Everyone has seen great poker plays. Whether it is 5 bet bluffing with rags in the WSOP or making a monstrous over bet bluff in a cash game, people love to see exciting poker. The problem with this is that all too often regular players emulate these moves. There are a few reasons to be cautious when attempting to emulate the professionals and their wild plays.

Gus Hansen is the #1 player whose TV moves other players try to emulate, usually with disastrous results.

Playing for the Camera

One of the big reasons that pros play the way they do is because they are on T.V. This has several implications. They are expected to give action. No one wants to watch a tight poker game. When players are on a televised cash game, they are there to perform.

Also, it is important to know that these players are creating an image. They realize that other players will be watching them and therefore they often deliberately create a more aggressive and loose image. This can pay off when they later play people in non-televised cash games.

A classic example of a cash game hand that novice players should avoid is the hand between Howard Lederer and Tom Dwan from High Stakes Poker. In the hand, Dwan 5- bets with 86 off. The hand was one of the more famous examples of hyper aggressive action.

Of course, most players should avoid 5-betting with trash hands. Dwan does it because he is on T.V., is a superior player, and was in a good spot. He ended up getting lucky, but that play is going to be a losing play for the average poker player.

Playing Against Great Players

When the very best play each other, which is what you see on many televised cash games and high buy in tournaments, they cannot simply play ABC poker. That will not work. In order to beat great players, the pro has to act in a non-standard way.

If you are playing against bad players then making a huge over bet bluff is not a fantastic idea. It may work for someone like Tom Dawn or Phil Ivey, but if you are up against a calling station it is going to cost you money.

There is a concept called Fancy Play Syndrome. It basically says that you should not try and perform “cool” or “tricky” moves. In most situations, against most opponents, ABC poker is going to be correct.

If you put your opponent on a flush, it is not a great idea to shove all in on a bluff and rep the nut flush. There are some players who will fold, but for the average player simply plays their own hand. They see that they have a flush, and they will likely call. Great players play their own hands as well as their opponents. Bad players only play their own hand; they don’t put too much thought as to what the other person has.

MetaGame

Most of these pros will have played with each other before. This means that they have reads on each other, and are aware of each others game. So a play might actually be designed to set up a later play. This is common amongst people who play with each other on a regular basis. It is not necessary when you are sitting down and playing against unknowns.

There are some circumstances where a pro might make a bluff and expect it to not work enough of the time to be profitable. The idea might be to create a situation where their opponent starts to look them up on the river more, thereby allowing them to value bet more often and for a larger amount.

Players like Dwan have an image as a bluffer, which allows them to over bet the river for value more often than other players. Again, this is something that you should not attempt. It will not work when you are playing bad players, or players you have never played before.

A big mistake novice poker players make is to try and emulate a successful poker player that they see on T.V. What these people fail to realize is that there are two things problematic with this approach. The first is that poker celebrities tend to be skilled and experienced poker players. Secondly, these famous players are playing on T.V., which might make them play different than they normally would.

Many players get themselves into tight spots emulating Dwan.

Two poker celebrities have a particular approach that is very popular, but should be avoided. The players are Phil Hellmuth and Tom “Durrr” Dwan. Both players get a lot of T.V. exposure, but for different reasons.

The “Durrr” Syndrome

Everyone who has played with a young, novice poker player will recognize this. They think that the correct style is to be hyper aggressive and call or raise with any two cards. Then they believe that they can outplay their opponents on the flop, turn and river.  This comes from Dwan’s many televised appearances.

Some examples include Dwan firing a huge over bet with air against Bob Safi and getting him to lay down a pair of Aces as well as Dwan 4-betting Howard Lederer with 8d6h for a 100k pot.

When people see this they think it is cool and impressive. They then try and emulate this in their small stakes games. Of course what they fail to realize is that Dwan is both skilled and experienced. There is a difference between someone like Ivey, Dwan, or Brunson making a huge play and someone who has only played poker for a few months trying the same thing.

