Syndi N Poker: TEXAS "Holdem" STYLE

As stated before, I have been playing almost exclusively heads up matches and winning at it. I know I have been speaking a lot about heads up lately, but I thought that I would go ahead and explain what I do to WIN. I realize that heads up poker is a scary thing for most players. Or perhaps they simply feel it is not an important skill to know. It's scary because you only have a 50/50 chance of winning, right? Well, once you get past the thought of possibly loosing and focus more on your play it is really simple to win. If you think it's not that important of a skill to have your wrong. It is important to know because that could be a difference between a first and second place win. First place wins tends to be significantly larger than the second place wins. Think about it... would you want to place first or second at the WSOP final table? So without further a due... let's get started.

First, I log into my Poker Stars account and sit at a heads up match. They start you off with 1500 chips. This is where I start to immediately study my opponents play. I look to see how aggressive or passive of a player they are. I also look to see if they are willing to pick up or bluff at orphans (a flop of crap cards or flop of a pair on the board like 7 4 4). I test out betting different amounts to see what the limit they are willing to fold is. In the beginning when the chips are still somewhat equal, I will call all the way down to the river to see their betting habits as well. Some would more than likely classify me as a maniac player in the beginning. In actuality I really a very tight player just gathering some Intel on my opponent. Once I get the information that I need I tend to change my play and that really confuses my opponent. It makes it very hard to put me on any one type of hand. One important thing to remember is to take extensive notes on the information that you found out. This is important because you don’t have to waste time the next time you play them to gather this information, you already have it.

The next step I take is the change up. This happens when I have called off a good portion of my chips to find out the information that I need to beat the opponent. I usually try not to go below 1,000 chips for my research purposes. This puts my opponent having around 1800-2000 in chips. My opponent is feeling pretty good at this point. This helps me out because they tend to think they have me on the ropes. Where in actuality, I have them right where I want them. I do my best play when I am short stacked.

Now based on the information of the type of player you are against... your opponent is thinking, “This idiot is playing like a maniac and is capable of calling with anything so I am going to play tight and only with premium hands" OR "This player is such an idiot that I can bully them off the rest of their chips... I am ahead and I know I can beat them". Here's what you do for these types of players.

1. Let's say you have the one thinking you’re a maniac. Most of them should be thinking this at this time. They will start to fold a lot. Keep in mind that in heads up play the probability of you or your opponent hitting your cards on the flop is slim to none. If you bet even a little and they didn't hit anything they will fold. This helps you because it's like stealing the blinds and will slowly build your stack back up. Here is where you want to steal orphan hands. Push all in when you know they don't have it. I tend to NEVER fold any 2 hole cards pre-flop unless it is a huge pre-flop bet. Rags in heads up will help more than at any other time. Since you know your opponent is playing premium cards because they are tightening up, you will hit more than them and have a better idea as to when to fold.

2. Now, let's say you are playing the bully. He is thinking he has this game won and can't be beat. This is where you tighten up like you never have before. I would even fold more pre-flop because he will play any two cards. When you tend to fold a lot it tends to piss off your opponent. They get mad because they can't get any action from you. I might go so far as running the timer down because they have pushed all in too many times just to irritate them. Why irritate them? Well, it puts them on tilt and they tend to get sloppy with their play. When they finally do get some action they are more than likely to call you down and that's when you get the big pots. Why do you get the big pots? Simply because at this time you are only playing winning hands. This is where you want to set up traps. Stay patient, fold them to death, and then call them down till they are out of the game.

There is a time or two where the opponent just gets flat lucky for the river suck out. This will happen. When it does happen just blow it off to poker being poker and move on. I always take a short break after each win or lose. Why do I do this you ask? Well, if I win, I don’t want to get the cocky feeling of being the best and play stupid. Trust me...it can happen. If I lose, well I don’t want the negative energy to follow me to my next game because it will make me play stupid as well. In conclusion, follow these simple adjustments when the time is right and you will win 8-9 times out of 10... Just like me!

Here lately, as stated before I have been playing mostly heads up poker online... The last couple of days I have hit a slow streak. I find it very amusing to see the way some online players talk to others in the chat boxes. I was playing today and I was on a nice winning streak. Lady luck was on my side for sure. This one particular person seemed to be tilting really bad. It was his own fault. He simply made some bad calls to my traps, bet when he had nothing (and I did), things like this. Well, he proceeded to call me the donkey, idiot, or whatever he was feeling at the time. All I could do was just laugh about it. I get so tickled that when the person who is actually playing badly tries to call me out and say that I am because I am beating him. Needless to say... I just kept typing,"LOL" in the text box every time he would make a comment. I"m sure that made him tilt even more.

