September 2011
Betting for Max Value If you think there’s a strong chance your opponent will call you, always try to get the absolute maximum out of him. In a tournament, chips are power and you need to keep building. Paul Zimbler takes us to value town.
August 2011
Optimising Position to Establish an Opponent’s RangeAs almost all poker players know these days, position is key to gaining information from your opponent. The more information you have when the action comes to you, the better your decision making should be, and, in turn, the better your results should be. Paul Zimbler explains.
Bust Out Babies and other CharactersWhile in Vegas for this WSOP, I’ve studied the various types of bust-outs there are, from the crazy outbursts to the reserved introspection. Playing in one of the WSOP $1k NLHE tournaments is an education in itself. The phrase “dropping like flies” is an understatement. About once a minute some forlorn looking figure shuffles past your table to the rail, manically typing away on their iPhone.
Amateur to Pro 3-bettingThis is the fourth part of a coaching series featuring Bluefirepoker coach Alan Jackson, the purpose of which is to create a roadmap that gives amateur poker players the greatest chance for success when trying to take their games to the next level. In this latest installment we look at the 3-bet.
July 2011
Ask the Pro - Floating The FlopPoker is a game of strategy and counter strategy. Once some bright spark had invented the continuation bet as a license to print money, it became necessary to develop the float to shut the bastard down. Floating is calling the flop in position in with the intention of taking it away on the turn. Sounds pretty fancy, but risky too. What are the ideal conditions to float a flop? As we were hanging around the bar at the WPT Vienna and Bratislava recently, we decided to ask the pros.
Big bluffs and the importance of perceived image believe he is beat. Bluff Poker Academy tutor Paul Zimbler assesses the importance of image to getting a big bluff through.
Beam me up - How to play satellites For a long time the phrase online qualifier was a synonym for bad player. These days, the very best pros in the business use the satellite system to qualify for the big buy-in events in order to keep their costs down. But how do they do it? What’s the secret? Let’s ask them.
From Amateur to Pro Article Three – Statistical ReviewWhen Bluefirepoker coach Alan Jackson took on the challenge of turning me into a winning 6-max online cash game player, he needed to know what he was dealing with.
How profitable is live poker?A question I get asked a lot is, how much can pro players make playing live? At this time of year, many players heading off to the WSOP are looking to play in the live arena for a month when their day job is grinding online. Especially after Black Friday, live poker is more likely now to become their day job.
June 2011
Betting out of position: the power of the donk leadBy Paul Zimbler
Making the maximum from your hands is the key to being a winning player. We all know the importance of playing in position, but what about those times when you’re forced to play out of position? How can we turn it to our advantage? Well, sometimes it’s good to bet your hands out of position (some call this a donk lead) because many players smell weakness in this situation and we can actually use it to get the max.