This behavior, in the wrong hands, is what creates a “spot”. Someone who puts in too much money with bad hands is someone who others are there to win money off of. It more likely that a person emulating Durrr’s style is going to end up being the fish in the game than the winner. Most people who play this way will not be skilled and will simply spew off their chips.

Phil Hellmuth: Trapping and Yapping

Phil Hellmuth is known for two things: Trapping players and tantrums. He is known for trapping players because he constantly tells them he will. When it backfire he then throws a tantrum. When you see players who are on tilt, yelling and making a scene, then you know it’s a good game.

Hellmuth is a self-promoter, which is one reason he acts up. There is no reason for a regular player to act this way. Unless you have a clothing line, sports drink, or book to promote, then causing a scene is a bad decision. You are there to play poker and win money, not get people talking about you.

Also, don’t try and trap everyone and certainly don’t tell them you are doing it. Trapping works against a certain type of player, and it works best when you don’t tell them what you are doing.

People see Hellmuth flat with big hands and slow play hands and then think they should do the same. The fact is that Hellmuth, even though other pro’s ridicule him, is still a great player. A person who just started playing poker should not try and emulate his style.

Lately, I have been going back to my old bread and butter game of Stud 8 or better and splashing around in some sit-n-go’s.  The old saying of “the more things change, the more they stay the same” still applies strongly to this game.  Today, let’s look at a few situations that too many players fail to recognize or act upon.

Sometimes you just have to fold this hand on the deal.

Ignoring a Paired Door Card

While I commonly preach to beginning regular Stud player that a paired door card many times means a set, many Stud 8 players tend to ignore this, especially if the door card is a low card.

For example, the bring-in is a deuce and then calls a completion.  Many think that maybe the low card started with three to a low.  Then on fourth, the deuce catches an open pair.  Too often, I see players fail to give this player credit for trips.  If a door card jack caught an open pair, we almost assume he has trips.  However, just because the low card came in does not mean he didn’t start with a low pair and a baby.

Failing to Bet When You Cannot Be Scooped

Long ago, a simple truth of the game was pointed out to me in a random conversation with former WSOP World Champion Greg Raymer.  He said, “If I can’t be scooped, I’m going to bet.”  So often, players will check a low because they cannot scoop.  However, they are missing on a chance to push a player out of the pot.

A prime example was an event I was in at Binions three years ago.  I have a six low made on fifth street and bet it to the river.  My only remaining opponent at the river had a pair of sevens showing.  I bet into him and he said “Well hell.  If you can bet into my sevens, I can’t win.”  He then folded his hand.  I took the pot because of my aggressive betting when I couldn’t be scooped.

Failing to Let Go of Low Draws When Outs are Low

This last tip was one I had to use just the other night.  I was dealt A-3-5, one of the best starters you could hope for in the game.  A jack straight completed to me.  Upon looking around, I saw 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 3 around the rest of the board.  Most of my wheel outs were already gone but I still decided to speculate with the jacks and to see what would happen.

However, the 2nd six decided to raise and then the original completer decided to three-bet.  (Completions do not count as raises remember.)  Anyway, it was clear that the six had likely more out I needed as well as the fact it would cost me two more bets to even speculate, so I folded.  Honestly, I should have probably folded to begin with considering all the outs that were showing, but the ante’s and bets were still very low so I could gamble one bet.

As you can see, the above situations are not incredibly advanced but many players still tend to ignore them either due to inexperience or the nature of the game.  Avoid the same mistakes in your game and you will improve your results.  Good luck to you at the tables.

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Even though poker is a game of skill there are still many superstitions that surround the game. Because there is an element of chance involved, players have always had a tendency to be more superstitious than the average person. There are some cases of world-renowned players who still act as though there is something semi-mystical going on at the poker table.

What would poker players think of a black cat at the table?

