Editor’s note: This is Lesson #10 in our weekly “Strategy with Stas” series. Each and every Sunday Stas Tishkevich, founder of the Poker Fighter Training App, brings you a new lesson in article + video format. We hope you enjoy this feature from the Poker Fighter School, and would be happy for you to share these posts — as well as your feedback — on social media.
Action is folded to the player in dealer position, who open-raises the pot. Most players will open-raise a wide range from this position, at least 35% of possible starting hands, and our king-queen suited is ahead of this opening range, so we should almost always re-raise (3-bet) our hand in this spot.
Just calling from the big-blind with ace-jack suited is possible if we play vs. a tight small-blind, or vs. a very aggressive small-blind that 4-bets too much.
So we re-raise from the big-blind and the small-blind calls, which usually means a capped range.
A Capped Range in this case means that the opponent doesn’t have the best possible hands pre-flop, such as pocket aces, pocket kings, pocket queens, pocket jacks, or ace-king, while we do have these hands because we would re-raise them pre-flop.
The flop comes 6h-4s-3h, which is a very wet flop, as it allows for a made straight, flush draws, and also straight draws.
We are out of position and have a medium drawing hand – two over-cards and a backdoor to the flush.
So, we need to make a decision. Our possible lines here are to give-up or bet as a bluff.
Betting as a Bluff is a good idea if we think that the opponent is going to fold quite often. He can fold stronger hands than ours such as an ace-high, and fold hands that have equity vs. us such as broadways. A smart bluff will be a bluff in which we have decent amount of cards that can improve our hand in the following streets.
Giving up is a good idea if we think there is a very small chance that the opponent will fold his hand to our bet, either because he calls too much or because the flop hits well his perceived calling range pre-flop.
So, given all of this information, our line here on the flop would be to bet our hand as a bluff.
If the dealer calls, we can semi-bluff any spade on the turn, or maybe bet again as a bluff on high turn cards such as an ace, jack or ten. If a king or a queen comes, we can bet for thin value or check to bluff-catch depending on the tendencies and weaknesses of our opponent.
If the dealer raises our flop bet, it’s a super-easy decision as we have only a king-high, thus folding would be the correct move. Most players would raise this flop with very strong hands such as two-pair (64s, 43s), sets and made straights (75s). Even if he bluff-raises with a flush draw or straight draw, his hands have a lot of equity vs. our holding.
The main point we need to understand here on the flop is that on when we have medium drawing hands, our bluff on the flop is usually less likely to lose than just giving up on the hand, especially if we can carry on with semi-bluff on later streets when the next card adds equity to our hand.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen new content on the Solve for Why Academy’s YouTube page, but luckily for fans of great poker entertainment it appears that the drought will end soon.
Starting with Episode 1 of the Solve for Why Chronicles in April 2017, the poker training school has consistently churned out some of the most well-produced poker content in the industry. The final episode (for now) of the Solve for Why Chronicles was posted in June 2018, but that made way for another series that was truly the hidden gem of the 2018 World Series of Poker.
The Results May Vary WSOP vlog aired for eight episodes, documenting the WSOP experience through the eyes of Solve for Why founders Matt Berkey, Jordan Young, and Christian Soto, as well as other members of the team and the Pigtails Production crew. Results May Vary is a hilarious and binge-worthy series, so if you haven’t seen it yet, we encourage you to check out some of the episodes we’ve put together in this article.
Solve for Why simultaneously produced another series during the WSOP, titled Inside the WSOP. Let’s take a look at some of the best episodes from all three of these series, and we’ll talk to Berkey and Soto about the future of the Solve for Why YouTube channel.
Within the first two minutes of the debut episode, we know we’re in for something special with the Results May Vary WSOP vlog. This series chronicles the WSOP exploits of the Solve for Why team, with highly-entertaining results.
“I absolutely loved making the Results May Vary series,” Berkey says. “Justin Tyrrell and Travis Linder at Pigtails Production had a vision of bringing a bit of a lighter look at the grind that is the WSOP and I think they nailed it.”
In Episode 1, the Solve for Why team tackles the tough questions and gets to the heart of what the WSOP is all about:
The Solve for Why crew decides to have a little fun with an ongoing “feud” between Berkey and Doug Polk. The crew comes to the rescue and gets a bedridden Berkey back up and running again after he falls into deep depression as a result of the feud.
“I can probably speak for the entire team when I say Episode 18 is by far some of our best work, and the funniest poker vlog episode I have seen done yet,” Soto says. “The Matt Berkey vs. Doug Polk ‘feud’ made for some good content!”
This episode also features Soto taking Berkey’s Maserati out for an unauthorized spin, a trip to Disneyland, and highlights from a Live at the Bike session featuring an incredible lineup that includes Berkey, Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Doug Polk, Ryan Fee, Jason McConnon, Dan Merrilees, and Garrett Adelstein:
It’s Main Event time for the team, and one of the highlights of the entire Results May Vary series comes at 4:52 of this video, after Berkey has been eliminated from the tournament. He gives us a hilarious rant about the experience of playing in the Main Event while preparing food for himself at the Solve for Why HQ, and this segment is truly must-see.
Throughout the WSOP, the Solve for Why team were filming and producing both the Results May Vary and Inside the WSOP vlogs, along with a heavy playing schedule.
“This past summer was a lot for all of us to undertake; we were certainly spread too thin,” Berkey says. “Most of our time collectively was spent playing, but we also were putting in 10 hours a week or so creating content.”
“Everything from the Results May Vary series to the Inside the WSOP series to preparing content for the August launch of S4Y TV, all of the coaches were being asked to wear a lot of hats while attempting to win some hardware. Coincidentally, Matt Hunt almost did exactly that with an impressive second place finish in one of the $1k turbo bracelet events.”
We’ll take a look at Solve for Why coach Matt Hunt running deep in that $1k turbo later in this piece, but for now let’s take in Results May Vary Episode 6:
Berkey finds himself in a tough spot when a seat in a $1k/$2k cash game opens up at the high-stakes Ivey’s room inside the Aria. The dilemma – Matt is playing online at the time and is the chip leader in a $100k guaranteed tournament on WSOP.com.
He makes the choice to head down to the Aria and get into the cash game, and on the way he plays in the tournament on his phone for as long as he can. The cash game ends up playing huge, with $4k/$8k double straddles as the norm.
