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I’m not sure how this myth is still so widely believed. Poker began as Limit, and bluffing has been part of poker since its inception. No matter what betting format you’re playing, whether it be Limit, Pot-Limit or No-Limit, bluffing always has been, and always will be, an integral part of the game.

Believe it or not, the myth that Limit isn’t conducive to betting came to be mostly thanks to Chris Moneymaker.

The Moneymaker-driven poker boom brought thousands of new players into the game, the vast majority of those stepping directly into the No-Limit forum. Until very recently in the history of poker, No-Limit Hold’em was a very rarely played game.

One of the traits of No-Limit is that it provides opportunities for an amateur to make “dark tunnel” or “donk” bluffs. At any time, an amateur can drop all their chips across the line in a bluff for the pot.

This is called a donk bluff because only donkeys make it. They have no feel for the texture of the board, no reads on their opponents, no idea of their opponents reads’ on them and no inkling of what their table image truly is.

These bluffs are often successful, simply because of the lack of attractive odds. Even if a pro feels that the amateur is bluffing, calling a $500 bet into a $35 pot just seems like a poor idea. The pro has no problem cutting their small losses and waiting for a better spot to get the money in.

In Limit, the donk bluff will almost never work. With the bluff being $10 into a $35 pot, the pro can easily call on a read that the amateur is running a bluff. The risk versus reward equation of it being a profitable call is favorable.

So the idea that you can’t bluff in Limit isn’t exactly false, but it only scratches the surface of the truth.

Bluffing at Limit requires lining up all of the elements in the poker bluff equation flawlessly. You must align the texture of the board, your image, the perception of your hand and the perception of your read on your opponents’ hand perfectly.

If any one of these elements is askew, there will be enough reasonable doubt for the player to call.

Situation: Your opponent raised pre-flop; you called on the button going to the flop heads-up. On the flop he bet and you called. On the turn he bet again and you raised him. Action is on him.

Opponent’s thought process: The texture of the board is horrible for his hand. Anyone holding a three or any pocket pair has him beat. He can’t beat anything but a bluff in this hand.

He has been playing with you for five hours and has a very good idea of how you play. He knows you’re a solid player who plays solid hands, and that you’re very tight and unlikely to be caught playing with weak holdings.

So far all the elements are lining up, but there are still a couple of things that just don’t make sense.

First of all, you called a raise pre-flop – there is no way he can put you on any hand with a three in it. Even with ace-three, chances are you fold on the flop, being as tight as you are. This means he only loses if you have a pocket pair.

Since you didn’t three-bet pre-flop he doesn’t believe you have AA, KK, QQ or JJ. So the only hands he can put you on that he loses to are 77-88-99-TT or a set.

There is a good chance you’ll raise any of those on the flop. Although he can’t be sure that he’s ahead, he is getting 6-1 on his money to make this call.

You only have to be bluffing here once out of every six times for this call to be profitable. Given his doubt, even though it’s scant, the doubt plus the odds makes calling here an easy decision for him.

If, on the other hand, you had the table image of a player playing any two cards, your opponent now has to add all two pairs and straights into your range.

In this scenario the elements are all lined up: if he calls the turn and doesn’t improve on the river, there is a chance that another bet will take it down for you.

Bluffing in Limit is a huge part of the game. It’s just a very advanced part of the game that requires a large amount of experience and skill to understand, evaluate and manipulate the elements and your opponents’ reads of them.

As a hater, the next time you’re about to say how much you hate Limit, or how Limit is just a big game of bingo, think about this and save yourself from looking like a fool.

Just say that Limit is not the game for you. There is nothing wrong with only wanting to play No-Limit; just make sure you’ve made that choice for valid reasons.

Even though Limit poker’s not as popular as it once was, it’s still very much a force in the poker world. All poker variations can be played with a Limit betting structure, whereas not all games work well played as No-Limit.

General popularity aside, Limit poker is the ideal betting structure for beginners to become acquainted with poker.

Limit is more based on math and logic than psychology, allowing players with less experience to play a more solid game from the get-go.

The most notable advantage of Limit for beginner players is the dramatically decreased rate of loss. It’s simply not possible to lose your chips as quickly in a Limit game as you can in No-Limit.

In No-Limit, your mistakes are amplified, without a concurrent boost to your results, especially if you’re a beginner.

Limit allows for a more consistent, gradual learning curve, and provides players with the ability to see and play far more hands of poker with a significantly lowered amount of risk.

Every Bet Counts

The first thing you need to understand about betting in a Fixed-Limit game is that every bet, even if it may seem insignificant, counts.

There’s a lot more to be said on this, but rather than rewriting advice available elsewhere, click through to this article which goes into the subject in depth:

• Limit Hold’em: Every Bet Counts

The Odds Are in Your Favor

The absolute worst pot odds you will ever be offered (post-flop) in a Limit game will be 2-1 on your money, and getting only 2-1 is only possible in a very specific scenario.

More often than not a player will receive 3-1 or better at any given point. The reason for this is simple:

In a $2/$4 Limit game the big blind is $2. Let’s say all players fold to the small blind, who limps. The big blind checks and we go to the flop ($4 in the pot).

