The book on tells, this illustrated guide to ticks, twitches and betting patterns is a very good read; especially for a live player.

Caro writes very clearly and explains his concepts well – each tell is illustrated and explained and a scenario in which it might be useful is given. It’s an idiot-proof guide to a very complex thing, i.e. the psychology of reading people.

Online players will get less out of this than live players will, as many of the tells are actions people make – in fact, I would not recommend this for an online player. In all fairness, though, the amusingly anachronistic hairstyles are proof that this book was written far before the age of online play. Also, you will need a grasp of Stud and Draw poker in order to understand all the situations.

All in all a serious live player cannot be without this book, and I would advise any online players who wish to give live play a shot to peruse this text also. Many of these tells are still very common today.

In answer to yesterday’s conundrum, I would say that c, $7,000 is a good amount. It’s 35 buy-ins for NL200 but that amount allows Bob to be aggressive and take shots at NL400 and play some high-variance MTTs.

Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book is aimed for beginning-to-intermediate players and is a very good read for a player of that level. It introduces slightly more advanced concepts than your archetypical low-level book such as pot odds, blind stealing and semi-bluffing.

These concepts are written well, and Phil explains them in a simplified manner without being condescending. I first read this book when I was aware of most of the strategies he explained; I still, however, found it to be worth reading – it’s always good to get a fresh insight on things.

If you know the basics of Texas Hold ‘em and you’d like to advance your game I would reccomend this as the ideal purchase. Phil also has a DVD called Final Table Poker that illustrates some of the same things in this book in a visual format. I’ll review that at some other point.

Lots of people have trouble with this very simple and fundamental concept in poker, both live and online – I’ve put this in the online poker section, though, as that’s where most people try to build bankrolls.

When deciding how big your bankroll should be you should look at a number of things:

-How much money can you afford to lose? If you only have a part-time job earning $150 a week then it’s not a good idea to start off playing anything higher than the very smallest stakes (this applies even if you’re a poker God).

-What’s your game like? If you’re a Hellmuth-esque nit then you can probably go with the bare minimum of 20-25 buyins. If your game is wildly loose and bluffy then max out. I know one guy who plays NL5 with an $800 roll – he’s a total freakin’ nit when it comes to bankroll management but at least he’ll never go broke. He probably needs it anyway; he raises suited connectors under the gun.

 

For a solid, tight player who isn’t too aggressive, 20 buy-ins is probably enough for full ring cash games, with 25-30 for 6-max. A tight-aggressive player probably needs 25-30 for full ring and 35-40 for 6-max. If you’re an incarnation of Sam Farha go with 50+.

These are all NLHE guides – I’ll leave it to Nima to write the limit section.

I would say have 5x the roll for tourneys that you do for cash – there is far more variance, especially in MTTs. In single-table sit’n'goes you can probably afford to have only a little more in your bankroll than if you’re a cash player. In turbo STTs, you need literally hundreds of buy-ins.

Let’s use an example – Bob is a solid player, who prefers shorthanded cash games playing no limit hold ‘em. He also plays tournaments. His cash game is quite tight for 6-max but he is aggressive; he runs something like 22/18/4.

He plays NL200 but when he’s on a good upswing he’ll occassionally take a shot at NL400. He plays a lot of MTTs, usually freezeouts with a $25-$50 buy-in and some single-table tourneys of the same level, but not many. What is a sensible sized bankroll for him?

a) $4000

b) $15,000

c) $7,000

Answers on a postcard, please – I’ll post tomorrow.

Ciao.

David Sklansky’s Theory of Poker is often – correctly – considered to be the best book on poker ever written. Applying mathematical and psychological theory, this book is truly the “Desert Island Disc” of poker books. I can’t reinforce that enough – if you only ever read one poker book in your life, make it this one.

 

At first the mathematical processes can be overwhelming but in all honesty there’s nothing overly challenging there – it’s around a high-school level of mathematical problems, and even people who struggle with numbers should wrap their heads around it after some time.

He expresses complex points in a very simple and understandable way, and while you might (nay, will) need to read it several times to fully understand the meanings of what he talks about, once you absorb even a small fraction of what he is getting at you will be a better player.

Some people may be put off by the fact that he draws on examples from lesser-known games such as Stud and Draw poker, but even those examples are explained well enough for novices to those games – and in the back of the book he includes a brief run-down of the rules of Stud, Razz, Draw and Hold ‘em.

In short, if you don’t get this book you are quite literally burning money. It’s as valuable a tool to a player as cards and chips.

