I recorded this video at the tail end of a downswing. I had just lost 16 buy-ins in that month and dropped down to 200NL to grind my bankroll back up.  It is important to self-reflect on your play when you are “running bad” to find where potential leaks are. Moving down in limits allows you relax a bit more and focus on improving your weaknesses while playing against weaker players than you normally do.

There is some talk of changes to the PokerTrikz site, but most of them never came to fruition or were removed at a later date. I found that PokerTrikz worked best when it is just focused on providing high quality training videos and strategy content for micro and small stakes players. However, I’m always open to hear your ideas, so let me know what you guys want to see.

Watch or Download Trikkur 24

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Interesting Hands

at 35:30 – I raise A9s from UTG+1 and the big blind calls. The flop is and it is checked to me. I make a standard continuation bet of $10 into a $14.25 pot and get immediately raised to $32. I see no reason to fold with top pair, but I don’t want to raise in this spot because he can shove with a lot of semi-bluffs and hands that dominate me.

The turn is the , which is a bit scary for me because of the flush potential. However, the big blind checks to me and I’m happy to check behind and see the river. The river is the and the big blind bets $55 into the $76 pot. The large-ish bet size made me worried that I was beat, but I think this ends up being a pretty easy call after I checked behind on the turn. I scoop the pot when the villain shows 77, but I have to applaud how he played the hand.

at 28:10 – It folds to me in the small blind and I raise with my pocket twos and the big blind makes the call. The flop is and I fire a standard continuation bet. My opponent instantly min-raises my bet, which I generally consider to be a bluff.

I think folding is standard in this spot, but I decided to get fancy and essentially float my opponent hoping to get to showdown or a club to roll off and allow me to bluff at the pot. The turn is the , which is exactly what I’m looking for. I check to my opponent and let him make a bet. I make a fairly large raise to represent the flush and my opponent tanks for a before folding and showing me his 2-pair.

Key Concepts

• Self Reflection
• Moving down in limits

Sign Up for Rakeback

Original Source: Trikkur 24 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 12 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 11 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 1 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker

I’m back with some more action at True Poker. I was just playing a normal session and figured I should boot up the recording software to make a video. I’m grinding 5 or 6 tables of 50NL with PokerTracker 4 running. I play a very tight aggressive (TAG) style and I focus on adapting to my opponents. I play my hands totally different when I am facing a tight regular instead of a loose fishy player. You can sign up for the same 27% rakeback deal that I have on the True Poker rakeback page.

Watch or Download Trikkur 55

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Interesting Hands

at 4:30 – A loose fish raises from UTG+1 and another loose fish calls from the cutoff. I decide to overcall with a suited Ace because I want to play pots with these bad players. I would have probably squeezed if they were both TAG regulars, in an effort to take down the pot immediately or get it heads up against one player.

The flop comes and the cutoff makes a very small bet of $1.58 into a $4.74 pot. I decide to make the call with my gutshot and overcard, figuring I would get paid off if I can hit my hand. I also know that I can possibly steal the pot if there is a club and my opponent seems afraid of the flush. The preflop raiser folds and we are heads up now.

The turn is the and my opponent checks to me. I can try to steal the pot here, but I figure my hand still has value. My opponent can have a lot of random hands in this spot and when he checks, I don’t see a need to make the pot any larger than it already is.

The on the river improves my hand , but completes the flush draw. The fishy player bets 50% pot and I’m in a pretty close position. I could definitely see him betting a flush draw on the flop and the checking for a free card on the turn. There is also potential that he has a 5 and was going for a check raise on the turn. However, I think these chances are pretty slim against an opponent that plays 46% of their hands. It is more likely he would have bet a Jack or 5 on the turn and if he wanted to bet the flop with a flush draw, why would he freeze up on the turn? I decide to use my hand as a bluff catcher and our opponent obliges by showing .

at 26:10 – I raise UTG with AK and a loose fish calls me from the big blind. The flop is and our opponent checks to us. This board is very scary and connects with a lot of my opponent’s range. I still have showdown value with my AK, so I just check behind. The turn is the , which gives me top pair, top kicker and our opponent checks to us. We bet 95% pot to punish the draws and get value from our good hand. The river is the , which completes the flush draw and our opponent bets 75% pot into us. I think our opponent’s bet is VERY strong and it is unlikely that we can beat him. I fold thinking he completed his flush or has a 6 that just made trips. I could definitely see calling in this spot because our opponent has a 42% VPIP, but sometimes you have to trust your instinct.

Key Concepts

• Playing Tight Aggressive (TAG)
• Adapting to Fishy and Regular players
• How to misclick for your stack

Try PokerTracker 4 Free

You can use PokerTracker 4 for 30-days with their free trial version. I highly recommend this software to any player that is trying to be serious about online poker. You can purchase the micro stakes hold ‘em version for $59.99, which works for 50NL and below after your free trial is up. Once you have built your bankroll to the higher stakes games, you can pay the other $30.00 and upgrade to the full Hold ‘em version.

Original Source: Trikkur 55 – 50NL True Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 17 – 50NL Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 4 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
3. Trikkur 15 – 50NL at Red Star Poker

Warning to Lock Poker Players – Cashout Delays

In unfortunate news, there has been an increasing number of complaints coming from players at Lock Poker. There have been multiple threads started at other poker forums since late December 2012 bemoaning of large delays in cash outs (2+ months) and selling their funds to other players for 70 cents per dollar. Affiliates of Lock Poker have also complained of 60 day waiting time for payments. Is this the beginning of the end for Lock Poker?

Who is Lock Poker?

Lock Poker is the flagship website for the Revolution Network. They were a former skin on the Merge Gaming network, where they became one of the largest skins. Lock decided to branch off of the Merge Network and purchase the Cake Poker Network in June of 2012. They re-branded the Cake Network as the Revolution Gaming Network and immediately accelerated to the top of the traffic charts for US players.

Unfortunately it has only been 9 months since this purchase and they already seem to be facing problems. While I am not in a position to say that LockPoker is busto; I would HIGHLY recommend avoiding them at this time. I have never promoted them on PokerTrikz because of some warnings from affiliate friends of mine, so I’m hoping that not many PokerTrikz players have funds there currently.

What about the other room on Revolution Gaming?

I am not sure what the future holds for the Revolution Gaming Network because Lock Poker is the network leader. I have promoted Cake Poker and Red Star Poker since Day 1 of PokerTrikz because I personally gambled there for 3+ years and was always paid on time and without hassle. I have not played on either of these websites since 2012 when Lock Poker purchased the Cake network; so I cannot say what the situation is like for them currently.