The small blind bets out on the flop ($2). This gives the big blind 3-1 odds to call ($6-$2).

A player will receive 2-1 odds only if both players would have checked on the flop. In this scenario, with the small blind betting out on the turn ($4), the big blind is now looking at paying $4 for a pot of $8, or 2-1 odds.

As soon as you have more players in the hand, the odds increase. 3-1 and the rare 2-1 are the absolute worst odds you can ever get in a Limit game.

Much more than in No-Limit or even Pot-Limit, drawing is a very large part of the game in Fixed-Limit.

Since a hand such as a flush or an open-ended straight draw is in the neighborhood of 2-1 to complete (from the flop to the river), you literally always have the odds to draw to your hands on the flop.

If you went to the flop heads-up, and still only have your 8- or 9-out draw, on the turn you will no longer be getting correct odds to chase if your opponent bets. Even though you’ll still be getting 3-1 on your money, your odds of hitting your draw have dropped to as low as 6-1.

If you have a third player in the hand, on the turn you’ll be offered 4-1 or even 5-1 odds if that third player calls before you in the hand.

For a flush draw, 5-1 odds mean you’ll just about break even. If you can occasionally pick up a bet on the river, you’ll make some money in the long run.

The key concepts you should take away here are that every bet counts in Limit, and that your opponents will almost always have the odds to draw to hands.

Unlike in No-Limit, where you can make a point of trying to win every hand you play, as a Limit player you must accept the fact that many pots will be won and lost to draws – both legitimate and backdoor.

To be a winning Limit player, therefore, you must make sure that you always have the correct odds when you choose to draw, and that you charge your opponents the maximum to draw against you.

Minimize your losses, maximize your wins, and laugh your way to the bank in the long run.

True or false?: All of the decisions you make at a poker table can be made by feel, without any serious consideration for the actual numbers you face.

The answer is, absolutely false. There are a select few decisions at the table which require no consideration of odds, such as calling an all-in bet while holding the nuts on the river. Outside of plays made purely on a read of your opponent, all decisions in poker are made through an evaluation of the odds.

Even players playing by feel, who never actually make any calculations at the table, are still playing the odds. They just don’t know the numbers associated with what looks and feels like a good decision to them.

In order to use the numbers to evaluate the quality of your decisions, you need to calculate the pot odds and your equity, and then compare the two. If the odds are greater than your equity, you’re making money; if the odds are less, you’re losing money.

It doesn’t matter whether you start with the pot odds or your hand equity. Each of these numbers are independent of each other, but are completely useless until you have them both to evaluate.

In this article we’ll look at pot odds, and in part two, hand equity.

Pot Odds

Count the pot: Actually counting the pot is incredibly difficult to do once it’s grown large, especially when there are chips of multiple denominations piled together. The best idea is to keep a running count of the total pot as the hand progresses.

$2/$5 game: UTG raises to $15; folded to the cut-off, who calls. The button calls as does the small blind; the big blind folds.

What’s the pot? Trying to add it up now is a little bit of a task, whereas if you keep a running total in your head as you go, it will be much simpler.

When you’re keeping track of the pre-flop action, it helps to ignore the blinds until after they have acted; otherwise you have to subtract from your total what they already had in from the amount they called, adding the difference to your total. That’s just too much work.

If you start at UTG, it’s pretty simple: UTG raises to $15, cut-off calls ($30), button calls ($45), small blind calls ($60), big blind folds ($65).

Create a ratio: In the same scenario as above, the pre-flop raiser bets out $50. What are the pot odds to the player in the cut-off?

First, you have to add the bet to the total pot, making the total pot $115. The player must call $50 for a pot of $115. This creates your first ratio: $115-$50. Now to make things easy to work with, we want to make the right side of the ratio 1. Since I’m sure you’ve all forgotten your grade nine math:

115-50: If you want to turn the right side into a 1, you need to divide it by itself (50/50=1). What you do to one side of a ratio, you must do to the other, so 115/50 = 2.3. This makes your new ratio 2.3-1.

The cut-off’s pot odds are 2.3-1.

Here’s a trick to doing that last calculation in your head. At the table you don’t need to be exact; getting yourself close will do just fine. To divide two numbers, take out the largest possible chunk that the divisor goes into without a fraction.

We know that 100/50 = 2, and 150/50 = 3. Since 150 is larger than the number, the largest chunk we can take out is 100. We now know out first number is a 2. That just leaves us with 15 (115 – 100).

Approximately how many times does 15 go into 50? 15*3 = 45. That’s as close as we can get, since 45 is closer to 50 than 60. That gives us our second number (the remainder) of 3. Put the two together and we have: 2.3. It just so happens that in this example, the shortcut method brings the actual correct example.

Let’s say the cut-off calls. What are the pot odds to the button now?  Try to do that up in your head right now. If you’re having trouble, here’s a step-by-step numbers walk-through:

Pot = $115 + $50

Pot = $165

Odds = $165/$50

50 * 3 = 150 (first number is 3)

165 – 150 = 15

50/15 = close to 3

Odds = 3.3:1

Hopefully you caught on to the most important shortcut. Once we calculated the odds for the cut-off, and he calls, the odds to the button will be exactly better by one: 2.3 + 1= 3.3. There is no need to recalculate if a player only calls; just add one. Once another player raises, only then must you recalculate.

