Ace Queen has always been a tricky hand to play for me. It becomes even more difficult to play when your in early position though. I prefer to play this hand from early position late in tournaments versus earlier.

Why?

Because if you face a substantial raise you could be at a considerable disadvantage. First, you are out of position. Second, because you may be behind BIG TIME to AK, AA, KK or any other big pocket pair. Not good.

If I am in late position I like to raise with the hand and take down the pot right there if possible. So why play the hand later in tournaments from early position instead of early? Well, later in the tournament you have accumulated enough chips. If you get raised off of the hand it’s no big deal or hit to your stack. The same cannot be said early in a tournament. Also, later in the tournament you are playing against significantly fewer players. I don’t mean hours and hours later but simply after the first break in a 15 minute level tournament. By this time you have either accumulated a nice stack or you are in All-In mode so the play makes sense.

Playing ace queen is a tricky proposition. Just be careful where and when you enter the pot with it.

Took two more bad beats.

 :Td:Th lost to :As:Kd and then I turned around and lost when my set of Sixes lost to an :As:Ks All-In on the turn. The guy did exactly what I prayed he would do and then out drew out on me at river to hit his flush.

Tough sledding over the past week. I have had my chips in the middle with the best hand 8 times this week late in No Limit tournaments and lost every hand. Still playing the same aggressive way I usually do but I need the poker gods to ease up on the beats a little. I have been on bad runs before much longer than this and they usually relent sooner but this is indeed frustrating to ride out. On the other hand I am getting my chips in good, which is the whole idea, so that eases the pain a bit. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

 CIII

Poker player Phil Ivey is acknowledged by his peers as the best all-around poker player in the world. The late Chip Reese once said, “Phil Ivey is the closest thing to Stu Ungar I have ever seen.” That’s awfully high praise for this “kid” from New Jersey. Since his days playing cash games as “Jerome” Phil has taken the poker world by storm. He now plays in the highest cash game in the world at the Bellagio along with fellow professional poker players Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harmon and Dan Negreanu. The “Big Game” typically has limits of $8000 / $4000 and swings of hundreds of thousands of dollars per session.

Phil Ivey has a reputation for being extremely aggressive and willing to take risk when he feels he can exploit his opponent. Phil is also an extremely tough heads-up player as well.

Ivey has 5 World Series of Poker bracelets to his credit. He has also made 7 World Poker Tour Final Tables although he has yet to win one.

In February of 2006 Phil won over $10 Million dollars during a three day heads-up session against Texas banking mogul Andy Beal.

Overall, Phil Ivey has over $8 Million dollars in tournament winnings since 2000.

I know it sounds crazy but I am very much on top of my game despite taking a few beats lately. In particular I have been taking runner runner beats in my last two tournaments. Othewise, I am cashing in both and the chip leader in one of the two. So, as I always have said, I just deal with it and chalk it up to the whimsical poker gods.

I have also been seeing a lot of pre-flop pushing lately. Still very early in the tournaments. Really bizzar kinds of play. Of course I have taken notes on the players at my table as usual. It’s just that my notes are piling up on the push push types rather quickly.

Omaha Hi/Lo has become my latest passion. I have really enjoyed this game much more lately and recommend it to anyone that plays tournaments regularly. Omaha expands your thinking so much further when you do go back to No Limit. You think so much more “outside the box” in my opinion. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to learn the mechanics of the game but you definitely need to keep your brains in motion while playing. I will keep you up to date on my Omaha exploits as well. I have cashed in two tournaments so far albeit they were only $1 buy-ins but it bodes well for what the future may hold down the line.

CIII

Carlos recently won the 2007 WPT Championship and took down over $3.9 Million dollars in the process. Carlos is also the 2001 WSOP Main Event winner. Carlos has made several TV appearances on Poker Superstaars Invitational as well as on the World Poker Tour. His style of play is loose aggressive and he tends to play a lot of pots. Carlos will be in almost every hand if he has the chip stack and is a force to be reckoned with heads up.

Carlos has won two WSOP bracelets and has lifetime tournament winnings of over $8 Million dollars.

