If there is one mistake novice players make time and time again, other than the most popular error of playing bad hands, it is their utilization of the All-In bet. Over 90% of all players that bust out of tournaments do so because they have pressed the action. They pushed All-In, got called, and busted out. An All-In bet is not designed as an offensive weapon, it is a defensive weapon. It is not designed to entice a call; it is designed to entice a fold. Keep in mind, no matter how great a player you think you are or how good a hand you may be holding anyone can suck out and win with any two cards. Sometimes they don’t even need two cards. One card is more than sufficient. Can you double up with an All-In bet? Yes you can, but your hand has to first hold up. The first classic mistake beginners make is as soon as they see two good hole cards they can’’t get their chips in fast enough. In an average session of Poker you are only going to get so many premium hands. Don’’t waste them on a stupid bets that no one is going to call. Especially when you have been playing tight the last half hour and this is the first hand since then you have entered the pot with. Place out a good size bet of 3-5X the BB and limit the competition without limiting your tournament future. You need to have your premium hand pay off otherwise your stay at any tournament will be short lived.

One good way to look at the All-In bet is as a powerful protective shield that can be utilized to protect your hand. Here is one simplified example when All-In bet can be utilized to protect a hand. You are in late position with AK suited. You have two callers out of position. The flop is Ah, 2h. 3c. You have top pair top kicker. This was a very good flop for you. However, there is both a possible straight draw and flush draw on the board. The first player checks, the second player bets out a bet of about one half the pot, you come over top and push all in. In this example, you are trying to protect what is currently the best hand against any possible draws. Your All-In bet does not provide the necessary Pot Odds that a skilled player would require to continue play and it certainly prohibits any under pair from continuing on drawing to a set.

Another way the All-In bet can be utilized as a defensive weapon is in short handed situations when you are one of the chip leaders. The last thing you want to permit in this scenario is short stacked players to accumulate chips easily. I have seen short stacks push All-In pre-flop and the chip leader on the button, who has the short stack covered 20:1 fold his hand. This was a horrendous lay down on the part of the chip leader. You have the responsibility to protect your lead and make any short stack making a play at a pot realize that their entire tournament will be at risk the second they enter a pot. When you have isolated short stacked players always make it a habit to push them All-In. This will keep them in check and afraid to take a shot at the blinds and antes that they desperately need.

A very good example of this strategy being properly utilized is Greg Raymer’’s play at the final table at the 2004 WSOP Main Event. He knocked out the first three short stacked players in a matter of minutes by not being afraid to put a few chips at risk to improve his standing at the tournament. Keep in mind, at a final table or anywhere in the money for that matter, every time someone gets knocked out you move up in the pay out structure. The beauty of this game is that you have a direct benefit from every hand played even when you are not in the hand. If another player knocks out a short stack, you have just moved up in the payout structure along with all the remaining players, without any risk to you whatsoever.

If you ask 100 Professional Players their opinion, 50 will most likely tell you not to press the action and the other 50 will tell you not to call your money away. Both are very good pieces of advice. Well if you do not do either, then what do you do? Confusing, isn’’t it? What you do is learn to rely on the information available to you so that you can make an informed decision specific to your current predicament. When facing an All-In bet you have to do a great deal of analyzing in a very short period of time. First of all, is the player bluffing? How have we gotten to this point in the hand? What have his actions been that led up to this decision? Could any of the cards that have hit the board improve his hand in any way? Did they improve your hand? (It’’s unlikely that it improved both). You need a lot of information quickly and the ability to process it so that you could begin to assess where you stand. When you can answer the necessary questions then you could convince yourself of what the appropriate action would be. When you cannot or are unsure, then remember one third piece of extremely valuable advice. “There is no such thing as a bad lay down.”” Get away from the hand, regroup and live to fight another day. At the end of the day an All-In bet should be a primary action, not a reaction.

One’’s gut instinct is a very powerful tool, but before one can utilize it properly one must first be in a position to do several things. First of all, one needs to identify it. All too often we witness some of the stupidest plays one can make, only to have them followed by a comment, ““I was following my gut”.”

How do I define this? As a lame excuse to justify one’s stupidity. Secondly, one must define it. My definition of “”gut instinct”” is that it is nothing more than a subconscious tell. We all have the ability to read to some degree, assuming we have embraced this gift and can clearly define what it is we are reading. In some cases though, we will subconsciously pick up on a tell that has not registered in our conscious mind. We will then experience a ““feeling” that we should take a particular action, without being able to clearly define the reasoning. For those of us that are “tuned in” a subconscious tell is no different than a conscious tell. The only real difference is our trust in acting upon it.

This is clearly not something that will be accomplished overnight. It take a very keen eye and many decades of play at a table to develop the necessary trust that one requires to be sure of the accuracy of the subconscious information that is being processed and presented. How and when will this occur? Probably when you least expect it. You may be on a lousy hand and in equally lousy position…………then it happens. You know you are ahead but you just can’t justify it. Everything inside you is telling you to proceed with the hand, yet you have no logical information that you can clearly place your hands on. What do you do?

At the WSOP main event, I found myself in just this predicament. It was half way through day two where I had been struggling all day at the same table as the short stack. Cards weren’’t coming and time was running out. A player had just been knocked out and one of the players from the adjoining table was send over to fill the void.

