My opponent played it beautifully.  I was really impressed with his plays.  In two hands, in consecutive rounds, in the same relative position, he played both boards the same way.  Both boards paired the top card, straightening and flushing by the turn.  In both, he check raised the flop and pushed all in for a pot-sized bet on the turn.

In both situations, I stood up out of my chair leaned over the table (I never left my place) to see him from above and then bent down below to see him under the table.  I really took my time.  The first hand, I called with my pair, and he turned over a draw.  The second time, I folded and he showed a Boat.  It was a lot of fun to say that his erection told me to fold when it was actually his feet. It was pointed out to me that that kind of scrutiny is too far to get a read.

This isn’t the first time I have done that.  At the Imperial Palace (Cookies in the Mornings; KK & AA cracked bonus 8am-11am) I was put to the test.  After raising to $10 with my Black Kings getting one caller on the button, I bet $20 on the flop Ah8s4h.  $45 on the 2c, my opponent raised me all in for another $120.  I stood from my chair and examined him up and down.  I crouched and looked at his feet and legs.  And I called what seemed like an obvious flush draw semi-bluff.

After realizing how tense their feet were, gripping the legs of the chair, so as not to fall out if I called, there was no way that either expected a call.
Obviously, by rising up and looking my opponent up and down not only do I get a better view (including the feet), but also it forces a reaction without saying a word.  That it works is well known, to carefully observe your adversary.  But is it appropriate, or is it over the line of good etiquette?

It was my first visit to Las Vegas when I still thought poker was easy and that rebuys were for losers.  I had built my bankroll up from $10 by playing premium hands and busting players and friends without that kind of patience.

After earning my first $1000, I traveled to Vegas with a friend that I considered a solid winning player.  He had been getting his aces and kings cracked all weekend; I had been winning with them (I was so spoiled in the beginning… I know better now).  It was there, playing at the $1/$2 at the Mandalay Bay when I witnessed a hand that changed everything for me.

I had been watching a young player for hours; he was very disciplined and hadn’t played a hand at all.  He folded hand after hand.  He had about $600 in his stack, which he presumably got in a hand or two before I arrived at the table.  Suddenly he opened for $25 UTG.  I already had grown accustom to the $10 and $12 opener (which still seems absurd), but why would anyone possibly call with anything other than the other 2 aces?  Then I watched him get called by 3 people that didn’t seem like idiots.  On the flop he bet $100 and got one caller.  On the turn he bet $200, and his opponent pushed him all in.  He called and showed AA; no surprise there.  But what surprised me was the 8-5 she tabled for two pair and felted the guy for $600.

As I watched her stack her chips, I remember thinking: “What a donkey! I cannot wait to play a hand with her.  Who calls a $25 raise with 8-5?”  Shortly thereafter, I had the chance to speak with her away from the table, and I asked why she would call $25 with a couple of napkins.  She explained it so concisely, “With that raise, I know exactly what he has, his cards may as well be face up, and I know what I have to beat.  I am 8 to 1 to crack his AA, but if I still have better than 1 pair on the turn, it is all going in.”  That donkey got paid better than 20 to 1.  That was the day I realized that I want to be the one cracking the aces, not the other way around.

This is a quick interview we did with Figmond (who will be writing for Poker Info Page on a weekly basis starting this Thursday) about poker trips.

Questions and Answers:

Q: How many poker trips do you make per year?
A: 8-10; I try to go monthly.  I am going 6/23-6/30.  I was there 5/27-6/3; 5/7-5/10; 4/16-4/22. You get the idea.

Q: When you have traveled for poker, what is the best trip you have taken?
A: I particularly like certain conventions: Adult Video Awards, Diamond Show….
Though, WSOP action cannot be beat.  It is hard to pick a best.  (I have some great “worst trip” stories.)
I try not to focus on the best by results (results are irrelevant, only correct decisions matter).

Q: How much of your time was spent playing poker on the trip?
A: I spend all my time at the poker tables.  I have never played anything else, never been to a show or any other entertainment.  Typically, I will sit at a table 20-30 hours straight and then sleep.  I do this for 5-8 days.

Q: Did you do anything that was not poker related?  If so, what?
A: I have done nothing but play poker, ever.  Unless you count schmoozing with some notable poker pros.

