1

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Texas Holdem Poker
3 Poker Hands
4 Basic Concepts
15 Understanding Your Poker Decision Making
16 Evaluating the Value of Your Hand
18 Assess Your Skill
19 Poker Math and Odds

5 Cash-Game Specific
23 Preflop Aggression in Live Cash Games
25 How to Be Successful Live Cash-Game Pro
27 Guide to Micro No-Limit Holdem Cash Games Online
29 A Lesson on Value-Betting

6 Tournament Specific
33 Stealing Blinds
34 Bet Sizing Considerations
36 Using Chip Leverage
40 An Unconventional Play

7 Off the Table

44 Characteristics of a Great Poker Player
47 Moving Up in Stakes
48 Improve Your Poker Mindset

8 Hands by the Pros

51 Randy Lew
53 Ben Wilinofsky
56 Max Steinberg
57 Daniel Negreanu
58 Andrew Robl
61 Nick Rampone

Introduction
I remember learning the rules of no-limit holdem and playing for the first time with
friends. At one point, I put all my chips in the pot and proudly turned over my cards and
yelled, Straight! I have a straight! I turned over Ace-King on a Two-Three-Four board. After
everyone had a good laugh and I lost all my money, I learned that a straight does not go
through the Ace.
Despite learning an embarrassing, public lesson that day, I was hooked. I played
every chance I could, read whatever literature I could get my hands on and let an obsession
take over. Eventually, that led me to playing and dealing in underground cash games in
Fort Wayne, grinding a small bankroll online, and moving to Las Vegas to finish school and
pursue a career in the poker industry.
Since then, Ive balanced life as a full-time poker reporter and a serious player. Ive
been incredibly lucky that my job requires that I speak to the best poker players in the
world. Ive had the opportunity to pick their brains on strategy, hand analysis, handling
downswings, and so much more. The information Ive received over the years is enough to
take make anyone a winning no-limit holdem player. It seemed like the natural next step to
organize a few of the articles into an easy-to-digest form.
4

This E-book is a compilation of the best, most informative articles published on

PokerNews.com on the topic of no-limit holdem. It begins with an introduction to basic
strategy then branches into tournament and cash-game specific articles. Following that is a
section on handling poker life away from the table. At the end, there are first-hand accounts
of real hands by the pros. Feel free to move into specific sections or to skip around and
enjoy the articles in any order.
Becoming better at poker involves making mistakes, learning lessons and studying.
Ive come a long way since turning over a made-up straight thanks to so many of the players
featured in this book, but poker is an ever-evolving game with infinite intricacies to learn.
I hope this E-book serves as a starting off point to improve and leads to lots of plus EV
decisions. Youve already made one by opening up this book.
Good luck!
Kristy Arnett

Texas Holdem Poker

Introduction
Texas holdem is the most popular of all poker variations. All
of the marquee tournaments around the world (WSOP, WPT, EPT,
etc.) are played in a variation of this game.
Dont let the simplicity of the game mislead you. The number
of possible game situations is so vast that, when playing at a
high level, the game can be very complex. Thus the renowned
expression: It takes a moment to learn, but a lifetime to master.
When playing the game for the first time, you will be
confronted with some of the basic rules which are explained
below. For starters, each player is dealt two hole cards in Texas
holdem with the overall goal of making the best five-card hand.
Play moves clockwise around the table, starting with action to the
left of the dealer button. Generally, the first two players to the
immediate left of the button are required to post a small blind and
a large blind to initiate the betting. From there, action occurs on
multiple streets: preflop, the flop, the turn and the river.

Button
The button determines which player at the table is the
acting dealer. In Texas holdem, the player on button, or last active
player closest to the button, receives last action on all post-flop
streets of play.
When playing in casinos or online, you wont have to worry
about who the dealer is. When playing with friends, everyone
usually takes a turn at dealing the cards. After each hand has been
completed, the button rotates one position to the left. While staff
dealers handle the duty of dealing out the cards in brick-and6

mortar casinos, and the process is automated online, this isnt the
case in home games. A small tip is to find the most skillful dealer
in the game, offer him or her a beer or a small tip and have them
deal the game while the button keeps track of which player is the
dealer.
While the dealer button often dictates who the first players
are to begin the wagering with the small blind and big blind, it also
determines where the dealing of the cards begin. The player to the
immediate left of the dealer button in the small blind, receives the
first card and then the dealer pitches cards around the table in a
clockwise motion from player to player until each has received two
starting cards.

The Blinds
Before every new round, two players at the table are
obligated to post blinds, or forced bets that begin the wagering.
Without these blinds, the game would be very boring because
no one would be required to put any money into the pot. In
tournaments, the blinds are raised at regular intervals. As the
number of players keeps decreasing and the stacks of the
remaining players keep getting bigger, it is a necessity that the
blinds keep increasing throughout a tournament. In cash games,
the blinds will always stay the same for a given limit of which the
game is being played.
The player directly to the left of the button posts the small
blind, and the player to his or her direct left posts the big blind.
The small blind is generally half the amount of the big blind,
although this stipulation varies from room to room and can also be
dependent of the game being played.

The Aim of the Game

Winning, of course! But in order to achieve this, you need to
be holding the best combination of cards.
In Texas holdem, every player receives two cards face down,
called hole cards. Every player keeps these cards to concealed until
the end of all of the betting rounds, which is called the showdown.
Texas holdem is a game of community cards, where five cards
are displayed in the middle of the table to be used in conjunction
with a players two hole cards in order to make the best five-card
holding.
The five community cards are displayed in the middle of the
table on the flop, the turn and the river. The flop consists of the
first three community cards, the turn adds another and the river
completes the board with one more. These five cards are visible
for every player. Once all five cards are down, players have to
make the best five-card combination from these seven cards. This
can be done using both of your hole cards in combination with
three community cards, one hole card in combination with four
community cards or no hole cards and playing all five community
cards as ones hand. The player with the best combination of cards
wins the pot, which is the sum of all bets that have been placed
during that hand.

First Betting Round

The first round of betting takes place right after all hole
cards have been dealt to each player. The first player to act is the
player to the left of the big blind, and this player then has three
options:
Call: match the amount of the big blind
Raise: increase the bet within the specific limits of the game
Fold: throw ones hand away
If a player chooses to fold, he or she is no longer eligible to
win the current hand.
The amount a player can raise to depends on the game that
is being played, but most commonly must be at least twice the big
blind.
Limit holdem: you can only raise by the amount of the big
blind
Pot-limit holdem: you can only raise a maximum of the pot
size (the total bets that have been placed at that time)
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No-limit holdem: you can raise by any amount you want up

to the maximum that your chip stack allows, and betting all of your
chips is deemed all in
The players who follow have the same three options: call,
raise or fold. In the case of raising, the minimum allotted amount
for a raise must be equal to the original raise amount. For example,
lets say the big blind in a game is $10 and the first player to act
raises to $40 in a game of no-limit holdem. The second player to
act has the option to call for $40, fold and no longer play the hand,
or raise to $70 as the first raise amount of $30, the difference
between the wager placed and the original big blind.

Second Betting Round

After the first preflop betting round has been completed, the
second betting round takes place on the flop after the first three
community cards have been dealt. In this betting round, and all
that follow from now on, action starts with the first active player to
the left of the button. Along with the options to bet, call, fold and
raise, a player now has the option to check if no betting action has
occurred prior. A check simply means to pass the action to the next
player in the hand.

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Third Betting Round

The fourth community card, called the turn, is dealt faceup following all betting action on the flop. Once this has been
completed, another round of betting occurs, similar to that on the
previous street of play. Again players have the option to options to
bet, call, fold, raise and check.

Final Betting Round

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The fifth community card, called the river, is dealt faceup following all betting action on the turn. Once this has been
completed, another round of betting occurs, similar to that on the
previous street of play. Again players have the option to options
to bet, call, fold, raise and check. After all betting action has been
completed, the remaining players in the hand with hole cards now
expose their holdings to determine a winner. This is called the
showdown.

Showdown
The remaining players open their hole cards, and with the
assistance of the dealer, a winning hand is determined. The player
with the best combination of five cards will win the pot.

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Poker Hands
In Texas Holdem poker players construct hands of five cards. These hands are
compared using a hand ranking system, the player with the highest-ranking hand wins. The
ranking of a particular hand is increased by including multiple cards of the same card rank,
by all five cards being from the same suit, or by all five cards being of consecutive rank.