As he approached the table, I could clearly see that he was short stacked to me. However, that wasn’’t any where near as impressive as the scared look he had on his face. I was very pleased to see all this as I had now identified someone I could pick on, given the opportunity. The players at the table that possessed the largest stacks did not even wait for him to sit down. They started riding him right away with such comments as “”you wasting your time sitting down at this table with that small stack”.” Another player informed him that the last seven players to get knocked out at this table were all seated in that same particular chair and offered his condolences. This of course did not help his demeanor any.

The dealer began to deal the first hand and I found myself on the BB with 7-8. The next four players all folded and the action came around to the new player. He thought about it for a minute and, very nervously, put a raise in of 4X the BB. His bet aggravated me as it appeared that he was making a play for my BB with nothing. After all the “riding” he gotten, he decided he was going to make his presence at the table known regardless of his small stack (I also assumed that since all the large stacks at the table had already folded this did not hurt a bit in his decision). I decided at that point that I would immediately place a pot sized raise as soon as the action came back around to me and take the pot down. A couple of more folds later the action made its way to the button that called the raise.

This was the last thing I wanted to hear. The player on the button was a very solid player that had definitely earned my respect throughout the day. When he took a stab at the pot, he won it. Whenever he got chased down and showed a hand, he had the nuts. A very solid player with a good read on the remaining table. He and I had not tangled thus far. He had managed to stay out of my way, and I, out of his.

Several questions began to run through my mind. Did the button get the same read I did? If so is he is making the call with better position and has every intention of betting or raising after the flop, regardless of the flop. The reason he would not re-raise if he got the same read was obvious to me. The previous raise was large enough to cause me to fold and without any knowledge of what action I was going to take, he found himself squeezed between a raise and the blinds and was being cautious. This was one train of thought. The other of course being that he actually had a solid hand and would have made the call regardless of the “”read”.” Even in this instance he was playing conservative enough not to have re-raised with two players to go.

The small blind folded and the action was to me. Everything inside me told me to play the hand aggressively; however, I chose to muck it. The flop revealed 6-7-8, which would have given me top two pair. The new player bet out and was raised by the button, he then called. The board turned an 8, which would have bettered my hand to a full house. The new player bet, the button raised. He was met by a re-raise followed by a call. The river revealed a 10. The new player bet out once again and was met by an All-In raise from the button. The new player called and turned over his hand to reveal a 4-5 off suite that he had initially bluffed at the pot with pre-flop. The Button exposed his hand, showing the nut straight J-9 off suite.

I was sick to my stomach knowing that I did not follow my gut instinct and missed out on the one hand that would have turned my tournament around. The more I analyzed the hand, the sicker I became. I obviously, had no idea that I would turn a full when I was contemplating a raise pre-flop. However, my read on the table was correct. The new player was taking a stab at the blinds with 4-5 off suite. The conservative player on the button also made this read and decided to call (he would have re-raised in this position if there weren’’t two players left to act). Had I raised pre-flop, as my gut had told me to do, there is no doubt I would have taken down the pot. In the event I did get called (highly unlikely) the way the hand played out I would have easily doubled or tripled up on the hand.

I have shared this story with many colleagues that are upper tier players. Their initial reaction is that if after two days at a major tournament this is the only hand I questioned myself on, I am very fortunate as I, most likely, played brilliantly. The truth of the matter is, this is the only hand I questioned. Unfortunately, the chips that would have been won from this hand would have carried me deep into the money so this was an expensive hand and a difficult one to forget.

In large tournaments one cannot expect to get many opportunities on any given day to accumulate chips. When you have a good read on the table and have defined the opportunity, follow your “”Gut Instinct”.” Stop playing cards and start playing poker for a change.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience.

Logic would tell us that this is a very powerful gift for one to possess in a tournament setting. That’’s what I thought too. Perhaps prior to the Internet and the poker explosion this would have been an accurate statement. Unfortunately your ability to read a player will not guarantee that you make it to the first bathroom break at a tournament these days.

In a WPT event this year I decided to enter a satellite. Good practice I figured. It sure was. I started taking control of the table early on as I like to do. People are real tight the first hour, or so, of any tournament, and it is easy to take advantage of the situation. This is where one’’s ability to read is a blessing as it insures that you are not going to get caught with your shorts around your ankles.

In one particular hand I find myself in third position with Pocket Queens. First position called (a novice player), probably a small pair or suited connectors. I raise 4x the BB, fifth and six fold. Seventh position called the raise (a very loose elderly player wanting to teach this bad boy a lesson. Had him tilting a half hour ago when I took him off of mid-set with nothing). It gets to the Button and I get re-raised 3 times my bet (12x the BB). This guy I had a good read on. He was crunched over in a ““Chris Moneymaker”” type position. He was dress like a walking billboard for some poker site I have never heard of and was wearing $3 sunglasses that he had purchased earlier in the day from the last rest area on the Garden State Parkway before the Atlantic City exit. An after-thought. I put this guy on absolutely nothing. He was making a play at a very bad time and was about to get slapped. I decide to come over top with 60% of my chips. Much to my surprise the gentleman in seventh position calls (thinking we will be heads-up) and…you guessed it. The Button comes over the top of me, all in.

Prior to calling him (there was never any doubt in my mind that I would call) I made this statement to him. “I am calling you so that you could learn an inexpensive lesson. When we all see your cards not only will we see that you have absolutely nothing, but if you even have one card in the paint (a face card) I will never play again.” A pretty bold statement, but that’’s how certain I was of my read. The gentleman in seventh position, realizing at that point that I was not just making a play at the pot, he laid his pocket Jacks down (as he later revealed) and the Button opened up his hand to proudly reveal a 10, 6 off suit.

