Simon’s Poker Blog

Most poker enthusiasts find themselves captivated when watching high-profile professionals with great poker hands going head-to-head and making large, well considered bets in an attempt to either capture a monster pot or else to close a game out. It is, perhaps, poker’s most compelling image, one which makes for great television and occasionally fevered commentary, but in truth, such showdowns are a million miles from most players’ experience.

This is particularly true for those who really enjoy the game but are unlikely to ever find themselves head-to-head with Greg Raymer at the final table of the WSOP.

Indeed, a far greater proportion of players than you may imagine become concerned (and not a little nervous) whenever they play for real cash, especially because as a rule, your bankroll on a full table of more than six players should be somewhere between 50-100 times the big blind. If that sounds a tad on the heavy side, let us consider one of poker’s often overlooked, but nonetheless fast-moving attractions, the micro-limit game.

Forget about going all-in with several million chips on live TV; if you find yourself worrying about playing at the $1-$2 limit tables, then why not drop down to the $0.25-$0.50 cent, or even the $0.025-$0.05 cent tables?

Why? Well, the answer is simple: you should avoid ring games where the amounts of raises, pots and bets frighten the life out of you.

Furthermore, there’s no stigma attached with dropping down to, or kicking off in, a micro limit game. Many millions of people have started at the $0.025/$0.05 tables and, as their bankrolls start growing and they start to understand the subtle differences between poker hands, they move back up a few levels.

Granted, most new players have a tendency to test their boundaries to the limit, but unless they’re naturals, such an approach is generally unsustainable and can have a dire impact upon their bankroll. Given that poker is mostly about discipline (what, you didn’t know that?), playing at micro-limit tables can be a fantastic way to learn (or to rediscover) effective money management.

Can opponents still suck out on you at micro limit tables? Of course they can, although a number of pros who kicked off at ML level advise that provided you believe you have the best hand pre-flop, this shouldn’t prevent you from raising substantially. That, you might say, contradicts how you might play at a higher limit table and you would be correct, but a standard three- or five-times the big blind raise simply isn’t going to cut the mustard in a ML game most of the time.

It follows that assuming you have say, QQ in late position, combined with a few limpers and the action comes your way, you should not be too concerned about betting $1-$2 into this pot. It certainly is a different play from that which you might make at higher level tables, but your poker strategy here is determined by your opponents and the table limit; in other words, you’re amending your play to suit the conditions, ie being disciplined and aware, so you should not be over-concerned about raising 15x the blind, provided you feel you’re in pole position.

Newcomers appreciate the value of ML games as they understand that the best way they can learn to play poker profitably is to start playing for real cash as soon as possible. It’s a fact that everyone takes the game more seriously whenever money is at stake and the sooner greenhorns get into real cash games, the better. It goes without saying that bringing the full buy-in to a ML table is significantly easier than at one where stakes are higher; it also means that should you endure a bad beat or go on tilt and lose, you’re in little danger of it having a long term, adverse effect upon your lifestyle. It may impact upon your temper, but that’s another, discipline-related matter…

This is not to say that just because you’re playing for lower stakes there are not specific ML table tactics to master.

The majority of ML players have either opted to drop down and refresh their poker approach, or else they’re absolute newcomers who are learning poker strategy and this unusual mix means it is imperative to play solidly. But what does this mean? After all, no-one deliberately sets out to relinquish their bankroll in double-quick time.

There are several things you can do to improve the chances of building, rather than depleting, your starting stack of chips.

First, you should try playing the button and late position by adopting an aggressive style of play, primarily because having position over your opponents is crucial. This is not to say you should become predictible: you do not need to raise the button every single time. Mix your play up and, to cause confusion among your opponents, occasionally raise in early position.

Second, playing at ML tables should also result in you keeping a close eye on, and even making notes about, your opponents. You’re trying to identify the weaker players, by targeting them and their stack; remember, you do not have to be in a hand with an opponent to establish exactly how they play.

Third, if you’re intent on having a profitable time at the ML tables, you should identify the ‘call stations’ as soon as possible. Such players are everywhere at this level and the sooner you find them, the better, as you can effectively bank on them feeding you money for as long as they’re sat at your table.

Apart from these three points and without getting too technical, perhaps the most frequently asked question regarding ML tables is “How much do I raise?” As you may expect, the answer varies according to the conditions in which you find yourself.

Let’s take our earlier example: imagine you’re in late position with QQ and two limpers ahead of you. Instead of raising fifteen times, you raise five times the blind. What happens? That’s right: half the table left in the hand goes with you.

Why does this happen? It’s almost beyond the bounds of mathematical possibility for everyone to hold a hand worth calling, so there must be another explanation. This is where a player’s flexibility is put to its test, which is why playing ML tables acts as both a great refresher and / or an initial induction.