Time after time after time I see the same play over and over again. The coin flip is the type of play that we all need to be able to win with and defend against. It’s not that it’s a bad play though. It is the timing of the play that can make it such a poor choice in poker tournaments. The coin flip is used constantly early in tournaments which is a major no no. You never want to take a flip or a draw for your entire stack early in a poker tournament. WEAK players make this play. Stronger players will wait and pick up there chips with stronger hands early or use position to hit a set or straight. The bottom line is you want to take flips when you are midway or deep in a tournament and need to double up to stay in the game. Otherwise, you try to stay away from them and out play the weaker players. Too many players get married to AK thinking that it’s always going to hold up against small or medium pairs. The fact of the matter is that AK is behind against those types of hands and if the help doesn’t come your gonna be gone. So be careful when taking the “50/50″ flip and make the play when it’s necessary not when it’s just convenient.

If this is what it takes to get me out of the tournament then I will take it every time. Sometimes the bad guy wins. Nothing you can do about that but you still gotta get your money in good. Never change your game because you took a beat.

CIII

PokerStars Game #14778588776: Tournament #74903493, $4.00+$0.40 Hold’em No Limit – Level VIII (200/400) – 2008/01/23 – 22:23:54 (ET)
Table ‘74903493 15′ 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: rddog66 (20386 in chips)
Seat 3: broenick97 (5635 in chips)
Seat 4: Curtom (4228 in chips)
Seat 5: Nolan05 (9291 in chips)
Seat 6: kokocuttie (10254 in chips)
Seat 7: csirikevin (5513 in chips)
Seat 8: buck5604 (7939 in chips)
Seat 9: SirSwish6 (9160 in chips)
rddog66: posts the ante 25
broenick97: posts the ante 25
Curtom: posts the ante 25
Nolan05: posts the ante 25
kokocuttie: posts the ante 25
csirikevin: posts the ante 25
buck5604: posts the ante 25
SirSwish6: posts the ante 25
broenick97: posts small blind 200
Curtom: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Curtom :Kd :Kc
Nolan05: folds
kokocuttie: folds
csirikevin: folds
buck5604: folds
SirSwish6: raises 650 to 1050
rddog66: folds
broenick97: folds
Curtom: raises 650 to 1700
SirSwish6: raises 7435 to 9135 and is all-in
Curtom: calls 2503 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** :7d :5s :Ac
*** TURN *** :7d :5s :Ac :4c
*** RIVER *** :7d :5s :Ac :4c :Jh

Curtom: shows :Kd :Kc (a pair of Kings)
SirSwish6: shows :As :Qh (a pair of Aces)
SirSwish6 collected 8806 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8806 | Rake 0
Board :7d :5s :Ac :4c :Jh
Seat 2: rddog66 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: broenick97 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Curtom (big blind) showed :Kd :Kc and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: Nolan05 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: kokocuttie folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: csirikevin folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: buck5604 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: SirSwish6 showed :As :Qh and won (8806) with a pair of Aces

In the game of poker raises are considered an aggressive move. Calls and checks are considered to be passive. When playing poker it is almost always an advantage to be viewed as a player with an aggressive “image” versus a passive one. Aggression tends to win the most pots. Clearly you need to use discretion with your aggression but you need to be aggressive when necessary to win consistently.

There are also times when you will need to be aggressive with a weak hand. This takes nerve and a lot of skill to accomplish successfully. If you are unable to perform these kinds of moves with some semblance of believability you will be pegged as predictable. Once you become predictable to other players you’re as good as gone at a poker table. Be sure to use your aggression wisely so as to keep your opponents guessing.

A game played with a spread-limit betting structure allows a player to raise any amount within a specified range.

For example, a game called “one to five limit” allows each bet to be anywhere from $1 to $5 (subject to other betting rules). These limits are typically larger in later rounds of multi-round games. For example, a game might be “one to five, ten on the end”, meaning that early betting rounds allow bets of $1 to $5, and the last betting round allows bets of $1 to $10.

Playing spread-limit requires some care to avoid giving easy tells with one’s choice of bets. Beginners frequently give themselves away by betting high with strong hands and low with weak ones, for instance. It is also harder to force other players out with big bets.

Jason Potter, 22 from the United States, was robbed after a recent cash at the Aussie Millions main event after going out for breakfast. Apparently he was stalked from the casino by his assailants while carrying a large amount of cash on his person.