This episode of Inside the WSOP gives us chance to take in some high-stakes hand analysis from Berkey, who ends up playing in a couple of huge pots and giving us his perspective on just how crazy it gets on the high-stakes scene in Las Vegas.
We get an inside look at the Solve for Why HQ, which has been transformed into a production studio and living quarters for the team during the WSOP. It turns out that Berkey and the crew are “roughing it” for the summer, in a scenario that’s probably pretty familiar for anyone who’s ever shared a poker house in Las Vegas for the World Series.
Matt Hunt runs deep in the $1k No Limit Hold’em (30-minute levels) event, and we get a look at his run to a second place finish and $159,532 payday:
It’s tough to narrow down this list to just five entries; all of the episodes of these three vlog series are excellent, well-produced and entertaining, and represent some of the best in poker content creation.
The Solve for Why YouTube channel has an extensive library of other content as well, but it’s been a few months since we’ve seen anything new from the Solve for Why crew on the channel. The good news is that’s about to change.
Our YouTube channel will absolutely reemerge at some point. The biggest challenge is creating content for so many different outlets. It’s difficult to pour resources into high-quality free content all while not diluting the content we are producing for our site.
– Matt Berkey
The Solve for Why Academy has been consistently producing video content for its paid subscription service and the YouTube content has been on hold.
The WSOP content from last summer was well received in the poker community, and according to Soto there’s a good chance we’ll get to enjoy more Solve for Why content when the 2019 WSOP rolls around.
“The feedback in terms of the quality of the product was through the roof,” Soto says. “I’m a little sad that it didn’t pick up traction as it pertains to views. I feel this way mostly because of the quality of the production was high end. As it pertains to the Results May Vary series returning, we will see. Something will be on the forefront this summer but I do not want to reveal exactly what it is just yet.”
Cardplayer Lifestyle would like to thank RTG Casinos for their support. We encourage casino game lovers to visit that site where they can choose from a variety of free casino games to play.
Many poker players dream about playing at the World Series of Poker but feel that their bankroll is insufficient for taking a shot at such a high level. According to conservative bankroll management strategy, you ought to have at least a decent five-figure bankroll to compete for a coveted bracelet this summer. With that said, if you want to just play in just one, or perhaps a few tournaments or satellites and feel the unique atmosphere of the 50th Annual World Series of Poker this year, the number doesn’t have to be that large.
Much like getting the best rates on your other investments, if you’ve worked hard to save up money for a poker bankroll and are now ready to put it to use, you want to be sure you get the greatest possible value. This article will recommend selected events from the list of 80 live tournaments and 9 online tournaments being held this summer at the WSOP. The recommendations have been divided into three bankroll levels: Beginner ($1,000 – $2,500), Intermediate ($2,500 – $5,000), and Advanced ($5,000 – $10,000).
Mark your calendars! 📆 The @WSOP begins on May 28th. Who’s planning on attending this year? https://t.co/AOWvzYeHdY 😎 #Poker #WSOP #RioVegas pic.twitter.com/4KZoY6LbPG
— Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas (@RioVegas) March 12, 2019
Top Recommendation: $500 No Limit Hold’em Big 50
The Big 50 carries a $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and at least $1,000,000 for the winner with a buy-in of just $500. It will be one of the first events held during this year’s WSOP festivities, and it will attract many both recreational and professional players from all corners of the globe. What’s so special about this event is that the first buy-in will be rake-free! As such, tournament officials expect at least 10,000 entries in this tournament. The Big 50 will be held during the opening WSOP weekend (Thursday May 30th until Sunday June 2nd) with four starting flights. One re-entry per flight is permitted.
With your $1,000 – $2,500 bankroll, you can register directly for this event, or you could also try satellites, which start with buy-ins as low as $70.
Second Recommendation #2: $400 No Limit Hold’em Colossus
The now-$400-buy-in Colossus is a classic and it’s the cheapest WSOP tournament that is guaranteed to attract an enormous number of players of various skill levels. Thus, even if you have only a basic understanding of poker strategy, you definitely have a chance to succeed here. The Colossus starts on June 26th with two starting flights. There are 16 levels on Day 1, and players start with 40,000 chips and blinds levels of 100/100. Each level will last 40 minutes.
Beyond tournaments, you may wish to try playing satellites to higher buy-in events, $1/$3 cash games and the $150 Daily Deep Stack events. The latter of these are one-day events, guarantee lots of play due to a huge starting stack / big blind ratio, and run every day from May 28th until July 14th. The low-stakes cash games run 24/7 during the WSOP and tend to be far easier to beat than online cash games.
With a bankroll of this size, we are going to stick to entering tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $400 to $1,500. Therefore, you can obviously play in events we’ve recommended to players with smaller bankrolls, but you can also try entering the following No Limit Hold’em tournaments:
Top Recommendation: $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Mini Main Event
The Mini Main Event is debuting at this year’s World Series of Poker. Given the start date (July 1st), which is just before the start of $10,000 Main Event, you can definitely expect a lot of action in this tournament, as many players will be tuning up for “the big one.” Like the Main Event, there is no re-entry allowed in this two-day tournament. Players start with 300 big blinds, and there will be twenty 30-minute levels during Day 1.
Second Recommendation: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Millionaire Maker
The beloved Millionaire Maker guarantees at least $1,000,000 for the winner. It begins on June 7th with two starting flights. One re-entry per flight is allowed, but we recommend firing just one or perhaps two bullets. It is a six-day event with 60-minutes levels.
2018 produced the most WSOP millionaires of any year all-time. Who is going to be at the top of this list in 2019? pic.twitter.com/JyuU2R8qeo
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) March 15, 2019
While the Big 50, Colossus, Mini Main Event, and Millionaire Maker are definitely going to guarantee a lot of fun and action, if your dream is to win a bracelet, with $2,500 – $5,000 bankroll you may wish to try niche variants events, in which there is a significantly bigger chance (at least mathematically speaking) to collect that coveted piece of jewelry. The number of participants in those events is usually under 1,000 or — at most — in the very low four-digit range.
This year, one of the special things about the upcoming World Series of Poker are bounty tournaments. As such for players with an intermediate level bankroll, we also recommend the following event:
Third Recommendation: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty
This event will start on July 9th. It is a three-day event, and competitors will receive a $500 bounty for each player they eliminate. There will be 60-minutes levels, and 25,000-chip starting stack with blinds of 50/100. One re-entry is allowed.