The very first hand of our new full table was an incredible orgy of all-ins. Here’s how it went down:

I was the big blind and no sooner had my chip touched the felt than the player next to me announced he was all-in in the dark. I could see why, as he moved only t2,750 into the centre of the table. The cards were dealt and the player to his left called, and after two folds another player moved in over the top for an additional t5,000. It folded to the small blind who called, and then the first player moved in for t6,000 more. The small blind called for most of his chips, and after about four years sorting out the main and side pots, the hands were shown down:

UTG shortstack – 7s-Kd

UTG+1 – Ah-Qh

MP – Jc-Jd

SB – As-Kc

Stack sizes meant that only the SB could scoop the lot, and he did it in style when the flop fell Js-Qs-Ts, with the nuts and a nut flush draw. There were splits and redraws possible though, and I heard him breathe an audible sigh of relief when the turn and river both blanked. He took the pot of around t18,000, giving him a stack of t25,000 and reducing the field to 16.

Sadly for me his chip increase turned out to be my demise.

Six-handed and with 12 players left it folded to him in the small blind. With blinds of 800/1,600 he made it t4,000 to go. I looked down at 5d-4d and decided to repop him and steal the pot. I made it t12,000 and was playing about t25,000 behind. Unfortunately he called.

Fortunately the flop was 5h-4d-8s.

I bet t10,000 into the t24,000 pot, intending to call a shove or shove any turn. He simply called, and the turn revealed the 9h. Unless he was playing 9-8 or something that was a good card for me and I went all in for t15,000 more. I think the exact amount was closer to t16,500 but that will suffice.

He was getting slightly less than 3-1 on his money and it was blind vs. blind so I think his call with Ah-8h was fairly reasonable. He had top pair and the nut flush draw, and in addition any 9 counterfeited my flopped two pair. All I had to do was dodge a heart and I would be the chip leader of the table.

The river fell… Kh.

I tried not to feel too dejected as I had only lost a relatively small sum of money and gone deep. Replaying over the final hand it seems I should have let him pick up the blinds, but I (correctly) put him on a marginal hand. If I were him I would have folded that to my re-raise pre-flop, especially out of position and when my stack rivalled his own. On the flop he had top-top and wasn’t going to put me on 44, 55, 88, 76 or some other combination that beat him so I think his call was justified, if a little passive. If he thought he was beat I prefer a shove there, but hey, what do I know? I came 12/52!

Overall it was a very fun night out for me and I’ll be back again. This time hopefully my opponent won’t hit their 2-1 shot and I can go on to take it down.

My new table seemed to be delivering me absolutely perfect hole cards – for Razz. Completely dead for two entire orbits, I received one walk in the big blind but this table were savvy and would not let me steal. With my stack whittled down to t11,000 at the 500/1000 level one fairly tight player called a raise to 3,000 by a loose-aggressive player. I wasn’t “in position” so they wouldn’t put me on a steal but I “had” position on them so decided to attempt a squeeze with any suited connectors >89 or any ace. There was t7,500 in the pot and I was risking t11,000 to win it. The loose player would probably fold to an all-in with a player to act behind him and the original raiser was usually playing “raise or fold” poker so I deduced he had a slightly weak holding. I had Js-Ts and made the move.

The blinds folded. Good, that’s t1,500 locked up.

The loose raiser folded. Excellent.

The tight player looked at me (foldfoldfoldfoldfold) and looked at his cards (foldfoldfoldfoldfold). He looked at me again (foldfoldfoldfoldfold) and counted out the chips he’d need to put in (foldfoldfoldfoldfold). It was a hefty chunk of his stack but not enough to cripple him (foldfoldfoldfoldfold) and he looked at me again.

“I think I’ve got you,” he said. I was a statue, just staring at the table. Then I heard that awful word “I call.”

I showed my hand and he smiled grimly, tabling 77. It was a great call by him but I still stand by my play. At this point I had invested t11,000 in the pot and stood to win over three times that. He had the 7s and now PokerStove tells me it was actually as big a coinflip as you can get – I was 50.578% to win. Therefore I was even money getting 3-1 odds, making a far better play than I thought! It was still a great call by him – I read him right for his hand and he read me right for mine.

The flop was horrendous, throwing out a board of 7d-9c-2h. The turn was an equally sickening 3h and I stood up to leave before my opponent’s cry of dismay sat me back down as the dealer become my saviour on the 8h river. Luckbox? Moi?

I was showered with chips and glares, and my t31,500 stack was looking nice even when we moved to 600/1,200. The tables broke again soon after as the shorties fell like lemmings, and we were now down to two tables of nine.

Do I make the final table or do I crash and burn?

Find out tomorrow.

At the 150/300 level play seemed to have loosened up a bit. No one at my table was in any imminent danger, with the shortest stack at t3,000 or so. I include the next hand only for comic relief – I had no part in it and folded some trash in early position.