Take the case of lucky or unlucky hands. Hands can be good hands, pocket Aces, or bad hands, Deuce-Seven off, but they are not lucky or unlucky. However you will sometimes see players play hands in a way that suggests that certain hands possess particular power outside of the known statistics. Doyle Brunson is well known to play 10x-2x more aggressively than other junk hands. He does this because he won both WSOP Main Events with this hand.

There are several appearances of Brunson playing this hand on televised Cash Games in situations where it should normally be tossed. He is even quoted as saying that if he does not play the hand “it keeps being dealt to him”. From a logical and rational standpoint this cannot be true, yet one of the worlds best poker players seems to operate under the assumption that the cards have a mind of their own.

Bad players will often times have lucky hands. They will call big raises pre-flop with marginal hands because they have had success in the past with it. These players will not take things such as pot odds into consideration. This is the difference between a good player who is superstitious and a bad player who hold the same beliefs. Brunson, who will play a garbage hand, will never play it badly. A bad player will often times make decisions completely based upon some non-existent factor.

Another example of superstition is seen in a younger player. Phil Ivey is considered the best poker player in the world. However, he has also exhibited signs of superstitious

behavior. In one televised poker game someone mentions how well Ivey is running. Ivey then jokingly, yet still serious, mentions that they are “riding the broom”. This is referring to jinxing someone. It is more old school gamblers lore.

One of the interesting things about poker superstitions is that they are more common in live play. Online players have a few of their own, such as downswings that occur as soon as you cash out from a poker site, however the majority of superstitions come from the live poker scene.

You will see these suppressions all the time in live rooms. People will ask for deck chances. A player might want to play in a particular seat, and it will have nothing to do with the other players. Dealers will also suffer; many players blame the dealer for a bad run of cards.

Players might also want to use a particular card protector, or piece of clothing. All of these things are classified as superstitious behavior. You will see it across the board; good players as well as bad players will act this way because Poker, unlike chess, does involve a small amount of luck.

Last week, we began a discussion on playing against women poker players.  We covered common assumption about women and even an example of how men always view women as playing too tight.  Let’s conclude our discussion this week on the topic.

Women are proving themselves just as competent as their male counterparts.

I am not sure if it’s an ego thing but some men find it difficult to accept the fact that women can be good poker players, and by good I don’t just mean play like nits. In this male dominated game most guys don’t expect females to compete at the same level, and they will attempt to bully the female players at the table, and quite often the ill timed aggression will be to their detriment and will see them hit the rail.

I have played against many women poker players who have adopted an aggressive pre-flop strategy and it would be wrong to assume they always have a premium holding as soon as they enter the pot with a raise.

If you happen to have female poker player(s) here is what you should do. Treat them the same as you would any other poker player. It’s been suggested that your poker playing style is an extension of your personality, and the same certainly holds true with women who play poker. Some are outgoing and will adopt a more aggressive style, while some are naturally more conservative and will play more passively.

When playing against an unknown female poker player, I think attributes such as their age and nationality are much better indicators when determining how they may play. Obviously you don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but you certainly want to get a better idea of how they may play their hands in unknown situations, since the quicker you can do this the better prepared you will be when playing against them.

By observing each and every women poker player at the table with no preconceived ideas about their playing styles, it will allow you to make much more logical and accurate decisions when playing hands against them. Try and keep mental notes of their tendencies and playing styles and look to find areas in their game that possess a weakness that can be exploited, just like you would any other player.

Whenever I am playing against women poker players I will always make a conscious effort not to let the fact that my opponent is a woman alter my opinion of her tendencies. I’ve played against competent/aggressive women poker players enough to know they are not all passive nits that only play premium hands.

Poker has long been thought to be a male dominated game. For centuries texas hold’em has been played amongst men in home games and casinos with not a female face present at the table. However, with the recent explosion in online poker and televised poker tournaments, the increased exposure has seen more and more women observing and actually taking up the game of poker, both recreationally and professionally for a living.

