No Limit Holdem Advice

Ten Big Blind Shoving Hands

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:56:56 +0000

I left my last article talking about how to manage your stack when you have a stack of 10 big blinds. In this article I am going to share with you the type of hands I would recommend shoving when choosing a hand to make a move with. I am going to discuss situations in which you are the first to act in the pot whether it be you being under the gun or if everyone has folded their hands to you. Poker can be very tricky but with these tips hopefully it’ll start treating you a little better.
After we get passed the obvious shoving hands such as all pocket pairs, AK and AQ a player may become unsure of themselves when making their all in move. Say we are under the gun with a hand like A7. I would recommend folding this hand in this situation because A7 plays horribly after the flop because you wont be able to use both your cards for straights and if isn’t suited then that takes away from your chances even more. When a player calls you in this situation more often than not the calling player will have you dominated pre-flop. If the player is calling with 7s or better then you are only drawing to your ace and if they call with A8 or better then your down to only hitting a 7. Ok now let’s say were in the same situation with J 10 or a hand like 53 (or some other suited connectors). Hands like these play better after the flop because of straight and flush draws. There also more effective because if your not getting called by a pair you are getting called by hands like AK, AQ. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that 53 plays better against AK than the A7 we folded under the gun before.
Ok now let’s say we are on the button or in the cutoff position with the same A7. A hand like this is ALWAYS a shove even though you are going to get picked off sometimes(its just the nature of the beast), a player cant afford to fold in a situation like this with only 10 big blinds. The difference is your only shoving against 2 or 3 players as oppose to shoving against the entire table. Now with a hand like 53 in the same situation, some players would fold and some players would shove any 2 cards no matter what. Before shoving a hand like this in any situation you should evaluate the table and re-evaluate your image on the table and make your best decision from there. If you seem likes a wreck less player then players might call you with a wider range but if your image is tight then players may lay down the better hand and let you take the pot.
I am not saying this is THE way to look at these situations but go ahead and take these tips and see how they work within your game. When all else fails, simply walk away from the game and never look back. J

Late Tournament Play With Ten Big Blinds

admin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:53:38 +0000

When poker tournaments are in the late the stages there are many different kinds of stack sizes that players could have. You’ll have the chip leader, middle stacks and you’ll have those small stacks clinging on for dear life. In this article I am going to discuss the small stack play and how to use your chips more effectively than you may have in the past. Playing small stack poker can be a tricky thing and players sometimes do not play their stack correctly which in result could end their tournament life. I am going to discuss small stack play in which the player has roughly 10 big blinds to work with.
Let’s imagine that you are in a tournament in the late stages and you find yourself with a stack of about 10 big blinds. This is a situation in which a player has to choose a hand to make their move with. With this many blinds there is no time to mess around and in my opinion there are only two options when you have a stack of this size; it’s either all in or fold. I say this because you don’t have a stack to limp in with because odds are you will miss the flop completely and someone will more than likely bet you out of the pot. If you were to keep doing this over and over your chips would disappear very quickly. I don’t really recommend limping but it make me cringe when I see players do it with 10 big blinds or less.
The other option I don’t recommend doing is the standard raise unless the player is an experienced player and they have been in this spot before. The two options I would stick to if I was a new player would be to go all in or just simply fold. Now this can tricky as well because you don’t constantly fold your hands away because the blinds and antes will eventually run you out of chips. On the flip side a player doesn’t want to all in with any two random cards at any point in time. The decision to go all in can come down to a couple different factors. One factor would be the position on your table. If you are one the first to act then I would recommend shoving a stronger hand but if you are close to the button and one of the last to act then your hands don’t have to be as strong. It’s a very tricky situation to master but on the flip side I don’t think poker is a game anyone can master because the game is constantly changing.
So if you find yourself in a 10 big blind situation think about some of the tips I just gave and see how the works out. Choose your spots wisely, don’t fold all your chips away and finally pay attention to your position on the table. Stay tuned for my next article where I will discuss the type of hands that I recommend when making your move all in. Good luck in your next poker tourney!

Bubble Play In Tournaments

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:54:23 +0000

We all have different reasons on why we play the game of poker but for the majority of us it’s the rush that cards can bring, perhaps the hopes of winning a WSOP bracelet, or simply for the money. Cashing in tournaments isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do so when you do cash in tournaments you want to make the most out of those situations. But before a player can enter the money stage of the tournament all players must go through what we like to call ‘bubble play’.

When the bubble comes around and players are about to cash and all the short stacks start to call time bank, this is where a player can take advantage of their table. The idea is to become a little more aggressive when the bubble play comes around because other players become scared to make a play because they want to make it into the cash. New and inexperienced players who haven’t reached this part of a tournament may not play back at you if they are low in chips and they are about to make money. They will do anything to avoid being eliminated before bubble play is over so this is the perfect time for players to take advantage of a tight table and really start to accumulate chips. This doesn’t mean get wreck less with your chips but beware of spots where you can raise when you normally wouldn’t.

Also on the flip side of this there are many players out there that are aware of the bubble play and the strategies behind it. That being said you may come across some players willing to play back at you because they quickly realize you are trying to exploit the bubble play. It’s a tricky situation in some cases and it may take a couple tournaments to pick up on certain tells. Choose your spots wisely and best of luck on making the cash.