I will continue to promote Red Star Poker, Cake Poker and their US brand Juicy Stakes because there hasn’t been the same amount of complaints at these websites and my experiences have always been good. I just want people to be aware of the potential problems with another skin on the network. I would suggest to continue playing at these poker rooms, but consider cashing out more frequently than you would normally. You do not want to get stuck with most of your bankroll on a site if they start having cashout delays. Even if you ultimately get paid, you will be without a proper bankroll to play on a different poker room if the need suddenly arises.

Alternatives to Lock Poker and the Revolution Network

As always, I only recommend poker rooms that have a great track record of fast, reliable player withdrawals. I know what it is like to pay the bills from my monthly poker earnings and want to provide my users with a similar experience. I am currently playing at True Poker, which received the highest ratings for payment processing throughout the entirety of 2012 and 2013. You can sign up through PokerTrikz to receive 27% rakeback and a $1000 deposit bonus.

Original Source: Lock Poker Cashout Delays

Related posts:

1. Black Chip Poker Moves to Winning Poker Network
2. Muchos Poker

Note from Trikkur: This is a reposting of a page that I had up from Feb 2012 – March 2013 to inform people of the ongoing PokerTrikz rebuild. I have taken the original source page down and moved it to my blog for archival purposes.

Hello everyone. As you can see I am rebuilding PokerTrikz. You have likely arrived on this page for one of two reasons. Either accidentally because you followed a link that no longer exists; or on purpose because you want to know what the hell I did to PokerTrikz. The old version of PokerTrikz had some serious programming problems that caused most videos to stop working, refused to let me upload new videos, and had some loose scripts that would crash the server about twice a month. I tried to fix it myself, I tried hiring people, and I tried ignoring it. None of them came to an optimal solution in the end so I decided to scrap everything and start over with my content.

The new PokerTrikz is going to be easier for myself and more importantly, the users in the long run. I’m doing it right this time and every page is getting fresh content and more love than it did in the past. Unfortunately it means some missing pages and partially completed articles for a while. I hope everyone enjoys the new site and if you have any feedback, you can submit it on the contact page.

The PokerTrikz Videos

Most people are likely here for the poker training videos. I have decided to redo the entire video section of the website, so you may not be able to find the video you want for a while. From now on, each video will have a full length article that goes with it. I will summarize what happens during the video and expand upon the key concepts in the video. You can see a good example of this in the 1st video, Trikkur 1. This will allow users to understand the important lessons from each video and quickly reference them in the future. The downside is it takes a lot of time to re-watch a video, take notes, write an article to summarize and then expand upon the key concepts, and finally edit everything so you guys actually believe I passed my English classes. It will take time to get all the content up again, but it will be worth it to make PokerTrikz into a high quality resource that poker players can use for years to come.

Rakeback Section

Updated on February 27th. The rakeback log in and account creation process has now been fixed. If you created a new PokerTrikz account between 2/13 and 2/25 you may not have a rakeback account. Just contact me and I will make sure your username for the forum and the rakeback section is the same. Everyone is now able to create an account on the forum and they will automatically have an account created at the rakeback section with the same username and password. Your log ins are now synchronized; so if you log into the forums, you will automatically log in to the rakeback section and vice versa.

Updated on March 19th. The guys over at my rakeback affiliate network, PokerAffiliateSolutions, has came through for me again. They got the graphics update to the rakeback section finished and it’s looking good. I have a few minor tweaks myself to do on the navigation and text, but it is much easier to browse than it was. Remember that you use your PokerTrikz forum account name and password to log in to the rakeback section. If you already logged in on the forums, then you will already be logged into the rakeback section.

The PokerTrikz Blogs

No one was using the blogs anymore, including myself. It was going to be very difficult to rebuild them all on the new website, so I decided to just scrap everything. I’m sorry for anyone that used them or wanted their old posts; I didn’t expect to accidentally delete the entire server while making back ups. I think I lost them before the back up was finished, but if you want your old blog posts and can’t find them by searching with the Google cache or by typing it into Archive.org – send me a message and I’ll see what I can do. I may have old back ups laying around a hard drive somewhere and some of your posts might be there.

Bug Fixes

March 25 – Unbeknownst to me, the contact page was not properly sending to my e-mail. If you have sent me a message through the Contact Us page since February 15th, please resend your request. I am sorry if I missed your message.

In Conclusion

Everything is going to be messy for a bit, but rebuilding PokerTrikz will make it better. Just check out a few videos and you’ll be able to tell this is a superior way of doing things. Not only is the subject matter more detailed and straightforward, but the videos play and can be skipped around extremely quickly. I’m also able to save about $1,500 a year in server fees with the new way of hosting videos, which is very nice.

I hope my new visitors enjoy the website and all the great free poker content. I also hope that my returning visitors can use the expanded content on each video and the more detailed strategy articles. I am determined to make PokerTrikz a source of high quality poker content that can last for years. Please enjoy the website and don’t hesitate to contact me with any comments or suggestions.

The following video was made by a PokerTrikz user back in 2009 when I launched the previous version, which I called PokerTrikz 2. This launch will thus be called PokerTrikz 2, the second act. If someone wants to make a PokerTrikz 3 video, maybe the naming scheme can change.

PokerTrikz 2

PokerTrikz 2, the second act

Original Source: Rebuilding PokerTrikz

Related posts:

1. Redoing the PokerTrikz Videos Again

Red Star Poker now accepts Bitcoin as a deposit option

In an effort to improve their payment processing speed and increase deposit options for their users, Red Star Poker has started accepting deposits in bitcoins. Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that has grown in popularity and value this last year and has built a large cult-following. It is based on open-source P2P technology and requires users to download a client to transfer their funds. Other poker rooms have been rumored to be considering adding bitcoin, but Red Star Poker is one of the first to actually do it.

Real Deposit Option or Bitcoin Viral Campaign?

Call me a skeptic, but I don’t actually think this will be used by many players that are already playing at Red Star Poker. I also don’t think there is a large market of people that own bitcoins that are looking for a place to gamble with them specifically. I would be surprised to see anything more than an extremely small increase in traffic from this change; and by that I mean something like 10-20 players might decide to play at Red Star Poker because they have bitcoins and no other place to play.