With a bankroll of this size, you could certainly opt to “take things easy” and give some of the previously-recommended events a try. You can also allow yourself additional reentries in those event, play in the bigger buy-in Daily Deep Stack events, and higher-stakes cash games (e.g., $2/$5). However, if you want to try some larger buy-in events, here are some we think you should have a look at:
Top Recommendation: $2,620 No Limit Hold’em Marathon
As its name implies, the Marathon is a long, six-day event, which starts on June 10th. There is no re-entry allowed, and there is tons of time to pick your spots, with each level lasting a massive 100 minutes! Players will start with 26,200 in chips and blinds of 100/100.
Second Recommendation: H.O.R.S.E. $3,000
The $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. will test your skill at five different poker variants: Limit Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better. The multi-game mix ensures that there’s a lot of action to be had in this event. There is no re-entry allowed, and each level will last 60 minutes. Day 1 has been scheduled for July 14th, so it’s a niced mixed game alternative to playing in the $10,000 Main Event, especially as the latter is beyond your bankroll capabilities.
Over and above the aforementioned tournaments, there are many other very appealing events scheduled to take place this summer in Las Vegas. Some of them are events in which a portion of the buy-in is allocated to charity, including the $1,111 The Little One For One Drop and the $500 Salute to Warriors. There are also nine online events you could play in and possibly win a bracelet at, with buy-ins starting at $500. There’s also the $10,000 Short Deck event, where the popular poker variant will be contested for the first time at the WSOP, but we don’t recommend you try it for two main reasons: you shouldn’t be blowing your entire bankroll on one event, and this field is guaranteed to overwhelmingly feature high rollers with a lot of experience in this particular poker discipline. Your $10K would be better invested elsewhere.
The jubilee 50th edition of the WSOP aims to attract yet another record-breaking crowd. It will be an amazing summer and you can certainly take part in it, even with a modest four-figure bankroll. Consider our recommendations and make plans to come out to Las Vegas this summer for a great time and a chance to win big.
Suited connectors make up a special group of hands in Texas Hold’em poker. These hands belong to the middle range of all possible holdings and have solid playability, but aren’t exactly at the top of the range. This makes them very tricky to play and, as such, many players struggle to find the right approach to suited connectors.
To play these hands correctly, you need to take into consideration a number of different factors. A hand like 6s7s or 8h9h isn’t particularly valuable on its own. Its strength comes from the hidden potential, called implied odds, waiting to be realized. So, in that light, here are a few key tips for how to play your suited connectors correctly.
While these hands certainly look appealing to play and may seem like the “nuts” before the flop to less experienced players, the truth is that suited connectors can cost you a lot of money if you assign too much value to them. These hands require you to hit the flop hard or at least hard enough to have some maneuvering space or bluff your opponent out.
This can be very difficult if you’re getting involved with short-stacked players, playing with a stack of fewer than 50BB. Usually, 3-betting short stacks or calling their 3-bets will get you in difficult spots where you hit the board just enough to continue but often not enough to put your stack in, and you may lack other options.
Additionally, since they don’t have many chips behind, you won’t be able to win really big pots when you do end up making those huge hands. Thus, tangling with short stacks with suited connectors is likely to be a losing proposition unless you are much better player capable of seriously outplaying your opponents.
It may be tempting to take some of your suited connectors and turn them into 4-bet bluffs but these hands simply aren’t your best option for this. There are several reasons:
So, first of all, suited connectors never contain any cards that your opponents could have in their 3-bet value range, such as Aces or Kings. This means that you aren’t reducing the possibility of your opponent holding a big hand at all, which is something you definitely want to do when going for a 4-bet bluff.
Secondly, some of your hands could be blocking actual bluffs, e.g., hands like A-5 or A-6 suited, which you want your opponent to have. When you combine these two reasons together, it becomes clear that there is very little reason to take your suited connector-type hands and turn them into bluffs.
Finally, these hands have very good post-flop playability, so you don’t want to shut yourself out of the hand by giving your opponent a chance to make another raise and price you out. If stacks are deep enough, calling the 3-bet and trying to realize your equity is usually a much safer route.
Your strategy with suited connectors when facing a raise and a call in front of you should rarely be to call, even though it could be tempting. However, you need to be very careful in these spots and consider your options.
First of all, if you aren’t closing the action, it is possible for a player behind to attempt a squeeze play and price you out. You should never just blindly call and hope for the best unless you have information that suggests players still to act in the hand are not likely to squeeze.
Secondly, even if you do get to see the flop, you’ll be in a difficult situation as it will be hard to figure out what other players have. If you hit what seems to be a good hand and then are faced with a lot of aggression, it becomes challenging to make the right decision.
So, as always, try to avoid limping along as much as possible and rather go for an occasional 3-bet yourself and see what transpires. That way you’ll at least be able to define hand ranges of remaining players or even pick up the pot right then and there.
At iNinja Poker we do things… well… a little different. It applies to everything in our business, and I think it should apply to our tour stop write ups here on Cardplayer Lifestyle. I don’t think you want to read a standard recap, never ending praise of the casino steak joint and poker room manager, and a listing of the prize pools and how great we are. I certainly don’t want to write that. Ugh. Sadly, I have to write it anyway for our website, so I added the standard stuff at the bottom of this article.
How many #trophies are YOU gonna win this week? #iNinja pic.twitter.com/tT1AVIRzLh
— Atlantis Poker Room (@PokerAtlantis) March 8, 2019
I thought it would be more interesting to read a little bit about what it’s like from the other side. So here is how things went for us.
This was our first major event since resurrecting the tour, and we really wanted it to be perfect. The future success of the business really hinged on this event. If we miss some guarantees, don’t do a great job reporting, or for any other reason the event doesn’t look like it was a great investment for the poker room, we would have real trouble getting gigs in the future. It’s a very competitive environment and established tours have a big advantage.
Luckily we crushed every guarantee, everyone had a ton of fun, and the Atlantis seems really pleased with how things went. Of course, things weren’t perfect…
Our team currently consists of five people. We started the event with four and picked one up during the series (more on that, later). My girlfriend, Jordan, and I are two of those people. For the month before the event I was working long days and just couldn’t seem to get enough work done. The day after we arrived in Reno, just a few days before the start of the first event, I finally went to urgent care and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Good times. With some hard core antibiotics and a prescription for “take it easy for a few days,” I was back on track. I did not, in fact, take it easy for a few days. I take it easy on Caribbean islands, not when my company is about to have it’s first real test. I worked my ass off.
