What game should you play? What about RING games!

Hi all, and welcome to another edition of Adrian's corner. This week will be a fairly short one as I am not feeling very healthy at the moment and need to get some R & R & Rx (that's rest, recuperation and medication for those that didn't know :)). I often find that new poker players don't know what type of game to play. That is - tournament or ring/cash games. Each game type has its pros and cons, but I believe that tournament poker has taken the spotlight due to it's massive TV coverage over the last few years, whereas the cash game has lived in its shadow. Although the big poker tournaments show you entrants taking home bucket-loads of cash, remember that it's only those select few top placers that may hit a huge payday and that a player could go dry for several tournaments. I find that this must puts severe strain on your game, especially from a mental perspective (and most likely your wallet if you're constantly buying-in and not placing). Cash games on the other hand are, at least for me as a player, exciting on every single hand. Why, you ask? Well it's not a case of "I've spent my buy-in money and that's all that I will spend in a tournament". In my opinion, this makes you sloppy because you aren't treating every hand as important. It's difficult to explain in words, but hopefully you get the just of what I'm trying to say. I feel more disciplined playing cash games because it's my ACTUAL money in front of me - if I play badly, that's my money gone. If you keep your head on straight, you'll make good profit and there are many folks who make a living playing purely ring games. Also, in cash games if I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall with hands, then I can get up and leave. Fantastic - that means I'm not getting blinded out, can go home and rethink my game and come back refreshed and ready to conquer. I really enjoy the freedom that the cash game gives you. No having to wait for a specific break period, no specific start time. Just sit down and get going. Another very important aspect is that there are far less people to beat! I'd take my chances with 8-10 people instead of having to fight through hundreds or even thousands in a tournament. So cash game score 3, tournaments 0 ;) And here comes the very best part: blinds don't increase. Which means that I'm not going to play nonsensical hands. I can fold, and not stress that the blinds are increasing to 5000/10000 in the next minute and my stack is getting short so I'll play my 8 3 off suit in early position just because I have no other choice. I can sit and fold all night, until I'm happy with the starting hands I get. There are probably more things I could think, but I think that these are pretty good reasons to actually get yourself proficient in cash games. You'll have a lot more fun, and you'll probably find that your game will seriously improve too. Till next time, may your opponents be plagued by 7 - 2 off suit. Adrian

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That's Odd(s) - Part 1

Hi Folks, And welcome to this week’s pearl of wisdom from the "corner". I'd like to cover something which everyone who plays poker knows about, but doesn't necessarily understand or use........odds. For those new to this concept, it's really not as scary as it sounds and the math needed is actually fairly simple. I think it can really help make your game more profitable. DISCLAIMER: I am not a stats expert or mathematician (I didn't even do math at school) so what I'm going to give you is a quick and easy odds calculation to help with working out the possibility (%) of times that you'll make your hand. It's not absolute purist math so the advice I give you will be approximate, not exact. Let's begin: Odds of hitting/making a hand: Let me start by telling you what "outs" are. Simply put, they are any of the remaining cards in the deck that you need to make your hand (or increase its strength). So let’s say in a game of Texas Hold'em, I've got an Ace and Two as my hole cards. The flop comes out Three, Four, Ten. That means that I'm sitting with a potential straight (A234). I need the Five to complete the hand. Since I have no five in my hand and there's no five on the flop and we can't see our opponents’ cards, we take it that there are still four Fives left in the deck. The neat little trick that I learned to get an approximate percentage of time that I'll get the cards goes like this - COMMIT THIS TO MEMORY: (4 outs x 2 + 1) = 9% (approximate) chance that I will get the card that I need to make the hand. Easy, huh? Do the same with a potential flush: You've got two diamonds and two more diamonds and a club appears on the flop. That means there are 4 diamonds which you can see out of the 13 in the deck which leaves 9 diamonds still to come. (9 outs x 2 + 1) = 18% (approximate) chance that I'll hit the card that I need Some folks say to add 2 instead of 1 once you've multiplied your outs by 2, but I prefer to go a little bit more conservative as it makes me more disciplined. Now the brains who are reading this are probably thinking this isn't entirely accurate. Let me stress, this is an approximation and can help beginners and even intermediate players make better decisions and I just don't have the grey matter to delve to heavily into the math side anyway :) Now where odds really come into play is weighing up the chance of hitting your hand vs. the pot odds that you're getting. In other words: what your chances are of hitting your hand, vs. how much money you could win. This is called Pot Odds. I'll cover the relationship between calculating your outs and pot odds and whether it's worth calling a bet in the next edition. Till then readers, may your opponents be plagued by 7 - 2 off suit. Adrian

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