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Basic Concepts
Its important to have a solid understanding of the basics to succeed in
poker. In this section are articles that cover important, beginning strategies
and effective processes of thought that lead to good decision making at the
poker table.
Understanding Your Poker Desicion Making
Evaluating the Value of Your Hand
Assess Your Skill
Poker Math and Odds

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Understanding Your Poker

Decision Making
For the premiere episode of the Strategy with Kristy podcast, host Kristy Arnett spoke
with the person who single-handedly took her game, as well as dozens of other players
games, to the next level through poker coaching Andrew balugawhale Seidman.
The first step in improving your poker game is to constantly ask yourself, Why are
doing what youre doing? You must have good, solid reasons for every decision. The
following is taken from the podcast interview:
You can do something without
knowing if its right and have it still be
right, but you dont have any control over
the situation. Lets say for a second that
I decide that Im going to reraise sevendeuce offsuit, and then if I get reraised
from there, Im going to go all in. Lets say
I do that, and the guy folds. I win money,
and it was the right play at the time and
was a good bluff because he folded. But I
can do that without really knowing why or
what Im doing. This is the danger when
people play poker and why the games will
always be soft.
People will learn from the result of something. Theyll say, I led out with pocket eights
on a king-seven-three board and the guy folded so it was good. But when you start to
separate the immediate results or understand the immediate result better, you realize the
need to know whether you are bluffing or value betting in order to know whether or not its
right. Oftentimes people misread those things. Theyll think that since their opponent folded
when they had pocket eights it was a good bet. Well, maybe not. He probably had a worse
hand than you. In poker, its not good for people with worse hands than you to fold usually.
So, to get simpler, and answer your question, we have to start with this very basic
dichotomy between bluffing and value betting to understand anything that stems from
there out. Everything in poker revolves around relative hand strength. If my hand is worse
15

than my opponents, I must be bluffing. If my hand is better than my opponents, I must be

value betting. Because your hand is rarely the same as your opponents, you pretty much
always have to be value betting or bluffing whether or not you know which one youre doing.
For those of us whove played high stakes poker, there have been times when weve
bluffed all-in with bottom pair only to be called by ace-high. And there have been times
when we have top set and shove a river but get called by a rivered gutshot straight. So, we
didnt know in those times what we were actually doing. We thought we were value betting
but we were actually bluffing or we were bluffing but we were accidentally value betting.
The truth is, starting from that basic idea that we have to be doing one of the
two, gets people in the right channel for thinking about things that get more and more
sophisticated. From there out we start to ask other questions like, What sort of factors do
I need to have to be value betting? How does whos sitting at my table, my interaction with
them, how deep we are, what the board is affect
my ability to value bet a hand or bluff him? Thats how we branch off into the complexities
that make up poker theory.
Here is a link to the full interview: The Strategy with Kristy Podcast Premiere Episode

Evaluating the Value of Your

Hand
In another podcast interview, Andrew Balugawhale
Seidman discussed his book, Easy Game, and touched on a few of
the covered topics. In the following excerpt he talks about how to
evaluate the value of your hand:
The first thing that we have to realize at any given time is
that our hand is always going to fit in one of these three categories:
low value, medium value, or premium value. Premium just means
that its good enough to raise for value. We dont need to raise, but
its good enough to. So, obviously aces are always good enough to
raise for value preflop.
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A hand like jacks, whether or not its a good hand to reraise for value preflop would
depend on a lot of things. Against a really tight player who only opens the nuts preflop, then
we probably dont want to reraise jacks, but against a crazy maniac person we do.
We can actually see the beginning of how these value categories might change
depending on a whole bunch of different circumstances like our stack sizes, our opponents,
everything. What we find is that, if were not in premium value, and we cant raise for value,
then do we have enough value to play our hand? That would put us in the medium value.
So lets say were up against a huge nit, we have jacks, and he opens. We think, OK,
were not in premium because I cant raise for value, but do I have value to play my hand?
Yes, I can flop a set, so Im in medium value. Now, if we go one step further, we might
say, My hand is not quite good enough to be in medium value because I dont think it has
enough value to call.
Lets say I have a hand like eight-five suited and a regular raises. Its sort of on the
borderline between medium value and low value. If we decide its low value then we cant
continue by calling because we dont have enough value to capitalize on and we cant raise
for value ourselves. So, we have to either fold our hand, or we could bluff with it. We dont
lose any value if we have to fold our hand at some point in the hand because we were
planning on folding it anyway.
Im going to tie this back now to polarized and strong ranges (depolarized ranges).
When we want to create a strong range, we dont raise any of our low value hands, we
just fold all of them, and the premium range becomes very wide. So now, jacks is clearly
premium, king-queen is premium, ace-nine is premium half the time. The medium-strength
hand ranges become a little bit more narrow and a little bit weaker because most of the
higher end of the medium-value range is now considered premium value because were
choosing to adopt a strong range.

17

Assess Your Skill

To be successful in poker, one must be able to accurately assess his or her own skill.
There are several factors that make this difficult such as results oriented thinking. When a
skilled player pulls off a bluff, he considered all the necessary variables including ranges,
player type, leverage, fold equity, image and odds. However, when a beginning player pulls
off a bluff, often there was flawed thinking that led to the decision. Even though the results
may be the same in any given hand, the long-term results will show that the beginning
players lack of understanding will cost him money.
David Randall, an instructor for Pocket Fives
Training, poker coach, and co-creator of 3D Poker
Training alongside Sorel Mizzi, addressed this very topic
in an article and illustrated the point with examples:
Hero opens to $30 at a $5/$10 table with an
effective stack of $1,000 holding pocket sixes in middle
position. Villain calls in the cutoff. The flop is
. Hero continuation bets $40, and Villain calls. The
. Hero checks, and Villain checks behind.
turn is a
, and Hero decides to turn his hand
The river is a
into a bluff and bet three-quarters of the pot. In this
example, Hero is putting his opponent on some type
of one-pair hand no better than tens. Hero realizes it is
easier to represent a broadway combo that improved
than it is for Villain to do the same. So, Hero took the
opportunity to bet in order to get those one-pair hands
the ones that beat his pair of sixes to fold.
Now consider a beginning player who proceeds in this hand with the exact same
actions. The difference is intention and reasoning. Thoughts may seem something like the
following:
I have pocket sixes. Thats a pair, so I raise.
I dont think he caught any of that flop. Ill bet $40.
The turn is another overcard. There are so many hands that beat me now. Ill check.
18

He checked the river, so I can win if I bet. Ill bet $110. The opponent folds. I did it!
Though the beginning player received the desired result, he made many mistakes
in his thought process. He was scared of the Queen turn card because it was another
overcard, but it hits very little of his opponents range. He also did not think through what
his opponents range on the river was. He just simply reacted to his opponent checking back
on the turn. Had the opponent bet the queen against the beginning player, he wouldve
been able to win the pot (especially if he was willing to follow up his aggression with another
bet on the river) even though his line represents only a small range in reality. Acting on
emotion rather than reason will eventually cost the beginning player money.
To read the full article by David Randall, go here: Advanced Poker Strategy: David
Randall Highlights Common Flaws in Hand Reading

Poker Math and Odds

Math plays a large role in good decision making in no-limit holdem. Here are a few of
them most basic and necessary terms and uses:
Pot odds are the ratio of the pot size to the cost of the bet facing
you. To determine the size of the pot, add the money in the middle,
plus the uncalled bet. Divide that by the amount of the bet you
need to call.
For example, say your opponent bets $5 into a pot of $10.
Pot size: (Uncalled bet) + (Money already in pot) = 5 + 10 = 15
Pot odds: (Total pot) / (Amount needed to call) = 15 / 5 = 3 / 1
Result: You are getting 3-to-1 pot odds.
Expected odds are the ratio of the expected pot size to the cost of
the bet facing you. To determine the size of the expected pot, add
the money in the middle, plus all uncalled bets.
For example, say your opponent bets $5 into a pot of $10 and there is a loose19

passive player left to act behind you. If you expect that player to almost always call, you can
calculate that into the size of the pot to determine your expected odds.
Pot size: (Uncalled bet) + (Money already in pot) + (Expected call amount) = 5 + 10 + 5
= 20
Expected odds: (Total pot) / (Amount needed to call) = 20 / 5 = 4 / 1
Result: You are getting 4-to-1 expected odds.
Deuces Cracked instructor and podcast host, Aaron WiltOnTilt Wilt come on the
Strategy with Kristy podcast as a guest to discuss how to use math in-game. He used a spot
that come up often in no-limit holdem as an example of how he uses math to help him
come to a decision.

Heres the situation: In a $5/$10 game, three players limp in. Youre in the big
and
. The flop is
rainbow. Action checks to button, who
blind with
bets $10. The small blind calls. What do you do?
Basically, what Im thinking here is that I have four outs to the nuts. If I was calling on
just purely pot odds alone, I would need about 11-to-1 in order to break even. There were
five callers preflop, thats $50, the button bet $10, thats $60 and the small blind called, thats
$70. So I have to call $10 into $70. Im currently getting 7-to-1, so Im not getting the correct
pot odds. Does that mean we should fold? I would say probably not because if we do it one
of our three outs, theres a good chance we could probably get a little more money out. A
lot of times, thats where people kind of stop. Theyll say, Im getting the right implied odds
though so Ill call. Well, I think its worth going the next step and asking, How much more,
on average, do we need to make if we hit in order to make this call? Im getting 7-to-1 but I
need to be getting 10-to-1. Each of those units is $10 so I need $40 or four more units. So Id
be asking myself, When I hit a three, can I, on average, make an extra $40? It seems like in
this spot, when it goes bet-call, someones probably going to have an ace reasonably often
here. It seems pretty likely that I can get a $40 bet out of one of them on either the turn or
the river. I would go ahead and make the call there for that reason.