Things that help if you have to work 14 hour days with pneumonia.
Of course I got better within a few days. But then Jordan got sick. Like really sick. She’s a trooper, but she was feeling rough for the final week of the ten day series. Our first new ninja, Molly Mossey (pink ninja) was sick about the same time. She was a trooper, though, and even scored her first ever trophy while fighting off a cold by winning the first of two Resurrection events. She was super happy in her trophy picture, and then took some drugs and went to bed.
Announcing the Pink Ninja! We are so happy that @MollyAnneMossey is our new brand ambassador. Welcome to the team! pic.twitter.com/Wrps3ygbq1
— iNinja Poker (@iNinjaPoker) February 20, 2019
Our co-owner, Brian, had a sick wife for the last four days of the series as well, which just added to the list of disasters. And my main laptop started dying the day we arrived in Reno and gradually got worse every day. It’s the only machine we had with us that had an SD card slot, so I had to process all the photos on a wonky piece of crap that kept freezing up and randomly restarting on me. Luckily, the backup laptop was running smoothly for social media updates.
All kinds of tech issues happened, as is common when trying to set up a final table broadcast in a new place with very little time, equipment, or to be honest, knowledge or experience. Setting up the broadcast at every new venue is going to be a challenge, but the broadcasts are going to be a lot of fun from now on. Remember how I mentioned that new team member?
Meet Katrina Landry. She streams on twitch as Trouble Trina, a fitting name if you saw her downing tequila during the broadcast. We had a little gathering the night before the first event at a fun little watering hole just across the street from the Atlantis called The Lucky Beaver (have the 50-day dry aged burger, with option 1 and cajun tots).
Got poker questions? Come for our free pre-series meet and greet @LuckyBeaverReno on March 6 at 6:00. @foxpokerfox will answer your poker queries over a beer and Cajun tots. @PokerAtlantis pic.twitter.com/PK8ZXl2g5X
— iNinja Poker (@iNinjaPoker) March 6, 2019
Our old friend Shyla showed up with Trina, and she was interested in the tour. She was dealing the event, but spent more time working for us than dealing cards. Trina is a blast on a broadcast. She can talk for hours without an “uh” or “umm”, has a ton of energy, and will certainly draw male viewers with her good looks and flirty personality. She also worked tirelessly helping us set up the broadcast as volunteer who just wanted to help the tour succeed and learn some things. After a few days of being super helpful, I saw her climbing a ladder and thought to myself: “Self, this girl might not even have health insurance. She should be covered under our insurance if she falls off that ladder and breaks her fool head.”
So, I demanded that she come down off the ladder and sign a contract immediately. She was ecstatic to join the team. Yes, the contract was actually written on the back of a structure sheet, and no my lawyer/girlfriend did not have a chance to review it before I presented it to Trina, but she was pleased that I had done it when she saw it.
Throwback to my fav outfit! When the stream was live & on fire🔥 Do you wanna see the stream make a comeback!? ♠️ ♥️♣️♦️ Something about dealing the @iNinjaPoker got sparks flying inside me. Passion. Fire 🔥 Who knows where we go from here!? But I got a good feeling 😏 #poker pic.twitter.com/sOdfoy7ddm
— Trina (@TroubleTrina) March 8, 2019
Trina and Molly did much of the broadcast of the main event final table, with drop ins from some other players, Brian, Jordan, and me. When I dropped in it was usually to bring champagne or tequila. They were both fantastic, which is great for Brian and me. We’ve both done quite a bit of final table commentary in the past and, while we don’t mind it, we don’t have a need for the spotlight these days and are happy to do other things. Plus, I can promise that you would rather watch Molly and Trina than the two of us.
Speaking of Molly, did I mention that our pink ninja won her first ever trophy?! She was ecstatic to not just win a trophy, but win our first Resurrection event at our first tour stop since the tour’s resurrection, while she was representing us as our first new ninja!
#PinkNinja takes down the trophy in the #Resurrection event. Way to go @MollyAnneMossey! #PinkZombie
Next Resurrection is Sunday March 17. Come be a #LeprechaunZombie pic.twitter.com/bhspzOJnMH
— iNinja Poker (@iNinjaPoker) March 11, 2019
Speaking of trophies, our trophies were a constant topic of conversation. The trophies for the smaller events were silver shuriken (throwing stars) stuck into a base of two playing cards with the logos on them. They were excellent trophies, but the real stunner was the main event trophy. I don’t know how Jordan did it, but she managed to get us the coolest trophies I’ve ever seen. Rings are neat. Bracelets are fine. But haven’t you always wanted to own a sword?
An event for every bankroll from a freeroll sat to the iNinja signature Resurrection event, to a $500 multi-entry with stack buy-backs & a customized Katana main event trophy. Come play with the #PinkNinja @PokerAtlantis. See the Schedule athttps://t.co/76ap80ZxmY pic.twitter.com/NqEnxtRxFu
— iNinja Poker (@iNinjaPoker) February 23, 2019
That’s right, our main event trophy is a custom-made katana. Straight from Japan, with our logo and ‘winner’ in Japanese etched into the razor sharp blade, it’s the real deal. Jordan cut her hand and was bleeding everywhere after she opened the package. It comes in a case with a stand and a scabbard as well, and yes, we kept the case locked during the series. You just can’t give a bunch of poker players access to something that is that much fun and that sharp. They would have been tossing apples into the air and trying to chop them in half, and someone would have lost a body part.
Final table on the Main Event 100k guaranteed! Names and Chip counts to come in the @iNinjaLive feed. The FT will stream live when down to 9. Congrats to all! pic.twitter.com/G4TXlHOfcf
— iNinja Poker (@iNinjaPoker) March 18, 2019
We not only brought in a ton of players, we brought in the fun players. From pink-haired Sarah Kenyon, who immediately fell in love with our pink ninja Molly, to Lewis Mitchell, who lost a prop bet with fellow pro Ivan Zarate and had to wear a dress and cowboy boots during the main event, our players were having a good time.
