Tipping

Unless I steal the blinds or no one calls a bet on the flop in an unraised pot, I tip every time. I’m sure I’ve missed a few here and there, everyone does. But how much should people tip, considering the rake?             A chip every hand. At least. At the club, because it’s a […]

The Rake

A poker player’s four letter word. Sure we love it that we get dealers and free food and a place to play, bad beat jackpot and the like. But I can’t stand to watch it go. I think most players at the games I play in or the levels I do don’t pay attention. If […]

North/South: Magnetic Chips

I’m sure everyone has a name for what I’m about to discuss, but I call it magnetic chips. When I enter a game I want my chest to be north and the chips to be south. Every one of them should be draw to my chest, to be sitting in front of me until it’s […]

Defense

OSU is coached by Eddie Sutton who teaches defense. Pressure defense to be exact. My high school coach patterned himself after Coach Sutton, and Sutton’s law can be translated into poker just as almost anything a person can sense.             Sutton’s idea is that a good defense can stop a good offense. Okay, maybe he’s […]

A Couple of Pot Limit Hands

Doug’s game has been the most consistently difficult game I’ve played in. I don’t feel outmatched talentwise, but there are a few factors that make this game tougher than most. Doug, for one, used to be a semi-pro. In the early-80s, he was out of a job, had a mortgage and a newborn and played […]

Big Slick

The striking fact about AK it’s not a very big favorite over even 7-2, in the 2:1 range. It does have any other Ace dominated except a pair of them, which is a great situation to be all-in before the flop against any other nonpair holding. In low limits, AK is hard to maneuver. If […]

Final Thought on Blind Play

Back when antes used to be the norm in home games and there were seven of you, it cost a buck a hand. Sometimes we would play where the dealer antes for everyone so that we didn’t spend all night barking at people and trying to remember who anted. In 4-8, with 2/4 blinds, as […]

Good Card & Bad Cards in the Big Blind

Bad Cards Of course this is the best opportunity to try to make a hand with something no one can see coming. But I’m not sticking my neck out any further than the amount of the blind. It’s terrible position. Even if you are certain that the only player in the hand, who raised, is […]

Good cards from the Small Blind

The most important thing to remember is that you are in the worst position on the table. If five people see the flop without a raise, and you have KK and J-high flops and you lead out, the guy in last position is priced in for a gutshot with everyone calling. That’s not what I […]

Bad Cards in the Small Blind

If the plan is to maintain the same amount of chips when you’re not playing, this blind strategy is the way to protect your stack. 18 bucks an hour is not that much. If you never play your blinds and sit there for 3 hours, you’ve lost about fifty bucks just in the blinds. Of […]