Hi guys,

Today I want to talk about something that can’t be stressed enough: game selection. This is maybe the single most important skill for online poker players that want to become truly successful.
You can be one of the top players in the world, but if you only play against other top players that are equally good as you or even better, you will have a really hard time making any money. But you can also be a pretty average online player, but be very good at selecting the right tables and therefore make a lot of money. What games to chose is hard to say in general. Personally I like really loose and aggressive games with huge pots, but the backside of these kinds of games is that you will have huge swings. You should only play in games like this if you and your bankroll can handle the swings. In general it is good to look for games with a high percentage seeing the flop. What game that suits you depend on how you play. For aggressive players a tight, passive game can be perfect, you can steal a lot of small pots and easily back down when someone else shows strength. If you use the tips on this site and play a solid tight, aggressive game you will do fine in a bit looser games, preferably with players that are more on the passive side.

My best tip is to keep track of the players on your favorite poker site. Make notes about the ones that frequently play at you level and add the bad ones to your buddy list. To learn to choose which table you play at with care will improve your results more than you might imagine.

This article about betting patterns will help you improve your table selection skills.

If you are a poker book buff like me, you definitely want to be at Binion’s in Las Vegas in the end of the month.
On Sunday, January 21, the first annual Poker Author Challenge is taking place at Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. Imaging going head to head with your favorite poker writer and try out all the things you have learned by the hours spent deciphering his or her latest work. The tournament is presented by Lou Krieger and Sheree Bykofsky and their newest release, the much talked about “The Rules of Poker”.

There will be bounties on all the participating writers – and the list is pretty impressive: Lou Krieger, Gary Carson, George Epstein, Susie Isaacs, Russ Fox, Tony Guerrera, Maryann Morrison, Alan Schoonmaker, Neil Myers, Sheree Bykofsky, Richard Sparks, Kathleen Watterson and John Vorhaus among others. So take the chance and beat the one you like the most (least) and get rewarded for it!

There is only one writer I miss - I would really like to knock out David Sklansky.

Read my book reviews here

I get a lot of questions about bankroll management. People wonder what level they should play on, how much they can risk, when to quit and change level etc. None of these questions are easy to answer.

First you have to determine why you play. Are you a recreational player or is poker your main (or only) source of income? If you want to make to make a living playing poker your margins need to be a lot larger than if you play only for fun. Your style of play and what kind of risks you are ready to take are also important factors. But if you, like me, want to make a living playing poker, you have to minimize your risks. I always quit if I have lost three buyins and I never like to risk more than 5 percent of my bankroll any given day. So if I want to play $10-20 limit holdem (regular buyin $500) I need to have a bankroll of at least $30,000, which means that if I loose $1,500 in a day, it is only 5% of my total bankroll. I am aware that the margins I speak about are pretty large. If you don’t play for a living or are ready to take larger risks you don’t need a bankroll that is as large. But to play professional I would still not recommend you to risk more than 10% of your bankroll in a day.

Steve Zolotow, one of my favorite poker writers, recently wrote a text about bankroll management in Card Player. (You can read it here.) Even though I like to risk less than what he talks about in general I think it is a very interesting article.

Good luck at the tables and Merry Christmas!
Mike G.

Hi Mike,

I play no limit holdem on a regular basis (usually $1-2). I feel confident in my game and usually come out ahead. One of the only hands I have problem playing is low pocket pairs. I know that when the flop comes I will usually be up against over cards and I don’t like guessing my opponent’s holdings. If you could give me some tips on how to play small pockets it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Chris
Hi Chris,

Low pockets are one of my favorite types of hands to play in no-limit Texas holdem. Especially when the games are loose and aggressive. They can be played in several different ways, but your goal is always to flop a set. As long as I have a decent stack in relation to the blinds I will call even pretty large raises with them, especially when I put my opponent on a big hand. The goal here is to flop a set and get all my money in. If I do I usually bet out, if my opponent has a big hand he will re-raise most of the time and is pot committed when I re-raise again. If you check raise here instead there is a bigger risk that your opponent manages to get away from his hand.

I like to limp my small pockets, but occasionally raise with them. If you are up against more than one opponent and flop a set, the situation is a bit more complex. I like to bet out here too, but it depends on my position, the texture of the flop etc. If it is a non threatening flop I sometimes choose to slow play the hand. But with any scary draws out I make sure that my opponents have to pay greatly to chase them. When I miss the flop I generally check and fold to any bet. The times when I have raised pre-flop I might take one stab at the pot, but fold if I get any action.

Good luck at the table.
Regards,
Mike G

Read more about how to play specific hands at the flop here.

Are you dreaming about playing in the World Series of Poker next year? Maybe you are hoping to win a satellite at PokerStars or one of the other large poker rooms sending numerous of players to the WSOP. Well it looks like those days are over.
Harrah’s, the company running the World Series, has announced that it will not accept third party registration any more. This means that poker rooms will not be able to arrange tournaments with buy-ins to the WSOP as prices. The reason for this – yes you guessed it - the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). 2006 almost 9,000 players entered the WSOP Main Event, but this number is believed to decrease considerable in 2007. So is this the end of the WSOP-satellites, you ask. I don’t think so; I am an optimist and believe that the UIGEA is only a temporary set back for online gambling. You can’t regulate the Internet, people will always find a way to overcome obstacles in order to do the things they like. When it comes to the satellites there is nothing stopping the poker rooms from awarding WSOP buy-ins and let the winners themselves use them to enter the event and in that way eliminate the third party. I don’t believe that the WSOP attendance will decrease that much.

