poker room lobby.
2. Every time you think about putting $5 on a hand of black jack, put that $5 on a heads up SNG. Obviously it will take a little longer to win/lose the $5, but that is a good thing. First off, you are playing a game where you control your fate much more than blackjack allows you to. Secondly, you are getting better at heads-up play. Finally, you are using your time more wisely, because even if you lose, it\’s only $5. You could lose a ridiculous amount of money in that same time period playing blackjack.
3. Finally, if push comes to shove, before you put that $5 on a blackjack hand, spend it on something tangible instead. If you’re going to do spend the money regardless, it might as well be something that can be used on a regular basis.
This blackjack is driving not only myself but a lot of my other friends crazy, and I think that while it is understandable from a business standpoint why these poker rooms are diversifying, it’s a shame at the same time.
Good luck at the tables, poker tables that is.
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How bout this for a promotion: deposit $1100 into Mansion’s sports betting site and put all that money on the Steelers to cover the spread on September 7th. If you lose, Mansion will refund your money. If you win, Mansion will pay out $1000 (plus your initial investment of course) to use however you want to. Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous, and I’m heavily contemplating doing this for myself.
Don’t take my word and my word alone on it, check out these sources and educate yourself.
1. Mansion’s Web Page
2. PocketFives Open Thread
I don’t know about you, but it sounds too good to be true. Typically, that usually means that it is too good to be true, but in this case, I can’t find any evidence that even implies “you’re gonna get screwed”. If you’re a beginning poker player that has $1100 laying around, you might consider taking advantage of this, because $1000 is a really nice bankroll to start your poker career with.
Go Steelers.
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 Who knew that I could find a poker image of the web that tied so closely to my obscure title? Anyway, I must admit, this site revamp has taken it out of me, so I am going to send you elsewhere, at least for today, for your poker information. Soon, I hope to have reviews of various online poker rooms that will not only be informative, but will help you choose your best fit through the information that I give.
Ok, on to the links that are more than worth reading today.
1. Adam LaBare has a new site running, and I think that it is worth a look-see, if not a join. (I’m a member now, name, checkitdown). PokerXtreme is the name, and the basic premise of the site can be found on Adam’s most recent post. The site is still in the very beginning stages, but even so, it seems to be running almost glitch-free. As it becomes more popular (and it will become more popular) I hope to have a more in-depth review of the site.
2. GCox has a great post on low limit sit and go strategy. After all, he proclaims himself a low limit grinder, so he should know about things such as this.
3. You thought the knowledge from GCox was done? Check out this article he wrote a little while back if you need some reinforcement, or, especially, if you’re new to the game.
4. Finally, check out an article from Jordan at High on Poker for another take on Heads Up Strategy. I’ve got my theories, he’s got his - that’s what’s great about the game of poker, there’s no one correct way to play any type of game!
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Erin: posts small blind $10
Tim: posts big blind $15
** Note here that the small blind isn’t half of the big blind, this isn’t too common, but happens sometimes.
We’re going to be playing as Joe here
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Joe [Ah Js]
Johnny: calls $15 – matching the blind
Bridget: calls $15 – matching the blind
Larry: folds – he’s out of the hand
Joe: raises $15 to $30 – raises the initial bet of $15
Erin: folds – she’s out of the hand
Tim: calls $15 – matching the raise
Johnny: calls $15- matching the raise
Bridget: calls $15 – matching the raise
*** FLOP *** [7s 8s Ts]
Tim: checks – has the option to bet, but declines
Johnny: bets $15 – he doesn’t raise because no one has bet yet on the flop.
Bridget: folds – out of the hand
Joe: raises $15 to $30 – now it’s called a raise.
Tim: folds – out of the hand
Johnny: raises $15 to $45 – another raise
Joe: raises $15 to $60 – another raise
Johnny: calls $15 – matches my raise
*** TURN *** [7s 8s Ts] [Kd]
Johnny: bets $30 – bet, not raise
Joe: calls $30 – match the bet
*** RIVER *** [7s 8s Ts Kd] [9s]
Johnny: bets $30
Joe: raises $30 to $60
Johnny: raises $30 to $90
Joe: raises $30 to $120
Johnny: calls $30
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Joe: shows [Ah Js] (a straight flush, Seven to Jack)
Moving along now - betting structures is the topic.
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I told you I would give you some more poker gizmos and gadgets to try out. This one is my new personal favorite - and while it’s not really a gadget per se, it will take your game to a new level. I, a two and a half year veteran of the game, am learning things every day by subscribing to this site, and while it is a bit pricy, look at it as an investment, not a purchase, and you’ll feel a heckuva lot better about it. So what is this site you ask? The site is PokerXFactor, and it features training from two of the top internet professionals, JohnnyBax and Sheets. As a subscriber, you get to watch animated hand histories from Bax and Sheets, all the while listening to their commentary as the hand history proceeds. They will pause hands and give a thorough analysis, tell you their thought processes, and really make you think more clearly about the game of poker. Don’t just take it from me, this is an email I got from a friend of mine that is also part of the XFactor family:
******
I just wanted to say that anyone who plays in tournaments like you do and hasn’t seen the videos on pxf is wasting their money. I mean, not in a literal sense, because you are winning. But it might just be the difference between cashing and not cashing, winning or finishing 5th. Seriously, these things are awesome. I haven’t played an MTT since I subscribed last week (I haven’t had time) nor have I played much at all. Still, I feel like I’m building confidence by just watching these videos. It’s worth watching them over and over, too, so that you recognize like situations and can apply it when you do play. This, along with reading the Harrington books again, is giving me another look at poker. It seems that the process of learning and re-learning never stops, but PXF is a CHEAP lesson that you can’t afford to pass up. And, I saw Bax say to one of his tables, when someone told him that it was too expensive, that they are thinking of raising prices. Get in while you can get in for the cheap price. It’ll be a great couple hundred (I did the neteller method for just under $200 and I’m paid through June or something like that). I think it’s a worthwhile investment for that cash that you just won. It only takes one tournament to pay for itself.
