Lately, I have been seeing more and more players attempting to play small pairs from early position. Most of them are coming in with big raises for some reason in attempts to represent a big hand. But sometimes big raises trigger a red flag and you get the opposite reaction from players you expected and make them suspicious. Particularly after being involved in several hands.

With small pairs action players like to get involved. I have no problem with this if you are in the blinds or have some position or there is a small raise. What I don’t like is that you put yourself in a position with these mini hands to get re-raised by someone with a real hand in early position. Now what? You have to fold. Raises with small pairs from early position are warranted but certainly not as a standard way to play the hand.

More solid players I think play the hand better because they tend to be in position more often with the hand.

Ultimately, there is no perfect way to play any particular hand. However, there are ways to approach hands that expose you to less risk than others and that is what makes how each player playing his hand so interesting. Every style of play can succeed in this game. You gotta love that!

Things have been going well in the poker world lately. I have been playing well and hands have been holding up overall. I am a little more busy than normal but enjoying the new assignment with Oz Poker. Took some time out to update WordPress a few days ago too. Other than that not much has changed.

I am looking forward to the PokerStars WCOOP and playing for the first time. For some reason I just have a really good feeling about this one. I am not sure why but I do. I will be posting a book review on Warwick Dunnett’s Poker Wizards shortly. It has been a really good read.

When I first sit down at a poker table I make it my business to keep my mouth shut and my ears keenly tuned in to all of the “socializing” taking place at the table. It may seem kind of silly to most but being a good listener is always important to your game even when the conversation does not directly involve you. I also pay attention to how players put their money in the pot and betting patters. Again, that’s nothing out of the ordinary and we should all be doing the same as a part of our play. Whether you play online poker or live poker betting patters are still a way to determine how a player feels about a particular hand. Each of these tasks that I consciously perform are associated with how I categorize the various players at my poker table.

After about fifteen to twenty minutes I have a fairly good idea of what each player is capable of and whether they are tight, loose, aggressive or passive. It is only after gathering this information that I can reasonably determine who the weaker players are and who are the players that will play back at me. The idea is to pick on the weak players and get them to fold their hand when they do what weak player do – show weakness. Think about it. You want to accumulate most of your chips early from the weaker players before another strong player does if at all possible. All good poker players are aware of this fact. When another good player at your table begins to knock out weaker players it now becomes a burden on YOU. Yes, you do need to pick up a few hands in order to achieve your goal but it doesn’t stop you from stealing blinds from weak players that sit to your left. Position is less of a factor with these kinds of players because they are passive after the flop. You need to be aware of this and take those abandoned pots away from them.

Abandoned pots occur after a raise has been made and the raiser / weak player checks after the flop. Your mantra should be “you check I bet” and most of the time against these kinds of players they are going to fold when they miss the flop. Obviously, the opposite is true against better players. Most of the savvy ones are going to make a continuation bet no matter what hits the board. You also must safe guard against unusual aggression from a player you perceived to be weak and be prepared to fold if necessary. So keep that in mind when your sitting down in your next tournament. Take the weaker players chips before someone else does it first!

I recently closed a deal with Oz Poker to be one of their featured poker writers. This is yet another great opportunity to share my passion for the game and be part of a fantastic new online poker community. I will be posting a couple of times each week. Oz Poker is a new Australian poker community that I believe will be one of the premier poker forum / communities on the web.

So stop by and take a look around. You can find my posts at www.ozpoker.net.au (Click Online Poker)

Love him or hate him we should all be very thankful for Chris Moneymaker. Pokers everyman is still around and retains his endorsement deal with PokerStars and for good reason. Since the 2003 World Series of Poker Texas Hold’em has become a staple in American culture and now even more so around the globe. Yes, people played the game long before Moneymaker came along but the game of poker did not have nearly the same buzz and exposure as it has today.