Q: What is the one poker trip you want to do that you have not yet done?
A: This is my first year playing the WSOP, Vegas (I did Tunica); so that was the one… I played an event this month and am going back for more next week.
I haven’t played in Europe.  I would love to go to Laughlin, NV.  I haven’t played in Detroit yet.  I hear FL is picking up with some new legislation.
I suppose the Main Event is every poker player’s dream… but still outside of my bankroll.  We’ll see what happens next week; maybe this is the year.

Have you ever wanted Chris Ferguson to teach you about pre-flop play or bankroll management? Would you like Phil Gordon to teach you how to plug leaks in your game? Do you want to learn about what to do at a final table from Erick Lindgren? Or get lessons on how to play turbo tournaments from author Michael Craig?

All of these lessons and more are available at the new Full Tilt Poker Academy. Each of these outstanding pros offers video lessons on aspects of both cash games and no-limit tournaments.

Many sites offer video lessons, most of which can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Full Tilt offers these great resources to all of their players – for FREE!

If these lessons were the only component of the Full Tilt Poker Academy, it would be worth the massive amounts of money you could win by applying their techniques. But how much can you really learn by just sitting back and watching videos? Thankfully, Full Tilt gives you two ways to apply what you’ve learned immediately.

First, you can take a short quiz after every video, just to see if you were paying attention. Players who take the quiz and score in the top one thousand become eligible for a freeroll tournament with a prize pool of $5,000.

Also, you can take a “Pro Challenge”. In this “game within the game”, you are assigned a series of tasks to complete based on the lessons you watched by playing cash games and tournaments. As you complete each task, you gain points that you can use at the Academy store. Similar to the regular Full Tilt Player points store, you can use these Academy points to purchase hats, shirts, tournament entries, even a Mini Cooper car!

Full Tilt truly has created one of the most fun, educational and rewarding online poker resources available today – and it’s all FREE! So jump in, take the lessons, quizzes and challenges, and use what their pros teach you to beat them!

If you’ve never played online poker at the “micro-limit” ($.25-$.50 or lower) cash games, you’re in for a real poker education. Since most players at that level are inexperienced, on tilt or just plain bad, you’ll see a variety of plays you won’t find in any poker book or instructional video. Here are some tidbits to remember when you decide to go “slumming” at the baby-limit tables.

Call preflop with anything suited. Don’t let those bullies bluff you off of anything. Besides, your buy in is usually $5 or less, so what’s the big deal if you lose? Call down a raise and a re-raise with King-Six of Hearts. When you river the flush, you’ll win all of your opponents’ money and you’ll earn their respect. Remember, when they say, “you suck” and “you f^&*#in donkey”, that’s how they express their awe and reverence at your brilliant strategy.

Raise with any ace. Most poker book authors teach you to throw away hands lower than Ace-Jack, but those guys never played micro-limits. They don’t understand how the game is played “in the trenches”. Even if there’s a raise and an all-in re-raise in front, go ahead and push in all your chips with Ace-Three offsuit. When an ace hits the flop, you’ll destroy those losers holding pocket kings or queens.

Chase, chase, and chase some more. Just because the pot odds don’t justify a call for your inside straight draw or runner-runner flush, doesn’t mean you should be scared. America was built on people who ignored the odds, right? Sometimes, when you throw good money after bad, both the good and the bad money come back to you!

Go all-in preflop with garbage. If you think poker should be a game of chicken and not a game of strategy, then here’s a tip for you. If you go all-in with nothing, then they have to have something to call you. If they call with a big hand, then you still have a chance to suck out and make them look foolish. If their big hand holds up, they just got lucky to wake up with a hand to beat you. After all, poker is about luck and bluffs – patience and skill are for LOOOOO-SERS!

Chat abusively and constantly. Etiquette, Shmetiquette. Trash talk these nits and rocks, and encourage them to gamble it up! Brag about how great you are! If they fold, then they’re wusses for not playing against you. If they call, then they’re idiots for daring to play against you. If they raise, they’re suicidal for trying to play against you. Never hesitate to critique and insult opponents whenever the opportunity arises.

While most of these tips work best online, you can try to transfer some of this behavior to a live environment. These tactics always work, especially in the toughest, seediest local underground cardroom. You’ll get even more chances to practice these ideas with your fellow patients in the emergency room after you get curbstomped. You won’t even need sunglasses to hide your tells, as your two black eyes should do the job nicely.