Oh, and here’s the obligatory stuff, though in this case we really mean it. Atlantis is an amazing property. Really great stuff. The best Jewish deli this side of New York, great drinks and food at Bistro Napa, and amazing food everywhere. They absolutely dominate the Trip Advisor ratings for restaurants in Reno, and after being there for 12 days we could see why. There is also a fantastic poker room run by great people with tons of promos and $4 an hour in comps!. Keith, Andy, and Shannon all do a great job running the room and they can all hold their liquor when work is over, too!
We even did some local TV spots. Thanks so much to all the great stations that were kind enough to have us on!
Take a look at some live TV spots we did today in Reno, courtesy of @KRNV this one features @foxpokerfox pic.twitter.com/MY8MgB3VLk
— iNinja Poker (@iNinjaPoker) March 9, 2019
Thanks to everyone at Atlantis and to the team that made this all happen. If you would like to win a custom-made katana in your local poker room, have them drop us a line or get the contact info for the poker room manager and send it to me at [email protected] and we’ll see if we can make it happen.
Editor’s note: This is Lesson #9 in our weekly “Strategy with Stas” series. Each and every Sunday Stas Tishkevich, founder of the Poker Fighter Training App, brings you a new lesson in article + video format. We hope you enjoy this feature from the Poker Fighter School, and would be happy for you to share these posts — as well as your feedback — on social media.
Action is folded to the player in the small-blind position, who open-raises the pot. Most players will open-raise a wide range from this position, at least 35% of possible starting hands, and our ace-jack suited is ahead of this opening range, so we should almost always re-raise (3-bet) our hand in this spot.
Just calling from the big blind with ace-jack suited is possible if we play vs. a tight small blind, or vs. a very aggressive small blind that 4-bets too much.
So we re-raise from the big blind and the small blind calls, which usually means a capped range.
A Capped Range in this case means that the opponent doesn’t have the best possible hands pre-flop, such as pocket aces, pocket kings, pocket queens, pocket jacks, and ace-king, while we do have these hands because we would re-raise them pre-flop.
The flop comes a Qc-4c-3c, which is a very wet monotone flop as there three cards of the same suit that allow for a made flush on the board, flush draws with one club, and also straight draws.
We are out of position and have a weak drawing hand – an ace high and a backdoor draw to the straight.
So, we need to make a decision. Our possible lines here are to give up or bet as a bluff.
Betting as a Bluff is a good idea if we think that our opponent is going to fold quite often. This is probably not the case with this specific flop, as his range is combined mostly from hands that have some equity on this flop, such as top pair, pocket pairs (especially with one club), and sometimes made-flush with hands like AXcc, suited connectors with two clubs, etc.
Giving Up is a good idea if we think there is a very small chance that our opponent will fold his hand to our bet, such as in this situation.
So, given all of this information, our line here on the flop would be to check behind our hand.
If the small blind bets the turn, which is called a Probe Bet, we will fold on most turns, and probably call on a non-club ace or jack. Versus a river bet, we should probably call our top pair ace, and fold our middle pair jack.
If the small blind checks to us again on the turn, then this is the right time to bluff our hand on missed turns, or bet it for thin value and protection when we hit our ace or jack. Betting the turn after giving up on a c-bet on the flop is called a Delayed C-bet, and is considered to be one of the most powerful weapons we have in our arsenal as the original raiser pre-flop.
If the small blind calls our delayed c-bet, then we give up on most rivers and check behind our hand.
The main point we need to understand here is that on monotone flops, especially ones that also allow straight draws, we have very little Fold Equity, so we need to bluff less, especially if we have no equity.
Ed. Note: This is the third in a series of articles by Christina Bradfield entitled “What the Flop?” a poker column about the absurdities, humor, and just “random stuff” that goes along with playing poker.
Hearing a deck being shuffled, the sound of thousands of poker chips, the smell of a casino’s carpet right before you reach the poker room. All of these mostly subconscious sensory stimuli that gives the experience of going to play poker an imprint as we first walk in the door: Of relief, of anticipation, pleasure, nervousness, or “holy crap here we go again.”
It had never occurred to me quite how all the surrounding smells, sounds and tactile experiences contributed to my time at the poker table until I had another experience. I was in Vegas during the WSOP, taking an elevator down to the casino floor, and I smelled a combination of smells that’s imprinted in my mind even today. As I told one gentleman in the elevator who was hilarious and had just performed in a show at the casino that night, it smelled like a combination of weed, fart, and desperation. He laughed and laughed while another gentleman tried to make himself as small as possible in the corner of the elevator while looking horrified.
It got me to thinking about all the things that contribute to our live poker games. (I’m not going to guess what your homes smell like or if you related to the combo above.) Apart from the people, all of these things amplify my experiences. Hearing the chips, especially when I walk in the door, triggers the relief of being there and the excitement of playing.
I used to love to play at the Gardens Casino, back when it was known as Hawaiian Gardens. When I walked in, the sound of chips hit me right away; the lights were a little too bright as I made my way to my section. Granted, the chips used to stick together sometimes, which I had to block out of my mind, just as with the combo of smells in the Las Vegas hotel-casino above. I still love that hotel and need that blank space in my memory. My usual Diet Sunkist on the drive home is also indelibly imprinted in my Hawaiian Gardens experience.
When I go to a Spa, the music relaxes me before I’ve even done anything. Before I put on a robe, get a massage, drink their tea, I’m more relaxed than when I go in. When I go to the Rio during the WSOP and push in the doors that lead to the Amazon and Brasilia rooms, amongst others, my steps get quicker, my outlook is excited and I haven’t done anything but push in those doors. I’m now embracing that part of the game, the total package of playing… smells and sounds included. (Even the smell of All-American Dave’s stays with me, that slight powdery smell of the protein smoothies I get.)
It lets me know the WSOP has arrived, those particular smells and sounds. Things that haven’t been awakened in me the rest of the year come to life, lying dormant waiting until the next summer’s series begins. Just as the smell of sunscreen brings me joy when the world is warm enough for dress weather, so does the sound of chips flying, hearing “shuffle up and deal.”
Now before we get into this, let me establish something right off the bat. I’m a Phil Hellmuth fan.
In 2003, when I and so many others got introduced to the game we love, yah that Moneymaker guy was a great story and everything, but the Poker Brat? The dude who went to war with Sam Grizzle and then felted him? Give me more of that!
