Articles

Attitude Adjustment - The keys to enjoying poker.

Attitude Adjustment - The keys to enjoying poker.

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 15

As I write this, it's a pretty exciting time for me. I'm right in the thick of the World Series of Poker player of the year race, and I've been playing poker pretty much every day for about a month now and am still enjoying myself. Part of that is because when you're running well and playing well, poker is much more enjoyable, but part of it is also because I take a lot of precautions while I'm in Vegas to try to keep life as "normal" as I possibly can.

Adjusting From No-Limit to Pot-Limit.

Adjusting From No-Limit to Pot-Limit.
Pot-limit is more a game of sitting back and counterpunching.

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 14

As I'm writing this column, we're right in the thick of the World Series of Poker. First off, let me say that every year, the World Series always manages to rekindle my flame for tournament poker. There really is nothing quite like the rush of seeing 5,000-plus poker players packed into one place, and the feeling you get when that first bracelet tournament starts and you realize that you're playing for a part of poker history.

Avoid Being Results-Oriented Focus on making good decisions.

Avoid Being Results-Oriented Focus on making good decisions.

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 12

One of the toughest things about poker is that the variance that the luck factor brings to the game can really mess with your short-term results. I often receive questions like the following from readers of both this column and my blog: "Could you fold aces here?" "Can I get away from a set here?" There are some rare instances when I can, but for the most part, these are just inexperienced players who suffered a bad fate (their aces or sets got cracked), and since they lost the pot, they're desperately trying to figure out what they did wrong.

Spotting Patterns - A game-strengthening strategy

Spotting Patterns - A game-strengthening strategy.

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 9
Card Player Europe Magazine Volume 4, Number 7

If you've been reading my columns, you should be familiar with weakness, keeping your ego in check, playing within your emotional threshold, and giving 100 percent while you're at the table. If you can do all of these things, you should be well on your way to becoming a winning player, or, even more likely, are a winning player already. So, what else is it that separates good players from bad ones?

One big topic that I haven't discussed in this column yet is pattern recognition. Virtually every player I've ever played against, even some of the very good ones, can fall victim to playing certain types of hands very formulaically. If you're paying close enough attention at the table, you can pick up on some of these patterns and use them accordingly to your advantage.

Paying Attention Costs Nothing - Don't leave money on the table

Paying Attention Costs Nothing - Don't leave money on the table

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 7

While playing at the L.A. Poker Classic recently, one thing really jumped out at me: the general lack of focus and attention that people who had put up $10,000 to play in an event had. As you may or may not know, I took about six months off from playing live play after the World Series of Poker to focus on family. My wife and I had a beautiful baby girl this winter, and I wanted to make sure I was around when it happened, as well as help out during the first few months of her life. So, when I returned to live play, it was like a sledgehammer hitting me when I saw all of the terrible things people do at the tables.

The Unappreciated Street - The turn

The Unappreciated Street - The turn

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 6

There is a lot of material available in books, articles, and videos on how to properly play post-flop. A lot of it goes into detail on what to do on the flop, flop texture, and how to value-bet or bluff on the river. One area that often seems neglected, though, is a very important decision-making street - the turn.

On the turn, we often make decisions that, whether we realize it or not, can keep our losses to a minimum and really maximize our wins. It's also important because with only one card to come, draws are getting much less favorable odds to continue on with the hand than they are on the flop, so controlling the pot in such a way that draws are getting a bad price is much easier.

Target Practice - Spotting and attacking various types of players to accumulate chips.

Target Practice - Spotting and attacking various types of players to accumulate chips.

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 5

In my inaugural column, I discussed how we can both spot and attack weakness in players at the table. Another situation that we often encounter is choosing how and when to attack various players by opening the pot. So, rather than attacking people who already have shown weakness in the pot, we have to choose what kind of players to target without seeing any action in front of us.

There are several methods we can use to do this, and I'm going to try to provide a few examples of each type.

Head Games - Poker Psychology

Head Games - Poker Psychology by Eric "Rizen" Lynch

Card Player Magazine Volume 20, Number 4

In this column, I'm going to take a break from my usual strategy-focused columns, and focus on something that I believe is just as important, if not more important, than covering how to play aces from under the gun or how to properly attack weakness. I want to discuss poker psychology a bit. I've been playing poker long enough to have seen a lot. I've seen some of the most talented players I've ever known barely manage to break even playing, because they couldn't avoid going on tilt or negative thinking. I've also watched some players with a very moderate amount of actual poker talent constantly grind out a profit and pay their bills, simply by maintaining an even demeanor and keeping their head on straight in all situations.

Reconstructing a Hand - From Beginning to the End

Reconstructing a Hand - From Beginning to the End by Eric "Rizen" Lynch

Card Player Magazine - Volume 20 Number 3

Have you ever wondered what exactly someone could possibly be thinking about when it's taking him seemingly forever to make a decision during a hand? As much as some of us pros would like you to believe we're simply "looking into your souls," what we're really doing is quite simple and basic, even if it is just a little counterintuitive to how we're used to thinking away from poker.

Rather than a top-down approach, when you're dealing with key decisions in a poker hand, it's very beneficial to think in a back-to-front manner. What I mean by that is that if you are faced with a tough decision, you need to reconstruct the hand and the action in your head from the beginning to the current point, using each street's action as a chance to narrow down your opponent's hand range. With a little experience and some thought, it's quite spooky how good a hand reader you can become if you can simply adopt this way of thinking.

Image is Everything - Create the 'Ideal Image' at the Poker Table

Image is Everything - Create the 'Ideal Image' at the Poker Table by Eric "Rizen" Lynch

Card Player Magazine - Volume 20 Number 2

You may remember the old Andre Agassi commercials from the 1980s with the tag line, "Image is Everything." At the time, he was trying to sell Canon cameras, and I'm sure that he had no intention of talking about poker, but that tag line could be as easily about poker as it was a young hotshot tennis star with a mullet, back when neon was cool and it was OK for men to wear short shorts.

Knowing what your current image is, as well as how and when to exploit and manipulate it, is every bit as important (perhaps even more so) as knowing how to play A-Q offsuit from under the gun or J-10 suited from the cutoff. Image is what enables you to get away with steals and scoop a massive pot when you get dealt aces.