Maybe I should bet on it I read that some betting sites offer as much as 33-1 odds on there being as many registrants next year as it was 2006.

Mike G

Read more about gambling in the U.S: here.

Ok I admit it. I have sometimes been rude to other players at the poker table, mostly online. There is no excuse for this behavior and I am glad to say that I have managed to quit. There are several reasons why you should avoid insulting your fellow poker players, apart from the fact that it is just not a very nice thing to do.
Your opponents draw out on you with a backdoor flush and you curse him out calling him a fish. But why? You want him to chase and call you against the odds. He will outdraw you sometimes, but you will prosper in the long run. If you are rude he might leave the table, and you don’t want that or otherwise change his behavior, and you don’t want that either. By being a bully you risk affecting your opponents’ game to the better, which is just plain stupid. By working yourself up and cursing other players I also find that you increase the risk of going on tilt and you tell your opponents that you are not a very stable player. Next time someone hit that two outer, just take a deep breath and remember that the fact that he did is good for you in the long run.

Roy Cooke wrote an excellent column on this subject in Card Player. If you recognize the behavior described above you should definitely check it out.

Hi Mike,

I am mostly playing shorthanded limit holdem (usually $5-10 and $10-20). There is one particular type of hands that always give me trouble. I don’t know how to play weak aces (or if I should play them at all). Hope you can give me some advice.

All the best,
Sid K
Thanks for your question Sid, this is indeed a tricky hand to play. I would definitely advice you to play weak aces with caution and most of the times throw them away. Or let me put it like this, only play weak aces if you are first in to the pot or have posted a blind. If anybody call or raise before you just throw them away, even the suited ones. You just don’t win with them often enough to justify playing them if you don’t have a chance to steal the blinds at the same time. I usually throw them away under the gun, except if I sit on an extremely weak table. But otherwise I bring them in with a raise, half of the point playing them is that you have a chance to steal the blinds uncontested. The problem with weak aces is that you usually don’t want anyone to call when you raise with them, especially if they have position.

But I raise them up if I am first in and if somebody re-raises I call (if they are suited I usually call even if it is capped). When the flop comes I raise almost every time (if it wasn’t re-raised preflop). It is important to keep the initiative here. And many opponents will fold here if they have missed the flop so you definitely should stay aggressive.

The hard part is when you get a re-raise. If you hit the flop you play your usual game, and probably re-raise or call. The problem is if you have missed. If you don’t have a good draw my general advice is to fold. To continue play the hand you need a good read on your opponent.

In summary, I re-raise with weak aces preflop if I am first in, bet the flop whatever comes if no one has re-raised, but usually fold if I get action.

Read more about limit holdem here.

As I wrote in my last post the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) does not change that much really. It is still legal to play online poker in the U.S. (except in states like Washington that are passing their own bills making online gambling unlawful). The sad thing is that some online poker rooms have decided to suspend American players.

I can’t really see why they do this and hope that most of them will change their mind soon. But all news from the world of online poker are not bad. PokerStars recently announced that they plan to stay at the American market, which to me is very good news indeed. This is one of my favorite sites (read my review here) and the fact that they choose to stay in the U.S. gives me hope for the future. When the biggest online poker room in the world decides to continue to stay open for Americans, after the passing of the new law, some of the sites that don’t will probably reconsider. So my fellow poker players the future is looking bright. The law makers haven’t managed to take away our favorite pastime this time either.

Well I have to go, time to log on and play some poker. Over and out.
Mike G

The times are hard for us U.S. online gamblers these days. The lawmakers are doing there best trying to stop us from enjoying our favorite hobby, but rest assure, they won’t manage to do it this time either.
September 30th was a sad day, it was the day when the U.S. Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The act was attached to a bill to increase port security (HR4954). The aim of UIGEA is to make it unlawful for U.S. banks to transfer funds to offshore gambling sites, but it does not change the legal status of online poker and other forms of gambling in the U.S. UIGEA says that it is forbidden for financial institutions to transfer funds used to make “illegal” bets, but it does not state what an illegal bet is.

The debate of the legality of online poker and online gambling in the U.S. has been fierce and the question is how the 1961 Wire act shall be interpreted. The old law makes it illegal to place to place bets over a telegraph wire, but this was long before the Internet. Neither online poker nor online casino gambling has ever been condemned as illegal in a court of law in the U.S. Americans can still enjoy a game of online poker without breaking the law, and the new law does not change that. Unfortunately some poker rooms have decided to temporarily suspend Americans from playing, but I am sure that this will change once the worst commotion has settled down.

Check out this excellent Card Player article if you want to know more about the new law. One thing is sure though, we can still enjoy online poker! Have a look at my list, here you will find the best poker rooms for American players.

The World Championship of Online Poker has come to an end. The tournament action at Poker Stars has been truly amazing the last couple of weeks. People have been playing in record-breaking numbers and earlier this week the 2006 World Champion of Online Poker was crowned.
With over 2,500 players participating in the WCOOP Main Event it was not very likely that a well known player would manage to win it. With the ever increasing number of participants in major online and live tournaments we see more and more one hit wonders – players that win a large event and then disappears. But this was not the case this year. When the smoke had cleared J.C. “area23JC” Tran stood as the overall winner. Tran is no newbie on the poker scene. Born in Vietnam but living in Sacramento California. He started playing poker while studying business at Cal State University. After getting his Bachelor Degree in Business Management he discovered that he could make more money playing poker than on a regular day job and decided to give it a shot. It proved to be the right decision. Tran has several final tables both in WSOP and WPT and now he is also the World Champion of Online Poker. Congratulations to you J.C., hope you put the $670,000 to good use.

Read my Poker Stars review here.