If I had a nickel for every time some poor sap cried about how “online poker is rigged” and about “too many bad beats in online poker”, I could buy up all the major poker sites and still have money left over to bribe a few senators and congressmen.

Repeat after me, losers, “Online poker sites do not cheat.”

Online poker sites are made of software. Online poker sites have random number generators that guarantee an equal distribution of cards to all players regardless of status, bankroll size or recent withdrawals. Just because you were stupid enough to slowplay your set of aces when your opponent had a nut flush does not mean that the site cheated you, it means you were stupid. Get over it.

Online poker sites do not cheat. Online poker players, however, are a different story.

Does collusion between players happen at online cash game tables? Yes. Do some players use other methods to gain an unfair advantage? Absolutely. Is it easy for such players to get away with such behavior? Not any more.

With the advent of online poker hand history data mining sites, players are able to spot which players are tough, which ones are weak, and which ones are potential cheaters. This graph helped crack the case against Absolute Bet cheater “Potripper”. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, the certification authority behind many online poker sites, investigated numerous players, including former WSOP champion Russ Hamilton.

Between the cheating scandals and the economic downturn, online poker sites have no motive to cheat their customers. If you consider cost that both UB and AP incurred due to these scandals, in both money and public perception, you can see why poker sites want to see cheaters dealt with in the harshest manner possible. There is no such thing as a “withdrawal penalty” that harms players who take out money from their accounts. There are no such things as artificially created “action hands” to drive up the rake in a cash game. Take your losses, improve your play and come back again stronger. In the immortal words of “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro, “Don’t whine and don’t whimper, just win!”

It’s that special time of year again! Players from all over the world gather around their casino tables, home games and computer monitors in hopes of gaining a trip to the promised land: Lost Wages, Nirvana! Each player dreams of becoming the next international poker superstar. Young internet hotshots, veteran cash game grinders and tournament specialists all look for the opportunity that satellite tournaments provide to make their dreams come true – without breaking their bankrolls.

Online satellites are a great opportunity to win a trip to a major tournament. By now, every player should be familiar with the story of Chris Moneymaker. The young Tennessee accountant grew a $40 tournament entry into $2.5 million by winning the Main Event in 2003. By his own admission in his autobiography, he almost didn’t take the chance! Down to the last few players in his satellite tournament, he started giving away chips to he could settle for the $8,000 runner-up prize instead of the $10,000 “lottery ticket”.

Thanks to the “Moneymaker Effect”, thousands of players will sign up for their shot at the big money and gold bracelet. Full Tilt Poker has already awarded over a hundred seats to the Main Event and will award hundreds more in the next two months. PokerStars has sponsored four of the last six Main Event champions and, according to their website, has sent more players to the Main Event than any other poker site. For strong players with a dream, online satellites offer an ocean of fish for you to harvest and claim your place among the elite players in the game. In fact, many pros use online satellites to earn their entries to major tournaments, including the Main Event.

For cost, convenience and competition, you won’t find a better overall deal than an online satellite tournament for you to reach your dreams of fame and fortune at a major tournament. Good luck to you all (except if you’re at my table)!

One of the most interesting developments in poker tournaments, especially the online variety, is the guaranteed prize pool. When card rooms and web sites advertise for tournaments with prize pools of “$1 Million Guaranteed”, players often jump at the chance to sign up. Intelligent, experienced players can take advantage of these situations in numerous ways, even before the tournament starts.

Weak players
Large prize pools inevitably bring throngs of weak players with stars in their eyes and dreams in their hearts. If you need any evidence, look at the expansion of the number of entrants in the World Series of Poker Main Event in the last few years. Online tournaments with high guaranteed prize pools, such as Full Tilt’s weekly $750K and monthly $1 million tournaments and PokerStars’ Poker Million routinely have fields well over ten thousand players.

Stair step satellites
Another method that both live card rooms and online poker sites use to encourage entries is the establishment of satellite tournaments. For those players who can’t afford to part with high entry fees, they can play in either one-table sit-n-gos or multi-table tourneys that offer entries to the bigger games as prizes. In the case of many online sites, they offer “super satellites” that are tourneys that offer satellite entries as prizes – a satellite into a bigger satellite – with buy-ins of $5 or less.

