Week 9 - Poker In The Pit

The action finally starts today in Las Vegas as the World Series Of Poker Main Event gets underway and this years tournament promises to be another excellent one as champions old and new all flock to the Rio Hotel And Casino for the the main event in any poker players calendar.

The 13-day event starts later on today so all bring the action to you next week and also have live updates on my twitter page.

The excitement of Vegas apart, I’m feeling a little disheartened this morning after playing in the £30 rebuy to the £550 main event at the GUKPT Summer Series, Sheffield.

I’d played well all night and of the 38 runners we were down to just 18, the last 10 all won seats to the main event.

There was a guy on my table who was just red hot. I mean he was hitting every flush and flopping straights so ideally I’d have stayed out of his way.

You can imagine how bittersweet it was to have him raise into my big blind and I look down and see pocket queens.

Now, the average stack was 10,000 and I was down to 6,400 so I really needed a double up. I shoved and after some thought he eventually did call with pocket 7’s.

Now we have QQ vs 77. What could go wrong? Flop 10, 7, 2. Turn 7. River... who cares, I wasn’t even looking by the river.

He was a nice guy and he was just red hot so all the best to him. Tonight’s tournament is the £200 double chancer. All details of the GUKPT events can be found by searching CARD ROOM on Facebook.

Now for the questions.

I was playing in an online tournament and after a while I started getting charged an Ante. What is this and why did I have to pay it? Charles King, Worksop

First I’ll say congratulations. If you have reached the ante stage you probably also cashed in the tournament. As you know the blinds continually go up in a tournament. After so long some tournaments will also have antes added which are a small price every player has to pay before getting any hole cards. The level that antes are added varies dependent on the site or casino but usually when the blinds reach around 200/400 and ante will be added. On a 10 handed table these can really boost the pot.

How should I manage my bankroll? Susan Baker, Dinnington

This question will get a different answer from anyone you ask. Some say you should only bet five per cent of your bankroll so if you have £1,000 to play with you should be sitting down at a cash table with a £50 maximum buy in or a tournament with this maximum buy in. I personally don’t think its a good thing to sit with a certain percentage of your bankroll and play. My advice is to find a game that suits you. One that allows you to play freely without being bullied off pots because you’re scared to lose the money. Concentrate, have fun and play with an amount you can afford to lose. Then if you’re good enough (or lucky enough) you should start to make profit.

What is a rake? John Phillips, Gainsborough

When you play a cash game, either online or in a casino, the house will take a small percentage of each pot as their profit. This can vary from site to site so for arguments sake we’ll say it’s 5%. You’re sat in a cash table on the big blind and everyone has folded to the small blind. The small blind then moves all in for £50 and you call creating a pot of £100. The cards are dealt and you win thin hand. The dealer now counts up the pot (£100) and takes his 5% rake out of it (£5). Now you have won a pot of £95. Some players argue this isn’t fair but who is going to sit for hours and deal your cards with no wages?

Thanks 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.