If what you just read has really confused you, you can check out this more basic article on the same topic. Between this one and that one, you should have odds figured out in no time.

In part two, you will learn how to evaluate hand equity, and finally how to compare the two numbers to get your result.

Ryan D’Angelo illustrated the concept of keeping your range open by discussing a hand he played during the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event. For Part 2, he talks about another hand that he played at the same table in which this week’s concept also applied.

Hand #2

Opponent: Jacobo Fernandez
Blinds: 1,000-2,000 with a 200 ante

So how long after the first hand did the next one happen?

I would say four to five orbits, or maybe 45 minutes later. I had been raising a lot of pots obviously, playing my aggressive style and battling a bit with the guy on my left, Jacobo. I had been winning a lot of hands, but I really hadn’t been getting out of line, but they didn’t know that cause I hadn’t been showing down too much, just making some hands.

What was your history with this opponent?

I played some pots with Jacobo where I would raise and he would flat on my direct left, and I would give up. He continuation bet once, I think, and gave up. When you give up to players like that, I think they expect you to try and make a move soon, which set up my next hand perfectly.

And when I say players like him, I just mean someone whom you deem might be suspicious of you at all times and likely to just not give you credit even when you are representing a strong hand.

Hand: Jacobo Fernandez opened to 5,600 under the gun, and D’Angelo made the call from the big blind with .

What did you think once you looked down at aces?

I remember as it was folding around to me how sick of a spot this would be to look down at aces, and I just looked down at the aces. It was really freaky actually. When he raised under the gun and it folded all the way around to the big blind if I reraised, it obviously would shrink my range down from like 25 percent of hands to three percent of hands.

Obviously, when he had 170,000 at 1,000-2,000, and I covered him, I wanted to build the pot, but I just didn’t think I could get a lot of chips from a marginal hand of his unless I made it look like I’m was doing something crazy postflop. So, my plan was to call preflop, and check-raise almost any flop and play my aces kind of like they are bottom set. I call 3,200 more, and just threw the chips in like I was calling with ten-eight offsuit.

Hand: The flop comes . D’Angelo checks and Fernandez bets 11,000. D’Angelo reraises to 28,500, and Fernandez calls.

How did you pick your bet sizing?

At this point, it’s very important to take a moment and kind of set up the rest of the hand in your mind because you don’t want to bet the turn and have there be like a half pot left in his stack in relation to the pot. It’s just bad for your overall game plan. I made it 28,500 and after he calls, there’s 140,000 left in his stack and 65,000 in pot.

Hand: The turn is the . The board now reads . D’Angelo bets 38,500. Fernandez goes all in for 140,000. D’Angleo calls and shows . Fernandez shows . The river is the and D’Angelo wins the pot, increasing his stack to 475,000.

It’s a beautiful turn card. Now all I have to worry about is queens and jacks really, which I think he reraises on the flop a fair bit, so I was chillin’. He goes all-in with and I hold for what, at the time, had to be the biggest pot of the tournament so far I’d imagine.

Did he have fold equity when he shoved?

Yeah, he did for sure. I mean, if I’m value betting the turn for 38,000, I’m probably not folding to a shove. But, I could have a draw that he beats like , which I probably just check-call that flop that deep in a big tourney which is a great plan when you’re comfortable getting two bets in on a flop like that, but he doesn’t know that. I probably wouldn’t check raise because I might get three bet. Or, I would lead there. Leading is such a great play that people don’t really do enough, especially live. If you’re leading with bottom pair in a three-way raised pot on a flush draw board, you aren’t ever getting raised by an overpair and you can rep the flush if it turns. A lot of people just snap fold everything.

So to summarize our topic this week about keeping your range open, can you recap exactly what it means, and specifically, how you do it preflop?

Basically you want to keep players on their toes as much as possible. When you’re doing things with your range all the time in certain spots you can become very predictable and good players will recognize that very quickly on that. This concept is more important against players you play against all the time obviously, because patterns than need to be balanced won’t show up to noticeably over a one live tournament sample, but a good example is a three-betting range.

You don’t want to be just three-betting your good hands because it’s going to be way too easy for someone to play against that. When I raise pocket tens in middle position, and you just haven’t reraised all day and you three-bet from the small blind, I can just throw it away. Now if I’ve seen you being active and showing down three-bets with marginal hands, it’s going to be much more likely you get action when you pick up a big hand.

And another point on polarizing – when you are three-betting middle strength hands like pocket sevens and ace-jack suited, you are just going to be folding the best hand a decent portion of the time when you get four-bet. When you three-bet ten-five suited, you have no problem tossing it in the muck if they don’t fold right away. It’s very dangerous when players can start putting you on one of only a few hands in your range. It’s almost like your cards are face up, and they’re going to be able to make very good decisions.

