Sunday, February 25, 2007

Stop Getting Burned On Flush And Straight Draws

Have you ever lost a huge pot because you had a flush draw
or straight draw and didn't catch the card you needed?

It's happened to all of us.

And frankly, it sucks.

Because when you're on a draw, you're just ONE CARD AWAY
from raking in a ton of chips.

And you WANT to keep calling everyone else's bets, in hopes
that your card will pop out on the turn or river.

Am I right?

Of course, what ends up happening is you have to put a ton
of your chips in the middle... just to call everyone else's
bets.

That makes you pot-committed... and if you DON'T catch your
card, you're screwed.

Now let me ask you...

Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL if every time you were on a draw
all the other players would CHECK around?

That way you didn't have to risk any chips, and could bet
only after you KNEW for sure whether or not you caught your
card.

That sure would be nice, wouldn't it?

AND...

What if there was a way to STILL WIN THE HAND... even if you
DIDN'T catch your card?

That'd be nice too, huh?

Luckily, there IS a technique you can use to make BOTH of
these things happen.

Let me show you how...

OK, so let's say I'm at an 8-person no limit table and I'm
sixth to act.

I'm dealt a 5-6 of diamonds.

Josh comes out firing with a $10 pre-flop bet. Sarah and
Derek both call.

Now it's on me.

I love suited connectors... especially busting my opponents
with them unexpectedly, so I jump in and call.

The players behind me muck their cards right away... scared
to death of so much action.

The flop hits:

4d-9s-7d

That means I've just flopped an open-ended straight flush
draw. I couldn't have asked for a better flop in this
situation.

Unfortunately, Josh comes out firing (again) with a
no-hesitation bet of $20.

Sarah and Derek both FOLD this time...

And the action is to me.

I'm putting Josh on a high pocket pair, or maybe A9 or A7.
And he's figuring the scraps on the board didn't help
anyone, hence the strong bet.

Which puts me in a tough situation.

Think about it... If I CALL, I might miss my flush or
straight on the turn card. Then what? Josh will make another
strong bet... what will I do then?

And if I call to see the river and miss, then I'll have just
given Josh most of my chips and lost a major hand.

On the other hand, I don't want to FOLD, because I have a
ton of outs and I want to WIN this!

Now let me ask you, what would YOU do in this situation?

Most amateur card players don't think ahead, and they'd call
Josh's $20 bet. And if they missed on the turn, they'd call
another bet to see the river.

And if they missed on the river, they'd probably fold, watch
Josh rake in all the chips, and wonder why they "never catch
the right cards".

Now a more skillful player would ANTICIPATE what's about to
happen... and would probably call to see the turn, but then
fold if Josh bet again.

And of course, there are always the tight players who would
never have played the 5-6 of diamonds in the FIRST place.

So what do I do?

Remember, I'm sitting on 5-6 of diamonds. The board reads:

4d-9s-7d

And Josh, who made a strong pre-flop raise, just bet $20
after the flop.

Here's the answer...

I RAISE.

Not some wimpy raise either... I raise him $40 more to play.

Most players would NEVER think to raise in this situation...
but here's what I've done:

1. I've TAKEN CONTROL of the hand and bought myself a FREE
CARD when it matters most.

You see, if Josh calls the $40 raise, when the turn hits
he'll CHECK to me.

(Remember what I said at the beginning of this email?)

That means I get to see the turn and river for a total of
$40 more, which is a BARGAIN compared to what Josh's next
bet would have cost me.

2. I'm representing possible trips.

Josh now has to wonder whether I called his pre-flop raise
with a low pocket pair and just caught trips on the flop.

Or I could be sitting on a high pocket pair and I'm not
"phased" by the flop.

3. I've raised the stakes of the hand in MY favor... not
his. You see, if I just call Josh's bets and then hit a 8 of
diamonds on the turn, what will happen?

Well, Josh will SEE the three diamonds and the straight
possibility, and he probably won't make any more huge bets
or call any huge bets from me.

This way, I've raised the stakes $40, which increases MY
CHANCES at winning an even bigger pot than if I had just
called.

Make sense?

And last but not least...

4. I've given myself a way to WIN even if I don't catch the
straight or flush.

Now I get to see Josh's reaction to my $40 raise...

If I sense weakness, I may decide to BLUFF and buy this pot
if I don't catch my flush or straight.

If I only call Josh's bets the whole way, he would't fall
for this type of bluff. But my raise of $40 will sure get
him thinking.

OKAY, BACK TO THE HAND...

Josh shuffles his chips around for a moment, and looks back
down at his cards. It turns out he's holding an A9... so
he's got top pair with the kicker. A good hand, but not a
monster by any means.

He calls.

The next card comes out... Queen of spades.

