Basic strategy

Ace-King is the kind of starting hand you do not want to have when playing against multiple opponents or when you miss out the flop. If these happens, the hand should be folded especially when serious betting occurs.

The ace-king is a drawing hand which you need to improve on so you can win. It has a good potential of becoming the best hand since any ace or king that will come will make what you have a top pair plus a top kicker. You should therefore play an ace-king aggressively until the scenario becomes unfavorable.

If you have an ace-king it will be ideal to play it aggressive prior to the flop. Raise so you can thin out the field of opponents. It is ideal to limit the pot between you and another player.

Stack sizes

This is another very important factor when playing ace-king. When playing against short stacks, you need to try and push it all in prior to the flop. This will allow you to take a good size of pot when the pre-flop raiser decides to fold. In case you are called, you will have a good chance of improving your hand.

When against deep stacks, it will be best to raise before the flop to get some information from your opponents. If you encounter 3-bets along the way, be very careful since your opponent might be holding kings or aces.

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The World Series of Poker Europe has become quite the event, and with players like Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom and Barry Greenstein in the event, it can only get bigger. Want to meet next year? I’ll be playing Day 1A and am very open to meeting some of my visitors for autograph signings or whatever.

The way you rake in more is how you play your hand so your opponents will put more money into the pot. You gain value with your hand when other players bet.

To get more money out of their stacks, you need to bet yourself and re-raise which a lot of players fail to execute properly

One big mistake that you may commit when you have a good hand is just to check or call when it is your turn. This attitude will not get you more money into the pot. It is counter productive to slow down the play by calling or checking.

What will you when you a pair 7 and on the flop you get A-10-7. You now have a set. What do you do after an opponent bets and it’s your turn? Will you call? If you answered yes then you are missing a big opportunity to win some chips. Don’t throw the chance away and raise!  Don’t wait for the turn when things can go better for their hand.

You don’t need to be afraid when you think that you got the best hand on the table. You can only win big pots by pushing the chips and raising the bar on the table when you feel you could get donkaments to make a bad call against your premium made hand.

When you are to approach the river, you must master value betting. A novice player may think that he will be conservative and bet small on the river thinking that the other players will call. When you do the math, the bigger you bet on the river will win you bigger amounts.

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I’d love to be in the mind of Phil Ivey there, because I have no idea how he can even consider making that call on the river. With the line Dwan took, he’s supposed to have it — and if Phil was mergin on the turn making that call in stead of putting in a semibluff raise, he’s still stuck with an impossible call. Much respect though, as this hand shows both players are ruthless and great. Phil’s approach was obviously both a money-management decision – and reasoning durrrr would most likely fire a diamond too, even if he was strong, because of the huge preflop action. Lovely poker!

Take note that at any moment during a game, there is a chance that you may need to put all of your chips at risk.

How much your chips is and how much are your opponents will somehow dictate how the game will be played. The effect of the poker stack size on the game is not only mathematical but also psychological.

So how do you know the size of the poker stack?

The size of the stack is in relation to the blinds during a game. A $2000 stack may sound big but it will be very small if you have blinds of $100-$200. Here’s a glimpse of how a stack is gauged:

• Deep – when you have 199 big blind or higher
• Big – 96 BB or more
• Medium – 36 to 95 BB
• Small – 35 BB or less

Let’s say you have as short stack, then it will be more difficult for you to be creative with your plays and bluffs because you don’t have to enough chips to intimidate your opponents.

More chips mean the more advanced moves you can make. You have more chips to risk and play with so you can manipulate the other players on the table. This is often why it’s not in the best player’s interested to raise the stakes, but it is always in a better player’s advantage to raise the stack sizing.

Remember, the bigger your stack, the least likely your opponent will play his marginal hand especially when you do some aggressive betting.

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This might be funny, but in reality, this is quite tragic. Mike Matusow has perfected this style of poker, often ending in devastation for Mike. Some of the Youtube comments really tell the whole story…

the blow up is not that he got mad, it’s that he got shoved all in.. he had nothing, that’s what mike is famous for, blowing a lot of chips when on tilt .

i think i have you covered? You do, have a nice day. ROFL!

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Mike calls off loads of his stack in hopes of hitting a set, which he does – and Sammy Farha and Tony G seem to think this is the funniest thing in the world. I agree with both of them. Mike Matusow is anything but a poker genius, but when he slaps the sh*t out of Phil Hellmuth, I like it.

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Horrible, horrible play by Vanessa Rousso. Horrible, horrible reaction by Clonie Gowen. These girls really have no clue what they’re doing. I wish someone would let me in to those games, but I guess you need t*ts, seeing as Todd Brunson and Mike Matusow were in there.