Entering into any poker tournament one certainly wants to take first place to take the prize and prestige, but in the world of poker first you need to put yourself in a position to win by making the final table (Usually the last 9 remaining players). For anyone that has ever finished 2^nd or 3^rd it can be a bit disappointing getting “so close” but keep in mind finishing in the money is really what it’s about if you want to be a successful poker player.

“Cashing” or finishing in the money is what makes you a winning player, not just the glory of taking the title. So here are a few tips to make the final table in any tournament to put you in a position to cash, or even go for the gold.

1. Establish a “tight” yet aggressive table image. In the beginning rounds make it clear to your opponents that you are only playing premium hands, not necessarily limiting yourself to just AA, KK, QQ, AK, and etc. but quality hands. In some cases when you raise with these hands and win a pot, you may want to consider showing on limited occasions. This is certainly and arguable point in poker, but if you show early on that you raised pre-flop with AK and hit one or the other on the flop, they will certainly take that into account when in hand with you at a later stage. When you do play a hand, play it aggressively. Setting this tight/aggressive image will be a benefit in later stages, and also open up some bluffing opportunities, as well as enabling you to change directions when you need to adjust. The key word here is image, not necessarily reality, but perception is reality!
2. Play only approximately 20% of your starting hands. In other words, you should be folding most of the time. Folding is not a bad or “weak” move in poker. Some of the best plays in poker are being able to get away from dominated hands that may have looked good in the hole until the flop. Don’t be afraid to lay down QQ for example if you had a few callers and A or K came out on the flop. If you’re getting called or you’re in position and someone is now betting into you, consider throwing the ladies away in this example.
3. Don’t look at your hole cards until it is your turn to act. This seems petty, but this does a couple of things: It lets you watch your opponent where you may get a sense of the quality of their hand or pick up on any potential tells. Remember you should be studying your opponents and getting a feel for their style of play, especially early. Also this will eliminate any potential tells that you may give off because you already know if you’re going to fold, raise, try to limp, etc. before it’s your turn to act. While not in hands, you should still be watching the game and trying to put others on hands. Watch professionals on TV, you will never see them look at their hole cards until it is on them to act
4. Rarely play in early position. There are too many people behind you to act to play mediocre hands in early position. Unless you look down at AA, KK, QQ, and maybe a few others, just throw them away. It’s certainly ok to try to limp with medium pocket pairs on occasion and see a flop and other similar situations, but set yourself a rule that in early positions (i.e. UTG, UTG+1, UTG +2, UTG +3) that you will only play a certain range of starting hands. Keep in mind this is going to change with fewer players at a single table. Obviously the fewer players at a table, the quality of starting hands increases. Of course raising in early position usually signifies strength, but be aware newer players behind you may not understand position yet and not recognize this.
5. You can’t always fold your way into the money. This is a big one! People have a misconception that they can just fold their way to the final table or into the money once they reach the top 9. Poker is obviously a game of math and odds; however it’s a misconception that the fewer players that are left give you a better chance at winning or cashing. It is the percentage of chips that you have compared to the total amount in play that gives you the odds of winning, not the number of players. A lot of players will tighten up when it gets close to the final table or the bubble (the last position that doesn’t pay). To an extent that is ok, but keep doing the things that got you there. If you try to sit back and let others knock each other out no chips are coming to where they should be…your stack! Take advantage of others getting too tight and be aggressive (Also be aware that aggressive and overly loose are 2 different things). If you are still in with 5 players total and you only have 5% of the chips in play because you have been folding every hand, but posting blinds that means the other 4 have 95% of the chips! That’s a big hill to climb, especially with quality players who know how to play bigger stacks. You will at some point be forced to gamble to try and stay alive. Always try to bring the chips home.

Follow these basic fundamentals and others and you will certainly see more final tables, more cashes, and hopefully more hardware on your wrist or mantle. Good Skill!

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 Most likely the term “on tilt” originated from the act of tilting a pinball machine in frustration.  Of course the wonderfully frustrating game of poker originated long before pinball machines were able to flash “tilt” and the emotions associated with being on tilt have been felt for generations.  Through the years players have had to learn how to deal with those emotions in order to become or stay successful.

