Sit N Goes Made Easy

by Howard Lederer

The Sit N Go (SNG) is online poker’s great gift to the aspiring tournament player. Prior to the SNG, final table experience was hard to come by. You could enter a dozen multi-table tournaments and never find yourself at a final table. Or you could make one or two, only to get knocked out in 8th or 9th place. Adapting to an ever-diminishing number of players at a single table is a crucial skill in tournament poker, and it’s a hard experience to find offline without investing a lot of time and money. Online, this experience is a mouse-click away. The SNG’s advantages are many. For starters, it’s low-cost, or even free. It’s also fun, and convenient: You don’t need to schedule it — a SNG starts every time the table fills up — and it’s usually over in less than an hour. It is the flight simulator of Final Table play, and mastering it should be considered mandatory homework for the serious student.

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A Way To Approximate The Odds

by Clonie Gowen

It is very difficult to calculate the exact odds of hitting a drawing hand when you’re sitting at the poker table. Unless you’re a genius with a gift for mathematics like Chris Ferguson, you will not be able to do it. That leaves two options for the rest of us: The first option is to sit at home with a calculator, figure out the odds for every possible combination of draws, and then memorize them. That way, no matter what situation comes up, you always know the odds. But for those of us without a perfect memory, there’s an easier way. Here is a simple trick for estimating those odds.

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Just A Few Things When Playing Razz

by Jennifer Harman

The rules:

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Razz, it is a game played like 7-card stud. The twist is that in Razz, the worst hand wins. Straights and flushes don’t count for anything, but pairs are bad. Aces are always low cards. A five-high (or wheel — remember that straights don’t count against you) is the worst — or I should say the best — possible hand for this game. A-2-3-4-5.

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The Script

by Phil Gordon

In an effort to simplify my decisions, every single time it’s my turn to act, I try to run through the same script in my head:

Are my opponents playing conservatively?
Aggressively? Tentatively?

What are some of the hands my opponents are likely to hold?

What do my opponents think I have?

Once I have the answer to the first question, and feel confident about my range of answers for the second and third questions, I move on to the most important question:

Should I bet or raise?

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In Pot Limit…

by Clonie Gowen

Most Pot Limit Omaha players know that Omaha is a game of “the nuts.” In a multi-way pot, the winning hand is, more often than not, the best possible hand out there. When you start with four cards, you have six different possible two-card hands. This increases the chances that someone is holding the nuts. What many beginning Pot Limit Omaha players do not understand is that Omaha is really a game of redraws.

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Why I Leave My Sunglasses And iPod At Home

by Howard Lederer

Why Sunglasses and Headphones Aren’t For Me

I know this newsletter is being written for an online poker site, but I hope that most of you still find time to play live poker. As much as I love online poker, I would never completely give up sitting at a table and getting the chance to size up an opponent. This week’s lesson will examine why I think it is a mistake to wear headphones or sunglasses during live play.

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Keep Your Toolbox Well Stocked

by Chris Ferguson

I often get asked about my playing style. Rather than answer the question myself, I’m more interested in what my opponents say. And I’ve heard it all: “You’re too tight.” “You’re too loose.” “You’re tight aggressive.” “You’re too passive.”

Actually, I never hear that last one, but I’ve heard all the others, which makes me believe I must be doing something right. Loose, tight, aggressive – my style is that I’m all of the above, depending upon the circumstances.

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go

by Jennifer Harman

Being a winning player isn’t only about playing good cards – it’s also about making good decisions. And there is one important decision you face every time you sit down in a cash game: Should I quit, or should I keep playing?

When should you keep playing?

I see so many players playing short hours when they’re winning, and long hours when they’re losing. It should be the other way around.

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Ask And Ye Shall Receive Part 1

by Erick Lindgren

All Talk and No Action

You can learn a lot by listening. You can learn almost as much by talking, if you ask the right questions.

The following occurred at a tournament at Bellagio in 2004.

I draw a very good first table and recognize only two faces. They are solid pros, neither of whom is very aggressive. I know I can take control of the table and quickly look around to find the best targets. I notice an older gentleman in a cowboy hat who’s involved in too many pots and decide he’s my mark. My plan is to bluff him at first opportunity and do anything I can to get under his skin. I want him to view me as a young hot-shot, with the hopes that he’ll bully me later when I have the goods.

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Ask And Ye Shall Receive Part 2

by Erick Lindgren

Last week I offered an example of a hand where asking the right question – “Why’d you bet so much?” – netted me a sizeable pot.

This week, I’ll show how a very different question at the same tournament proved equally effective.

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