Week 11 - Poker in the Pit

Welcome back to Poker In The Pit!

Firstly I’ll apologise for the blog being absent for the last couple of weeks but as the WSOP in Vegas ended, the climax of the UK poker year starts so I’ve been busy satelliting into some major upcoming events.

I’ll be off to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham for the monthly £300 deepstack to get me back into the big live tournament scene.

Then on 11th August I’ll be up in the ‘Land Of The Brave’ as I visit Edinburgh for the £500 UKiPT event which has a £200,000 guaranteed prize pool but could reach up to £350K.

I will then travel to Coventry on 24th August for the record breaking attempt at the biggest live event in Europe,.

The last few weeks I have done an equal amount of live and online play, despite me always saying how much I hate playing online, it certainly is the cheapest and easiest way of satelliting into major tournaments.

Now for this week’s questions.

What is a case card? Brian Thompson, Retford

A case card is the last card of a certain type within the deck, basically making it extremely hard to hit. For example, you go all in with AA and are called by AJ. The flop comes 5,J,J. Fourth street is a 2 so now the only card left for you to win is the case ace. The last Ace in the deck.

What should I look for when searching for a game? Sarah Taylor, Dinnington

You should always be looking for players worse than you. This is easy to do online as you can see the average pot size to determine the aggressiveness of the game, you can write notes on players and add bad players to ‘Buddy Lists’ so you can easily find them, and you can also you software to see players statistics such as sharkscope.com which I have mentioned previously. In live play you have to study the table and work out each players style. Make a mental image of the table and memorize it so you know how to react to each player’s style.

I always seem to win at online poker then outstay my welcome and end up losing all my chips. How do I change this? Richard Marshall, South Anston

A common error and one that no poker player worth his salt hasn’t done at one time or another. Just try to remember that poker is a never ending game. The worst thing a player can do is set an amount to win before cashing out. You can play a game and then have a three-week break and still rejoin the same table, that’s the beauty of it. Profit is profit and whether you’re winning £5 in a session or £500 it doesn’t matter. Just keep ticking nicely up the ladder. As soon as you’ve mastered this you’ll be fine.

I want to play online but have little capital, what would you suggest? Neil Smith, GainsboroughMost sites these days will offer a deposit bonus to get you started that will at least double what you invest in the site to get you playing. Another great way of getting a free bankroll is to visit www.pokerfree50.com where you can learn loads of great tips about winning and maintaining a good position. The site also does a free quiz to all members that rewards $50 of starting capital to all who pass that can be used on many sites including partypoker.com. And what’s even better is that the answers are already their for you to see.

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO EMAILED QUESTIONS AND MAKES THIS BLOG POSSIBLE. I AM NOW ON TWITTER IF YOU SHOULD LIKE TO FOLLOW @nickpokertyler

Until next week, good luck at the tables.