Let’s remember how this whole thing started. Why I have a job writing articles like this one and why you are reading them. Why there is a row of colorful banners to your right, each of them offering an excellent cash bonus for signing up for an online poker account. Why last July, 6,494 souls — hardened professionals and wide-eyed rookies alike — put up $10,000 apiece for a simultaneous shot at a vast fortune and a piece of poker history. It all started with a 28-year-old guy named Chris Moneymaker, who parlayed a $39 investment into $2.5 million, global fame, and a far different lifestyle than the one he was living in the hills of Tennessee.

Is it really too cliché to say that you could be the next Moneymaker? It sounds like a line straight out of a PokerStars commercial, and maybe it is. But is the idea really so far-fetched? A Connecticut lawyer, an Aussie chiropractor, a former Hollywood agent, a Southern California family man, a Danish rounder, and a college student from Michigan have all won the World Series of Poker Main Event since Moneymaker’s victory threw the doors open to online satellites for poker’s “Big Dance.”

There are more routes to a Main Event seat than ever this year and in this edition of Bankroll Builders, we’re throwing open our atlas and sharing a few choice shortcuts. Even if you have only $100 to spend on winning your seat, there are still plenty of ways to get there.

Where can I find online WSOP satellites?

Most of the major U.S.-facing sites have already started running satellites. Full Tilt Poker has by far the largest variety of low buy-in options, although Cake Poker, PokerStars and UB are also running “Step” systems that start as low as $1.

How much do I need?

If you’re taking a sit-n-go or “Steps” route, you will need 30-50 buy-ins for the first level you plan on playing. If you have $100, go with something like Full Tilt’s $3.30 “Step 1” sit-n-goes. With $200 you could try PokerStars’ Step 1 tournaments at $7.50 apiece. With anything less than $100, start at the $1 level.

Here’s the good news about step satellites. They pay a huge percentage of the field, meaning that you’re likely to get at least something back for your troubles. A two-table Step 2 tournament on Full Tilt pays eight places — five move on to Step 3, one retries Step 2, and the other two earn Step 1 tickets. A nine-handed $25 + $1 Step 3 Super Turbo pays eight places — two move on to Step 4, two retry Step 3, two are knocked down to Step 2 and two go back to Step 1.

If I win a seat, can I keep the money instead of playing the Main Event?

Absolutely. And since you’re reading an article called “Bankroll Builders,” you might want to consider it. Upon winning a WSOP package, the “travel” part of the award (usually $2,000-$2,500) is immediately credited to your online poker account, while the $10,000 buy-in follows a few weeks later. You are free to do whatever you want with that money — cash it out, wire it to the Rio, use it to play FTOPS events, pay off your MasterCard, anything your heart desires. Some savvy players take that $10,000 to the WSOP, but instead of spending it all on the Main Event, they’ll spread their risk over several tournaments. That $10,000 could by you in to three $1,000 NLHE events, one $2,000 NLHE event, ten $225 single-table satellites and five $545 Venetian Deepstack events.

I can only come to Vegas for one weekend and I want to play one of those $1,500 NLHE donkaments, are there online satellites for these events?

There sure are. Only thing is, there are far fewer of them running than there are for the Main Event. Your best bets for preliminary event satellites are on Cake Poker, where they are running step satellites culminating in a $2,500 package, and on Full Tilt Poker, where they run thrice-daily MTT satellites for $2,000 “Bracelet Race” packages.

In Part 2, we’ll delve into some basic strategy and offer up some insider tips on how to find the softest satellites. Stay tuned.

Lex Veldhuis has quite a reputation at the poker table, especially after an episode of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event aired with Veldhuis pulling off ballsy bluff after ballsy bluff. On Day 1B of the 2010 European Poker Tour Grand Final, his image came into play on a bluff attempt.

Veldhuis talks about the hand and touches on a few concepts: turning your hand into a bluff and table image.

Blinds: 100-200
Hand: Veldhuis raises to 525 from the cutoff with . The villain calls from the button, and the big blind calls as well.

I knew he was an internet player and he seemed really solid. He hadn’t played that many hands. I kind of perceived him as straight forward and tight-aggressive.

What do you think of his range when he flats your raise on the button?

I thought he had some connected cards or low pairs. I didn’t really put him on any strong hands. Especially with the way I play, he would probably get some value with a reraise.

Hand: The flop comes . The big blind checks, and Veldhuis bets 1,100. The villain called and the big blind folded.

I wouldn’t normally always continuation bet it, but since the button and big blind called, I felt comfortable barreling. When I got called by the button, I was pretty much done with the hand. He could have queen-ten, queen-jack, king-jack, kind of combinations pretty often, and I didn’t think he was going to fold those.

Hand: The turn is a nine. The board now reads . Veldhuis bet 2,800, and the villain called.

Now I’m going to go for value. After he called, I think he has like queen-jack, queen-ten, ace-jack, king-jack, jack-ten type stuff. I don’t think he has like ten-nine or jack-nine because I think he would raise that on the flop because it’s kind of a scary board, especially against a guy who’s going to barrel.

Hand: The river is an eight. The board now reads . Veldhuis checks. The villain bets 6,000, and Veldhuis reraises all-in for 24,000. The villain tanked and then called with king-queen.

