tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34531520694993679742008-02-16T11:49:30.221ZTrevorBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-39093725411030910032008-02-15T21:31:00.008Z2008-02-16T11:49:30.256Z

For various reasons it's been a while since I've played any poker. Last night I went back on my favourite poker site, PKR, and played a single table tourney. It seems Lady Luck is miffed that I've been ignoring her... Since I knew I was out of practice I went into careful, tight play mode, waiting for the right moment. Unfortunately I was dealt nothing but rubbish. Not a starting pair in sight,

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-77077884459472144212008-01-04T15:40:00.000Z2008-01-04T16:11:20.782Z

2008 is now well and truly upon us, so Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you've recovered from the Hogmanay celebrations! I don't do New Year Resolutions - they're just excuses to fail. (Everyone knows we all break our resolutions). What I do like to do is planning - and this is a good time for some. So, what's the plan for 2008? How can I improve my poker? The first step in looking forwards

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-11274157675934927602007-11-28T09:50:00.000Z2007-11-28T10:09:59.149Z

In poker as with many other games of skill the strategy that works against one opponent may not work against another. More generally the strategy that works against one style of play may not work against another. This leads to an interesting effect whereby we can sometimes see "waves" of strategy. When I started playing poker fairly seriously I read lots of books. Most were at least a few years

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-83271691106691092772007-11-15T13:02:00.000Z2007-11-15T13:20:48.723Z

I've just been reading an interview with Bill Edler in Bluff Magazine. In it he comments that there is "tons more" luck in tournament poker than in cash games. As a great tourney fan I was all ready to get offended by this. Tournament and cash games need different skills, but they're both just as skillful. Then I got to this line: "Until science significantly elongates human life, tournament

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-631595733247237852007-11-07T16:29:00.000Z2007-11-07T16:58:34.914Z

I said I was out of practice and last night at the Nuts proved it - my game didn't last long. By the second blind level my stack was already running dangerously short. I was dealt A-10 in late position. Everyone folded round to me and I made a standard bet. Dealer called and big blind checked, leaving three of us in the pot. Flop was rags and big blind made a small bet which we both called. Turn

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-58300456766003529622007-11-06T15:45:00.000Z2007-11-06T15:57:36.925Z

For various reasons I haven't played much poker over the last few weeks. This evening I'm going down the The Nuts so I thought I'd get in a bit of practice online at PKR. Oh boy. I was a braying fish. I lost at every table I tried. I can't even blame lady luck - I just played badly. Fortunately I follow the poker prime directive, so no serious harm has been done to my bankroll. Just my pride.

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-75932440267700073262007-11-05T16:35:00.000Z2007-11-05T18:08:25.415Z

This poker hand must have required a very fresh cup of really strong tea:

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-7305986964286436302007-10-17T11:37:00.000+01:002007-10-17T11:56:09.326+01:00

Sometimes it's possible to think too much. Last night at The Nuts Poker we were still on the first blind level and I was dealt A-3. I made my standard raise and everyone folded except the short stack who called. The flop came down with an ace, at which point I checked and the short stack went all in. My instinct was to fold - I had a bad kicker and and no flush draw. My stack was far from huge

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-29577064948769887452007-10-08T10:28:00.000+01:002007-10-08T10:34:02.492+01:00

If you play online poker tournaments - multi-table or sit 'n' go - for any length of time you'll come across "Double or Done" (DorD) players. So what is "Double or Done"? "D or D" could also stand for "Do or Die". It's a strategy for no-limit, no-rebuy tourneys that involves pushing all your money into an early big pot on a coin flip hand. If you lose you're out. But if you win... you've doubled

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-48401614216987995602007-10-06T20:41:00.000+01:002007-10-07T13:22:30.946+01:00

"Don't Go Broke With One Pair" is a line I came across in Phil Gordon's excellent Little Green Book. It's a simple piece of advice that's saved my bacon many times. A pair is a great hand to be dealt pre-flop, but it can also be a trap. With a decent pair it's easy to get carried away and convince yourself that you've got the best hand. After all, you've been dealt pocket Kings or Aces how could

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-52183986059914420502007-09-19T11:53:00.000+01:002007-09-19T11:57:21.268+01:00

Before playing poker online I always try to get in at least a short session on the PS2. I've found that this gives me a fairly reliable idea of how my luck is running. Am I in for a good day where all the cards fall my way? Or is it "one of those days" where nothing will go right for me and I'm better off not risking real money? My virtual bankroll is acting as a canary down the poker mine shaft

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-7362856119868828832007-09-13T08:32:00.000+01:002007-09-13T08:41:19.161+01:00

It's now two months since I started playing poker online for real money at PKR, so it's a good time to take a step back and see how things are going. Initially I only played tournaments and sit 'n' gos. I've since expanded my play to ring games. I still prefer tourneys, it's just that I rarely have enough time to invest. There's no point starting a tournament hoping to get knocked out before

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-51902448095921153932007-09-02T20:22:00.000+01:002007-09-02T20:38:09.796+01:00

Am I the only one who suffers from "straight blindness"? I hate to think how often I've lost a big pot because I didn't even notice a possible straight developing. It's probably one of the worst leaks in my poker. Hopefully it's not just me who has this problem. It would seem logical that straights are somehow more difficult to see than other hands. Pairs, trips etc are about matching values,