However, I think this was a great move from the marketing side of things. This will surely not be the only  article that pops up about Red Star Poker now accepting bitcoins. There are also websites catering to this small niche of players that are focused only on bitcoin deposit options. This means Red Star Poker gains a lot more value and possible traffic from links acquired and brand recognition than from the actual process of depositing with bitcoins.

My Thoughts and Training Videos at Red Star Poker

I have always been a big fan of Red Star Poker and as you can see from my training videos, it was where I spent a great majority of my time playing poker. Some of these videos are a few years old, but you can check out Trikkur 17, Trikkur 20, and Trikkur 22 to get a feel for the the Red Star software. While it is still based on the same technology, there has been quite a few software improvements in the past few years that have made it easier to multitable. Another recent improvement is the increased rakeback and deposit bonus esavailable. I was personally on a 33% rakeback deal and only had a $500 deposit bonus, but if sign up through PokerTrikz you will receive 36% rakeback and a 250% up to $1,500 deposit bonus.

Note to US Players: Red Star Poker no longer accepts US sign ups. We can play at Juicy Stakes Poker, which is on the same network.

Original Source: Red Star Poker Accepts Bitcoin

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 15 – 50NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 11 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 14 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

I play 4 tables of 20NL at Red Star Poker in this beginner training video. I focus on helping players that are new to online poker and review some necessary strategies at the micro stakes. I play a very tight aggressive game and focus on easy money situations like isolation raises and positional awareness. I also talk about the importance of rakeback to a micro stakes player’s bankroll and you can follow my advice by visiting the PokerTrikz rakeback section and signing up for a deal today.

Watch or Download Trikkur 22

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Interesting Hands

4:30 with – For some reason, I misread how I played this hand and then misspoke about it throughout the video. I raise AQ under the gun and it is folded to the small blind, who then min-raises. This happens with a large range of hands at these limits, so I’m not instantly sure what he has. I make the call because I don’t want to put more money in preflop, but my hand has a lot of potential value on the flop.

The flop is and the villain checks to us. This is where I become confused. For some reason I thought I bet here, which I think is totally fine. I instead decided to check back in the hand because I was afraid of AJ/AK trying to check/raise me and I didn’t think I could get 3 streets of value from an underpair. I hoped that checking behind would disguise my Ace and let me get large bets on the turn and river.

The turn is the and our opponent checks to us. We make a large bet and are called. The river is a safe and our opponent check/calls our 75-80% pot bet. The opponent shows QQ and we take down the pot. I believe that checking the flop allowed us to get two value bets from Queens here and I don’t think he would have called three value bets.

30:55 with – It is folded to me in the small blind and I raise with JJ and the short stack BB calls. The flop is a very wet and I bet $1.25 into a $1.55 pot. The turn is a and I bet $2.20 into a $3.90 and the big blind calls. The river is the and I check to my opponent who sticks in the last $4.35 into the $8.10 pot. I make the call and he shows Q9 for the rivered straight. I don’t mind how I played the hand, but I should have made my turn bet a bit larger to give him even worse odds than he was getting. I can protect my overpair on this very scary board a lot better if I just bet $3.50 on the turn.

Key Concepts

• Playing TAG at Micro Stakes
• Isolation Raises
• Positional Awareness
• Importance of Rakeback

Sign Up for Rakeback

Original Source: Trikkur 22 – 20NL Red Star Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 20 – 400NL Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 21 – 100NL Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 14 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

You should consider checking to induce a bluff whenever you are out of position on the river with a good hand, but believe your opponent has a missed draw or is floating you. Your opponent would always fold his weak hand if you would make a value bet on this river, so you should check to him and induce a bluff instead. The villain will not be able to win the pot if they just check behind and see a showdown, which leads them to making a large bluff to steal the pot. You can make the call of this bluff and win an extra value bet from hands that you could not have by just betting.

Check and let the villain hang himself

Here is a quick video of me showing off checking to induce a bluff. These clips are from the Trikkur 1 and Trikkur 6 training videos. Sorry about the low video quality on the first two hands. At times, I am even hesitant to make the call after checking to my opponents, but if you induce the bluff you must make the call. I only picked a few hands where this play works, but don’t worry if you are wrong a certain percentage of the time. It isn’t going to work every time, but you need to look at your opponent’s entire range and make the play based on that.

Watch Video Lesson – Checking to Induce a Bluff

Click here to view the embedded video.

Remember to only check/call the river and never make a check/raise in this situation. A check/raise would accomplish nothing if your opponent does have a missed draw like you think. They will obviously fold to your raise and you will win the same as if you just made the call. However, if your read is incorrect and your opponent does not have a missed draw; they will be able to win a much larger pot from you because you made that raise. This is why you must always think a step ahead (or more) on what your opponent’s action will be in response to your checks, bets, and raises.

More Poker Strategy

If this article interested you, there is another great one about range merging that you will enjoy. It covers how to play with bluff catcher type hands and how to counteract an opponent that is constantly using this move against you. I would also recommend signing up for the 7-day free trial at CardRunners.com. You can view their entire collection of videos in those 7 days and if you make the decision to cancel during that time; you will not be charged.

Original Source: Checking to Induce a Bluff

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 6 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
2. Checking for Value
3. Trikkur 21 – 100NL Red Star Poker

This video is for intermediate players at 50NL or 100NL. I take some alternative lines to the usual bet, bet, bet with my made hands and also made a few call downs with marginal hands for value. While I wold generally recommend just betting 90% of the time with your good hands, it is good to know a few different ways to get value from your opponents and what board textures to look for. There is also some talk of “upcoming” PokerTrikz changes, but this is an older video and most of those things are no longer true.

Watch or Download Trikkur 21

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Interesting Hands

10:20 with – I raise from under the gun+1 and the cutoff calls. The flop is , which is a good one to get value from my opponents. I make the standard continuation bet and my opponent makes the call. The turn is the and while I could just bet for value, I decide to take an alternate line. Because this card does nothing to change the board texture, if my opponent felt that his hand was good enough for a call or float, then he would also likely bet this turn. This allows me to put in a check/raise to either steal the pot outright with his extra bet in it, or force him to get it in with a suboptimal draw against my overpair. The villain obliges by betting into us and then folding to our check/raise.

33:50 with – I raise from the button with AQ and the big blind defends. The flop is and the villain donk bets into me. I decided that my AQ was ahead of his betting range, so I decided to make the call. The turn is the and the opponent bets into me again. The 6 doesn’t really change the board texture, so if I thought I was ahead on the flop – then I’m still ahead on this turn. I decide to make the call, hoping that the river is an Ace, Queen, or a total blank and it goes check/check.  Fortunately the river is the and even though I’m not thrilled about it; I can call the villain’s pot sized bet. He had A9 for a random bluff that hit an Ace on the river, which allows me to scoop a nice sized pot.