And they did. And they have, for 16 years, 15 bracelets and counting ever since. Year after year there have been countless moments, speeches, blow-ups, and calls to the rail for his wife Kathy (Honey! Honey!!!) to bemoan what the idiot from wherever it happened to be that day did. And I’ve been on board for all of it.
A bit of evidence:
That’s my thoroughly beaten up copy of Phil’s first book, which I read cover to cover, day after day riding the subway to work back in the day. Shout out to all my eagles, lions, jackals, elephants, and mice out there. Fish, whales, and donkeys? Pssh! THESE were the OGs of animal-named player types! I firmly believe that today’s super high-roller events should all be piled together into a new EPT, the Eagle Poker Tour!
Next:
Yup, that’s me in my circa 10 bracelets-era PH hat that I proudly wore to every home game back then (and still break out for some fun, but not to the casino – can’t just advertise my advocacy of the Top 10 hands, that’d be outright poor image management!). I admit to sometimes even wearing it when I play poker at mobile casino sites.
And finally:
That’s a picture of me meeting Phil for the first time at the 2007 WSOP, just days after he’d won his record-breaking 11th bracelet.
By the way, that picture was taken at the giant energy drink / card cover / bobble head convention that used to encompass the Pavilion room at the Rio – remember that?! And while I’m on the topic, how ‘Pro Player’ never became the number 1 energy drink in the world, let alone barely survived past a couple of years is beyond me. It was like orange pop with taurine, caffeine and freakin’ ecstasy in it. Damn it was good! But I digress…
So yah, I’m a fan. But as entertaining as all the kooky stuff associated with Phil over the years has been, it can’t be ignored (try as some have) that, above all, he’s always been a great poker player.
Now, anyone that’s been playing for a while knows the game is constantly changing and you must evolve to survive (gee thanks, Captain Obvious). So no, the ‘Top 10 hands’ are not actually the sole basis of my game, but there is one classic Hellmuth-ism that’s always been something I will take great pride in implementing.
Falling off my chair like I’ve been shot when the river card kills my winning hand.
Sorry, that’s not it. Though I may have done that a time or two. Yah, I’ll admit to it.
Actually, it’s those times when you lay down that monster you have no business folding, and you’re right. Dodgin’ bullets baby!
As I mentioned in my last article, I’ve been in a downswing. Still am. Times like these lend themselves to far more of the less flattering Hellmuth-isms (I’ll spare you what this one guy did to me with a Queen and a Ten – HONEY! HE HAD A QUEEN AND A TEN!), but I’ve managed to keep things chill, begrudgingly embracing the variance, and taking pride in moments like the following:
It’s a pretty good $2/5 game with a nice balance of splashy LAGs, calling stations, and a couple of pros. But I’m card dead, my table image is garbage, and there are no other $2/5 games running to move to, so here we are.
Then a minor miracle happened. I flopped a set for the first time in like six years. I’m pretty sure it’s been that long.
Let’s back up a bit to fully set the scene.
A player new to the table and seemingly tight raises from UTG to $20. I call UTG +2 w 88, then the HJ, CO and BTN all just call behind.
So yea, I’ve flopped a set of 8s on a 987 rainbow board in a 5-way pot. Not totally ideal, as a couple of hands beat me (99, JT, 56), but the way I’ve been running, middle set feels like a Royal Flush. Time to win a big one… or not.
The original raiser somewhat hesitantly c-bets a very feeler-y $40 into the $107 pot and the action is on me. With three players behind that all fall on the loose / splashy side, I decide to flat call from my $700 stack, fully expecting a raise to come in, given the relative weakness of the UTG player and my actions.
The raise came in all right. And then another… and then another…
The HJ who has been very loose, splashy (and trappable) bumps it to $130 from his roughly $600, and I’m loving life. He’d easily do this with draws, two-pair, overpairs, all sorts of stuff.
Then the CO re-raises to $450 out of his $1,200 stack. He’s been pretty aggressive with similar holdings, so I’m not entirely convinced my set still isn’t the best hand. I’m wary, but I still think I’m getting it in.
Until the BTN, who’s a LAG pro, shoves all-in for $1,100 over the top of everyone. Yup, my set just turned into napkins.
My inner Phil is resigned to dodging the slow, meatball-sized bullet that was coming my way. It could have gotten messy, but this has just become a surprisingly easy fold, as much as my frustrated ass may have wanted to finally win a monster pot with a super strong hand. There’s just no shot I’m good now, and to get away from this for just $60 is as big a win as I can say I’ve had in a while. But here’s where it gets really interesting.
Before the action gets back to me so I can happily toss my set into the muck, the UTG player goes into the tank, DEEP into the tank! Four(!) minutes later, he finally folds. OK then. 77? Maybe. AA? KK? More likely, but man was it that tough a fold?
I insta-fold my 88, and then the HJ thinks briefly, seems less than thrilled, and then ships in his last $500 or so.
The CO looks unhappy, too, but after giving it some thought he calls off another $650, saying the pot is too big to fold now. Um, OK.
We’ll get to the (very brief) pot odds argument in a second, but first let’s get a look at these hands:
The board ran out 22 and the BTN dragged a $3,000+ pot with his 9s full.
After seeing the hands turned over, confirming I’d made the correct laydown (along with the correct reads on the other two players), I was there. I was in that moment. I was looking for my ‘Honey!’ to gush about my big fold. (She wasn’t actually there, so the nearby massage therapist had to fill in.)
Before we get to my thoughts on the decisions of the other players, I’ll preface by saying my intention here is not to break down the math and go full strategy article here. Besides, it’s really quite simple:
Pot odds are not a reason to make what you know is a bad call. Especially if you’re not even getting the correct odds!
I’ll also refrain from too much outward criticism. ‘Idiot from North Tonawanda’ will not be used to describe anyone, but the calls are unquestionably hopeful at best.
As I mentioned, the ‘bullet’ I dodged in this hand was far from the toughest fold I’ve ever made, given the dynamics of the flop betting. But seeing the difficulty one player had in doing so, and the failure of two others to lay down their hands was such a clear reminder that minimizing losses is as important as maximizing wins. No matter how badly you think you’re running, or how desperately you may want to book a win, these are situations you simply can’t talk yourself into calling. You just need to make that laydown. There will be better spots.
A better spot didn’t come that night. The next few hours were quite uneventful.
