The river really separates the pros from the amateurs. I don’t mean that pros tremble in fear of the river card while amateurs gleefully plan their latest bad beat. Quite the opposite, the river is probably the betting round where pro players generate the greatest edge over their amateur adversaries.
Amateur players tend not to bet [...]

It is the mother of all poker questions. I’ve probably seen a variant of this question asked almost a thousand times. Can a game be too good or too loose or too soft? Do you actually want some good players in your game? Can a bunch of schooling fish turn even the best player into [...]

The isolation play is one of the most profitable weapons in the professional cash game player’s arsenal. Yet it is also one of the least understood by most amateur players. Teaching the play thoroughly would take a book, not an article, so my goal here is merely to try to shed some light on [...]

I’ve published this article a few times in the past, but I wanted to republish it for those who haven’t seen it before. I edited and updated it a bit this time around.
Periodically, I’ll read an article about “feel” players versus “math” players. The “feel” players lob a shell: “Math players just don’t get it. [...]

Your opponent – perhaps sensing weakness or perhaps taking leave of his senses – pushes out a huge bet and dares you to call. If he has the hand he’s supposed to have, you’re crushed. But you think something is amiss and decide that this is it. You’re going to take a stand. Just after [...]

Recently I benefited from a serious case of what I call adjustment tilt. I was in a live $2-$5 no-limit game. Most of the players, including me, had helped to start the game a few hours earlier, so we were familiar with each others’ play.
Some of the players had modestly weak-tight tendencies, so I made [...]

Slowplaying is seemingly one of the most tempting no-limit strategies. Flop a huge hand, and, in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd, be vewy vewy quiet. It fits with the image of poker as a game of deception; little do your opponents know that you’re waiting in the weeds ready The Pitfalls Of Slowplaying|465|3.95|USD|| [...]

When was the last time you three-barrel bluffed? Was it months ago? Years? Never?
Let me back up a bit. A three-barrel bluff is when you make a bluff bet on all three of the postflop streets. You bet the flop and get called. You bet the turn and get called. Firing The Third Barrel|460|3.95|USD|| [...]

People ask me questions about talking tells all the time. “While I was thinking about calling a big bet, my opponent kept saying, ‘You should fold.’ Should I have believed him or not?”
It’s a difficult question to answer because the meaning varies from player to player. Some players will say Using Your Opponents’ Words Against [...]

No doubt you’ve heard from many a person that the key to poker is never to call. Raise or fold. If you can’t raise, throw it away.
It’s perhaps useful advice for a casual player who hasn’t yet seen how powerful aggression can be. But I think it’s also very limiting Resisting The Raising Reflex In [...]