I think the easier play in this situation would be to just raise the donk bet on the flop. I don’t hate the call with the AQ, but it would be much better if I had a diamond in my hand to give me some backdoor flush possibilities. I wanted to avoid raising, so that I didn’t get shoved on and be forced to call, but sometimes that is just the easier play.

Key Concepts

• Taking alternate lines for value with made hands
• Checking to induce a bluff

Sign Up for Rakeback

Original Source: Trikkur 21 – 100NL Red Star Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 14 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 11 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 9 – 100NL at Full Tilt Poker

Throughout my poker training videos, I use two important poker tools that I believe are crucial to every poker player. One of them will cost you a small amount of money up front to use, but the other one is totally free of charge. If you want to become a serious poker player even at just the micro stakes, you will be at a great disadvantage without either of these at your disposal.

PokerStove

I am going to start with the free poker software known as PokerStove that can be downloaded here. PokerStove will be your best friend throughout the entirety of your poker career. You can use PokerStove to analyze the equity your hand/range has versus another hand/range on different boards. For example, you want to know what the chance of winning if you get it all in with 6d 7d against QQ, KK, or AA on a 4d 5d Jh flop? No problem.

PokerStove Equity Calculation – Click to Enlarge

I will also use PokerStove to estimate my opponent’s hand range based on knowing what % of hands he or she is playing. For example, you either know from stats or estimate from playing with someone that they raise about 20-25% of their hands preflop. You can go to preflop range settings set the slider to that percentage of hands or create your own range of hands until you fill out 20-25%.

PokerStove Preflop Range – Click to Enlarge

PokerTracker

The first software that I open when I’m about to play and the last one I close when I’m done playing is called PokerTracker. It takes all your hand histories and imports them into a database on your computer. This was you can easily see how much money you have won or lost during each session, but it does so much more.

PokerTracker has changed a bit since I played this session, but the idea is still the same. Click to Enlarge

PokerTracker can tell you an enormous number of stats from these hand histories that have been imported. Things such as your preflop raise percentage, the number of times you folded to a flop check/raise, to the times you 4-bet after being the preflop raiser. All of this information is available to you at your fingertips with the ability to find your leaks and ways to fix them.

Not only can you find out your own statistics, but these numbers will also be available for all of the opponents you played during the hands. You can use this information to spot weaknesses against your regular opponents and exploit them next time you see them at the tables. PokerTracker has a built in system to display your opponent’s stats for you while you are playing at the tables called a HUD (heads up display). You will see me using a HUD in a lot of my early Full Tilt Poker videos.

My HUD stats during the Trikkur 6 video

Buy PokerTracker

PokerTracker has a purchase price of $99.99, but there is a 30-day free trial that you can use to get accustomed to the software before you make your final decision. They have generously created a small stakes payment tier that works up to 50NL for only $59.99. This will purchase price includes a lifelong license to use PokerTracker and the associated HUD that comes with it.

Original Source: Essential Poker Tools

Related posts:

1. How to Evaluate Aggression Factor
2. How to Use PokerTracker
3. How to Use HUD Stats

In poker, we describe the board texture as a state of wet and dry. A board texture is either wet or dry, but never both. However, it may vary in the severity of the wetness or dryness. This means you may here descriptions such as “the flop was very wet” or “it was a mostly dry board”. This is an important concept to pay attention to because you will vary your plays and bet sizing accordingly.

Wet Board Texture

A wet board texture is one that connects with many possible hands or contains multiple draws. Examples of a few flops that are wet include; , or , or . These flops are very scary even for made hands because of all the potential draws. In an effort to decrease your opponent’s pot odds, you should make much larger bets than normal. You should also play your hand much faster and more aggressively than normal. You very rarely want to slow play on a wet board texture.

Not paying attention to board texture is like lighting money on fire.

Dry Board Texture

A dry board texture is one that does not connect with many potential hands. Examples of dry flops include; , or , or . You can vary your bet sizing by up to 50% of the pot on these board textures, which allows you to control the turn and river bet sizing. This ultimately allows you to be the one deciding if the pot being played is all in or just medium-sized. These flops are frequently known as Way Ahead, Way Behind because you are either crushing your opponent or alternatively have almost no chance of winning the hand.

Dry flops cause your opponent to totally miss with their hand more often because the lack of potential draws. This means he or she will likely always fold or always continue on with the hand regardless of what your bet sizing is. In this case, you should bet larger (80-100% pot) with your good hands such as top pair and overpairs and bet smaller (50-66% pot) when your hand misses the flop. If they always call or always fold, you will save money whenever they hit the flop. In the case that you missed and they hit, you will save some money on your continuation bet that gets called. In the case that you hit and they hit, you will get paid off a larger amount and make it more likely to get it all in by the river.

7-Day Free Trial to CardRunners.com

Original Source: Wet and Dry Board Texture

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 4 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
2. Trikkur 13 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
3. Exploitable and Unexploitable Poker

A LAG style means you play loose (a wide range of hands) and aggressive (betting and raising instead of checking and calling). While raising every hand on the button is a bit too loose and not recommended; opening up your range of hands while on the button is a solid strategy. You can use the PokerTracker software to view your play statistics in order to analyze how many hands you play. Normal stats for a LAG player would be 24-30+% VP$IP (voluntarily put $ in pot) with a 20-25+% PFR (preflop raise).

The biggest advantage of paying a LAG style is your ability to play more pots. If you are at a table full of weak players, you would of course want to play more hands against them. The only way to do this is by playing a wider range of hands than you normally would. If the skill level gap is large enough to make up for playing weaker hands, you can increase your expected value for the session.

Playing more pots is a double edged sword though. You are going to put yourself in tricky post flop situations by playing weaker hands preflop. This is going to increase the amount of potential mistakes you can make per session. You can quickly flush away your profits by misplaying just one or two hands in medium or large pots. You may have also overestimated your skill level and get yourself into trouble with post flop play that you weren’t prepared for.

Small Pot Poker

You want to keep the pot sizes small when you are playing a LAG style. You should be trying to win most of your hands without ever getting to a showdown. This means a lot of preflop raises and 3-betting when you expect your opponent has a wide range themselves. You must remember that your isn’t going to be winning many pots at showdown.