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Outs

On turn

On river

Turn and River

1 out

2.13% (46:1)

2.17% (45:1)

4.26% (22.5:1)

2 outs

4.26% (22.5:1)

4.35% (22:1)

8.42% (10:9)

3 outs

6.38% (14.7:1)

6.52% (14.3:1)

12.49% (7:1)

4 outs

8.51% (10.8:1)

8.67% (10.5:1)

16.47% (5.1:1)

5 outs

10.64% (8.4:1)

10.87% (8.2:1)

20.35% (3.9:1)

6 outs

12.77% (6.8:1)

13.04% (6.7:1)

24.14% (3.1:1)

7 outs

14.89% (5.7:1)

15.22% (5.6:1)

27.84% (2.6:1)

8 outs

17.02% (4.9:1)

17.39% (4.8:1)

31.45% (2.6:1)

9 outs

19.15% (4.2:1)

19.57% (4.1:1)

34.97% (1.9:1)

10 outs

21.28% (3.7:1)

21.72% (3.6:1)

38.39% (1.6:1)

11 outs

23.40% (3.3:1)

23.91% (3.2:1)

41.72% (1.4:1)

12 outs

25.53% (2.9:1)

26.09% (2.8:1)

44.96% (1.2:1)

13 outs

27.66% (2.6:1)

28.26% (2.5:1)

48.10% (1.1:1)

14 outs

29.79% (2.4:1)

30.43% (2.3:1)

51.16% (1:1)

15 outs

31.91% (2.1:1)

32.61% (2.1:1)

54.12% (0.8:1)

16 outs

34.04% (1.9:1)

34.78% (1.9:1)

56.98% (0.8:1)

17 outs

36.17% (1.8:1)

36.96% (1.7:1)

59.76% (0.7:1)

21

Cash-Game Specific
This section focuses on strategic concepts that apply mostly to cash
games.
Preflop Aggression in Live Cash Games
How to Be Successful Live Cash-Game Pro
Guide to Micro No-Limit Holdem Cash Games Online
A Lesson on Value-Betting

22

Preflop Aggression in Live

Cash Games
Bart Hanson is a long-time live cash-game grinder from Los Angeles who specializes
in no-limit holdem and limit Omaha eight-or-better. Since Black Friday, there has been an
influx of online players in live games. Hanson talked to Kristy Arnett about a few differences
in preflop aggression between the two.

How does three-bet bluffing differ

in live poker compared to online?
Its a little less profitable live than it
is online because people arent opening
as much. Their preflop raise frequency is
lower so their hand ranges are stronger.
Players call three-bets out of position
much more often. This isnt always
necessarily bad because you can still get
them to fold post-flop, but in live games,
they just fold much less often.

What situations do you look for in live games to three-bet bluff?

You can pick up information from players preflop raise sizing. If you are observant
about the way that people play, you might find that they raise smaller with high cards or
suited connectors. If youre playing $5/$10, they might only raise to $20 or $25, and if they
have big pairs, theyll raise to a lot more to maybe $60 or $70. Also, often raise sizes that
are really big, like more than seven times the big blind as an open, are often mediumstrength hands like sixes, sevens, or eights that are afraid to play postflop. So knowing your
opponents preflop raise tendencies will give you a feel for when you can three-bet bluff.
I look for those situations when I think that someone is raising large with a mediumstrength hand to three-bet bluff. Or, lets say a few players limp and the button makes it $35.
He never has aces or kings. Thats prime for you to three-bet from the blinds. Most likely, his
raise was to bloat the pot with suited cards or small pairs. And, as far as my range for three23

betting goes, Im mostly polarizing my three-betting range.

Why would you generally rather use a polarized three-bet range preflop?
Well, you should skew your three-bet range more toward value hands than bluffs, but
I dont three-bet hands like sevens and eights because I like to have a bigger stack-to-pot
ratio. The thing about live play is that you dont have to bloat the pot preflop. If you flop a
big hand, you can almost always do it post-flop even when youre playing deep. If you flop
a set against aces, you can just start building a pot right on the flop. Its not a big deal to
artificially inflate the pot.

Online, limping is most often a sign of a fish; however, its much more prevalent
live. Whats your take on limping in live games?
I dont do a whole lot of limping upfront [early position]. I still limp some pocket pairs
up front, and in a passive game, Ill limp some suited connectors and suited aces. I used to
open suited aces, but now, I think you want to limp with them because you want to have
smaller suited cards call. That way, you have a chance to over-flush someone. Also, you can
play a little more deceptively if you flop top pair or two pair.
You can also over-limp, which is a big part of live play and not part of online play.
If there are a few limpers, and Im in late position with a suited connector, Ill limp. The
only hands Im raising to isolate are obviously value hands and high cards. Other than
that, I dont mind limping in with those hands because Im not lot losing value by not
raising preflop because when I hit my hand, I know how to properly extract value from my
opponents postflop.

Lets talk about four-bet ranges. Since players are three-bet bluffing so rarely in
live poker, does that mean four-bet bluffs are almost nonexistent?
Its so rare to see. Ive thrown in a four-bet bluff a few times before because I know a
player is three-betting with ace-jack, or king-queen because theyve seen me open a lot, but
its really rare. Its not bad in live poker to basically have no four-bet bluffing range.

Does that mean you shouldnt four-bet for value with hands like aces and kings
since youre never four-bet bluffing?
24

Thats a valid point for the purposes of balance, but preflop, balance is a little
overrated in live games. You dont need to really concern yourself with balance to set up any
type of meta game. Of course, this is to say you are playing in one of the bigger houses like
Commerce Casino, which always has tons of games. Youre just playing with a lot of different
players, and most of them dont care or notice if youre balancing your ranges or not. I think
it just causes more problems to make moves just for balance in live games.
That said, when considering whether or not to four-bet for value, it depends on how
deep you are. If youre $3,000 deep in a $5/$10 game, I do want to four-bet with aces or
kings because I want to try to stack my opponent. If I only flat the three-bet and then raise
the flop, it puts me in a really weird spot if he calls, and its going to be almost impossible to
get our stacks in. I might also four-bet against someone who is willing to call the rest of his
stack with ace-king, jacks or tens. A lot of times, if you just call preflop, the guy isnt going to
barrel off if he misses or if an overcard comes. Id rather just get it in preflop.

How to Be Successful Live

Cash-Game Pro
On the Strategy with Kristy Podcast, host Kristy Arnett began a live cash-game
grinders series with Las Vegas players Andrew Moreno and Lincoln Garner. They have been
consistently amongst the biggest winners in the cash-games they play. The two discussed
how to handle downswings, the biggest mistakes players make at low stakes, taking shots,
moving up in stakes and improving your win rate.
Here are a few highlights from the series:

Theres nothing you

should focus on other
than the hand youre
playing right now.

Garner: Ive been through a lot of downswings

and theyre hard. The thing is, this is a sick game and it
is going to mess with your head a lot. The best advice
I could give when going through a downswing is to
stay present in the moment as much as you can. Any
money won or lost in the past is completely irrelevant.
Theres nothing you should focus on other than the
hand youre playing right now.
25

Moreno: When youre going through a downswing, you should take a look at your win
rate because if you keep losing for an extended period of time at small stakes, youre
probably doing something wrong. The best advice I always give people at the poker table is
that what you need to do is make friends with people who are better than you at poker. Tell
them you want to bounce hands off them. First of all, if they are good, they will be able to
quickly gauge how good you are by the way you talk about hands. Talking through hands
with someone who is better than you is how youre going to see a lot of improvement. Its
best to make friends because coaching can get expensive really quickly. I was lucky to meet
a great group of friends and once I did, my win rate just took off.
I always tell people that there are three basic
things that you can do to make your chances better
Make friends with
of having a winning session. I always try to have the
people who are better
lead in the hand if I can, I want to have position, and I
than you at poker
want to have a hand with showdown value or that flop
well. If you can have those three things, your chances
of winning the hand go up exponentially. So, if you did
those three things and game selected and seat selected well, youd crush. You have to take
those little edges. If you dont, its a major leak.
Garner: When youre playing a hand and your opponent has the extra information of
getting to see what you do before they do anything makes the game a lot harder for you. If
you could just go into every session saying to yourself that you want play in position, I think
that would help a lot.
The biggest mistakes I see players making at the table is choosing to play pots out
of position when they dont have to. Its funny because I was actually just talking to Andrew
about this before the podcast. People arent aggressive enough to force you to play out of
position at low stakes, yet players choose to do it all the time.
Listen here: Strategy with Kristy Podcast: Live Cash Game Grinders Part 1
and here: Strategy with Kristy Podcast: Live Cash Game Grinders Part 2

26

Guide to Micro No-Limit

Holdem Cash Games Online
For anyone looking to learn poker or improve their game without having lots of
collateral fiscal damage, micro-stakes games online are the perfect place to go. Players
can find $0.01/$0.02 and $0.05/$0.10 no-limit holdem full-ring and six-max cash games
on plenty of online sites that are perfect for those looking to get their feet, but not risk an
uncomfortable amount of money.

Deciding On Stakes
For the $0.01/$0.02 no-limit holdem games, there is a $0.40
minimum and a $2 maximum buy-in. For the $0.05/$0.10 level, the
minimum is $4 and the maximum is $10. Deciding which game to
play heavily relies on the amount of money you are starting with.
Many poker pros say that having at least 20 buy-ins for a lowstakes game is ideal.
For example, if you deposited $200 into your account, go
ahead and jump into the $0.05/$0.10 level. If you start to lose and
your bankroll drops down to an amount you feel uncomfortable
playing that level with, start playing the $0.01/$0.02 games. There
is no shame is taking a step down in limits, and this moved is
respectable because you are honoring a solid commitment to
bankroll management rules.

Six-Max or Full-Ring Poker?

After deciding on which stakes to play, the next decision
is whether to play a six-max or full-ring format. Full-ring tables
have nine seats available for players, which is comparable to live
poker in a casino where action is usually nine or 10 handed. For
most players moving from live poker to online, this is the most
27

comfortable transition.
Full-ring games generally play tighter and more passive
than six-max games. Many would argue that its a more laid-back
game. This is great for players who prefer to play less hands and a
tighter range with focus on more premium hand selection. Keeping
that in mind, the average starting-hand strength is generally pretty
high. In early position, it is advantageous to play only very good
hands because you are likely going to play versus opponents who
have position on you. Limping into pots is fairly common in these
games, although not necessary something you should fall into line
with. Coming in with an opening raise is often much better than
limping as you now have initiative on the hand and are showing
strength.
In six-max games, the button comes around much faster
because less players are dealt in. That means more hands for
players and in general, higher aggression. Shorthanded games are
great for players who enjoy action and playing a lot of hands. As in
all forms of poker, position is very important, but it is particularly
imperative in six-max games. Because hand ranges are wider and
the average hand strength is lower, position is a huge advantage
when neither player has a top premium hand. Its important to
remember that because the aggression is higher, there is going
to be much bigger swings than in the full-ring format because
of variance. If you are a player who has a tilt factor or becomes
emotional due to high variance, perhaps full-ring poker is a better
fit.

