ILX Poker Players Unite

The way we play is big blind ($.50) -> little blind ($.25) -> dealer. (Player left of dealer is small, player to his left is big). I'd love to hear some position theory if you're so inclined.

Well, the essence of it is that the dealer has the best position as he is last to act on each street post-flop, and therefore sees what action each opponent takes before he has to make his own mind up. Often, the other players will simply check to him - they either have weak hands or are at least representing weak hands, and the player can simply bet at this point and take down a number of pots uncontested.

Also, because the player find out what bets his rivals are prepared to make before he acts, he will often find himself able to make correct calls (depending on pot odds and implied odds) when he has a drawing hand.

As a result, the player with position basically controls the hand. As a result, you can play many more hands profitably when you have position than when you're out of position. A hand like 67s (i.e. 6 and 7 suited, say both hearts) is an easy fold out of position, but can be raised or called when you have position for the reason above. These type of hands are my favourite; they're easy to fold when you don't hit and someone else shows strength; but when they do hit, they both hit strong hands (two pair, straight, or flush) and these hands are fairly well disguised.

Conversely, when you are out of position, such hands are much harder to play. This is because, while you'll hit monsters just as often (assuming you are able to stay in the hand), you'll have far fewer opportunities to get them as good players who DO have position will be betting into you much more often (and, of course, you are handicapped because whatever you do, there are still one or more players to act after you, any of whom may make a play that renders your hand no longer playable).

Out of position, also, your good (but not great) hands, like AJ or KQ, are much more vulnerable, because even if you hit top pair, you will have to act first, and if you get raised you have to wonder if the raiser has you dominated (with, say, AQ) or if they're just playing aggressively to induce you to fold the best hand. And, of course, if you don't hit then you have to decide whether a bluff - known as a continuation bet or cbet, because it "continues" your pre-flop raise - will get a fold or whether they'll call you, which leaves you in a really tough position, or raise you, which will mean you have to fold.

So position is absolutely vital - it's a truism that above a certain level of the game, it becomes more important than the cards you hold because it has such an effect on the hands you play and how you play them.

Just checking my stats.... I play 6-handed cash games primarily, and under the gun (the first person to act pre-flop) I put money into the pot 14% of the time, compared to on the button (i.e. when I am dealer) when I put money in 26% of the time.

What is the buyin in your game, and do you play fixed, pot or no limit? My post was specifically about no limit but it's pretty much the same for each form of the game. With 50c big blinds you should be playing with at an absolute minimum $25 in your stack, and ideally $50.

ha we buy in @ $20 and this is a problem... too easy to lose. And I usually don't reup.

This is good reading, thanks! In your 3rd paragraph, what do you mean by "and these hands are fairly well disguised"?

The problem with low buyins is that the sexy hands - pocket pairs, suited connectors,i.e. the ones that can win the big pots when you hit three of a kind, straights and flushes - can't be played as easily with small stacks as you need big implied odds - i.e. the amount you COULD win if the hand plays out well - to justify playing them. Basically, in a raised pot, they just don't hit often enough to justify the money it costs to play them.

In small stack poker, the big hands like AK, AQ, JJ etc go up in value, while small pairs and suited connectors, suited aces etc become less valuable as the implied odds are seldom there to play them correctly.

I'd just suggest to your mates that either you up the buyin a bit, or you reduce the blinds - 10c/20c blinds would be perfect, and the pots can get just as big during the big hands.

Disguised: let's say you are holding 67 and the other guy has AK. The flop is A58, which gives him top pair and you an open-ended straight draw (i.e. both ends of the straight draw, which is currently 5678, can complete your straight, so a 4 or a 9 both give you the straight).

Let's say he gets cocky here, and just makes a small bet - less than half the pot and you can call, thanks to implied odds (which I'll go into more later if you like). The turn is a 4, and you've hit your straight.

However, to him, the board is a harmless looking A584, and he has top pair top kicker! Now your aim is to stack him, which you will hopefully be able to do by betting or raising the turn and/or river. He won't have seen it coming!

Phew, just won a $16 SNG after typing all that lot - glad I can multitask :)

Okay, just earned my 2,001st FPP - tourney creation is now possible!

Cool. My game's in an hour, I'll report back! Thx again!

Oh snap, game cancelled tonight. I just registered at pokerstars. I know nothing about it. I thought online gambling was illegal, but it seems you can bet real money? Anyway, I'm scared to sit at a table b/c the games move quick and I don't know how to play. where's the flippin tutorial?

on PS I am 'thesmallcat'

It's here, but it's pretty limited. I'd recommend the forums at flopturnriver.com where I've a member - I think I have something like 2,400 posts there! Start with the stickies on the beginner's forum - I wrote one of them (I am biondino there) :)

Online gambling isn't illegal in the US unless you live in Washington state. The difficult bit is depositing money on the sites, but it's doable. For now, check out the play money tables - you weren't learn much (as people play totally differently when there's no real money in play) but you will get a feel for how it all works, the speed etc., and you'll begin to absorb how hands play out. But reading is key.

xpost hahahahaha :D

One final thing - figure out whether you want to play limit or no-limit. Limit is good for learning the odds, because it's a very technical game. No limit is more psychological, and is much more about bet sizing, position and reading your fellow players. A much better game IMHO :)

FUCKING ADDICTIVE (I'm up few hundred play money)

Nice going! I lost $120 yesterday. All in a day's work.

Bump! Other ILX poker players, please see my suggestion 20 or so posts ago!

Yeah, the play-money tables are kinda worthless. I like that there's a limit to how many times you can go back to the well, but it's still a bit liberal. I'll continue to practice, though, and maybe go in for realz if I gain confidence.

