Archive for April, 2010
Sit and Go Poker Strategy – Getting It All In Ahead
Apr 1st
The phrase “getting it all in ahead” has been used by many pros in their articles and comments which are meant to be used as valuable lessons to players learning the game or building their bankroll. However, getting it all in ahead is used far too often as a strategy in tournaments when given certain circumstances, it actually should be avoided.
Let’s clarify the phrase first. If you put all chips in the pot pre-flop with AA and your opponent calls you holding QQ, well you for sure got it all in ahead. In fact that’s about the best scenario you can hope for as you are better than a 4:1 favorite, and hey I am all up for plays like that.
Similar situations would be your pocket JJ versus a caller with 99. With a pair over pair your hand will do much better than say your AA showing up against suited connectors. But at 4:1 your +ev is so impressive that you should take that risk even during early stage, low blind levels of a sit and go tournament.
Now how about if you had pocket JJ and your opponent had the AcQc and you both went all in pre-flop? Sure you are likely to be ahead and you guessed right but your JJ is only a marginal favorite against AQs. It will win approximately 54% of the time. You got it all in ahead all right, but is it worth it?
Well in a cash game scenario if you did this all the days long, you will come out ahead, but not without some trials to your psyche. In a spot like this, playing sit and go poker tournaments with either hand, I want to see a flop and make sure it’s a flop that either helps my hand, or doesn’t help my opponent’s hand.
Because both are quality hands there is good reason to invest in them pre-flop, but not your whole stack!
In fact, your first concern should be to preserve your stack in early in the early going when blinds are low. Part of the reason for this is that low-entry, online tournament players often over play their hands enough that they create huge pots with marginal situations and although they may be right, there are usually victims in these hands too! But a fair amount of low limit players don’t really care about this either, they just want to play bravado style and show you they were right, even if they get sucked out on. Speaking of suck-outs, in the low limits going in ahead full charge, you better learn to deal with suck-outs in a big way.
The other major point about going all in early is that you often lose the chance to make the money later in that same tournament because you were willing to let it ride. If you really want to play like that, go play in the micro limits or free games because that’s where you can really push marginal edges and not really bother with the outcome. Suffice to say, while building your bankroll pushing 55/45 hands is not going to build your bankroll online.
Marty Smith is webmaster and player that has been playing poker for nearly 3 years now using money won from opponents. He teaches the basics of sit and go poker with a free videos series. He also rates and reviews all the online poker calculator software allowing you to see a product in use before you buy it.
Winning Gambling Strategy
Apr 1st
A Winning gambling strategy is based on statistical analysis of the occurrences of each event in the game and an analysis of the odds the casino applies to that event. Casino operators use the occurrence of these events to calculate the odds for the various occurrences within the game. You must identify those events which are good bets for you and those which are good bets for the casino and avoid those that are overly favorable to the casino. Understanding these odds allows us to formulate a winning gambling strategy for each game that we choose to play.
Every experienced gambler should know that each time the cards are dealt, the wheel is spun or the dice are rolled, we will loose more times than what we will win. This is a statistical fact of gambling. By only placing bets that are favorable to the player or bets in which the house has only a very small advantage, we can increase our chances of becoming a winner.
Using a simple basic strategy, a good blackjack player can change the game odds from slightly favoring the casino to slightly favoring the player. On average, out of every 100 hands dealt, you will loose 45 and should win 55. This does not mean that if you record the results of a hundred hands, you can expect to achieve that result. If you take a sample of a million hands, played by a good player, the results should be very close to the results stated.
Over a short period, you can have a dream run and win 60 odd percent of your hands. You could just as easily have a disastrous run and loose 70% of your hands. This is why a sound money management strategy should be an integral part of your winning gambling strategy.
You can find many free gambling strategies on the web for almost all gambling games. Many of these are sound and feature material that will take you from being a novice to a respected player in a short time frame. Take off your rose colored glasses when you read these gambling strategies because some are sound and are really good advice and some are well… very esoteric. Technical playing skills alone will not make you a successful gambler in the long run. Aspects of psychology, your nerve, personal courage and determination are also required and will be discussed in another article.
I have used my favorite game to highlight the importance of a sound gambling Strategy. I could have used the game of craps which has many bets that are highly favorable to the house and the free odds bet where the house has no mathematical advantage.
All online casinos offer cash bonuses to attract new players. These cash bonuses can dramatically increase your chances of winning and should be seriously considered when formulating your gambling strategy. Likewise many casinos offer loyalty programs and reward players on the basis of the amount of money wagered each month. Try keeping a record of your wagers during a gaming session. Whilst you may have only started out with say $100, you win a bit, you loose a bit during the course of the session but your total wagers may amount to several thousand dollars and this is the number used to calculate your loyalty bonus. Regular players should take advantage of these programs.
Once you reach the stage of being a respectable player at your chosen games, you will then be in a position to evaluate the myriad of advanced gambling strategies for sale on the net for most gambling games. Some are cutting edge and some are recycled variations of old failed strategies.
Adherence to a sound gambling strategy can substantially reduce your reliance on Lady Luck.
Brian Osborne is the webmaster at http://www.winnersrun.com, a website focusing on Gambling Strategy for most popular casino games