Use the Stats

If there are a few games running in the stake and type of
game you want to play, use the stats available. The Avg. pot stat
will tell you how big the game is playing. For example, if youre
looking at $0.01/$0.02 full-ring no-limit holdem game and the
average pot size is $0.41, thats about 20 big blinds. If you see
another table that has an average pot size of $0.12, then you can
infer that the second table is play tighter and has much less action.
28

Next, look at the Plrs/flop column, which is the percentage

of players who see the flop. That will help you determine whether
its the table that is playing loose or only one or two players. If
that number is 23%, that could mean that only one or two players
are playing every pot and putting in a lot of money, that will make
the average pot size higher. If its closer to 50% or 60%, that likely
means there are a few loose, action players at the table.

Additional Tips
When you find a table that is full, one most online sites, you
can join a waiting list. You will be alerted when a seat opens up for
you. Once seated and playing, remember to have fun! Before you
know it, youll be moving up from the micro-stakes.

A Lesson on Value-Betting
Mike umpa21 Ziemba is a former
PokerStars Supernova Elite status. Before
Black Friday, he was regularly grinding 24
six-max no-limit holdem cash game tables
with ease. Ziemba has returned to the
virtual felt with the legalization of online
poker in Nevada. He sat down with Kristy
Arnett to discusses general strategies for
value betting against a recreational player.

Once youve pegged a player as recreational, what is your general game plan as
far as getting value from them?
29

I try to recognize tendencies or leaks. There are different types of recreational

players, and not all of them play the same. So, I need to figure out how to exploit them, and
in what situations.

Is it fair to say that you can categorize most recreational players as either bad
passive or bad aggressive?
I would agree with that. A big error recreational players make is that they forget the
reasons why they are betting. Are they betting for a bluff? Are they betting for value? Or, are
they betting to protect their hand?
Recreational players usually have a harder time reading hands and ranges of
opponents. So at times, it can be harder to make more complex bluffs versus someone who
is not as familiar with the game. In certain situations, its easier to extract more value, and/or
overbet versus a fish.
Against a fish, I generally try to get involved with more hands preflop in position.
Or, open my preflop range. I have a huge advantage post-flop against a fish, and they will
usually make a large error, resulting in a large profit for me.

Post-flop, how does the width of your value-betting range change and across
how many streets against a bad, passive player versus a bad, aggressive player? For
example, does your value-betting range narrow or widen, and do you go for more or
less streets of value with top-pair types of hands?
If a player is passive, Im more likely to bet all three streets if I believe I have the best
hand in or out of position. Out of position, its harder to check-raise a passive player since
theyre more likely to check than bet. My value-betting range is always wider considering
theyre getting involved with worse hands preflop, and post-flop.
The texture of boards, positions, stack sizes, and reads, plays into my conclusion of
what bet sizes I want to make. Against a bad aggressive player, Im more likely to try and let
them hang themselves. Meaning, I may check-call the flop and turn with the best hand,
and check-raise on some rivers.

What about bet sizing against a fish versus good players? What are some general
guidelines on how it changes?
30

A lot of bet sizing has to do with ranges and board textures. Against good players, its
much harder to get them to call three large bets with worse hands, so you may bet smaller,
or give them better odds to call. Usually, when you see two good players making large bets
on every street, they both have good hands, and one happens to be better than the other.
Or, its a cooler in an unavoidable spot. Against a fish, its much more likely you can make
large bets on each street, and get a player holding a very bad hand to call on each street.

31

Tournament Specific
Tournaments require different skill sets than cash games. This section
focuses on concepts that apply to tournaments.
Stealing Blinds
Bet Sizing Considerations
Using Chip Leverage
An Unconventional Play

32

Stealing Blinds
Randal Flowers has accumulated more than $2.7 million in tournament winnings,
including two World Poker Tour titles. For a Strategy with Kristy podcast interview, Flowers
discussed all aspects of bluffing preflop. Here, he talks specifically about stealing blinds.

How do you balance the need to steal with the fact that these days many players
know that youre stealing?
If I have a very aggressive player or two to my left and Im in
late position, and theres an obvious weak [player in the] big blind,
I dont know how often Im going to open very light. Im anticipating
getting flatted, and people messing with me after the flop because
they know I dont have that great of a range.
A lot of times, the general strategy should change to fold.
Play tighter if there are good aggressive players behind you. But, if
no one is really messing with you, you can sneak in a raise with a
pretty weak hand.

With what kind of range are you willing to go for blind steals?
Well, live is way different than online, and I havent played online in so long that I
guess my strict math fundamentals arent as good as they should be. When you play live,
people look at their hands before theyre supposed to, so I could be in the hijack and know
the guy on the button is already holding his cards that he wants to fold. So then, Im really in
the cutoff. You should play way, way more hands in live poker, in my opinion.

What raise size do you prefer?

I vary my raise sizing more than most, but generally, I think 2.5 times the big blind
is fine. What really matters is, if its really early in the tournament, and youre very deep, I
would recommend raising 3 times.
Maybe midway through the tournament, when there still arent antes and the average
33

stack is around 50 big blinds, I think under 2.5 times is probably better because youre
risking 250 to win 150 if the blinds are 50/100. With no antes, if you get three-bet, it puts you
in a tough spot. Youre never really getting a good price so depending on stack sizes, I think
you can risk less.
Listen to the podcast here: Strategy with Kristy: Randal Flowers Discusses Bluffing
Preflop

Bet Sizing Considerations

Tristan Wade is a live, online grinder who plays under the screen name cre8ive. He is
also an instructor at Deepstacks University where he teaches everything from the basics to
high-level strategy. Wade sat down with Kristy Arnett to talk about bet-sizing.

When you begin with a group of students, what are the

big and obvious mistakes they are making with bet sizes?
Well the initial bet-sizing mistakes they make are preflop.
They dont keep their bets within the 2 to 4 x the blind range, or
keep their bets consistent. After the flop, most amateur players
arent aware of the size of the pot, so they dont make their bet
sizes in relation to the pot.

OK, lets talk preflop. What kinds of factors are you taking
into account to decide on preflop raise sizes?
The first things I take notice of are the blind levels and
stack sizes. If everyone is playing 100 big blinds deep, I am more
comfortable making a 3 x the blind preflop raise. If the stacks are
shallower, I will decrease my opening bet size to 2.2 to 2.5 times.
Once the antes kick in, I will almost always keep my opening raises
under 2.5 x the blind. All of this depends on the table, as well and
how other players are playing.
34

With antes in play and such a small preflop raise, doesnt this allow for the big
blind to defend profitably? Or should our postflop skill and position make up for that?
The big blind can defend profitably in some cases with certain hands, but typically
against skilled poker players who have position on you, you will get outplayed. The good
player will find a way to lose less chips when the big blind has a hand, and win more chips
when he has hands that have value. Thats a concept a lot of people forget about, as well.

How do limpers affect your preflop raise size?

Well, at DeepStacks Live, one of our instructors, Mike Matusow, is a big fan of making
3 x the blind raises and adding one for every limper. If there are two limpers, you would
make a 5 x the blind raise. Personally, I think isolating the limper and taking control of the
pot itself is more important than the actual size of the raise. Sometimes I will still make a 2.5
to 3 x the blind raise. Depending on the player and the table, I will isolate a little bigger.

What kinds of players are you isolating against?

Im probably isolating with a bigger raise size when I have a lot of people who like to
see cheap flops behind me. I will also isolate players who react differently in bigger pots
rather than smaller ones.

What about three-bet sizes, in and out of position?

Preflop three-bet sizes are another thing that seem to fluctuate a lot, as they should.
This is all player dependent. On the Internet, some people will fold to small three-bet
preflop, whereas in a live setting, you could make a 3 to 4 x three-bet and still get called.
Typically, if you are in position, I think your three-bet sizing should be around 3 x the raise
or below, and if you are out of position it should be 3 x the raise or a little bigger. Know your
players and that answer will be a lot easier to determine.

Postflop, when you have the initiative and position, what are some things
consider when finding a continuation-bet size?
There are a few key principles to continuation betting. First, it depends on how many
opponents you are betting into. If there are four or five players you should make a bigger
35

continuation bet in most cases. If you are against one or two players, you can get away with
making a smaller bet, like half the pot. You should also be aware of building the pot and
how the size of the pot relates to your stack. For example, betting the flop and the turn to
leave yourself with a pot-sized bet on the river.

Thats great advice. It seems like beginning players often bet the flop without
thinking ahead as to what theyll do if they get shoved on or if they have to see the
turn.
Yeah. Everything is player-dependent in poker. If one player will fold to a one-third
pot continuation bet, youre burning chips by not betting smaller. If another player wont
fold for full-pot bets, and you have a hand with good value, punish him.

Is there anything else you want to add about beginning players learning correct
bet-sizing?
Always be aware of your stack size, the size of the pot, and what you are trying to
accomplish when you are in the pot. Keep your bets consistent and think ahead.

Using Chip Leverage

Amanda Musumecis impressive online tournament results and six-figure winnings
live have caught the attention of the poker world. The strategically articulate Musumeci
talked to Kristy Arnett about an effective tactic she uses in tournaments leveraging.