When I checked, I figured anything he was going to check behind with, I’m going to win against. He bet 6,000, and I pretty much put him on a straight here. Also, thinking that it’s a €10,000 tournament, I shoved 24,000 total. My reasoning for that was that it’s a spot that you hardly ever see people bluffing. I turned my nine into a bluff. If I didn’t have my nine as a blocker, I wouldn’t do it, but there are so many illogical combinations that he could have to have a full house that could call me. I put him on a straight and tried to push him off it. I like my play, but I don’t think it’s good if I do it. I think it’s a good bluff line against my opponent, but not by me. I do think he folds queen-jack, even though king-queen and queen-jack are kind of the same, he’d be chopping if I shoved with king-queen. I’m never shoving with just a naked queen. So he either chops against king-queen or loses to a boat. I don’t think a big percentage of the time I’m bluffing, but I guess it’s my image. I have to take that more into consideration.

Did he or the table get to see your cards?

No, I said, “You’re good,” and didn’t have to show which is a big advantage because otherwise they would know that I could turn hands into bluffs. After that hand I pretty much went into lockdown because no one was going to give me credit. If I would have won that hand, I would have had sick momentum, but I just had to adjust.

How much do you the think the ESPN episode affects your image?

Well, in online tournaments, I’m a pretty big nit. In cash games, I play pretty tight-aggressive with spew tendencies, I guess. So, I think the stuff on TV helped. Well, or didn’t help [laugh]. I think that after playing at the table for awhile, they are going to perceive me as aggressive anyway, so I don’t need the ESPN episodes for that. I guess I just have to keep adjusting, and I should have just folded the river.

What advice would you give to players who have trouble changing an image they’ve developed?

I think if you have a developed image, the problem is not so much what you should do to change it. It’s more so how to use it. If people start saying, “Oh you three-bet. You have aces,” some people get offended, but you should just think, “I can start doing that with jack-ten or any two cards if people think that.” If people keep saying, “Lex never has anything,” then I know not to bluff that person. You can always adjust to your advantage. I don’t think it’s a problem to have a developed image; you just have to deal with it.

Can you explain exactly what it means to turn a hand into a bluff and why it can be a good play?

Turning a hand into a bluff is when you have a hand that could very well be good at showdown, but you play it in a way that you can fold out slightly better hands. That’s important because people trick themselves into thinking they have showdown value. If you have a hand like nine-eight on a queen-jack-X-X-eight board and someone calls you twice, there’s a good chance they have a jack or a queen. You might think you have showdown value, but they might have a slightly better pair that you can get them to fold by turning your hand into a bluff.

The following is a hand he played while three-handed in Event No. 34, a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament.

Players and Stack Sizes:

Jonas Klausen – 3.685 million – Button
James Taylor – 2.45 million – Small Blind
Eric Baldwin – 3.345 million – Big Blind

Blinds and Antes:

30,000-60,000 with a 5,000 ante

First off, what was the dynamic between you and the other opponents, and what did you think of Taylor, prior to this hand?

Both opponents were good, aggressive players. Three-handed, you have to get the chips from somewhere, and my plan was to apply pressure to Taylor. Klaussen had position on me for two out of three of the hands, and I think he was even more aggressive than Taylor.

Preflop: Klausen fold and Taylor raises to 180,000. Baldwin calls with ace-five. The pot is now 375,000.

So when Taylor raised into you from the small blind, can you explain your thought process with the hand you had, that led you to just call preflop?

He had been opening a fair amount from the small blind, so it’s a bit weak to fold an ace. I felt like if I reraised, there was a decent chance Taylor would four-bet all-in, possibly getting me to fold the best hand. Thus, I decided to call and play a pot fairly deep stacked in position.

Flop: The flop comes . Taylor bets 235,000, and Baldwin calls. The pot is now 845,000.

Did you expect him to almost always continuation bet this type of board?

Yes. If he missed, this is a good board to continuation bet. If he has a pocket pair, he’s happy to take down the pot while he likely has the best hand and avoid a bad turn card. This leaves me in a similar spot to where I was preflop. Since he’s betting so often here, it’s pretty weak to just give up with an ace. If I give up here, what was I calling for preflop? To connect big with the flop with ace-five?

The stacks were such that if I raised, I left the door open for him to make the all-in reraise. He’s definitely capable of making this play as a bluff, so I just called. It also looks more likely that I have a nine by just calling.

Turn: The turn is the and the board now reads . Taylor bets 425,000. Baldwin goes all-in, and Taylor folds for his last 1.6 million in chips.

Why did you decide to make this play?

On the turn I picked up a gutshot wheel draw. Unless Taylor had pocket twos, pocket aces, or a 9, I had seven outs if I was behind and called. I felt like I could effectively represent a 9, pocket twos, or a big pair myself, and get him to fold a lot of hands. I also thought it was very possible he was firing a second barrel as a bluff. Unfortunately, he might have been bluffing with a better Ace, and by just calling I would give him the opportunity to bluff all-in on the river.

