Curtis Mayfield III's Poker Blog

Know that Position is Key

Just the other day a good friend of mine told me that he didn't have as good a grasp on position as he would have liked. Now this wasn't just some ordinary No limit player. This guy is a poker player that has won several online poker tournaments and recently won a smaller event in Las Vegas. So, it is with his initial statement in mind that I am writing this article. Understanding position at the poker table is always a key component to playing well in my opinion.

Why?

Because position gives us leverage and allows us to act last in the hand. By acting last in the hand you have position over your opponent. This allows you to do a couple of key things in any poker hand.

Posted by Curtis Mayfield III on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 00:26 | login or register to post comments

Understanding Poker Tournament Stages

Lately I have been reading Poker Wizards by Warwick Dunnett. Warwick has been on the poker scene for a number of years and has gathered some of the best poker minds together to contribute to his book. One of the things that kind of stood out to me is the consensus that each of the players came to regarding playing the tournament in stages. Almost to a man each player identified pivotal points in the tournament where it was necessary to take risk even if it meant busting out.

Clearly the idea in playing a poker tournament is to accumulate chips as you progress until you have them all. I believe we all understand that. However, that is an overly simplified explanation of the journey. What I took from the book is that there is a natural speed to a poker tournament and that speed is not necessarily the same for each player at the table. Your chip count and the blind structure of the poker tournament will likely determine just how fast or slow you must play.

At the same time your eyes should always be looking toward the Final Table and having a competitive stack when you get there. Some poker players suggest that poker is a game of survival. There is a lot of truth in that statement but if survival means squeaking into the money then it really doesn't do a whole lot for you. The early stages of a poker tournament you are usually playing small pots and looking to determine who the weaker players are so that you can target them. The middle stages of the tournament you have likely accumulated some chips and are looking to grow your stack one pot at a time.

By the time the late stages of the tournament come around you either have a competitive stack, a monster stack or you are looking to get your chips in to gain some traction in hopes of making a run at the Final Table. By understanding where you are in relation to the players left and the stage of the tournament you are in we can all make better risk assessment judgments as we continue to play the tourney. The more understanding you have of this concept the better off you are going to be.

Playing Marginal Hands

The thought of playing marginal hands to a tight player makes their stomach churn. To a savvy poker player a marginal hand can be as inviting as a pot of honey. As much as most no limit players are told to stick with strong fundamentals there are times when playing marginal hands makes sense. The question is when should you get involved with a marginal hand? In my opinion there are two scenarios that need to be discussed. The first of these is the cash game. In cash games players can always re-buy if they go broke and in some cases it increases the amount of risk a player may be willing to take. This is particularly true if they feel there are players that they can easily take advantage of. We must also consider that in a cash game the blinds do not increase and the standard raise is typically between two-and-a-half to four times the Big Blind. This means that a player that happens to be playing particularly well or has a very good read on the table and his opponents can take advantage of this just a little more easily.

Premium hands are always going to give you an edge against the lesser hands pre-flop. However, with the blinds being only raised to four times the Big Blind a big stack in a cash game has many options at their disposal in what and whom they will call with marginal holdings. Hands like suited connectors, gaped connectors and flush hands lower than a Jack are inviting to a skilled player that has position and chips over his opponent in the pot. With no blinds crashing down on them the thinking is that if they hit a big hand for a straight or flush against a premium pair they are going to earn a considerable profit from the hand. Against mediocre and weak opponents this is true and those are the players you are going to earn most of your profit from. Generally speaking a strong player will know when they are beat and minimize their losses.

So, the general rule of thumb when getting involved with marginal hands is as follows:

- Position over your opponent is key in the hand.

- Your chip count plays a large part in your decision making when calling raises with marginal hands.

- You must be capable of folding your hand when you are faced with a large amount of aggression.

When you are playing in poker tournaments the same thinking applies. However, you now have the blinds to contend with in relation to where your stack size is and how you will navigate the rest of the poker tournament. You also want to be very careful if you should get involved in a hand with someone that has as large of a stack as yourself. On the other hand, some players do quite well playing marginal hands early on in poker tournaments because their hands are well hidden and when they hit the hand they get paid off. Ultimately, it still comes down to making good decisions and exercising good discipline when necessary. But believe me, you do not have to play premium hands to be a good poker player.

Did I say that?

Two very common Online Poker Mistakes

I see two common mistakes that online poker players make all the time in tournaments. It doesn't matter what stage of the tournament they are in but the same approach to every single hand is a sure way to get sent to the rail. Over the past 2 years online poker players continue to defy the proven technique of raising at least 3x the blinds with premium hands. Instead, the new trend is to minimum raise and hope for a re-raise and then come over the top. This is first mistake the online players consistently seem to make.

The second mistake is yet another form of the minimum raise. This particular minimum raise happens after the Flop, Turn or River and your opponent has made their hand. You bet out and you immediately get minimum raised no matter what kind of straight or flush draw is on the board. This is extremely poor play and I will tell you a very good reason why? While your opponent may believe that they are building a pot they are actually giving you pot odds to call. You are going to "get there" a lot more often against this kind of player than any other because they are always willing to risk letting you see another card. The professional players preach the value of a strong raise for a reason. It works!

Posted by Curtis Mayfield III on Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 08:22 | login or register to post comments

Structure determines Aggressiveness

One of my principles of good fundamental play is to allow the structure to determine your aggression level. With so many no limit poker tournaments being played these days you need all of the advantages you can get. One of the advantages you can have is to understand the structure of your particular tourney.