No help.

Josh checks.

THAT WAS IMPORTANT.

This is my "free card" opportunity that my $40 raise bought.

Now I'm in complete control... and feeling pretty good about
this hand.

I can check and see the river for free. I've still got a lot
of outs here.

Or I can bet STRONG and try to scare Josh away.

"One hundred dollars", I say, as I push a huge stack of red
chips into the middle.

True, I only have a Queen high... and the beginner card
player may think this type of play is crazy.

But then again, that's why they're called "BEGINNERS".

Anyway...

Josh thinks for a minute and then mucks it.

I rake in a beautiful pot.

Even if Josh had called, I still had a good number of outs.
And if I missed, I could have tried to bluff again.

Now think back to when the flop came out...

After Josh bet $20, what if I had called? (And not raised.)

Well, here's what would have happened...

The Queen would have came and Josh would've immediately
fired a huge $80 bet.

I would've had to either call the $80 to see the river, or
muck my beautiful straight flush draw.

And THAT, my friend, is why it's CRUCIAL that you TAKE
CONTROL of the betting.

This type of technique allows you to truly DOMINATE THE
TABLES and win more money playing poker. Period.

That's what makes Texas Holdem such a fascinating game...
there are just so many scenarios that can occur, and so many
special "tricks" and "techniques" you can use to beat the
competition.

I'll talk to you again soon.


Your Friend,

Roy Rounder

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Night At The Grand Victoria

I had one hell of a time last night,
My wife and I with a few friends went out to the Grand Victoria casino/ resort in Rising Sun Indiana.
We arrived at the casino at 4:00pm Valet parked (for those that don't know Valet is free to casino patrons).
I had taken $1000.00 for my wife and I to gamble with and had split it between us, On the way into the casino entrance there is a cute girl selling beer so we buy beers, we signed up for the Players club( it's free as well) to start earning comps and walk inside.
Ahhh, the smell of the casino, stale beer, cigarette smoke, and yes the jingling of the slot machines all around you, the people laughing and cheering.

I'm Feeling lucky tonight....LOL

We all pretty much split up and start to play, I like to start light and hit the nickle slots, I found a good one I really liked called Money to Burn, I turn 20.00 into 55.00 and move on. Then I went to the .25 slots and lose it all..lol So I start all over again.
I played slots most the night, but I did hit the 5.00 Blackjack table and even tried my hand at craps (boy was that a mistake...lol) anyhow, I later catch up with my wife and she is up (again) last week she won 750.00. I'm down 100.00 at this time but with her being up we aren't far off being even.
At 11:00pm we decide to go get some dinner, we went to the casino Buffet, now that wasn't cheap...18.95 per person But I thought hey it's all you can eat steaks....LOL Besides when we signed up for the players club they comp'd us 10.00. The food was great, service was fantastic. One thing about the casino's THEY KNOW HOW TO SERVICE CUSTOMERS.

So back to the casino, more beer, more slots, having a blast. Later on my wife finds me again and says honey you ready to go it's 4:30 and I'm like.... WHAT?? Holy shit I didn't know it was that late ...or early....LOL So we cash out and go to the valet get our car and we are on our way at 5:00 am

I wake up this morning and I'm seeing what the damage on the night was, (remember we were drinking and have dinner) In my wallet I find out after 13 hours in the casino I have 987.00....LOL

GREAT TIME!! GOOD FRIENDS, And yes for me..... a CHEAP DATE...LOL

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Secret for Beating Sit and Go's Online

It's so simple...

And so obvious...

Yet no one seems to get it!


What's this easy-to-use secret for beating Sit and Go
tournaments online?

The answer is this:

PATIENCE.

I know... I know... you were expecting something more, um...
"secretive".

But the truth is, winning at Sit and Go's is pretty damn
easy.

And that's why every time I turn on the computer these days
I feel like a kid in a candy store... ready to clean out the
amateurs at the poker room of my choosing.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What I want to discuss here is why PATIENCE is so critical
for Sit and Go success.

First, let's get back to some basics. There are four types
of poker playing styles:

1. Tight-Passive
2. Tight-Aggressive
3. Loose-Passive
4. Loose-Aggressive

Your style should be tight-aggressive.

Don't confuse "styles" with "preferences". If you want to be
a good card player, you DON'T get to DECIDE to be
tight-aggressive.

You MUST be tight-aggressive in order to be really good.

Period.

Of course there are DEGREES of each playing style, and
that's what accounts for the differences between one pro and
another... the DIFFERENT DEGREES of tight-aggressive.

OK, now let me ask you:

What does "tight-aggressive" really MEAN?

Here's the answer:

It means that you play TIGHT in terms of hand selection, but
AGGRESSIVE when you enter a pot.