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-27053648889752659322007-09-01T14:54:00.000+01:002007-09-01T18:13:10.645+01:00

Since I openly admit my poker failures I think it's only fair that I'm allowed to brag about my occasional successes: Last night I entered an online tournament and from the field of 246 ended up in 3rd place! Yippee! This being a money game, I won around 25 times by buy-in as a prize for 3rd place. Given the micro-stakes at which I play that doesn't come to much but that's not the point. To

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-44188965656278288202007-08-29T12:26:00.000+01:002007-08-29T12:29:22.139+01:00

Online gaming site Bodog has suddenly gone offline. Apparently there's a nasty legal dispute brewing. Calvin Ayre's explanation simply says it's due to a dispute over domain name ownership. Shoemoney reckons there's more to it than that. If he's right then any precedent could have far wider ramifications than just online poker.

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-59452239483983604522007-08-27T19:47:00.000+01:002007-08-27T20:31:19.004+01:00

Sometimes the poker gods really do seem out to get me. I've had a bad few days, nothing going right. The latest example was a tourney. Dreadful cards, the one time I had good ones another player had better. I was left short stacked but managed to hang on for a while. Eventually I was down to about three big blinds and badly needed some luck. On the small blind I was dealt 9-9, most people

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-56671606079808541732007-08-25T10:43:00.000+01:002007-08-25T10:52:01.310+01:00

So there I am with A-8 diamonds and bet in since it was cheap. The flop comes down with 2 diamonds, 10 diamonds and 5 something else. Possible nut flush so I bet, everyone calls. Turn brings a low diamond, yippee! I bet small, wanting to pump the pot, everyone calls except the guy on my right who raises. Now I know I've got him - he must have a flush as well and my Ace will win - so I reraise.

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-76830428862377188912007-08-23T17:20:00.000+01:002007-08-23T17:27:31.354+01:00

So there I was in a multi-table tournament. About ten places from the bubble and doing very, very well. Everything was going right, I had the deepest stack on my table and was dominating it. I was getting more than my share of good cards and even when I was dealt bad cards I was usually able to bluff and bully the pot to myself. My chip count kept rising and I felt on top of the world. Then I

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-6844990253203935372007-08-23T14:11:00.000+01:002007-08-23T14:16:22.657+01:00

Version 1.3 of PKR online poker has now been released, and very good it looks too. The most visible improvements are extra voices and emotes including a generic "/em" command. Poker professionals sometimes look down their noses at this sort of thing, but for a hobby player like me they make the game a lot more fun and are the main reason I play on PKR. The other major change is - finally - the

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-31080366966542489932007-08-22T12:28:00.000+01:002007-08-22T13:09:11.560+01:00

Last night at The Nuts I witnessed the most amazing example of beginner's luck. One of the people there hadn't played poker before and only came along because she was visiting one of the regulars. Despite this, she managed to personally take down at least six players! The "best" moment came when one player went all in with A-Q. She called with 5-6 suited... and managed to hit three sixes and

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-49098204695948376162007-08-21T12:36:00.000+01:002007-08-21T12:41:29.613+01:00

One of the most satisfying ways of taking down an opponent in poker is with a "reverse bluff" - drawing them in by making them think you've got a poor hand when really you have a monster. Hat tip to Bill Rini for pointing out this masterclass video in how to mislead the opposition by faking a subtle tell that you don't like your cards. I wish I was as quick thinking as this guy:

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-54038920754754776822007-08-20T11:24:00.000+01:002007-08-20T11:29:10.068+01:00

I'm not normally a fan of suited connectors, however one of my favourite hands is Ace-Deuce suited. It probably doesn't make sense statistically. I haven't done the numbers, but I'd guess that compared to any other suited connectors the advantage of having the Ace is outweighed by only having one straight draw instead of four. So why do I like the hand? I think it's largely psychological. I

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-20397193438720975512007-08-16T12:43:00.000+01:002007-08-16T12:50:15.714+01:00

When starting something new it's always worth being aware of your motives. Otherwise you won't know whether you're succeeding or whether you're off course. It's difficult to steer without knowing where you're going. So I sat down to think about why I play poker. It struck me that there are four main motives that are probably common to most people. I call these the "Four 'F's". Fame Poker may

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-60907086284596930122007-08-13T10:13:00.000+01:002007-08-23T17:28:45.039+01:00

Well that was a bad weekend for poker. I didn't finish in the money once either in tourneys or sit & gos. Some of it was bad beats, much was simple bad play. Rather than grumble I'm going to treat it as a learning experience - why did I do so badly? Why did I lose? I can think of two reasons. The first is that I had a lot of other things going on. Things I should have been doing, things I wanted

Trevortag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3453152069499367974.post-34751026866220858252007-08-10T17:28:00.000+01:002007-08-10T17:30:01.195+01:00

It's true what they say: so long as you have a chip and a seat you're in with a chance. This afternoon I played a 10 person "Sit and Go" on PKR. Very early on I was seduced by seeing two aces in the pocket, misread the board badly and ended up being reduced to a tiny number of chips and the probability of being first out before the blinds even went up. Yet somehow I managed to ratchet my play

Valeyard