July 2nd, 2010 by V. Azilewsky

Life is good when you win poker games but we all know that it is not really like that in real life. There will be nights or weeks when you will lose a lot of games. We line up some tips to help you deal properly with a losing streak.

Poker as a Marathon

You might have lost some amount in one night but you have to look at the bright side and see what’s left for the rest of the month or for the rest of the year. It can be mentally soothing to think this way when you dropped a big chunk of cash.

Re-Analyze the records

If you monitor how much you spend and lose in poker, then re-trace and re-analyze how you game is. Hopefully the records will tell you that you are still a winning poker player. Check how you are doing over the months and how bad you are doing over some time.

Losing is not forever

Optimism is key when dealing with a really bad beat. Although it is really heavy in the chest when you lose, you have to get that feeling out of your system. You need to have the right mindset. Wins will come again no matter what.

Read the rest of this entry »

April 14th, 2010 by J7os

A free card is when you let your opponent or when you take advantage of seeing the next card without having to place a bet. Let us say you and an opponent is battling it out on a pot, you give your opponent a free card when you check.

There are basically two reasons why you use a free card. One is when you want to save some money if you are caught on a draw. Two, when you need to get some more money from the other players on the table.

A free card is somehow a mix of the semi-bluff and a check raise.

You use the free card so you can save money by preventing another player to bet in to you on the turn. This saves you chips rather than making a bet for the flop and another one upon the turn to see what the river will reveal.

The free card play is ideal if you are:

• Heads up against someone on the table. It might be tricky if you are against more opponents.
• The first to act
• Holding strong cards on the draw

Read the rest of this entry »

February 14th, 2010 by J7os

We are a big fan of Teh Jinx Poker, a great blog that does a lot of SNG’s and even some heads-up Cash Game poker. That set of eights call is pretty funny, but it worked out right?

November 1st, 2009 by Lyndsie

Playing poker as a beginner can be really, really difficult – especially if you are playing with experienced people who know the rules of the game.  There are a lot of mistakes that you, as a beginner can make that you don’t even know about most of the time.  However – I am going to tell you some of the most common mistakes that beginner poker players make.

One of the first things that you need to remember is that you do not want to play above your bankroll.  I can tell you from experience that it will not only make your hole deeper but you will lose a heck of a lot more money, which is not good.  Next, do not become too emotional at the table.  That is something that many beginner poker players do not realize that happens.

Finally – not using the pot odds is something that many people as beginners do not know.  If you hands needs some improvement, the concept of the pot odds can really help you!

October 24th, 2009 by Lyndsie

It has to be said that keeping your poker face on is not easy – it is actually one of the most difficult things for a person to be doing.  Honest, I think that learning how to bluff in the first place is actually really hard for someone who has no idea how to do it.  Well, bluffing is all part of the game and it is almost a useless trait unless you are in the high-stakes games … because there is more money on the line.

In the game of poker, there are a few things that you need to be able to do and bluffing is definitely one of them. If you are playing in some of the higher-stakes games and you are looking to cash in, you are going to have to let a person read you and let them read what you want them to read – that is where you bluff comes into play.

Bluffing is very important and if you are not a big fan of bluffing, I can promise you are not going to do all that good in poker.

October 8th, 2009 by Lyndsie

What does our 8th Queen of Poker have in common with Her Majesty Number 9, Miss Tiffany Michelle? Well, for one thing, you may not know her as a poker player. You may know her better as the gruesomely gorgeous Bride of Chucky, or as Joe Swanson’s perpetually pregnant wife Bonnie (actually, Bonnie finally popped this season, it’s a girl!), or from countless other flicks and TV shows. At any rate, most of us know the vivacious, sultry Jennifer Tilly for that unique, creamily high pitched voice better than we do for her poker skills — but man, we better learn to recognize that game.

To be fair, it has only been recently that Jennifer Tilly has been earning her bones as a skillful player, but she is definitely an up and coming queen. Believe it or not, in 2005, Jennifer took home the gold bracelet in the Ladies No Limit Hold ‘Em event of the World Series of Poker — and lest you think that was just luck, she went on to place first in the World Poker Tour Ladies Invitation. With fifteen cashes, two first place finishes, a WSOP bracelet, and $434,468 in cash winnings, Jennifer’s definitely proving herself both a Jill of All Trades as well, and a veritable Queen of Poker.

October 1st, 2009 by Lyndsie

Coming in at number 9 on this list of the ladies who sizzle when they are playing and when they are simply strutting their stuff, we have the lovely — and talented — Tiffany Michelle. You may know her from television and even from the movies as well — heck, this Jill of All Trades is proficient when it comes to music, too! Given both her affinity and talent for poker, it looks like there is absolutely nothing she cannot do.

She plays, she commentates, she does it professionally, she does it for charity, she does it for fun — this girl is a well rounded poker player, which is undoubtedly the best kind. Her scope, in going from the table to the world behind the scenes, where she covers poker games on TV and on the radio, is quite admirable as well, since she only came onto the scene four short years ago, in 2005.

In last year’s WSOP — the Main Event, no less — she made perhaps her brightest mark. Out of a whopping 6,844 other players, she placed 17th. That made her the first woman to place that high in the field.

Also known as Hot Chips, this lovely lady has already gotten four cashes and won a total of $352,582.

May 31st, 2009 by Lyndsie

Maybe it’s just me (but I don’t really think so), but there’s something hot about a girl who knows how to slap down the cards.  In deference to the last post, I got to thinking that women aren’t recognized nearly enough — there are some down ladies out there doing a darn good job.  We like to hoot and holler over their looks, but face it — pretty doesn’t do a thing at the table, when the cards are hot and the pot is sizzling.  So, over the next few weeks, we’re going to take a look at some of the hottest women in poker — hot not just because of their looks, but because these women know how to play.

First up is Sarah Bilney who, although still pretty new to the wild international scene, is already making quite a splash. Known as “Aussie Sarah,” she represents some series thunder from down under. She hails from Canberra, Australia, and she comes in at number ten because she’s only been playing since 2000, yet she already has sixteen cashes and has won upwards of $258,738.

May 19th, 2009 by J7os

There had been a widespread acceptance by both male and female players that Annie Duke is the best poker player in the world. She has many championships and credits to her name but one of the most special is the event where she stood tenth while she was eight month pregnant with her baby.

Annie Duke was born in Concord, New Hampshire as a sibling to Howard Lederer, better known as “The Professor” owing to her patient and conservative approach to the teaching of poker to others. In her childhood Annie was helped by her sister Howard but no one ever anticipated that Annie will go on to break all the records and earn hefty fortunes in poker.

Annie was an intellectual and she outscored in English and Psychology as an alumnus of the Columbian university. She even opted for a PhD in Psycholinguistics. However just as she was on the verge of completion she left her doctor’s degree and went for a full time career in poker.

Two of the biggest accomplishments of Annie Duke are: Read the rest of this entry »

April 9th, 2009 by J7os

I’m going to make this short, and in bullet points:

• I pick up J7os in middle position
• I have one limper in front of me, so I open for 4BB.
• We see a flop with 4 players
• The flop comes 77J
• I’m in third position, and get two checks in front of me.
• I bet half the pot.
• I get raised.
• I smoothcall, we see the turn with 2 players.
• The turn is awesome – a K, also making the flush.
• I check. The other guy bets, I smoothcall, he has about 70% of the pot left in his stack.
• River is a dream, a 7.
• I move all-in, he calls, shows J9s.
• I take the pot down.

Jack Seven off Suit is the nuts, sometimes!