So in conclusion... I LOVE playing against these types of players for the simple fact that I can catch them off their game and rake in the chips. Whoo Hoo!!!! So all of those who type ridiculous comments to those who you are playing with... beware. It doesn't make us mad (in fact it is very amusing) it just makes us win!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone! May all your prayers be answered!!!!!

Here lately, I have been ONLY playing heads up poker at Poker Stars. I have been doing very well at this. After reading John Vorhaus' book, I changed up my play a bit based on the information that he gave for heads up play. It actually does work! Not that there was much doubt because what he was saying actually makes a lot of sense. I have been averaging about 70-80% to the positive!

For those of you who have never played on Poker Stars, in a heads up match you start off with 1500 chips. On occasion, I would get a bad beat and get down to under 500 chips. That means that my opponent has at least 2000 or more chips. This is not a very good thing to happen. Nine times out of ten, If I get to this low in chip count... I make it make to take the win. Whoo Hoo for me!!!! I have to say that I am very impressed with my playing capability here lately. I think reading that book really helped a lot. There has actually been a few times where I take the win on the first hand. That is truly an exciting time! I have been doing so well that my husband had asked me why I don't just move up to higher stakes. The answer to that was simple. Why mess up a good thing. If your winning.... keep winning. Sure eventually, I will move up. For now tho... If it's not broken, don't try to fix it!!!

See you on Poker Stars!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been away for a few days because I had a friend of the family lend us a very interesting poker book, Killer Poker Online 2 by John Vorhaus. It was a very interesting book. I loved the way he spoke, for he was humorous and yet just an ordinary person just like you and me. He makes the same mistakes that we do. To give you a bit of background on the author is simple. He is a poker journalists/author, lol. Not necessarily a professional poker player but is on the poker scene and report on it. He is describes as a teacher, mentor, critic, and friend. This book is about advanced strategies for crushing the internet game… or at least that’s what it says on the cover, lol. Actually, I find that the strategies are very intriguing and yet make a whole lot of sense. Where as anyone who plays a lot of poker can come to more or less the same type of conclusions, it is very helpful to have these strategies put into perspective for you. I will be happy to give you an outline of the information that I read in the book. However, I do strongly recommend going out a buying it or ordering it online as we all do now a days, lol.

In Part I of the book it goes over “The Mind Game”. This section of course makes a lot of sense for a number of reasons. The main reason is because poker is indeed a mind game. It’s not just about the cards you are dealt but how you play them. This section coves 5 chapters and they are as follows:

• Who Are You
• Sharps and Flats
• Handles
• Context Density
• My Codes

In Part II of the book it goes over “SitNGo’s”. Most online players play SitNGo tables so I highly recommend reading this section. This section only consists of 3 chapters, but well worth the read.

• Planet Sitngo
• Sitngo a Go-Go
• Single Combat

In Part III of the book it covers “Tournaments”. I found this section to be the most helpful for me. It explains to the detail as to how one should play a tournament and be successful at it. There are times where of course we all get bad beats and that can’t be controlled but I believe if you follow this type of strategy you can be very successful in tournament play. This section has 4 parts:

• Full Field Tournaments – Early
• Full Field Tournaments – Middle
• Full Field Tournaments – Late
• The Road to RealWorld Glory

Part IV covers “Cash Games”. This is where I have a huge weakness. I am a bit of a timid player and playing for straight cash just scares the crap out of me. So this section was very informative to me and it consists of 3 chapters as well.

• Take the Cash (Games)
• Full Ring Games
• Short Hand Play

The final Part V is “The Day of Living Derangerously”. This was a very amusing section for me. The reason being is because he decides to stay up and play poker online for 24 hours straight as an experiment of sorts. He is logging everything he is doing as well as feeling during this 24 hour time frame. After this then he goes to his Outroduction and on to his Random Access. The Random Access is just random things that he thinks about while he is writing his books. This is a wide range of topics of his poker thoughts. Definitely a mist read.

All in all I give this book a thumbs up. I don’t want to go into much detail but I basically gave you his table of contents. In my opinion it is a must read!

There are several different mistakes that are commonly made when playing online poker. This is the list that I have come up with thus far...