Overlay
In gambling terms, an overlay is a bet that gives a better payout than the odds would dictate. In poker tournaments, an overlay exists when the amount in the guaranteed prize pool is more than the total amount of buy-ins. For example, if a tournament guarantees a million-dollar prize pool, but the total amount of all the players’ buy-in money is only $900K, then the tournament offers a $100K overlay ($1M - $900K = $100K). While such opportunities are rare in the case of larger, more popular tournaments, some tourneys with smaller prize pools may offer “free money” to those who can find them.

In his book, Kill Phil, author and poker player Blair Rodman examines the skill set required to combat the experience and techniques of the greatest minds in the game. From observations on the style of each “Phil” and reports from various opponents, here are some strategies to keep in mind if you ever face one of the Phantastic Phour Phils (or a phool who wants to play like them):

Phil Gordon
Age: 38
Poker Site: Full Tilt
Style (Hand Selection/Preflop betting/Postflop betting):
Loose/Aggressive/Aggressive
The old saying, “Those who can, do and those who can’t, teach” certainly does not apply to Mr. Gordon. The best way to combat this brilliant teacher is to read his books, watch his videos, study his tactics … and do the exact opposite. Fire as many bets and raises as possible to shake his confidence. You can beat a tactical “boxer” by throwing punch after punch. Either he’ll back off or you’ll knock him out with a lucky punch.

Phil Ivey
Age: 33
Poker Site: Full Tilt
Style: Very Loose/Aggressive/Aggressive
On the other hand, Mr. Ivey is one player who thrives in a slugfest. In this case, you’ll want to wait on good cards, play them as slowly as you can and let him bet out. With his loose starting hand standards and aggressive post-flop play, you may win at showdown with a hand as low as top pair. Let his aggressive betting build your pot.

Phil Laak
Age: 36
Poker Site: N/A
Style: Semi-Loose/Aggressive/Aggressive
Mr. Laak is a true “gambler’s gambler”. His outrageous antics at the poker table only serve to match his crazy prop bets away from it. No player can scare him, and no bet can bluff him. If you get a strong hand against him, don’t bother slowplaying and push as much as you think he’ll call. He’ll take it as a challenge and push back even more. Use his own love of gambling against him.

Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
Age: 44
Poker Site: Ultimate Bet
Style: Very Loose/Aggressive/Aggressive
We’ve all seen Mr. Hellmuth’s antics on TV; now he even has his own YouTube channel. If you would like to see a live re-enactment of one of his blowups, chase down your straight and flush draws, even if the pot odds aren’t in your favor. If you hit your draw, brace for impact! To borrow a phrase from Mr. Gordon, the “implied tilt odds” of setting off Mr. Hellmuth will be well worth the price. Not only do you win the hand, you set him on tilt for the foreseeable future.

Many players who have learned about no limit hold’em through tournaments have encouraged the growth of no limit cash games. Before the tournament boom, most cash games had a limit betting structure. Now, many poker rooms, both live and online, have either cut back or eliminated their limit hold’em cash games in favor of small buy-in no limit games.

However, some players tend to change their approach when the chips are no longer used as tournament scorekeeping devices and now represent real money. Most experienced tournament players consider their buy-in a “sunk cost” – unless they make the money in the tourney, they write off their buy-in as a loss. In cash games, though, each chip stands for real dollars when you take them to the cage. Such a realization may cause tournament veterans to tighten up their styles when faced with the loss of potential cold hard cash. For these players, two approaches to no limit cash games can help them translate their tournament skills and experience into a style that can win at these wild tables.

Deep Stack. Most no limit hold’em cash games have a maximum buy-in. If the player has a deep enough bankroll, he can buy in for the maximum and play as if each hand were the first round of a tournament. He would play only strong starting hands, bet aggressively and seldom bluff. This style favors patient players who can read their opponents well and press their advantage, especially on later streets.

Short Stack. On the other side of the coin, some players prefer buying in for the minimum amount allowed and employing and “all-in or fold” strategy either pre-flop or post-flop. Players who like to gamble, push small edges and aren’t afraid to re-buy enjoy this style. If they double up, they may revert to a more solid mode of betting or, if they sense that the can make more money and put their opponents on tilt, they may continue their aggressive tactics.

Regardless of which style suits you, keep in mind the increased volatility, both in your chip stack and your emotions, which these games can induce. As always, play smart, play to win and have fun!