Blog: Cardplayer Lifestyle Poker Blog

As you play poker, ask yourself this one simple question -- Am I having fun? You are at the casino playing low-limit Texas Hold’em. You have been playing that game for many years. You have played in home games, but for the last 20 years you’ve played only at your local casinos, with occasional visits to Las Vegas. In the long run,...

I had a student reach out to ask for help learning poker math. He says he’s not a math person and just can’t figure it out no matter how much studying he does. But here’s something I believe: Anyone can learn poker math. It’s truly just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. As long as you work systematically and smartly on a math concept,...

Ed. note: This is the fourth in a series of articles designed to help recreational tournament poker players build their hobby into a profitable endeavor. In this MTT Poker Basics series, we often discuss game theory optimal strategies to win in the challenging positions that present themselves time and time again. But even in the world of solvers, some areas remain a mystery....

In this article we will analyze a particular Texas Hold'em hand situation and then extrapolate from that to better understand how to "correct your outs". So let's say you're playing hold'em in a brick and mortar casino or perhaps online or on your mobile device via one of the Pennsylvania casino apps. After the flop...

Recently I returned to the tables after a 14-day break from poker. I had to take a break because of what happened in the prior four sessions I played. They were pretty rough: My bluffs weren't working no matter the bet sizes I used. My 3bets were ALL getting called (and I love 3bet bluffing, so that was terrible). My one-and-only river value...

In a previous column I discussed betting patterns and described many patterns that your opponents may be using. Knowing that and other supplementary information about your opponents, you will be better prepared to defend yourself. Our focus today is on low/middle-limit hold’em where the bet size is limited, as contrasted with no-limit and high-limit games. For the greatest advantage, combine all your information...

My book, The Art of Bluffing, focuses on poker skills for successful bluffing. I estimate that a skillful bluffer can expect his bluffs to succeed about 60 percent of the time. What’s more, a successful bluff will gain you many more chips than you would lose over time should your bluff be called. That ought to hold true both in live poker...

It was February 24, 2000, well over 20 years ago, when Poker Digest’s Mason Malmuth identified five skills as essential to achieving success in poker. I will list them in the same order as he did: 1\. Hand Selection 2\. Check- Raising 3\. Reading Hands 4\. Semi-Bluffing 5\. The Ability to Vary Your Game I would agree that all of these poker skills are...

The game of poker has a terminology all its own – some words adopted from our common language, some you have probably never heard of, some that are just plain interesting, and some that go way back in modern times. In many respects, that special lexicon is something that sets poker apart from other popular card games. To be sure, games like...

I must own over 100 poker books, some written by top poker celebrities. On occasion, I have been asked to name my favorite book. Which is the best poker book ever written? Which poker book ought you take on your next trip to a casino for some fun or interesting reading? After writing my third book, that thought garnered more than an occasional...

It’s no secret that I take notes while playing poker. Anyone can see me do it. All you need to take good notes is a small piece of paper, a pen, and some self-discipline. More tech-oriented folks might prefer a mobile app like Poker Notes Live. Some opponents have commented on my note-taking, occasionally in a derisive manner. I just smile and...

To a large extent, your opponents bet the same way over and over. Their betting pattern becomes a habit. Knowing your opponents’ betting patterns can be valuable information. Poker is a game of partial information. The more you get, the better your decisions, the more you win. That holds true whether you're playing at a brick and mortar establishment or online on...

With a wealth of material on the market, the average poker player is swamped with ideas for poker coaching. From GTO to elite level coaching right down to the best training methods out there that can turn a hopeful amateur into a profit-making machine, self-improvement is everything poker. But how do you get the best out of poker coaching? To find out, we...

In poker, when the pot odds (reward) are higher than the card odds against you (risk), you have a positive expectation that you will gain chips by playing that hand. The inviolate laws of probability favor you. If you play your hands with this in mind, in the long run, you are bound to go home a winner. This applies to the game...

This is an excerpt from GTO Poker Simplified by Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter. The new book takes the most important lessons from the modern era of poker solvers and explains them in a way that anyone can understand....

Let’s get you earning more profits from the weakest players in the game, the fish. In a prior article called “Fish Can Teach Us What NOT To Do”, I taught you the five biggest mistakes that fish make. Well, we’re flipping the script with this article and you’re going to learn simple ways to exploit these mistakes for maximum profits. If you...

Is there one player in the cardroom that is constantly playing back at you? Do you hate playing pots against this player? Let's discuss how to deal with a poker bully....

We all know about Maria Konnikova’s meteoric rise from absolute beginner to pro poker player as documented in her bestselling book The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win. But what strategies has Konnikova employed to keep her place in the poker hierarchy? Let’s take a look at how she deals with the pressure of...

Much like when you begin a session of online pokies in Australia, when playing Texas Hold’em poker, the goal is to win as much money (chips) as possible. There will be times when you catch a monster hand. Plan your action so that you squeeze out every possible chip from your opponents. Slow-playing and sandbagging are common trapping tactics to accomplish that...

"It's good to learn from mistakes. It's better to learn from other people's mistakes." - Warren Buffet I absolutely love this quote from the world’s greatest investor because it’s not just applicable to life; it also suits us as poker learners extremely well....