Suited connectors are widely misunderstood hands. A while back I wrote an article called “How Suited Connectors Cost You Money.” In that article I talked about a common way that many people misplay suited connectors, and how it costs them money. This article is also about suited connectors, but here I’ll focus more on how [...]

Last issue I introduced you to a tactic called the free showdown play. The idea is that, if you have position, you can raise the turn with a marginal hand to encourage your opponent to call and check the river. Then you can check behind and take a Using The Free Showdown Play|885|3.95|USD|| free showdown. [...]

A few months back I wrote an article about playing suited connectors titled “How Suited Connectors Are Costing You Money.” The basic premise of the article was that a lot of people play suited connectors in the wrong situations and with the wrong expectations. If you’re limping in and calling raises preflop, you’re picking the [...]

Poker players get stuck in ruts. We make so many decisions when we play that it’s natural for us to develop a sort of default, automatic way of handling most situations. Automatic plays are, on one hand, a practical necessity. I play about 500 hands an hour, and I probably make at least 800 to [...]

Quite a few short stackers play in the $2-$4 and higher online 6-max no-limit games. Many of them play a strategy that seems likely to me to be profitable. I think a decent chunk of their profit comes from a play that I see them make repeatedly that I think many full stacked regulars don’t [...]

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|| to [...]

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|| [...]

If you play online no-limit, at least at the $0.50-$1 level or above, you’re bound to run into the light 3-bet. You open for $3.50 on the button in a $0.50-$1 game, the small blind folds, and then the big blind makes it $12 to go. Now that’s just a 3-bet. Combatting Light 3-Bets By [...]

You raise preflop, and one player calls. The flop misses you. Your opponent checks, and you bet. Your opponent calls. The turn misses you. Or maybe it gives you a draw. Or maybe it gives you a weak made hand. Your opponent checks. Do you bet, or do you check? When To Fire A Second [...]

The unwillingness to try new things dooms many poker players to lackluster results. It’s very easy to develop a style, a pattern of play, and just follow it without thinking. How do you play? If you flop a set, do you always check it on the flop? If you flop Three No-Limit Plays You Should [...]