Ruff Poker Blog
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Daniel Negreanu recently wrote an entry for his blog where he explains the differences between winning poker players of today and of years past. It’s a very interesting read, and Negreanu definitely has lived in both worlds which gives him the chops to comment on the subject, and while I agree with almost everything he states there are a few points I slightly disagree with, or feel need a bit more clarification. Read More

Word has leaked out that Full Tilt Poker doesn’t want its sponsored pros competing in any tournaments solely sponsored by their competitors, although Full Tilt has since come out and denied this. This had me thinking of why this would be a really bad decision on the part of Full Tilt Poker, and why it would be counterproductive.

The move would likely be made to eliminate any confusion concerning Full Tilt’s sponsored players, and to keep their stable of top pros from promoting a tournament directly tied to their competitors. On the other hand, by disallowing their sponsored players from competing they are essentially giving their competitors 100% market share. Read More

The poker player everyone loves to hate, Phil Hellmuth, gave his detractors more ammunition after the first episode of Season 6 of GSN’s High Stakes Poker show. Hellmuth, a tournament specialist, has struggled in his appearances on the show, which is played as a cash game, and season 6 kicked off for Phil the way many of his other appearances have gone: A little bit of whining and a whole lot of losing!

Hellmuth bought into the game for $200,000 and quickly found himself down $40k after folding pocket Queens to Phil Ivey’s “all-in” over the top raise -Ivey held AJ for those interested. However, the big blow came when Hellmuth’s second-nut flush lost to Antonio Esfandiari’s nut flush in the perfect example of a “cooler” hand. Poker fans will remember it was Antonio’s sheer domination in an early World Poker Tour tournament that launched “The Magician” into the poker spotlight, and highlighted Phil’s penchant for tilting and berating his opponents. Read More

In a sense poker players are like a corporation. Like a corporation, poker players must always be cognizant of the bottom line: Every decision has to improve your bottom line or it’s a bad decision. Just like a business feelings have very little place at a poker table, because your feelings will often hurt your bottom line results. In this article I’ll present a list of personality traits that society frowns upon that will aid a poker player, and also a few traits that are considered virtuous that will impair a player. Read More

When an opponent limps into a pot he is saying, “I like my hand”. When an opponent comes in for a raise he is saying, “I really like my hand.” The more players in the pot, along with how aggressively they entered the pot -limping vs. raising and re-raising-is a clear indicator of how much a player likes their hand. And the more an opponent likes their hand; the more difficult your decisions become.

Now bear in mind that a player liking their hand doesn’t necessarily equate to the actual strength of their hand: Some players think A4 is a powerhouse that needs to be raised and re-raised, while other players are content to flat-call with QQ. This is where your hand-reading comes into play. Read More

As poker players we have to be aware of the bad lifestyle trends we quickly become accustomed to, and chalk up to being part of a poker player’s daily routine: Poor eating habits, poor sleeping habits, prolonged stretches of sitting, as well as the mental stresses we are constantly working under.

All of these things not only lead to health issues, but this in turn leads to poor decision making and less focus: Your physical well being is a major factor in your mental well being, so even though poker is a mental game, being physically active is quite important to poker players. Read More

One of great aspects of poker is that it offers no competitive advantage to men over women: Even a sport like pool favors males since height allows you to reach more shots comfortably and even strength matters on breaks. But, since poker is purely an intellectual pursuit why are their proportionately more males than females playing poker? Read More

In an earlier article I discussed the five criteria I use as determinates to rank Online Poker sites. The five criterions are: rakeback, player pool, competition, deposit bonus and promotions, and software performance. Read More

Before I get into the details of this article let me point out that this is just an observation on my part, and the likelihood of what I outline actually taking place are about as good as winning the World Series of Poker Main Event.

There has been a lot of talk, and even quite a bit of action, by the Online Poker sites to deal with the issue of unfair advantages and the increasing amount of tight play taking place in the Online Poker world. One poker network, MicroGaming, has banned any type of data-mining, and certain sites on the iPoker Network have put a cap on the percentage of winning players they will allow on their site -telling some players they’re no longer welcome at the poker tables! Read More

When to attack the blinds is one of the hottest topics in poker, and any discussion on the subject will lead to numerous different answers. Back in the day players use to attack the blinds from the button and sometimes the cutoff positions, that was it! All of that changed when poker blew up, and more and more information became available; no longer were players unaware of why it seemed certain players always got raising hands in late position, now even the most casual players realize these raises are more than likely to be an attempt to steal the blinds.

So what has happened is that people have become aware of their opponents’ propensity to steal from these positions, and now players are defending their blinds against these raises, which has caused some players to start stealing from farther and farther out -it’s gotten to the point that raises from Under the Gun are given little respect nowadays! Read More