Online poker rooms reaped the benefits of Moneymakers rise to stardom too. Hundreds of thousands of players have since signed up and have continued to play online poker for years since. Moneymaker is certainly not in the top tier of professional poker players in the world but he is not at the bottom either. He is an average guy that won the biggest tournament in the world and was thrust into being the ambassador for the game we all love. That is what we should be proud of Moneymaker for. It’s not necessarily his great or bad play in poker tournaments but for the way he has represented the game of poker.

Since Moneymaker won the WSOP championship poker has signed on to produce shows like Poker After Dark, World Poker Tour, Professional Poker Tour, and High Stakes Poker. These shows allowed poker to become mainstream and none of us can complain about that because we are all benefiting from it. So I am eternally grateful and even a bit indebted to Chris Moneymaker because had he not won that particular tournament at that time who knows where the game would be now.

No offense to Sammy Farha but he was SUPPOSED to win. That doesn’t quite make as great a story, now does it?

Far too often you see players looking to bluff from the first card that hits the felt. This is the wrong poker strategy to employ and also creates an image that could be very hazardous to your stack as play continues. I totally understand the fact that poker is a game of aggression. No one is going to argue that point. However, you do not want to be aggressive simply for the sake of being aggressive. This is why it is important to allow the bluff to come to you instead of trying to force the bluff in situations that do not warrant the play.

Most players today are fairly savvy and are aware of most situations that present themselves within a poker tournament or cash game. A good bluff is the result of studying the players that are sitting in your particular poker game and understanding their tendencies. It is only then that you can determine what situation is best suited for that particular player. For instance, if I know I am playing against a tight player that tends to always raise with high cards and the board comes down [2][7][T] and he checks after raising then I am going to bet. On the other hand you may not make this play against a player that raises pre-flop and is known for trapping with big hands.

These kinds of plays can be executed successfully because you understand what your opponent is capable of. Simply making a big bet post flop and then again on the turn to show how big a bully you can be will get you busted in no time. Players that bluff for no good reason often provoke other players to call them with mediocre hands which can lead to trouble for the bluffer. They also tend to be trapped a little more than others because they refuse to fold when their opponent shows aggression against them. Be smart and pick your spots to bluff. Your game will be much better off for it.

Phil Ivey is now part of the 2009 WSOP November Nine. After a grueling ten days of poker nine players are now playing for $8.5 Million dollars First Prize money. Ivey is tied for 8th with $10 million chips. He will have plenty of time to pick up a hand or two and build his stack  from there. Here is what the Final Table will look like:

As poker players we are taught to be aggressive. Aggression is the nature of the game of poker and I know that good players already understand this simple concept. However, it is not always the optimal way to win chips. Many times poker players, especially No Limit poker players, tend to feel that they need to create action at all times. On the contrary, when you are in a poker tournament you are better off allowing the weaker players to make mistakes early. This means that you simply play fundamental poker and allow your opponents to make their mistakes. Against, mediocre and poor players there is no need to force the action because this player type will be much more likely to make the wrong move at the wrong time.

Why get involved trying to bluff or make a complicated play when you can wait them out?

On the other hand, later in the tournament these weaker player types are usually on the rail and it is now that you can use your chip stack to force the action if that is what you choose to do. Pick your spots and pick them against the correct player types. It’s OK to let your opponents screw up. Trust me on this one.

I few weeks ago I was contacted by professional poker player Warwick Dunnett to see if I would be interested in reviewing his new book. I responded immediately and a copy was shipped to my home post haste. Since then I have enjoyed the first few chapters and look forward to finishing it up shortly. I will be posting a complete review when done.

So far it has been a very interesting read and includes wisdom from such players as:

• Mike Sexton
• Dan Negreanu
• Kathy Liebert
• Chris “Jesus” Ferguson

These are just a few of the professional poker players that helped contribute to Poker Wizards. So far it has been a very interesting read.

If you hadn’t noticed Phil Ivey is at it again. Ivey is making another run in the 2009 WSOP No Limit Championship event. There are several notable poker professionals that are still in the tournament. It seems like they are all taking a stand since so few seem to have made big runs since the game of No Limit poker took off in the 2003 WSOP.