Consider this: if you’re playing a $0.05/$0.10 ML table, then a raise which is five times the big blind amounts to just 50 cents. At this level, that is not going to bankrupt any of your opponents, so the majority of them think they can afford the 50 cents it takes to bet, when what they should be thinking is, “this guy has just raised five times the big blind! He must have a cracking hand.”

In other words, at a ML table, you’re much more likely to get called, particularly by loose players, because they’re willing to risk losing 50 cents most of the time.

Many ML regulars stick to raising suited connectors and small pairs by between three- and four-times the big blind, a potentially profitable stratgey, particularly if you have position over your opponents, although even if you don’t, it’s a great way of mixing up your game. The reasons for this are severalfold:

For a start, such a modest raise represents a strong hand preflop (although only to students of the game), but assuming the flop is check to you, it provides you with an opportunity to steal the pot.

Second, should you flop an absolute belter, then you have an excellent chance of collecting the dough, particularly if you find yourself in a hand with a few ‘call stations’.

And finally, even if you don’t hit or no-one bets into you, you can still afford to lay it down without risking a significant proportion of your stack.

On other occasions, when playing potentially winning pairs or big hands, your strategy changes because you certainly don’t want a significant number of callers in the pot with you. In this instance (remember, you’ve been taking notes on your ML opponents), you’re convinced other players around the table will miss the relevance of a four- or five-times the big blind raise, pre-flop. Depending on how many players remain, the most profitable move is to overbet.

Such a poker strategy works because if you’re on the button with only the blinds left to act, a relatively modest raise (for a ML table) might be an effective way of getting some action with your big pairs such as AA or KK. However, let’s assume the whole table has limped, in which case this raise might not get much respect, so you should consider overbetting, perhaps to 15 or even 20 times the big blind, depending upon how loose the table is.

Why would this work? Well first, even if each of your opponents fold, you pick up the pot. However, it’s more likely that you will get called by a couple of opponents, although that’s not a problem as it’s considerably easier to play against two instead of half a dozen opponents. Finally, if your opponent is our friend the ‘call station’ and they hit the flop, you’re in great shape to take the majority, if not all, of their chips.

Micro-limit poker tables have one further advantage; they’re always busy, making them the perfect stop off point for greenhorns and others wishing to improve their game. Okay, so you’re never going to get rich playing them full-time, but it would be foolish to underestimate their importance as you move further up poker’s food chain. In short, you should utilise them as part of your poker apprenticeship; remember, however, you ignore them at your peril.

Playing poker could become a norm in after-school clubs if a professor from Harvard University gets his way.

The idea comes from Charles Nesson who believes that poker can teach things such as self-respect and an understanding of important business skills and can even help in bringing global peace!

Initiatives have already begun in parts of the US and Jamaica with Professor Nesson planning to deliver his strategy when addressing a conference on virtual worlds and cyberspace in Singapore next month. His aim is to set up global poker strategic thinking societies throughout the world and have them based at some of the most important universities.

The societies will help schools to run poker workshops, sponsor university poker events as well providing a curriculum for the activity for those universities wanting to participate.

Nesson believes that playing poker encourages people to think for themselves, a key component in individuality and helps individuals learn how to manage resources.

The professor also claims business decision making can be learned from such factors as not making the first offer, an important skill learnt in poker. He also believes problem teenagers could learn such things as composure, patience, respect of enemies and understanding other people’s point of view.

Poker could also teach a person to lose well and even just how to lose, while managing a short stack could help in people’s personal financial decision making.

He goes further by suggesting that law students could appreciate the ‘importance of evidence’ while international decision making could be helped by knowing how to bluff.

“As far as I’m concerned, it would be a better world if we all played poker,” Professor Nesson said.

It is certainly an interesting idea and I do believe there is some merit in what he is saying. Poker can teach valuable life skills such as respect and an understanding of human nature. It is no coincidence that some of the best poker players have a great knowledge of what makes people tick - many of the top players have studied psychology - and understanding other people is one of the most important life lessons anyone can learn.

Whether there will be after-school poker clubs in schools remains to be seen. I know many teachers who play poker in their spare time but I can hear backlash from the media if any educational establishment decided to go down this route.

The undoubted popularity of poker emerged again this week with the news that the first professional poker player will appear in this season’s run of the popular US TV series Survivor.

The honour goes to the 36-year-old Jean Robert Bellande, a player who has already earned $750,000 in tournaments this season and who first came to prominence when finishing third in the World Series of Poker circuit event in 2005 and is known for his aggressive table manner. That full-on style saw him being invited to the Bad Boys of Poker event last year won by Tony G .

