Tom »Durr« Dwan joins the Team Full Tilt
Tom »Durr« Dwan just joined the Team Full Tilt! Pretty amazing I would say, especially because the Full Tilt Poker is not accepting new members every day. The last member that joined this team was Patrick Antonius, which happened in June 2008.
I have been watching Tom Dwan’s poker game on various TV shows (High Stakes Poker, Million Dollar Cash Game,…) for some time now, and I must say I am impressed with his poker skills!
In case you missed it out, I highly advice you watch those TV shows as you will learn a lot about NL Texas Holdem and poker in general!
What do I like the most in his game? Well, one thing I like the most about Durr is his aggressive style of poker. You will see him raising, reraising, bluffing and otherwise putting a pressure on his opponents on regular basis. He simply does not let them breathe while they are in the pot with him.
The other thing I like about Durr (this is also connected with the first one) is his ability to play any two cards at any time. He is mixing up his poker game so much that even the best poker pros hardly put him on a hand!
Therefore he will oftentimes get called when holding the nuts, but will also make his opponents fold the best hand, when bluffing.
An example of how Tom “Durr” Dwan plays poker
To give you an example of how Tom Dwan plays poker watch this hand he played against Howard Lederer:
Considering the fact that Howard Lederer is a tight poker player, that kind of play against him is especially interesting. I guess it is true about what they say: There is a thin line between Genius and Madness.
Another interesting thing about Dwan is the fact that he started his poker career and become famous by playing poker online! His nickname is “Durr”.
Only after establishing his reputation online, he began to play live poker game with the best players as well. Anyways, I think that Tom »Durr« Dwan is a nice addition to the Team Full Tilt.
What do you think about Durr? Do you like his style of poker or not? Have you seen him playing on Full Tilt Poker already? Tell us about it in comments please!
Online Poker Tells
Online poker tells with the advice from WSOP Academy Instructor Mark Kroon
Since I was writting about Live Poker Tells in my previous post (You can check it out here: 10 Live Poker Tells by Mike Caro), it is time to say something about Online Poker Tells as well! To begin with, there are some fundamental differences between live poker and online poker, which further on implies the differences in getting and reading other player’s poker tells as well.
The most obvious difference between live poker and online poker regarding the tells is perhaps the fact, that online poker is not physically being played in the same room or place. Since you are not able to see other players faces and reactions, gaining additional information about your opponents based on various live poker tells (that I was talking about in my previous post) is therefore not possible.
Despite this »problem«, you can still read other player’s strengths and weaknesses by figuring out their online poker tells. The principle of online poker tells is pretty much the same as in live poker tells: In order to get information about how other players play poker, you have to pay attention to what they do and how they do it.
But instead focusing on physical signs that can help you figure out whether you are dealing with a very strong hand, you focus on other things, for instance:
- How fast or slow does your opponent acts with strong hands, weak hands, draws, missed draws,…?
- How much does a certain player bets with strong hands, weak hands, bluffs,…?
- Is your opponent using auto check/folding button, when he misses the flop?
Just as in live poker, every online poker player is different somehow, which means that his / her tells are different as well. Be careful when making up and following general or commonly know online poker tells, such as »checking and calling in a fast manner means that our online poker opponent is on a flush draw«.
Follow the general online poker tells only when you are sure that they really hold true for a certain poker player. You do this the best by playing a couple of thousands of hands with him and observing his actions and reactions.
Only then are you able to exploit that tell and benefit from it. Until then, focus all your attention to what your opponents do. Observe them constantly and you will get all the information you need!
To conclude this blog on online poker tells, take a look at the following video, where one of the WSOP Academy instructors, Mark “pokerH0″ Kroon, tells you about one possible online poker tell.
WSOP Academy Instructor Mark Kroon gives advice on online poker tells
Good luck at the poker tables and most of all: have fun! : )
10 Live Poker Tells by Professional Poker Player Mike Caro
In case you play live poker as well, then you will probably benefit from this blog post. It includes a video with 10 Live Poker Tells explained by professional poker player and poker writter Mike Caro.
