When dealing with playing 3-bet pots a lot of players have difficulty with hand reading. Players are far more comfortable in single raised pots because the situations are more common. Even if you only get involved with a few 3-bet pots per session sometimes they make up the largest pots of the night. Let's take a look at the following example. Even though...

You will often find yourself in multiway scenarios at the mid to low stakes levels of live No Limit Hold'em. When we’re up against multiple hands it can sometimes be difficult to navigate, post flop, especially for players that do not have a lot of experience. In this article we’ll look at a hand played by a Crush Live Poker member and see...

Many poker players (especially those who play tournaments) have had it drilled into them that aggressive poker is winning poker. While it’s true that aggression is very powerful, especially at lower stakes, what’s most important is knowing when you should be aggressive and why you are applying aggression. In today’s article we’ll be looking at a hand played by a loyal Crush Live...

Traditionally in poker the first step in deciding whether or not to place a bet is deciding the reason behind your bet. Are you bluffing in an attempt to make your opponent fold? Are you value betting trying to entice a call? Or are you betting to try and protect your hand from a scary runout? While this simplistic way of thinking is...

Poker math is almost never fun for most players, but it can be extremely helpful in close situations where the default play isn’t obvious. Being able to calculate simple odds and equity in game will give you a massive edge over your opponents. In today’s article we’ll break down a simple math equation that will tell you roughly how much equity you have...

If you’ve seen the movie ‘Rounders” you’ll likely remember the scene where Mike McDermott and his sidekick Worm attempt to cheat a group of police officers at a private poker home game. It's difficult to blame the police officers for being angry after catching the duo in the act. Collusion is difficult to pinpoint at the poker table, and it can take many...

Have you ever found yourself holding a fairly strong hand on the river when first to act and can’t decide whether to bet for value or to check call? All too often players take the road of least resistance and just go for the check- call, win the pot, and pat themselves on the back. The truth of the matter is that these players...

Have you ever found yourself holding a fairly strong hand on the river when first to act and can’t decide whether to bet for value or to check call? All too often players take the road of least resistance and just go for the check- call, win the pot, and pat themselves on the back. The truth of the matter is that these players...

When playing in low stakes live games, getting maximum value with your strong hands is very important. Low stakes players for the most part tend to be too passive and nitty, meaning that if you want to win all of the money, you’ll probably need to start betting more yourself. In today’s article we’ll be taking an in-depth look at a hand clipped...

Maximizing your profits is one of the most important aspects of live poker, but many newer players seem to struggle with capitalizing on even the easiest of value betting situations. All too often players will be a bit nervous on the river and just take the easy option, checking it back and showing down, to avoid the risk of value-owning themselves against a...

It can be good sometimes to mix up your play against aware opponentsI think “mixing up your play” is one of the most overused and misplaced concepts in live poker. Below the $10-20 no limit level you certainly do not need to “mix up” your play to be a big winner. In fact, the smaller the game and the more restricted the buy...

Tweet Reversal--In drop games like in California you should chopOne of the first articles that I ever wrote for CardPlayer told people that they should not chop in big bet games. My argument was basically that players would get so rattled if you “played” that they would make very poor decisions after the flop. I gave an example of a player that stacked...

As you become a more experienced No Limit Holdem player you realize that a great way to increase your winrate is to learn the right cards to double barrel bluff when you have the betting lead as the preflop raiser. Double barreling is a very complex concept but to simplify things most of the time if a disconnected, overcard comes to top pair...

There are a number of different variables that go into making a good continuation bet bluff spot. Even though, at the lower levels of no limit, most of your money is won through getting maximum value with the best hand, probably the most frequent situation that occurs in NL comes from being the preflop raiser and missing the board post flop. Because holdem...

When we talk about adjustments in NL holdem the looseness and tightness of your image is one of the first things that you should recognize about your own game. In theory, the more hands that you play the less likely that it is that your opponents will give you credit. If you do not play many hands you should be able to get...

Variance in poker, as we understand it, can be a very difficult concept to deal with. No matter how sound our emotions are when we lose a big pot, not matter what stakes we are playing at, it can be difficult to handle. But, if we did not have this element of luck involved with the game would we really have a game...

Capped no limit strategy is a very straight forward topic. Most of the time if you play extremely tight in a long handed format, bet thinly for value, know how to bet-fold and do not tilt you can be a winner in the game. The simple fact of the matter is, and I have examined this before, you really cannot call more than...

The simple fact of the matter is the shorter stacked you are the less skill that it takes to be successful in no limit. That is why it is recommended that new players play with a short stack when they are first getting accustomed to the game. Your decisions become a lot easier post flop mainly because you can not really flat call...

Those of you who have played PLO know that sometimes in a multiway pot a non- nutty, two-way draw can be complete garbage. That is one of the costly mistakes that holdem players learn when transitioning to the new game. If you have 7:d: 8:d: K:c: A:c: and the board runs out 9:d: T:d: 2:s: and you are facing a bet and several aggressive...

As long as we are on this combinatorics rant I wanted to bring up another scenario where people do not realize that they are more likely to hold the best hand at showdown. This spot involves us holding an overpair when a front door flush draw comes in on the river. Say we raise A:c: A:d: to $8 from UTG+1 in a $1-$2...