What a read. I was busy getting congratulations from the three tables around us that were rolling on the floor laughing at him and he was busy gathering his things when the dealer flopped a 10, 10, 2. The turn and river revealed two more rags and I was out.

Luckily it was still early enough in the evening so that I could get a dinner reservation at the steakhouse in the Borgatta and made the best of the remainder of my evening. Now, as I sat there going through every hand………every gesture………in my mind I was still confused as to what I did wrong. I played him like a fiddle. It was the read from hell and I nailed it. I went in with the best cards. I was a strong favorite. Yet I am the one that is out.

The truth of the matter is that as much as we do not care for Phil Helmuth’’s antics and attitude he is actually right sometimes. In one of his recent failures he was quoted as saying ““I played it perfectly. I guess if perfect play always won I would never loose a tournament.” Phil’s right. The best players in a tournament are obviously not always rewarded. However, I still did make a mistake. My mistake was revealed to me at breakfast the next day when I was walking into the restaurant and who should I run into at the door on his way out? You guessed it. Mr. 10 6 off suit himself. He turned three shades of grey when he saw me. I extended my hand to him stating laughingly, “”Don’’t worry, I’m not going to hit you.”” He the turned and spend the next five minutes trying to explain to me his actions.

Up until I called the all in he actually thought I would fold. My question was why would he pick that lousy a hand to make a play with? He had an answer I did not expect but a truthful one. He said. ““Listen John, I know I suck. There is not a chance I was going to make it an hour on that table unless I tried to make something happen and even then, I would still probably need to suck out somewhere along the line. I know I could not play with you guys and could not sit around and wait for the nuts all night. I saw you in early position with a another caller that was still upset from the last beat you gave him and I figured if I pressed the action hard enough I can get you to lay the hand down. I never thought you would call.”” This statement not only exposed his inability to play but also exposed the fact that he had no math skills whatsoever not having realized the fact that I had already priced in to the hand. One bad decision and assumption after another.

This is when I realized where I went wrong. It wasn’’t the hand. It wasn’’t the read. It was the way I chose to process all of the information I had compiled on this player. It was early in a tournament. There was a very weak field of players and the good ones stuck out like sore thumbs. I put myself and my tournament at risk against a reckless individual making a bad play and bad assumptions at my expense. After all, I was the Pro and I was going to bitch slap him in front of the whole table and teach him a lesson. I guess I did. I taught him that if he can suck out enough times against stubborn players he too can be a champion. At least that’s what he got out of it.

While at the WSOP main event something very similar occurred to another player. It was day three of the tournament. About an hour into it. Jennifer Harman had just about busted out on the feature table catching a horrendous beat from a straight flush on the river after turning a full. The whole room was still buzzing over that one when I witnessed a hand that made my head spin. The player was a friend of mine that I had played with often. A very success and established internet player having turned Pro a couple of years ago. He found himself in early position with Pocket Aces. He lays down a reasonable sized bet only to get raised by the button. The flop comes A, 4, 5, rainbow. (No, it’s not what you think……wait). With top set my friend is getting ready to push all in with his remaining chips when what should happen? The ESPN cameras come running over to the table. This is customary at the WSOP as they try to get as much “”All-In” footage” as possible on everyone until they see who makes it through so that they had full tournament coverage of those at the final table. My friend does what we all expect him to do and he was surprised to hear the words ““I call”” coming from the other side of the table. The Button turns over his cards to reveal K, 8 off suite. No it’s not a typo…I said K, 8 off suite. The board turns a 6 and the river a 7 and the button is the proud new owner of my friend’s chips. My friend was still in total disbelief two days later when I saw him after I busted out on abad beat on the bubble.

So where did He go wrong. Well we know he played the hand perfectly. He also processed the information correctly; unlike I did in my earlier example. So what beat him? Well in this case, it was the situation. I spoke to the brother of the genius that made the call who revealed to me that 16 of his relatives had come up from North Carolina to witness Jeff in his moment of “fame”. Yes, “”Jeff is going to be on TV you know.”” Said his brother. As soon as those cameras came running over Jeff was in Heaven. Here was his big chance. He was going to be on TV… on ESPN, worldwide coverage, All-in against a Pro at the biggest tournament in the world. He was not going to pass up on that opportunity, even with a double gut shot. Jeff got what he wanted and fulfilled his destiny. He busted out after the break to another guy that played a double gut shot just like him.

So what’s the moral of the story? Obviously, reading is a good thing and it could get you in to trouble with the type of “”talent”” that frequents the tournament circuit these days. If at all possible, try not to put your tournament at risk with someone that has nothing to loose but time.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience.

The question, however is, when are you pot committed in tournament play? The popular thinking is that when you are short stacked you want to get the remainder of your chips in the middle of the table. There are situations though when a more cautious approach may lead to a better outcome. Thus, this is not a rule of poker, it is a mere suggestion to be used as a guidance tool to assist in you in the decision making process. I cannot count the number of times I have witnessed someone pushing his remaining chips into the pot when he is clearly behind in the hand and has little or no hope of survival. Yes, this is the difference in a tournament that does not apply to cash game play. It is about survival and about getting paid. The logic when they loose the hand, as expected, is that they were pot committed at that point and had no other choice. I’m sorry but you always have a choice.