Be careful... "tight" and "aggressive" are not opposites.
"Tight" and "loose" are opposites.

And so are "aggressive" and "passive".

TIGHT refers to hand selection. AGGRESSIVE refers to
betting.

OK... so this is how playing styles relate to Sit and
Go's...

The NATURE of Sit and Go's makes them OVERRUN by
LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE style players.

The reasons are simple:

1. You can play a Sit and Go virtually anytime, anywhere,
and with anyone.

This means there's very low risk in LOSING, since you can
easily just move on to the next game. It's not like in
"offline" poker when once you get knocked out you're DONE.

2. The money seems less "real".

Let's be honest... We all know the feeling of making a
deposit into an online poker account and thinking to
ourselves how it doesn't quite feel like REAL MONEY. Am I
right?

3. There's no "embarrassment".

Online poker is virtually 100% anonymous. If you make a
stupid move, you're not worried about what the other players
THINK of you. Who cares?

After all, the other "players" are really just silly little
avatars on an animated screen.

OK, so those are three (there are many more) of the reasons
why Sit and Go's (and pretty much all of online poker) are
dominated by the playing style LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE.

Loose-aggressive is also known as the "manic" playing style.
And what's the FASTEST way to beat a manic?

Yep, you guessed it...

PATIENCE.

The reason is because MANICS are constantly playing too many
hands (loose) and doing so aggressively.

What happens is that it's difficult to get a READ on them
because you never know whether they're bluffing or not...
unless you call their bets... which you can't do because you
don't have that great a hand.

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever been up against a player who seemed to be
playing VERY aggressively and you just couldn't figure out
if they were bluffing or holding great cards?

And then when you got FED UP with it and DID make
a call, he had you beat?

My guess is that it HAS happened to you... just as it's
happened for me.

The key thing to know is that THERE ARE certain steps you
can take to defend this. (I even wrote an entire chapter
about this topic in my eBook.)

But fortunately in Sit and Go's, this isn't really much of a
problem. Because you're usually not up against just one or
two manics. You're up against an ENTIRE TABLE of them.

That means you shouldn't be CALLING anyone's bets.

Instead, YOU should push the action when you have a monster
hand... and ONLY when you have a monster hand. And that, of
course, requires...

PATIENCE!

It's actually much easier this way. Because with a table
full of manics, you can rely on getting action with all your
great hands.

(I should point out here that I'm generally referring to Sit
and Go's where the entry fee is less than $50. When the
stakes are higher the quality of play is usually more
intelligent. Usually.)

OK, so what I'm about to tell you might take some of the
"fun" out of Sit and Go's. But it will increase your profits
dramatically...

Here's what your Sit and Go "experience" should look like
when the field is from 8 or 10 players down to 4 or 5
players.

************************************************************

If your hole cards are...

A-A, K-K - Go all in pre-flop if you're in early position.
If in late position and there was a raise, go all-in. If
people were just trying to limp in, make a raise... and then
bet very aggressively after the flop.

Q-Q, A-K - If you're in an early position, bet big (but not
all-in). If you're in a late position, use your read on the
other players to determine whether or not you think you have
the best hand. If so, bet huge or go all-in.

All other pocket pairs - Limp-in. If you spike trips, go
all-in. If not, fold.

Suited connectors - Limp-in if the blinds are reasonably
low. Fold suited connectors under 7-6.

Ace-X suited - Limp-in if possible. Only bet if you hit the
flush.

All other hands - Fold.

************************************************************

What you've just seen will be completely different than most
"starting hand strategies" out there.

And that chart is NOT for all types of no limit Texas
Holdem. We're ONLY talking about games that match these
three criteria:

1. Online poker Sit and Go tournaments
2. Low stakes (under $50 entry)
3. While there are more than 4 or 5 players at the table (in
an 8-man or 10-man Sit and Go)

DO NOT use that starting hand advice for any other poker
games... because that's NOT how you should play your
starting hands in general.

So why would Sit and Go's be so much different than other
poker play?

Like I said before, the reason is because Sit and Go's are
heavily dominated by loose-aggressive players... and THIS is
how you beat those guys.

Why exactly does this strategy work?

It works because you're only playing monsters.

Now... if the players at Sit and Go's were SMART, they'd
OBSERVE that you're only playing monster hands... and they'd
FOLD as soon as you went all-in.

I mean... it only makes logical sense, right?

Indeed, this is how it works in live games. But not online.
Because for online poker there's another important factor
working to your advantage...

NO ONE'S PAYING ATTENTION!

The truth is, many players are either drunk, hungover,
stupid, or playing multiple tables at once. Or all of the
above!

They're not paying attention to your betting patterns.
They're just playing the CARDS, not the PLAYERS.

