Pacific Poker

Treating Losing Streaks


24 Oct , 2008 - Posted by Dan Brown in Texas Holdem Tips

Sooner or later you will hit a downswing it does not matter how great of a Poker player that you are. Every now and then it is due to bad play and from time to time it is due to bad luck. In spite of of the motive, at a variety of point in a poker player’s career they will hit a downswing and must learn some way to deal with it.

Primary, assess your game. Look at unusual feature and decide if there are any holes in your Poker Games that may be helping to extend your losing streak. Are you bluffing in spots that you should not? Are you running after hands with no proper odds? Start asking queries about every aspect of your game. You may even want to bring in the help of one more players to talk about your game. If you are a usual Online Poker player, you may want to have them watch you play a session online and give you some comment on what they see.

After that, tense up up your play at the poker tables. It is more often than not bad to become a total rock, but sometimes that is what is needed in order to get back on track. A lot of players do not want to go to this approach since playing tight poker is very boring. Poker players want battle. Action for the sake of action will extend a losing streak. Show some control and rock up a bit.

Reflect on dropping a level. Personality is usually the big obstruction in most players taking this step. People are uncomfortable to have to move down. They feel they are not as capable of a poker player or are concerned what people will think.

In wrapping up, when all else fails, you have to walk away for a while. A poker buddy that is a regular player on the poker circuit was having a bad run in 2006 and went for over 6 months without cashing in a single tournament. More often than not this would not be so bad except for the fact that he played in at least one of the poker tournaments set a month. He was losing money hand over fist at the tables. As a final point, he decided that he was going to leave. Not just did he leave the poker tables, he left the country. He together with his family went on vacation to Mexico. On the first two events he played in, he won when he came back. The subsequent event he played in he made the final table and finished third. He made over $100,000 in the span of 3 days.

Losing streaks take place to us all. While riding out the streak works many times, a moment or two further measures need to be taken in order to right the ship. Look at things impartially and you will ultimately come up with the proper route of action to get back to the win column in Texas Holdem.

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Women can be Tricky Poker Players


21 Oct , 2008 - Posted by Dan Brown in Texas Holdem Tips

When playing women men need to be careful. There was player in a
Limit Texas Holdem tournament in 2007 in Las Vegas. There was a very well brilliant middle aged woman that a lot of men liked to flirt with. She was not drop dead gorgeous or anything like that, but she had a certain aggressive way about her that men were drawn to.

She almost always won the pot on the river if they were challenged past the flop. She literally flirted her way out of a guy betting into her a couple of times. One time, she looked at the guy, reached down and squeezed her breast together and gave the guy a sly look while he was reaching for Online Poker chips. The guy laughed so hard that he resolute to check and the river card finished her draw and she won the hand.

In another instance another happened to flop a straight, but there was a possible flush draw on the board. She touched the player’s arm and went, “You would raise little old me would you?” as she bet out and the Poker player went to raise and replid, “Pot.” She just gave him a stare as to say, “I can’t believe you did this?” She called the bet. The turn fell a blank and the bet was checked to the player. He potted again and the woman folded.

Unfortunately she has worked her routine so well that they fall for it for the men. Women in Poker Games today have not only learned how to play the game, but some have begun to play the player by using men’s own hormones against them. Women even advise that other women use this as a tactic. Annie Duke mentioned in her biography that other women must utilize this tactic.

Watch a few things about her if she is overly flirty or chatty with the other men when you see a fairly attractive woman sit down at your poker table. Pay attention to whether she changes the way she acts while she is in a hand and when she talks to them. Women will do everything from start somewhat off-putting conversations to give puppy dog eyes to their male opponents.

Older women distract their male opponents or younger opponents and will actually try certain “friendly” techniques to try. This older woman player in Atlantic City is the master of “playing friendly.” She is really a very nice lady away from the table, but when she draw more free cards by smiling and talking polite than any other person. When she wants to bet she goes from friendly to the “you better not call me” face.

Not all women are going to use these types of tactics in the poker tournaments. Some will try and hold their own with the men at the table because of either personality or because they want to earn your admiration. Every situation is different as with all things poker. Women can be just as tricky as guys. These examples were prearranged to help you look out for some possible pitfalls when playing against female opponents. The difference is that women frequently have more self-discipline and have a few more tricks that their male opponents.

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An Adequate Bankroll Equals a Happier Poker Game


21 Oct , 2008 - Posted by Dan Brown in Texas Holdem Tips

Texas Holdem and Poker is all about making good decisions in general and money is just a way of maintaining the score. But you can’t play if you don’t have money.   Both online and live is playing games that are higher than their bankroll is a problem that is time and again with poker players.

Playing beyond your bankroll means that the limits you are playing do not permit for usual swings that you notice in all poker games. Example, a person that decides to go to a casino and play in $5-$10 Limit Holdem with only a $500 bankroll is playing way above his bankroll.

This blunder isn’t limited to amateur poker players. A player in this past World Series of Poker decided that he was going to go round professional with a $10,000 bankroll. He started out playing levels that were sensible to his bankroll, but then decided that he would be seated in on Poker Games as high as $50-$100. Sorrowfully, his bankroll was not enough to take any losing streaks, and when the streak came, his bankroll was removed as a result. He is not an amateur player, but he ended up paying the price for making a poor decision with his bankroll.