I played a few small pots, lost a couple hundred bucks, got a massage, had a beer, and tried to make the best of a losing session. A losing session that I felt great about. Because although I may be running pretty salty of late, I know that damnit, I CAN DODGE BULLETS BABY!
Now somebody get me a Kimo Sabe mezcal.
Check-raising can be a very powerful strategy at the table, especially in games with weaker lineups, because people often just don’t see it coming. Most players check in scenarios where they’re either done with the hand or are content to check-call. Pulling a check-raise can thus be a strong weapon for a number of reasons.
Of course, like any other strategy, you need to understand reasons why you’re doing what you’re doing and what it is you’re hoping to accomplish. So, in this article, I’m bringing you top 3 tips for check-raising strategy, which should help you understand some fundamental principles behind this move and how it can help you rake in more pots in tournaments and cash games alike.
The first — and perhaps the most important — tip actually deals with what you shouldn’t do; i.e., don’t check-raise just for the sake of making a move. While this can be a powerful strategy and it can feel good to move your opponent off a hand (especially in a live game), check-raising on a pure bluff can often backfire big time.
No one advocates for making moves “just because you feel like it.” If your hand has no equity whatsoever and chances of improving are slim to none, it is rarely a good idea to start bloating the pot out of position. Like with everything else in poker, there will be exceptions where the board structure combined with your read on the player would merit a check-raise, but in general, try to keep your check-raises at least somewhat sensible.
When check-raising, especially if doing it on a bluff or semi-bluff, you need to make sure your line makes sense to your opponent. If we presume you’re playing against someone who has a solid idea about poker in general, they’ll try to put you on a range of poker hands when you make your move. If that range doesn’t fit the story, you could end up crashing and burning.
Certain board textures favor the player defending from the big blind. Lower, connected boards are more likely to hit your range than your opponent’s range. This isn’t true in 100% of the cases, of course, but the flatting range of most players is in that middling area, while opening ranges gravitate more towards higher value cards (ace-highs, picture cards, higher connectors, etc.).
On a board of A-J-5, your check-raise against a button player won’t make much sense. There are a few hands that you can have, of course, but in general this texture is more favorable to the original raiser. Trying to perform a check-raise bluff with this kind of board texture probably won’t work that often.
That being said, you should not raise anything on these boards and call even your strong holdings. This way you will protect your calling range and will prevent your opponent from pushing you off the hand every time he decides to barrel.
Thus, when deciding to make a move, make sure that the board is good for your range and that you can represent strong holdings.
Online poker players have access to a variety of statistical information gathered using different poker tools. You should take advantage of this information when deciding whether to go for a check-raise or not. Looking into some specific data about your opponent could give you a pretty good idea about how likely they are to give up right then and there.
It may be hard to have a statistically relevant sample of how often someone folds to a check-raise, as these situations aren’t that frequent. However, if someone has a very high c-bet percentage, they probably fire with a variety of hands when checked to them. Against this type of a player, your check-raise bluff is more likely to succeed.
If you’re up against a player with a very low c-bet and/or someone who rarely folds to flop check-raises, you should stick to the value part of your range for the most part. The information you have would indicates this player only c-bets with strong hands, which means they’re unlikely to fold and will often pay you off when you hit big.
Editor’s note: This is Lesson #8 in our weekly “Strategy with Stas” series. Each and every Sunday Stas Tishkevich, founder of the Poker Fighter Training App, brings you a new lesson in article + video format. We hope you enjoy this feature from the Poker Fighter School, and would be happy for you to share these posts — as well as your feedback — on social media.
Action is folded to the player in dealer position, who open raises the pot. Most players will open-raise a wide range from this position, at least 35% of possible starting hands, and our king-queen suited is ahead of this opening range, so we should almost always re-raise (3-bet) our hand in this spot.
Just calling from the small-blind vs. a dealer’s open-raise is normally a losing move, as we invite the player in the big-blind position to join the pot, and lose the initiative in the hand.
So we re-raise and the player in the dealer position calls, which usually means a capped range.
A Capped Range in this case means that the opponent doesn’t have the best possible hands pre-flop, such as pocket aces, pocket kings, pocket queens, pocket jacks, ace-king, while we do have these hands because we would re-raise them pre-flop.
The flop comes a Ad-As-9c, which is a dry flop, as there are no possible flush draws or straight draws.
We are out of position and have a weak drawing hand – a king high and a backdoor to the straight.
So, we need to make a decision. Our possible lines here are to either give up or bet as a bluff.
Giving up is a good idea if we think there is a very small chance that the opponent will fold his hand to our bet. We also need to keep in mind that when we check our opponent can actually bluff us with worse hands such as suited connectors (76ss for example) or broadway cards (J10, for example).
Betting as a bluff is a good idea if we think that there are some hands that are currently stronger than our king-high that might fold to our bet. These hands do exist as we expect our opponent to fold hands like 22-88. We also protect our hand when he folds hands like suited connectors or broadway cards.
We also need to remember what happened pre-flop. We re-raised, so our range is uncapped, meaning we can have nutted hands on this flop such as quad aces, ace-king, ace-queen, ace-jack, and ace-ten. Our opponent’s range is capped too, meaning he will usually not have hands like pocket aces or ace-king.
So, given all of this information, our line here on the flop would be to bet our hand as a bluff.
If the player in the dealer position raises, we obviously fold as we have only king-high.
If that player calls, we give up on most of the turns.
If a ten or a jack comes on the turn we can bet again, this time as a semi-bluff with our gutshot straight draw. If he calls our semi-bluff on the turn, then we give up on the river unless we improve into a winning hand (the straight) that we can bet again, this time for value.
If a king of a queen comes on the turn, then we improve into a made hand and can maybe check-call once for pot control with our medium pair.
Obviously, it would be nicer if there was at least one heart on the flop because then we would have a backdoor flush draw as well, and many more turn cards would allow us to bet as a semi-bluff. This is the true strength of suited hands pre-flop.
The main point we need to understand here is that although we missed the flop entirely, we still have other options besides just giving up on the flop. Our bet as a bluff should bring better results than giving up as our range is uncapped while the opponent’s range is capped.
If you’re a poker fan and have been keeping up with the news over the past few years, you probably know that Atlantic City isn’t what it used to be. The New Jersey gambling capital has been through some rough times with a number of casinos and resorts shutting down recently. Blame it on the economy, globalization, the proliferation of new casinos in neighboring regions – the fact of the matter is that AC has seen better days.