 So how do the successful players come back from being on tilt?  Most likely they have played so long and have seen so many hands that they don’t really have to think about what they’re doing…they just act on pure instinct and muscle memory.  They are able to “check out” or go on autopilot because all of their hands are played by the same guidelines every time.  The decisions they make aren’t emotionally based but are the implementation of their individual strategies and guidelines.

 How can less successful or up-and-coming players recover from going on tilt?  It’s not an exact science but I will try to lend a hand.  Below are a few tips to help you avoid going on tilt all-together or to recover quickly from it:

1.  Don’t harbor resentment towards another player from past poker sessions.  The worst thing you can do is go into a game with a grudge against a certain player because he or she bluffed you out of a huge pot or made a horrible call the last time you played together.  If you do, they already have an edge on you.  If they are a decent player (the one from the bluff example) they will remember the last session as well or better than you and would be glad to exploit that weakness in your game.
2. Once something happens that may cause you to go on tilt…take a break.  Get up and walk away from the table.  Go smoke a cigarette and kick some rocks.  If you don’t smoke, leave the room and make a phone call, go to the restroom or get something to drink.  If you stay at the table it’s usually the first few hands after the “event” that could be the most trouble.  When you’re coming off something that shocks your system like that; you aren’t able to play without emotions being involved.  Emotional players aren’t profitable players.
3.  If you must stay at the table, try your best to avoid playing the next few hands.  Go into the game knowing that there is a chance you may go on tilt at some point and have some predetermined rules to follow.  You could have rules that wouldn’t allow you to play “x” amount of hands immediately following an “event”.  Or, if playing Texas Hold ‘em, only play AA or KK during your allotted time.  Sometimes seeing those hands could be detrimental while you’re on tilt because you’ll more than likely try to go crazy with them and devalue the hand.  If you auto-shove with those hands expect callers because everyone at the table can tell when you are on tilt before you realize it, and will assume it’s an emotional shove.  Imagine how crazy you would get if you were called with a weak hand and lost the rest of your money because they sucked out on you.  I would advise playing no hands for at least one round.

 I do not pretend to be a professional poker player so my advice should be taken at face value.  I have played many, many NLHE tournaments over the past few years and believe myself to be a slightly better than average player.  Most importantly however, I am a lover of poker and someone who pays attention to the psychological aspects of it.  If you can gain anything from this article I feel as though I have given back a little bit to the game that I love and hate so passionately.

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Negreanu, and others argue that there is an established link between glasses and cheating, due to being able to hide nervous eyes, not seeing glances if there is collusion taking place, etc. I think there are valid arguments there, but for the sake of this post, I am more interested in the debate concerning actual game play, does it help or give you an advantage?

Personally, I believe that playing poker has much less to do with cards, and much more to do with people. There are in-fact physical tells, made famous by Mike Caro who wrote Mike Caro’s Book of Poker Tells, (and the movie Rounders helped!) which essentially states that people while playing poker ”show” the opposite of what the have, “weak is strong, strong is weak”. Tells do exist, but in my book are over-rated, at least for more experienced players. Part of the game is being able to perfect your “poker face”. To be able to control your tells and even bluff with “reverse tells”. I know I have in the past many times flopped a set, all the while trying to look naturally disgusted at the board, or glancing back at my hole cards. In that case I want people to see my eyes. There is certainly some acting involved in poker.

However I think this debate revolves around the inability to “act”. Some people are simply a bit self concious, among other reasons, and can’t look people in the eyes, especially people new to live poker. Glasses would certainly be a way to ease that tension until a certain comfort level is reached, but is that an advantage? For the most part I think glasses are used by players who don’t want to be seen looking at another player, trying to get a read, seeing if he/she glances down at their chips, rolls their eyes, etc. all while concealing their own eyes from being read. I can see this as having some advantage, but everyone at the table has the option to wear shades.

