Players like these are extremely easy to identify and even easier to exploit by simply playing their hands instead of your own. As soon as you see signs of strength.. fold, unless of course you believe you have a stronger hand. When you see signs of weakness.. bet. Slow-playing and bluffing this type of player will not work due to their thinking being limited to their own cards. These players are known as first-level thinkers.

Take Notes!

As you move up into the higher stakes you will encounter less and less first-level thinkers. Instead you will be playing against players similar to yourself, who will try and work out what cards you’ve got before acting. These players are known as second-level thinkers. When playing against second-level thinkers you will need to disguise your own hand while trying to work out what hand your opponent has. The main way to do this is by observing what hands they play and how they play them. And most importantly take notes. Below are a few examples of what you should be noting down to get a better read on your opponent.

• Hands your opponent raises with pre flop.
• Hands your opponent limps / calls with preflop.
• Hands your opponent bets with on the flop / turn / river.
• How frequently your opponent cbets.
• How often does your opponent slow-play with a big hand.

Playing With The Sharks

This is where it gets complicated. Every now and then you will play against, what we call, third-level thinkers. These are extremely rare in low stakes, but you will encounter them every now and then in the higher stakes. These are players who take into consideration who try to work out what you think that they have or sometimes even what you think that they think that you have.

Get it?

Probably not. But these are the players who put a lot more thinking into every decision that they make and are the players that you really want to watch out for. If you have any weaknesses, they will exploit it.

“I had raised pre-flop with A-K and he called from the button. The flop came all small cards. I checked and he fired a pot-sized bet. I looked at him and said, ‘You must have a good hand.’ His reply caught me off guard; ‘It doesn’t matter what cards I have if I know what cards you have.’  - Paul Wolfe.

Above is a quote from Paul Wolfe explaining a hand at his first World Series of Poker tournament in 2002 showing how even the top pros will have tells. Your main task always has to be to identify these as quickly as possible and exploit them as much as possible while disguising your own style of play and keeping your tells to a minimum.

Best Poker Sites for Heads-Up Games

• If your new to Heads-Up games we recommend that you start by playing low stakes HU SnGs. Ultimate Bet is an ideal site for this with their HU SnGs starting from around $1.10 making them perfect for Heads Up newbies.

• If your looking for a large amount of Heads-Up games ranging from mid-stakes to high-stakes then we recommend Poker Stars.

See you at the tables!

After honing their games online for awhile, many players decide to take the next step and test their skills in a live poker room. For some, the transition comes easily but, for others, the differences between playing at a computer and at a live table can be difficult to overcome.

For many online players, one of the hardest adjustments to make is to the speed – or slowness – of live play. Where you may easily see 50, 60 or more hands an hour if you multi-table at home, you’ll be lucky to see 20 or more hands during an hour of live play. The game just doesn’t move as fast. Some players adjust to the “boredom” of live play by listening to music and zoning out while they’re not involved in a hand.

While I don’t personally object to listening to music at the table, I prefer to chat with some of the players seated near me during the game. First of all, there’s a nice social aspect to playing live – if you have a good table – that you just don’t get online. Secondly, chatting with your fellow tablemates may help you to determine what kind of players they are. Is the guy next to you just killing time at a $5/$10 table while he’s waiting for a bigger game? Is he in town on vacation and just playing a little poker for the fun of it? Is he a regular?

These little bits of information can help you categorize your opponents and determine what kinds of players they might be; serious, casual, aggressive, etc. Remember, the more information you can gather, the better decisions you’ll be able to make when you’re involved in a big hand. This brings me to another important distinction between online and live play – focusing on your opponent.

When you’re playing online, you’re working with a much more limited amount of information than you are live. Sure, you may be able to calculate how often a player raises or re-raises from the button and keep track of their statistics, but when you get right down to it, you’re playing your game based on your two hole cards and the patterns you can establish about your opponents. When you’re playing live poker, on the other hand, you have a lot more information that you can factor into your decisions.

How is your opponent betting or sitting at the table? Are they confident? Do they look scared? Does your opponent’s demeanor change when they’re involved in a hand? Do they talk more? Less? Are they tilting? Drunk? Loose? Because of all of the extra information available to you at a live game, I believe it’s much easier to make reads on your opponents and, in turn, to put them on a very specific range of hands – or hand – if you’re really paying attention to what’s going on at the table. One of the biggest mistakes I see many online players make when they first start playing live is that they overlook this extra information and play a very “general” game rather than focusing in on a specific opponent.

My advice for these players is simple; slow down, focus, think. While you don’t want to take two minutes to contemplate every single play, there’s nothing wrong with going into the tank every once in awhile during a live game or tournament. If you’re paying attention to the action and your opponents, there’s a lot more information that you have to process and this sometimes takes some time. Think about how the hand has played out – and about how your opponent has played the hand – and you’ll find that your game will improve.

Source.

“Poker is a tough business,” says Erik Seidel. “You can go through long streaks when you don’t win anything.” When things go badly, when you can’t seem to cash in a tournament or win a significant pot in a cash game, you come to understand the importance of maintaining an adequate bankroll.