The show, for anyone who does not know it, is a Big Brother style event usually set on some paradise island where the contestants battle for ’survival’ and face the public vote each week. The show has been running now for 15 seasons and regularly features in the top ten of programmes watched in the US. Bellande is hoping to use some of the skills he has developed in poker tournaments to help him land the huge first prize.

This season’s Survivor will take place for the first time in China.

“Poker is a mental game, and I think ‘Survivor’ is a mental game,” said Bellande on the CBS website.

“My strategy for this “Survivor: China” is going to be similar to my strategy in a poker tournament. For the first couple hours, I am evaluating my opponents; figuring out who the strong players are, who the weak players are, and then I plan my attack accordingly.”

Surprisingly, the poker star is among one of the outsiders for glory and can be backed at a healthy 18/1 to win the title. Now, I could be way off the mark but I thought these knock-out reality shows were about cleverness and cunning. Therefore it is safe to say that any professional poker player would appear to the necessary guile and wit to do well on this type of programme.

This would not be my usual betting medium (I got my fingers burnt backing Maggot to win Celebrity Big Brother a couple of years ago) but it is possible the New Yorker could rate as a shrewd bet to land the title. This is, of course, if he takes it seriously.

However, with one million dollars up for grabs there is a good chance he will be trying his hardest to land the TV title.

It may have slipped under many people’s radar with the continuing row over the supercasinos but the Midlands city of Coventry is now the official home to Britain’s biggest casino.

The new casino which is housed in the Ricoh Arena is twice the size of the previous biggest gaming establishment - the Empire Club in London.

The £40m venue covers 100,000sq.ft and is housed beneath the football ground. It has five bars, including a 25-screen sports bar named after Coventry City’s 1987 FA Cup success, a stage for live performance, three bars and a huge indoor waterfall.

As well as roulette, blackjack and craps, there is a dedicated 12-table poker room hosting tournaments four times a week and training tables for novices.

So, Coventry is famous for something at last! Now that may seem a little bit harsh. A little research brought up some interesting facts about the second biggest city in the Midlands with Britain’s biggest casino.

Coventry was the first place in England to be officially ‘twinned’ with another city and is now twinned to over 20 places around the world. The first major link up was with Dresden who, like Coventry, suffered massive damage form World War II.

The war was responsible for the destruction of the Cathedral but having been largely rebuilt, the city can boast one of the most spectacular modern cathedrals in the world and is now the most popular tourist attraction in the region (before the casino!).

Lady Godiva is perhaps the most recognised symbol of Coventry. From the Velvet Underground to Dad’s Army, the famous nude has been referenced in popular culture for riding through Coventry on horseback to protest about high taxes.

Famous people born in Coventry include the poet Philip Larkin (was he perhaps referring to the new casino in his poem Vers de Société? – “My wife and I have asked a crowd of craps, To come and waste their time and ours: perhaps”), the pop group The Specials (OK, nothing related to gambling but the first album I ever bought was from the Coventry ska band) and Frank Whittle the inventor of the jet engine.

If the government does backtrack on their supercasino proposal then Coventry may long be the home of Britain’s biggest casino.

In a game of Texas Hold ‘Em heads up poker, a computer was narrowly beaten by two professional players.

Under laboratory conditions, the computer, nicknamed Polaris, failed to master the humans but scientists believe the day is not far away when the software can get one over its human counterparts.

The experiment took place in Alberta, Canada with the computer using only the power of an ordinary laptop. Over a series, the computer edged narrowly ahead but it was the humans who eventually came out on top.

The so-called “First Man-Machine Poker Championship”, match was staged at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and offered prize money of $50,000 (£25,000) to the winner of four rounds of poker.

Although for the professional players - Ali Eslami and Phil “the Unabomber” Laak - the cash prize was small, the stakes were high.

“I literally felt the same feeling that you would have if you beat 500 people in a tournament and won a million dollars,” Laak said after the match. “We won, not by a significant amount, and the bots are closing in.”

“Playing against the computer was more exhausting than any other game he had played,” Eslami said. “I really am happy it’s over. I’m surprised we won….it’s already so good it will be tough to beat in future.”

Computers such as ‘Deep Blue’ have already proved more than a match for Grand Master chess players, while recently there was the development of software that could play the perfect game of draughts - indeed the computer could not be beaten and the best the human could hope for was a draw.

It is perhaps the computer’s inability to bluff that was its biggest weakness though programmers are already working on a way to increase this aspect of its artificial intelligence. With so much online poker being played these days, the argument about the computer not being unable to read tells and players faces falls down.

Another plausible reason for the computer’s defeat is its inability to play off ‘confidence’ that can help a lot of players.

Perhaps worrying for the future of online poker is if such software can be developed and used by any player. Indeed, if this is possible then it would certainly be the end for the pastime with only ‘live’ tournaments offering a chance for humans to show their poker skills.