After my fold the man who seemed like the most solid player raised to t1,000 from his stack of t7,500 or so. The clueless lady mentioned heavily in Part 1 called him and the small blind went all in for t4,000. The initial raiser called quite quickly and then clueless lady seemed to agonise over her decision. I actually have her on tape saying: “But that’s all my money… if I lose I might go out… this is tough, I have a really really good hand…” At this point you’d be forgiven for putting her on something like JJ or AK, but then she says: “OK, I’m going to call.” She has about t5,000 so it’s near enough her whole stack, but as she flat called all the money goes into the small blind’s side pot.

The solid player announces a bet of t1,000 in the dark, and after I explain to the newbie what that means she calls.

They turn up the hands.

The small blind has two black nines, a reasonable holding for what was essentially a squeeze play from a shortstack. Unfortunately the solid player with AA was never going to fold, and neither was the novice woman with her powerhouse… Qh 8h!

It would be a lovely ending to this anecdote to tell you that the flop ran out with three low hearts, but unfortunately the player with the bullets made aces up and the turn and river couldn’t bring a nine. The AA-holding player scooped a massive pot, now holding twice the chips of anyone at the table and eliminating two players, including one who was incredibly entertaining. At this point it was announced we were to have a quick break for a colour-up and breaking some tables.

I was told I’d be moving to a totally new table, and upon sitting down I had mixed feelings. All the players had massive stacks, which was both good and bad news for me – juicy implied odds if I was the best player there, but with seven big stacks there I had to give some of them credit for being decent players. Totally card-dead, I watched the play for a while and deduced there were some good players and some donkeys.

Quicker than I thought the blinds reached 300/600, and with my stack at t6,300 I wasn’t too happy with that. No sooner had I posted my small blind than I had the opportunity to double up, however. The donkey under the gun raised to t1,200 and received two callers when it limp/folded back to me with QQ. I had two options – I could move in now, which would be reasonable bet size and probably win me a good sized pot. Or I could flat call and move in on any flop. I favoured the former, as a flop with overcards or straight/flush combinations would be worrisome for a single pair. Surprisingly my caller was the big blind and everyone else folded. The pot was t16,200 and mine for the taking as the big blind showed TT. I was very very aware of cold decks and his 18% chance of knocking me out, but the flop of QQ2 lessened his chances somewhat! I scooped a massive pot and the table congratulated me warmly, as though making quads was a deliberate and skilled move on my part. I wasn’t complaining though.

They say lightening doesn’t strike twice, but apparently this deck of cards had never heard that saying, as in the next four hands I was dealt AK twice, AA once and JJ once. Here’s how they went down:

AK – it folded to me on the button, I raised to t2,000 and both blinds folded.

AA – it folded to me on the cutoff, I raised to t2,000 and the button and both blinds folded.

JJ – it limped (yay! Money!) to me and I raised to t3,000. The button called and both limpers folded. The flop was a good 5-4-8 rainbow and I bet t5,000. The button smooth called and the turn bought a beautiful J. It made two hearts and slowplaying didn’t cross my mind. With t10,000 or so left in my stack and a t17,000 pot I moved in and he folded.

AK – it folded to me and I raised to t2,000. Evidently the table had had enough of me and the small blind re-raised to t6,000. The big blind came over the top of him for all his chips and the small blind insta-called out of turn and turned up QQ. I laughed and folded face-up, and the big blind showed JJ. He spiked a jack on the turn and eliminated the over-eager bettor.

The tables broke again and blinds were 400/800 as I was moved once more. I spotted the solid player from my first table but didn’t recognise anyone else. This particular table was 7-handed. My stack was t25,000 give or take a few hundred and according to the whiteboard the chip leader had t40,800. I was the biggest stack on my table with 22 runners left. Only the top six got paid but everyone at the final table received a free drink and a packet of peanuts. Consolation indeed for the bubble.

Last Wednesday, after dutifully writing my blog for PokerEagles, I played my first ever live tournament (discounting home games). So this blog will be a multi-part special (how many parts depend on how deep I go, I’m writing this introduction on the afternoon of  the 29^th Jan) – a review of my first live tourney.

I heard about it via the excellent website of the LPM (London Poker Meetup) group who organise and attend games across this fine city. The largest of its kind outside the USA, the LPM comprises over one thousand poker players, all up for a game.

The game was an £11 ($22) buy-in at a pub about forty minutes away from me. The TD told me they usually got 50 or so runners with a £200 ($400) first prize. The starting stack was t4,500 but if you showed up early to pay in person you got an extra t500 – I assume that was incentive to get people to turn up on time. I obviously decided to attempt to do so and got to the venue around half an hour before the tournament was due to start at 8pm.

