November 2009
Going Pro Dr Tom,
I have just become a full-time online poker pro and am looking for tips on how to best keep 1) healthy 2) happy 3) my friends.
Stephen, Edinburgh
Dealing with LAG-tards Dr Tom,
I am playing cash. There is a maniac on my table who raises 5BB every time he’s on the button, when there has been no action behind him. He often continues to play aggressively post flop regardless of whether he hits. Being out of position to this guy is a little tricky as you can imagine.
Never Mind the BollocksVery often, the most potent threat to a poker player’s poker playing life comes from sources completely unrelated to the game of poker itself.
No bluff, no win?Dear Tom,
Is it possible to win at poker without bluffing?
Jepser, Uppsala
October 2009
Stone cold bluffBy Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro
Is poker a young man’s game? There’s an experience in poker which I want to put a name to. Let’s call it the Grinder’s Lament. It runs something like this: when you win, it feels like just another day at the office; you make money playing poker, that’s what you do for a living; Plan A worked – it’s nothing special. But when you lose it feels like the world’s caved in.
Creative Thinking If you are a winning player, you play more hands and you will make more money. Simple, right? Having just come back from a hectic schedule of tournaments in Vegas with the promise of fame and fortune (I came 549th in the Main Event, am I famous now?), I felt that I needed to get back to the grind and put more time in online.
Cracking aces Dear Tom,
Say you had a hypothetical tell on an opponent which 100% guaranteed that his hole cards are aces. Should you always call him hoping to bust him? Does it all depend on stack sizes? Could you call with any two cards with a deep enough stack, or just pocket pairs and suited connectors? Or is it simply bad poker to call with what you know to be a worse hand?
Folco, North London
Piling on the PressureI find a lot of value in piling pressure on your opponents in the early stages of tournaments when the blinds are small and most people are playing way too tight, because that’s when people are looking to avoid pressure.
Good fold? Dear Dr Tom,
It’s the early stages of a two table sit-n-go, with blinds at 15-30. I have a stack of 2,295 from a starting stack of 1,500. I’m dealt aces in the small blind. A middle position player raises to 120, the button calls. Nice, I think, and raise to 630. Both players call. The flop is 6d7cJs. Very nice for aces, I think. First to act, and with two players behind me who may have under-pairs to my aces, I check.