Ruff Poker Blog
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When it comes to generalizations in poker none rings truer than “You want to maximize your wins and minimize your losses”, but the practical application of this concept often escapes people. Whether your goal is to maximize or minimize, the methods are the same, and involve three key concepts:

1. Utilizing position
2. Pot control
3. Isolating weak [...]

When it comes to generalizations in poker none rings truer than “You want to maximize your wins and minimize your losses”, but the practical application of this concept often escapes people. Whether your goal is to maximize or minimize, the methods are the same, and involve three key concepts:

1. Utilizing position
2. Pot control
3. Isolating weak [...]

When it comes to generalizations in poker none ring truer than “You want to maximize your wins and minimize your losses”, but the practical application of this concept often escapes people. Whether your goal is to maximize or minimize, the methods are the same, and involve three key concepts:

1. Utilizing position
2. Pot control
3. Isolating weak [...]

It always amazes me the lengths people will go to save money in various areas of their life, but when it comes to poker these same people leave so much money on the table, simply because of the slightest lack of effort or patience. For instance, when it comes to buying a car, or groceries, [...]

10 Poker books you MUST read: Ace on the River
When I began playing poker choosing a ‘primer’ –as poker strategy books are often called-was a fairly simple process, since there were typically only a handful of books on the particular topic in print! And no, I’m not 75 years-old, I began playing poker a few [...]

Ah, the age-old poker question of where to sit? When it comes to a maniac the general wisdom is to pull up a chair to the players immediate left, which will give you the opportunity to isolate him in pots with raises. However, this shouldn’t be your only consideration when there is a maniac in [...]

When it comes to misunderstood poker concepts perhaps none is more misunderstood than the rake and how it impacts a poker game. The rake is a predetermined amount of money that is taken from the pot -usually 5-10% up to maximum of $3-$4-as a house collection. In this article I’m going to look at some [...]

There is an all too often occurrence at the poker tables nowadays, and it doesn’t matter whether you play online poker or partake in the game at a brick & mortar card-room; the problem I speak of is dealing with an “Expert”. We all know the “Expert”, they dissect the most innocuous hands of poker [...]

In a previous entry I talked about the early stages of poker tournaments and the numerous opportunities these stages present for savvy poker players. In this installment I’m going to explain what happens when the early stages of a poker tournament ends, and the adjustments you’ll need to make in order to stay afloat.
The best [...]

The first few levels of a poker tournament present certain opportunities that will not be found at any other stage of a tournament: This is especially true for large buy-in, or deep-stack tournaments, where the blinds are extremely low compared to the starting chip-stack.
Many poker players choose to play extremely tight during these levels -or [...]