The actual pub itself was a nice place, and when I arrived there were already at least two dozen people there. More showed up through the next twenty minutes and the TD ( a nice bloke by the name of Steve) announced that we would begin with 54 runners, perfect for six tables of nine players. Despite the low buy-in there were a few people at my table who seemed to know what they were doing judging by the way they handled their chips, and some seemed very watchful of the other players, as I resolved to be. Regrettably not all the details of this tournament are available to me: I took a Dictaphone along, thus convincing the other players I was absolutely mental by muttering constantly into my inside pocket, but some background noise obscured my recording at some points. The account of the tournament that follows is as accurate as it can be.

During the initial deal for the button I received the 2c and got the big blind for the first hand. Our table seemed to be fully stacked, but it was hard to tell with only one chip difference between the t4,500 and the full amount. I spent most of the first blind level checking out the quality of the opposition. It seemed that out of the eight other players there were three decent ones, two maniacs, two stations and one lady who had no idea what she was doing and had to be prompted before each action. I received a walk on both my big blinds and we started the second level with the same table and myself with the same stack. There had been no pots over t1,000 and our table dynamics were essentially the same.

I was under the gun in the first hand of the 50/100 level and I picked up KK. With two maniacs to my left I elected to simply limp in, and received one caller before the first lunatic made it t600 to go, causing the second to fold. The clueless lady called on the button and the blinds folded. Back to me with a pot of t1,350 and I decided to simply drop the hammer and move all in. Any pot-sized raise was half my stack and I knew the two loose players would call anything besides an all in, and I couldn’t give them a chance to catch with ace-rag or some other crap. I shoved and they both folded, leaving me with a stack of t6,250.

Shortly after the TD announced blinds would increase to 150/200 next hand I found myself with my first difficult decision of the day after being totally card-dead all evening since the KK hand. I was in the cutoff when the loose player made it t500 as per usual. He was called by a reasonable player and the clueless woman but then another decent player re-raised to t2,000 from his stack of around t4,000. I had around t6,000 and found As-Ks. I knew I could beat the two loose donkeys and that the first decent player would likely fold to an all-in if I chose to do so, but the second raiser had me worried. He’d been playing fairly tight all night, and I decided I had to give him credit for at least a medium-high pocket pair – I laid it down. The loose donkey surprisingly went all in for about t1,000 more and the other two folded. The re-raiser insta-called and showed, to my dismay, Ah-Qs. Fortunately the loose player had managed to be dealt KK. I had a scary moment of regret when the flop was 2s-4s-Jc, but the turn of 5c and river of 3d took out the donkey. I would have split a pot of around t4,500 on that hand but I’m still happy with my fold. I would have been a 3.5-1 dog if I had made the call.

Now we were playing eight-handed, and the whiteboard the TD had set up showed us that there were 47 players left across the six tables. With blinds at 150/300 we had been playing for a little over an hour, and I was nursing a healthy stack of t5,700 or so. The chip leader was on another table but it was said he had around 25,000 already due to some very lucky hands.

Omaha Eights-or-Better Hi-Lo Split is in many respects a game of aces. It isn’t terrible advice to throw away any hand without an ace or two in it – they can make the nut straight, the nut flush, top pair and the nut low. They are probably Omaha-8’s greatest weapon.

But in some situations it is advisable to play a hand consisting of only high cards (that is 9 or above). Sometimes it can be profitable to pretend you’re playing Omaha Hi. When? Position helps. If I hold KQJJ in late position after some limpers I will gladly call. One third of all flops will contain two or more high cards. If the turn then comes another high card (not a terribly unlikely outcome) then there is no low hand possible and your high cards can very likely scoop. Added to this, in a multi-way pot many of your opponents will be playing low hands, and those will interfere with each other and lessen the likelihood of a low draw. Let’s look at an example:

You’re playing limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split, $5-$10. An early position player raises the blind to $10 and three people call. You look down on the button at 9TTJ double-suited. You’re getting 4.5-1 on your money and will are 2-1 to have a majority-high flop. You call the $10 and both blinds fold. With a $55 pot the flop is J-5-Q rainbow. You’ve flopped a pair and an open-ended straight draw, and when it is checked to you you bet it and get two callers, both with A-2-4-x. A $75 pot and the turn is a rainbowed 8. You’ve got the nuts and they’re still chasing their low. But there are very few low cards in the deck now after the sensible low chasers folded the flop, and when the turn comes >8 as it usually will your high will scoop the whole pot. Added to this, many players who had a hand like A-A-2-5 might call a river bet, thinking you too were chasing a low and that their pair of aces might be good.

This is a highly contrived example but it just goes to show how playing by the book might not always be proper.