At the WSOP main event I found myself in just this exact situation. I was doing well throughout the first day. I wrapped up the evening with a decent chip count, placing me in the top 40% of the field going into day two. When day two came, however, it was a whole different ball game. I could not catch playable cards to save my life. My best hand the first hour was a J-8 off suit. I tried taking a couple of stabs at the pot, just to get some blinds back. Every time I would enter a pot I would end up with an average of two callers and a raise. Nothing was going right and I began to realize rather quickly that my presence at the tournament would likely be short lived.

After the brake I found myself significantly short stacked with 4,200 in chips and on the Big Blind. After laying off the Blind and ante I was left with 3,200. Much to my surprise I look down to see pocket 9’s, the best hand I had gotten all day. One player called the blind in late position as did the small blind and I pushed in a 2,000 raise. I could have pushed all in, and most players with my chip stack would have. However, I did not. Both the other players called the bet and we went to the flop.

The board flopped A, Q, J rainbow. Not the best flop in the world when you are holding pocket 9’s. As a result of the flop and in poor position I checked as did the small blind. The button makes a pot sized bet followed by an All-In raise from the small blind. At this point I am “pot committed” I am getting great “pot odds” and conventional wisdom would tell you to push in the remainder of you measly stack. I folded. The Button called. The small blind revealed pocket Queens and the button A, K suited. The board turned a 10 and rivered a 9. Even though I would have made a set I was third best at the table with a set of Queens out on the flop and the pot going to the nut straight on the button.

The good news was that I made a great read and a great lay down. I did not let odds or statistics influence my decision. No matter how good the odds are sometimes you know you are beat and you need to lay the hand down. The bad news was that I had almost no chips left and perhaps this was merely an exercise in futility. Then again, perhaps not.

The most famous saying in No Limit Hold’em is “a chip and a chair” well, I had three chips and a chair and all the necessary tools required. A few hands later I caught pocket 6’s and pushed all in with three callers getting almost 6-1 on my money(with the Antes and Blinds). Not to bore you with the details of every hand, but I was still at the table seven and a half hours later and had build up my 3 chips to over 28,000.

The above play completely defies conventional wisdom. But then again this is Poker. This is not a road test at the motor vehicle bureau where we need to follow all the rules and regulations. The poker police are not going to come running out of the back room and arrest you or even fine you. If you “know” your beat lay the damn hand down. I don’t care how much you have in the pot or what position you are in. Stop marrying losing hands post flop because you can justify making a stupid call as a result of odds and calculations.

Your goal at a tournament is first and foremost to get paid. If you are in the money and are willing to take the chance, then go ahead have fun and knock yourself out. You have secured a pay check. If you are out of the money, and, especially close to the bubble then let’s stop the bullshit and focus on why we entered the tournament in the first place. Yes, you entered to win. But in order to win the tournament you have to make it in to the money first, and then survive the feeding frenzy that follows.

No one is going to come out and give you a “Player of The Year” award because you busted out of every tournament on day one but you followed the rules flawlessly. They will however give you that award if you have the most cash finishes that year and as a result, you are, most likely, leading the field. Once you get past the bubble go ahead and open up your game. Push in early and hope for callers. You are not going to make a final table unless you accumulate chips. And you are most certainly not going to win a tournament without them either.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience.

Harrington on Hold’em Volume 1 & 2. One of the best set of poker books I have every picked up. Well written, great examples, valuable information, can’t say enough good things about it. A MUST read, especial for the novice and intermediate player.

Ready for Grad school? Well, if you think you’re there then anything by Sklansky will do. Tough reading filled with insightful information. Get ready to pay lots of attention.

Wisdom of a Poker Champion by Doyle Brunson. Don’’t expect detailed hand analysis and play by play instruction from this book, this is not a poker book that aims to teach you how to play specific hands. This is an insight into the mind of one of the greats and the lessons he has learned away from the table as much as at it.

The Education of a Poker Player by Herbert O. Yardley. The first real poker book, this classic from a different era of poker is credited by many pro’s as their inspiration. Full of sound strategic advice sandwiched between stories from the tables that will ring true with all who have spent time playing poker.

The Psychology of Poker by Alan N. Schoonmaker. No other book does more to analyze and define the types of players you will find yourself competing against. Schoonmaker looks at what makes people play the way they do and gives advice on how to play them. This book should help you to understand your own game and importantly what it is that makes you want to play poker.

Mike Caro’s Book of Tells. This is essentially a study of body language as it relates to poker. Much of this book will seem obvious to experienced players but whatever your level there is much here that will be of use. Written simply and illustrated with photos that whilst they may be out of date are still relevant.

Personal
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Even though there is no reference of Poker in this book the lessons learned are extremely valuable and can help you tremendously in both live game and tournament situations as well as in your personal life. I am sure we can all stand to use some improvement in that area as well.

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. One of the greatest self improvement books ever written. You could learn the game all you want, but until you are ready willing and able to put into practice the lessons discussed in this book, the likelihood of long terms success in both your personal and professional life is highly limited. If you are uncomfortable with some of the religious overtones in the book ignore them, but don’t let that prevent you from reading this book. It will help you in and out of poker.

Other
One of the “tools of the trade” for the FBI, police detectives and military intelligence is the study of “gesture clusters”. Gesture clusters are a grouping or combination of motions or expressions that provide extensive valuable information to one that knows how to decipher it.

Go to your local library and get your hands on as may books regarding body language and gesture clusters as you can. Read them carefully over and over. Once you think you know them, then go out and put them into practical application. Not at the Poker table, but in real life. Start observing people at work, your coworkers. Start paying attention to their posture their movements, the more you watch, the easier this will become. Pay attention to your friends and people at bars. You would be amazed as to how much information is offered without a single exchange of words.