I elected to be the one getting the fold equity and make the raise all-in. I hadn’t made any huge plays at the final table and had shown down good hands. This led me to believe there was a good chance I could get Taylor to lay down a hand as big as a middle pair.

You mentioned the gut-shot outs you picked up in case you were called. Do you think players make the mistake of bluffing with no pot equity if called? And would you have still made the move anyway on another blank card?

Having some pot equity if called makes the situation tons more profitable. However, there are some spots where it is so likely your opponent will fold that you don’t need any pot equity for the bluff to be profitable. It’s important to ask, “What hands could he call me with if I bluff here?” Then, look at the likelihood of him or her holding those hands based on their previous actions. I’m not 100 percent sure if I would have made the same play if another blank had hit the turn. Picking up those four outs definitely made it a lot easier to make the play. After what seemed like an eternity, Taylor folded what he later swore to be pocket queens.

It’s the dream of every poker player, amateur and professional alike: win the WSOP Main event, etch your name in poker history, and become a multi-millionaire almost overnight.

In 2003 Chris Moneymaker did it. In 2004 Greg Raymer did it. Even better, both got their seats into the Main Event by winning a low buy-in satellite.

In fact, at $39 it cost Moneymaker more money in cab fare getting from his hotel to the tournament and back than he paid for his $10k seat.

Not only have satellites become more common since then but you can find them on almost any poker site, for almost any amount of money.

With the start of the 41st edition of the World Series of Poker approaching we’re in prime time WSOP satellite season. Chances to win an all-expenses paid shot at the biggest prize in poker are everywhere you turn – including PokerListings, with over $200k in exclusive packages now available for our 2010 VIP Champion Camp.

These are a few tips to help you get yours.

“Winner Takes All” Satellites

The majority of satellites for the WSOP Main Event are set up as multi-table tournaments, but require a slightly different approach than for your standard cash MTT.

Typically, the smaller buy-in WSOP satellites are structured “Winner Takes All” events. When it comes to an event of this sort the Ricky Bobby maxim rings true: “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

In other words, you’re playing to win.

In most cash MTTs you can have a really decent day financially simply by making the final table. Even getting close can be enough to make your efforts worthwhile.

In a Winner Takes All satellite, making the final table is only the first hurdle. After that, you still need to beat every player at the table for the win. Second place is no better than last. Regardless of your playing style, you’re playing these tournaments to win, nothing else.

Upon reaching the final table, the style of play typically becomes push or fold. And if you didn’t come in with a big chip stack, you’re going to need some serious help from lady luck to take it down.

Your only goal in this kind of tournament is to collect as many chips as you can before that point.

Aside from catching some cards, very aggressive play is your best bet. You want to be willing to take coin-flips much earlier than you would in a standard cash MTT.

If you’re no better off finishing in 2^nd than you are in 22^nd, it makes more sense to take a coinflip earlier, when you have more chips, rather than waiting until your stack dwindles, flipping simply to stay alive.

If you’re willing to take a flip before any of your opponents, your aggression will win you pots when they fold. And by winning a flip early, you’ll have enough chips to lean on the other players at the table and take the next flip against a shorter stack without having to risk your tournament life.

This style of play may not be optimal for cash MTTs, as there are less-aggressive styles that may still give you a decent shot at winning and a very good chance at making the money.

A simple example of the difference between playing a standard MTT and a Winner Takes All MTT is playing against other big stacks.

Say you’re second in chips with a large field left. In a standard MTT It’s almost never correct to get into a large pot against the chip leader at this point in the event.

Why put your tournament life on the line when you stand a decent chance at going deep by simply playing against the smaller stacks, minimizing your risks?

In an all-or-nothing satellite, this is the exact scenario you’re looking for.

Letting a player amass a huge chip stack is a big threat to you. If you make it to heads up, you’re ultimately going to have to overcome that chip advantage.

Taking them on in the earlier stages will ideally make you “that guy” with the huge stack, and give you a legitimate advantage at the final table.

Playing for Multiple Packages

In a multiple-package tournament, winning is irrelevant. You’re playing to get past the bubble.

It makes no difference to you if you have one chip or one million chips when the bubble bursts. As long as you’re still in it, you win a package.

In these events you’re simply looking to stay alive. Collect enough chips to make the bubble, and you’ve as good as won.

In fact, when the bubble draws near, it’s common for the chip leaders to refuse to play any hand – including aces, choosing to coast on their large stack into an assured win, rather than take any risk.

On the other hand, when the bubble draws near, the majority of the field will tighten up, hoping to avoid confrontation until they make it through.

If your stack is not large enough to coast through the bubble, you need to take this opportunity to pick up as many chips as you can. When the other players are looking to fold, you should be looking to steal, as often as you can get away with.

Being the chip leader in a tournament like this is nice but unnecessary. Your goal is to keep an eye on the bubble and make estimates as to what size of stack is needed to make it through. As long as you have any chips in play when the bubble has burst, you have won.

Simply put, if you’re above your legitimate estimate, it doesn’t make sense to take large gambles for chips.

Final Suggestions

Small-ball poker is much more common in multiple-package tournaments than in Winner Takes All ones.