Anyway, I know I’m gushing about it, but I’m addicted to these videos. This is a hobby for me, but I’m hoping to simply cash large enough soon to take out another 3-month payment to neteller and extend my membership. If I can just play for these lessons for a while I’ll be happy!
*****
Seriously, go get yourself a better poker knowledge base. If you’re here, you obviously want to learn about the game, so here’s your ticket to taking your game to an even higher level! Enjoy!
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This site is dedicated to helping you, the reader, become a better poker player, and while this post doesn’t do it directly, I want to give you my opinion and a little added information on PokerStars.First of all, I will address my post title - PokerStars does have new themes, and just as important, resizable tables. There are ten new themes and two new card decks, so there is plenty of mixing and matching that you can do. The themes are named as follows: No images theme, shiny theme, marine theme, stars theme, hyper-simple theme, saloon theme, and the renaissance theme, which comes in teal, green, red, and purple. I’ve grouped all of them into a single screen shot, with their labels in the chat window. The images come courtesy of the poker stars software, but there is a site that addresses the new changes, and can be found here. The resizable tables are great as well - you can make them as small or as big as you want. You lose a little bit of quality when you make them bigger, but not enough to make a difference. A little bit more can be learned from Stars’ page addressing the resizing.
I wanted to let you know about this update because I think that you should really consider PokerStars when you decide that you want to delve into online poker. The team at PokerStars is always trying to make their customers happy, as is every other site, but I think the difference with Stars is they act on their promises and they focus on the right changes. I loved the 180 person $20 SNG idea, the deep stack tournament idea, and now the themes. They really do a good job of catering to everyone in some way, shape or form.
As a new online player, you most likely want to focus on becoming better. If you have problems with customer service, your deposits and cashouts, or the overall quality of the site in general, whether you like it or not, you will be distracted, and that can hamper your necessary positive attitude towards the game of poker. I’ll be honest, I don’t think that PokerStars has the best blind structure for my type of play; I believe that award goes to UltimateBet. I don’t think that the tournaments that PokerStars runs are all that great because they all have 1000+ people in them. I can overlook these things, however, because of the multitude of positives they have working for them. They have the best selection of everything, and I’ve never had any problems with them.
To close this post out, I give you one challenge: if you are thinking about starting/continuing/branching out on internet poker, give Stars a try - they’re legit, and they’re constantly getting better.
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I always wonder what it would be like to go back a few years to when I first started playing texas hold em on the internet. I want to see A) How horrible I was, and B) the way everyone else played the game at the time. I have a pretty good idea of what A would look like, but B intrigues me. I have a feeling that players were a lot less aggressive than they are now, and Wachovia at PocketFives tends to agree with me. His article, What a Drastic Change, takes a look at the changes he has noticed in the internet poker game just in the last nine months. I have a feeling you’ll be able to relate to this article.For those of you that have played on the internet over the past few years, I think you understand what I’m talking about when I say that I raise 6-10X the BB early in a tournament because I know even with the monster raise, I will still get callers 9 out of 10 times.
You know what I’m talking about when I put my whole stack, 1500, when the pot is only 700, into a flop where I hit top pair and there is a flush draw on board.
It’s easy to justify any move you make in poker, and it seems like there are more ways to justify the aggressive moves than there are to justify passive moves. It seems that giving yourself a chance to double up is always better than folding a strong hand in hopes that a better opportunity will come along.
I’m not saying any of this is bad, in fact, it may be a good thing that players are willing to put more money in the pot than they should. As a poker player, you must be able to adapt to all situations, and with the abundance of aggressive players out there, you will sure as hell have an opportunity to adjust your game accordingly and find a successful strategy to counter these players.
What is that strategy? Well, that I really can’t tell you, and here’s why: let’s assume you’re a baseball player - if I tell you that you must stand like Albert Pujols in the batters box, you probably won’t be successful because you don’t feel comfortable with his stance. If that was the key to hitting, everyone would stand like him at the plate. You are more successful at the plate with a stance that you feel comfortable with. Such is poker - you must find a strategy that you feel comfortable with - stay within yourself and hopefully success will follow.
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If there are some of you out there that still believe hold ‘em is all about the cards, why don’t you read this post on the anatomy of a hand written by delaRaine on PocketFives.If that post alone doesn’t help you improve your game, here are a couple things that just might improve your game:
PokerTracker - PokerTracker gives you the ability to keep track of every hand you play at every table on every site. This is not only good for record keeping, but can be good to get information on you and your opponent. Here is a solid review/tutorial of the program, courtesy of Poker Source Online. I might add that one of my favorite statistics to look at is the % of the time seeing a flop. I think that tells a lot about the style of play a certain player chooses to employ at the table.
Poker Stove - a hand analyzer that can be downloaded, giving quicker access to a player who is wondering what % of the time AA beats QJ on a 9 10 J flop. Just open the program up and keep it open. I get tired of keeping a website open for extended periods of time, and it’s a chore sifting through all my bookmarks, so this keeps it simple for me. It’s also free, which can’t be a bad thing, right?
There are plenty more tools out there, but I don’t want to overload you right away - I’ll be posting more helpful poker tools periodically, so keep checking back to see how you can elevate your game.
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