I guess I can allude to football here. Is it fair that a team can watch film of its opponent before a game to prepare…sure, because everyone including the other team has that option. At the same time, like poker,  it still comes down to execution of a game-plan to earn a victory.  Although tells, reading opponent’s eyes, gestures, etc. are legitimate concept’s in poker, I think it boils down to the aquired skill of putting the story together your opponent tells with their betting patterns,  table image, pre-flop action, etc., and accurately putting them on hands. The story and whether or not it adds up is what gives you the information you need to call, fold, or raise…far less often is it a twinkle in their eye that helps make a decision. After all, quite a few, if not most of the top players in the game, including Negreanu, don’t seem to be at a disadvantage and choose not to wear their sunglasses at night…

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With the exception of initial forced bets, money is only placed into the pot voluntarily by a player who, at least in theory, rationally believes the bet has positive expected value. Thus, while the outcome of any particular hand significantly involves chance, the long-run expectations of the players are determined by their actions chosen based on probability, psychology and game theory.

Article pulled from Wikipedia for test purposes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker

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Obviously this is not an issue in a few states…very few, and I don’t live in one of them. Here in North Carolina like in all states I can take a trip to virtual Wall Street on one of the many nationally advertised online trading companies and go all-in on stocks, bonds, various funds, etc., risk it all and get rich or get broke. It’s my decision to risk $10 or $10,000, and both are fine as long as I pay Uncle Sam when I come out a winner. Yet I can’t risk $10 playing Texas No Limit Hold ‘em without the chance of getting arrested…

Texas No Limit Hold ‘Em, and all forms of poker, are games of skill that I am (in my home state) not allowed to take part in for the sake of winning money, but I can go down and spend ALL my money at the corner convenience store on the “education lottery” tickets…oh that’s right, they do have a gambling hot line just in-case I have a problem…(On a side note even with the “success” of the education lottery, my daughter still brings home some type of school fund-raiser about every week. The lottery raises millions a month in this state alone, and yet the public school system can’t seem to keep enough glue and erasers in stock.)

When playing the stock market, do you not take a risk? Sure, and that’s OK, no risk, no reward. It’s fine for me to go online and pay a load or commission and risk my hard earned money with the potential to profit or lose it all. Just like anything else it takes practice, research, and skill to maneuver the markets successfully and come out a winner. However the most experienced investors lose at times even when the market is in an upswing. The same holds true for poker. Specifically I play Texas No Limit Hold ‘Em, but all forms of poker are relevant here. It takes practice, research, and skill. As with playing the stock market even the best have bad runs. Yet the government says I can risk it one way, but not the other. There is no difference, other than what some believe to be some morality issue that says this form of gambling is not acceptable.

Although I’m no market expert, I would take it a step further and argue poker requires a bit more skill than playing the markets. I also have more actual control during a poker game than I do of a company I am watching to know when to buy or sell. Like working the markets, working the felt is about making the right decisions at the right times. The difference is I have to make spur of the moment decisions, read my opponents, and keep them guessing. I may have a run of bad cards, but that’s the beauty of the game…you don’t play the cards, you play the people sitting next to you. In the markets, it’s nothing more than making an informed decision or your “best guess” on what move to make, and the same holds true for skill games such as Texas No Limit Hold ‘Em, or any form of poker. Yet I can go pay a voluntary tax at the corner store to the Department of Education hoping to win it all, with better odds of getting struck by lightning 3 times…

Whatever your belief, it’s irrelevant. Playing poker is no different than any other form of business or investment to make a profit. There is some chance involved in anything you do. The issue is the government telling you that you can’t. As mentioned earlier, some states have figured out that the gaming industry is a big one, and those are the ones with that may have a budget surplus and still have a strong economy, and lower unemployment rates as compared to others. The old arguments of poker being in dark smokey rooms, with greedy thugs is tired and simply false. Have you turned on the TV lately? I believe we are past the point of poker, especially Texas No Limit Hold ‘em, being mainstream. I don’t honestly believe those old arguments hold true anymore for the most part, it’s more about control. We are all too stupid to make our own decisions, and those in charge need us dependent on them. Otherwise they would be forced to uphold the Constitution as they swore to do, and limit their say on what we can and can’t do with our own time and money, you know, the whole “Pursuit of Happiness” thing.

If you still hold on to some belief that “gambling” is immoral in some way, you better cash in what’s left of your 401K and stop buying lottery tickets, and start learning to play the game of poker. After all, it’s a game of skill and certainly not gambling…

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