I call my strategy for patiently waiting for monster hands
and then going all-in:

"Tight-Aggressive Squared"

The reason is because my strategy is like the playing style
tight-aggressive... but on STEROIDS.

Why go all-in so much?

It's like I said... you WILL get action. Maybe not every
single time, but enough times to make it well worth your
while.

For Sit and Go's, all you need to do is double-up ONCE
before the field gets to 4 or 5 players.

THEN you can start playing aggressively. What will happen is
that the 4 or 5 players LEFT IN THE GAME will usually be the
smarter ones. And some of them WILL notice by now that
you're playing tight.

SO THEN what you do is steal blinds. It's easy.

Everyone tightens up when there are four or five players in
a hand because they want to make the money... and they want
to be VERY CAREFUL to make it into the top three.

That is when you steal some blinds and add to your chip
stack.

Then, after that point you'll be in third place and will be
in the money.

I have a ton of strategies for getting you into FIRST place
too (after you get down to three players), but I'll have to
save those for a different newsletter.

You know, when I first came up with this strategy of
"Tight-Aggressive Squared" I wasn't COMPLETELY convinced it
was the best way to win at Sit and Go's.

At the time, I had been trying a lot of things. The idea of
just being EXTREMELY PATIENT and then going all-in with
monster hands seemed a little TOO SIMPLE.

Right?

Then one night, I was at a 10-man Sit and Go. I went all-in
with a big hand early and doubled up. It was the only hand I
got really involved with.

Then... with 9 players still at the table... my Internet
shut off. I didn't know what happened. All I know is that
the Internet just plain STOPPED WORKING.

I normally would have called someone... but it was past two
in the morning.

I messed with it for like fifteen minutes and then just gave
up. Oh well... it's just one Sit and Go.

Anyway... I started working on something else on my computer
for awhile until all of the sudden the Internet came BACK
on.

I logged into my poker room to see what had happened with
the game. Immediately the screen POPPED-UP and the action
was to me...

I was still in the game, it wasn't over yet!

Not only that...

But there were only three players left!

I was in third, but still had some remaining chips to play
around with.

I immediately went all-in and everyone folded. Then I did it
again and everyone folded. And a few hands later I did it
AGAIN.

I picked up three enormous sets of blinds and was right back
in the game. The reason everyone was folding was because I
hadn't played a hand in 25 minutes. They were probably
wondering what the hell was going on!

Anyway, as it turned out, I actually WON 1ST for this Sit
and Go. First place baby... and my Internet only worked for
about 1/5 of the game!

After I was done I started thinking about what had just
happened. I realized that by PLAYING in a Sit and Go you can
often do MORE DAMAGE THAN GOOD when there are lots of
players at the table.

And of course, I became 100% convinced that the "magic
equation" for success is:

PATIENCE + AGGRESSION

Your goal for these games should be to place in the money as
much as possible. Period. So why risk chips on silly hands
early on?

They're just not worth it...

The other thing about this strategy is that it's a HUGE
time-saver. Because it doesn't require hardly any work until
there are 4-5 players left. It makes it MUCH easier to play
multiple tables at once... or do other things while the Sit
and Go plays in the background.

OK, so here's your "Tight-Aggressive Squared" Sit and Go
strategy:

1. Be patient, be patient, be patient!

Only play the hands I showed you earlier. Only bet before
the flop with Aces, Kings, Big Slick, and Queens.

2. When you catch a monster, go all-in. Don't do this if you
think someone has you beat (i.e. there's an obvious straight
or flush draw on the board).

I'm talking about only playing hands when you know you have
the best odds of winning.

3. When the field gets down to four or five players
(depending on how high the blinds are and how many all-in
showdowns you've won), shift gears completely and STOP using
this "Tight-Aggressive Squared" strategy.

That, my friend, is the "secret" to Sit and Go's.

It's obvious... but not-so-obvious.

But it is DEFINITELY simple.

And you can start implementing it IMMEDIATELY...

To get my COMPLETE system for making a "surgeon's income" at
online Sit and Go's, download SIT AND GO SHARK today. This
software tool can skyrocket your winnings with little or no
effort on your part:

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And for hundreds more "insider" tips and strategies about
Texas Holdem poker, check out my eBook. You can download it
IMMEDIATELY on this page:

http://www.NoLimitHoldemSecrets.com/tl/775IAUu


I'll show you everything you need to know-- all the
"tricks", pot odds, bluffing strategies, trap plays, and
more-- to start making TONS of spare-time profits playing
poker.

If you're ready for poker success, click here:

http://www.NoLimitHoldemSecrets.com/tl/775IAUu


Talk to you again soon.


Your Friend,

Roy Rounder