Putting some thought into your continuation bet sizing is also very important with this strategy. Because you are playing so many hands, you must be able to effectively control the pot sizes after the flop. You will frequently be making 50% pot bets instead of the normal 75-90%. You need to think about your end goal for the hand and decide the reason for your continuation bet before you make it.

You need to be aggressive when playing a LAG style and steal blinds.

Double Barreling

If you are keeping the pot small on the flop, you will also allow yourself to make cheaper double barrel bluffs. Don’t forget that building large pots with weak holdings is losing poker though. Bluffing is an essential strategy with a LAG style, but knowing when to give up is just as important. You will be playing a lot more pots and can easily win back a few lost ones, if you kept them small enough.

Before you double barrel, ask yourself these 2 questions. It is probably correct if you can answer yes to both of them.

1. Do you have live outs going to the river? I like to know I can actually make the best hand if my second barrel is called. Sticking more money into a pot when you re possibly drawing dead is a bad idea. This idea is applied even more when you are playing a LAG style because opponents will start to call you down lighter than a TAG opponent.
2. Did the turn give your opponent a reason to fold? Remember that your opponent just called your preflop raise and then your flop bet. What makes you think they are going to change their mind now? The board texture must change if you want your opponent to play their hand in the opposite way they have been doing.

Want More LAG?

If this type of strategy interests you, then check out my Trikkur 3 poker video. I play a very loose aggressive game and raise a ton of hands from late position. I also make a lot of light 3-bets to take the lead in hands, while pushing my opponents off their hands. Seeing the LAG style in action can teach you a lot more than just reading this article will.

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Original Source: LAG Style

Related posts:

1. Isolation Raise
2. Trikkur 53 – Brizzle 10NL Review 1
3. Blind Stealing

A new strategy to improve your win rate while on the button is called an “Isolation Raise”. An isolation raise is a preflop raise made after a player limps into the pot before you. Limping into the pot means just calling the big blind instead of raising with your hand preflop. An example of this would be if UTG+1 calls the big blind and you are on the button with . You should make a raise to 4-5 big blinds, which would be considered an isolation raise. It is called an isolation raise because you are trying to isolate against that one bad player that decided to limp in to the pot and make the hand heads up versus them.

These raises are designed to win a large amount of small pots, which can add up over many sessions. This works because your opponent is likely holding a weak hand; they might have something like 22-44, a mid suited connector, Ace-rag, or two random Broadway cards. If they were holding a stronger hand towards the top of their range, then a raise by them would make more sense. This limp is your signal to strike and isolate that bad limping player with a weak hand.

Possible Results of an Isolation Raise

The most common result is they will just fold preflop to your isolation raise. This is going to instantly win you 2.5 big blinds, which is a nice profit for a crappy hand like that you don’t really want to play postflop anyway. They may also call your preflop raise, in which case you should just make your standard 75% pot continuation bet. Again, this is going to have a high frequency of working because your opponent has already shown weakness preflop by limping and calling.

If your continuation bet gets called or raised, it is now time for you to actually play poker. Depending on your hand and what the flop is, you will have a lot of options because you will still have position on the limper. If he calls and just checks the turn, you can fire a second barrel with both your strong hands for value and a portion of your garbage as bluffs. Balancing your range like this makes it very difficult for opponents to play against you when they are out of position.

You can also use the concept of checking for value to check behind on the turn with some medium strength made hands. If your hand is bad, then do not forget that checking behind and folding to his river bet is perfectly acceptable. Not losing more money when you are beat is going to affect your win rate just as much as winning pots and value betting will. Your opponents must risk more chips than you, while at a positional disadvantage if they want to check/raise the flop or turn. Even if you check back the turn and your opponent wants to bet the river, you were able to see a free card and possibly catch a lucky card to improve your hand.

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If you are looking to take your poker training to the next level, CardRunners.com is the website to check out. CardRunners is a paid poker training site that was one of my original inspirations for PokerTrikz. I had a paid membership to CardRunners for three years and never would have improved so quickly if it weren’t for them. There are amazing training videos from some of the greatest online poker players ever – GreenPlastic, CTS, sbrugby, Raptor, and Stinger just to name some of my favorites. CardRunners is currently offering a 7-day free trial when you sign up for an account and monthly membership. Just cancel any time in the first 7 days and you will not be charged for anything.

Original Source: Isolation Raise

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 2 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
2. Checking for Value
3. Trikkur 10 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker

I have a quick announcement about the training videos and strategy articles I’ve been releasing. In the past I would try to type up a full article for each training video depending on the subjects that the video covered. I have now decided to redo everything again and start with a new format. Hopefully this new way will create a better organization and allow people that want to watch videos to do so, while still creating a lot of great article content for people to read.

Now, the articles that are at the bottom of every video will only contain a few Interesting Hands and Key Concepts. I’ll type up a summary of a few hands that highlights a new strategy, a well-played hand, or even a badly played hand that I should have done differently. The key concepts will be the topics that I covered in the video that I will link to a full-length article about that subject. Some of these articles may take me a while to post, but this will allow me to post more Training Videos, which are definitely more popular than the actual articles.

You can see an example of this in Trikkur 1 and Trikkur 20. I will be continuing to edit these videos, while releasing new ones in the coming months. I hope everyone enjoys the new format and I believe it will be a great change for me and the PokerTrikz members. If you have any comments or suggestions please leave them below or send me an e-mail.

Original Source: Redoing the PokerTrikz Videos Again

The term “checking for value” is not used by many other poker players. I came up with this term when I was trying to describe a situation where I wanted to check a hand because it would earn me more money than betting would. It may seem counter-intuitive to check a hand to earn more value, but I think it is an appropriate term. You can find examples of this concept in my training videos, such as Trikkur 1.

Checking for Value In Position

If you are in position with a marginal made hand, but your opponent’s range is likely weak; you should check behind on the turn instead of betting. A good example of this concept is if you raise on the button and you are called by the Big Blind. The flop is a good one for you and comes . The Villain check/calls your standard 75% pot continuation bet.

The Turn comes and is the and the BB checks to you again. Instead of making a bet this time; checking can actually be more profitable for us. You generally shouldn’t be afraid of the and if we had a hand with no showdown value, this would be a perfect spot to represent the Ace and double barrel bluff. Also, betting becomes risky because our opponent may check/raise to represent the Ace and we would have to fold our hand with solid showdown value. Being able to protect a made hand from check/raise value bets and bluffs is a very important reason to check this turn. This Check would be considered a Check for Value because we are likely to get an extra bet on the river in these two common scenarios.