Once you master your power of observation, I guarantee you, your skills at the poker table will increase ten fold. At the end of the day Poker is a game of information. Without the ability to accumulate it; process it; and, act upon it, you’re just another Donkey at the table.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience.

In a high stakes cash game it is not out of the ordinary for me to pay a player a “referral fee” if he brings a fish to my table. Especially if that fish is well funded. I have paid fees in the thousands of dollars to get somebody with a bull’s eye on their forehead at a high stakes game. It is every players dream to land one of these guys regularly. In a cash game, this type “A” player will chase down a flush, a straight, two pairs to a full, all night long. He knows if he catches his hand he will be well compensated. Now and them he actually does. And he takes the pot down. He knows he is out classed and out matched so he has to place his destiny in the hands of fate. By the end of the night, the longer he plays, the more the odds catch up to him. Eventually he goes home busted as usual……again……and again…and again.

Now you have left the comfort of your cash game and decided to venture into foreign waters. It’s now July, and you are in Las Vegas. You have just flopped down $10G’s for a shot at the most prestigious bracelet of them all (the only bracelet in my opinion). You draw a weak table and are playing well. All of the sudden, the same guy you have been busting in cash games shows up at your table. You have enough information on this guy to fill a book. This must be your lucky day. The first time you played with this guy you paid for the privilege of having this fish at your table. And now here he is. All on his own coming to give you his chips. He begins playing tight. That last about 40 minutes until he gets outplayed for the third time he’ is in a pot. All of the sudden, it’s business as usual. He is following along paying off every raise.

A few moments later you find yourself involved in a pot in late position with pocket Aces. The flop comes and it’s 9, 10 A all hearts. You just made a set of bullets. The AK out of position bets, our friend calls, you raise. The AK folds, our buddy does what he does best……makes a bad call. The turn reveals a 4 of hearts. This is not what you wanted to see. At this point you could bet your house on the fact that he just made his flush……yes he needed a four flush on the board. On a good day, he was drawing on the straight but not today. You are now crippled with 65% of your chips in the pot and he has you covered. You make the best lay down of the tournament and he turns over the Kh, Jc off suit he was playing and shows you the nut flush.

Its now two hands later. You are on the button with pocket Kings. You make a play and guess who calls you. You got it. It’s him. He opens a Q J off suite the flop is 2, 7, J rainbow. Not what you wanted to see. The turn is a 6H. And the much anticipated river reveals the third Jack. Congratulations, you are out of the biggest tournament of the year on the bubble. Does it happen? If you need to ask then you need to start playing more tournaments.

Here is a situation that shows how the Novice Player can have a direct affect on how you play and assess a hand. You are in a major tournament, deep into day two. You are four positions out of the money, on the bubble. You have a decent chip stack but there are four larger stacks at your table including the chip leader.

You are third to act and are holding Ah, Kc. First position puts in a raise of 4X the BB. Second position folds. The action is on you. Here is where it starts to get tricky, and it will get much more difficult as this hand progresses. If you are up against a top ranked player that is making a move in the worst possible position on the bubble, then one can clearly assess that this player is holding a very strong hand.

Against a novice player, you have no idea. We now face our first decision. Do we fold, raise of call? If you have decided that you want to play this hand, your best decision would be to just…make the call. With all those players still to act after you, it is hard to tell what they will do. You make the call and another player calls on the button. The small and big blinds fold and the three of you go to the flop. The flop is Ac, 6s, 5s. You have flopped top pair with top kicker. The player at question, in first position, puts out a very large bet almost 2X the pot. What do you do? In a cash game this a no-brainer. In a tournament on the bubble, its not.

Now let’s assume once again that this is a top ranked conservative player. This bet would indicate that he is not giving pot odds for a call from one that is on a draw and he is more than happy to take it down right there and then. As such we can assume that the player did not make a set of Aces and is not on a draw himself. He is also showing little regard for the fact that there is an Ace on the board. With two players left to act it is extremely likely that one of you has paired the Ace. It is very likely that you two are playing
comparable hands.

A player of this caliber would not have raised pre-flop in this position, at this stage of the tournament pre-flop with A, 5 or A, 6 so the likelihood that he is playing two pair is very low. He could also have elected to play a mid pair (unlikely with 5’s or 6’s) so he may be on mid or bottom set. Another reason why he would want to take it down right there and then. With a player left to act behind you, you find yourself sandwiched between the two so you decide to call, as does the button. With a novice player you could never logically assess his starting hand based on the information you have compiled thus far. Your only hope would be that you got some type of read on the guy and can act upon it. The turn reveals a 2h that does not appear to have helped anyone. Whatever you assessment was before after the flop, remains the same after this turn card. The player in first position makes a pot sized bet. With a possible straight draw and flush draw you decide to move all in and take the pot down. The button folds.

Now if you are playing a top player you have made the assessment that you may win the pot or even chop the pot should he make the call. In this particular hand the player in first position was in fact a Novice Player. He called the all in and revealed an 8h, 9h. He hit a 7h on the river and won the hand with a 9 high straight. You are out of the tournament.

The above hand is a good example of how a good player can get in trouble quick against a Novice Player. There was very little you could have done in the above example that would have changed the outcome of the hand. Even a raise may have enticed a re-raise from the player in first position. Short of laying down the best hand, which would not have happened, you were doomed.

