Pokerton ♠️ News

2021-02-25 20:01:41 Why so serious? Open / Comment

2021-02-24 16:58:28 Blockers
How many combinations?
Suited Aces block bigger hands
In a regular tournament where the calling range would be wider you would probably prefer JJ because it plays well against smaller pairs that could call you. In this spot, however, A5 suited is a much better resteal. Why?

The calling range of AK and QQ+ is made up of six combinations of QQ, six combinations of KK, six combinations of AA and 16 combinations of AK. That is 34 combinations of cards in total.

However, when you shove with A5 suited the fact you have the Ace in your hand reduces the number of combinations. It becomes six combinations of QQ, six combinations of KK, three combinations of AA and 12 combinations of AK. That is 27 combinations rather than 34, because the Ace in our hand reduces the overall number of combinations.

A shove with A5 suited should get called 20% less often than JJ on a satellite bubble. It also has some straight and flush equity when called.

#strategy #blockers Open / Comment

2021-02-23 20:54:56 Blockers
The cards in your hand reduce the possibilities of your opponent's range

A blocker is a card in your hand which reduces the chance your opponent from having one of the likely hands in their range. If you get to the river with A J on a T 4 2 Q 7 board, you do not have a made hand but it is impossible for your opponent to have the nut flush because you have the A. You can potentially bluff them on this board because you know they cannot have the nuts, because you have the blocker.

In recent years the importance of blockers has been greatly elevated. They impact all aspects of calling, value betting and bluffing.

We will cover blockers in detail in future articles but today let’s start with a simple but useful example of how valuable they are. It is the bubble of a satellite, you are the short stack Big Blind and the Button opens to two big blinds, you shove for 20 big blinds and in this spot you know your opponent can only call with the following range:

AK, QQ+

Would you prefer to have JJ or A5 suited in this spot?
let us know your opinion in comment's

#strategy #blockers Open / Comment

2021-02-22 15:35:11 Cowboy goes broke in 3 minutes! Open / Comment

2021-02-21 18:33:56 $1.1 million jackpot winner

OK it was technically at a casino poker table against the House not a normal poker game, but turning $5 into seven-figures with a Royal Flush is always noteworthy.

Frank Nagy won a $1,105,757 progressive jackpot at the Tropicana in Atlantic City last week when his $5 side bet at a four card poker table dealt him a Royal Flush

It was the biggest ever jackpot scooped at a Caesars Entertainment casino and the lucky winner tipped the dealers working that night $50,000. Open / Comment

2021-02-19 18:17:25 Polk shares his database stats vs Negreanu
Doug Polk certainly seems to enjoy talking about his challenge against Daniel Negreanu more than actually playing it, and there is a lot to talk about.

One of the biggest debates surrounding the match was whether he ran well against Negreanu? Negreanu certainly seemed to think so, whereas Polk claimed he felt it was he who ran bad, despite winning $1.2 million.

Yesterday he put some of that to bed, revealing some key stats from his tracking database (on screen)

Probably the most eye catching thing there is just how much of that $1.2 million was from his red line, ie. his non-showdown winnings. This is usually a reliable indicator of skill, forcing his opponent to muck their hands. Open / Comment

2021-02-18 20:09:55 Open / Comment

2021-02-15 21:00:59 Newspaper claims footballer won $100m at poker
Put on your sceptical hat for this, but a newspaper is claiming that former Everton star Thomas Gravesen is one of the biggest winners in poker.

The Daily Star wrote that the Danish midfielder had won over $100 million playing poker since retiring from football and moving to the United States.

At this stage it would be remiss of us to point out that the Daily Star in the UK is not exactly a Pulitzer winning publication. Also, mainstream media tend to get turnover and profit gravely mixed up in these stories.

The article also claims that Gravesen lost $54 million in a single heads-up session in Vegas. That actually has some secondary evidence to be found, as five years ago somebody made the same claim on 2+2. They also said Gravesen was up $80 million at the time.

So it seems clear that Gravesen plays high stakes games and possibly has been a winner in them.

#news Open / Comment

2021-02-15 20:51:34 Open / Comment