Part of employing good poker strategy is to be aggressive and make your opponents make decisions big and small for their chips. However, how often you have to do this and when you should are determined by the structure and speed of the poker tournament. Most online poker tournaments have a fast structure that usually has 10 - 15 minute blind levels with starting chips from $1200 - $1500. These fast structure tournaments require you to play you hands fast against potential flush draws and it is not unusual to see a player defend their hand with an All-In post flop.

Posted by Curtis Mayfield III on Monday, July 13, 2009 - 10:42 | login or register to post comments

Tips to Enhance your Poker Game

I get a lot of questions regarding how poker players can improve and / or enhance their poker game. Most of these questions are regarding No Limit Hold'em so I will stay focused on that particular game. Now I do realize that everyone learns differently. However, I still have to deliver the information and you can parse it as you see fit. Over the years I have heard a number of professional poker players say that they simply learned from playing. To me that translates into losing a lot of money before you finally figure out what you are doing. That can be costly over a couple of years or so as you gradually increase your skill set and understanding of the game. There is a lot of truth to the fact that you cannot teach experience. However, you can avoid many fundamental mistakes that can be costly by doing a few things to enhance your poker game and overall poker mind set. Here are a few things to consider:

Posted by Curtis Mayfield III on Thursday, July 09, 2009 - 00:09 | login or register to post comments

Let the Tough Hands Roll off Your Back

Lately I have been on yet another incredible run online and have been playing extremely well. I can tell when I am riding a wave because it seems like the game slows down just a bit more and that I hit my hands a little more often than usual. Don't get me wrong though. You can still take some brutal beats during a really good run too. The thing about bad beats is that you must learn to let them go. We spend far too much time as poker players dwelling on what happened to us in a tournament we aren't even in anymore. It's one thing to be analytical but quite another to dwell on a negative experience that can drain you emotionally if you let it.

Posted by Curtis Mayfield III on Tuesday, July 07, 2009 - 07:29 | login or register to post comments

Playing Big Stack Poker

You can find a number of books and interviews out there on the game of poker on just about any topic. However, one of the topics that I do not see nearly as often as I should is Big Stack Poker. Most of the time we hear quite a bit about how to play a Short Stack. I understand the fact that we all need to know simply because we will be short stacked a lot more times that having a ton of chips in front of us. However, us good players do pick up a few chips from time to time and that needs to be discussed too. So here it is.

How I go about playing a large chip stack is contingent on a few things. Those things are as follows:

Posted by Curtis Mayfield III on Sunday, July 05, 2009 - 00:24 | login or register to post comments

Heads-Up at the Final Table

Last night I won an online poker tournament and took down a very nice cash for my efforts. It was grueling as usual once we got to the money and things didn't look good at times but I was able to survive and eventually overcome a couple of set backs at the Final Table. Once we got down to the last three players I had successfully built my stack to become second in chips with only four players left.

The thing that I noticed about the chip leader is that he never changed gears. He did the exact same thing each and every time he was involved in a hand even before he became chip leader. I was confident that it would be him and I going at it Heads-Up and I was prepared for the challenge. After a couple of more hands he busted the third player and he had a three to one chip lead on me. The blinds were manageable and I still had plenty of chips so I wasn't overly concerned.

Many players try to devise a strategy for playing Heads-Up and that is their first mistake. Until you understand what your opponent is trying to do to you it is impossible to determine the optimum strategy to counter. Knowing that my opponent was going to min raise and then make a three times bet each and every hand he was involved in was like handing over the keys to his home. I simply waited on good hands and allowed him to win all of the small pots. I realized early on that any time I had a hand I was going to get paid off because he simply would not fold.

After three hands I doubled up after flopping a flush and he had hit top pair. Now, I was almost even in chips and salivating at the opportunity that was available due to his reckless aggression. I quickly finished him off when I hit two pair and again he hit top pair. There was a flush draw on the board and he pushed and I called. No help on the turn or river and the winner is yours truly.

The moral of the story is to be patient at the Final Table because most likely you are not going to win it all in one hand. Allow your opponent to show you what his strategy is and counter it accordingly. Had I been trying to run him over with any Ace or small pairs he would have easily booted me from the tournament with very little effort. By waiting and playing tight while allowing him to THINK that he was the aggressor I was easily able to trap and eliminate my opponent in short order.

Keep accurate records of your Poker Sessions

A lot of people ask me why I keep track of so many hands on my iPhone when I am playing live. The reason for this is because I like to take notes and know my opponents tendencies. Also, I keep track of my wins and losses so that I can continue to execute tight bankroll management. Most importantly you want to keep accurate records of your poker expenses for tax purposes. At the end of the year you will need to prepare your taxes and any winning you have can be considered a capital gain and therefore is taxable.
 
Many players seem to think that they can play poker tournaments and cash games with immunity from paying taxes. The minute you win more than $1199 those dollars become taxable and the casino must account for the payout. This is why they ask you to sign a form whenever you win $1200 and more so that it can be reported. True, you will not have to pay taxes on the money right away but the government does have a document confirming that you won the money and you will be called on it if you do not report the income. It's always a good idea to keep accurate records of your gambling wins and losses just in case you are ever audited too. You will need those records should you find yourself in that situation.
 
So take a moment to write down your winnings from each session along with your losses and keep them in a safe place. You can transfer them to the spreadsheet of your choice later.