Most top ranked players would not have raised in the worst possible position pre-flop with that hand. They certainly would not have played that hand from that position at this stage of the tournament. Most importantly, they would not have put their tournament at risk on the bubble calling an all in bet with a gut shot draw. It is a tough predicament but one that we face constantly in tournaments these days.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience.

It was during the last level of day one. I had managed to grow my chip stack to 50,000 putting me in the top 25% for the day. A comfortable position and the chip leader at the table. The blinds were 300-600 with a 75 ante. So there were 1,650 in the pot pre-flop every hand. I picked up 10h-10d on the cut off. There were two limpers in the hand already. I raised to 2,000. Both the blinds called as did the two limpers.

The flop came 10c-7s-3s.

Everyone checked around to me. Even though I hit this flop well with top set, I did not like the two spades on board and decided to price everyone out. With 8,750 in the pot I bet out 15,000. The logic in this was to take the pot down right there and then. Someone would have to call, risking 15,000 to win 23,750, thus getting roughly 1.6:1 odds.

I got one caller. The turn was a 2h, a blank. As my opponent had about 23,000 in chips left and had obviously missed the turn, I decided to put him at risk for his tournament life and pushed him all in. Even though there were plenty of chips left in the pot, he was only getting 2:1 odds to make the call. No where near what one would need on a flush draw with only one card to come. After thinking about it for two minutes, my opponent called and turned over As – 10s. He had been playing top pair, top kicker with the nut flush draw. The strength of my hand was well camouflaged as he completely misread his outs. He assumed that even if he is behind in the hand he can win by catching any 10, Ace or spade, not realizing that he was a 8:1 dog the hand and would have to hit a spade that does not pair the board to win. The river was a 9s and he took down the pot.

This hand is a classic example of how people ignore odds and percentages and continue in the hand regardless. This time he was lucky, but 7 out of eight times he will get sent to the rail with that call. As difficult as it is all one can do is play good poker and hope that the appropriate play is rewarded. When pricing your opponent out and receiving a call from a player that is significantly behind gives you a huge advantage with one card to come and is exactly the call that you want most of the time, as, in the long run, the odds will always be in your favor.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience. He is currently in the process of publishing a book on poker and runs his own website called JohnTheGreekPoker.

Slow Playing
Allow me to start this paragraph with a much need disclaimer. “Slow playing is a very dangerous practice especially when you are not prepared to immediately get away from the hand.” Slow play, when done right is extremely successful. When choosing to slow play a big hand like AK, AA, KK, QQ he have to be prepared to sacrifice the hand if things do not go as planned. When slow playing (usually in early position) the first thing you want to occur is for someone behind you to raise so that you can re-raise and isolate one or two players. In the event that no one raised after you and you end up in the flop with more than 3 limpers, you MUST hit the flop hard. If not and there is sufficient action between the other players (raise, re-raise, etc.) then be prepared to muck the hand immediately as you are most likely behind and will continue to trail in the hand, drawing to very few outs. It is the price you have to be willing to pay in order to increase your earning potential in the hand. If you do not feel you are capable of getting away from the hand post flop, then don’t slow play the hand.

Last week at the Bellagio WPT world championship I found myself on day 1, at the table with David Williams. David is a very solid player, one I happen to admire, especially at his young age. I have played with David on several occasions and I am all two familiar with his style of play. David tends to be aggressive in the early stages of a tournament and will fire at unraised pots pre flop if he has position. Half way through day 1 I found myself in a situation that may enable me to benefit from this. I was dealt Ac-Kc in early position. I decided to simply limp with the hand and see what developed. One other player limped behind me and the action came around to David Williams, on the button. David immediately raised 6x the Big Blind. The action folded around to me. With only one other possible player in the hand I decided not tore-raise, and simply called the raise. The other player folded and David and I went head’s up to the flop.

The flop was Kh-2d-8s.

All in all, a great flop from me. I checked the action and David immediately lead out with a pot sized bet. I called. The turn was a 7s. Most likely no help to either player. I decided I would lead out, hoping that it would appear that I was making a play at the pot. I placed out a small bet of 1/3 the pot. David immediately raised. I went in the tank for a while and re-raised All-In. After a minute of thought David stated “I am either making one hell of a call or a very bad one. I call.” David turned over Ks-3d, and was left drawing to a 3. The river was a Queen and I doubled up.

This hand worked out perfect for me. Had I chosen to raise pre flop I would not have gotten any action. Now that the hand played out, it also became obvious that a re-raise preflop would have also killed the action. By slow playing pre flop and then implementing a “stop & go” strategy on the flop and turn I was able to double up with the hand.

Changing gears Mid-Hand
All two often you will see players that have raised pre flop immediately lead out with, what is referred to as, a continuation bet. Most likely, 3 out of 4 times, they have missed the flop. Yet they choose to fire away nonetheless. This is common practice as the flop may have very well missed your opponent as well and you may be able to take the pot down right there and then. After implementing a continuation bet and facing the slightest signs of resistance a player is usually prepared to abandon the hand and move on. This is exactly the situation we want to exploit.

While at the Bellagio last week, I decided to partake in a little cash game action. The biggest game I could find on Saturday afternoon was a 50-100 No Limit Hold’em game that was about to get off. I took my seat and realized that two seats to my left was our current reigning World Champion, Mr. Jamie Gold. Much to my surprise a very nice and pleasant man, that was very courteous and gracious throughout the day. I decided to take it slow in the beginning and feel out the table. I soon realized that Jamie, given the opportunity, was willing to bluff his chips away at any pot, if he thought he smelled weakness, so I waited for the right moment to set up a hand.

