Monday, May 14, 2012

"You’re asking for trouble if you halt a marathon at the 25th mile to allow everyone to rest and then run the last 1.2 miles as a sprint" Ylon Schwartz

The so-called “November Nine” left the Rio in July largely unknown to John Q Public, and they return the same way for today's last mile of the tournament, which carries a $9.1 million top prize. The true winner however, is Harrah's, who got an interest free-120 day- loan of The final table's prize money of$24 Million.

Player's should be compensated by the casino for this delay, worth another $100 K a piece. By the way, where is all that money being kept anyway, in escrow?

PokerStars has the rights to 6 of the 9 players at the final table, they are in control of effectively 66% of the prize pool. Are the six going to gang up and play against the rest? This is the real DreamTeam Poker not the one at the Hard Rock Casino this weekend!

The first player to take abuse in the largest sit and go in poker history will bethe big stack, the chip leader: The Human Hangover, AKA The Piñata, Dennis Phillips. He's tricky and uses the Ropa Dope strategy. Ali used the Ropa Dope on George Foreman, the hardest puncher in boxing history, and won and knocked him out. I have seen Dennis play in St Louis. Don't underestimate him, even if he loses most of his stack. I have seen him make some big lay downs.
The best way to win The Power ball of Poker the WSOP --- is to fold more. There's so much fold equity in the beginning. Ed Reif's WSOP Advice Today.They are all deep and the levels are long. I expect a long session, but it’s poker; anything could happen.

My Prediction The heads up match will be --Peter Eastgate, the youngest one at the table--- against guys with the most Poker Courage:Dennis Phillips (Joe The Plumber) or Ivan Demidov.


Either raise or fold, but rarely call.

Raise more than call and fold more than raise. PROS verses JOES

The cult of the amateur feels that calling is an option on the value scale between betting and raising; actually it shows weakness and sets you up as a target to lose money. Folding in this case, is the invisible win, and a way to save bets (money). What no one else is saying about NLH is that this a fringe benefit about playing with the JOES, they will call you down, and, furthermore, they don't know the best kept secret of No Limit Holdem: It is a game of position.

Calling is bad for so many reasons--- You lose control of the hand. You create a weak image for yourself. You don’t drive others out of the pot. You invite bets and bluffs. You become a target on the turn and the river. You let drawing hands have the potential to “bad beat” you. Most people refuse to fold and calling down to the river is their bizarre way of folding.

Unless you are slowplaying the NUTS, and setting a trap, your opponents have nothing to fear with a flat call or a smooth call…you send that "I am weak" message…unless you step in it and suck out. That’s the safety net of holdem. It’s always there Chess +luck. Anyone can get lucky once 100% of the time.

If you bet or raise you give yourself extra ways to win. Good things happen when you bet—You could take the pot down right there, or lose some people and build the pot, so you could fire another bullet on the next round when they miss, making it expensive to draw out on you



Poker rewards aggression. Your table image street cred goes up .You make opponents react to you and you take control of the table—the name of the game is a game of domination. NLH is a game of position, and Early Position is the exception to the rule---you simply won’t play a lot of hands, and if you do, you will find yourself checking more because all eyes are on you to act first.

POSITION DETREMINES which starting hands to play and WHEN to play. (10 9 suited, small pockets A9 are great first money hands from middle or late position, but go down in value from first)

So easy even a caveman can do it…Bludgeon the better with a raise. It sends a message. Like hitting a donkey over the head with a two-by-four. Raising with ATC, any two cards, in late position, usually gets the blinds out. If you allow them to limp in, they could have anything. DON’T GO BROKE in an unraised pot: because in an unraised pot anything can happen!

Buying the button—betting or raising hoping that people between you and the button will fold, can give you positional advantage, allowing you to act last.




Playing out of your comfort zone. Every bet is a big decision. At higher stakes, many people know the value of position. Fortunately, it can make you routine and predictable. In this case you should sit to the right of the money—That's where it tends to go, you get money from the right and give money to the left. This is called “Sitting behind the money”. This is because money flows in a clockwise direction. The golden rule---the ones with the gold make the rules will be acting before you not after!

STARTING HANDS IN HOLDEM DEMAND ISOLATION

There are 169 possible starting hands in NLH. Are you capable of playing everyone of them? Only 1 in four of them is capable of being played on any given Sunday to the flop.


The value of any two cards---even monsters goes up or down after the flop--Why? Because those two hole cards represent 28% of your total hand, after the flop that brings you to around 70%. The rule of thumb: if you need more than one card to imporve your hand dump it- or bluff and pump it. Therefore, you have to thin the field. Going heads up with a big pair against suited connectors is a 60-40 split in your favor, but guess what, you have two outs, and he has at least 15--straight, flush, straight-flush, pairing his whole cards.

Against 9 random hands in a pot, AA is vulnerable--a winner only 34% of the time, and Pocket Kings, the same holds true. You want to isolate the loosy goosey guys who play Ace Rag with your raisey daisey; isolate the maniacs who splash pots, and isolate the weak players. Anytime you are up against inexperience, you are the favorite.


The single most important mistake most players make is playing too many starting hands. It could be impatience, a carry over from low limit no-foldem games, ATC, any two cards push and pray, hoping you'll hit the flop. You should fold 60% of your hands--Why, because it costs something to play. If it costs nothing to play, play every hand! but it doesn't...


The cost of playing your hand is determined by position. If you are in early position what is the cost? You don't really know because you are first to act. It will at least cost you one bet, but the other players have yet to act. It could cost 2x, 3x all-in.




After all, you play poker, you show up, you want to "gamble", to get and give action, to play. Just remember, you didn't come to the game to play bad cards, but more importantly, you didn't come to play out of position.




I remember talking with Daniel Negreanu--He refered to late position as his "Office". That meant he meant business--where his revenue stream flowed and his profit center was derived. It was interesting to hear him say that, instead of AA, KK, a particular starting hand. He switched things up for me, and I began to realize the value of position.
INS and OUTS

Paper or Plastic--Cash verses Tournament Play



For the beginner, everything is even money, when you don't know any better. Replacing that with true odds is the goal. There is one goal and many pathways. There is the psycho path way, playing like a Kramer maniac.---the push and pray NLH way, hoping to hit the flop big. There is the rocky road, playing a tight-is-right, the Jerry game of counting your outs---the number of unseen cards that will give you the best hand---the NUTS!
There is wise and there is otherwise. Generally speaking if the FLOP gives you 10 or more outs--go all the way to the river, regardless of the number of opponents in the pot.
If your draws have less than 9 outs 2 handed, that will yield you a negative result more often than not.
A Multi-handed raised pot with six or more outs =profit.


ADVICE THAT DOESN'T WORK IN FREE ROLLS:If a guy has 20k behind him, and you are first to act and bet 6K. He is really betting 20K if he calls your 6K.(the implied turn and river bets) You bet 6K. he bets 20K That is the threat of NLH, the all-in threat. PUT THE COMMITMENT ON HIM.

In The Beginning...The best way to win more is to fold more! Hand selection is really something to consider; so is position. Playing too many starting hands is the How Not to Do It way..When it is raised in front of you-Your mantra should be "I'm looking for a way to fold this AJ offsuit.



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