Anyhow, Ivey started the day 4 with $1.2 million and is now at $967k with the average stack around $632k. If Phil Ivey can avoid bad beats and the poker gods shine a little light on him I think he will make a big run at the Final Table after today. Other poker professionals still doing well are Tom Schneider, Bertrans “Elky” Grospellier, David Benyamine and Dennis Phillips who made the Final Table in the 2008 WSOP.

I am sure by now you know that PokerStars has announced the schedule for the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker. Also, the Heartland Poker Tour is in my neighborhood again at the Majestic Star in Indiana. I will be playing a couple of satellites again as I did last time. Also, you guys are the first to know that I will be playing in my first PokerStars WCOOP this year. I will be buying into the $215 No Limit $1 Million Guaranteed event. There is a forty thousand player cap and I am sure we will be awfully close with the smaller buy-in. I am really looking forward to this tournament. As usual I will let you know how things are going in both.

I play on average around 700 online poker tournaments each year give or take a hundred or so. That is a lot of poker tournaments for a poker player that is not a professional. However, this year has been a particularly good year for me on PokerStars.

One of the reasons for this is that I changed my mental approach to the game just a bit. What I noticed from my self assessment is that I was not going quite far enough into some hands that I was playing. By processing and thinking just a little more in-depth I have benefited greatly.

I have also paid more attention to the tempo of the poker table. There is no reason to try and force or delay the action. That only brings stress upon you which you can avoid entirely and don’t need. Go with the flow and let the game come to you.

Be genuinely excited about playing and doing well in the poker tournament. There is no better feeling than to play well and capitalize on your poker skill and strategy. You may not win every session or tournament but you feel good about yourself and your game. Not too many poker players can say that without hearing a “gu-fau” in the background.

Can you?

Things have heated up at the 2009 World Series of Poker No Limit Main Event Championship event and not in a good way. Apparently Harrah’s had to turn away 500 or so players because the venue was at capacity. Players included T.J. Cloutier, Ted Forrest, and Patrick Antonious. As it stands there is a total of around 6400 players that are playing in the WSOP No Limit Championship event. PokerStars had a few players that were part of this group as well.

WSOP commissioner Jeff Pollack says this problem will be his top priority going into the 2010 WSOP. We can only hope.

I know I may catch some flack with this post but I really do believe that there is something to be gained here. Playing No Limit Hold’em we all end up being short stacked more often than not. Some of us are short stacked more than others. The issue here is that when we are short stacked we obviously need to find a hand and get our chips in the middle. But here is a scenario that I believe a lot of players can play better. It is also one of the few situations in which I actually condone min raising. Yes, I actually said that I condone min-raising.

Shocking huh?

Let’s consider that our prayers have been answered and we have been dealt the Pocket Aces we had hoped for. Now what? Well, most of us would likely push our chips in the middle and pray that they hold up. Taking down the blinds only gives us a small bump to our stack. On the other hand, min raising from early and middle position gives us an opportunity to get our chips in the middle along with the limper’s that are priced in and likely to call. Why min raise? We are min raising because when I am short I want as many chips in the pot as possible. You can plan on the rest of my chips going in the middle after the flop regardless of what kind of board hits.

True, you may get caught by a set every now and then or a flush but that is the risk you must accept with this kind of play. The idea is to give you a legitimate shot at gaining some traction. This play is all about Chip Utility and having enough chips to make moves. If you bust out it’s no big deal but if you can double your stack on one hand it gives you a little room to breath and another opportunity to make a run for the money.

If you are in late position you can play the hand with a min raise with limper’s or you can push if there are just too many people in the pot. It’s up to you as to what you feel is the optimum strategy in playing the hand when you are short.

Well, the big tournament is finally here as we watch the World Series of Poker Championship Main Event. This will be yet another long and grueling tournament for the few that make it to the money and then the Final Table. I must say I am a little more enthused this year than last year and I am finally over the delayed Final Table debacle too. I am looking forward to watching this years Main Event with nothing but good feelings about the entire event.

We can only hope that our favorite players can avoid the bad beats that rail them far too often. This ought to be fun!