In one particular hand, while I was on the small Blind, Jamie had decided to straddle. Two players limped into the pot calling Jamie’s straddle. I decided to place out a large raise (big enough to make it appear that I was trying to steal the pot) and so I raised to $1,900 (19x the Big Blind). The big Blind folded and Jamie called instantly. I was holding Qh-Qd.

The flop was 10c-As-Ac.

I immediately led out with a bet of 3/4 the pot. Jamie called (had Jamie had been holding an Ace, he would have, most likely, raised the pot especially with two clubs on board). The turn was a 7d. I immediately checked. Jamie misread the check as weakness and immediately led out with a huge bet putting me all-in, in an attempt to take down the pot. I called. Jamie was playing Js-Jd. The Big Blind admitted he had laid down J-10 and Jamie was dead to the case Jack. Jamie hit the case Jack on the river and took down the pot.

The play had worked out beautifully. He took the bait when I put the breaks on, on the turn, and tried to take down the pot, giving me the exact showdown I wanted. He assumed what most players would have assumed, that I had completely missed the flop and was going to lay down the hand at the first sign of resistance.

Unfortunately, even though I was a 97% favorite going to the river, I got cracked. At the end of the day, your hand still needs to hold up, no matter how brilliant your play was.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience. He is currently in the process of publishing a book on poker and runs his own website called JohnTheGreekPoker.

Let look at one hand for example and see if we agree on how many outs a particular player has. The player is holding Kh-Qh.

The flop is Jh-10h-3d.

If you asked three different players this question you will most likely get three different answers.

1. One answer would be 8 outs on the open ended straight draw, plus 9 outs on the flush draw would equal 17.
2. Another would answer the same as above but may also include the 3 Kings and 3 Queens as possible outs for a total of 23.
3. The more skilled players would disregard the over cards and deduct the cards suited in hearts from the outs available for the straight draw and would answer 15.

My answer is a little different. Assuming this is a full table, we have 20 cards that have been dealt out. We also have utilized a burn card and three cards that appear on the board. Thus, 24 of the 52 cards in the deck have already been utilized. So 46% of the cards in the deck are out. It is also logical to assume that 46% of your possible outs are also out. As such you probably have 8 “realistic” outs remaining to improve your hand.

So in conclusion, you have about a 28% chance of catching one of your outs in the remaining 28 cards. So proper pot odds to make the call and continue on to the turn would be something in the neighborhood of 3.5:1. 4:1 is really what you want in order to make this a profitable venture. If you continuously call in this scenario with pot odds of 4:1 or greater, you will do very well in the long run.

Pot odds calculations for a cash game specialist are extremely important, as the odds will always catch up to you over time. Thus, getting the right price when continuing in a hand is critical to one’s long term survival in the game. With that said there are some simple ways to calculate odds without requiring a degree from MIT. Lets look at one example.

You are playing Kh-Qh.

The flop is 10h-4h-2s.

Your opponent bets out. A conservative player. You are convinced that if you hit your flush you will win the hand. What odds to you need to continue with the hand? Well, lets keep it very simple. One out of every four cards is a heart. So, theoretically, you have a 25% chance of catching one. As you have two cards to come in all reality you have a 2:1 chance that one will be a heart. If we can keep our pot odds at about 3:1 we are getting a good price to make the call and continue with the hand.

Where people get confused in hand like this is when their opponent puts out a pot sized bet on the flop and they are assuming that with 2 cards to come they are getting good odds to call at 2:1. That is not the case. If you miss on the turn, you opponent, who is obviously already trying to price you out, will bet again, in which case, after having made the call on the flop with 2:1 you will need 4:1 odds to make the call on the turn, which is very doubtful. So try to keep you odds calculations simple and your decisions even simpler. At 2:1 I do not make the call on the flop. No use rabbit hunting to see if you would have hit. It is of no relevance what cards follow. The only relevance is that you are getting appropriate odds to make the call.

The same holds true when you are dictating the action. Lets look at one example when you want to encourage action. You are playing Ah-Jh.

The flop is Jc-7h-2h.

This is an excellent flop for you. On a good day you opponent would be suited in hearts with the King of hearts in hand. You have hit top pair and have the nut flush draw. You definitely want to bet out here but you do not want to discourage callers, nor do you want to put out a highly suspicious bet. I recommend you bet about half the pot. This gives your opponent 3:1 odds, which are sufficient for him to continue on drawing to a better hand.

In the following example the opposite holds true. You are playing Jc-10c.

The flop is Jh-10d-8h.

You have hit this flop hard with top two pair. But, this is a very dangerous flop for you. There are several other hands that would have called your action pre-flop that may have improved as well, not to mention all of the possible draws that this flop represents. As such pot odds become your prime consideration. You want to fire at this pot and discourage callers, especially multiple callers. I would bet at least 1.5 times the pot in this scenario. Offering less that 2:1 odds should be enough to discourage calls from players desiring to draw to a better hand. The hand that might call that bet would be someone perhaps playing A-J. With top pair top kicker they may want to continue in the hand and this is clearly the call that you want as you have that hand completely dominated.

Another situation I would like to discuss is multi-player hands. You find yourself pre-flop in late position. 4 people limp ahead of you and the blinds don’t look all that interested. You are getting over 5 to 1 to simply call here and there are very few hands you can have that are worst than 5:1 pre flop. So you make the call, as does the small blind. The flop comes and you get a small piece of it. There is a bet from early position with two callers and once again you are getting ample odds to continue with the hand. So you go ahead and call.