First of all, for those who dont know, can you explain exactly what leveraging is?
There are a couple types of leveraging. Stack leveraging and positional leveraging are
two common examples. Stack leveraging can be used by either betting or raising to a size
that either (a) implies and represents to our opponent that this pot is growing rapidly, and
that a huge bet is likely coming on the turn and river, or (b) can be used by raising or
reraising to a size that gives the illusion that you will call your opponents reraise or reshove,
36

meaning that you are giving the illusion of being pot or stack committed. Positional
leveraging is using position to your advantage to threaten your opponents stack and put
them in tough spots.

Lets talk about stack leveraging. Can you further explain in what situations you
might use this tactic and how you would apply it?
The point of leveraging is to represent a bigger hand that we wont soon be folding,
and we do so by making increasingly larger bets on proceeding streets of play. Lets say
were in a three-way hand and each player has 2,500 in chips with blinds at 25-50. We raise
in middle position to 125 preflop, a middle-to-late
position player flats, and another late-position guy
The point of leveraging
flats. The flop is dealt, and it doesnt really matter
what it is. The pot is now about 450, so we c-bet
is to represent a bigger
the flop about three times what we raised initially
hand that we wont
(once for each player in the pot). I think a bet of
soon be folding, and
about 350 is good. One opponent flats, and the
we do so by making
other folds. The turn is dealt, and we now have
to bet large enough that were making it clear
increasingly larger bets
illusion to our opponent that were either close
on proceeding streets of
to committed to this pot, close to calling off to a
play
reshove and/or that were setting up for a big river
bet or shove. So on the turn, the pot is 1,150 after
he calls the flop. Your opponent should have about
2,000 chips remaining after this action. Here, we could do something chumpy like bet 400600 on the turn, or we can apply leveraging by making a powerful bet that implies were
committed, or that were definitely planning on going all in on the river. The bet should be
about three times what we bet on the flop. In this case, the bet should be more like 700-900
on the turn. I like going with a bet of 775. We would both have about 1,200 behind if our
opponent flats the turn, leaving him or her thinking that we are going to shove the river or
call if they shove.

It sounds effective, yet risky.

Its a strong play and can cost big chips sometimes if played in the wrong spot or
versus the wrong type of player. The idea is that the pot starts small and cheap for your
opponent, but you make it very large early in the hand, putting pressure on your opponent
to feel like they need a nutty hand to continue in a pot of this size, at this level, and so deep
37

stacked.
Another common situation which we might apply both positional and stack leveraging
would be if there is an aggro player to our right who opens in mid-position and we three-bet
him in position to a size that implies were probably calling a shove. We can also make bets
like this postflop if they flat us. We can make bets versus our opponents that compromise
enough of their stacks that they should feel youre committed to them and to the pot. Its all
part of the illusion youre creating. In actuality, you likely have a hand that is rags if youre
taking this line, so its easy to fold when your opponent tries to take control of the action in
an already inflated pot.

So by using leveraging, we are basically taking away our opponents ability to

make a play at us, so if he or she does shove against us, its for value and we can fold
right? Also, because you need to commit so many chips to use this tactic, how do you
know it is profitable?
Well, since they usually wont have a big enough
hand to put their whole 2,500 stack at risk at 25-50 level,
The idea is that
this means that the 95% of the time that they fold on the
the pot starts small
flop and turn, and we pick up good pots. Also, you can
raise smaller preflop to get more weak hands involved,
and cheap for your
isolate limpers, and assume that anyone who had aceopponent, but you
king would definitely three bet such a small open raise,
make it very large
especially if there is a flatter or two. That makes it an
early in the hand,
easy fold pre for us to a three-bet. Hands more likely to
flat small raises preflop are hands like weak aces, mid
putting pressure on
pairs and marginal broadways, suited connectors etc.
your opponent
People like to see cheap flops with those types of hands
and wont usually try to three-bet pre with those types of
hands, so I think their range is partially polarized when
you open small and receive all flats in response to the open.
Say the flop comes like ten-high. A player with pocket sevens will usually calls your
flop c-bet, but if you put in a big on the turn, implying that youre going all the way with this
hand, it usually gets pocket sevens to then fold. Its the same idea if a player hits top pair
with a weak ace on the flop. When we c-bet, our opponent usually calls once. If we bet huge
on the turn, he has to really consider if he wants to take an ace-weak hand all the way to
river. Plus, for their stack sizes (using 2.5k starting stack at 25/50 scenario), flatting a turn bet
for 775 leaving 1200ish behind isnt appetizing if youre planning on folding the river for the
38

rest of your stack after having committed over half of it. So typically, mid-thinking players
will simply give up to this strong turn bet on the turn with many of the holdings that they
would proceed on the flop with.

How does pot equity fit into the equation? What happens if say you turn a lot of
equity with a card that gives you straight and flush draws?
Then change your plan accordingly and play your nuts or draws the same way you
normally would feel comfy doing so. If we bet huge on the flop with backdoor stuff, and we
turn an out, and we typically check/shove or lead/call then, then just change your plan on
using leveraging and instead revert to the plan of putting your chips in with your draw. Of
course, its all player and situation dependent.

LEARN TO PULL THE TRIGGER!

Cylus Watson shared the following advice on the Strategy with Kristy
Podcast:
You have to be able to pull the trigger, and I say that a lot when I talk about
tournament strategy. I think its an undervalued concept-- to make that big bluff or to make
that big call or whatever it may be. You have to have the ability to pull the trigger when
there is money on the line.
If you can see a spot where you need to cold four-bet bluff, but you cant pull the
trigger, youre just not going to have as big of an edge as other players. I would say too, that
its way more important in tournament poker than in cash games because in cash games,
you can just come back the next day and the same exact spot is going to be there for the
same exact amount of money. If youre playing $5/$10, and you dont make a big bluff with
$1,000 on the table because you wimp out, you can just go back to the same casino and
make the bluff another time. In the Main Event, on Day 7, if you decide not to make a bluff,
thats probably your only shot in your lifetime to make that bluff.
You have one shot at winning a tournament every time you enter. It doesnt have to
be the Main Event. It could be any live or online tournament. If you get down to the final
five percent of the field, that doesnt happen very often, so if you cant seize the moment
when it actually arises, then youre just not going to win as much money as the people that
can.

39

An Unconventional Play
As players advance in poker, getting creative and thinking outside the box can lead
to further understanding of the game. Carter ckingusc King won the PokerStars World
Championship of Online Poker in 2008 for $1.2 million and has since continued to
consistently cash in onlines biggest tournaments. To remain successful on the virtual felt, he
says being creative and implementing new, effective strategies is essential. Carter King sat
down with PokerNews to talk about continuation betting small in three-bet pots in
tournaments.

Concept:
When your three-bet is called preflop, try
continuation betting small, around one-third pot.

Why is this a good idea?

It just gives you so much more room to
play, especially because of the finite stacks of
tournament poker. What you see is what you get.
If you continuation bet small, you have much more
stack left to play and use to your advantage. Giving
yourself more ways to win the pot is always going to
be beneficial. When you start adding those one-third
pot bets to your repertoire of plays, you really open
up the post-flop game in three-bet pots.
The small bet saves you money when you have to fold, and when youre betting for
value, it usually wont hold you back from being able to get all the money in by the river
because tournament stacks allow it. Increasing post-flop play and putting opponents in
awkward positions is so important in tournament play these days.

Why stray from the conventional rules of continuation betting?

40

A lot of people are so used to the rules of betting two-thirds pot or half pot. People
are so afraid of giving something away by their bet sizing, but if youre a good, thinking
player and you have an understanding of what your bets appear as and what you can do
with the size of your bets. Of course everyone knows that on the river, you can pot or two
times it, but it seems like up until the river, players fall into really specific betting patterns. I
think its good to be able to mix it up.

What other benefits are there?

The more you do it, the more comfortable you will be playing in three-bet pots. It will
allow you to three-bet more often, too. In a situation where you might not normally threebet because you are worried about committing yourself with a bigger c-bet, you can now do
it because you know your continuation be will be smaller. People just dont really have the
odds to continue on these hands. Its more beneficial for them to fold than to call down with
ace-high.
That being said, its also valuable that in a three-bet pot, youre also willing to
continuation bet two-thirds the pot as well when you miss. If players keep seeing you
betting a third of the pot, theyll adjust and start peeling against you, or raising. Theyll
develop plans to counter, so you have to balance. Also, if I ever hit a flop in a three-bet pot,
Ill consider third-pot betting like I would if I missed. All these things are important.

What types of opponents should you use this play on?

Against good players, theyll adjust and try to narrow your range and make plays at
you they think they can get away with, but when youre against someone who just doesnt
have a plan, it works well against them. This also works well live because the physical chips
alone can be an intimidation factor. There are no numbers telling you the pot size, so you
are being told how small the bet actually is compared to the pot.

How it Applies
Can you tell us a couple of examples of when you used this play?
Sure. In the $100 rebuy on Full Tilt, with the blinds at 1,000-2,000, it folded to a good
solid regular. He opened in the cutoff to 4,700. I three-bet on the button 10,200 with king41

jack. He called. The flop came ace-ten-rag. This was a good hand to try the small c-bet
because if he had a lot of his suited connector or small pair type-hands, hed probably fold.
If he had a big ace like ace-king or ace-queen, he probably would have four-bet preflop.
It works so well against people because if they just call there, they define weakness
in their hand. Its so hard for them to raise on a bluff because they are committing so much
of their stack. If he wants to raise me there, even if hes clicking it back (raising minimum)
he still commits a lot of chips, but there is also still room for me to continue bluffs on later
streets.
People play so crazy now that people are trying to avoid awkward spots like that. You
save a lot of money for hands that they continue with, and youre making hands a lot more
disguised, and also creating more play post-flop. One hand I won on the turn in a WCOOP
event, I three-bet from the small blind with ace-queen. The flop came all low cards, maybe
eight or nine high. I bet small and he called quickly. I felt his quick call was a defensive one
because it was so small. Because he didnt even think about raising, when the turn came
a blank, I was able to barrel the turn. I bet small again, maybe 40 percent pot. He instantly
folded.
Its funny because I think the person who Ive see do this more than anyone else is
Phil Hellmuth. I hate to give him props, but I like the play.

