Looking back, looking forward, looking stunned

Dublin, Day two

It had been just as much fun as the first day, and always such an important bonus to play in the friendly Irish atmosphere. Things were going well too, and my stack had steadily increased to 190k. Of course there had been a couple of mistakes, and probably a ton of things that I could have done better, but the tournament seemed to be coming along well. Read more

Dom Classics, Utrecht

I’ll be travelling to destination unknown on Thursday, when I make my way to Utrecht for the Dom Classics of Poker. It’s a 2,500 Euro Main Event, and seems to be some kind of Dutch Poker Tour. Luckily,  Utrecht turns out to be not too far from Amsterdam, and it will be interesting to see a new town in a country I’m very fond of. I’ll be updating on here from Thursday!

I was checking out more precisely how the European Rankings work, and realised that I probably have the wrong game plan! The system seems a good one, as it weights points based on your finishing position(within the final nine), the number of players, and the size of the buy-in. However, their weighting for the buy-in size is very shallow, and makes little difference as you move up the stakes. A 250 Euro event gets a weighting of 2,5, increasing to 2,500 Euros only makes that up to 4.5, and even the biggest events are just 5.5. Read more

A question of economics

I was asked a question by Micky McCool, that is interesting enough to warrant a whole article. Micky is a good friend who I had been chatting to in Galway, who asked this question to me:

Stuart, we both spoke briefly in Galway on financial issues with regards to the British Pound’s demise. How will this effect the recent poker boom in England, how will effect young players trying to progress and how will it effect British players trying for glory in Europe with the bigger comps? Read more

Ask Stuart “TrickyRock” Rutter

32Red Poker and Stuart “TrickyRock” Rutter invite blog readers to ask Stuart questions. Rated as one of the UK’s finest young poker players, Stuart has made a lasting impression on the circuit and on this poker blog, where his frank posts have meant he has developed a close following of both professional and amateur players. Now it’s your chance to get the answers you need to improve your game. Simply ask you question via a comment and Stuart will answer as soon as he can.

If you need any more information about our online poker then visit the 32Red Poker website or drop our poker manager a line on nicholas@32red.com.

The year flips upside down. A run of luck, and the final table of the Big one!

For all the good things about poker, the great thing is hope. I’ve had a disappointing year in live poker, such miserable luck, and yet every new poker tournament brings such hope. If I could have chosen one to run good in at the start of the year, it might just have been this one. This is effectively the English Final of poker- the GUKPT Grand Final at the Vic- and it means so much to me.
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The most common misconception in poker

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. Read more

Into Day two at EPT Barcelona

So, I’ve crept into the second day here at the first leg of the EPT in Barcelona. I only have 14,500 in chips, but am excited to be returning with some kind of shot today. Not too much time to write unfortuantely, as I felt straight asleep yesterday after eight hours tough play! Here are some of the key and most interesting hands of the day Read more

Gone far too early at GUKPT Bolton!

Hey guys, I’ve just busted from the latest GUKPT event in rainy Bolton, in just the third level of the day. I wanted to describe the crucial exit hand, partly to give myself a chance to think about the hand, but mainly to share with you the kind of thinking I try to do after I have made a mistake in a tournament. Sorry that I have written the hand in note form, but I hope it’s hopeful to keep a running tab of the pot size, and my thoughts on the hand. Read more

The Art of a Value Bet

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. Read more

Hand Decision Point

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 , 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 , 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… Read more

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