Posted by Beck @ Steal The Blinds
I’ve been playing a fair number of low-stakes ($10+1 - $20+2) SNGs lately, and have been meeting with a great deal of success. I can safely attribute much of that success to many of the great posts on SNG play written by other bloggers out there. As such, I wanted to give something back, but couldn’t really think of a topic that hadn’t been covered. Then I hit on the idea of discussing specifically 4 handed play (i.e. when the original 9 or 10 players have dwindled to 4, with only the final 3 being paid) not as in SNGs which start out with only 4 players). That’s where I feel my game is at its strongest, and If I last that long, I routinely go from 3rd-4th place to 1st-2nd place by the time the bubble pops.

Play on the bubble in any tournament, obviously, is a very different dynamic from play at any other point. Everyone is terrified of getting knocked out one off the money, and there are substantial advantages to be gained as a consequence of the simple fact that your opponents are cognizant of the potential to merely fold their way into the money. The last thing they want to do is take a risk which could knock them out in 4th after having spent close to an hour slogging it out in the trenches of a one table war.

The way to take advantage of this timidity is to…. read rest of article at Steal The Blinds

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 Adam Small
When I first started playing poker online in mid 2003, I played $1/$2 limit cash games and low buy-in STT’s (also known as “minis” or “sit-n-go’s”). My bankroll was tiny at the time (rarely more than $100 in any online account at any given time), and it was right for me to keep so little in, because I did not possess the skills to be a steady winner.

After playing thousands of STT’s, and learning quite a bit more about poker in general, I now am a master of these tournaments. I don’t play STT’s with a higher buy-in than $50, but in the ones I do play, I am a consistent money finisher, and I almost never finish 3rd. I’m here to share with you the secrets to my success in STT’s.

Let me first make sure all readers understand that I’m referring to STT’s with a buy-in of $50 or less, and that I generally stick to “full-table” STT’s with this strategy. A number of adjustments are needed when playing in higher buy-in STT’s (where play is tougher and more aggressive) or in shorthanded STT’s, such as the 6-seated ones on UltimateBet. I’m not going to get into those adjustments in this article, so just know that what you are reading refers to low buy-in, 9-handed or 10-handed STT’s.

The reason I like full-table STT’s is that the payouts allow you to still make a decent profit even if you aren’t able to win heads up, which can often have a lot to do with luck, since the blinds get so high at that point. Another reason I like them is that it…. read rest of article at Pocket Fives

Steve Badger is fond of saying that if you’re a losing player, you need an infinite bankroll. If you follow the no limit Texas holdem SnG strategy in this article, it’s unlikely you’ll be a losing player. But you still need enough of a bankroll to avoid what they call risk of ruin, which is the chance that you’ll catch a losing streak that will wipe out your bankroll before you can win enough to catch back up to your positive expectation.

The standard guidelines I’ve seen on discussions in various places on the internet is that you need between 20 and 30 buy-in’s at whatever level of sit and go you’re playing in. So here are the bankroll requirements at the various levels of play. (We recommend avoiding the $5 + $1 because the house rake is twice as much at that level, and the play at the $10 + $1 level isn’t enough to warrant paying the extra vig on the entry fee.)….  Read rest of article at Unknown Poker

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?