1. Distractions - Getting distracted while playing poker can be detrimental to your game.

• Since you are playing from the comfort of your own home, there can be distractions such as the TV noise, kids, phone, laundry, or whatever else goes on in your day to day life. The best thing to remember when getting online to play is to try to play when there is minimal to no noise/interruptions in your surroundings. I realize this can be hard for some of you. Perhaps wait until all children have gone to bed, then turn all the TV's and phones in the house off. That always helps me! :P
• Since you are a beginner... you might want to only play one game at a time. I know that you might think you will make more money if you play more than one table at a time. In actuality, you might loose more because you can't pay close enough attention to the action on both tables to play efficiently. At least keep this in mind if you are a beginner. Once you have been playing for a good bit you can try to do more than one table. I personally do better when I play one table at a time. Keep the focus on one table!

2. Talking to much - This is more than likely the hardest to overcome. Why do you ask? Well, that is simple. We tend to feel that since we are online that we should talk/chat it up with everyone around. That is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to online poker play.

• To start with, the more you talk the more the opponents are learning about you. The more that they learn about you... the more they can see your personality. Once they start to see your true personality... guess what that means?

• It gives them a tell to follow. This is where the psychology comes into play and being able to read people. Since you can't see them or their behavior, you have to look at what they say and how they say it. Best thing to do is NOT TALK/CHAT! Which brings me to my next point.

3. Being Noticed - What do I mean by being notice? Let's see... Making everyone at the table aware of your presence. How are you doing this? Making enemies is one way. You start chatting it up with some idiot on your table. You are not particularly shy about what you think of his playing skills. Perhaps he made some bad calls or whatever your reason is for calling him out. How does doing this cause you to make mistakes?

• For one, it puts a big target on your back. Everyone is now more or less "gunning" for you. Why are they gunning for you? Simply because you are the big nuisance at the table who everyone wishes would just shut up. What happens to targets? They get shot at! That's right. Now everyone wants you gone from the table.
  
• Which brings me to the next thing... this takes all the power away from you. This means more calls when you bet it big, less bluffing opportunities, and all eyes are on you. Nothing like that big bulls eye on your back, huh?
• Finally, what it all comes down to is the play. Now all the other players at the table are not playing for your chips any longer they are playing AGAINST YOU!

A low profile is the way to go here. This way you can mix up your play and no one would be the wiser. If you come across that one idiot (and we all do), just make all your comments about him out loud. Call him every name in the book if you like. Just don't share that with the table by actually typing it.

4. Making use if the "Auto Play" buttons - These are those buttons that are there really for the purpose of speeding up the action. You can pre-select if you want to call, check, fold, etc... Although they are there to speed up the play, they also do much more. They can be used by the more experienced players as tells. How can they be used this way? Well, depending upon the amount of time it takes you to play your hand out. Here are some examples of what most people think when they are playing online and are waiting for the responses from the other opponents.

• A quick check (used the auto play button) = weakness
• A quick call (used the auto play button) = possible on a draw or trapping
• Quick bet/raise on turn or river = strength
• A delay check/call = depends on the player, lol (gotta pay attention to the player)

5. Showing of your cards - This is something a beginner should NEVER do. Here are some reasons why you DON'T show:

• Leads to having enemies
• Makes you come off as cocky and/or being rude
• Tells your betting patterns

Here are just a few of the this that I was able to come up with tonight. Hope this helps. If anyone thinks of anything that I might have forgotten... please let me know and I will be happy to add to this. Thanks for reading and see you next time! :P

Have you ever thought that you might want to host a home game but weren't really sure how to go about it? Well, it is easier than you thought. Here are things that you will need to make sure to have or need to make a decision about before you start. They are as follows:

1. Things that need to be determined - This is the list of items to think about or look into before any prep work is done.

• Check your state for gambling laws as they may be different from state to state.
• Who is going to play? Will you invite your friends, family, or co-workers?
  
• How many people do you want to invite?
• How long do you want it to last?
• How often you want to host?
  
• Is there a buy in? If so... how much is the buy in?
• Will it be a cash style game or a tournament style game?
• What the winner receives? Will it be cash, a trophy, or just for fun? (again check with state laws)

2. SUPPLIES - You definitely can't have a game without the supplies. Possible supplies you might need:

• Poker Chip Set
• Cards
• Beverages
• Snacks

3. Place to play - It is best to have a designated place to place. It could be in your own dining room, garage, living room, or any where that you see fit.

4. Something to play on - You might want to have a poker table. If not the dinning room table works just as well. If you have a small group, you could use just a simple card table for 4 or less players. I went to the party store and found a cheap felt that I just put over my dining room table.

This should get you started. If you think I might have left out anything... please feel free to let me know and I would be glad to add it. Hosting a poker game is a lot of fun. I love playing with my friends and family. We always have a BLAST! Enjoy your home game.