Although it’s possible to win a package without ever being involved in a huge pot, chances are you’re going to need to come out on top of multiple coin flips just to keep yourself in enough chips to make it.

Choose your spots wisely, and try to be the aggressor, rather than the caller. Being the aggressor will at least give you a chance to win through your opponent folding. But in the end you’re most likely going to have to win a flip or two: good luck.

Freerolls

PokerListings offers multiple free poker tournaments awarding WSOP Main Event packages. Fields are typically small and per-player value is high.

Packages typically run around $12,500 and include flights, hotel accommodation, the $10k Main Event buy-in and some spending money. In addition to the standard packages, PokerListings is set to offer the 2010 WSOP experience of a lifetime with the PokerListings Champion Camp.

Heading to Vegas for the weekend? Looking to try your hand at the game you’ve seen so often on TV? Have no clue where to start? Here’s your 10 minute Texas Hold’em crash course.

Every couple months or so I’ll have someone come up to me and tell me that they’re going to Vegas for a couple days and they always ask me the same thing, “What kind of poker tips can you give me?”

That question led to this article. So if you are going to give poker a shot, read this article first and your chances of success will improve greatly.

Editor’s Note: This article assumes that you at least understand how to play the game of Texas Hold’em. If you’re unsure of the rules and the way the game plays out proceed to the Texas Hold’em Rules
Is Poker Gambling?

The short answer is yes; the long answer is no, with a but.

Poker is gambling insofar as you can’t control which cards you get, which cards your opponent will get or which cards will come on the flop. But you can control when you put money into the pot.

By only putting money into the pot when the situation is favorable to you and folding when the situation is unfavorable you can win money in the long run playing poker.

You may still lose in the short term, because of those uncontrollable elements, but if you regularly make better descisions than the majority of your opponents you will make money.
The 30 Second Strategy Rundown

Texas Hold’em is a game about hand strength. Only the best hand wins at showdown.

You want to plan to have the best hand at showdown before you put a single penny in the pot.

It all begins when you’re dealt your two hole cards.

You want to play only the best possible hands before the flop because they make the best hands after the flop.

Generally you want to be playing around 18-20% of your hands at a full nine-handed poker table. It doesn’t seem like many hands, and it isn’t, but it’s the best way to show a profit.

Hold’em is often just as much about the hands you fold as the hands you play.

If you play too many hands you simply won’t be able to profit because you’ll be throwing away too much money with weak hands to make it back with your good hands.

So play tight. Tight is right.

Your opponents

The Texas Hold’em games you find in the casino are generally very loose. Many players at the casino play 30% of hands or more.

When your opponents play weak hands before the flop they make weak hands after the flop.

Weak hands are second-best hands and your opponent’s second-best hands are going to make you money!
Hand Strength

Remember your goal. You want to have the best hand by the time all five community cards are out and the betting has finished.

There is no clear-cut answer as to what hand is good enough to take to showdown. It always depends. But by playing tight you will ensure that you’ll make more best hands and less second-best hands

During each hand you have to take into account the cards that are on the board and the possibilities that they offer. Think about what type of opponent you’re playing against and how the hand has played out.

Poker is a game of information. Be a sponge; soak up as much as you can and use it to your advantage.
Pre-flop

Before you even see a flop you want to think about what hands you can make with the two cards you’ve been dealt.

Your goal is to make top pair after the flop with a very good kicker or better, or a hand that has a reasonable expectation of making a big hand (straight, flush, etc) on a later street.

Check out the hands below to see what you should consider playable before the flop.

Monsters: AA,KK,QQ,JJ

These hands are already huge hands, a single pair is often the best hand at showdown and these will often make an overpair to the board.

These hands are all extremely profitable and you should raise them whenever you are dealt them. With AA-KK and even QQ you can and should re-raise.

Top pair hands: AK-AJ, KQ

These hands, when they hit the flop, make top pair with a good kicker.

Kickers are very important in texas holdem poker because two players will often flop the same pair and it comes down to the kicker to break the tie.

When you have one pair your kicker is almost always going to play. For example, on a A♦ 3♠ 4♠ 7♦ 3♥ board, A♠ Q♠ will beat A♥ T♥ because the winning hand of A♠ A♦ Q♠ 7♦ 4♠ is better than A♥ A♦ T♥ 7♦ 4♠.

When you play tight you’re going to be winning the battle of the kickers and your loose opponents will be paying you off with worse kickers.

With top-pair hands you can play if there is a raise in front of you by just calling and seeing the flop. If nobody has raised in front you should raise these hands for value before the flop.

Suited Connectors: QJs-89s

At the casino many players play any two suited cards.

It’s one of the biggest mistakes new players make and they bleed money seeing flops with worthless hands.

Concentrate your efforts on suited connectors because they can flop both straight and flush draws. When they’re suited and connected it doubles the likelihood that they will see a flop they like.

Being suited or connected on its own is not enough to see a flop. They have to be both.

Suited connectors are profitable because they win big pots when they make straights or flushes.

Though they make big pot hands they should often be folded to a raise unless the raise is very small. These hands do very well when you can get in cheap. Look to flop a draw or get out.