42

Off the Table

Edges in poker are not only gained in good decision making at the poker
table. Part of being a successful poker player is understanding when to move
up or down in stakes, having a good sense of when quit or keep playing, and to
constantly improve your poker mindset. This section focuses on what skills you
can acquire off the table.
Characteristics of a Great Poker Player
Moving Up in Stakes
Improve Your Poker Mindset

43

Characteristics of a Great
Poker Player
Andrew Robls list of accomplishments in poker is long. Not only does he play in the
biggest cash games in the world, but Robl also boasts a career live tournament record of
nearly $3.5 million earnings. His first major career win came at the 2013 Aussie Millions
where he took down the AU$100,000 Challenge for AU$1,000,000. The second and third
largest scores of Robls live career came in World Poker Tour events. At the 2012 WPT World
Championship, Robl took second place for $822,375. In 2010, he finished runner-up to
Antonio Esfandiari in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $549,003.
Back in 2010, Robl wrote an article on PokerNews outlining six key characteristics to
be a great poker player:

Experience
This is by far the most important attribute in becoming
a great poker player. It is impossible to become a great poker
player without putting in thousands of hours at the table and
seeing millions of hands. Due to the nature of online poker, with
the ability to play hundreds of hands an hour, its possible to
get experience faster than ever before. You have to play at least
10,000 hours of poker before you have a shot at becoming a great
player. The best way to get started is by downloading an online
poker room, and playing small stakes.

Intelligence
At the highest levels, everyones experience level and
knowledge of the game will be near equal. Whoever can adjust
to an opponent faster and out-guess what adjustments the
opponents are making will come out on top. This is sometimes
referred to as leveling.
44

Desire and Willingness to Learn

No matter how much you play, you will not improve unless
you actively think about what your opponents are doing. Beyond
this, you also need to seek other poker strategies from players
better than you are. This can be done several ways through books,
training videos, one-on-one coaching or discussing hands with
friends. You may also want to check out the PokerNews strategy
pages.

Ability to Control Emotions

In poker, it is always important to have a logical, analytical
reason for what you are doing. Our emotions are not equipped
to deal with probability and randomness, which are two defining
elements of poker. The ability to control your emotions in order to
make the correct logical play time after time is one of the hardest
things to do in poker.

Social and Networking Skills

Having a strong poker network is key to becoming a great
poker player, as referenced above in the desire and willingness to
learn. It will allow you to get into the best games and allow you to
make friends with the strongest players who can help you further
improve. You can begin the process by liking PokerNews on
Facebook, and keeping an eye out for tips and tricks.

Having a Sick Amount of Gamble

To be a truly great player, you have to have a lot of gamble
in you. You have to be willing to take on players better than you at
stakes higher than youre used to. At some point, it is the only way
to improve. But be warned, its also a good way to go broke.
45

THINK IT!
How do you get better at poker quickly?
Here is a tip Galen Hall shared with the Strategy with Kristy podcast: A lot of times
players come to me for advice or coaching, and they want to talk through hands. But they
bring these hands that are just the most off-the-wall, crazy spots. Listen, I could spend an
hour talking about this hand, but the point is to get better at poker. This isnt going to make
you that much better to master this super-rare occasion. I have found that the best way
to improve in poker in the least amount of time is to take really simple hands, break them
down strategically and to think about basic concepts. Focus on fundamental things, tweak
it, and come to a basic understanding from that.

Moving Up in Stakes
Alec Torelli is a poker professional originally from California, but regularly travels the
world playing cash games and tournaments. He has over $1.5 million in live tournament
earnings and over $500,000 in online tournament earnings. On his record are two World
Series of Poker final tables and two World Poker Tour final tables. He writes several articles
and blogs for PokerNews sharing his knowledge and experience.
According to Torelli, here are three ways to help you advance quicker up the stakes:
Staking: Having a backing deal can
allow you to play bigger games without
risking any money, and heres how. You
can prove yourself at small stakes and
show projections of win rates at the games
you wish to play. Compare your percentile
as a winner to those of higher stakes. In
other words, if youre winning at 5 BB/100
hands, and that is the 70th percentile of
winners for that stake, then project your
46

win rates for bigger games. Be sure to take into account rake. Be professional and treat this
like a business plan. Its no different.
Play tournaments: While building a roll, a large score is much more valuable to your
career. Since capital is extremely important, allocate a small part of your roll, roughly 10
20% (and maybe one day a week), to playing tournaments. If you hit a six-figure score, it can
save you a year or two of time.
Save money: Not spending or wasting money is the same as making it. Especially in
the beginning, when your roll is short, be a nit. Dont go popping bottles (like I did) as soon
as you win $10,000. Sure, you can enjoy your life and even buy something small to celebrate,
but most importantly you need to save. The money you dont spend now is money you wont
have to make later. Something I still do to this day is accumulating air miles and points. I
almost always fly business without paying for business flights. I estimate it saves me over
$10,000 a year.

47

Improve Your Poker Mindset

Tommy Angelo is a well-respected poker player, writer and coach. Hes best known for
penning, Elements of Poker, which addresses the mental side of poker. In an interview on
the Strategy with Kristy podcast, he discussed how to begin improving your poker mindset,
as well as addresses the common hurdles players face during the process.
Angelo: Thats the hardest thingawareness and being
to able to accurately access our own performance and our own
mindset, especially early. That is a big challenge. One of the things
I tell people who are just getting started is that its very natural
to start with just the cards. The first thing we learn is three-of-a
kind beats two-pair, or whatever. It usually takes a little while for
someone to go up and down the swings and go through some tilt
issues before they realize, in their saner moments that they can
step back and say, This is what I really need to work on.
So what I tell people who are just getting going is that
instead of taking all of your improvement energy and channeling it
toward making your A-game better, meaning your betting strategy,
your tells, and everything, is to partition off some of that energy
and spend it working on all these other aspects of the game
including your own mental stability right from the beginning. Make
it a priority instead of making it an incidental thing.
Lets say after three or four years, youve got an A-game thats good enough to beat
the game youre playing. Now, if you want to improve your win rate, the only place to turn
to improve it significantly is to do what I call, lop of the C-game. Thats where Elements
of Poker starts. The idea there is that you have to be able to accurately asses what your
C-game is, when it happens, and why it happens. Then go at it diligently with great effort.
Lets say you lop off the very, very worst of your performance. Lets say it only comes up
once a week when youre really bad, but through tools and whatever, you managed to lop
that off. Now you will have a new C-game which will be better than your old C-game. A longrange plan of improvement should be what I call, From the top up and bottom up. You
work on your A-game all the time, and you work on your C-game all the time. Thats a path
thats sustainable and will always bear fruit.
To listen to the full interview, go here: Strategy with Kristy Podcast Part 1 with Tommy
Angelo
48

PRO TIP!
Danielle Andersen, also known as dmoongirl, came on the Strategy with
Kristy podcast and discussed the keys to longevity and balance in poker.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about having longevity in poker is
mental health. Take care of tilt and frustration. You have to understand variance. I guess
the key word to all that is balance. I just think that its completely inevitable that, if you
are a professional poker player and you dont have balance, youre going to be miserable.
Youre going to live a miserable existence. It will affect your game and your life. Its hard
because, in other professions, you might be kind of forced to have more balance. You go
to work from nine to five and then you have your social functions. As poker players, if we
want to, we can sit in front of our computer for 18 hours a day, not talk to anybody, and
be in our underwear. Nobody would know the difference. So I think people can get sucked
into just making as much money as they possibly can, but ultimately the goal in life is to be
happy. I just think balance is the foundation of that.

49

Hands by the Pros

One of the best ways to improve your poker skill is to review hands. In
this section, you will find in-depth hand analysis from top pros.
Randy Lew
Ben Wilinofsky
Max Steinberg
Daniel Negreanu
Andrew Robl
Nick Rampone

50

Randy Lew
Randy nanonoko Lew is known for crushing as a mass multi-table cash-game player
online. His ability to hand read and quickly asses his opponents is unrivaled. He talked to
PokerNews about a hand he played in the first level of the Triple Chance No-Limit Holdem
Event at the 2011 World Series of Poker.
Level 1: 25/25
Stacks: Randy Lew - 4,500; Villain - 2,400
Preflop Action: Randy Lew raised in the cutoff to 75 with
and the action folded around.

. The button called,

What is your general preflop raise

size early in tournaments like this?
Early in tournaments, I make it three
times the big blind because if you minraise, they almost always call in the first
level.

What was your impression of the

player who flatted you?
He did some weird things, so it kind of led me to think he wasnt an online regular. He
was also playing more hands, so with that, I just assumed he was a bit loosey goosey.

So his range is pretty wide for calling in position here on the button?
Yes, its very wide, much more wide that a regular, solid player would have.
Flop Action: The flop came

Lew bet 125. Villain called. The pot is now

475.
51

The reason I chose to bet instead of check, despite my hand being so strong, is
because very early on in the tournament in the first couple of levels, trapping isnt as
important. If I check and induce a bet from him, Im only going to win 100 in chips, and
thats just not that many. Its better for me to try and bet and make a really big pot. Later
in tournaments though, like if I was at a final table or something, each bet is much more
important. I chose to try and make a bigger pot.