Many Online Poker players have a few winning sitting at one level that they can move up and stay at a higher level. You are committing professional suicide if your bankroll cannot support this. Big poker bets for any level in Limit Poker is 200 to 300 are a healthy bankroll. You need $2,000 to $3,000 to be able to effectively handle swings in if you are playing $5-$10  most Limit Holdem cases.

A game is so good that it is worth taking a shot every now and then. There was a player who played a $5-$10 Limit Holdem game about a year ago and several of the players are at the table. The only well-mannered players were rocks. The player technically did not have the bankroll at the time to play $5-$10, but decided that he would take the matching of a couple buy-INS at a lower level and take a shot. The game only lasted a couple of hours after the player sat down and ended up $150. That is with reference to 7 ½ big bets per hour.

Taking a shot at the next level and refuse to move back down is an additional mistake often made by folks. Some players will take the right move to make up their bankroll to play at the next level and when they do not do well at that level, decline to move back down. While at other times they have ran into a bad run of luck, sometimes it is a lack of overall skill.

A key factor in being able to play poker long term is managing a bankroll. Those who fail to do so risk being trapped on the rail or having to find other sources to support their poker career.

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Virgin Poker

A Short Stack Play


21 Oct , 2008 - Posted by Dan Brown in Texas Holdem Tips

Working a short stack is part well timed antagonism and part luck. You must begin with knowing the opponents at your Online Poker table. Which are the players that you may be able to take from, who are the players that will call your bet with any two cards and are there any chip leaders at your table are some of the things you should keep in mind. A chip leader will take an opening to knock you out other than someone middle or lower in chips may not risk smarting their stack. So you would want to try and select on the players with middle to lower stacks if you can.

To begin with, when you are the short stack and you pick up a big hand, there is only one move. And that is well thought-out an all-in. Do not lay down yourself up with a tricky decision after the flop. Make your Poker opponent to the test by putting them to the risk doubling you up. If you pick up a hand, get as much value for it as you can for the reason that you are getting to the point where you almost have to move in with any two cards.

After that, if you are short and approaching desperation mode, especially if the antes go up and if you are close up to the end of a level, occasionally it is clever to remain until the level change. This will place more money into the pot pre-flop. If waiting will make your shove worthless, do not do this. There was in an event once where a poker player had a practical hand to draw near with on the final hand of the level but with the deed chose to wait until the next level in the Poker Games since the blinds and ante’s would be up. Because he was nowhere near the blinds, he could give a few hands while the antes were not too bad. He picked up a suited ace and moved in during the first hand of the next level. He in fact doubled up and called, but because he waited a level, he picked up an extra 525 that he wouldn’t have had if he did not wait.

In addition, you could do with being the antagonist in the pot. The instance above actually had the player a better ace the previous hand before he moved in, but there were numerous players in the pot. With this to a great extent action, it would be hard to promise a heads-up game for all my chips. You want to be the first raiser or the first person into the Pot Limit Texas Holdem. This will allocate you to at least apply some pressure.

You need to make some moves in order to get some Texas Holdem poker chips when short stacked. You will not always be knocked out and successful, but the times that you are doing well will pay off and in addition help out to put up your icon as a survivor.

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Holdem Poker: The Limp-Reraise Move


21 Oct , 2008 - Posted by Dan Brown in Texas Holdem Tips

A favorite tactic in Texas Hold’em Poker at sit-n-go tournaments is something called limp-reraise. This is best used at a table where one or two of your opponents tend to do a lot of raising or like to try and steal your blinds often. This usually happens to Poker players who give off a tight and solid playing attitude. In poker terms, this move mean calling the blind bet during the pre-flop round of betting without making a raise. Some may call this move “limping into the pot” or simply a “limp-reraise”. The limp-reraise is a valuable countermove against hyper aggressive players and can be very beneficial.

Let us look at this example. Player A was playing on a table that had raised a lot and took a pot of him with a semi-bluff on the river. He was in early position and looked down to pocket kings. Player B, who raised a lot, looked like he was on the verge of raising again and was also on the button. Player A then used the limp-reraise technique. Another player raised the pot but does not get out. He instead reraised the pot and then Player A moves all in. The flop came with a king and gave Player A a set and most of his Poker opponents chip stack.

This is a good example of the limp-reraise strategy. However, there are some disadvantages to using this technique. One is that when you limp, there is a good possibility that nobody will raise. When this happens, the other players will be able to see a flop and outdraw you. Second, if you do this with a hand such as jack or maybe queens, you run the risk of running into kings or aces.

This is a move that when executed correctly can accomplish a couple of things. It can win you chips. It can also confuse your Poker opponents. Once you establish that you are capable of pulling off this move with monsters, your opponents will think twice about raising you when they hold strong hands. Use this move when you find yourself in the middle of a very aggressive game. It does not work well in rocky games as it will cost you money and will make you look like a beginner. But in any case, the rationale for using this move depends on you and how comfortable you are with reading your opponents. Players who are new at this will not be as daring to play such a strong hand past the flop because they are not yet as skilled in reading hands. Try to mix it up in your play and watch the results come pouring in.

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