• Our opponent bluffs – Because we checked the turn instead of firing when the ace hits; our opponents will assume we are afraid of it. Overeager villains with weak hand ranges will often jump on this chance to make a river bluff because they cannot win the pot another way. This allows us to easily call a river bet and show down our good, but not great hand for 2 valuable post flop bets.
• Opponent check/calls river – After we check behind on the turn showing weakness and then decide to make a river bet, our opponent is going to be highly suspicious. Most villains will assume you are trying to win the pot with a bluff because you realized that you will lose at showdown. Being in position will put a lot of pressure on our opponent to decide if you are bluffing or value betting. I would say many players are more likely to check/call with a weak hand on the river, than they would be to check/call a turn bet with that same hand.

You can check this out …. for value. Ok, that was lame. You can click to enlarge though!

Checking for Value Out of Position

The concept of checking for value can also be applied when you are out of position during a hand. If you believe your opponent has a missed draw or a weak hand they might turn into a bluff; then it is better to check the river to them instead of betting and just letting them fold.

Checking to our opponent would be called inducing a bluff because we are giving them an opportunity to (incorrectly) make a stab at the pot. This allows you to call their river bet and win extra money from hands that would have instantly folded if you made the same bet yourself. There are two great examples of this play within the first 10 minutes of the earlier mentioned Trikkur 1 video.

Free 7-day Trial to CardRunners.com

If you are looking to take your poker training to the next level, CardRunners.com is the website to check out. CardRunners is a paid poker training site that was one of my original inspirations for PokerTrikz. I had a paid membership to CardRunners for three years and never would have improved so quickly if it weren’t for them. There are amazing training videos from some of the greatest online poker players ever – GreenPlastic, CTS, sbrugby, Raptor, and Stinger just to name some of my favorites. CardRunners is currently offering a 7-day free trial when you sign up for an account and membership. You have to give your payment details up front when you order a membership, but you can honestly cancel any time in the first 7 days and you won’t be charged. I’ve had PokerTrikz members use a free trial and cancel, only to become a full time member just a few months later when they earned some profit from poker.

Original Source: Checking for Value

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 2 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
2. Range Merging Guide
3. Trikkur 1 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker

This is my first video at the Red Star Poker 400NL tables, which was my main game where I made most of my career earnings at. The 400NL games ran a lot more frequently in 2010 and 2011 than they do currently, but US players can still find plenty of great action at 400NL at JuicyStakes Poker, which is on the same network as Red Star Poker. There is a lot of loose action with 3-betting light preflop and multiple all ins. I misplayed one or two hands, but the session was a good one with many things to discuss. I hope everyone enjoys this Mid Stakes action because I didn’t record a lot of it.

Watch or Download Trikkur 20

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Interesting Hands

12:40 with – There is a limper and I raise in the cutoff with pocket Kings. The button flats my raise and the limper makes the call. The flop is and the original limper check/calls my continuation bet. The turn is an irrelevant and he checks to us. I decided to make a bet and get check/raised all in.

In this spot, I think folding is correct, but it would have been better to check behind on the turn. It sucks to give my opponent a free card if he has a flush draw, but it’s not the end of the world. However, opening myself up to the check/raise from a flush draw hurts even worse. If I check behind, I can just call most river bets if he leads into me. This would cost the same amount of money, but I would get to showdown with my valuable hand.

34:05 with – This is an interesting hand that I misplayed in the end, but I like the line I took up until that point. It starts with a limper and I raise in the cutoff and get called. The flop comes and my opponent donks into me. I bluff raise, which is fairly common for me against flop leads like this when I do not have showdown value. However, he makes a snap call and then shoves a turn. I decided to make the call because my hand improved on the Turn, but honestly I think this is a pretty clear fold. My opponent’s actions indicate a random Ace almost always and there is very little chance that my pair of nines was good. The snap call on the flop and nearly instant shove on the turn does not indicate a bluff to me in any way and should almost always be considered a weakish Ace because he limped/called preflop.

Key Concepts

• Exploiting opponent’s tendencies such as polarized ranges
• Checking for Value on the Turn when you have a made hand

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Original Source: Trikkur 20 – 400NL Red Star Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 12 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 14 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 11 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

This is my first heads up video for PokerTrikz and people really enjoyed it. Heads up is not my primary game, but I played it from time to time. The first thing to realize is you are going to play way more hands than normal. Generally you will play 50-80% of your hands on the button and about 20% of your hands from out of position. Because you are playing so many more hands preflop, you will of course get into a lot more post flop situations. You are going to get it all in with a much wider range of hands in a heads up game, which makes hand reading very crucial. It is a very exciting format though, so action junkies will love it. You will even see me pull off an overbet bluff shove in this very video!

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Interesting Hands

10:05 with – I raise on the button, get min 3-bet and then 4-bet my opponent. I put in a 4-bet and my opponent snap calls. The flop comes and my opponent leads $33 into a $65 pot. I decide to shove all in to maximize my fold equity against something like a mid pocket pair. I figured that the dead money in the pot made it worthwhile to semi-bluff in this spot with a hand that likely has 6 outs if called.

I think the shove might be a little ambitious after rewatching this video however. After seeing how fast my opponent called the 4-bet and then leads into me, I think he is pretty much screaming to me what his hand is. I didn’t remember playing this hand, but I was positive that the opponent had something like 99-JJ here and is probably never going to fold the hand. While I don’t really like it, I believe folding is probably correct here. I just don’t see this opponent folding enough times to make the ~20-25% equity I have when called worthwhile.

Something that I forgot to mention in the video, but was a very important reason behind my turn shove is the ability to protect my hands like AA/KK/QQ here. If I had any of those hands, I would want to play them the same way that I played this AQ hand. I would have 4-bet preflop and wanted to get all the money in on this flop. However, you will become very exploitable if you only play your best hands this way. This means that mixing in a semi-bluff with an AQ/AK type hand in this spot is worthwhile some percentage of the time.

23:40 with – I raise preflop with a marginal hand on the button and get called. The flop is a super dry and my opponent donk bets into me. I’ve mentioned in a few other videos, but I like to raise donk bets on the flop because they are usually weaker hands trying to “feel out” where they are in the pot and you can get a lot of folds. I say this because most players would normally check/raise with a strong hand because they know you are likely to make a continuation bet. However, my opponent calls and the turn pairs the board with the . My opponent checks to me and I check behind. The river is the and my opponent checks to me. The pot has $65 and my opponent has $167 left. I realize there is a good spot for a bluff here because my opponent will never check the turn AND river with a Jack. I think it is likely he has some sort of middle pair and he might call if I bet only 65-90% pot. I make an overbet bluff shove and bet $170 knowing that he can’t make a hero call with 88 in this spot so early in the match.

