For the poker tournament players among you this is something you should be doing. To give it the proper title, Blind Stealing is an important aspect of poker to keep your stack in good shape as the blinds increase throughout the tournament. We would prefer not to reach the all-in shove or fold stage and stealing blinds is a way of avoiding this. Winning pots is also a good idea too. Hopefully this article will help you do both, so let’s get cracking.

You should always play Texas Hold’em poker to win (if you don’t play to win please email me for my table details and schedule) and this is especially true for the tournament specialists. Just making the money is great but it will not make you a profitable player. It may be difficult for you to play in such a way that leads to an early bust or win scenario, but the returns are so good when you do win this is a better overall strategy to adopt in poker tournaments. Firstly then, play to win and blind stealing attempts form part of this.

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This weeks Live Poker show is available to download. As always simply press play on the player below and you can start listening right away. This weeks show features all three hosts, but when Gary leaves to do a coaching session both myself Mal and Gareth stay on for another 40 minutes or so rambling on about stuff. Its 1 hour 38 minutes of poker fun, check it out!

You can also listen/download any of our previous shows by visiting our podcast page. Enjoy the shows and check back next week for more live poker radio!

Much of pokers appeal is due to the fact that a vast proportion of the outcome of a hand can be controlled by us, therefore giving skilled players an edge over weaker players. Thankfully for the skilled players, luck disguises this edge and keeps weaker players playing the game that they remain inadequate at. This puts the skilled player in a powerful position. But the skills learned by those who play Texas Hold’em poker online and improve are transferable to other areas of life. This makes the study of online poker much more than just learning a card game.

A study in 2008 by the Journal of Gambling Issues develops interesting theories that profitable poker players become very good at micro-managing aspects of their poker play that transpose into very useful life skills. An awareness of some of these concepts by the poker player currently learning and improving their game will highlight the benefits of playing poker that can be used away from the table in business or social settings.

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I rarely recommend a blog for readers to check out but I’ll make an exception for the Trett mob.

Mark and Daniel Trett are both prominent Poker players in the North East of England.

Their blog is Full Trett Poker (good name) and you should check them out.

They might even appear on radio one day or at least listen to the shows.

Enjoy their blog, which is the type of Poker blog I enjoy, meaning it’s updated regularly.

The majority of online poker sites have realised that many of their customers do not want to travel half way across the world in order to play in a large poker festival such as a European Tour event or the World Series of Poker so instead they have launched their own online poker events to rival those of their land-based competitors.

Whilst events such as the World Series of Poker only occur annually, some of the online poker events take place every three to six months meaning players can get the feel of taking part in a major event all year round, each with a chance of winning a life-changing amount of money for very little outlay.

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Our weekly Live Poker Show is now available for download or streaming. Click play on the player to begin listening to the show!

To download this or any of our previous shows please visit our podcast host page and click download!

We hope you enjoyed this weeks show and look forward to next week!

One major difference between a winning player and a losing one is the starting hands that each of them choose to play pre-flop. Although no-limit Hold’em is a game played over multiple streets, having solid starting hand requirements gives you a large advantage over opponents who will literally play any two cards.

Position plays a major part in deciding which cards to play as you should ideally be playing very tight in early position and loosening up your standard the closer to the button you are. The reason for this is position is everything in Hold’em and the closer to the button you are, the greater your advantage is over your opponents, meaning you can play a much wider range of hands.

One of the first poker hand tips I heard that related to early position was “tight is right but tighter is righter”. The English might not be perfect but it is entirely true. When in early position you should be folding the majority of your starting hands, only playing medium pairs and raising premium hands such as QQ or better and ace-king. Being out of position for the rest of the hand, if you are called, means you need a much stronger hand to consider playing.

Once you reach the middle positions you can start to play more hands, such as all pairs, some suited connectors, suited aces and hands such as king-jack and ace-ten. If the action is folded around to you in middle position then raising the hands mentioned might be a profitable thing to do as you stand a larger chance of winning the blinds and antes as there are less people left to act, which reduces the chances of one of them having a good hand to call you with.

When you find yourself sitting in the cut-off or on the button, your range of starting hands should be quite wide. If everyone folds to you and the players in the blinds seem to be playing tight or passively then you can open with a raise with a huge range of hands, including any ace, any king, most queens, any two cards ten and above, all pairs, most suited connectors, unsuited connectors and suited one-gappers, and expect to take down the pot pre-flop. Even if you are called you have the positional advantage in the hand and could win the pot with a well-timed continuation bet on the flop.

