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Strategy: bluff-catching

December 02, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy, Stuart Rutter No Comments →

Bluff catching

You may have heard of a hand being a “bluff catcher,” but what does it mean? You may even have heard that you can “turn your hand into a bluff catcher,” but how exactly can you do that? Bluff catching is a topic that brings with it plenty of misapprehensions. I’m going to explain what a bluff catcher is after first looking at what I consider to be one of the biggest ever poker misapprehensions:

Erik Seidel vs Johnny Chan, WSOP 1988

(YouTube link http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KC_BETBgWxk) (more…)

The most common misconception in poker

October 02, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy No Comments →

The most common misconception in poker

There is nothing that many poker players like more than a good debate. You will hear statements in cardrooms everywhere like “it’s never right to slow play aces,” and “I would never put all my money in with ace-king, it’s just ace high.” These kind of statements will cause a lot of debate, but are in some part true. (more…)

Multi-Table Poker Play at 32Red Poker

September 05, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy, Stuart Rutter 1 Comment →

The advantages of multi-tabling

The idea of multi-tabling has become increasingly popular in online poker. What is it, and is it a good idea? Multi-tabling embraces the idea that the correct way to play Hold’em is to fold most hands before the flop. Therefore, each one table is idle for much of the time, and it becomes possible to play on more than one table.

How many tables can you play?

If you are planning to add more tables, it is worth increasing steadily as some practice is required, but you will quickly be able to add more tables. I usually play 6 six-handed ring games at the same table, but the recent software improvements on the 32Red online poker site have allowed me to increase to eight tables with some ease.  (more…)

Hand Decision Point

July 31, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy 2 Comments →

Hand Decision Point

Let’s put you in a tough situation:-

In the early stages of a tournament, we are playing a stack of 8,000. We are happy to look down at King of Spades - Hand Decision PointKing of Hearts - Hand Decision Point, and raise to 350 in early position. We have caller on the button. We put him on a good hand, but within a wide range at this early stage. The flop is a decent looking Queen of Hearts - Hand Decision PointSix of Clubs - Hand Decision PointFive of Spades - Hand Decision Point, and we bet out for 600. The caller now raises to 1,800. A call here would leave us with 5,850. It is time to think… (more…)

Escaping the Marginal Hand

July 07, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy No Comments →

Escaping the marginal hand

You hold Ten of Spades - Stuart RutterEight of Spades - Stuart Rutter in the small blind, and call a raise from the button to see the flop four-way. The board comes Eight of Hearts - Stuart RutterSeven of Hearts - Stuart RutterFive of Clubs - Stuart Rutter, and you lead out with a bet. It is passed round to the player on the button, who puts in a big re-raise to put you all in. What do you do (more…)

Bluffing the Continuation Bet - Part 2

June 14, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy No Comments →

Bluffing the Continuation Bet - Part 2

In the part one, we began to look at the valuable move of playing back at a continuation bettor. We have looked at how best to bluff, at the best type of flops to choose, and will now look at the right type of bluffing hands to play with:

It is the late stages of a poker tournament, you have the biggest stack at the table, and are looking to put other players under pressure. A mid position player raises, and bets 4,000 on a Ten of Diamonds - Bluffing the Continuation BetThree of Spades - Bluffing on the Continuation BetTwo of Clubs - Bluffing the Continuation Bet flop. This leaves him with 12,000 behind, and the pot stands at 9,000. You have a marginal hand, and are planning to pull the all-in move to put your opponent to a decision. What type of marginal hand would you like to have? (more…)

Bluffing the Continuation Bet - Part 1

June 02, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy 2 Comments →

Bluffing the Continuation Bet - Part 1

A player has raised in mid position, and you make the call from the small blind with 10 of Diamonds - Bluffing the Continuation BetNine of Diamonds - Bluffing the Continuation Bet. The flop misses you completely, coming Queen of Hearts - Bluffing the Continuation BetSeven of Clubs - Bluffing the Continuation BetThree of Diamonds - Bluffing the Continuation Bet. You check, and your opponent bets two thirds of the pot. You have no idea what he has, but you do know that he tends to make a continuation bet on the flop with a massive range of hands. (more…)

The Value Bet

May 26, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy No Comments →

The Art of a Value Bet

As a good player, you know that it is crucial to try to squeeze the most out of your value bets when you hold the winning hand. Chips are lost not only every time you lose a pot, but every time you win a pot and do not get the maximum value out of your hand.  (more…)

Master Slow Play

May 25, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy No Comments →

The most overused play in poker: the slow play

Slow playing a big hand in poker is often seen as being the height of cunning. It can be a very effective play, but the slow play is a strategy often overused. Failure to play certain hands more actively routinely costs players a lot of chips.

There are two types of hands to consider here. Firstly, you will sometimes flop a hand so strong that you can give your opponents a free card without risk of them outdrawing you. (more…)

Flop Texture

May 07, 2008 By: trickyrock Category: Poker Strategy No Comments →

The Texture of The Flop - The all-Important Piece of Information

“I had Ace of Hearts - Flop TextureTen of Hearts - Flop Texture, the flop came Jack of Diamonds - Flop Texture10 of Diamonds - Flop TextureNine of Spades - Flop Texture, and I bet the pot. My opponent went all in. I was stuck, I had no idea what he had…”

It should come as no great surprise that our opponent went all-in here. Why?
The texture of the flop is so good. There are so many hands that our opponent could have which have hit a good piece of this flop, and with which he could go all-in. (more…)

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