Just how big should your bankroll be? How much money do you need to ensure that a bad run won’t put you on the rail? We Full Tilt Poker pros agree that the answer depends on a number of factors, including the types of games you’re playing, the level of competition you’re encountering, and your psychological disposition.

As Jennifer Harman says, “Some players can be effective on a relatively short bankroll, but others need more of a cushion. They’ll get stressed out and play scared if they don’t have enough money behind them.” So you need to be aware of your comfort level at the table. If you’re nervous about what you stand to lose in a given pot, you’re probably playing too high for your bankroll. Harman, like most Team Full Tilt members, recommends a conservative approach and suggests maintaining a bankroll that leaves plenty of room for downswings. “If you’re playing $10-$20 limit, I think $10,000 is about right,” says Harman.

John D’Agostino agrees, “You should never play a limit where you feel uncomfortable.” He suggests that a player shouldn’t put more than five percent of his bankroll in play at any time.

The need for a sizable bankroll exists for tournament play as well as cash games. Erik Seidel, a tournament specialist, notes that long droughts are common for tournament professionals and that entry fees can add up quickly. “If you were to play all of the $10,000 buy-in events, you could spend half a million over the course of year,” says Seidel. “Even top players can have years when then don’t cash for $100,000, so having a proper bankroll is critical.”

“You need a much bigger bankroll in tournaments than you do in side games,” agrees Chris Ferguson. “A lot of people play tournaments without nearly enough. You easily need 100 buy-ins. Maybe 200.”

Playing over your bankroll is fine once in awhile, but all the pros concur that it’s important to leave yourself plenty of money to recover from unlucky hands and the occasional mistake. D’Agostino, one of the top young players in poker, offers one further tip for hanging on to your money. “Don’t play Phil Ivey heads up. I tried that once and I failed miserably.”

Source.

When most people think of Sit n Go games they normally associate them with 9 or 10man tables. Whilst these are the most popular type of SnGs, I would highly recommend everyone to try Six Handed Sit n Gos. The most noticeable difference between these two games is the speed. If your used to playing 9man SnGs you will be accustomed to the blinds changing every 6 minutes allowing you to see a lot of hands. Whereas in six handed games you will start off short handed, keeping the play much more fast paced.

Winning at Six Handed SnGs

To beat six-handed games you will have to play fairly differently to how you normally would. Considering your stacks will be much smaller in comparison with the blinds, you will need to open up your range of starting hands. Obviously you should still be throwing away your trash hands but you will need to be seeing more flops with good hands and playing them aggressively to improve your stack size. Although, don’t fall into the same mistake that a lot of other players do in these games which is playing too loose – too early on. These players will often knock each other out fairly early on, quickly leaving the table with only 4 players.

Getting Into The Money

In six handed sit and gos only the top 2 players get paid, with first place taking 3x your buy-in and second place only taking 2x your buy-in. If you’ve been lucky enough to double up already you want to stay cautious. Don’t risk losing your lead by excessively trying to steal the blinds or calling raises out of position. Instead keep playing tight – aggressive poker whilst trying to take another player’s stack when you’ve got a good hand.

If, on the other hand, your short stacked your going to want to try and double up as soon as you can. You will often have the big-stack trying to bully the rest of the table by constantly trying to steal pots (remember.. you shouldn’t be doing this). Take advantage of this by getting your stack in when you’ve got a good hand. Chances are the big stack will fold to a re-raise and if not – chances are you’ve got the better hand and you’ll double up.

Always Go For First Place

As I mentioned earlier, first place gets paid considerably more than second place, with first getting 3x the buy-in whilst second place only gets 2x the buy-in. So you should always be going for the win. As you get closer to the bubble you need to be applying more and more pressure onto your opponents. Try to target the player who is just trying to sneak into second place as they should be the easiest to exploit by being much more likely to fold under any pressure. At this time the blinds will be quickly catching up to the third place’s stack so you will soon see your opponents going all-in with much less than premium hands. Then you will be heads-up which you can read up on in a lot of detail HERE.

In summary, you can beat six handed SnGs very easily with this simple but very effective strategy. Just remember to play moderately tight from the beginning until you get to the bubble where you want to be very aggressive to allow you to go for the win.

Best Poker Sites for Sit n Go Games

• For the softest Sit n Go tables we highly recommend Full Tilt Poker . They have an extremely high amount of tables to choose from and are known to contain a lot of weak players at the low stake games.

See you at the tables!

The trick to consistently win 9-man Sit n Go games is to adjust your playing style as the tournament progresses. Due to the constantly changing structure in SnGs you will need to continually adapt to keep the edge over your opponents, but do this correctly and you will be finishing in the money over and over again.

Getting Through the Early Stages

Surrounded by fish going all-in every other hand?

At low stakes Sit and Go games this will happen very often, which is a great thing! The more players who knock each other – the closer you get to finishing in the money. So, what do you do?

Leave them to it.