Pocket Pairs: TT-22

These pocket pairs are not monsters.

Often with small and medium pocket pairs the flop will bring at least one overcard to your pair. When you are holding 6♦ 6♠ and the board comes J♦ K♣ 3♠ your hand is practically worthless.

The bulk of the value from pocket pairs come from when they flop a set (three of a kind).

Three of a kind is a big hand in Texas Hold’em and when you flop a set you should look to get all-in as fast as possible.

That said, small pocket pairs benefit from cheap flops as well. If you can see a multi-way pot against a small raise that’s fine too but your main goal is a cheap flop. If you don’t hit your set you’re best off folding.

Ace-X suited: A9s-A2s

These are the only weak aces you should ever play.

The reason why AXs hands are playable and other ace-rags are not is because they are suited and can make the nut flush.

If you make the ace-high flush you’re going to win your opponents entire stack if he has a smaller flush.

That said, many players get into trouble when they flop a pair of aces, only to be beaten by someone with a pair of aces and a better kicker.

Remember your goal. You want to take a cheap shot at flopping a flush draw. You don’t want to get involved with a pair of aces and a weak kicker.

A-Xs hands should not be played against a raise unless it’s very small and there are many players. Cheap flops are the key.

Everything else:

All other hands should be avoided like the plague. It will just be too difficult to turn a profit playing any more than the outlined hands. Over time as you get better at poker you can gradually add more hands, but when you’re learning you want to keep things simple.

Good hands before the flop means good hands after the flop. Good hands after the flop mean easier decisions for you.

Keep it simple stupid.
Post-flop

The Flop

As soon as the flop comes out evaluate your hand. Look at the board, look at what hands are possible and how your hand stacks up.

Remember: you want to make top pair or better or have a reasonable chance at a big hand.

If you have a pair that’s smaller than top pair and there’s a bet, get out of the way and fold.
The final board
Reading the board is important. Look what hands are available and see where your hand stacks up.

If you have top pair with a good kicker, call or bet yourself.

Entire chapters of poker strategy books are dedicated to playing on the flop so we’re going to continue keeping it simple here.

Examine how the hand has played out and remember, top pair is a good hand but if multiple people are raising it may not be good enough.

If you have better than top pair, two pair or a set for example, you should often raise to get value from worse hands.

A note on draws: A draw is when you can either make a straight or a flush on the next card. Draws are big hands because straights and flushes are almost always good enough to win at showdown.

All draws are not considered equal. For example 5♦ 6♦ on a 7♥ 3♥ A♦ board only has four outs – the four 4s – and the draw is weaker still because the 4♥ may also give someone a flush. When you need the middle card to make your straight it’s known as a gutshot.

The better straight draw is known as an open-ender. For example: 8♠ 9♠ on a 6♥ 7♠ J♦ board. In this example there are twice as many outs as a gutshot.

Open-enders are much stronger than gutshots. Gutshots should seldom be taken past the flop unless you get a free look or the betting is extremely small.

Flush draws have nine outs and are very strong. You generally can call one bet on the flop and if you miss on the turn you should abandon hope unless the betting is small.

The Turn

Usually by the time it gets to the turn there are only 2-3 players left. When a player makes it to the turn he generally has at least some piece of the board.

If you have the lead in the hand and the turn changes nothing you should often keep betting.

If the turn completes the flush or the straight draw you should often tread carefully. If you bet and get raised it’s often best to just fold.

The River

The last street, the river, is usually contested heads-up. Use the information your opponent has given you throughout the hand to figure out whether you should bet or you should call a bet.

Each play your opponent makes tells you a little bit more about his hand.

If he raises before the flop, then bets the flop and the turn and now bets again on the river, he usually has a big hand.

Conversely if he raises before the flop, bets into you on the flop, checks the turn and checks the river, he’s usually going to be weak.

Again there are thousands of different variables and going through all of them is impossible. Use critical thinking to figure out what your opponent may have and act accordingly.
The money
If you make better decisions than your opponents. You’ll win money.

Position

Position is one of the most important factors in Texas Hold’em. Position refers to your position in relation to the dealer button, which identifies which player acts last during the hand.

Acting last is a huge advantage in poker because you have more information. When you act last you know if your opponent wanted to check or bet. You get to see everyone’s actions before you decide what to do.

Nobody can see the next card or showdown until you say. You are in complete control.

Because of that when you’re in position you can play more hands than you normally would because you will have the inherent advantage of position.
Poker’s a long term game

Though poker is a game that you can beat in the long term, it’s still gambling to some degree. You make decisions and then random cards come out. You control when you put money in but you don’t control the deck.

It’s that element of luck that makes the game interesting but it’s also that element of luck that can make the game extremely frustrating.

You can make every decision right the entire night and still lose the session. Hell you can make every right decision all week and still lose. Conversely you can see some idiot in seat 10 play every hand and win a ton. It’s the nature of the game.

It’s what keeps the fish interested. so embrace it. Look at each situation individually and make the best possible decision.  If you do that every time you will be a successful poker player in the long term. Try to downplay the importance of short-term results.