by PokerListings.com
The Zone System was first introduced by Dan Harrington in his highly acclaimed book Harrington on Hold’em, Volume II: The Endgame. The system divides a poker tournament into five different zones based on a player’s stack size as compared to the blinds and antes. Each zone will affect your play and correct strategy will vary dramatically as a result. The ratio of your stack compared to the blinds and antes is referred to as your “M.” For example: You have $750 in chips and the blinds are $25/$50 with no antes. This means that you have 10 times more than the starting pot and your M is 10.
The Green Zone: M is 20 or More
In the Green Zone all weapons are at your disposal and you can play in all different kinds of playing styles. This is the place to be but you must be careful to balance your play in a way that allows you to continue building your stack while simultaneously protecting it. You can afford to play in both a super conservative style as well as in a super aggressive style.
The Yellow Zone: M is 10-20
You can no longer play conservative (tight) poker. The blinds and antes are starting to hurt your stack and you must…. read rest of article at PokerListings.com
Hand reading is one of the toughest skills for many aspiring poker players. It’s easy to read a book and learn about pot odds, learn about playing aggressively, and so forth. But many players, especially many new players, are lost at sea when it comes to hand reading. They don’t even know where to start.
A lot of hand reading is deductive reasoning coupled with thousands of hands worth of observation with a little psychology thrown in. In other words, it’s a fairly complex process. But some hand reading is pleasantly simple.
The most simple form is the “giveaway” where your opponent does one thing that’s just a dead giveaway about what they have. You may not be able to nail it down to two exact cards, but you can narrow their range enough that you can really take advantage.
Every player performs a “giveaway” once in a while, but the inexperienced and amateur players you’ll find in your local $1-$2 NL game or home game probably do them all the time. Obviously, every player is different, but here are four common preflop “giveaways” that I see and exploit a lot while I play…. read rest of article at Noted Poker Authority
By SamENole
When Adam asked me if I’d be willing to write a monthly article for pocketfives, I originally had some concerns. Having graduated from college more than a year ago, would my writing skills be up to the task? As a player who plays on instinct and habit, would I really be able to put my style into words? Lastly, what topics could I write about?
After all the questions and comments I’ve received on my short stack play, it didn’t take me too long to think of a topic for my first article. I have developed a reputation for being a cockroach when I get short stacked, both online and in live multi-table tournaments. Sometimes I can’t decide if it’s a compliment, considering the object of poker isn’t to have the fewest chips possible for the longest period of time, but it’s something I can’t dispute. Last November in the Foxwoods WPT, we had a starting stack of $10,000 in chips, and I managed to cash without ever having over $28,000 chips.
I’m not sure what the true definition of a short stack is but I would say it’s somewhere around…. read rest of article at PocketFives.com
by David Grey
Most players are aware of the significant advantages that come with having a big stack in a tournament. When a player has chips, he can attack and pick up pots by forcing those around him into a corner where they have to make tough decisions. Those who have short stacks are always vulnerable to attack by those who have managed to accumulate lots of chips.Why can the big stacks be more aggressive? The answer may surprise you. In tournaments, the more chips you have the less each individual chip is worth, making it easier for the big stacks to throw more into each pot. It’s a strange concept, but one you should understand. To illustrate the point, say that you have 100,000 in tournament chips, and you lose 20,000 in a pot. You’re not going to be happy about the loss, but that setback is not nearly as devastating as losing 15,000 from a 30,000 stack.
When you have a lot of chips that aren’t worth much, you can be…. Read rest of article at Full Tilt Poker
By Gavin Smith
You’ll be seeing a lot of me on next year’s World Poker Tour broadcasts. So far in the 2005-2006 schedule, I’ve made three final tables. I won the Mirage event, finished third at the Bellagio and fourth in Tunica. When you see a broadcast that features my play, you may be left scratching your head, asking, “Why the heck is that guy playing those cards?”There’s no question that I do play an unconventional game. But, there is a method to my madness.
I play a style that’s usually referred to as “small-pot poker.” Using this approach, I’m looking to pick up a lot of small pots by applying a constant level of pressure to my opponents. Pre-flop, I raise frequently, especially in position. My raises are small, usually around two-and-a-half times the big blind, as opposed to the customary three or four times the big blind. I’ll raise with a huge variety of hands - everything from big pocket pairs to “junk” hands, like 6d-4d, or 5c-8c.
Usually, I’ll miss the flop when I raise with junk. In fact, two-thirds of the time, I won’t make as much as a pair. But here’s the thing…. Read rest of article at Full Tilt Poker
