Archive for the 'Psychology' Category

Q&A #113: No-Limit Games Really Can’t Be Too Loose

Recently I published an answer to the mother of all poker questions, Can A No-Limit Game Be Too Loose? The short answer is, no. For the long answer, read the article.
This really is, however, the mother of all poker questions, both because it’s an extremely important question and because for many players it will never, [...]

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Moving Up: Beyond Winrate And Bankroll – Part 3: River Bluffing

In Part 2 of Moving Up: Beyond Winrate And Bankroll, I discussed how the relative strength of your hand reading skills versus your opponents’ is a big factor in whether you’re ready to move up or not. The river betting round is the one that allows you to benefit most from sharp hand reading, [...]

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Moving Up: Beyond Winrate And Bankroll – Part 2: River Value Betting

In Part 1 of Moving Up: Beyond Winrate And Bankroll, I claimed that the two factors most cited in discussions of moving up, winrate and bankroll, don’t tell the whole story. If you’re thinking about moving up, you should consider some other factors just as much.
The first factor is your overall comfort level at your [...]

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Moving Up: Beyond Winrate And Bankroll – Part 1: Comfort Level

Are you ready to move up to higher stakes? How can you know when you are?
These questions are on the minds of most serious players at least some of the time. Conquering your current game and moving on to bigger and better things is the goal of most players.
Most discussion about moving up I see [...]

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Avoid Adjustment Tilt

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 [...]

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Q&A #110: On Getting Stacked

One of the most disappointing events in any no-limit game is getting stacked. With the monetary loss often also comes a sense of embarrassment and self-doubt. “Did I do it wrong? Should I have approached the hand completely differently?” Every decision gets scrutinized.
Today’s question is about a hand where our hero, Natcheztoo, gets stacked. Let’s [...]

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Using Your Opponents’ Words Against Them

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 [...]

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Ed Recommends: Elements Of Poker by Tommy Angelo

I tried writing this review a few times, but I was never happy with it. Frankly, I never thought what I had written did the book justice. It can be hard to explain to others why they should read Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo because no other poker …Login/Register for more.

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Q&A #103: Is My Winrate High Enough?

I get this question in various forms all the time: “Is my winrate high enough?” or “What is the best winrate possible for my $X buyin no-limit game?” I’ve written on the topic before, but I have something more to say about it today.
Poker is obviously a social game. Q&A #103: Is My Winrate High [...]

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On Take A Stand Tilt

Tilt comes in many forms, and from the beginning of my poker career I’ve struggled with a number of them and conquered a few. There was a time when getting rivered would leave me stewing for the next ten minutes, loosening way up in the On Take A Stand Tilt|416|3.95|USD|| process. I worked [...]

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