37:50 with – I defend in the big blind with the suited gapper. Flop is and my opponent continuation bets into me. I decide that I’m going to check/call the flop and check/raise most turns. This is generally a very strong play and normally done with the nuts, which is why I wanted to do it as a semi-bluff with my decent flush draw. However, I think that a flop check/raise is probably better. This takes the lead earlier in the hand, but doesn’t show as much strength as the turn check/raise. Either of these situations leaves us vulnerable to a 3-bet shove, which is why being out of position sucks.

Hit and Run

After my opponent doubles up against me, he immediately sits out and leaves the table. There are different thought processes on this, but I personally believe it is a very scummy thing to do. Not only is it shady because you are taking the money off the table immediately, but it doesn’t make much sense from a profit standpoint either. While it may feel nice to book a buy-in as a win, you are probably leaving a lot of potential profit on the table. If you feel like your opponent is worse than you, then why are you stopping after just one buy-in win? If you feel like your opponent is better than you, then why did you wait so long to leave the table? There were players notorious for this in 2010-2011 and a few poker rooms added rules against repeatedly doing it. Hit and running is not cool people, don’t do it on purpose.

This would solve the problem of people hit and running.

The only time I think this strategy makes sense, is in the “reverse hit and run” that Phil Ivey frequently used at the super high stakes heads up games at Full Tilt Poker. Whenever he would lose one buy-in, he would immediately sit out and end the session. Whenever he would win, he would keep playing for an entire session unless he ever ended up -1 buy in again. This let him book very large wins, but never large losses. He didn’t always stick to this plan though and I can point out a few obvious faults, but it sounds like a good way to avoid large tilt losses against the best players in the world at the highest stakes.

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Original Source: Trikkur 19 – 200 NL Cake Poker HU

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 18 – 200NL Cake Poker
2. Trikkur 1 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
3. Trikkur 6 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker

I play 4 tables of 200NL at Cake Poker in this small stakes training video. This is a funny one to come after Trikkur 17 about tilt control. I had been running bad for a few weeks and you could hear the frustration in my voice. I get angry after I lose a few hands, but I don’t try to alter my game because of it. Making videos helps me in that regard because I know I can’t just monkey tilt away multiple stacks if I want to post the video on PokerTrikz. Learn to take a few deep breaths and just move on from the coolers or suck outs, though it is understandably difficult at times.

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Interesting Hands

14:20 with – I 3-bet on the button against the cutoff raiser and he calls. The flop comes . With the flop being so dry, I don’t feel the need to continuation bet. I think he will call our bet with every hand that is better than us, such as 55-QQ. I also think that he will fold with the hands that are losing to us, such as AQ, AJ, suited connectors, etc.  Unfortunately, the turn pairs my hand, but my opponent shows Aces and I lose an all in.

Amusingly, you can hear the anger in my voice as I lose an all in. However, once you think about it for a second; I was always going to go broke with that hand anyway. If my opponent 4-bets me preflop, which is standard for Aces; I’m not going to hesitate to shove with my suited AK. There are worse hands he could have in this spot and I’m at the top of my 3-betting range with this hand. This is just your standard cooler and something you have to just move past and keep playing. Make sure to take a note that your opponent slow plays Aces sometimes and rebuy.

20:15 with – I raise in a blind vs. blind situation and the big blind 3-bets me. I didn’t really want to call out of position with the KJs, but I feel that my hand has decent equity still. I decided to go for a smallish 4-bet and my opponent called. The flop comes and I am happy with my top pair plus open ended straight draw.

This board is very scary though and it is easy for my opponent to play his hand if I just continuation bet. By this I mean, my opponent can just fold his hand like 88-99 that have no equity, but shove over the top with anything that hit this board. TJ, JQ, QK, AQ, and AK are all in his range and would be willing to shove over my continuation bet. I will probably have to call a shove because I am ahead of enough of that range to be +EV, but there’s no reason to play it like this.

I decided to check because I can let him bluff with his 88-99 hands and lead out with the other part of his range. Now I can be the one to shove over the top of his bet and force him to make a slightly awkward call with something like QJ.

However, my opponent checks behind and one of the worst cards in the deck shows up – . Now I’m losing to 99 and AQ, which I was beating before and I’m not going to get worse hands to put in more money. I just check and my opponent does the same.

The river is a , which puts a straight on board, but any Ace makes a better straight. There is $85 in the pot and I know my opponent will likely call a 50-75% pot bet hoping for the split. I decide to overbet the pot and shove to bluff an Ace that missed a value bet on the turn. It is going to be very difficult for my opponent to make a call, hoping that he splits the pot. This means AT BEST he is going to break even on the call, but loses a full stack when he is wrong.

My opponent tanks and decides to fold. He shows TT, which surprised me. It seems as though he wanted to slow play his set and wait until the Turn to get in more money. The ended up being a worse card for my opponent than it was even for me, which forced him to just check behind on the turn and give up his hand. If he would have played it normally and just bet the flop – I would have shoved over the top and he gets it in as a good favorite.

I like how I played the hand, but I do think my river bet could have been slightly smaller. Betting $85-100 would still be an overbet and accomplish the same thing. The all-in probably looks stronger, but I might be able to save myself $50 when my opponent randomly shows up with an Ace in this spot.

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Original Source: Trikkur 18 – 200NL Cake Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 12 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 5 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker
3. Trikkur 1 – 200NL at Full Tilt Poker

Trikkur 17 is a video for micro stakes players that are ready to get serious about online poker. I play at 4 tables of 50NL and focus on a solid, tight aggressive (TAG) style. Even with my TAG style, this video ends up being a good example of how things can keep going wrong in a session. I miss a lot of big draws and I make some bluffs that turn out to be incorrect. This bad luck leads into a brief discussion on tilt control before the video ends.

Because PokerTrikz is 5+ years old now, there is some talk of setting up the now available PokerTrikz Rakeback section and other changes/promotions that I was doing at the time. Most of that discussion is outdated now, but you can still always use the contact page or e-mail me at Trikkur(AT)PokerTrikz[DOT]com for any questions you might have.