When he calls you on the flop, how does this narrow his range?
When he calls on this flop, he can have any seven, any pocket pair, and maybe a king.

Do you think he was capable of floating you here?

I dont think he has any pure floats. If he does, he has like ace-high. I dont imagine he
was that complex to do
Turn Action: The turn was a three of Spades. Lew bet 300. Villain instantly raised
. Lew won
to 1,200. Lew went all in, and Villain called off the rest of his stack with
.
the pot with

Was your thought process on the turn, the same as on the flop as far as wanting
to build a pot?
A continuation bet is kind of standard for me, everyone expects that, so the turn is
kind of a bigger decision for me. Like I said earlier, by checking, I might induce him to bet
maybe 200 on this street with a bluff or a pair, but again, I want to continue building the pot.
By betting here,I give him a chance to raise with a flush draw as well. Plus, with the second
flush draw coming on the turn, it just gives me more of a bluffing range, so he might call me
lighter with a pair or a seven. I just figured that nothing much really changed for his hand for
him not to continue.

How did you choose your bet sizing?

Typically, Id bet smaller on the turn, but as I said before, he seemed a bit looser. I
didnt think my bet-sizing mattered to him. When he snap-raised me, I knew he only had
about 1,000 behind. I figured he might have me beat already with a better king, but he might
52

also have a flush draw, or just be doing something weird. He had less chips than the starting
stack, so he might have been thinking he could double up here or bust early. I chose to call
all-in to play a big pot like I was trying to do.

So in general, you want to avoid slow-playing early in tournaments.

Yes. You might slow-play and get an extra 100 chips, or you might miss out on getting
2,300 in chips.

Ben Wilinofsky
Ben Wilinofsky is an online and live poker pro who has already accumulated a couple
million dollars in winnings. In April 2011, he took down the PokerStars European Poker Tour
Berlin event for nearly $1.2 million after defeating a field of 773. Here he discusses a pivotal
hand he played on Day 3 of EPT Berlin and explains how he used a nonstandard play to win
the hand.
Blinds: 15,000/30,000 with a 3,000 ante
Stacks: Villain - 1.5 million; Wilinofsky - 2.25 million
Preflop Action: Villain raised under the gun plus one to 80,000. It folded around to
.
Wilinofsky in the big blind. He called with
At the time, I had conflicting information about him [Villain]. I had played with him
late on Day 3, and he had been very tight. But early on Day 4, he had been very aggressive
on my left.I thought his plan coming into the day was probably to be very aggressive out of
the gate and slow down when that image caught up with him a little bit.

Why did you decide to defend, and did you think about three-betting?
53

I didnt think about three-betting for very long. I usually consider all three options, but
he made a minimum raise from early position. Since he raised in early position, he probably
has a strong enough hand to flat or four-bet with, a decently high percent of the time. If he
flats and we get to a flop, Im going to be out of position with a hand Ill have trouble valuebetting when I dont make better than one pair. I decided it was best to just take a flop
getting something like 3.5:1 immediate odds.
Flop Action: The flop came

. Both players checked.

When he decided not to continuation bet

the flop, how did that narrow his range?
I thought it narrowed his holding to probably
something in the middle of his range. This means
that either he doesnt have a strong enough hand
that he wants to play a big pot with, or he doesnt
have a hand so weak he feels he has to bet to get
me to fold a lot of weak hands I could have that he
doesnt beat. I didnt think hed ever have sets, flush
draws, overpairs, or a strong nine. I expected him to
have pairs worse than a nine sometimes, weak nines
rarely, and ace-high a fair bit.
Turn Action: The turn was the

IIts a tricky card, because a lot of those hands in the middle of his range improved
significantly. His ace-highs picked up a gut shot, and those with big clubs had a very strong
draw. It also isnt really a terribly scary card for his one-pair hands that he may have checked
back, like pocket sixes or sevens.

So did that incline you to check again?

Oh, no, dont be silly. I overbet the turn. Basically, on this turn, Villains range is
capped by his flop check. Hes very unlikely to have sets, straights, or flushes, and I can have
all of those.I expect him to continuation-bet most of the hands that could have those on the
turn except exactly pocket fours.
54

Interesting. Does your bet size fit in with the range you are representing because
you would or could bet that much for tricky value into hands that have a lot of
equity?
I dont know that I would, but Villain doesnt know that I wont, so it doesnt really
matter. Im just forcing him into a position where he has to be very uncomfortable with
every hand in his range deep in big, live tournament. I can have a lot of hands that are all
better than the best hand in his range, so I definitely could bet very big with a wide range for
value.
The most important thing, though, is that were deep in a big, live tournament. These
opportunities dont come along very often and Villain is going to be hesitant to make a big,
heroic call down for a huge portion of his chips. If he calls and the river blanks off, I can
make some really big bets that probably fold every hand he can have except for exactly
pocket fours.

What were you thinking as far as bet-sizing for the river had he flatted the turn?
I think when I choose this sizing that hes much more likely to fold a hand like pocket
sevens with no club and call with a hand that has the Ace of Clubs or hand with an ace in
it with the King and Queen of Clubs, so I was definitely check-folding clubs. On blanks, my
plan was to bet 725,000. I think Id probably choose about the same sizing on a five, which
improves me to a straight to the six and improves most of his hands to a straight to the five.
I think hes very unlikely to fold when he improves his hand to something that strong and
knows his range contains no flushes.
An ace is a really interesting card, and Im genuinely not sure what I would have done.
I dont think it really improves me to the best hand all that much, but Im also not sure that
I can fold his better hands. If I do bet an ace as a bluff, I think it will have to be bigger than
725,000. Id probably bet closer to 855,000. Im probably betting the same size on queens or
kings. I might go bigger to like 810,000, but on tens, nines, eights, sevens, sixes, fours, and
threes, 725,000 is enough.
I think on river aces, kings, and queens, I want to choose a sizing that puts him in
the range of 14 big blinds if he calls and is wrong because that stack size sucks. Hes going
to make some tight folds to maintain his flexibility, so the numbers in the low 800,000s
probably get the job done a significantly higher percentage of the time than do the ones in
the low 700,000s, which leave him with about 20 big blinds. Ill only risk the extra chips if I
think hes likely to have improved his hand and needs some extra convincing to fold it.
55

Max Steinberg
Whats it like to bust a legend like Phil Ivey from the most prestigious tournament in
the world? Max Steinberg told the Strategy with Kristy podcast all about his experience in
the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Phil and I are both big stacks. At
this point, its late on Day 3, and I have
about a half million in chips. The average
chip stack was maybe about 200,000. My
thoughts were that I didnt really want to
get involved in any big hands because I
was going to so easily be able to cash and
pick up easy chips on the bubble when
everyone tightens up. I had chipped up
a lot since Id gotten to the table after
hitting the second nut flush against
Michael Mizrachi, who called some pretty
substantial bets without a flush. So that was fun.
Phil seemed especially focused that day, and it seemed like he really wanted to do
well. I found that when I had seen him play or played with him in the past, he didnt seem
as focused. So he raised under the gun to 7,500 with blinds at 1,500/3,000. We were both
almost 150 big blinds deep. This recreational player to my right called in the hijack, I called
in the cutoff with pocket tens, and the big blind also called. The flop came Ace, ten and
three with two spades. I flop middle set so Im just fist pumping in my head. Phil bet 16,000.
Obviously, hes continuation betting into four people, but he was continuation betting a lot
so I didnt think too much of it. It didnt have to be that strong for him to bet here. The player
to my right made it 42,000. This guy was sort of splashy. I felt with this sizing, he probably
had an ace of some sort. He might have even been messing around with a low flush draw
or something of that nature. Given the action so far and that I was in position, I felt like the
only way to play my hand deceptively was to call. My stack was so deep that Phil and the
other player could interpret my call as a flush draw. Phil might think that I reraise pocket
tens preflop, so my call really doesnt look that strong. After the big blind folded, it got back
around to Phil. He just went all in for 150 big blinds. It was a very big raise, especially for a
tournament. The recreational player folded and I called. I showed my hand for middle set,
and Phil just looked disgusted. He flipped over bottom set, and the turn and river were
blanks.
56

Daniel Negreanu
During the 2013 Monte-Carlo Casino EPT9 Grand Final. Team PokerStars Pro Daniel
Negreanu shared a hand he played during the final table of the Main Event.
Ok, so Luckychewy [Andrew Lichtenberger]
opens for a min-raise and I have Jack and Ten of
Hearts in position, and I never fold because I dont
like folding. I call and Freddy Deeb also calls [from
the blinds]. The flop comes Eight, Nine and Three
with two clubs. Surprisingly, Freddy leads for 85,000.
Andrew calls. I have more than enough equity to
call, but Im worried because there are two clubs. If I
hit my straight, but the flush card comes, that could
be dangerous. I call. Of course, the Seven of Clubs
comes. So I make the nut straight, but its a club.
Freddy checks, Andrew checks, and I decided to bet
enough to let Andrew know that he couldnt get me
off my hand. I bet 205,000. My thinking was that if
Freddy raises, Im going to fold. But if Andrew raises
Im going to have to call because he would never do
that as a bluff. Freddy folds, and then Andrew does
move in! Im like, What are you doing bro? I couldnt
really think of many hands I could beat, but my other problem is this: If he actually had the
nut flush, I think he would bet the turn because hed get called by a lot of hands. If he checks
that itd have to be some super high-level play. The same problem is that I dont think he has
a straight, a small two pair, or trips because I think he bets those hands. He doesnt check
raise any of those hands. He would just call. So Im like, What the hell do you got, bro?
I couldnt figure out what he had so in those spots when you just dont know and youre
getting laid a big price, you just have to pay. He had aces with the Ace of Clubs, so he was
getting tricky. It almost worked, but not really.
Read more here: Strategy With Kristy: Hand Analysis with Daniel Negreanu, Randy
Lew and Mickey Peterson