Liv Boeree is a prime example of a woman who you will not be able to push around at a poker table.

Each poker player has his or her own playing style that is unique. However, there is the misconception about women poker players that they all play a certain way. You will hear some players make generalized sweeping statements such as “Women can’t bluff” or “All women play tight”. While this is a tendency among certain women poker players, the same can be said about any poker player.

It would be a mistake to assume women poker players can’t hold their own at the poker table they are not all easy pushovers. Players such as Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Vanessa Rousso, and Liv Bovree are four of the biggest names in poker, each of them with major live tournament championships to their name. More to the point, other lesser-known female poker players can be formidable opponents to have to play against.

With the introduction of women poker players, both in tournaments and the cash game poker scene, it brings about the obvious question. As a poker player, should you be making adjustments to your game when playing against women poker players?

It’s an important question to ask yourself when playing in poker games that have women. Any experienced poker player knows about the importance of profiling poker players as soon as you sit down at the table. The big question though, does being a female poker player in itself tell you a great deal about how you can expect them to play?

In fact, I had this same conversation with another player on a poker forum. He suggested that you should be tightening up your calling range when you are faced with an open raise from a female poker player in early position, simply because it was a women who is raising. In a readless situation he was assuming all women are tight players.

While everyone’s experience when playing poker is different, I can’t agree with this general assessment of women poker players, and in my opinion, it would be a mistake to assume all women poker players are only raising premium hands until proven otherwise. Sure enough, if an older female poker player is raising from early position they are doing so with a fairly tight range, but that’s because they’re an older player and gender doesn’t factor much into the equation.

Pius Heinz, 22, from Cologne, Germany won the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event. Heinz was the first German poker player to ever win the Main Event. At the time he won the title he was studying at University. After winning the Main Event Heinz took time off to pursue a career as a professional poker player. He is also a member of Team PokerStars.

2011 WSOP Main Event Champion Pius Heinz

Heinz was one of the true breakout stars of the 2011 poker season. He had never cashed in a live tournament before the 2011 WSOP. That is not to say that Heinz was an inexperienced player. He had been playing online, under the screen name MastaP8, for a few years.

Heinz was originally attracted to poker after watching the World Series of Poker on TV back in Germany while he was a student. He made a small deposit online and started playing small buy in tournaments. Heinz started out playing $1.00 buy in sit-n-go’s and MTT’s. Heinz also multitabled low stakes cash while he was building up his bankroll. He was known to play 20 tables of microstates cash simultaneously.

Heinz’s first cash came in Event #48 ($1,500 No Limit). Heinz came in 7th and took home $83,286. This was certainly a huge moment for Heinz. It was his first live tournament win, and it was a very substantial one.

He finished Day 1 of the Main Event with triple the starting stack. Heinz has said in interviews that he was happy with the win and was not under too much pressure entering into the Main Event. In fact his goal was to simply cash.

All of that began to fade away as Heinz got deeper into the tournament. By Day 5 of the Main Event Heinz had accumulated a huge stack. He was the chip leader for parts of Day 5 as well as Day 6. Once the final table was reached and the players adjourned, Heinz said he was calm and expected to play the November 9 without any nervousness.

Heinz admits that when the time to sit down and play for the title he was as nervous as he had ever been. However, he soon took control and chipped up. He began the day as 7th in chips but was able to take the lead with aggressive play. When it got down to the final three, Heinz was up against extremely tough competition. Ben Lamb, World Series of Poker Player of the year, was looking to take home the bracelet and cap off an extraordinary series. Martin Staszko, a relative unknown, was also there and playing without any mistakes.

When it got down to heads-up Staszko and Heinz were left battling it out. Heinz said that even though the stacks were close, he was not worried. He stuck to his plan and his style and eventually took down the tournament. Heinz took home $8,715,368 and the bracelet.

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