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Interesting Hands

11:55 with AT: I think I played this hand wrong in hindsight. I decided to check hte turn to my two opponents, even though I thought I had the best hand. I assumed one of them would make bet and I could get in a nice check/raise. With so many draws on the board however, I think it is less likely that someone bets in this spot because they would rather take the free card. I should have lead out for ~90% pot and be happy if I get a caller because my hand is likely +EV against a draw.

20:30 with 8Ts: Here is another hand that I think I misplayed. I lead out on the flop with the open-ended straight draw and get one caller. The turn is an Ace and I make a bet. I think this is a good bluff because the hands that call on that flop, normally do not contain an Ace. However, once my opponent called on the Ace turn, I think my river bet is incorrect. He has shown me that he isn’t really afraid of that Ace and the chance that I get him to lay his hand down seem pretty bad. I should of just check/folded on the river and saved myself a nice bet.

Tilt Control

This isn’t the section where I’m going to go into a ton of details about tilt control, but I briefly mentioned it in the video and it is very important. At some time, everyone is going to get sucked out on, miss all their draws, and run into coolers repeatedly. How you deal with this bad luck is more important than the monetary losses you will be suffering.

Sometimes nothing seems to go right when you are playing.

I do not think that NOT tilting is the key skill, as much as, just recognizing when you are tilting. Once you can recognize the signs of tilt, you can deal with it appropriately from there. Depending on your personality and the severity of your tilt, you may be able to keep playing after recognizing the signs. I’ve been able to calm myself down and continue to make good decisions even after I was tilted. However, more often than not playing while tilted is a terrible decision. Sometimes not playing poker is a more +EV move than playing poker while tilted.

How much you win or lose each session is irrelevant. In this video, I missed a few draws that could have won me an entire stack each. On the other hand, you might hit all of these and feel like a champion at the end of it. These things will generally average out over time, but you have to play a lot of hands for it to approach the average. This means you have to outlast the bad times and keep playing your best game at all times.

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Original Source: Trikkur 17 – 50NL Red Star Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 15 – 50NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 12 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 11 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

I return to the 200NL tables at Red Star Poker in my Trikkur 16 training video. This is a more advanced video targeted towards players that want to turn poker into a full-time job. I talk about a few of my personal experiences with playing daily and setting a schedule or goals for myself. There is also a cool bluff and a King high river call.

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Interesting Hands

This is a new section that I’m going to start including for the training videos. It will highlight a few good hands from the video that teach a new strategy or theory that I was trying to teach. They may also just be cool or funny hands that are worth watching again.

31:40 with K3o: This is a fun hand because I end up calling the River with King high. It is a good example of reading the line that your opponent takes in a hand and realizing that they can only have a specific range. In this case, I was certain he would not have been betting for value and that he likely had a missed draw that wouldn’t contain an Ace.

32:45 with 89s: I ended up making a bluff at this pot when my pair was counterfeit by the board having 2-pair. I wanted to get my opponent to fold in what I believe was a split pot. I only had to bet 1/2 pot, which means it only needs to work 1 in 3 times. If you don’t understand why it has to work 1 in 3 times, then think about it like this. We can Bet 22 – lose 22, Bet 22 – lose 22, Bet 22 – win 48 and that would mean we would make $4 on average after making this play three times.

Goal Setting in Poker

I start to discuss playing online poker as a full-time job. Once you decide to take the next step from playing poker as a hobby to a job; you need to start setting goals. I spoke briefly about setting a specific time schedule, but some of my thoughts have changed since I made this video. I now believe it is better to set monthly goals that you can aim for instead of being too rigid with your play time. Just make sure to avoid setting goals that you can not specifically control, such as winnings.

Set goals that you have control over. Image by Stuart Miles

Good Examples of Goals

• Play 30,000 hands
• Play 100 hours
• Earn $500 in rakeback

Bad Examples of Goals

• Win $2,000
• Move up to 100NL
• Win a MTT

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Original Source: Trikkur 16 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

Related posts:

1. Trikkur 11 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
2. Trikkur 12 – 200NL at Red Star Poker
3. Trikkur 14 – 200NL at Red Star Poker

Black Chip Poker has decided to move their poker room from the Merge Network to the Winning Poker Network. This change happened on December 3, 2012 and was primarily completed within 24 hours. The writers at 4Flush have reported that there are still a few minor cashout issues with the network change, but they are expected to be resolved before the week is over.

What Caused BCP to Move Networks?

Black Chip Poker has not given an official comment about the reason they changed networks, but speculation points to the Poker Maximus series that Merge Gaming is currently running. As a large tournament series, trying to rival things like the WSOP from PokerStars, Merge Gaming committed to some fairly high guaranteed tournament prizes for the Poker Maximus series. These high prizes were sure to cause massive overlays, which would be passed on to the operators of skins on the Merge Network. Black Chip Poker, along with Hero Poker and RPM Poker, opted out of Poker Maximus before it began last week. Currently, only Black Chip Poker has moved networks, but rumors are flying that Hero Poker and RPM Poker may be close to follow.

The Poker Maximus Series has massive overlays. This makes it a great deal for tournament players, but not for the operators.

The Winning Poker Network

Black Chip Poker decided to settle their poker room on the Winning Poker Network. For those unfamiliar, the Winning Poker Network was formerly known as Yatahay Network. This network goes back to the early 2000s when their only poker room was True Poker. After a number of network changes, the former Doyle’s Room decided to also settle on the Yatahay network about 3 years ago. Doyle’s Room had it’s name changed to America’s Cardroom after Doyle Brunson decided to step down as the figure head. After these changes, Yatahay decided to rebrand themselves as The Winning Poker Network, which is what they are known by today.

I personally play at True Poker and recommend that my US Players sign up for the True Poker rakeback deal; so this network change was great news for me. I could already see the changes in the True Poker cash game lobby when I played this weekend – there was a 50% increase in traffic. Most of these players are at the micro and small stakes games such as $.10/$.25 and $0.25/$0.50, but there was also a noticeable change at the higher limits tables of $1/$2 and just a bit of $2/$4. If you have played at True Poker in the past, then you might want to give them another shot with the increased amount of players they have now. You may also sign up for 27% Black Chip Poker Rakeback and you will be playing with the same players and receive the same rakeback deal that True Poker offers.

Here is a comparison of the True Poker Lobby just days before Black Chip Poker moved over and then the day of the switch. You can click on the images to enlarge them.

This is the True Poker Lobby just a few days before the change

This is the True Poker Lobby after the network change

Original Source: Black Chip Poker Moves to Winning Poker Network

Related posts:

1. Muchos Poker
2. Full Tilt Poker Returns