57

Andrew Robl
Andrew Good2cu Robl has made numerous appearances on televised cash games.
In 2010, he was featured on PokerStars.nets The Big Game, and he sat down with
PokerNews to discuss a slightly controversial hand he played against Daniel Negreanu.
The Stakes: $200-$400 with a $100 ante on the button
Type: Pot-limit holdem preflop, no-limit holdem postflop

For those who havent watched

this episode, can you tell me what was
going on at this table before this hand?
I came on halfway through the
show. Three or four people had already
busted, and Tony G was up about
$400,000 just playing like a total maniac.
Right before this hand, I played a huge pot
with Tony G where I ended up laying down
second pair with a good kicker when he
bet two times the pot on the turn and he
called the clock on me.
Preflop Action: William Reynolds straddled to $800. Robl raises to $2,500 with
and

. It folded around to Daniel Negreanu in the small blind, and he called. The pot

was $6,300.
Id been playing pretty tight, but at this point, its pretty hard to put Daniel on a hand
because he plays a lot of hands, even out of position. I did think that hed be playing a little
tighter against me though.
Flop Action: The flop comes
Negreanu called. The pot was $14,300.

. Negreanu checked and Robl bet $4,000.

58

What do you think his range is now?

His range is pretty much any pair, flush draws, maybe a gutshot if he has king-ten,
king-jack, or jack-ten.

It seemed like he was peeling a lot during this episode.

Yeah, in general he plays pretty loosely and pretty passively. Again, I still dont have a
great idea of what he has.
. The board now read
Turn Action: The turn was the
led with a bet of $8,500. Robl called. The pot is now $31,300.

. Negreanu

What does his lead on the turn do to his range in your eyes?
I thought he could have a bunch of hands, but his mostly likely holdings were a hand
like ace-ten, king-ten, queen-jack, or maybe a hand like four-five with a wheel draw on the
flop, or a spade hand like eight-seven or nine-eight of spades, trying to steal the pot. Theres
no real point in reraising here. Im not going to get any value from his worse hands, and
it would just put me in a bad spot. I just called and planned on reevaluating on the river. I
think he might want to take down the pot with a weak draw in case I have nothing.
Or, he could have a hand he is betting for value like a straight he made or twopair, but I think in general hes more likely to have the weaker hands in his range than
the stronger hands because why wouldnt he check those value hands on the turn to let
me keep bluffing. I guess there is a chance he was just leading into me with a good hand
without thinking.

River Action: The river was the

. The board now reads

Negreanu bet $18,500. Andrew tanked, and Tony G called the clock.

What were you thinking at this point?

This card is interesting because in my eyes I think its a terrible card to continue
59

bluffing on. The way the hand played, its pretty likely that I have either an ace or a king, but
there are only really two hands with a king that I could have, which would be king-queen and
king-jack. But, there are a ton of hands I could have with an ace. Most players wouldnt fold
an ace on this river because theyre going to chop with any other ace. There just arent that
many hands that beat you. So, I thought if he was bluffing on the turn, hed probably give up
on it on the river.
When he made that bet, I was thinking about everything I just told you, and then
TonyG called the clock on me after about 30 seconds. Then he started yelling at me, which
kind of affected my thinking. I was thinking that Daniel could definitely have some spade
hands, but then I was thinking that most of those hands are going to not call me out of the
small blind because hes out of position, there are two more players to his left that could
squeeze, and Im a tight and pretty tough player so I thought hed be playing a bit tighter
against me. I thought he could have hands like eight-seven, six-seven, nine-seven, or nineeight of spades, but thats not that many hands. I also thought that if he did have those
hands, theres a decent chance hed give up on the river. The hands that beat me are kingten, ace-ten, a set of twos full of tens. Those hands are pretty unlikely, too, so I was in a
really tough spot. I didnt have that much time to decide, but I guess I just figured that he
wouldnt try to bluff me in this spot. Its definitely a very big lay down for that spot, but I just
decided to fold.
Table Action: What? Negreanu said in surprise after Robl folded. He then showed
the Six of Spades and needles Robl, I was so happy you called the clock Tony, high-five
for the assist there just in case.
When you call on the turn, its like you have a hand that you think is good. So, when
this river doesnt change the action much or texture of the board, youre saying it would be a
bad spot for him to bluff. Do you think that he was thinking that you knew it was a bad place
to bluff; therefore, he could get away with it? Or do you think he was just bombing the river
to try and get you to fold?
I think Daniel said to himself, I have six-high and I cant win unless I bet. Thats
probably what he thought.

Its a funny hand because there could be leveling going on here, but youre saying
theres not?
No, I dont think so. I dont know what he thought I was going to fold. I could have
trips there too. I almost always have an ace or trips there.
60

On the show, you joked about being on tilt. Were you really tilted?
Um, yeah. I was a little tilted, but at the same time, Im not going to go on crazy Phil
Hellmuth tilt and start running around the room.

Have you talked to Daniel since then?

Yeah he actually called me on the phone and we talked. Were cool now. I thought
that was very big of him. It was probably a tough thing to do. In my blog I was kind of talking
s*** about his poker game, so Im sure it wasnt easy to call me up. I really appreciated it,
and it made me think much higher of him.

Did he address the things you wrote in the blog?

No, not really. He said he was going to start playing online again, so I told him that I
was more than willing to play him. I havent seen him at the tables yet, though [laughs].

Nick Rampone
Not only is Nick Rampone a highly successful tournament grinder, but he is also an
Elite Pro on the training site Run It Once. He came on the Strategy with Kristy podcast and
discussed a particularly interesting tournament hand, which illustrates the concept of bluff
catching.
Game: Full Tilt Sunday Major $250,000 Guarantee Reentry
Blinds: 60-120
Stacks: Hero (6,365); Villain (5,804)
Preflop and Flop Action: Hero raises to 240 from the cutoff with
. Villain and Hero check.
the big blind calls. The flop comes

. Villain in

61

I decided it was a good spot to check back, and I think most good tournament players
would agree. My thinking was that if I bet and I faced a check raise, I would have no idea
what to do. He could do that with Ace-Three with the Ace of hearts. Id be ahead but not in
great shape. He could do that with a flush or two pair, and Id be in a heap of trouble. By
checking, I really prevent myself from facing a difficult decision.
If Im betting all my really good hands on the
flop like my flushes, my two pair, my pocket aces
and kings, thats a lot of hands. I have plenty of good
hands I can bet with, but if I bet with this hand here,
Im not really accomplishing much for this specific
hand or for my range. However, if I check it back,
thats one of the strongest hands Ill check back here.
If I had a semi bluff hand with Ace of hearts, Id
be betting as well. Id want to build a pot in case I hit
and also if I miss, Id want to be able to credibly put
on pressure on the river. By checking back, I have a
relatively strong hand I can play pretty comfortably
on the turn and river. That also makes it so that he
has every single hand in his range that he defended
with. If I would have continuation bet, he may have
folded his air. By checking back it keeps all those
hands in, and he may feel compelled to try to bluff
into me.
When you cap your range by checking back, meaning you are taking out all your
very strong made hands and semi-bluffing hands out of your range, you are
essentially setting yourself up to bluff catch, right?
Yes, youre spot on. I realize I am going to be facing some bluffs when I do that and I
am prepared to call some bets on some turns.
Turn Action: The turn is the

. Villain bets 360. Hero calls.

On this particular card, I feel great about calling. Some would ask the question, Why
not raise? Ive got a couple answers for that. The first is that my opponent could still have
flushes or straights. I could raise into hands that have no intention of folding and that have
me crushed. So, I dont think that accomplishes too much. Now one might argue that there
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are so many scare cards that could come. But the thing about scare cards is that they could
cause a player to bluff more. The second reason I want to call is because I continue to
represent a capped range but I still have one of the strongest hands I could have. This could
be very favorable if my opponent tries to take advantage of that on the river.
River Action: The river is the
for 5,189.

. Villain checks. Hero bets 1,750. Villain goes all in

He could be checking here with a lot of his weak range that took one shot at the pot
and is now giving up. He could have some queens that he doesnt feel comfortable value
betting. Maybe he has a jack. I just think most of the time hes folding to a bet from here.
I feel like I almost always have the best hand here, and Im very happy to value bet even
though I realize Im not going to get called all that often.
I made a little bit of an overbet. I bet 1,750 into a 1,400 pot. I dont feel too strongly
about betting this size or a smaller bet size. My thinking was that there are a lot of missed
draws on this board, and I could rep some of those. I think if he had a Queen-X kind of hand,
hes just as likely to call a slight overbet as he is to call a half-pot bet.
When he goes all in for that amount, Im getting a good price which works well for
me in the sense that Im getting a good price, but also its bad for me in the sense that hes
probably not expecting me to fold as often. Then I have to think, What does he have?
I dont see any compelling hands to bluff with here but I dont see any super compelling
hands for him to check for value on the river. Ive represented a capped range here at this
point, so Im quite likely to check back here on the river if checked to. So if he has a flush,
I dont see why he would check to me when Im going to be checking almost always. Given
my price and given that I just dont see any hands hed check the river with, I felt pretty
confortable calling.
Showdown: Villain shows

. Hero shows

. Hero wins the pot of 11,758.

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