David Lappin

Nothing in poker beats making a final table. You played well for hours, ran hot, and probably won at least a few all-ins. But when you're at a final table, the importance of each decision is magnified as there are often significant pay jumps for each spot. Unfortunately, since making final tables is rare and difficult, it can be hard to get practice...

Some poker players love to set traps. Players who trap too often are pretty easy to play against, but so are those who never trap. Like most things in poker, balance is the key. It’s also important to navigate cautiously when a trap doesn’t go exactly to plan. In 2017, Irish poker pro Dara O’Kearney made the final table of the Killarney...

Every time you sit down at the poker table, you make mistakes (even if you're Phil Ivey). What matters is how you learn from those mistakes. Jamie Nixon is one of the brightest young poker talents in the UK and, like most great players, he is immensely self-critical. In 2019, when he was up against high stakes regular Örpen Kısacıkoğlu in a WPT...

What does it take for you to lose all your chips in level 1 of the WSOP Main Event? With 300 big blinds and the slowest structure of any live tournament… …it should require the coldest of cold decks. Let's look back on a classic, crazy hand from the 2017 Main Event that demonstrates what it takes for an accomplished pro to exit...

I've analyzed a lot of high stakes tournament hands here on the Upswing Poker blog, so I figured some readers might appreciate a dip into a low stakes hand. After all, tournaments in the $10-50 buy-in range online and the $100-500 buy- in range live are what the majority of poker players prefer to play. That's why this article zooms in on a hand...

I've analyzed a lot of high stakes tournament hands here on the Upswing Poker blog, so I figured some readers might appreciate a dip into a low stakes hand. After all, tournaments in the $10-50 buy-in range online and the $100-500 buy- in range live are what the majority of poker players prefer to play. That's why this article zooms in on a hand...

One of the toughest spots in poker is when you have a marginal hand and face a decision for all of your chips. It doesn't matter if you play the micros online or live high rollers, these situations are almost always anxiety- inducing. Cut to the Triton $250,000 Buy-In High Roller tournament, in which Daniel Dvoress was put all-in by David Peters when the...

There is perhaps nothing more satisfying in poker than watching your opponent fall into the trap that you carefully set....

When two elite players are seated together late on in a tournament, it is often wise for them to steer clear of one another. This is even more so the case if they both have big stacks. That being said, sometimes butting heads will be unavoidable. That is what happened in the later stages of a $700 WCOOP event when high stakes pros...

When two friends clash at the poker table, it generally goes one of three ways: Some friends go after each other relentlessly; Others (consciously or unconsciously) try to avoid each other; And some just play their game and let the cards fall where they may. I ended up in this situation when I squared off vs my podcast co-host and friend Dara O’Kearney...

To mark the beginning of the 2021 World Series of Poker (which started yesterday), today's article zooms in on a key hand from the 2017 WSOP....

Heads-up for the WSOP Main Event title. A bracelet and $2.5 million on the line. The poker veteran in a sharp suit, shirt unbuttoned, bedazzled with chains. The accountant with the implausibly perfect name, wearing a beige Poker Stars baseball cap and sunglasses. A bluff that will change the poker world forever....

When your opponent either has the nuts or nothing, it can make sense to bluff- catch with a marginal hand. Today's hand is an example of such a situation. In October 2018, The Battle of Malta boasted a then-record field of 3,816 players. British tournament specialist Andy Hills made it to the final table but, on his way there, he faced an excruciatingly difficult...

In 2016, the $111,111 WSOP One Drop brought out a who’s who of poker’s elite. A stacked final table boiled down to two of the greatest players in the game’s history. With $3 million banked, Dan Smith and Fedor Holz took their seats to play for an...

In November 2018, the Unibet Open took place in my hometown of Dublin, Ireland. Home advantage meant I was familiar with more of my table mates than I normally am on the live circuit. Late on Day 1, I was moved to the TV table, where I got into a very non-standard hand with Richie O’Neill, a regular on the Irish poker scene...

Tom ‘Jabracada’ Hall is one of the most fearsome online and live poker players that the UK has ever produced. He is also one of the most ICM-aware opponents you are ever likely to face. That expert knowledge often comes to the fore on final tables, when ICM considerations play a big part in ultimate decision making. In 2019,...

I've got an interesting hand for you today, folks. Three huge factors were at play in this one: A $25,000 buy-in online is just about...

For my fifth strategy article, I thought I’d put myself on the chopping-block and breakdown a hand from the 2018 Irish Open. I made the final table of the ‘JP Masters’, eventually finding myself heads-up against breakout poker star and WSOP Main Event 8th place finisher Jack Sinclair. The hand is the poker version of a game of ‘cat...

Dominik Nitsche is considered by many to be one of the best tournament players in the world, and for good reason. In his career, the German native has amassed $18,649,880 in live tournament earnings, including 4 World Series of Poker...

Have you ever been scared money? It can do funny things to you. Some players adjust too aggressively and fire out loose 3-bets and 4-bets, afraid to trust their postflop skills. Others get too timid and look for reasons not to put chips in the pot....