Both online and live poker are full of different characters, from the wannabe comedian to the player who celebrates excessively after winning a hand. Whilst there is nothing wrong with becoming one of these characters, one of the most important poker lessons small stakes players should learn is there is no place in poker for an ego.

There are a number of definitions for ego in the dictionary but one that stands out to me is “an exaggerated sense of self-importance” something that many poker players suffer with, and a trait that harms their game more than they would care to admit.

The main problem of having an inflated ego is that you will start to actually believe that you are entitled to win every single pot you are involved in and when the inevitable happens and you lose money or tournament chips in a hand, you will take it personally and the possibility of going on tilt is increased.

Another problem with having an ego is that you may start to make plays that are sub-optimal, mainly making calls when you fail to see you are beaten because you simply do not believe your opponent has managed to outplay you, which obviously costs you money.

Also, someone with an inflated ego is more likely to think they are a much better player than they actually are and as a result they could enter games where they believe they have an edge but in reality they will become the mark at the table for the better players and even if they are losing they will put it down to bad luck or good luck of their opponents, not the fact they are not as good at poker as those they are playing.

There is no room for an ego at any stakes but I have found there are too many egotistical players at the small stakes where players think they are much better than everyone else at their level but what they fail to remember is they are all playing small stakes for a reason.

Poker is a game where confidence is key to becoming successful but there is a fine line between being confident and being ego driven. Make sure you do not cross that line.

By Carl “The Dean” Sampson

Ok so I promised a few weeks ago to write a daily blog but this month has just not been possible for me. I have undertaken even more work and I haven’t even played poker in ages as well. Although starting 1st April I will be doing a 100-1 challenge in which I try to turn $100 into $10,000. I may even start as low as $50 yet but I have pencilled this in time wise so it is likely to happen.

This will run alongside the Vulture, Jackal and Fox systems so April should be a really exciting month. I am also in the process of trying to lose a couple of stone in weight as well so I am having to tough things out. The challenge won’t be to win 10k, it will be to keep my control whilst playing for tiny amounts. Seeing as I have no history of doing this for long periods in the past then it will be tough.

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Playing poker for a living is something we all dream of doing. But is the reality as good as the fantasy? Taking bad beats would hurt much more if it was our beer money we were losing as opposed to our poker bankroll that has no bearing on our life bankroll.

The ability to manage the emotional swings is part of pokers skill and the best players do it best. Not everyone can do this very well, I constantly work on this challenging aspect of poker.

Many good players fall by the wayside for not learning that second important part of playing winning poker as well as the theory, which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill.

The skills required for a winning poker player are emotional control, good poker theory knowledge and the discipline to keep playing even when they would prefer not to. In short, the dedication of a professional.

Whilst some people join a training site in order to take their game to the next level, others prefer a more personal touch and enlist the services of a dedicated poker coach, after all, it is the best way to get poker lessons from a pro.

There are literally hundreds of players out there advertising their coaching services, with prices ranging from $50 to $1,000 per hour. It can be quite a mine field choosing the correct one for you so hopefully the following tips will help you get the most out of coaching.

The first and most obvious check you should make is on the coach themselves. There is no point hiring the services on someone who is not a winning player in their chosen field and a winning player by a large margin at that. Thanks to the internet, there are dozens of websites that track cash games, sit ‘n’ go and multi table tournaments so you can ensure that your coach really is the great player they are saying they are.

Next you should find out what methods they use to coach their students. Some prefer to go through hand histories after your session has finished, some would rather watch you live through a programme such as Team Viewer and give you guidance as you play whilst some even prefer you to travel to their home or a camp they have set up. Choose a coach who uses techniques you will get the most out of personally, some prefer text based work whilst others will learn better with practical, hands-on guidance.

Finally, and possibly the most vital, make sure your chosen coach can provide references from previous students that verify he or she can give solid a advice and that is has helped others previously. Just because someone is beating the medium to high stakes online, does not mean that they are actually any good at putting their point across and sharing their knowledge. It takes more than poker skills to become a poker teacher.

Above all, once you have selected your perfect coach, ensure you put a lot of hard work in. There is no point paying a lot of money to hire this person if you are not going to at least match the work they put into the program. Coaching is a two way thing and done correctly can transform you from a breakeven player into a winning one.