What happens in this hand and how this hand plays out is not important. What is important is that you don’t find yourself getting into the routine of calling every hand based on the sheer justification that you have the odds to make the call. In the above example, with 4 limpers and disinterested players on the blinds I prefer to raise and take the pot down. In the event I get a caller, I will continue my aggression post flop and see where that takes me. At the very least I will be guilty of playing poker and making a play at the pot rather than becoming a calculating calling station.

One last bit of caution I would like to point out is that you should not assume that because you have made a substantial raise at a pot and have clearly priced your opponent out, that they are going to lay the hand down. They will call and call and call you and you will hear every possible justification for the bad call. “I had a feeling” is my favorite. “It’s the best hand I’ve seen in an hour” is another classic. “I did not put you on that strong a hand. I thought you were making a play at the pot.” You will hear this one more times than you care to, especially whey they crack you. And the all time classic excuse “It’s my favorite hand”. So you get called and you get cracked. This is when pot odds become critically important because over time the odds always balance out and if you continue with this course of discipline you will find yourself well ahead of the game as the proverbial calling stations playing their favorite hand regardless of the odds, will find themselves driving a cab for a living.

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience. He is currently in the process of publishing a book on poker and runs his own website called JohnTheGreekPoker.

As I turned on my computer one morning my jaw dropped at a story that I found in my inbox. The story was an interview with Doyle Brunson on the recent death of Chip Reese. A sudden numbness came over me, as time appeared to stand still for a moment. Trapped in a state of disbelief facing my own mortality, I soon realized that a big part of and what I have grown to be also died with Chip that day.

Chip was far more than a poker player. He was the standard by which all other modern day players will be measured. To have your name mentioned in the same sentence as his is the greatest compliment a cash game player can ever hope for.

Chip though, represented far more than just success at the tables. He was the epitome of what a player should be. His reading ability was second to none. He could dissect you from across the table like a skilled surgeon with a scalpel peeling back one layer at a time until there was nothing left. His ability to avoid danger was uncanny. He reminded me a lot of Rocky Marciano. It did not matter how bad you cracked him or how good you thought you were. He was there for the long haul and just kept firing. Few men have sat at the felt with his endurance and discipline.

His greatest trait of all though had to be his demeanor. I cannot find a single witness that can attest to witnessing him raise his voice or lose his temper. There is an old Russian proverb that states, “a hammer breaks glass, yet it forges steal,” never had this saying been as true as in the case of Chip Reese. In all his years at the tables he faced every bad beat imaginable, even one at my hands, and he became stronger with each beat. The great ones always persevere and get stronger with time, as the weak fall apart and dwell on their misfortune.

As I sat dwelling on the moment, thoughts of one of my first trips to Las Vegas came to mind. I remember the first high stakes stud game I had sat at. Young, cocky and immature as can be, in my early twenties, yet experienced and disciplined as much as any seasoned veteran. I found myself at the table, expecting to run over the competition and claim my prize. However, I had not counted on being outskilled and outclassed.

One specific opponent was giving me a lot of trouble. I threw everything at him I had. I played tight; I played loose; I tried trapping him; bluffing him; running him over. Nothing seemed to work. When I had the hand, he always got out of the way. If I slow played the hand, he would simply check – fold and move on. Whenever I was bluffing he called.

Frustration began to get the better of me and I started chasing hands. Pot odds and mathematics went out the window along with my composure as I chased my opponent down every chance I had. In once instance I hit a one-outer on him on the river cracking his full house. As satisfying as it was to take his money I realized that it was at the expense of the respect I could have earned instead. Bad beat and all, he never even flinched. He simply mucked his cards like any other hand and moved on. I thought at the very least I would tilt him. On the contrary, I was almost tilting at the lack of reaction I got from him.

After about 8 hours of this I decided that it might be in my best interest to stay away and limit my hands with him. I could not understand what was happening, or how for that matter. No one to date had played against me like that. As I avoided my arch nemesis that day, I began to settle down at the table and find my game again. As time went on the chips kept coming. I ended the session with a significant profit and exited the room, early morning the following day.

As I walked out the player that gave me all that trouble was coincidently walking out with me. I looked at him and complimented him on the game. He simply nodded and wished me good night as he left.

Later on that day I ran into a few of the guys from last night’s game having a late afternoon breakfast. They were all too quick to comment on the Bad Beat I put on that guy last night. The guy I could never catch up to in that game. The one that had earned my respect; even though I was a decade or two away from earning his. That guy was Chip Reese.

I ran into him a couple of more times in my lifetime and, even till this day, he never ceased to amaze me. It did not take one long to realize that Chip was at a level all on his own. A level that would take decades of work and discipline for some of us to reach, and a lifetime of effort to attempt to maintain, what to him, seemed so effortless and came so naturally.

As much as we all feel his loss, the biggest loser of all on this is the game of poker. Not because it lost its greatest player of modern times, but because all of the young guns of today lost the best role model that they could ever hope to mimic. A true class act. Chip won his fair share of cash and major tournaments but all that is insignificant in what truly would have mattered to him.

The greatest victory of Chips Reese’s career was the respect of his peers. The people that played with him, and knew him. Those that feared his play and admired him. His fellow poker players that he always had respect for. Even in death, that has survived.

Farewell brother.
John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience. He is currently in the process of publishing a book on poker and runs his own website called JohnTheGreekPoker.