Before you take a look at the video below, let me explain the importance of poker tells. Every professional or seasoned poker player will probably agree with the following statement:
The more information you have about your poker opponents (for instance: what type of poker players they are, what is their playing hand range, how do they play their top pairs,…) more correct decisions you can make.
The more correct decisions you make, the more money you win in the long run. Same goes for the wrong decisions: The more wrong decisions you make, the more money you will loose. Pretty simple idea, don’t you think? To give you an example of correct decision: You fold when you know you are beat.
Now lets get back to information.
What I wanted to say is that information is very important in poker. You should therefore devote your attention to gather as much information about your opponents as you can!
There are many ways of doing that of course, but the one I am focusing on in this blog post are live Poker Tells. Poker Tell is simply a sign (or a hint perhaps) that we get from other poker player’s reactions or behaviour that tells us something about that player.
This something can be anything from the type of a poker player a certain person, to how strong or weak a player is in a certain hand. Of course, it is very easy for you to exploit that information once you recognize it. To give you an example:
Would you not fold your Ace high flush, when you know your opponent is holding a full house? Of course you would!
That is it from me, now consider these 10 Live Poker Tells by Mike Caro and tell me what you think about them.
One of the best poker advice from this Live poker tells video is by my opinion the following one:
“Do not watch the flop, watch your opponents watch the flop! That flop will still be there later.”
Very powerfull and useful I would say.What do you think about it? Have fun and good luck at the poker tables, either live or online!
Basic types of poker players in NL Texas Holdem
Today I write about the most basic or generic types of poker players that exist out there, especially in the arena of No-limit Texas Holdem Poker games. This information will help you recognize what type of poker player describes you and your opponents the best, when playing either live or online poker games.
As I am sure you already know, NL Texas Holdem is a very interesting card game with a wide variety of different players performing all kinds of different moves. To give you an example:
Some of the poker players tend to check/call all the way to the showdown, some like to check/raise every second pot they are involved in, some want to see the flop with A10 suited no matter how much you bet them pre-flop, and some of them will even call you allin pre-flop with 78 suited.
Therefore, we can say that every poker player has its own unique style of how he play poker. But despite this uniqueness, we are still able to make general conclusions about a certain player’s game in the following terms:
- How passive / agressive certain poker player is,
- How tight / loose certain poker player is.
Are you passive or agressive poker player?
You can find out if you are passive or agressive poker player, if you think about checking, calling, betting, raising and reraising.
For instance, if you tend to just check and call most of the times, then you are more passive poker player. On the other hand, if you tend to bet, raise and reraise most of the times, then you are agressive poker player.
Are you tight or loose poker player?
To find out whether you are tight or loose poker player, think about the number of hands you play in lets say 100 hands.
If you play only premium hands, like AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK, and fold every thing else, then you are a tight poker player. On the other hand, if you play 80 hands out of 100, then you are a very loose poker player.
You should also know that the tight / loose dimension depends on the type of the Texas Holdem game being played. For instance, playing 20 hands out of 100 in Full Ring NL Holdem game can be marked as loose, whereas playing 20 hands out of 100 is not loose in Short Handed NL Holdem poker.
The most basic types of poker players
Based on the information above, we can now determine the most basic or generic types of poker players:
- tight and agressive poker players,
- tight and passive poker players,
- loose and agressive poker players and
- loose and passive poker players.
Of course, every one of the poker types described above has its strenghts and weaknesses (some even more than others), but since the purpose of this blog post is to introduce to you the most basic poker types of poker players, I will describe that in my next blog posts. Make sure to stay in touch with me, so you will not miss out on it.
Now that you know about the basic types of poker players, what can you say about yourself from this point of view? What kind of player are you? Are you more agressive than passive? Are you tight or loose?
Tell me about it in the comments below and good luck at the poker tables!
How to become a professional poker player? Find out how to be a Poker Pro!
I was reading a book (or was it a blog, I am not sure) once, where Daniel Negreanu was explaining his poker learning process that eventually lead him to become a professional poker player. What I remember the most from it is one particular information that I think will help out those of you who have the desire and want to become a winning Poker Pro, no matter whether you are a beginner or already experienced poker player.
It goes like this:How to become a professional poker player? Find out how to be a Poker Pro!
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Stay in touch!