When your down to six players at a table you are short handed. This means that your KQ, AT, KT, and even QJ have significantly more value. You need to become aggressive with these hands instead of just calling in position. You will take down the blinds a bit more than you would with a full table and you also portray your image as being aggressive. This is a good thing for you. Why? When you actually do have the big pocket pair or AK you can get your chips in good with your opponent thinking you have a mediocre hand. Remember, when your short handed you need to play those weaker hands stronger than normal. The value of your hands goes up as the number of players decrease at your table.

I made another run in the 180 PokerStars tournament but no dice. I got off to a slow start again with no cards but then I picked up right after the break. I had around $5600 after I doubled up with :Jc:Js and then another double up soon after with :Td:Th

Right after that I got involved in a big hand and went back down to 3k. I was able to hang in there and got in with the best hand with :Ad:9d but I lost to :8h:9h when he hit his flush.

What can you do? I got in with the best and that’s all you can ask for.

Deuces,

CIII

Finally, the poker gods have answered my prayer. Poker Remote Control is a must have for online poker players. I received mine in the mail a few days ago and couldn’t wait to crack the box open. The Poker Remote Control is compact, easy to use, and very intuitive. It’s about the size of a cell phone and fits in the palm of your hand. The unit is sturdy and has a compartment for the wireless USB adapter embedded in the unit. So everything is right there for you in one place.

Excellent!

Once I opened the box I shut the door and told the wife and kids I was going to be off-limits for a while. I immediately plugged in the wireless USB adapter and downloaded the Limit and No Limit drivers. It was as simple as that. I was up and running in my Limit and Pot Limit Omaha games in no time. The betting was very straight forward and they give you a card key just in case you are not sure what buttons do what.

After playing for about an hour I fired up a No Limit game and again had no issues with the unit at all. Obviously one would be a little cautious about using it in a real money game until you get familiar with all the buttons but after 15 minutes you should be ready to rock and roll and build your bankroll.

Poker Remote Control comes with the Poker Remote and the USB adapter. You will need to download the drivers(s) for your poker room on the PRC site.

The unit costs $49.99 + Shipping and Handling. It also comes with a 30-day warranty.

This unit is particularly good for laptop users. I tend to enjoy lying back while I am playing and I had no connectivity issues with this unit at all. Poker Remote Control works in every major poker room in both the USA and Europe. The wireless adapter does stick out of the USB port so you do need to be careful not to bend it. Other than that I give this unit a 9 on a ten point scale.

BUY IT!

You can pick up your Poker Remote Control today!

Do you know what momentum is? Momentum is the force of speed or movement as it relates to a physical object or event in time. In poker we are referring to events in time. I often like to refer to momentum when I sense that things are “going my way” at the tables. Momentum is not a tangible element like Rain or Sunshine. You must be able to “feel” when momentum has swung your way. When you do you need to understand how to be in and stay “in the moment.”

Let’s put it in context. Your sitting at a cash game and you just hit your flush. The very next hand you pick up pocket Aces. That is very recognizable momentum and you need to be aware of it.

So now that I am aware of it what do I do?

You play to it. You play to momentum by making that call when you have an inside straight draw and it’s not too costly to your stack. You play to momentum when you have cashed in three tournaments in a row and decided to move up to a $100 buy-in from your typical $20 buy-in hoping to capitalize on your good fortune.

Get the idea?

When you “feel” things are going your way you need to continue to put yourself in position to take advantage of that momentum. It doesn’t last forever but it does come in waves and when it does be ready to surf.

I just got whacked in my 180 tournament. Honestly, I am rather amused by some of the hands that I get called with and how my opponent has no idea of how far behind they are pre-flop. Here is the scenario:

($1300) Me  ($6000) Opponent

Blinds 200/100

Opponent Limps into pot with a $100 bet.

I re-raise All-In as I am short stacked and holding :Ad :Qc likely the best hand.

He turns over :Kh :Jd

The flop comes down :Kc :Jh :00

What amazes me is how he could possibly have thought he had the best hand here. No logical thinking need apply to how this hand was played out pre-flop. I hadn’t played a hand in twenty minutes which made it even more likely that I had a big hand. Certainly larger than :Kh:Jd

I tell you online play can really test your patience. I can handle a bad beat with the best of them but it’s hands like these that really are frustrating. On the other hand one could look at it and say, “Your waaaaay ahead pre-flop.” That’s true but only 3-2 which really is not that far ahead at all. Doyle Brunson used to say, “…get in with the best hand and pray.”

Truer words were never spoken.