Lost 4th $10 SnG

This one sucks. I played this one fairly well- made it to the final table with a decent chip stack, got all my chips in with my opponent dominated and still lost. Flop came 89T, I went all-in with AT, caller had KT. Of course, the turn was a K and I’m busted in 8th (again…)
I guess a better player [...]

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Lost My Second $10 SnG

Busted out in 8th. I was short stacked so I made a move with AT, caller had QQ.
Overall, I’m not hitting any of my flops and when I try to make a move, the other guy has a hand. I want to try again, but I think I should wait to see if my luck will [...]

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Starting Over

It’s been about 5 months since I started playing poker. At my best, I was just a few dollars away from breaking even- I don’t think I’ve ever actually crossed that line though. At that point I started trying to move to the next level- from $1 Sit n Go’s to $3, $5, and $10 Sit [...]

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Making my first withdrawl- bad idea?

My immediate goal has been to reach a break even in poker. I feel like once I get out of the lifetime negative, I’ll feel more free to play. It’s also exciting to be able to say that I’m actually winning money, rather than just recovering losses.
With that in mind, I told my self that as [...]

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13 Types of Starting Hands

Came across an interesting article on Holdemsecrets.com
I know poker is a post-flop game, but I obssess over starting hands quite a bit. This article on Types of Starting Hands makes it simple by categorizing the hands by their Win Percentage. Quick summary list is below, with Win% in parentheses, but I highly recommend you read the [...]

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Favorite Starting Hands

Here is my current starting hands strategy and it’s been working pretty well at the micro (< $.25) tables when I stick to it.
Raise 4x BB / Call Any

AA
KK

Raise 2x BB / Call 10x BB

QQ
JJ
TT
AK
Pairs 8 and higher

Limp / Call 2x BB

AQ
AJ
AT
KQ
KJ
KT
QJ
QT
JT
Pairs 7 and lower

Limp Only

A9
K9
Q9
J9s
T9s

I am a bit flexible based on how tight the table is, but generally, [...]

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Too Much Poker After Dark?

I went on a serious losing streak the other day. I went from about $70 to about $30 in a couple of hours. I was trying my hand at the $.10/$.25 tables and I was just playing too loose. Trying to steal pots, bluffing, or raising with middle pair. I also got sucked out of some really strongs [...]

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New (More Successful) Pre-flop Strategy

I came across this great article by Andy Bloch on pre-flop strategies. It’s helped me quite a bit and I think definitely contributed to my recent winnings in the money tournaments (including one first place finish!)Some quotes from the article that helped me in particular:

I recently talked with a newer pro who told me [...]

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Nice Odds Chart

Learn-Texas-Holdem.com has a nice odds/probabilities chart for those of you that are interested…
Some of my faves include:

Probability
Percentage

Preflop
 

Pair preflop
6

AA or KK preflop
.9

A in hand preflop
16

AA, KK, QQ, JJ
1.8

AK dealt preflop and hitting an A or K by the river
50

Two cards preflop that are Js or higher
9

 
 

Postflop
 

Four flush completing (JsTs Flop Qs4sAd 6h Ks)
39

Open Ended Straight completing [...]

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My Least Favorite Hand: KQo

I have recently learned to despise this hand. When I get a KQ offsuit, I immediately feel like, “Hey, this could really turn into something.” But it never does. Ever.
There’s always an Ace, or a straight, or a flush, or a lower pair that some one else is holding (because I rarely hit even one pair)– well, [...]

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