Bart Hanson

by Bart Hanson, April 01, 2018Don’t Out Level yourself in a Bomb Pot! Watch bet sizing. One of the more interesting new aspects of No Limit Holdem is the appearance of what is called “bomb pots” in casino poker. Bomb Pots, were first introduced at the Peppermill in Reno, NV and is a high stakes way for a single person to pay the...

by Bart Hanson, March 04, 2018Pay attention to preflop “configuration”. You can represent a very strong range when you open from the blinds vs a button straddle. In Los Angeles, where I play 99% of my cash game No Limit hours, some casinos allow a straddle on the button, known as a Mississippi straddle. Different rooms have different rules about where the action...

by Bart Hanson, February 18, 2018Bets can sometimes be made in multiway pots that get better to fold and weaker to call in the form of draws. As crazy as it sounds, there are unique situations that come up where you can make an aggressive move that gets a better hand to fold and a weaker hand (usually in the form of a...

by Bart Hanson, February 04, 2018Sometimes the run out is such that checking to check-call on the river is the right play. If you are familiar with a lot of the work that I do over at my training site CrushLivePoker.com you would know that I am not a big fan of check-calling the river in NL Holdem. Simply put, players, especially toward...

by Bart Hanson, December 24, 2017High only hands have very little value in deep stack PLO8 cash games. PLO8 played as a cash game is not a very common form of poker. Of all of the poker variants it perhaps has the LEAST variance and volatility making it hard for bad players to even win within a single session. However, recently PLO8 has...

by Bart Hanson, December 10, 2017You should consider backdoor equity when making a continuation bet bluff. A few years ago over at my training site, CrushLivePoker.com, I discussed a system that taught players when to continuation bet as a bluff, after being the preflop raiser. I called this system the “Cbet bluffing Matrix” and it involved a number of different factors that one...

by Bart Hanson, November 26, 2017Bet sizing leads to proper hand reading. One of the advantages of playing a lot of hours is that you can pick up on common betting patterns from players that play occasionally. And one tell tale betting pattern that is tried and true is when a player bets the same amount or less on the turn compared to...

by Bart Hanson, November 12, 2017The check call lead out on the turn can be attacked. A few weeks ago I played an interesting hand in a three-bet pot at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. The game was $5-$5 and had a maximum buy in of $1000. I was doing well for the session and sat with $2200.The villain in the hand...

by Bart Hanson, October 29, 2017You can choose large sizing if you don’t think your opponent will fold top pair. Unlike the previous hand, the next day at the Commerce I got into a beautiful spot where I did not think that my opponent was going to fold top pair given the action—but this time I had pure value. In this spot, with...

by Bart Hanson, October 15, 2017Sometimes you can bluff because of relative position A few weeks ago I played an interesting hand in the $5-10NL $1500 cap game at the Commerce Casino. It was late on a Friday night and the game was generally loose and good, and I had just moved to the table. The villain in this hand was in the...

by Bart Hanson, July 23, 2017Unique individual situations often arise in the Main Event. Top set in a 3 bet pot…. Since the 2017 Main Event was played a few weeks ago I thought that it would be topical to cover an interesting hand from my journey this year. First of all the Main Event is a very special tournament. You have probably...

by Bart Hanson, June 25, 20174 bet pot hand reading reveals I must have the best hand About two hours into my session at the Bicycle Casino, gathering hands for my “100 hands at $5-$5 series” I played a rare four bet pot preflop at $5-$5. The hand was strange due to my opponents’ very small three bet sizing out of the blind....

by Bart Hanson, June 04, 2017Sometime you can call with a draw because your opponent will make bet-sizing mistakes on future streets. Right before the WSOP this past summer I decided to play two long sessions of $5-$5 $1000 cap no limit to gather content for my series “100 hands of $5-$5” on CrushLivePoker.com. The hands were played across one weekend at the...

by Bart Hanson, May 28, 2017If the situation lines up correctly sometimes you can call with a draw on a double paired board. On the surface calling with a draw on a doubled paired board seems like suicide especially if you do not have showdown value. But occasionally, if all things line up correctly, the situation may warrant it. I played a hand...

by Bart Hanson, April 30, 2017Sometime players will not continue with the betting lead on the river, so you should consider min raising the turn in position with a hand that you think is best. A lot of players, as the preflop raiser, like to slowplay a hand that they think is best on the turn if they are facing an opponent that...

by Bart Hanson, April 16, 2017In a multiway pot the player that calls next to act usually has a draw or a strong hand, especially from out of position. Use this to your advantage. A few weeks ago I played a very interesting hand at the Bicycle Casino where I got absolutely “owned”. The situation brings up a unique spot in multiway pots...

by Bart Hanson, March 05, 2017There is a huge difference between all in equity and equity against someone’s range All-in Sometimes when we are on a downswing we take a look at the large pots that we recently lost. It is easy for us to identify the spots where we got it in good and failed to win. These “bad beat” hands increase...

by Bart Hanson, February 19, 2017Sometimes you can go you can go for thin value in a 3 bet pot. We all know that if you want to maximize your win rate in live no limit holdem you have to be able to bet thinly for value. But this does not just apply to normal single raised pots. You must be willing to...

by Bart Hanson, February 05, 2017Think about what you want to accomplish when you flop a pair and a flush draw It is interesting how different types of players take different lines with draws. Some guys play them incredibly fast, pounding money into the pot whenever they have at least nine outs. Others take a more passive route and just call until they...

by Bart Hanson, January 22, 2017Don’t get upset if you make the right fold preflop and then happen to flop the nuts I was watching an old WSOP episode from 2005 the other night and saw Scott Lazar appear to fall apart after he folded A5os preflop from the blind. The board ended up coming out with three aces in it making him...