Well, Stars has tables where the big blind is 2c and although they're hardly high quality, they're def much better than play money tables. I'd find out how you can deposit if i were you.

I'd be up for an ILX tournament. i'm a bit rusty but I'll take y'on.

I don't think I've signed up for PokerStars (tho I might have, & just never bothered playing for real money). I'm actually locked out of FullTilt (because I'm refusing to use ePassporte, & my funds are kinda tight as is) (& also I've lost loads of $$$ since singing up w/ FT, so I'm not eager to stick my butt back out there) so I might switch to PS, for giggles. How's it been for you guys currently on there?

Oh it's okay - the facilities they offer are without a doubt second to none, it has the biggest user base and their big tourneys are the market leaders. There's no rakeback and bonuses are rare, but certainly at the lower levels there are enough fish and it's probably the most reliable and safe of all the sites. Definitely set up an account there if you haven't already.

I might be up for this, though I will surely be taken to the cleaners, hapless rube that I am.

Yeah, but it'll probably cost you the price on one pint, so I wouldn't fret too much :)

is pokerstars mac compatible?

What about the lost respect from my fellow ilxors, the shame, the humiliation?! Oh I can barely contemplate it.

Ok signed up for pokerstars.

xp

i am thesmallcat

(not logged on)

Yancey, Stars doesn't work with macs unless you have thd ual boot thingy or virtual PC :(

Awesome - first two tourneys on PS (one play, one real), and I get rivered on both. It's like I'm home. :)

Make that 3 rivers.

NOTE TO POKER: blow me.

I was up to 9600 play money and now I'm busted again, out on the street, one shoe, etc.

Meh, I played 4 SNGs last night, bubbled two, way out of the money one, and a scraped third. This is looking like being my first net losing month in... god, a year and a bit?

It's those damn high school / college kids.

But, hey, I won $3 yesterday! Sure, I lost $40, but baby steps, right?

This game is so unforgiving. I am perpetually in a state of "where the fuck do I go next". The one thing I *do* want to do, fo sho, is play more easy-going live games - got one coming up next week (well, it's a $100 buyin freezeout, which is a bit overbudget, but it seems to me the social aspect of it is a benefit in kind).

I am HOPING that my run of bad luck (coupled w/ stupid plays from "trying too hard") is near an end - if I lose my KK to a small blind catching 2p on the river one more time etc etc etc etc

I much prefer live games to online but I find it a real pain in the arse to arrange them. Getting the 8/9/10 people round to play seems to require an exhausting level of social coordination. I've been to the casino a few times with smaller numbers of mates for tournaments (and been fairly successful) but I hate playing rebuys and htat seems to be what most of them are for lower stakes games. Still much more personable andf preferable for that anyway.

Registered with pokerstars. Very different format to partpoker and not quite so user friendly but just something to get used to i spose.

I played stud, draw and baseball last week and have a question- when playing with wild cards does five of a kind beat a straight flush? Or is five of a kind even allowed?

BTW - if you're on PokerStars, and some asshat calling himself BuzzBuzzBuzz starts mouthing off about whatever, come to this thread & tell me to shut the fuck up.

And if some dickwad called efil4elbmow harasses you, or asks you to eat his balls, come to this thread and tell me to go fuck myself.

OK, seriously - getting my AA busted by KK on the river right on the bubble of a rebuy = suck Michael Vick's cock, PS.

Oof that does hurt. Dave, you really are preternaturally unlucky. I have another poker buddy called Dave, and so's he. Try a name change :)

Honestly, I'm surprised I ended up doing so well in '05 & the start of '06. It's gotten to the point where, if I have the top hand and someone's all-in fishing for a flush w/ 93 suited, I'm rooting for the flush to hit. Overall, I think I'm still up about 3K, but I was up 6K at one point. And, yes, that is dollars.

According to thepokerdb @ Bluff Magazine, I've either had or am on a 20 tourney non-money streak (not counting SNG MTT tourneys, which have been fucking me as well), in addition to a handful of 10+ winless streaks. And I don't think I've finished in the top ten in a large tourney in a loooooooong time. Call me a cab already.

My month of SNGs is coming to a very unsatisfactory end. I only actually started recording my progress on Wednesday, but bad luck is smacking me on the arse in the most deflating way right now. 2 money finishes in 12 SNGs and I've lost exactly twice as much as I've won. Stupid game.

Anyway, it seems that most of the people who've contributed to this thread aren't able to read it these days, so I'll start emailing people re an ILX invitational tourney over the weekend.

I was hooked on play-money games for about 2 days. But the no-stakes thing just doesn't hold my interest. Still have a real game on Sunday, though -- can't wait.

ZOMG I WON MONEY (finished 11th in a 360-person tourney) - it felt really weird, but then I got hosed by a slow-playing AK soon after that, so now everything's back to normal.

Wanko, srsly, you can afford say $20, right? it's really worth playing the lowest-stakes cash games or sngs - it'll make a huge difference to your development as a player.

Make sure you give us updates on tomorrow night!

So, how did it go?

I played 5 MTTs tonight and bust early in the first four before final tabling the 5th (only a Stars $4.40 180-man jobby, but they all count). Came third in the end after a long time as 1st or 2nd in chips - in fact I managed to have a 2-1 lead 3-handed but fucked it up with an incomprehensible pre-flop push which just happened to be called by AA. Idiot Mark. Still, it was kinda satisfying, though in the endgame I was getting NO hands at all - A7s was my double up hand - sucked out on AQ - and I pushed with JJ over a pre-flop raise and got a fold. Other than that, nothing - my bluff raises were all re-raised. Meh.

Still, my highest finish, if not my best result (which remains 4th of 455). I guess I'm pleased. Sorta.