The best strategy for the early stages of a Sit n Go tournament is to play tight, very tight! At this stage you will have many fish going all-in, often with very weak hands. These players normally have no strategy behind them and its best to stay back for now and let them knock each other out.

So for now, your main aim is simply to survive, fold 95% of your hands and only play premium hands.

When you do hit a premium hand (JJ, QQ, KK, KAs, AA) you need to play very aggressively. Pre-flop you should be raising by at least 6x the big blind. A lot of new players will slow play these hands by min-betting or even just calling these hands. Do NOT do this! In these situations you want to isolate your opponents and avoid multi-way pots so that you can minimise the risk of someone overtaking you with a weaker hand. Post-flop you should be looking to continue bet for value and get as many chips as possible out of your opponent.

As the blinds increase, this strategy will no longer be feasible and you will drastically have to change your starting hands range and betting patterns.

The Middle Stages

By now the table should be down to around 6 players, the skill level will be getting slightly higher and your getting ever closer to the money. This stage is often overlooked, but it is essential you make the correct decisions here to get yourself in a strong position ready for the late game.

In this stage we must start getting more aggressive as the blinds will be making more of an impact on our stack. You can no longer afford to sit back and wait for premium hands as the blinds will eat into your stack far too quickly. Instead you must make use of two main strategies.

• Steal the blinds.

Blind stealing is very important now that the blinds are getting larger in relation to your stack. At this point you need to make the most of your hands when you are in late position. Typically when your on the button you want to be raising 3BB or 4BB with a very wide range of hands to take the blinds without having to see the flop. A successful steal will then cover your costs for a whole cycle of the table and so providing you with more time to find a good hand to play.

Although, be very wary of a re-raise. Calling these will put you in a very tricky situation post flop and will have a large impact on your stack size.

• Double Up

Here the aim is to re-raise with a strong hand (preferably a high pair) after someone has already bet. By doing this you have two ways to win the pot. Either they will be trying to steal the blinds and will very likely fear your bet – leading them to fold or if they call, there’s a very strong chance of you having a stronger hand than them allowing you to take their stack.

The middle stages will normally be over very quickly, so don’t take too many risks.

Late Stages – Go For The Win!

There should be 4 or 5 players left by this point. Well done, your very close to the money! But your going to have to make a few adjustments to your game. First of all, your going to have to be even more aggressive. Most of the table is going to become more passive as they will be afraid to get knocked out so close to the money. Take advantage of this.

Make bets – big bets. Your main aim now is to steal the blinds and your stack will grow extremely quickly. Your main targets are the short stacked players, these will be the most likely to fold. Attack these regularly, but make sure to back off once their stacks get lower than 3 big blinds. At this point they will be close to being pot committed and so will likely call with any cards. You must have a strong hand to play against them at this stage.

Players should get knocked out very quickly at this stage, and you should soon be in the money.

The payout will be looking like this:

• 1st Place – 50%
• 2nd Place – 30%
• 3rd Place – 20%

There is only a 10% difference between 2nd and 3rd position, so you want to be taking risks to try and get 1st place. You will have to play most hands now and extremely aggressively. Your main aim here is too put as much pressure as possible onto your opponents and try to get all-in when you get a strong hand.

Best Poker Sites for Sit n Go Games

• For the softest Sit n Go tables we highly recommend Full Tilt Poker . They have an extremely high amount of tables to choose from and are known to contain a lot of weak players at the low stake games.

See you at the tables!

Ok, so you’ve seen the flop, now what?

There are no black and white actions when making decisions post flop, but there are four essential questions you can ask yourself to help you make the best choice.

1. Does the flop help my hand?

Have you hit top pair, two pairs, three of a kind or even better? Has the flop come out with what we were hoping for pre-flop. Is there a strong chance of me having the strongest hand at showdown if my hand stays the same?

2. Has the flop helped my opponent?

After watching your opponents betting patterns/actions from earlier hands, is it likely that this flop has helped him? Have you put him on a range of hands? Is there a strong chance that this flop would have hit his hands? Is there a good possibility that he’ll think he’s ahead even if you have a much stronger hand?

3. Are there any draws on the flop?

Is there a possibility of a flush? If there are 3 cards of the same suit then someone might have hit a flush and have you beaten – be extremely cautious. If there are 2 cards of the same suit then someone could have a flush draw.

Is there a possibility of a straight? If all of the flop cards are close together there is a very high chance that someone has hit a straight or could only need 1 card to have you dominated.

In either of these situations you must bet big to make your opponent pay to see any more cards. Never allow someone on a draw to get a free card. If your opponent is very passive you can keep betting big and can get a big payoff from flops like this, just make sure to get out of there if you think your opponent has completed his draw.

4. Are you in the lead?

After answering the above questions you will have a much better idea of whether you’re in the lead after the flop. If you think that there’s a good chance you’re in front then make sure to bet, you want to extract as much money out of your opponent as possible. Letting him see free cards will only give him a chance to overtake your leading hand. You want to be building the pot if you’re ahead, and keeping the pot small if you think you’re behind. Keep it simple.