Nonetheless, Atlantic City is still worth paying a visit to if you enjoy playing poker, whether live or online. The city still offers more options than most locales around the U.S. and the longstanding gambling Mecca of the East Coast knows what it takes to make players feel welcome. Even with all the hardships as of late, you shouldn’t discard the salt water taffy capital of the world just yet.
Despite multiple casinos and poker rooms shutting down all across Atlantic City, the Borgata has stood the test of time and is still going strong. With a poker room featuring more than 80 tables, you’ll find everything you could possibly ask for – from cash tables across various stakes to daily multi-table tournaments and special events to sit n’ gos.
If you enjoy live poker, visiting Atlantic City specifically to play at the Borgata is probably worth it. It may not have everything you’ll find in Vegas but it is definitely an excellent option for people living in the Tri-state area as well as the rest of the East Coast, for whom a Vegas trip is more logistically complex.
Apart from Borgata, there’s still plenty of good poker action you can find at other Atlantic City venues such as Harrah’s or Tropicana. Although their poker rooms may not be as big or as impressive as what Borgata has to offer, these options still have dozens of tables hot with action. Harrah’s in particular, because of its affiliation with the World Series of Poker brand, hosts some well-regarded, well-attended tournament festivals
The WSOP Circuit pays their annual visit to @harrahsresort in Atlantic City starting today with 13 Circuit rings up for grabs. Check out the lineup at https://t.co/ndxL6cKwk6
— PokerAtlas (@PokerAtlas) March 7, 2019
It is always nice to have many poker room options within close proximity of one another, whether it’s because a particular room won’t happen to have the game of your choice running at a particular time or just for the sake of having some variety.
New Jersey is one of the few U.S. states that have regulated online gambling. So, while staying in Atlantic City, you’ll also be able to play online poker. Notable online poker sites, such as PokerStars NJ and WSOP.com offer a slew of cash game and tournament tables active 24/7 at which anyone within the confines of New Jersey can take a seat. Of course, you can also pass some time engaging in other online gambling activities, playing slots or table games at regulated online casinos, the likes of which you can find by visiting CasinoBillions.com NJ.
One thing that has always been true of Atlantic City is that it’s a great place to take a relatively inexpensive poker vacation. With so many thousands of hotel rooms within just a couple miles of one another, there’s competition for your hard-earned dollars, which means room rates are never too high, save for national holidays. It’ll never be Las Vegas, but Atlantic City will always have a great Atlantic Ocean view as well as its famed Boardwalk, both of which don’t cost a penny for visitors to enjoy.
Cheaper room rates means you can allocate more of your funds towards your main reason for heading there in the first place, i.e., playing poker. Especially in the off-season months, you should be able to find some excellent deals on meals and accommodation, and who doesn’t love to save a few bucks?
Click here for great Atlantic City Poker Vacation deals
While poker may be the main reason for your visit, many of us like to engage with other not-so-skill-heavy gambling activities. If you love to try your luck with some table games such as blackjack, roulette, or craps, you’ll find more than enough options in Atlantic City. The same goes for video slots and video poker, as you’ll find hundreds of machines spread across the various casino floors.
This New Jersey man played his cards right…literally! He won $1 million off of a $5 poker hand in Atlantic City. Now THAT’S a Christmas present! https://t.co/W1vUNMab63 pic.twitter.com/YWVvuqo5Va
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 26, 2018
Of course, the Garden State gaming capital is still all about having a good time, and it plays host to a number of great shows, comedians, and magicians throughout the year, where you can enjoy a pleasant break from the tables.
So while, its heyday may be in the rear view mirror, let’s not forget that you can still play some great poker and have a good time in Atlantic City.
Editor’s note: This is Lesson #7 in our weekly “Strategy with Stas” series. Each and every Sunday Stas Tishkevich, founder of the Poker Fighter Training App, brings you a new lesson in article + video format. We hope you enjoy this feature from the Poker Fighter School, and would be happy for you to share these posts — as well as your feedback — on social media.
Action is folded to the dealer position, who open-raises the pot. Most players will open-raise a wide range from this position — at least 35% of possible starting hands — and our ace-jack suited is way ahead of this opening range, so we should almost always re-raise (3-bet) our hand in this spot.
Just calling from the small-blind vs. a dealer’s open-raise is normally a losing move, as we invite the big-blind to join the pot, and lose the initiative in the hand. So we re-raise and the dealer calls, which usually means a capped range.
A Capped Range in this case means that the opponent doesn’t have the best possible hands pre-flop, such as pocket aces, pocket kings, pocket queens, pocket jacks, or ace-king, while we do have these hands because we would re-raise them pre-flop.
The flop comes Kh-Qs-6h, which is a wet flop, as there are many possible flush draws or straight draws.
We are out of position and have a strong drawing hand – a combo draw! We are drawing to the nut flush with nine possible outs, and have a gutshot straight draw with three non-heart tens, so that’s 12 outs to the nuts. If our ace overcard will improve us into a winning hand then we have three more outs.
So when I see this flop and there’s so much money already in the pot, what goes through my mind is: I’m pot-committed. I have nowhere to go. I should aim to go all-in. in this hand, and the best place to go all-in is on the flop, where my equity is the highest.
Versus these players we should bet our hand as a semi-bluff, expecting the opponent to fold many hands such as a pocket pair (22-55, 77-JJ), a low pair (A6s) etc. If the opponent calls, no problem; we still have great chance to improve and we want to maximize our profit when hitting our outs.
We will bet again on the turn, expecting him to fold a queen this time. If he calls our turn bet, we should usually go all-in on the river, expecting him to fold a weak king.
So, let’s go! Let’s bluff this hand.
If we have information that the player is super passive, meaning that he raises this flop with two pairs or better, hands like king-queen or a set of sixes, then we have a lot of information on this opponent. And in this situation, I would just call out of position his raise, because I get enough direct pot odds & implied pot odds to improve into a winning hand over his two pair or set, and take the rest of the money he has left.
The main point we need to understand here on the flop is that although our hand is a drawing hand, it has so many outs that we are pot committed given the 3-bet pot. We want to go all-in when our holdings are the strongest and have the best equity against our opponents’ potential and likely holdings, meaning on the flop.